![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/headshot.jpg\")
<\/a>That leaves them to dive headfirst into difficult character work, exploring motivations, backstories, strengths, and weaknesses. The difficulties of tackling outdated material can be conquered by making strong acting choices that, at first glance, might seem counter-intuitive to the dialogue, but Jarvie says that the answer is in the subtext. For example, the cast and crew spent a large part of one rehearsal focusing on how one line was said: the implication, motivations, and ramifications of it, says Jarvie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think we were all pretty exhausted by the end [of that rehearsal] but it was worth it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Jarvie says that depending on the show, sometimes the majority of a director\u2019s work can lie in the subtext, but it also depends on how much information the playwright gives the audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re working on a show like Company<\/i>, where you\u2019re only seeing snippets of scenes and you have to fill so much in, for me, in a show like this, everything becomes about subtext and context,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n It is indeed almost everything: 60 to 70 percent of the dialogue, says Jarvie, is about what\u2019s not being said in this show, and she says that\u2019s freeing for her. But she admits that it\u2019s a lot more work for both her and the cast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have to supply it and create it ourselves and test it, and see if it works,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t have, really, the option of running through unseen workshops and re-writes if you\u2019re just focusing on subtext.\u201d<\/p>\n The really fun, happy music featured in Company<\/i> is often in \u201ccomplete juxtaposition\u201d with the lyrics, like in the song \u201cYou Could Drive a Person Crazy,\u201d says Jarvie. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[It\u2019s] so fun and upbeat and it gets stuck in your head for weeks on end,\u201d she says, \u201cbut when you listen to the words, it\u2019s not a happy song, so we\u2019re trying to also find that with the scenes as well as the music.\u201d<\/p>\n The show is based around an experience people know all too well: family and friends shouting at you to make a wish before you blow out the candles on a birthday cake. Should you wish for love? Good health? Bobby\u2014the show\u2019s main character\u2014isn\u2019t so sure he wants what everyone thinks he should want.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expectations of the group are so not the focus for Bobby,\u201d says Jarvie. \u201cThey all want him to get married, they all want him to find a love, and settle down… And the fact that that pressure comes from his friends and his family is something I think we can all relate to, whether it\u2019s about romantic life or, \u2018Why aren\u2019t you doing more with your education or jobs?\u2019 or whatever. It\u2019s just such an unbelievably human and relatable moment. What was really interesting for us as a cast and as a team was to kind of look at that as a moment of going, so maybe the relationships and the friendships in his life actually aren\u2019t as positive as they seem on the surface, because that kind of pressure can be really toxic, so it kind of made us look at all the scenes that surround the birthday party and go, \u2018So what\u2019s happening under the surface?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n