Hone: Rehearsal Frame Theory and the Principal Functions of Rehearsal

This thesis explores rehearsal in professional mainstage Melbourne theatre, including contextual factors, practitioner perspectives and creative practices. Twenty actors, directors and theatre-educators were interviewed and an original conceptual model of rehearsal was developed: Rehearsal Frame Theory. I argue that rehearsal can be understood as an accumulation of external, imposed parameters and selected artistic constraints that progressively hone what the final performance will be. I present an accompanying schema, the Principal Functions of Rehearsal, underpinned by cognitive literature and creative theory, to support a more collaborative, investigative and actor-centric approach to rehearsal.