Present: Dale, Marc, Dan, Greg, Jeff B., Kevin, and introducing Philip
Dale suggested that since we were losing an hour or so of our 10:00-2:00 time slot to lunch, that we go from 10:00-1:00 without lunch, but with snacks, perhaps, and get more work done. That was preferred to a 9:00-12:00 solution.
Marc started with breathing/vocal instruction so that we all have a chance of being heard in the amphitheatre without injuring our vocal cords.
Then we started working on Act I. Philip took on the role of Cominius. We worked the opening scene a couple of times, although we’re putting the actual choreography of the pantomimic opening off until we have staves for everyone. (Dale promises to have them for next Wednesday.)
Points of exploration: the constant tug-of-war for, as Marc has put it, the control of perception, first between First Citizen and Second Citizen, and then between First Citizen and Menenius.
After running through I.2 (the Volscian council scene) once, Marc asked us to play it again and make Aufidius a little more of a loose cannon, so that his irritation with the sloppy organization of the Senate becomes noticeable and they’re a little afraid of him. Jeff asked to see more valediction in Aufidius’s last line to the Senate.
We skipped I.3 until we get a firm Virgilia, we’ve nominated Jeff Allen for the role.
We skimmed I.4 through I.8, trying to get a firm grasp on the flow. We realized as we launched into the Battle Ballet proper that many of us had not been there the day we conceptualized that scene, so we had to catch those people up in concept. That’s going to take a whole day’s worth of choreography to get under our belts. Again, everybody’s got to have a pole.
Good work today, and at least we’re under way.
For Wednesday, we’re going to look at I.9 and I.10 and go back and look at some of the other battle scenes.
This is the most horrible part of rehearsal for me: looking around the room and seeing everyone with their eyes glued to their script, completely unaware of the scene. I know, it’s necessary, but I really really want to encourage everyone to learn their lines. For example, go ahead and have I.9 and I.10 learned for Wednesday night. It will make the creation of theatre nearly automatic.
It’s hard for us old folks, Dale, but we’ll try. Today was fun.
I was going back through the scenes trying to make a list of actual roles we need filled, and I have a suggestion. In I.1, after Cominius et al. enter, we had given all of FIRST SENATOR’s lines to TITUS LARTIUS. I think it might work better to give his second line (“Then, worthy Martius/Attend upon Cominius to these wars.”) to MENENIUS.
I can appreciate Dale’s frustration and, actually, I think we all can. None of us have gotten habituated to acting every day, and so it’s hard to make a shift from the excitement of reading to the excitement of acting.
Yes, having lines helps, but there are a lot of them and they are deployed in a daunting syntax that takes time to assimilate. I’m a big believer in using rehearsal to get the lines through intense repetition and variation. They will come. Let me throw out a suggestion: Knowing which scenes we will tackle next time is good; we should continue agreeing upon that at the end of each prior rehearsal. Look at them with an eye toward mastering words, yes, but more importantly at this stage, think about your characters’ agendas for those scenes. Try planning to play for some high stakes. There’s the old saying, “Play the action not the words.” You choose strong and possibly disruptive actions. Let’s dare to confront one another. It’s all make-believe.
We want to start turning each scene into a playing event. In that way, what is happening in the room becomes as interesting as what is on the page. It will pull our engagement, and we can let it. It’s okay to miss a cue at this point if it means learning something from what the fellow across from you is doing. More practically, whether you are in a scene or not, try to follow the event, not the text. Be surprised by what others do and say. As an example, my suggestion for the Aufidius scene came out of my watching the actors work and wondering what might bind them all to one another emotionally (admittedly as a director I have disciplined myself to that–I don’t follow text during a played scene; I learn what’s in the text by attending to the actors; it’s a little professional habit of mind you have to make yourself follow). Read and study the text at home. Watch and experience the actors in rehearsal. It’s great for building ensemble and it will make our work more interesting.
Well said.
I’ve marked Dale’s suggestion in my script. Please let me know if y’all have a change of heart while I am away.
Poles for everybody tonight!
I’m going to go ahead and claim Rysart Czeslak. He’s a hero of mine.
Dibs on Krzysztof Kieślowski.
Check this out.
Nastasia Kinski.
Just goes to show. Everyone’s a self-promoting artist who thinks the world CARES about their process. Sigh.