Present: Dale, Marc, Greg, Dan, Jeff B.
We worked through Act II, which is the kickoff of the actual plot.
In II.1, the return of Coriolanus, we got some more mileage out of the Tribunes and Menenius. (Kevin, we’re thoroughly exploring your character while you’re away. You can just mindmeld with Dale.) We have to find a Cominius to replace Philip. John, if you’re reading this, be looking at the role.
We had previously worked the end of the scene with the Tribunes, and it showed. The subtleties of their deviousness began to develop.
In II.2, which seems to be a very formal kind of “let’s praise him and make him consul” scene, we found a lot of informality by relating the procedure to the Good Old Boy system in place around here, i.e., they are not seriously presenting and considering his consulship; they’ve already decided this at cocktail parties over hor d’oeuvres. This is just window dressing, which the Tribunes recognize. We see this mostly through Menenius’s insouciance about the matter. Coriolanus is just bein’ difficult.
We went over II.3 several times, exploring the Citizens. We’ve given them cracker accents, and it works. It pulls out the comedy and delineates their social status very quickly for the audience. Even their Monty Python overtones come across.
We didn’t get to the Battle Ballet, but we will on Saturday. We will also tackle Act III.
I did not get the posters for the Battle Ballet done. I’ll have them by Wednesday.
I’m having an interesting time connecting First Citizen in I.1 to the Third Citizen in II.3. They don’t really speak with the same voices. They are different people, although I think they’re the easiest to connect. Well, Second Citizen in I.1 and First Citizen in II.3 could be the same guy.
You’d think Shakespeare could have kept track of these things.
When you say “cracker accents” are you speaking literally about modern accents in America? I assume you are not trying to do British accents.
Think, “O Brother, Where Art Thou.”
Well, I would commment on the report from 9/20, but its missing! So, if anyone reads this … I have the pole holders done! 🙂 Well, they’re put together and seem to work (with at least one pole!) [yeah, yeah, I hear all the innuendoes …] I’ll bring them Wednesday. So, that’s done … now, to those danged lines …