I was working on lines in my office yesterday. I'd say some lines then I'd double check with the script that I keep in my office. Something startled me. There were multiple times where I would look at this script and see versions of lines that I had never seen before. In one instance, there was an entire line that I had never seen before!
I realized that I was getting to the point where I really needed the version of the script we will be performing.
Then it came in my e-mail last night. Hooray!
It's pretty amazing how varied a script of Othello can be. Apparantly the first folio version has a whopping 160 lines more than the quarto version of the play. Meanwhile, the quarto has some lines that aren't in the folio. Then, modern editions look at all of these old editions and form their own edition of the script. So, now I have the version we'll be doing, and I can start to lock into one specific set of words...
HOWEVER...
I am finding that occasionally I don't like the way the line reads in our script when compared to other editions that I have been using, particularly the folio.
I will say that the acting edition that the director has come up with is fairly close to the folio that I have been working with. But there are some definite differences. So, there may be a moment or two in rehearsal where I try it one way and then I ask permission to try it the way it reads in a different edition of the script.
A quick note about doing things like that... Try it the director's way first before you tell her/him that you'd like to do it a DIFFERENT way. I trust the director made an informed decision about what version of the script we would be using. He is looking at the big picture... not at which edition showcases Cassio the best. haha So there may be a moment or two throughout the process where we discuss a word here and there but I will always try it the way it is written in this edition of the script first. Then, if it just seems like maybe we can get more out of a moment by exploring a line or two (or even a word or two) from a different edition of the script, we'll look.
Along with the script we received the rehearsal schedule. It's absolutely crazy. Often at a professional theatre, you'll rehearse a play for three weeks and then spend the first half of week four "teching" the show and during the second half of week four, the show will open. A week of rehearsal is typically 40-48 hours. 6 days, 7-8 hours of rehearsal a day. That's a typical professional schedule.
So, you figure in the first three weeks, you rehearsal somewhere in the neighborhood of 120-150 hours.
Our show has a similar rehearsal schedule in terms of days. Three weeks of rehearsal, then move to the space and tech the show, then open. But... instead of a typical 7-8 hour rehearsal day, we rehearse 4 hours a day.
So, in those first three weeks, we're rehearsing 72 total hours. 72 hours to put together one of Shakespeare's longest plays and have it ready to add lights/costumes/move into the space/ during that final week.
Craziness. And yet another reason why I just can't afford to waste rehearsal time with my nose in the script. The audience doesn't care how long we rehearsed. They only care if it is good or not.
Shout out to Jordan Y. today for doing a little acting work with me.
Also, HOLA to the people from Venezuela and Spain who have checked in over the last week. It's pretty funny to see who starts looking at your blog when you put up pictures of famous people on it.
I hope all is well with all of you! Thanks for all the emails telling me what you have been up to this summer.
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