Good day today! Remember that taco truck that was in the parking lot a few weeks ago? The hotel hired them to serve up a little dinner in the lobby today. Sweeeeeeet. Free cantina style tacos!!! They were great and it added a nice little change to the daily routine.
I must say that, if you are ever staying in the Indianapolis area, the Candlewood Suites in the northwestern part of Indy is very nice. Great staff... clean rooms... pool... free laundry... it's not a bad place to live for month.
Anyway... hahaha
Tonight we worked on Part Two. As I have said before, my load is a little lighter in Part Two so I was observing a little more.
A few odds and ends.
Terrible Murder
The murder of Desdemona by Othello may be the most horrific death of any Shakespeare murder that actually happens on stage. It's just horrible. First there is the size difference between the two. Then there is the fact that he kills her by strangling her... and we watch the whole thing happen. In most Shakespeare deaths, the moment of violence happens fast. The character who was injured may say a few lines before they die (for example Mercutio) but the actual violence is quick. A thrust of a rapier... a slash of a broadsword... a stab with a dagger... a sip from a poisoned cup...
Not here... it just goes on and on and Desdemona is grabbing at the sheets and trying to push Othello away...
I've done a lot of Shakespeare... including Macbeth six times which has a lot of murder in it. This is the most painful, uncomfortable death I have ever seen in a Shakespeare play.
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Boots and Swords
I get to rehearsal, I put on my sword and boots. Why? Because I have to learn how to live in them. Shoes are probably the most important part of a costume for an actor and that is why actors love to get their shoes as soon as possible. The costume designer asked if I wanted to hold onto my shoes and I said YES PLEASE!!!! When you are hopping around the stage and fighting and running etc., you have to learn how your shoes will react to the movement. If I can't get shoes early, I wear something that might match the feel a bit. I rarely ever wear sneakers in rehearsal because the odds are I'm not going to often wear sneakers in a production. I actually think that, in the last 10 years, I've worn sneakers once for a show... so why rehearse in them?
Same with this sword. Walking around life with a sword attached to your side is not as easy as it may seem. You've got a 3 foot piece of metal hanging off the side of your body. It hits things... it hits people... it gets weird if you go down on one knee... it makes you have to think about the logistics of sitting down... This is another thing... as soon as the swords were there, I started wearing it. Cassio has spent thousands of hours with a sword by his side. I'll have much less than 100 hours with this sword. But I have to appear as if it is second nature to be wearing this thing. If I bang it against a bench or a person it will probably result in an unwanted laugh. So boots and swords...
Women have it even worse when they have to wear corsets. Corsets change your breathing... In those situations, corsets trump shoes as being the most important thing to get a hold of from your costumer. I've never really had to deal with that though... hahaha
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Easy Energy
Last night I was talking about energy and how sometimes too much unspecific energy can hurt a scene. Today I had an interesting moment. Today I had just run a portion of a scene with Iago and the director comes up to me and says...
"Yeah??? Is that working for you??? Am I asking you to do too much???"
I replied...
"No. Hell, it just feels like I'm up here screwing around with Ryan (the actor playing Iago.)"
He says...
"That's exactly how it should feel!"
I say...
"Yeah man... I'm up here thinking... is he really going to let us get away with this?"
And he says...
"Yeah man... it reads great!"
It's funny how often the best acting doesn't always need to feel like you are working so hard at it. If you just relax, bounce these great lines off your scene partner, and honestly listen and react in a character appropriate way to what they are saying... that is really often all that is needed (provided it's grounded in character appropriate choices). No screaming... no huge showy movements... just relax... lock in... and have some freaking fun.
We received a similar note last night about a section of the drunk scene. There are six of us up there just being ridiculous and having fun and the director dug the energy.
Every once in a while I have that "is he really going to let me get away with this" feeling. And I am finding it's a good feeling because it means that the choices I am making and that way that I am playing on stage (all based on the work I've done beforehand) are clicking.
It's as if you have to work hard before the rehearsal so you can just play in rehearsal. And when you are honestly playing... the acting seems so effortless.
The trick is... how to keep that sense of play when 1000 people are watching. hahaha
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Game Plan
Tomorrow is a run through of the show again.
If I look through my scenes I can kind of check in with myself as to what I should focus on tomorrow. If I just put "consistency" that means I feel pretty good about the scene and now it's all about being able to lock in and execute my part of the scene well each and every night.
PART ONE
Act I scene ii - Consistency
Act I scene iii - Consistency
Act II scene i - Almost there... still needs some crafting especially at the top
Act II scene iii - The drunk scene... remember to monitor the flow of energy after the fight
Act III scene i - Almost there...
Act III scene iii - Almost there...
PART TWO
Act III scene iv - After tonight's rehearsal I think this is surprisingly at the "consistency" stage.
Act IV scene i - same as above... just have fun...
Act V scene i - needs work... this is a chaotic scene and we don't have the chaos down yet
Act V scene ii - Consistency.
That's a good little way for me to see where I might want to focus my attention tomorrow during the day. I'll lock in on Act II and Act III and spend some time with V scene i.
I don't suspect that final part was interesting to anyone other than me. hahaha
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