Day 2: Intro to Shakespeare’s Globe and Theatre Exploration
Monologue Presentation
Intro to Shakespeare’s Globe and Theatre Exploration with Farah Karim-Cooper
Saw the Globe from the inside today, for my first time ever! It’s so big, and so small and intimate at the same time.
Farah Karim-Cooper, a researcher at the Globe, told us about the intricate process of maintaining the structure and producing shows appropriately, as per the institution of history. They only light the stage in the evenings for lack of sunlight, not for design; there are no blackouts. Painting is period-specific, and currently being redone. There was no weather-proofed varnish in 1598, and there’s none now.
There are the heavens, the earth, and hell. The heavens are painted. Paintings in the bays represent gods meeting men on earth; the stage is also earth. The pit below the stage, and anything arising from it, is hell. The same can be said about the balconies: groundlings are lowest, monarchy (if seen) is highest, and then there are, literally, the heavens.
It’s practically a thrust stage. Asides make so much more sense now.
Get to work monologues on it tomorrow at midnigt!!!
Monologue Presentation with Anna Pileggi
We were required to send in four monologue choices at the beginning of June, and Anna emailed back which she’d prefer us to work on. I’ve been preparing Lady Anne from Richard III, IV.i, “When he that is my husband now…” It’s pretty super, and is one that I’ll stick in my bag of tricks for the future.
I know that I can play a strong, smart woman pretty well. Plus, I’m 5’8”, so I’ve got a lot of physical power just standing onstage. Height demands attention. So what my directors back home have been pushing me to do in workshop, in classes, is to try on a younger vulnerability often seen in ingénues. So instead of playing the expected, strong Lady Anne, I tried a completely broken woman (the type who has just lost her husband, her father-in-law, her brother-in-law, and her two nephews, and is now married to their murderer).
It didn’t work as well as I thought.
It was pretty flat, at least the time I did it. The notes suggested a stronger Anne. So I went back to where I started, and kept working. I’ve got some ideas for next time, so I think it will only get better.
Anna Pileggi is definitely an acting coach, and Henry is definitely a director. I’ve only worked with Joan back home in one class; usually I work with our directors. Rhetoric became very apparent to me when I got notes. And, as Parker might say, Anna is not a butt-cheek-on-the-seat director.
She also is a huge Mamet fan, and prefers us to refer to the characters as “I.” This was new for me. I’ve always kept myself and the character separate. When asked, “What is the objective?” where I would normally answer, “She wants…” Anna prefers “I want…” It is supposed to discourage distancing us from our characters, and strengthen personal truths.
No comments:
Post a Comment