Day 5: What is all this flack?

Day 5: Movement

            Scene Assignment

            Acting Workshop

            Movement with Glynn MacDonald

            Today was a day of elements and archetypes. We did some really fun work with Robert Southy’s poem “The Cataract of Ladore.” (I know how I’m starting the first rehearsal for The Odd Couple!) It’s a fantastic poem about a poet laureate telling his children about how the river flows, and it’s so exciting and full of great descriptive verbs. The element work we did was supposed to stimulate, respectively, our bodily elements. Earth is our skin, and anything tangible. Water is our blood, sweat and tears. Air is our lifeline. Fire is our nervous system’s electrical impulses, “what a neurologist described as the mice running under your skin.” There are four poses to symbolize and stimulate these energies. This was also done facing our scene partners to connect with them.

            Glynn gave me a great note today. When we got up to say our 6-8 verbs from the poem, and I completely blanked when I stepped up there (we’d only had the poem for about 15 minutes). I wasn’t heartbroken, I joked through asking what the words were, and she stopped me dead. “What the hell is this? What is all this flack? I want to see you, but you’re hiding behind all this flack.” I hadn’t thought about it this way before. I do this all the time; Faith Fossett, bless her heart and every ounce of talent she possesses, was notorious for doing this, and now I recognize a name for it. It’s very easy to play the game, whatever that means to you. And we can get away with it at NWU. But damn, Glynn didn’t care a bit. She wanted to see what you came to show her, and it wasn’t that façade you put up when you’re embarrassed or uncomfortable.

            Scene Assignment

            It’s funny that my 6’2” friend Kate and I paired up in movement and joked about how we could be a powerhouse of womanhood onstage together, because sure enough, we’re paired! We’re doing As You Like It, III.i. I’m playing Rosalind, and she’s Celia. This is going to be a blast.

            Anna also said a few things that really hit the director in me, not so much the actor. She insisted that we read the play before Monday, but that we refrain from discussing anything with our scene partners until our table talk on Monday. She said we’ll all create movies in our heads, that’s just how it is. And it will be a good movie. But when you do this, and you discuss, then you’re essentially planning, and then detracting from what discoveries you could make in rehearsal. She talks about scoring out our actions in our scenes, but also says you shouldn’t do this first—you should do it as you discover them. It lends itself to more productive rehearsal processes. I’m really going to try to encourage this for The Odd Couple cast.

            Acting Workshop with Jane Lapotaire

            Last time with Jane! I didn’t realize this until after we’d gone home. We really ripped things apart today. Everyone made fantastic discoveries, all perpetuated by Jane directing us back to the text. Everything really is there! There isn’t “interpretation,” so stop imposing! Read closer!

            I realized I’ve been reading Elizabeth completely incorrectly, at least for this scene. She has realized the gravity of the situation, and it is Elizabeth’s change to a timid, soft heart that prompts Anne’s monologue. When Elizabeth says, “wish thyself no harm,” she means it (I was totally imposing!) It is her moment of goodbye to Anne. And Anne responds with, “I can’t un-wish what I’ve already cursed on myself.” Jane didn’t mind my first interpretation, but today she said it borders on Blanche DuBois, which is not where the play should go.

            So here’s the question: in an audition, do you use the eye-catching character journey which is slightly interpreted and risk not getting a call-back for the appropriate contextual reading? Or do you stick to the text and risk losing the intensity of the character without the scene’s build-up? Tough call. Open for discussion.

            Tonight was our first night off in awhile. Went out for Chinese food, then out to the pubs for bonding with the company. We went to a local pub a couple blocks from St. Paul’s on the other side of the river. Unfortunately it closed at 11, so we walked around the corner (passing many pubs which were also closing at the same time, but good for future reference) and went dancing at a club. We were there until about 1, and then from 1-3 (yes, a.m.) we went to this piano that was sitting on the sidewalk across the street from St. Paul’s. It was there every day, all day, until Sunday night. For the hell of it. We met two fantastic musicians, Catherine and Paul, who played for us and with us. One of the guys in the company, Jeremy, whipped out some Ben Folds, which broke our show tune streak. Rent is great when we’ve been drinking together. :)