Well, Three Sisters is still over but Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead is just beginning! I take that back, because we're a couple of weeks into rehearsal and we open in just under a month. So actually, I untake it back, because now is the time when shit gets serious.
So far so fun though! I'm having a great time playing Alfred, in the context of my last couple of roles this is just what I need, a super fun, goofy, comedic supporting character who has some really nice moments and a decent helping of stage time but neither is he on stage every other scene. This means I'll get to come on, do my bits with the tragedians, get some laughs, go off while the other characters talk for another twenty or thirty minutes, come back on, get laughs, etc. Also, there will be music and funny trumpet sounds. It's gonna be a good time.
My director mentioned something about the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston and my blogging about the bilingual show experience, so let's blog about that! As we've gone from just giving bits and pieces a basic shape and are now moving into really refining them, the challenges are beginning to change. At first, rehearsing in Spanish at all was a challenge because it was like "what is going on at all?" but now that I better understand the scenes in English, and having taken far too many years of Spanish to have my low level of proficiency I can basically follow what's going on.
The problem I faced last night was the timing of entrances and physical bits. The script calls for a moment where Rosencratz confuses Alfred for Queen Gertrude, puts his hands over his/her eyes and says "Guess who?!" which our director wasn't super into, but to make it work we've blocked it where Rosencratz is going off and he basically bumps into Gertrude and then, not knowing what else to do, does the "guess who" bit. If you've ever had to do any kind of physical comedy on stage, it's all about timing to the point where it's almost like a dance. Things need to happen in a certain order, in a certain way and at a certain pace all in conjunction with the text, to get the laugh. The nature of this particular bit is that I'm coming around a corner and Rosencratz bumps into me, right? So I'm trying to land in conjunction with the text and the actors on stage where we arrive at the same time, but the two Rosencratzes play the scene at a different pace and energy level which I have to accommodate in my timing.
Do you see what I'm saying? It would be really interesting to talk to my cast mates and see if they've been influenced at all thus far in the process by the work of their Spanish/English language counterparts. Maybe I'll try to have a conversation with them and blog about it.
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