And with this past weekend's performances, I close the door on my time on stage as Tuzenbach, one of the great roles period and particularly for actor's of my type. Where the jocks get to play Biff Loman, the geeks play Tuzenbach. Not that I seriously view the great roles of theater through a lens of base a archetypes, but it's kinda true. I am kind of a geek, and Tuzenbach is one of the roles in the western dramatic canon that I'm ideally suited for and indeed one of the most beautiful. And I say goodbye to the role with no real regrets. I do wish we'd had a longer run than four performances, but such is the way of community theater and especially a play like Three Sisters, a three hour long turn of the century semi-melodrama (which is to say a play on the melodrama but that's another dramaturgical Chekovian can of worms, yes I know $5 words $10 meanings). I don't think I really nailed down the role to the fullness of my capability until the second weekend... but when I nailed it down, I nailed that sucker down. The most fun and the most challenging part of the role is definitely the big dramatic death scene, where Tuzenbach comes face to face with his great existential quandary, Irina's inability to love him and subsequently his inability so save her/bring her meaning/find happiness with her. The fact of the scene being he's loved her to bits the entire play, and throughout as he's watched her suffering and remorse escalate fantasized about taking her away to some mystical shangri-la of work and eternal happiness... but in the end he can't give that to her, and she can't give him what he needs which is her true affection, so he fights a duel and dies.
During the process, my friend and cast mate Ron referenced a conversation he had with a Russian coworker who said that for the Russians, (this is my summary/interpretation) Chekhov is sort of like dramatic comedia de'll arte, and for a Russian audience characters like the drunken doctor or the nobody who thinks he is or could have been an intellectual savior of Russia (ex; Konstantin, Vanya, Andrei, etc) are recognizable archetypes. I think in the case of Tuzenbach, he's a reflection of a popular literary idea that I've blogged about it, that of the romantic/intellectual hero-poet, the classic example being Werther and that's why he's German because it's an idea of Germanic origin, etc I've talked about this. I've further though that Solyony, Tuzenbach's counterpart in the army and his rival for Irina's affection who goes on to kill him, is sort of like his Russian doppleganger. In Solyony's case, he's decidedly anti intellectual and violent, perhaps even a sociopath and identifies himself with the Russian author Lermontov who wrote novels about romantic heroes sleeping with lots of women and fighting duels (credit to Scott, who played him, for that background). So in that sense, they kind of mirror one another, two sides of the same coin which explains why Tuzenbach is so inexplicably drawn to him and why Solyony constantly torments him except when their alone, when they get along pretty well, blah blah contents of the play.
Anyway, this is a long build up to how it is that Tuzenbach embodies some of Solyony's madness at the end of the play, leading him to (in our version, anyway) lash out at Irina before going off to die in a duel in a final act of desperation, and as a way out of a life that he simply can't continue living while maintaining his romantic hero factor (because one of the ways romantic heroes die is in duels).
One of the things the director and I struggled with in our collaborations was this whole where Tuzenbach goes off about trees and shit, and their permanence against our mortality and it's like what? You're about to go off and die and this is what you give the love of your life before you do? Initially, we tried it where this passage is a moment of introspection for Tuzenbach where he collects himself after going off on her, and I think that's part of it. But after reblocking it where Irina was available during this speech for Tuzenbach to connect with her and during the second to last performance where I was the mostly deeply connected I would be to my scene partner and the given circumstances... I felt like I figured it out. It's his way of forgiving her, and his plea for forgiveness for what he's about to do, that in the end the trees are the way they are and will continue to be so and that we don't control the way we feel or how the universe affects us. It's not her fault that she couldn't love him, and it's not his that he has to do what he's about to do, and then even when he's gone some part of him will continue in the world and in her and it's also tied it into (I think) romantic ideas and values about the natural world and our connection to it as human beings. And that's what he's leaving her with before he dies. And in the second to last performance, I really felt like I did that, and that's the moment I blogged about where I saw a real tear go down her face and I thought to my self "yes, this acting" and I found the full truth of the moment, of two lovers saying goodbye for the last time.
If I have those moments, I tend I find to have them once per production (in the case of the two productions where I've had them, small sample size). My scene partner and I found it in the second or third to last performance of Swimming in the Shallows. I think I blogged about this at the time, but it was a particularly unresponsive audience in that tiny theater so when I came to my big romantic scene with The Shark, instead of playing to them for laughs like I usually might I just focused on The Shark and tuned them out completely, and felt the romance and chemistry of those moments, and then in the moment of our big dramatic kiss it felt... real in a way that it hadn't prior. And didn't in the remaining performances. The same being true of Three Sisters, not that Saturday's show was worse than Friday's just different. And that's the lesson I'm still learning as a stage actor, even when you find what is in a way the perfection of a moment like that, it is the perfection of that moment and every subsequent moment is inherently different, ya dig? So it's a fools errand to try to replicate that perfection, because it's impossible, you have to find the truth of THIS moment and you have to refind it every time you go on stage. And that's the truth and the challenge and the beauty of acting on stage, you have to try every time and you get to try again.
My hope is that I'll get to try again someday with Tuzenbach, but if I don't, then this was a production I can be satisfied with and moving forward harbor no regrets, because I lived a dream role and embodied it to the fullness of my ability at that time and made it something beautiful. The end.
Goodbye Three Sisters, no not goodbye but farewell for we shall not meet again. Or if we do, who will we be then? (Quote from the play, sort of). Someone else entirely, and the moments will be all the same... but different in every way.
Showing posts with label swimming in the shallows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimming in the shallows. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Being in two pla(y)ces at once
It was strange returning to Swimming in the Shallows for tonight's performance after spending Monday and Wednesday and part of the time in between digging into the dense existential tangle that is Chekov's Three Sisters. It's like, I'm getting on Chekov's wave length, thinking like his characters think, plotting a mental flow chart of all the levels of philosophical discourse coursing underneath the hood of this mammoth text... then I get off the train and WHOOP I'm in Adam Bock land! Concise! Funny! Gay! What where am I? Oh yeah, this thing I'd been rehearsing for a month before this and started running in front of all these audiences.
It's weird working so intensely on something, thinking about it almost non stop, then it's on to the next thing and that starts taking up all this mental real estate since you know, most of the work on that other thing is done, but not really because you still have to perform it!
So anyway, tonight's show was pretty good. I couldn't help feeling like it wasn't my strongest, but I found my footing and by the end of the night I'd even discovered some new things.
And Three Sisters? Holy shit what a can of worms that play is going to be. There is so much going on in that text... I don't even know where to begin. But it is going to be a fantastic time. I was talking to my Swimming in the Shallows director, and he said "it really is a dream role" and I was like "yeah it is". And yeah, it is. I'm kind of apprehensive about reentering the community theatre world, for various reasons. But it really is such a dream to be playing this role. There is so much to chew on in this part, and in this play. My next blogging project hopefully will be trying to break it all down...
That's all I have to say at the moment, here's to the endeavor!
It's weird working so intensely on something, thinking about it almost non stop, then it's on to the next thing and that starts taking up all this mental real estate since you know, most of the work on that other thing is done, but not really because you still have to perform it!
So anyway, tonight's show was pretty good. I couldn't help feeling like it wasn't my strongest, but I found my footing and by the end of the night I'd even discovered some new things.
And Three Sisters? Holy shit what a can of worms that play is going to be. There is so much going on in that text... I don't even know where to begin. But it is going to be a fantastic time. I was talking to my Swimming in the Shallows director, and he said "it really is a dream role" and I was like "yeah it is". And yeah, it is. I'm kind of apprehensive about reentering the community theatre world, for various reasons. But it really is such a dream to be playing this role. There is so much to chew on in this part, and in this play. My next blogging project hopefully will be trying to break it all down...
That's all I have to say at the moment, here's to the endeavor!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Up and running!
Swimming in the Shallows is up and running, woo hoo! Last night was an invited dress rehearsal, attended by I suppose twenty or so members of the Salem Theatre Company community, various actors, technicians, board members and other folks with an existing relationship to the theatre. One of them, Jonathan Simcosky, wrote this awesome review in North Shore Art Throb! Thanks Jonathan! Last night was pretty intense, we were all hyped on that adrenaline you get performing in front of people for the first time and man were they receptive. Which on some level was to be expected. They had been invited (and thank you all for coming) to see an invited dress, so they were getting an exclusive first look at the piece and I'm sure they all had motivations for wanting to see it go well and do well in the future, so they were supportive as well as receptive and they all laughed their asses off. Which was great! Part of the DNA of this play is just a tiny bit screw ball. Every like, fourth line can be interpreted as a joke. It's not particularly realistic, but still grounded in it's heightened logic. The point being, they had a huge amount of energy and they showed in their laughter, and it was a decent sized crowd for the space.
Tonight's public preview audience however, as these things often go, was much, much quieter. And something like ten people smaller. And generally on the older side. So, you know that means (of you do if your a performer) less responsiveness, less energy, more pensiveness, more chuckles, some out and out laughs but less unrelenting torrents of sheer LAUGHTER. And that was an adjustment. Generally speaking, the second performance is usually more of a challenge than the first, especially with comedy. Because with comedy, laughter and the energy of the audience are big factors in the room. Your laughs, audience members, drive the performance. So when you come out of tech and into a room full of people you respond very immediately to that energy and when you get a lot of it (or not a lot, depending) then you scale your expectation of how much "force" to anticipate coming from the audience. BUT no two audiences are the same, and neither are any two performances and that's part of what makes theatre so fantastic. Personally, I think sometimes I maybe even do better when there is a lower energy crowd than when there is a big, young, possibly drunk on excitement and/or alcohol kind of audience that laughs heartily and readily. Not that I mind those audiences. But tonight, man? I was working that shit. I was doing whatever I could to make those fuckers LAUGH pardon my french. I think part of my DNA as a performer is that of a comedian, not necessarily a stand up because in the case of stand up when they aren't laughing then it's really painful and I feel that, but you know what I mean. I like making people laugh. And I'm good at it. I discovered that kind of early on, and I think it was part of my impetus to becoming an actor.
So anyway, in terms of audiences, we've already hit both extremes so from here on it I think we'll be ready for whatever comes our way. Man, did I mention how good I feel about this show? Did you read that review? Damn, it's some good shit.
Tonight's public preview audience however, as these things often go, was much, much quieter. And something like ten people smaller. And generally on the older side. So, you know that means (of you do if your a performer) less responsiveness, less energy, more pensiveness, more chuckles, some out and out laughs but less unrelenting torrents of sheer LAUGHTER. And that was an adjustment. Generally speaking, the second performance is usually more of a challenge than the first, especially with comedy. Because with comedy, laughter and the energy of the audience are big factors in the room. Your laughs, audience members, drive the performance. So when you come out of tech and into a room full of people you respond very immediately to that energy and when you get a lot of it (or not a lot, depending) then you scale your expectation of how much "force" to anticipate coming from the audience. BUT no two audiences are the same, and neither are any two performances and that's part of what makes theatre so fantastic. Personally, I think sometimes I maybe even do better when there is a lower energy crowd than when there is a big, young, possibly drunk on excitement and/or alcohol kind of audience that laughs heartily and readily. Not that I mind those audiences. But tonight, man? I was working that shit. I was doing whatever I could to make those fuckers LAUGH pardon my french. I think part of my DNA as a performer is that of a comedian, not necessarily a stand up because in the case of stand up when they aren't laughing then it's really painful and I feel that, but you know what I mean. I like making people laugh. And I'm good at it. I discovered that kind of early on, and I think it was part of my impetus to becoming an actor.
So anyway, in terms of audiences, we've already hit both extremes so from here on it I think we'll be ready for whatever comes our way. Man, did I mention how good I feel about this show? Did you read that review? Damn, it's some good shit.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Is it Spring yet?
One of the best things about living in New England is Spring. It's probably my favorite season. I guess tied with fall. And also, summer. Basically all the seasons that are not winter. I really enjoy going out in a light or medium coat. This is of course especially true after like five months of crappy weather, basically the stretch from November to somewhere in March where things start to turn...
And we are fast approaching that turning point! Exciting, yes? We had a few days in February where it got up into the 40s and 50s, and man were they delightful... more so than when the weather did that in November and December that was just creepy. But now that the days are elongating, the angles of sun light actually match up with those kinds of temperatures.
Speaking of Spring, that's when Crooked Arrows will be arriving at a theatre near you (if you live in select markets) May 18th! Wow so this thing I've been talking and thinking about will be becoming concrete and then onwards from there! I want to speculate on what this could mean for me, but I won't because I don't know and won't know until after it comes out so what good is speculating?
Meanwhile in the present, I did my second round of ADR yesterday. Fun fact: ADR stands for Automated Dialogue Replacement. I did a bunch of this in LA while I was out there, I think they wanted while they had me in person to just record a bunch of extra stuff while they could and it was actually a pretty fantastic experience, both in learning a new skill set and in collaborating with the film's director Steve Rash. This was also quite an experience, as this time I actually had to redo lines so that they synced up with my performance on camera, I essentially had to lip synch myself. Generally with Chad Bryan, because I had such a strong understanding of the character, I could knock out my stuff in at most three takes also depending on the complexity of the text at hand (some of his lines get pretty wordy) but this took me like ten or twelve takes to nail down the exact rhythm that I was saying the line at. Later on, I had to deliver one of my lines from a place of actual... sincerity. Generally, Chad is kind of a smug bastard. He's a big lacrosse nerd at heart, and he loves the game so much that he can't help but run around to all these prep schools and do his little online show of live commentary on the games and over the course of the movie he goes from viewing the Crooked Arrows as pitiful to really admiring them. And it's in a moment of sincere admiration that he talks about the conclusion of the typical sports movie cliches and delivers a heart felt line about how they won't give up. So I really had to drop down out of Chad... but I still wanted to fight to keep some of him in there, but stepping away from the cartoonish persona that I was dependent on to drive the character while keeping the shading of those characteristics... the best take and the one I assume they'll go with was the one where I was able to drop way out, and then at the end bring it back in. That also took me like ten or twelve takes to really nail down, and it was hard!
But I'm a better actor for it, and I'm glad that they decided to go back in and add that heart to my character. I think it will reflect better on the film, on Chad's role and on me as an actor in relationship to all of that. All in all from what I was able to glean, I think it will be a really entertaining family film. So that's that.
In other news, I had my audition for Three Sisters on Sunday, and I felt like it went really well. In the four major plays of Chekov of which I am a big fan, Chekov is probably my favorite playwright ever, there are maybe half a dozen roles I'm in a place age and I guess life wise to play right now. Konstantin in the Seagull being a big one, the young communist in The Cherry Orchard who's name I can't remember is another, and Tuzenbach and Andrei in Three Sisters are two others. And if nothing else in that audition, I got to play those two roles, just a few pages at a time, for a little while. And it felt very satisfying. Chekov is just such an actor's dream to play if you know where to look for the nuances of his writing which I frankly do because I had good teachers who taught me how. I can't make the callback on Thursday, which is unfortunate, but I felt like I put forward good work and the director said they would keep me in consideration and that's all I can hope for.
Oh and lastly, why can't I make it to callbacks on Thursday? BECAUSE THAT IS WHEN SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS OPENS. Holy shit. How long has it been? Like a month? A little less than that I think? Wow. This is going to be a great show. It hasn't really hit me yet, here we are in tech, this is the moment where everything really comes together. And then an audience enters the room, and BOOM ACTING *MAAAAAAGIC*. Seriously, it's going to be a great show, hopefully if you are reading this you got an email invitation but if not consider yourself invited! It's really been a fantastic experience with a fantastic group and I've been able to push myself to do things I've never done or thought I would have been capable of a few years ago.
So come see it. That's all for now, ciao!
And we are fast approaching that turning point! Exciting, yes? We had a few days in February where it got up into the 40s and 50s, and man were they delightful... more so than when the weather did that in November and December that was just creepy. But now that the days are elongating, the angles of sun light actually match up with those kinds of temperatures.
Speaking of Spring, that's when Crooked Arrows will be arriving at a theatre near you (if you live in select markets) May 18th! Wow so this thing I've been talking and thinking about will be becoming concrete and then onwards from there! I want to speculate on what this could mean for me, but I won't because I don't know and won't know until after it comes out so what good is speculating?
Meanwhile in the present, I did my second round of ADR yesterday. Fun fact: ADR stands for Automated Dialogue Replacement. I did a bunch of this in LA while I was out there, I think they wanted while they had me in person to just record a bunch of extra stuff while they could and it was actually a pretty fantastic experience, both in learning a new skill set and in collaborating with the film's director Steve Rash. This was also quite an experience, as this time I actually had to redo lines so that they synced up with my performance on camera, I essentially had to lip synch myself. Generally with Chad Bryan, because I had such a strong understanding of the character, I could knock out my stuff in at most three takes also depending on the complexity of the text at hand (some of his lines get pretty wordy) but this took me like ten or twelve takes to nail down the exact rhythm that I was saying the line at. Later on, I had to deliver one of my lines from a place of actual... sincerity. Generally, Chad is kind of a smug bastard. He's a big lacrosse nerd at heart, and he loves the game so much that he can't help but run around to all these prep schools and do his little online show of live commentary on the games and over the course of the movie he goes from viewing the Crooked Arrows as pitiful to really admiring them. And it's in a moment of sincere admiration that he talks about the conclusion of the typical sports movie cliches and delivers a heart felt line about how they won't give up. So I really had to drop down out of Chad... but I still wanted to fight to keep some of him in there, but stepping away from the cartoonish persona that I was dependent on to drive the character while keeping the shading of those characteristics... the best take and the one I assume they'll go with was the one where I was able to drop way out, and then at the end bring it back in. That also took me like ten or twelve takes to really nail down, and it was hard!
But I'm a better actor for it, and I'm glad that they decided to go back in and add that heart to my character. I think it will reflect better on the film, on Chad's role and on me as an actor in relationship to all of that. All in all from what I was able to glean, I think it will be a really entertaining family film. So that's that.
In other news, I had my audition for Three Sisters on Sunday, and I felt like it went really well. In the four major plays of Chekov of which I am a big fan, Chekov is probably my favorite playwright ever, there are maybe half a dozen roles I'm in a place age and I guess life wise to play right now. Konstantin in the Seagull being a big one, the young communist in The Cherry Orchard who's name I can't remember is another, and Tuzenbach and Andrei in Three Sisters are two others. And if nothing else in that audition, I got to play those two roles, just a few pages at a time, for a little while. And it felt very satisfying. Chekov is just such an actor's dream to play if you know where to look for the nuances of his writing which I frankly do because I had good teachers who taught me how. I can't make the callback on Thursday, which is unfortunate, but I felt like I put forward good work and the director said they would keep me in consideration and that's all I can hope for.
Oh and lastly, why can't I make it to callbacks on Thursday? BECAUSE THAT IS WHEN SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS OPENS. Holy shit. How long has it been? Like a month? A little less than that I think? Wow. This is going to be a great show. It hasn't really hit me yet, here we are in tech, this is the moment where everything really comes together. And then an audience enters the room, and BOOM ACTING *MAAAAAAGIC*. Seriously, it's going to be a great show, hopefully if you are reading this you got an email invitation but if not consider yourself invited! It's really been a fantastic experience with a fantastic group and I've been able to push myself to do things I've never done or thought I would have been capable of a few years ago.
So come see it. That's all for now, ciao!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Getting There!
Swimming in the Shallows is swimming along towards our opening March 8th... holy crap that's soon! Well, it's not too soon, because I think the show has been in really great shape. This week for me was about tying my performance down to Earth, to the reality of the character's situations and really listening to my fellow actors. I think my best strongest assest as a performer is the energy I bring on stage, I'm full of it! This works well for a lot of my roles, it helps me do what I do comedically and when I can really focus and harness it, I think it makes me particularly well suited for certain kinds of film roles (when Crooked Arrows comes out, you'll see what I mean). Sometimes this can get in out of hand, especially in a fast paced show like this one, with a heightened reality and heightened language. At times it's almost reminiscent of my old friend, the farce. But it's not! And I realized that was the mistake I had been making, was to treat this material as if it were out sized and non realistic... which it is, to a point, but the characters don't know that. Nick doesn't think it's strange that he would be in love with a shark, to him it's completely a part of his world. And this is true of everything he says to the characters, so I've been thinking of each moment where my energy had been getting out of hand, and sort of dying it down to the ground, "grounding it", so to speak.
And I think it's been working! I think. My director, Scott, sent me some notes on some sections where the connection to the situation and to the characters can be stronger so my work this week will be to make those connections really as solid as they can be. And now that we're all off book and the show is picking up steam, really running it and polishing it and all that good stuff. Like I said, the show is in a really great place, having been in as many shows as I've been in, I feel pretty competent about that.
Another breakthrough from this week, my fellow actor playing the Shark and I crossed over into actually doing our same sex kiss. And you know what? It's not that big of a deal! I mean, of course it never was, but hey this stuff can be pretty hard and awkward. I'm glad we didn't rush into doing it, because it feels more meaningful and truthful now that we've had time to develop the characters and generally get to know one another. I think it's going to be a great, truthful, touching moment. Exciting!
In other news, I've contracted the services of a monologue coach and I've been thinking about what pieces to start working on for potential usage in Stagesource and also for other auditions that are coming up. What auditions, you ask? Well today I auditioned for Bye Bye Liver: The Boston Drinking Play. It sounds like it comes in a mold similar to a Fishnet, Flanagan's Wake, you know Shear Madness knock offs but with more a sketch element and less of a narrative through line. I thought it went well! I'm pretty good at sketch stuff, and I read for a drag queen, which is strangely enough one of my strong suits... moving on, the auditions on the horizon are The Three Sisters at Footlight Club, directed by Caitlin Lowans who's directing the Romeo and Juliet I blogged about auditioning for in Stoneham. Three Sisters is one of my favorite plays, since it's by Chekov and he's probably my favorite play write. It also has one of my favorite roles of Chekov's, one which is on my sort of actor's bucket list of roles to play at some point in my career, Tuzenbach. If you've read Three Sisters, you know what I'm talking about. The other big audition is Coriolanus with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. This will be second time auditioning for CSC, I have no particular reason to expect that my audition will warrant a callback or what have you. But hey it's worth a try! If nothing else, I can try and get my pieces down to two minutes and make it a test run for Stagesource.
In other, more guitar related news, I've been dabbling again in recording. A few weeks ago I bought a new recording toy, a Shure X2U XLR to USB signal adaptor. I think it sounds pretty good, technical mumbo jumba-what aside. Give it a listen, if you'd like.
And I think it's been working! I think. My director, Scott, sent me some notes on some sections where the connection to the situation and to the characters can be stronger so my work this week will be to make those connections really as solid as they can be. And now that we're all off book and the show is picking up steam, really running it and polishing it and all that good stuff. Like I said, the show is in a really great place, having been in as many shows as I've been in, I feel pretty competent about that.
Another breakthrough from this week, my fellow actor playing the Shark and I crossed over into actually doing our same sex kiss. And you know what? It's not that big of a deal! I mean, of course it never was, but hey this stuff can be pretty hard and awkward. I'm glad we didn't rush into doing it, because it feels more meaningful and truthful now that we've had time to develop the characters and generally get to know one another. I think it's going to be a great, truthful, touching moment. Exciting!
In other news, I've contracted the services of a monologue coach and I've been thinking about what pieces to start working on for potential usage in Stagesource and also for other auditions that are coming up. What auditions, you ask? Well today I auditioned for Bye Bye Liver: The Boston Drinking Play. It sounds like it comes in a mold similar to a Fishnet, Flanagan's Wake, you know Shear Madness knock offs but with more a sketch element and less of a narrative through line. I thought it went well! I'm pretty good at sketch stuff, and I read for a drag queen, which is strangely enough one of my strong suits... moving on, the auditions on the horizon are The Three Sisters at Footlight Club, directed by Caitlin Lowans who's directing the Romeo and Juliet I blogged about auditioning for in Stoneham. Three Sisters is one of my favorite plays, since it's by Chekov and he's probably my favorite play write. It also has one of my favorite roles of Chekov's, one which is on my sort of actor's bucket list of roles to play at some point in my career, Tuzenbach. If you've read Three Sisters, you know what I'm talking about. The other big audition is Coriolanus with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. This will be second time auditioning for CSC, I have no particular reason to expect that my audition will warrant a callback or what have you. But hey it's worth a try! If nothing else, I can try and get my pieces down to two minutes and make it a test run for Stagesource.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
"Be in the moment... NOW"
Today in rehearsal I had to remind myself of one of the most basic acting principals: be in the moment and stay there. We are at a challenging stage of rehearsals for Swimming in the Shallows. Oh wait, let's see, our read through was only February 7th, and last night we had our first run off book (it was pretty messy, as you might imagine). We open March 8th. So more or less, that puts us two weeks in with two weeks ago. At this point, I'm pretty off book, you know, mostly off book. There are some passages that need further attention on my part. But overall, I have the text in my head and I've hammered out a rudimentary shape to the character and it's arc. My scenes, especially the ones we've had more time to give attention to, like one early scene that we spent tonight's rehearsal pulling apart, have a form and a rhythm that I'm comfortable with. Too comfortable with, as with tonight's scene, I was blowing through it without really thinking about what I'm saying or more importantly why I'm saying it. This text is pretty tricky though, rhythmically it's very demanding, it's sort of similar to Shakespeare in that it's written to be performed without unnecessary pauses but you see pauses are your best friend as a modern, realistic actor because they give you time to think, or to create the illusion of thought in your character.
Shakespeare's text is written in verse, in iambic pentameter, and there is a way that if you can find and follow the pentameter the text will carry it with you through performance and into all the various discoveries the character makes in it's journey. So if you know what your saying and how to say it, basically Shakespeare does the work for you. This technique, however tough a nut to crack, is pretty astounding! Swimming in the Shallows has a similarly rhythmic quality, you don't have time to stop and think you have to think with the line, as John Barton says in "Playing Shakespeare" or you know something like that.
But the thing I had to remind myself of tonight was to "be in the moment" and actually listen to my scene partner, even though I know exactly what she's going to say, I had to ACTUALLY HEAR HER SAY IT before I RESPONDED. Man, that's hard sometimes, right? So yes, I was committing the crime of anticipation. It's tough being halfway through, especially in this short process when I have so much still to figure out. And time to figure it out in. But not too much time!
Now that I've learned the text... I have to unlearn it. Real jedi type shit, huh? But it's true, and every actor worth their salt is reminded of it, every time we get on stage.
Shakespeare's text is written in verse, in iambic pentameter, and there is a way that if you can find and follow the pentameter the text will carry it with you through performance and into all the various discoveries the character makes in it's journey. So if you know what your saying and how to say it, basically Shakespeare does the work for you. This technique, however tough a nut to crack, is pretty astounding! Swimming in the Shallows has a similarly rhythmic quality, you don't have time to stop and think you have to think with the line, as John Barton says in "Playing Shakespeare" or you know something like that.
But the thing I had to remind myself of tonight was to "be in the moment" and actually listen to my scene partner, even though I know exactly what she's going to say, I had to ACTUALLY HEAR HER SAY IT before I RESPONDED. Man, that's hard sometimes, right? So yes, I was committing the crime of anticipation. It's tough being halfway through, especially in this short process when I have so much still to figure out. And time to figure it out in. But not too much time!
Now that I've learned the text... I have to unlearn it. Real jedi type shit, huh? But it's true, and every actor worth their salt is reminded of it, every time we get on stage.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Time Management
Is anything more exciting then the whoosh of preparation as you rehearse a play? Every day is something new, a new discovery, a new challenge. You get to watch the piece develop from moment to moment, knowing that time is ticking down before you have to make the next step. For me, right now in working on Swimming in the Shallows that big step is getting off book. At times, this feels like kind of a bear. Nick, my character, is in a lot of the play. And this is very exciting, because I get to create and experience a very full journey across multiple scenes and relationships and I get to be on stage a lot. This both pleasing to my ego as a performer but also to my desire to develop artistically. The best way to do that is to be on stage. What you do with that time on stage will determine your development. For instance, I've played a bunch of smaller roles in things, as well as roles which have been quite substantial. Both kinds of parts have made lasting impacts on how I think about my art. As the old saying goes, "there are no small parts only small actors", and that's generally true. Sometimes I forget that. And also, well, no there is such a thing as a small part. A spear carrier is a small part. Sorry. Unless I'm getting something else out of it, which granted in the past I've usually done, I'd rather not play any more spear carriers. I guess I should specify, I'm done playing spear carriers in community theatre productions.
But that's a whole other tangent. Nick is not a small part by any means. It's kind of ironic that when I think back on my track record of let's just say parts with substantial amounts of stage time and text vs parts with less of those things, I kind of feel like my batting average is better on the "smaller" parts. Or it might be that when it comes to my history with "larger" parts, I'm just more self critical. One part in particular that I felt like I could have done more with was Solomon in Speech and Debate, which I performed a couple of summers ago when I was still doing Harvard theatre. Thinking back on it, this was the only "large" part that I performed while I was doing Harvard theatre, most of my other roles were of the more "ensemble" variety which was fine and I thought I did some very good work in performing them. Solomon though, I feel like I could have done more with. I guess I've been thinking about the part in particular because it's the one other time that I've played a homosexual, other than now, with Nick.
I don't mean to get hung on these characters' sexuality. In Practical Aesthetics, one of the principals taught is to focus more on the similarities you share with the character your portraying while acknowledging the differences, where the temptation is often to do it the other way round. It was kind of a defining characteristic for Solomon, because he was 15 or 16 years old, closeted, and with a very tortured past, including a trip to "gay reform camp" and an ambiguous-in-the-text relationship with an older teacher. So yeah, a lot of internal conflict. Lots and lots of internal conflict and contradictions, all the kind of stuff that makes a role juicy for an actor. I thought I was in good shape with the role for the first few weeks, and then I got strep throat. This made rehearsing very difficult, because if I used my voice at full vocal energy, and a lot of the energy I draw for my performance is from my voice I find, then I would exhaust myself and my throat would feel like sand paper the next day. This was made worse that I was incorrectly prescribed penicillin which I have a resistance to after getting strep like ten times in my life, as opposed to immoxicllin which would have done the trick. So I spent a substantial chunk of the rehearsal process sick, and unable to perform at full tilt, and it seriously leeched the verve out of performance and I really struggled to get it back.
Looking back on the role, I think there was a lot I could have done with that internal conflict, and more that I could have explored more deeply. Then ago, it was college theatre and the nice thing about college theatre is that it doesn't really matter.
Swimming in the Shallows is more important, because now I'm a professional actor out in the world, and as I establish myself I have to constantly be putting my best stuff out there. And isn't that an exciting challenge! I found last night's rehearsal particularly invigorating, because it was the first time now that the whole show is blocked out that we were able to go back and really do work for detail and nuance, giving shape and making discoveries. All the stuff I love about acting and especially stage acting. Onwards to the next great discovery.
But that's a whole other tangent. Nick is not a small part by any means. It's kind of ironic that when I think back on my track record of let's just say parts with substantial amounts of stage time and text vs parts with less of those things, I kind of feel like my batting average is better on the "smaller" parts. Or it might be that when it comes to my history with "larger" parts, I'm just more self critical. One part in particular that I felt like I could have done more with was Solomon in Speech and Debate, which I performed a couple of summers ago when I was still doing Harvard theatre. Thinking back on it, this was the only "large" part that I performed while I was doing Harvard theatre, most of my other roles were of the more "ensemble" variety which was fine and I thought I did some very good work in performing them. Solomon though, I feel like I could have done more with. I guess I've been thinking about the part in particular because it's the one other time that I've played a homosexual, other than now, with Nick.
I don't mean to get hung on these characters' sexuality. In Practical Aesthetics, one of the principals taught is to focus more on the similarities you share with the character your portraying while acknowledging the differences, where the temptation is often to do it the other way round. It was kind of a defining characteristic for Solomon, because he was 15 or 16 years old, closeted, and with a very tortured past, including a trip to "gay reform camp" and an ambiguous-in-the-text relationship with an older teacher. So yeah, a lot of internal conflict. Lots and lots of internal conflict and contradictions, all the kind of stuff that makes a role juicy for an actor. I thought I was in good shape with the role for the first few weeks, and then I got strep throat. This made rehearsing very difficult, because if I used my voice at full vocal energy, and a lot of the energy I draw for my performance is from my voice I find, then I would exhaust myself and my throat would feel like sand paper the next day. This was made worse that I was incorrectly prescribed penicillin which I have a resistance to after getting strep like ten times in my life, as opposed to immoxicllin which would have done the trick. So I spent a substantial chunk of the rehearsal process sick, and unable to perform at full tilt, and it seriously leeched the verve out of performance and I really struggled to get it back.
Looking back on the role, I think there was a lot I could have done with that internal conflict, and more that I could have explored more deeply. Then ago, it was college theatre and the nice thing about college theatre is that it doesn't really matter.
Swimming in the Shallows is more important, because now I'm a professional actor out in the world, and as I establish myself I have to constantly be putting my best stuff out there. And isn't that an exciting challenge! I found last night's rehearsal particularly invigorating, because it was the first time now that the whole show is blocked out that we were able to go back and really do work for detail and nuance, giving shape and making discoveries. All the stuff I love about acting and especially stage acting. Onwards to the next great discovery.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
New Discoveries
I had a sort of epiphany last night at a rehearsal... that I was at a rehearsal, playing a challenging role in a fun and exciting new play at a theatre I'd never worked at with people I'd largely never even met. Whoa, sensory overload of great and new stuff!
Probably this should have been less of an epiphany. But at this point, rehearsals, commuting, learning lines and blocking, coming and going from all those different things has become so business as usual. On the other hand though, this play isn't, this is different from anything else I've worked on. I guess it's sort of comparable to Speech and Debate, in that this character is a homosexual like Solomon but he was closeted and had all that other stuff going on. Speech and Debate is a pretty good play, but I think this one is better. Oh what is it? Why it's Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock. It's a sort of surreal romantic comedy about three couples, one falling in love, another rediscovering it and still another falling out of it as it were. My love interest is a Shark. He is being played by a man. In the world of the play, that he is a Shark is not especially strange. He lives in an aquarium, he works there, and he swims all day. At the plays beginning, my character is romantically frustrated. He has an easy time meeting men, and he sleeps with them quite frequently, but usually after sleeping with them once and early on in their relationship it then fails to progress into anything more significant. In addition to that, he has sort of a "Romeo complex" not that he's constantly finding himself in doomed, star crossed romances, but I guess more that he wears his heart on his sleeve and finds very deep feelings for these partners in a very short period of time which are then expressed through you know, sex, then not returned. Basically he sleeps with them and they don't call. My part of the play is about how he goes about identifying and changing that pattern of behavior so that he can have a real relationship and an outlet for all of his emotions and desire for love and to be loved.
Did I mention at the climax he and the Shark kiss? Do they then have sex? You'll have to wait for the play to see...
Actually though there is amongst the numerous very funny and poignant scenes an especially touching one between Nick and the Shark at the beach which largely inspired me to agree to this play all the way out in Salem. Despite the heightened universe it exists in, there is something very real and true about the way the two characters discover one another and explore their romantic feelings before it culminates in the aforementioned kiss. I feel like in some way this is an archetypal dramatic scenario. The party scene from Romeo and Juliet being kind of another example. I've played anger, platonic love, farcical love, and various other states of being on stage before. But never something like this. And so for all those reasons, I'm excited to work on this show. Oh and the chance to play! After just a few rehearsals with this group, I can tell that's going to be central to the work we do. And when the work you do is playing, is it even work? Exactly! Now if you'll excuse me, we open March 5th and we've just started rehearsing this week *ahem* so I have lines to learn.
Probably this should have been less of an epiphany. But at this point, rehearsals, commuting, learning lines and blocking, coming and going from all those different things has become so business as usual. On the other hand though, this play isn't, this is different from anything else I've worked on. I guess it's sort of comparable to Speech and Debate, in that this character is a homosexual like Solomon but he was closeted and had all that other stuff going on. Speech and Debate is a pretty good play, but I think this one is better. Oh what is it? Why it's Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock. It's a sort of surreal romantic comedy about three couples, one falling in love, another rediscovering it and still another falling out of it as it were. My love interest is a Shark. He is being played by a man. In the world of the play, that he is a Shark is not especially strange. He lives in an aquarium, he works there, and he swims all day. At the plays beginning, my character is romantically frustrated. He has an easy time meeting men, and he sleeps with them quite frequently, but usually after sleeping with them once and early on in their relationship it then fails to progress into anything more significant. In addition to that, he has sort of a "Romeo complex" not that he's constantly finding himself in doomed, star crossed romances, but I guess more that he wears his heart on his sleeve and finds very deep feelings for these partners in a very short period of time which are then expressed through you know, sex, then not returned. Basically he sleeps with them and they don't call. My part of the play is about how he goes about identifying and changing that pattern of behavior so that he can have a real relationship and an outlet for all of his emotions and desire for love and to be loved.
Did I mention at the climax he and the Shark kiss? Do they then have sex? You'll have to wait for the play to see...
Actually though there is amongst the numerous very funny and poignant scenes an especially touching one between Nick and the Shark at the beach which largely inspired me to agree to this play all the way out in Salem. Despite the heightened universe it exists in, there is something very real and true about the way the two characters discover one another and explore their romantic feelings before it culminates in the aforementioned kiss. I feel like in some way this is an archetypal dramatic scenario. The party scene from Romeo and Juliet being kind of another example. I've played anger, platonic love, farcical love, and various other states of being on stage before. But never something like this. And so for all those reasons, I'm excited to work on this show. Oh and the chance to play! After just a few rehearsals with this group, I can tell that's going to be central to the work we do. And when the work you do is playing, is it even work? Exactly! Now if you'll excuse me, we open March 5th and we've just started rehearsing this week *ahem* so I have lines to learn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)