Thursday, March 3, 2011
reading the programme notes
A couple of people have spoken to me in the past 24 hours about resemblances between Gloucester and Polonius (they knew from the programme notes that I have played Polonius). I think they are right, and maybe there is also a connection with Malvolio - another blustering 'fixer' who gets what he deserves, and another part I've played....
afterthoughts
I'm not sure when and how the photos will come out. I must try and get on to that.
I've just been reading Nahum Tate's version of the play. If I get the chance to teach Shakespeare and Popular Culture again, I might include that to demonstrate that Popular Culture is not a recent phenomenon. Some of the cuts that Tate made were replicated in our production...
I've just been reading Nahum Tate's version of the play. If I get the chance to teach Shakespeare and Popular Culture again, I might include that to demonstrate that Popular Culture is not a recent phenomenon. Some of the cuts that Tate made were replicated in our production...
Monday, February 28, 2011
That's all folks
Final performance, done and dusted. Photo call a bit of a scramble. Lots of hugs after it was all over - I feel quite deflated now, but my poor wife is really unwell....
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
nearly done
The weather was not great again tonight, but the show went on, and the house was respectable, if not spectacular. There were again some people from the Shakespeare Festival, and the man who was down to direct the play originally (that story is too large and complex for this blog). I was very pleased that he came, and touched that he brought flowers for Barry and for me.
There were back-stage conversations about the fact that we have not seen our director for a week now, and other murmurings about the auditions which have been taking place this week for next term - I'm really not involved in either of those issues.
What I do find interesting is that there were, apparently, some hiccups tonight in some scenes. I was quite unaware of them. But I did hear a cell phone go off, and we did have the (to my mind) inappropriate laughter at my non-fall from the cliff....
There were back-stage conversations about the fact that we have not seen our director for a week now, and other murmurings about the auditions which have been taking place this week for next term - I'm really not involved in either of those issues.
What I do find interesting is that there were, apparently, some hiccups tonight in some scenes. I was quite unaware of them. But I did hear a cell phone go off, and we did have the (to my mind) inappropriate laughter at my non-fall from the cliff....
Friday, February 25, 2011
Middle School
That was interesting - they were not as lively as some groups I've worked with, but they had probably had even less sleep than I have had. We talked about whether or not I screamed enough when my eyes were being gouged out, and they may well have a point - on the other hand, as I observed, Shakespeare keeps giving me lines....
The show DID go on...
... and I thought it was a good show. The weather continued to be awful, and I turned down an invitation to an after-show party, because I wanted to get home - it is not a long drive to the campus, but conditions were very bad.
I've just phoned the Middle School, and they are open today, but 16 of the group could not get to the play last night. I'll see what the rest have to say about what they saw when I'm there in an hour and a half....
I've just phoned the Middle School, and they are open today, but 16 of the group could not get to the play last night. I'll see what the rest have to say about what they saw when I'm there in an hour and a half....
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Weather...
It is snowing hard again now, with just three hours until the show goes up.
I am due to speak to a Middle School tomorrow morning, but I wonder if their group will get there tonight, and whether the school will be open tomorrow?
I am due to speak to a Middle School tomorrow morning, but I wonder if their group will get there tonight, and whether the school will be open tomorrow?
on the brink
The forecast said that there would be 10 inches of snow overnight - we got maybe three: not enough to close the university, but will it keep our audience away tonight?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Flat
I'm feeling a bit flat, and I'm glad we have a line rehearsal tonight to get me back in the mood.
We were out for supper on Sunday with friends who had either seen the play or read the review (or both) and that was very reassuring. We watched a film on Monday evening, and went to the equivalent of a pub-quiz last night, but I still feel a bit down today. It may well be compounded by the fact that the audio-book people have not get back to me, so I'm guessing I did not get that job....
There is an after-show party on Sunday night for Lear and Alice, but I'll give that a miss - I've not been to an after-show party for about thirty years!
We were out for supper on Sunday with friends who had either seen the play or read the review (or both) and that was very reassuring. We watched a film on Monday evening, and went to the equivalent of a pub-quiz last night, but I still feel a bit down today. It may well be compounded by the fact that the audio-book people have not get back to me, so I'm guessing I did not get that job....
There is an after-show party on Sunday night for Lear and Alice, but I'll give that a miss - I've not been to an after-show party for about thirty years!
Monday, February 21, 2011
The review is in
I am pleased by what it says, although I can imagine that the students playing the Fool, Kent and Cordelia will be disappointed not to get a mention...
February 20, 2011
By Bill Varble
for the Mail Tribune
"King Lear" is a play you don't want to mess around with. Its world is so pitiless, its action so dark, that the kind of tinkering that often goes by names like "re-imagining" would risk dampening its signal effect, which is a certain dread.
The new production that opened Friday night at Southern Oregon University, directed by Brent Hinkley, is a sprawling, take-no-prisoners version of Shakespeare's most nihilistic play, propelled by Barry Kraft's fine performance as Lear.
Hinkley and Kraft are professional actors at SOU's neighbor, a little thing you may have heard of called the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Although OSF actors often contribute work to SOU plays, I don't remember seeing one in a leading role at the college. One surmises that there are payoffs for theater arts students in working with the equity actors, and perhaps trade-offs, as well. You don't have a chance to play Lear, but you get to work with a master.
From the audience's viewpoint there's no downside; the presence of the pros lifts the whole thing. To see Kraft, as Lear, struggling to come to terms with his own foolishness on SOU's big Center Stage, transformed by scenic designer Sean O'Skea's magic into an impressionistic ancient Britain with massive, moveable flats, is such stuff as a lot of theaters' dreams are made on.
This is a big undertaking in every way. In an era of the two-person play, there are 30 actors and 14 speaking parts. There is the old king himself, one of the greatest roles in world of drama. There are swordfights, a raging storm, lightning and thunder, murder, madness, mayhem, body parts rolling around. The whole thing is listed at three hours and ran closer to three-and-a-half.
Kraft commands the stage when he's on, which is much of the time. Early in his imperious stage he wears a crown, the upthrust of which may remind you of Glinda the Good Witch. Crowns symbolize power and glory, so maybe the steroidally exuberant headgear suggests the old fool's inflated opinion of himself before his betrayal and fall. Hats aside, as Kraft descends into madness and gropes for some kind of redemption, this is a powerful, affecting Lear.
Gloucester, compellingly fleshed out by Geoff Ridden, anchors the lively sub-plot. When Lear and Gloucester meet on the beach at Dover, one mad, the other blinded, it is heartbreaking.
Zach Myers and Blaine Johnston shine as Gloucester's odd-couple sons Edmund and Edgar. Myers is oily and repellent as cardboard villain Edmund, and Johnston is noble (despite the play's misogyny) as the selfless Edgar, and weirdly believable in his sequence as whacked-out Tom O'Bedlam.
The other villains, Mallory Wedding as Goneril, Chelsea Mia as Regan and Levi Goodman as Cornwall, are thuggish and brutal and go about their dreadful work with relish. Cornwall's eyeball scene with Gloucester includes the plucked orbs squirting onto the floor, where in a nice touch they're later picked up by one of Cornwall's mob — a minor bit of housekeeping, don't you know.
It is moving in Lear's death scene to seem him grasp at straws as he tires to convince himself that Cordelia lives. But in his world there is no redemption, unless you count a certain splendor in the ashes.
What warts there be on this no-nonsense "King Lear" are minor. There are moments when some of the actor's speeches can't quite be heard, moments late in the play where the pace lagged. But this is a fine go at a monumentally challenging play — with all those young actors.
I never go to "King Lear" without wishing on some level, just for an instant, I could just be seeing "Twelfth Night" or something instead. But if it's good you wind up being touched, if not uplifted. It's a feeling a bit like having your eyes snap open at 3 a.m. to the sudden feeling of a bleak, indifferent universe.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
two for the price of one
Having two different shows running at once has been a challenge. Alice is scheduled to open at 7.00, although a group arrived late and delayed it until 7.15 last night. It still means that they are all done before we have even got to our intermission. We have two different shows coming out of the backstage speakers and the result reminds me of a devised piece called 'Will Alice Play' that I worked on with Alan Knight back in the early 80s, and which was revived by him for the Chesil some 10 years later.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
There has to be a word for it...
.. for that phenomenon whereby inanimate objects bug your performance.
I was doing OK tonight: there was a reasonable sized audience, with only a couple of people laughing at what I thought were inappropriate points, and then I tripped on the handle to one of the trap-doors (just before the intermission, to make it worse) and, in the second half, when blind, pulled out of my pocket not one but two purses, which had linked themselves together.
Maybe I really do need a break! We do our next performance on Thursday: I calculate that we will have less than an hour between finishing the matinee on Saturday and being signed in for the evening performance.
I was doing OK tonight: there was a reasonable sized audience, with only a couple of people laughing at what I thought were inappropriate points, and then I tripped on the handle to one of the trap-doors (just before the intermission, to make it worse) and, in the second half, when blind, pulled out of my pocket not one but two purses, which had linked themselves together.
Maybe I really do need a break! We do our next performance on Thursday: I calculate that we will have less than an hour between finishing the matinee on Saturday and being signed in for the evening performance.
Friday, February 18, 2011
second night
There are all sorts of advantages in having Barry in the cast. He is a terrific actor, and we all learn a great deal from him. He is a lovely person, and fun to be with. His name brings in an audience, and he has friends who will come to see the show, who would not normally come to a University theatre. We've had quite a few members of the Shakespeare Festival in already, and that has to be good for the student actors - they are getting a chance to showcase their talents.
I was quite pleased with how it went tonight, but I shall be even happier at this time tomorrow, when I can look forward to having four Lear-free days.
I was quite pleased with how it went tonight, but I shall be even happier at this time tomorrow, when I can look forward to having four Lear-free days.
PS
By the time we have completed tomorrow night's show, we will have run the play on 13 consecutive days. It will be good to have a short break before the final five performances....
found the script
I went in and retrieved my script - it was much easier to locate once the room was empty.
Tonight and tomorrow, there are two shows running in the building, so there will be more pressure on space backstage.
We came down at around 11.20 last night - too late in Winchester for a drink after the show, but not here, I'm glad to say!
Tonight and tomorrow, there are two shows running in the building, so there will be more pressure on space backstage.
We came down at around 11.20 last night - too late in Winchester for a drink after the show, but not here, I'm glad to say!
We did it!
A great first night! It was mostly students, for whom it was an excuse to get dressed up and enjoy reduced ticket prices, but they were certainly enthusiastic (even if they laughed rather more than maybe we expected). The cast and crew worked their socks off and thoroughly deserved the applause and the plaudits at the end. I seem to have mislaid my script somewhere in the chaos of the opening, but I dare say I shall get it back....
Now we just wait for reviews, photos, and to sell tickets for the rest of the run.
Many of the cast are auditioning next week for the plays to be staged here in May: I won't be doing that, and I may not be doing another play for a while. But I do have the possibility of recording an audio book, and I audition for that this afternoon.....
Now we just wait for reviews, photos, and to sell tickets for the rest of the run.
Many of the cast are auditioning next week for the plays to be staged here in May: I won't be doing that, and I may not be doing another play for a while. But I do have the possibility of recording an audio book, and I audition for that this afternoon.....
Thursday, February 17, 2011
slightly disappointing
We had quite a small audience last night - perhaps 35 at most - and this was disappointing. I am getting the sense that some of the staging is perhaps too ambitious for so short a run, especially the complex light and sound plots and the scene shifting. The problem with such a large crew is that people can get in each other's way. We'll have to see how it goes tonight with what promises to be a much larger house.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
when to end a blog....?
It's the first preview tonight, the Gala tomorrow, and the official first night on Friday.
Maybe I'll end there, or when the reviews come out.....?
Maybe I'll end there, or when the reviews come out.....?
second dress run
That went pretty well too. Tomorrow we have a preview which is free to Theatre students.
We actually had a celebrity watching tonight - Bill Rauch, who is the Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I guess he came to see Barry and to see Brent's directing, but he stayed to the end, although not until the very end of the session (we spent quite a long time rehearsing the curtain call - why is that always so hard?). We started at running time and had the full intermission and came down at 11.15, which is pretty good.
I had fewer problems with props, but the syringe did not fire properly in the blinding scene, and the first cue light for Kent and myself did not go on at all..
We actually had a celebrity watching tonight - Bill Rauch, who is the Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I guess he came to see Barry and to see Brent's directing, but he stayed to the end, although not until the very end of the session (we spent quite a long time rehearsing the curtain call - why is that always so hard?). We started at running time and had the full intermission and came down at 11.15, which is pretty good.
I had fewer problems with props, but the syringe did not fire properly in the blinding scene, and the first cue light for Kent and myself did not go on at all..
Monday, February 14, 2011
First dress
That was different!
There was a costume staff of around ten, including three members of the faculty, and a couple of make-up people. It was a more relaxed set-up than I am used to, in that it seemed to be quite OK if decisions had not been finalised about how your costume might be changed for different scenes. I had some problems with my cape/cloak and these were addressed in the intermission, when we also took a view on whether my hat should stay on all through (no!) and whether my tunic was too tight to allow me to be blinded and wander on the heath (yes!).
I had some problems with props - my flaming torch broke in half, and the blinding scene became just a bit too complicated: I have a syringe of water (for blood) and two different bloody eye-cloths, one in the scene itself (the one that XXXX forget to bring on last week...) and the other that goes on between that scene and the one immediately after. It is the one for the scene itself that is the problem - I cannot guarantee to get it on right in the time available, and do the syringe and act the scene.....
answers on a postcard please.
Oh -and the run went very well indeed!
There was a costume staff of around ten, including three members of the faculty, and a couple of make-up people. It was a more relaxed set-up than I am used to, in that it seemed to be quite OK if decisions had not been finalised about how your costume might be changed for different scenes. I had some problems with my cape/cloak and these were addressed in the intermission, when we also took a view on whether my hat should stay on all through (no!) and whether my tunic was too tight to allow me to be blinded and wander on the heath (yes!).
I had some problems with props - my flaming torch broke in half, and the blinding scene became just a bit too complicated: I have a syringe of water (for blood) and two different bloody eye-cloths, one in the scene itself (the one that XXXX forget to bring on last week...) and the other that goes on between that scene and the one immediately after. It is the one for the scene itself that is the problem - I cannot guarantee to get it on right in the time available, and do the syringe and act the scene.....
answers on a postcard please.
Oh -and the run went very well indeed!
Weekend
It is strange how my misgivings on Friday somehow disappeared....
When I checked in on Saturday I was expecting negative notes from the director, but he was full of praise for my work on Friday, and hadn't noticed the problems with the blinding at all.
We had a very long day of tech, pinned in a small communal area which looked like a high-class refugee camp, what with all the blankets and laptops. There is another show running right now, so they had the make-up room and green room. I think some of my qualms on Friday resulted from the fact that there are a couple of people in the company who were irritating me - I've now found tactics to avoid them, and, on Sunday, we established a separate 'quiet' room where I think I can spend my off-stage time from now on.
It has got to that time when the tech people are working frantically to get their bit right, and the actors have to be patient with them. There were some tense moments on Sunday when different people wanted to assume control of the moment, but we did get through it all, and I think we are in good shape for the first dress run tonight.
When I checked in on Saturday I was expecting negative notes from the director, but he was full of praise for my work on Friday, and hadn't noticed the problems with the blinding at all.
We had a very long day of tech, pinned in a small communal area which looked like a high-class refugee camp, what with all the blankets and laptops. There is another show running right now, so they had the make-up room and green room. I think some of my qualms on Friday resulted from the fact that there are a couple of people in the company who were irritating me - I've now found tactics to avoid them, and, on Sunday, we established a separate 'quiet' room where I think I can spend my off-stage time from now on.
It has got to that time when the tech people are working frantically to get their bit right, and the actors have to be patient with them. There were some tense moments on Sunday when different people wanted to assume control of the moment, but we did get through it all, and I think we are in good shape for the first dress run tonight.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Bound to happen...
Last night was a poor one for me: I think I was actually doing better two weeks ago than I am now.
I'm not really helped by the line notes after each rehearsal - they are making me over-anxious about whether it is 'that' or 'the', and I'm not convinced that this is really so important....
The big problem over the past two runs, however, has been the blinding scene, with the young man who stands beside me forgetting both times to give me the bloody cloth: the first time the adrenalin got me out of it, the second I got unprofessionally annoyed and had to work very hard to get the rest of my scenes on track.
I didn't sleep too well last night.....
Friday, February 11, 2011
Getting very close indeed
The set is almost there, the fights are looking good, and we have pre-show publicity out:
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110210/ENTERTAIN/102100313&cid=sitesearch
We did a full run last night, halted only by the arrival of the biers for the corpses of Goneril and Regan.
It went very very well, but I am really tired, and the prospect of 5 hours tonight, 12 hours tomorrow and 6 on Sunday does not look appealing....
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110210/ENTERTAIN/102100313&cid=sitesearch
We did a full run last night, halted only by the arrival of the biers for the corpses of Goneril and Regan.
It went very very well, but I am really tired, and the prospect of 5 hours tonight, 12 hours tomorrow and 6 on Sunday does not look appealing....
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Losing track of the days
Not a lot of social time now at rehearsals - it's pretty much work all the way. Tonight that meant a fight call for 6.30, and then running the second half twice. I got some lines wrong, but (apart from one totally dropped line) I know the show would still go on even with the errors I made. Tomorrow I will get the MP3 player going again and again and again.....
We've got some nice stuff going with the Fool's hat, and I finally did persuade everyone who is with me in Acts Four and Five that I really cannot see anything after I am blinded - the bandage and the absence of my glasses means that my last three scenes are an extended trust exercise. Edgar almost let me walk right off the stage at one point (before I told him how little I could see), and Lear cleverly toyed with me as I tottered on the edge at another. I also got hit by something in the fight between Edgar and Oswald, and I trod on something (a knife?) being led off after the blinding scene. Scary.......
We've got some nice stuff going with the Fool's hat, and I finally did persuade everyone who is with me in Acts Four and Five that I really cannot see anything after I am blinded - the bandage and the absence of my glasses means that my last three scenes are an extended trust exercise. Edgar almost let me walk right off the stage at one point (before I told him how little I could see), and Lear cleverly toyed with me as I tottered on the edge at another. I also got hit by something in the fight between Edgar and Oswald, and I trod on something (a knife?) being led off after the blinding scene. Scary.......
routine
I now have a post-rehearsal routine.
I drive home, put the garage in the garage, lock the door, close the garage door, take my vitamins, turn off the lights downstairs and retire to my study where I check my emails and unwind for an hour of so before creeping in to bed....
I drive home, put the garage in the garage, lock the door, close the garage door, take my vitamins, turn off the lights downstairs and retire to my study where I check my emails and unwind for an hour of so before creeping in to bed....
a game of two halves - actually the same half twice...
I can't quite understand why my knees hurt tonight. We did the first half twice, and I don't get to kneel at all in that part of the play.
I need to work on lines again - I took it too easy today, thinking that I only have to move the plot along a bit in this section. In fact I have quite a bit to say, and I was not on top form.
We also have a sick member of the cast, and so we had an understudy in tonight - she did very very well.
I need to work on lines again - I took it too easy today, thinking that I only have to move the plot along a bit in this section. In fact I have quite a bit to say, and I was not on top form.
We also have a sick member of the cast, and so we had an understudy in tonight - she did very very well.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Luxury
I realise that I am the only person involved in this project who has no other commitment except the play. OK, I have domestic things, and a few university-related and choir-related activities, but the play is my prime activity until the end of the month. The student members of the company have classes, and Barry and Brent are involved in other plays, but I can, for the most part, rest during the day and think about my role.
getting close
The set is taking shape rapidly now, with most of the big panels in place, and about a third of the steps.
This week 'Alice' is running in the small theatre, so we have to be careful not to intrude into their space.
Last night's rehearsal took place without Lear, and was very fluid in its structure. Brent gave very full notes to the cast as a whole on the run-through last Friday. These were very helpful indeed - they took over 90 minutes. We then spent time on particular moments, trying to tighten up entrances and the taking-up of cues.
I think I'm starting to get it, at last, how this theatre thing works.
This week 'Alice' is running in the small theatre, so we have to be careful not to intrude into their space.
Last night's rehearsal took place without Lear, and was very fluid in its structure. Brent gave very full notes to the cast as a whole on the run-through last Friday. These were very helpful indeed - they took over 90 minutes. We then spent time on particular moments, trying to tighten up entrances and the taking-up of cues.
I think I'm starting to get it, at last, how this theatre thing works.
Acting and singing are so much related. Brent wants us to know the lines, but also be prepared to un-know the lines so that we can say them differently in the theatre from the way we learned them at home: just like we learn the score in the choir. And he wants us to learn how many words we can deliver in a single breath - just as Paul, our choir director, wants us to do with the notes. They really are very similar activities.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Sunday free
The run on Friday went well, despite the fact that Edmund slipped down some steps while carrying swords, and that Lear had to sit for a while during the second half....
I have some concerns about the length of the show, but, thankfully, that is outside of my brief.
We had Saturday calls for work on some particular scenes, and it was very rewarding to work with Edmund and Edgar individually and to resolve some problems.
We have had some toing and froing over the schedule for the immediate future. We are off today (something called the Superbowl...?) and Barry is prevented by Equity rules from working tomorrow - but we will work around him, and start back on full-scale rehearsal on Tuesday
I have some concerns about the length of the show, but, thankfully, that is outside of my brief.
We had Saturday calls for work on some particular scenes, and it was very rewarding to work with Edmund and Edgar individually and to resolve some problems.
We have had some toing and froing over the schedule for the immediate future. We are off today (something called the Superbowl...?) and Barry is prevented by Equity rules from working tomorrow - but we will work around him, and start back on full-scale rehearsal on Tuesday
Friday, February 4, 2011
Getting tense
I'm getting tense in what I hope is a good way.
I had some frustrations yesterday before I got to the rehearsal - some to do with academic issues, some arising from a meeting about the choir - but the physical choreography of the blinding scene helped dispel those quite quickly.
Running the scene itself was certainly a complex procedure, and I am reliant on others to tie me up, to untie me and to give me the props I need. I could do it all pretty well last night, just doing that scene on its own, but I'm worried about how it will work in a full run - we shall see tonight. The big thing for me to get right is to sit properly and not to cross my feet while I'm being tortured....
The posters are up, and the scenery is starting to take shape....
I had some frustrations yesterday before I got to the rehearsal - some to do with academic issues, some arising from a meeting about the choir - but the physical choreography of the blinding scene helped dispel those quite quickly.
Running the scene itself was certainly a complex procedure, and I am reliant on others to tie me up, to untie me and to give me the props I need. I could do it all pretty well last night, just doing that scene on its own, but I'm worried about how it will work in a full run - we shall see tonight. The big thing for me to get right is to sit properly and not to cross my feet while I'm being tortured....
The posters are up, and the scenery is starting to take shape....
Thursday, February 3, 2011
seeing it differently
No call for me last night, so I got a whole day off. I did some housework, sat in the sun and read a mystery novel and had a couple of beers with a friend, then a leisurely dinner with Terry and we watched 'Nowhere Boy'.
Oh, and I thought about Act Four Scene Three. It's a short scene, and very very rarely staged, yet it has some of the most beautiful lines in the play - those describing Cordelia finding out what has happened to her father. Sadly, those lines have been cut, but the two actors in the scene were struggling with it on Tuesday, and asked me, if it was so rarely staged, why it was there at all. I thought about this, and wrote to them - it seemed to me that Shakespeare needed to assure the audience that they were not about to see the King of France onstage invading Britain. One of the actors in the scene got back to me to say that she had been working on the fear and urgency behind her involvement in the action: just goes to show - I think about why the scene is in the text, she thinks about what to do with it....
More work on the blinding scene tonight - I'll there there from six onwards.
Oh, and I thought about Act Four Scene Three. It's a short scene, and very very rarely staged, yet it has some of the most beautiful lines in the play - those describing Cordelia finding out what has happened to her father. Sadly, those lines have been cut, but the two actors in the scene were struggling with it on Tuesday, and asked me, if it was so rarely staged, why it was there at all. I thought about this, and wrote to them - it seemed to me that Shakespeare needed to assure the audience that they were not about to see the King of France onstage invading Britain. One of the actors in the scene got back to me to say that she had been working on the fear and urgency behind her involvement in the action: just goes to show - I think about why the scene is in the text, she thinks about what to do with it....
More work on the blinding scene tonight - I'll there there from six onwards.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Notes from the cliff
I feel very fortunate.
My cough is still an irritant, but I can do something about that. I feel a little stiff and sore, but I'm otherwise in good physical shape. The skies are clear and it is going to be another beautiful warm day. And I get to work on what is probably the best scene in Shakespeare, and maybe the best scene in drama - the 'cliff' scene in Lear.
We worked on it last night, and I learned so much. Shakespeare very often has his actors paint a verbal landscape (Gloucester does this in evoking the heath at the end of Act Two, most of the characters in Act Three develop this, and, at the beginning of Act Four, Gloucester describes the cliff he is seeking at Dover) but here Edgar describes a landscape which does not exist, in order to deceive a blind man. Then Gloucester steels himself to commit suicide, only to find that he survives the fall, and has to still have that rage inside himself even as he swears that he will be patient in future. Then Lear comes on having lost his mind.... wow!
My job is to get the audience to believe in Gloucester's anger and despair, to make them believe that this man has lost the will to live and to deliver that one single speech with everything I can give to it, so that, as the director put it last night, Barry stands waiting to come as as the mad Lear and thinks 'How do I top that?'
I'll give it my best shot! This is such a privilege and I must not blow it.
My cough is still an irritant, but I can do something about that. I feel a little stiff and sore, but I'm otherwise in good physical shape. The skies are clear and it is going to be another beautiful warm day. And I get to work on what is probably the best scene in Shakespeare, and maybe the best scene in drama - the 'cliff' scene in Lear.
We worked on it last night, and I learned so much. Shakespeare very often has his actors paint a verbal landscape (Gloucester does this in evoking the heath at the end of Act Two, most of the characters in Act Three develop this, and, at the beginning of Act Four, Gloucester describes the cliff he is seeking at Dover) but here Edgar describes a landscape which does not exist, in order to deceive a blind man. Then Gloucester steels himself to commit suicide, only to find that he survives the fall, and has to still have that rage inside himself even as he swears that he will be patient in future. Then Lear comes on having lost his mind.... wow!
My job is to get the audience to believe in Gloucester's anger and despair, to make them believe that this man has lost the will to live and to deliver that one single speech with everything I can give to it, so that, as the director put it last night, Barry stands waiting to come as as the mad Lear and thinks 'How do I top that?'
I'll give it my best shot! This is such a privilege and I must not blow it.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Back on the heath
More intense and intensive work tonight.
I had a little back-twinge over the weekend, but it has passed now: maybe I just got over-anxious, having read that Sher book. Barry, however, really is moving quite badly, despite wearing a knee-brace - he's considering a cortisone injection. I should probably get some cough-sweets: my cough gets worse in the theatre and it irritates me, so it has to be annoying the rest of the company.
We got behind schedule - those mad scenes take work! - so I spent a couple of hours waiting to go on, and the net effect of that is that I get anxious about lines then: one of the reasons I feel happier about doing an actual run is that I get to speak very early on, and that helps my confidence.
It's good being off the book, but I realise how heavy these torches are: it's like doing weight training. And I have to work on not getting the torch in front of my face.
I got two words wrong, so I'll need to concentrate on lines again today - and the people from the Food Project did get back to me a while back to say that they did not see a link-up with the play being viable: their concern is food rather than shelter...
I had a little back-twinge over the weekend, but it has passed now: maybe I just got over-anxious, having read that Sher book. Barry, however, really is moving quite badly, despite wearing a knee-brace - he's considering a cortisone injection. I should probably get some cough-sweets: my cough gets worse in the theatre and it irritates me, so it has to be annoying the rest of the company.
We got behind schedule - those mad scenes take work! - so I spent a couple of hours waiting to go on, and the net effect of that is that I get anxious about lines then: one of the reasons I feel happier about doing an actual run is that I get to speak very early on, and that helps my confidence.
It's good being off the book, but I realise how heavy these torches are: it's like doing weight training. And I have to work on not getting the torch in front of my face.
I got two words wrong, so I'll need to concentrate on lines again today - and the people from the Food Project did get back to me a while back to say that they did not see a link-up with the play being viable: their concern is food rather than shelter...
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Weekend!
No call for tomorrow, so I get some time off. I'm thinking I can go make some phone calls to England and to church in the morning, and then for a walk with Terry in the afternoon, and then check in with the choir at the end of their rehearsal at 6.30.
I was talking to another member of the cast last night about the perils of thinking that, because you've done some shows with community/amateur theatre, you know how to act. It is usually the case that there is not enough time in the process of those productions to really get beyond getting the lines right - this is such a very different experience.
I was talking to another member of the cast last night about the perils of thinking that, because you've done some shows with community/amateur theatre, you know how to act. It is usually the case that there is not enough time in the process of those productions to really get beyond getting the lines right - this is such a very different experience.
Saturday
I got some feedback last night...
Terry and I had a good day, including watching The King's Speech at the cinema (a very elderly audience at the 1.30 screening...). Great acting all round, not least from Helena Bonham-Carter. Strange to see Jennifer Ehle back on screen with Colin Firth.
Brent started the rehearsal by saying how much he had enjoyed our run-through on Thursday, and that he wanted us to work in groups on anything we felt needed attention while he gave individual notes. I did some work with Edmund and with Lear, and ran some lines in my head, but I confess that I could have done more: I'm better doing the line work on my own with the MP3 player. It's a little scary that we will start getting detailed notes on line mistakes from Monday - they want Shakespeare and not our version of what we think he should have written.
Brent did not have time to give me detailed notes before we went back to full rehearsal, but he did say that he thought I had done well, which was good. We then mostly worked on the opening scene and on the transitions between scenes, in an attempt to get the play moving.
I wonder if there will be a call tomorrow or not....?
Terry and I had a good day, including watching The King's Speech at the cinema (a very elderly audience at the 1.30 screening...). Great acting all round, not least from Helena Bonham-Carter. Strange to see Jennifer Ehle back on screen with Colin Firth.
Brent started the rehearsal by saying how much he had enjoyed our run-through on Thursday, and that he wanted us to work in groups on anything we felt needed attention while he gave individual notes. I did some work with Edmund and with Lear, and ran some lines in my head, but I confess that I could have done more: I'm better doing the line work on my own with the MP3 player. It's a little scary that we will start getting detailed notes on line mistakes from Monday - they want Shakespeare and not our version of what we think he should have written.
Brent did not have time to give me detailed notes before we went back to full rehearsal, but he did say that he thought I had done well, which was good. We then mostly worked on the opening scene and on the transitions between scenes, in an attempt to get the play moving.
I wonder if there will be a call tomorrow or not....?
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Good and bad at games
We almost got through the whole play: we actually got as far as the second half of Act Four before time caught up with us. I thought it went pretty well, although some of the cast are still on book, even those with relatively few lines. I felt quite confident up to and including the blinding scene, but I did lose it a little in the scene and a half we did after that (we stopped half-way through a scene at Lear's entrance), and I need to work on that.
What was sort of odd, for me, was that there was no feedback afterwards from anyone, so I don't know how people feel I did. Nevertheless, we got to within a few lines of the end of my role, and that makes me feel more confident and ready to try acting it rather than worrying about getting the words in the right order.....
What was sort of odd, for me, was that there was no feedback afterwards from anyone, so I don't know how people feel I did. Nevertheless, we got to within a few lines of the end of my role, and that makes me feel more confident and ready to try acting it rather than worrying about getting the words in the right order.....
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Grit for pearls
An edgy night in some ways, but, I hope, a productive one.
It began with the lighting designer in a rather heated discussion with the stage manager about the problem of lighting those moments when actors will be in the auditorium rather than on the stage: this is something he will need to solve fairly quickly.
Then we found that the stocks for Kent was actually a pillory - so they will have to be re-done or several lines will make no sense.
Then I had something of an acting class from Brent, mostly about keep my gaze focussed, but also on gestures - good, helpful stuff which made me wish I had taken some acting classes rather than just learning the lines and speaking loudly.
Barry was there tonight, on pain-killers and using a stick, and there was some sense of tension between him and the director (I may be wrong in that reading), but all was dispelled when we came to the heath, and 'Blow winds...'. Barry wanted to start the speech off-stage, and that led Brent to do a voice exercise with all the lights off, and with hugely exaggerated vowels - Blooooow wiiiinds. It was absolutely electric, and Brent embellished the idea by having those of us not in the scene move our arms and bodies across the various blue safety lights in the aisles so that there was no fixed source of light at all. By the 10.00 break we were trying to find out whether health and safety regulations allowed the darkened theatre and whether the actors should or should not be speaking their lines onstage - oh, and what the rules were on acting in the aisles.
We ran out of time, which is something of a concern because we have a run tomorrow and some of the scenes are blocked only in the sketchiest fashion.
But there was a family of deer right outside the theatre as I left at 11 - happily passing through....
And I've seen the outline for the programme in which I'm listed in the Guest Artist section: I think that is very cool.....
It began with the lighting designer in a rather heated discussion with the stage manager about the problem of lighting those moments when actors will be in the auditorium rather than on the stage: this is something he will need to solve fairly quickly.
Then we found that the stocks for Kent was actually a pillory - so they will have to be re-done or several lines will make no sense.
Then I had something of an acting class from Brent, mostly about keep my gaze focussed, but also on gestures - good, helpful stuff which made me wish I had taken some acting classes rather than just learning the lines and speaking loudly.
Barry was there tonight, on pain-killers and using a stick, and there was some sense of tension between him and the director (I may be wrong in that reading), but all was dispelled when we came to the heath, and 'Blow winds...'. Barry wanted to start the speech off-stage, and that led Brent to do a voice exercise with all the lights off, and with hugely exaggerated vowels - Blooooow wiiiinds. It was absolutely electric, and Brent embellished the idea by having those of us not in the scene move our arms and bodies across the various blue safety lights in the aisles so that there was no fixed source of light at all. By the 10.00 break we were trying to find out whether health and safety regulations allowed the darkened theatre and whether the actors should or should not be speaking their lines onstage - oh, and what the rules were on acting in the aisles.
We ran out of time, which is something of a concern because we have a run tomorrow and some of the scenes are blocked only in the sketchiest fashion.
But there was a family of deer right outside the theatre as I left at 11 - happily passing through....
And I've seen the outline for the programme in which I'm listed in the Guest Artist section: I think that is very cool.....
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Working without Lear
I have worked hard tonight...
We had our two ten-minute breaks, but I was working all the rest of the four-hour session, and I feel good after it.
Apparently Barry had a back twinge lifting Cordelia, and aggravated that last night, but he'll be OK tomorrow - I'm very glad of that.
We did some quite intensive work on some scenes which were very physical for me (including the blinding) and I feel much better that I'm off book now: it was the right time for me to be doing that and the right time for the rest of the cast to know that I have got to that stage - I felt that they just needed to know that I was on top of things. We have our preview performance three weeks tomorrow....
We had our two ten-minute breaks, but I was working all the rest of the four-hour session, and I feel good after it.
Apparently Barry had a back twinge lifting Cordelia, and aggravated that last night, but he'll be OK tomorrow - I'm very glad of that.
We did some quite intensive work on some scenes which were very physical for me (including the blinding) and I feel much better that I'm off book now: it was the right time for me to be doing that and the right time for the rest of the cast to know that I have got to that stage - I felt that they just needed to know that I was on top of things. We have our preview performance three weeks tomorrow....
Lear injury
Just had word that Barry has hurt his knee and will be out of the rehearsal tonight, so we have a new schedule. I hope he will be OK, and I wonder how this will impact on our preparation.
Let's start at the very beginning...
Hard to get songs like 'How do you solve a problem like King Lear?' and 'King Lear, I've just watched a play called King Lear' out of my mind....
We did the opening tonight, and that went well. I did some line-running with Edmund and Edgar, and we got away early. Tonight we are following through the plot line from the Fool's perspective and tomorrow from Cornwall's and Regan's viewpoint: it is an interesting approach, and I am keen to see how that works. Thursday we are set to do a full run, although it is hard to believe that we'll get through it all.
We did the opening tonight, and that went well. I did some line-running with Edmund and Edgar, and we got away early. Tonight we are following through the plot line from the Fool's perspective and tomorrow from Cornwall's and Regan's viewpoint: it is an interesting approach, and I am keen to see how that works. Thursday we are set to do a full run, although it is hard to believe that we'll get through it all.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Half-way point
We are now half-way into the rehearsal process - three weeks today we will be doing the second tech run, and the first dress is three weeks tomorrow: Valentine's Day...
I think we are making great progress. We ran Act Four and Act Five this morning, and then went back and did detailed work on the Gloucester/Edgar/Lear scenes from Act Four. I feel as if I have been through a wringer, physically and emotionally, but I'm so pleased to have that work done, and so grateful for what I have learned. It has made me all the more determined to get the lines learned - being off the book will be such a help.
Brent has had me working on a tendency I have to over-hit the pronoun at the expense of the noun which follows. So I have to get away from saying 'your power' in such a way that 'power' is not emphasised enough.
We start again on Act one tomorrow - it seems ages since we have done those scenes.
I think we are making great progress. We ran Act Four and Act Five this morning, and then went back and did detailed work on the Gloucester/Edgar/Lear scenes from Act Four. I feel as if I have been through a wringer, physically and emotionally, but I'm so pleased to have that work done, and so grateful for what I have learned. It has made me all the more determined to get the lines learned - being off the book will be such a help.
Brent has had me working on a tendency I have to over-hit the pronoun at the expense of the noun which follows. So I have to get away from saying 'your power' in such a way that 'power' is not emphasised enough.
We start again on Act one tomorrow - it seems ages since we have done those scenes.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Busy times
It has been a busy couple of days!
I have had quite a lot of work to do for the choir, helping to set up the Mozart concert in February and the Bach in May, neither of which I'll be singing in... hey ho!
On stage we have now blocked the whole play, at least I think we will have done so: I left after doing Act Five Scene Two last night, so I am hoping that they completed the play after that.
I wish I had taken my camera, because Vii includes a battle, and the sight of Brent, who is not a tall man, surrounded by huge warriors, was quite something.
On Thursday we blocked the not-really-falling-off-a-cliff scene, and it was very rewarding to work on that with Barry. At times he reminds me of Olivier, at other times he makes me think of my long-time comedy partner Pete Dixon - maybe the white beard, maybe the danger of unpredictable wildness, I don't know which.
I have had quite a lot of work to do for the choir, helping to set up the Mozart concert in February and the Bach in May, neither of which I'll be singing in... hey ho!
On stage we have now blocked the whole play, at least I think we will have done so: I left after doing Act Five Scene Two last night, so I am hoping that they completed the play after that.
I wish I had taken my camera, because Vii includes a battle, and the sight of Brent, who is not a tall man, surrounded by huge warriors, was quite something.
On Thursday we blocked the not-really-falling-off-a-cliff scene, and it was very rewarding to work on that with Barry. At times he reminds me of Olivier, at other times he makes me think of my long-time comedy partner Pete Dixon - maybe the white beard, maybe the danger of unpredictable wildness, I don't know which.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
not a cliff in sight
I think this may have been the latest rehearsal call I have ever had. I was called for 9.00 pm, just in time for the crew to take a break, so, by the time we got the room set out (we were using the foyer rather than the theatre) and got started, it was 9.25. We read the scene, and had only just started the blocking when we ran out of time. Maybe it was because we were off the main stage, but there was a slightly more relaxed and intimate feel tonight - Barry, Brent and I swapping stories and thinking about individual words and lines.
It seems possible that I will be able to wear knee-pads in the show itself: I had them tonight for the 'not really falling off the cliff' scene, and I felt much mote comfortable about what I was doing. As on Friday, there was a lot of care about whether I was happy with the physical stuff: it is a heartening aspect of this production that attention is paid to safety and to health - the stage manager is insistent that breaks are taken when they are due, and the show is the better for it.
I drove home under a full moon and caught sight of something dark in the road on one of the side-streets: I thought it might be a deer (we get lots of those) but it was a couple kissing - very charming.
Back in the groove
Ah, that was more like it!
A much better rehearsal of the beginning of Act Four. Some of these student actors really are such a joy to work with. If I discount my three lines in Act Five, I now have only one scene left to block - although it is the most complex scene in the play for me (and one of the most difficult in the entire play...). I can see some slow progress when we look at the 'fall' from the cliff and the encounter with the mad Lear.
I just posted my head-shot on Facebook - the copy below is bigger and scarier than I needed!
A much better rehearsal of the beginning of Act Four. Some of these student actors really are such a joy to work with. If I discount my three lines in Act Five, I now have only one scene left to block - although it is the most complex scene in the play for me (and one of the most difficult in the entire play...). I can see some slow progress when we look at the 'fall' from the cliff and the encounter with the mad Lear.
I just posted my head-shot on Facebook - the copy below is bigger and scarier than I needed!
Monday, January 17, 2011
It was bound to happen
Probably just as well to have a duff rehearsal now than later...
Having done well on Sunday in detailed work on a small scene with Edmund, I really did poorly tonight. I missed a line (having been fed the wrong cue) then cut across someone else's line, then entered too late. By around 9.00 I was ready to go home with my tail between my legs. The only mitigating aspect was that others seem to feel that they too had had a bad night: we were supposed to run Acts II and III, but only got as far as the end of Act II. I felt all night like people playing sports must feel in a game that's going badly: it's not in the legs or the arms (or, in the case of acting, in the mouth) all in the mind.
I'll really need to spend some time tomorrow preparing myself better for Act IV Scene 1 - the first of my two blind scenes.
Having done well on Sunday in detailed work on a small scene with Edmund, I really did poorly tonight. I missed a line (having been fed the wrong cue) then cut across someone else's line, then entered too late. By around 9.00 I was ready to go home with my tail between my legs. The only mitigating aspect was that others seem to feel that they too had had a bad night: we were supposed to run Acts II and III, but only got as far as the end of Act II. I felt all night like people playing sports must feel in a game that's going badly: it's not in the legs or the arms (or, in the case of acting, in the mouth) all in the mind.
I'll really need to spend some time tomorrow preparing myself better for Act IV Scene 1 - the first of my two blind scenes.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
a bit of a break
I had a break from rehearsing yesterday, so I took a break from the blog too.
We did two contrasting scenes: one all-male scene on the heath, and then the blinding scene, and I'm really feeling that I'm not an outsider now but part of the group - indicated, perhaps by a bunch of new Facebook friend requests. It takes time going through line-by-line, but it is definitely worth it. Brent had the idea that the hovel on the house would have homeless people all around it, which could make the link with the food project all the more powerful - except that that guy has not got back to me yet...
We blocked the blinding, and I was very touched with the care everyone took making sure I was comfortable - giving me breaks, and even, at one point, a massage from the director! I think the scene will look very effective.
The half-hour of physical stuff we did on Thursday has certainly helped me - I am actually doing stretching exercises once again
The half-hour of physical stuff we did on Thursday has certainly helped me - I am actually doing stretching exercises once again
Friday, January 14, 2011
No blinding - yet
I have all my cues and lines on an MP3 player now - and I see that my total participation comes to twenty two and a half minutes - if you take the cues out, who knows what it would be....
I spent some of yesterday touting choir concerts which I won't be singing in, but which I want to support. I also had an idea about trying to make a link between this production of King Lear and the Ashland Food Project for which I volunteer: lots of stuff about homelessness and starvation in this play.
And... I sent off my contribution to the monthly magazine which the radio station publishes. I based it on my thoughts from last weekend on the Goldberg Variations.
OK, back to the play. We didn't actually do the blinding last night - the fight captain decided she should wait until after the scene is blocked, which will happen tonight - I have a funny feeling we are going to be working on Sunday afternoon on this...
So, instead, we did some movement, some tai chi, and some trust exercises, and we talked a little about how the blinding might be staged, and how we'd get from that scene to the next where Gloucester is led on blind. I may not be going to the gym myself, but Lear is - Barry and I talked about him carrying on Cordelia in the final scene, and he told me that he had been doing weight-training, and that he would start lifting Cordelia next week, gradually increasing the length of time he held her up.
We then worked on some scenes on the heath (III ii and III iii). Once again I learned such a lot - I would pay to have this learning experience. There was a play which ran here in 2009 called Equivocation which was about Shakespeare: it opened with a rehearsal of the heath scene from King Lear and Shakespeare's actors complaining that it was impossible to act and made no sense - we all recalled that scene last night as we tried to find a line through for each of us. For me, the problem is in being the only character on stage who is not in disguise, insane or a professional jester...
I'm realising a bit more about how this whole process works. The director actually did have some previous knowledge of some of the students, because they have had internships with the Festival - that interface with the University is really important and a great benefit for the students. I also realise that this is very unlike the course productions I am familiar with from Winchester. There are six productions a year here, and all of them have open auditions, so the cast is not drawn solely from one particular year-group and you don't have to use everybody from that one cohort. t seems to work - everyone in the company gets academic credit for being involved.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
January 13
It's a wet day here, but it was a mild night with no frost on the car as we left the rehearsal: I walked out to the car-park with Barry (Lear) whose parting words were "See you on the heath tomorrow night..".
It was a good evening. I had a head-shot taken before we went back into Act Two - as far as I could see, the picture was pretty good. The onstage work went well, but it is starting to get tricky to know where you are at without the actual steps there - they are marked in chalk, but that is not the same, and people kept moving into positions which would see them fall right off the stage. Nevertheless, we made good progress: I calculate that we have 22 rehearsals before the tech'.
The students are amazingly well-disciplined and committed. I spent some time last night talking to a young woman who plays one of Goneril's servants and who was concerned about the moral dilemma of her character - how to stay true to her mistress when she can see how badly Goneril is behaving.
We mostly worked on Act II Scene IV, in which Gloucester becomes totally marginalised in his own castle: Cornwall has upstaged him in II ii, and now Regan takes over from Cornwall as the principal power - great stuff!
We start on the blinding scene tonight, which we will rehears in a separate room under the guidance of the fight captain. She worked with Edgar and Edmund last night on their final sword-fight, and the result was very impressive indeed.
It was a good evening. I had a head-shot taken before we went back into Act Two - as far as I could see, the picture was pretty good. The onstage work went well, but it is starting to get tricky to know where you are at without the actual steps there - they are marked in chalk, but that is not the same, and people kept moving into positions which would see them fall right off the stage. Nevertheless, we made good progress: I calculate that we have 22 rehearsals before the tech'.
The students are amazingly well-disciplined and committed. I spent some time last night talking to a young woman who plays one of Goneril's servants and who was concerned about the moral dilemma of her character - how to stay true to her mistress when she can see how badly Goneril is behaving.
We mostly worked on Act II Scene IV, in which Gloucester becomes totally marginalised in his own castle: Cornwall has upstaged him in II ii, and now Regan takes over from Cornwall as the principal power - great stuff!
We start on the blinding scene tonight, which we will rehears in a separate room under the guidance of the fight captain. She worked with Edgar and Edmund last night on their final sword-fight, and the result was very impressive indeed.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Words, words, words
Here's another set-design photo
Fighting the fatigue
OK - I am feeling my age here! I was on campus from 3.00 to 11.15 yesterday - I'm so glad I don't have to work at a job as well...
The Steig Larsson event went well - room packed, and they seemed interested in what I had to say. All the technical stuff worked, and I even remembered to take the thumb-drive out of the machine at the end...
Of course, as usual there were people in the audience who I recognised but could not place or name - especially embarrassing as one of them came up to me at the end to ask if I had got the email she sent me. A frantic working of the brain and 'yes' - you are the lady with the lovely house where we sometimes go for parties, and you sent us an invitation to another party soon, but I'll have to wait to see if I'm free that night because....
We had dinner with Mike, with whom I taught last term, and then off to merry old rehearsals. We did what the director calls 'table work' for quite a while: this means we sat, read the scene, then went through talking about what each speech meant. 'Table work' could be a standard term in theatre for all I know - I have never taken a theatre class, so I don't even know the names of the curtains, so I'm trying to pick this all up as we go along. We have tremendous support: one person works exclusively on textual issues, another chart moves and gestures. Barry (Lear) was not called last night, so I fielded questions about pronunciation and meaning, many of which were really intriguing. We came across some of those words which may have been invented by Shakespeare but which never caught on - who ever uses the word 'cullionly'? (OK, I haven't looked it up and it may not be a Shakespeare invention, and many people may use it ever day - what do I know?)
We got rather hung up on the very beginning of Act Two, and I suspect that will really come together only after the fight captain works on it (she starts with us tonight, and I could be blinded by Friday evening...). So we made rather slower progress than we expected. I'll need to spend some time today firming up what we did last night, before a photo call at 6.30. I now have a schedule for the rest of the week - 7 to 11 every night, plus Sunday afternoon. This is theatre! This is theatre?
I had a nightmare in which I overheard some of the members of the cast complaining about how boring I was, and how my stories were tedious... come on Freud, what is that about?
The Steig Larsson event went well - room packed, and they seemed interested in what I had to say. All the technical stuff worked, and I even remembered to take the thumb-drive out of the machine at the end...
Of course, as usual there were people in the audience who I recognised but could not place or name - especially embarrassing as one of them came up to me at the end to ask if I had got the email she sent me. A frantic working of the brain and 'yes' - you are the lady with the lovely house where we sometimes go for parties, and you sent us an invitation to another party soon, but I'll have to wait to see if I'm free that night because....
We had dinner with Mike, with whom I taught last term, and then off to merry old rehearsals. We did what the director calls 'table work' for quite a while: this means we sat, read the scene, then went through talking about what each speech meant. 'Table work' could be a standard term in theatre for all I know - I have never taken a theatre class, so I don't even know the names of the curtains, so I'm trying to pick this all up as we go along. We have tremendous support: one person works exclusively on textual issues, another chart moves and gestures. Barry (Lear) was not called last night, so I fielded questions about pronunciation and meaning, many of which were really intriguing. We came across some of those words which may have been invented by Shakespeare but which never caught on - who ever uses the word 'cullionly'? (OK, I haven't looked it up and it may not be a Shakespeare invention, and many people may use it ever day - what do I know?)
We got rather hung up on the very beginning of Act Two, and I suspect that will really come together only after the fight captain works on it (she starts with us tonight, and I could be blinded by Friday evening...). So we made rather slower progress than we expected. I'll need to spend some time today firming up what we did last night, before a photo call at 6.30. I now have a schedule for the rest of the week - 7 to 11 every night, plus Sunday afternoon. This is theatre! This is theatre?
I had a nightmare in which I overheard some of the members of the cast complaining about how boring I was, and how my stories were tedious... come on Freud, what is that about?
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Tuesday January 11th
Another wow!
We ran Act One last night and it was very good indeed. Several of the cast are already off book, and we could probably have done a pretty credible performance of those scenes for a paying audience tonight. The women are already wearing longs skirts (as might be clear from the photo below which is labelled 'In rehearsal'), and there is a really high level of engagement and commitment. The two principals about whom I had some concerns last week have come through, and it must just be their way of working to wait for the rehearsals and then go for it - credit to them.
Kent and Gloucester open the play by coming down the far aisle, with Edmund coming off the stage to meet them. Brent commented that we ended up under an exit sign and needed to travel down another step to avoid that: the two students immediately began taking the blame/responsibility for getting in the wrong place, and Brent had to tell them that this was nobody's 'fault' - it was a rehearsal and they could not be expected to know what was behind them...
Oh, and I did share what I was thinking about how Gloucester might relate to Edmund, and that was fine - phew!
We ran Act One last night and it was very good indeed. Several of the cast are already off book, and we could probably have done a pretty credible performance of those scenes for a paying audience tonight. The women are already wearing longs skirts (as might be clear from the photo below which is labelled 'In rehearsal'), and there is a really high level of engagement and commitment. The two principals about whom I had some concerns last week have come through, and it must just be their way of working to wait for the rehearsals and then go for it - credit to them.
Kent and Gloucester open the play by coming down the far aisle, with Edmund coming off the stage to meet them. Brent commented that we ended up under an exit sign and needed to travel down another step to avoid that: the two students immediately began taking the blame/responsibility for getting in the wrong place, and Brent had to tell them that this was nobody's 'fault' - it was a rehearsal and they could not be expected to know what was behind them...
Oh, and I did share what I was thinking about how Gloucester might relate to Edmund, and that was fine - phew!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday
I've added a photo of one of the set designs to give an idea of the staging. The theatre seats around 300 people.
I have discovered that my laptop has a built-in microphone and a recording program so I can record my lines and copy the files to my MP3 player - this is great!
I have discovered that my laptop has a built-in microphone and a recording program so I can record my lines and copy the files to my MP3 player - this is great!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Sunday and Sher
I have had no rehearsal calls on Thursday or Friday, so I got some time to learn lines, to prepare to chair a session on Steig Larsson on Tuesday and to go to a very fine String Trio concert on Friday night.
Perhaps most importantly, though, on the recommendation of my friend Roy, I started to read Antony Sher's The Year of the King. I was slightly put off at first by his confusion of 'compliment' and 'complement' (and later of 'lead' and 'led') but the more I read, the more the pedant in me became quiet, and the more I learned. I now have a new appreciation of how different the professional theatre is from what I am doing, and, since, both Brent and Barry have worked/are working professionally, I see that I need to be careful and be realistic about what I can and cannot do. For example, I'm not going to change my diet, and I'm not going to go to the gym, but it would make sense not to drink before rehearsing... I was so taken by parts of this book that I came close to stopping this blog altogether - it seemed too arrogant.
I have taken to heart the point about maybe not trying to learn all the lines before we've blocked the scenes - I remember showing up for the first rehearsal of Love's Labour's Lost back in 1978 having learned the whole part of Berowne, and I remember how irritated some (all?) of the rest of the cast were: they were probably right.
Reading the book also reminded me what I have lost over the years by not seeing plays when I could have done. I actually had a ticket for Sher's Richard III, but didn't use it because I was rehearsing something else, and day after day I walked by the theatre where John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert was playing (Sher played Ringo), always thinking I might get round to seeing it.
The book does not seem to mention anything about Sher's sexuality (maybe that is later in the text, or maybe he didn't feel he could come out in the mid-80s?), and his anecdote about George Harrison coming to see John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert is interestingly skewed: in Sher's version, the cast were thrilled to have him there - he doesn't mention that Harrison hated the show and left at the intermission, taking away with him the permission for it to include his songs...
It was, however, lovely to read about Pete Postlethwaite, who sadly died this last week.
I now have a call for tomorrow evening - full cast to review Act One. I am getting a sense of Gloucester and his relationships with Edmund and with the Cornwalls: the question is, should I tell Brent what I'm thinking? I've also realised that the current Duchess of Cornwall (and therefore the equivalent of Regan) is Camilla....
So I'll keep on working on lines. I listened to the Glenn Gould CD of the Goldberg last night (the one where you can hear him humming in the background). Hearing such different versions of the piece so soon after one another made me think about different interpretations of roles, and even different emphases in individual lines
Friday, January 7, 2011
Friday
Got up and checked the email. I'm not called for tonight - they are still working on the scene from last night.
Oh well, more time to put in on the lines (I think I'm pretty much OK with the first two Acts now, which will constitute the first half of our show), and I can also go to a concert tonight, if we can get tickets. Ironically, the concert is just yards away from the rehearsal.
I have been thinking that one consequence of having an external director rather than a member of the Theatre Faculty, is that he truly did audition blind without having seen any of the actors either in other plays or in class - interesting....
Oh well, more time to put in on the lines (I think I'm pretty much OK with the first two Acts now, which will constitute the first half of our show), and I can also go to a concert tonight, if we can get tickets. Ironically, the concert is just yards away from the rehearsal.
I have been thinking that one consequence of having an external director rather than a member of the Theatre Faculty, is that he truly did audition blind without having seen any of the actors either in other plays or in class - interesting....
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Rehearsal three
A very different kind of work tonight. There were only three of the cast rehearsing in that large space, and the director worked in much more detail. I've been trying to find something which described the dimensions of the theatre, its seating capacity - maybe even a photo? - but without success. It is, however, a good space to work, with perhaps as much space on the stage as in the auditorium - which means the stage has lots of depth to it.
Although there were few actors, the technical and supporting crew were there in force, so, when the director had a query about the meaning of a line, there was someone ready to look it up instantly - most impressive.
We spent time puzzling over what 'If our father should sleep 'til I waked him' might mean (and how to convey that meaning to the audience) and whether 'revenue' should be accented in the second syllable or not.... so we ran over our time and I got home at 9.45, but I have no call for Thursday.
Although there were few actors, the technical and supporting crew were there in force, so, when the director had a query about the meaning of a line, there was someone ready to look it up instantly - most impressive.
We spent time puzzling over what 'If our father should sleep 'til I waked him' might mean (and how to convey that meaning to the audience) and whether 'revenue' should be accented in the second syllable or not.... so we ran over our time and I got home at 9.45, but I have no call for Thursday.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
rehearsal two
Wow, this was really an eye-opener. It was our first time actually standing up and moving around, blocking the opening scene, and I was really impressed, flattered and satisfied with how it went. I'll add more to this in the morning.
Wednesday morning - There were several reasons why I thought last night was so good. One was the vision which the director had for the opening scene, which was so very close to how I had always seen it (I like people who agree with me!). He has the set already peopled before Kent, Gloucester and Edmund speak, which is how I think it should look. He also had the idea that everyone expects Lear to cut the kingdom in two (di-vide??) so the split into three comes as a shock. I chipped in my idea that the play seems to be all about men until Lear throws in the word 'daughters' - an extra layer of shock...
Another reason I felt happy is that the director made it very clear that he valued my input, and encouraged the cast to use Barry and myself as resources about pronunciation, meanings etc. - and they certainly did use us! It feels good to be valued....
We finished just after 11 last night, but I should be done by 9 tonight, and may not have a call on Thursday or Friday
Wednesday morning - There were several reasons why I thought last night was so good. One was the vision which the director had for the opening scene, which was so very close to how I had always seen it (I like people who agree with me!). He has the set already peopled before Kent, Gloucester and Edmund speak, which is how I think it should look. He also had the idea that everyone expects Lear to cut the kingdom in two (di-vide??) so the split into three comes as a shock. I chipped in my idea that the play seems to be all about men until Lear throws in the word 'daughters' - an extra layer of shock...
Another reason I felt happy is that the director made it very clear that he valued my input, and encouraged the cast to use Barry and myself as resources about pronunciation, meanings etc. - and they certainly did use us! It feels good to be valued....
We finished just after 11 last night, but I should be done by 9 tonight, and may not have a call on Thursday or Friday
First rehearsal
Well, it really did last the full four hours!
I got to the theatre at about 6.55, and I was almost the last to arrive. We are in the major theatre, and there is another production (Alice) rehearsing in the smaller black-box.
We started with talks by the design people on set, costumes, sound and fighting. The set designs look wonderful, and photos were sent to the cast this morning. If I get permission, I will add them to this blog.
All the cast except Barry Kraft and myself are students, and they are getting credits for being in the play. I think they will also have supervisors from the Faculty monitoring their performances. I was impressed with most of the cast at this second read-through (we did the first in December) - there are only two of the principals that I have slight concerns about right now: I don't think they have done quite enough work on figuring out what their lines mean; the bulk of the cast, however, have worked very hard indeed.
I'm the only person with a British accent, which feels slightly odd. Barry gave some hints on pronunciation, but I don't know if I should also offer input on this (and on music?) - early days yet. Time will tell.
I got to the theatre at about 6.55, and I was almost the last to arrive. We are in the major theatre, and there is another production (Alice) rehearsing in the smaller black-box.
We started with talks by the design people on set, costumes, sound and fighting. The set designs look wonderful, and photos were sent to the cast this morning. If I get permission, I will add them to this blog.
All the cast except Barry Kraft and myself are students, and they are getting credits for being in the play. I think they will also have supervisors from the Faculty monitoring their performances. I was impressed with most of the cast at this second read-through (we did the first in December) - there are only two of the principals that I have slight concerns about right now: I don't think they have done quite enough work on figuring out what their lines mean; the bulk of the cast, however, have worked very hard indeed.
I'm the only person with a British accent, which feels slightly odd. Barry gave some hints on pronunciation, but I don't know if I should also offer input on this (and on music?) - early days yet. Time will tell.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Day One
An early start! I was up just after 4.00am - I tend not to sleep very well before a radio show. It was very cold and frosty, but I got the jeep clear of ice and made it to the station on time for what was an uneventful shift.
Before I went I checked emails, and there were two to do with Lear, one of which had an attachment I could not open! I got in touch with Rob, the stage manager, who set it back in a different format, but it didn't actually apply to me anyway: it was a list of readings tonight for those who are looking to play Knights, Servants, Gentlemen etc, so it is looking like tonight may be an extension of the casting process.
I did pick up a script (and signed a waiver exonerating the University if I have an accident): quite a few of my favourite lines have gone, but how else are we going to get the running-time down to three hours!
I'm resting now before going into the theatre at 7.00 - let the fun begin.....
Before I went I checked emails, and there were two to do with Lear, one of which had an attachment I could not open! I got in touch with Rob, the stage manager, who set it back in a different format, but it didn't actually apply to me anyway: it was a list of readings tonight for those who are looking to play Knights, Servants, Gentlemen etc, so it is looking like tonight may be an extension of the casting process.
I did pick up a script (and signed a waiver exonerating the University if I have an accident): quite a few of my favourite lines have gone, but how else are we going to get the running-time down to three hours!
I'm resting now before going into the theatre at 7.00 - let the fun begin.....
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Sunday afternoon January 2 2011
This is a blog describing my experience of the rehearsal process of a production of Shakespeare's King Lear at Southern Oregon University in 2011.
I'm trying to tie up some loose ends today before rehearsals start. Essentially, I'm dropping in on a rehearsal of a different kind - the first of the New Year for the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers - just to show that I've not forgotten them, even if I won't be singing with them until the autumn.
Tomorrow will be a long day. I have to be up at 0500 to do a radio show, so I'm hoping to get a break in the afternoon before the evening's rehearsal. There are lots of people in the cast and crew, hardly any of whom I know, but, no doubt, there will be several whom I'll know well by the end of February.
The schedule calls for rehearsals from 7 to 11 Monday to Friday, but I don't yet know how that will translate into reality. It may well be that this week we block one act each night, which would mean a slightly inefficient Friday for me, because I only have three lines in Act Five (and I'd be glad to see the last of those cut!).
I'm not teaching this term, but I do have some other commitments, including a talk on the Steig Larsson novels next week.
I'm trying to tie up some loose ends today before rehearsals start. Essentially, I'm dropping in on a rehearsal of a different kind - the first of the New Year for the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers - just to show that I've not forgotten them, even if I won't be singing with them until the autumn.
Tomorrow will be a long day. I have to be up at 0500 to do a radio show, so I'm hoping to get a break in the afternoon before the evening's rehearsal. There are lots of people in the cast and crew, hardly any of whom I know, but, no doubt, there will be several whom I'll know well by the end of February.
The schedule calls for rehearsals from 7 to 11 Monday to Friday, but I don't yet know how that will translate into reality. It may well be that this week we block one act each night, which would mean a slightly inefficient Friday for me, because I only have three lines in Act Five (and I'd be glad to see the last of those cut!).
I'm not teaching this term, but I do have some other commitments, including a talk on the Steig Larsson novels next week.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Two days before rehearsals start
It is New Year's Day, and rehearsals start at 7pm on Jan 3rd.
I've been reading a text of the play most days for the past three weeks, but I can't actually learn any of Gloucester's lines until I get the approved script on Monday. The other part of my 'preparation' has been to let my hair and my beard grow: I am hoping that some decisions on hair-styles will be taken soon so I can look a little more presentable.
This is what the publicity says:
The all-powerful Lear makes a fatal decision when he misinterprets his youngest daughter’s silence as disloyalty. Cordelia flees to safety in France and marriage to the French monarch. When she brings French forces to protect her father from her ruthless sisters, the ruin of several families is set in motion. Directed by Brent Hinkley from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with Barry Kraft of OSF playing King Lear. More information is available at sou.edu/theatre/calendar.
I've been reading a text of the play most days for the past three weeks, but I can't actually learn any of Gloucester's lines until I get the approved script on Monday. The other part of my 'preparation' has been to let my hair and my beard grow: I am hoping that some decisions on hair-styles will be taken soon so I can look a little more presentable.
This is what the publicity says:
The all-powerful Lear makes a fatal decision when he misinterprets his youngest daughter’s silence as disloyalty. Cordelia flees to safety in France and marriage to the French monarch. When she brings French forces to protect her father from her ruthless sisters, the ruin of several families is set in motion. Directed by Brent Hinkley from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with Barry Kraft of OSF playing King Lear. More information is available at sou.edu/theatre/calendar.
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