Tuesday, 8/11/16:
Today we had a run through of the play with both casts. Something I noticed today was when I was trying a deeper voice for Theseus. I mentioned before about deciding on a voice and considering what I said to Max about commanding a presence or denoting your status, giving him a deeper voice will age him a bit and possibly distinguish him from everyone else when combined with the tall confident posture I'm going for. I thought the voice would work from trying out a monologue in a voice session and going with the deeper voice for character in a attempt to age them and it gave off the qualities I think would suit Theseus. I'm not quite sure but I think it may be affecting my diction a little bit. Since I was putting more emphasis on my voice to try it out I forgot until I was off stage about my articulation and realised it may have been off a bit. So that's something to focus on next but for now I do like the voice and it does do what I thought it would, he certainly has more of a presence than before or at least I feel so.
I also added to the moment when saying "I must confess I've heard too much" and made it almost as if I'm cutting them off and kind of like I'm announcing it. Since it's something I want to uphold and won't hear any more of it but I'm also prioritising my wedding so I'm basically saying you can't do anything and I more or less don't care. But I'm doing it in a way that's not evil it's just mildly arrogant which would most likely be the case with someone of great power.
We have added in a moment where during the mechanicals first scene I take off the table but I wasn't really told to do anything while doing it so I just improvised and ran off with it with a silly run where my legs hit my bottom as I run and I'll keep a huge grin with Flutes face and I think it'll be a nice humorous moment.
The sherbet mechanicals which I'm in don't do too much when they first come on. The only thing we've really done as of now is the when they come on we're very cramped together and when the front one stops we all bump into each other so we worked on it. We were put into groups and sent away to add in our own choreography. The group made an entrance where they clap and almost dance onto the stage. To be honest I thought this was not very fitting since they introduced a bunch of bumbling, incompetent fools by showing them doing something smooth and calculated and I really didn't think it worked, it didn't seem to represent them properly at all which I must say I feel bad for saying because on it's own it was a nice moment. Although saying this I had no ideas for what my group could do after seeing that although we seemed to agree that something which shows how amateur and unskilled they are. This is why I thought the initial entrance we had was OK since us bumping into each other immediately suggests what they are like. I'm sure we can add to it in additional rehearsals but the one that was done today I don't think works at all.
I knew all my lines even to the point where I could prompt Jack A without using my script. I think I'm getting the right level of energy especially for the romantic lines and have taken on the note of being more sappy. The idea I had before of kissing the air I tried out and it got a laugh so I'm definitely keeping that since it also fits with the scenes tone and it is quite over the top which is a good thing in this.
I have also been trying to apply my verse forms to my lines more since I feel now I'm very comfortable with them. I feel it is making a difference to the way I'm saying them, Mainly my Lysander lines are getting better in my opinion. Examples are when I'm talking to Helena and saying the "Nature shows art, that through thy humour makes me see thy heart" line. I'm now observing the punctuation more and the lines seem more structured and poetic. While that still needs work it's at least always on my mind when saying my lines now especially when doing the rhyming verse lines which need to be done properly to bring out the romance of the situation and with the clash of confusion, potentially bring out the comedy. It's also helping with certain moments such as the "Where is Demetrius" line, I now know what words to emphasise such as "Vile" since I'm insulting him but I'm still keeping it kid friendly so I'm going to play up the overly protective or ambitious side of him at this time and it came to me because of applying the verse and getting me to think more about the context and structure of my lines as well as what words to emphasise. I also feel I'm going to have to go through the script and highlight the verbs in my Lines since that's often the words to put emphasis on. An example Is in the beginning when Lysander says, "Keep promise love and if though lovest me come steal away with me tomorrow night". The two words to highlight in that sentence would be "Promise" and "Steal". Considering it's context "steal is the word to go with since it's implying that they are going away with out permission and the rebellious nature of it. That's just an example but I will do it for every scene to get the best results.
Wednesday, 9/11/16:
Today we had a different type of run through. We would go through the play and sort out individual issues such as having to sort out the literal love triangle at the beginning since we keep going into a line. We also need to look like we're actually going to follow the duke out of the room before I stop Hermia to tell her about running away since it looks like we're preparing to walk to the middle of the room and looks a little rubbish but the try we had where we actually changed and stopped our actions looked pretty good and spontaneous. I might add a little more secrecy to the line since that's what came naturally when trying out that change. I'll try a stage whisper but I'm not sure if it'll be effective for children but I will certainly try.
We worked on the entrance of the Mechanicals. my complaints about the others ill-fitting entrance was actually mentioned and resulted in it being changed. What they changed it to is more or less what we had to do. We have to come in singing a chant and then engage in some sort of wacky antics at one point I go to try and leapfrog James but he gets up and I have to keep hold of him while flailing on him. This intro is so much more fitting in my opinion since it represents what they're like, bumbling and incompetent. Also it's a little more silly and funny so I think it will have a greater chance of making the children laugh and is just overall fun to be honest.
I added in a moment of Flute shaking with excitement and then that is shattered and he instantly stops when peter quince says about his part. The only problem is it's not very well timed at all although I have only tried it out once so I will have to work that out and maybe talk to him about it.
Thursday, 10/11/16:
Today we continued on from where we got to yesterday. The only scene that I got to do today however is the scene with Lysander and Hermia in the woods.
I felt a bit better about my performance as Lysander today. Since I'm going with a sort of hopeless romantic approach I had to add a little more energy still and I felt that it was actually cartoony enough to be quite amusing. A bit of feedback Jack A as Lysander got is to act a little bit like a prince from a Disney film as in add in their energy and a slight bit of their confidence. I took on this advice a little too and I think that it is more fitting for him and matches the level of energy for children's theatre or at least for now. In the theatre I will have to play it up more but the base is there for now which is great.
A problem with today was that I really didn't get to do much overall. This was because during certain scenes everyone kept getting distracted and there was a lot of corpsing and laughing. While yes it was fun it did result in some of not being able to get on with the second Mechanicals scene which was unfortunate since the other cast went through the scene and had it mostly staged and choreographed. Even though I'm pretty good with knowing Thisbe's lines and keeping them in a rhyming verse with good timing the moments after where bottom comes on were awkward last time. This is what I wanted to work on but couldn't also the adding to what I do when I'm scared and run off with the mechanicals. An idea I had to add in a comedically over the top scream although not sure if I would've done a high pitched one or a sound of fear similar to one that Rik Mayall does in "Bottom". I would have tried out both of these but will have to wait and see which one if either of them works.
Also I've had one issue on my mind for a while to do with the moment Helena says "Lysander if you live good sir awake" and the I respond. I have to wake up, stand up and then say my line or at least that's how it's been rehearsed as of now. I think that this moment is not well paced in the sense that since I have those two actions to do in between two rhyming lines and it destroys the rhythm of the lines or at least is a little too awkward for it since the two lines are a rhyming couplet. I think I can fix of this by waking up in a more snappy, faster manner and saying my response line on the ground still but sat up. Then I can say my next line while getting and standing up. I think this will help the moment. As an action on it's own it was fine but with the language I think it needs to be tweaked to keep the flow of the dialogue and not sound awkward. I will try this out on Tuesday and see what happens, my feeling is that it should be an improvement.
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