Today we had a costume fitting and then had a full run of the play in class.
Costume:
We went through the options on the rack and came to the conclusion of using a very bright blue waist coat and, the same colour. A white shirt will be worn underneath, preferably one that looks fairly plain and could fit in with the era so none with any breast pockets on them. I'm also wearing white shoes with white socks with black shorts. The wig I'm wearing will be white and will be wearing quite a lot of make up as I should do. I do really like my costume and feel it fits very well since the colours are very bright and they're against white and black which causing some clashing and contrasting which makes the combination more vibrant or noticeable which is so in-keeping with the character archetype. When wearing the full costume (With the exception of the make up) I genuinely felt more animated and outgoing. Even when interacting with people outside of the scene I still kept my pose and made me seem more colourful in terms of how I acted which is a very good thing, I noticed quite a few people doing this as well today so overall I'm very pleased with the costume and feel it does help bring out the confidence of the character and style.
Developments:
We did more or less complete the blocking for the scene. We now have it so that two men (James and Logan) are waiting behind the screen where I believe Lucetta is.
I now approach the screen and the guys pop their heads out and jump me. I need to be fairly loud when I scream "Rogues! Dogs! Pimps!" because when I originally did it it sounded far more casual than it should have despite have a fair bit of energy. A detail I feel I must keep in mind for this moment is that there is a moment of acknowledgement and shock where I see them and someone nitpicking the scene could say that I could run off in that time although to get rid of any possible flaw with that moment, I think it needs to be filled by something like a gasp or a scream so there's no quiet and it keeps the pace up.
An idea that we tried out was one that Georgia thought of where she grabs my head and then pulls it towards and onto her breasts or in reality her lower shoulder. I thought this is a great idea since it's a step closer to fully embracing the playful, "Romantic" nature of this scene and the deception is getting more and more believable which is nothing but a good thing. My addition to that idea is my reaction, I thought of when she puts my head back up after finishing her sentence, I should look out towards the audience, sway my head a little as if I'm dazed with an expression that denotes "Wow! This is really happening." although with no attempt to break the fourth wall at that moment, it's just to add to the comedy of it and show how easily he's being manipulated. When trying out this little moment it didn't go as planned, when she threw my head back up, my wig came off and made us both laugh quite a lot and took us both a minute to get focused again. This is a small problem with a simple fix; one of use is gonna have to hold on to the wig so that it doesn't too much momentum when going back up. I think Georgia should be the one to do that since it would look odd if I did it.
I'm still a little off when it comes to my last paragraph although I am getting better, if I'm prompted with the beginning of a sentence them I'm fine it's just getting them in the right order and it does slip from my mind still.
One thing I really need to rehearse is the moment where I rush to get undressed. There were a couple issues with it, mainly that it looked awkward, I just piled my clothes in the middle of the floor and that of all moments didn't really have any excited energy about it and it seemed as though as I was trying to play it cool rather than uncontrollable excitement. We fixed the pile issue by placing a chair relativity close to where I will stand so that I can walk over to it and and arrange my clothes semi neatly on it. An idea I had for this part of the scene is when I take my wig off; I feel I should take it off and then swing my head as if I'm loving taking all of it off so I can quickly get to what I think I'm a bout to have. It should act as a quick visual indicator of his haste, he's not even going to sort out his hair, he wants to get to it fast and the swing in his mind may sort out any potential messy hair he might have. A small detail but one that should be humorous and hint at his mindset a tad more. It also keeps in line with the very self indulgent, pompous nature of the character archetypes actions and is in-keeping with how the style mocks everyone in it by making them look like up themselves fools. It adds further to the build up of him getting his dreams crushed and makes the pay off potentially funnier and is the idea since these plays were meant to be fun.
A small problem with the ending was the fumbling scene again and I felt awkward since the lights were on and felt I looked stupid, which shouldn't be the case since it's a key element of this style; you're meant to look silly. So really that's a moment I just need to embrace more and put a little more energy into because it wasn't funny at all, it was just awkward. For it to be funny I think I need to go all and and look ridiculous.
I made a development with figuring out some dialogue. With the line "I was a fool not to learn of Fred, a little by heart before I came." I apparently placed a pause in that sentence at a very awkward time and it didn't sound right. After a brief conversation we came to the conclusion that that sentence meant I should have learnt a few romantic phrases to say to her while with her to make everything go well while he was with Fred but now he has to make up his own. This later made me realise what another line meant. The line "Sheartlakins there I think had it." is said right after he says he need no other light than that of her eyes and that for him is a eureka moment and he acknowledges to the audience that he thinks that worked and was right to get her more in the mood.
8/2/17:
Today we had a rehearsal session of running the play as normal but afterwards came an interesting twist since we had to go over all the dialogue in our scenes and adapt it to fit a contemporary scenario. This didn't mean that we literally had to translate each word into modern English, it was just generalising it so that we could display an understanding of the scenes/characters and actually see if there's any elements of that contemporary performance that we could bring into the restoration performance. That doesn't just mean in terms of acting style though. The main thing I thought it brought to the scenes was a greater sense of how the characters felt and this brought out the comedic nature a little more. I'm admittedly not very good at figuring out what this kind of dialogue means when I watch it and by extension most people can't really figure it out either so something important to do is to convey how you're feeling and what you're doing through the the tone of your voice and the body language. If you are fairly lacking in both of those and just rely on the words then you'll lose your audience fairly quickly, so if you focus on that then it will help to convey what you're character is doing. Before we all got notes saying it seems as though we're acting or just going through the motions and this experiment was an effort to get the best elements to get rid of that fault.
When watching them I did actually understand what was going on in very scene although, while that maybe due to it being in modern English, the situation felt more real despite still having that comedic edge to it. When rehearsing I found it very difficult to not go into any kind of restoration pose when saying my lines or give an attempt to over articulate my lines but I showed some restraint and managed to tone it down.
A note of criticism I had got a couple of time before was that on the line "We'll ne'er mind settlements" it never seems like I actually know what I'm saying so I decided to look up the words and see. I knew Ne'er meant never but it was the word "Settlement" that made the sentence click for. Whenever I usually hear the word settlement, it makes me think of a place but another definition for it could be agreement or understanding. After finding that out it and coupling it with the line "Send him out of this world" it seems as though he's heavily implying he'd much rather have him killed to avoid any confrontation or potential bargaining on either part. He thinks it is for both his and Lucetta's sake, he's just assuming that she would prefer and be OK with this. The fact that he would just assume this of her despite barely knowing her really does show how naive and internally cruel he can be, it's actually quite a good example of darker humour in my opinion, when I realised what he was implying and what was going on around him I did actually find it a tad funny due to the misunderstanding and the jump in logic he makes. It shows what a loser he really is and how highly he thinks of himself which makes his downfall in this scene all the more satisfying or at the very least humorous.
I unfortunately didn't get to perform with the modern twist since Georgia felt unprepared which was a shame because I honestly felt ready to do it and having discovered a couple of definitions, I wanted to try them out. A note to give myself when looking back at it is that when rehearsing it, I played blunt as a more likeable, innocent and reserved person which I felt was wrong, I don't see blunt like that at all. He knows what he wants and is seemingly willing to do some harsh things to get it. His view of women may be just a product of the time and only be more of a flaw to a contemporary audience but he is not a wholly likebale person although it is worth pointing out he's not a bad person either he's just a very flawed man which is what makes him actually quite interesting to me.
I'm very glad we did this otherwise I would have probably noticed the meaning of some of my lines at a later date and had less time to work with them.
9/2/17:
Today we had a full costume run and overall it went pretty well. There were a few issues with it such as people forgetting their lines or with our scene being a tad underplayed but I thought it was pretty good and shows some potential.
Something I was asked was about the line "Would she'd go with me into England". I'd been phrasing it like a question the whole time despite the fact there was no question mark in the script. In my first read through I honestly just though it was a typo and seeing as the sentence began with "Would" I just assumed it was a question although I should've taken into account how language has changed of the years. I genuinely didn't think of that. It turns the line means "I wish she'd go with me to England" as in it's a statement and trying it out like that was actually pretty good and didn't sound forced or awkward as well as making it more clear what I want.
During the final rehearsal in the theatre I did get a few laughs so I'm fairly confident I upped my energy in that performance but in the out of costume performance with Mike , I feel it was very underplayed. I do put this down to the fact I was performing with Mike and he was trying to be funny but I still could've put more effort in the the expressiveness of my character. I lacked the posture during and projection during that run which is bad because it was something we were focusing on in terms of trying to get right since we're getting close to the performance date. I just don't think I was warmed up properly since I've got very close to what I need to be before but the first run was pretty bad.
A note we were given was to watch the pacing of our lines and especially the gaps in between them. I personally think the gaps between our lines are fine in mine and Georgia's scene although sometimes we do still say our lines a tad too fast. I noticed this with my first line when I go to my aside. This isn't good since I'm meant to be telling them my inner feelings and show the complexity of my character so if I just rushed my lines and then no one hears me, it could take away an entire dynamic from the scene, they would never see the contrast at it's full potential. Even during the last run through I said the call for help quite quickly so I had to change it and elongate it. In subsequent run throughs though we slowed down a little and it did sound better
An idea I had was when I say "False? Sheartlakins what does thou take me for? A Jew?". I usually say that line with a sort accusation tone and I feel, thinking about it now, that that is very wrong. In this circumstance he would be doing anything like that, he's being very careful about what he's saying and how he says it. For him to all of a sudden stop and say something that seems like an accusation would seem dangerous and would turn her off from sleeping with him. Also the line that comes before it "Should you be false or cruel?" means are you lying to me or teasing me, I didn't know this until today so the appropriate response would be to try and charm her or be playful so I've now changed it to that and it seems far more fitting now.
I still feel I can contrast my asides and real moments a little more, I do feel I'm making progress with that though. Something I tried out today was making the voice in the real moments sound deeper and the voice in the asides closer to my voice (Although still retaining the overly articulate accent) and with a change in posture to further enforce it. The aside will have a more nervous energy to it but the real moments will appear like an act and be more overplayed. This is what he's feeling inside and to show nit could make how he's acting towards Lucetta possibly funnier or at least more engaging/interesting.
An update on the witty prose dialogue, I think it's all coming together now, there is a degree of spontaneity to my (and Georgia's) dialogue and it all implies a fun tone and nothing boring, dull or dark and depressing, it's all relativity well paced and sometimes snappy. Best of all it doesn't seem awkward saying anything since we've taken time to look at and analyse what our lines mean so overall the structure and pace of our dialogue is being well delivered so hopefully we'll keep it up.
Final Character Profile:
- Who am I?
My characters name is Ned Blunt. A very wealthy man from England. He is quite an attention seeker and due to the fact he is in a place where he is unknown he wants as many people to notice his as possible and he likes to play up the fact that he is a foreigner. Of the group of friends that he is involved with in this play, he is by far the wealthiest which is what makes his downfall and robbery all the more funny, tragic or ironic that it is all that that results in him getting taken advantage of.
- What time is it?
It is around 9 pm and it's dark outside so the room they are in has very little natural light and only one candle lamp giving them a light source although it is fairly strong.
- Where am I?
He is in Naples, Italy, in the house of a woman called Lucetta.
- What surrounds me?
We are in her bedroom and it is a beautiful place, he even comments on it saying it's "Rich and fine". the main two objects in the room are the screen which Lucetta (and the two kidnapping thugs) hide behind and then there is the the bed, which is the thing he wants to find the most while he's in the dark room since that will get him his woman. There is one big candle lamp lighting the room which he has to put out which is lighting the room decently.
- What are my given circumstances?
He has met a woman at a carnival named Lucetta and she has tempted him back to her house but he is unaware that all she wants is to rob him and leave him with nothing. He is being too up himself and optimistic about the situation that he doesn't express any real caution.
- What are my relationships?
His relationship for this scene is that he feels she is really in love with him. He is extremely flattered and happy that this woman is seemingly willing to cheat on her husband for someone like him. He isn't very good with women in general so this really means something although his trust for her is unwarranted but very strong.
- What do I want and what is in my way?
He desperately wants to have sex with this woman who he firmly believes is in love with him but there a couple problems that may prevent him from going all the way with her. The first is that all his friends and acquaintances warn him she's "Just a whore" who is just lying to him and he doesn't want to believe that, she's done such a good job convincing him, his optimism has taken over. Another is that he believes this woman has a husband, whether or not she really does doesn't matter but he does think he exists and he just views this husband as an annoyance more than anything. The last one is the fact he can't really figure out any romantic things to say to her. He didn't learn any from his friend before he came round to her and no he's worried that it may affect his chances.
- What do I do to get what I want?
He completely ignores everyone that doubts her love for him and just blindly accepts her invitation. Even though he feels she is already in love with him, he still feels the need to try and maintain that by saying romantic things to her so he's trying to make some up and in his mind succeeds at the end when he thinks she is in bed. In terms of the husband, he suggests that he is willing to have him killed so that it would avoid any conflict between the two of them which is rather extreme to immediately think of but that is what he's willing to do. He'd probably pay someone to do it rather than do it himself though.
Conclusion:
Overall for this session I think I am representing the style well, my posture and gestures are fairly camp, I have got a great amount of contrast in the asides, I jest need to go even further with everything. I really think I'm almost there, I just need a little more energy and to make everything either more out there or more contrasting and interesting. I'm nearly there with all my lines and when I'm not nervous about performing them I actually can remember them. I feel I have over the past week made quite a lot of progress in figuring out the dialogue and just overall representing the style relatively well. So I'm looking forward to performing this tomorrow.
