Introduction:
This blog will be detailing the rehearsal process and research leading up to our production of "The Rover" restoration play by Aphra Behn.
We have been split into groups of about 2 or 3 and each group has been given a scene from the play since we're not doing the full production. I was given the character of Blunt who is the plays Fop. I do have some previous experience of acting in a restoration play, having been in a production of "The Man of mode" by George Etherege although I was only a servant. Despite that I did try and observe everyone and how they were acting since I knew I would have to tackle this genre at some point. The main thing I noticed which will probably be expanded on the more I research/learn throughout this project is that every character (With the exception of the servants) exudes confidence, their body language and voice shows that they wish to be seen and heard. It seems to be a style that embraces being over the top and comical, as well as just being silly. I'm not sure if this is for satirical purposes or if there's details I'm just unaware of at this point but for now I know it to be very expressive and playful type of play.
Context of my scene:
In this scene my character, Blunt, is being seduced by a woman called Lucetta. She has no real interest in him romantically or sexually, she only wants to rob him of his money and possessions and then get rid of him. Blunt isn't very lucky when it comes to women so when this offer comes along he's very enthusiastic to take it and he is easily manipulated into going to this woman's house. He's completely fooled by her and very naive about the situation. Throughout the scene, he is lusting after this woman to the point where he doesn't question anything such as why is he getting this offer that seems to good to be true? He never questions it and just goes along with it, which results in him getting robbed and thrown out like planned.
11/1/17:
Today we started with a small session on how the people of the restoration era would act. The main portion of the session was role playing so that we were our assigned characters at a house party in order to get an idea of what the attitudes were like. My role was still the fop so based on the limited knowledge I have right now, I felt as though the fop is the one who wants the most attention of them all due to the way they dress and act. When doing this I made my posture denote confidence and would stand tall and proud as if I really want to be seen, I stood with one hand behind my back and my other stretched out, so it would signify I was accepting/willing to meet others and that I was comfortable in my environment. I realised afterwards the facial expression I was doing was one that I can only describe as insufferably smug. I genuinely did this out of instinct and it felt right especially after the history briefing we had adding context to the era and it really does seem like people back then would've acted like this. Everyone in the exercise was acting as though they were more important or gossipy of other people.
As I mentioned, we were given a quick briefing of the history and context of the restoration era. Basically after a long period of forced censorship and repression, with things like music and theatre being banned (As well as many other things) the nation went crazy with restoring everything and it basically turned into an era of self indulgence, where sex was more rampant than ever, theatre was back and was evolving with women being allowed to perform and everyone more or less getting what they wanted and having a good time doing it. After a long dull period everyone was having a laugh no matter what the expense. A detail that intrigued me was that, quite a lot of the time when people went to the theatre, It wasn't to see the play. They would usually go to see who else was attending it, socialise with important people to make themselves feel important or just to get themselves noticed, the play itself was just a bonus, which I found very odd. Although it justified what I said earlier, they were all just there to be smug and self-important so the actions and level of how much I was comfortable felt right when knowing this.
I feel I got the look right but not the way a fop should act, if anything I felt I was a little too quiet, and when I was thrown into a hypothetical situation involving a debt collector, I feel I handled it in a manor that didn't seem to be as attention grabbing as someone like this would go about it. I feel I could have gone a bit further with everything but think I've got the right overall idea for now until I look up more about the character and style.
Blocking/Ideas:
We were left to rehearse and asked to do any possible blocking. We thought of a way to come on that we felt would establish our characters/relationships. We come in through the door (Which is upstage centre) and I would run towards the front and sort of present myself while Georgia shuts the door and then the "Romantic" dialogue begins. The idea to present myself seemed fitting with what I mentioned about them wanting to be noticed and that they would most likely play up everything whenever they could to whoever they were with. The confident stride in is up for change though since I'm not sure if it would work because they're alone. It's possible this would only be in crowds and he may not need to do this when around her since he thinks he's already won her over, so I may down play that a little but this is all experimentation.
After the first basic-blocked run we did, I gave a note saying this doesn't seem intimate at all since we didn't make any physical contact. Seeing as she's trying to seduce me it, seems very necessary to have some so it could add to the playfulness of the style as well as bringing across the flirtiness and anticipation that Blunt is seemingly going through. It also will hopefully bring across the deception if it's done correctly but unfortunately what we tried out was very awkward although both of us still see the potential of the idea and will practice it further. It may not work yet but we think it's a good idea and accurate to the times to have at least some romantic/flirty contact.
Research:
Today I decided to do a bit of research on the typical fop character just to confirm any assumptions I made from the session or previous experience with "Man of Mode":
What is a Fop?:
A fop is often the comedic relief of sorts of a restoration play, as in he is the most flamboyant, most energetic, most made up and the most self indulgent.
Characteristics:
- Fops don't just wear traditional Restoration clothing, they tend to go a step further such as dressing a tad brighter, more make-up with more colour and possibly even some patterns. They may wear white wigs instead of a more seemingly traditional black, brown or grey wig that most men wear. There general appearance is very bright with a lot of blues and greens being worn or at the very least more bright colours than most people. This is fitting since it does actually help them stand out visually amongst the other characters and reflects their personalities well. The character has a desire to stand out and be noticed so the fact their clothing fits with that thematically I quite like.
- Their behaviour is often characterised as "Metro-sexual". This basically means they they typically indulge in things such as shopping, fashion, make up and any thing that would be described as similar to the behaviour of women or homosexual men, however most fops (And in this case Blunt) are heterosexual, so their behaviour and their sexuality very rarely correlate. They can act fairly camp and in most cases they seem to go more overboard than everyone else, they are often more excitable and more enthusiastic than everyone else.
- Another feature may be flamboyance and/or having a higher pitched campy voice although this really only applies to a few fops since I have found a fair few who have rather deep voices and the flamboyance can just apply to their behaviour rather than just their voice. Someone like Sir Fopling Flutter does have a higher voice where as Blunt seemingly wouldn't, or at least be no way near the level but still have a camp tone possibly.
- Of all restoration era archetypes they are the ones who are considered to be the most attention seeking. This is due to the aforementioned indulgent behaviour, they like to have everything they want and like to show it off. Again, Sir Fopling Flutter seemed like he was trying to stand out and make his indulgent nature seem important or that it gave him an air of superiority despite the fact that with most fops that isn't the case, it either back fires and they get mocked, either lightly or heavily, or they are just seen as equals but in a different way to everyone else.
All these features make them the stand out characters of the play in general. I will admit that this will be a fair challenge since to get all those elements correct and to make people laugh without unintentionally annoying would be quite an accomplishment. This kind of performance can easily backfire, if I don't have enough energy then I will just look silly but come across as very dull and if I go to overboard in the wrong way then I could come off as unintentionally annoying. This means I'll have to find a way to balance the act when I've got to grips with what my character is saying.
Here are a few picture examples of fops:
A good example of a fop in modern media in my opinion is Prince George played by Hugh Laurie from the TV show "Blackadder the Third". He is someone who is lavishly dressed, wears far more make up than any other man in the show and has a fairly camp but also naive and childish demeanour about him almost like he wants be/believes he is loved by everyone. The character is overall likeable despite being a complete idiot and very annoying to the protagonist and overall embodies what a fop is and when comparing him to someone like Sir Fopling Flutter will give me a more general idea of how a fop can act. I did think that Sir Fopling Flutter was the only way a fop should be played but it seems as though he is just the most extreme and outrageous version of that type of character which is why I've used him for quite a few of my examples/characteristics.
12/1/17:
Today I spent the day trying to learn my lines and experiment with a couple of ideas since Georgia was not in so we couldn't really continue blocking the scene or talk about it in general so I felt I had to use the time as best as I could.
However there was one development I feel I can comment on. The presenting out moment I talked about yesterday, I think we need to scrap it. I felt that if we kept it then it would take away quite a lot of the potential intimacy of the scene. The more time we spend close to each other, the more the character is likely to buy her lie and therefore the audience understand how he's being deceived. During any aside moment I think it would be done and my stance could be very over the top but any moment with her would be a tad more reserved since he would want to convince the audience of his power over her (and by extension himself) but when it cuts back to the in the room he may be more reserved but still energetic towards her. I feel that the theatrical, playful side may come out more when directly addressing the people in the audience.
Links:
Clip of a Fop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tjvZv-ZRnc
Clip of "Blackadder the Third": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01R_lP51Pw0
https://britishheritage.com/charles-ii-and-the-restoration/
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-man-of-mode/study-guide/character-list#dorimant
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-rover/study-guide/summary-act-iii-scene-ii
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