Hey, Y’all.
So – I continue to discover little passages, little sections in my lines where I don’t know:
a) what I’m saying, exactly, and/or
b) why I’m saying it.
Either one above can change to whom I’m speaking, so there are points where my head breathes a heavy sigh and I continue my quest for understanding by tracing the action back to the object being acted upon, and sometimes just by identifying the damn object.
How about everybody else? Are there lines you’ve yet to conquer?
Maybe even more importantly – Do you always understand what’s being said to you?
What has made my skin crawl watching some Shakespeare productions in the past is when it’s evident that the actors are merely waiting for a que line, without really listening and responding to their fellow actors onstage. We need to avoid that – even if it means upheaval by someone stopping a rehearsal long enough to ask “Who? Why? What?”
I plan on slammin’ the brakes a few times myself.
Love you guys, Kathy
I was glad to hear you say this exact thing at rehearsal last night, Kathy. It’s the actors who *aren’t* speaking that usually make or break a production. The onus is upon us not just to understand our own lines, but *everybody else’s lines, too*.
If we don’t know what our friends/enemies/lovers are saying … why are we even there? Shakespeare (and Greg) have us onstage for a reason. He (and he) trusts us to paint the reality while others do the talking.
Keep reading. Keep listening!
i find too that the more questions I ask the more it all makes sense, which means it is so much easier to remember. I have had a wonderful time so far.
btw-how do I make my own post? I feel fucking stupid in here. i can leave a comment, but cannot blog, even after logging in. i am confused…
Bam Bam-
Can you give me your email? Then I’ll send you instructions on how to post.
Kathy’s right about speaking up and asking questions in rehearsal. It’s not interrupting, it’s what we’re there for. Until you what every word means and what reason you have for saying it, you will have trouble memorizing them. You need those hooks to hang the words on or else they will continually float away.
You all know those moments when you suddenly get why you’re saying something: a light goes on and, the next time you get to play that moment, the line is memorized and you deliver it with purpose. That’s what every moment should be by the time we open in September. With sixteen people on stage and all those lights flashing on all the time, it will make for one hell of a play, right? Right.
During rehearsal is preferable, but I am available night and day with my cellphone, a copy of the script, and the Oxford English Dictionary by me.
Kathy,
I feel you. I too am often mulling over everyone’s lines in the scene to figure out what the hell is going on and how it came to this, etc. There’s a war on. We’re steeped in chaos and violence beauty and romance aren’t we? So what’s next? If only some good-looking half-naked servant would bring some pizza and espresso so we could figure this all out diplomatically. hm…