I Pray You, Pardon Me

I just wanted to apologize for my lack of journals and effort in the journals this term. Things have been really hectic on my end, but I understand that that is no excuse. Here is what I know has happened in drama.

Due to my noon show, I have been unable to attend Monday classes in March. I remember coming after rehearsal one night and I joined a discussion of actor’s responsibility to the playwright. What is the actor’s responsibility to perform the play exactly as written? And with the stage directions? I have a strong opinion on this, because I am a rule player and obsessive compulsive and paranoid. Things need to be done as written or as told. A playwright includes the stage directions in the play because that’s how he or she wants it performed. If it didn’t matter, it wouldn’t be in the script. Granted that some stage directions seem overdone or unnecessary, it is not an argument of an actor’s freedom to perform. You have free will to say the lines how you want and to block the scene in correlation to the written stage directions. I voiced this opinion and Raymon totally freaked on me. I understand that I wasn’t there and that they probably did something to reach this conversation, but I was still taken aback and moderately offended when I was told to listen and not speak. I understand the purpose, and I hold no hard feelings, but that’s how I felt at the time.

One night (last Wednesday I am pretty sure) we read this weird play Japanese play. And when I say weird, I mean WEIRD. It was about this person, I think it was a girl, hiding the body of her dead grandmother. I didn’t and don’t really understand the play, I think it has to link back to Kabuki theatre or some other kind of Japanese theatre that I am not to familiar with. Anyway, the play was made weirder in the way that we read it. There were no assigned parts. People read when they felt like it and it didn’t matter who it was or how many people spoke. While it was an interesting experience, plays are not meant to be read that way! Call me stubborn, call me classical, but I hold strong views and it is very hard to change them. This play led to a debate about the soul. Coming from a Christian background, I see the soul as something holy and godlike, and I tried to explain this as best I could. I found it shocking that there were people who couldn’t believe in a soul and challenged the existence of everything they can not see. It’s about faith. Not about proof.

I hope that things get more regular with me and acting and these journals, but for this week, things are going to be even crazier with rehearsals and tech rehearsals (etc). My sincere apologies for my lack of effort.

Though Dost Perform

Tonight was ‘show’ night. We had a short discussion at the beginning of class about order. It was decided that Graham and I would go third. Which is good, three is my lucky number.

When I walked in, Graham cornered me and demanded we run through lines. I wanted to slap him. Sorry dear, you know I love you but your constant need to rehearse is frustrating. He had it all down pat a while ago, I didn’t see the necessity, but I succumbed anyway.

While half of the class went with Raymon to discuss… something, the rest of us for prepared to present. Graham and I did a quick run through, this was our first time with an actual pillow, so I thought it would be good to practice at least once with it.

I am one of those actors that gets nervous, but once I get up there and start doin’ my thang, I get really into it and relaxed and by the end I want more. I remember watching Jessica and James’ scene and sort of internally freaking out.

Then we were up. We did it, it was ok. Could have been better, but it could have been MUCH worse. Even though I love Othello, I just wanted to get this done. It’s not as if I fretted coming to class to do it, or didn’t rehearse. I just felt like it was over done. Like doing it more would only be like kicking a man when he’s down, hitting something with your car and backing up to hit it again (man, I am full of metaphors lately!). I just felt relieved to get this off my plate. Even though there is another scene coming up.

I enjoyed watching every else’s scenes. Especially the ones I hadn’t seen before. No offence to anyone, but I was bored watching the ones I had already seen (note my last journal entry). Everyone did a very good job.

A Change Upon You?

Tonight was the last night of rehearsal before we performed our scenes. I had missed some classes to due noon show rehearsals so I was a little behind and rusty when it came to my scene. But we pulled through in the end.

We just sort of rehearsed together with our partners for a while, straightening things out and working on lines. Graham really likes to rehearse and make sure that everything is perfect. While I am a self professed perfectionist, I didn’t think we needed to keep going and going and going.

People volunteered to show their work to the class and receive feedback from everyone. Graham and I went first. No, I have to get this off my chest, because if I don’t, it’s going to frustrate me to no end. I HATE SHOWING THE CLASS MY SCENE BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE DATE. It’s like serving undercooked meat at a restaurant or burying someone who is still alive. It’s not ready yet. While I understand that the point of this is to get suggestions and feedback, I just feel like we can work it out for ourselves, it’s our scene. Plus it takes all the suspense and surprise out of show night. That being said, we showed the class our scene.

It went well, certain things and lines, of course, got a little jumbled, but it still worked. We received feedback from the faces of shocked onlookers on how to make the scene stronger. While I am sure these will be taken into consideration when we perform, I can’t say that we will change just because someone tells us to.