"We are tougher, brother, than you can put us to't."
Our third week of performances is already under our belts. We had some interesting challenges this week, which always rally the troops to come together to perform better...except when they don't and just break you. But we are not broken. We are tough.
We had understudies for both shows this week. Justin went on as Autolocus and Robbie as Polixenes, and both of them were great. Then I went on as Dr. Caius and it went better than expected.
There were lots of distractions on Friday night during Winter's Tale. During the trial scene there was a scene happening between two screaming people fighting about a stolen baby. It was quite intense. There were also fireworks. And a pesky motorcycle rider really wanted everybody to know how cool he was as he kept zooming back and forth near the park. But this did not break us.
We are actors! Overcoming obstacles is part of our job description. Often times when we are sick or tired we give our best performances. Of course we would love to have a clean run where the sound is perfect, the crowd sitting in rapt attention, and every performer at their peak. But we rarely get any of those things much less all. So we adapt. And the more deeply you are able to live in the world of the play, the more able you actually are to take in the new things and deal with them. This was one of many thoughts I had while that effing motorcycle was attempting to destroy the final scene of our play. As Dr. Caius on Saturday, my sphere of concentration was very small. I have no idea what the audience was doing as I was solely focused on getting my lines out in the right order and not falling over. That was a huge obstacle in and of itself, and I was largely successful in overcoming it.
I had lots of thoughts this week. I always remind myself that the play is never finished developing. There's never a time to sit back and shift into auto-pilot. What stale and hackneyed performances those are. And I also remind myself that we have the play set. And these two things seem to stand in opposition. But they are not. Because the growth of a production is not in getting bigger or varying from the course laid down, but in growing deeper and fuller. Man oh man, Leah's speech in the trial on Friday night (in the midst of a fight over a stolen baby wafting from the park) was filled with such pain and anger and loss! It was deep! And just to receive that helps me grow my performance deeper with pain, regret, denial, loss, and desperation.
I had a really nice talk with a man named Eric who is seeing the entirety of Shakespeare's Canon in a calendar year and each play in a different theatre. He chose ours for Winter's Tale. You can check out his adventure at: http://shakespeareances.com/ He wondered why I was drawn to characters like Leontes which had been on my bucket list, and Bolingbroke from RII (and not Richard himself) which still is. I think he referred to them as emotionally stunted. And that is probably true of so many of the great roles that I have played and those I still desire to play. I don't know what that says about me. But I have been thinking about it. It's the redemption and reconciliation of this play that appeals to me. And being a parent now...all the stuff about children...all the emotions.
Anyway, those are some of my musings. It was a fun week. Capped off by seeing some friends up at the Kingsmen Theatre do another rarely done gem: "The Two Noble Kinsmen." I highly recommend you check it out. It's delightful. I mean, come see us first...but then go see them. Really a great night.
We had understudies for both shows this week. Justin went on as Autolocus and Robbie as Polixenes, and both of them were great. Then I went on as Dr. Caius and it went better than expected.
There were lots of distractions on Friday night during Winter's Tale. During the trial scene there was a scene happening between two screaming people fighting about a stolen baby. It was quite intense. There were also fireworks. And a pesky motorcycle rider really wanted everybody to know how cool he was as he kept zooming back and forth near the park. But this did not break us.
We are actors! Overcoming obstacles is part of our job description. Often times when we are sick or tired we give our best performances. Of course we would love to have a clean run where the sound is perfect, the crowd sitting in rapt attention, and every performer at their peak. But we rarely get any of those things much less all. So we adapt. And the more deeply you are able to live in the world of the play, the more able you actually are to take in the new things and deal with them. This was one of many thoughts I had while that effing motorcycle was attempting to destroy the final scene of our play. As Dr. Caius on Saturday, my sphere of concentration was very small. I have no idea what the audience was doing as I was solely focused on getting my lines out in the right order and not falling over. That was a huge obstacle in and of itself, and I was largely successful in overcoming it.
I had lots of thoughts this week. I always remind myself that the play is never finished developing. There's never a time to sit back and shift into auto-pilot. What stale and hackneyed performances those are. And I also remind myself that we have the play set. And these two things seem to stand in opposition. But they are not. Because the growth of a production is not in getting bigger or varying from the course laid down, but in growing deeper and fuller. Man oh man, Leah's speech in the trial on Friday night (in the midst of a fight over a stolen baby wafting from the park) was filled with such pain and anger and loss! It was deep! And just to receive that helps me grow my performance deeper with pain, regret, denial, loss, and desperation.
I had a really nice talk with a man named Eric who is seeing the entirety of Shakespeare's Canon in a calendar year and each play in a different theatre. He chose ours for Winter's Tale. You can check out his adventure at: http://shakespeareances.com/ He wondered why I was drawn to characters like Leontes which had been on my bucket list, and Bolingbroke from RII (and not Richard himself) which still is. I think he referred to them as emotionally stunted. And that is probably true of so many of the great roles that I have played and those I still desire to play. I don't know what that says about me. But I have been thinking about it. It's the redemption and reconciliation of this play that appeals to me. And being a parent now...all the stuff about children...all the emotions.
Anyway, those are some of my musings. It was a fun week. Capped off by seeing some friends up at the Kingsmen Theatre do another rarely done gem: "The Two Noble Kinsmen." I highly recommend you check it out. It's delightful. I mean, come see us first...but then go see them. Really a great night.
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