Published on Wednesday February 11, 2004 .
Tonight in class I finished my work on the Edmund Pollard monologue. For my performance I modified my toga costume so that it was sleeveless and hanging off my right shoulder. Tom wanted more “bohemian” so I showed more skin. I also used grapes instead of an apple for the top of the scene. I remember seeing an illustration of Bacchus online and he was reclining eating grapes. So that is what I did. Before the lights came up on stage I reclined on the ground holding the grapes above me while I bit one of the grapes from the bunch. The lights then came up and there I was reclining in a toga eating grapes. I thought it was very effective and got a good reaction from the class when they saw me. My performance of Edmund Pollard tonight was more playful, soft and seductive. After the first run through Tom gave me some slight adjustments to my performance and I performed it again. I ended up performing it three times with Tom’s approval on my third performance.
So now we’re back to scenes again. The play I will be working on is “One Sunday Afternoon” by James Hagan. I’ll have to pickup the play tomorrow…
Published on Wednesday February 4, 2004 .
Tonight in class I performed another paraphrase of the Edmund Pollard monologue. I was trying to address the notes Tom gave me on my last performance. He wanted me to be more passionate and more like Bacchus who is half man, half beast. So tonight I was preparing my performance thinking of vampires, seduction and the old Nine Inch Nails song, Closer.
Well I came on strong in my performance hitting the emotions I prepared to express. The only problem was that my interpretation was completely wrong. Tom said I was way too evil and sounded like evil Zargon from outer space, or I was from the underworld. He said no one would want to party with me or join me. The entire class started laughing like crazy. It was pretty funny. I guess I went way over the top with the beastly passion. Instead I’m suppose to be seducing and inspiring people to join me in my hedonistic ways. I’m suppose to be challenging and inviting people to party with me.
Tom asked me to try it again and the third time I performed the paraphrase Tom said I was now headed in the right direction for the monologue. He said I need to continue to be more playful and let my own personality seep through a bit more.
So next week I will be performing the monologue using the original text. Hopefully I won’t come off evil again…
Published on Wednesday January 28, 2004 .
Last night my partner and I rehearsed our scene from The Woolgatherers and worked out the blocking. Neither of us are off-book as of yet but hope to be by tomorrow(!). The scene itself is really fun and full of dramatics. The female character “Rose” basically has a mental breakdown in the scene and flips out while my character “Cliff” tries to hang in there with her and console her (because he wants to sleep with her). Our rehearsal went well and we made a lot of progress with the piece. Tomorrow will be our dress rehearsal. Luckily we won’t be performing on Sat which is the first day of Master Class and we will be able to watch to see how harsh Joanne will be on the actors and scene. It will also give us a chance to rehearse our lines a couple more times before our performance on Sun.
Tonight I performed the paraphrased version of the Edmund Pollard monologue. I felt very commanding and confident and was sure to really play the audience and address each person with my eyes. Tom liked it a lot but said that right now I am “performing” it instead of relating to every word. He also thought that my delivery was too clean and more like an oration. He wants more passion, sensuality, more from the guts and the heart. More bohemian, raw, inspiring but edgy. Less poetic and formal.