WORKSHOP WEEK TWO: Yesterday and Today
Monday: Yesterday, we only spent an afternoon in class so there’s not much to cover. We spent just over an hour observing Kasper Hauser‘s Health and Safety Tour and the first part of the first Stage and Piano. It was somewhat brief, but it was interesting to get John’s perspective on what he would expect from your typical H&S Tour and the beginning of an onstage session as important as the Stage and Piano. He stressed the importance of taking control of the stage right from the get-go. This felt especially releveant to me, as although I do not really have any reservations about being ‘THE BOSS”, it made me anxious that I would have trouble actually taking the reigns, so to speak. Afterwards, we went to Room 2 were we had a class that revolved around Read Throughs. I haven’t been to too many read-throughs but I kind of got the picture. I always find it hard in the first read through to pick up all the subtle hints of props, effects etc. so it was a good exercise to some extent, as it allowed me to get some practice in!
Tuesday: Today we have been in class all day, working on our ten minute plays. We started out by marking out our seperate spaces for each of the plays. This was something I thought I would find relatively easy, however, without preperation I found myself making a lot of mistakes and misjudgements! I think if I had the plan in more time I would be able to do a much quicker and better job! This has prompted me to contact Rachael for a ground plan for Sweet Sorrow, as the time for the mark up is surely drawing nigh…
We then spent the rest of the day blocking and rehearsing our scenes, adding cues and requirements to make it more of a show experience. My blocking was a little rusty, having not done it in a while, and it was good to get a bit of work on it, though I’ll admit mine was a little bit messy and rushed.
I am growing in confidence as we do these classes, and I do feel a lot more prepared for the weeks ahead on the Shakespeares. I’m just hoping that I will emerge alive after this very, very hectic month!
Laura
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
last.fm- My Twitter
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
The Opera S&P session was a fortuitous addition to the planned classes, I am hoping that this session will spark some questions for John Duncan tomorrow.
The “reigns” are much easier to grasp if you had a consistant presence in rehearsal (much easier to do on a professional Opera than a Drama show). You would know the show inside out and have built a much stronger manager/performer/director relationship. Again, time pressures can often stop you from achieving this.
A quick note on read tbroughs: I spent a lot of time teaching about them for one simple reason, they are often the first contact with your cast and Director. Thus makes this important as it is the session where first impressions are made.
The most important aspect that I have taken from your reflections is that you have been “growing in confidence” with every class. This is exactly how they were designed to be.
Great work Laura.