On Tuesday, our class was able to view a production of William Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors," by way of Digital Theatre Plus. The performance was a master class in physicality. Throughout, I was clear about the actions and the often-conflicting emotions that accompanied them, even without the words. However, as with any Shakespeare play, the words are infinitely adaptable, as this production was able to do. I believe they changed several lines in a few spots, but most of the lines could transfer to their modern setting without much difficulty. I was also very impressed with their use of set and costume. Every element was obviously well thought out, and used to its full potential. Given the lack of curtains or walls, and the three sides of audience, I imagine much planning went into determining how actors would move through their exits, entrances, and blocking on stage.
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We completed the process of rehearsing and performing a scene from Richard Brinkley Sheridan's "The Rivals" several weeks ago, and now the time has come to reflect on that process. As a quarter-long project, it really began at the beginning of February, when the class read the play aloud, and watched a version of it performed. I read for the part of Sir Anthony, as I stated in a previous blog post. We then divided into groups to perform a scene each from the play. I continued in my role as Sir Anthony as our group rehearsed a scene where Sir Anthony and Jack go to visit Mrs. Malaprop and Lydia. When Gretchen first filmed our scene, we were still very much learning our lines, and had only just begun to conceive of our blocking. I know that I and Spencer, who played Jack, were working on our physicality, and we realized we needed to play off each other more. At our final performance for the class, I believe we achieved this. Even though I still needed to carry my script to check one or two lines, I felt much more at ease with my character, and was able to react to other elements of the scene from Sir Anthony's perspective. I also feel like Spencer and I were able to work together successfully to build a convincing father/son dynamic. I think some of the blocking elements still needed some work so that each movement could have been more purposeful. Overall, however, I believe we made significant improvements between the two performances.
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Espen SwansonBloggin' 'bout theater.. Archives
February 2017
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