I must inquire, sirs and madams, as to what purpose you have in wishing to explore my identity. In truth, it is my son, Jack Absolute, who is at present deserving of attention. He will be marrying soon. A lovely girl she is, lovely! I picked her out myself, you know? Or, at least, I think I did. The particulars of that whole affair still get a bit mixed up in my head, so I find it best not to worry over it too long. So no matter! Jack is safe in his position in society now, and will surely continue to succeed splendidly. There's not much more to it than that. As for myself, I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy. It's all in the best interests of Jack, of course. I can't help if things get a little out of hand at times; love will do that to you. I remember when I was his age and... Ah, well, I mustn't get into that.
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After watching a production of The Rivals, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, I don't think that it could be produced in many contemporary settings. The basis for the play's humor is in the underhanded critique of the workings of the English upper class. I suppose that you could translate this into any upper class setting, but I think it would lose some of the context that allows the humor to function. I did think that the staging and the way actors would directly address the audience at various points in the production were fascinating and definitely worth exploring for future use. The staging gave scenes depth, and emphasized the audience looking in on these events, rather than them just happening in front of them. The way the actors address the audience does a similar thing, and allows for further personal engagement, like they are sharing a private joke.
Last Friday, our theater class was lucky enough to host professional actor and director Joe Bostick. We spent about an hour and a half practicing various stage combat techniques, before combining them into a sequence we performed in partner groups for the class. In addition to learning a completely new skill, I was able to work with people I wouldn't normally, as our two theater classes combined for the workshop. It was much harder physical work than I had anticipated, and I gained a greater appreciation for the art form. While presenting my work with my partner, I ended up hitting my head pretty hard on the floor, which was a ~slightly painful~ reminder that acting, especially stunts, require an intense awareness of your body and surroundings. However, I'm very glad I was able to try stage combat, because it's not likely something I would ever seek out otherwise. By exploring theater from a different angle, I can better understand the parts I do help with.
Over the course of the film, we got to see a multitude of examples of historical English theater. The film begins with a theater system that excluded women from acting, even in female roles. I found this to be especially interesting in that women were still portrayed as possessing considerable power in the film, as is the case with Charles II's mistress Nell Gwynn. We were also able to see several performance spaces, of varying shapes and sizes. The main theater, where the central theater company performs, is very rectangular and seems to stray from the more classical arched auditorium. This, combined with the realism seen in the final version of the death scene, seem to be elements of modernist theater that could have developed during this time period.
Theater had been outlawed for the period of time that Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate led the nation, but despite it's renewal under Charles II, we saw several instances of Charles exerting royal authority over the art form. As a result of Charles' decree that female roles must be played by women, Ned Kynaston loses control of his life. I find the role that royal power had over the art world to be very interesting. While we didn't set many containers at the beginning of our project, several arose during the creative process. Obviously, we are constrained by time as the presentation is this week, and we started about a month ago. However, sometimes having time in between our "rehearsals" in class was beneficial, as it allowed us to reflect on what we'd tried. As we discussed the themes we wanted to convey, we first decided that any dialogue would be mostly improvised, then revised that to remove dialogue entirely. By communicating with physicality and limited unintelligible "language" we can communicate those themes more simply, and it gives us more time to work through issues as they arise as opposed to writing any kind of script. We also tried to include each group member in each scene to some capacity. Like the dialogue container, this actually led to us creating new ways to interpret our ideas. We use a type of "chorus" that amplifies the thoughts and emotions of the lead character. Each time we either introduce or come across another container, it leads to some of our best parts of our piece, instead of the roadblocks they might seem to be.
Our final days of class are fast approaching, and with them the presentation of our first devised theater piece. For the most part, we spent the first few weeks planning and discussing possible moments. We've now moved into pretty steady rehearsal, but that's not to say that the creative process is done. I've actually found that some of our best material came from the act of running through what we already had, however rudimentary. One of my favorite pieces developed from about two words into a six person scene where everyone contributes something integral. That last part has actually been one of our greatest challenges. It is often difficult to think of ways to include each group member in some capacity, because each person needs to devise their role to some extent within the universe of another group member's moment. However, I think we've thought of some creative solutions that are representative of the work we've done over the past month.
This one's a bit late, and the reflection isn't as fresh, but there were a few things that really stuck out to me. We've been working in two teams in our class to devise short pieces based on the ideas and techniques of Commedia dell'Arte. Commedia is a form of theater that originated in Italy in the 16th century, and relies on archetypal portrayals of characters throughout the genre. Nearly all characterization and humor is physical, so we spent Monday's class working through a list of characters. It was a definite change of pace, since we've mostly been sitting in our groups planning things out for awhile now. It was an important reminder not only to incorporate Commedia archetypes into our pieces, but also to work through creative issues with movement. As the class went on, we collectively became less embarrassed, and were more instinctual with our representations. The next day, our group didn't spend much time sitting around, and got right to using improv and Commedia to work out some scenes.
A couple of days ago, we did an exercise to practice our awareness of our physical sensations and how they related to emotional situations. We paired up, and took turns describing how we felt from feet up to face when we thought back to a time when we had felt anxious, and another when we were confident. While my partner and I didn't have enough time to try both situations for each of us, it was actually a bit surprising how I could summon up the exact feeling, and then zero in on each physical facet. Is it muscle memory? Our thoughts, emotions, and bodies are so intricately connected that I guess each can trigger reactions in the others, without any need for outside interference. This is very important to any art form, but infinitely more so in theater, where the art is the actor's body as a manifestation of their thought and emotion. The creative team (from writer to director, costumer to actor) must understand the physical and mental reactions they are seeking to elicit in the audience before they open the curtain. This includes me. I need to understand what I'm feeling and why I'm feeling it, so I can make an audience feel it, too.
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Espen SwansonBloggin' 'bout theater.. Archives
February 2017
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