BACK TO THE SALTMINES!
TUE. MAY 3/2005/21:42 E.S.T. - REHEARSAL DAY 1
The first day of rehearsal was unusual in that it was done without the usual "meet & greet", which has been deferred to this Thursday @ the Director's request, saying that she wanted us to "spend time together" as the characters & as ourselves.
The STAGE MANAGER went through the usual C.A.E.A. business, then asked that ACTRESS & I autograph some posters for a charitable event, & stated that he & DIRECTOR have scheduled rehearsal in such a way that we are required to be "offbook" by THU. MAY 12/2005 (quite a feat, given the many pages of dialogue each of us must put away between then & now!)
(Method) ACTRESS said that she "doesn't memorise", & that she prefers not to "learn scripts by rote", choosing instead to wait until she "knows where [she's] going on the set", & that she was made "very nervous" about that deadline, feeling it to be "too soon".
@ this, DIRECTOR & STAGE MANAGER hastened to reassure her that their chosen date was not carved in stone, & that the rehearsal process was not about "making [her] nervous", with especial emphasis upon the fact that we have the luxury of being "a bit more fluid with the schedule because the company is so small".
For my own part, the script will be the most difficult I have ever had to memorise not so much because of the sheer size of the role, but because the playwright has chosen to impose phonetic Patois upon the actors, which causes me to feel as though someone else is attempting to act the role for me, & that I must parrot their own interpretation.
As well, the layout of the dialogue on the page is not particularly friendly to the eyes, with numerous typesetter's errors & dodgy punctuation, so I felt very much the way I have heard dyslexics describe their own experiences of reading.
To the credit of Stage Management, they have done their best to ameliorate this condition by photocopying the script so that individual pages appear vertically, 1 page/sheet, rather than horizontally, 2 pages/sheet, as the original copy of the script I was given had been done.
The whole thing was even gathered together into a green folder, thereby saving me the bother of attempting to choose what colour to assign myself!
The day was spent sitting around a table with STAGE MANAGER (SM), ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER (ASM), ACTRESS & DIRECTOR, the latter asking questions of us about our respective characters & insisting that we respond in First Person Subjective about same (as opposed to Third Person Objective, which is my own preference).
It became very clear to me that I was working with Method people, since whenever I made a dramaturgical comment (in character), it would be contradicted by ACTRESS (ironically, resistant to speaking from First Person Subjective), who would make judgements about how my own character ought to be played, even going so far as to suggest how I ought to play a given comic scene, & how to handle a given prop within it.
I don't care to overanalyse what makes a given scene funny, since I come from an Old School Vaudeville/Music Hall background, predicated on the idea that if the script is funny, then one should play it as funny, & that any Dramatic Conflict within the story will be revealed thereby.
Consequently, when ACTRESS began deconstructing my character's journey & motivations, there were some moments of tension between us when I expressed resistance to her own interpretation of what my character did & how he did it, not just because I found the de facto direction to be unsolicited advice, but because I found my own interpretation to be funnier than hers (which I perceive to be influenced by Feminism).
S.M. & A.S.M. were also active participants in the dramaturgical questioning process, which I always welcome, since I believe that if one is to be present for a rehearsal, then one should be actively participant therein.
DIRECTOR is of the opinion that my character wants people to believe that he has a mistress, but that he is in actual fact just eating another woman's cooking every Tuesday evening, whereas I am of the opinion that my character is an adulterer, & that this is the source of much of the Dramatic Conflict between him & his wife.
DIRECTOR explained the reasoning for her belief, but I told her that it was not something I thought I could convey readily to an audience, whereas philandering is not only consistent with what the playwright has set down on paper, it's also something that the audience can identify with from personal experience & empirical observation.
Soon thereafter, S.M. declared the day @ an end, & a production meeting was convened immediately that I left the table, as Design Personnel & Production Management Personnel arrived with their various wares.
DIRECTOR asked me to bring Reggae Music that I think & feel to be pertinent to "where [my] character's @" for tomorrow's rehearsal, as she had responded very strongly to my statement that I kept hearing "EXODUS" by BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS in my mind's ear whenever I read the script.
Fortunately, I had just liberated my CD's, so this is not an impossible task, but I informed her that my LP's are still in storage, which thrilled her, because she finds the peculiar crackle under the needle to be appropriate for the play, which she describes as "a period piece", & is prepared to arrange the schedule in such a way that I can visit my storage space to obtain them.
Today was the most challenging first day of play rehearsal I have ever experienced, & I fully expect the experience to remain so, given how differently ACTRESS & DIRECTOR approach working than I do.
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WED. MAY 4/2005/10:00 - 18:00 E.S.T. - DAY 2
More of the same, today, but DIRECTOR stated that she believes the play's "main journey" is that of my own character, rather than that of ACTRESS, which caused her to bristle, since her name & physiognomy precede mine on the poster promoting the show.
ACTRESS acknowledged openly that she has been addressing her concerns about my character to DIRECTOR, rather than to me, which came as some surprise, as I think she was compelled to do so by my saying things like, "Well, *I* have some thoughts on what my character might be thinking & feeling, actually...."
Whenever I have worked on a play with an actress who has a personal relationship with the director, this has been the case, so I was neither surprised nor shocked to learn that this would be so, especially given that such relationships engender an actress being accorded de facto star status by a director.
When I felt ACTRESS taking a particular route with her de facto direction of my character again, I confronted her by asking whether her concerns were primarily political or dramaturgical, & if the former, how did the script support what she was imposing upon my character & me?
This led to DIRECTOR & ACTRESS asking me what I meant by "political", to which I responded that I perceived 21st Century Feminist Value Judgements being made about my character & his actions by ACTRESS, ones that were depriving me of the level of artistic & intellectual involvement to which I am accustomed (especially when playing such a large role!), & that were closing doors to comedic possibilities in the staging of the show (given that ACTRESS was imposing decisions about where my own character would be standing onstage @ certain points during the action).
ACTRESS said that she doesn't understand what "dramaturgical" means, but that she hoped DIRECTOR would correct her if ACTRESS was imposing her personal socio-political agenda upon the play in a way that was not serving the story.
Again, I was surprised, since it was my perception that virtually everything she has said in my presence about my character & how she thinks I ought to play him has stemmed from a 21st Century Feminist perspective that takes umbrage @ my dramaturgical support of a 20th Century male chauvinist character's thoughts, feelings & behaviours.
Consequently, this has led to minor interpersonal conflicts between ACTRESS & myself, which DIRECTOR has been quick to defuse, & which I think & feel would have been averted had I been allowed to speak in 3rd Person Objective, rather than First Person Subjective, since ACTRESS has been sparked off by utterances I have made in the latter mode, despite her having agreed readily with those same opinions when expressed by me in 3rd Person Subjective.
Therefore, I must conclude that ACTRESS distrusts me, & does not endorse DIRECTOR'S decision to cast me opposite her.
The Method approach to things is very different to my own, since ACTRESS asks DIRECTOR why the characters (yes, mine again!) do/say given things, whereas I read the script to obtain that intel from the playwright.
My own questions of DIRECTOR have been primarily in connection with what I see as typesetting errors & idiomatic pecularities in the script, since the former have been confounding perception of the latter to some degree.
Since there is to be yet another "first readthrough/meet & greet" tomorrow, DIRECTOR expressed angst around it, feeling that performance-level readings would be expected, & gave us notes @ the end of the day in order to prepare us.
She stressed that if we felt the words were "getting away from [us]" as they came out of our mouths, then they probably were, & that we should concern ourselves primarily with aural comprehension, with which I was in complete agreement, since that was the challenge I acknowledged when I was asked to sign a Letter of Intent & subsequent contract.
DIRECTOR also said that the script's diction should be honoured & observed, since to her mind, the playwright had made specific decisions about each character's mode of expression, & that we should resist the urge to interpret certain words in Patois, despite our own natural inclinations to do so.
This latter direction is 1 that I had been expecting for some time, since ACTRESS has been quite vocal about her desire to rewrite various dialogue exchanges & ignore stage directions, while I have been attempting to make my character's diction internally consistent because the manner in which the playwright & typesetter have chosen to have my character express himself is often technically counterintuitive, with run-on syntax, forcing me to plan how I will breathe & pitch my voice, rather than expediting them in the manner that MESSRS. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE & DAVID MAMET do in their own works (despite meddlesome interference by their editors!)
Because DIRECTOR & ACTRESS keep making reference to the playwright being in attendance on Opening Night, I feel an even greater desire to serve his story well & to honour his vision, but I would prefer not to have such issues introduced to me during the first days of rehearsal, as I do not find them either relevant or useful, since my job remains the same, regardless of who is or is not in any given audience.
DIRECTOR asked me for the music I had selected yesternight, so I gave her my copy of THE POLICE™: “MESSAGE IN A BOX”, telling her that I thought “THE BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU” to have particular relevance to a given scene involving my character in ACT II.
I'm finding that I feel physical exhaustion @ the end of the day, & that my emotions are quite close to the surface, partly due to the manner in which I am being compelled to work (& its subject matter), & partly due to unresolved personal business connected with last Sunday that would be disingenuous of me to repeat here.
I'm hoping that I shan't feel this way for the next 2 months, but if this sort of thing is common, then I can certainly understand why it is that MESSRS. RICHARD BURTON, OLIVER REED, RICHARD HARRIS & PETER O'TOOLE lived life as they did!
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
We had our first rehearsal in the theatre proper today, which presented the opportunity to explore how the staging translates to an audience setting.
This is proving to be the most arduous rehearsal process in which I have been involved since 1990 (hence my protracted absence from this domain!), partly because virtually all my own instincts & aesthetics about how the scenes ought to be rehearsed & played are being opposed by ACTRESS & DIRECTOR, each of whom deconstruct each & every line & action to the point that I feel as though I've been indoctrinated against my will into an arcane cult.
The first day of rehearsal was unusual in that it was done without the usual "meet & greet", which has been deferred to this Thursday @ the Director's request, saying that she wanted us to "spend time together" as the characters & as ourselves.
The STAGE MANAGER went through the usual C.A.E.A. business, then asked that ACTRESS & I autograph some posters for a charitable event, & stated that he & DIRECTOR have scheduled rehearsal in such a way that we are required to be "offbook" by THU. MAY 12/2005 (quite a feat, given the many pages of dialogue each of us must put away between then & now!)
(Method) ACTRESS said that she "doesn't memorise", & that she prefers not to "learn scripts by rote", choosing instead to wait until she "knows where [she's] going on the set", & that she was made "very nervous" about that deadline, feeling it to be "too soon".
@ this, DIRECTOR & STAGE MANAGER hastened to reassure her that their chosen date was not carved in stone, & that the rehearsal process was not about "making [her] nervous", with especial emphasis upon the fact that we have the luxury of being "a bit more fluid with the schedule because the company is so small".
For my own part, the script will be the most difficult I have ever had to memorise not so much because of the sheer size of the role, but because the playwright has chosen to impose phonetic Patois upon the actors, which causes me to feel as though someone else is attempting to act the role for me, & that I must parrot their own interpretation.
As well, the layout of the dialogue on the page is not particularly friendly to the eyes, with numerous typesetter's errors & dodgy punctuation, so I felt very much the way I have heard dyslexics describe their own experiences of reading.
To the credit of Stage Management, they have done their best to ameliorate this condition by photocopying the script so that individual pages appear vertically, 1 page/sheet, rather than horizontally, 2 pages/sheet, as the original copy of the script I was given had been done.
The whole thing was even gathered together into a green folder, thereby saving me the bother of attempting to choose what colour to assign myself!
The day was spent sitting around a table with STAGE MANAGER (SM), ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER (ASM), ACTRESS & DIRECTOR, the latter asking questions of us about our respective characters & insisting that we respond in First Person Subjective about same (as opposed to Third Person Objective, which is my own preference).
It became very clear to me that I was working with Method people, since whenever I made a dramaturgical comment (in character), it would be contradicted by ACTRESS (ironically, resistant to speaking from First Person Subjective), who would make judgements about how my own character ought to be played, even going so far as to suggest how I ought to play a given comic scene, & how to handle a given prop within it.
I don't care to overanalyse what makes a given scene funny, since I come from an Old School Vaudeville/Music Hall background, predicated on the idea that if the script is funny, then one should play it as funny, & that any Dramatic Conflict within the story will be revealed thereby.
Consequently, when ACTRESS began deconstructing my character's journey & motivations, there were some moments of tension between us when I expressed resistance to her own interpretation of what my character did & how he did it, not just because I found the de facto direction to be unsolicited advice, but because I found my own interpretation to be funnier than hers (which I perceive to be influenced by Feminism).
S.M. & A.S.M. were also active participants in the dramaturgical questioning process, which I always welcome, since I believe that if one is to be present for a rehearsal, then one should be actively participant therein.
DIRECTOR is of the opinion that my character wants people to believe that he has a mistress, but that he is in actual fact just eating another woman's cooking every Tuesday evening, whereas I am of the opinion that my character is an adulterer, & that this is the source of much of the Dramatic Conflict between him & his wife.
DIRECTOR explained the reasoning for her belief, but I told her that it was not something I thought I could convey readily to an audience, whereas philandering is not only consistent with what the playwright has set down on paper, it's also something that the audience can identify with from personal experience & empirical observation.
Soon thereafter, S.M. declared the day @ an end, & a production meeting was convened immediately that I left the table, as Design Personnel & Production Management Personnel arrived with their various wares.
DIRECTOR asked me to bring Reggae Music that I think & feel to be pertinent to "where [my] character's @" for tomorrow's rehearsal, as she had responded very strongly to my statement that I kept hearing "EXODUS" by BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS in my mind's ear whenever I read the script.
Fortunately, I had just liberated my CD's, so this is not an impossible task, but I informed her that my LP's are still in storage, which thrilled her, because she finds the peculiar crackle under the needle to be appropriate for the play, which she describes as "a period piece", & is prepared to arrange the schedule in such a way that I can visit my storage space to obtain them.
Today was the most challenging first day of play rehearsal I have ever experienced, & I fully expect the experience to remain so, given how differently ACTRESS & DIRECTOR approach working than I do.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
WED. MAY 4/2005/10:00 - 18:00 E.S.T. - DAY 2
More of the same, today, but DIRECTOR stated that she believes the play's "main journey" is that of my own character, rather than that of ACTRESS, which caused her to bristle, since her name & physiognomy precede mine on the poster promoting the show.
ACTRESS acknowledged openly that she has been addressing her concerns about my character to DIRECTOR, rather than to me, which came as some surprise, as I think she was compelled to do so by my saying things like, "Well, *I* have some thoughts on what my character might be thinking & feeling, actually...."
Whenever I have worked on a play with an actress who has a personal relationship with the director, this has been the case, so I was neither surprised nor shocked to learn that this would be so, especially given that such relationships engender an actress being accorded de facto star status by a director.
When I felt ACTRESS taking a particular route with her de facto direction of my character again, I confronted her by asking whether her concerns were primarily political or dramaturgical, & if the former, how did the script support what she was imposing upon my character & me?
This led to DIRECTOR & ACTRESS asking me what I meant by "political", to which I responded that I perceived 21st Century Feminist Value Judgements being made about my character & his actions by ACTRESS, ones that were depriving me of the level of artistic & intellectual involvement to which I am accustomed (especially when playing such a large role!), & that were closing doors to comedic possibilities in the staging of the show (given that ACTRESS was imposing decisions about where my own character would be standing onstage @ certain points during the action).
ACTRESS said that she doesn't understand what "dramaturgical" means, but that she hoped DIRECTOR would correct her if ACTRESS was imposing her personal socio-political agenda upon the play in a way that was not serving the story.
Again, I was surprised, since it was my perception that virtually everything she has said in my presence about my character & how she thinks I ought to play him has stemmed from a 21st Century Feminist perspective that takes umbrage @ my dramaturgical support of a 20th Century male chauvinist character's thoughts, feelings & behaviours.
Consequently, this has led to minor interpersonal conflicts between ACTRESS & myself, which DIRECTOR has been quick to defuse, & which I think & feel would have been averted had I been allowed to speak in 3rd Person Objective, rather than First Person Subjective, since ACTRESS has been sparked off by utterances I have made in the latter mode, despite her having agreed readily with those same opinions when expressed by me in 3rd Person Subjective.
Therefore, I must conclude that ACTRESS distrusts me, & does not endorse DIRECTOR'S decision to cast me opposite her.
The Method approach to things is very different to my own, since ACTRESS asks DIRECTOR why the characters (yes, mine again!) do/say given things, whereas I read the script to obtain that intel from the playwright.
My own questions of DIRECTOR have been primarily in connection with what I see as typesetting errors & idiomatic pecularities in the script, since the former have been confounding perception of the latter to some degree.
Since there is to be yet another "first readthrough/meet & greet" tomorrow, DIRECTOR expressed angst around it, feeling that performance-level readings would be expected, & gave us notes @ the end of the day in order to prepare us.
She stressed that if we felt the words were "getting away from [us]" as they came out of our mouths, then they probably were, & that we should concern ourselves primarily with aural comprehension, with which I was in complete agreement, since that was the challenge I acknowledged when I was asked to sign a Letter of Intent & subsequent contract.
DIRECTOR also said that the script's diction should be honoured & observed, since to her mind, the playwright had made specific decisions about each character's mode of expression, & that we should resist the urge to interpret certain words in Patois, despite our own natural inclinations to do so.
This latter direction is 1 that I had been expecting for some time, since ACTRESS has been quite vocal about her desire to rewrite various dialogue exchanges & ignore stage directions, while I have been attempting to make my character's diction internally consistent because the manner in which the playwright & typesetter have chosen to have my character express himself is often technically counterintuitive, with run-on syntax, forcing me to plan how I will breathe & pitch my voice, rather than expediting them in the manner that MESSRS. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE & DAVID MAMET do in their own works (despite meddlesome interference by their editors!)
Because DIRECTOR & ACTRESS keep making reference to the playwright being in attendance on Opening Night, I feel an even greater desire to serve his story well & to honour his vision, but I would prefer not to have such issues introduced to me during the first days of rehearsal, as I do not find them either relevant or useful, since my job remains the same, regardless of who is or is not in any given audience.
DIRECTOR asked me for the music I had selected yesternight, so I gave her my copy of THE POLICE™: “MESSAGE IN A BOX”, telling her that I thought “THE BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU” to have particular relevance to a given scene involving my character in ACT II.
I'm finding that I feel physical exhaustion @ the end of the day, & that my emotions are quite close to the surface, partly due to the manner in which I am being compelled to work (& its subject matter), & partly due to unresolved personal business connected with last Sunday that would be disingenuous of me to repeat here.
I'm hoping that I shan't feel this way for the next 2 months, but if this sort of thing is common, then I can certainly understand why it is that MESSRS. RICHARD BURTON, OLIVER REED, RICHARD HARRIS & PETER O'TOOLE lived life as they did!
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
We had our first rehearsal in the theatre proper today, which presented the opportunity to explore how the staging translates to an audience setting.
This is proving to be the most arduous rehearsal process in which I have been involved since 1990 (hence my protracted absence from this domain!), partly because virtually all my own instincts & aesthetics about how the scenes ought to be rehearsed & played are being opposed by ACTRESS & DIRECTOR, each of whom deconstruct each & every line & action to the point that I feel as though I've been indoctrinated against my will into an arcane cult.