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Aria da Capo rehearsal
Jun. 17th, 2003 10:52 amIt's breezy and cold again today. Still, I stubbornly insist upon wearing a sleeveless outfit--it is June, dammit, I will wear skimpy clothes. Last night I tried out Duncan's Blue Blower--it's a bit noisy but it seems to cool down the loft nicely. It was nice sleeping on a mattress again.
Last night another rehearsal for Aria da Capo, the one act play by Edna St. Vincent Millay that Duncan is directing. Jason and I play Pierrot and Columbine, commedia dell'arte characters who perform comedy improv and are kicked off the stage for a tragedy improv--that turns out to be real. The play is quite interesting. Apparently Millay wrote it about World War I, and wanted to make the statement that comedy is used to distract "the people" from tragedy. I hope Duncan includes notes in the program about that--I love context before seeing an abstract play like this.
I love working with Jason and Duncan. Jason is enormously talented (of course I knew that) and respectful to his fellow actors. And fun and funny, as well. Duncan provides a lot of scholarship which is very helpful with this play, especially. I came in a bit before nine and came upon the other two actors, who play the tragic actors, who end up actually killing each other during their "game." I was daydreaming a bit and didn't catch the notes he gave to them--but as a director, I wanted to tell them to make it more stylized, less natural. I felt they were acting a bit too much like regular, everyday guys--the language is heightened, it's in blank verse, and it's okay to play that. The trick is to stylize it, without losing a sense of the "real" emotions underneath. But I'm not sure what level of experience these two have--they seem pretty good as instinctive, basic actors, and maybe they just have no experience with that kind of style.
Last night another rehearsal for Aria da Capo, the one act play by Edna St. Vincent Millay that Duncan is directing. Jason and I play Pierrot and Columbine, commedia dell'arte characters who perform comedy improv and are kicked off the stage for a tragedy improv--that turns out to be real. The play is quite interesting. Apparently Millay wrote it about World War I, and wanted to make the statement that comedy is used to distract "the people" from tragedy. I hope Duncan includes notes in the program about that--I love context before seeing an abstract play like this.
I love working with Jason and Duncan. Jason is enormously talented (of course I knew that) and respectful to his fellow actors. And fun and funny, as well. Duncan provides a lot of scholarship which is very helpful with this play, especially. I came in a bit before nine and came upon the other two actors, who play the tragic actors, who end up actually killing each other during their "game." I was daydreaming a bit and didn't catch the notes he gave to them--but as a director, I wanted to tell them to make it more stylized, less natural. I felt they were acting a bit too much like regular, everyday guys--the language is heightened, it's in blank verse, and it's okay to play that. The trick is to stylize it, without losing a sense of the "real" emotions underneath. But I'm not sure what level of experience these two have--they seem pretty good as instinctive, basic actors, and maybe they just have no experience with that kind of style.
