What is a youth?
Aug. 19th, 2008 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeI have not had much of a chance to post about Romeo and Juliet so far--it's been terrific fun. Mercutio is a BLAST to play, and perhaps one of my greatest challenges. It is not easy for me to play a believable man/young man. I can do gamine, I can do musical-theater-male (George, Strephon) but actually playing a male, a believable, cocky, obnoxious teenage young man is not easy. Jason is giving me some great notes--he zeroed in one something last week that was very helpful, he said "one thing that makes you sound more feminine is that when you're emphasizing something, your voice goes up." A-ha! I did the scene again and felt--more convincing.
It's still tricky though. I'm almost off-book and I've been running my lines every chance I get. (Last night while I was on line at Trader Joe's, I pulled out my script and was going over them, when Laurie, roommate-to-be, walked past me. She was all "you're so dedicated!" I said I HAVE to be, I have way too much going on to let things slide!) But right now I'm still mostly in the stage of gabbling the lines as fast as I can--and I can't work on the acting as much. I'm still trying to imprint the muscle memory on my mouth. OhthenIseeQueenMabhathbeenwithyou...Also, in addition to the challenge of playing a dude, is the nature of Mercutio's lines. His punning is OUT OF CONTROL. He is NUTS about the double- and triple-meanings, and extended that pun through several lines. Viola punned some but not nearly this much; her speech was much more lyrical, which is a lot more instinctive to me. Poetry, heightened language--I can deal with that. But a line like "Sure, wit--follow me this jest now 'til thou hast worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it is worn, the jest shall remain, after the wearing, solely singular." Yeah. I've been forcing myself to say that line every morning and evening, to get it into my mouth.
Our cast is great (those I've seen so far--Mercutio rarely interacts with anyone but his posse--Romeo and Benvolio). Adam, our Romeo, is a joy--supremely positive, always offering production suggestions (cheap rehearsal space, etc.)--and just FUN. Griffin is our Benvolio and he rocks as well. I really enjoy all my scenes with these guys; it feels very natural. I don't have any scenes with Jodie, our Juliet, but she is luminous and seems very sweet.
We had a biggish rehearsal last week where we integrated the fights. I of course have a fight with Tybalt wherein I am dealt a fatal wound (Ben Affleck: "I die?"). I LOVE our Tybalt--he is so psycho! He is just completely antagonistic in the role--LOVE it! It's interesting comparing him to Michael York in the Zeffirelli--MY's Tybalt kills Mercutio by accident and he's not quite such a villain. It works, but I think I prefer Kevin's unadulterated assholery. He's been pretending to lick the rapier after he stabs me which has made us all laugh.
It's still tricky though. I'm almost off-book and I've been running my lines every chance I get. (Last night while I was on line at Trader Joe's, I pulled out my script and was going over them, when Laurie, roommate-to-be, walked past me. She was all "you're so dedicated!" I said I HAVE to be, I have way too much going on to let things slide!) But right now I'm still mostly in the stage of gabbling the lines as fast as I can--and I can't work on the acting as much. I'm still trying to imprint the muscle memory on my mouth. OhthenIseeQueenMabhathbeenwithyou...Also, in addition to the challenge of playing a dude, is the nature of Mercutio's lines. His punning is OUT OF CONTROL. He is NUTS about the double- and triple-meanings, and extended that pun through several lines. Viola punned some but not nearly this much; her speech was much more lyrical, which is a lot more instinctive to me. Poetry, heightened language--I can deal with that. But a line like "Sure, wit--follow me this jest now 'til thou hast worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it is worn, the jest shall remain, after the wearing, solely singular." Yeah. I've been forcing myself to say that line every morning and evening, to get it into my mouth.
Our cast is great (those I've seen so far--Mercutio rarely interacts with anyone but his posse--Romeo and Benvolio). Adam, our Romeo, is a joy--supremely positive, always offering production suggestions (cheap rehearsal space, etc.)--and just FUN. Griffin is our Benvolio and he rocks as well. I really enjoy all my scenes with these guys; it feels very natural. I don't have any scenes with Jodie, our Juliet, but she is luminous and seems very sweet.
We had a biggish rehearsal last week where we integrated the fights. I of course have a fight with Tybalt wherein I am dealt a fatal wound (Ben Affleck: "I die?"). I LOVE our Tybalt--he is so psycho! He is just completely antagonistic in the role--LOVE it! It's interesting comparing him to Michael York in the Zeffirelli--MY's Tybalt kills Mercutio by accident and he's not quite such a villain. It works, but I think I prefer Kevin's unadulterated assholery. He's been pretending to lick the rapier after he stabs me which has made us all laugh.
