A little yoga to begin. And lights out, but of course.
We’re going to start opening every rehearsal with a little yoga led by Nicole and Jen. Don’t overstretch.
All of this is good advice. I love watching the actors do the yoga. The environment in the room is so peaceful, it makes me feel like I should type as quietly as possible. As the car horn intrudes – no peace, perhaps – even in the rehearsal room. Can we ever escape the world? And that is indeed exactly what we endeavor to do here – be entirely present, despite the car horns, and the rain, and the tight jeans, and the overdue library books. All of that fades away to leave us bare and naked in front of the world.
Been a long week for many of you people. A lot of people working on shows. Confession time re: lines. Hilarious. This week you get a pass – your level of memorization needs to start happening and you have to have it done.
Nice even circle. A round of clapping to start. [I wonder if this exercise started with like a minute of closed eyes, in through the nose, out through the mouth, to get them in a rhythm – if that would be easier.]
A difficult activity, but things in Titus we can explore with this energy. Gesture improvs! Continue with scene to get a little bit of product. Kept getting closer last week, so this week we will do it again!
Lane work – Viewpoints exercise. Lane work – R&J simple intro – walk towards scene partner – moment of connection, moment of separation, keep going. Come together, connect, and separate. Three will go and then two will go – men and women divided. At very beginning, no physical contact. We will build up. Starting not as characters.
Name of the exercise. I wonder, too, if there is a way to have this exercise really be about meeting without lies. Bringing the bare, naked, honest truth of ourselves to a meeting with another person.
In the course of walking, you have to fall in love, and then you have to leave each other. Now allowed to make physical contact.
Ashley just reached for Dayne’s neck and he held her hip – it was almost like a dance, like the beginning of a waltz – for some reason I immediately thought of Tamora and Titus beginning a sort of waltz of death. And this rushing hysteria between Jen and Keith is also beautiful – it feels like Lavinia…with herself. With her own sense of her humanity – like Lavinia saying goodbye to her innocence – holding on rather desperately. All of them seem to have this instinct to hold on. This moment when they are holding each other and swaying. It should have looked like a middle school dance, and it did not. It looked like ten people wanting to hold each other together and forever. Rather extraordinarily beautiful. It also seems to have anchored in this sort of interesting way – time keeps moving out from a sort of center point. Interesting – any connection except a hug. Smell – beautiful. There is such a depth of difference in these connections – differences in maturity, in body comfort, in experience – I feel as though these young men and women are very alive in themselves. Very honest, and open.
Men = Bassianus. Women = Lavinia. In the hunt before everything else has happened.
Nick takes his hat off. No armor allowed. Dancing, reaching, smelling, holding…these connections are all about more than just one touch. For some there is so much innocence and possibility – Zac and Liz really seem to have captured what the connection might be – Lavinia is, in fact, not a sexual, sexified creature. She is young and innocent and lusting and afraid, even with someone she knows and respects. And Zac wants to possess her and kiss her and claim her. And the tension that they have is extraordinary. Where Keith and Jen feel, to me, like Tamora and Titus. Imagine them together – what a force of nature, of reckoning they would have been. What if Tamora had married Titus, had been his prize on the battlefield – if she had slaked his lust with her body there in the midst of blood and swords and wounded men – how might they have conquered the world?
How was the lane work? That was intense – I thought it was gonna be a warm up. I’ve always stuck to the idea that we start with some circle game, tell the story, whatever activity – there’s something interesting about starting with those moments of affection and that’s where we start from – from strong connection. That’s so critical because how many plays do you see what you think of are acts of action and it’s so important for them to have the time to establish that affection – and then the tragedy doesn’t mean anything. It’s amazing how quickly you can establish that. Having just a simple moment of connection before can change everything. I wonder, then, if we do that lane work maybe just to BEGIN the show. Experience before you speak so you are reacting to your environment. Acknowledge your space. I love this as a lesson.
Back on our feet. Something new into the Tamora-Aaron birth section. Find yourself an interesting and dynamic place in the world. We’re going to repeat a scenario from last week – women are Tamora, men are Aaron, after the birth, connect with each other. The baby is present. Start with a Tamora going to an Aaron.
Bitch did not just drop my baby. Lots of laughing after that one. Needed it. I hate that baby so much. Don’t you dare give me that baby. I wanted a monologue during it. As important as the work is, if it fucks up your life, it’s not valid work. Maybe a little identity crisis, but you should be able to go through the rest of your day.
Find yourselves in an interesting place in the room. Ross does the whole monologue holding the child before you actually move. If you feel like using some of those words, use them. You don’t have to be one of the people engaged at the moment – if you feel a part of the monologue, go ahead and express it. Whatever. Everyone is Aaron. And you can give it to the same sex. Other texts, also portions of the poem, are totally allowed.
Just legitimately got the chills as they are all speaking. I think because of Chelsea and Jen with the hate in their hearts about the mistress. Myself, myself, myself – some of you will smoke – a chorus. My mistress is my mistress. I’m not sure I know what the hell is going on or why it is interesting and extraordinarily moving – I suppose that is the point. It is as though vultures are circling around this baby.
Time for an arc. Everyone is Tamora. Man speaks, men are Aaron. Woman speaks, all Aaron. At some point, Aaron actively pursues the child.
It’s so interesting that the Tamoras are repulsed by the child. That circling looked kind of cool. And then not all of them are repulsed. There is some sort of decision to be made about how to feel about it. Ashley and Chelsea in this sort of shared Nurse/Tamora position – felt like midwifery. Laying the baby at the feet of another. Feels like a legitimate abandonment. I love this turning on the floor that Keith is doing. I wish someone would hum a lullaby under this. This is so beautiful, this lullaby of mourning in the corner. And Zac with the heartbeat in the background – the baby’s heartbeat.
GODDAMN PRODUCTION MEETING.
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