13 April 2010

My brain may be a little scattered as I write this entry. Yesterday I saw Frankenstein and TITUS. make their runs with tech – well, I saw most of the former and the latter wasn’t really a run, per se, so I guess I should be more specific – on Sunday I was in rehearsals/talking about Shortcuts from 11 AM to 11 PM, and today I’ll see all three, with each other as audiences for the first time. It is a lot to take in, and might be separate blog entries, or just the longest one ever.

First, thoughts on Frankenstein: it has come so far from the bits that I saw on Sunday. In just the one day! I think part of that is the world created by the lights and costumes – there seemed to be something about wearing someone else’s ‘skin’ that helped them sort of access the things in themselves, perhaps? It all felt extraordinarily honest and real. Cassie, in particular, had a really compelling moment with Morgan as the Creation. The letters and grave-digging were so moving – I was brought to tears, though that takes little enough these days (not to underscore the beautiful work these young women are doing). Everyone’s feelings are so close to the surface. I can hear Chelsea Whitehead’s opening/closing inside the theatre even as I type out here. What Anne has done is really different from what Joel has done – their form has been locked down for a long time, which I suppose has been frustrating for the actors, but it is allowing them now to work vertically, as it is called (I obviously use this term really incorrectly – you learn something every day), and I think they are accessing some really beautiful moments of utter honesty. Everything feels really…full, and activated.

Then I came back to TITUS., as I am wont to do. I am not entirely --

Time for Tamoras. I suppose I will come back to this blog later. I am really interested to see how this work works. It works somewhat differently than I thought it would, but it definitely works. It is like a battle in her mind – the warrior and mother, two aspects of the same part? I think the discovering of the way Saturninus works will be interesting – it is interesting to add sex into the maternal and the violent and the combative.

[Obviously, I did not get the chance to finish these blogs - the evenings got away from me. I will be blogging extensively about my reactions to the final sharings/showings/shows and the process as a whole in the future.]