Final "Private" Rehearsals.

Tonight, Thursday, will be the final rehearsal for Macbeth after a long three month process. It will be, however, open to the public, free of charge, so it's quite possible some kind of audience will be present. It's not an opening, but depending on if anybody shows, it means the days of practicing the show in private are over. Our director reserves the right to stop and correct things as needed, and has warned potential observers that this may occur, but for all intents and purposes, the "true" rehearsal process ended last night, to me.

Last night and the night before, I am happy to say, were not seen as train wrecks by anybody. They did indeed go much better than Monday night. Both nights saw me make minor missteps, but nothing to derail the entire scene. With the knowledge that I am by no means perfect, I would say I am ready to perform my part.

Last night for the first time, we had lights. We don't do much in the way of light changes in this show, but running the scenes with the actual lighting took a few minutes to get used to. And in many ways it helped; in costume under the lights you realize all the more that it's time to eat.

Our director has said nothing about it, but I think the show, myself included, ran a bit low on energy in places the last two evenings. That's the only universal structural problem I noticed from my end. Even with the energy level, the show is down to a running time of 90 minutes. It's Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, and our script is editing to be even shorter, but 90 minutes for Shakespeare is a nice clip. You can't accuse of dragging it out.

I wore a homemade beret last night. Not in love with it, but everyone has one, so it's not like it's just a me thing. That's why they call it a "uniform" after all.

The building itself looks good, too. Construction debris and other such things have been cleared out, ready to host audiences. It always feels so much better to me once a place is cleaned up. I always heard that the disconnect closed-circuit TV feed, that shows the stage on a monitor in the green room, could be up and running again tonight. I love that feature...no running around checking on cues every five minutes. Only local theatre that has that feature.

Brought some dirt from my yard to smear on my face for battle scenes. Had been using dirt there at the theatre, but it has tiny pieces of gravel in it, and I think I scratched myself a few times in the application process. It had it's advantages though; the original dirt was lighter, and took less time to apply. Dirt from my home is darker, and looked almost like paint once I wet it and put it on. I want it to look less deliberate than that. I corrected it later, but tonight I think I'll apply it differently to give it a more random look, as someone who's been fighting out in a field would have. I'll post a picture if I think of it.

As always with me, it's the little things on stage.

"Train wreck."

That's how one of my cast mates referred to tonight's rehearsal, opening tech week. I wouldn't go as far as that, but it was rough in places to be sure.

I even totally botched a line I haven't botched in a while. (Though in my defense, it was the only line I botched on a night when there were all kinds of bumps in the road for the show.)

Friday, not everyone could show up for rehearsal, so we did trouble spots. Unfortunately, I was only in one of them, so I spent much of the evening in the theatre not being needed. Then we had off on Saturday and Sunday. By the time we started tonight, we'd gone three days without rehearsing the show, but I can't put the blame there because every week we have gone Friday, Saturday and Sunday without running the show as a whole.

So who knows why today went awry? It is what it is, and to be honest, I don't think it was that bad. I've been in far worse tech week rehearsals, that worried me much more than this one did. It shouldn't be repeated, but it's not a disaster either.

I smeared some dirt on my face for the two times I am in battle scenes. (Though I don't perform any combat on stage.) Looked good. I'll keep doing that unless I'm told not to by the director. I always felt like a guy who just had a shower, (which in fact I do before each rehearsal) as opposed to a guy who's been battling all day at the start of this play.

Been feeling a bit weird overall though about my place in this play. I must admit, that not only is my character, as written, somewhat off to the side, I myself personally feel off to the side as a person and actor in this production as often as not. This despite the fact I've known some of the people involved for years. This has been a recurring, even if not a constant feeling since the start of this whole experience. I can't explain it with certainty, but I think a need for a change of pace may be part of the issue.

I've been in three shows there this year, and 98% of my shows in the last 8 years have been there. Despite having some friends heavily involved in the running and current remodeling and rebranding of the place, it may be time to move along to somewhere else for a while. Even including gaps, I've spend more theatre time in this venue than any other so far in my life. I don't have the right personality to help run things, and I don't want to remain a silent foot solider in the arts forever either. My feelings of being on the outside of this production may just be a reflection of feeling the need to be branching out in general in the local arts world.

I'd like to direct a show there next year, now that they have remodeled, but I don't know if that will be happening. And in any case that is the future. The present is tech week of Macbeth, and I need to concentrate on that the most for the time being.

To that end, I need to make sure I don't miss lines again for the remainder of the runs like I did today. I believe I have another costume piece still to come this week that I want to get a look at. Plus there is all the ritual of tech week and opening weekend to prepare.

"Best Run Yet."

Those are the words of our director, after tonight's rehearsal. one can either assume she lied, or that we did in fact do great tonight. I think the latter is the safer bet.

In fact I myself feel that last night and tonight have been my two best rehearsals so far in the process. Though I am always looking for ways to improve, if my performances go as well as my rehearsal performances did tonight, I would in most ways be satisfied.

Yet I'm also grateful to have the week to hone things even more.

I of course can't speak for anyone else in the cast, so I don't know how good each person thought of their own performances. And I don't see every moment. But once again, the director said it was our best night so far, so who am I to argue with that? She's the one that has too see it as a whole entity, after all. But it did feel solid.

And fast. Seems like both acts ran less than an hour. Very close to 90 minutes of performance time total. Yes, the script has been edited for length from the original, but that's still some fast tragedy there, folks. Assuming we keep that pace when we perform, I would think it very difficult for audiences to even have time to become bored.

Not that I don't get a little nervous before the "big" scene for Malcolm in our show, that being Act IV, Scene 3. But I am less nervous about it now than I was a week ago by quite a bit.

Costumes are in place as well, though I am supposed to get a beret at some point. I'd be thrilled if I didn't have to wear one of those, as I have already opted for changing hairstyles between "Prince" Malcolm, and the Malcolm that will soon be king. But if a beret it is, so be it, I suppose. I'll find a way to make it work.

Making Malcolm work. It sounds like the name of a lousy indie-film, but it is in fact an apt description of my overall mission in this play. No character on the stage, especially in Shakespeare is effortless, if you want it to be a good performance. Yet some characters just challenge the efficiency of our work, and for me Malcolm has been one of those. Still is to some extent. So much so that I considered "making him interesting" my prime objective in the start of this process. Make him real. He's a device in many productions, and I was determined not to let that be the case in this one. Work remains on this goal, but I'm willing to say I am on the home stretch of that journey. If nothing else I feel I have raised Malcolm from the level of pipe-laying poetry vessel to living, breathing character with desires. It's been the case all along, according to some of my cast mates, but it is only in the last two nights that I have begun to start feeling this internally in a way I want to, more often than not.

But I'm covering territory I have already covered here over the last several weeks. Suffice to say for now that though it be draining at times, I have at last begun to present a depth to Malcolm in my performances that I find acceptable. At times, beyond that.

One cast member mentioned to me and Macduff how much the enjoyed our big scene together. If others are noticing it, we are doing something right. Here's hoping audiences feel the same way.

Q 2 Q.

That title is about the only thing fun about a cue-to-cue rehearsal. I've gone back and forth over my acting life as to whether it's necessary for actors to be present for them. On the one hand it gives people in charge of lights and sounds a chance to see the exact people standing and moving in the exact places they will be, in theory, when the sound/light is needed.

On the other hand, it can be difficult for actors to just drop themselves right in the middle of a scene without context sometimes. Q2Qs encourage boredom and discourage blowing off steam due to said boredom, so the testiness level is potentially high. Plus at this level, my experience has been that they rarely make any technical people more prepared for their job; no more prepared at least than learning their cues from the script, and pushing through them the first few times the show is run.

To be honest, I usually lean towards "no" on this subject. But unless I am directing, my thoughts on it don't matter in any given production. All by way of saying we had a Q2Q last night for Macbeth.

Sort of.

Lights are not yet set up for the new space, and the person running lights wasn't there, as far as I know. So in this case it was just the stage manager writing down in the script where and when to do things, for the tech people to refer to when they show up. Again, to me, this being the case, we didn't need actors present, but it was what it was. Not much worth sharing about a Q2Q, other than from what i could tell, all sound and light cues have been written down for when the techies show up. And if there are to be no techies at all, assignments to actors have been given as to when to change the set.

We did try on some costumes too, last night. Army fatigues for me, mostly. I opted to keep my costume on for the rehearsal, just to get used to wearing it for an extended period of time. Should be fine. Only problem is that it smelled a bit musty; I think the owners have had the costumes in storage for a while. I hope to be able to wash them before we open the show.

Tonight I bring my own boots to the party. That will be the real change, as I've never performed in them before. Even though I have no combat in that play, the boots might take me a day or two to get used to moving in.

The director referred to this as "tech week," though we don't actually open until a week from Friday. (Ten days from now.) I guess because there will be a lot more of the techie stuff going on, what with the remodeling and all.

On that subject, the place is almost totally painted black now, and all of the seating is where it will be for good. So in some ways tonight will be the first time we perform in the space as it is intended to be.

I'm feeling a bit better about my speeches and such. I went through them by myself yesterday afternoon in a sort of speed through, and it was almost without error. That to be says I have the lines in my head. The work now is giving them more feeling, and getting them out on stage to that end. (Which I have very nearly done already a few times.) I'm not worried. Plus I'm looking forward to hopefully finally working more on some of the extra nuance of the character.

Was Malcolm Edited?

Last night's rehearsal was a little different. Lady Macbeth couldn't make it, so we skipped most of her scenes. That obviously means it was nothing like an actual run-through of the show. (Though we did run everything else from the entire play.)

The director had emailed us earlier in the day, asking us to raise the stakes for our characters. In other words, she wasn't seeing what each of them was "fighting for" in any given scene. So she gave us a few minutes at the start of rehearsal to go through our scripts and write down some thoughts on what our characters wanted at any given time.

I have to say, I had done this a few times already throughout the process. I try to make that a regular part of my rehearsal process when I am not actually at the theatre, especially early on. But if I'm not projecting that as much as I should be, best to know it now, than later in the month. So, by writing down my thoughts on each scene's stakes, I was in fact able to sharpen some of the perceptions I had about what Malcolm is all about. According to the notes she gave us about the rehearsal at the end of last night's session, the director was satisfied that the stakes are becoming more visible in our performances.

Of course, as I have said from the very start of my entries about this play, Malcolm is an oddity of sorts. Though I have come to appreciate some of his lines more than I did when this show began, (even conceding that there are a few moments of poetry here and there that I didn't consider when we started), he can still slip into pipe-layer territory. (Existing as a device to move the plot or reveal information.) It is my job as an actor to prevent that from happening, and I like to think I am mostly succeeding. But still, there are times his presence is an enigma.

I've theorized before that some earlier draft of Macbeth, unknown to academia and almost certainly never performed, had a larger, more active role for Malcolm. Some of the things he says, and then proceeds to not do indicate to the writer in me that some aspect of his presence was cut from the play, and that the resulting cleave was stitched together to form the narrative as we today know it.

Consider that he flees Scotland. He is then not heard from or seen for quite some time in the play. The next time we do see him, Macduff is coming to get him, to reclaim the throne. In fact, as Malcolm reveals eventually, he does have the support of an English army already. One might conclude fairly that in some version of these events, we see Malcolm and his men charge back into Scotland and restore everything in a far more visible way than he does in the actual version of the play.

"When I shall tread upon the tyrants head, or wear it on my sword..." he says to Macduff at some point. True, by now he is testing Macduff's loyalty and strength, but there is nothing in this supposition to indicate he doesn't intend to come right at Macbeth himself. He of course doesn't and in fact, the two never meet in the entire second half of the play. Never exchange a single line in the whole play.

One could argue of course that when he utters this line, he has not yet been informed by Ross that Macduff's family has been murdered. Between this revelation, and the return to Scotland, Malcolm could have "given" the act of revenge to Macduff, in deference to all that he has lost at the hands of Macbeth. That is in fact basically how I am reconciling things as I play this part, Scotland and order being more on Malcolm's mind than personal revenge. But from a dramatic standpoint, why is such a shift not included within the text? It allows for interesting internal motivations and decisions for the actor playing Malcolm, but those seem to be more of a side effect of the (theoretical) editing I suggested earlier.

Malcolm, at the end of the same scene (4.3) even gives what could almost pass as a troop-rallying speech, if somewhat muted compared to other Shakespearean speeches:

"Come. Go we to the king. Our power is ready;
Our lack is nothing but our leave."

Malcolm then proceeds to march off stage...never in the text to actually engage anyone in battle personally. Though I concede that any given director could stage combat including Malcolm at some point, it is still Macduff who makes the ultimate move by milling Macbeth in a scene designed to that end. In other words, played pure, Malcolm isn't seen doing much on stage once he has "rallied" and returned to Scotland. He shines not like much of a beacon, even though it is he who will ultimately rule the land, and restore it to its proper order as he takes his proper position on the throne.

In the end, my personal speculation about the form the play takes or may have once taken is immaterial when it comes to this production, and almost all others that seek to be mostly pure to the spirit of the text. Because of this, I must work with what I have for Malcolm. All this by way of saying that whether by design and/or by hasty editing, the character's presence is, for lack of a better term, "choppy." Because of this nature, constructing both an overall arc for Malcolm, and infusing any given one of his (mostly) utilitarian speeches with emotion that is consistent with everything else he does has been one of my greatest challenges in this show. Internally, I have a solid, if not intriguing story going on for him, but in the midst of crosses, and scripts and other actors, and remodeling debris and memorization and securing props and so on and so on, I don't yet feel I am tapping into that story I have constructed as a means to inform my outward performance.

This may also be why certain phrases are still at times tripping me up, though I hope to have that eliminated soon.

I'd mention a few other things i did at rehearsal last night, but honestly they are not as interesting as some of the thoughts on Malcolm I've already expressed here today, and about which I thought last night.

Tonight, we run the whole show again, I believe, as we will have Lady Macbeth with us.

Nice Day For A...Fake Wedding.

No rehearsal tonight, as our director was sick. But on Saturday morning most of us in the show met at a vineyard to stage the wedding of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

It was all part of the director's vision to show events from before the play in a short movie before the opening curtain of the play. (Projected onto a screen.) We staged various moments of a wedding, and the party afterward, for the camera. They will be spliced together later, and put to some kind of music. (The actual audio of the recordings not being used.)

Here's a picture of me, dressed as Malcolm for this event. (Please note this is not my costume for the play itself, as I will be in army fatigues for that. But for the wedding images, we were to wear "cocktail" formal as it were. Here's what I came up with.

Simple jacket and my standard tie for such costumes in the theatre. But the added nuance, as you can see, are the decorations on my jacket pocket. I wanted to get creative, and suggest Malcolm's royal nature with some badges and such. The one on the left is a series of attendance badges belonging to my late father, commemorating his childhood attendance in Sunday school. The star is simply a cheap plastic earring that looks metallic from a distance.

It's the little touches. The extra little bits of character that can add more than their weight in character development. I won't be wearing any of this in the performances, but my small moments in the small video will be enhanced because this choice. 

It's not just about the large choices and overall arc in a play, but the details. Fall in love with details, and so long as you don't overlook the most important aspects of your work, you'll give more depth to your art.

Most of the footage for this fake wedding was of course focused on the "Macbeth's." (The vows. Wedding cake cutting, throwing the bouquet.) But various shots of all of us socializing were also taken. We did not, strictly speaking have to stay "in character" as we would in the show, but I did make efforts to walk and position myself as Malcolm, even if not everything I said was related to him. 

Some of it was, though. I gave a quick toast to the couple, without much poetry or sentimentality. My version of Malcolm is never exactly fond of the Macbeths, even before the murders, so this was consistent. King Duncan was not in attendance, in our little universe, so Malcolm was there as the official representative of the royal family, along with Donalbain. (A sister in this show.) So his toast reflected his presence; out of duty more so than pleasure.

Over all, we were there about two hours or so, and it was fun. I have to admit, however, that I'm ready to get back to straight-up rehearsals of the whole show now. We've had a barbecue, a night at the bar, and then the wedding, all of which help, but not as much as will the concentrated effort of repetitive rehearsing. Many of my hang ups with my lines are smoothed over now, or close to it, but I still need work, as does the show as I whole. Starting tomorrow we will, from now on, run the entire play each night.

So it's getting close. In some ways the most draining, but in other ways my favorite part of the rehearsal process...doing everything each night. 

Aisles!

We've got them, at last.

There is a lot of construction work left to do in a short amount of time over at the Black Box Arts center, where I'm appearing in Macbeth right now. A lot of stuff, junk and important, covers just about every corner of the place during this remodel. But, to my own relief, and without a doubt to that of others, the new entrance/exit aisles for the performance space have been cleared of debris, and we were able to use them tonight for the first time.

Things went a lot better, needless to say.

Tonight we went through the first half of the show again, and though there were problems, it clearly went smoother than it did the last time we ran it, earlier this week. You'd be silly to conclude that being able to move freely throughout the actual stage and aisles didn't have a lot to do with that. In theatre, things that don't seem connected actually have quite the impact on one another. Lines come easier when you can move as you are supposed to. Character development happens more rapidly when you don't have to worry about stepping over things backstage before you even go on. Flow. It's crucial to a show improving, and being the best it can be. Having the new aisles available for the first time tonight drastically improved the flow of the show.

(Not that I didn't flub a line here and there. I did. But it feels like the kind of flubs that will become less and less likely as time goes on now.)

As for the venue, chairs, or representations of same, were in place tonight as well, to show just exactly where the audience will be sitting under this new layout. The theatre goes from an intimate 100 seat theatre to a more intimate 46(ish) seat theatre. So it will now seat a lot fewer people, and plenty of those people will be a lot closer to the actors. I said before that I am not in love with all of the sudden changes to the space, but I am glad we are getting closer to what it will truly be like. And while it may not have been how I would have chosen to remodel the space, right now it feels that it will, for the most part, work.

Two Nights, Two Halves.

The last two evenings of rehearsal where some of the longest we've had so far. Tuesday was the first time we ran the entire first half of the show, last night being a rehearsal of the entire second half of the show.

Tuesday, for whatever reason, was rougher. More confusion, more "rust" from the pieces that hadn't been touched in a while. Personally I felt comfortable, but I do far less in the first half of the play than I do in the second half, despite playing three different characters. Still, the flow of the first half was virtually non-existent, and our director warned us ahead of time that it would be so.

One problem is that most of the exits, and maybe a fifth of the stage are still blocked by construction junk. Ironically, this is the second time I have been rehearsing a play in this venue during major construction. This time is a bit less stressful, nevertheless it is getting frustrating, not being able to rehearse in the space as it will be during performances. (Which begin in less than four weeks.) Things are what they are, and everyone means well, but for me, having space is one of the most important things for an actor to properly rehearse. We've been without that from the start. (Early rehearsals sometimes taking place in a space about one fourth as big as the actual stage will ultimately be.)

It is what it is, and I of course can't do anything about it, but I'm frankly weary of tripping over everything in the space. I'm more than ready to have all the space opened up, and am a little concerned at how little time is left. But I've been in far worse situations in theatre less than a month before opening, so I don't classify my feelings on the subject as worry. Annoying, maybe.

As is the fact that I have have addressed my very first lines, "This is the sergeant who like a good a heart soldier..." to thin air half the time, and to three or four stand ins the other half of the time. Only once, I believe, is the person who will actually play the part been present, and that was on the very day he was appointed to play the role. (Last week.) Absences in general are in fact one of my biggest annoyances in theatre. Maybe the shouldn't be, but certain people have hardly ever been at rehearsals, and the last two shows I was in suffered from extensive absences, so perhaps I'm just sensitive to it right now.

As for my performance, I put an eye patch on for the scene wherein I play a murderer for about five minutes. I wanted something to make him obviously different from Malcolm. And in the very next scene, I play a nameless banquet guest during the "Banquo's Ghost" scene. I'm going to use a cane to appear like someone totally different once again. I'd rather not be in the scene, honestly. I prefer some gear down time before intermission, so one or the other of the two scenes I mentioned would have been enough, but I hate having to hurry up and do tiny little bits of things leading into intermission.

Plus I've just been assigned sound effects duty for the scene right after intermission. Easy enough, but it's something else that takes time away from my main concentration in this production-being Malcolm. Two scenes later I have yet another sound effect job, newly assigned last night. What could have been a large amount of time to prepare for the challenging scene that is my biggest of the play, will not be broken up by tapping on sticks and bamboo. I know in community theatre everyone needs to work together and do multiple things, but there is "multiple things" and then there is "running around plugging all sorts of holes" kind of thing, and I'm feeling like this is the latter.  A few more people in the cast and this wouldn't have been needed, but...too late to be concerned about that now.

As for the second half of the play, (everything after the Banquo's Ghost scene), last night, as I said was smoother on the whole. I expected my big scene to be rough, and it had some spots, but actually went better than I thought it would go, given that we haven't rehearsed it at all in about three weeks. I would have loved more chances to rehearse it, but I'm glad to know it is as solid as it seems to be for the moment.

The final speech that gave me so much trouble earlier in the week, (except for at the end of the night the other night) went well, though I did trip on it a bit this time. During it, as per this production, the witches appear from the audience, unseen by those on stage, and surround the action as the play closes. That was new last night. Might take away from my speech a bit, honestly, but I won't know for sure how it feels until after we've done it a few times.

Now that even problem lines are starting to smooth out somewhat for me, I must dive further into the process of becoming Malcolm, giving him emotion and making me performance deeper. I've had no complaints about it from anyone, and I suppose it is near satisfactory as it stands. But I feel the need as an actor to flesh our his personality more, especially given some of the new directions and blocking the director has given us for some of Malcolm's scenes. (Some of which will change, slightly, the nature of my performance.)

Tonight, it's the first half again. Saturday morning is the fake wedding of the Macbeth's to be video taped for the prologue film to show the audience before the start of the play.

Birnam Wood Approaches Dunsinane.

Last night we rehearsed Act V several times. It is a short act, especially in our production. At most 15 minutes. Obviously it's an important 15 minutes, and we've spent several rehearsal night over the last month on Act V alone.

This will be our final one, however, as starting tonight we will be rehearsing entire halves of the show, and then not long afterward, stumbling through the entire show each night.

Yes, it's getting close. We open in less than a month.

Yet as for last night, I give myself mixed reviews. The final speech of the play is Malcolm's, and it was one of the last things I worked on getting off book for. I am so, but at times there are two places in the speech that I tend to trip over about half the time. I don't know why, exactly. Partly, I guess, is because it's not a particularly great speech. Partly because of the pressure of ending the entire play with it. Partly a few other things, I'm sure. But in the three times I did it last night, I needed to call for line the first time, totally botched the second time, but managed at last to deliver it in its entirety on the third and final run through of the night, much to my relief. I won't swear that means I'll have no more trouble for the rest of the rehearsal process with that speech, but I have proven that I do "have" it in me, and that goes a long way.

In the speech, Malcolm, now king of Scotland, thanks and rewards his followers, sums up what he plans to do first as king, and mentioned that when the time is right, he'll do whatever ever else needs to be done. Then he thanks everyone again and invites them to see him get crowned.

St. Crispin's Day speech, it ain't.

Still, it's my longest single speech in the pay, by word count, and it will be the final punch in the show, so I want to make sure I get it right. I don't want all the action of war and running in Act V that leads up to that moment to come to a crashing, boring halt on my account. I don't think that will happen, and I certainly don't want to implant that fear too deeply into my mind, but I wanted to at least mention I'm aware of the speech's place in the production, and the work and vigilance required of me to keep it going as well as I did at the end of last night.

I will say that on the most successful of the run-throughs, I delivered the speech as though out of breath from battle. Perhaps that is a clue as to how the speech should be given? Not, as I usually do, as some grand oration. It's utilitarian. It's functional. I need not be poetry, (though written totally in verse, almost.) It's like exposition at the end of the play. A strange place for it, but I can use that description to guide how to deliver it, perhaps. Malcolm is restored order in Scotland, and the speech is the first gathering of that restored order. If I approach it like that, I think I'll feel more comfortable with it, and if I am more comfortable with it, if I can relate to it, I am less likely to make mistakes. That is my theory at this time.

Act V is also the only act wherein Malcolm is directly military, in a sense, leading an actual battle. He comes in and out quickly, with a few short speeches here and there in the rest of Act V before the close, and I'm for more comfortable with those section for whatever reason. Though I will feel even more at ease when they can be blocked properly; because of the ongoing remodeling of the venue, we have yet to run any scenes with the actual blocking, as one main exist is blocked by lumber and equipment. I had hoped by now we'd have that route cleared, but it happens when it happens. It might lead to some confusion, with the new structure and traffic patterns, and less rehearsal time than ideal. But I'd rather exit through the wrong door than make any number of other mistakes. Besides, I imagine I'll get it right, once we can run it over and over.

Tonight, Half One. (A term I use so as not to confuse it with the "Act I" of the text. The half wherein I play Malcolm pre-kingly. Not to mention two other tiny characters consecutively. I think I'll try some costume pieces in those scenes, just to get a rough idea of what sort of timing will be needed. Plus I want to make sure that both are highly distinct from both one another and from Malcolm.