New King and New Rooks

This week has felt a bit off in regards to rehearsal. For after last week's rehearsal every day, There have only been two rehearsals this week, hence why I have not blogged until now.

To begin with, some props I ordered came in the mail yesterday.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I felt that Buckingham, introverted intellectual that he is in my interpretation, should carry with him some sort of touchstone. Something to fiddle with while engaged in thought, or just while waiting for the next aspect of things to unfold. I considered several ideas, but went with a chess piece. A rook, specifically, because symbolically it seemed to make the most sense.

I didn't want them to look cheap. Buckingham would probably own very nice chess sets. These pieces are solid plastic, but do appear ivory or perhaps marble from stage distance, even in our tiny venue. Not the fanciest design ever, but for 75 cents a piece, you can't really beat it. I didn't want to risk damaging or losing one from a complete set, so I ordered individual rooks. (Which was more difficult than one might have expected.) Two of course, in case one does in fact become a casualty. I don't expect that to happen, however. It will be on the prop shelf, and if everyone behaves themselves and doesn't play with props, I will have it in my hand as soon as I enter the stage area, and likely not relinquish it until the end of each evening.

They may be slightly large, but they probably need to be in order for the audience to understand what it is. I have been getting used to moving one around in my hand and playing with it. I think it will do just fine, and the director approved it last night.

In addition to new rooks, we also have a new king. Of the living, breathing kind. The newest member of our cast was on hand last night to rehearse Edward IV single scene. I worked with this gentleman years ago in "The Crucible", which he did recall when I brought it up to him.

The scene went well, given that we have not rehearsed it much. In it, the sickly Edward makes "peace" between the bickering factions within his court. Then the death of Clarence is revealed, and the king gives an excellent monologue, shaming all of those present for not standing up against him for Clarence. If I had only been able to have a small part in this play, I may have requested this one because of this speech.

Also significant in this scene as we are playing it, the first stirrings of alliance between Richard and Buckingham. Previous to this they know each other and may have some degree of respect for one another, but have not yet plotted together. Yet with Richard's final line in this scene directed at Buckingham, who is the only one left on stage at that time, we see the partnership forming. The next time we see these two men they have already devised "complots" off stage.

We also rehearsed the dumb show that opens the play, wherein Richard and Clarence crown Edward, as the rest of the cast silently makes its way onto the stage before the opening speech. (A creation of the director.) I believe last night marked the highest percentage of the cast present at one time thus far. (One actress was missing, and the role of Rivers has yet to be cast, but otherwise everyone was there, I think.)

I left early, because then it was time for some combat rehearsal, and I have no combat in this play. I stuck around to watch how a few of the murders would be staged, and then headed out.

Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend tonight's rehearsal of Act V, due to a long standing previous commitment, and nor will I be able to attend on Monday. I feel bad for this, especially since my favorite speech is in Act V. They good news, however, as that after Monday, all of my predicted conflicts will be over, and I will not have to miss any further rehearsals. I feel a little better about it given that the last two Mondays, both of which were originally conflicts, we able to be shuffled about to allow me to rehearse. 

Plus, I am officially off book. I will have to call for line in a few places, but it's all in my head somewhere now. The true fun and excitement begins once the books are out of hands, and I look forward to jumping into that aspect of rehearsal head first come Tuesday.

Monologue Day

Yesterday was scheduled to be a day to go over specific monologues our characters have. Specifically by way of analyzing the scansion of the verse. I was again able to change my Monday plans, and attend. Unfortunately, not many other were there. Only four members of the cast in fact. I got the impression attendance was expected to be higher.

However, for those of us that were there, the director gave a refresher course on scansion and verse, which I  probably needed. I was aware of most of what she covered, but it had been quite a while since I applied it directly to anything. It came back to me in short order.

I will confess that I don't usually do a lot of work with scansion of Shakespeare directly. I am aware of meter, and do in fact make use of it as a guide. But when meter strictly followed makes the line awkward or nonsensical, I tend to rely on contest and vocabulary when delivering the line or speech. I have found in fact that doing so will more often than lot lead to an acceptable approximation of the technical scansion anyway.

Unconventional? Probably. Yet I fear that what inspiration or edge I have once I "crack the code" of a Shakespeare character I am playing can be muddled if I wade too long in the science of iambics and trochaics and such.

It is worth noting, however, that Buckingham has what we call a "feminine ending", (that is to say in this case, an 11 beat line ending with an unaccented syllable) in almost every speech of any size he gives. The feminine ending can indicate any number of things, according to those who study such things. I myself am not yet wholly convinced that the motivation of every line in Shakespeare can be deduced simply by counting its syllables, but a feminine 11 beat occurring with such frequency may indeed have some meaning behind it.

As does the fact that when Buckingham comes back as a ghost, he has no feminine endings. In fact, as far as I have been able to tell, it is one of the few times he speaks in near perfect iambic pentameter. Could it mean something? Again, perhaps. He is the only ghost to do so in that scene.

Buckingham also has what the director believes off hand is the only 13 beat line in the play. (Even she was unaware of it until I pointed it out.)

Thou art sworn as deeply to affect what we intend...

This is part of a line I deliver to the character of Catesby. I've determined that if there is a reason, (and in this case the line is so unusually long that even I concede there probably is), it would be because Buckingham is anxious or excited to get Catesby's view on the issue. He speaks fast and in a long rolling sentence as a result. I am going to try that the next time I run that scene. (Though that little speech has given me some trouble.)


So I have a like/hate relationship with detailed study of scansion. I realize its scholarly importance, and it can be quite interesting to a point. Yet I have found that beyond that point, delving into it too much has the potential to blunt my performance. So I try to maintain that perfect balance of using it when I need help, but not leading it bludgeon me.


We did more than scansion, though. After a while the small gathering transformed into a general discussion of some odds and ends aspects of the show that we otherwise don't often have a chance to discuss. I for example learned that unlike most of the Dukes, who will be in military garb, Buckingham will be wearing a suit. I also asked permission to follow through on an idea I had. For a while I have wanted to see how it would feel for Buckingham to have a talisman, or touchstone in his hand sometimes. I find many contemplative people, myself included, tend to play with such items when idle, or when thinking. I don't have a consistent item that I use for such purposes, but I felt that Buckingham would. I envisioned his being the white rook of a chess board.


In my mind, Buckingham probably plays a lot of chess. Literally when he can, symbolically when needed, such as his plans to help Richard ascend to the throne. Having a chess piece would not only remind the homesick (as I am playing him) Buckingham of more comfortable times, it could also serve as a symbolic conduit for his "stratagems" as he calls them in Act 3. At sometimes a worry bead sort of function as well.


The director consented, liking the idea. I asked if she would prefer it black or white, and she agreed white was the way to go. There was brief discussion as to what piece, but I have as I said before always thought rook, both practically and symbolically. The former, because for whatever reason I see Buckingham's style of chess play making use of rooks until the very end. There is a certain flare to rooks, and there ability to shut down a whole row or column at once that makes winning a game with them memorable. The latter, symbolic reason being that having a king chess piece is too obvious, and that a knight is too militant. He is more than a mere pawn, and he is certainly no bishop. The queen would just be weird to carry around, I think. So the rook it is. Now I must secure said rook from a chess set that is large enough to make it clear what I am holding, but small enough to fit easily into pockets.


Finally, there was a brief discussion about Buckingham's apparent esteem for Catesby. he always refers to the character as "Gentle," or "good". He seeks out his opinion on matters. It could be coincidence, just as the scansion could be, but I'm choosing to conclude that there is some indication of esteem in the way Buckingham addresses Catesby in the few times he does so.

In our version of the play, Catesby plays a somewhat larger role, what with the need for double casting and such. Some smaller roles were consolidated. The nature of the character is also somewhat different in this production, but I won't get into that now. Suffice to say, he has a different dynamic than he would in most productions I dare say, and this too can be tapped into for the brief but meaningful Buckingham/Catesby dynamic. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

There is no rehearsal again until Thursday.

Back to "Feeling"

So the week of doing a single act per night came to an end earlier today, with our work on Act V of Richard III.

In the hours leading up to rehearsal, I had been, (and remain somewhat even now) preoccupied by the Colorado cinema massacre. It suddenly seemed a bit unnerving to work on a play with so much gallows humor. I even sent a brief email to my cast mates earlier in the day telling them to not take it personally if I didn't engage in such humor today.

It turns out there wasn't much of that today anyway. I doubt it had much to do with my message, though. It was just more of a subdued start to the evening at the theatre. Our director did mention the shootings, drawing a paralell to Richard, in that we can never be sure whaqt makes someone a monster.

Our director also mentioned to us at the start of rehearsal that perhaps in the last few rehearsals we as a group may have been overthinking the play. Thinking and analysis are great, she told us, but emphasized that perhaps we have done enough thinking for a while, and encouraged us tonight to get back into feeling our characters instead. She even requested us to take a few minutes in silene to reconnect with who our characters were before starting the official rehearsal.

I was happy for the chance to do so. I do a lot of that anyway, but having a specific time set aside just before I went on (I open Act V) was quite helpful. As we get later into rehearsals I will be doing more of that sort of centering to start off.

The speech, (Buckingham's monologue just before being led off to execution) did indeed feel better today that it has so far. "Beautiful", in the director's gracious words. I don't know if I achieved that in my own mind just yet, but I have no problem conceding that it felt better today than ever before.

It felt less rushed. A little looser, yet also deeper. Natural. I hit some tone changes that i'd been missing during some earlier runs of this speech. For the first time I started to feel as though I were conveying Buckingham's sense of both discovery and quiet, dignified resignation to his lot. I think sometimes of Hamlet's "certain providence in the fall of a sparrow" line. Not an exact match, but a certain similarity in theme which gives an added weight to this speech.

We ran Act V three times today, skipping the combat scenes which have not been choreogrpahed yet. Each of the three times the speech felt quite good. It would appear the director agreed  that is was good in the subsequent runnings as well.

Also run through in Act V was the scene wherein I play the ghost of Buckingham. It was difficult to truly rehearse that scene, however, as three of the "ghosts" were not present this evening. But we made do, and I am off book for it, though I have not played around with ghostliness much yet. I want to do so in the coming days, and maybe talk to the director about just how other-worldly I am allowed to appear in that scene.

So, in all, a productive, and enjoyable rehearsal. Afterwrds we had some time left, so the director staged a few moments from the play so she could take some photographs for a website. I haven't seen them, but when they are up, I will link to it here.

And now a few days off. And the next time I go to the theatre, it will be the deadline for ebing off book...I will have to work extra hard to get Act III down by then, but given that we can call for line for a while after that, I think I will be all right. It may be rough for a few days, but I will get it.