Boot Camp N' Beer

Believe it or not, that's not just one of my cutesy post titles. It's an accurate description this time of rehearsal last night. (Tuesday.)

Our director had all the people who would appear in battle scenes perform exercises similar to those in army boot camp. The immediate goal was to tire us out, but the artistic goal was to give us a sense of how it would feel to be not only in an army, but also in the midst of battle. Because we ran Act V right after doing said exercise, the hope was to infuse those scenes with adrenaline mixed with exhaustion, to give a more realistic sense of people hurrying around a battlefield.

It probably worked better at the start of the run than at the end, because there were still corrections that had to be made, and lines to be called for, so that by the end of the run-through of Act V, everyone had cooled down and caught their breath. But the essence of the exercise is clear: make sure we move fast, but appear worn and tired as we are storming Dunsinane.

We also worked on proper ways to give a military salute. I myself, playing Malcolm, don't salute anyone, so I didn't really have much to learn in that section of time. As Malcolm is either the second-highest or highest ranking person in every scene he's in, I don't see the director changing any of that. I suppose she may have me return a salute at some point, I'll have to ask. Either way, I learned how to do it, if called upon in the show.

Afterward, the director paid for us all to go to the nearby bar to have a round or two of drinks. This to help us get a sense of being comrades in arms. (Even though "Macbeth" was also there.) I'm not one to turn down free beer, of course, so I did go. But to be honest, I think the cast has been fairly open and comfortable with one another already. The beer certainly didn't hurt matters, but speaking for myself, I've felt for the most part at ease with everyone in the play so far. Half of them I already knew before hand, anyway.

But again, free beer. I have to share here what I shared last night. There is an English-style pub two doors down from the theatre. I spent the night playing a Scottish prince, then went to an English tavern, and ordered an Irish beer. (Guinness.) If I could have worked in something Welsh, I would have.

I am mostly off book, but find myself stumbling a bit more this late in the game than usual. Malcolm has some odd scansion here and there. I've said before that I'm not a strict scansion disciple unless told to be by a director, but even setting that aside, the man has some oddly worded phrases, even for Shakespeare. I'll be ready, no doubt, as I am essentially off book. Just not officially off book. (Theatre people will know what I mean by that, I think.)

The unorthodox rehearsal time continues tomorrow, as most of us meet at the director's house for a barbecue picnic that is to be filmed. The footage will later be edited together in a short film to play at the start of the production, giving the audience a peek into the antecedent life of these characters. I plan to bring a board game to play with the actor playing Ross, if he shows up, because in my interpretation of events, Malcolm trusts and enjoys the company of Ross more than many others outside of the royal family. Just a choice I  made at some point that he and Ross often, in the very least, engage in games and leisure together. (Malcolm on more than one occasion mentions how worthy Ross is, so I used that to add depth to the relationship.)

I'll probably end up doing chess, as the other actor says he knows that game better, though I was hoping for backgammon. I myself know next to nothing about backgammon, but that seems a more "Malcolm" game than chess, for whatever reason. An actor such as myself will sometimes get a sense of something about a nuance of a character for which he can provide no "proof." Nor should he always have to; when one owns a character for a few weeks, some choices must simply be because it "feels" right. This is art, it isn't forensic science, I say.

Back to the point, backgammon also seems a bit less cliche' than the idea of princes/kings playing chess. I have one of those combo board game deals, so I might just bring both of them, and see how it goes. Not like we would have to actually play, just present an accurate visual of playing.

If this all seems like a mountain from a molehill, in a sense it is, and in a sense it isn't. So much time is spent on the big speeches, and costumes, and Shakespeare's scansion, and blocking, and hugeness. In this, or any other show, it;s easy to forget the small things. Theatre isn't of course an 100% realistic, note-by-note recreation of life, but nonetheless there is room in it for detail and nuance. The silence between the notes, as I often quote here on the blog. A lot of that can get lost in the rush to master all of the mechanics. Naturally if one must go with only one or the other, one must go with the big picture and the mechanics. But I try to leave room for undercurrents and personal flourishes in my performances. It can't all be memorizing lines and such.

And this is the sort of thing I have to fight for, because the default position is to learn lines, listen to the director, hit my light, cross where I need to cross, know what the scansion and the meaning is, and convey the big stuff. The little stuff takes extra effort to incorporate into a performance, and I may not quite have the time to delve as deeply into some of it as I would have liked at the start. But I will dive into some of it. That to me is what makes my characterizations memorable.

So, barbecue tomorrow, and next week, to paraphrase Churchill, it will be the end of the beginning, as we enter our final month of rehearsing this show.

Road Trip!

It is not always possible, but as an actor, if you get the chance to be a part of a traveling show, even a show you are otherwise not in love with, I advise you to grab the chance.

There are many advantages to being part of a show that is taken to several venues, in addition to the fun and adventure associated with road tripping and acting.

To begin with, it is the perfect way to put to the test something that I have often spoke about in my blog, and that is being ready to perform a show well under just about any conditions. Traveling to different venues keeps an actor on his toes, as it were, preventing him from becoming too comfortable with the specific stage, lights, house, or other accouterments of his home theatre. (Or anything theatre, if the show has no permanent home.)

A second practical advantage to most traveling productions is that they are stretched out over a longer period of time than your standard community production. While the latter is often only two weekends, the former, due to the logistics and expense often take place over the course of a month or more, with performances spread out. The longer you have to be in a show, and the more chances you have to go over it and perfect it, the better the product becomes. Like wine, many shows get better with age.

And finally, shows that are taken on the literal road provide a greater chance of getting to know one’s cast mates and crew. The nature of travel, and all of the benefits and disadvantages of the same, tend to enhance that sense of camaraderie and teamwork among groups of people engaged in a common task. I have said many times here and elsewhere that while bonding personally with fellow actors is not required, it certainly increases the chances of a show being excellent in all ways. And whatever makes the show better is good policy.

Of course, each of these things can happen in a standard show that does not travel. If they could not, there would not be much community theatre going on around the country. These advantages are not exclusive to a traveling show. However, they seem to be common threads in nearly all examples of road shows.

One of my greatest theatre experiences, one that convinced me I wanted to continue doing this acting thing far into the future of my life, was in fact a road show. Not only that, the production was a rather mediocre experience in many ways while we remained at our home theatre. The transcendent quality did not show up until we took it to other venues in the area. And I feel that is due in large part to the presence of all three of the facets of traveling shows I have mentioned.

They are not easy to come by at the community level. And of course this only works for specific types of shows; it works best for shows that have minimal sets. But such plays are out there. Companies that are willing to travel are out there. And if not, perhaps you can be the one who suggests such an idea to a local theatre production. You don’t have to travel to Europe for this to work. Any area in this country is full of city parks, community centers, and high schools that make perfect destinations for the traveling show. The extra work and expense can sometimes be more than made up for by the richness of the experience.

(Originally appeared on showbizradio.net on August 19th, 2009. Appropriate edits have been made.)

Un Ensayo de Líneas, Más el Tacos.

According to BabelFish, that title means, "A Rehearsal of Lines, Plus Tacos." I have no idea how accurate the translation is, but nonetheless that is where I was tonight for a few hours.

The director of Heaven Can Wait hosted about half of the cast at her place, to enjoy tacos, and afterward to run through the lines of the play. Just to keep them fresh in our minds between weekends. Though it was informal, (and at times flat out wild) I am glad we went over the lines. But more importantly I am glad we all had fun doing so. As a result, I feel quite relaxed leading into the second weekend, Which is always good.

I'm not saying that no nerves will return on Thursday, as I am sure they probably will. But being able to semi-socialize outside of the formality of a regular rehearsal always helps. It helped after opening night. It helped tonight.

And there is talk of doing karaoke after the show on Thursday. So we may end up being the most relaxed cast in history by the time all of this is over.

In earnest, I enjoy second weekends more than first weekends 99.9% of the time. First weekends come right on the ass end of a whole week's worth of technical rehearsal. It can be draining. Plus the nerves of doing it right the very first time. But by the time the second, (and in some cases the third) weekend rolls around, everyone has had some time off to become a bit more relaxed, and some of the bumps are ironed out. It just often seems to be more fun, with more energy in seconds weekends.

I think people are also extra keen on getting it right on final weekends because the clock is running down on the entire production, and they want to make sure they hit it square on at least once. (I still cannot believe how fast this production has gone. In mere days, it will be history.)

But that is for the future. Right now, I am happy to have some time off, but also happy to be headed into that usually superior second weekend. Plus, we get an extra show on Thursday. Most of the theatres I visit regularly only do that for musicals, but I like doing at least seven shows.

So, here's to second weekend success.

Honing In

Tonight we rehearsed the second half of the show. Despite a few blocking snafus and a few lingering line problems, thinks started to click in more ways than one. We are not at the "everything coming together" moment yet, but for the first time such a moment is visible on the horizon. And we are moving towards it quickly.

In fact, the director said the the day is soon coming where most of her attention will be focused on technical issues, as lights and sound, (some of which we had today), start to be utilized in full.

That moment in a show represents a sort of weening for the actors. When the director begins to let it go and fly on it's own a bit more. Again, that moment, by the director's own declaration, is nigh, and it feels like it. Which means I need to get down to smoothing out the few rough spots I have in blocking, and begin to create more nuance for my moments. I began experimenting with some things tonight. I will do so even more tomorrow, and from now on. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here. First, tonight.

During one scene, the characters gather around a radio and listen to the broadcast of a boxing match. We had the actual radio program available for us to use today for the first time. Two of the cast members work/have worked in radio and television, and spent some time a few days ago recording and editing the short radio segment. It sounds very good. It was a little too soft, but I imagine that will be corrected in future rehearsals.

Off stage I had more of a chance than usual to simply converse with some of my cast mates. Given that we ran more than one scene before getting notes, as opposed to stopping for notes after each scene, those of us not in the final scene had to stick around until the end for the first time. So there was much conversation in the green room.

This is also historically the beginning of that "bonding" experience in a play. Though I have been friendly with several cast mates already, and have a problem with none of them, a show to me always just feels a little different, a little more relaxed, once those moments of personal familiarity between the actors start to become more commonplace. I would not be surprised if after tonight even more of those moments show up as we begin to enter the trenches of the final two weeks of rehearsal. The prospect of becoming even more at ease with one another off stage can only help us onstage. I look forward to that.

I also look forward to getting props sorted out. The green room had been cleaned up, and props from former previous shows finally put away. Some props for this show have been pulled, but more needs to be done. Namely, I need a pistol. I handle one in two scenes, and the sooner I can stop using the lousy little bright yellow water pistol, the more comfortable I will be. (Unless that is the one I will really be using, in which case, I need to paint it at some point.) That is actually something I want to practice using because someone else will be firing the gun that makes the noise. The gun in my hand will be silent.

Tomorrow night we will rehearse the entire play in one night for the first time. It will also be the first time that we are not stopping between scenes in each half. All of Act One before notes, and the same for Act Two. This should give us our first real idea of the length of the show, as the director has also as much as said that we can no longer play, "What's my line," after tonight, which I took to mean we cannot call for lines anymore. It may be a bit rough in places, but this moment had to come eventually, and the sooner it comes, the sooner we can smooth out said rough spots somehow.