GS Podcast: A Dramatic Reading - She Makes Art
Something new for the podcast: instead of rambling on about nothing of real import, I bring you a poem that I wrote some years back.
The poem is called “She Makes Art”.
© Phil Rickaby, 2006
Archive for November, 2006
I am a big nerd
Confession time! (though I admit, for many of you, this is not news).
I am a big ol’ geek.
For many years, I have participated in a form of Role Playing that does not involve a table or dice, but instead was (for me) more of an acting exercise: I am a Live Action Role Player. I have made many friends through this hobby, and it has provided me with some opportunities to tell some stories. As well, it has provided me with some valuable lessons both in character development and in story telling.
On the downside, it has also taken up more of my time than it probably should. When I first started participating in this hobby, I have put more into this hobby than I did to my acting career. Sometimes, I have wondered where I might be with my theatre career if I had put as much time into pursuing that than the LARP hobby.
Moving forward though, I have made some decisions about my life. I have made a commitment to myself to do more theatre. To write more theatre. And to generally pursue this theatre thing. I need to put more time and energy into the theatre. I need to write the stories that have been kicking around in the back of my head, and to do that, I can’t put as much time into the LARP hobby as I used to.
Does that mean that I won’t still play? Yes, I will. I just won’t be doing it as much as I used to. Nor will I be able to put as much time and energy into it as I once did. I don’t want to get to age 40 (which isn’t as far off as I would like) still wanting to do things. I’d much rather hit that particular milestone knowing that I was not wanting to do them…but was instead doing them.
It is my hope that as time progresses, I will be reporting more about the things that I am doing theatre and writing wise on this blog. And I hope that you will stick around with me for that ride (and for whatever this future holds).
Hamlet: Tired, not enough time, and more tired
Today I am tired. Today we shot some of the video portions for this production of Hamlet.
The week ahead looks to be exhausting, what with the working at 9-5 and then rushing off to rehearsal every night. Of course this is what happens when the show opens in about a week.
That said, there are scenes that haven’t even been blocked yet. There are other scenes which we haven’t rehearsed for several weeks. The scene where I play a corpse has had more work than the ones in which I am speaking.
I’m still rusty on the Polonius & Ophelia lines (which are the ones we haven’t done in weeks).
So, basically there are 7 days to pull an actual performance out of this thing. At this point, I keep hoping that I can just get myself off book for all of my scenes, let alone pull an actual performance out of my ass.
Hopefully, I can do both.
Wish me luck. And stuff.
Hamlet: Today…not so bad
Quickly now before I must go to bed: although my last few posts have been doom and gloom and frustration, today I left rehearsal feeling relatively good.
About this rehearsal.
Jury is still out about the show as a whole.
But I had a good rehearsal. That’s something anyway.
Hamlet: more bitching
So. Rehearsal last night.
We do a scene that we’ve never blocked (because we’ve never had each cast member for the scene at at rehearsal). I know for a fact that we only read the scene, and never blocked it. But I was told by the director that we had.
What’s the big deal? Well, I am expected to be off book (we open in 2 weeks). But learning lines is made easier for me once the scene is blocked. Even worse, there are scenes that we haven’t even read over yet!
Just to put this into perspective, let me explain my own personal theories about “rehearsal”: First of all, ideally, you want 4 hours of rehearsal for every 4 minutes of stage time. And each scene must be rehearsed many times. You go over a scene, initially for the blocking, and then you have to revisit it frequently. The French call rehearsal “repetition”, and for me, I find that describes the way that works best for most actors. Repeat the scene frequently. This way, by the time you need your actors to be off book, they are able to do so without effort (because the scenes have all been repeated so frequently).
What you cannot do, is block the scene and then walk away from it for two weeks. What you shouldn’t do is under-rehearse the scene. When you block the scene, don’t block it through once or twice and then leave it. Go through it a couple of times for blocking, and then do it again. Let the actors play with the scene and the blocking. Do the scene as frequently as possible. And don’t complain that there’s not enough time to rehearse that frequently. If that’s the case, then you should have started rehearsing earlier, shouldn’t you?
That’s enough bitching for now.
Hamlet: a few issues
I’m feeling kinda lost with Hamlet right now. Every time I go to reherasal, it seems like there are more changes to the script, and the actors have more questions about their characters and who things are playing out, but there are no answers. Its becoming very frustrating. In my opinion, if you are going to deviate heavily from the text of Hamlet (or any other Shakespeare play), you have got to have a solid vision. The changes will mean that your actors have more questions, and so a director needs to know the motiviations of each character. And he can’t fly by the seat of his pants.
But this seems to be occurring here. The directing appears to be haphazard and inconsistent. The focus seems to be more on the multi-media aspects rather than on the characters. And as an actor, it feels like were being left on our own to direct ourselves.
And don’t get me started on the disorganization in terms of the scheduling.
Honestly, at this point, I am far too frustrated with this production company to put into words. And I think that I won’t be sticking around for the other two shows in the new year.
I think that it would be more helpful to be creating my own theatre, rather than participating in someone else’s butchery of classic plays.
Penny for the Guy
Sunday is Guy Fawkes Day.
Usually, this holiday passes without notice in North America. This year, because of them movie version of V for Vendetta, its likely that there might be a few more people who notice. Maybe a few people will actually have bonfires. Who knows?
I’ve always respected the fact that the British have a holiday that, in essense, celebrates rebellion. Sure, they burn “guy” in effigy, but they have fireworks. Picture this: in order to celebrate the fact that he failed to blow up the parliament buildings, they launch fireworks (which are colourful explosions). So, they blow things up in celebration. Oh, I know that’s an over simplification about the significance of the holiday, but it works.
Now, the question is, what day shall we designate as Ray Fawkes Day this year?
