10/28
Monday is our first run through, which kind of scares me. Kevin and I have tried to work out the blocking, but it is difficult on stage because the set is set up. I am thinking I will just wing the blocking for the first run through. I can really tell that Kevin is trying to do well in this scene, and I find that reassuring. It is nice to know that I am working with somebody as devoted as I am.
10/31
Today was our first run-through for Ms G. Ours went alright, and I did get some helpful feedback from my peers and teachers. I think one of the biggest things Kevin and I have to work on is staging. I found myself pushing him back towards the corner, as he backed away from my threat and knife. This was frustrating, but I think the only way to change it is to directly block the scene, and not just do whatever feels natural. One of the best notes I received was from Abby. She gave me some ideas about how to use the knife, and since I was having trouble deciding what to do with it, it was useful to hear. Julia also advised me to stop bending down as much, which I did not even realize I was doing. Everybody told me to slow down. I think I speak so fast in this scene because I try to show so much emotion that everybody gets lost. Now, I am such a fast talker that I did not even notice how quickly I was speaking. One of the main reasons I like getting notes from others is so they can point out things I did not realize, which was why today’s rehearsal was stressful but helpful.
11/2
Today was an emotion activity. We went through our scripts and color coded, line by line, what emotions we were feeling. The scene I am doing is extremely emotional, but I had trouble pinning down exactly what emotions Juliet was feeling, and when. I think this scene is more about her mix of emotions, and that she is not sure what to feel. The one thing Juliet knows in this scene is that she loves Romeo. She does not know what to think about her impending marriage to Paris - what can she do about it? Her love for Romeo drives her to threaten suicide and other drastic measures. I would like to portray her as a woman who is willing to kill herself for him, not just as a girl who is foolishly in love, but I think that will be very difficult. There is a thin line between crazy teenager and serious adult, at least when it comes to love.
11/3
Ms G was not here today, so we worked on memorization. Instead of working with Kevin, I opted to work by myself/with Julia and Nadya. Watching other people work on their lines was useful, as I have never had to memorize something like Shakespeare before and have to play around with different techniques. Julia is very rythmic about her memorization - she uses the iambic pentameter and memorizes it phrase by phrase. Nadya memorizes monologues in chunks, ignoring the natural flow. I followed Nadya’s lead and tried to break my long lines into smaller chunks. This was mostly successful. However, what I found really worked was blocking the lines and then rewriting them, by hand, directly next to the lines. This allowed me to do a side-by-side comparison of the script and my memorization. The one thing I am worried about is the end monologue, because it is long and not very conversational.
11/4
Class today was cancelled, so we did not take our memorization quiz. To make up for this loss, I decided to run the lines with my brother. I think I have it almost all memorized - I’ll run it again on Sunday, just to make sure. I am having the most trouble with the end monologue. Trying to memorize the lines while working on the emotions behind them is proving itself to be difficult, which I find odd. I figured if I focused on the emotions the lines would follow, but that is not the case right now. I will keep working at it.
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