Last night’s rehearsal had some… issues. I’ll agree with the director- considering 1/6 of our cast was gone and considering all of the extraneous bits.... last night’s rehearsal proved we have a show worthy of being seen. It also proved that we have a lot of work to do if we want to get the show to where we know it CAN be. We had three massive skips. And, while it is important to qualify the term massive, any skips cause concern. This was not, as happened once in Rehearsal for Clue, skipping multiple pages. It was traditionally more like skipping bits which… while not as fatal… for a farcical comedy, is still important. Especially since many of those bits involve required blocking so that, if/when skipped, the actors are required to suddenly shift themselves to a different part of the set without the lines/actions for cover. One particular place that has now been skipped twice is… easy for me, difficult for our youngest performer.
SCENE: Beau & Marjorie are on the couch having a heart to heart. Clarke (me) is behind them drinking nervously. Dierdre (youngest) is popping up in random places around the set interjecting periodically.
CROSS SKIP: Where they always flub the lines and move on to a different part of the scene is where I go from behind the couch to the bar, chastising my brother Beau… which triggers Dierdre to pop up from the Window Box for a bit.
RESULT OF SKIP: If/when that part is skipped, I can slowly justify my way to the bar… my glass is empty, after all. But I always strain my ears for Dierdre. Because if we don’t do the “pop up from window box” bit… she has to hear that they skipped, dislodge herself from the window box, and haul ass to her next scene entrance! So far, both times there was a skip, she pulled off that move well so… as previously stated we have a show worthy of being seen, but we have work to do to make it the show we all know it can be.
To save time, all notes are being sent via e-mail (including line notes) and it has become.... an interesting (?) experience. Frequently, the notes sent to me by the director are short. Direct. And… always the same. I’ve gotten five different versions of:
“You are remarkably consistent. A joy for a director. You provide solid work. I see you interacting with the world around you more, too. Keep at it. You have the latitude to explore.”
Which.... is.... it’s a positive note, I’m not twisting it into a negative in my head. But it leaves me with questions. Because.... I’m consistent due to my training. That training was particularly geared towards screen work because continuity is important. STARS can improv and do whatever they want. Everyone else has to be consistent so that it isn’t some “pissant in the background” that ruins a shot. Which further makes me wonder… a lot of things.
(Thing 1) SHOULD I be trying for movie and tv roles? If I’m a good enough actor to consistently be cast, if I’m a good enough actor that a professional keeps complimenting my consistency… I wanted to be a professional actor from the time I was 5! I gave up that dream for two reasons
(a) At 18- a professional actor tore into me, exposing all of the ways I could not act and all of the ways I had no talent.... and, honestly, he was right. I needed to mature and understand myself and the world a lot more- which I’ve clearly done.
(b) I decided that I could not be the kind of husband and father that I wanted to be if I was a professional actor. If I was a failure, I could not provide the kind of life to my family that I wanted to. If I was a success, I could not spend the kind of quality time with my family that I wanted to. And not to be a pessimistic little shit; but having a family seems to have entirely passed me by.
(Thing 2) WHILE he keeps complimenting my consistency, it makes me wonder (again) if that means I play things too safely. Am I doing “the same” and that stifles the opportunity for jokes and acting breakthroughs; or am I doing “the same” and finding those moments and preserving them?
Actually- a good connector that last one.... part of an actor’s genius is to provide moments that aren’t scripted. The BEST way of doing that isn’t “improv and saying silly shit that isn’t in the script”.... the BEST way of doing that is to keep the script as is, but use an inflection or emphasis that enhances what is written. Or, outside of that, create a moment. Of the former, Matt Berry is a true genius. He can make the line “This is the way we talk in Tucson, Arizona” and make it signature based off of his line reading. I try for the later: if there is a bit to build silently, take it. For example: There’s nothing in the script that suggests Clarke would ever get Dierdre’s bags. They don’t have that kind of relationship. The script DOES suggest that Clarke is trying to hurry Dierdre out the door by handing her coat, gloves, hat, etcetera. Our space and our stage don’t support the “panicked handing of items” so I just decided “Okay, I’ll grab her bags as a way to hurry her out of the door.” BUT the scene lasts a page and a half. I can’t just take each bag rapidly to the door, then come back, and do a back and forth bit like that.... it sells as too much for the moment. Instead, I grab her bags (awkward as there are so many) and then attempt to grab her largest suitcase, which she had no trouble carrying. I lean on my mime experience and… uh oh. How in the hell did she carry this so easily? I can barely lift it! And a gag is born that keeps me where I need to be for the page and a half; while also keeping the characterization “Clarke tries to help”, while potentially adding something more interesting for the audience to watch as opposed to actors simply talking at each other. Perhaps my favorite element of a “moment I created” was… it could be considered offensive or “too cute” so I wanted to draw the director’s attention to it.
There’s a bit where my wife informs me that it is silly to think I was the first man she’d ever been with. THIS IS BRITAIN IN 1923 so something of a scandalous confession… one which, in the script, Clarke has a difficult time processing. After she says this confession, Clarke is silent… three other people talk before Clarke finally says, “So… on our wedding night… you’d already....?” NOW THAT WE HAVE PROPS AND SET.... I’ve been doing something. We have a decanter with a classic look. A big circle handle on the cork; but a cork into a bottle design otherwise. SO… when I say the line as scripted “So… on our wedding night… you’d already....?” as I trail off (leaving the “you’d already had sex IMPLIED) that is the exact moment I deliberately and intentionally put the cork back in the bottle. So the moment becomes
“So… on our wedding night.... you’d already....” insert the cork into the bottle. I get that it isn’t much but I’m incredibly tickled by it because it absolutely completes the sentence without drawing too much attention… but I wanted to make sure I was also not being too crass. I demonstrated the bit on stage during the run… but I could tell even the actress I was speaking with didn’t pick up on it. So during general notes, I specifically brought it up and demonstrated it for the director. He laughed. Said he loved it. Then riffed on how it would be something only theater history majors would even pick up on. Which may also be a perfect way of describing my style! Subtle, intentional, consistent… potentially easily missed. Which isn’t exactly what you want on stage… but I’ll lean in to who I am and how I do things until otherwise told not to!
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