Wednesday, October 14

First off, Big Show told us yesterday that if he ever becomes a billionaire, he's going to give money to everyone in our class. O.D. requested that I post that on the blog as record that it happened, just in case. Although I'm not sure how well something written on a blog will hold up in court, but it's a nice idea. (Everyone pray that Big Show is secretly related to Warren Buffet, okay?)


VOICE
We talked a bit more about assonance, alliteration, repetition, irony, antithesis, and rhyme.

Voice Professor highly recommended that we read Freeing Shakespeare's Voice by Kristin Linklater.

Code-switching between classes is difficult for me right now. "Antithesis" is completely different for the Shakespeare we're using in Voice class from The Greeks we're doing in Acting class, and it's tripping me (and some of my classmates) up big time. It's really frustrating to think you know something and then to be told that you're doing it wrong, and to have to learn it a new way. But I guess that's what grad school is all about; re-learning things in ways that are going to help me be a better artist.

Voice Professor says that there are both broad and narrow definitions of antithesis, and that it changes depending on with whom you are working.

Our take-home written exam (due next Friday) is to completely score a Portia monologue from The Merchant of Venice. I started working on it at rehearsal tonight.

You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,
Such as I am. Though for myself alone
I would not be ambitious in my wish
To with myself much better, yet for you
I would be trebled twenty times myself,
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich,
That only to stand high in your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account. But the full sum of me
Is sum of something -- which, to term in gross,
Is an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn;
Happiest of all, is that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Myself and what is mine to you and yours
Is now converted. But now I was the lord
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now,
This house, these servants, and this same myself
Are yours, my lord's. I give them with this ring,
Which when you part from, lose, or give away,
Let it presage the ruin of your love
And be my vantage to exclaim on you.

Our homework (for Friday, I think she said) is to type up the monologue with space between the verse lines to make scoring easier, look up the words that we don't know, and start trying to do scansion on it.

There are a couple of lines that are tricky scansion-wise. In the line:
"But she may learn; happier than this,"
There are only 9 syllables (and therefore 4.5 feet... which is not allowed).
Normally, short lines indicate that there's a pause after (or before, in some philosophies) the verse line. But since this line occurs mid-sentence, that doesn't make sense. I've actually come across this monologue before, and I know that problem is sometimes solved by stretching out the word "learn" to take up two beats. Therefore, it's my instinct to do that, but this is on a TEST, so I don't want to just guess. I think it also might be possible to put the pause at the semi-colon, as that indicates a shift in thought, but we haven't been instructed that this is allowed. So... yeah. Don't know what I'm going to answer that one with.

The other one that bothers me:
"Is now converted. But now I was the lord"
There are 11 syllables, so it could have a random three-beat foot in the middle, or it might just have a feminine ending, but I really don't think that "the" would be stressed over "lord". My first instinct was:
- / -/-. - / / - - / (iamb, iamb, pyrrhic, spondee, anapest)
But it feels like I shouldn't hit "I"...
Then I tried:
- / -/-. / / - - - / (iamb, iamb, iamb, trochee, anapest)
I chose this due to context. She's saying "Even now, I ruled over this place", so I kinda think that both "but" and "now" can be emphasized. But it just feels wrong.
So my next shot is:
- / -/-. - / -/ -/ (iamb, iamb, anapest, iamb, iamb)

Well, we'll see. I'll just keep trucking.


ACTING

We did a run of The Greeks, and Movement Professor and Voice Professor were able to attend, and one of the members of the Rep company did as well. It was nice having a few friendly faces in the audience. :)

It actually felt like a good run today. All of the three plays.

One of the things that Acting Professoressa has asked us to focus on is how to get from what she calls "Reality #1" (aka your own life, circumstances, and point-of-view) to "Reality #2" (aka the character's life, circumstances, and point-of-view). She says that figuring out how to make that transition (and what a person needs to do to make the transition easier) is something that every actor has to figure out for themselves.

My notes for today included:
- Linking (specific lines)
- Landing (specific lines)
- Faster blocking cue
- More vocal energy on "Except that we hide it better"
- Don't focus out/up at nothing during monologue (a habit I think I picked up in Mystery Plays rehearsal, where that is actually what I'm supposed to do), but instead stay focused on an areopagite
- On "You must have courage, old man", help him, don't condescend
- On "Now I see I have more power than men", make sure it's a discovery


MYSTERY PLAYS
I had another costume fitting today. It was pretty geek-ify-ing.

In rehearsal, we worked Act I. The director (Head of Program) wants my character Amanda to be pretty intense. It's hard to keep her in this really heightened state without feeling like I'm just playing anger or playing b****iness. I haven't really found my own personal way into it yet. At least, not in the first two scenes. In her third (and final) scene, I feel like you see a really different side of her, and it's a side that I truly understand and connect with.

(1st-year Acting Professor, if you're reading this, know that I don't normally talk about my characters in third person; I just have to on the blog for the sake of clarity.)