Welly welly welly, here is my first (non-comment) Blog. I guess the only thing I’m really interested in talking about right now is Skelly. Well today we talked to the class about who we wanted to play and why. Good experience for an audition, especially since it really put me on the spot and made me forget about all the reasons why I actually wanted to play Skelly. In any case I’ll do as much as I can to express it all here. The biggest thing that keeps calling me to Skelly is the section on page 59-61. The way in which Skelly speaks to Robert is absolutely heartbreaking. The way he almost drops his persona of a crazy of fool and becomes the real archetypical voice of reason, as he tries to almost explain or even teach Robert what he’s doing is wrong. Speaking of archetypes, I suppose in a way Skelly is like the Wizard or the Old wise Man archetype, who tries to give the hero (Robert) the words of wisdom, hwoever the beauty of this is that is gets thrown back in his face, as Robert himself is not really following the footsteps of a hero. Anyway sidetracked. I believe Skelly really is in a way a symbol rather than just a character, as are many characters in this play, each one representing a different flaw with the society, or indeed the actual society of the time. Thus in reference to this the moment, when Skelly sees what Robert is doing and thus loses the one final thing he was holding on to, it’s almsot one of the moments where he simply has to die. That’s the beauty of this play and moment, it really enters in to the world of poetic justice, or indeed poetic injustice, where there are no mixed feelings about him dieing, the audience accepts that he must, but at the same time mourns for this tragic reality. In a way the death of Skelly actually occurs when he sees what’s happened and loses what he thought of Robert, but even then the last dieing breath is really taken when ALL is lost, by Nelly shooting him, the person who saved the girl. It reminds me of the chaotic world of King Lear, where despite steps being taken to rectify events and wrong doings, nothing is saved, once again this playing on the concept of poetic injustice.
These are my thoughts, I hope you enjoy them, cheerio
Something that I really try to look for when I play a character, is where do they fit in with the story and indeed the message of the play, ofcourse foremost my job is to be there for my partner, but our collective job then is to be there for the rest of the cast which in turn is there to maintain and support the vision of the Director and Playwright. Thinking back on it, this has also led to perils in the past of trying to ‘get the message across’ and therefore ending up playing the subtext and ‘indicating’ to the audience what it is I think they should see. I believe I’ve learnt from this however now, and despite this is still feel in order to communicate the message of the play appropriately in a scene or moment, you have to know where it fits into the whole, just like with objectives, sure you must break everything down into its most managable bits, but first you must know what your breaking down. i guess in a bloody round about way of putting it, I really want to tackle and understand the play itself and the objectivity of all the events so as to know where I will fit in to it. Which once more brings me back to my question of repeating scenes with the minor changes, because in a way if I were to play in one of those scenes and the scene itself was different, would that not also be a result of the given circumstances and moment before being different, and possibly even the character themselves. So many questions…possibly overthinking this, so I’ll some this little section up, what the hell is happening with these repeating scenes, until I am told otherwise I think I’m going to go with the idea that these are the events being re-told by different members of the town at the couthouse, and therefore although the majority of the things are the same, the nuances of the words are different.
Mmm … yes, I think that in a play like this, many discoveries are made on the floor. The snippets which are repeated are in many cases threads of the story from the narrative line of the trial. Some lines are also juxtaposed on other scenes. Of course, there are flashbacks too! Plays are meant to be acted, and some are not easy on the page, so let’s make our decisions as we go.
I love this format. Sitting in a group discussing the play as a whole. It’s so inspiring. I get so passionate about everything when we discuss it as a whole with people giving new ideas and re-evaluating things and really MAKING DISCOVERIES. Don’t get me wrong I’m dying to get onto the floor now after our third readthrough together, but man, it really shows how many discoveries can be made off the floor too, by simply working as an ensemble. The link between this is that probably a big thing with why we discvoer so much on the floor is not only cause we’re doing it, but because we’re bouncing ideas and reacting to one another and in a way in discussions like the ones in class, we are in fact doing that just in a different format, both of which I think are highly beneficial and are definately ways I’d like to approach future projects. Just wait, Kate, once you see me really get into a discussion, I develope a constant habbit of extreme pacing and switching directions with thoughts…it’s almost unhealthy
I was doing some more research into the location for dialect work tonight and location study and I came to an interesting discovery. Despite what was previously thought I don’t think Eldritch is based in Indiana, I was looking at maps and realised centerville is a very common name in USA and there is in fact one in Iowa as well, which is also where the movie is based. As well as this, this location is very close to Des Moines and is relatively close to both Chicago and St. Louis, which are about equal distance away. Both Indiana and Iowa are Mid-West states, however, I became confused when I found how far away Des Moines was from centerville. As well as this the population is about 5 and a half thousand nowadays which could definately work in with the one in the play. Here are some links to the information i have on centerville. http://www.elook.org/city/cities/Centerville_Iowa.html http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&q=iowa+centerville+google+maps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centerville,_Iowa
As well as this, it too was a mining town and close by is a town called Mystic and looking up the word Eldrtich i got the words ‘weird, eerie, fairyland, ghastly, hideous, suggesting that of supernatural influences, unearthly) all of which bear a strong resemblence to MYSTIC. The population of it in 1960’s-70’s was about 600-700.
I was doing some more research into the location for dialect work tonight and location study and I came to an interesting discovery. Despite what was previously thought I don’t think Eldritch is based in Indiana, I was looking at maps and realised centerville is a very common name in USA and there is in fact one in Iowa as well, which is also where the movie is based. As well as this, this location is very close to Des Moines and is relatively close to both Chicago and St. Louis, which are about equal distance away. Both Indiana and Iowa are Mid-West states, however, I became confused when I found how far away Des Moines was from centerville. As well as this the population is about 5 and a half thousand nowadays which could definately work in with the one in the play. Here are some links to the information i have on centerville. http://www.elook.org/city/cities/Centerville_Iowa.html http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&q=iowa+centerville+google+maps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centerville,_Iowa
As well as this, it too was a mining town and close by is a town called mystic and looking up the word Eldrtich i got the words ‘weird, eerie, fairyland, ghastly, hideous, suggesting that of supernatural influences, unearthly) all of which bear a strong resemblence to MYSTIC. The population of it in the 1960’s to the 1970’s was about 600-700
Great. I think the table work is such a vital part of the whole process. I’ts about sharing the collective gene pool of ideas, building ensemble and revving the team up before we get on the floor. It’s also another step along the way of learning the story we have to tell. You can spend too much time talking and not doing sometimes, but at the start of the process, it’s mining for gold nuggets to refine in the doing.
Hi Dan … looking forward to some reading stimulation!
I second that, with a concurring NOD!
Welly welly welly, here is my first (non-comment) Blog. I guess the only thing I’m really interested in talking about right now is Skelly. Well today we talked to the class about who we wanted to play and why. Good experience for an audition, especially since it really put me on the spot and made me forget about all the reasons why I actually wanted to play Skelly. In any case I’ll do as much as I can to express it all here. The biggest thing that keeps calling me to Skelly is the section on page 59-61. The way in which Skelly speaks to Robert is absolutely heartbreaking. The way he almost drops his persona of a crazy of fool and becomes the real archetypical voice of reason, as he tries to almost explain or even teach Robert what he’s doing is wrong. Speaking of archetypes, I suppose in a way Skelly is like the Wizard or the Old wise Man archetype, who tries to give the hero (Robert) the words of wisdom, hwoever the beauty of this is that is gets thrown back in his face, as Robert himself is not really following the footsteps of a hero. Anyway sidetracked. I believe Skelly really is in a way a symbol rather than just a character, as are many characters in this play, each one representing a different flaw with the society, or indeed the actual society of the time. Thus in reference to this the moment, when Skelly sees what Robert is doing and thus loses the one final thing he was holding on to, it’s almsot one of the moments where he simply has to die. That’s the beauty of this play and moment, it really enters in to the world of poetic justice, or indeed poetic injustice, where there are no mixed feelings about him dieing, the audience accepts that he must, but at the same time mourns for this tragic reality. In a way the death of Skelly actually occurs when he sees what’s happened and loses what he thought of Robert, but even then the last dieing breath is really taken when ALL is lost, by Nelly shooting him, the person who saved the girl. It reminds me of the chaotic world of King Lear, where despite steps being taken to rectify events and wrong doings, nothing is saved, once again this playing on the concept of poetic injustice.
These are my thoughts, I hope you enjoy them, cheerio
Number 2
Something that I really try to look for when I play a character, is where do they fit in with the story and indeed the message of the play, ofcourse foremost my job is to be there for my partner, but our collective job then is to be there for the rest of the cast which in turn is there to maintain and support the vision of the Director and Playwright. Thinking back on it, this has also led to perils in the past of trying to ‘get the message across’ and therefore ending up playing the subtext and ‘indicating’ to the audience what it is I think they should see. I believe I’ve learnt from this however now, and despite this is still feel in order to communicate the message of the play appropriately in a scene or moment, you have to know where it fits into the whole, just like with objectives, sure you must break everything down into its most managable bits, but first you must know what your breaking down. i guess in a bloody round about way of putting it, I really want to tackle and understand the play itself and the objectivity of all the events so as to know where I will fit in to it. Which once more brings me back to my question of repeating scenes with the minor changes, because in a way if I were to play in one of those scenes and the scene itself was different, would that not also be a result of the given circumstances and moment before being different, and possibly even the character themselves. So many questions…possibly overthinking this, so I’ll some this little section up, what the hell is happening with these repeating scenes, until I am told otherwise I think I’m going to go with the idea that these are the events being re-told by different members of the town at the couthouse, and therefore although the majority of the things are the same, the nuances of the words are different.
Mmm … yes, I think that in a play like this, many discoveries are made on the floor. The snippets which are repeated are in many cases threads of the story from the narrative line of the trial. Some lines are also juxtaposed on other scenes. Of course, there are flashbacks too! Plays are meant to be acted, and some are not easy on the page, so let’s make our decisions as we go.
I love this format. Sitting in a group discussing the play as a whole. It’s so inspiring. I get so passionate about everything when we discuss it as a whole with people giving new ideas and re-evaluating things and really MAKING DISCOVERIES. Don’t get me wrong I’m dying to get onto the floor now after our third readthrough together, but man, it really shows how many discoveries can be made off the floor too, by simply working as an ensemble. The link between this is that probably a big thing with why we discvoer so much on the floor is not only cause we’re doing it, but because we’re bouncing ideas and reacting to one another and in a way in discussions like the ones in class, we are in fact doing that just in a different format, both of which I think are highly beneficial and are definately ways I’d like to approach future projects. Just wait, Kate, once you see me really get into a discussion, I develope a constant habbit of extreme pacing and switching directions with thoughts…it’s almost unhealthy
I was doing some more research into the location for dialect work tonight and location study and I came to an interesting discovery. Despite what was previously thought I don’t think Eldritch is based in Indiana, I was looking at maps and realised centerville is a very common name in USA and there is in fact one in Iowa as well, which is also where the movie is based. As well as this, this location is very close to Des Moines and is relatively close to both Chicago and St. Louis, which are about equal distance away. Both Indiana and Iowa are Mid-West states, however, I became confused when I found how far away Des Moines was from centerville. As well as this the population is about 5 and a half thousand nowadays which could definately work in with the one in the play. Here are some links to the information i have on centerville. http://www.elook.org/city/cities/Centerville_Iowa.html
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&q=iowa+centerville+google+maps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centerville,_Iowa
As well as this, it too was a mining town and close by is a town called Mystic and looking up the word Eldrtich i got the words ‘weird, eerie, fairyland, ghastly, hideous, suggesting that of supernatural influences, unearthly) all of which bear a strong resemblence to MYSTIC. The population of it in 1960’s-70’s was about 600-700.
I was doing some more research into the location for dialect work tonight and location study and I came to an interesting discovery. Despite what was previously thought I don’t think Eldritch is based in Indiana, I was looking at maps and realised centerville is a very common name in USA and there is in fact one in Iowa as well, which is also where the movie is based. As well as this, this location is very close to Des Moines and is relatively close to both Chicago and St. Louis, which are about equal distance away. Both Indiana and Iowa are Mid-West states, however, I became confused when I found how far away Des Moines was from centerville. As well as this the population is about 5 and a half thousand nowadays which could definately work in with the one in the play. Here are some links to the information i have on centerville. http://www.elook.org/city/cities/Centerville_Iowa.html
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&q=iowa+centerville+google+maps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centerville,_Iowa
As well as this, it too was a mining town and close by is a town called mystic and looking up the word Eldrtich i got the words ‘weird, eerie, fairyland, ghastly, hideous, suggesting that of supernatural influences, unearthly) all of which bear a strong resemblence to MYSTIC. The population of it in the 1960’s to the 1970’s was about 600-700
Great. I think the table work is such a vital part of the whole process. I’ts about sharing the collective gene pool of ideas, building ensemble and revving the team up before we get on the floor. It’s also another step along the way of learning the story we have to tell. You can spend too much time talking and not doing sometimes, but at the start of the process, it’s mining for gold nuggets to refine in the doing.