after having gone through all of my scenes in both the acts i’ve found it a lot easier to be able to sketch out the journey that my character goes on through the play as well as establish a solid back story. I’ve really enjoyed the flexiblity we’ve had in the rehearsals as well to be able to ‘play’ with what we feel is going on and to just follow the impulse without having to worry whether ‘you’re doing it right’.
This has been something that has often stopped me during rehearsals where i get too concerned with what i’m doing not what is actually going on in the scene and paying attention to my scene partner. often time i get to self-focused on silly things like ‘now how should i say that line’ etc when as a matter of fact everything is given to me by my scene partner (going off that quote you gave us Kate, its soo true!)
anyways jst thought i’d jot down a few reflective thoughts on my process so far.
Hi James
glad you find that true. It works for me. In fact it is what keeps the performance ‘true’ in my mind and which keeps me on my toes … not playing what’s coming, repeating what I did last time etc. It’s also clearly something that assists the impulsiveness that should characterise good acting.
couldn’t sleep so decided to do up a quick blog of my thoughts from this week. i’ve really enjoyed staggering through the show as its really helped me plot out in my head the overall arc of my character’s journey. as said in class it’s quite confusing due to how the play is written and very fragmented- so its nice to run through all of it and piece little bits together.
one thing i’m a bit worried about is this different accent that i’ve been asked to do. i just simply cannot do new york! lol. i’m wondering if there’s some other kind of american dialect i would be able to do thats a little bit easier? (this is the main thing thats been bugging me)
had rehearsal with ashlee today for an hour before she was needed with bernadette. was so great how much we discovered in such a short period of time. i felt that we really found the sexuality in the scenes and how much cora and walter cannot keep their hands to themselves! am looking forward to rehearsing with adele on wednesday to see wat else i can find!
Had rehearsal yesterday with Kate in the afternoon. I found this rehearsal to probably be one of the most challenging i have had so far in my process as we did all the intimate touching and kissing that exists between Cora and Walter.
I like to think of myself as quite a touchy feely person in that I’m not scared to give someone a hug or whatever but when it comes to intimate hugging and kissing etc it’s something that is so foreign to me. So this rehearsal was brilliant for me as we worked the intimacy of Cora and Walter on the floor for the first time and I was also overcoming boundaries of my own as I’m not normally one to show that kind of affection towards people.
Outside of the rehearsal room I’ve also been making some discoveries about Walter over the past week. I’m finding that he is one of the most independant people in the play probably on par with Skelly. I was thinking about his situation and what he would have gone through in order to make it to Eldritch as he has no money, no car and from what I can gather the only clothes he has are the ones he wears. Therefore when Walter gets with Patsy towards the end of his relationship with Cora, I think it’s because he knows that Cora is getting attached and the idea of attachment scares him. So he then moves on. (Don’t know if I’m making sense here I’m just trying to translate my scribbled thoughts into intelligable words)
Reflecting over the past few rehearsals I’m so happy with how we’ve come together as a cast as well as with my own personal development with my character.
After our awful run on Monday of the play, I came home and went over absolutely everything I’ve written down throughout my process. Going over it, thinking about it, reflecting on it, and absorbing it so I would have it ready to draw upon in the next few rehearsals to come. Although I’ve still got a bit of work to do before I’m there I really feel that Walter is starting to come through and James is retreating back a bit. The last two rehearsals especially I’ve felt this. I found that after I knew what I was doing (after going over and over cues on Monday night) made it so much easier for me to focus on staying in the moment whilst I wasn’t in a scene and knowing when to come in without having to really think about it. Unfortunately today I think I got a little bit too confident and nearly missed one of my scenes entirely but I won’t make that mistake again now that I’ve made it.
I’ve gotten a bit frustrated with myself with regard to the Skelly and Walter scene as both times I’ve needed prompting in the middle of my final chunk in that scene despite my drilling my lines the night before (Tuesday). So I’ve just gone over my lines again as well as making thought connections as I figure it was this that was causing the mental block- moving from one thought into another.
Despite this, after these past few days I’m feeling so much more confident and comfortable with the overall production as well as my own personal character and actor development. I feel that we’ve come so far and can’t wait to add in the technical elements of the production of lighting, sound and visual.
walter is developing depth with each run.keep it up.
i’ve been thinking about his line about how he doesn’t owe anybody anything except money, and his line about how he likes the truckers. just a question: does he ever intend to rob cora? does he rob cora but leave the clothes?
Well we’ve come through production week and after struggling for a little bit in terms of keeping character work and everything up I’m feeling a lot more confident with my own performance. That being said, I still feel I can go further with some scenes mainly the Walter and Skelly scene as I think it’s my one big scene where the audience really gets to see the true side of Walter.
Since I received the note from Kate regarding trying to ‘refresh’ the scene I tried something new on Tuesday afternoon run and I felt it went really well. However when I got to notes I was told that Walter was weak and that I needed to show more of the menacing side to him. I was a bit surprised at this because I felt it went rather well however I do see more of what Kate wants from the scene now. So taking this on board I’ve also been trying to show glimpses of what Walter’s really like in terms of his apathy towards Cora’s true feelings. I think he just goes along with her pampering and touching etc mostly because he’s just getting a free ride. Also been thinking on what Bernadette said about him stealing from Cora and Walter’s line ‘I don’t owe anybody anything, except money.’ I had a bit of a revelation on Monday or Tuesday regarding this and I think he has taken a bit of money from the till but only small amounts so it doesn’t go missing. I even laughed about him owing people money onstage the other night because he thinks he’s gotten away with it. I guess now I just need to keep that menacing side of Walter right through to the end of the scene and not go ‘nice’ to Skelly towards the end, whilst still being a little bit unnerved and hoping Skelly doesn’t go to Cora and tell her what I’ve been up to.
So all in all this has been a good week despite a lot of looooong rehearsals with introducing the technical elements etc but I really feel that Walter has grown a bit more through this and I’m growing to be more comfortable in his skin. Despite him being an absolute bastard I actually really like him and have kind of justified him doing what he does throughout the play, even though myself I would be pretty pissed off at a friend of mine if they did that.
Hmmm Not quite right! I said he became weak at the end! The nastiness that you are starting to get works really well but the final exchange needs to build more so he doesn’t become ‘nice.’
I think seeing the real Walter is great. We only get a chance twice i.e., with Patsy and Skelly. Rest of the time he is taking or schmoozing with Cora.
(sorry its taken me a while to get to this :S)
after having gone through all of my scenes in both the acts i’ve found it a lot easier to be able to sketch out the journey that my character goes on through the play as well as establish a solid back story. I’ve really enjoyed the flexiblity we’ve had in the rehearsals as well to be able to ‘play’ with what we feel is going on and to just follow the impulse without having to worry whether ‘you’re doing it right’.
This has been something that has often stopped me during rehearsals where i get too concerned with what i’m doing not what is actually going on in the scene and paying attention to my scene partner. often time i get to self-focused on silly things like ‘now how should i say that line’ etc when as a matter of fact everything is given to me by my scene partner (going off that quote you gave us Kate, its soo true!)
anyways jst thought i’d jot down a few reflective thoughts on my process so far.
jc signing out
Hi James
glad you find that true. It works for me. In fact it is what keeps the performance ‘true’ in my mind and which keeps me on my toes … not playing what’s coming, repeating what I did last time etc. It’s also clearly something that assists the impulsiveness that should characterise good acting.
20th April
couldn’t sleep so decided to do up a quick blog of my thoughts from this week. i’ve really enjoyed staggering through the show as its really helped me plot out in my head the overall arc of my character’s journey. as said in class it’s quite confusing due to how the play is written and very fragmented- so its nice to run through all of it and piece little bits together.
one thing i’m a bit worried about is this different accent that i’ve been asked to do. i just simply cannot do new york! lol. i’m wondering if there’s some other kind of american dialect i would be able to do thats a little bit easier? (this is the main thing thats been bugging me)
Have a chat with Bern about this one.
had rehearsal with ashlee today for an hour before she was needed with bernadette. was so great how much we discovered in such a short period of time. i felt that we really found the sexuality in the scenes and how much cora and walter cannot keep their hands to themselves! am looking forward to rehearsing with adele on wednesday to see wat else i can find!
Had rehearsal yesterday with Kate in the afternoon. I found this rehearsal to probably be one of the most challenging i have had so far in my process as we did all the intimate touching and kissing that exists between Cora and Walter.
I like to think of myself as quite a touchy feely person in that I’m not scared to give someone a hug or whatever but when it comes to intimate hugging and kissing etc it’s something that is so foreign to me. So this rehearsal was brilliant for me as we worked the intimacy of Cora and Walter on the floor for the first time and I was also overcoming boundaries of my own as I’m not normally one to show that kind of affection towards people.
Outside of the rehearsal room I’ve also been making some discoveries about Walter over the past week. I’m finding that he is one of the most independant people in the play probably on par with Skelly. I was thinking about his situation and what he would have gone through in order to make it to Eldritch as he has no money, no car and from what I can gather the only clothes he has are the ones he wears. Therefore when Walter gets with Patsy towards the end of his relationship with Cora, I think it’s because he knows that Cora is getting attached and the idea of attachment scares him. So he then moves on. (Don’t know if I’m making sense here I’m just trying to translate my scribbled thoughts into intelligable words)
More to come.
30th April
Reflecting over the past few rehearsals I’m so happy with how we’ve come together as a cast as well as with my own personal development with my character.
After our awful run on Monday of the play, I came home and went over absolutely everything I’ve written down throughout my process. Going over it, thinking about it, reflecting on it, and absorbing it so I would have it ready to draw upon in the next few rehearsals to come. Although I’ve still got a bit of work to do before I’m there I really feel that Walter is starting to come through and James is retreating back a bit. The last two rehearsals especially I’ve felt this. I found that after I knew what I was doing (after going over and over cues on Monday night) made it so much easier for me to focus on staying in the moment whilst I wasn’t in a scene and knowing when to come in without having to really think about it. Unfortunately today I think I got a little bit too confident and nearly missed one of my scenes entirely but I won’t make that mistake again now that I’ve made it.
I’ve gotten a bit frustrated with myself with regard to the Skelly and Walter scene as both times I’ve needed prompting in the middle of my final chunk in that scene despite my drilling my lines the night before (Tuesday). So I’ve just gone over my lines again as well as making thought connections as I figure it was this that was causing the mental block- moving from one thought into another.
Despite this, after these past few days I’m feeling so much more confident and comfortable with the overall production as well as my own personal character and actor development. I feel that we’ve come so far and can’t wait to add in the technical elements of the production of lighting, sound and visual.
Can’t wait!
james,
walter is developing depth with each run.keep it up.
i’ve been thinking about his line about how he doesn’t owe anybody anything except money, and his line about how he likes the truckers. just a question: does he ever intend to rob cora? does he rob cora but leave the clothes?
Weekend- Tuesday Wrap Up
Well we’ve come through production week and after struggling for a little bit in terms of keeping character work and everything up I’m feeling a lot more confident with my own performance. That being said, I still feel I can go further with some scenes mainly the Walter and Skelly scene as I think it’s my one big scene where the audience really gets to see the true side of Walter.
Since I received the note from Kate regarding trying to ‘refresh’ the scene I tried something new on Tuesday afternoon run and I felt it went really well. However when I got to notes I was told that Walter was weak and that I needed to show more of the menacing side to him. I was a bit surprised at this because I felt it went rather well however I do see more of what Kate wants from the scene now. So taking this on board I’ve also been trying to show glimpses of what Walter’s really like in terms of his apathy towards Cora’s true feelings. I think he just goes along with her pampering and touching etc mostly because he’s just getting a free ride. Also been thinking on what Bernadette said about him stealing from Cora and Walter’s line ‘I don’t owe anybody anything, except money.’ I had a bit of a revelation on Monday or Tuesday regarding this and I think he has taken a bit of money from the till but only small amounts so it doesn’t go missing. I even laughed about him owing people money onstage the other night because he thinks he’s gotten away with it. I guess now I just need to keep that menacing side of Walter right through to the end of the scene and not go ‘nice’ to Skelly towards the end, whilst still being a little bit unnerved and hoping Skelly doesn’t go to Cora and tell her what I’ve been up to.
So all in all this has been a good week despite a lot of looooong rehearsals with introducing the technical elements etc but I really feel that Walter has grown a bit more through this and I’m growing to be more comfortable in his skin. Despite him being an absolute bastard I actually really like him and have kind of justified him doing what he does throughout the play, even though myself I would be pretty pissed off at a friend of mine if they did that.
Anyways, I’m done, final dress run tonight!!!!
Hmmm Not quite right! I said he became weak at the end! The nastiness that you are starting to get works really well but the final exchange needs to build more so he doesn’t become ‘nice.’
I think seeing the real Walter is great. We only get a chance twice i.e., with Patsy and Skelly. Rest of the time he is taking or schmoozing with Cora.