Ok this is the second time I have written this blog tonight because the first one was rejected because it contained a word that i wasn’t allowed to post.
Anyway as I was saying, this week in class we started with the blocking and stage directions in the script. It was a bit tedious (not sure if thats how you spell that word) but thats what you get with blocking. But I feel that we found out some really interesting things out by going through all of the steps one by one.
Another thing I am really starting to like is the idea that I got that Peck has a neurological dissorder. I got the idea from the scene between Mavis and Nelly, in the scene Mavis mentions that Peck’s back has been playing up but she goes on to say that she thinks it’s “just nerves.”Ialso think that Peck may be hen pecked- pardon the pun- by Mavis because after looking over the scenes between them is seems like Mavis is a very assertive and high status character. This could also be why he beats up Patsy, becasue I know that people with nervious dissorders can sometimes lash out if they feel like they are in a situation that they can’t handle. Which could feed back into Mavis having a go at Peck; she could be verbally or emotionaly abusing Peck and when he can no longer can handle all the stress he lashes out. Which in turn leads into a cycle of abuse, Mavis feels she has to keep Peck in check and every time he abuses her or Patsy she feels like she needs to be twice as “firm” with him but this in turn leads to more pressure on him and makes him all the more likly to lash out again. ( I would just like to say at this point that if all this doesen’t make sense it’s because I typed this all out once already and it felt really good to get it all off my chest and now I cant remember what I said or what i wanted to say. Damn blog sensorship!) Anyway, I have spoken about some of this to Laurel but I would like to sit down and disscuss it with her fully and see what she thinks. I also found it interesting in the secne’s where everyone is accussing skelly of attacking Eva, Peck seems to almost stand up for him. Not in a direct way like by saying that ‘No I don’t believe Skelly did it.” But he continuiosly says that he can’t believe that Skelly was the one who did it. Which makes me wonder if Peck ever really fully Believes that Skelly did it.
Anyway thats enough of my ranting, I think that I have said everything that I said last time… just less accurately or articulatly or for that matter coherently.
But until I remember what else I said or wanted to say keep blogging true believers!!!
OK I know I missed doing one of these last week but heres an extra big one for this week. This week I spent most of my time really getting to grips with Peck. I spent the first few days doing alot of script work, e.g. reading the play over and over, slashing the thoughts and highlighting the key words or Cheroke as scott calls it. I have also started imaging the text and poggying it up.
(By the way,the poggy process that we did with kate was much harder to do in a scene situation then in a monologue type enviroment. I found myself turning all my little pieces of text into individual monologues for that page, so I could apply the technmique.)
Ayway I digress,
I have also gotten up on to the floor and done the thought slashing, stomped out the cheroke, jumped on the first and last words of each tohught as well as just the important words in the thought. (which we learnt with bern last year.) I am also doing as we speak some research into nervious dissorders on the net.
I have also been re-reading the Rodenburg shakespeer readings and I have found that I was able to apply some of those techniques to this play… Not just the articulation and clarity excersises but also some of the character and slef awareness excersises as well and I have found they have really helped.
I have also been talking with agriculture experts and farmers about how corn is farmed and would of been farmed during the late 60’s (my girlsfrends father works on farms and studiyed agriculture.)
I also spent a few days working on a farm trying to get the feel of what it is like to live like a farmer… I EVEN BRANDED A COW…
Some other things I have been doing as far as research goes are things like renting out some movies on american culture. I also got out a history of violence because I was told that Viggo Mortisens character in that movie had some similarites to Peck and his relationship with Mavis.
I also went through some of the Laban characters with the script and made a few disscoveries that I had not realized before which was good. I still want to vowel the script and do the elemental work that we did with bern last year, however I want to talk with her about it before I do it just so I can make sure that I’m doing it correctly. I also still have to speak the internal monologue and mull over everything.
Other script work I did were things like working out all of the objectives, obsticals, actions, tactics and stratedgies.
All in all I feel like I am really starting to find out alot about Peck and as far as my lines are concerned I am getting there. I think that once I get up on the floor this week and block out some of the other scenes I’m in that the lines will settle in a little better… Actually it’s not so much my lines that I am having difficulty remembering it’s my cues!
I still want to do some more research into the religious side of the the play/character because some of the religious stuff in the play still dosn’t feel like it’s sitting quite right yet. and I feel that that is a crucial part of the character and how he views his world and the town.
So this week I’m setting my goals to finish Imaging, Voweling, and to do the elimental wrok… I also want to look into doing some animal work on Peck because I think that I had dog once that was the precise embodyment of Peck lol.
jason, it’s so great to know that you’ve been immersing yourself in the play and the character. another thing to add to your “TO Do” list: by studying his given circumstances try to map the emotional obligatoions of the character. while we never see him beat patsy onstage you will need to know how he is able to engage in such a violent act.
I feel that during this week I have found some really interesting things while rehearsing on the floor. things that even after doing all that text work, were still new and interesting.
For starters on monday while working with Bern I realized just how deep I can go into this character, I thought I had gotten pretty deep before but I was amazed just how far I took off once I got up on the floor. The activity we did where you say a phrase to get you ready for the upcoming scene I found most useful. Thats where I really felt that I started to open up and really go deep. I noticed things like my voice became much free’er, I felt more centered and relaxed and during most of the scene’s I felt completly in the moment. It was a great feeling to have that kind of conection to the character so early on during rehearsals. I have also done the elemental work that I had mentioned in last weeks entry, and although I havn’t gone through all of my text doing it I have been working on becoming more earthly and grounded for the character. It has helped me slow down my already fast pase of talking and my quite often quick manerisms. I have also been really trying not to fall off the end of my thoughts and really keep my articulation clear.
Oh and to answer Berns comment I have given that quite some thought and here is what I have come up with.
During the early stages of rehearsal I decided that Peck had a neurological dissorder. After doing some research I decided that Peck suffers from CNPS or Cenrtle Nerviouse Pain Syndrome. Its a neurological dissorder that manifests itself in shocking pain, similar to a burning or stabbing sensation. It’s most common in the hands and feet but it can also accur in the back and shoulders. And it tends to come on when the sufferer is under alot of stress or duress. So thats why I think Peck sufferes from back pain. Also I had mentioned earlyer that I felt that Peck was hen pecked by Mavis and that that may cause a circle of violents type effect. So heres my therory, Peck is stressed about his crop becasue of the weather and the fact that its been so wet and cold that nothing has been able to grow. Mavis has been at Peck to try and do something the crop so it will start to grow and they will be able to make money. They have several arguments about the situation over the next couple of months while the weather is poor which puts Peck under more stress which makes his pain worse and therefore hinders the amount of work he can do because he is in so much pain. Which then ofcourse in turn make Mavis angry because not only do they have bad weather but Peck is working as much as he should be. Anyway after a couple of months of this the tention and frustration in the Johnson family home has been gradually building, and then to top things all off skelly goes and gets shot and the whole town goes into an upraw. Peck would rather just get things setteled as quickly and as quietly as possible but ofcourse everybody’s opinions get thrown in and it becomes messy. Plus Peck has very torn feelings about the way the trial is being carried out and how everyone is acting and I feel that the final straw in a long line of final straws is the fact that Peck finds out that Patsy is pregnant and then finally he just snaps. I do believe that Peck like all of us has a darker side and I do believe that his is stronger then usual but he tries to hide it. I also think that Mavis knows this and has a go at peck everytime he has an out burst which only make things worse because it just stresses him even more and makes him more likly to have a bigger out burst next time. And thus the cycle is finished… until next time…
Wow that was alot more indepth then I thought it would be.
In other news.
I also had found somethings with Kate aswell. she asked me to step up my intensity during one of the male bonding scenes just to see how it worked, and WOW! It really gave me a new outlook on that scene, to the point where I even lost my accent because I got so caught up. Which Kate said was a good thing cause it ment that it was working and I was loosing one of my masks.
Finally today I finally started to find Pecks voice by doing a warm up excersize that Kate showed us. By just walking from your own manerisms and slowly turning into the characters and then just saying a few lines of text and that unlocked a whole new chapter for me. And finally I tried wereing full costume today just to see if it would help… And I feel it did, especially the shoes.
Jason. Glad things are clicking for you. Amazing isn’t it how adjusting external actions can feed back into the internal process and trigger other, intuitive reactions? This was the area Stanislavski was working on at the end of his career as an acting theorist and teacher.
Wow what a week! ok this week probably the most important thing that has happend to me as far as character development is concerned was when the johnson family got together for some private practice. During this rehearsal we ran the family scene several times. We started by just doing a lines run but eventually got it up on the floor and man wasn’t that fun. I have not had that much fun playing a character in years, or for that matter discover so much in one rehearsal. As we ran the scene I decided to just adlib words of my characters internal monologue when the impulse struck me. I also did away with the blocking and just moved where the impulse took me, this was great becuase I found out where the blocking felt ok and natural and where I might want to play with changing the blocking…(if it’s ok with the directors.) What was probably the most important thing that came out of this rehearsal for me personally is that I now feel free to really play and experiment with my characters again.
Without goinjg to much into it I had quite a hard time in 2006 and it really effected my acting. I didn’t really notice that much but Bern and Scott obviously did cause they made it quite clear last year that the wanted more out of me. And after looking back on last year I realized that for the better part of the year I was really afraid to take risks and throw myself into the character, and it showed in my results. I did pick up a little towards the end but I was still holding back, and for what ever reason this rehearsal free’d me of that block. But I digress.
During this rehearsal as I said I felt free do go with my impulses to play experiment and learn. And it really though off some of my fellow actors. DJ managed to follow suit and ran with me and together we took the scene to a whole new level. Afterwards I was so hypped up that I couldn’t sit still I just wanted to keep going and going, I was filled with energy and joy, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life to date.
Not only did I love that rehearsal but I learnt alot as well. Up until this point in my character development I had not really showen Pecks darker side. I had delved into it but I had thought that it was something that he would not show openly, and justified that it was only something that came out when he was under periods of extreme duress. But after reading Bern’s comment last week I felt that at some point I would have to show some part of it so that the audience would exept it when skelly says how I beet patsy in his big speech. And that was the fun part! Once I excepted and started to play with this side of Peck on the floor I felt like I got a whole new view on the character and how he views the world. I also managed to feel the connection with the text more clearly and unlock new possibilities.
During class rehearsals this week I also made quite a strong discovery. While going over the congrigation scenes I made a connection with the religious side of Peck, so much so that I got goose bumps a number of times and that type of sensation, of connection to a character is something I have not felt since 2006.
I have to admit it threw me a little because I myself am not overly religiouse but as we were saying the prayer at the end of the first act I got a very clear visual of walking through a garden with Jesus and the joy of being in his company. As I said it freaked me out a little. However I fell that I can make more of that connection.
Things that I want to work on from here on in are things like, making it clear that Peck has a distsane for the way that these events are being carried out. I tried playing with that this week but without runing from start to finish without being interupted it is hard to tell how effectively I am coming across, if at all.
I also want to keep playing with the family and male bonding scenes, I dont feel as comfortable with the male bonding scenes as i’d like to. And I want to try and get that feeling really strong for the family scene. When we ran it this week in calss it felt a little flat and stagned, but I feel that was mainly because we had to stop start for that run and by the time that we got to that scene the energy was largly lost.
Oh I have also been working on my listening skills and my concentration and altough I have only been doing it for a week I think I it is improving if only a little. I am really trying to reach a new level in my work, I just hope I’m going in the right direction! Anyway I feel very emotionally open after saying all that but in a good way.
I am afraid of making Peck to much like Ross from last year, even though they are very different Because I see similarities in them I am worried that I am just going to end up in the same character patteren all over again. Even though I dont feel I am going even remotly close to that same path it is just something that has started to creep into my mind over the last couple of weeks. I thnik it started when I was playing with how Peck would hold his face, I found that Peck skwints alot like he is looking behind the eyes of anyone he is talking to, almost trying to find out if they are lying or not. Which although it is very different it bears similarities to the scowling type look that I gave Ross. But maybe I am just being parinoid.
Hi Jason. Thank you for your post. It’s nice to be able to have a ‘yarn’ with you this way. Things are always so busy on the floor when we rehearse.
I am really delighted for you that you’re getting the acting mojo back again. As with life, we go through dry spells creatively, so it’s nice when the thrills and tingles start coming. Good too that you have found a process step that triggers off good rehearsals.
Interesting this impulsive ‘dangerous’ work that can happen in rehearsals. It’s always something to be grasped and used when the impulse suggests itself. Now sometimes what emerges doesn’t get used, but it’s the equivalent I think of turning on a tap … the energy and creativity are released and the actors truly ‘play’ and push the boundaries. The director is always grateful for this and is then able to shape and ‘direct’ the work that has been gifted to the ensemble.
Re Peck’s journey across the arc of the play, I will keep my eyes open for this and give you feedback as the runs progress. Dying for a real run!!!
Keep up the good work.
OK what a week this has to of been one of the most turbulent actor weeks of my life. (I know it was last week but this is the first time I have been able to get to a computer with net connection.)
First off I would like to say that the bomb shell that was droped on us at the beggining of the week was huge I have never felt so horrible in all my life, however it had a grat effect becuase the day after the bomb was dropped the whole class took it into over drive. I have never seen the whole class work so hard by themselv’s before whether it be supervised or unsupervised, it was an amazing feeling there was so much energy in the room. also from then on everyone has been working a lot harder and alot more focused on the show and we have had some great work come out of it.
Personaly I feel that Peck has dropped in alot more for me this week. Its funny something happend during the early stages of my character work, at one point I felt like Peck was fully there and that every time I stepped on stage that I was inhabiting the character. But for some reason after a while I started to loose that feeling! Not completely but I started to feel myself pushing to try and regain that connection and of course that just made it harder to find. I put it down to focus, trying to stay completly connected to character and stay in the moment while do tech runs and tech dress is very difficult. It is so easy to just loose focus, especially when your on stage the whole time unable to move and your first big scene isn’t until half way through the first act. Sometimes I felt like no matter how hard I tried and how much I focused that by the time the Johnsons family scene came up that I had lost part of my connection. However in saying all of that it did give me a wonderful acting challenge! And by the time we ran the show on the weekend I felt like I had really started to get my connection back and stay in the moment once again. And I feel that was reflected in my notes as most of my notes for the last couple of rehearsals were blocking based as apposed to character based.
Bern did give me a not however about how Peck might feel about Giveing the verdict that Nelly is not guilty. Well here is how Peck feels!
Peck is as we all know very torn up about how the whole trial is carried out, he never truly believes that Skelly is guilty. But due to pier pressure, guilt and anger he tends not to do really anything to defend Skelly until its to late. He justifys his actions by telling himself things like “Skelly deserved it” and “thats what you get for looking into peoples windows and scary young girls.” But this doesn’t sit to well with Pecks consences (not sure if thats how you spell it?) and he finds himself asking for forgivness all the time in church for being weak and not being able to stand up for those who need it most. The other thing that allows Peck to give the verdict is that he genuinly thinks that Nelly is innocent! He beliveves that it was an accident and that it was not Nelly’s fault. Peck is probably the only person that acctually thinks that Robert is at fault.
He first get this clue when Robert says that Skelly is emensly strong, and that just dosen’t seem like an 80 to 100 year old man, plus in the family scene there is a big discution about how Skelly couldn’t do anything but look because he is so old. Which raises the question in Pecks min of ‘how can a 80 year old man who is to weak to do anything but spy on people suddenly have the strenght to attack a strong young boy knock him out and then attempt to assult a young girl?’ But no one ever brings this up which makes peck very uneasy.
Peck also has to worrie about keeping up appearences! He is one of the most respected and trust worthy men in town and to blatantly turn around and support someone who is being accused of assulting 2 people would deminish his social status. Finally Peck is angry at Skelly for what he did to Patsy and wants him to suffer for that. The fact that Skelly saw Patsy getting dressed in her room and Peck wasn’t able to do anything about it makes Peck feel emasculated because how can he be a real man if he can’t even protect his family?
During the rehearsals over the weekend I made a few discoveries, First it is really hard to play a scene when your one person down! And I truly believe that had Patsy of been there on saturday and sunday that we would of had the best run of the family scene so far. The energy in that scene was fantastic and the flow between the actors was the best I have felt so far, the only problem was that the energy became frayed by Patsy not being there. Still all in all I believe it was a good run of that scene. I also enjoyed refreshing the male bonding scenes, I can feel much more of the humor in the first scene now between Peck and the judge and more of the rivalry as well. And going much deeper in the second scene opend up a whole new level to Peck for me, just as in how deeply this turmoil about the trial runs through him.
Bern also gave me the note of how does Peck feel about being in the court room with the judge? And to be honest I don’t think he feels that much at all about it. Yes he is still aware of the rivalry that goes on between them but Peck is so caught up with the farceity of the trial that I don’t feel that he takes much notice of the Judge other then when he is verbaly attacking Skelly in the trail and Peck feels like telling him to back off and what an idiot he is. This is also where the set up is for the second male bonding scene is and why Peck has such strong words about the trial. But as far as there relationship goes the Judge clearly has more power and status in ‘his’ court room.
Finally I wasn’t able to go to the Labour day parade but I was able to get out and boby mask someone and I am going to try and use some of that today. I am also going to try and implement a little ringing action from laban Just so we can see into the inner struggle going through Pecks mind.
Ok this is the second time I have written this blog tonight because the first one was rejected because it contained a word that i wasn’t allowed to post.
Anyway as I was saying, this week in class we started with the blocking and stage directions in the script. It was a bit tedious (not sure if thats how you spell that word) but thats what you get with blocking. But I feel that we found out some really interesting things out by going through all of the steps one by one.
Another thing I am really starting to like is the idea that I got that Peck has a neurological dissorder. I got the idea from the scene between Mavis and Nelly, in the scene Mavis mentions that Peck’s back has been playing up but she goes on to say that she thinks it’s “just nerves.”Ialso think that Peck may be hen pecked- pardon the pun- by Mavis because after looking over the scenes between them is seems like Mavis is a very assertive and high status character. This could also be why he beats up Patsy, becasue I know that people with nervious dissorders can sometimes lash out if they feel like they are in a situation that they can’t handle. Which could feed back into Mavis having a go at Peck; she could be verbally or emotionaly abusing Peck and when he can no longer can handle all the stress he lashes out. Which in turn leads into a cycle of abuse, Mavis feels she has to keep Peck in check and every time he abuses her or Patsy she feels like she needs to be twice as “firm” with him but this in turn leads to more pressure on him and makes him all the more likly to lash out again. ( I would just like to say at this point that if all this doesen’t make sense it’s because I typed this all out once already and it felt really good to get it all off my chest and now I cant remember what I said or what i wanted to say. Damn blog sensorship!) Anyway, I have spoken about some of this to Laurel but I would like to sit down and disscuss it with her fully and see what she thinks. I also found it interesting in the secne’s where everyone is accussing skelly of attacking Eva, Peck seems to almost stand up for him. Not in a direct way like by saying that ‘No I don’t believe Skelly did it.” But he continuiosly says that he can’t believe that Skelly was the one who did it. Which makes me wonder if Peck ever really fully Believes that Skelly did it.
Anyway thats enough of my ranting, I think that I have said everything that I said last time… just less accurately or articulatly or for that matter coherently.
But until I remember what else I said or wanted to say keep blogging true believers!!!
OK I know I missed doing one of these last week but heres an extra big one for this week. This week I spent most of my time really getting to grips with Peck. I spent the first few days doing alot of script work, e.g. reading the play over and over, slashing the thoughts and highlighting the key words or Cheroke as scott calls it. I have also started imaging the text and poggying it up.
(By the way,the poggy process that we did with kate was much harder to do in a scene situation then in a monologue type enviroment. I found myself turning all my little pieces of text into individual monologues for that page, so I could apply the technmique.)
Ayway I digress,
I have also gotten up on to the floor and done the thought slashing, stomped out the cheroke, jumped on the first and last words of each tohught as well as just the important words in the thought. (which we learnt with bern last year.) I am also doing as we speak some research into nervious dissorders on the net.
I have also been re-reading the Rodenburg shakespeer readings and I have found that I was able to apply some of those techniques to this play… Not just the articulation and clarity excersises but also some of the character and slef awareness excersises as well and I have found they have really helped.
I have also been talking with agriculture experts and farmers about how corn is farmed and would of been farmed during the late 60’s (my girlsfrends father works on farms and studiyed agriculture.)
I also spent a few days working on a farm trying to get the feel of what it is like to live like a farmer… I EVEN BRANDED A COW…
Some other things I have been doing as far as research goes are things like renting out some movies on american culture. I also got out a history of violence because I was told that Viggo Mortisens character in that movie had some similarites to Peck and his relationship with Mavis.
I also went through some of the Laban characters with the script and made a few disscoveries that I had not realized before which was good. I still want to vowel the script and do the elemental work that we did with bern last year, however I want to talk with her about it before I do it just so I can make sure that I’m doing it correctly. I also still have to speak the internal monologue and mull over everything.
Other script work I did were things like working out all of the objectives, obsticals, actions, tactics and stratedgies.
All in all I feel like I am really starting to find out alot about Peck and as far as my lines are concerned I am getting there. I think that once I get up on the floor this week and block out some of the other scenes I’m in that the lines will settle in a little better… Actually it’s not so much my lines that I am having difficulty remembering it’s my cues!
I still want to do some more research into the religious side of the the play/character because some of the religious stuff in the play still dosn’t feel like it’s sitting quite right yet. and I feel that that is a crucial part of the character and how he views his world and the town.
So this week I’m setting my goals to finish Imaging, Voweling, and to do the elimental wrok… I also want to look into doing some animal work on Peck because I think that I had dog once that was the precise embodyment of Peck lol.
Anyway thats enough rambiling form me.
So until next time true believers Keep blogging
nuff said
jason, it’s so great to know that you’ve been immersing yourself in the play and the character. another thing to add to your “TO Do” list: by studying his given circumstances try to map the emotional obligatoions of the character. while we never see him beat patsy onstage you will need to know how he is able to engage in such a violent act.
Ok this week back at uni yay!
I feel that during this week I have found some really interesting things while rehearsing on the floor. things that even after doing all that text work, were still new and interesting.
For starters on monday while working with Bern I realized just how deep I can go into this character, I thought I had gotten pretty deep before but I was amazed just how far I took off once I got up on the floor. The activity we did where you say a phrase to get you ready for the upcoming scene I found most useful. Thats where I really felt that I started to open up and really go deep. I noticed things like my voice became much free’er, I felt more centered and relaxed and during most of the scene’s I felt completly in the moment. It was a great feeling to have that kind of conection to the character so early on during rehearsals. I have also done the elemental work that I had mentioned in last weeks entry, and although I havn’t gone through all of my text doing it I have been working on becoming more earthly and grounded for the character. It has helped me slow down my already fast pase of talking and my quite often quick manerisms. I have also been really trying not to fall off the end of my thoughts and really keep my articulation clear.
Oh and to answer Berns comment I have given that quite some thought and here is what I have come up with.
During the early stages of rehearsal I decided that Peck had a neurological dissorder. After doing some research I decided that Peck suffers from CNPS or Cenrtle Nerviouse Pain Syndrome. Its a neurological dissorder that manifests itself in shocking pain, similar to a burning or stabbing sensation. It’s most common in the hands and feet but it can also accur in the back and shoulders. And it tends to come on when the sufferer is under alot of stress or duress. So thats why I think Peck sufferes from back pain. Also I had mentioned earlyer that I felt that Peck was hen pecked by Mavis and that that may cause a circle of violents type effect. So heres my therory, Peck is stressed about his crop becasue of the weather and the fact that its been so wet and cold that nothing has been able to grow. Mavis has been at Peck to try and do something the crop so it will start to grow and they will be able to make money. They have several arguments about the situation over the next couple of months while the weather is poor which puts Peck under more stress which makes his pain worse and therefore hinders the amount of work he can do because he is in so much pain. Which then ofcourse in turn make Mavis angry because not only do they have bad weather but Peck is working as much as he should be. Anyway after a couple of months of this the tention and frustration in the Johnson family home has been gradually building, and then to top things all off skelly goes and gets shot and the whole town goes into an upraw. Peck would rather just get things setteled as quickly and as quietly as possible but ofcourse everybody’s opinions get thrown in and it becomes messy. Plus Peck has very torn feelings about the way the trial is being carried out and how everyone is acting and I feel that the final straw in a long line of final straws is the fact that Peck finds out that Patsy is pregnant and then finally he just snaps. I do believe that Peck like all of us has a darker side and I do believe that his is stronger then usual but he tries to hide it. I also think that Mavis knows this and has a go at peck everytime he has an out burst which only make things worse because it just stresses him even more and makes him more likly to have a bigger out burst next time. And thus the cycle is finished… until next time…
Wow that was alot more indepth then I thought it would be.
In other news.
I also had found somethings with Kate aswell. she asked me to step up my intensity during one of the male bonding scenes just to see how it worked, and WOW! It really gave me a new outlook on that scene, to the point where I even lost my accent because I got so caught up. Which Kate said was a good thing cause it ment that it was working and I was loosing one of my masks.
Finally today I finally started to find Pecks voice by doing a warm up excersize that Kate showed us. By just walking from your own manerisms and slowly turning into the characters and then just saying a few lines of text and that unlocked a whole new chapter for me. And finally I tried wereing full costume today just to see if it would help… And I feel it did, especially the shoes.
Until next time true belivers, Nuff said
Jason. Glad things are clicking for you. Amazing isn’t it how adjusting external actions can feed back into the internal process and trigger other, intuitive reactions? This was the area Stanislavski was working on at the end of his career as an acting theorist and teacher.
Wow what a week! ok this week probably the most important thing that has happend to me as far as character development is concerned was when the johnson family got together for some private practice. During this rehearsal we ran the family scene several times. We started by just doing a lines run but eventually got it up on the floor and man wasn’t that fun. I have not had that much fun playing a character in years, or for that matter discover so much in one rehearsal. As we ran the scene I decided to just adlib words of my characters internal monologue when the impulse struck me. I also did away with the blocking and just moved where the impulse took me, this was great becuase I found out where the blocking felt ok and natural and where I might want to play with changing the blocking…(if it’s ok with the directors.) What was probably the most important thing that came out of this rehearsal for me personally is that I now feel free to really play and experiment with my characters again.
Without goinjg to much into it I had quite a hard time in 2006 and it really effected my acting. I didn’t really notice that much but Bern and Scott obviously did cause they made it quite clear last year that the wanted more out of me. And after looking back on last year I realized that for the better part of the year I was really afraid to take risks and throw myself into the character, and it showed in my results. I did pick up a little towards the end but I was still holding back, and for what ever reason this rehearsal free’d me of that block. But I digress.
During this rehearsal as I said I felt free do go with my impulses to play experiment and learn. And it really though off some of my fellow actors. DJ managed to follow suit and ran with me and together we took the scene to a whole new level. Afterwards I was so hypped up that I couldn’t sit still I just wanted to keep going and going, I was filled with energy and joy, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life to date.
Not only did I love that rehearsal but I learnt alot as well. Up until this point in my character development I had not really showen Pecks darker side. I had delved into it but I had thought that it was something that he would not show openly, and justified that it was only something that came out when he was under periods of extreme duress. But after reading Bern’s comment last week I felt that at some point I would have to show some part of it so that the audience would exept it when skelly says how I beet patsy in his big speech. And that was the fun part! Once I excepted and started to play with this side of Peck on the floor I felt like I got a whole new view on the character and how he views the world. I also managed to feel the connection with the text more clearly and unlock new possibilities.
During class rehearsals this week I also made quite a strong discovery. While going over the congrigation scenes I made a connection with the religious side of Peck, so much so that I got goose bumps a number of times and that type of sensation, of connection to a character is something I have not felt since 2006.
I have to admit it threw me a little because I myself am not overly religiouse but as we were saying the prayer at the end of the first act I got a very clear visual of walking through a garden with Jesus and the joy of being in his company. As I said it freaked me out a little. However I fell that I can make more of that connection.
Things that I want to work on from here on in are things like, making it clear that Peck has a distsane for the way that these events are being carried out. I tried playing with that this week but without runing from start to finish without being interupted it is hard to tell how effectively I am coming across, if at all.
I also want to keep playing with the family and male bonding scenes, I dont feel as comfortable with the male bonding scenes as i’d like to. And I want to try and get that feeling really strong for the family scene. When we ran it this week in calss it felt a little flat and stagned, but I feel that was mainly because we had to stop start for that run and by the time that we got to that scene the energy was largly lost.
Oh I have also been working on my listening skills and my concentration and altough I have only been doing it for a week I think I it is improving if only a little. I am really trying to reach a new level in my work, I just hope I’m going in the right direction! Anyway I feel very emotionally open after saying all that but in a good way.
I am afraid of making Peck to much like Ross from last year, even though they are very different Because I see similarities in them I am worried that I am just going to end up in the same character patteren all over again. Even though I dont feel I am going even remotly close to that same path it is just something that has started to creep into my mind over the last couple of weeks. I thnik it started when I was playing with how Peck would hold his face, I found that Peck skwints alot like he is looking behind the eyes of anyone he is talking to, almost trying to find out if they are lying or not. Which although it is very different it bears similarities to the scowling type look that I gave Ross. But maybe I am just being parinoid.
Thats enough from me Keep blogging ture believers
Hi Jason. Thank you for your post. It’s nice to be able to have a ‘yarn’ with you this way. Things are always so busy on the floor when we rehearse.
I am really delighted for you that you’re getting the acting mojo back again. As with life, we go through dry spells creatively, so it’s nice when the thrills and tingles start coming. Good too that you have found a process step that triggers off good rehearsals.
Interesting this impulsive ‘dangerous’ work that can happen in rehearsals. It’s always something to be grasped and used when the impulse suggests itself. Now sometimes what emerges doesn’t get used, but it’s the equivalent I think of turning on a tap … the energy and creativity are released and the actors truly ‘play’ and push the boundaries. The director is always grateful for this and is then able to shape and ‘direct’ the work that has been gifted to the ensemble.
Re Peck’s journey across the arc of the play, I will keep my eyes open for this and give you feedback as the runs progress. Dying for a real run!!!
Keep up the good work.
OK what a week this has to of been one of the most turbulent actor weeks of my life. (I know it was last week but this is the first time I have been able to get to a computer with net connection.)
First off I would like to say that the bomb shell that was droped on us at the beggining of the week was huge I have never felt so horrible in all my life, however it had a grat effect becuase the day after the bomb was dropped the whole class took it into over drive. I have never seen the whole class work so hard by themselv’s before whether it be supervised or unsupervised, it was an amazing feeling there was so much energy in the room. also from then on everyone has been working a lot harder and alot more focused on the show and we have had some great work come out of it.
Personaly I feel that Peck has dropped in alot more for me this week. Its funny something happend during the early stages of my character work, at one point I felt like Peck was fully there and that every time I stepped on stage that I was inhabiting the character. But for some reason after a while I started to loose that feeling! Not completely but I started to feel myself pushing to try and regain that connection and of course that just made it harder to find. I put it down to focus, trying to stay completly connected to character and stay in the moment while do tech runs and tech dress is very difficult. It is so easy to just loose focus, especially when your on stage the whole time unable to move and your first big scene isn’t until half way through the first act. Sometimes I felt like no matter how hard I tried and how much I focused that by the time the Johnsons family scene came up that I had lost part of my connection. However in saying all of that it did give me a wonderful acting challenge! And by the time we ran the show on the weekend I felt like I had really started to get my connection back and stay in the moment once again. And I feel that was reflected in my notes as most of my notes for the last couple of rehearsals were blocking based as apposed to character based.
Bern did give me a not however about how Peck might feel about Giveing the verdict that Nelly is not guilty. Well here is how Peck feels!
Peck is as we all know very torn up about how the whole trial is carried out, he never truly believes that Skelly is guilty. But due to pier pressure, guilt and anger he tends not to do really anything to defend Skelly until its to late. He justifys his actions by telling himself things like “Skelly deserved it” and “thats what you get for looking into peoples windows and scary young girls.” But this doesn’t sit to well with Pecks consences (not sure if thats how you spell it?) and he finds himself asking for forgivness all the time in church for being weak and not being able to stand up for those who need it most. The other thing that allows Peck to give the verdict is that he genuinly thinks that Nelly is innocent! He beliveves that it was an accident and that it was not Nelly’s fault. Peck is probably the only person that acctually thinks that Robert is at fault.
He first get this clue when Robert says that Skelly is emensly strong, and that just dosen’t seem like an 80 to 100 year old man, plus in the family scene there is a big discution about how Skelly couldn’t do anything but look because he is so old. Which raises the question in Pecks min of ‘how can a 80 year old man who is to weak to do anything but spy on people suddenly have the strenght to attack a strong young boy knock him out and then attempt to assult a young girl?’ But no one ever brings this up which makes peck very uneasy.
Peck also has to worrie about keeping up appearences! He is one of the most respected and trust worthy men in town and to blatantly turn around and support someone who is being accused of assulting 2 people would deminish his social status. Finally Peck is angry at Skelly for what he did to Patsy and wants him to suffer for that. The fact that Skelly saw Patsy getting dressed in her room and Peck wasn’t able to do anything about it makes Peck feel emasculated because how can he be a real man if he can’t even protect his family?
During the rehearsals over the weekend I made a few discoveries, First it is really hard to play a scene when your one person down! And I truly believe that had Patsy of been there on saturday and sunday that we would of had the best run of the family scene so far. The energy in that scene was fantastic and the flow between the actors was the best I have felt so far, the only problem was that the energy became frayed by Patsy not being there. Still all in all I believe it was a good run of that scene. I also enjoyed refreshing the male bonding scenes, I can feel much more of the humor in the first scene now between Peck and the judge and more of the rivalry as well. And going much deeper in the second scene opend up a whole new level to Peck for me, just as in how deeply this turmoil about the trial runs through him.
Bern also gave me the note of how does Peck feel about being in the court room with the judge? And to be honest I don’t think he feels that much at all about it. Yes he is still aware of the rivalry that goes on between them but Peck is so caught up with the farceity of the trial that I don’t feel that he takes much notice of the Judge other then when he is verbaly attacking Skelly in the trail and Peck feels like telling him to back off and what an idiot he is. This is also where the set up is for the second male bonding scene is and why Peck has such strong words about the trial. But as far as there relationship goes the Judge clearly has more power and status in ‘his’ court room.
Finally I wasn’t able to go to the Labour day parade but I was able to get out and boby mask someone and I am going to try and use some of that today. I am also going to try and implement a little ringing action from laban Just so we can see into the inner struggle going through Pecks mind.