Session Four: Week 22

Tuesday

Tonight found us exploring Act IV Scene V, in which Katharina and Petruchio come to an understanding on the way to Baptista’s house. We began to get the humor in the scene just from its first walk through, and we decided to hone in on more details of what’s going on, beginning with movement.

I asked Petruchio to try stopping when he verbally “puts his foot down” about Katharina needing to agree with whatever he says, no matter how ridiculous, and to make her come to him. This was beginning to work, although our Katharina has a tendency to move very quickly that we needed to find a way to alleviate – the scene was not doing what we wanted it to do yet. The lines here are:

KATHARINA

Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,

And be it moon, or sun, or what you please:

An if you please to call it a rush-candle,

Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

PETRUCHIO

I say it is the moon.

KATHARINA

I know it is the moon.

PETRUCHIO

Nay, then you lie: it is the blessèd sun.

KATHARINA

Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessèd sun:

But sun it is not, when you say it is not;

And the moon changes even as your mind.

What you will have it named, even that it is;

And so it shall be so for Katharina.

Since both of these women have been committed to the idea that Kate and Petruchio truly love each other and are not awful people, and since we all realized that this might be the most important scene in the play because it’s where they can establish this very firmly, I asked them to try this scene as if the lines were wedding vows – as if this were the real wedding, as opposed to the one in which Petruchio acted out.

This approach proved to be one that the entire ensemble loved. “I like it because Kate has a choice,” said one woman. “It’s the real-est acting there’s been in this group yet,” said another. What this comes down to is that in order to tell this story honestly in the way that they’ve interpreted it, Petruchio and Kate needed to make themselves very vulnerable here. Even with a stand-in Petruchio (the woman playing the role had to go to another group midway through ours), this is paying off.

The ensemble worked together beautifully to stage the rest of the scene, discussing ideas, objectives, obstacles, and the overall effect they want to get out of the interaction with Vincentio. When one woman had an idea for staging that seemed too difficult to some of us, the women in the scene tried it anyway to see if it would work. The majority thought it really didn’t after all, but the whole situation was handled with such respect that it didn’t become a conflict.

It was a really productive night, and we all left feeling good about the work that was done. Those sessions are the ones that help us get through the more challenging ones.

Thursday

Although we were missing our Katharina and Hortensio, we decided to ride our momentum from the other night and plug in our Petruchio and Vincentio (who had had to leave early) to Act IV Scene iii.

Our first challenge was in repeating the blocking we had come up with the other night, but we found that when we focused on the characters’ objectives rather than the exact staging, it happened organically. That was a relief! We worked through the interaction with Vincentio and determined that it is a game that Kate and Petruchio are playing now that they have come to an understanding – their relationship has changed, and so has everything else for them.

After we ran through the scene with our new understanding of it, one woman had an epiphany: “I don’t think the taming of the shrew is a bad thing,” she said, “It’s about calming down and working as a team.” She explained that there is give and take in any relationship, and that is now what she sees in Kate and Petruchio rather than the breaking of a woman’s spirit. We are all inclined to agree with her.

We began reading Act V Scene I and looking to clarify anything that is confusing, but we decided not to put it on its feet because we were missing too many people who are in the scene.

We set a goal to read through the entire play in order as a group by the end of February and see where the holes are – which scenes haven’t been staged or have been recast since we staged them – and a nice byproduct of this will be that our new members will be nicely caught up. We did this last year and liked the way it worked, although we weren’t ready to do it until March or April last year. Even when we feel like we’re spinning our wheels, we have to remind ourselves that it’s part of the process, and we still have plenty of time left to accomplish our goals.

Session Four: Week 21

Tuesday

We welcomed several new members to the group today. After our usual orientation, in which we shared with them about the group and got to know them a little bit, we played a couple of theatre games for ensemble building. It was an abbreviated session due to inclement weather, but the vibe was positive, and we’re ready now to move forward.

Thursday

We continued our work on Act II Scene I today. After clarifying objectives, our Baptista shared that she feels the scene is too static, and she wants to find a way to incorporate more movement. We determined that she needs some kind of activity – perhaps she’s trying to get work done, or maybe she simply wants to re-enter her house, and all of these suitors are preventing her. We need to work through this more, but having the idea is the first step!

We were missing some key players today, so the decision was made to focus on giving individuals who were present in-depth attention on whatever they wanted to work on. Our Lucentio, Petruchio, Gremio and Tranio all found pieces to explore, and we made some great strides with them.

Our new members mostly sat back and observed today, but we are hoping to get them into the mix next week. They are hoping to get into the mix, too!

Session Four: Week 20

Tuesday  

We continued with the work that the group had done last week on Act IV Scene ii. We began by clarifying each person’s objectives – what does everyone want in this scene? At that point, one woman suggested that we work our way through the scene in contemporary English, since it seemed like there was some confusion about what the lines meant. I invited her to lead the exercise, and she did a great job helping people through it and stopping them when things needed to be clarified; they actually were pretty on top of stopping for clarification themselves in most cases.

After working on this scene for quite a bit (and it gained quite a bit of clarity and strength!), we began work on the final scene of the play, which is going to need a lot of attention. We read through it somewhat on its feet, although, since it takes place at a banquet, people mostly stayed seated. We discussed the need to be very intentional about the seating arrangement and decided to try several different things as we move forward.

There is still some contention about the meaning of Katharina’s final monologue, and that is to be expected as there is ongoing debate about that piece in all sorts of circles where Shakespeare is debated! We may never all agree on what’s going on here – is Kate truly “tamed” or is she being sarcastic? Is she just trying to win a bet? It’s going to take some exploration, as well as a willingness on the ensemble’s part to trust the woman playing Kate, in the end, to go with her gut on what feels best to her.

Thursday

Written by Lauren

On Thursday we started out talking about costumes, the set, and some props. One woman told us that she will be stepping down from the part of Grumio since she's released the week of the performance and she needs to focus her energy on that. She's sticking with the group, she just doesn't want that extra pressure. Another woman talked about possibly stepping down from her role as Baptista so she can focus her energy on writing, which has become a very important part of her life. She did say that if no one else is interested in the role, she would keep it.

The women had really great ideas in terms of costumes. They want it to look as period as possible, but with modern comedic elements such as college type paraphernalia for Padua. The women had some great ideas regarding their own characters. When it came to the set, there was a question of what we would do with the flats. One woman suggested that we do something similar to last year by painting words that relate to misogyny and patriarchy on the flats. They want to keep the show funny, but that would also show some of the underlying themes in the show. Overall, we're still brainstorming, though!

After that we did some warm ups. Since we didn't have a large attendance, we were able to concentrate on some monologue work with Katharina and Petruchio. We went through Katharina's final monologue and broke it down line by line and talked about what her intentions are for the piece. We came to some good conclusions, and she was excited to do some more work on her own time. We did the same thing with Petruchio and also had some good breakthroughs.

We then moved on to the scene where Katharina and Petruchio first meet. We broke down the scene and found some spots where there's innuendo. This gave some good context and the actors had a good time playing around with the language and the scene.

Even though we had a small group, it was very productive!

Session Four: Week 19

Tuesday  

Written by Dominique

We had a pretty good turnout this evening - only a couple people missing. Yet somehow it was still difficult to find a scene to work on that involved only characters of available actors. We carried on, with people volunteering to fill needed spaces.

After initial frustration at not being able to just "go in order" as originally planned due to absence we forged onward - begin with Act IV Scene iii. A first run/read-thru on its feet was made. We stopped to sort out exactly what was going on in the scene - not an easy thing to do! We laughed at how complicated the comedies can be with mistaken identities and characters running on and offstage. Who exactly was being who at this point and who believed them?? We looked to the text for clues and backed it up with Spark Notes (no shame in that at all!!). Once we figured out where the deception was, the lines in the scene began to bloom, particularly for Tranio, being read by the woman who is cast as the Widow but frequently fills in for others. Once again she gave a good solid reading and really dug to figure out where the character she was reading was coming from. And once again she, with good humor, insisted that she was the Widow and the Widow only. It's becoming a kind of running gag. Other cast members remarked on the strength of her reading, but we pointed out that the whole play was leading to the entrance of the Widow at this point, so she was wise to stick with that.

The other aspect of the scene to be broached was the "love making" of Bianca and Lucentio. We talked about how to approach it, what would be appropriate for play and audience, what kinds of things could be broad enough to read for audience. We talked about while in this play many of the jokes are accessible it is the physical comedy that really brings the humor to light for a modern audience so we continue looking for those moments wherever possible. Even to the point of suggesting that although Gremio doesn't join the scene's dialogue until much much later her presence on stage could leave open some opportunities for fun…

Kate and Petruchio also gave us a taste of work they had done on Act II sc 1.  They are both such good actors it was fun to see them dig in to the verbal jousting. We talked about ways to break up the "jests", different approaches Petruchio might take, who really has the power in the scene and when. They were also encouraged to use the entire stage, to really physicalize the language to help bring the jokes to life for the audience. There should be no problem in that! The show is already off to a rollicking start.

 Thursday

Written by Lauren

Today was pretty low-key. We started with the ring and some stretches and vocal warm-ups. One woman taught us a warm up (more of a game). We used it instead of tongue twisters and everyone seemed to like it! You start with the letter A and tell everyone your name, your husband's name, where you live and where you work and all starting with that letter (ex: my name is Alice, my husband's name is Albert, we live in Alberta and we sell artichokes). You go around the circle with a different letter each time.

After that we worked Act 4 Scene 1, which has already been blocked, but given the women we had available, that seemed like the best scene to do. It ended up being fine since they said needed a refresher of the scene. Our Grumio was feeling pretty down today but didn't really get into it. She still worked through the scene twice, but was definitely done after that. The ladies wanted to play some improv games after that. One woman was pretty outspoken about how she didn't understand the point of the games. I explained how they could be helpful, and then she got really into it. We played a couple rounds of Party Quirks, which they were all really into. I had a hard time getting the ladies to be physical when we ran the scene, so I thought that game would help them act silly and over the top, and it worked.

The same woman who was initially against playing games also mentioned that she would like to challenge herself and take on the role of Biondello since it's available. I took both of these things as good signs and was glad that she's willing to challenge herself and try new things.

Session Four: Week 18

Tuesday  

We returned to Act II Scene I today, plugging in our Petruchio, who has missed the last couple of times we’ve worked on it. We found, though, that our focus shifted to Hortensio – she has been having a difficult time finding her way into the character, and Sarah suggested that she try a different approach. Instead of downplaying Kate’s flaws, as she has been doing, the woman playing Hortensio tried the scene with in a straightforward way. She found that this works better for her, and it makes sense, given how logical Hortensio is about so much in the play. She’s feeling a bit better about the character now.

We then read through Act III Scene I, in which Lucentio and Hortensio take turns surreptitiously wooing Bianca. The woman playing Bianca said that she was torn between the character being sweet and naïve or being a tease. She mentioned that one of the women in the group feels strongly that Bianca is “loose,” to put it mildly, and several of the others jumped in to caution her against trusting anyone’s instincts over her own. Sarah shared an anecdote, then, about a time when she listened to her cast-mates’ instincts about a character rather than her own, never felt good about the performance she gave, and only realized after the show had closed what truly clicked for her about the character. This story bolstered Bianca’s confidence in trusting herself here, and it’ll be interesting to see in what direction she ultimately goes.

Thursday

One of the women in the group came in today bursting with excitement about some reading she’s been doing. She got a copy of Othello, which she loved and summarized for the group. The thing she loves most about Othello is how familiar she found Iago – she’s witnessed manipulation like his and feels that the play is very true to life, that it still has relevance for all of us. She’s also been reading a book called Shakespeare’s London, which has given her more insight into the plays we’re working with and the man who wrote them. She’s excited by what she’s learned and encouraged all of us to read this book.

After nerding out for awhile, since it was clearly a low-attendance day, we decided to give individual attention to a couple of women who had specific challenges they wanted to address. We began with the woman playing Gremio, who has a lot of questions about her character. We decided to focus on his speeches following Kate’s and Petruchio’s wedding to see what we could find out. We read through the scene to make sure we understood it, and then we tried it on its feet. She felt confident that he is appalled and shocked by what he witnessed, but she was frustrated by having to rely on her script and felt hampered by it. I volunteered to back her up in a drop-in exercise – I stood behind her and read her lines to her so she could have her hands free, not have to read, and maintain eye contact with her scene partner. When we did this, her approach changed a bit – it became more physical, and she used her hands a lot. The others found her interpretation funny, and her biggest discovery was that Gremio is direct – he says what he wants to say.

We then worked the end of Act IV Scene IV with Lucentio and Biondello. The big question became: what is Lucentio nervous about? He says he’s nervous, though he’s just gotten what he wanted – so why? The woman playing this character feels that, in this moment when it all becomes real and official, he is overwhelmed. We talked about this being a universal feeling, not just associated with getting married, although that is the experience upon which she is drawing. Another woman suggested that an additional layer could be the fear of what happens now that the deception is about to be exposed. There’s a lot going on here. We found that Lucentio’s interpretation works here – it’s a quiet moment in our play, a frustrating one for Biondello, who doesn’t understand, and something we’ve all experienced in our lives.