January 25, 2013

We spent today working on the first scene in the play – the storm on the ship. Although it is a fairly short scene, it’s not a simple one, so we began by simply reading the lines. We then went through and asked each participant what she envisioned her character doing in the scene. Everyone had great ideas about how her character would act, and some had specific actions in mind. We got it on its feet and almost immediately decided to modify the scene so that the Master could be more involved. Since the scene is all dialogue with very little specific action noted, much of our time was spent on finding activities for people, determining whom they are speaking to at which time, and trying to get to the chaos the scene needs. This is difficult to do at this point, since the lines are new and most people are struggling with them a bit, but it will come in time.

Everyone showed a lot of patience working through this scene, and they felt good about it at the end. I reassure them all the time that many of these scenes may not work “well” for awhile, and that we’ve got time to get them where we want them. It seems like the participants are internalizing that well.

January 22, 2013

Today the participants decided to work the scene in which Miranda and Ferdinand meet for the first time. This was only the second time that the woman playing Ferdinand performed, and she was clearly a bit nervous, but she gave it her all and ended up having a great time, and making some nice discoveries. In discussing Prospero’s actions in the scene, a participant who’s been in the group for nearly a year volunteered that she thinks Prospero doesn’t know how to let go of Miranda, since he’s had her all to himself for twelve years. The group felt that this is definitely part of what’s motivating him, but that there is more to it – he wants Miranda and Ferdinand to fall in love, but he also wants to make it a challenge so that they will value it more.

The participant playing Miranda then brought up her idea that Prospero brings Ferdinand to him and Miranda to keep him away from Alonso as part of his revenge plot. He holds more of the cards if he knows exactly where Ferdinand is and Alonso doesn’t, and the marriage between the two will help him get back his dukedom and go home.

We also worked the moment when Ferdinand first sees Miranda quite a bit, which proved to be a lot of fun. We began with, “How would a teenage boy react to seeing a beautiful girl?” The response to this was, “Damn, girl!” We all had a good laugh at that. I then reminded them that Ferdinand is a prince, and he would probably be very respectful. We added to that that he’s just been shipwrecked and isn’t expecting to find anyone on the island, let alone this girl, so it’s not a casual encounter. We then added her being the most beautiful woman ever. Those things helped the participant playing Ferdinand to change her performance to something much more appropriate, and she gained confidence each time she tried it. There were a lot of smiles among the group as she made these improvements. Everyone really enjoys watching others in the group grow and learn.

January 15, 2013

Today we played a new game that proved to be a lot of fun.  The group then decided to begin work on Act I Scene ii, beginning with Prospero and Miranda. The participants who have been in the group for awhile have clearly been giving this play a lot of thought. When I asked them what the scene looked like in their heads, several of them suggested that everything should be made out of materials salvaged from the boat in which Prospero and Miranda were wrecked – barrels fashioned into chairs, a tent or their roof made of sails. These are great ideas, and we’re going to see what we can do about representing them in our performance.

We went through the scene very slowly to make sure that the participants fully understood all of their lines, and it is a testament to the group that no one got impatient with this approach. We talked about clues in the text – why does Prospero need to ask Miranda to sit down twice? Why does he repeatedly ask her if she’s paying attention? The group tossed around several ideas about this, and the participant playing Miranda is going to try some different things until she finds what works for her.

After going painstakingly through a good portion of the scene this way, one of the participants suggested that we go back and let the women on stage go through what we’d done without interruptions. We did this, and it went very well, but the group was concerned that there wasn’t enough movement and it would be boring for an audience. We talked about ways to incorporate some movement that would still seem natural, and then one participant suggested that perhaps the other actors, dressed as “spirit versions” of the other characters, could act out the story that Prospero tells in a different area of the stage. That way, even audience members who might have trouble following the language could understand what he is talking about. I saw a lot of eyes light up at this suggestion, and mine probably did, too. We are definitely going to use this approach to the scene.

I made sure at this point that everyone knows that any conceptual ideas like that are completely welcome and encouraged. This is their show, and I want them to own it. They are absolutely growing in that direction.

January 11, 2013

We spent a good deal of time today in discussion about various things affecting the group and then moved on to some scene work. The participants decided to work on Act II Scene ii, in which Caliban meets Trinculo and Stephano. We worked a bit with Caliban on her physicality, what immediately precedes the scene and how that affects her character. We also spent some time discussing how, even though one’s character reacts differently depending on the given circumstances, there must always be consistency about who the character is – just like in real life.

The participant playing Trinculo was a little hesitant about her performance, so we talked about the character a bit. I mentioned that he makes a lot of proclamations and is very outspoken. “Do you think he’s maybe a little fruity?” she asked. “Maybe,” I said. “That’s up to you.” The group discussed it for a bit and asked her to give it a try. Changing her physicality and delivery to be more “fruity,” as she interprets it, made the character begin to really come to life – he was much more believable and funny. She liked the approach a lot and is going to stick with it, at least for now.

The participant playing Stephano is newer to the group and doesn’t have as firm of a grasp on the character yet, so we talked a bit about him. She is going to do some more work on her own before approaching the scene again so that she is more comfortable.

January 8, 2012

We finished up casting today, giving one of the new participants a chance to read for Ariel, and then discovering that the rest of the pieces just kind of fell into place. The only “major” role that hasn’t been cast is Antonio, so we are hoping that when we add a few more people, one of them will want to play that part. Everyone is very happy with the results of casting. This took up most of our time, and then they decided to use the remaining time to play some games. This was a lot of fun and got everyone smiling and energized.

We discussed our approach to the material and decided not necessarily to work on scenes in chronological order, but to let our path be determined by who is present and what everyone feels like working on. I think this approach will serve us well.