On the nature of things

Found out this week that the Latin that Pope Joan speaks almost incomprehensibly in her drunken state is Lucretius On the Nature of Things which is a poem which, amongst other themes, mainly discusses the problems brought about by religion and fear of death. The particular passage recited is from the proem of Book II and talks about watching other men struggle with turbulent lives and troubles from a serene platform.

Also found a really useful study guide, which has a lot of comment by Caryl Churchill and some interesting points about the Brechtian style which is ingrained in the play simply by the type of writing. Click on the title (On the nature of things) above to find it.

Yes, I'd always interpreted the last line 'Frightening' as Churchill's premonition/warning of what the eighties would be like under Thatcher but it could also be read like that. I don't think that this interpretation changes much about how we play it except perhaps that we need to believe that Angie is capable of killing her mother in the scene with her and Kit. The real animosity between them and Angie's vicious streak are definitely there in the script.

I had thought of that myself Liz! It is probably a fair assumption as in act 1, Angie does seem set on the idea, and is very sheepish when questioned about Joyce in Act 2.

Though there is no solid evidence, I think the way Andrea has played it so far, it could be fairly assumed. Does that change anything in the way that it is performed then if we are working on that assumption?

There is a thought that the final words from Angie at the end of the play are off the back of Angie having some sort of a premonition of killing her mum, and the end of act 3 would seem much more sad. hmmmm

I found myself wondering when we ran Act One (including the Angie and Kit scene) whether Angie has in fact killed Joyce before running off to London to see Marlene. 'Does Joyce know?' - 'It doesn't matter.' Just a slightly odd thought.

Half way there and we are on track. Tonight we ran the whole of act 2 (The office section).

Even with the books, the girls are really developing their characters and relationships on stage. blocking aside, we found some really great relationship moments.

* The relationship between Marlene and Angie is really developing. We saw how needy Angie is in this scene. The repetition of the phrase 'I Wanted to see you' from Angie to Marlene is highlighted with Marlene being pro active in moving away from Angie whenever she shows affection toward her, and in turn Angie responds to her avoidance by becoming introverted and distant. Andrea's body language during these moments is perfect - she becomes deflated and defensive all at the same time.

This in contrast with Marlene s later affection towards Angie at the end of the scene when she is sleeping, and not directing any love and respect her way.

* We discovered Nell's masculine side as opposed to Winn's more feminine side. Nell opens the scene telling her Magazine gossip column style story about her weekend and her scandalous relationship with a married man. She makes it seem romantic " his wife was visiting her mother. It was like we were living together' - as opposed to Nell's very straight down the line view of Derek who asked her to marry him ' I told him I'm not going to play house'

There are a lot of moments throughout the scene where Nell comes across as being busy and hard. He dialogue is very quick and sharp and she often bites back and criticises Winn in a backhanded way.

Win: Tough bird like us?
Nell: We could do with a few in here
Win: There's nothing going here.

This reveals that Nell clearly doesn't think Win is like her and Marlene, and certainly doesn't have the same aspirations, and we later discover in Win's Monologue, that unlike Marlene and Nell, she has a failed Marriage and has been flaky and emotionally unstable throughout her life.

I asked the girls to really play on this contrast in character and directed Becky to play Win much more scatty, lounging and relaxed in comparison to Nell who I asked to play busy and direct. I think this gave them a lot of lea way to really play on these elements and I think helped Paula(Nell) to develop her annoyance of Win throughout the scene.

This contrast is then really highlighted when Marlene enters - as Win skips around with joy about Marlene s promotion and really sucks up to her

Win: We'd rather it was you than Howard. We're glad for you aren't we Nell?

And Nell's abrupt and sarcastic response

Nell: oh yes. Aces.

It is even more clearer by the end of the scene that Marlene is much more like Nell than she would like, and that neither of them particularity find Winn a threat.

I have highlighted this by having Marlene and Nell's desks close to each other and Nell over the other side of the office.

Their desks and their costumes will also highlight this contrast. Win s desk will have trinkets and nick knacks on as opposed to Nell's tidy and organised desk. In comparison, Marlene's desk will be almost empty to show : She is no longer part of this 'team' and that she is on her way up and out of there.

The interviews highlight these attributes even more. Nell's interview with Shona - a 'woman' she thinks has the same ideals as her- shows Nell's desire to have someone more career driven in the office, and when she turns out to be a fake, we see an admiration for the girls brave attempt to be successful and a slight disappointment in not finding a co worker who thinks the same as she does.

In contrast, Win's interview with a strong, experienced female, who is clearly not feminine or gossipy like herself turns out to be a complete shambles - she becomes over emotional and loses control of the situation - accidentally coming across as patronising and bored by the conversation - when in fact she just doesn't identify with her.

The rehearsal went great. I just cant wait until they get their books down as I'm sure we will have more scope to delve deeper into the characters.