Had a flash of inspiration when talking about Act 3 last night after the show:
Is Angie is the product of incest? Hence Marlene's failure to 'go to the doctor' or'tell' that she was pregnant and also perhaps why Angie is rather mentally slow. Marlene obviously feels huge resentment towards her father and lines like 'Did he? I don't think he ever gave me a bath. Did he ever give you a bath Joyce?' and 'I had to get out, I knew it when I was thirteen. Out of their house, out of them, never let that happen to me, never let him...' hint at a darker, abusive relationship. What happened to Marlene when she was thirteen? Why does she cry? All the women at the dinner party with the possible excpetion of Isabella Bird have been mistreated and abused by men in ways related to their children. Marlene imagined them as her guests because that is what she shares with them.
This also leads me to an alternative interpretation of the final lines of the play. Did Marlene in fact come downstairs and tell her mother she was frightened? Did her mother choose to ignore/refuse to 'know' what was going on as is so often the case in parental child abuse? Nobody comforted Marlene so does she choose not to comfort Angie -'Well, you're awake now, aren't you pet?' Angie will have to toughen up just like Marlene had to.
Better late than never...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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
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
Monday, March 10, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Rehearsal after rehearsal...
This week has been a bit challenging, to say the least. It got off to a great start with Mike's workshop which, as he has said, took Stanislavskian and Brechtian techniques and applied them to our historical characters. It was nice to be able to get away from the scenes for a rehearsal and just spend some time getting in to our characters, and also learning about how the other girls see their characters. I think it also gave us a bit of a chance to get to know each other too. Mike led the workshop without the slightest hint of fear, so much so that we didn't suspect he was nervous. If anything, he was making me a bit nervous as he really was applying the techniques just as I remember learning them years ago in college and being quite the teacher-figure.
It was helpful to think about Gret and her movements and gestures, and to some extent the world from which she emerged, despite her being an entirely fictional character. I think, however, I am going to need some help from Mike to get me into character as Angie. I am finding her increasingly difficult to fathom out as the rehearsals go on. She is described a 'slow-witted', 'lumpy' girl. She is regularly referred to as being thick and shows it on occasion. But she shows very different sides to her character depending on who she is with. Her first appearance with her younger friend, Kit, shows her being aggressive and dominating. She's moody and full of attitude. This is continued with Joyce, her 'mum', who she despises and threatens. It's anger she shows more than slowness with these two. But with Marlene she is desperate to impress, sweet and polite and her lack of intelligence really comes across . It makes me wonder that perhaps she is not just stupid, but maybe there has been no one around to notice that she is struggling and to help her. Her Dad has left, her Mum blames her for not being able to have a life and kids of her own and the only kid around is 4 years younger than her, it's not surprising that she is a bit angry. But to portray all these traits and emotions and still keep her a realistic and rounded character is proving difficult. Not to mention that I am playing a girl more than 10 years younger than myself! It will require quite the stretch of the imagination by the audience and I really hope I can make it work.
Well, I have had plenty of time to work on Angie this week, with three consecutive rehearsals during the week and I am already exhausted! I have rehearsed Act 3 over three nights, but because not everyone is able to do rehearsals on the same day we rehearsed once with Emma and myself, with Mike being Liz, once with Liz and myself, with Mike being Emma and then slotted it all neatly together with myself, Liz and Emma. Well, maybe not so neatly as Leasa would have liked. It is a really difficult and emotional scene and brings the whole play together. However, watching the confrontation between Marlene and Joyce as a spectator gave me shivers so I think it will turn out well.
It was helpful to think about Gret and her movements and gestures, and to some extent the world from which she emerged, despite her being an entirely fictional character. I think, however, I am going to need some help from Mike to get me into character as Angie. I am finding her increasingly difficult to fathom out as the rehearsals go on. She is described a 'slow-witted', 'lumpy' girl. She is regularly referred to as being thick and shows it on occasion. But she shows very different sides to her character depending on who she is with. Her first appearance with her younger friend, Kit, shows her being aggressive and dominating. She's moody and full of attitude. This is continued with Joyce, her 'mum', who she despises and threatens. It's anger she shows more than slowness with these two. But with Marlene she is desperate to impress, sweet and polite and her lack of intelligence really comes across . It makes me wonder that perhaps she is not just stupid, but maybe there has been no one around to notice that she is struggling and to help her. Her Dad has left, her Mum blames her for not being able to have a life and kids of her own and the only kid around is 4 years younger than her, it's not surprising that she is a bit angry. But to portray all these traits and emotions and still keep her a realistic and rounded character is proving difficult. Not to mention that I am playing a girl more than 10 years younger than myself! It will require quite the stretch of the imagination by the audience and I really hope I can make it work.
Well, I have had plenty of time to work on Angie this week, with three consecutive rehearsals during the week and I am already exhausted! I have rehearsed Act 3 over three nights, but because not everyone is able to do rehearsals on the same day we rehearsed once with Emma and myself, with Mike being Liz, once with Liz and myself, with Mike being Emma and then slotted it all neatly together with myself, Liz and Emma. Well, maybe not so neatly as Leasa would have liked. It is a really difficult and emotional scene and brings the whole play together. However, watching the confrontation between Marlene and Joyce as a spectator gave me shivers so I think it will turn out well.
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