More character exploration

Second rehearsal went......mostly without problems ( apart from my uh hum...masterpiece of a rehearsal schedule being a little off..)

Spent some time with Becky to start and discussed the role of Lady Nijo in the Restaurant scene.

We decided that she relates to most characters on some level throughout, but were very sure that it was unlikely that she would address Gret at all throughout until she is slightly drunk and listening to Grets tale at the end. She never really speaks to her and when Gret enters we imagined that as she is so obsessed by clothes and appearance, she may be quite appalled by Grets peasant, dirty and careless appearance - thus alienating her from Gret throughout the scene - later (when discussing the same relationship with Andrea - Gret - we decided that we could play on this quite often in a comical way)

Becky and I started to understand a pattern in Nijo's status thoroughout the scene and her struggle to be the centre of attention. I also expressed that I would find it interesting to see if she could portray Nijo in a very theatrical way. Nijo most likely had lots of theatrical training whislt preparing to become a concubine to the Emporer - thus giving her a lot of scope to use dramatic gestures and emphasise her stories with graceful clarity.

It was decided that Nijo would very likey be able to do this with the use of a fan - an obvious choice for her dramatic, traditional and oriental character.

We discussed that she is probably at her most relaxed when Griselda enters, as she identifies with Griselda's views on women being loyal and subservient to thier husbands, and more importantly, her children being taken away from her.

In the second half of the rehearsal

I had an oppurtunity to speak to Andrea about the character of Gret.

Andrea expressed her concern about what Gret might be doing throughout the scene as she rarely engages in conversation and when she does, it is mono syllabic words - hard to find meaning in some of them such as 'SAD' following the women talking about wanting thier lives to be over.

Andrea felt that this may be said in a sarcastic way, as thier excuses for wanting to die (at the time) appear to be feeble compared to what we imagine her war might have been like.

We plotted moments in the scene where she might be interested in the conversation and decided that whenever there was

- gruesome conversation - off the back of her gruesome descriptions of decapitating going to the depths of hell
- religion - As this involves heated debate and reflects the crusade war that she was entangled in
- sex - We had already decided that judging by her inability to converse intellectually, and he basic love of potatoes and simple foods, that she is barabric and crude- this conversation may have been more on her level.

NEXT

Caroline (Kit) and Andrea ( Angie) ran through the garden scene. We played with status and body language. We decided that Angies body language is negative whereas Kit's is mainly positive; with moments of Kit imitating Angies.

We explored the dark side to Angie, her obsession with death, and Kit's naeive attempt to identify and share Angies morbid nature.

The girls did brilliantly depicting teenagers, and in turn we tried to include choreography ( with some difficulty as it's early stages and they are still on books).

Its still early days, but the girls have already got a great bond, which makes it all the more believable.

Am really looking forward to Sunday