And so, the first full day of rehearsals was upon us!
We started the day in the rehearsal room, whilst the tech team were busy in the studio finishing the set. The decision was made to work through the script in order, as there are lots of little scenes and scene changes. We use dialogue from Macbeth interspersed with text written by Mark (our director), highlighting themes or ideas that have come from that Shakespearean unit, making our audience think about the questions we ask them. This performance will be useful for any student about to sit an exam about Macbeth, or indeed any Shakespearean play, as we put forward ideas that help them to understand the text, and perform scenes in different ways in order to gain a more broad understanding of what is being said.
The aim is to make Shakespeare less daunting for the students who are introduced to him for the first time in a classroom. They will hopefully gain a far different perspective of the piece by watching it, rather than struggling to read the ancient language placed in front of them.
After break we moved into the studio (where we will be performing). The tech team had finished, and the set is impressive. A set of steps Upstage Left with a huge door at the top can be used to symbolise status and as a different entrance, whilst the rest of the stage is bare, with spears on stands that can be brought in and out for dramatic effect during different scenes.
I found rehearsing in this space really valuable, because the layout of the theatre made us all heighten our performances, and play out. The theatre is very intimate, with the audience on three sides, and a gallery above, meaning the audience will be part of the action, and very much involved. Rehearsing in here also expanded our staging suggestions, because we could see exactly what would work in the space.
Today we blocked half of the play, which we will finish tomorrow. Once the whole play has been blocked, we will start to run from beginning to end, tweaking and polishing until it is ready for performance- with our first show a week today!
Suzanne
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Day 1
So, we've now finished our first day of rehearsals for a professional production! Suzanne and I started with a meet and greet, meeting the director, the rest of the cast, our production team and the theatre management staff. Following this we were taken on a tour of the building, seeing the dressing rooms, both theatre spaces and all of the backstage amenities like the costume store, workshop and offices.
After the tour rehearsals began in earnest, starting with a read-through. This is a really useful way to get to grips with a script you've not seen as instead of reading through alone filling in the other voices, you can take in the other performers' perceptions and have an idea where the piece as a whole will go. The read-through was followed by another read over the script, this time with an eye to changing any syntax the performers weren't comfortable with, as the script was written by the director who is very open to us changing lines into our own words.
The day finished with plotting the first few pages of the script and getting it on its feet, leaving both of us thoroughly exhausted (hence why day one's blog has been written on day two...) but ready for our second day!
After the tour rehearsals began in earnest, starting with a read-through. This is a really useful way to get to grips with a script you've not seen as instead of reading through alone filling in the other voices, you can take in the other performers' perceptions and have an idea where the piece as a whole will go. The read-through was followed by another read over the script, this time with an eye to changing any syntax the performers weren't comfortable with, as the script was written by the director who is very open to us changing lines into our own words.
The day finished with plotting the first few pages of the script and getting it on its feet, leaving both of us thoroughly exhausted (hence why day one's blog has been written on day two...) but ready for our second day!
Monday, 1 November 2010
The Audition
4 weeks ago, Drew and I, along with four other third year actors at Bath Spa University, were asked to do an impromptu read through of some scenes from Macbeth, for some people visiting from the Salisbury Playhouse.
The Salisbury Playhouse have been producing 'BareBones Productions' for several years, and Macbeth is their latest venture. The idea of BareBones is that the play is ripped appart, focusing on different ideas of staging and performance. It is aimed at students from Key Stage 3 (year 9), onwards, or anyone else interested in the different decisions a director could take when looking at these classical texts.
During the audition, we were asked to get into pairs and sight read Act 1 Scene 7 (or, the scene between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, once he has heard his prophecies). We then were asked by Mark (from the Salisbury Playhouse) to do different things with the scene, thinking about different character motivations and interesting ways of staging. For exmaple, I had to sight read the scene once, then had to do it again with the idea that Lady Macbeth was nervously awaiting her husband's decision, and then again with the motivation of trying to persuade him to do "the deed".
After this, we were asked to sight read another scene: The Witches. Firstly we had to do this infamous scene 'straight', then with more of a grotesque feel, mixing up and rotating the lines so that each person could have a go at playing each witch.
I found the audition enjoyable, as it was fun to think of new and different ways to stage a scene, and to play on different character motivations. It was a good exercise in taking direction and completely changing the initial way i saw a character, therefore adjusting my original (albeit, momentary) interpretation.
Drew and I were then told that we had been successful, and would be coming to the Salisbury Playhouse to be Placement Actors in 'Mastering Macbeth'; a week's rehearsal period culminating in a week's run at the Salberg Studio in the Salisbury Playhouse.We will be documenting our rehearsal period on this blog every day.
We are both excited and intrigued to start the rehearsal process, thinking creatively about different character motivations and staging ideas... and are eager to dive into the thrilling world of Shakespeare for two weeks!
Below is the link to the Salisbury Playhouse/Mastering Macbeth web page, where you can see a little bit more of what we are doing!
Updates to follow!
Suzanne
mastering macbeth --web-page
The Salisbury Playhouse have been producing 'BareBones Productions' for several years, and Macbeth is their latest venture. The idea of BareBones is that the play is ripped appart, focusing on different ideas of staging and performance. It is aimed at students from Key Stage 3 (year 9), onwards, or anyone else interested in the different decisions a director could take when looking at these classical texts.
During the audition, we were asked to get into pairs and sight read Act 1 Scene 7 (or, the scene between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, once he has heard his prophecies). We then were asked by Mark (from the Salisbury Playhouse) to do different things with the scene, thinking about different character motivations and interesting ways of staging. For exmaple, I had to sight read the scene once, then had to do it again with the idea that Lady Macbeth was nervously awaiting her husband's decision, and then again with the motivation of trying to persuade him to do "the deed".
After this, we were asked to sight read another scene: The Witches. Firstly we had to do this infamous scene 'straight', then with more of a grotesque feel, mixing up and rotating the lines so that each person could have a go at playing each witch.
I found the audition enjoyable, as it was fun to think of new and different ways to stage a scene, and to play on different character motivations. It was a good exercise in taking direction and completely changing the initial way i saw a character, therefore adjusting my original (albeit, momentary) interpretation.
Drew and I were then told that we had been successful, and would be coming to the Salisbury Playhouse to be Placement Actors in 'Mastering Macbeth'; a week's rehearsal period culminating in a week's run at the Salberg Studio in the Salisbury Playhouse.We will be documenting our rehearsal period on this blog every day.
We are both excited and intrigued to start the rehearsal process, thinking creatively about different character motivations and staging ideas... and are eager to dive into the thrilling world of Shakespeare for two weeks!
Below is the link to the Salisbury Playhouse/Mastering Macbeth web page, where you can see a little bit more of what we are doing!
Updates to follow!
Suzanne
mastering macbeth --web-page
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)