Rehearsal moved temporarily to another hall, and it took us a while to get our bearings again with respect to where various parts of the play would happen in the performance space. We all gathered around the model to see if we couldn’t figure it all out.
I feel like I have to start updating this blog twice daily or more: too much happens on any given day to record it all in retrospect.
One week into rehearsal and we are already on the point of assembling and running the first three acts of Shakespeare’s text and the first three dumbshows that precede them.
Today, we had the whole cast (all twenty-seven!) in the room together for the first time. We hammered out many the kinks in the opening number that will establish the setting, set the mood, introduce most of the characters, and provide some major storytelling points… all packed into five minutes… without words… and set to music.
There’s a kind of magic that settles on the room when the music starts and all twenty-seven members of the cast spring into action: jumping, dancing, tumbling, contorting, knocking each other down, and picking each other up, all in a way that is at once tightly choreographed and completely open to individual expression. There’s a mixture of fun, wonder, and joy in watching it all happen that never diminishes, no matter how many times we run through it…
And this is just the opening five minutes of the show! There are so many massive transformative elements to be added: the set, costumes, and lights, and most critically: the audience! Because if this is already an amazing experience to share with a few dozen people, one can only imagine what it’s going to feel like when we are sharing it with five thousand of our closest friends.
After a few days of dancing and movement for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s beach-themed Comedy of Errors, cast member Rebecca Whitehurst put together this set of pictures of other similarly acrobatic beach goers.
Thanks, Rebecca!
Learning the First Phrase, originally uploaded by rpmaxwell.
Hello, and welcome to Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s 2009 production of The Comedy of Errors!
The first week of our incredibly fast and fun rehearsal process has just come to a close and there are so many pictures and stories to post. So let’s get right to it:
Artistic Director Steve Maler has set this production in South Beach Miami of the 1930s: in the boardwalk world of Latin jazz clubs and boutique Art Deco hotels.
The cast has been hard at work with choreographer Yo-El Cassell on the “dumbshows,” (brief, fun, wordless vignettes that will occur around Shakespeare’s acts) that will set the stage and tell the story of the South Beach world in which the play takes place. The dumbshows are awash in the characters, colors, and energy of that world: Lifeguards and dogwalkers, band members and young lovers. All moving and dancing to sound designer David Wilson’s amazing, energetic, expressive music.
Two dozen actors spent three days dancing through five dumbshows, and there’s still more to come!
Firsthand thoughts and comments from the actors/actresses who stepped on stage to audition for this summer’s play “Comedy of Errors”:
“I felt good going in, competent. But then, as you’re performing your monologue you find yourself in a surreal moment of flappy arms. For those not familiar, this is when you notice your hands and arms making all manner of unnatural gestures, you feel as if you’re waving about like a Bacardi-smashed Canadian goose. Half your brain is the character whose words your saying and the other half notices if the nice person behind the table writes something on what you’re sure is your audition form…something like “drunk bird school of acting.”" - Maria Mogavero
“The story goes that Dustin Hoffman got a bit flustered on the set of Marathon Man upon meeting Lawrence Olivier for the first time. Dustin Hoffman was a follower of the philosophy of Method acting back then, and in the big dentist’s chair scene he was feeling a little off his game. He had to act scared to death by Olivier’s character, a former Nazi dentist. At some point, Olivier decided to lighten Hoffman’s mood. He went up to the young Hoffman and said: “My boy, why not just try acting?” This is a great piece of advice for anyone. And I got to know the feeling first hand..” - Joshua Rosenschein
“It’s funny how different the waiting room feels once your audition is over. That audition after-glow seems to carry you through it unscathed. And if you’re lucky, it’ll stick around for a while after you leave the building too.” - Allison Smith
Stay tuned for more from behind-the-scenes of Comedy of Errors…
We started technical rehearsals on the common on Saturday afternoon! It’s going well. Takes a long time to figure everything out, but we’re being super productive and are right on schedule.
Linda O’Brien and her team of electricians has been working crazy hard into the early morning to ensure that she can get her lighting work done while it’s dark out.
We added costumes last night for the first time and they’re beautiful. Emily Pepper and everyone from Costume Works has done some really great work. It’s so satisfying to see everything coming together for the first time. The set, costumes and lights all compliment each other well.
We’ve worked up through Shakespeare’s Act 4 Scene 1, meaning that tomorrow night we need to push ahead through the end of the play so that we can do a dress rehearsal run-thru on Wednesday night.
It’s hard work, but a lot of fun. The weather has been nice so it’s great to be outside. I’m enjoying being part of the team.
Tuesday’s another long one: 12pm - 12am rehearsal with a production meeting ’til about 1:30.
-Karl
This morning I think we figured out that Act 3, Scene 2 is equal to about 1/5th or more of the entire play. In our production, this scene will fall just before we take our intermission.
There’s a lot going on: We see Orlando tacking his poems to the trees of Arden, Corin and Touchstone spend a while debating the virtues of country life vs. city life (cue the Green Acres theme), Rosalind enters having discovered Orlando’s verses, Celia teases Rosalind at length before revealing that they’re from Orlando, the girls hide while Jaques takes some digs at Orlando’s lovesick behavior, and finally Rosalind (in disguise) presents herself to Orlando and tells him that she (or he) will cure him of his passion by pretending to be none other than… Rosalind.
That’s the end of the scene. And from this point on things get a little more confusing and hard to explain. Rosalind is dressed as a young man and pretends to be named Ganymede. Then as Ganymede she pretends to be Rosalind so that Orlando can woo her. Wha?
It’s taken a while not only to clarify the storytelling, but also to deepen our understanding of why Rosalind decides to keep up her facade with Orlando. Is she scared? Does she want to toy with him? Is it just fun to play? Maybe all of the above. This question alone makes the scene a puzzle. Not to mention everything else that’s spinning around, the emotional life, all the “business” and (dare I type it?) comedy.
We spent a few hours this morning starting to clarify and polish the action and physical life of the scene, and we have another couple of hours to continue work this afternoon.
The scene’s kind of a monster and difficult for us to wrap our heads around. But it’s been my experience that the most challenging scenes are usually the best way into the heart of a play. Sometimes embracing and wading around in the mystery leads to revelation. I find that comforting. It won’t happen right away, but the more time we spend together living through and exploring the writing, and as long as we remember to stay open to surprises, something remarkable might happen. And there’s a great chance that what we discover will transform the way we see the piece as a whole. As You Like It’s a fantastic play and these are great actors. I have a hunch that together we might crack this nut.
-Karl
The entire cast met a few days ago to rehearse the final scene. Lots of shennanigans were had. There’s a big dance at the end that involves lots of shimmying and clapping in rhythm, and it was fun (read: chaotic) to see the actors progress with it. They’re all doing a great job! I think this was the first time that everyone was onstage/at rehearsal together, so there was a lot of energy in the room and it made me excited to begin piecing the play together. Since my main responsibility is as an understudy, I haven’t been needed at many rehearsals, so I had a good time. Our plan is to “stumble-through” (or as someone at rehearsal said, “grope-through”) the show by the end of this week, which is something to work towards and get excited about. Little by little, it’s all coming together!
-Marie
Fred Weller, who plays Orlando, is a series regular on a new TV show called In Plain Sight which recently debuted on the USA network. The show centers on US Marshals who work for the Federal Witness Protection Program. Fred plays Marshall Mann (Question: Does this mean he’s referred to as Marshal Marshall?). The show also features Mary McCormack, Lesley Ann Warren, Nichole Hiltz and Cristián de la Fuente. Check it out if you get a chance.
Fred Weller as Marshall Mann
More info:
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/inplainsight/
Several days since the last post, but it’s still cold. Better, but cold. I might upgrade to my winter coat for tomorrow’s rehearsal.
Things are progressing well. The days are long, but a lot’s getting done.
There definitely seems to be a routine to the way in which the production is starting to come together. The conversation at the table feels easy and comfortable and that transfers into the physical work as well.
We’re currently at work on Act 3, Scene 4, near the top of our second half. As is often done, rather than take 4 intermissions between each of Shakespeare’s acts, we’ll take our break about half way through the performance, just after Act 3, Scene 2 when Rosalind and Orlando meet in the forest for the first time. In this scene Celia (Ali Marsh) chastizes Rosalind (Marin Ireland) for being so lovesick for Orlando, who is late for their first planned meeting (read: date).
It’s looking like we’ll have sketched our way through the entire play by the end of rehearsal on Saturday. Not too bad, to think we could’ve made our way through the whole thing in 2 fast and furious weeks. Then we should have enough time to go back and spend some more time living in the details after getting a solid sense of the big picture. We should then have a little over 3 weeks to finish up. The pace will undoubtedly pick up and the productivity rate will sky rocket.
WARNING: This journal entry is about to get existential and a little heady (as is my way).
Sometimes it occurs to me how amazing it is that any of this happens, ever. A woman I worked with once who I admire very much once said that “great theatre is really a miracle.” And it totally is. Whether or not it ends up being great aside, what astounds me is that so many people are able find the time and focus to meet so often and work together for long enough to create a production. And then after weeks (if you’re lucky enough to have that time) everyone makes the commitment to show up every night and perform the play. And somehow it all happens. Everyone keeps meeting and working and then when it’s time to perform they get up together and do it… over and over again.
This all might sound obvious and maybe silly to think about, but it’s in the forefront of my mind today as we wrestle with scheduling and the challenges of getting everybody on the same page and in the same room. It can be difficult, but hopefully worth it when all is said and done.
And everyone here must really love it deeply, otherwise why would they decide to go through it all?
Ok, enough of that. I’m going to ask some of the cast members to contribute to the journal over the next several days so there’s more to it than my philosophical ramblings.
-Karl
