AYLI Diary: Shakespeare Boot Camp 1
/I am going to try to document our rehearsal process for Newnan Theatre Company’s As You Like It (Mar 19–29). I may not be able to do that every day, but I’ll try.
lecturing on TAZs / photo: Cindy Battles
Last night was our first rehearsal. Right off the bat, scheduling conflicts kept four of our cast from being there. (NOTE that this is not a huge deal; people have jobs and commitments that were in place before they auditioned. It is unfortunate that they missed, but they’ll catch up.)
Our assistant director/stage manager is Cindy Battles: fierce, smart, and on top of things, often things that I like to handle myself. But I’m learning.
Cast includes: Alexander, Amanda, Chuck, Embrey, Garrick, Julia, Katie, Lauren, Lily, Mariel, Meranda, Mike, Robert, and Ronald. I hope to add one more young-ish man before we get too far into the weeds.
At any rate, here’s what we did.
Leveling the field
I introduced myself, and as I always do when I direct Shakespeare, I asked three questions:
Who here has worked with me before? (two or three hands)
Who has done Shakespeare before? (about half)
Who has done Shakespeare with me before? (all hands down)
Paperwork
Having established the level playing field, we moved on to official paperwork from NTC: releases, rules, regs.
Introductions
I gave every cast member a Field Notes waste book, and the first thing I asked them to do was to write the following:
My name is [first] [last] and I am playing [role].
List five things about yourself that you don’t mind sharing with us.
My name is [first] [last] and I am playing [role].
We went around the room and introduced/shared. I am still trying to call Ronald “Thomas,” but I’m sure that will pass.
Concepts
I explained the concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones [TAZ], starting with the Hero’s Journey: person in crummy situation [A1], called to adventure/the unknown, [B] where person experiences cool/scary/adventure, then returns to the situation which is improved through their agency [A2].
The TAZ is a B zone, where at least some of the rules of A1 do not apply. Your experience there is usually “reconstructive,” in that without the rules of A1, you must adapt to new rules or none at all. There is freedom in a TAZ that you don’t have “at home.” When you return to A2, like the Hero, you bring back what you’ve learned. Even if you have to go back to the rules of A1, your understanding of your relationship to that environment has changed.
In AYLI, the court of Duke Frederick is definitely A1: a dark, dangerous place, full of treachery and backstabbing. The Forest of Arden, on the other hand, is green and safe and apparently a fabulous place to live carefree.
I described the two most important TAZ’s in my life: the Governor’s Honors Program [GHP] and Alchemy, Georgia’s burn. I won’t go into those descriptions here; email me if you want to know All The Details.
I outlined the Ten Principles of Burning Man and we talked about their importance for a TAZ and for us as a cast.
I gave the cast the assignment to think of an important TAZ in their life (for an upcoming exercise).
We talked about some of the technical aspects of the show: the double-arc platforms on wheels, the change from the white of the Court to the green of the Forest. Costumes: the court will be built, Forest will be borrowed/assembled from hippie friends, Utilikilts, etc. Cast was encouraged to bring in their research to post on the board.
I introduced the Lichtenbergian Precepts of ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS/GESTALT/SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION to start prying these actors loose from their fear of failure/exploration. Cindy introduced the concept of SAFE SPACE vs. BRAVE SPACE [reading assignment to follow].
Video lessons
I showed two videos. The first is from the Royal Shakespeare Company production of AYLI, Act III, scene 2, where Rosalind (in disguise as Ganymede) convinces Orlando to woo “him” as his “Rosalind.”
We watched it twice: the first for enjoyment, the second to take notes on the choices we saw these two performers make:
They took their time! No rushing through speeches or gabbling without meaning. One mistake inexperienced actors make with Shakespeare is to rush through the speeches under the mistaken impression that the audience will be bored if they don’t go full tilt. The opposite is true.
It was conversational! “Just two bros talking” was the way someone put it. This is our goal.
IMMEDIACY (10 Principles): the actors were there in the scene, reacting, letting us see the characters’ choices
Audience engagement: at several points the actors looked straight at the camera, inviting the audience to share their amusement/chagrin/whatever. It’s important to use the precepts of CLOWN to make the audience complicit.
I then shared a scene from Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing, which for copyright reasons I can’t actually show here, but here’s the link. (You need a PBS Passport to view it.)
If you’re unaware of the production, KEEP UP. Here’s a sample:
Here we saw HOW MUCH YOU DON’T NEED A RSC ACCENT to do Shakespeare. Director Kenny Leon (late of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre) and his cast used the energy of African-American vernacular style to breathe amazing life into the text. Fun fact: Leon’s personal assistant until very recently was Jacob Demlow, whose first directing stint after college was Into the Woods here at NTC. (I played Narrator/Old Man/and —because of Jacob’s directorial decision—The Wolf.)
Jacob (back to camera) directing a moment in Into the Woods, NTC 2015
We finished up with a little journaling in our waste books, cleared away everything (LEAVE NO TRACE), and departed for the evening. Comments/additions/corrections welcome in the comments!
NEXT: Lessac vocal training/Vocal Sequence weirdness.
