AYLI, rehearsal 7: ORLANDO WOOS (4.1)
/OMG, people, this show is going to amaze both the unskillful and the judicious.
You might think that with only one scene on the docket — and that with only four players — we might make a quick night of it and head to 714 for a cocktail. You would be wrong. This one scene is possibly the most complex in the show.
To wit:
Mariel must decide which of Rosalind’s three personæ is saying each and every line in the scene:
Rosalind
Ganymede
“Rosalind”
Robert must figure out what Orlando’s response is to this attractive teen boy.
It’s complicated.
The boundaries of the “Ganymede Game,” as we’ve decided to call it, are ferociously blurred. Even Orlando, who cannot be said to understand the rules, finds himself on the edge of “Is it real or am I joking?”
Ganymede’s “goal” is to cure Orlando of his love; Rosalind’s goal is to break him of his idealized love for a Rosalind that does not exist, while establishing a deep emotional bond with him. (Pro tip: This is why she does not immediately whip off her hat and reveal herself to him.)
How much is shared directly with the audience?
THERE IS NO FOURTH WALL
Already, the actors are finding wonderful moments: touching, lame, witty, just plain funny.
Me getting all up in the actors’ business.
Garrick was extremely surefooted with Jaques. We set the character up with his apparently stalking Ganymede and Aliena to converse with them, their trying to avoid him and failing, and then his “good to be silent” line followed by one of his tedious speeches as he literally had a seat and settled in for the long haul.
We have a Cartoon of the Day. This one dealt with Jaques’ standing in the TAZ.
Embree is diving right in with Celia’s bystander status: she aids, abets, and most of all reins in Rosalind in the Ganymede Game. Her reactions are commentary all on their own.
I liked this moment, after Rosalind’s “By this hand, it will not kill a fly”: I asked Mariel to reach out and touch Orlando, her first actual opportunity to do so, remembering her emotional state after he leaves the scene (“O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love!”). She and Robert then decided to break that moment with a bro punch to the shoulder.
As I said, the boundaries of the Ganymede Game are ferociously blurred.
We made a few cuts in lines, just to keep our moments on track — jokes that I’m sure Bill’s judicious would have approved, but those people are all dead.
I have to admit that for years I gave As You Like It the side-eye: too precious, too talky, too too. I was wrong. This is one of the most fascinating texts I’ve ever worked on.
As You Like It runs Mar 19–29, Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun matinees, at Newnan Theatre Company.
