In yesterday's video Chris held up a book called "Act as known" by Valantyne Napier. This book provided significant inspiration for the show. The video below entitled,
"Quotes from Valantyne Napier."
is a very quick multi-media 'flick through' of the book.
The rehearsals on the floor are well into the back end of the play; huge stakes scenes, scenes that wind up arcs, scenes that reveal important inner workings. It's close-in work again, and Chris is sitting on the floor with the actors doing line-by-line script analysis. They 'beat' these scenes out; identifying actions, intentions, sub-text, key-words for the characters in the scene. This work is more about getting into the psychological reality of the situation than the majority of the previous work. The tools they are using to work with the scenes have changed accordingly.
Lally has presented a 'final' version of these final scenes. Darren hands out the pages to the actors. It's not a completely new scene, just a revised version. The actors have been getting impatient for a 'final' edition of the entire second act. A full version was due to be distributed yesterday, but a computer error has delayed it, and it still hasn't arrived. The cast is being good about it. They know the nature of new plays is that the script won't be absolutely finalised until virtually the last moments. Even so, the delay caused by the computer error hasn't helped anybody.
Everybody sits in a circle and they read new script. They discuss the changes. They are subtle changes, but important. The discussion heads back to one of performance style for the play in general. One of the actors puts forward the thought that the characters and the language seem larger than life, so the actors feel the need to 'heighten' the performance style to match the language. But when they perform it that way it feels like a melodrama. On the other hand, if they play it with a more naturalistic style they feel that it doesn't make dramatic sense, or carry any force. So, where do the actors pitch it? 
Chris responds by talking about the importance of the audience caring for the characters and believing in the reality. Lally responds with re-assurance that the scenes she is watching are really chilling and wonderful, and that so-and-so who came in said it seemed really special. They talk about it some more, but ultimately, there's no talking that can provide satisfaction for the questions. In some ways today's discussion echoes last week's about what is 'real' in the play. These are questions that Chris does not like to answer, except in broad, abstract terms. You get the feeling that they're the questions he wants the play itself to generate and be infused with. He doesn't want them answered by discussion.
It's a situation where everybody is wrestling with a new play. The actors feel they're in unfamiliar territory, and are anchored to unfamiliar moorings. It's good to get the issues 'out there' but continuing to work it on the floor is the only way to find where to pitch things. Everybody knows it - they truck on.
We're into the hard work now, moving towards the heart of the play. Moments are taking a long time to explore. Issues are denser and more complex. Answers are harder to find. Beats can't be skated over in this part of the play because the actors feel the deep importance, and need to embody the mystery, rather than grasp for it. Everything is incredibly fragile, delicate.
Tomorrow they will run the whole play for the first time. It seems early for the second act, but sometimes you have to 'zoom out' of a picture to see the whole before you can contextualise the complex detail close up. As Chris often says, it is the rhythm that will be the guide. Tomorrow's going to be a really big day. It's amazing how quickly these milestones stack up one after the other in the rehearsal of a show.
Also, I've spoken to Christen about how she's managing her multiple characters as Maude, the ventriloquist. It was a fascinating talk, and that will be in tomorrow's post too.
Lally word o the day – cyclical
Stephen word o the day - format
Chris word o the day – ontological distress
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