No Commitments
All my commitments to other people are done with now.
I have until the end of February to write my dissertation and the end of April to put on Hamlet.
Spring has arrived.
Last night was a great success.
Haley came to see me in a show for the first time ever on the Thursday, but I did not put in a great performance, decent but not great. The audience was low key. Afterwards we went to the source, Dave insisted on coming too, nice enough lad but I wanted to be alone with her. I never noticed what a pretty nose she has. A roman nose, not like our ugly splayed nordic noses. Fell asleep on her shoulder.
As we walked back into town she started talking about ulterior motives, she believes everyone has them. How no one is what they seem, thats why she likes me so much, because I am genuine to her. Of course, I'm not, how can I be when I have such strong feelings for her. But I don't intend to act on them. There is no forseeable point in the future when I could act on them. I am quite happy as her friend and if that is all that our relationship ever is, I shall be happy simply to have known her, I can exist without her love. So I have no ulterior motive. Nevertheless, I feel guilt as she talks. I wish I had put in a better performance for her.
On the Friday, I stayed in bed all day so as not to go out and spend money. Ended up rushing out of the house at seven O clock. Ran to Tesco's for cheap food then jumped in a cab, just made it to Tim and Steve's show. Stood there nibbling at the grapes I'd bought. The show was fantastic, but not surprising. I've never known anyone more aware of their own physicality than Tim. He has the physique of a dancer and can create a raw dangerous energy, everything he does on stage is as though he has lost his mind, acting like a raw animal, but at the same time this is a complete performance. A complete act. I have seen it numerous times such as in Soul Traders. Tim is so incredibly talented, but somehow I always know what he is going to throw at us. That incredible stare. This is a pity, it is not a flaw in his performance but simply that I know him too well, have seen him perform too many times, not to know which of his tricks he will pull out. He is a fantastic performer, in order for him to become a great performer however, he will need a few more tricks, a few more surprises.
Steve on the other hand constantly surprises me. He couldn't lose it as well as Tim. Tim rushed the audience because he was angry, caged, a beast. Steve rushed the audience because it was the bit in the piece where he rushed the audience. People constantly cast Steve as a hard man, despite his small stature. He does it very competently. This past year he has improved a thousandfold as a performer and I see something in his eyes now that stands out but not as a hard man but as a vulnerable and sad lead. He explored it slightly in The Penal Colony, and I think that is where he may find his forte, which is why I count it fortuitous that he is now playing Horatio in Hamlet. He may not believe in his ability to play such a character as evinced in the rehearsals we have had so far, but I think he could be brilliant.
I was expecting an interval between Tim's and Ruth's show, but people started running up immediately without waiting for Front of House. Not to put too fine a point on it, the stewards need to get their act together, I know they are volunteers and Wee Jen does a good job of Box Office, but I keep finding stands left out around college during the day that they have simply forgotten about. Little Tom I can forgive, bless him, but certain people need to start taking the initiative.
Anyway, once Front of House got the audience back downstairs and into some sort of order we had a five minute breather, desperately needed for Jenny C who had just exhausted herself in the previous piece and had barely enough time to change costume and make up. We all just stood there behind the flats running our monologues at each other, there was no time for preparation. Just go out and do it. It was in this ridiculous time, that the character finally appeared. He had been there, all the time, all the things I had been trying to create finally came together with the adrenalin rush. My characters never really appear until the first night, this one was late, but he did appear. It is the audience that makes them. Rehersals are simply to learn the lines and the movements. It is the audience that allow me to create the character
Because I'd had no preparation, my throat was dry, I walked out, said my first line and could barely hear myself croaking. I cleared my throat hoping that I wouldn't need water, and carried on. And it worked, from having a very good but rather dry, one dimensional character which was mostly myself, I became someone else. I knew what he had eaten for breakfast, how he had spent his day at work. Not from thinking about it, but because that was who he was. I inhabited the character more completely than any other I have portrayed.
And I worked the audience. Renee had warmed them up. I took them further, I could make them laugh by how I said a line. I knew where I wanted them to laugh and I made them laugh. I knew where I wanted quiet and so I brought them down. Jenny C, a lot less nervous than the Thursday, had them rolling in the aisles. Aron, in a completely unfunny role, got a round of applause and then Jenny E rounded it off nicely, another unfunny role, but she pulled out a few laughs nonetheless.
I imagine after Steve and Tim's, people were thinking, what could top that? I don't believe in comparing shows. They are either good or bad. What we did, combined, is give the audience an incredible night out, one which they won't forget in a hurry.
After the get outs, we headed to the guild for the party. I needed to dance so went upstairs quite early, but the DJ was playing crap, stuff I hated anyway. I left without saying goodbye. In a general bad mood for no reason.
Katie's leaving do tonight. I hope Nile sticks by her while she's away. If anyone can make an honest man of him, she can.
Bah, humbug.
I have until the end of February to write my dissertation and the end of April to put on Hamlet.
Spring has arrived.
Last night was a great success.
Haley came to see me in a show for the first time ever on the Thursday, but I did not put in a great performance, decent but not great. The audience was low key. Afterwards we went to the source, Dave insisted on coming too, nice enough lad but I wanted to be alone with her. I never noticed what a pretty nose she has. A roman nose, not like our ugly splayed nordic noses. Fell asleep on her shoulder.
As we walked back into town she started talking about ulterior motives, she believes everyone has them. How no one is what they seem, thats why she likes me so much, because I am genuine to her. Of course, I'm not, how can I be when I have such strong feelings for her. But I don't intend to act on them. There is no forseeable point in the future when I could act on them. I am quite happy as her friend and if that is all that our relationship ever is, I shall be happy simply to have known her, I can exist without her love. So I have no ulterior motive. Nevertheless, I feel guilt as she talks. I wish I had put in a better performance for her.
On the Friday, I stayed in bed all day so as not to go out and spend money. Ended up rushing out of the house at seven O clock. Ran to Tesco's for cheap food then jumped in a cab, just made it to Tim and Steve's show. Stood there nibbling at the grapes I'd bought. The show was fantastic, but not surprising. I've never known anyone more aware of their own physicality than Tim. He has the physique of a dancer and can create a raw dangerous energy, everything he does on stage is as though he has lost his mind, acting like a raw animal, but at the same time this is a complete performance. A complete act. I have seen it numerous times such as in Soul Traders. Tim is so incredibly talented, but somehow I always know what he is going to throw at us. That incredible stare. This is a pity, it is not a flaw in his performance but simply that I know him too well, have seen him perform too many times, not to know which of his tricks he will pull out. He is a fantastic performer, in order for him to become a great performer however, he will need a few more tricks, a few more surprises.
Steve on the other hand constantly surprises me. He couldn't lose it as well as Tim. Tim rushed the audience because he was angry, caged, a beast. Steve rushed the audience because it was the bit in the piece where he rushed the audience. People constantly cast Steve as a hard man, despite his small stature. He does it very competently. This past year he has improved a thousandfold as a performer and I see something in his eyes now that stands out but not as a hard man but as a vulnerable and sad lead. He explored it slightly in The Penal Colony, and I think that is where he may find his forte, which is why I count it fortuitous that he is now playing Horatio in Hamlet. He may not believe in his ability to play such a character as evinced in the rehearsals we have had so far, but I think he could be brilliant.
I was expecting an interval between Tim's and Ruth's show, but people started running up immediately without waiting for Front of House. Not to put too fine a point on it, the stewards need to get their act together, I know they are volunteers and Wee Jen does a good job of Box Office, but I keep finding stands left out around college during the day that they have simply forgotten about. Little Tom I can forgive, bless him, but certain people need to start taking the initiative.
Anyway, once Front of House got the audience back downstairs and into some sort of order we had a five minute breather, desperately needed for Jenny C who had just exhausted herself in the previous piece and had barely enough time to change costume and make up. We all just stood there behind the flats running our monologues at each other, there was no time for preparation. Just go out and do it. It was in this ridiculous time, that the character finally appeared. He had been there, all the time, all the things I had been trying to create finally came together with the adrenalin rush. My characters never really appear until the first night, this one was late, but he did appear. It is the audience that makes them. Rehersals are simply to learn the lines and the movements. It is the audience that allow me to create the character
Because I'd had no preparation, my throat was dry, I walked out, said my first line and could barely hear myself croaking. I cleared my throat hoping that I wouldn't need water, and carried on. And it worked, from having a very good but rather dry, one dimensional character which was mostly myself, I became someone else. I knew what he had eaten for breakfast, how he had spent his day at work. Not from thinking about it, but because that was who he was. I inhabited the character more completely than any other I have portrayed.
And I worked the audience. Renee had warmed them up. I took them further, I could make them laugh by how I said a line. I knew where I wanted them to laugh and I made them laugh. I knew where I wanted quiet and so I brought them down. Jenny C, a lot less nervous than the Thursday, had them rolling in the aisles. Aron, in a completely unfunny role, got a round of applause and then Jenny E rounded it off nicely, another unfunny role, but she pulled out a few laughs nonetheless.
I imagine after Steve and Tim's, people were thinking, what could top that? I don't believe in comparing shows. They are either good or bad. What we did, combined, is give the audience an incredible night out, one which they won't forget in a hurry.
After the get outs, we headed to the guild for the party. I needed to dance so went upstairs quite early, but the DJ was playing crap, stuff I hated anyway. I left without saying goodbye. In a general bad mood for no reason.
Katie's leaving do tonight. I hope Nile sticks by her while she's away. If anyone can make an honest man of him, she can.
Bah, humbug.
posted by Caractacus at 13:39
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home