Rehearsal notes
Please feel free to comment or ask questions — discussion is welcome.
Currently in rehearsal >>> Oleanna
Rehearsal notes taken during Aug-Oct 2011 >>> Tooth of Crime (2nd Dance)
Rehearsal notes taken during Apr-May & August 2011 >>> Monster
Rehearsal notes taken during Jan-Apr 2011 >>> The Table Experiments
Rehearsal notes taken during Sept-Nov 2010 >>> The Dumb Waiter & Play
Rehearsal notes taken during Feb-May 2010 >>> This Is A Play & Here Lies Henry
CURRENTLY IN REHEARSAL …
OLEANNA by David Mamet
Carol – Becky Forbes
John – Scott Shannon
Director – Nicholas Cole
OLEANNA Notes – Feb 23/2011(AM)
We alarmed a passerby on Tuesday night while working the end of Act II – it was pretty hilarious! The act ends with John restraining Carol from leaving his office, not that he is *trying* to be a bully but wants to talk with her before she leaves but she doesn’t want to stay and her lines are to the effect of: LET ME GO! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! LET ME GO! Well, when Becky was yelling that and I was holding her arms and we were flailing around a bit, somebody walked by our rehearsal room and then did a double-back to look in the window and make sure all was well! We assured him everything was fine, and he seemed to realize that we were just rehearsing – but he was fairly alarmed at first! (And, it’s good he *would* stop if he heard a woman calling for help!).
This means we have now made our way through Act I & II of the play.
We finished the night with a full run of Act II, which was hard going at first after doing so much scene work on the end of the act for the bulk of the evening – simply showed me how tired I was, and how my cold was dragging my head’s processing. But, it was great to run the entire act and get a feel for the progression/movement from top-to-bottom – very helpful! And fun!
Tonight, we’ll be running Act I > Act II, so that will be a big night for us pushing us forward. We are making great strides in the work and by the start of March we’ll have worked and run the whole play and can focus that month on running, running, running! And tweaking!
Becky and I will need to start getting together for line-runs though. The lines need to get to the point where they are thoughts but instincts/reactions to what is happening – thinking is deadly on stage, especially in this play with the text we have. Thought will slow things down needlessly … gotta get the lines real solid.
I’ve almost got the whole play in my head now … just the end of Act III left to go! I’m glad because memorizing, while it comes easily to me, is certainly not a favourite part of the process for me – I love having the words in my head! Just hate getting them there! HA!
scott
OLEANNA Notes – Feb 19/2011(PM)
After what ended up being a quiet week, we were back to Act II tonight. We first touched it a week ago, just the opening two scenes – which was essentially me spewing text at Becky for 2 pages and then allowing her a couple of interjections over the next couple pages. Today was good because we kept going into the 2nd half of the act which finds Carol (Becky) stepping up to command more presence in the room and found some really wonderful moments.
There was a particular moment where Becky was standing in front of the desk (at which I’m seated) and she has this half-cocked pointing arm/finger directed at me and delivers this aside-clause in the midst of a larger statement with such vehemence and grit – VERY NICE!
Nick began the day pointing out a quote from the Mamet Conversations book I loaned him. Mamet, speaking about Oleanna, says that these characters, Carol and John, care for each other but end up with blinders on for only their own side of the equation and forget what it means to think of the other as an *other* – I’m obviously paraphrasing – but the point is that their stance on the issue of education or whatnot becomes their downfall. Tragic. Mamet has stated its John’s tragic fall because he realizes his hubris at the end of the play – Carol does not get to experience such a revelation because the play ends, so in the Aristotelian sense (of whom Mamet is a *big* fan), John is the tragic hero. But it is incredible how each side of this two-way conversation plays out with such lure and interest because they are *never* listening to each other – at the end, it’s even John’s own actions that are the final straw which halt him in his tracks, not anything Carol says. Craft-wise, this text is packed tight without *any* frivolity or loose ends. Quite an achievement it seems. A perfect example of the “well-made” play … which puts me in mind of the first example of such that was shown to me, lo those many years ago in Intro to English: Arthur Miller’s All My Sons … which then makes me wonder if that isn’t a show the Shadows could pull off in the future …
And but so, anyway, that ramble above started with this thread: Each character is trapped in their own convictions. This was a good note to begin the day with. I’m just trying to soak everything in and explore different aspects of delivery for John, and thus alternate sides of John. I feel I’m being maybe too playful in so far as I’m not nailing certain things down as well as usual, but this text is thick and I think the next layer of work will find me feeling my groove, so to speak. I think, generally, that ends up being the case … go figure: all that start-up prep work and early rehearsals yields results you can build on and use; who knew? (We always laugh at this thought in rehearsal when one of us states it aloud, “Man, tonight felt good. I feel the scene is getting better.” D’UH!)
scott
OLEANNA Notes – Feb 7/2011(PM)
Oh, boy. Tonight was amazing and scary all at the same time. Amazing because at the moments it clicked, it felt real nice. But, even those moments didn’t trump the scare of being shown how fucking hard this play is. Wow. I was more scared than amazed. And that’s cool at this point in the process. I think.
Teacher
We ran Act I. Twice. With notes after each run. It was a lot to process over the course of the evening. Again, the text is just so dense. Not a breath or beat is wasted. But, when you, the actor, waste or flounder those moments and that rhythm, it can really throw you … or so it seems to me at least. Watching something or reading a play that falls into the “well-made” play category means you can count on no waste; that everything in the work is aiming towards the same goal. This is the case with Oleanna. But being inside something so tightly wound is quite an exhilarating challenge. And, as noted above, scary. I’ve had the pleasure of running some solo works written by Daniel MacIvor and those walk that same edgy pace. I’m not sure I’ve been in a multi-actor work that felt so driven. Sure, a play is always moving towards it’s ending. But sometimes that journey lethargic – for good or bad reason – and sometimes that journey is just like sludging through the muck to reach the end so it can be over.
Oleanna is something utterly different than any other play I’ve been a part of – but I can say that for many plays I’ve been a part of, and that’s what I like about doing this.
Onto Act II work on Sunday … much memorizing to be done this week …
scott
OLEANNA Notes – Feb 6/2011(AM)
Act I blocked – at least the first pass. We worked the last couple scenes of the act today, touching the very end of the act for the first time in the space together, and that felt good. So we now have combed over and worked Act I in the initial stages taking us to the point we are ready to run the act on Tuesday night which will really give us – at least it will me, and I’m sure Becky and Nick too – a better sense of who these people are and the relationship they have together. Act I is the set-up for why there is and Act II & III, so there’s an essential energy/vibe that needs to be present in the interaction it seems. We’ve worked this along the way, and Tuesday night’s run of the act will tell us how things are looking and feeling before moving onto Act II. This is a great step in the process.
Student
I have some concerns/reservations about the ‘John’ I’m performing/portraying/creating, which I haven’t said aloud in the rehearsal room yet – so, Nick, if you’re reading this perhaps we could/should chat? HA! My fear is that my ‘John’ is, at this moment, too “nice”. I know the language is condescending at times, but at times it’s spirited ‘John’ seems sincere/authentic. I’m playing ‘John’ as if *I* were a university professor. While I’m not a teacher, I work in academia, and I have numerous examples to pull from for notions of professors, but at base I have to be *me* as the professor … in some sense. I’m focusing on Mamet’s notion that all I can bring to “character” is myself. That’s all I have. But, I wonder if I’m too animated; too melodramatic; too, I dunno, over the top. I wonder what a more reserved ‘John’ would feel/play like? A more reserved, but yet elusive John so that some of these exchanges between he and ‘Carol’ have more ambiguity? Is that what we need/want? Part of this isn’t my concern – I’m not directing. But, part of it is because I do want to ensure that the audience sees ‘John’ for who he really is, and that this is not news at the end of the play. It’s there from the start. Nick is liking where things are at the moment, and I certainly trust his guidance, but perhaps some of these are avenues to explore as well … Tuesday night will show me how much this is already happening, and where moments can or need to be tweaked.
It is SO NICE to come in each time and run these scenes from their initial stages with us off-book – it really allows for progress in the work. And fun in the playing.
scott
OLEANNA Notes – Jan 25/2011(PM)
15min. That’s how much text we’ve covered so far in the hours of work we’ve spent. HA! But man, it felt real nice to run that 15min of the show, despite the state of the scene at the moment (i.e. we’re still pretty rough). Nonetheless, that was a good end to an evening that started a little rocky for me – I hate coming to rehearsal in a rush from somewhere else because you can’t warm-up properly so you spend the first while getting into gear. The first go from the start was pretty rough for me in terms of lines, having concentrated on some later pages in the time I had throughout the day – and hell, these lines are tough! I have said, and I’m still thinking, that this is the toughest “text” I’ve ever approached … I was almost afraid we bit off more than we could chew with this one, but the moments where Becky and I sync-up coupled with the 15min run of the top of the show last night has re-boosted my confidence in our efforts. Nonetheless, it’s one tough text … but it makes so much sense and rolls so smoothly in the few moments we’re currently nailing (well, maybe not “nailing”, but where both Becky and I are “on”).
And so, for the rest of the week we are off from rehearsal and cramming lines into our heads (Nick gets the rest of the week off since he’s *only* directing – HA! I’m kidding, man! I know you’re busy looking at the text and reading that Mamet book.)
We re-group on Sunday, beginning with a line-run for Becky and I, with Nick and our line-police arriving an hour or so after that.
Line-police = the kind fellas that have agreed to sit on-book for us during rehearsal. So, HUGE thanks to Tom, Andrew, and Matthew for stepping in and agreeing to share some shifts of coming in to police the text while we run scenes for Nick’s viewing pleasure. I know from sitting in the director’s seat that it stinks having to try and be on-book for the actors whilst trying to *watch* the actual scene. This text is more deadly than usual in that regard, hence our recruiting some suckers … err, I mean, theatrically interested peers to sit watching the text for us. Seriously though: THANKS!
scott
PS: I really can’t wait to get off-book!
OLEANNA Notes – Jan 23/2011(AM)
Now is not the time to break the habit I spoke of in my last note: I need the physical text in front of me for *at least* the secondary pass on a scene. Nick has us leading into a rehearsal running and working the scene we did at the end of our previous rehearsal, so that’s a good way to help solidify things that much more. For instance, today we began with running the top of the show into Sc.1.2 and spilling into 1.3, but spending some time on 1.2 before moving ahead and working on 1.3 for most of the afternoon. (Hopefully) On Tuesday, we’ll start with 1.3, or even at the very start of the script and at least run it before moving onto work on 1.4. It’s time well spent, I think, to keep the overall context in mind when moving onto the next scene to work and is just a good way to keep it all in mind – this is like running drills for a sport in some sense where you need to run the plays you’ll use in the game so you have them ready for when you are in actual play (that’s a Mamet analogy I’m spinning-off of). We used a similar process in rehearsing The Dumb Waiter each time, and I guess Nick and I did a similar thing with Monster. It’s easy to do when *everyone* in the show is there each time, but that’s usually only the case for small cast shows. I.e. this was not really possible with our work on Tooth before Xmas.
Not that working a show like Tooth isn’t fun – larger casts offer another type of experience in creating a piece of theatre – but I think smaller is more my thing where everyone seems to have a higher stake in what is happening and is that much more invested in the process because you just can’t help but be (and as the director, I know, you are consumed by the show). I know what it’s like to work a show where you are only in a portion of it, and sometimes it’s a nice break but as I felt with certain sports: I like things that offer me a higher level of participation. For instance, I enjoyed baseball when I played, but it was never my favourite because there was so much down-time in the game, while I loved hockey because the game was always moving. I like it when things are moving, and Oleanna certainly moves as we experienced today. I’m very lucky to be sharing the stage with Becky; she’s wonderful to play off of and has a very large presence in her work. She engages completely, and that is going to make this process very rewarding, and the play’s performance outstanding (for the Carol-side of things at least!). Nick is steering things along with specific suggestions that then colour a larger section of text and as a result I think both Becky and I are seeing a different “character” come alive for our respective roles than we anticipated. That’s awesome.
scott
OLEANNA Notes – Jan 17/2011(PM)
Wow. This is going to be hard. Listening to each other, like we’re instruments playing music, is going to be key to driving the pace Nick was hammering home to us tonight. I reckon we’ll need the constant reminder and pushing – which is great.
Getting off book for each scene as we work them will be what really helps the actual work in the rehearsal room. Glad we have until Sunday to gain some ground – having only begun rehearsing on Sunday I had not begun memorizing. With the way we do things, I like to have our initial read as a group and then take that home and begin from that point with the goal of always being pseudo-off-book for the initial pass on each scene. The comfort of the text in hand for reference is a luxury I like to employ; easy for making notes, and just keeping the scene moving by glancing for forgotten lines, etc. After that first pass on a scene though, I like get rid of the text. (And this is my “method” for usual playing – the solo shows I’ve done found me always staying ahead in my memorizing and never holding the text in the room as it would have been deadly. Sharing the space with another actor and working with the director as a group seems to make me rely on holding the text at first, as a crutch of sorts I suppose. Hmmm … perhaps it’s time to break that habit, or just give it a change.)
And now, after that late night ramble, I need to wind down and get some sleep … I’ve some line studying ahead of me this week …
scott
OLEANNA Notes – Jan 16/2011(PM)
Oleanna rehearsals have officially begun! Reading this play all alone was a very disjointed experience, indeed. Then, reading it yesterday with Becky for Nick helped the text make so much more sense.
[SIDE NOTE: Tooth of Crime’s run in SJ went over just as well as Freddy’s run – one of our largest audience turn outs in that city over the two day SJ run, so thank you to all who came out to experience the show. It was an incredible feeling doing it again when we took the show to SJ, and in such a different space – and now thinking about it brings back some amazing sensations to mind. Thanks to the cast/crew for that. But, now back to the play at hand … ]
Not that the play didn’t “make sense” to me before yesterday, but finally getting to experience Mamet’s language with a touch of how it should go down was quite enlightening (mind you, we certainly have some distance to cover!). I’ve been a huge Mamet-head for quite some time now, but I’ve never had occasion to stage any of his works – they just never fit our group, it seemed. I have a couple of others in mind as possibilities for the future, and I was actually looking at Edmond when Nick suggested Oleanna. I’ve known and loved the play for over 15 years, but I had, of course, always assumed somebody “older” would have to play the young professor – well, I’m now older. Perhaps slightly too young, but I am only a few years younger than the original actor to play the role (William H. Macy), so I think it works. It’s actually that youth/naiveté that I think can be useful/interesting in the role of ‘John’.
And so, the game has begun … first thing is first: GOTTA MEMORIZE THESE CRAZY LINES!
I think this text might be the hardest I’ve experienced for memorization … I know I’ve only just begun, but the text on the page looks almost daunting … which seems like a welcome challenge.
Tonight, I put the opening phone call conversation in my head … that was enough for one evening …
scott
I can’t wait to see The Table Experiments. I love the idea of “from the ground up” creation like this.