Friday 10 September 2010

Stumble-Through

Today, after reworking the scenes with Roger and Gevigne, we go throught the rest of Act I - which we haven't really looked at for a week. And a very foreign country it feels, too. Some of it has been visited briefly with Heather, our choreographer - for example, she and Karen have reworked the climax where characters climb to the top of a church tower and the rescue from the Seine - but chunks of it haven't been touched because we've been busy with Act II. Then we run Act I after lunch.
I'm disappointed with what I do in this. Even in the scenes with Dan as Gevigne, which were shaped and polished this morning, I seem leaden and awkward. And the joie de vivre we worked so hard at getting into the part yesterday seems to have all but evaporated.
There's a lot of pressure to move seamlessly between scenes which doesn't help; just remembering what comes next is a Sisyphean effort at times but it's the looseness of the characterisation which bugs me most. There are moments which feel great - my character's near-stalking of Madeleine goes well, and our taxi scenes feel good. But overall it's a bit of a C-minus. Must Do Better, and See Me After Class.
But we're all off book, there are no serious pauses and only a couple of dropped lines after nine days' rehearsal. Maybe that's why we get sent home early - on condition we do our homework!

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