Labrug's Blog

Ok, now I am in motion for my next show, which I will be directing this time as opposed to appearing in. The Admirable Crichton, written by J M Barrie, author of Peter Pan, is the tale of a very well-to-do family who become shipwrecked along with their head butler (Crichton) and a single maid, which is unfamiliar territory for the upper-class girls. Along with their family clergyman, the structure of authority is turned on its head as the law of survival challenges all.

The skills that makes one great in common society prove to be completely useless against nature. After two years of survival, Crichton is now the leader or Lord as the only one who had the intelligence and skill to help the rest survive. Without him, we would have to wonder what may have happened to our unfortunate adventurers.

However, in a finaly twist, just as things appear to be coming to a wonderul conclusion for our hero butler, they are found and rescued. Their return to society is marred by the experiences of the past two years, except for Crichton whom appears to have resumed without argument nor disappointment his role as head butler for the household.

The question remains, has he truely accepted his "lot in life" or his time as "Ruler" deeply changed him.

From my research, I believe that J M Barrie had originally wrote the story to have Crichton and his leading lady run off and get married. This was felt, by him and his publishers, to be too confrontational for "modern" society of the early 1900s and so it was re-written with what some may consider a weaker ending.

You need to read between the lines however as Barrie left a single subtle hint to his initial intentions with the very last lines of the play.

Lady Mary: You have not lost your courage?

Crichton: No M'lady. I have not.

I believe that to do true just to the intentions of the play, you have to highlight this final dialogue and ensure it is not weak. That is my plan, and my hope.

First things first, I have to find a cast and that is for mid September... Here the journey truely begins.

I am not proposing to discuss the rather morbid topic of Death as Art (as in sculpture or the like), more the Art of Dying itself. I have only once before ever played a corpse, and that was in a piece devised and written by the first incarnation of the Stirling Theatre Youth group, called "The Shelter". Since then, I have never played a corpse let alone play someone dying, although I came close in "I Hate Hamlet" where I acted a Fake Dying scene.

Acting pain is not as easy as it may seem. The natural inclination would be to scream and moan a lot. Heck, that was mine. I recall an Interview with Christopher Lee regarding his death scene in the Extended version of LOTR-The Return of the King. According to his research, when someone is stabbed in the back, they are more likely to lean forward slightly and simply take in a sudden, sharp breath than to actually scream out loud.

Incidentally, when being stabbed, shot, punched, the body's instinctual response is to immediately draw away from the point of threat/pain (which makes good sense) but it is specifically the body part being attacked that tends to move. The rest appears to take a fraction of a second to realise something is going on before following behind.

Pain has a very interesting effect on the vocal chords. How many times have you cut yourself yet have not become aware of it until long after the incident? Then, when you have become aware of, it suddenly hurts and won't let you forget it? Additionally, when you are "In the heat of the moment" and you have your system charged with Adrenaline, you are less likely to be aware of any pain or injuries until you have a moment to reflect, consciously. Once that happens, you find it hard to think of anything else but your wounds!

With this perspective, there is a widely held belief that pain can be controlled though mental focus. Quote Blain (Jesse Ventura) from Predator - "I ain't got time to bleed."

Just wanted to add the bit in. No other reason.

Acting out these thoughts seems unreal or unnatural because your rational mind is saying, you're meant to be in pain here! IT HURTS! There are just so many things that the body and mind does when it is injured that are near impossible to act, internally and externally. All you have is your experience, imagination and rational. Oh, and hopefully your director or resident expert.

So that means I have 3 and a half weeks to learn how to die well and convincingly, not look like a total ham or pork-chop. It would be a very sad thing if I were to cap off a brilliant fight scene (Thank you Andy Fraser) with a weak-as-water death scene.

In the words of Romeo - "On lusty gentlemen!"

Well, Wednesday night was the first night of Sword Rehearsals and wow what a night. We are using a technique that, as far as I am aware, is termed Spanish Blades. It combines Traditional Rapier and Dagger in a two-handed combat arrangement.

The dagger is used mainly to parry and block, while the Rapier is for cutting and slashing. Those Rapiers are heavy suckers too, especially when you are going through a technique that combines at least a dozen distinct movements to it, over and over again in order to get the body familiar with the feel of it.

The Rapier has a very long blade and is slightly longer (including the handle) than a common broom handle or short Bo (for martial arts experts out there.) It has an elegant spiral shaped guard to it that adds extra weight to the handle end. You traditionally hold these with a palm down, tennis like grip. This ensures that the blade is horizontal and more likely to cut flesh than to slip away.

In the classic confrontation between Mercutio and Tybalt, Mercutio's style is one that does not adhere to the Gentlemanly rules of combat while Tybalt is by-the-book. This is about the only thing that cannot be altered as it is directly referred to in the script of Romeo and Juliet. Beyond that, there is lots of room to move.

My Mercutio is a damaged man. He has seen horrors of war; has had to live by his very wits; has been emotionally wounded in matters of love; hides his fears and true feelings through a mask of humour, sarcasm and bravado which also comes from a place of truth for him. While he finds gentlemanly codes of conduct distasteful, he still strongly believes in honesty, loyalty and honour. However, he is still very much a boy in a man's body finding better company in those younger than him such as Romeo and Benvolio.

All this character comes out in his style of confrontation, goading Tybalt into higher levels of anger and frustration. Ultimately, he is better than Tybalt who has extensive knowledge of sword-play yet little if any first-hand experience. This is Tybalt's disadvantage. Mercutio however does not plan or wish to kill the boy. His intention is but to humiliate him in return for the humiliation Mercutio believes he has cause Romeo. It is only Romeo's intervention, distraction and pacifism that sees Mercutio's ultimate defeat.

I am hoping that we will have cooler nights as it was fraking hot doing what we have done so far.

Well, Christams has come and gone. New Years is still cooling. I am about to take on one of the most difficult roles to date. I've played the misguided yet hopeful Shakespeare hopeful on "I Hate Hamlet" and I have played the King of France in "King Lear". I have created and directed fight sequences for both of those along with "Romeo and Juliet". I have more often played the hopeless romantic or somewhat pathetic comic role than any other - a deaf-mute = a limp-wristed, lisping french farm-boy with a boyish crush on his rather hot cousin (who is to be married to another man) - simpletons - fops - timid entertainer forced to cross-dress - and so the list goes.

Now I am to be Mercutio, master swordsman, confident, ladies man and with one of the best known death speechs known to modern theatre - "A plague on both your houses!" and I can't bloody wait!

He is a fun character to play as is humour is serious humour, not slap-stick or based in emtional conflict. He is imaginative while still being level headed. Mercutio is one of those characters that has a history of stealing the show. People walk away remembering more about him than Romeo, Tybalt or Juliet. It is also a role than can be so easily overbaked. There is so much character to Mercutio within the brief appearances he has than many if not all of the other characters but together.

I have my work cut out for me...

Today, I auditioned for Romeo and Juliet at local Theatre. In preparation, I learned three monologues - two which I have always loved - To be or not to be and Speak the Speech both from Hamlet along with She mis-used me from Much Ado...

As such, I was asked what I had prepared and suggested the three and to my great fortune, the director selected Speak the Speech with is my all-time favourite. So up I went and did the speech as I had taught myself. I had always imagined saying the entire dialogue to a prospective cast about to go on-stage, which in a sense is exactly what Hamlet is doing. The only difference is his specific motivations which was the insertion of a scene designed to evoke an emotional response from the king. My focus was simply the message in the dialogue which a guide to realistic acting.

The director, once having heard my presentation (which incidentally has a small section at the tail end removed else it be too long) then had me play portions with different emotional motivations, but not before passing a quick comment on the style of speech. He commended me for using a speech that used a substantial amount of original english rather the modernised para-phrasing versions that exist today. There is something to be said for traditional Shakespearian dialogue that loses something in the modern translations.

On with the audition. First, I was asked to start the speech again playing as an anxious 17 yro, hormonal and quite distressed. He then challenged me with a senario where a close friend/lover had JUST been killed in a road accident, yet not before having me promise to do the audition and pass it. Finally, I had to continue the speech as if I was telling a Ghost Story and in such a way that anyone at the back of the theatre could also hear me.

For most character development styles, this request to vary ones practiced performance would likely be daunting, perhaps even overwhelming. At one time, this would have been me also. By locking yourself to a staged, almost choreographed routine, the idea of coming from a very different and quite extreme POV is simply not achievable.

However, through both personal experience and an eagerness to always learn new things, I have develop techniques that I find to not restrict me. I use what thoughts and emotions I have with me in that very instant, to speak with instinct rather than from memory. It makes the experience far more enjoyable and you are able to relish in the challenge rather then have the challenge break you.

This means breaking you text down to elemental levels - words and phrases - and applying meaning or motivation in a micro-managed way. Think of a digital image. As a whole, it is a complex of colours, light andcontours. Zoom in closer and things become much simpler with individual pixals of singular colour. The next pixel over may be a completely different colour and so too the next and so on. Yet when they are seen from a distance...

So it is with performance. This is not acting in the traditional sense, it is reacting; reacting to the moment, reacting to your own feeleings, reacting to the delivery of others, reacting to dropped lines or changed dialogue.

That, at least is my opinion and certainly in this case it worked well for me, and has worked in the past. Still, it is an audition which means that I will be one of many tryiing out. Romeo and Juliet is popular and often is the play seen as the mark of an actor, expecially for the ladies. While I feel I made a good show, I have to hope that it was enough.