So, tonight we had our first full on run-through sans scripts. It went amazingly well. From this point forward every rehearsal will be about polishing and perfecting. Although I have been missing my (real) husband in the evenings...a part of me is longing for Monday when I will be with my imaginary family again. I really miss them when we are apart...I know how temporary we are and I want to make the most of every second that we get to share.
When I first got rid of my script, I was made immediately aware of the fact that I have arms. And that they are inclined to hang uselessly at my sides or flail limply about if I try to force motion out of them. I remember Mrs. D in 5th grade telling us all about how awkward she felt as a teenager and how she was always confused as to what she should to with her arms. Yeah...I'm totally tracking with you, Mrs. D. Only I'm 32 and have had my arms for a good many years since being a teenager and to be honest, I haven't given them a whole lot of thought. But somehow on stage I find myself wishing that I were playing a character with two broken arms.
The physicality is starting to come. Part of it comes with the process of getting more comfortable with the rest of the cast. When a group of 22 strangers are brought together, there will naturally be a bit of reservation initially as it comes to touching each other. But as we all grow closer, that physical intimacy becomes more natural and we start behaving towards each other as a real family might. In fact, I can't think of a single one of my children who would shy away from a hug...they seem to love the affection...or maybe it's just me that loves their affection and I am grateful to them for hugging me back! However, there is another aspect of physicality that utterly eludes me and is my mission to conquer, or at least lay a strategy for, over this coming weekend. This is the physicality that involves my stupid arms when they aren't hugging a child. Argh. I just keep picturing myself holding my hands in front of me or gesturing lamely in some random direction. On stage, I know that gestures are supposed to be exaggerated...moving on stage is not the same as it is when sitting across from a friend at Starbucks.
There are people in our cast who are really remarkable when it comes to their physicality...I suppose a lot of it must come from years of experience on stage as well as just working on it between rehearsals; but even at the auditions, these people were physically so comfortable. There is a scene where Husband is telling his family a story that involves building a snow family and even at the first audition, he was brilliant at making the story so much more than just a spoken tale...he was able to make it an experience...which is what is needed for the stage. And Witchie, who I saw for the first time at the callback audition was instantly a PRESENCE. She was her character and she owned her space. This is just another glorious piece of the theater. There is so much I am (hopefully) able to learn from the other actors I get the honor of working with.
**as an absurd side note, i just ran spell check on this and for the first time in my life i spelled the word awkward right. i always think there is supposed to be a "c" in there. but i left it out this time. i made the right choice.
November 20, 2008
Let's Get Physical
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5 comments:
I'm with you 100%... maybe we can lop our arms off before the first actual performance, so it's one less thing to worry about.
Although, unlike barbie & ken dolls, I suppose it's more difficult to reattach our arms if they were removed, can't just pop them back into place later. What a shame, I guess we'll just have to find another way to deal. Maybe lashing them down so they don't flail about wildly with a mind of their own, or in my case cross over my chest, or grope toward my face constantly.
It's something I find myself dealing with in everyday life too, arms are so useless when you're not actively using them to carry, reach for, or grab something. I'd much rather worry about emoting properly through looks and facial expressions than gesticulating wildly with my arms.
But at the end of the day I suppose we can both take comfort in knowing that however strange we may think we look, we're certainly not as wacky with our gestures as some people... Quentin Tarantino for example, he's someone who might benefit from a little thought about his arm movement, or he's liable to poke an eye out or knock some poor old woman off a pier. I think his picture is in the dictionary under flailing arm gestures, but then I guess that's part of the quirkiness that makes him, him.
Hilarious, Will! It does make me feel better hearing that you have arm issues as well...especially because I think you always look very natural on stage and have never once thought "sheesh, will needs to deal with his dopey arms." Maybe there's hope that we won't be percieved as clowny as we feel!
The whole arm issue is one that I always struggle with as well. For me the most difficult part of that is what to do with my arms when I'm not talking. When I am it feels much easier to throw in a gesture or two to make my arms feel needed (I suppose I could gesture frequently while other people are talking, but that would just be weird). One thing that I find helpful is to figure out a couple of mannerisms for the character, how the character physically stands, and that gives me something to fall back on. Can't say I've cracked that quite yet for this show! :-) The good news is the audience isn't spending the whole show staring at our arms, at least I hope not...
Jessica-
Awesome blog! You're absolutely right about the arms. That's always one of the things I have trouble with. But, I think you've been doing a great job with your arms. You hold them in front of you very lady-like, and very beautifully. One thing that I would suggest that might help you is to let your real husband have your script for a couple hours to familiarize himself with Briant's lines, then run through all of your lines with him. Be concious of your arms and what you naturally do with them. Then when you rehearse with stage husband, maybe you can try to do some of the things you did with real husband. Hopefully this helps! Now, any ideas on how to make your arms look like water and waves? :)
i love you and your arms! just think back to all those trampoline exercises...(that "e" word is one i never spell right)....that should help. Mother of 7, Queen of Tramampolines.
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