Monday was another ensemble day, and I felt we progressed more with the story. First we went back over the guitar scene and this time we introduced a running joke; whenever Jack talks about a special someone, the zanni yell “YOUR MUM!” Then we moved on to the scene after Rose encounters Jack and the guitar, where Pantalone tells her she must go on a date with Mickey (Il Capitano) this also leads into a running joke whenever someone says the name “Mickey” the zanni start singing the song “Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!” Also we added in a comical little jig/dance/chant for Pantalone about how rich Mickey is. This really helps get across Axel’s mask who is obsessed with money, so he sings “Mickey’s got the money” and then really just starts grooving. This Monday rehearsal went really well and it was especially helpful because Bekki took on the role of director. At the start of the lesson she led a warm-up exercise that really got us focused and relaxed. (Some times if I have too much energy, it’s actually detrimental because I can’t focus on the acting) I am feeling the dynamic within the ensemble changing for the better because we are all more open with coming up with ideas.
On Wednesday Mr. F returned, and gave us a brief overview of Stanislavsky technique. Although his naturalistic style of acting is almost the complete opposite of our stereotypical and shallow commedia characters, there were parts of his theory that could be applied to our work. The most important aspect we learned was called a “super-objective”. There can be a super-objective of the play, a scene, and of a character within a scene. For my character my super-objective is to prove to the audience my arrogance, show my cowardice, and show my coolness in the school hallway. However in a scene my scene basis, I will keep my super-objective in mind even if I have a more specific objective for a certain scene (such wooing Rose in the restaurant). Then we went back into the studio and continued working. This time Lydia led a warm-up and we did some really nice stretches that got us ready to go! Lydia also took on the role of director was really good a getting us focused. Specifically she helped people with dialogue responses, reactions being something we are still struggling with. Then we moved on to the restaurant scene, which primarily involves Mickey “Il Capitano” and Rose. However we have now added in a role for Rose’s dad “Pantalone” when he calls on the phone, and also the role of McDonald’s servers for Lydia and Bekki.
Thursday Axel took on the role of director, but first we started by going over our rehearsal accomplishments. What we did really well this week was get the zanni more involved with more jokes. For example in the guitar scene they have a whole set of jokes that revolve around singing “Rose and Jack sittin’ in a tree…” Then in McDonalds they come back as servers and whose some type of humorous accent, perhaps Bristolian? Another thing that I worked on was the way my mask moved specifically in the restaurant scene. The only props we had were a table and two chairs so I made sure to make use of those. First I spun on the table and then throughout the date continue to lean and slide across pretty much all of the surfaces near me. Another really great thing we did was incorporate more song inserts into the scenes. For example we added “Bella Notte” during the restaurant scene and then a tango song for after the date. Also dealing with the tango, we’ve added another element of audience interaction. Because Mickey is so obsessed with his own dancing, he doesn’t even notice that the zanni replace Rose with an audience member. Then I will turn to the person and say “I told them to choose you” ahahahaha! We also had some things to improve on such as the reactions between myself and Mary on the date. But I think we can improve this by inserting a multitude of “cheesy chat-up lines” into the awkward pauses. Also I felt like the restaurant dialogue kind of dragged on and maybe the zanni should play more of a part in that scene. Over all things are looking up.
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