Week 22: Almost done with Commedia

Monday-Mr. Fearnehough was on a trip, so we continued rehearsing our commedia piece. It is getting down to the wire, so we are trying to get our piece trimmed down as it was too long and too confusing before. We also need to get the music and costumes added in, but on Monday we worked on the love scenes, as this was a fairly weak part of the piece. We worked on using BIG reactions and emotions between the lovers and having them use less dialogue and more movement and emotion. The love scene, where Rose knocks Jack down, had been kind of awkward and difficult to follow, with the zanni running in to bandage Jack up. That part was cut, to make the story flow better, but Rose and Jack were given time to work on falling down (Ouch!) and solidifying the romantic lines and gestures that they were going to use in that scene. I found the scene easier to do without the interruption of the zanni, it followed better, it also felt more logical because why would two strangers still hang out after an incident like that? 
Wednesday- Mr. Fearnehough had two warm-ups for us today, Slow Motion Race and Clowning-By-Numbers. The slow motion race was calming and focusing, while the clowning got us active, energetic, and ready to perform. 
Clowning-By-Numbers: In teams of two we alternated counting the numbers 1-10. Then slowly substituted actions for some of the numbers. When a person messed up (was too slow, did the wrong action, or said the wrong number) they were smacked on the forehead. 

Things we learned

• if you are serious about something the audience will be interested in it as well, and be concerned about the outcome, no matter how trivial the activity is.
• Acting very serious about something dumb is funny the audience knows exactly how dumb you are acting and will find it hilarious
• React strongly to the other person, this will keep the action up and give them something to react to. It also gives the audience a better show
• The more ridiculous you feel the funnier you are.
• Audiences want to see you get punished. If you are perfect then you may lose the interest of the audience

There are many ways we could use this in our Commedia piece 

• Remember to keep the action up and react to one another
• Be serious on stage (try not to laugh at one another or you could ruin the scene)
• Feel free to step out of character and "punish" another actor during the scene (audience will enjoy it)
• Messing up is not the end of the world, just react in  character and move on the audience will laugh!

Then we spent the rest of the day working on adding in the music. At the end of the piece, which ran through quickly, we added a dance number. This will encourage audience participation and work as our curtain call. We also managed to work out the ending. Finally! 
Thursday- we continued rehearsing, and working on getting the music added in. It seems like every time we work on the piece we come up with new ideas, for songs or lines or actions. Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are bad, and sometimes they  are good but don't work with the piece.

We have come a long way from last December, we have made up an entire performance, put together props, costumes, playlists, and choreographed routines. We have grown as an ensemble and individually as actors and theatre students. This project has taught me a lot about commedia and acting.