Bookmark vTheatre! amazon.com *
|
2008 acting 2
Mikado in Shows Directory We went through the "money" improvisations. He counts the money -- and this is what springs the topic! The paper money is the prop that brings them together! Even the appearence of Pooh-Bah on stage is motivated now -- the "smell" of money (Ko-Ko counts them on stage)! One takes money from another, gets more, the money are taken back. It went on and on... We keep the best, we cut the rest. This "money etude" was evolving even after we opened the show! Now, we already have those indications in the script about "acting areas" -- but to help the actor to go from "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney General, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private Secretary"? Are there some symbols in his costume to indicate all those functions? Remember our two gods of art and theatre from Fundamentals of Acting?
Analysis + Physical Improv
|
& thr blog
In opera acting is primitive. They are singers, this is the main medium -- music. Well, the staging must be even more STRUCTURED!Watch the paper theatre, actors! Don't you see that every move is CHOREOGRAPHED, it's a choice, it's shaped! Why do you think that the LAWS are different for your body?
The laws are the same, how you work with them is different.
Singing actors gravitate to the center and downstage, it is okay, as long as their way there (closer to the public) is organized. (If not, they just get there in this singing postion, forget the theatre!)
What does it mean? You make "obstacles" that prevent them from getting there right away. You do not use this, reserving it for the future, you arrange your mise-en-scenes around it. Stage Left -- Pooh, Stage Right -- Ko?
Opera set has the tendency to be "flat" -- how to make it deep? How to make the space, where they can't sing, work?
Remember we talk about the geometric pattern for your character on stage? Is it a circle? Square? Triangle? You see, our both characters can arrive to this reserved spot, but in their own way!
Here is your physical change in the scene, when the two exit together. What do we say? That they are the partners in stealing the public money! The comedy is in how they do it!
The Mikado, Act 1, scene #1
Enter Pooh-Bah.KO. Pooh-Bah, it seems that the festivities in connection with my approaching marriage must last a week. I should like to do it handsomely, and I want to consult you as to the amount I ought to spend upon them.
POOH. Certainly. In which of my capacities? As First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney General, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private Secretary?
KO. Suppose we say as Private Secretary.
POOH. Speaking as your Private Secretary, I should say that, as the city will have to pay for it, don't stint yourself, do it well.
KO. Exactly--as the city will have to pay for it. That is your advice.
POOH. As Private Secretary. Of course you will understand that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am bound to see that due economy is observed.
KO. Oh! But you said just now "Don't stint yourself, do it well".
POOH. As Private Secretary.
KO. And now you say that due economy must be observed.
POOH. As Chancellor of the Exchequer.
KO. I see. Come over here, where the Chancellor can't hear us. (They cross the stage.) Now, as my Solicitor, how do you advise me to deal with this difficulty?
POOH. Oh, as your Solicitor, I should have no hesitation in saying "Chance it----"
KO. Thank you. (Shaking his hand.) I will.
POOH. If it were not that, as Lord Chief Justice, I am bound to see that the law isn't violated.
KO. I see. Come over here where the Chief Justice can't hear us. (They cross the stage.) Now, then, as First Lord of the Treasury?
POOH. Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I could propose a special vote that would cover all expenses, if it were not that, as Leader of the Opposition, it would be my duty to resist it, tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster General, I could so cook the accounts that, as Lord High Auditor, I should never discover the fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Titipu, it would be my duty to denounce my dishonesty and give myself into my own custody as first Commissioner of Police.
KO. That's extremely awkward.
POOH. I don't say that all these distinguished people couldn't be squared; but it is right to tell you that they wouldn't be sufficiently degraded in their own estimation unless they were insulted with a very considerable bribe.
KO. The matter shall have my careful consideration. But my bride and her sisters approach, and any little compliment on your part, such as an abject grovel in a characteristic Japanese attitude, would be esteemed a favour.
POOH. No money, no grovel!
[Exeunt together.]
When we established the MOVEMENT DESIGN for the scene, we can run the scene faster (comedy effect) with the stronger stops.
Here we have both: situation comedy and comedy of characters. Comic hero is below average (you and me), according to Aristle. How to express it?
Situation Comedy: Ko's objective? Pooh's?
The objective of one character is the abstacle of the other.
[Draw the floor plan for the scene and bring it to class.]
scenes online: Click to View Links. 
Run the MOTION checklist for the scene:
Did you establish the contrast (ocnflict) between the two?
What is the general design for the movement of the two? Do you use ALL 9 squares (downstage, center, left, right and etc.)?
Use of prop? None? Too bad.
Preacting? Do you establish the situation and character(s) visually before the first line is said? Both -- situation comedy and comedy of characters! Is the genre present? (Do they laugh before you speak?)
Analysis of the scene in your Actor's Journal!
Monologues: Click to View Links.
The more serious your character = the greater comic effect.
* web & classes online : acting (Method) @ Theatre w/Anatoly * Film-North * Virtual Theatre and Anatoly Antohin
projects: BM software texts: Meyerhold webpages: new BM directory for Spring 2004!  Chekhov, Ibsen, Shakespeare
Actingland.com - Acting resources, career guides, and casting information. 
|
Traditional Chinese Plays (Longing for Worldly Pleasures)
Buy from Amazon.com
An online course supplement *
2005-2006 Theatre UAF Season: Four Farces + One Funeral & Godot'06
Film-North * Anatoly Antohin * eCitations *
Acting amazon
