The Bard's Tales

Actors, thespians, stage hands, lend me your ears....

Well, eyes, more like.

Welcome back to a new installment of Mentality. It has been almost a year since I last posted. That's due to it being almost a full year since I last did a show!

The last time we talked, I was working on Shakespeare's complicated, dark, human AND supernatural show known as The Scottish Play. Macbeth for those not in the know. It was a phenomenal production! Our leads truly did just that, lead the audience, the cast, the crew... everyone into the dark recesses of the human condition and themes regarding facing the results of our own choices.

Well, now I'm at the tail end of week two of rehearsals for one of Shakespeare's early historical pieces. This time around, I'm exploring the world and time of King John. You might recognise him more from the Robin Hood (or as one of my cast mates prefers R-r-r-robin Hood!) stories as Prince John. Yup. According to history, it's the same guy.

This guy also made ACTUAL historical impacts, like a little document called the Magna Carta. If your world (or British) history is a little lax in that area, just click the link. That will bring you up to speed.

Shakespeare, naturally, takes some creative liberties in telling his story of King John. While everything is based on the king's actual life events, a little "human element" was needed. As a result, you will get to meet characters from both real life and fudged-real life, just to make things relate-able to the audience of the day.

In this series, which may be considerably shorter, since I'm posting half-way through the rehearsal process, I'll be posting my discoveries, some new, and some already discovered, about my character in this show.

I'll tell you this: I'm both nervous and excited for this role. Mainly because this is my first title role of all the shows I've done. My hope is to do the script, our director's vision, and my fellow cast and crew justice.

Without further ado: On with the show!

Like a Ray of Light, Piercing the Clouds...

What inspires you?

What gets you up in the morning? Makes you get dressed? Prepares you to start... no, tackle your day?

For you, it will be something completely different than mine. And it should be. That's what keeps things interesting. Guess what, though... It. Will. Change.

Every moment we are faced with a new challenge. All we can do is react to it. And that's what acting is about. Not making moments happen. But just letting them be.

There are some constants in everything: job, family responsibilities, career goals, etc. But over all, it's the little moments in life that really creates the magic, that really contains all the heart and soul of what we do. I published a post on my other blog (check it out here, if you want) about music and how we can use that to convey so much.

It's All Just Words

Yesterday at rehearsal, we went over Ross bringing news (as he always does!) this time to Macbeth regarding the honors being bestowed upon him by the king, Duncan. This news fulfills the prophecy made by the Weird Sisters (read: witches) of Macbeth's rise to power. 

This scene, and the scene preceding it, has Ross delivering important news. Arguably, when does he not.... But that got me thinking. What message is he really trying to convey? In the first scene, the message is to the king. In the second one, the message is to Macbeth. The message to Macbeth, it's relatively clear: the king has charged him (Ross) to bring tidings to Macbeth about his being appointed Thane of Cawdor, a lofty position indeed. But Ross gets all flowery about it. Why?

What to do...

I don't think I've mentioned the show I'm currently working on.

I am lucky enough to be cast in Shakespeare's Scottish Play - (Macbeth) - as the character Ross. Ross can be summed up by one word: Messenger. But he is so much more than that.

True: Ross is the bearer of news. Maybe it would be better to use reporter. Either way, my director has described him as the glue of the show. Glue of the show. Wow. Sounds pretty important.

Bring Me to Life

So, lately I've been thinking on what it means to bring a character to life.

With something as beloved (and widely known) as Shakespeare, at one point or another, the character you are portraying has been done before. And because everyone would react to stimuli differently, there is a myriad ways of approaching any given subject. What's more, the actor, in his or her personal life, may approach that same stimulus very differently than would their character.

Setting the Stage

Welcome to the inner workings of my mind!

This blog will be a bit different from Rants, Ravings and Nerf Herders (my other blog) in that I will be exploring more my thoughts on becoming a character, rather than the world at large. Some posts probably could cross the border into the other one, but I will do my best to keep them separate.