Start of week 2

This week started with Glynn's movement classes. She dissected peoples walks in seconds and, in the majority of cases, had people walking far more 'cleanly' than before. It was great to see how tiny tweaks can make such a difference.

We then had text analysis. An interesting look at prose in Shakespeare. This is when, it was suggested, the characters have something to hide. They are playing with words and attempting to confuse, misguide one another. This makes sense and will be very useful to take into Much Ado rehearsals.

Went to see 12th Night (Dame Judie Dench in the audience!) and it was a fantastic performance by Simon Callow, unfortunately he was dragging the rest of the cast kicking and screaming behind him! They were awful. It was all in the head and nothing in the body. Part of me wonders how someone like Peter Hall could direct it and make such fundamental mistakes.

Today was again about exploring the directions and gesture. This time applying them to elements of Hamlet's character. I.e. 'his relationship with his gather' then the actors start to Interact with one another. Some really interesting images were created but a gulf seems to be developing between the actors who 'get' the technique and those who don't, although everyone is working hard to try and fulfil their potential.

We worked to Katy Mitchell's technique of dissecting a scene today - listing facts, questions and events. This was something I was already familiar with but I think helpful to the actors who haven't done this kind of work before. It is very Stanisvlaski In style, but is something that can be done as homework.

We also tried a bit of radiating on the stage today, it seemed to surprise many actors how loud they will need to be but also how much bigger their gestures need to be to carry. Big challenges ahead.


www.andyrmcgregor.com

Comments

Unknown said…
what do find more interesting directing professional actors or youth theatres?
Andrew McGregor said…
Professional actors for sure. Although it is interesting to see how I can adapt the things I am learning for young people. I would say that 90% of the work at the Globe so far, however, is not applicable. Most - if not all of the actors - on my course are finding it very difficult. I'm sure it will be swings and roundabout though, I'm more interested in pro actors just now because I've spent almost a decade with children's theatre.

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