Tag: rehearsal

Present: Dale, Greg, Dan, Jeff B, Kevin. (Marc @ previous engagement; Matthew working; Jeff A?)

We began by reading through IV.6, the scene in which the smug Tribunes are aghast to learn that Coriolanus has joined forces with Aufidius and is marching against Rome.

Dale isolated the bit where the Citizens come in, breathless with rumor, and immediately begin backtracking on their decision to banish Cor. His concern was that it was too easy to play them for laughs, as clueless yokels. He wanted to see if we could maintain the increasing disquiet of the scene.

After memorizing the three or four lines, we gave it a shot and were actually successful. Rather than fickle idiots, their cries of “We didn’t mean it” became dangerous accusations against the Tribunes.

Then we backed up and tackled the part of the scene between the Tribunes and Menenius. After one time through, we sat them at a cafe and did the scene again. Very nice, it gave the Trib’s self-satisfaction a nice, relaxed tone that gets shot down with the entrance of the first Messenger. By the time Cominius comes raging in, the Tribs are thoroughly rattled.

However, as Kevin pointed out, it’s not necessarily because they believe what they’re hearing. Rather, they understand that whether the rumors are true or not, they have a situation on their hands. (Which we see is true when the Citizens come in…)

At some point, we discussed the schedule, we have nine weeks until the first performance, 54 hours of rehearsal left. We can actually keep playing without casting for another week before things start to get tight.

We looked at I.3, Volumnia’s first scene. We had a lot to say about Volumnia, which I’ll let people either fill in in comments for this post or for the actual I.3 post.

Dale suggested at one point that Volumnia could actually physically abuse Virgilia, but that was generally discouraged: Volumnia is abusive enough without hitting, which Dale went on to prove with an absolutely relentless reading of her.

Throughout the evening, every time we ran through a scene, we shifted roles, which was nice, because everyone brought something different to each role.

Next session is Saturday, August 23, 10:00 a.m., Newnan School of Dance; we’ll look at the war scenes, I.4 through I.10. We want to look at the battles and see how we can make them look like something.

And we still need three or four more men.

Guys, I think it would be very useful in the next two months if we actually go record our thoughts about the scenes and characters with the actual scene posts. That way, once we cast, people can go look back at what we had to say in the scenes as we worked.

To that end, here are the links for

• I.3
• IV.6

First work session. In attendance: Dale, Marc, Galen, Jeff B., Greg, Dan, Kevin. (Jeff A. and Matthew were both working.)

Dale taped up a sheet and drew a floorplan of the Greenville St Park performance area. The raised brick platform is about 40 feet across and basically 9 feet deep. There are stairs SL, and an L-shaped ramp SR. In front of the platform is a 4-foot wide swatch with shrubberies, and then a 5-foot-wide sidewalk.

There is a large green space (with drains C, L, & R), followed by a second and third tier of green.

We discussed our options with the space. The City has already said that we cannot build steps to bridge the sidewalk to the platform over the shrubbery (although we’re not sure they understood we meant a temporary structure). We’re probably going to perform mostly in the lower green space, three-quarter thrust.

We discussed our personnel. We still need a few good men. Dale will submit a PR release for the paper which invites interested men to join us.

We began to read through the play. We read through Act I and most of Act II. Galen and Kevin had to leave for prior commitments, and we began to summarize some parts and read others.

We decided that we would play with the script for at least another week before making final casting decisions.

We broke for lunch, and then afterwards we got on our feet and played with some staging ideas. We’re leaning heavily towards staffs as weapons/set pieces.

As an opening, Marc suggested a dumbshow/tableau: two figures (Cor. and Auf.) below, with a frieze of warriors behind them. That developed into drummed accompaniment, with Cor. & Auf. battling in stylized slow motion, while behind them the warriors strike poses with shouts. Finally, the godlike warriors break into the clumsy, malleable mob of scene 1 and sweep down the ramp to begin the play. An idea to play with, score, and choreograph.

We ran through I.1, up through Cor.’s entrance and commented on the dynamics. The whole play is a game of political strategy, and only Cor. is too “pure” to play it. Everyone else is, as Marc put it, constantly getting ready for the next battle.

Other ideas that floated about: the missing father, every character telling the truth, the homoerotic undertones.

Next session is Wednesday, Aug. 20, 7:00, Newnan School of Dance. We’re going to look at I.2 and IV.6, plus whatever else pops up. We’ll still be playing with the text, still holding off on casting decisions.