Rehearsal 2

After warming up we picked up our texts and began unpicking Marks speech on page 95.  We marked out breath and objectives. I have been struggling with this concept of 'physical objectives'. I usually can work out why I am saying what i'm saying on stage and the meaning behind it, but having to action out objectives that can be demonstrated physically. However, using objectives and the given circumstances of the short monologue we worked on our articulation and conviction behind it. We then got into pairs. One partner would perform the speech with the script and the other would turn around and walk away if they began to feel disconnected from what the other was offering. This was a nice way of being pushed to give more to the text. Working one and one and having an honest response from your partner was really helpful in developing the text and my understanding of it. I need to work on my ability to find out what my physical objectives are as opposed to just my characters reasoning behind what they are doing.

We developed this partnered exercise into having 2 people in the middle of a circle. We played on the idea of using the speech as a way of stopping the other person talking. This helped both partners. As an actor onstage, even if you do not have any lines in a scene, your character will have an opinion about what is being said. Just because your character doesn't have a line written down, doesn't mean they don't have anything to say. So in Marks speech on page 95 he is having a big rant at all of women kind, and verbally attacking the women in front of him. Her character would definitely have something to say. In this exercise with the two people in the centre of circle, the person who wasn't speaking wanted to say the 'fucking rapist'. When someone wasn't giving enough and stopping the other person from speaking they would say 'fucking rapist'. This meant the other person wasn't playing their objective enough to stop the other person speaking. This exercise helped to develop both sides of the scene.

We then got into our scene groups and used the meisner repetition technique to rehearse our scenes. We ran through our breakfast table scene with Sarah, Dennis and Ruby. Three way repetition can help with idea of the person on stage who isn't speaking. Which in this scene is my character, Sarah, for the majority of the scene. However, through this exercise we managed to develop lots of family dynamic and the relationships between us. We didn't know the lines for this scene so using our scripts did hold us back slightly. After time we began to off script a bit. This developed onto us adding opinions like in the original form of the repetition technique. We got to enjoy exploring our characters with freedom but maintaining that grounding in truth and honesty. I feel like this really showed when we then went back to strictly using the text with the repetition. When we went back I didn't feel trapped in what I was doing or how I was saying a line. It felt natural to be speaking to these people who were my family. This is why I think it's so important to do this exercise with almost every scene in the play, especially those which rely on a relationship between characters and less so on visual or digital aids.