All right! Finally our short play is on its feet! After days of agonizing table-work, we’ve finally started actively rehearsing “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” So far we’ve gotten through three scenes, and already I can see the sizzling potential. Especially the parts involving the Mechanicals – the town simpletons who decide to put on a show for the Duke of Athens – are turning out to be absolutely hysterical! And to think the actors developed them absolutely by themselves. I have load of suggestions to give to Darrell,
our acting coach and source of unending creativity, about how to help us enhance these scenes.
The reason this development is so important to me is because everybody had started becoming nervous and insecure about the performance. This is the stage, in the middle of the program, where anxiety starts to settle in and there are fissures in the group’s confidence. Everybody is doing a great job and the show is going to be so much fun to watch; I promise.
Today was full of fun and memorable moments: Amanda’s Hayavadana project for one thing. The whole group thought it was really interesting to explore Indian culture in this new non-pressurized context. It would be an understatement to say how great Amanda is at leading dramaturgical discussions, and I think everybody the “creepy” Indian play will stay in our minds a long, long time. Amanda helped inspire everybody to read something they might have otherwise skipped, and led us to detect the major themes of the play. If anything, I hope next year she brings more plays like this one and goes on a crusade to
familiarize people with them!
Another highlight of the day was going to the river for lunch and a picnic. MoMo amazed everyone with her sassy bathing suit (she is full of surprises, I swear!) and her cute sunglasses. Ianthe and the OYL Company spent most of the time napping in the shade…Danny was the only brave soul who decided to jump from the rock this year, dragging our very own Daniel with him. I just love watching the change in Daniel since the beginning of this program. He really is what I would call an adorable, quintessentially
pure person, who really allowed himself to become more open and comfortable among us.
We had brought with us a watermelon, which we were chilling in the river water (Good idea, Ianthe). At some point, Amanda decided to eat it…and proceeded to chop it in the most unorthodox way I have ever seen. Geez, Amanda! Didn’t all those Thyestes performances and Fruit Ballets teach you anything about watermelons?? Well, now she knows.
Then, to top it all of, we went to do yoga in another spot near the river. I still have mixed feelings about that one…the forest setting was glorious, but it wasn’t really fun doing all those floor poses with our faces in the dirt. I had the urge to sneeze after every pose…undignified much? Then I thought “What would my OCD stepmother say if she saw me right now?”…and that made me feel a bit better at the thought of her disapproving/horrified face (!) At the end of it we all looked as though we’d had a major
mudfight – a perfect segway to our evening rehearsals, which featured the elves and fairies in an imaginary wood.
I was really disappointed when I heard that our directing tutor, Chris Grabowski, wasn’t able to arrive tonight – I was really looking forward to it and I’d even brought a change of clothes to make myself more presentable at dinner (!) Apparently his flight was delayed in New York and he missed his connecting flight in Poland...oh well, I suppose we’ll have to wait one more day. The good thing is that he’ll be better rested when he does arrive to Greece.
There is another sorrowful fact today: Sarah Jane is leaving the program early. She has to go back to spend some time with her mother in law. During the delicious dinner we had at Kalliopi’s restaurant, both Sarah Jane and Ianthe, as well as the apprentice girls, made very touching toasts. I’m happy to think that we may have inspired Sarah Jane with our amateurish efforts as much as she has helped inspire us with her beauty, kindness and energy.
To wrap up the entire day, I decided to walk back to Mikro with Darrell and his magical iPad application, which can automatically detect star constellations. I learnt how to spot the Big Dipper! How beautiful it is to look at the stars while reciting Shakespeare…the poet’s words, his people, seem to become forms among the stars. They dance!
0 comments:
Post a Comment