Day Thirty NineThree Months!

CLASSES:
Rehearsal: Another broken day. Rehearsal, then combat, then rehearsal. We worked the blocked scenes, which for our group is all but the last scene or two. We may have blocked some additional scenes, but I'm not in them... So, I don't remember that part clearly, just that there is only one left. After combat and dinner break we all got together again for the final two scenes which John is directing.

Stage Combat: For those wondering, Stage Combat continues so we have the requisite hours required for certification tests. I don't know if we'll be ready for the tests, but this is something I hope to continue, probably taking the stage combat progression next year.

We worked on unarmed combat again. I need to do more work on my backwards falls. We hadn't done them for a while, and the shorter squatting one is especially challenging because of my leg. The damn thing still hurts/aches, but it feels like my walk is fully normal now. There is confidence to regain, and strength. I think rebuilding confidence in the leg will be the harder or the two. It has been in discomfort for so long the extra caution, now hesitance, is a bit of a habit.

The unarmed combat is pretty fun stuff. We worked on walking and smacking into the wall, which I need to work on some more. Not one of the things that came to me naturally. Then Geof helped people with some of their bits for the show, making them easier, safer, and better looking. A couple people were worried John might not like the alterations. He's not got those ego problems, and he was delighted with the change.


OBSERVATIONS/CLICKS:
First day of class was September 6th, and a season, three months later I feel I should come up with something profound to say, that matches how the experience has altered. At the moment, I'm mostly tired and not feeling profound of thought or narration.

Bringing the stage combat to the slapstick bits was very neat. Even without Jeff we'll be able to enhance the stuff we are working on. This is a very fun process, with cast suggestions finding their way into the show more than I have ever experienced. There is a scene where Zanetto is stuck with an umbrella, which with canes, are our slapstick swords. The umbrella is stuck in his butt and spun around. Yup, silly disgusting stuff. As long as we were going there I suggested he start enjoying it. That has been incorporated, and is wonderfully disturbing. Several of my other suggestions, gross and/or clever, are now part of the show as well. I think everyone has had about the same experience. It sure keeps you interested in the bits where you're not on stage.

I am still struggling to bring more to the stage. Character, physicality, voice, presence, connection, and all. I was starting to get down on myself more than usual. More than the amount needed to get me focused and working. Then I realized I'm doing stuff at a level not even close to where I was when we started three months ago. Struggling to not fade on my sentences, be big physically and vocally, extending beyond naturalism, staying real and connected. Not working to learn how to do it, rather learning to enhance and maintain.

Where I'm at right now is what I was striving for in the past. There is no longer an expectation of arriving. In the past, while I understood the need to work and to improve and grow in the craft was an ongoing struggle, I was still expecting a final plateau. That place where I'd be working on my tools, honing them. I'll always be looking for brand new, and radically different tools. It is damned exciting.

Maybe at some level I'm approaching what I once perceived as the final plateau. If so, it is a lot sooner than I expected. This intensive program has a huge gift, that years of working in shows would not have provided. My internal glass ceiling is breaking. Yes, I can do this shit! I'm doing things I didn't think I ever could. Not worrying about how to do it just so, but as George says going for the quality of the effort. Hell, I'm too busy and tired to worry about things beyond my capability. Doing. It is mostly an internal feeling. I couldn't tell you how much it shows, and right now I'm not very worried about that. I'm working with a ludicrous voice and physicality, and using character and caricature. Extending, not holding. It is a bizarre and wonderful place. And I want to be a Hell of a lot better at it when we open a week from today. At least I now have confidence I am headed in the right direction, and know what I need to do.