Scene 6 doesn't directly connect to a moment in history, but it has been discussed by historians that Hitler was trained by an actor named Basil, at some point of his career to become the political figure for the Nazi party. Many politician go through some kind of training, so that can appeal to the audiences. For example Margaret Thatcher was told that she had to lower her pitch to bring more authority to her, but also to make it calm and more trustworthy.Her voice coach also thought her breathing techniques so that she could speak slower. Thatcher was also told to change her style of clothing, since in the beginning they were too fussy and 'feminine' compared to the 'strong male' opponents. She was turned from a housewife to an intimidating opponents.
Earlier this week we had a discussion about how to signify the character of Arturo Ui, not only by costume, but how we can show the change in character. Having the so called 'Hitler-mustache' seemed to be clearest way to show the character, but also to signify the characters connection to Hitler to the audience the best. There was also talk about having the Nazi sign on the costume, for example on an arm band, and even though it is a good way to show how the gangsters in the show represent the Nazi party, it isn't a clear enough connection to Hitler. We also discussed how to do this, painting it on or a fake mustache that we would glue on. Siou pointed out that the glued one would be hard to take off, but it also could easily fall of, where as painted one would stay on better. I pointed out that the painted mustache could still have problems, for example if we have a base make up on, every time the mustache would be taken off, the rest of the make up would be smudged as well. Still, painting the mustache on seems like the most reasonable way of doing, we will just have to work around the mess and have baby wipes and our base makeup ready off-stage.
When we started to work on the scene 6, I had an idea of showing the change of Ui on stage, representing the change of the character and Hitler and the training he went trough to become the charismatic politician that helped him to rise to power. So, I suggested of using this paint on mustache to our advantage and have Max paint his mustache on in front the audience or have me paint his mustache. Max also had an idea to use the shadows to our advantage and have the Actor and Ui melt in together. The problem with this was that it might not have been clear to the audience that Max would be the next Ui, since they cannot actually see the change physically. Another problem with this was the transition to behind the screen. It is hard to make the transition smooth and look good, but we also couldn't find a reason for the characters to move there. we ended up going with my idea, since it was more Brechtian, but also extremely stylized.
Me and Max then worked on the final speech in the scene, a speech from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, spoken by Mark Antony. Caesar has been killed by Brutus and the other conspirators and Antony has been given the permission by Brutus to speech in Caesar funeral in the condition if he doesn't speak badly about the conspirators. Antony starts his speech following this, but then sneakily praises Caesar in a rhetoric way to win the crowd over and enrage them against the conspirators. This speech has been compared to several political speeches because of its rhetoric style which also connects to Ui's speech in scene 7. The contrast between the start of the speech and the end of the speech is quite stark, how Antony start by being sincere to becoming extremely sarcastic by continually calling Brutus 'an honourable man'. This represents the change of Ui really well and I really want to change it, by having Ui be more unsure in the beginning of the speech, but then take over and gain confidence. Me and Max chose some Gests that we thought would work with the speech, but also represent 'the new Ui'. We thought that at the end of the speech, after I've taken over the speech as Ui, Max should start copying the movements and we could face each other, representing a mirror and the start of our change. We will then turn around, have Max put his mustache on and turn around to face the audience, showing the new Ui. I think this works really well, since it is quite simple but looks very good on stage and has impact in it. It is also very Brechtian, since we can see the change of character on stage.
Sophie also thought of having her character Givola show off his power and position to the Actor, by forcing the Actor off of his seat. This builds up the character of Givola and shows that he is intimidating and powerful. We also talked about having the scene start by Ui listening to blues or opera music, since it is his hotel room. I think it could be quite funny if Ui would be listening to the music, playing a conductor and have Givola come in and scaring Ui for catching him doing something that otherwise seemed out of his character.
This was video of the final run of the scene we did today:
- What is my goal for the next lesson? What do I need to do to achieve this? What information do I need?
- I want to Play around with Arturo Ui's child-likeness in this scene more, since it would bring more comedy into the scene, but also the change would be bigger. During my lines like "No, wrong. I want people to look at me..." and "I decide who's respectable" I could play around more by being like a child having a fit to bring more variety into Ui's character. I also really want to off book for the next time we do this scene so that we can really nail the humour of the scene, but also the Gests. I also think we have to try it out on the stage, since the levels might give us different opportunities to play around.
- I also feel like I need to find Ui's voice. I've been working on my chicago accent, but since I now have more characters, I really need find their way of speaking, not necessarily just a different voice, for each. I feel Ui could be a little bit slower with his speaking to show his high status.
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