5.5. Scene 2, Staging & Shadows

 Today's goal for us was to start on scene 2 and hopefully finish it. After reading the scene and shortly discussing it, we started to think about the blocking and sort of just improvising the scene, whilst suggesting ideas on the meanwhile. We decided that since they are supposed to be in Dogsborough's tavern, we should have a bar where most of the talking could happen. Dogsborough could for example be serving drinks for Butcher and Flake. I think the bar also works to show Dogsboroughs interest throughout the scene, he can use it as a shield, stepping out from behind it when he becomes to interested. This is when the two other men can surround Dogsborough to sweeten him up, do a little bit of extra convincing. 

   We also had an idea to use shadows to make the scene a bit more stylized and interesting by having Dogsborough and Young Dogsborough behind it at the beginning, indicating that perhaps they are in the back room or behind the bar working. This also solved the problem with me playing Young Dogsborough in this scene, since Chloe will be playing him in the rest of play. I can stay behind the screen and deliver my few lines from there. I won't be on the stage, but the audience will still be able to see my presence. We discussed first to have me announce "And I will be playing Young Dogsborough in this scene", but using the shadows seemed more smooth and fun! 

 During this clip there was a discussion about how to start of the scene. It is suggested that they have been talking about this deal before, and that simply because the scene starts from this bit, doesn't mean that their conversation started from here. They may have been talking about for hours already and this is simply the conclusion. After class I talked about it more with Siou and discussed the idea if we could show clippets of their conversation and argument, tableau's of sort with different lighting changes showing their mood and progression of their debate. I thought it could be interesting to do it with shadows, having Butcher and Flake then be kicked out of the backroom by Dogsborough, or them simply coming to the front room to discuss a new deal. 

 We also tried out different ways to have the boxes move from the position they are in at the end of the first scene into the bar. We only filmed mine and Jenny's attempt, but other's had a go at it too. We had two definitive ways to do it, one very showgirly, as we had in the prologue, and other more gangster style. The showgirl version had more energy, which worked better and they also used eye contact while doing it. What I liked about mine Jenny's is that it was a little comedic, with us taking the same box and me (accidentally)almost falling from leaning on the box.

   I felt, even though we got some work done, we really need to step up our game. Looking at scenes before class, giving ideas, receiving ideas and just trying things out. Today almost everyone seemed tired and uninterested, which doesn't make a very good work environment. For tomorrows session I want to look at scene 3 and scene 2 again and come up with some games we could try out to create the scene in more creative way. I could have done for this lesson as well, but I need to step up game by being more brave to think of more fun ways for us to explore these scenes. Still, we did get up and did something, rather than just planning it by talking and sitting on the floor, which is some improvement on what we have done in the past. 

Sophies idea. Main thrust and then couple of steps down on the sides.
This would be an interesting mix of the original idea and Max's idea.

   We also discussed the staging. Siou was worried about the steps, since they are a very challenging staging for us, or anyone really. I agree with this, even if it was my idea to have the stairs, but it is smarter to hear other ideas and try out as many of then as possible. Here are a couple that Sophie and Max suggested:

Dedicated areas to Ui and the vegetable dealers, showing the two different sides.
I also thought that these could be either step up or step down from the main thrust.

   

   Max also talked about an idea to use the shadow to show Arturo Ui's rise to power and how he changes throughout the play. He suggested that it would be a very strong and stylistic choice to have Ui be behind the screen for the whole play, but after discussing it for a bit a lot of us came to the conclusion that Ui is too much of a big role, too many lines and interactions with people for this to work properly. but I think it would still be a good idea to use it during his long speeches, perhaps having it be his shadow, Ui giving the speech in front of the screen, but the shadow showing his true nature. 

     Later in the afternoon, some of us had time to stay for extra rehearsal for some time. Since we didn't have too many people we couldn't go on to the next scene, but we did start looking at scene 6. We discussed how The Actor should be portrayed. By the end of the day, it is Max's character and he has the last word on what the character will be like, but we also want him to be different from the gangsters and vegetable dealers. In the scene, Givola is questioning Actor's choices and way of presenting himself, that is way too theatrical, which tells us he is kind of over the top and perhaps even silly looking. The Actor also talks about how he isn't appreciated for his Shakespearean style of theatricality, saying that he is too old fashioned for modern theatre. Max didn't want to make him traditional English type actor, what a lot of the other adaptations have done, so I suggested making him more camp and musical theatre inspired character. This would bring on the fun and even ridiculousness the scene needs. Also, we thought to have at the beginning the actor to be brought in the room by the bodyguards tied up, as in against his will to show the power Ui has, but then have the actor actually be excited for this opportunity to bring more humour into the scene. We need to show what we have done to the others to get some notes tomorrow!

• Did I achieve my last goal? What could I improve on?
• My last goal was to work on my Gest for Arturo Ui and then show them to my peers. I showed some of them to Max, who is also playing Ui, but we agreed that we need to have a proper discussion about it with all of the Ui's since we need to establish a common Gest and view on Arturo Ui.  
• What did I learn during this lesson? How can I use it?
• The fact that you need to go and try things out really became prominent during this lesson. It is so easy to just sit down and write what you are going to do, only to realize it won't work at all. Even though today's lesson wasn't the most productive, we did get a frame of two different scenes done by simply going on our feet and improvising. 
• What is my goal for the next lesson? What do I need to do to achieve this? What information do I need?
• For next lesson I want to look at scene 3 and scene 2 and find ways to explore them in a more fun and playful way. I should read trough some of my old blogs to go through different exercises we have done in the past and use them for my advantage. I also want to explore a very clear Gest for Young Dogsborough and do more research on who he was in real life.