2. We got straight to scenes today. First was Maria-Luisa and David, with the same Jason & Medea scene but in Spanish (isn't that so cool?).
This is a painting of Medea by Anthony Frederick...don't you think it looks like Salma Hayek??
Philippe got Maria-Luisa to dress in the white dress/white face/pink cheeks look that seems to be in fashion right now, and David to wear smart contemporary clothes. Then he got M-L to sit in this supermarket shopping trolley which we had softened with white cloths and put two dummies to represent the two children she murdered in. I was one of four guards who pushed the trolley slowly forwards towards the audience, and then back again. David stood to the side, closer to the audience holding a walking cane. Philippe got M-L to shout like a fishmonger from Mexico - harsh and ugly.
And he encouraged her to go much bigger with a laugh she discovered. In general, often actors don't give enough - they don't fill what is needed - and that's actually a lot! Meanwhile he led David to be much more sensitive and gentle than would be conventional. And when David went to burst into anger where it would have made sense, but be conventional and predictable, Philippe stopped him and kept him in the sensitive place he was in before.
This makes me think about this idea of not being conventional. My first thought is to just play the opposite of what you would usually play in a moment/scene, but I know this is not really sensible. I guess it's just what Philippe often says: "finding another way".
By the way, I'm aware that in this blog I say "Philippe led this and said this..." and it might sound like the whole course is this giant masterclass where everyone gets fixed... But it's really not like that. The discoveries made are always the actors'. That's what is so special and unique about the school. Philippe is just a very very good facilitator of actors discovering things about themselves. He has good instincts, and is pretty good at seeing where a particular person might shine.
Back to M-L and David! I didn't really get to see it cause I was behind it, and in it, but they did great. Philippe was surprised because M-L is 23 years old, and he seemed to imply that age is an advantage for performance (which makes me feel good too because I'm still relatively young!) and said both actors were beautiful.
He then spoke about how what we saw with M-L and David is not really Greek Tragedy, but that this doesn't matter. It was beautiful. And when an actor is discovering something beautiful it is not worth stopping them just to keep them within a particular form.
"We don't always have to get the point of Greek Tragedy...sometimes we have to get the point of acting.""If it's good, keep it. It's your treasure. Don't destroy it. It's not easy to get something good."
But in case you're interested in what Greek Tragedy is, Greek Tragedy is the Kingdom of the Gods. The Kingdom of the beautiful tall Greek Gods. (Bouffon is Kingdom of the Devil).
"Don't bend your body. It is forbidden. The Gods look for those who are scared to die. You say...fuck you God! I will die a hero! With a great fixed point...and a tall beautiful body...facing my destiny!"
There are no references in Greek Tragedy. The reason M-L was not totally in the form of Greek Tragedy was because her playing of the fishmonger was a reference - to something of our world. "We can't say her father was a butcher...we say her father was a god - two metres tall, with muscles!" Whereas when Anna did Medea last week her playing was still abstract - not directly referencing our world - "we don't know where she comes from". "Greek Tragedy doesn't have reference like you do in Shakespeare and Chekhov."
Afterwards, Andre and Daniele showed a scene from Antigone. Andre, as Kreon, worked on being steel. "You can be steel...but a steel father." This kind of answered a question in my head, because I've been wondering how much of the element/material do you play and how much of a 'normal' character do you play. It seemed like Andre was still holding steel within, although he had humanised it. However it was also a bit boring. He could give more. Philippe ended up getting Andre to walk along two seating benches yelling the text like a furiously angry Zeus, with dramatic opera music behind him. And it was BEAUTIFUL. I burst into laughter. Loud hearty laughter. Because he brought so much life to the room suddenly. It's wonderful when that happens at this school. When somebody shows their beauty like that. Ugh. It's unforgettable stuff.
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