"I Play For The People...I Take My Inspiration From The People." - Mélodrama Day One

The first day of Mélodrama today!

Philippe introduced it as a style in which actors play for the poor people on the fifth gallery which is called 'Paradise'. 

"I play for the people...I take my inspiration from the people."

Because the people we're playing for are far away, and the stage was often only lit by candles, it requires a certain kind of performance. 

• "A lot of big gestures, because we don't see so well." 
• "Fixed point is really important, if you are drunk." 
• A loud voice. An actor's voice.
• "A bit slower - A bit more primitive." 
• You have to walk in half circles (like in mask) to show yourself to the audience.
• And we need big noisy shoes - so that the people know where you are. 

You also have to "present yourself as an Actor." The actor first, then the character. Proud and charming (so that mothers in the audience think: Ah! He could marry my daughter). 

"An actor is always charming. Always. It's the job."

It's a style. We're specifically learning French Mélodrama. A style taught by Monsieur Dumas. Who had two children - François and Nicole - who were adored by all at the school (and who had sex with students behind their own private rocks on a particular mountain)...

The goal is for the audience to be crying by the end of the play. "Everybody has to cry." There are no happy endings. Plays are about the misery of the people. It's sentimental. 

~

Edith Piaf is a performer who 'played for the people'.

~

The exercise we did today was to come out, look at a chair, then to our feet, then to paradise, and then back to the chair. And say "chair...chair...oh chair...the chair my sister sold her body for us to afford...chair...oh chair...the chair my mother breathed her last breath on...chair..."

"Don't forget the People of Paris. It's important for the sensitivity."

It's not aggressive - I was a bit revolutionary at first. It's light and sensitive - you're a victim. You may have Tuberculosis...

I had a good sense of the stillness and rhythm needed, and found a gritty voice to go with it. I was lacking a bit of pleasure, so Philippe got Rik to come on stage behind me and hit me. I had to look up at Paradise, with a little smile on my face (to soften the heaviness) and say "People of Paris...help me...there's a Chinese...and he wants to kill me...help me." I got more desperate in the performance style, making my voice sound like it was crying - you can go over the top with this style. "Not too bad." 

~

Tomorrow we have to come with a costume of a poor person. I'm so excited about this workshop! I love the aesthetic of it!