The Three Witches on Friday 13th...

This week for Auto-Course we worked on a scene by the witches in Macbeth. 

The wayward sisters, hand in hand.  

Posters of the sea and land,  

Thus do go about, about:  

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,  

And thrice again, to make up nine. 

Peace! the charm's wound up.

My group was David (Spain) and Claudia (Swiss Germany). We were really happy with what we put together. I'm really starting to understand the idea of opposing rhythms and the different elements needed in theatre. Slow then fast, big then small, loud then soft. If the text does one thing, do something else. If the costume does one thing, play something else etc. Our witches were all blonde, beautiful women. They gossiped and laughed together like joyous sisters.

We had a fantastic opening to 'El Tango de Roxanne' from Moulin Rouge in which David and I entered slowly and sensually, then Claudia enters all rough and fast. "Where has't thou been sisters?" ... "Killing swine! Hahahahahahaha!"

We also put in a moment of magic in which Claudia pulled a pilot's thumb out of her mouth, had a moment of chaos in which we all ran around shouting "TAMBORES!" (drums!), and then we sang the final curse in a beautiful choral way - with harmonies and all.

Philippe said "Not too bad. Pleasure is good. Good." 

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I was also in the worst performance of the day! Franck and Ric had asked me to do the witches scene with them last minute - as Steph had been sick for the last few days. We had half an hours rehearsal. And we wore the home-made masks we did in Mask Play. Let's just say it was awful...But at least we were the most awful...

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When Philippe had originally set us this scene, he said "for sure the witches are horrible...and they love it."

"The witches don't kill. They just organise humans to kill. With soup..."

Pleasure and complicité were hugely important today in all the performances. Andre, Anna and Maria did what I thought was a great scene - well crafted and exciting. But Philippe said the pleasure was "made in Hong Kong".

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Charles worked on an Iago monologue - still in the a-sexual witch costume he was wearing from earlier. Philippe encouraged him to "have fun to change". Low voice then high / crazy then serious / fast then slow / moving then still / posh then ugly. It's really exciting to watch performances like this. As an audience you can't keep up, so it's always surprising. The text still makes sense too. And the performance is so much more alive.

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Andre worked on a monologue from Henry 6 Part 3.

At first it was "too poetic". Philippe said we want to see Henry 6 in a ridiculous way, so got Andre to do it in the style of Monty Python, as an Englishman with three umbrellas up his arse...

...As if on a horse, then on a boat, then like a sports commentator, then singing 'God Save the Queen', then pathetic/weeping.

"We have to see the dream of the guy who wants to be the chief of the army...but he's not allowed."

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Ben did a monologue as Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream still in his witch costume too. Earlier he had done a performance of the witches by himself, but with lots of actors lying dead all over the stage, and he went around picking up the bodies and mumbling this freaky death call. Philippe got Ben to do Puck in the same way, but without the bodies. Ben rang his little bell, looked at us with a little smile, and said some text, whilst slowly lugging this big trolley about. It was strange and scary, but in a way we loved the character.