"Bouzin Is Special"

More Bouzin today. He is a bit of a miser. Mediocre. He lives the life of a bureaucrat. 

I tried today, in a strange almost american-hippy-who's-discovered-himself-in-India kind of costume, but it was "too much artist." I tried just once, because although part of the reason I was too much artist was what I was playing, the costume was also a big reason as well. 

Mike had a go before me whilst I got changed. I didn't see what was happening, but Philippe worked with him a lot. He said "we hate you when you play" and was trying Mike to just be simple. 

Thomas also had a go (after Philippe questioned him why he wasn't getting up: this is what I mean by the complacency in the class at the moment) and got closer to Bouzin than we've seen. He's odd. He's annoying. He's boring. But he's hilarious.

"Everybody [in the play] must be bored by him...and we laugh."

Philippe got Mike and Thomas to paint their faces white. To look strange. "We can't recognise Bouzin....Bouzin is special."

Christian Hecq as 'Bouzin'

~

At the end of class I asked what Philippe thought of the Cabaret last night and he said "it was good". He was very happy with it. "I loved it...the spirit." But he said he got the feeling that in two weeks it would become a show about two guys (Ben and I). "You eat a bit a part of your friends." Our bits were good, good game, good fun, but too long, and too often. Still - I feel proud of us as a class to have put on a show with such good spirit.

Perrine

Thomas the Swiss-German Movement teacher is back! He’s the best. The nicest guy and a great teacher. So today we were straight back into handstands and flick-flacks (front flips). He is the son of a woman who is on the committee of people who make Basel/Larval Masks too. So I might just purchase some through him. That’s what Rodrigo did last year. And although they’re a bit expensive, I can’t see myself getting many other opportunities to get some. And I’d love to have some for work in the future. I don’t really have the budget for them, but I’m planning to do street theatre a lot over the break - potentially in London for the Olympics and Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival - so I think it’s a worthy investment.

~

It was back to the slow rhythm in class today which has been frustrating me lately. We can’t get complacent and lazy with such a small class. We’re wasting an opportunity! Anyway...we did the Bouzin scene again today. Bouzin is strange. He’s a low-level lawyer, but he dreams to be a song writer. Ben had a good go at it - performing his usual totally crazy character. Which was fun, but not right for the role. “You have to find another way to be crazy.”

Philippe said that Akron has the face of this character. Bizarre. So Akron gave it a go, and Philippe guided him through it, so that we as a class could see the mechanics of it. I played the waiter whilst Akron played Bouzin. Philippe led him to be odd: slow weird entrance, talking loudly with a strange laugh now and then, big eyes, long pauses, from left from person to person - left right left. “You have to have the pleasure to pretend to be crazy.” This is the kind of guy who forgets his umbrella, and when he returns the audience bursts into laughter all over again. Philippe said the actor playing Bouzin in a production would have to slightly change his performance every night - to change his game - in order to keep his fellow actors on their toes. I still didn’t give it a go. Mostly out of fear, but also because I can’t see myself being good at this role. And I don’t know if I look strange enough. But I might as well try. I can always change my appearance!

~

The show tonight was better! Philippe announced that his idea to do the show for the week was an idiotic one (sometimes teachers can have bad ideas as well) and that he doesn’t want us focussing more on the Cabaret than the workshops. And he decided that most of the first year performances on Friday’s Cabaret were rubbish, so he cut them all! So tonight we did the Cabaret one last time - this time with just Ben and I hosting, and only second year performances. Philippe did an open class on Basel Mask with the first years for half an hour before. Hosting was much better. We had lots of fun and played well. My number was better too. Ben being a host was cracking me up offstage, so I was on the verge of laughing as I performed my song. Which I think made it funnier. I played more serious. More ‘professional’. And when the audience started to laugh when Steph and Lee passed behind me (twice this time), I cracked a tiny bit myself! Although I don’t think anyone noticed. So I was happy with how the show went. And happy that I don’t have any more late nights! 

Another very cool thing. A woman at Gare D’Austerlitz heard me complaining to Thomas about my french homework, and she offered to help me on the train. And I eventually took up her offer! She was really nice, and it turns out she’s an artist - a sculptor - from Étampes. She said many artists live in Étampes. Her name is Perrine, and he website is www.angly.fr. I invited her to the Cabaret, and she came! A new friend! Lovely lady too. :)

Apartment Christening

On Saturday night Amanda and I had friends over for drinks. I think there were thirteen of us in total...which was tight for our apartment! We were all on the floor on cushions, drinking wine and vodka (Vicky), surrounding the coffee table full of more bread and cheese than you should ever eat.

Great to have people over. To host with my girlfriend. And to kind of christen our apartment!

Cabaret Show

Today was another big day preparing for the Cabaret. Philippe worked with all the people that were ‘bad’ in their numbers yesterday upstairs, whilst those that weren’t did their own thing, or watched upstairs too. I was one of those people that needed a bit of work because Philippe had said the song was a bit boring, but I chose to stay downstairs and work with Ben and Carmen preparing our job as hosts. I’m glad I did, because it gave me a bit of a break which I needed, and also because there was heaps of work to do as hosts! It’s not just a performative job - it’s an administrative/technical job as well. Ryan Seacrest’s job is not just to be good looking and charming!

At the end of the day I went to speak to Philippe quickly about something administrative, and we ended up chatting for quite a while. About New Zealand, and rugby, and about me as an actor. I told him a bit about my aspirations to be a writer/director/maker of theatre. He asked if I’m happy at the school (yes) and was really nice. I asked about the pretentiousness he mentioned yesterday (which I got in a fuss about) and he said ‘no’ I’m not pretentious, “you’re good...you have fun”, and that the song I sang was a bit pretentious. A bit too-serious-musical-theatre and that I can take this further to make the number funnier. Be overly sincere. So that made me feel better. And I wasn’t expecting him to be so positive about my work as an actor. He spoke as if what I’m doing is working. I’m not boring. I have fun. Great! 

The show tonight was fun - the first time I’ve performed for an invited audience at this school - but was a bit rocky. The first half of the show was full of dramatic Shakespeare monologues which were fairly boring. Philippe said ‘why not’ to Shakespeare in a Cabaret - some Cabaret’s would love to have some Shakespeare in them - and I agree, but the balance was a bit off. Ben and Carmen and I had a big job as hosts. I’ve MC’d shows before and my job has been to be charming, clear, and to give information, but not necessarily to make people laugh. Or to improvise comedy in a trio as a strange guy that can’t pronounce consonants in English, but can in French! So every time we came out on stage it was a decent challenge. And sometimes we flopped, but we had games and we played, and often it worked. However often we flopped because we would pass the ball to Carmen and the ball would be dropped - the complicité and rhythm broken. This wasn’t because of her as an actress, but because she doesn’t speak English very well. And here’s me totally incomprehensible, and Ben speaking total rubbish very quickly...it would have been very difficult for her! And it made it difficult for us too, because we had to include her in our games but when we did that they usually flopped. But we did find a good gag in which immediately after she spoke we would turn to each other and complain about not being able to understand her. Which was funny considering that Ben could apparently understand me.

I was happy with my number tonight too. I played sincere, sang well, and with the ‘bouffon and poof’ rolling behind me in a supermarket trolley, it was funny. I also noticed that I’m a lot freer in my voice than I have been singing in front of an audience in the past. I could hit higher notes clearly without the fear of cracking - which can happen when you’re tense. So I’m noticeably more relaxed and open on stage. 

At the end of the show Ben and I announced (because we’d been told to - without the class being consulted...) that the cabaret will be on every day next week. So it’s going to be a big week! Great though! It’s good to be performing. 

Cabaret Prep.

A long long day today. We started Movement at 12.30pm with both the first and second years. This was because afterwards we all had class with Philippe in order to put together the Cabaret show, until 7pm. I was exhausted by the end of the day!

~

I presented my song ‘Where The Southern Roses Grow’ at the beginning of class - sang really well, good sensitivity, connection etc - and Philippe said “yes”, as in, I’m in. The only thing he questioned was whether I had my eyes open. I had. But probably not enough. So that was good. I got in! But it wasn’t a challenge for me, and after getting in I kind of felt a bit like “okay I’ve ticked that box”...“got confirmation”. But I don’t really care about the song. I don’t have much I’m working on for the performance. Anything to search for. Or practice. Of course I do have something to practice but for me singing is different from doing a Vaudeville scene, or a monologue. It’s a lot easier. Anyway, I was happy to have contributed to the show in some way. With a skill that I have.

There were quite a few other pitches for the show. Some got in and some didn’t. Ben and I were told we were going to be able to host together, but not for the whole show. But then Philippe decided he didn’t like his idea of having the stage set like a British pub with all the first year actors on it, so he’s got Ben and I and Carmen (a Spanish girl from the first year) hosting the whole show! We had a few goes and I’ve started to find how to play the role. It’s quite a bit like the role I played in a piece I did with Tim and Aaron, The Book of Murphy. I have to be really light, and a bit clueless. Small. But smiling. 

I’m also in my little barbershop quartet opening the second half of the show, and hosting with Ben and Carmen. So when we started deciding the order for the second half (2nd yr performances) and my piece was called out first I said that I shouldn’t go first. Because it would be too much me. I didn’t realise we were just naming all the different acts available. And Philippe thought I said I wanted to go first. I think. And he said “I don’t like that - that’s a bit pretentious.” He misunderstood. And I tried to explain but there wasn’t much point. We needed to move on...

When it came to running the second year pieces I sang again, but this time I wasn’t as connected (or caring) as before, the lighting was different, I was slower, further away from the audience...it was different! And it didn’t feel as strong as it did the first time. Which is fine. I know why. But at the end Philippe asked the class if it was a good song to put you to sleep to? He then went behind the stage because ‘he had an idea’ and I heard him whispering to Steph and Lee (who do a Bouffon rap before me) saying they should come out behind me towards the end of my song because my piece is a bit boring. I had heard him, and asked him how I could make it less boring. But he said to do the same thing I’d done before. It was clear to me what he was doing. And I think he did it because he thought “here’s this pretentious guy who’s happy cause he’s hosting and has a song - let’s make teach him a lesson - make fun of him to knock out the pretentiousness.” Which is fine. I can see how it works, and when we did it, it worked well. But I was pissed off because I hadn’t said the pretentious thing he thought I said and it seemed like Philippe chose to do this thing to get at me. Which is okay. I can handle that and I can see how that could be useful for me - because I do know that I come across as pretentious sometimes, and am pretentious sometimes. But he didn’t let me in on the joke. That’s what I thought was nasty. I’m okay with a joke being played on me - people laughing at me - at my pretentiousness - but setting it up without letting me know is a bit bullyish. Whereas if he’d said ‘this is what we’re going to do, because you look over sincere and it’s a bit boring’ then I would have been happy with that! After I sang the ending again with Steph and Lee coming behind me I asked Philippe again what can I do to change? Speed it up? Be more connected? “No no. It’s a boring song.” Why did you say yes then? “I didn’t realise it was boring before.” Well why don’t we have them cross behind me several times? He was avoiding saying it outright to me. As if I didn’t know. 

This could be all in my head, but I found it nasty. Not in a fun nasty way. In a way that invites everyone else to laugh at me, but doesn’t let me know why. And that makes me feel embarrassed and picked on. Sensitive. Which could be the whole point. And actually I’m happy to do it, to go with it, and learn from it. And I know that learning that I come across as pretentious could be a good thing for me as an actor. But it pissed me off.

~

I’m also concerned that this one-night Cabaret may become a week-long gig. Philippe murmured a while ago that if it’s good we could do 2 or 3 shows. But people today were saying he wants to do a week of them. But he hasn’t said that to all of us. And for those of us who live in Paris, it’s a bitch. Because we don’t get home till 11.30pm. And if you have French or work in the mornings... Anyway I don’t know exactly what’s happening there. I’m okay to do a couple of shows but a week is a bit much. I know I’m here for school, and this is school and a good opportunity. But logistically it’s difficult, and it cuts into Vaudeville, which is what I’m really here for.

~

Also sent in my CV and actor photos today for an audition for En Attendant le Songe (A Midsummer NIght’s Dream) for Compagnie Irina Brook. I think Peter Brook’s daughter. But I don’t actually know. They did a few shows last year, one called Pan, which I didn’t see but really wanted to. The poster was good!

I ended up not going because Philippe said he saw it and it was bad. So I was put off. But I should have gone anyway. We’ll find out! The roles they are trying to fill are Hermia (“must be small”) or Puck (“must be fantastic”). It’s an English production. Hopefully I get an opportunity to audition!

“Listen to the Birds”

Today was taken up completely by auditions for this Friday’s Cabaret. Quite a few pitches which was a nice surprise after my rant in yesterday’s blog.

Highlights:

• A simple sketch in which Thomas came out in a suit and bow tie with a big green wheelie bin and started drumming on it with his hands. A cool rhythm. And then the sound of a harmonica started playing from inside the bin, and then Duncan rose from inside it and they jammed together briefly, and then Thomas closed the bin and they left. It was fun! Philippe said yes - we could see several different variations of this throughout the night.

• Ben and I tried out our hosting again with me incomprehensible and Ben normal. We tweaked it so that Ben and I finished each other’s sentences, and also played it like nothing was unusual at all. 

“Good evening everybody!” ... “Aaa ooeeoouu uuu aaa aaaoooeeee!”

“My name is François” ... “aaa iii aaaeee uuu iiioooouuu”

“Tonight there will be music” ... “oooiiiaaa” ... “dance” ... “eee oooaaa uuu iii eeeeaaa”

We played well together on stage and found it. It’s great when I feel really silly. When I’m just about to crack up myself is when the audience laughs the most. 

• Christine presented a song ‘Maybe This Time’. It was bad initially. She was very nervous and so didn’t sing well, and her nerves weren’t helped by various unfortunate things happening (cellphones ringing, people getting changed back stage) whilst she was presenting. Philippe said we feel pain for her. We don’t feel like ‘wow, I could never do that’. Christine was clearly very upset and sensitive, and said she would try again tomorrow, at which Philippe kind of mockingly questioned her. “What’s going to change?” at which the response was “I will be more relaxed.” “What are you going to do? Take a sauna?” Christine was stumped and lost, but wanted to be there and learn. Philippe then got her to lie down at the back of the stage, the lights were dimmed, and he played the sound of birds chirping. She lay there for a while and then slowly got up and eventually sang the song a few times. “Don’t push. Listen to the birds.” In this state she was much more with us. We saw her. Not the idea of what she dreams to be, but her, and it was beautiful. 

“We see much better her humanity”.

“The pleasure to be with the fear is very important.”

“Every time you push too much to be good. To be good in a conventional way. That is not healthy.”

“You have to be yourself. Bad. But always with the fear who gives sensitivity.”

“It’s really bad when you want to do conventional and ‘good’.”

“We have to think she put her guts on the table.”

• Lee also had a similar discovery as Christine. He had presented a Clown number that completely flopped. And it lasted an excruciatingly long time. And then he presented a monologue he had kind of learnt written by Feydeau, but that flopped as well. Philippe said Lee’s not playing with his spirit. He’s not offering himself. 

“An actor - he can’t be good at everything. In this way he’s good. In this way he’s terrible.”

“Your spirit - you have to start with that...and after you can go a bit bigger.”

He then got Lee to stand under the spotlight and just spoke to him. A simple conversation, but with a fun interrogative slant. “You are gay?” “Who in this class do you find sexy?” etc. Lee showed himself in this way. The real Lee who isn’t perfect, is a bit strange, and gawky, but is absolutely likable. 

• There were several other pitches too. Some successful, some complete flops. But I was proud of the class today for fighting a bit. We do have a drive.

~

Whilst Christine was singing I had the idea to sing a beautiful barbershop ballad I know called ‘Where The Southern Roses Grow’ but didn’t get up and present. Partly because we didn’t have much time (although if I’d got up strongly it would have been fine), partly because I had just had the idea and didn’t want to try something on a whim, and also out of fear. I felt like what Ben and I had done would be a good contribution to the Cabaret for me. But actually I should have presented. And I think I will tomorrow. What’s to lose? Nothing really. I’ll only learn something. It’s not a funny song at all. I would be working on being present, still, and beautiful. But what’s wrong with that?

Where Is The Fight?

Today we started by showing different numbers for the cabaret this Friday. One group consisting of Mia, Thomas, Duncan, Katy and Mark (from the first year) did quite a long scene which turns out they had translated it to the stage from an HBO special. It wasn’t bad. It had music, great costumes, different rhythms, play etc. But the story was unclear. Philippe said it could be good but the writer has to fix it. They said it was HBO’s fault. Maybe it was. But it didn’t make any sense on stage. But a good effort! I was surprised by the amount of work that was done.

Ben, Thomas, Duncan and I showed our proposed intro to the cabaret with a bum-bum-bumming barbershop quartet, with me introducing the night, and then us finishing with a tag: Welcome to the Cabaret! The singing was off, which I thought it might be. It was the first time we had sung it in front of an audience, and four part harmony is hard to sing without an audience let alone with one! But it didn’t matter. The pleasure and fun was there. Philippe was kind of like ‘yeah’. As in ‘okay it’s something that could work’. But it’s not really a number, which I think he was hoping for. In a way he’s just announced there is going to be a cabaret and that it needs numbers and is expecting it to be filled. But it feels like maybe there won’t be many numbers. I’m not sure. We’ll see. I would have loved to put something together - to use the cabaret to test out some ideas I have for future shows - and I will next time, but unfortunately this time I haven’t found the time to do that. I feel a bit stink about it. But I also feel justified, and after today, realised I am in fact offering a few options to be in the show.

Mia and Vicky presented a song with Mia singing and Vicky playing accordion. It was good. Dramatic and clear. Philippe said that Mia shouldn’t look to the musician as her friend. This is her show. 

Ben and I also tried an idea to host together with Ben speaking normally and me speaking like Camille from La Puce à L’Oreille with only vowel sounds. We did it to introduce a number by Katy which Ben had directed in which she sings a song with the lyrics “everybody’s fucking but me” and we also entered towards the end of her song as sensual male back up dancers. 

Philippe said because of the vulgar lyrics, it needs to be a drag queen that sings the song. I totally agree. With a woman it’s sad and gross. With a man in the role it will be ridiculous and fun. So that will change! And in terms of what Ben and I tried as the hosts, Philippe made fun of us saying “it was fantastic!” (it wasn’t). I asked how it could be better and he said it couldn’t! And then I asked how it could be worse and he admitted that it could work, we just need to rehearse it. The problem I think was that after I speak totally incomprehensibly, there needs to be a gap in which we assume the audience gets it, and then Ben continues as if nothing was wrong. When we did it Ben kind of translated what I said. So a bit of fine tuning is needed.

~

We continued with Le Fil à la Patte again today. This play is breaking my balls! At least in the English translation exactly what’s going on is quite unclear - I think because the drama is more in the action than the text (and when we’ve read we have missed out the action). So today and yesterday was pretty weak. 

But we tried anyway. Today - the scene was between a woman (the mother of a famous singer who is going to get married very soon), a butler, and a lawyer/accountant-type guy called ‘Bouzin’ who dreams of being a musician. The mother wants to see her daughter, but the Butler has to say ‘no’ until he gets permission. And Bouzin wants to see the daughter as well, because he has written a (bad) song for her, but again the Butler has to say ‘no’. That’s about all I got. I know it’s not nothing! But nobody found anything. 

Philippe said Bouzin has to be crazy. Very strange. And desperate. I only played the Butler today, in a scene with Steph as the woman and Ben as Bouzin. I feel a bit pissed off because we went first...because nobody else had the guts to get up essentially...And so we ‘took one for the team’ in a sense, so that others didn’t have to be the first, but then we didn’t get time for another go after exactly what the scene needs has started to make itself clear! I’ve felt a bit negative the last few days because of the attitude of the class. There’s only 15 of us, which means we could have a lot of time on stage, but so much of it is wasted by people too scared to get up. Or wasted on giving people a ‘second try’ when what they do doesn’t change at all. I wish we didn’t get second tries immediately after the first. It’s hard to change that quickly - time to process is helpful - and it makes things less intense. More nice. And that doesn’t feel right for this kind of school. It’s a bit too relaxed for my liking. Funnily enough! I know I can’t control anybody else but myself, but I’m feeling fed up. Where is the fight? We need one.

Le Fil à la Patte

Today we worked on a scene for ‘the bad students’ from Le Fil à la Patte. It involves a butler and a woman, who is the sister of the butler’s boss. The Butler’s boss is currently having sex with her partner in another room. The sister (not the boss) wants a sandwich, but the butler won’t get her one until the boss gives the ‘okay’. Sounds complex. But in a nut shell, the woman wants a sandwich. The butler won’t get her one.

To play the butler you must have a deep deep voice, like a concierge or a funeral director. And the woman must bring life and fun through her tactics to get a sandwich. 

Nobody got the scene going today. It needs the woman to be fast, long and big, and the butler to be slow, small, and short...but none of the girls went fast or long or big enough. So it all stayed on the same level...

I tried out a new costume today - just for fun. I wore a black wig, black moustache, I coloured in my eyebrows black and wore a white shirt with black waistcoat. This basically the costume I’m playing around with for a future street theatre idea I have to do in Paris.

I also tried wearing a long fake nose - even though I know it looks fake at the moment and would need a bit of work to look seamless on my face. Philippe said it looks like my character has worn it to be funny. And that soon he will take out a fake plastic poo and make a joke with it. My intention was to transform with it. To look different from myself. But I see what he means. It’s not worth wearing unless I make it look real. 

“It has to be well disguised...otherwise we think it’s your character trying to be funny.”

He also said my black moustache is better. It’s more visible. So I’ll go in that direction for a wee bit!  

~

I didn’t get up today until right at the end - because Philippe said the class was for ‘bad students’ (those who haven’t found a good character/rhythm yet), and also because I was a bit chicken and afraid of being bad. When I did get up it was to help Philippe work on Christine by speaking with a fast rhythm. He was working on her and trying to eliminate her ‘negative energy’. 


“We don’t like you because we are happy and ready...but you say nyah nyah nyah.”

“You say ‘no’ to the game when you say the words and when you move. You say ‘no I don’t want to play.'”

IKEA & Million Dollar Baby

This weekend I put together some new items of furniture for our apartment courtesy of our landlord and IKEA. It’s fun! It’s like Lego for adults!

Steph came over for dinner - which consisted mostly of wine, cheese and bread - and we chatted away until finally deciding to watch the first installment of The Lord of the Rings...but it was the extended edition, and pretty slow, and we quit on it before we all fell asleep!

On Sunday Amanda and I went to the flea markets in Montreuil to get some second-hand kitchen items. It’s full of old junk which is good for bargains. We got threatened by some grumpy old asshole because we took a photo of me wearing some glasses from his store. A bit of a scary adrenaline-pumping moment, but we shook it off.

And on Sunday night we (Amanda) made a great risotto with the kilogram of mushrooms Amanda got cheap from the Belleville markets on Friday and watched Million Dollar Baby.



Another Clint Eastwood film directed and produced by, and starring Clint. It was very good again. Good moody pace. Beautiful cinematography. Dark, sparse. Only a little music. Let the story and images do their job. And the writing was fantastic. I was shocked a few times. The writer was able to take us in directions I’d never imagined. What’s next, Clint?

"We Have To Have See How You Show Your Embarassment."

Ben and I got up and presented our Chandebise and Finache scene again today. This time with me working on being the still fixed-point with ‘les batons merde’ and Ben running around madly.


But after our first run Philippe directed us differently, this time with Ben sitting down at his desk and leaving big gaps for his text. Putting me in the shit as I try to explain the sensitive subject of my erection problem.


CHANDEBISE: It was more like...more like...I felt like a...like a...little tiny boy...A...little...tiny boy. 

BIG GAP
 
FINACHE: Unfortunate.

He led me to be delicate, with a nervous laugh, sometimes loud and crazy, a bit odd. Always to look at the audience. Show them my troubles. Slow. Then fast.

And Ben to sit still, speak in a low “burburbur” kind of voice, and generally not ease the situation for me whatsoever. Make it worse!

“We have to see how you show your embarrassment. How you’re in the shit. See your face...And we have to see how the doctor doesn’t give a shit.”

At the end Philippe said in this way the scene could be good. With Ben as the fixed point and me as the crazy. I asked if I can do more, as I didn’t feel so funny, and he said no “it’s good” but I can have more fun to show me in the shit. Share my awkwardness. I felt fairly conventional with what I did today. Why not be nervous and embarrassed in a new way? I didn’t branch out too much because I felt like I would get in ‘trouble’ for exploring too much. Which is ridiculous, and I need to throw this kind of thinking out the window. If I’m with the audience and I have pleasure, I can take them anywhere.

~

Ben asked if we could show it in the Cabaret coming up next Friday but Philippe said he’d prefer not to show anything from the Vaudeville workshop until the Vaudeville show at the end of term. So I’ll have to find something else for the Cabaret. I don’t have any real ideas - although I tried singing a little Barbershop tag today with Ben, Thomas and Duncan. “Welcome to the Caaab-aaa-reeeeeet!”

So that could be fun. But I’m thinking this time I might not present anything. I’m still pretty hectic with setting up life/apartment/French lessons and haven’t got much time to think of something. Let alone write and rehearse. Which is a problem, considering I’m here for school. But I figure in a few weeks I’ll be fully sorted and can then get right into the rhythm of it. Maybe I’ll offer to host the Cabaret. Then at least I’ll be able to contribute.

~

We worked on the cuckold scene in which Étienne accuses Antoinette of cheating on him at the Hotel Pussy Gallant again too.

“He is coming. Take your time: ‘I install my lying ceremony.’”

To play Étienne you have to be “pissed off, pissed off, pissed off! And ridiculous how you are pissed off. But not nasty.”

For Antoinette “you have to look here” [at the audience].

Mia really got it today. But played it in a much tougher way. “You saw what? Huh?”
And Lee was great at being mad-mad in a ridiculous way. He looked like a kettle about to explode. It showed me just how far you can go with a game (i.e. the game of playing pissed off e.g. how can I be pissed off with my ankles?) and how much fun you can have with it.

The Time To Be Innocent

Today we explored a scene in Act II of La Puce à L’Oreille between ‘Ferraillon’, an ex-military guy, and ‘Eugénie’, the house servant, a free, good-fun women who doesn’t really care about her job.

“We have to see the guy - he was a long time in the army.”

“And...I could touch her bottom [the servants] too.”

“He ordered people when he was a sergeant. But thirty years later it’s a bit ridiculous.”

A few of us had a go but nobody really got it. When I tried Philippe got me to have a less upperclass voice, and to be older. And to have the hots for the servant. But I couldn’t really make it fizz. That’s because, as Philippe said, I’m “better in a bourgeois way”. Lately Philippe has been talking about how actors play better in certain roles, and it’s the directors job to put actors in roles they play well in. So I’m not concerned that I’m not fantastic as the military guy. I am more free in the upperclass fool role.

~

Then a scene in Act III between ‘Antoinette’ and ‘Étienne’. Antoinette is cheating on Étienne but has been getting away with it for a while. But Étienne has just spotted her at the Hotel Casablanca and has rushed home to catch her out, but she gets home just before him! So the scene begins with Antoinette quickly taking off her cloak and setting the room up nicely and then she sits down calmly, as if always there, just before Étienne enters. When he does, he is sure of what he saw, and is ready to attack. But Antoinette plays it so cool and innocent that gradually Étienne comes to doubt what he saw and give it up.

“We have to see him furious: ‘YOU PLAY THIS GAME WITH ME!’ The more you play furious the more she plays ‘Sorry I don’t know what you mean.’”

Philippe mostly worked on the girls’ performances in this scene because essentially, it is Antoinette’s scene - it’s her response that the audience is interested in. He directed the girls to play it nice and slow, a very clear and different rhythm from Étienne, with lightness and joy. The pleasure of lying.

“You don’t take the time to be innocent...so it’s bad. You have to take the time to be innocent.”

~

Philippe also worked with Steph who was doing too much - underlining. He got her to repeat what she did physically, and tell us what she’s doing as she does it. “I entered, took off my coat, put it on the chair, then I walked over to this seat, and then I sat down.” Then Philippe asked the class, do we prefer what she did now, or what she did before? We preferred what she did now, because it was simple and clear.

“You have to do what we need to dream around you. You don’t do enough: you don’t exist. You do too much: we want to kill you.”

I love this. This is what makes this school different from other theatre schools. I think. And I love it.

Interviews of a Cuckold

Dancing with a partner. Wink to Philippe if you're bored with your partner. If you don't he'll call you on it anyway - and when he does, you must lie. "No I love dancing with my partner!" 

Later, when a couple dancing has good complicité Philippe will turn off the music and name a couple to improvise a vaudeville scene.

Sophia and I had a great scene together as a couple fighting about everything and anything. We had a good game and had fun playing with the idea that nether of us new what was happening, or what either of us were talking about.

Vicky and I had a scene as well, and I started off by setting the premise that we are together, away from our real partners, finally. Philippe got me to pretend I had an erection, and to move as if I was trying to hide it. I played around with my legs, crossing my crotch etc, but didn't find anything spectacular. 

~

Then we continued reading On Purge (Bébé). The couple fights more and more, and then an important man, Choullouix,  enters who has arrived to see the husband's invention of a porcelain potty for the war. The husband assures him that they never break, but they break in every test. It's very funny!

~

Then Philippe 'hot-seated' a few guys to see if we could find the best cuckolded guy.

So I've heard your wife is a great actor.

That's right. She's marvellous.

And she has a scene partner at the moment, right?

Yes. He's very good. They're both very good.

Oh that's great. Do they rehearse a lot?

Oh yeah! All the time. They're really dedicated.

Do they rehearse at your house?

Oh yes, most nights. They have a lot of work to do.

And do you ever watch rehearsals?

Oh no. I don't want to disturb them. Their work is very important.

I understand. So what do you do whilst they rehearse?

I usually cook for them. They're always very hungry after rehearsals.

"He has to be cuckoo happy. Not sad."

"Not too much energetic."

Cheating: "With a women it's a tragedy. For a man it's a comedy."

Bernard Blier was the 'best cuckolded guy' actor:

"You need a face. Naïvety is good for a cuckold."

Philippe said some actors don't have the face to play the cuckold. For Duncan, he's a seducer, not a Cuckold. Same with Thomas (of course).

Rudolf Valentino - 'The Latin Lover' - the first seducer in silent films:

Apparently 100,000 fans lined the streets in New York for his funeral, and some even committed suicide on his grave.

Philippe said Ben and I are good at playing the uptight upperclass characters, so we shouldn't try for the cuckold. Okay then!

Ural

Philippe proposed we do a scene from one of Feydeau’s one-act plays called On Purge Bébé (Take Your Medicine Like A Man) today. It opens with a upper middle-class man looking for the word ‘Ural’ in the dictionary. He’s told his son he knows what it means but that his son should search it himself before he tells him...so now he’s desperately trying to find the meaning...but he doesn’t know how to spell the word! There’s a short scene with a stupid house maid who can’t help him find the word, then his wife enters into his study and they both bicker and fight over how to spell the word (not with a ‘Y’ as in “Yural”, not with a ‘E’ as in “Eural”) and then bicker and fight over who really figured out the answer. 

“They love to fight.”

Philippe asked us if we know couples like this. I do - our American friends - when I got in their car in L.A. they bickered and fought all the way home along the highway about which was the fastest and easiest way home. The GPS assistant was pitching in too!

“Everything has to be a fight.”

I got up to read the text with Steph as the maid and Mia as the wife, and then we ended up doing the actual scene. At first I got killed for not having a theatre voice (too harsh - not royal enough) - I was also reminded that this is the kind of theatre in which actors are applauded when they first appear on stage. You have to speak to satisfy what the audience expects from you. We had a second go and we started to find our feet. We had a game - I belittled her here and there - she had a slow rhythm and I had a fast one... And then Philippe suggested we continue the scene with the wife, so Mia got up, and she immediately got it.

- Hello darling.
        - WHAT? WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME DARLING?
Because I love you, of course.
        - WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW?

“This is a guy who is tortured by his wife.”

We improvised for about twenty minutes! Finding different things to fight about. Most of the time the wife was dominant - as Philippe led me to be dominated. Trying to diffuse the situation. “Smile”. “Softer.” We had a great game going on. Anything I said, she would find a way to put me in the shit. And I could help by bringing up apologies or excuses with new topics to attack me about. “Like your mother, darling...”

It was really fun to play, and it felt great to be playing for that long. Lee said to me later it felt as if if we knew the rest of the play we could have just kept going (as after twenty minutes or so we kind of pittered out). There were a few moments where we fell a bit (one when I picked up the phone to call my mother - which didn’t work - too much of an idea I suppose), but we found ways to keep it up and had good complicité together.

Theatre voice. Fun. Rhythms. Opposites.

Perhaps Philippe let me go longer than he might have if I wasn’t the first to try - I don’t feel like I was brilliant at all - but I was close and over the past few days I’ve been getting closer to it. When I commit fully it works. I have to do this from the start, not after warming into it. Be loved from my first moment on stage. And Philippe said yes we could/should work on the scene. So great!

~

I also debuted my new costume today. I finally got one over the weekend. Dark grey suit, yellow shirt, orange tie, violet waistcoat, and moustache. It makes a big difference to feel good in what you are wearing. To welcome the audience properly.

‘Les Batons Merde’

We continued with the same scene from On Purge Bébé today with the fighting couple.

They have to be “happy to shout...happy to fight.”

Barbara had a go (speaking in Spanish) with Lee and they were close, but Barbara wasn’t big or loud enough. Philippe was asking for more - “louder” - and more, but it took her a while to realise how big she needed to go. She touched on it a bit, but held back from really going there. I had this experience a bit working with the students from Long Cloud back in Wellington. I would say “louder...ten times louder...fifty times louder!” and still they would hold back. I guess it’s scary to go that big, but in the theatre, sometimes it’s needed. For the scene today, when Barbara was really big and loud, it suddenly popped and worked. But when it wasn’t quite at the level it became boring.

“The French - they shout all the time.”

Ben and Sophia had a go and it was brilliant! Sophia came in right on the mark in terms of intensity and attitude. Loud. Emotional. Ready to fight. And Ben was there with her. It was hilarious! Great to see Sophia back on stage too - as she’s been on the bench for week one due to injury.

I then had another go with Christine as my wife...except I misunderstood and thought that Christine was going to play the maid...so Christine came out speaking only French, and I treated her like the maid. “How many times have I told you Rose, I don’t speak English.” And she says back to me in French: “I’m not the cleaner! I’m your wife you idiot!” It was very funny. We instantly had a good game. I was teaching her how to clean in very bad broken french, and she’s getting more and more frustrated. I’m yelling for my wife Elisabeth saying the cleaner’s gone mad again, and Christine is responding because I’m actually calling her name. Afterwards Philippe critiqued Christine about ‘negative energy’ but didn’t say anything about me. He did this earlier when I did a scene with Steph. I’m assuming it’s because I’m in the right zone, so I’ll keep exploring in this area. 

Afterwards Ben and I tried out our scene from La Puce à L’Oreille with text, which we had prepared over the last few days. But what we showed was frantic and messy. “It’s bad." It was. But I’m not upset about it. We got out the first panicky attempt, and in the process got some guidance on how to play the scene. I moved to move today - no fixed points - but I don’t need to do that. That’s Ben’s job - to be crazy. I need to play embarrassed and sensitive. In order to get this quality, Philippe got me pretend to hold ‘Les Batons Merde’ - a French saying for ‘shit sticks’. I didn’t know what the hell he was on about but I went with it anyway. In hindsight, I think this describes how sensitive and careful you have to be when you try to pick up and transport dog shit with sticks. So anyway - I’m pretending to do that, which makes my body all squirmish, tense and delicate, and Philippe got me to slowly say my text, sobbing at one point. It wasn’t fantastic, but it made it clear that to play embarrassed clearly I have to go in that direction. So I’ll hopefully try that tomorrow.

J. Edgar

On Saturday night Amanda and I saw J. Edgar - Clint Eastwood’s new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. 

I highly recommend it. Eastwood is a great director (I’ve decided after seeing Gran Torino and). His films are simple and clear. Good honest storytelling. It’s as if over all the years he’s been in the film business he’s mastered what is important and what is extraneous. As Amanda said, he knows when all the audience needs to see is a grimace and a grunt (rather than text for example).

Español

We worked with the spanish character Hernando Histangua today.

First, an improvisation of the scene in which Histangua tries to get insurance from Chandebise, but language troubles get the better of them and Histangua gets furious because he refuses to allow his wife to do a urine test.

"Always the spanish is nervous, but funny."

I tried Chandebise with Duncan as Histangua, but I was falling into the spanish rhythm. I need to play slow and cool, and Histangua, crazy and fast. But we didn't get it rolling.

Neither did anyone else! So Philippe changed the exercise to be a Spanish audition. Five people at a time, dancing to music, and when the music goes down whoever wants to have a scene goes. I went round the back and quickly put a little costume on - long blonde hair, cowboy hat, aviator glasses and a long wooden pole. I looked stupid, but it was fun. My performance was pushed and I couldn’t find a good voice (I don’t know a spanish accent! Aaron Cortési would have been great!) but I gave some spirit at least!

“If you have a good fun with your voice you give a good humour to your character.”

At the end of class Ben asked whether there are people that we can and can’t play with and what to do if your stuck with them (e.g. in a professional production).

“There are people you can’t play with.”

For the Director: “When you do the casting it’s to know if these two people can play together.”

For the Actor: “Your role is to be loved by the audience. I have to be loved by the audience, there’s no other choice.”

End of week one. It’s gone slow and fast. This weekend I’m going to find a good costume finally (with French classes and apartment set-up every morning I haven’t had enough time), read La Puce à L’oreille and learn my lines to continue to work on the Chandebise/Finache scene with Ben. Olé!

“Gossip & My Dick”

Today we continued with the scene of the two women gossiping, and we did the scene between Chandebise and Finache (doctor) about Chandebise’s erectile problems. “We have to see the actor have the fun to say “no erection anymore”.”

I tried gossiping as a woman with Thomas. We weren’t getting it, so every time it fell Philippe would play music and we would dance (to regain complicité and fun). We never really got the gossiping quality, but we had a bit of a game together and we had fun.

~ 

Later I tried the erection scene with Ben, and it was fantastic! It was a bit shaky at first, but soon Ben started being a little crazy to save the show, and I went with him, and before we knew it the scene turned ridiculous with us running around the room, giving each other medical examinations, swapping jackets, lifting chairs above our heads, asking about each others’ wives and so on. We had great complicité, good fun, and a good game between us. “Game is good. Complicité is good. Fun is good.”

Philippe said the scene went off topic (I didn’t keep on the subject of the erection enough) but it was good - “Good madness.” - and we could/should do the scene in this way - with the text. He also said that in a game you can’t copy your friend. You have to do something different. i.e. If he has a speech problem, I can’t have one too. “I have my madness - you have your madness - and we go!”

I feel really good about the work I did today. I know there are more things to work on (of course) but for me it was a good step to have pleasure and a game. And it’s great to work with Ben - he gives a lot and commits completely - so I feel safe with him and am happy to follow. He said to me that yesterday when I tried the Camille speech-problem scene with Mia I was close but didn’t completely commit - I held back a bit - and so it didn’t quite work. And I know this. So I need to start committing completely to what I do on stage - otherwise I’ll never know how far I can go.

~

“In France, you are a great actor if you played Feydeau.”

“An actor - his job is not to be deep like the play. An actor has to have fun to give life to someone. And after, the director organises...”

My job as an actor is “to have fun to resuscitate the shadow of my character.”

Everybody in the theatre has different jobs: “You don’t have to carry the weight of the play on your shoulder.”

~

In La Cage aux Folles the actors are absurd.

~

Charles and Akron tried the gossip scene as women, and it was bad several times, but as Philippe started to kill them Charles got into a great zone - “don’t listen to that old man”  - and then this hilarious scene evolved in which Charles was coaching Akron on how to become a ‘strong, powerful woman.’ “Repeat after me: I am strong. I am powerful. I am a woman.” 

And there was this fantastic moment in which Charles got Akron to put this plastic bouquet of flowers into a glass ‘like a strong, powerful woman’...but every time Akron would do this the glass would fall over, Akron would cry, and Charles would be in the shit. It was brilliant.

"A Good Madness For Vaudeville"

I had a better day today. After writing my blog yesterday I was able to get my thoughts and fears out of my head and I approached class with a much more productive attitude.

Also had a fun start to class with ‘Samuel Says’ in which I mocked Philippe in my response to being asked for a kiss (just before me, Philippe had semi-choked on his water as he answered, so I did this too) and I was ‘punished’ because of it. 

~

The first exercise we did today was an improvisation of the scene between Camille & Lucienne in A Flea In Her Ear. I played Camille, who can’t speak properly as he is missing the roof of his mouth, and Mia played Lucienne, in this scene discovers this odd speaking man that she doesn’t understand. 

“You have to be happy. You want to say something but nothing happens.”

We tried a few times, but it wasn’t working. Well, it wasn’t funny, and it was boring. I was trying to look for a game with Mia (something he had reminded me of before starting) but didn’t find one! For our last try Philippe got us to do it in the style of Japanese Noh Theatre, I guess for us to be a bit silly and to have some fun, but it didn’t work either. I feel like I’m hiding a bit from the audience - not fully committing - which I need to change. I feel that feeling a lot at this school.

Ben and Barbara also tried this scene and it wasn’t working, but Ben saved the show many times by having this mad crisis every time he saw Philippe’s drum stick rise. “A good madness for Vaudeville...you were not mad alone...[You were] mad in the timing of the game.” But not the exercise at all. Ha!

~

“At this time [of Vaudeville] the women were more idiot than the men. But today, no!”

~

We also did a scene between Lucienne and Raymonde. “Two women gossiping with the pleasure of gossiping.” There were a few attempts but nothing that really worked. It seems so easy, but with fear and other factors, it’s not.

~

Philippe spoke about the importance of keeping our costumes clean and crisp again today. “When you are not proud in your costume it’s the beginning of the end.”

“Your costume does exist and it is a big part of the show.”

“Too Much Idea, Not Enough Game.”

Did I say it’s good to be back? Hmmm...

It’s funny because after one bad day I’ve swung into a mini crisis. It’s ridiculous. Especially after writing what I wrote a few days ago. I think right now I just feel embarrassed and bare again, which I haven’t felt for a while, so it’s a bit of a shock. I am here for a year of this...so I better get used to it!

~

Today we started by dancing with a partner, and when the music goes down a pair improvises a scene of a jealous rant in the style of Broadway Musicals (when they don’t sing). I was with Steph. Philippe killed me for my voice. It needs to be warmer. Not my voice - but a voice for the theatre. “And you play too much.”

~

We then did a scene between a couple that had been happy together for twelve years. But the man recently met another women, who is boring...but very rich, and he’s decided to marry her...tonight! And in the scene he has to break up with his current girlfriend...but she won’t accept.

Everybody had a go and most of us got a few attempts as we have the luxury of time with a smaller group. Philippe helped us out a bit too. Because we were making mistakes that led to a lack of drama. e.g. He says “sit down” - don’t sit down! If he says “it’s over” - laugh and say “oh you’re so funny.” “It’s good to put him in the shit.”

There were a few very funny scenes. In a scene with Thomas and Barbara (from Mexico) it was great because whilst Thomas was still and clearly looking distraught, Barbara was dancing and chanting all over the place. “It’s good to be opposite.”

And in a scene between Mia and Duncan (dude from Canada) they started dancing in order to express their feelings, and Duncan had all these pushing away and neck slashing gestures. It was hilarious! “You have to play together and little by little you discover the game.”

~

www.ina.fr is a good site to watch videos of Vaudeville productions.

Vaudeville is not played in a big theatre for the masses. It’s played to an audience of fifty rich people.

“Beautiful women...they sell tickets.”

“The text is not to explain the situation. It’s to give life. Fantasy. Fun.”

“If you don’t have a game with anyone you cannot speak.”

~

I went up towards the end and Vicky was my partner. I was quite nervous by this point and beforehand couldn’t help but calculate a bit in my head. We danced with our partner with music before the scene started, and I couldn’t get complicité with Vicky. I was stiff and blocked. I wasn’t having fun. Then the scene was loud and heavy on my behalf, and I was playing by myself. “Does he underline with a red marker?” Yes. We had another go and again I wasn’t much better. “Does he break your balls?”

I just couldn’t shake out of it and have more fun. I’m not sure that I wanted it to much. I think I thought I could do it all myself. Which is wrong! It’s unlikeable. 

“Too much idea, not enough game.”

I really took this particular bad moment to heart, which I’m surprised by. It’s continued affecting me into the next day. I felt embarrassed, frustrated, and disappointed essentially - because I knew I could be better, and I felt like I let down Vicky, and I felt like the whole class was judging me (which is not really the case). I’m sure I’ve experienced this before! It was a shock though. I’d forgotten just how crap you can feel. A bruised ego. But looking at what I’m writing now, and after speaking with Amanda, and taking into consideration what I saw in my friends via Skype whilst I was away...it’s nothing. A bruised ego? So I was bad? So what! It’s a pathway to learning. You have to fall before you can stand. And it’s the second day of the workshop. It’s as simple as that, and I need to remember it.