“It Takes Time To Explode.”

Sometimes I think I must be bipolar. Because my moods can swing quite drastically. Today, unlike yesterday, was a better day both for me as an actor, and for the productivity of the class. Thankfully.

~

Lee and Thomas re-presented their Hotel Pussy Gallant scene, with Lee playing gay and Thomas in drag.

“If I tell you we will never see this scene again...are you happy?”

Philippe cut this scene for good. It’s not going to be in the show, and he doesn’t want to see them do it again. He said from now on he’s going to be doing that leading up to the show.

~

Barbara and Christine also re-presented the scene between mother and daughter they had worked a bit on a while ago. But it was bad this time. Empty. “Now they do it mechanically and we don’t see the fun.”

“If we see the actor doesn’t have fun, everyone in the house enters in a deep coma.”

I challenged Philippe a bit (after feeling frustrated by how his killings block and obstruct rather than guide) saying if they had a director it might work. Because I could see some things that I would change. But Philippe didn’t want to hear it. “If! If! If my aunty had balls she’d be my uncle.” 

“Did you see them beautiful? Did you see them having fun? No. No.”

I can see Philippe’s point of view here though. There aren’t a few small things that are stopping the scene from working. There are many quite big things. So perhaps it’s not worth it.

Philippe then worked a bit with Barbara getting her to be tall and beautiful (she needs to start remembering to do this, because when she is reminded she can do it!) and with Christine. He asked her about how she is when she Skypes with André. Does she put makeup on? Christine was difficult and wasn’t seeing where he was trying to go with her. Blocking. She was afraid and not thinking straight I suppose. I ended up playing André (doing a bad Australian accent) having a Skype conversation with Christine. We spoke in an intimate way, and when she was in a good zone Philippe got her to change to the Vaudeville text. Here she was more human. With sensitivity and tenderness. He told her “you have to do something” because at the moment she’s stiff like a deer in front of headlights when she’s on stage.

~

Thomas and Vicky wanted to present a Bouzin scene, but their Bouzin, Akron, had disappeared from class in a rush just before we started. It was a bit shocking, but Philippe said that “it’s good”, and that “it’s not negative...it’s positive.”

“When you start to realise ‘Merde, I don’t give anything’, it’s good.”

“It takes time to explode.”

Philippe went on to say it’s also smart, when you do something good, to not ruin it by going again and potentially flopping. It’s good to go home with the pleasure of “I have given something.” I told him that when I was bad as Camille yesterday I already knew I was bad, but through Philippe’s killings it made it worse and I crumbled inside which made it much harder to find anything in that moment. Whereas I felt like if he hadn’t killed me so badly and instead helped me find another way I might have indeed discovered something. He kind of dismissed the nicer option. It’s generally not how he works. He said killing is good because in three days I could be sitting on the train grumbling to myself about my nasty teacher, and through that struggle I might discover something good. 

For the scene without Akron, I offered to read his part. So we did the scene, but me with script in hand. I quickly thought before going on, ‘what should I do?’ to play this strange character. And I decided in the moment to imitate what Akron has been doing. Because the way Akron performs is very distinct and his rhythms and voice are very recognisable. It was funny, and I had fun, and the scene worked. At the end, Philippe said “Guy, you are nasty” because I mock Akron, but he said I do it with good humour. But Akron doesn’t mock himself. But he should. Philippe said that if Akron did mock himself, with his face and  body, he could be a genius.

~

Mike presented a monologue from Jail Bird of a character who in the play get’s mistaken for a crazy murderer (I think), because the cops have been told to look for an absolutely idiotic guy...but he’s not actually the guy...he’s just an idiot! 

What Mike offered at first was boring. Philippe then encouraged Mike to show his true idiotic self (as he is known as the biggest idiot of the class). He asked Mike what his girlfriend’s (Marie from first year) parents think of him. Which suggested that the father thinks he’s an idiot. He got Mike to shout loudly in a pissed off way “I’m not an idiot!” and explain to us why he’s not. Which was very funny. He told us about how he was a debating champion at high school, and that he did a 70 page thesis on beer at university - to which Philippe said that it’s clear that he’s an “idiot and wanker”. Then in this way, Mike did the text, and it came alive quite nicely.

Philippe then got Mike to sit still on a chair with a scarf tied around his face with a bow on top like an easter egg, and to speak quietly, with a lisp, and a little laugh. This worked too. It wasn’t as exciting, but it was interesting, and he had good fixed point and energy. Philippe tweaked it slightly so that Mike played slighty Paranoiac: “I will kill them. You will see.”

Finally he got Mike to do the text in the rhythm of an ice-hockey commentator, which was great. “This rhythm is not bad, and you have good fun.”

~

I felt better today because I’d blown off some steam, because re-entering class I realise that Philippe isn’t this bad guy - he just teaches this way for a reason, and because people were working today. I’ve felt lately like people in the class haven’t been as serious about studying theatre here as I have been, that they’re here more for a good time than to learn, but today there were more people working and that feeling went away. A bit. There was a party tonight which I didn’t go to, partly because it was in Étampes and I didn’t want a late night with the long train, but also because in a way I don’t feel like I want to party with many people in my class. I’m angry with them. I wish instead of partying they would prepare some work! But that’s their choice. But I think in a way this frustrating issue is going to disappear now because we only have a week to go until our show-week starts. So that will give people the drive I wish we’d had all the way through.