"When It's Perfect..."

Presentation week has begun...and it’s going to be never-ending! We have class on Saturday (because Philippe can’t make it to school next Tuesday) and Sunday (for a tech rehearsal of the show), and then a week of performances. People are rehearsing madly before class, and we’re all booking each other in for group rehearsals.

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Mia presented a monologue from La Compote in French. Philippe worked with her for a long time trying many different things. He led her to be more intimate and with the audience. But also to have dynamic rhythms that keep us interested.

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André and Sophia presented a scene from No Son of Mine in which God and the Holy spirit bitch about Jesus and conspire to have him killed. Sophia played God by imitating Margaret Thatcher, and André played a gay American ass-licker. Philippe led Sophia to be more in a bad mood and suggested André play more of a slimy door-to-door salesman. 

He said the characters need to have a good connection together because “they are good friends” and that their scene is “possible, but the rhythm is not yet good.”

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Charles, Mark and Sophia presented a short scene criticising how the world deals with old people these days by throwing them into care homes. Charles, dressed like a tramp, played an man in a rubbish bin. Mark, dressed as a transvestite, played a Spanish maid (brilliant). And Sophia, dressed as a tramp, played Charles’ not-caring daughter. The scene involved the maid preparing Charles for a visit by his daughter, which was quick and shallow, and then it ended with the maid putting a big log on top of the bin to prevent Charles from getting out. It was short - “it’s quick” - but we loved them. Philippe said we could have a bit more and got them the maid and daughter to sing a song at the end. They sang When I’m Sixty Four . 

It worked really nicely, especially when we could hear Charles trying to sing along inside the bin.

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Akron and Yuichi presented an absolutely bizarre scene in which Akron played a prime minister talking about how boring his days were and Yuichi served him tea. Philippe said “I am not against...what you do is a bit bizarre...but I don’t say no...But you have to know you are bizarre...Both of you.”

“For a moment without meaning in the show...why not?”

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Mia and Vicky also presented a number in which Vicky came out pushing Mia (dressed a bit like a baby) in a trolley. Vicky spoke in Swiss German about good parenting (or something like this) whilst hitting Mia on the head. They had a great effect where they made it sound like Mia’s head was really banging against the metal of the trolley. Then afterwards the scene changed and Vicky kind of became a priest and fed Mia bread and wine whilst Mia spoke about things she won’t do in her life because of the Bible.

Philippe said “I didn’t understand...[but] it’s not horrible.”

He talked about how in their scene there were two things: when Vicky hits Mia, and when Vicky feeds Mia, and that they needed to make them clearer.

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Nothing was given the ‘yes’ to be in the show today. Instead Philippe kept saying people should continue working on their scene and to present “when it’s perfect.” Yikes!