"If You Go Over The Top You Will Discover Something."

Instead of Movement today we had Auto-Course. Basically the class has been split in half, with alternating days of Movement (Acrobatics with an adorable French teacher called Claude who doesn't speak much English and is a bit embarrassed about it), and Auto-Course where we work independently with the aim to make something to present on Fridays. This week I'm working with Rocio. The given story is about a poor woman who cant pay her bills, and the nasty Bailiff who takes advantage of her. Class is a half hour shorter than it has been for a while, and we now have Philippe five days a week. Great!

~

Class started with a different spin on Samuel Says. We have to do it in the style of Mélodrama, and we can play lawyers to try and stop Philippe from punishing people if they don't get a kiss. Lots of fun. To be big and bold and over the top!

~

We played The Bailiff today. We had to shout from offstage "I AM THE BAILIFF!!!" and then enter on stage being all nasty and powerful and say "I'VE COME TO TAKE YOUR FURNITURE!!!"

• For The Bailiff, the audience has to shout "ooooooh!" 
• Always play to make the 5th gallery reactive. 
• Play tall and nasty - enjoy how much the audience hates you (but know its game and you'll be drinking with them and having a laugh after the show). 
• Pitch up the voice at the end of sentences - "You have to throw the voice if you want to receive Oooohs."

When I had a go I really went for it (technically I can do this stuff) and got a great big Oooooh! "A bit less loud...not too bad...you are selected."

It was really fun being in the audience too. Boo! Ooooh!

~

We then played a mine worker walking home after a long hard day at work. We had to walk slow and speak to our children. "Nicole...Daddy's coming home...he's very tired...but he hasn't had a drink today...isn't that good love?" The key here is having fun to speak against the rhythm of the walk. And loud shoes helps a lot with this...

"The sound of the shoes is really important. It gives a rhythm and let's us know where you are."

"You have to find good shoes. Without good shoes you will miss a lot of Mélodrama."

Philippe also mentioned the use of crescendo and decrescendo in this style. I tried this out when I had a go, but pushed a bit much in the crescendo. "Not a lovable dad."

Often people would get the feedback "not enough actor". For this, when there is too much character, Philippe gets us to think of Monsieur Dumas and his school. And when we are boring and lacking pleasure he gets us to think of having sex with Nicole or François behind that rock...

In Mélodrama the poor people are beautiful and the rich are nasty.

"We have to love you as a wonderful generous human being."

"You have to give a lot...A lot of feeling."

"If you go over the top you will discover something."

~

Movement and voice needs to be over the top because the theatre is cheap and doesn't have spotlights - it has candles - so we need to understand from the shadows.

~

Had some friends over tonight to watch Les Enfants du Paradis - a film Philippe described as wonderful and useful for Mélodrama.

It's long and I was tired so I didn't exactly take it all in, but the fun of the characters - and how dramatic and large they are - was clear. Really cool.