This week for Auto-Course I worked in a large group consisting of Andre, Maria, Catarina, Claire de Canada, Claire de France, Vicky, Christine and me. Andre directed. We made a mélodrama of the horrible story that was in the news earlier in the week about Iman al-Obeidi, a woman who rushed into a press conference in Libya and announced to the world (via journalists) that she had been stopped at a checkpoint and, after refusing a medical examination, was raped and beaten by 15 men.
Our story highlighted the relationship between the woman, the Libyan government, and the media. It started with a checkpoint where we see the woman harassed and then taken away; Then we see a press release that it is interrupted by the woman, and the Libyan government rip her out of the hands of the media and take her away; We then see a woman in jail, who has suffered a similar fate as the woman of our story, and Iman al-Obeidi being put in jail with her; Then there is a press release to the media announcing that the woman is a drunk and suffering mentally, that she is a prostitute and "this is her line of work", and that because she refuses to undergo a medical examination the rape cannot be proven; Then we see Iman al-Obeidi (now alone in jail, the other woman was taken away with a scream) confronted by the Libyan government representative who tells her that if she mentions the incident at the checkpoint again her family will be killed; Finally, we see the same government representative announcing to the media that the woman has been released to her family in Tripoli and is safe, happy, and asks that her privacy is respected. Meanwhile, on the other side of the stage, we see that this is a complete lie...
I loved working on this story because it's real - happening right now. In terms of translating it to the stage, we didn't have to do much - the events already offered a well structured story. We stretched some truths, condensed characters, and filled in some holes in the story with what we think could be happening, in order to tell a complete story.
In rehearsing it, we worked at it bit by bit, and sometimes I would go off with the journalists (who had their own scenes reporting to the media as transitions, as interacting with me - the Libyan representative) and put something together to show Andre whilst he worked on other bits. We worked pretty well together considering the circumstances (little time, 8 people) and I was really really happy with what we came up with at the end.
In the actual performance of it, I was unsure how we it was going to go down with Philippe and the audience. People laughed a bit ("I've been raped!" was a line people thought was funny...) but not much, when I had my 'nasty' bailiff-type lines I didn't get any boos, and people seemed to be shifting on their seats a bit. All signs to me that our showing was boring, and we were going to be killed at the end. Philippe let us finish (he let everyone finish today (probably because there were only 5 groups, or, less likely, because it was many people's last day today) and then surprisingly he said "Me...I like it." He said it was very clever, that it's not easy to work with 8 people, and that the actors were pleasant. "Good."
He said he'd seen the story in the news himself, which helped us I think. Our piece was 'clever' because we told it in an efficient and interesting way. We had cool moments where the news reporters over-lapped each other to give the effect of media bursting throughout the world (the reports were also in different languages) too. I spoke to a few others about it after class and one person said it was a step away from what is usually done at the school (such as our overlapping TV presenters and the physical-theatre-esque nature of the presenters and government representative) but it worked. People liked it - we got really good feedback. We moved people. (Although I suspect that if Philippe had said it was bad, we might not have got this same feedback...)
But great! What a fantastic way to finish the workshop/term. Our piece wasn't amazing - but holistically we had made a good piece of theatre. I found the process this week to be particularly inspiring. Andre and I were dreaming about how we could do something like this every week. A weekly Mélodrama from the world news. Imagine - if you had a company of 6-8 actors, a designer, and a director - and you worked for 5 days on it (we had 9 hours to come up with what we made), and then showed Friday/Saturday...it could be fantastic!
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"A bad actor can be a funny clown." Rodrigo was playing 'the nasty' in his scene, but it was ridiculous. He was trying hard, and he's not a bad actor at all, but he wasn't suited to the style or character. Afterwards Philippe got Rodrigo to repeat exactly the same dramatic moment he'd done, but this time with a red nose on, and it was hilarious!
The last group, directed by Daniele, did a spin on last year's Chilean Mining disaster...
...which was HILARIOUS! We were rolling on the floor laughing. It was funny because it felt like we were watching a bad soap-opera, or a piece of awful but earnest amateur theatre. This is the risk you take when working 'over-the-top' I suppose. "The do a shit...But top level shit." Such a fun way to end the term!
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Things I learnt from Mélodrama:
- People of Paris - play for them, because you love them
- Pretend to be poor - pathetic, desperate, sensitive
- Be an actor from Monsieur Dumas' school - big voice, walk in half circles, big gestures, fixed point, be beautiful
- Exaggerate - how over-the-top can we go?
- Make us cry - it's Mélodrama.
I also got reminded of how much I like larger-than-life stuff. Grand. Mélodrama for me was a hint to how to translate the domestic (potentially small and boring) to the stage (big and beautiful).
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I also did the lighting for the second year's Bouffon showing, which I've been doing throughout the week. Just like with Clown, before I'd seen the showing I didn't think I was interested in it. But I am super interested in Bouffon. It can be so clever. Very entertaining yet very political. Definitely an area of interest for my drunken Captain Cook character.
"Can I get a hallelujah?" My favourite was Hannah's preacher at the end of the show. The character she played said the most racist, sexist, homophobic and totally discriminative things, but she gets away with it and we love her for it. And through her, we're laughing/crying at a much deeper truth.
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Sad to say goodbye to some great class mates today, who we've been with us from the start.
Brette, Claire de Canada, Catarina, Mike (Australia) and Emma.
Gonna miss them all!...except for one...
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