The great thing is that we get 5 previews and are able to rehearse in between. As our director said yesterday: “Everything we do is 50%, the other 50 is the audience.” She also informed us to “breathe with the audience.”
We had about 20-some people for the first ever preview. It was great to have them there. They were hesitant to laugh (we’re not quite sure how funny this show is). Afterwards, I chatted with a couple and one guy said that this reminded him of a Coen brothers film. I thought that was extremely appropriate.
Here are some other fun quotes. I’m not sure how well these translate on a blog post, but here we go:
• Director to the cast: “There’s no reason to be nice to each other…let it be the most dysfunctional family in 2010…it’s not a comedy of manners.”
• Director: “Is it time? Should we be acting?” (We had been on break for a while)
• Jeffrey Hatcher, who wrote the adaptation of this script: “I think Foldal should enter holding his severed foot.” (He’s describing a character whose foot is run over by a sleigh and comes limping on stage.)
- Director: I just messed this up.
(The director had moved a chair onstage to explain some blocking. It moved off its spot, which had yet to be marked with spike tape)
• “We’ll just work through the show—I’ve got a list that could choke a horse.”
(The director met with the cast after the first preview performance the next day for rehearsal)
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A major note I received from our second preview is this tendency to move during funny lines. This distracts the clarity of the humor; it pulls focus and the joke is lost. I should know better right now, but it's been difficult to ascertain which lines are actually funny. Now that we have preview audiences, we're getting more accustomed to the laughing bits. I shall be still from now on!
I've also had a fun challenge of acting with both a hat (a back military-type thing) and some black gloves. The show takes place in the winter in Norway, so things are cold (duh). There's some precision with these accessories that cannot be taken lightly. The last thing you want is a whole bunch of glove lazzi when you're trying to tell your mother off on an exit.
A lot of the work that I'm doing with this show has been an exercise in clarity and focus. We've been working a lot of details that make all the difference in the world. Until now it's been a bit dodgy and inconsistent from my perspective, but I get the sense that I'm starting to lock in the character. The director says my performance has been growing steadily. The self-consciousness is slipping away, thank goodness.
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