- A season of five Early Modern plays in repertory (think Shakespeare and his contemporaries)
- Each play also includes pre-show and interlude music, performed by the troupe
- Each actor chooses his/her own costumes
- Each play has roughly two days to rehearse
- There's no director
So....yeah that's my next contract: the 2014 Actors' Renaissance Season. I thought it'd may be of some interest to three of you. If nothing else, I want more responsibility on my plate. I also need a break from learning lines and playing Candy Crush.
THE PLAYS
As You Like It - Shakespeare (playing Adam, Martext, William, a Page, and Hymen)
The Servant of Two Masters - Carlo Goldoni (playing the First Waiter)
Timon of Athens - Shakespeare (playing Flavius and the occasional Messenger/Attendant)
Epicene, or The Silent Woman - Ben Jonson (playing the loquacious Truewit)
The Maid's Tragedy - Beaumont & Fletcher (playing Diphilus and Night)
THE STRATEGY
I've got my lines for As You Like It memorized. I think my next move is to learn a couple Timon scenes, then learn a couple Epicene scenes (which is the largest line load I've had in a long time). Lather, rinse, repeat. I do have some Epicene scenes learned already.
When I want a break from that, I'll probably work out some melodies for the songs in AYLI.
I'm not even thinking about The Maid's Tragedy right now. It's the last play and the line load is very manageable.
Somewhere in there, I can't forget about Servant. I don't have a large part, but I am the head waiter for the big restaurant scene. Cues and props galore! This is also the second play.
(are you dizzy yet?)
I've recorded my scenes for AYLI and Timon, leaving room for me to speak my lines. I've put all the scenes/tracks on my iTunes, which will also get on my iPod. I'm also chipping away at recording the scenes for Epicene.
I've made line flashcards for AYLI and Servant. I don't think I'll be doing that for Timon or Epicene. The flashcard thing works with heavy dialogue scenes--speeches, not so much. We'll see.
Every actor has received cue scripts for their roles in each play. It's a document with a few words before our entrances, blocking, and lines. The scripts don't even tell you who is speaking the cue before. You gotta listen. We do have the full cut provided, just not in hard-copy form. For Epicene, I've made a document of the full text of every scene I'm in. I printed it out and had it bound at Staples for $11. It's a great investment. I will continue to spiral bind every script I get from here on out (especially those fat Arden editions of Shakespeare plays).
I'm grateful that AYLI is the first play we're doing; I've been in that before. Although I am terrified of tracking down five costumes for that.
So, my "strategy" isn't as systematic as I would like it to be. But I'm feeling okay about things--at the moment. I'm going to work on some Flavius speeches now.
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For more information on the Actors' Renaissance Seasons at the ASC, there are some useful blog entries here.
