ARS Days 20-22

Let's see what I can remember about Tuesday and Wednesday...

Tuesday, January 21

And so, we begin Timon of Athens rehearsals in earnest. René (playing Timon) created a schedule for the entire rehearsal period--with the hope that we can at least work on the entire show twice before our first dress rehearsal next Wednesday. (This is similar to what we did with Servant). HOWEVER, he has not done it in order of scenes. The first day was a hodgepodge of working out of sequence. I'm sure this is just like television/film work. My first scene was a biggie, and Flavius has to weep. Oy...it's a tough one for many reasons (but oh, so cool). The rest of the day was a mix of hunting down costume possibilities, tinkering with music, and staging more scenes.

Wednesday, January 22

It was banquet day for the troupe. Timon holds two big parties in the play. The first has a lot of moving parts. The troupe is in and out of doors. Most folks are playing two characters in the first couple scenes. A large table with chairs and drinks are needed. There's even masque! It took a lot of time to figure it all out.  After lunch, we moved to the "water" banquet, which is much sparser and less complicated (but it still involves a long table and stools). Choreographing all of the furniture movement is always a trick. It became immediately apparent to all of us that Timon is a show that could thrive on having a larger cast (even just three more people). The doubling is fun and a great challenge, but it can be extremely restricting for a show like this. On the flip side, without that luxury, it does hone our options and we make do with what we've got and still serving up a powerful story.

Thursday, January 23

We were supposed to have an As You Like It student matinee this morning, but it was canceled (it's FREEZING, and there was a big ol' snowfall on Tuesday, covering Staunton in snow and ice. So we got an extra four hours of rehearsal. We determined it would be best to work through the first half in sequence to get a feel for how all the scenes flow together. This was an immense gift. Otherwise, it would have been a week before we touched on those scenes again.  We had some extra time at the end of the block, so we also incorporated water into the second banquet. The banquet guests got into t-shirts they didn't mind getting wet. Greg brought up a stack of towels from the costume shop, and René went on his water rampage. It was pretty stellar. I'll say no more--you'll have to see it for yourself.

The afternoon was devoted to Timon at the cave. There is one long scene (close to 500 lines) where different folks visit Timon outside the walls of Athens. René had some great ideas about the "scenery" and transforming the Blackfriars stage into a wilderness. There are tons of props that Timon uses (including rocks to throw at Apemantus).

Meanwhile, downstairs in Tyson, some of the women worked up their "cupid dance/bacchanal" with some of the gents for the first banquet. I'm providing some bongo drumming, Andrew's on the spoons, and our star ASM/intern/violinist extraordinaire, Clare, is playing a great Romanian (I believe) folk tune to accompany.

I had some time off to go costume hunting. I'm trying to find something that says "steward" within the world that René has suggested (think Capitol City in The Hunger Games). After some trial and error, I've come up with something conservative that's a little "out there." Flavius is in the serving class, but he's top tier in Timon's estate, so there has to be a kind of reserved opulence involved in the clothes. It's like the downstairs crew in Downton Abbey. The footmen, valets, and butlers are impeccably dressed in black and white. I think my Paris suit from Romeo and Juliet will be incorporated (probably not the jacket). It's sleek. I still need to figure out something for my little messenger guy in the first scene, but I've got six days to drum up something. I also managed to find a great doublet/pants combo for Epicene. The fit and color are fantastic.

Then, René and I worked on our final meeting at the cave. I'm the last visitor to appear in that scene, and I think it's quite touching. Flavius manages to get Timon out of his funk (briefly, anyway). For only running it a couple times, I'd say it's in great shape.

All in all, I think the stress of the season is starting to creep in, but the troupe powered through a giant day of work. Tomorrow, we're having put-in rehearsals for Symmonie (John's going out of town for a couple days for a wedding) and Timon music. Then we've got an As You Like It performance to begin the weekend's rotation. It seems like it's been months since we've touched on Servant, but I'm sure we'll get back into the groove quickly enough.