So Pseudolus. Rosy isn't for sale anymore, and Calidorus is over joyed! So much so that he claims the Pimp is Jupiter! And to think I just got used to seeing Zeus's name pop up everywhere. But then of course comes in the twist, Rosy is already sold off. Which we knew already, so I don't see how Calidorus didn't know that. Then there is this beautiful moment of Pseudolus and Calidorus just insulting Ballio over and over, and he just accepts everyone. Like "You're a horrible person" "It seems so". I thought that was really great. The irony and the sarcastic comedic moments in this play are insanely good!
Pg-100
Today we had Francesca's workshop. I got a lot of good notes, and I started writing down questions they would ask actors, and I started picking up how to communicate with actors. I also picked up some things to look at specifically. Besides if the actor is believable, you have to look at physicality, voice, their surroundings, and that all factors in to the truthfulness of the performance. Its so much to think about, and I'm terrified for senior showcase now, because I'm going to have to do that. I'm going to have to direct Kelsey and John and make the show look and sound good and all this stuff, and its crazy that that show is only half a year away. I'm getting old.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Monday's Post - Creativity!
Beginning Pseudolus. I'm guessing this is a Roman play, since we finished all the Greek plays from the Norton.
First off, I kind of love the prologue. Any self deprecation by a play write is hilarious to me.
Secondly, I like Pseudolus the character a lot. He's actually funny! There is a great sense of sarcasm and poking fun at Calidorus who is like a Romeo-esq character. He mopes around over love and this prostitute girl. But their relationship is funny from the start. they're just guys. They joke around when one shows "feelings" and its really funny to read.
Then you're introduced to the pimp Ballio, who, judging by his song, is not a very nice guy. He threatens these poor boys and whips them. But his threats we're a bit laughable, just because they were so outrageous and I kept imagining them being sang-musical theatre bad guy style-and it made them sound a little silly. Even when he moves on to the girls its the same tough guy routine. "i will boil you in oil if all your "lovers" don't bring me a present", I just keep picturing him in a vampire like cape with gelled back hair, or like some Italian mobster or even as a bit of an evil pirate captain. Either way I'm liking the beginning of Pseudolus.
Pg-100
Today I came in late, but I caught the end of Rebecca's independent activity. We then started creative collaboration exercises using movement and eventually sound. I love these exercises. Absolutely and completely love them. I think I'm doing very well, I'm catching on to adding to movement pieces and I really like starting new creative pieces. I like to see how people take my movement and use it to influence theirs. It may not be what I thought they would do, but it's always interesting to see. And that's part of the fun, you don't know what's going to come out of anything you do. I'm excited to continue these exercises.
First off, I kind of love the prologue. Any self deprecation by a play write is hilarious to me.
Secondly, I like Pseudolus the character a lot. He's actually funny! There is a great sense of sarcasm and poking fun at Calidorus who is like a Romeo-esq character. He mopes around over love and this prostitute girl. But their relationship is funny from the start. they're just guys. They joke around when one shows "feelings" and its really funny to read.
Then you're introduced to the pimp Ballio, who, judging by his song, is not a very nice guy. He threatens these poor boys and whips them. But his threats we're a bit laughable, just because they were so outrageous and I kept imagining them being sang-musical theatre bad guy style-and it made them sound a little silly. Even when he moves on to the girls its the same tough guy routine. "i will boil you in oil if all your "lovers" don't bring me a present", I just keep picturing him in a vampire like cape with gelled back hair, or like some Italian mobster or even as a bit of an evil pirate captain. Either way I'm liking the beginning of Pseudolus.
Pg-100
Today I came in late, but I caught the end of Rebecca's independent activity. We then started creative collaboration exercises using movement and eventually sound. I love these exercises. Absolutely and completely love them. I think I'm doing very well, I'm catching on to adding to movement pieces and I really like starting new creative pieces. I like to see how people take my movement and use it to influence theirs. It may not be what I thought they would do, but it's always interesting to see. And that's part of the fun, you don't know what's going to come out of anything you do. I'm excited to continue these exercises.
Tuesday's post - LEARNING DAY!
(I kind of posted this before I finished typing down my notes, oops)
I'm noticing a lot of cliche comedic moments in Pseudolus. I mean they probably weren't cliches back then in Roman times, but now they're obviously over done. But there is a whole scene of Ballio being blocked off repeatedly by Psedulous and Calidorus. And until they bring up that talking would get Ballio money, he keeps turning around and they're in his way, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Finally he stops to listen to them and it turns into what I thought of as a bartering session. Except one side (Psedulous) has nothing to offer and the other side (Ballio) has exactly what they want. Then you still have the hopeless romantic Calidorus in the middle just pinning away for Rosy. Who we met actually! She's apparently the pretty prostitute who wants to be free, which sounds kind of like a twisted Disney movie plot...Though I still don't get the prostitute/whore/pimp system here. Is it anything like the pimp/prostitute system we all know and love today? Because that's what I relate it to, and then the story doesn't make sense.
Pg-100
Today we continued learning about medieval theatre. I basically spent the whole class trying to organize the mass amounts of information people wrote on the board. It was quite a process. Then I started looking up medieval costumes. I like learning like this, having to kind of teach our selves, but at the same time I feel like I miss out on some things because one group will look something up and there's no explanation as to why it is. But for the most part, I feel like I pick up a lot of terms really easily, I just don't always know what they are.
I'm noticing a lot of cliche comedic moments in Pseudolus. I mean they probably weren't cliches back then in Roman times, but now they're obviously over done. But there is a whole scene of Ballio being blocked off repeatedly by Psedulous and Calidorus. And until they bring up that talking would get Ballio money, he keeps turning around and they're in his way, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Finally he stops to listen to them and it turns into what I thought of as a bartering session. Except one side (Psedulous) has nothing to offer and the other side (Ballio) has exactly what they want. Then you still have the hopeless romantic Calidorus in the middle just pinning away for Rosy. Who we met actually! She's apparently the pretty prostitute who wants to be free, which sounds kind of like a twisted Disney movie plot...Though I still don't get the prostitute/whore/pimp system here. Is it anything like the pimp/prostitute system we all know and love today? Because that's what I relate it to, and then the story doesn't make sense.
Pg-100
Today we continued learning about medieval theatre. I basically spent the whole class trying to organize the mass amounts of information people wrote on the board. It was quite a process. Then I started looking up medieval costumes. I like learning like this, having to kind of teach our selves, but at the same time I feel like I miss out on some things because one group will look something up and there's no explanation as to why it is. But for the most part, I feel like I pick up a lot of terms really easily, I just don't always know what they are.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Friday's Post
Pg-100
Today my play was read!! I was really excited to hear it, and have other people understand the story and like where I was coming from and find what I wanted to be funny, as funny. I have been thinking of scrapping the idea because to me the plot sounds really rushed and un real at times and other times it seems slow and predictable. But I'm happy now that it was well received and I have a lot of good feedback to work into my next draft.
Today my play was read!! I was really excited to hear it, and have other people understand the story and like where I was coming from and find what I wanted to be funny, as funny. I have been thinking of scrapping the idea because to me the plot sounds really rushed and un real at times and other times it seems slow and predictable. But I'm happy now that it was well received and I have a lot of good feedback to work into my next draft.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Thursday's Post
So today I finished Snow in Midsummer. I can honestly say, I didn't like this play at all. Maybe I just hate all Chinese and japanese literature because I didn't like Good person of Sechuan either. I feel like both plays went extremely fast, and seemed really simplistic in their dialogue. And nothing ever felt real. Like I never read a characters line and thought "this sounds like a realistic reaction to you being charged with murder!" everything seemed very melodramatic or unimportant to the characters. So all in all, I haven't been able to find something I enjoy about those plays.
Plot wise, Donkey takes Cai and Dou E to court, and Dou E confesses to the poisoning to save Cai from getting beat. She later says to Cai why she thinks Donkey did it and I'm wondering why she didn't say that in the court!! She didn't have to die, but she takes the blame anyway! But in the end Dou E kind of curses the town, saying that if she was innocent, frost will appear around her body and their will be a 3 year drought. So I guess some justice is done, the town suffered a bit after killing Dou E. And finally Dou is able to speak with his daughter's ghost , and he learns what really happened, so he returns to the village to punish Donkey and offer a sacrifice so his daughter can go to heaven.
Pg-100
Today we went back to cross training, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. It felt good to start working out again. Then we started the communal creativity exercise? I'm not sure what else to call it. Which was interesting to say the least. The first time, I tried to accept anything that people would give me. Any circumstance or idea I just said "okay let's see how that works!" and went for it. I tried my best not to question what was going on, but what I started to notice was that made me block other things that were going on. Which isn't exactly helpful. And looking back I think I remember moments when I checked out, or wasn't really present and I didn't add to anything going on. The second time though, I felt a little more present. I tried to pass things on to people who were "open". Literately I started giving out paper because I tried to not make it about myself and instead help other people find something. And that felt like a much better experience.
Plot wise, Donkey takes Cai and Dou E to court, and Dou E confesses to the poisoning to save Cai from getting beat. She later says to Cai why she thinks Donkey did it and I'm wondering why she didn't say that in the court!! She didn't have to die, but she takes the blame anyway! But in the end Dou E kind of curses the town, saying that if she was innocent, frost will appear around her body and their will be a 3 year drought. So I guess some justice is done, the town suffered a bit after killing Dou E. And finally Dou is able to speak with his daughter's ghost , and he learns what really happened, so he returns to the village to punish Donkey and offer a sacrifice so his daughter can go to heaven.
Pg-100
Today we went back to cross training, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. It felt good to start working out again. Then we started the communal creativity exercise? I'm not sure what else to call it. Which was interesting to say the least. The first time, I tried to accept anything that people would give me. Any circumstance or idea I just said "okay let's see how that works!" and went for it. I tried my best not to question what was going on, but what I started to notice was that made me block other things that were going on. Which isn't exactly helpful. And looking back I think I remember moments when I checked out, or wasn't really present and I didn't add to anything going on. The second time though, I felt a little more present. I tried to pass things on to people who were "open". Literately I started giving out paper because I tried to not make it about myself and instead help other people find something. And that felt like a much better experience.
Wednesday's Post
Today I read Act 2 of Snow in Midsummer. I feel like the story goes by extremely quickly. The plot line happens very fast, the characters speak very curtly and simply except for Dou E, she's the only character it seems with morals and she seems very preachy about them.
In the story though Ms. Cai has fallen ill (that was fast) and has agreed to marry Zhang.
Which leads me to a question, I would like to know, did things ever happen that way? Were marriages ever that quick and random, like a traveller finding you, and instantly wanting to marry you, did that really happen?? Because that seems slightly scary. I get the arranged marriages, I get that people often married young, but they made like a 2 for 1 marriage deal with this father and son, which is honestly a little scary.
But besides the weird, rushed marriages, Donkey decides that since Dou E will not marry him, he will kill Ms. Cai and force Dou E to marry him. But his plan to poison Cai backfires and instead he poisons his father by accident. But he turns his mistake around and blames Dou E and Cai for the poisoning and decides to take them to court.
Pg-100
Today I was sketching all class. I tried to really study everyone's body. While I felt super creepy, I started noticing interesting poses or postures or an interesting gesture that I wanted to capture, and that's what I would sketch. My frustration though was that they kept moving! And I could see a drawing in my head, but not have enough time to finish it. Though I'm finally getting the idea of no solid lines. It's because everything continues into a million other lines and keeps going. But I still don't see how to convey that in 2-D and it drives me insane.
In the story though Ms. Cai has fallen ill (that was fast) and has agreed to marry Zhang.
Which leads me to a question, I would like to know, did things ever happen that way? Were marriages ever that quick and random, like a traveller finding you, and instantly wanting to marry you, did that really happen?? Because that seems slightly scary. I get the arranged marriages, I get that people often married young, but they made like a 2 for 1 marriage deal with this father and son, which is honestly a little scary.
But besides the weird, rushed marriages, Donkey decides that since Dou E will not marry him, he will kill Ms. Cai and force Dou E to marry him. But his plan to poison Cai backfires and instead he poisons his father by accident. But he turns his mistake around and blames Dou E and Cai for the poisoning and decides to take them to court.
Pg-100
Today I was sketching all class. I tried to really study everyone's body. While I felt super creepy, I started noticing interesting poses or postures or an interesting gesture that I wanted to capture, and that's what I would sketch. My frustration though was that they kept moving! And I could see a drawing in my head, but not have enough time to finish it. Though I'm finally getting the idea of no solid lines. It's because everything continues into a million other lines and keeps going. But I still don't see how to convey that in 2-D and it drives me insane.
Tuesday's Post
Today I started Snow in Midsummer. At first I was excited for this play, but once I started reading, it lost a lot of interest. First if all, nothing really happens. Dou E gets sold by her father to Mistress Cai, which is strange because at first the father Dou didn't want to sell his daughter and he even started crying over her, then whe he sees that Cai will forgive him of all his debts, he's happy and thanks her! Then he tells Cai to beat the daughter if she deserves it. And! Dou E is taken as a bride when she's like 7. I know hey got married very young, but that's pre pubescent young.
Another thing is that the play doesn't really have scene markers, it has people enter and say who they are even if they've already been introduced, and those kind of act as the beginning and end of scenes. And these intros were so formal, like every time Ms. Cai comes on stage she says "I am Mistress Cai." was that like a major convention of the time? Like all performers would repeatedly remind the audience who they were? Or did actual people introduce themselves like that, repeatedly?
Pg-100
So today, we had basically one giant fundraising meeting. We discussed the breakfast and the madness type idea. Unfortunately I feel like we didn't actually decide on anything, we just talked a lot. I'm excited for the madness-type idea; but a major concern would be that the show wouldn't be interesting, though it would be a great time for us to try all our crazy ideas and practice producing. Despite that, I have mixed feelings if John and I can even make it happen. Besides fundraising we started our medieval theatre lesson, and the whole switching groups thing. I definitely feel like I would have benefited from that lesson if I wasn't slightly out of it today. I remember doing something similar to that freshman year and it helped a lot then.
Another thing is that the play doesn't really have scene markers, it has people enter and say who they are even if they've already been introduced, and those kind of act as the beginning and end of scenes. And these intros were so formal, like every time Ms. Cai comes on stage she says "I am Mistress Cai." was that like a major convention of the time? Like all performers would repeatedly remind the audience who they were? Or did actual people introduce themselves like that, repeatedly?
Pg-100
So today, we had basically one giant fundraising meeting. We discussed the breakfast and the madness type idea. Unfortunately I feel like we didn't actually decide on anything, we just talked a lot. I'm excited for the madness-type idea; but a major concern would be that the show wouldn't be interesting, though it would be a great time for us to try all our crazy ideas and practice producing. Despite that, I have mixed feelings if John and I can even make it happen. Besides fundraising we started our medieval theatre lesson, and the whole switching groups thing. I definitely feel like I would have benefited from that lesson if I wasn't slightly out of it today. I remember doing something similar to that freshman year and it helped a lot then.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)