Coming Together

I am beginning to understand why actors are paid more money than they seem worth. There is a lot of waiting around, and one has to give up a great deal of one's autonomy, freedom, and self-determination in order to be an actor. And then, as if by magic, one's trust in one's director begins to pay off. Things, as if by magic, begin to come together. As if by magic, they begin to look like a play.

It is a phenomenon that is rather exhilarating to behold. And behold, the beast, a scholar, begins to fancy himself a thespian.

I have always found the stage rather magical. Now I know it to be.
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The dates are up.
Pick one that is right for you.

AS YOU LIKE IT.

Have you seen Kenneth Branagh's newest Shakespeare film? It's AS YOU LIKE IT in Japan. I enjoyed it immensely. Maybe you will, too. It just came out on DVD.

He spent a lot more time on Macbeth.

Prose Pointers

[from last Monday's class]

In experimenting with different ways to read our lines, Brett has advised us to pay attention to the ways in which Shakespeare "organizes" his prose...

1. Verse
2. Syntax
3. Rhythm

Is your syntactic reading sounding stale?
Are you having trouble figuring out when to breathe?
Try reading line by line, according to the verse.

...if you pay heed to all three aspects...your voice will modulate and "act" all by itself! amazing!

Rehearsals and Readings.

At my reading on Saturday, people were like, "that was your best reading yet!" They liked it very much. It was nice. Maybe learning how to be an actor is really paying off in the poetry department.

Someone said I was an orator. That's nice. If you missed the reading, you missed out.

Waking Up a Failure

In the spirit of chronicling failures, I would like to talk about mine.
Yesterday, was my first rehearsal. We rehearsed the last scene I was supposed to memorize. I didn't know I had to memorize it until very recently. So, I am not off-book on that.

I should mention also that I have never been to a rehearsal of any kind.

Then I went to a poetry reading. It was OK. It is very important to talk to poets after readings. When you talk with poets, there are often drinks involved.

The next morning I woke up on the wrong side of town and 30 minutes late for line-running with Señor Gamboa.

Boom Boom Energy

A poet I like very much is doing anagrams of Shakespeare's sonnets. I like them very much.
K. Silem Mohammad is who I am talking about. Forget everything you know about poetry and Shakespeare and check him out.

The Murder of Banquo

and of sleep.

Banish Plump Jack and Banish All the World.

Although I have never been in a Shakespeare play, I have always wanted to be Jack Falstaff. It isn't why I go by Jack, but it should be.

I have always liked Macduff. He is the reason why I have developed my obsession with Shakespeare's plays.

When Macbeth ceased being my "favorite," certain images from it have always remained to haunt me.

the curse of shakespeare's tomb

Hey Everybody!

I went home to LA over the weekend and my grandmother gave me an old book (circa 1934) entitled: William Shakespeare, A Handbook

It's all about Shakespeare's life, company, audience, theater, and I don't know what else because I have not read it all.

BUT. Something interesting caught my eye and I thought I'd share it with you other Shakespeare lovers. The epitaph on his gravestone, (according to this book probably written by the Bard himself) reads:

Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To digg the dust encolased heare:
Bleste be the man that spares thes stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

might not be "life's but a walking shadow," but I'll take it.

Welcome to the Melbourne Underworld of. . . MACBETH!