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June 22, 2009
Actor Takes Assignment, Runs with It
The director for Romeo and Juliet asked us to do some homework this week. This is in addition to exploring our text and doing our research and memorizing our lines and learning any dancing or fight choreography. That's all just understood to be part of an actor's outside of rehearsal activity. These assignments were something special. In fact, let me just include the full assignment here:
Each cast member must do the following:1. For every scene you are in, I would like a "Tabloid Headline" for it by 5pm July 26th, sent to Robby to assemble and re-distribute before July 27th rehearsal. I.e. "Wild Romeo wreaks havoc on town of Verona after friend's untimely death." You can do way better than that- make it sensational and fun.
2. Character Abstracts- a detailed character abstract due also 5pm June 26th via email. This can change, but commit something to writing now. If you were a _________, your character would be _______________. I.e. If Romeo were a car, he would be a 1978 Red Pontiac Firebird with the Firebird painted on the hood. Give me abstracts for these please: VEHICLE, SONG, ANIMAL, FOOD, BEVERAGE.
I had fun with this. A LOT of fun with it. I just can't help myself when it comes to writing. Give me a prompt and off I go. Oh. These responses are based on the cut text. Just a hint to all you lovely audience members out there. Shakespeare is ALWAYS cut. It's just too, too long otherwise. And occasionally too, too obscure as well. So my responses are based on my perception of the Nurse in the version of the play we'll be doing. Here they are :
Tabloid Headlines from Nurse’s Point of View
Prologue Citizens Voice Concerns over Continuing Verona Violence
1.3 Capulet Daughter to Marry Paris: Nurse Arranges Entire Affair
1.5 Juliet Falls for Mysterious Stranger: Nurse on Alert
2.2 Missing Capulet Minx Discovered Disporting on Balcony
2.4 Important Capulet Attendant Arranges Elopement, Attacked by Royal Sex Fiend in Broad Daylight
2.5 Nurse Prostrate with Exhaustion, Arranges Marriage Single-Handedly
3.2 Tybalt Dead: Nurse to Help Juliet Bed His Killer
3.3 Romeo Banishment: Angelic Nurse Offers Ray of Hope
3.5 Nurse Abets Last-Minute Romeo Escape, Proposes Bigamy as Solution to Marital Woes
4.2 Nurse Oddly Silent on Capulet Family Affairs
4.3 Nurse Silence Continues: What Is She Hiding?
4.5 Capulet Heiress Dead: Horror-Stricken Nurse Discovers Body
5.3 Tragic Lovebird Death Triangle: Nurse Silenced by Grief.
Abstracts
If the Nurse were a vehicle, she would be an ox-drawn, straw-filled cart with wooden wheels, slatted sides and an open back, and she would contain a baby goat and some piglets. Also a duck. And a fresh pie, well-wrapped and stowed under the seat for the driver’s dinner. (That’s lunch to all you urban folk.)If the Nurse were a song, she would be sung loudly and inaccurately when drunk and among friends.
If the Nurse were an animal, she would be a donkey. An oldish donkey. Squattish, stout, stubborn, but inclined to forgetfulness.
If the Nurse were a food she would be a hearty bean and vegetable stew served with crusty bread and fresh butter. And beer. Local beer. Strong local beer.
If the Nurse were a beverage she would be chianti or some other cheap, hearty red wine. Not, as you might think, Aqua Vitae. That’s only what she drinks, not what she is.
One of the reasons I enjoyed this so much had to do with how easy it was for me. I'm not suggesting that I just dashed this stuff off and it was finished. Not at all. I did quite a bit of editing, especially of the headlines, to get everything just right. But it was all easy in the sense that I didn't really have to struggle to figure out what I thought or what I knew. I just knew it. I would look at the scene or question and the answer would come into my head. It's comforting to discover that I have such a strong sense of who the Nurse is.
Posted by sally at June 22, 2009 11:54 PM
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