Restoration Blogs
Week 1
I'm very happy about being cast as Blunt. He was the character that I most wanted as the fop seemed like a very fun part to play. I like the idea of playing a foolish character that is the object of ridicule. I was also drawn to playing the fop because I was inspired by Aidan's presentation in 'The Country Wife' last year. His presentation affected me because I was surprised to see any depth to the ridiculous character. I had thought of him as a subject of comedy only and seeing him break down and remove his wig, a key symbol of the character's foppery and foolishness, engaged me in the character. My goal for Blunt at the moment is to create a character that is a hilarious symbol of ridicule but also have moments of seriousness beneath the foppish façade. I think the key moment for that in this play is the second attempted rape of Florinda. I am also very excited to be double cast with Jason, we spent a while together highlighting lines and discussing them and it seems like we will both be able to learn from each other's characterisations. I also feel like there wont be any sense of competition between us which will allow us both to fully explore the character to how we wish without any worry of us competing to have the 'better' Blunt.
We started by starting work on the prologue. I think it's quite a task having to open the play with the first line. As I learned in Panto it's very hard to meet a low energy line with a high energy one, as such it will be my job to get the ball rolling and offer a high energy line for the next person to pick up from. If I give a weak open to the play then it could have a rolling effect reducing the energy of the entire prologue. The effect is worse given many lines are continuations of the same sentence of the last line. We also started to block the staging of the prologue, with our entrances and the places where we stand. It's very difficult to be able to get to our positions in the current formation because we keep almost bumping into each other this slows us all down, creating a gridlock effect, and makes it look awkward. To solve this we need to work out the path that we have to take through people and try our best to stick to the timing of it each time.
We also started blocking my first scene however we ran out of time and I wasn't able to go through it. I was able to see Jason playing Blunt however and I really like his take on the character. His characterisation lends itself to his size. He acts like the biggest person in the room which is made more funny by how he is considerably shorter than Will, Rufus, and Matt. I feel like for my characterisation I shall have to focus on the foolishness as opposed to the bravado of Blunt, because of my height. Jason acts like the biggest person in the room and I act like the stupidest. I think my characterisation of Blunt
will end up with only very subtle differences to Jason's but they will separate the two takes and, hopefully, work more according to who we are. I do have faith that Blunt will be a very fun character to explore, with both the foolish side, the cocky side, and the serious side.
We also started blocking my first scene however we ran out of time and I wasn't able to go through it. I was able to see Jason playing Blunt however and I really like his take on the character. His characterisation lends itself to his size. He acts like the biggest person in the room which is made more funny by how he is considerably shorter than Will, Rufus, and Matt. I feel like for my characterisation I shall have to focus on the foolishness as opposed to the bravado of Blunt, because of my height. Jason acts like the biggest person in the room and I act like the stupidest. I think my characterisation of Blunt
will end up with only very subtle differences to Jason's but they will separate the two takes and, hopefully, work more according to who we are. I do have faith that Blunt will be a very fun character to explore, with both the foolish side, the cocky side, and the serious side.
Week 2
This week I was able to play in the first scene. Blunt, with Frederick, starts by teasing Belvile about his melancholy attitude. Blunt then goes on to lament how he and Frederick haven't got the skill with romance that Belvile appears to possess by his yearning for Florinda. He then discusses his taste for an honest woman over a courtesan because they aren't out just for his money. This line foreshadows his later deception by Lucetta who appears to be an honest woman in order to steal all of his money. Blunt then makes fun of Belvile and Frederick's loss of money and power through being Royalists, also condemning politics in the process. Then for a considerable amount of the scene he offers unimportant throwaway lines until Lucetta appears. He is surprised by her paying him the attention she does and says that he must be more attractive than his mirror at home tells him.
Blunt is the outsider of the group, he is one of their friends but Belvile and Frederick are much closer. When Willmore shows up he is still excluded because Willmore is old friends with the two cavaliers. I think there may be an aspect of them only liking Blunt for his wealth, he's the friend they don't really want tagging along but he does anyway. As such, I think in this scene, Blunt is trying to impress all three of them, and the way he goes about it is to act intelligent, important, and to flaunt his wealth. Of course Blunt is only so effective at the first two, he does appear a little obnoxious and flaunting his wealth only leads him to become a target of Lucetta. He doesn't appear too much of a fool at this point, he appears to have valid knowledge and opinions on politics. However he is fooled by Lucetta's advances, he thinks so highly of himself that he doesn't doubt her immediate infatuation with him.
We worked on the prologue again with our lines learned and I think it went very well, it had impact and form that I think would open the play well. When Adam gave us advice and guidance on it however he really made the prologue bounce out. He taught us about how to make our actions definite and boost the momentum of movement into our voice. This made the prologue really stick out and I think if we can keep improving on our clarity of speech, synergy with the lines and impact of each one it can really open the play with a great deal of power.
We also started work on Act 2 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 1, Blunt's next two scenes. Act 2 Scene 1 has Blunt gushing about the greatness of Lucetta, his foolishness breaks through more when he details how he traded one of his diamonds for a bracelet she gave him. This shows his obliviousness to how she is just there for his money and allows the audience to realise that he's going to be swindled adding a sense of dramatic irony to improve the humour. They then go on to discuss Angelica but Blunt maintains his low opinion of courtesans by choosing to have nothing to do with her because of her cost. The gentlemen then leave for a while and come back into a sword fight because Willmore stole a poster of Angelica. Act 3 Scene 1 has little for Blunt besides throwaway lines however he does get called to Lucetta's which sets up the next scene which revolves around Blunt and Lucetta.
Blunt is completely infatuated by Lucetta, given he has known her for less than a day, it can be inferred that he rarely has much luck with the ladies. He is completely enthralled by her to the point that he is talking of uprooting from England and moving here after one day. This is the part where I want to start really playing up Blunt's flamboyance and resultant foolishness. I think being aware of the dramatic irony for any line is very important, helping the audience be fully aware of how ignorant to Lucetta's designs Blunt is. Blunt unquestioningly charges into a sword fight alongside Willmore. I don't think this is due to sense of loyalty to his friends, or a sense of hurt honour that he is threatened, nothing noble at all. I want to play this as Blunt just loves swordplay and sees it as a noble practice that will make him seem gallant and honourable in front of everybody.
I think I'm making a good start into exploring Blunt's character. I'm starting to make specific choices with him and as I explore the further scenes and these scenes more, I think these choices will become more defined and I will start to explore the character much more.
Week 3
This week we did a scene more focused on Blunt. It's the scene where Blunt is tricked and robbed by Lucetta, Sancho and Philippo. I think the scene has a lot of potential for humour in it, Blunt's first line is an aside lamenting how he has no skill with talking to women which I think is very funny if it contrasts with his outside, calm and collected, smooth demeanour. Blunt seducing Lucetta is funny in itself, the scene is dripping with opportunities I just have to keep exploring it to find them with the aim of making it one of the funniest scenes in the play. The main opportunities for humour I think are, the dramatic irony that the audience knows he's being tricked but he doesn't, his apparent ineptitude with women, and the discrepancies between how he acts and how he acts in an aside.
That scene develops into Blunt's monologue, disgraced and left penniless in the street. He laments his foolishness, Lucetta's cruelty, and how his friends will react. I think there are opportunities for physical comedy here, starting out on the ground crawling, then sitting for some time and displaying Blunt's frustration with small outbursts of petty violence against the floor (this I got from Jason's interpretation, then standing up with a possible stagger. I need to explore this scene and work out key moments of emotion in the monologue to find a place for these physical and comical moments.
At the end of the week we had a workshop on stage combat involving rapiers with Adam. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity, it was very interesting to learn and I wish it could be a more regular thing. I am very excited to piece together a fight from these moves but I am unsure as to if we will remember the moves over the Easter break. Karen said in voice that I should take up some form of movement exercise like dance to gain some grace in my movement and develop my stage presence and range of skills. I think that some form of stage combat or fighting training would be a good way of doing this so I may even wish to continue it outside of college.
Over Easter I was looking at my lines and I was having trouble with where to put pauses and breaks in the line. Because of this I decided to separate each thought that Blunt has, I have put dashes where I think that Blunt has a new thought and this has helped to slow down my lines and give them more direction and purpose. I think it's much clearer as to what I'm saying, this is particularly important for a Restoration Comedy as it is hard to follow the immense amount of dialogue and the subtle changes in language as it is. I feel like this is something I shall do for any script I have in the future, it's very helpful for character and line delivery and I feel like it will have a very positive impact on my performance.
Week 4
This week we did very little with Blunt. We tried to run through the play but we only got to Act 2 and only did two scene with Blunt in. I was still unsure on my lines but I think the thought breaks definitely helped. Running the few scenes we did, I felt like we were starting to sink more into the roles and the play, the scene felt more familiar and with a number of weeks left before the performance I am very confident with the amount we have left to do and the time we have left.
We attempted to create fight scenes using the skills we learnt from Adam but, as I feared, we had forgotten all but two of the moves. Trying to piece together a fight was nigh on impossible at that point but Sally showed us some stage combat videos from Lamda. This gave us the inspiration to create something ourselves and Jason and I got to work. Most of our moves are simple ones interjected with simplistic sword clashes that wouldn't be done with the thrusting swords like what we are using however it looks and sounds okay and without proper training that's all we can hope for. We worked out that the key element is speed, if it's quick then the audience barely knows what they're seeing but with the swords clashing, as such it will look like a real fight to an untrained eye. I hope we have a lot more time set aside to practice because otherwise we will definitely just forget what we did again and the more practice we get, the safer and better looking it becomes.
We did some short work with Sebastian, this involved simply standing around in the scene, listening, following orders, and delivering one/two lines. I have an idea on the characterisation of him but it's awfully simple and essentially a stock servant due to his unimportance in the play. I do plan however to put weight behind his lines and make him at least slightly memorable.
Week 5
We also tried a run through of Act 1 and 2. I think it went well for Act 1, there were very few, if any, scripts and the pace was good for just coming off book. We can definitely improve our pace, but it's a good start for moving forward. Otherwise, I think there could have been a greater sense of comradery between the lads, something I noticed in my scenes. I think this will improve as we become familiar with our lines and familiar with each other's characters on stage. Act 2 went less well, more scripts appeared and many more prompts were needed. The scenes suffered but they still went relatively smoothly. Overall, I think it was a good step in the right direction and we'll be off book soon enough.
Week 6
This week we continued with Blunt's scene with Florinda and Frederick. I feel like I'm getting closer to being able to play the rape scene humorous but I'm still finding it hard to see that side of the script. We managed to block the first half of the scene though and continue on to start and to finish the second. Our blocking is quite clever in that it can work for both the sinister side and the humorous. There are actions like the spin that can easily have little qualities like the brutality or the lack of commitment of the action. We have been directed to make the second half of the scene more like how I saw the first so that part came more natural to me. I don't like having the same side of Blunt throughout the whole play and lament the loss of my character's sinister side but I'll lose it for the director's vision.
We then blocked the last scene. This scene had very little to do with Blunt, only really providing a few comic interludes. The beginning of the scene has a frantic Blunt, afraid of his friends entering his home to see him in his state of undress. He is thinking what he says off the cuff, quickly and desperately to keep his friends outside. There is also a distinctive change between Blunt talking to his friends and the audience, the section includes many asides to add a lot of the humour to the scene, showing Blunt's desperation. I think a lot of the comedy available in this bit can be achieved with physical gags such and funny facial expressions. The rest of the scene, Blunt is very background, as the scene is set in his house I decided it would be within character for him to just sit down and watch the goings on, perhaps bored. Blunt then exits and re-enters later in the scene, dressed ridiculously and clearly annoyed about it.
It was very good to finally finish the play. With only the epilogue left to block I'm quite excited to get the play finished and start going back over it. I think we have a lot of progress to make but plenty of time to do it. I am very confident that we can get the play in order by the time of the performance. I think there is still a lot of room to explore in many of the scenes, for me, I want to do a lot more with the Lucetta scene and the rape scene. I think those are the most interesting scenes for Blunt and I look forward to having other chances to go over them.
Week 7 & 8
These weeks we started to wrap everything up. We got costume done, we finished the epilogue on the day I was ill, and we started run-throughs.
My costume for Blunt really helps me with the character and especially the posture. As soon as I put it on I find myself automatically falling into Blunt's posture, showing off the frills of the costume and straightening my back. This will be very beneficial for my performance, having my posture come more naturally. It also reinforces my idea of Blunt losing more of his fop-like persona when he loses his outfit. Blunt's posture revolves around showing off his finery, so I think that when he loses it he becomes more down to earth and human. He regains the original attitude when he is dressed in the Spanish habit at the end of the play, though he does not like it, it does give him something to flaunt. I will try and bring these ideas into the character but I don't see them lasting very long, as our director doesn't see it the same way.
The run throughs are getting smoother and I feel like as I'm starting to get more off book my performance is becoming more refined and how I would like it. There is a clear difference between the scenes where I have a script in hand and those where I don't. I feel like lines train and last much longer than they should, actions are forced and repeated a lot but without a scrip things become more natural and free. We all still have far to go to get off book fully but I do think it will be done after half-term.
We also blocked the epilogue, it bears little difference to the prologue and I wasn't actually there for the session where we blocked it so I'm waiting for an opportunity to see and try it properly.
All in all, the play is making good progress. The state of set and props is becoming slightly worrying but I have no bearing on props and I know the set can't be continued with until we have more wood. So there is little to do now but rehearse and prepare for the final show of our second year.
This week I was able to play in the first scene. Blunt, with Frederick, starts by teasing Belvile about his melancholy attitude. Blunt then goes on to lament how he and Frederick haven't got the skill with romance that Belvile appears to possess by his yearning for Florinda. He then discusses his taste for an honest woman over a courtesan because they aren't out just for his money. This line foreshadows his later deception by Lucetta who appears to be an honest woman in order to steal all of his money. Blunt then makes fun of Belvile and Frederick's loss of money and power through being Royalists, also condemning politics in the process. Then for a considerable amount of the scene he offers unimportant throwaway lines until Lucetta appears. He is surprised by her paying him the attention she does and says that he must be more attractive than his mirror at home tells him.
Blunt is the outsider of the group, he is one of their friends but Belvile and Frederick are much closer. When Willmore shows up he is still excluded because Willmore is old friends with the two cavaliers. I think there may be an aspect of them only liking Blunt for his wealth, he's the friend they don't really want tagging along but he does anyway. As such, I think in this scene, Blunt is trying to impress all three of them, and the way he goes about it is to act intelligent, important, and to flaunt his wealth. Of course Blunt is only so effective at the first two, he does appear a little obnoxious and flaunting his wealth only leads him to become a target of Lucetta. He doesn't appear too much of a fool at this point, he appears to have valid knowledge and opinions on politics. However he is fooled by Lucetta's advances, he thinks so highly of himself that he doesn't doubt her immediate infatuation with him.
We worked on the prologue again with our lines learned and I think it went very well, it had impact and form that I think would open the play well. When Adam gave us advice and guidance on it however he really made the prologue bounce out. He taught us about how to make our actions definite and boost the momentum of movement into our voice. This made the prologue really stick out and I think if we can keep improving on our clarity of speech, synergy with the lines and impact of each one it can really open the play with a great deal of power.
We also started work on Act 2 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 1, Blunt's next two scenes. Act 2 Scene 1 has Blunt gushing about the greatness of Lucetta, his foolishness breaks through more when he details how he traded one of his diamonds for a bracelet she gave him. This shows his obliviousness to how she is just there for his money and allows the audience to realise that he's going to be swindled adding a sense of dramatic irony to improve the humour. They then go on to discuss Angelica but Blunt maintains his low opinion of courtesans by choosing to have nothing to do with her because of her cost. The gentlemen then leave for a while and come back into a sword fight because Willmore stole a poster of Angelica. Act 3 Scene 1 has little for Blunt besides throwaway lines however he does get called to Lucetta's which sets up the next scene which revolves around Blunt and Lucetta.
Blunt is completely infatuated by Lucetta, given he has known her for less than a day, it can be inferred that he rarely has much luck with the ladies. He is completely enthralled by her to the point that he is talking of uprooting from England and moving here after one day. This is the part where I want to start really playing up Blunt's flamboyance and resultant foolishness. I think being aware of the dramatic irony for any line is very important, helping the audience be fully aware of how ignorant to Lucetta's designs Blunt is. Blunt unquestioningly charges into a sword fight alongside Willmore. I don't think this is due to sense of loyalty to his friends, or a sense of hurt honour that he is threatened, nothing noble at all. I want to play this as Blunt just loves swordplay and sees it as a noble practice that will make him seem gallant and honourable in front of everybody.
I think I'm making a good start into exploring Blunt's character. I'm starting to make specific choices with him and as I explore the further scenes and these scenes more, I think these choices will become more defined and I will start to explore the character much more.
Week 3
This week we did a scene more focused on Blunt. It's the scene where Blunt is tricked and robbed by Lucetta, Sancho and Philippo. I think the scene has a lot of potential for humour in it, Blunt's first line is an aside lamenting how he has no skill with talking to women which I think is very funny if it contrasts with his outside, calm and collected, smooth demeanour. Blunt seducing Lucetta is funny in itself, the scene is dripping with opportunities I just have to keep exploring it to find them with the aim of making it one of the funniest scenes in the play. The main opportunities for humour I think are, the dramatic irony that the audience knows he's being tricked but he doesn't, his apparent ineptitude with women, and the discrepancies between how he acts and how he acts in an aside.
That scene develops into Blunt's monologue, disgraced and left penniless in the street. He laments his foolishness, Lucetta's cruelty, and how his friends will react. I think there are opportunities for physical comedy here, starting out on the ground crawling, then sitting for some time and displaying Blunt's frustration with small outbursts of petty violence against the floor (this I got from Jason's interpretation, then standing up with a possible stagger. I need to explore this scene and work out key moments of emotion in the monologue to find a place for these physical and comical moments.
At the end of the week we had a workshop on stage combat involving rapiers with Adam. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity, it was very interesting to learn and I wish it could be a more regular thing. I am very excited to piece together a fight from these moves but I am unsure as to if we will remember the moves over the Easter break. Karen said in voice that I should take up some form of movement exercise like dance to gain some grace in my movement and develop my stage presence and range of skills. I think that some form of stage combat or fighting training would be a good way of doing this so I may even wish to continue it outside of college.
Over Easter I was looking at my lines and I was having trouble with where to put pauses and breaks in the line. Because of this I decided to separate each thought that Blunt has, I have put dashes where I think that Blunt has a new thought and this has helped to slow down my lines and give them more direction and purpose. I think it's much clearer as to what I'm saying, this is particularly important for a Restoration Comedy as it is hard to follow the immense amount of dialogue and the subtle changes in language as it is. I feel like this is something I shall do for any script I have in the future, it's very helpful for character and line delivery and I feel like it will have a very positive impact on my performance.
Week 4
This week we did very little with Blunt. We tried to run through the play but we only got to Act 2 and only did two scene with Blunt in. I was still unsure on my lines but I think the thought breaks definitely helped. Running the few scenes we did, I felt like we were starting to sink more into the roles and the play, the scene felt more familiar and with a number of weeks left before the performance I am very confident with the amount we have left to do and the time we have left.
We attempted to create fight scenes using the skills we learnt from Adam but, as I feared, we had forgotten all but two of the moves. Trying to piece together a fight was nigh on impossible at that point but Sally showed us some stage combat videos from Lamda. This gave us the inspiration to create something ourselves and Jason and I got to work. Most of our moves are simple ones interjected with simplistic sword clashes that wouldn't be done with the thrusting swords like what we are using however it looks and sounds okay and without proper training that's all we can hope for. We worked out that the key element is speed, if it's quick then the audience barely knows what they're seeing but with the swords clashing, as such it will look like a real fight to an untrained eye. I hope we have a lot more time set aside to practice because otherwise we will definitely just forget what we did again and the more practice we get, the safer and better looking it becomes.
We did some short work with Sebastian, this involved simply standing around in the scene, listening, following orders, and delivering one/two lines. I have an idea on the characterisation of him but it's awfully simple and essentially a stock servant due to his unimportance in the play. I do plan however to put weight behind his lines and make him at least slightly memorable.
Week 5
This week we started work on the scene
where Blunt attempts to rape Florinda. When I first read this scene I was very
eager to find some serious dramatic depth with Blunt, showing a real dark side
to his character. However we are being directed into making it funnier, losing
the sinister edge to the scene. Our director told me to find the frantic
desperation of Blunt in the scene. I can definitely see that as an aspect of
the character in the scene however the sinister, darker edge is much more
obvious for me. I find it hard to apply the humour to the scene as a whole but
I’ll have to find a way. I think approaching every line like a false threat
will help, if I present that Blunt is really bad at these threats and
definitely won’t follow through with them. I do think that Blunt would follow
through but I’ll need to find a reading where he wouldn't. I think that Jason
find the humour in the scene much easier than I do, however I don't think he would be as comfortable with the sinister side. Despite the development of
the feeling of the scene we didn't get too far into the actual blocking of it.
We’re going to continue that next week.
We also tried a run through of Act 1 and 2. I think it went well for Act 1, there were very few, if any, scripts and the pace was good for just coming off book. We can definitely improve our pace, but it's a good start for moving forward. Otherwise, I think there could have been a greater sense of comradery between the lads, something I noticed in my scenes. I think this will improve as we become familiar with our lines and familiar with each other's characters on stage. Act 2 went less well, more scripts appeared and many more prompts were needed. The scenes suffered but they still went relatively smoothly. Overall, I think it was a good step in the right direction and we'll be off book soon enough.
Week 6
This week we continued with Blunt's scene with Florinda and Frederick. I feel like I'm getting closer to being able to play the rape scene humorous but I'm still finding it hard to see that side of the script. We managed to block the first half of the scene though and continue on to start and to finish the second. Our blocking is quite clever in that it can work for both the sinister side and the humorous. There are actions like the spin that can easily have little qualities like the brutality or the lack of commitment of the action. We have been directed to make the second half of the scene more like how I saw the first so that part came more natural to me. I don't like having the same side of Blunt throughout the whole play and lament the loss of my character's sinister side but I'll lose it for the director's vision.
We then blocked the last scene. This scene had very little to do with Blunt, only really providing a few comic interludes. The beginning of the scene has a frantic Blunt, afraid of his friends entering his home to see him in his state of undress. He is thinking what he says off the cuff, quickly and desperately to keep his friends outside. There is also a distinctive change between Blunt talking to his friends and the audience, the section includes many asides to add a lot of the humour to the scene, showing Blunt's desperation. I think a lot of the comedy available in this bit can be achieved with physical gags such and funny facial expressions. The rest of the scene, Blunt is very background, as the scene is set in his house I decided it would be within character for him to just sit down and watch the goings on, perhaps bored. Blunt then exits and re-enters later in the scene, dressed ridiculously and clearly annoyed about it.
It was very good to finally finish the play. With only the epilogue left to block I'm quite excited to get the play finished and start going back over it. I think we have a lot of progress to make but plenty of time to do it. I am very confident that we can get the play in order by the time of the performance. I think there is still a lot of room to explore in many of the scenes, for me, I want to do a lot more with the Lucetta scene and the rape scene. I think those are the most interesting scenes for Blunt and I look forward to having other chances to go over them.
Week 7 & 8
These weeks we started to wrap everything up. We got costume done, we finished the epilogue on the day I was ill, and we started run-throughs.
My costume for Blunt really helps me with the character and especially the posture. As soon as I put it on I find myself automatically falling into Blunt's posture, showing off the frills of the costume and straightening my back. This will be very beneficial for my performance, having my posture come more naturally. It also reinforces my idea of Blunt losing more of his fop-like persona when he loses his outfit. Blunt's posture revolves around showing off his finery, so I think that when he loses it he becomes more down to earth and human. He regains the original attitude when he is dressed in the Spanish habit at the end of the play, though he does not like it, it does give him something to flaunt. I will try and bring these ideas into the character but I don't see them lasting very long, as our director doesn't see it the same way.
The run throughs are getting smoother and I feel like as I'm starting to get more off book my performance is becoming more refined and how I would like it. There is a clear difference between the scenes where I have a script in hand and those where I don't. I feel like lines train and last much longer than they should, actions are forced and repeated a lot but without a scrip things become more natural and free. We all still have far to go to get off book fully but I do think it will be done after half-term.
We also blocked the epilogue, it bears little difference to the prologue and I wasn't actually there for the session where we blocked it so I'm waiting for an opportunity to see and try it properly.
All in all, the play is making good progress. The state of set and props is becoming slightly worrying but I have no bearing on props and I know the set can't be continued with until we have more wood. So there is little to do now but rehearse and prepare for the final show of our second year.
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