Brothers and sisters,
Over the course of Monday and Tuesday evenings this week, we completed a full run of the play; lines are [broadly speaking [sic]] learned and now tis a case of adding in layers of actoring that will breathe natural life into the whole shebang, plus of course getting the technical stuff sorted; not to mention shaving 20 minutes off the runtime!
Now, know you that we have divided into two this blog entry; so hence to our title (I'm making this stuff up you know!). People die in this play, in the storytelling sense as opposed to the they-don't-seem-to-be-calling-for-an-encore sense. In the pub after rehearsal this week I stumbled witlessly into a conversation with a fellow cast member about how one pitches a death noise - the gasp that signals the mortal thrust - when on stage; the conversation had come about as my initial attempts were misconstrued by one brutally honest fellow as me doing a kind of snort-giggle, I myself, let me be clear, had thought I'd uttered a gutteral, primal pant for life!! Dispensing her advice, advice which apparently came from a reputable source, my esteemed colleague recommended that I ..... and I quote here .... 'just swallow and make an agreement noise'. The missing bon mots was that this practice would then give you your natural pitch at which to signal delivery of the fatal blow .... even writing that bit is making me giggle.
Ahh sauce! I like to think that if Ken Williams and the gang were still around they'd be penning Carry On Backstage [oooo-errr!] as we speak.
And yes, I did try it all the way home in my car, alone; and I'll be honest with you, it's not as easy as she makes it sound.
A boisterous night to you all
Kent (earl of)
No comments:
Post a Comment