THURSDAY

Went to my Shakespeare class this morning with my 6-10 lines of verse (I had 12 - overachiever) prepared and excited to get into it. We began with a discussion based on some big questions the teacher set for us: what does it mean to be alive? How should we act (as human beings)? What must I do? Why do we do theatre? Woooooooooah - MASSIVE. The point of the discussion was to get us all conscious about the kind of stuff Shakespeare's dealing with, and how big it is. As a foreigner in the room, it was pretty interesting how very American people's responses seemed - and the teacher raised this point and acknowledged it. Neither a good nor bad thing, just some pretty different ways of looking at things.
Then we moved onto doing our text in front of the group. It was interesting for me to observe as we moved through each person that I probably had some of the most experience with Shakespeare in the room - and not only that, but a lot of people (like, almost everyone) had real trouble with direct address to the audience, or with just breathing and being in front of a group, or with corpsing and then apologising when they dropped a line or word. And they've been training for two-and-a-half years. These skills (or habits or practices or whatever) are things that after even a year of Toi Whakaari training you take for granted - it's what you do. It'll be interesting to see what the difference is when I finally get to see and work with the Senior (4th year) actors on the floor, to see what the difference is, but I get the sense from my Senior classes that the 3rd (and maybe beginning of 4th year) must start to get more disciplined and trained in that kind of work. Nevertheless, I can see there's going to be real value in this class, as the teacher, Evelyn, clearly has a vast body of work and knowledge behind her and her approach seems exploratory and comprehensive.

Followed this up with another Voice/Movement class with the graduate class, and straight away you notice a difference in discipline or professionalism or something between this group and the third years. And I don't mean that in a bad way - it's clearly just indicative of the level of training - but the graduate class has a really good environment to it.
We started off with a focusing name game, which is geared at maintaining ease and freedom in a stressful or heightened situation - ie the pressure to not mess up. Then we moved into more Fitzmaurice voice work, with more stretches and semi-comfortable positions to be in while you try to freely and resonantly produce sound. And while I don't understand the theory of the method (although David's given me some reading I can do about it), I noticed the resonance in my voice increasing with the exercises and a feeling of increased space - make of that what you will.
For the second half of the class we moved down to David's office to begin our dialects work with our Deep South dialect. And this was GREAT. Approaching the work in a really methodical manner, but learning in an environment where everyone's having a really good time and is allowed to fail was just awesome. This group seem to really find the joy in the work while working hard, and it's pretty infectious. The one rule of the class seems to be that from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you walk out everyone must be speaking in the dialect we're learning, which at times was pretty hilarious. Also a bonus of the class was that, when I did my standard American accent for them, they all told me that I could definitely pass as an American. That was until I chose to use the phrase "I reckon", which apparently is a dead giveaway.

And the afternoon was spent watching and participating in the same graduate group's wok on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Following on from a discussion about homosexuality and Shakespeare that we all had earlier, this afternoon was for the remainder of the group (I missed the first lot on Tuesday) to present their research into specific themes or areas of interest in the play. There were presentations about "the cult of melancholy", about traditional Twelfth Night celebrations, about Fools, Elizabethan class structure and meanings of characters' names, and finally about Illyria. It was all really interesting and I learnt a lot, but I particularly enjoyed the presentation about Shakespeare's Fools - their origin, function, role etc. It took my understanding and appreciation of this character to a much deeper level, and also helped to articulate more clearly some things about it that I already knew.

It struck me at the end of the day when David said "nearly through first week" that I've almost done a quarter of my time here at CSUF. How did that happen? It's already going so fast, and I'm trying to squeeze the most out of it I can. At least I've got this charmingly written yet meticulously thorough blog to refer back to should I forget anything. Phew. Stay tuned for tomorrow's edition.

Day Three (sweet title bro)

Straight into it this morning with more Fitzmaurice voice exercises in my Dialects class. Half an hour of lying on a yoga mat in various semi-comfortable poses making sound, and a few adjustments by the teacher so that I'm doing it right. Wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to be achieving for much of the time, but must admit that afterwards I did feel more limber and did notice some more resonance and ease in my voice. The foundation of the work seems to be very focused on breath and its importance, so I spent a lot of time trying to release those tight abs of mine (...) and breathe freely.
After that warm-up we went into work on the International Phonetic Alphabet. I was picking it up pretty fast and enjoying it, and it makes quite a lot of sense so was easy to move at the class' faster pace. We're not covering the whole IPA (coz there's heaps) but just the really important ones that these guys need to know for their test next week (about 30-40 characters in all). It was a fun class that really appealed to the repressed academic in me.

Next was Acting with Svetlana, but today's class was dedicated to watching a movie called something like "The Mechanical Piano". It's a Russian movie based on one of Chekhov's novels, about 20 or so years old I'd guess, and Svetlana basically showed it to us as the example of great Chekhovian acting. And, oh my goodness gracious me, was it good. I consider myself someone who likes Chekhov, but I don't pretend to understand it on any really deep level - along with the fact that I haven't really read that much of him (though by the end of this week that'll change: 3.5 plays down already). It's hard to describe or put into words, but watching this film just made me go "oh, I get it - that's how you act Chekhov". Something about the life these actors find in and around and outside the text was just incredible. Still figuring it out, but we're having a discussion about it in Friday's class so I'll keep you posted.

Last up was Camera Techniques, and today my group was just working on finding ourselves scenes for the central casting exercise. Since I'd been asked to look for something with an Australian or NZ actor I spent the first wee while looking for one of Eric Bana's scenes from Funny People (which are actually pretty funny - his scenes that is, not the movie), and then looking through Heath Ledger and Hugh Jackman movies. After a while the teacher came over to me and my partner and suggested a scene from a movie called Rounders (which neither of us have ever heard of or seen) but it's Matt Damon and Edward Norton and the script looks pretty cool, so that's what we'll be filming Monday after next. In the meantime, I'll of course be rehearsing but also crewing for the other scenes being filmed. Coming up on Monday I'll be camera operator, then in scenes after that I'll be a boom operator or script supervisor (I don't even know what a script supervisor does). should be a good time.

Anyway off to read The Cherry Orchard and learn my lines for The Seagull - first rehearsal on Friday afternoon and I want to be as prepared as possible to work with my partner. Eeeek!

The Second Day...

First up this morning had "Shakespeare in Performance" (300 level class). I really love Shakespeare and so was very excited about this class. Prior to the class, I'd been told to have a 16-20 line monologue in verse prepared for the class, so last night I spent a bit of time learning Romeo's "banished" monologue, which was actually great fun. We didn't really need the verse today in any formal way - just to use in a couple of exploration exercises so that we had some text. And I also found out we only need 6-10 lines memorised for Thursday's class.
The class itself was good - we spent the first wee while just doing introductions, to each other and to the course, and then we did this extended exploration exercise dubbed "The Walkabout". It was similar in a lot of ways to exercises we've done before at Toi, but with a different form. What it's about (or what I took from it anyway) is allowing a whole range of different qualities to be present within yourself and discovering where they live essentially. It was really nice to get back to working on the floor again after what seems like a really long time, and to ease back into it in the way of an exploration like this was great.

Next up was my first Masters level class: Voice/Movement with David Nevell. For this I'm in with a class of 7 graduate actors who are all in the second year of their three year Masters course. Playing with the big boys, if you will. We covered the whole floor of the room in gym mats before we began (a real luxury for someone from Toi Whakaari) and then the first half hour was again an intro to the semester. This class in particular seems very broad and diverse in its content because, as David pointed out, this is these students final semester of formal Voice/Movement training and so it's about maintenance and growth in these broad core areas. Again there's going to be a dialects component to this class, and for the four weeks I'm here we'll be covering a Deep South dialect (think Mississippi or Louisiana) and English Estuary (basically the most common dialect of modern London). Very exciting and very very useful.
We then got into some work from the Fitzmaurice voice technique, which is what David teaches. Again the exercises had definite similarities to work I've done at Toi previously, with the Linklater and Estill methods, but with variations and different forms. The work seems to be centered around finding freedom and availability in your voice, which often means finding the same in the rest of your body - a similar aim to most of the voice training I've encountered anyway.

Last class of the day was a 200 level Voice/Movement for Character Transformation class. Today's class was nothing more than an introduction to the semester's work, so lasted only an hour. Before attending this class however, David gave me the option to choose between it and working on the Twelfth Night with him and the graduate students - very exciting. I said I'd attend one of the Voice/Movement classes so I could get a taste of it and then make up my mind, but I think I already have. While the Voice/Movement class does seem like it would be very valuable, it also seems a lot more like ome of the work I've already done or will get the chance to do at home, and also just by the fact that it's a 200 level class, more basic than the work david and his students will be doing. Also coming into the equation is the thought 'how often will I get the chance to do intensive Shakespearean script analysis work with someone like David and a group of graduate actors?' Probably not often. So in this class' slot on Thursday I'm going to go with them and see what they're doing, and I'm pretty sure that's where I'm going to want to be.

Phwoar. There's so much to write about every day. I'll try and get more concise in future, honestly. Just an interesting thought that connects to yesterday - I was talking to one of the graduate actors, Stephen, today about the different cultures and attitudes of our drama schools, and how I'm finding that there's a lot of drive and hard work from the students here in Fullerton. He observed that there was, but he thought that a lot of the time it only really came from a sense of meeting the requirements or beating the competition, and that there was a real sense of laziness regarding personal drive and forging individual identity as actors and artists. He was basically saying that people would do what they had to in order to make it through or get good grades or whatever - which often will be a lot - but they won't do anything extra, or think about doing something themselves. And it seems to me that that's what Toi's all about, and I feel we are mostly very strong in this area. And I suppose that in a lot of ways it's that kind of work that has brought me here to Fullerton and then is taking me on to Paris. An awareness of the kind of actor I want to be - the work I like, the work I do, the work I want to do - and what I can do to help myself get there. And so now I'm going "how do we get the right balance?" And I don't know. Just interesting food for my thoughts over the coming weeks.

Day One: Fullerton

So I've just had my first day of classes at a real proper Amurrrrrrcan College: Cal State Fullerton. And, boy oh boy, what a day.

My first class of the day was a 300 level Dialects class (with some of the 3rd year Acting students). Today was mainly just an intro to the semester's course, but man is there a lot of work to do. First up on the agenda for the next couple of classes is reviewing the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) before a test next Wednesday which they have to pass or they're OUT. I'll sit the test too, but as I've never had any exposure to the IPA I feel like I might not do too well... From a quick look at it today it seems like such a useful tool for mastering dialects and accents so I'm going to try to pick up as much of it as I can. And after that we move onto learning our first dialect of the semester (the only one I'll actually be here for): IRISH. Can't wait.

Next up was my 400 level (ie 4th year) Acting class with tutor Svetlana Efremova. Now, Svetlana was born and raised in Russia and was trained as an actor at Moscow's finest conservatory. In fact, there are literally two degrees of separation between her and Konstantin Stanislavsky. TWO. And man does she know what she's talking about.
Today's class was more or less a discussion of the work the students were set over the winter break: how much they actually did, what they took from it, and what they've learnt in the last couple of months. Now, we're going to be working pretty exclusively on Chekhov for the next month of classes, so the required reading before today's class was Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, and Ivanov. And you must have read them at least twice each (basically you read them as many times as you need to until you can claim with any degree of certainty that you know them, so most students had read them more than that). I didn't get that reading list until today, so that's my homework between now and next Monday. Also, I'll be working on the head bandaging scene from The Seagull first up, so by Monday I need to know that play extra well, particularly that scene, and have lines down and all my prep work done and probably have had a rehearsal with my scene partner. Eeeeeesh.


Last class of the day was Camera Techniques. First thing we did was just learning how to use the editing software, so in groups we did an exercise editing together footage of a dog being washed in order to tell a story. It was actually a lot of fun, and my group edited a very joyful washing scene where the dog runs off at the end and gets hit by a car and dies. Good fun. For next class I have to bring a scene that I "could be cast in tomorrow as a paying role" - basically casting ourselves to type and bringing an offer of a scene to work on. John, the tutor, said I should try and work with a script from Australia or NZ to stay closer to playing myself so I'll be looking into that. After we've done that we'll take a couple of classes to film them all and then move into doing straight scene work with a partner.

So. First impressions of the training here compared with training at Toi:

• Discipline: these guys work hard. They have so much work to get through, so many assignments dues, and they don't stop. In comparison, I feel we're very lazy in our approach and try to see how little we can get away with doing.
• Technique: from what I've seen so far every class is highly practical, aimed at delivering tangible core skills efficiently and technically. Either an actor can do it or they can't. In that respect it really is classical actor training, rather than artist training. I love the fact that on my first day here I've been asked to read what seems like all of Chekhov in the next week (which never happens at Toi) , and I feel like that the best way to get better is to work with the best material.
• Competitive: these guys do their first 2 years of training in a largely prescribed course that gives them very little choice, and after that they audition to carry on. And it is cutthroat. Also, people are culled along the way for laziness, poor work ethic, poor attendance, just not being good enough, and this is really evident in the ones that have survived. They all have a real drive to achieve highly and to work hard. There isn't any sign of the same laziness or complacency that I often feel at Toi - which I can only think is brought about by an environment where it's hard to fail. The threat of failure is very real here - and it has very real consequences.

I haven't actually seen any of these guys work on the floor yet, so I can't talk about the effect of this type of training on the quality of the work being done, but I'm very excited to witness it in the coming days and to work alongside them and probably struggle to keep up. 

Anyway that's probably enough about day one - I've got some Chekhov to be reading...