We started in the regular way with half an hour of warm up and Fitzmaurice voice work. I'm really enjoying the fact that - because I have so many classes with David - I get to do some of this work more or less every day, and I'm really finding that the regular practice of it means I'm noticing growth, development and differences.
Then into the dreaded quiz. I think I was the least nervous about it - given that I've only had three lessons ever on IPA and whether I passed or failed didn't matter too much. I got the sheet and it was really a pretty manageable test, not too many questions and more or less exactly what David had said it would be. So we started with the written sections - providing words that contain each phonetic vowel sound, giving examples of and phonetically transcribing words with certain features, and transcribing our full names using the IPA - and then we moved on to a section where David would speak a sound out loud and we transcribe the corresponding IPA character, and then finally the sections where one by one we vocalise the all of the vowel sounds in order, and then read aloud a phonetically transcribed word given to us by David. I was really pleased that I was able to answer every question (hopefully correctly), and also pull off the spoken part of the test without any mistakes (as far as I know). Not too bad for only three lessons.
Then came Svetlana's class. I was actually surprisingly nervous going in, knowing that I would probably be performing my scene today, and be worked by Svetlana on the floor for the first time. In the end this didn't eventuate as we only got through three scenes, leaving my scene the only one yet to be worked, which will now happen in Friday's class. This means a whole two days extra to doubt the work I've done, fret over getting it right, and anticipate the caning I'm going to get on the floor. I guess I can also look at it as more time to read and rehearse and make my initial offer as strong as it can be.
Still there was a lot to learn even from watching the other actors work today. Things got off to a shaky start when one guy in the first scene stated to Svetlana that his character's objective for the scene was "I want to have sex with Masha". What followed was a lesson from Svetlana about the sensibilities and integrity of Chekhovian characters in the form of a tirade ("Do you see 'sex' written in the play? Does Chekhov say 'f***ing'? No! That is you, little boy, putting your own thoughts onto work. Is not so simple and crude as just 'f***ing'. Is so offensive to me that you even suggest that!")
Other big lessons from the class included:
- "You must have inner life - don't show me what your clever actor brain thinks this is, live it! Don't just indicate, is so boring! You are horrible actor right now!"
- "Every time you do something or go somewhere it means something, it reveals inner life. Now you are just walking and touching curtain, you are so British. Do not just fuss!"
- "Stop! You must hear what you are saying when you speak, otherwise is just words. If you are not sending action then don't talk."
- "Read! Read the play! Oh my god, how do you read the text for you to not know this? Do you even read this play? You must read and read and read this guys; is all in the text, everything you need to know."
And many more lessons besides. Watching Svetlana work with actors, while at times uncomfortable and more than a little terrifying, everything becomes so clear because she has such a deep understanding of the text and how it works and also what is necessary to make the text live in the way it is meant to. It seems so obvious after she's said or demonstrated it, but then you think back about it and go "how the hell could I have ever gotten to that by myself?" I suppose the answer is just read, read, read, read, read - as much as she clearly has. And be Russian. That probably helps.
Last up was camera techniques, but my group wasn't filming today so there wasn't a hell of a lot to do. I spent most of the time with my scene partner, Nick, helping him to edit the footage of his scene work from last semester, which was interesting but by its nature a pretty tedious process. It was interesting to sit with Nick though and discuss his performance with him, particularly all the things he would do differently if he could do the scene again now. They're very lucky here that this sort of screen work is a pretty regular exercise for them, giving them the chance to really carry forward the learning from each project and straight away apply it to something new. I suppose it's down to a difference in available resources - and time and priorities as well - but it's the kind of thing I feel we don't do enough of at Toi.
The last part of the afternoon was a brief rehearsal of our Rounders scene with our tutor, John, before we shoot on Monday. We only worked for about 25 minutes but John was very good at nudging us in the right direction and getting it to a place where he's happy to start filming. Our main bit of direction was to be more casual with it, throw the lines away more and just talk, and when we did it really started to come alive. I started woking on the scene with an American accent, just because the film is American and some of the text also feels very American to me so it felt more appropriate. We worked that way for a while (and John complimented my American accent, saying it was 85% perfect), but then he had me try it in my normal voice. He said that he found the scene more authentic that way, and as there's no specific reason in the script that my character has to be American, that's how we're gonna do it. I would've liked the chance to really practise my accent in a practical way, but I think John's probably right in that I can probably get more out of the work by taking that focus away.
I don't have my Shakespeare class tomorrow - some big school event that everyone seems to be a part of meant Evelyn cancelled it - so I only have three classes left for the week, and I don't start tomorrow until 1pm. Aaaaah. Must be time to take a wee break from work and have a beer.
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