Titus Androgynous, Day 2

We are currently on our two hour dinner break, after being at the church from 9:30am. We began the morning with some physical and vocal warmups, and then headed straight into an entrance and exit run. That was quickly dispatched, but helpful because I'm now an attendant to the emperor and have to follow him/her around and now I know where I am supposed to be. I have become Aemilius, the curtain holder!

The death of Bassanius

Then the majority of the morning was spent on stage combat. There are a lot of deaths in Titus Andronicus, so all that violence had to be worked out safely. Quick decisions were made about weapons and blood (red fabric). Then we went through the play and practiced each death and moment of violence, one-by-one. Meanwhile people could go off and work on lines and text.

How do we cut of Titus's hand?

I used the time to double check all my entrances and exits. And since I have many scenes where I stand on stage without lines, it's my job to stay out of the way. So I checked the chart to see where other characters would be entering, to make sure I could pick a spot on stage that was out of the way.

We stopped for lunch, and I got to geek out more about Shakespeare (this time it was through sharing my undying love of the Histories). I got to have a conversation with Stephen Lorne Williams, a lovely man whom I had seen perform in Measure for Measure at the American Shakespeare Center. When I introduced myself to him in the morning, I think I surprised him by asking him about a specific choice he had made on the line "If any in Vienna be of worth / To undergo such ample grace and honour, / It is Lord Angelo." Williams delivered the final words with a big fat question in his voice. I knew this production had been directed by Patrick Tucker, who believes strongly that the First Folio has all the answers, so I wanted to know if this choice was suggested by First Folio punctuation, or just the idea of the actor. Williams said he think it was just his choice in the moment.

The deaths of Chiron and Demetrius

When lunch was done the last few deaths were plotted out. Then, at about 2pm, our facilitator Abbie Isaac came up and gave me another line! That's the kind of thing that happens in this set up -- you have to figure out who says random unassigned crowd lines. It certainly keeps you on your toes! People also planned the interlude music. I'm excited that a suggestion of mine, half made in jest, was accepted, and I'll be playing my recorder for it. Then we found out when the intermission is and blocked the curtain call.

And in an hour we are due back. In two hours we perform. There is little pressure on me, since my role is small, so I'm getting to observe the process a lot. When they say there is no rehearsal, they aren't kidding. Nothing we did was anything like a rehearsal. None of us know what is going to happen tonight. I am involved in one important moment at the end of the play, and I don't know where the two people I need to interact with will be standing. I don't know how or if the other people onstage will respond to the plot point that I put out there. (I'll explain more after the performance). But I'm very excited to see what happens.