zozo's monologue and scene

Blocking

One of the big challenges for this was figuring out how to block and stage this monologue, which at times seems like a plea for forgiveness and at others seems like a ranting tirade. The one thing that's clear is that this speech is directed at Elaine. So today's exercise, which called for us to use someone else as an element of the set, was pretty interesting.

Our first try, where we were all reciting our monologues in corners of the former weight room, produced such a cacaphony of sound that it effectively restricted my motion to within about three feet of Elaine. I found myself pacing back and forth in front of her. This kept a lot of emotional and empathetic distance between us, but I don't feel like I was really making an appeal for her approval by the end.

When we did it for the class, someone had left a bench on stage. So I thought: what if she's sitting on the bed? This worked well. I could tell her to "just sit there" to fix her location. At times I could turn away from her and still be open to the audience. And at the end I sat down on the bed and looked directly into her eyes, which seemed like an effective way to form that connection.

But, as Matthew pointed out, eventually I won't have anyone there on stage to form that physical connection with. I could continue to pantomime it to an imaginary person, or I could try to form that connection with random people in the audience. Which is an interesting idea. But I kind of like the expressiveness of having defined regions where I can be looking at, towards, and away from her at different points.

Another challenge: The last line. "...for a brief moment, I didn't just exist. I lived." I'm having a hard time not making this line sound cheesy.

posted by Zozo @ 6:16 PM