zozo's monologue and scene

Memorization session 2

This time, the objective was to try out different physical actions. I'd already tried doing actions that "made sense" in class. So I tried doing random actions. I was in my room, and it needed cleaning. So I spent half an hour multitasking between tidying things up, throwing things out, and other random chores.

One challenge was the mismatch between how long an action took and the length of a beat. I found myself fingering a scrap of paper thoughtfully for a good 30 seconds. Which I suppose isn't too unrealistic--I'm known to play with things in my hands while I'm talking. At another point, I sat down and started writing a check. This naturally took some of the intensity out of the beat; it made me seem distant and almost nonchalant. Which was an interesting departure I hadn't considered before.

Detaching the physical action from the purpose of the beat helped me to focus on the emotional content of the beat itself. Folding a shirt has nothing to do with this scene, but the way in which Barney would fold a shirt--or pick up papers, or put a marker away, is dependent on what he's feeling at the time.

It struck me that having this conversation while being so detached from it was pretty sad and despondent. I actually started crying when I started talking about death. I didn't want to get into sobbing, but the tears seemed kind of appropriate at the low points of his speech. The problem is that he moves pretty quickly on to another beat, and the tears don't make sense later on. But it's something to play with.

posted by Zozo @ 10:56 AM