zozo's monologue and scene

Beat marking

Yesterday we marked up our monologues to break them up into "beats"--objective shifts for the character. This makes sense with some sort of discourse theory I probably would know more about if I took more comm classes. But I prefer to think of objective in conversation as more of a stack--you digress and push things onto the top of the stack but your original objectives are still there underneath, ready to resurface once you've lit your cigarette or put down your comb or answered your phone or whatever.

The trickier part I think is determining where there's a fundamental shift in character--where those "epiphany moments" are that really change his temperament. I think this piece is in some sense a catharsis for Barney, a confessional that he hasn't had yet.

His first goal I think, is to prevent Elaine from leaving as she's about to run out the door. Here I think some context would help. One thing I need to learn from context of the play is:

Why is Elaine leaving? Did she want to go through with the affair? Was she disgusted by the idea and leaving to prevent it from happening?

I'm kind of inclined to think something more the latter, because of this line:

If I get nothing else from you today, it's going to be your undivided goddamned attention.

Modern American theatre theory suggests defining objective on three levels:

1. The character's apparent goal in relation to other characters.
   
2. The more generic objective--"character-agnostic" to draw parallels with my machine learning work.
   
3. A personal experience (hypothetical or real) you can relate to to understand what the character's going through.

So I think my three levels for this are:

1. Explaining to Elaine why he wanted to have an affair. (Whether he still wants this affair now I'm not sure. Is that still his desired outcome? That can be Big Question #2.)
   
2. Confession and catharsis. Getting this off your chest, but also revealing a somewhat private secret.
   
3. The nearest analogy I can draw is the night I opened up to my then-girlfriend about my past relationships. It's stuff I don't broadcast to everyone and was sharing to in a way explain how I came to be who I am and in a way explain why I believe (some of) the things I believe.
   

posted by Zozo @ 12:15 PM 0 comments

First reactions

So I settled on Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon. I'm not sure what the rest of the plot is like but this one seemed intriguing to me.

Barney has invited Elaine to his mom's apartment, planning to have an affair with her. Somehow it doesn't work out and she's about to leave when he stops her and delivers this monologue.

The intriguing thing about this for me is that it reveals some depth to his character. We have a bias against characters who commit infidelity and have looked down on adultery since the Ten Commandments, and so you start out really despising this guy. Especially because he seems angry at the start, ordering Elaine to "just sit there". But as the monologue progresses, he opens up and reveals why he wanted to have an affair. By the end you're almost feeling sorry for him. Should you be? Will I be able to evoke sympathy? In a way he's kinda pathetic. But it'll be an interesting challenge.

posted by Zozo @ 12:04 PM 0 comments