Environment
Today we tried performing our monologues in new spaces. So we heard from Caesar out on a field, from a frustrated housewife in a kitchen, and from a salesman at a bar table. I wanted to get outside for some fresh air and so as I roamed around a spot right by the inner courtyard caught my eye, with a bench, a couple pillars, and a nice view of the courtyard. It felt like a resort. A nice, shaded resort.
That thought was interesting to play with--the juxtaposition of Barney's inner turmoil with the tranquility of the surroudnings. And indeed there were a few opportunities to gaze out onto the courtyard, wishing life were simpler.
I also wanted to play with engaging the audience directly, as Matthew had encouraged Nick and Elizabeth to do with their pieces. So when it came time for the speech about his
nice funeral, everyone was already standing in a nice semi-circle. So I just walked along, looking at people straight in the eye as I passed. It felt like I was making an appeal directly to them, whereas before I had been giving Elaine most of my attention. Here I invited each audience member to try and think about Barney's frustrations with life. I'm not sure it's the right place to make that connection, though, as I'm not sure that's what the audience will most empathize with.
The problem is that I spent a lot of time walking around since I had so many interesting places to stand. I need to stay still more and just punctuate important thoughts from time to time.
And speaking of empathy, a new challenge: making people empathize or at least be non-repulsed by Torvald from
A Doll's House...
Memorizations sessions 3 and 4
Session 3: EmotionsThis exercise was to play the whole thing with the same emotional theme. Which is interesting to me because some readings of the text never occur to you till you try them. And others take on new meanings in new emotional contexts. But here's what I tried:
Sad. Emboldened by my sob story last time, I decided to expand on the sadness. I started out feeling like I was about to retell a very sad memory and ended up crying and getting all choked up. This was a good match for the talk about death but turned into a general despondency when talking about the good things in his life. By the end I felt like Elaine had really hurt my feelings by questioning my motives. Moral: Sadness works for part of it maybe, but not really for the whole thing.
Happy. Smiling while saying, "Just sit there and shut up till I tell you you can go" really takes the bite out of this line. Later on, it also adds a degree of whimsy. And there are a few points you can laugh at--it is a comedy, after all. I hadn't been playing the humor of it at all before, and so this was an interesting change.
Sarcastic. This felt like a man who realized how silly his scheme was to shake up his life by having an affair, who saw how ludicrous his position was and was almost satirizing himself. It also felt at times like it'd make a great drunken rant. That'd be an interesting thing to try.
Session 4: Special AudienceFor this I sprang my monologue on Helen, my roommate's unsuspecting girlfriend. I decided not to tell her in advance what would happen, so she was somewhat surprised to find I was trying to "have an affair" with her. The space was smaller, which was a little weird to work with, but doable.
It was a little odd doing it with someone I knew too, since I had based a lot of the relationship with Elaine on the notion that she were someone I didn't really know and was having a fight with. But Helen did know me and she had never heard the monologue before. So there were parts that struck her as a little funny, and she was smiling (stifling laughter, she later told me). At a couple points I tried to play off it. It never occurred to me that the relationship between Barney and Elaine might be a little deeper, and that they might be able to laugh about some things like the Newark hooker. Which is an interesting direction to go I think. And one I'll certainly have to try.
