Fights! Death! Freaking out the audience!

So, in editing Romeo and Juliet, I've realized that I use quite a few more "Theatre of Creulty" techniques on a regular basis than I had ever thought. I lurve me sitting on the audience, going through it, over it, under it, making them cheer, making them boo, giving them stuff, taking it away, asking their opinion, talking right at them, making them smell fake flowers, etc. etc. etc. I love beginning a show without telling anyone - and taking an intermission the same way, too. I love coming back from intermission with everyone in a scramble - rather than the wide-eyed bovine settling in to another hour that'll be pretty much the same as the first - no matter how good or bad the first was. I love keeping the audience on its toes - it keeps a show on its toes, and it makes theatre theatrical.

So, in the wide world of bullet points:

Saw Twilight today - because if there were bits that were yummy escapism, I could use that, and for the overwhelming bits which were just silly, I could laugh at them. Which I did. But not too loudly for fear of the fangirls. But oh, Robert Pattinson (is it?) shouldn't have done his best Marlon Brando version of American accents. He lost ALL his range and kept his voice between three notes. Yuck. And the girl seems to use no more than three of her vocal notes regularly, too. And occasionally the cinematographer liked to just go wild on shooting a bunch of foliage, which the editor lovingly kept at the end of scenes despite the scene being definitely over. LOTS of shots of poor Edward's eyes, too. It was...kinda silly. Leaves me with no desire to read the books, but an overwhelming desire to write Sable Valentine.

But I'm not doing that right now! Because instead my time is full up of having Our Town close two weeks ago (went very, very well, yay God), having audition workshop for Once Upon a Mattress this past Tuesday with auditions this upcoming Tuesday, that same past Tuesday booking it down to MIT for an interview to direct their Shakespeare Ensemble (which I will find out if I have an offer by next Wednesday), circling around Cupid and Psyche which is waaay overdue to Brenda, sometimes playing Beatrice from Much Ado in my Shakespeare class, and pulling together the strings for my senior thesis which is scaring the...poot...out of me. Oh, and I have to finish or in some wise move forward the writing/composing of The Steadfast Tin Soldier one-act opera for Bob's class - but I'll do what I can and see how it goes. And I have a dramaturgy project on allegiances in Much Ado due in...two weeks? I hope?

So...yeah...um, in looking at that (and knowing what other stuff I cram into here and there - voice lessons, journalling, drives, friends, editing Romeo and Juliet, and a bunch of useless TV)...I guess I am busier than I thought! So...that's good? Huh.

Speaking of R&J, the Wedding Scene through to Mercutio's Death. The DVD is shaping up very well and I'm thrilled to be half-way through with the editing now! Possibly I will have it done in time for the Gaudete annual Christmas Party! Voila.



Mood: Trying to be sleepy. I really just want to edit Tybalt's death, but I'm holding off for, y'know, Thanksgiving.
Music: Mental "Mad World" a la Tybalt's death!
Thought: I do get why Twilight is so popular - dangerous but not too dangerous guy, totally obsessed with one woman - the sort of dangerous-safe uber-monogamist - whose idea of a great smexy night is lying side by side totally clothed protecting you while you sleep. Oh, and he has diamond skin. I get it, I get it. It just still makes me laugh.

In Editing the Balcony Scene

I came across this jewel:



Mood: Back hurts. Stupid weather.
Music: Sadly, none.
Thought: Not a big fan of YouTubes letterboxing everything....

Queen Mab

Last R&J for a little while. But too good a bon mot to pass up. The Queen Mab speech with magic, glowing thumbs!



Mood: Sleepy, Dopey, Doc
Music: The lingering remains of a ringtone
Thought: I hate it when complete strangers get all contentious about stuff they've seen on YouTube. That, and I'm still not wholly convinced about the "my" argument currently going on in theatre between actors and directors - that is, I wholly agree and understand and appreciate, but don't think the word ought to be expunged from the vocabulary. The difficulty isn't in the word but in the attitude and application of the word. The twisting of the idea behind the word.

Romeo and Juliet goodness

At the risk of cheating on my last play with my ex-play...some Romeo and Juliet Act I goodness. A reminder: this is cut together from only the close-up tapes because the other tapes weren't salvageable. Given the lighting at the found space, the video is what it is. But enjoy!



Mood: I wish I were sleepy!
Music: Mental David Cook
Thought: So much to do, so little time, Earl Grey....

Why You Should Not Change the Fight Choreography

Because you break your nose. Footage from the last night of Gaudete Academy's 2008 production of Romeo and Juliet - where, on gag night, despite the fact that they had been told not to, Romeo and Paris added in a headbutt. And broke Romeo's nose.

Never, ever, EVER change the fight choreography!



Mood: Restless
Music: Ambience
Thought: One more night of Our Town! Come see it! (See poster to the side for details.)

In Memoriam

How fitting that I finished - for all intents and purposes (minor revisions notwithstanding) - In Memoriam on this feast of All Souls! The last time I finished a play - oh, back in March or April of this year, wasn't it? Wallace's Will, I found myself hollow, eyes staring, still within that world, utterly spent. But with this play, I feel myself at peace, breathing again - good, cool air. And yes, my thinking is still in that language - all dream-like and tangental, poetic in its prose - but that, too, will pass.

However, I wanted to take a moment to commemorate this moment, a moment to - fittingly - capture this memory, put it pen on paper as it were, be able to recall that once I finished writing, sat back, and felt the burden lifted.

It is done, it is done, glory, hallelujah, it is done.

Mood: Much better, much calmer.
Music: Currently, Apocalypta's string quartet cover of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" - however, whilst writing it was Greenday's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on repeat.
Thought: Ah, but here is the limp-limbed uselessness I recall. The legs of a marathoner after he's stood still....