Filed by Bil at 8:03 pm under Love, Shameless Plugs, The Arts

We’ve been given a night off from rehearsal, so I can finally blog about it again.

I can only assume last night’s Electra rehearsal was our best rehearsal ever, because it was our most physically strenuous rehearsal ever. It was longer, for one thing, as any good tech rehearsal ought to be. Also, by this point we all know our lines as well as we’ve ever known them for this show, which allows us to flow more rapidly from moment to moment, which allows us to increase our intensity. And given that our two-story set is full of steps and our scenes are full of Anna throwing other actors onto the ground, there was quite a lot of up-and-down last night. So – long hours of intensely falling down and intensely getting back up over and over again so we could get it right…yeah, we were a tired bunch by quitting time last night.

But it was definitely our best rehearsal so far. We really are getting into it, especially now that we’ve got our spooky lighting and creepy sound cues. This show is going to be so good.

One thing Jeremy’s been concerned with is whether this show will be as clean as “Agamemnon” was. One of the most common compliments Dream Theatre was paid for that show was how clean it was. Not meaning nothing ever got spilled - far from it - rather, meaning that all the plot was crystal clear to the audience, the pacing never faltered, and every word from the actors’ mouths was understood. That’s going to be something I work on this Wednesday when we get back to rehearsal, after this much-needed respite in which I go over my lines and do laundry. (Soon as I’m done with this blog entry.)

One particular hurdle to being clearly understood by the audience will be the voice and accent I’m starting to employ. It’s a work in progress. Part of the challenge comes with the overall characterization of poor Pamphilos, because I’ve been told by the director not to play the fool, but I’ve also been told I have to be likable. And since Pamphilos is so useless in terms of affecting change in the characters surrounding him that he could be considered a mere narrator (nobody listens to him…ever…), I think the only way the audience is going to want to connect with Pamphilos is if they find me charming. So I have to find the delicate balance between the pathetic, whiny, tragic loser that no one wants to see or hear and the slapstick-harlequin punching bag that everyone wants more of.

I have to make it okay for the other characters to treat me like shit, because then the audience is more likely to follow those who drive the plot forward, and ultimately benefit the most from the experience of coming to see “Electra.” There is catharsis here, but the audience has to want it first.

And the path to finding this delicate balance? Clarity.

I have to know exactly what I’m doing as well as exactly what all the other actors are doing, and vice versa. We must be clean. We must be light and quick, like Tinkerbell, but we must also be heavy and wise, like an elephant. Like driving a bulldozer through a maze of wine glasses without crushing a single one. Like the kitsch and comfort of a neon cross.