The Twin Captains
Director's Diary (as it were)Last Updated: January 25, 2000
This is an attempt to document the process of creating the Commedia that the Golden Stag Players are doing for 12th Night, January 2000 (AS XXXIV). The reason for it is that this is the most ambitious project we've taken on, and the part of me that is a Laurel felt that documentation was a good thingtm.
Prior to this, copies of various scenarios had gone out for folk to discuss. We made a decision at 12th Night during the impromptu cast party we had after our performance there ...
As you can see, we literally started nearly a year before the performance.
The names given here are generally first names (SCA, not non-SCA/real-world names), so here's the full listing of SCA Names, in case it helps ...:
Juan = Juan Santiago
Rose = Rose de Le Mans
Seamus = Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain Mì-nàrach
Wulfric = Wulfric of Creigull
Anne = Anne of Ockham
Bonefinder = Charles Ravenstone (Bonefinder)
Teresa = Teresa le Marchant
Michael = Michael of Worcester
Joanna = Joanna Melissa Ronsivalle
Meg = Margrethe Astrid Ravn
Nightshade = Original Nightshade
Kæll = Kæll of the Broken Tower
Iricus = Iricus le Ferur
Robyn = Robyn MacLaren
Hirsch = Hirsch von Henford
Aldith = Aldith Angharad St. George
February 20, 1999
This was the first session to write the script. This session was held
at Aldith and Hirsch's place. Most of the "regular" troupe
was there.
We started by discussing the standard Commedia archetypes based on the research Rose and I have done. We wanted to sort of plant the seeds for the various characters we needed to develop, because we want this script to be as close to period as we can make it, considering the fact that Commedias weren't generally scripted in period.
After we spent quite a bit of time on the characters, we moved on to the actual Scenario from Salerno's book1. The scenario is titled "The Twin Captains" and deals with infidelity, and a mix-up between two Captains who are twin brothers ... lots of comedic possibilities, as you might imagine. (And an astute Shakespearean scholar can probably already see some similiarities between this and a play by Shakespeare ...)
We went through the scenario scene by scene, and discussed it to make sure we all understood the action. These things can be a tad confusing (this is a big understatement ...), so it was helpful to go over it.
We looked at the actors available, and decided to change the name of Pedrolino's character to "Fiorinetta", since we have at least as many female actors as male actors (and this change can add to a romantic bit at the end of the show); we then added two characters in order to flesh things out a bit. We gave Pantalone and Flaminia a servant (Columbina); and we added a servant for Captain Spavento (Trivilino, from the Arlecchino family of characters). We felt that adding the Trivilino character could allow us to play a bit with the Shakespearean "Comedy of Errors" bits, since "The Stranger-Captain" already has a servant (Arlecchino) in the scenario. We can create some good "confusion" scenes with the addition of this character ...
We did a bit of tentative casting - largely by asking who was interested in what roles. Rose has decided that this year she is stepping off the stage and will have a major role in the production side (since we're going "all out" for period forms this will be very handy - she's really interested in doing this right!) - more than she has in the past (and she's done a lot with this) ...
The two Captains will be played by Juan and Iricus (I think that this particular scenario is the only reason Juan was willing to take the role of Captain again - he's done it before ...) - similar builds and coloring helps a lot there. We cast Seamus as Pantalone after most of the other roles were laid out - he only protested a bit (he's done this role in each of the Commedias we've done in the past and was hoping for a different role this time) ... he can handle the pratfalls better than a lot of folk, as Pantalone gets "run over" a lot ... Wulfric enjoyed doing the servant type character in the last Commedia we did (Flavio, the Fake Magician), so volunteered to do Trivilino. Bonefinder has stated unequivocally in the past (and did so again while we were discussing casting) "if there's an Arlecchino, I'm playing him!", so that was an easy one (and he does a great job with the role). Anne wanted to do the Fiorinetta role (formerly Pedrolino), who owns a tavern ... Michael of Worcester wants to be on stage rather than behind it this time, so we cast him as Flavio (he didn't want a big role, but does want stage-time). Isabella (who is married to the Captain, but in love with Oratio) will be portrayed by Joanna. Flaminia (in love with Oratio and very jealous of Isabella) will be played by Nighshade. Oratio by Kæll (fun role for him - always in trouble with the ladies). Franceschina (servant) will be played by Meg, and Columbina (servant) by Teresa. Dr. Gratiano (father of Isabella, has some really good lines this time) will be ably portrayed by Robyn MacLaren. I think that's it ...
Unfortunately, those who weren't at the gathering didn't get cast, and we had several new folk interested in playing with us. This was just one of those "you had to be there" things, I think. This is really the first time the GSP has ever had too many actors to do a Commedia - in the past we've had to beat-the-bushes to get enough folk to fill in all the roles. (While it's gratifying to me, as it's my acting troupe, it's a bit disconcerting as well ...)
After all that, we got started writing and did a really good first draft of Act I. We had a lot of fun with it, which with this group is sort of expected. A lot of imagination in this group and when you get these folk together it is incredible to see what happens (ok, many of them have been working together for 8 years now ...). We had to keep telling Bonefinder that he couldn't lie on the floor and say "Beige, I think I'll paint the sky beige ..." (We're trying to keep the modern references out of the script ...) While three of the folk there did a lot of the work, everyone pitched in, ideas were bandied back and forth, lines changed, etc ... it was exciting!
We took a short break, and then did a complete reading of Act I, which sounded pretty good. We decided that next month's get-together would see us finish writing the script if possible. It was around 6 or 7 when most folk went home ... (figuring we started around 1 or 2 ...) Those of us left went to dinner ...
March 10
Aldith and I re-read the script as it stands - pretty durn good. Emailed it
out to a few folk who requested it. We re-read it because I was printing copies
for the weekend ...
March 13
While not everyone could make it, we still had a grand time.
We started by re-reading the script (Act I) just to get us into the mood, and to recall where we were (three weeks have gone by, after all ...).
We started writing on Acts II and III ... and writing ... and writing. It became a bit of a challenge to get one of your lines into the script, since Anne, Rose, and Wulfric were doing a good portion of the writing. I heard Meg say something like "I got one!" when we used one of her lines ...
We got one line in the script for Arlecchino done that had Joanna in stitches on the floor for quite some time. We were getting worried she wouldn't be able to breath ... Too bad Bonefinder wasn't there ... oh well, he'll see it eventually.
I think we finished around 7:30 or 8 pm. We did a read-through of Acts II and III with whoever was still there, and while a tad rough here and there, we are pretty happy with it. We have a bit of time to clean it up, and frankly, we won't have a final version until after the performance anyway ...
March 14
Juan and Rose stayed over, and we all talked about the script at breakfast.
Decided a few things need to be done at the next session, which will be
a "polish the script" session ...
In addition, Aldith and Rose started discussing costumes - color combinations (we're going to do color schemes to help group people a bit ...).
I sent out an email with the script attached to it to everyone on the GSP mailing list (we all have email which is rather handy ...) and made sure the points above were made. Seamus called and let me know he had some suggestions, but got busy and couldn't email them to me right away ...
April 10
The Script Polishing Session
This should be the last session for awhile at Hirsch and Aldith's - the
next few will probably be at Teresa's (except for the Fourth of July
gathering -- our annual Picnic) as she has that great rec center in her
apartment complex, which gives us room for the movement and pratfall
workshops, as well as hopefully space to work with Bjorn and Hilarie
on mask-making. Actually most of our rehearsals will likely be there
as well, since that rec center has lots of room, and it's fairly centrally
located for most of the players (with folk scattered from the East Bay to
Santa Cruz, someplace in the middle is a good idea ...).
This was a great session. We really polished the script up well, in about 2 hours (reading, modifying, discussing, yelling at each other ...). We then had a small party for Seamus (his birthday was the week before), and then Aldith and Rose spent the evening working out costume designs for the characters, digging out books3 with Aldith drawing away. This was a very productive day.
The line drawings for the costumes can be seen, if interested, by clicking on this link ... line drawings/design sketches of costumes for The Twin Captains
If we can't get hold of Bjorn and Hilarie, or if they end up being too busy (which is a possibility) I think we can still do the masks. Bonefinder has some experience making masks, and we have some talented folk amongst us ... and some good reference material handy.
April 12
Heard from Hilarie the Puppeteer, and between their schedules being really busy
and not meshing with ours, and the fact that (as it turns out) most of their
background being with paper mache masks, as opposed to leather ones, which is
what we need to do ... Rose and I decided that we can probably do the masks
ourselves. Tried to make sure that Hilarie and Bjorn know that there are not
bad feelings on our part and that we appreciate the fact that they were willing
to work with us at all (they are VERY busy folk).
April 25
Got together with Juan and Rose this weekend, as both Aldith and
I are part of their wedding party, and we needed to get fit for
tuxedos and such.
The important thing (for the play) is that we talked about masks, and Aldith and Rose designed the masks for the male characters that will be wearing them. The only female mask that we can find an image of is of an old hag, which doesn't work for the servants or Fiorinetta ... more research ...
Anyway, the design sketches of the masks4 can be seen at:
Of course, getting them to look like that will be loads of fun ... (and the drawings don't show the facial hair (mustaches and eyebrows)) -- these drawings are so we can work them into clay ... details on the mask making process will appear here once we get there.
May 2, 1999
Juan and Rose have been experimenting with the life-mask techniques
described in one of our books (see footnote 4) ... Juan has gone under
the "alginate" and plaster twice (the first one didn't work out quite
right), and now has a life-mask for himself. This will be handy
for the Capitano mask he will be using ...
This is in preparation to doing this for some of the actors next week, either at the Saturday session, or a session on Sunday. While the life-mask (creating a mask to work from, based on an actor's own face -- complicated process) is modern (period masks were done by carving wooden "molds" and then molding the leather over them), most of the members of the GSP don't have the talent to carve wooden molds5.
In addition, Rose is working another Lazzo into the script -- it will be one from the book of Lazzi (footnote 2) -- there's a really good place to insert this, so it should work out great.
May 8, 1999
Juan and Rose brought the practice mats from their dojo. We
used those for the excercises (see below) ...
We spent some time on warmup excercises, which is something I think most of the actors should try to do when we do these, and before rehearsals when we go to full rehearsal mode.
(By "We", I mean the actors -- I was taking pictures to chronicle all this -- I hope to be able to post a few photos at some point showing various stages of the process ...)
Aldith draped Anne for her costume. (Draping is a method of making sure the costume fits and laying out the parts of the pattern ...)
We did rolling/falling excercises to work out some basic concepts and a lot of practicing was done (this is so that, in theory, we don't hurt ourselves ...). This was the reason for having the mats brought in.
We did "The Ministry of Silly Walks" (a Monty Python reference) -- the book that this information is from is really based on later-period (17th to 18th century) 6 than the SCA, so while we did some really outrageous stuff, it will all be toned down to match the characters as we are portraying them.
We scheduled folk to go to Juan and Rose's place to do life masks ... this is for the actors that must have masks. The reason for this is that in experimenting with doing life masks for Juan and Seamus it was decided that the amount of mess was more than we wanted to create at Teresa's apartment complex's recreation center. So Juan and Rose are arranging for folk to come up this month. The next session will be at their place so we can put the clay on the life masks to build the actual mask designs ...
It was a pleasant session. A few folk couldn't be there due to various commitments, but this early in the process it's not a big deal.
Just to set the record straight, Rose and Juan are doing most or all of the production for this show -- Rose is doing most of the research, and is heading up the work on the masks (with a lot of help from Juan), coordinating costumes and mask making and more. Juan is doing a lot of work with help from Seamus on the pratfall and movement workshops.
May 9, 1999
Iricus and Teresa's life masks were done.
The intent is to get Robyn's done on the 11th, and the others are scheduled ... Bonefinder may have someone who can help him do his.
For those interested, we have a bunch of photographs of the mask-making process which Juan is updating. The Golden Stag Players Get Plastered
June 13, 1999
This was a very busy day, putting Margrethe and Anne under the
dental alginate used to do the life-masks, and everyone else
who has a mask either working on doing clay mockups of their
masks or helping in some fashion.
The only person we aren't sure of as far as masks go is Bonefinder, and we're trying to reach him to find out what's up.
It was a good day, watching the drawings of the masks start shaping up in clay.
In addition, Teresa's mask was done, and the cement had been poured, and the plaster removed and cleaned up so everyone could see it (there are some wood blocks in the back to tack the leather onto when we start forming the leather). Juan's mask (Capitano) and Seamus' mask (Pantalone) had the cement poured in the morning before most people arrived, and the wooden blocks set into the back. When Seamus was freeing up the plaster from the Pantalone mask, the nose broke in two places. Sigh. However, he is very sure that it can be fixed with epoxy and a rod. Of the problem noses, this was the one that had the most potential for trouble.
In addition, Kæll and Nightshade were "draped" for their garb (a technique used to make sure the pattern matches the person's body ...).
Everyone had a really good time, and is feeling really good about the project.
June 27, 1999
While Juan was out of town, Rose got together with Seamus
to work on pouring the cement postives for masks.
The one problem was that Bonefinder came over to "get plastered", and in the process of coming up the hill to Juan and Rose' place rolled the truck. My understanding is that both Bonefinder and the truck are ok, but there was some extra effort involved in getting the truck out of the ditch, which of course took time away from doing the cement positives. (They also got the plaster positive of Bonefinder's face done, so all of the actors with masks now have the plaster positive, and nearly all have the clay mask mockup done ...)
So, not all the cement positives got done today. However, we're in pretty good shape as far as the schedule goes, so we're not feeling like we're behind at all ...
Next Saturday is the annual Golden Stag Player picnic/bbq, being held at Joanna's house this year. We've decided that while we'll probably talk business a bit, it's going to be a "hang out and have fun" day as opposed to being a work party (something we had discussed as a possibility) ...
August 20, 1999
Well, the picnic was a lot of fun, as expected. Not a lot to say
about it except that there was good food (and lots of it), most
of the players showed up. Some played with Joanna's husband's
forge, making some knife blanks ... we hung out, had a grand time ...
During the time between the picnic and now, Rose and Juan have had a lot of to deal with, as they got married (August 14), and had to do with all the wedding stuff (family, etc.). In and among all this, however, they didn't forget the masks, and completed all of the cement positives of the masks. They worked with Seamus to fix the nose on Pantalone's cement positive, rather than having to re-cast it ...
Tomorrow we get together with nearly all of us (a few have other things happening, like Meg who is at Pennsic ...) to do the leather molding process.
We'll also look over the rehearsal schedule, as we start rehearsals in September -- these will be nearly weekly, except in October, where there are several major SCA events happening (three weeks in a row!! ack!), and of course we have folk who have to be elsewhere for some of the weekends we will be rehearsing.
August 21, 1999
Not everyone could make it for a variety of reasons. Oh well.
As it was, we had a pretty productive day. Seamus and Juan spent a lot of time cleaning up the cement mask molds (smoothing them out, patching a couple, putting the nose back on one of the Capitano masks ...).
This included making the horn hammers used to work the leather (the process is to cut the cow's horns down to a manageable size, drill a hole through and clean it up, and put a hammer handle through the hole ...).
Four masks got started -- the first was Robyn's -- this one was a sort of "blow-out" in that there were problems getting the leather to fold around the cement mold well enough that it could be molded properly, and Robyn had to leave for another commitment before it could be finished. However, it was a learning process, and the next three worked out better. In addition, Rose is going to attempt to finish Robyn's mask.
Bonefinder took his with him to work on, so we'll see what it looks like next time we get together. Wulfric and Teresa's masks are looking really good.
So, while the turnout wasn't really big, we got a lot done. Plans are now to use Labor Day weekend to try to get more of the masks completed. (We'd like to be able to use most of them for rehearsals, and as early in the rehearsal process as possible, simply because they will change a person's vision, and therefore the way they react ... however, Anne will be purchasing some 'rehearsal masks' -- inexpensive masks that will help get people used to the limited vision ...)
September 4, 1999
We had Seamus, Iricus and Michael come up to Juan and Rose's place,
and work on their masks. It worked out well. The seven masks that
are done being molded are looking really good (Rose worked on the
masks of Margrethe, Teresa, and Anne earlier, and Wulfric's mask
from last session -- Robyn's mask is a "re-do" at this point, but
we're doing well for our schedule, and it shouldn't be a problem).
Iricus' concrete had the nose break off at the base, so some extra work had to be done to put pegs in and cement over it, wait for it to dry, and so on. But once the cement had dried, he was able to work it pretty quickly, and it looks great.
It's a really wonderful feeling to see the masks taking shape before our eyes -- and it adds a lot of excitment to what we're doing. There's still a bunch of work to go on them, but the hard parts are done, it's the fine touches (finishing, dying, adding straps and hair to the ones that have hair ...) that need to be completed. Juan is adding photos to the mask-making pages which can be found here: The Golden Stag Players Get Plastered (Juan and Hirsch are taking photos like crazy to make sure we document the whole process ...)
We also discussed a few aspects of the production (prologue, etc.), and Aldith worked on the costume designs a bit with Rose.
All in all, a very productive day ... next week we start rehearsals, although since we weren't able to get Teresa's apartment complex for the first two scheduled rehearsals, we will go to Juan and Rose's and work on masks, read the script, make plans for costumes, and so on. Several folk can't be at the first rehearsal anyway (two are in Europe and the other is working ...).
September 6, 1999
Apparently Juan, Rose, and Seamus got excited and separated the masks that are
done from the molds, so our first scheduled rehearsal will have us working on
completing the masks, among other things. They worked all week on putting the
supporting wire around the edge of the masks, and dealing with the edges, finishing
the noses, and so on.
September 14, 1999
This Sunday (the 12th) was originally scheduled to be a rehearsal, but
between scheduling of the site we normally use for rehearsals, and several
folk not being available, we did a read-through of the script and worked
on finishing the masks. It was a really spiffy day, as we got most of the
masks either completed, or nearly so (we need to get the hair on some of
them -- mustaches, eyebrows, that sort of thing).
This process included working with each actor and their mask to get the straps placed correctly, the proper location for the eyeholes, dying the masks to the colors we needed. The green dye was rather too bright for the mask of Flavio (based on the Brighella character), but throwing some brown dye into it, Rose came up with a really good olive-green that looks great.
The masks, after dying, were then treated with beeswax to seal them, and buffed like crazy to polish them up. Next weekend we should be able to get the hair (as noted above) on the masks and they'll be done.
September 19, 1999
Our first "real" rehearsal was held at Wulfric's today. Good stuff ...
we blocked (choreographed) the first Act, and while rough (well, it's
the first day of it) it looked and sounded pretty durn good.
After we went through it twice, we then worked on putting hair on masks (we got three mustaches put on, and the others will be done once ready -- there are only two more that need mustaches). We need to determine the best way to get the hair to "mold" -- we're using theatrical crepe hair, so it's not going to act exactly the same as real hair. We'll figure it out with some tests before doing the mustaches, but the hair is glued on with barge cement, so now we just have to shape it ...
At the same time we were blocking the play, Aldith was working with Rose and Donata (Wulfric's lady) on costume patterns in the living room ...
Next week we'll be at our "regular" rehearsal space, at Teresa's apartment complex, and start in on the blocking of Acts II and maybe III ...
October26, 1999
We've gone into full weekly rehearsal ... and of course there's some
minor finishing on the masks. As we go, we're discovering minor
things to work out with the masks (getting the mustaches to work
so that they aren't falling apart; keeping the masks off the face
enough so that they don't rub in some places, causing irritation ...).
Costumes are getting started. Aldith and Rose are working away on all that, and working with actors (and significant others) ...
The rehearsals are a lot of fun, and as expected, we're tinkering with the text of the script a bit ... they're also a lot of work, trying to get the blocking to work out smoothly -- this means going over particular parts of the script many times ...
But, it's working out. We're still cracking ourselves up, which is a good sign ... if it's still funny to us, then we have hopes that it will be really funny for the audience in January ...
There may not be a lot more added here for awhile, simply because we're doing the "same ol' rehearsal thang".
We have added a couple of stagehands who will be back stage helping the actors when they come off stage, all the usual stagehand things ... and we got a commitment from Tarik (who has been in some of earlier plays) to be our stagemanager.
The goal for having costumes done is mid-November. The goal for working with the sets is the beginning of December. If we're close, we're in good shape.
November 2, 1999
Rehearsals are keeping everyone
quite busy ... at the same time, Aldith and Rose have been working
on costumes, costume patterns, etc. Rose has also been putting finishing
touches on some of the masks.
We have two stagehands now, which helps. Of course, it helps in some weird ways, too – if an actor isn’t able to be at rehearsal the stagehands are filling in (or the director if necessary). It makes for some strange scenes at times ...
The rehearsals are a lot of work, because we’re dealing with a lot of action that we’ve never done before. We’re much more physical in this play than anything we’ve done to date. This means some of the actors are wearing knee pads, we have some martial arts practice pads we’re using on the floor, and so on.
Before each rehearsal, we're doing warm-up exercises, and doing some testing of rolls and such, to make sure the actors can do this stuff without hurting themselves or each other. It will look worse from in the audience than it is on stage, but some of the action looks pretty brutal (servants getting smacked around and falling over ... etc.).
The photos in the photo album of one of our rehearsals give some idea how much action is going on, but it’s hard to describe ... at least until you see it.
December 4, 1999
Juan and Seamus have, over the last two weekends (Thanksgiving
weekend, and today), worked on the sets with other volunteers in
the troop, and Teresa's husband Eoin (who has worked with them
earlier in November as well on the sets). Everyone's working
on costumes, and so on ...
We decided to try to do a "Preview" audience on the 19th, which gives us two rehearsals before that (tomorrow and the 12th), and our rehearsal that day will be with a small audience. The goal is to get feedback, which will allow us to figure out the places we need to work on the most for our last rehearsals. It also gives the actors a chance to determine where to break for laughter and such -- this is the hardest part of doing comedy -- timing the laughter, and not losing lines due to laughter.
In addition, we've been in contact with the autocrat of 12th Night, and we may be able to rehearse on the Friday night before the performance on site, with sets ... this would be very good.
In the meantime, I've been working on laying out the program and all that ... we're doing bios of the actors for the program again this year, but we drew names from a hat, and people are doing other actor's bios. This is going to be a lot of fun, as the actors won't see their bios until the program is done, and at the cast party we will play a game to guess who did who's bio.
December 16, 1999
Last Sunday (the 12th) we didn't get more sets, but we did get a really
good run-through, and we timed it. The play, without an audience, is
approx. 1 hour (just a few minutes short). I also took seven (yes, 7)
rolls of film in photos of the rehearsal, even though we didn't have
everyone in costume, and the sets weren't done. The timing without
an audience is really good, and people are doing some great stuff. Some
of the rehearsal photos show how much abuse the Arlecchino and
Trivilino characters get, as they are shown flying through the air
(pretty impressive, since they aren't actually hurt doing it!).
We are making plans to do the Preview Performance for this coming Sunday, and really working at trolling around and hunting down friends and others to show up to see us, so we can work on our timing (we have folk bringing in friends from work, among others -- this ought to be interesting) ... We should have most of the costumes done, and all of the walls and doors and such done for the sets, although they may not all be painted.
December 20, 1999
Yesterday we did our Preview Performance. It started a bit later than
hoped, as the sets weren't quite done, and the crew was busily putting
it all together. But, despite that, everything went great. We now
have all the walls, and it's just a case of finishing painting them ...
In addition, several folk pulled very very late nights working on costumes and such ... I think the record was Aldith (my wife) who was up until 4:30am ...
We didn't have as big an audience as we hoped for, which in some ways was good, because I'm not sure we could have fit more people in the room with the sets and actors and ... We had around 14 audience members or so ... if any of you who were there are reading this, we really appreciated your helping out!
We got some good feedback after the performance, although the audience didn't laugh as loud as we'd hoped during ... oh well. I guess this is just a situation where the more folk you have, the more laughter you'll get. Folk were enjoying it (I was out front listening to the audience and watching reactions), but except for a few places we didn't get loud laughter.
We had some "party trays" from Togos and drinks, and chatted with the audience folk who stuck around after the performance, and that was fun. We got some more feedback too ...
Afterward, a bunch of us went to Wulfric's and watched the video that Rose took (she ran the camera), and folk were quite pleased (most of the time the actors don't get a chance to see what they look like until after we've done the performance).
We have some useful information to improve the performance, and we have two more rehearsals before 12th Night. That said, if we were going to 12th Night now, the show would be pretty good, but if we can improve it, we should try, and we intend to!
Unfortunately, Teresa wasn't able to get the rec room for our next rehearsal which will be Jan. 2, so we're not sure yet where we'll be ... Rose has some possibilities in Santa Cruz she's checking into, though ...
January 3, 2000
We ended up going to Seamus and Tarik's house yesterday (Sunday) to watch
the video of the Preview Performance and critique it, and to do a
line-through. Anne was sick, as was Seamus ...
We're close ... thank goodness. Juan is finishing painting sets today, and everyone else is doing the final touches on costumes ...
We are going to be allowed by the autocrat and owners of the site for 12th Night to rehearse Friday night (11th Night ...) -- which will be great for us, as it will give us a chance to do at least one run-through with the sets, costumes, masks, etc., in the environment we'll be performing in ... after all this time it's unnerving to reach the point where we're about to actually perform the show!
January 9, 2000
The day after 12th Night ... mostly recovered ...
The rehearsal on Friday night was pretty good. There were some foobed lines, but that usually happens. We got the sets up, and Juan's back wall was very nice.
12th Night itself had the usual foo. Court ran too long, so the person who worked at the Scottish Rite Temple who could have turned on the lights, and so on, left before we could get him to do so because court was still happening. Figures. The Royalty didn't make it (despite promisses otherwise).
So, we started late. The Kingdom Choir was supposed to perform before we started, and if the schedule had worked, we would have had time to put our jugglers out there for the pre-show. Unfortunately, and not the choir's fault, there wasn't time for the jugglers. The Kingdom choir sounded as wonderful as ever. We felt that since they had put a lot of work into their performance, and we didn't want to rob them of that ... so they became our "warmup act", as it were.
The play itself went great -- this was probably our best performance to date, despite not having better lighting, and not having a backdrop behind the set ... everyone was stoked, the performance was fantastic.
We went to Juan and Rose's suite at the hotel nearby, and were planning on watching the video of the play, but as it turned out, the only available VCR in the hotel didn't work. Figures. But, we had some good Chicago-style pizza, and hung out, and unwound. Most of the cast and crew made it to that.
The cast party is next Friday and we'll watch the show there, but this is the end of the diary ...
Footnotes:
1 Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte: Flaminio Scala's Il Teatro delle favole rappresentative, Translated by Henry F. Salerno, Limelight Editions, ISBN 0-87810-133-4.
"If I'm following Thurston James' account correctly, the Italian mask-making workshop that we've been basing a lot of this on follows a 'traditional' method that dates back to about the middle of the 17th century. A little late for us, but not so far off track that it's unreasonable to assume technique hadn't changed radically. They cast a plaster life mask, do the clay buildup and then use the clay model and calipers to carve the wooden mold. We're adding a couple of steps by using the clay model to cast a second plaster negative, and using that to pour a cement positive." -- Rose de Le Mans (aka Laurie Hupman)