#durdles

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical) Incorrect Quotes!

Jasper: And I just want you for my own~ Rosa: Please leave me the fuck alone~ Alice Nutting: You know, I do love working here with the Music Hall Royale. We have a lot of laughs. Also Alice: FUCK OFF JANET. I'M NOT GOING TO YOUR FUCKING BABY SHOWER. (more under cut)

During our run of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” we were unusually limited in our time to warm-up. This was a consequence of the 45-minute pre-show that led up to each performance. Since I was able to quickly get into costume, I would try to get in some more vocal exercises before heading out with the first platoon of pre-show actors. During these exercises I discovered a new warm-up that will almost certainly follow me to my next performance. The warm-up itself is fairly straightforward.

Trailer Park Supervisor Jim Lahey portrayed by John Dunsworth

Charged with creating and developing a comedic drunk, I looked to the character of Jim Lahey from the show Trailer Park Boys as a reference. Dunsworth’s Lahey is a maniacal, scheming ex-cop and a truly legendary alcoholic. I found Lahey to be a good research example given both the sheer volume of scenes in which the character appears drunk, in addition to the varying degrees of inebriation demonstrated by the character. From the dead sober Lahey, to the season finale, almost-drowned-to-death-in-a-literal-bathtub-full-of-moonshine Lahey, there was a wide range to work within. As an actor, Dunsworth does an excellent job at replicating the sort of weighted-movement of the incredibly drunk. Specifically, the ‘stiff’ quality (relative rigidity in the torso as a result of consciously keeping oneself upright) and the weighted movement when gesturing (increased inertia of the limbs, gestures start slowly and can keep going longer than intended, occasionally resulting in a loss of balance).

Phil Daniels British actor

Now that “Drood” has closed, and I finally can catch a breath between the student group meetings, the class periods, and the three massive biology projects that all want to smear me into oblivion, I’d like to take the time for a post-mortem post.

I am disappointed by the quality of this blog. When I first began this process I had envisioned that my blog would be a fully developed dissertation on all things Durdles; a series of interlinked web pages that could paint a reasonably accurate picture of how I interpreted the character. I even made a sort of joke attempt at the senior-project-blog during the rehearsal process for “Lady Windermere’s Fan” in 2015 as a tool for practicing. Instead, I produced only a handful of posts, with almost no part of the blog reflecting character research or my process.

                Though I am not fond of making excuses I do feel that some attempt at explanation is warranted. I am not a fan of the personal blog. I don’t read them, I don’t follow them religiously, and I generally find that they encourage a self-aggrandizing worship of one’s own personality in an echo chamber where the blogger plays the role of a god and all criticism is hate mail, regardless of validity. It’s a very alien format to me, especially given the informality of it all. I think that I would have felt tremendously more confident in writing a single coherent essay, or giving a presentation or even keeping a private journal to be turned in and evaluated after closing. To me these options seem more complete and comprehensive. While I understand that the selling point of a blog like this is that it allows the instantaneous documentation of one’s efforts and progress, the public component (that is, the uploading of each post for all to see) is one that I found surprisingly averse. At many points throughout the rehearsal process and even the run itself, I found myself debating whether or not I should post something, often trying to convince myself that a post was ‘good’ enough or ‘of substance’.

                Personally, I find the most success in the notes that I pencil into each script I am given. This technique keeps all of the relevant knowledge in one place where it is instantly accessible whenever I open my book. I did feel that I benefited from the journal-aspect of the blog, and in the future I may attempt to journal my process again, though this time on my own terms. Mostly I found it helpful in forcing me to confess which areas I felt I was deficient in, that way I could then hold myself responsible for correcting those issues.

                Below I have included several scans from my script, complete with the notes that I made along the way. The hand-drawn illustrations between the lines are my own, and I found them useful in defining the specific stylistic gesturing appropriate for the piece. Additionally, I will be posting two more posts in the research section of my blog, these being components that I could never find the time to write about in full during the production. 

We are officially moved out of our rehearsal hall and into our theater! We ran from the top to ‘No Good’, starting and stopping along the way to fix spacing issues and transitions.

Personal notes from last night’s rehearsal:

-Prologue- Start in the middle of the aisle for “There You Are” Start facing center for “distingue and debonair” After the final pose, turn around and walk upstage, then face out again. On the 2nd “Drooo-oood”, page through the cast and come forward. I need to break out of line and distinguish myself.

-Wages of Sin- Enter on “fill that many coffers “ Exit after “God love you, I’m sure!” The moment I’m offstage I need to book it for the SL opera box. -Cloisterham High Street- Hiss Jasper from the box when the Chairman reintroduces him.

-Both Sides- Leave opera box and cross under the stage to the singing area SR.

It has been a long day. The designer run was a very informative experience. I learned today exactly how much a ring of keys can get in the way of things. I finally tried attaching them to my belt, and they just clanged all the way through.

I finally have a sense of resolution to the “Drooo-ood” bit. The final one now ends with me leading an ensemble exit. I need to really just practice that and get more comfortable with being disliked by “the cast”, because right now every instinct against being hugely disruptive to the show makes my skin crawl. I should be playing it off more confidently- more with the audience. 

I need to get in more singing practice and more dance practice on my own. I’s hard to find time but I really need to do it. There’s an option I want to take on the final note of my confession that ends it on a high G. When I do it right, it’s big and showy and I can just wail on it. Today I did not do it right. Due to my lack of specificity in my movement that I am responsible for I wasn’t positioned where I had room to breathe and as a result I didn’t have the support for the note. But that is why we have rehearsal and why we need practice.

Tonight’s rehearsal went quite well. While I was unable to get in a proper warm up prior to the call time, I spent the entire day in the scene shop getting tech hours while constructing the very apron that we will be performing on. We began with a quick run of “There You Are” as a sort of wake-up-and-get-into-dance-mode for the cast, and then went into  ‘Races’. I am excited to say that this was definitely the most comfortable and confident I have felt performing the number, and for the first time I managed the entire dance break with no missed steps and no collisions with the back lines. We ran through all of the big choreographed numbers (Opener, Races, Don’t Quit, Writing on the Wall) with minimal issues- certainly nothing big enough that we needed to stop and reset. Without a doubt, my personal highlight of the evening was when Sam Reynolds (our choreographer) asked if I had rehearsed at all over the break, and I was proudly able to say “yes”. It honestly made my night right there, and gives me a huge boost of confidence moving forward.

My only worry about tonight’s rehearsal was that Alex, our Chairman, was unable to join us. This worries me as in “Off to the Races”, Alex and I are placed right next to each other throughout the majority of the song, and his absence coupled with my improved performance makes me weary of how well I will be able to manage once he is back with us. I really mostly worry because he’s just so gosh darn tall and has fairly long legs that can make navigating past in a big dance number a little bit challenging. Nonetheless, I’m feeling wonderful about tonight’s run of ‘Races’, and I’m looking forward to watching as it only becomes stronger and stronger. I also took some time tonight to swap backstories with a couple of my cast mates, which really does wonders for helping me establish the world of the play as it pertains to my own performance, what with knowing a bit about how all of these actor-characters came to be a part of the company.

Tomorrow I post the dialog I came up with on my drive home the other day. It’s between Nick Cricker and a reporter for the Daily Mail doing a piece about the upcoming debut of 

(gavel once)

The Mystery...

(gavel twice)