After the third week of rehearsals, Clare Mahoney (DSF’s Julia) shared a few thoughts about where she is in the process of creating her role.
It is so crazy to me that we have just completed our third week of rehearsal. It feels like just yesterday I was writing for the newsletter about how excited I was for rehearsals to begin! And now here I am in the total thick of what we actors call “process.” This past week it really felt like everyone was beginning to settle; the technical work like analysis of text, memorizing, blocking, prop tracking, and other things necessary to put on a show had been done and the cast took on a new sense of play.
For me it was particularly interesting to take note of what changed in me. I have a strong belief that 80% of the work in a Shakespeare show is trusting in the language. If you trust in the language and follow it using Shakespeare’s words with all of his devices and brilliance, you are almost where you need to be. As I become more comfortable with the technical work I have done on my script and my lines, I have been able put those things to rest and trust that they are there. I feel like this week I made character choices, I listened to other characters on stage, and I trusted in the words I was speaking.
I know I can’t speak for everyone in the cast, but at our run on Sunday afternoon, there was something in the space that I had not sensed before. It was like we as a group had taken a deep breath and slowly released it together. We were living in the language and in the moments on stage. I was not Clare but I was Julia: a living breathing Shakespearean character with wants and needs and beliefs and opinions and a whole lot of spunk. As we move into this week of our rehearsal process I am so looking forward to what new and exciting things we discover as a cast as we continue to breathe in and out together.
OTHER PERFORMANCE/REHEARSAL UPDATES
Griffin Stanton-Ameisen’s Opening Weekend
Emilie Krause’s First Week of Rehearsals
Adam Darrow’s Second Week of Rehearsals
James Kassees’ Tech Week
