Acting Outside The Script

In our project we have now finished the the script and did several run throughs. We have finished our dry blocking, and videoed our first draft. The staging is completed and we have collected most of the set pieces and props from the prop list. Most of the group had already memorized their lines, however some actors still had trouble, which greatly affected the scene as it made reacting, and expressing emotion difficult. All members of the group need to remember to project as the camera doesn’t pick up the sound very well. Also we haven’t considered the smaller camera angle which may require us to move the setting closer together.

The chemistry between the actors of Patrick and Mary Maloney is good, however the couple's relationship could still be portrayed better. One flaw we had today was that the actor who played Patrick did not have his lines memorized, leaving him stumble across stage his nose buried in his (pardon me, my) script (he had forgotten his). This made it difficult for both actors to portray the awkward relationship of the married couple. The actress playing Mary has to have more energy. She must seem enthusiastic about her husband coming home from work. She loves him above all and just wants him to be happy. This behavior bothers him. He is irritated by her attention and doesn’t care for her affection. In many ways he is the total jerk,especially when he leaves her and his unborn child for another women and the only thing he says to it is, “there shouldn’t be a problem… it wouldn’t be very good for my job.” The actress playing Mary needs to be more energetic and the actor playing Patrick needs to be more of a tactless jerk in order to stage the scene convincingly.

Stage Diagram Scene I and III

Our next step is to finalize the costuming practice our lines until we are completely memorized. Watching the video of our first draft gives us a good understanding of what we still need. The most important part now is to be off script so that we can run the sketch without our noses buried in paper, and with the right props and costumes. It is therefore also vital to collect all the props, set pieces and costumes that we need. In addition to having the lines fully memorized, we need to memorize all the blocking in detail. This skit requires many small actions, that are not mentioned in the scrip, and are thus easily forgotten, yet that are important aspects to the clarity of the sketch. One example is that Charlie needs to remember to enter with oven gloves, after exiting into the kitchen with the lamb. This is meant to indicate that she put the lamb into the oven. She also has to remember to wear the oven gloves when serving the lamb, as it would be hot, coming from the oven, and not wearing the gloves would be logical mistake.

Stage Diagram Scene II

I myself  have continue practicing my lines, and try to convey my funny, and not particularly intelligent character Bob to the audience convincingly. He must be portrayed over the top, and together with his partner Allan, he greatly adds to the energy of the skit. In the future I should act him as even more ridiculous. We should add more lines to the script for Bob and Allan, to give them more stage time, and allow them to make the skit more comedic. We also need to add more lines to clarify Patrick's role as a policeman, and Mary’s relationship to the policeman who come to investigate the murder, who are Patrick’s colleges. In addition the first full runthrough that we did today showed us that there are several awkward silences in our skit. This are parts that are narrated in the original short story and that we merely act out on stage. The result is an awkward silence during which an actor moves while the remaining actors on stage stare into space waiting until the action is over, their faces distorted in concentration as they try to recall their next line. Filling these blanks in our skit will allow us to make it more alive.

The other group is already completely memorized lines and blocking making their scene looks pretty solid. They all need to speak up more. Also I found their storyline a bit confusing, this may be because I could not understand them very well acoustically but I still think that they should clarify the script. Seeing their scene, and hearing their responses to ours showed me that we need to clarify our script as well.