Meeting the challenge of the text
posted by Daiva Bhandari
When I first read The Ring Cycle I was so excited to have the opportunity to work with such dense text, conveying such huge emotions. And then in the first month of rehearsal, I felt so empty – totally unable to fill any of the text my mouth uttered. Natural enough for the first weeks, right? All of the cast and crew were just getting to know each other and we were all just getting to know the text. And most importantly we were getting to know our own bodies – standing upright and moving around an empty space. (…why does that always seem so foreign when beginning a play process?? I always feel capable during a table reading, but then the first few rehearsals of getting scenes “on their feet” I feel like I’m acting for the first time in my life.) We’ve gone through our first full week of all actors off-book and now I feel the momentum of the action on stage. Now that we don’t have paper mucking up our spatial relationships and gestures we can really work. Now I feel the possibility of drama on the stage.
So now that we are all here – at this place of ultimate potential as actors – how can we be sure we’ll excel in telling a clear and exciting story? How can we be powerful enough actors for this text? How can we make this text beat in our pulse and roll off of our tongues so that it moves an audience to really experience the story with us? I believe we can accomplish this by grounding ourselves in our physical relationships to other actors and architecture on stage. When I manage to find myself in a strong spatial relationship I feel the music of the scene and I do my best to stay there as long as I can. I get a little nervous before every rehearsal – filled with anticipation of finding new and engaging moments. And I know if we all keep our eyes, bodies, and hearts open to the space and each other we will make a powerful performance.
And in doing this we must never forget what a huge story we’re telling. Our gestures, our movements – everything that is done on the stage must happen for a purpose.