My Nerd Heart Rejoices!

My view as I walked to rehearsal on Friday evening! Yeah, I love surprise views of the skyline. This city, you guys...

****Warning: the following post gets really Shakespeare nerdy. It's awesome****

Friday was the first Tempest read through and meet-and-greet and I have to say that I am seriously nerding out about this project! The professionalism within both the production team and the company of actors is incredible! It just feels like home.

Besides geeking out for tablework in rehearsal (that started Saturday), I also bought a couple Shakespeare books/dvds to start checking out in my (limited) free time. Plus, I talked to Maridee and Aislinn and they dug around in their book collections, pulling out even more research items for me. Needless to say, even though my 6 favorite Shakespeare books are languishing in a box in my Dad's garage (I'll get you someday, my loves!), I feel like I have some good options here to really begin digging into the text.

Yesterday, I was going to go to yoga in the morning and leave the house, enjoy the sun and be productive, but I knew that my Shakespeare books were going to get delivered at some point, so instead, I spread out with the research I already had and started tackling my first scene (Act I: scene ii--Prospero speaks in exposition). It was awesome. Also, a little intimidating because I only got through about half the scene before I hit a brick wall and needed to take a break. So, I think working on the text a little bit everyday is going to be the way to do this thing...

I brought two large books in my bag with me today (one: a research book to read on the subway, and one: a book with Elizabethan word definitions that I'll use in conjunction with my script at lunch), and let me just say, I was glad I got a seat on my commute. That bag is HEAVY...

I also think I'm going to see if there is an Arden version of The Tempest I can borrow from NYPL. The Arden always has the most useful footnotes that not only give you specific word definitions, but also often put whole phrases or paragraphs into the original Elizabethan context. Some of Shakespeare's characters can be wordy. And Prospero definitely falls into this category...

He also doesn't follow the rules! Shakespeare writes in verse, specifically in iambic pentameter. It sounds like a heartbeat (ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM) which tends to make memorization pretty second nature, and when characters stray from this structure, that informs the actor that something is up. Usually, it means that the stakes are getting highter or someone is getting emotional, but it can also mean that a specific word or phrase should be lifted or emphasized. Granted, I've really only begun to explore the first half of Prospero's first scene, but HOLY CRAP! I swear to the gods, he has more irregular lines than lines that follow iambic pentameter! Each irregularity needs to be examined on its own, and within the larger context to figure out why Prospero strays from the path, and what each line means for his emotional state both in the scene, and the play as a whole. Each break in the pattern means that much more work.

So, yeah. I made it through the first half of my first scene in three hours. And then I deserved the break I took.