March 18th, 2009

Congrats to the Witches today, who had an amazing rehearsal. We started out with a game of Macduffy (Today's words: spot, knocking, paddock, anon, insane) and then went into impulse dancing. We partnered up, working with points of contacts for a while, and then moved on to discuss important characters in the play, with particular attention to Act 5. It was generally agreed that the important characters were Duncan, Banquo, Macduff, Lady Macduff and her son, Malcolm, and Ross. Those not as important were Hecate, Lennox, Donalbain, and the Siwards. In order to fully categorize the characters, we have to know what our agenda is for the play, so think about that.

We then started work on lines from each of the scenes in the play (though we skipped some), composing dances and often incorporating a line from the text: They went:

* Act I, Scene 1: Blood--Death, Cleansing, Reward -- "Hail, brave friend"
* Act I, Scene 2: Darkness--Discovery, Confidence, Gift -- "To betray's in deepest consequence"
* Act I, Scene 4: "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face"--Delivery, Concealment, Bounty -- "There if I grow/The harvest is your own."
* Act II, Scene 1/3: Sleep--Doubt, Persuasion, Bravery, Fuck It! (antonym for hesitation), Murder -- Jen used the word urine, Mat used the words "a friend", Harry used the word bosom, Emma used the word horror, Quyen used the word building
* Act III, Scene 4: The Serpent--Struggle, Resurrection, Conviction --no text was used, but it was done to the song "Only the Good Die Young" -- Harry was the serpent, Quyen was a mouse, Emma was a tiger, and Mat was a rhinoceros

We did the creature exercise, using text for sounds. It started with pairs, as is typical of the game. It was then built into threes, with people rotating, and finally climaxed in all five witches performing at the same time, which was incredible to watch. Everyone got really into it, and that could be what the beginning of the show looks like.

For Act IV, Scene 1, we worked with the line "Be bloody, bold, and resolute", with one person standing in the center and the other three around them. The three people said the line, and the person in the middle reacted to them, pulling apart and contracting. This led to my favorite line of the night, when Arik said "And we just killed Harry without physical violence, which is cool." For Act IV, Scene 2, the witches performed another composition, with Emma as a mother and the text "Poor bird", Mat as a son with the text "Who must hang them?", Harry as a silent murderer, and Quyen as evil with the text "Know not what we fear".

The last thing we did was to create a (somewhat skewed) battle. For those who weren't there, it involved scarves used as deadly weapons, pushing chairs into a castle, and Harry hiding behind a desk. The rules might need to be refined, but it was a good time.

So this was the witches' last rehearsal before spring vacation, and it was a great way to finish. Tomorrow, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are called at 6:30. We will be meeting in TF Green 112, and will head over to swing at 9:00. Remember to bring the lines you memorized. See you then!

~Carolyn
----
Comments from Arik: Beautiful work today. We found a couple of really nice connections between people. Pictures will be up soon. I will also soon post a new working copy of the script.