Friday, July 4, 2008
Sir Toby Character Ideas
I have recently been thinking that Toby hasn't always been a party animal. I think there was a time previously in his life when he had a wonderful wife and was driven and successful. However, she passed away ( I haven't decided how to kill her yet ). After she passed he hasn't been the same and has begun medicating. This will give him a reason to enjoy punishing others because he feels the world is an unfair place. I also think that Mariah reminds him of his ex wife. He might realize this in the first scene with her. Just thoughts for the table. So maybe this means other characters knew my ex wife also.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Costumes, Our World, response to Jay
Costumes and Our World defined
To start with, it dawned on me that some of you might be unaware of exactly who is in the cast and which parts each play. Our Andrew Aguecheek, Jason Armbruster, unfortunately tore his rotator cuff mountain climbing and has to have surgery. So he had to drop out. Sean Kazarian will not switch over to play Andrew. We are very close to recasting Antonio, just not quite positive yet. It will probably be a current member of the ATP, which I think is a great thing for the company. It will be someone good and cast-chemistry-capable. Here’s the cast:
Viola: Heidi Hertford
Toby Belch: Joel Huff
Olivia: Amanda Fulks
Orsino: Creighton James
Malvolio: Whit Hertford
Sebastian: Jay Perry
Feste: Chris Johnston
Maria: Patricia Skarbinski
Andrew Aguecheek: Sean Kazarian
Fabian: Eric McGraw
Antonio: ?
Valentine: Julia Alexander
Doctor/Officer/Priest: Nick Zaharias
Brenda has or will soon email you for measurements. I have talked to her about trying to avoid having you wear the same thing throughout the entire play. Time does pass but we don’t have a bunch of budget for costumes and it has been difficult to find things to pull from stock that are up to date looking, let alone appropriate for our locale. So, the idea is that we use some of your own clothing in the play. If you are opposed to such an idea, I know it is far from ideal, but if you don’t mind, bring with you anything that you think might be helpful and Brenda can decide how and where it might fit. We are on the east coast in a city where rich folks live and come to vacation as well. Be open as to clothing. We may even find a time when someone is jogging or just waking up, coming in from the beach, let’s be flexible and I bet some coolness comes out of it.
As for our world. In addition to what I have already written, here are some more thoughts, maybe a bit more specific. I do think, though, that your creativity is the most crucial aspect to the success of the play so take the following words as guidelines and still go for it as far as your choices go. If what I say here totally contradicts what you have been thinking, let me know too. Yes, we a three week rehearsal schedule, yikes, so decisions have to be made somewhat early in rehearsal, but we can be flexible.
Some have asked some pertinent questions about their place in our world and such. So, the place to begin is why the twins have to hide, and why Viola has to be disguised as a male. To me, she and Sebastian are trying to escape. In my mind, their father was a famous person and their family well-known, maybe even nationally. Their father was a powerful person in industry with ties to politics; when a scandal involving shady characters, perhaps organized crime-types, made him fall from grace. He died in disgrace. His money lasted for his family, but even 13 years following his death, his children cannot escape the reputation he left them with. So, they were leaving to make a clean start somewhere, unbeknownst to those closest to them, when tragedy struck, shipwrecking them, each convinced the other was dead. Both are obviously full of despair but also see the serendipity, maybe even Providence, in their situation: a perfect way to truly get a good new start, especially when your sister/brother is dead. Sebastian meets up with a rescuer who likes having him to himself and is thrilled to keep him under wraps for as long as possible while Viola seizes the opportunity to really begin anew, even becoming an apparent man to disappear from the world.
Both twins have heard the name Orsino from their father. It makes sense that he was well-known politically then. Now, according to his friend, our Doctor, he is apparently a well respected Duke, or in our case, a political figure. It is possible that their father knews him personally. I like that idea because it lends more credibility that he would be someone they would both seek out.
As for Olivia’s father and family. I like Whit and Amanda’s thought that for her to have such an entourage that would include a Malvolio and Maria and Fabian it would make sense that her father was a famous musician, with a number of houses, one of which is in The Hamptons. Amanda has some great ideas about Olivia and they remind me so much of someone who has been raised in a home of a famous person, an actor or singer. Because of the music choices that Chris and I have made it makes sense that he was not necessarily a rocker but maybe a bit like perhaps Dylan or Van Morrison or even Brian Wilson, who knows. Maybe his children also have aspirations toward entertainment. Olivia, when we first see her, is still grieving and dressed somewhat conservatively, but as she falls in love and out of her misery her true goth/suicide girls personality becomes visible to the audience. Maybe she is rebelling against her father’s somewhat tame persona, who knows. She could be an aspiring musician or artist. Needless to say, she has grown up in a world where an entourage has cared for her father and her family. It makes sense that she needs people around her to buoy her up and care for her. On a darker note and a definite perhaps note, maybe Orsino, though he really is attracted to her, sees her as advantageous politically, which makes his desire to win her over reach to the point of hiring an assistant and using him to help woo her.
Malvolio was his father’s young assistant and had feelings for her as well and feels a responsibility to care for her because she needs him and a hope that this caring will be reciprocated. This is not a secret, since he doesn’t seem to be the master of subtlety, so Maria and her friends use it to their advantage in making a fool of him, since he seems to think that their behavior might sully the reputation of Olivia, whose protection he sees as his inherited duty. He makes no secret of his disdain for Toby and his guest. He has wronged Fabian and most likely, Maria, who uses her cleverness and knowledge to be the ringleader of the hazing. Maria, whose role seems the most difficult to me to explain, could actually be just what Shakespeare intended, a household employee like a housekeeper and cook, perhaps, but not in uniform. I admit that the fact that Toby, brother of the famous entertainer, marries a domestic employee, is interesting to me. Maria lives at the house and when she comes to break up the loud music making might even be wearing sweats or some other casual sleepwear, while Malvolio would be there, late, but still at work.
An idea along the celebrity front: Feste was a member of her father’s band. Not famous enough to continue as a solo artist, maybe a young member in his band. He might have been closer friends, even, to Olivia’s brother, also a musician, who was trying to be famous. Feste spent so much time at the house and was so smart and witty that his presence continues there, even though he is perhaps almost homeless at this point. Malvolio thinks he is another hanger-on, like Toby and Andrew. Feste needs to play on the street corner and the sidewalk café to earn money. Perhaps he would like to see Olivia pursue a music career and be part of her band. He still dresses as if he were in the band and is very talented and charming and hard to resist, especially for the women, which does not make Malvolio like him very much, either.
Fabian does seem like an outsider here. I like the idea of his connection to Olivia’s dad being also through the music world. He is good with technology and such. Maybe a techie from the road. He is an outsider, though. Maybe he is from a completely different milieu than the rest, a southern guy who likes dog-fighting, yes? I admit that wasn’t completely my idea. I saw Eric at the Arts Festival and he said he was thinking of Fabian along those lines.
I know I haven’t covered everyone. Toby’s appreciation of Feste’s talent seems to match his coming from a musical family, one from which his famous brother sprang. Andrew found it cool in college to be friends with Toby, the brother of a celebrity, and wants to be around the famous family, especially his beautiful, famous niece. Toby has always lived off his brother’s fame and sees no reason to stop. He loves Maria, though, and finds no problem in marrying someone seemingly below his status, because, in reality, she isn’t.
We know Antonio is gay, but is Sebastian? I definitely like the idea that they “enjoyed” each other’s company while at Antonio’s. I have studied production history and sometimes Antoniois rich and sometimes poor. Our Antonio seems a bit criminal. I like his having money. This makes it easier for Sebastian to stay there and also fuels his immediate attraction to Olivia when she suddenly proposes. He thinks, cool. This is the perfect solution to my getting a new start. Plus, if she is well-known to the public, it is an especially exciting thing to be loved at first sight. I suppose his wanting to hide and marrying a celebrity is sort of contradictory, but I think, a small one.
Some of this may sound jumbly. It was pretty stream of conscious with a few days of thought and stints at the keyboard to finish it. Ask questions. We will have a chunk of time around a table to talk, just not as much as many Shakespeare plays employ.
IMPORTANT! These facts are more for the knowledge and cohesion of the cast in our understanding this 400 year old play in a new context. The audience doesn’t have to necessarily understand most of these details. If we know them, though, it will help us feel stronger and clearer in our given circumstances (Stanislavsky terms are just comforting, somehow).
RESPONSE TO JAY’S TEXT QUESTION: Hi Jay: ok, I'll be honest. I can't figure out why I cut the first line. It may have been that at the specific time I uploaded the text I was toying with the idea of having things not so sea-ish. I think we should re-instate it. Also, the next one, when I read it now, makes perfect sense and is indeed a wonderful line that gives us insight into you. Let's put it back in. The reason it was cut was a constant attempt to makes cuts that were directly aimed at current theories in Elizabethan times. This one had to do with a mother's fluids (tears, milk, blood) being what guided women toward histeria and such. Now upon reading it without thinking concurrently about this 16th C. belief it is completely clear and is a nice image for Sebastian. Thank you for the input. Let's put them both back in. Hugh
To start with, it dawned on me that some of you might be unaware of exactly who is in the cast and which parts each play. Our Andrew Aguecheek, Jason Armbruster, unfortunately tore his rotator cuff mountain climbing and has to have surgery. So he had to drop out. Sean Kazarian will not switch over to play Andrew. We are very close to recasting Antonio, just not quite positive yet. It will probably be a current member of the ATP, which I think is a great thing for the company. It will be someone good and cast-chemistry-capable. Here’s the cast:
Viola: Heidi Hertford
Toby Belch: Joel Huff
Olivia: Amanda Fulks
Orsino: Creighton James
Malvolio: Whit Hertford
Sebastian: Jay Perry
Feste: Chris Johnston
Maria: Patricia Skarbinski
Andrew Aguecheek: Sean Kazarian
Fabian: Eric McGraw
Antonio: ?
Valentine: Julia Alexander
Doctor/Officer/Priest: Nick Zaharias
Brenda has or will soon email you for measurements. I have talked to her about trying to avoid having you wear the same thing throughout the entire play. Time does pass but we don’t have a bunch of budget for costumes and it has been difficult to find things to pull from stock that are up to date looking, let alone appropriate for our locale. So, the idea is that we use some of your own clothing in the play. If you are opposed to such an idea, I know it is far from ideal, but if you don’t mind, bring with you anything that you think might be helpful and Brenda can decide how and where it might fit. We are on the east coast in a city where rich folks live and come to vacation as well. Be open as to clothing. We may even find a time when someone is jogging or just waking up, coming in from the beach, let’s be flexible and I bet some coolness comes out of it.
As for our world. In addition to what I have already written, here are some more thoughts, maybe a bit more specific. I do think, though, that your creativity is the most crucial aspect to the success of the play so take the following words as guidelines and still go for it as far as your choices go. If what I say here totally contradicts what you have been thinking, let me know too. Yes, we a three week rehearsal schedule, yikes, so decisions have to be made somewhat early in rehearsal, but we can be flexible.
Some have asked some pertinent questions about their place in our world and such. So, the place to begin is why the twins have to hide, and why Viola has to be disguised as a male. To me, she and Sebastian are trying to escape. In my mind, their father was a famous person and their family well-known, maybe even nationally. Their father was a powerful person in industry with ties to politics; when a scandal involving shady characters, perhaps organized crime-types, made him fall from grace. He died in disgrace. His money lasted for his family, but even 13 years following his death, his children cannot escape the reputation he left them with. So, they were leaving to make a clean start somewhere, unbeknownst to those closest to them, when tragedy struck, shipwrecking them, each convinced the other was dead. Both are obviously full of despair but also see the serendipity, maybe even Providence, in their situation: a perfect way to truly get a good new start, especially when your sister/brother is dead. Sebastian meets up with a rescuer who likes having him to himself and is thrilled to keep him under wraps for as long as possible while Viola seizes the opportunity to really begin anew, even becoming an apparent man to disappear from the world.
Both twins have heard the name Orsino from their father. It makes sense that he was well-known politically then. Now, according to his friend, our Doctor, he is apparently a well respected Duke, or in our case, a political figure. It is possible that their father knews him personally. I like that idea because it lends more credibility that he would be someone they would both seek out.
As for Olivia’s father and family. I like Whit and Amanda’s thought that for her to have such an entourage that would include a Malvolio and Maria and Fabian it would make sense that her father was a famous musician, with a number of houses, one of which is in The Hamptons. Amanda has some great ideas about Olivia and they remind me so much of someone who has been raised in a home of a famous person, an actor or singer. Because of the music choices that Chris and I have made it makes sense that he was not necessarily a rocker but maybe a bit like perhaps Dylan or Van Morrison or even Brian Wilson, who knows. Maybe his children also have aspirations toward entertainment. Olivia, when we first see her, is still grieving and dressed somewhat conservatively, but as she falls in love and out of her misery her true goth/suicide girls personality becomes visible to the audience. Maybe she is rebelling against her father’s somewhat tame persona, who knows. She could be an aspiring musician or artist. Needless to say, she has grown up in a world where an entourage has cared for her father and her family. It makes sense that she needs people around her to buoy her up and care for her. On a darker note and a definite perhaps note, maybe Orsino, though he really is attracted to her, sees her as advantageous politically, which makes his desire to win her over reach to the point of hiring an assistant and using him to help woo her.
Malvolio was his father’s young assistant and had feelings for her as well and feels a responsibility to care for her because she needs him and a hope that this caring will be reciprocated. This is not a secret, since he doesn’t seem to be the master of subtlety, so Maria and her friends use it to their advantage in making a fool of him, since he seems to think that their behavior might sully the reputation of Olivia, whose protection he sees as his inherited duty. He makes no secret of his disdain for Toby and his guest. He has wronged Fabian and most likely, Maria, who uses her cleverness and knowledge to be the ringleader of the hazing. Maria, whose role seems the most difficult to me to explain, could actually be just what Shakespeare intended, a household employee like a housekeeper and cook, perhaps, but not in uniform. I admit that the fact that Toby, brother of the famous entertainer, marries a domestic employee, is interesting to me. Maria lives at the house and when she comes to break up the loud music making might even be wearing sweats or some other casual sleepwear, while Malvolio would be there, late, but still at work.
An idea along the celebrity front: Feste was a member of her father’s band. Not famous enough to continue as a solo artist, maybe a young member in his band. He might have been closer friends, even, to Olivia’s brother, also a musician, who was trying to be famous. Feste spent so much time at the house and was so smart and witty that his presence continues there, even though he is perhaps almost homeless at this point. Malvolio thinks he is another hanger-on, like Toby and Andrew. Feste needs to play on the street corner and the sidewalk café to earn money. Perhaps he would like to see Olivia pursue a music career and be part of her band. He still dresses as if he were in the band and is very talented and charming and hard to resist, especially for the women, which does not make Malvolio like him very much, either.
Fabian does seem like an outsider here. I like the idea of his connection to Olivia’s dad being also through the music world. He is good with technology and such. Maybe a techie from the road. He is an outsider, though. Maybe he is from a completely different milieu than the rest, a southern guy who likes dog-fighting, yes? I admit that wasn’t completely my idea. I saw Eric at the Arts Festival and he said he was thinking of Fabian along those lines.
I know I haven’t covered everyone. Toby’s appreciation of Feste’s talent seems to match his coming from a musical family, one from which his famous brother sprang. Andrew found it cool in college to be friends with Toby, the brother of a celebrity, and wants to be around the famous family, especially his beautiful, famous niece. Toby has always lived off his brother’s fame and sees no reason to stop. He loves Maria, though, and finds no problem in marrying someone seemingly below his status, because, in reality, she isn’t.
We know Antonio is gay, but is Sebastian? I definitely like the idea that they “enjoyed” each other’s company while at Antonio’s. I have studied production history and sometimes Antoniois rich and sometimes poor. Our Antonio seems a bit criminal. I like his having money. This makes it easier for Sebastian to stay there and also fuels his immediate attraction to Olivia when she suddenly proposes. He thinks, cool. This is the perfect solution to my getting a new start. Plus, if she is well-known to the public, it is an especially exciting thing to be loved at first sight. I suppose his wanting to hide and marrying a celebrity is sort of contradictory, but I think, a small one.
Some of this may sound jumbly. It was pretty stream of conscious with a few days of thought and stints at the keyboard to finish it. Ask questions. We will have a chunk of time around a table to talk, just not as much as many Shakespeare plays employ.
IMPORTANT! These facts are more for the knowledge and cohesion of the cast in our understanding this 400 year old play in a new context. The audience doesn’t have to necessarily understand most of these details. If we know them, though, it will help us feel stronger and clearer in our given circumstances (Stanislavsky terms are just comforting, somehow).
RESPONSE TO JAY’S TEXT QUESTION: Hi Jay: ok, I'll be honest. I can't figure out why I cut the first line. It may have been that at the specific time I uploaded the text I was toying with the idea of having things not so sea-ish. I think we should re-instate it. Also, the next one, when I read it now, makes perfect sense and is indeed a wonderful line that gives us insight into you. Let's put it back in. The reason it was cut was a constant attempt to makes cuts that were directly aimed at current theories in Elizabethan times. This one had to do with a mother's fluids (tears, milk, blood) being what guided women toward histeria and such. Now upon reading it without thinking concurrently about this 16th C. belief it is completely clear and is a nice image for Sebastian. Thank you for the input. Let's put them both back in. Hugh
Act II Scene I cuts
Hi Hugh,
So let's talk about the cuts in Act II, SceneI.
My second line.. "My determinate voyage is mere extravagancy" is cut. The following line starts with "But" So before the cut I would say (to paraphrase) .. "No, truly sir, the voyage I've set for myself is no more than wandering".. then.. "but I perceive you will not force me to tell you what I'm trying to hide" .. "therefore courtesy compels me to express myself to you." Then I tell him who I am and so on. So from "but" on seems to refer to "My determinate voyage is mere extravagancy" At first look, it seems to me that the "voyage" line could be a juicy lie that could help the audience along with the secret something we've been trying to nail down about Sebastian and Viola's past. What are your thoughts on this cut?
Next one.. "Fare ye well at once. My bosom is full of kindness, and I am yet so near the manners of my mother, that upon the least occasion more mine eyes will tell tales of me."
"and I am yet so near the manners of my mother" is cut. Just wondering why this descriptive line? Would you like the audience to get that through characterization? Are you thinking of a different direction for Sebastian.. more butch, less mama's boy? Either way if we keep that cut it would make sense to change the line to " My bosom is so full of kindess that upon the least occasion more.." What are your thoughts?
Jay
So let's talk about the cuts in Act II, SceneI.
My second line.. "My determinate voyage is mere extravagancy" is cut. The following line starts with "But" So before the cut I would say (to paraphrase) .. "No, truly sir, the voyage I've set for myself is no more than wandering".. then.. "but I perceive you will not force me to tell you what I'm trying to hide" .. "therefore courtesy compels me to express myself to you." Then I tell him who I am and so on. So from "but" on seems to refer to "My determinate voyage is mere extravagancy" At first look, it seems to me that the "voyage" line could be a juicy lie that could help the audience along with the secret something we've been trying to nail down about Sebastian and Viola's past. What are your thoughts on this cut?
Next one.. "Fare ye well at once. My bosom is full of kindness, and I am yet so near the manners of my mother, that upon the least occasion more mine eyes will tell tales of me."
"and I am yet so near the manners of my mother" is cut. Just wondering why this descriptive line? Would you like the audience to get that through characterization? Are you thinking of a different direction for Sebastian.. more butch, less mama's boy? Either way if we keep that cut it would make sense to change the line to " My bosom is so full of kindess that upon the least occasion more.." What are your thoughts?
Jay
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