Monday September 25 2006

Day 12 - the six day work-week got extended for me - yesterday I went out to Stratford again and got to do a call-back for a director - so no complaints about the opportunity but the week seemed longer than usual - Sandy had a nice dinner for me when I got back to town and I called family to say the audition had gone well - there were a few surprises - first there was a part they'd wanted me to look at - alas (or alack as the bard might say) that information never quite got to me - so got to do a cold-read as they are so quaintly named - "Take your time with it Paul, don't feel you have to rush. You're doing splendidly and we understand it's a bit last minute." - well they did understand and were patient and supportive and worked with me through the thing - the other surprise was getting to audition with Stephen Russell who played DeGuiche in the NAC-Manitoba Theatre Centre -Theatre Calgary production of Cyrano (with RH Thomson as Cyrano) - Stephen is a real treat - wickedly funny and a magnificent presence onstage - we shared a dressing room on that and he kept me loose and laughing

actors have a weird kinda family that stretches far and wide - intense rehearsal and run periods getting shows up and going - creates a kinship - in the last few weeks at Tarragon there's been a steady stream of familiar faces - we had a significant number of the NAC Hamlet cast around - and when we did Cyrano in Calgary during the time of ATP's Playwrites festival the place was crawling with theatre folk

how's the play going - well we're going to run the whole thing in about half an hour - we've worked right through the piece again and we're down to about ten thousand feet - the work is ever more detailed and choices are more focused - still some questions but a lot of anwers too - "Why did you say it that way?" - "Because it's dramatic!" I adored Jonathan's answer to Richard's question - not a lot of actors would have the honesty and gumption to avow that reasoning for an acting choice - it's been much quoted since - Richard's fighting to keep the tension building and the moments real - in my case he's on me when the choice is something pat or cliche or just my same old scthtick - sometimes it's hard to catch yourself slipping in to the comfortable or tried and true party favourites - he's looking for something else too in the telling of this - it's gotta be close to the bone and on the edge - there's has to be vitality - "It's not life and death - it's more!" to paraphrase Duffy Daugherty

I've been observing how different our approaches are - it's collaborative work and some people really like to hone the work more privately taking the directing notes and trying to internalize and incorporate - then there's folks that like to talk through the process aloud and engage in a creative stream of conversation that builds almost a concensus vision - I've never been a real talker preferring the note and mull approach - but the more I engage in the process the more I admire that ability to open things up - Saturday we hit some sticking points and Richard was quick to say these may be huge clues to something worthwhile lurking nearby - the discussion that followed brought a lot of insight from all sides - and I felt that we were being led to the place we needed to get to - a destination that was inevitable but not obvious at the outset

gotta go do the run - one last thing though - a gestural language and physical vocabulary start to get layered in - they've been there but now Richard points them out and locks in their thematic presence - they are texture - meant to add without drawing focus

hope I've shaken off what Michelle called the Monday dum-dums cause it's time to put the whole thing on it's feet