Once again, we began today's rehearsal with a Side Stretch. Recently, I have really realised how much better we are as an ensemble at doing this as we seem to not need as many prompts from Ben anymore and we all work well in time together. After doing a Side Stretch, I feel really focused and I feel more part of a cast and an ensemble as I do before doing this.
Running Scenes
Straight after the Side Stretch, we went straight into blocking some more scenes. We began from page 25 (since Katie wasn't in). We all got into a semicircle, facing outwards, around the actors in the scene. I was between Lauren and Delainey in the centre of the semicircle. When we are sitting down, we are playing with a prop of a severed hand, which will look quite effective as it foreshadows a line later spoken by Jamilah. When Jamilah says the line, 'Here are the heads of thy two noble sons', when we all shy away and cover our faces; we wait two beats and then we uncover slowly, before she can speak her next line. The next line being, 'Amd here's thy hand, in scorn to thee back', which is when we all lift our hand upright in our right hands and our heads follow the sight of the hand. We then slowly lower it; I think, together, this will also look very good as it will show unity of the ensemble sitting in the semicircle and how we are supporting the actors in the centre of the stage. Later on, we all do call and response when Titus laughs, making it sound like an echo, which created an atmosphere of craziness and manic-ness.
Sword Fighting
Before continuing scenes, Ben wanted to teach us how to use our bamboo sticks as swords, by teaching us some stage combat. At first, we were all excited about the bamboo sticks so we were all playing around with them and pretending they were swords, which, although wasn't instructed by Ben, it really got me into the warrior mood. I think that when I'm excited to do something, I do it better so I was really ready to get learning some stage combat.
We began by getting into partners and holding both of our bamboo sticks between us (palm to palm) and travelling around the room, finding new ways to move the sticks between us without dropping them. Gemma and I found some simple moves to move them however we ended up finding a way to both turn around, keeping our sticks intact. Personally, I didn't really see how this could really help us in practicing stage combat however I did see that this exercise was a good starting point for working with the bamboo sticks as it was a simple task that got us familiar with the sticks.
We then got into a new pair and began by working with hitting the sticks between us. B would hold their stick in a diagonal above their head while A stepped forward and hit it with theirs. When Amber went to hit mine, I found myself really scared at first since it was so close to my head that I was scared she was going to hit me however I soon got over it when we swapped over and I realised that there was not a high risk of her hitting me in the head as she was quite far away.
We then moved on to doing the same kind of thing however we added in movement so that one partner would be stepping backwards while the other would step forward and hit their sticks. As we all got more into this, we got increasingly more confident in our movements and I can really see us incorporating this movement into our performance and showing fighting.
The last thing that we did was hit the other person's bamboo stick sideways in counts of three. This presented a new challenge for both partners because the partner holding the bamboo stick for the other to hit had to move it side to side quickly to where their partner was aiming to hit it to avoid them being hit in the body. After a few tries, it got easier, making us more confident. This was until Ben started drumming a fast 3 beats for us to sync our hits with; the drumming was very fast, making it harder for both partners, which is something I definitely need to work on since I can see this being such an effective piece if action in our piece!
Running More Scenes
After practicing the stage combat, we went back into blocking more scenes. We added in a new movement for the ensemble in the semicircle to do; when Shanay says the line, 'Did you not use his daughter very friendly?', we all turn around, with our legs spread out as if we were giving birth and panting - this panting then builds up into screaming for the next few lines until Kit (Demetrius) says, 'For our beloved mother in her pains', when I get up as Nurse, collecting the black cloth that we will all be holding (while the ensemble continue screaming), and then gather it into a baby shape. Once I have created this bundle of cloth, I will beat the drum 3 times to order for the ensemble to stop - in response, they then fall back and lie down in exhaustion.
When performing this scene, at first, I was very unsure on how to act however after Ben's description on how the Nurse is not very clever and not very unsure on what to do, I was a bit more clear on how to act. I found myself continuously getting instructed by Ben to stand further and further away from Shanay. I used my jacket to show the baby so I was told to hide the baby away from Aaron at first - Now that I understand my character's intentions, I am finding myself understanding why this direction is a lot better than showing Aaron the baby straight away since it makes the showing of the baby more dramatic.
We worked a lot on how we all move around in this scene - When Aaron tries to calm us down and get us to sit down, I sit down by the cauldron (since we have decided this is where is where my death is going to take place). The way in which I die does not include any screaming but it includes my body being open and my head going back, facing the ceiling. Aaron, still holding the baby, will take a blood pack from the cauldron and smash it onto my face. My head will continue to be back so that the blood will be left dripping down my neck. I really like this way to death as it is very different to the other deaths, which will show how the Nurse is a very different character to the rest killed as she is not a fighter.
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