Measure for Measure- So I Conclude

In Conclusion:
It is a mere hour after the play and I am still riding the adrenaline-nervous-jittery-energy high while I am writing this paper. I can say that I learned more about this play because I was forced to act it out than of any other that I have read. I had a wonderful time and made friends with some interesting people and characters. I can actually say that I somewhat enjoy acting, or at least have a better appreciation for theater actors. Especially their memory.

lines and acting and gag! just about keeled over. but hey, it was fun.

well, as for other news since three of my group have epithets thanks to lynn i will make an attempts to set up my own.

Nick- Quick Wit Nick
Ben- Keen Kenning Ben
Myself- Gossamer von Goss

Zack- Zack, i assume Zachary but we all know what they say about assumptions, means "Yahweh remembers" which is interesting since this class is about memory.

Lynn- again assuming, only this time welsh, means lake.

this is going to be difficult. i think i'll ponder a bit more.

Measure for Measure- Play

The Preset:
All I could think is, thank god it’ll be over with soon!! But seriously, it was fun. An hour or so before class we got together one last time to get some sort of set up for the play. Places to stand, gestures, timing, all of that had not really been thought out thoroughly. We ended up with a rough idea and threw it together form there with the recommendation to adlib it from there if things started going wrong. Pacing with my ipod, bouncing on my toes and muttering to myself in sheer nervousness I could not believe that I was actually going to do this. I was so screwed. Eventually, we wandered off to ourselves for a bit and then reconvened to set up the class room. I think I had Camptown Races running through my head. Action!
The Play:
Being the first one to speak was… nerve wracking. But Lucio, is an interesting character and his flamboyancy made me think solely on the humor of the situation. It helped. It also helped that people laughed and were smiling. Being booed off the stage was not something I, or anyone of us, really wanted. So, really, I, and we, just went out there and did it. Clinging to the script for comfort with sweaty hands, chewing on a pencap to keep myself calm and running through my lines in my head was the only thing that I paid any attention to after I started speaking. The crowd no longer existed. So, I let Lucio’s and my own natural, and nerve wrought, cheerful, bounciness through and just went with it. I got lost but kept going with some prompting and we kept at it, no matter how lost and confused we got. And frankly, it went a lot faster than I thought, even though it was over forty minutes. I regret none of it and would probably enjoy doing something like this again… in a few years.

Measure for Measure- Characters

The Characters:
When we had finally whittled it down to eight or so characters and a rough script, we set about deciding who could be multiple characters. Who did not have a scene with which character, which character had the fewest lines, etc. Eventually it came down to Angelo and the Duke being only themselves. Madame Overdone, Marianna and the Provost could be one person with some quick switching as those three had fewest lines and most freedom. Isabella was supposed to be the only character for the actor but we realized, rather belatedly, that we needed a gentleman but that came later. Lucio and Claudio got thrown together mostly by accident and also due to the fact that we had cut the scene where those two interacted.
We wrote the names down and mixed them up in a hat and drew. I was in a tizzy for fear that I would end up with any of the three main parts. Sutter drew and in some sort of preordainment our leader got the play’s lead. I almost felt sorry for him. Alex went next and got Angelo followed by Zack getting Isabella. I breathed a sigh of relief and choked on the idea of a bearded Isabella. Then it was me; I got lucky. I got Lucio/Claudio. And Rikki followed with Madame Overdone. I thought it somewhat ironic that the one with acting experience got the least lines. But it saved us that she knew what to do and how to enhance the performance.
Lucio. Lucio, when I think of him is… gaudy, flamboyant, cheery and bright. He is not harmful, rather harmless, really but chaotic. He is an agent of chaos and cheer. I could not find it in me to turn him into a true letch and pervert. He is impulsive but makes breaks for himself. He is energetic and always in motion with grand gestures. So bright colors and Betty LaBoup spreading the love it was.
Claudio, I did not get a good hook on. And since he said so little I just made him fickle. The t-shirt was a joke, to me, on how they should at least put him in jail for something serious, plus jailbird orange pants. I am not sure if anyone got it but it may just be my quirky humor.

Measure for Measure

The Script:
The first night we met we had decided that we would decide what to do and then set up our script. We bounced the idea of doing only one Act, especially the last one, and then Sutter threw out the idea of truncating the play and giving what would probably be a bastardized version of it. At that point Sutter became out leader and we all bowed down to him. I am not entirely sure he was pleased with that.
So, we set out to find the main plot points of the play with special note to the more humorous sections (we wanted it to be funny), and started picking. We all laid out which characters were important, which scenes and lines were important and which parts and characters could be dropped. It took us three hours… to do two Acts. We were doomed. At that point it was somewhere between eleven o’clock and o’dark thirty and we gave up. Once again Sutter came to our rescue and laid out a script for us. It was rough but when we next met we smoothed over the worst and ran with it. We did not do much acting but we started to memorize our lines and rework scenes and order over the next two weeks. Meeting three to four times a week, we focused mainly on memorizing lines and doing other homework in between. Needless to say, it at least got us somewhere.

It Is Done

YES!! YES!! the evil that is memorizing and acting shakespeare is done!!! now i can devote my attention to other things... such as this blog and other classwork... yeah we all know how long that's going to last, but i will try. anyway here's a bit of a run down for the play, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.


The Beginning:
When I signed up for the performance group, I swore I would: A) be in one of the two comedies, and B) get it over with quickly. Therefore there really was not much of a choice for me. I really did not know what Measure for Measure was about except that it had humor in it, and if I was going to survive this I would need that to get through. I barely glanced at the names on the list except to note that they were some I had been familiar with throughout the years. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting.

List

well, i guess i found my list. i chose the top 50 sci-fi books according to the Science Fiction Book Club. here's the link

http://www.sfbc.com/doc/content/sitelets/FSE_Sitelet_Theme_2.jhtml?SID=nmsfctop50

and here's the list. # 1 is the top and #50 is at the bottom. now, the big question....
am i going to recite authors too? .... probably going to have to.


The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Memory Palace

my palace, hmm... actually i don't think it's a building i have ever been in. but i have seen pictures of it. it's a private library. wood floors with thick rugs and a stone fireplace on the right wall as you enter. lots of books. can't quite see them clearly but i'm pretty sure that if i wander over i can pick things out. who knows... hmm... something to think about

Bundy and Button- Flyting

well, i may not have siblings, but i do have something worse.
i have a cousin.
this cousin... well, lets just say he's my worst enemy and best friend all in one. i love to hate him and hate to love him.
anyway, meet orrin, or as we call him... Bundy. and please for gods sake don't ask me about my nick name.

"Heeeyyy, Button!" heavy sigh. "lo, Bundy."
"well is that any way to greet your favorite cousin."
"you still owe me $50 plus interest and that was from 5 years ago, so yeah, it kinda is."
"why, you little brat"
"jerk-face"
"pothead"
"alcoholic"
"snot-nosed brat"
"cranky old geezer"
"all those books you read are making your brain rot"
"well atleast i don't have grandma butt!"
".... low blow"
"but true"
"hey, i resemble that remark"
smirk "i know"