Thursday 26.02.08 Bar Hispanico 11.15pm

We rehearsed Act 1 at Ana’s. I arrived at 4. Ana was having a crisis with her computer. Fernando, who makes his non-acting living working with computers, was re-formatting the hard drive. He’d been there since 2. For the first time we started late, as F rescued the machine. Whilst he did so, Ana told me she’d got hold of a DVD of Branagh’s Hamlet. We had a difference of opinion about its merits (although I’ve never seen it) and the merits of Branagh in general.

Consequently we began at 5, finishing working through the Scene. The last few pages taking an hour or so. When that was done we talked for the first time in a more discursive way about each character and their world beyond the remit of the scene. Then used the writing exercise to explore:

i] What each character did after the scene ended.
ii] The first time JR kissed his wife/ MC’s impressions of JR six months after meeting him.
iii] JR’s impressions of MC 6 months after she first came to him/ MC’s dreams as a child.

Afterwards we read the scene again. Finally we talked clothes. A month before I came out here, F emailed me to ask about JR’s shoes. I told him I had no idea. Now it’s starting to get clearer. I liked the idea of sandals and socks for the second scene, but not sure if that has the same connotations here…

I keep saying that with 7 weeks plus to go, we have ample time. The cast keep saying that it seems like no time at all. For them 3 or 4 months is normal.

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There’s football on the TV. I think it’s the Libertadores, but I’m not sure. I’m eating pizza with longaniza and drinking a ‘chop’.

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Additional note. Towards the end of Scene 1, MC is effectively bidding adieu to JR without actually saying goodbye, if you see what I mean (esto es subtexto). Ana connected with the sadness of the moment rapidly and acutely. In a way I’m not altogether sure an Anglo Saxon actor would be able to do.

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