Okay so I thought I would do well to take in a show during the summer as this is something I haven't done in a very long time...so I cleared my schedule yesterday (Wednesday) and took myself to the theatre.
I arrived early, because I never come late...just what I do.
There were sixteen people in the audience...sixteen people, including myself...
When the doors were opened and we could enter the theatre, we were greated by a strong, semi-thick layer of fog...I don't know why...I'm guessing to go along with the "radio" broadcast--which explained (thanks to Terri Lorreto's interpretation of the weather for the purposes of the show's plot) that the day was cloudy...I don't really get where the fog came into play--maybe it was supposed to be early morning...if it was, I still don't get the fog...except that it takes place in September...(confusing? unclear? possibly).
The opening sequence--nice idea with the ladies in their various "motherly roles" (one irons, one dressing, one doing PTA crap) however I couldn't help but shake the impression that these ladies were playing charades with the audience. There's a little dance sequence where they all dance together and get all "into character" -- but this is where things start to get dark and grey for me...
1. Greatest piece of advice I ever got in theatre school came from the AD who said to me in a fit of total exasperation: "Stop showing me, FEEL IT!"
This ENTIRE production was one big SHOW...there was little authentic reality, there was even less authentic emotion.
2. When directing lines and comments to people offstage and out towards (or beyond) the audience, have agreement as to where those people are in relation to you. You should also know what the person/thing you're looking at looks like. When you are all included in the comment or line, you're supposed to have agreement as to where to look and what you are looking at.
I had a hard time staying focused for this production. For a number of reasons.
There was never a sense that any of these actors (female) had children or even knew children or had maternal bones in their bodies...yes some could deliver a funny line when they had to, but most of the time it was as though they were selling the audience fake Gucci bags for the price of real ones.
Notes taken during first part of the show (within first twenty minutes)
Nancy: wft stop reciting your lines and engage!
Allison: Stop showing me your emotions
"Erin run the other way that's the wrong goal" - in order to say this line, you need to actually "see" Erin run the other way...not have your gaze posed in the opposite direction.
The character of Nancy I had a hard time believing she wasn't a characature of Samantha from Sex in the City who happened to get knocked up and thought she could still wow men with her looks...she wore an exercise top with a regular bra...she kept putting on lip gloss or doing any number of grooming activities that showed me she was someone who tried very hard to keep up appearances but I really didn't get the sense that she was a mother...maybe a step mother...but the child aspect if it wasn't for the lines about her children, I would never have guessed she had any.
1. Nancy gets hit in the head by the soccer ball -- I have no idea where that came from, or why it was there (this could be a problem with the script as part of my issue with the overall production came from the fact that the script was mediocre...seriously)
2. Nancy picks up a bottle of Purell and rubs it into her hands...WHY? Where did the impulse to put Purell on come from? Did you touch something funky, did you feel the need because you wiped dirt off your face? I didn't see anything except the gesture...and according to the biographical notes in the program, this actor (female) has a BFA in Acting...
Allison comes back from checking on her daughter who's sleeping in the car (little weird her infant daughter is left to sleep in the car...didn't really get the sense that any of the mother's thought it weird despite one line devoted to it...still weird)...she freaks out because her husbands a jerk and doesn't like to talk about stuff and rags on her...
1. Does she loose it because she needed to unload her stress?
2. Does she loose it because she lost control after trying to keep things light and wonderful for too long?
My point is there are many different ways to play it--but you need to COMMIT to one and play it--not do the action because either someone tells you that's what they want, or because you think it would look good to an audience...BA in Acting from Dalhousie.
A rather cheap sight gag was the obscenely large bowl of Goldfish the ladies pig out on for the last three minutes of the scene...seriously, who brings a tub 'o Goldfish to a kid's soccer practise????? -- it was a tub! (why not bring the bag?? -- or better yet since it's the PTA mom that whips them out, why not a try of Rice Krispy Squares???
Question: What does the ref look like? After all one of them thinks she's having an affair with him?
Lynn has a line: "What's with you?" -- flat delivery on a loaded question...I never got the sense there was much work done in terms of tactics/intent from any of the women in this production...another line (I believe delivered by Lynn) "That's not a joke, that's life as we know it" -- it's one thing to deliver a funny line, it's another to know it's funny and not be able to hide knowing it's a funny line...
1. The audience was laughing (if it laughed and there wasn't much laughter because not much of it was funny) at the script, not at the performances of the actors (female) who sometimes thought they were funnier than they actually were...sometimes they played for laughs because they weren't getting any...I've fallen victim to this myself and know the temptation but that does not mean that it's excusable!
Nancy has a line: "That must have been rough." she says this line as she is checking her makeup...there was no laugh as I recall, this was not meant to be funny...so I really don't understand why you would say a line like this while checking your makeup for the fifteenth time--unless you had no intention behind the line and you weren't listening to the person the line was directed to in the first place!!!!!
Lynn has a great line: "What I would give for a cigarette." -- why didn't I get the sense that Lynn would give anything for a cigarette in that moment? Because she's never smoked before? Because she was tired from stuffing envelopes? Because she didn't really feel connected to the line??? Because it was hot out? I don't know!!!!!
At this point I really got confused...I know these women were supposed to be soccer moms at their kid's practice/tournament...however then they kept talking about playing in the game...so now I'm totally confused because I've never known parents to play with kids in soccer...this was unclear partially because the script was crap and partly because I stopped caring about the plot of the show long before this scene.
Question: Are these women friends or do they just meet up and chat while their kids play soccer? There was no sense that they had any kind of relationship outside this particular day...yet the lines suggested they knew each other for longer (what's their history? How did they all meet? Where do they live in conjunction to each other? Why am I the one asking these questions???)
Lynn has a great line: "I left a great job. My kids see me at school and it fills me with pride" -- I may have paraphrased slightly but the lines were great because it's maternal and human...it was delivered like a grocery list with no connection to another person, no sense of pride, no sense of having made the right decision for her in her life...no stakes at revealing something personal about ones self...
Where the heck is the process of thought????????????????? Just because the lines are written does not mean there isn't stuff going on....
Nancy has a line: "I admire you" -- bullshit (was my note)...I don't believe it and I now think you're a liar...
Nancy has another line in regard to her photography: "I don't develop them"
1. Where's the risk in revealing that truth about oneself?
2. Where the trust needed to share that with "friends"?
3. Where's the process involved to come to the decision to reveal that?
At this point Nancy starts to get emotional (really I got confused at this part because the meaning and thoughts in the monologue disappeared)...but instead of letting the emotion organically flow, I witnessed a very painful contortion of the actor (female) as she willed and summoned from the depths of the swamp what would pass as emotion...first thing I noticed--furrowed brow (which means the head is in the way and trying to control the flow of emotion), second thing I noticed--purposeful manipulation of both jaw and tongue...I'm telling you it wasn't pretty to watch but if I didn't know better I would say these were all habits of someone either new to performance work or trying to pass off false emotion for real emotion.
1. Audiences are rarely dumb...even when you can hear a pin drop...it's usually in those moments that the audience is picking up what you're putting down...that never happened in this production.
Nancy I believe ends her monologue with the line "That was Mary" -- or it comes close to the end--but not before a rather awkward moment when it looked as though Nancy was going to throw up...seriously I thought the actor (female) was going to be sick...
As is my habit I was looking at the other mothers and their reaction to Nancy's "story"....
Wouldn't you know Allison was "showing me she was listening" while Lynn listened but was not present in the room...
1. Active listening...don't have to show your listening...just listen...be invested...your friend is revealing something that they find upsetting, they need your energy and support...you don't have to say a word but please be there for them! And Nancy, check in to make sure they're listening--feel their support and relax your jaw!!! Sure "drama isn't crying, drama's trying not to cry" -- but for goodness sake don't try to force it out!
"They're getting ready over there" -- can't say this line if you're pacing back and forth along the stage...have no idea where you're looking, and neither do the other actors (nor why your saying that if you're intent on pacing back and forth--unless you have more clarity of intent!).
Lynn has a line: "She said shit like she meant it" -- sloppy...good line (especially when the gag is they are all mothers who don't swear)
Allison has a Ron moment (Ron's her husband) she freaks out and kicks a few bags...essentially she has a small tantrum...then she admits to having an "affair" with the ref, but not a real affair...WTF.
Allison then has a line: "How did I ever end up like this?" the note I have: "Stop wandering with your eyes!"
Then comes Sex Talk about Husbands -- this gets a few laughs finally (from the three ladies in the front row who laughed--not because the situation on stage was funny, but because they related to the ideas...)
Allison has a line: "I love my children so much." -- too general and wimpy/weepy...do I believe you? Not really, I got the impression she regretted having children and was really a mess in her personal life...
Nancy delivers yet another speech, this time to "cheer" Allison up and it takes place in St. Martin at somekind of a nude beach...
1. What did this speech have to do with Allison's breakdown??? I still have no idea.
2. What's the big deal about naked people?
3. What prompted Nancy to tell this story to help cheer Allison up in the first place?
Lynn has a line: "Were they lesbians?" -- timing was off, no thought or intent behind the line, no reaction from audience.
Allison confronts her husband (who's offstage in the audience somewhere) and says "Pizza, fine..." then she I am guessing has a moment and then says "No. tonight I want time for us" -- or words to that effect...all these lines were run together...there was no separation of thought, no moment of "no, I'm not going to go along with this, I'm going to stand up and demand what I want."
I have to admit there wasn't much left of the play at this point and I couldn't take anymore notes...I was too upset.
Seriously there was no excuse why this production failed as badly as it did...I'm not going to chalk it up to going on a Wednesday night during the last week of a three week run...there's no excuse (I won't even allow the fact that the script was poor to be used as an excuse.) for the poor performances. These actors (female) all have a strong background in performance but for some reason every time I see them in something (I've seen two of them in more than one show) I am always either blaming the director for not utilizing them to their fullest potential or expecting more from them than I get...I don't know why this is...are my standards too high? I refuse to take that as the reason...if that were the case then advancing and getting better as an actor would be pointless...
I think it's a combination of a lot of things.
1. Lack of professional development.
2. Laziness.
3. Friends working with friends and letting it get in the way of professional creativity. (a guess really)
4. Money.
5. Lack of imagination.
These are just things off the top of my head. Many people may have a problem with this--please tell me! I would love to debate and hear what other's have to say about this topic. Why? Because I LOVE the art form. I do not criticize people for the sake of making them feel bad--cripes I am an actor and I know it's not pleasant to be ripped apart--but you know what? How else is one supposed to know? Performance is an art form. Professional Development does not end when you graduate...it only begins.
