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lillibetI spent much of this evening working on my script analysis for Murder in the Cathedral.
What I was specifically doing was the breakdown of the play into units (somewhat tricky with MITC, because there are no scene-breaks, per se, and very little interaction between characters, even though they are all deeply affecting each other) and then going through line by line (speech by speech) and coming up with the dramatic action--what is the character doing with this line. The idea is to find very specific, evocative, and--above all--actable verbs, so that I can toss them at the actors when they are stuck or off on a vector I don't think is working.
It was hard to get into the process, but once I did, it was really fun--sort of like a puzzle. I made extensive use of the Visual Thesaurus. I haven't had much need for it before, but it was exactly the right tool for this situation (e.g. "I need something better than "ask"...maybe "demand"...ooh, "require"!). I managed to get through the whole script, and although I want to go back and refine some of the cruder verbs I started with, I think it will be more useful to go on to other aspects of the analysis.
I asked Jason once if any of his directors had done this kind of script analysis, since it is my impression that most of the ones I've ever worked with just pulled stuff out of their ass. He responded that he's not sure he could really tell, that he thinks whatever analysis a director does in preparation for the rehearsal period is really just making your ass better. By the time I actually get this thing into rehearsal, mine's going to be firm and toned :)
What I was specifically doing was the breakdown of the play into units (somewhat tricky with MITC, because there are no scene-breaks, per se, and very little interaction between characters, even though they are all deeply affecting each other) and then going through line by line (speech by speech) and coming up with the dramatic action--what is the character doing with this line. The idea is to find very specific, evocative, and--above all--actable verbs, so that I can toss them at the actors when they are stuck or off on a vector I don't think is working.
It was hard to get into the process, but once I did, it was really fun--sort of like a puzzle. I made extensive use of the Visual Thesaurus. I haven't had much need for it before, but it was exactly the right tool for this situation (e.g. "I need something better than "ask"...maybe "demand"...ooh, "require"!). I managed to get through the whole script, and although I want to go back and refine some of the cruder verbs I started with, I think it will be more useful to go on to other aspects of the analysis.
I asked Jason once if any of his directors had done this kind of script analysis, since it is my impression that most of the ones I've ever worked with just pulled stuff out of their ass. He responded that he's not sure he could really tell, that he thinks whatever analysis a director does in preparation for the rehearsal period is really just making your ass better. By the time I actually get this thing into rehearsal, mine's going to be firm and toned :)
