Do I Want To Be In This?

"Where have you been? We should be acting right now."

If it is Mr. A's quest to bring the true story of Richard III to screen, then I can vouch that I also have a quest to do something with comedy, such as a skit, a sitcom or a film. I like the fast delivery, the look-who's-saying-it subtext and the colours of the characters. Furthermore I share my birthday with Lucille Ball and I sure can act funny in front of the mirror. But, that is still in the back of my mind.

If you read my previous posts, I have mentioned that I chance visited some sets. At the moment I can´t get it out of my head that it would be great to be visiting an international set. Even playing along, in the background, why not? I know, I`m way too shy, prudish and insecure, so I`ll do my best, despite the nerves. So to get out of my comfort zone, next to doing improv acting and following workshops, like physical acting and standup, I had a chance to be an extra in a comedy pilot (which hasn´t aired yet) Vrienden*dienst (2012). Also I got an audition and writing experience amongst 300+ fellow writers, and others for the first dutch user*generated film Steek*spel (T*ricked) (2012). This was a heavy marketed project, fronted by dutch Hollywood director, Paul Ver*hoeven. He later said he not only liked working with young enthusiastic film makers, but he preferred that to filming in Hollywood where he had trouble getting a couple of movies financed.

Just after I had talks with my improv group about my progression, the news that the Richard III TV serial plus film plans are in the next phase, felt like a sign. Answering the question ´Do I want to be in this?´ with a ´Yes´, became very appealing. However I recall some British institution (forgot which one) saying it will never allow foreign actors acting on UK TV, unless it is filmed abroad like in Belgium and Hungary, then they´re ´fit to be extras´.

Thankfully, films are made internationally (okay, it depends). The Richard III film is getting plugged by Mr. A himself in Hollywood and there´s a major distributor on board, but it´s early days. I have no doubt his passion for his interest in the true story of  Richard III will open doors. But who to ask who can also say: ´Do I want to be in this?´. Like The Hobbit´s director Peter Jackson said (on casting Barry Humphries) (paraphrased): ´It is always a bit scary to ask the person you admire, to work with you. The person you admire, can be disappointing, so then you have to lower your level of admiration.´ At least RA can ask ´Mr. Wellywood´ about the pitfalls of Hollywood.

Best to leave the fourth wall alone, but boy, would I like a part (as extra) in Richard III ! Maybe I could ask The Universe for a lot more. I have a hunch that paths cross in mysterious ways, sometimes in synchronicity. Say, with an actor who takes the effort to understand the unspoken.  

 

Let me smile ´Thank You´ for this little interaction.

A nose rub to my favourite screen kiss. (Spooks S9.3)

A thought for Valentine's Day:  

Was this kiss filmed in the 'extra time' RA asked for 'to experiment'?

*****

Top image: screen cap from trailer of short film Staged (1999).



Scandal! Dare You Grow A Beard!

Bearrrrrrrded RA in stage play MacBeth of 2001. Please stare at beard, don´t read post.

Wanna hear gossip, scandal, slaunder?
This weekend I went to a play performed by English actors in Amsterdam
at the
Ho*lla*nd Fe*stiva*l
titled
"The Scho*o*l for Sc*anda*l", an 18th century play by Sheridan

Yes ME, Miss ´Arris goes to theatre, me! (referring to Paul Gallico´s books)
Why? To prepare myself for the impact that The Rover would have on me.
Even if RA would not do this play, it will be a nice research.
Don´t get yourself fooled, folks. I was brought up with operas and operettes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You´d never guess it, the British critics and audience didn´t like it! NOOOOOO! Well not all, but they DID have mixed opinions about it! And worse, they thought that modern dance music with flickerings of grafitti texts causing epileptic attacks between the costumised scenes and use of modern props would damage the whole concept of the SO BELOVED PLAY. And if that wasn´t bad enough.... every English man CAN TELL how this play should be performed! AWFUL!!! And what´s so lame, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that it was bad, because I read the reviews beforehand and still I wanted to see it. STUPID! Don´t rub it in, will you? I already paid for my ticket! YOU DID WHAT? I TELL

ALL OTHERS BEFORE THIS GETS IN THE NEWSPAPERS! So now I REALLY wanted to know what THE FUSS WAS ALL ABOUT!!

The Scho*o*l For Sca*nda*l played at the Ho*lla*nd Fe*stiva*l in Amsterdam.

It started with an introduction, followed by a fashion catwalk and picture taking, then the costumised stage play with surtitles in contemporary Dutch, ended with a meeting of the artist/director Debor@h W@rner.

Receivement

Director Warner was very taken with the receivement here in Amsterdam. In the earlier introduction we were told how severe the English critics bashed her adaptation of the very popular play. This fact was repeated again in the meeting. She had even written a letter to the Gua*rdia*n to protest against the harsh critic that she ´kicked the tradition´. Even non critics in London, like people in their fourties had strong opinions how this play should be treated. The Dutch in the audience loved it that she kicked the English tradition. Warner called the Dutch receivement a ´warm bath´ and her face showed endurement and a slight relief that the critic could also be different. All Warner wanted was to throw this play against the wall and see what drops and what sticks against the wall. She treated this play as if it was a new play. For the Dutch it certainly was a new play. However brought threehundred years too late on Dutch ground, it gave an insight to that era, especially with the current economic crisis on our minds. According to Warner it is an era well worth exploring.

Language

Warner explained that because the language of the play was not contemporary, the actors had to seek every fourth word in the dictionary. It was about 50 new words they had to learn. When I saw the play, I was seriously doubting my knowledge of English and peeked more than I wanted at the surtitle signs in Dutch. Sometimes I couldn´t understand a whole sentence.

The use of surtitles is a development Warner fears. She thinks The Globe (known for Shakespearian performances) would not get away with not using them eventually. The cast had to get accustomed to the use of surtitles in the handful of shows at the end of their tour over here in the Netherlands. 

My impression was that the cast brought the play with caution. At first I thought it had to do with the harsh critics in London. What she didn´t say was that the cast had to slow down in their speed to match the four seconds the text was shown on the signs. I preferred the speed of second half ´the payback time´ to the first half, ´the buildup´. Sometimes the punch of the joke on the signs was absorbed in the brain before the said line was finished on stage.

Would it be better to rewrite this play in contemporary English? Yes and no. Warner loved Sheridan´s Brechtians way of writing, because it was ´gentle´. The actors had trouble with syntax, most and foreall. They used to break the sentence in half, and were glad to make to the first half. Some phrases would come across better if they were written in modern language, to get the crowd roaring with laughter. Cutting this play down from 3,5 hours to 1,5 hour, now that would be really harsh.

Kicking the tradition

Warner kicked the tradition with Mary Quant-like shake ups of scene changes and effective use of modern clothes as deterior, and modern props as recognisable, when someone asks ´How do you know?´ and another whisks out a smart phone. Warner did not kick the tradition with the original play which had mild shock effect moments. She also approached the characters in an English way. Some were played enjoyably funny over the top, which is considered not done by Dutch serious actors who prefer playing imploded characters. So one Dutch audience member surprised Warner a bit with the compliment that it looked like ´Fawlty Towers´. To which Warner replied: ´Maybe that´s your perception of how you see the English´.

Will The Rover be more daring?

If others would do plays of this era, Warner hopes that they would be more daring,

after what she has caused.

My hope is that ETT finds a nice middle ground to be more daring.


Screencap: Bccmee, enlightened by moi

Acting Intermezzo

"Have you got a cello ´round here? I can strangle a cat with a littl´ tune!"

The Dwarves have taken time off of their difficult journey through horrible locations with the hungry Hobbit, Bilbo. The Hobbit has caused a stampede that he would climb in a tree if Thorin would play another song instead of finding food. Drat! No, no, only temporarily. This intermezzo sparkled thoughts.

Tom and Jerry - Cat´s Concerto  As a kid I've seen this hundreds of times, because we had it on film.
I forgot about it, until I saw it again, because the pianist Lang Lang mentioned it on a tv show as an inspiration for him to play the piano. It didn't make me to start playing piano, which was in our home already. What touched me was the music, as given, and connecting that with animals behaving as people. I like the expressions on their faces and the fact how to creatively make a piano concerto interesting to watch! Notice how difficult it is to recall well acted fake musical performances on tv or in film.

Prefab Sprout - The King Of Rock And Roll The last couple of weeks I been looking on YT for eighties popmusic, especially British. Something I sooo want to ask RA, but it is highly wise not to do so, is: Is he one of the hotdogs? I mean in the clip! :D This wouldn't be the last time I would hide under the table in utter shame. Play this one loud!!

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm going to the English play The School for Scandal, a scorching comedy written by Richard Sheridan (1751-1816) and contemparized by Deborah Warner. It's at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and I booked it for the day that there is also a 'meet the artist' opportunity. It is written just after the Restoration period. Restoration comedies are not played here in Holland. The Rover, mentioned by RA to play in, was written by Aphra Behn, who worked as a spy against the Dutch!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To come back to my topic, filming on The Hobbit has momentarily stopped for one Hobbit and two Dwarves. Martin Freeman as Bilbo, proud owner of a Bafta for his role in tv series Sherlock, to film Sherlock series 2 in the UK. Aidan Turner as Dwarf Kili to film tv series Being Human in the UK. And for RA as Dwarfleader Thorin.. is it really going to be an acting intermezzo? Or is it to change tooth brush and head off to... place your bets now.. Hungary where filming Strike Back 2 will take two months June-July in which he as John Porter will appear in for "some" episodes... or for plain old London where script of Spooks episode 6 has been discussed and this series 10 has less episodes, 6 instead of 8 and this series will all be about Harry Pearce's file and plots. Adding the fact that Lucas North aka John Bateman is still on Twitter. Harry's scheme or... ???

Screencap: RANet Spooks ep. 9.2

A Poisonless Toast To Entertaining

"The pellet with the poizzon izz in the flagon with the dragon,

the fazzle with the pazzle has the brew that izz true..."

As the cameras are rolling for The Hobbit, one evening I was entertained by The Court Jester (1956) with Danny Kaye, who was fantastic in his comical expression and timing. It´s a film I´ve seen many times. One of the greatest scenes is the one of the mishaps of words in a lifesaving riddle.
Word twister scene Can you remember the riddle?
Word twister scene in full The whole scene where his concentration is also challenged by the electrically charged armour, which causes magnetism with his opponent´s armour.
Transcript of The Court Jester, see Contents: ´pellet of poison´
In this film there is -of course- a case of a mistaken identity, just as in Hitchcock´s North by Northwest, read here what´s it all about.

It is a case of blasphemy to put up screencaps of Gisborne here in connection with The Hobbit film or to compare The Court Jester as it's comical and The Hobbit is more fantasy, but it has two reasons. Firstly, through that scene in The Court Jester I was reminded of the drink-scene in the 2006´s tv-series Robin Hood, episode 3.8, in which Gisborne´s sister does 'poison' him with a sedative. Secondly, I propose a toast to The Hobbit and RA´s part. May they be just as entertaining to the young and old as The Court Jester was to me. It´s hard to put that feeling into words. I can try by saying it gives a feeling of an enthousiastic joyride by being entertained by experienced actors and filmcrew, who want to share the goal of telling a (un)believable and entertaining story as part of a common quest, to be still memorable after many years. I have seen the three Lord of the Ring films and I salute anyone who is aware of the unique opportunity they´re in: ´There´s really a sense of (director) Peter (Jackson) wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic´, Andy Serkis who plays Gollum on also becoming a second unit director for The Hobbit.

And it´s gonna be filmed in 3D....


I’ve seen Bilbo — in three dimensions. I was visiting old friends in the Stone Street offices and heard Martin Freeman was just round the corner by the permanent greenscreen, done up as Bilbo, testing his costume in front of the 3D cameras. Indeed, there he was in the open air, mostly oblivious to the camera, though turning this way and that as required. Martin improvised a hobbity gait, padding back and forth, testing his big hairy Hobbit feet, pointy ears and little tum. Beneath the shade of a tent, in a sun hat, Andrew Lesnie was remotely controlling the two lenses within the mighty camera which digitally records in 3D. His screen showed the familiar 2D image but next to it, above the director’s chair, was a large colour screen in full magical three dimensions, much as it will appear in the cinema — courtesy of the spy-glasses that transform the blurred outlines onscreen to the high definition exactitude of the 3D effect. Three Bilbos simultaneously, two performances on screen and the actor beyond: which was the real one? Martin Freeman was transmuting into a character whose reality will soon be as authentic as his own. — Ian McKellen, Wellington, March 2011 posted on his official site....in 48 frames per second, it says so here.

This implies no blurring in motion. Say cheese, fanvidders!

And if you´re a real Hobbit Nerd like me,

read here: James Cameron of The Avator says it too.

...and YAY there is strutting involved!! (as if I didn't know)

"Everyone who saw the first parade of

2 Thorin Oakenshields plus 24 assorted dwarves

was mightily impressed!"

Ian McKellen on his site

So.. Cheers!

"Wazzin my drrink?"

"Nuffin´!"

Scrreenncaappzzz by RACentral

Taking Directions From Sir Guy

"You do NOT speak to me!"

We need something funny after Spooks.
What´s the difference between Spooks and English grammar?

Coming clean on English grammar is far more deadly dangerous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

We trace, we are not toying.

Actors take directions from the text and the way the grammar is used.

We think we say it right, but then it comes out wrong.

This foreigner thought the phrase ´objective´ was about English grammar.

When an actor uses this phrase, it becomes actors´ bullshit.

Actors´ bullshit cannot be found in the English Dictionary.

Hence actors want to use it.

We cry or burst into a song.

Take the phrase ´actions´, it would be about movements, right?

When an actor uses this phrase, it´s reason to act upon it. 

Actions are real mouth openers or door shutters.

We connect or disengage from.

Or take the phrase ´subtext´.

Beneath the text it´s a dark place.

Actors split the ongoing underlining in action, reaction and decision.

When joking turns out wrong.

The article of 8 October, 2010 gave me That Mitchell And Webb Look.

Which reminded me of a particular grammatical friendly rub in Vicar of Dibley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Could tell you all about Dutch grammar in Dutch.
English grammar, mind me stammering?

It´s annoying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taking directions...

Added (in fear being misinterpreted if not explained):
It looks not very good, Gisborne not wanting to hear the explanation.
But in fact, if you know the series, he distracted Vasey to save the wrong do-er´s life.

P.S.

The phrases ´objective´, ´subtext´ and ´actions´ refer to Stanislavsky´s system about rehearsal processes. The phrase ´actors´ bullshit´ is used by professions In The Business, who don´t get that kind of talk.

You could read:

The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin 

Actions, The Actors´ Thesaurus by Marina Caldarone.



Screencap:
RAcentral - Sir Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood ep. 2.11 Treasure of the nation

Willmore The Rover, Name Another Rake?

Say rakish as Richard Armitage in the upcoming play ´The Rover´ as possible Willmore (I will more?) and I say rakish as Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart in Blackadder. 

Flashheart is an arrogant nobleman with a weakness for all women he meets. He is introduced as best friend and trustee of Lord Blackadder. He flirts with Queen Elizabeth I, Nursie and even with Baldrick, who is then dressed as a woman. Eventually he hits off with Blackadder´s bride and he and Blackadder suspectively become enemies.

Lord Blackadder: "Where have you been?"

Lord Flashheart: "Where haven´t I been? Wuf!"

To prepare you, watch the hilarious interview with Rik Mayall, Rowan Atkinson and others of the Blackadder cast. The big deal is all about the grand entrance/exit.

 

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rover_(play)

Interpreting British DIY

"What? Now? It´s 3:00am!"

Watch out for RAndom DIY quotes! After hearing this British joke, the cultural aspect of it sheds new light on interpreting the undertone of these quotes. I mentioned this previously on my blog.

Cultural joke:

In France when a woman is having a romantic interlude, she says: "Sacré coeurs! Toujour amour!"

In Italy when a woman is having a romantic interlude, she says: "Sempre amore! Molto amore!"

In Britain when a woman is having a romantic interlude, she looks up and she goes: "That ceiling needs doing. It's all gone flaky! How about a fitting wardrobe? When are you gonna do something about that shed? I will have to bring a man in!"

May I suggest this bloke:

"My idea of a passionate weekend is doing DIY. I'm pretty handy with a screwdriver. But is that sexy?
I don't think so!"

Ken Dodd who made this joke, is a fond reader of ´The Rover´, he once said in an interview with Dawn French (Vicar of Dibley). Yes, the circle is round again!

Sources: RichardArmitageNet Spooks, Miranda Hart