Rivals scene reviews

These scenes were actually really fun! As a class we all did really well and brought something unique to the language. Wearing a corset was morbidly fun for me, and trying to move in a completely new way was a cool challenge.

Christae and Sophia were a great way to start out the scenes. I liked how Christae had a very specified posture and was playing up the melodrama of Lydia's character. Sophia was fun to watch because she played Lucy kinda of sarcastic and tired. I'm sure being Lydia's servant is one hell of a task. I could have used more projection from Sophia. They both had their own specific characters and I liked the difference between the two. Energy wise it was cool to compare them. Overall it was strong. I think all the groups could have gone deeper into the subtext and innuendo of the jokes, but the jokes played well in general.

Zack and Mallory were just hilarious. I can see how this style kind of turned into melodrama, because the emotions are so ridiculous. They both had great detail in their movements and characters. The little funny comedic moments really added to the scene. The flower bit was just genius. Sometimes they were a little hard to understand because they were talking really fast and over-emphasized. I found it hard personally to slow down when using this language. It's so easy to rush and get caught up in the pace. They really did a good job. They made it ridiculous and funny, but not a joke. These were still real characters I felt.

Matt and Roberto did a good job with their lengthier scene. Even though there wasn't a lot of movement it kept my interest. You could tell they both worked hard on that awkward way of standing and revealing the calf muscle. Now and then the diction got a little sloppy, but other then that they seemed to have a really good idea of what they were saying. The sexual innuendo moments were just hilarious. Talk about mask and appetite.

Rachel and Taylor were hilarious. I liked that they added a lot of movement to their scene. It's so easy to get stuck just sitting, but they really moved around. Their energy was really high. I loved seeing the differences in this scene, because three different groups had parts of this scene. Everyone saw these characters differently. Sometimes they also were a little hard to understand because of certain vocal choices. That is probably my biggest thing for the whole class. I totally struggled with it too. Not going into my head voice and speaking ridiculously was challenging. That's the difference between playing the character or just playing the accent.

I really liked playing Julia. Being Lydia's best friend was a cool relationship to explore. One of my favorite aspects was working with the corset. It was terribly uncomfortable, but it really challenged me. My posture improved and I was forced to walk differently. I could feel my body fighting against it though, and I did still have some posture issues. It is something I will continually need to work on.
I also thought Danielle did a really good job with her movement. She was over the top, but it totally it. Jen was great with staying true to the period but being utterly annoyed by her lady. I got to watch them from the wings and it was fun to see them get more comfortable with the movement and language. I liked working with these two. We all were patient with each other wrapping our heads around the language and were were open to trying new things.
If I could do this again I would really try and get into the movement with my whole body. I would try and get rid of all my modern lazy gestures and stuff. It could take an actor a long time to perfect this!