The fun never stops around here. Last night the trial; tonight V,1 and V,3 -- the return to Sicilia and the statue scene.
The trouble with V,1 is that it's very easy to let it become dirgelike and slow, particularly at the beginning until Florizel arrives. Working with the court's worry about Leontes' heir adds some good urgency to the scene. Steven, as Dion, has decided that his character is waiting to grab the kingdom anyway -- these Sicilian courtiers are incredible Machiavellians!
V,3 is even more troublesome -- again, the problem of slowness, and tentativeness. It's a delicate scene, but if performed tentatively, it comes off as if the actors themselves weren't confident in it. The last reading, though, came off very, very nicely. A good mixture of awe and wonder with some urgency.
Tonight's rehearsal also remarkable for the creation of an idea for teh Baker Feast skit: a parody of Winter's Tale a la mode de Star Wars. I've volunteered to script it -- e-mail me if you have any suggestions or if you'd like to co-author!! I'm not going to give away any of the ideas here...well, okay, my personal favourite so far, and the only one I will post here, is:
POLIXENES: Florizel...I am your father!
FLORIZEL: NOOOO!!!
POLIXENES: Come with me and we will rule Bohemia together!
FLORIZEL: I'll never rule Bohemia with you!