Rehearsals Day 10

Margaret: Slowly.
Signor Naccarelli: Ah!

And that's the way to sum up my journey finding Fabrizio...slow but wonderful. It's been nice to build layer upon layer. Over the last few days I've had some great experiences.

In a rehearsal Thursday night Jonathan Butterell walked in, fresh off a plane from London. I hadn't met him but had heard so many wonderful things...they're all true. He's a man with a calming, reassuring prescence and light behind his eyes. He seems to exist without tension...how does he do that??? Anyway, we got right into talking about Fabrizio the poet, his ideas and how they're essentially ways for Fabrizio to deduce his emotions.

Friday, an hour before the understudy rehearsal, Jonathan and I worked on physicalizing what we discussed the night before. Using the text of Il Mondo, we worked on moving through the space (on stage at the Beaumont) guided by emotion not thought. It's a small but very important difference between me and Fabrizio. And when things clicked, the song felt effortless.

Also, Jonathan showed me how Italians move from their bellies--not like Americans who move from their chests. It's an idea I explored in Alexander technique yesterday and was blown away. After getting into my legs I was able to put my awareness in my belly and radiate this limitless energy. I'll have to write about Alexander Technique in more detail.

Surprisingly, the understudy rehearsal went extremely well. I pretty much knew where to go and what to do/say. Of course there was a lot to deal with (i.e. other actors, people watching and taking notes, stage hands, sets, etc;), but I felt really good about things. All in all, the understudies in the cast were so kind and helpful. I feel like I've got a great platform to dive off from now.

So now it's about assimilating some things: the movement, the emotional life, the blocking, the dialect, the world of the play, and so on.

Alla bellezza della vita!