Confessions of a Classical Actor

Confessions of a Classical Actor: I hate Shakespeare, too.

(is now the best time to tell you that I’m playing Queen Margaret in Real Live Theatre’s new Shakespearean play about Queen Margaret?)

Monica Giordano in Macbeth with The Bay Colony Shakespeare Company photo by Jack Holder

Monica Giordano in Macbeth with The Bay Colony Shakespeare Company photo by Jack Holder

            I am a sympathetic non-breather, so basically, if you stop breathing, so do I. This makes it really hard to be around, for example, free divers (but only when they’re diving) and actors. Actors are the worst breathers. Which is odd, because characters are so full of breath.

            Most of the time, when people tell me Oh I hate Shakespeare, I say Oh, I do too.           

            Which is weird, right? Because as a professional classical actor, as a director, as a voice coach, as a human on this earth, it’s weird for me to hate Shakespeare. But I really do.

            Or rather, I hate the bullshit way we talk about him. Why do you love Shakespeare?
            I love him because of the beauty of his language.
            I love him because no one else has so captured the essence of humanity.
            I love him because of the power of his stories.

Bullshit.

The language isn’t beautiful. My bounty is as boundless as the sea. My love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite. Ok, fine, that’s really, really beautiful. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate, as reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize as the dead carcasses of unburied men that do corrupt my air, I banish you.

Wait.
Ok, someone please tell me what about that is beautiful. Structurally, sure- but when spoken aloud, I can’t really find the beauty in the image and smell of dead rotting carcasses. The language is sometimes beautiful. Sometimes, when a character is talking about something beautiful (love) they do it in a beautiful way (my bounty is as boundless as the sea). But most other times, the language is not beautiful- it calls up images that are raw and base and ok, honestly gross.

Alright and really, no one else has captured the essence of humanity? Where did we go wrong? Why is a really old, white man the only one who has “captured” humanity. I am honestly not a huge fan of David Mamet, but are we saying that there is no semblance of humanity in any of his plays? Or in Sarah Ruhl’s, or Yazmina Reza/s, or Duncan MacMillian's? Did George Bernard Shaw really have no clue?

And on top of that, Shakespeare’s stories are not his. He stole them. He took existing work, and adapted it, and changed it, and sometimes, as with Richard III, really messed up historical perception. The Montagues and the Capulets were actual historical political parties in the 12th century that had become folklore by the time Shakespeare decided to commandeer them. It would be a bit like me deciding to write the story of Tristan and Isolde today, and 451 years from now, people giving me the credit for inventing the story (Sorry, Wagner).

I hate this idea we have of Shakespeare— this untouchable playwright, who wrote such beautiful stories about the human condition.

So when someone tells me Oh I hate Shakespeare, I say Oh me too. But I love his plays.

from Romeo & Juliet, directed by Monica Giordano, photo by Keith Toffling

from Romeo & Juliet, directed by Monica Giordano, photo by Keith Toffling

His plays are the easiest to perform, to direct, because they are simple, they are good. Characters say what they mean, and mean what they say. His characters don’t require backstory: the actor playing King Henry doesn’t need to know what King Henry had for breakfast, the actor needs to know the lines. Because Shakespeare didn’t write “characters.” He wrote real people, who sometimes speak beautifully, but who usually speak grossly. He didn’t write the “most real” real people- he wrote people who are simply real, who are so simply real that they don’t have to prove it. And because he didn’t write original stories, he could just follow the people, without using them as pawns in order to establish a world.

Please, please don’t tell me you hate Shakespeare unless you have seen a production where his writing isn’t regarded as sacred, where his words aren’t treated with reverence, where his characters are played as people, because otherwise you haven’t seen Shakespeare; you don’t know him.

Monica Giordano in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with UMass, photo by Jon Crispin

Monica Giordano in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with UMass, photo by Jon Crispin

I love Shakespeare’s plays because they are easy. You don’t have to play them: they play you.

And so, when we are in rehearsals for our new Shakespeare play, following Queen Margaret through the histories, I just have to let go. I just have to find the breath and breathe it.

Of course, this makes things very hard. I said earlier that actors make the worst breathers, and it’s true. We like to pull back, to keep our breath shallow, because if we give in, if we breath deeply and vulnerably, we get swept up; and if we get swept up, we might get swept away.

Shakespeare is limiting. Shakespeare’s plays are freeing.

--
Written by Monica Giordano, RLT Company Member 

How Improv Made Me A Better Stage Manager

I am not a performer. I am a stage manager, but I used to study acting with Dan and Ellen Morbyrne (also RLT company members) at The Drama Studio when I was in high school, and I joined The Drama Studio’s comedy improv troupe, The Natural Disasters.

We had a photoshoot. We're fancy.

We had a photoshoot. We're fancy.

Stage managing is all about planning things in advance.  In improv there is no time to plan, you just have to act.  A popular misconception is that improv is about being the funniest. It’s not. Improv is about being the best team player, no matter what. An improviser’s job is to make their scene partner look good.  When your scene partner needs help, you just have to jump on stage and trust that you will know what to do by the time you get there.   You have to be listening and present with the whole team the whole time. If you get too caught up in your own mind and forget to pay attention, you can’t contribute to what’s happening, because you missed it. You must always say “yes, and”, which means you take what your scene partner has set up and build on it.  And you have to be willing to make a complete fool out of yourself if the scene requires it.  Imagine how terrifying this would be for a stage manager who loves taking notes, scheduling, and sending emails.  It was terrifying.  But here’s the amazing part:  you learn to fake it until you make it, because you’re not alone. I remember the exhilarating feeling of looking at the rest of my troupe, thinking “okay, here goes nothing” and running onstage with no idea what I would do when I got there.  I remember the pure adrenaline, feeling like I was jumping off a cliff, but doing it while holding hands with my best friends.  And guess what?  Most of the time, once I got onstage, I did know what to do.  And if I didn’t, my teammates did.  I learned to believe in myself, and to trust my team. I realized that when I work together with a group and a “yes, and” attitude, there’s nothing I can’t handle. We can catch ourselves, even when we’re falling off a cliff.

Every good improv scene includes a mop.

Every good improv scene includes a mop.

Which is good, because sometimes when you’re stage managing, the lights will go out in the middle of a scene.  Or an actor will be too sick to perform.   Or the new performance space isn’t what you expected (this would never happen at RLT, of course).  And instead of shutting down and canceling the show, I know I can say “yes, and”, look around at my team, grab hands, and jump off the cliff together.

Lucy Gouvin
RLT Founding Member and Company Administrator

All about HOUSE PLAY (a play in a house)

As of right now RLT produces 1-2 mainstage shows per year. These projects take an immense amount of planning, rehearsal, resources, and focus. They are the cornerstone of our company. But around the New Year, we started getting anxious to see the faces of our friends, audience, and community more often. We brainstormed ways to bring people together on a smaller scale and after a lot of back and forth of "Have a party!" "Do a tiny play!" "Have a party!" "Do a tiny play!" we decided to combine them and create a recurring RLT event called a House Play (a play in a house).

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Happening four times a year, a House Play is a house party featuring a rehearsed reading of a new play. We are lucky enough to have some wonderful playwrights in our company - our first two House Plays featured "The Great Adventures of Samson" and "From the Sea to Somewhere Else" by RLT Member Monica Shea Giordano. Our upcoming spring House Play (Saturday, April 11th) will feature RLT Member Trenda Loftin's "When the System Swallows You," a piece about how incarceration affects whole families.

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To prepare for this House Play, we will cast and rehearse the script tomorrow for a few hours, and spend next week wrangling chairs, programs, food from various local sources (Hungry Ghost bread...yup), tasty beverages, and review our performance. We will gather next Saturday at a private home in Northampton, set up, make the food, put out the drinks, and wait for your beautiful selves to come join us.

Also, the best part - House Plays are free. Just come and hang out with us. We will feed you and refresh you and if you're hot we'll bring you a fan and if you're cold we'll give you a group hug. We hope that you'll join the dozens of people in the area who have made attendance at our House Plays a seasonal tradition.

Saturday April 11th
5:30 - 8:30
At a private home in Northampton center
Featuring "When the System Swallows You" by Trenda Loftin
RSVP to reallivetheatre@gmail.com with your name and how many people you are! Space is limited. We will email you back with a confirmation and address.
Donations are gratefully accepted.

See you there! Check back here and on our Facebook for updates on all RLT events and hangs.

Peace!

-Kate Hare