Friday, September 23, 2005
The Play's the Thing
A while back, Jeff said to me a strange thing. "You know, I've never really considered myself an actor, or even given thought to the possibility that I might be any good at it. I've always thought of you and Julia and Kate as actors, but I realized, like anything, you've practiced at it and I never have." I said, "Sure, like anything, with practice you get better. Kate and Julia have more practice than I, so they're better than I am. I have more practice than you, so I'm better than you are. Now, if we were talking hockey, the roles would be quite reversed."
"Well," he said, "I guess I've always just been intimidated by what you guys do up there. I mean, I was in that musical, but I had a small part and I was singing, so I was familiar with that. But, I've never really considered myself a dramatic person. So, I thought it would be fun to just sit down with some of you dramatic types and do some dramatic readings from plays and stuff, just to see how it goes. "
I replied, "That sounds like a lot of fun actually. I've missed acting and plays and all that. A lot."
He said, "Well, let's do it then. And who knows, nothing says we can't perform them for friends one day. But that's way off."
So, tonight, a very small few of us "dramatic types" are getting together to do some readings. I've picked out a few selections from Sam Shepard, Tom Stoppard, and the Bard to get us going. It should be lots of fun. Must prepare myself...
O, what a terrible to do to die today at a minute or two till two. For the dragon will come at the sound of a drum, a rat-a-tat-ta-tat-a-ta-tum, at a minute or two till two today, at a minute or two till two...
-R
4 Comments:
Is this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burned the topless towers of Ilium?
That sounds like great fun. Which Stoppard?
By 
, at
4:26 PM
Laura! How excellent to hear from you (although I am guessing you commented earlier as "lwj", or was I wrong?) As to the Stoppard, as well as the other plays, we were limited to what I own. Luckily, I won my favorite and we'll be doing my favorite scene out of Ros and Guild are Dead: the Game of Questions scene. I can't wait!
-R
OK. Laura commented so now I get to do it as well. If you don't have it already, head on down to the bookstore and get Stoppard's "Arcadia." I think it's the most theological of all his plays. Can you tell that I'm a big fan?
By , at
6:19 PM
Micah,
Ah yes, "Arcadia". We did Arcadia at Wake during my sophomore year, though I was not involved in the production. I remember two things about it: one, that I thought it was very good, and two, that I didn't have a clue what was going on.
-R
