Il Tragicomico Equivoco

    As I said in my blog last week, Commedia rehearsals start this week. Last night was our first rehearsal for Il Tragicomico Equivoco, which is the name of the production we will be putting on. Commedia is a form of Italian theatre using mainly body language. Our faces will be covered with masks representing a certain character and each character has very certain, very over-exaggerated body language and movement. 

    I have only had one rehearsal so far and my body is exhausted and very sore. We started off the rehearsal by meeting Fabrizio, our Italian director and master of the art of commedia. He sat us down and talked about Commedia, himself and asked us some questions. Then we started on some exercises to make us trust each other, get more comfortable in the space, to follow our impulses and to stay calm. We stood in a circle and threw a tennis ball to each other and focused on our intentions while throwing. Then we switched to one hand, then to our other, non-dominant hand. i've never been able to catch a tennis ball with my left hand but I did it yesterday! It helped me build my focus, intention, and allowed me to trust my instincts. 

    Then we finally moved to working on the characters. First, we worked on how the servant characters moved. Then how Pantalone moves, who is an older character who likes to act like he is still young. Then we learned how the Doctor moved, who is an older man who thinks he is better than everyone. Finally, we learned how the lovers moved, and they only care about finding their love. Nothing else matters to them. To convey these characters, you have to push your body to the end of their physical skill. If you aren't exhausted after playing the character then you are not doing it right. Because these characters are best conveyed when the actor puts their entire being into them. My legs, abs and back are all so sore from moving around like these characters for hours last night. I never would've realized how hard it is to act mainly off of body language if I hadn't gotten into this show. 

    While this is such an incredible experience, it is a little bit out of my comfort zone. This show and these characters are also very improv based. Which means we will come up with a lot of the actions out characters do and the things they say. Once I get used to it though, I know it is going to be so fun. And very, very tiring.