Scapin: A Journal of Rehearsals
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Authors
Fultz, David L.
Issue Date
1974
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Theater -- Directing
Alternative Title
Abstract
The decision to do an independent project in directing was taken in
my freshman year, other opportunities offered themselves in the subsequent
years but were always discarded in favor of directing. What the
play would be and how I would attack it did not develop until the summer
and fall of 1973 when: 1) circumstances dictated that I do some hard
thinking on the subject; and 2) I had had enough time to persuade myself
that I could do it.
In the fall the choice of plays finally came down to Scapin (Les Fourberies de Scapin) by Moliere and Tango by Slawomir Mrozek. The final
decision to do Scapin rested on several considerations. Tango is an
extremely difficult play, requiring a sustained analysis by the director
and extremely intense and perceptive acting. I did not feel up to the
task of directing it because of my relative inexperience in this field and
the awareness that the Dalton production would require a large number of
actors; thus leaving only the more inexperienced actors for the Dungeon.
Scapin although it had a larger cast than Tango did not make the
same demands on the actors and director. It is pure farce in the tradition
of the Commedia dell'Arte, and farce because of its broad characterization,
is easier for novice actors to handle. However, this does not make it an
easy play, comedy has its own special problems that in some ways are more
difficult than serious drama.. Even if the characters are broad, they must
be believable; and the actors must call on their own resources instead
of digging further in the text. For in farce there isn't anything further
in the text.
During the summer I became acquainted with same of Peter Brook's
latest research, this led me to think of splitting the rehearsal period
into two parts. The first section would be spent on various physical
exercises and improvisatory work based on Scapin; and the second would
be the rehearsal of the play itself. Hopefully the first section would
run into the second without any break and furnish the actors with a base
to work from. As it turned out this approach was only partially successful;
yet there were some good developments that arose from it.
The concept of environmental staging came from some of my first impressions
of the play. It seemed, after several readings, that Scapin is
the only free individual in the play; all the others both old and young
alike are blinded by their compulsions: love, avarice, honor. And that
the way to express this situation was by scattering platforms about the
Dungeon, with Scapin moving freely from one to the other while the other
characters would be forced to move only in designated pathways.
The staging and the method in which I would express the central concept
of the play changed in its particulars over the rehearsal period but
their basic shape remained. There were several times when they seemed to
need reevaluation but invariably whatever alternatives suggested themselves
were the original concept in another guise.
What follows is the record of the rehearsal period: the actors problems,
my problems, OUR problems.
Description
iv, 78 p.
Citation
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