The Lysistrata Blog

The other night at rehearsal we played a game that I hated, because I'm terrible at thinking on my feet. (I know, that's a skill that all actors should have, but I don't.......yet.) The game was called hot-seat, and basically involved being interrogated, in character, by the other actors, also in character.

Okay, the game wasn't really so bad, but I was disappointed because we'd been planning to do a run-through of the play. I had some new things I was going to try out, and I had finally got all my lines well-memorized, and I was really looking forward to finally getting into more of the nuances of the play.

I suppose this is yet another example of Laura's directing skill; keep the actors challenged so that they don't become complacent.

Posted by Jeffrey Stuart Martin at 7:24 AM | Permalink

Wow, it's great to read such introspective blogs from the cast. I'm definitely enjoying working with each of you. I wanted to comment to everyone's blogs but for lack of time, I'll try to combine my thoughts into one blog.

I completely agree with Tara in regards to the ending of the play. It is the great flaw in this piece that Lysistrata is essentially a tool and when she serves her purpose, it's almost as if he forgets she were ever there. We will continue to work on ways to bring her to the forefront and I am definitely open to suggestions here folks. I did like the idea Cassie had of the women letting the men think they solved the war. That's a way of turning this flaw in on itself.

Nice comparison to The Producers Derek. Absolutely. And that's the tricky thing with this play. We don't want the audience to think we condone sex as a weapon or think men are idiots or women manipulative, and by doing it in this cartoonish style, we are essentially adding a wink at the end of everything.

I look forward to these next couple of weeks and our first runthrough on Tuesday!

Posted by Laura Gouin at 2:20 PM | Permalink

on Derek's post, but I don't think it worked. Or else it did work, in which case this will be posted multiple times much to my chagrin. oh well, here it is (again)

I enjoyed the hot seat game as well, though I was also nervous. I was a good chance to explore character background, though I had a hard time getting into the physical aspects of character. It seemed like with all our outrageous characters we were on a Greek Jerry Springer, what with the drinking and sleeping out and such.

I appreciated your insight regarding the "out there" characterizations and the allusion to "The Producers". It helped me see the play in a new light.

Posted by Tara Hershberger at 4:01 PM | Permalink

Working with an outrageous script like Lysistrata means that the characters will also have to be seen as outrageous in order for the script to come across. Portraying characters that are too true to life would hurt the play; the satire needs to come through. If Mel Brooks's 1968 film, The Producers, (in which a play about the Holocaust was produced) had been played more real-to-life, it would would have been jarring instead of funny; we would have wondered if Brooks actually sympathized with the Nazis.

We are also working with stereotypes, which can be dangerous. We need to show the ridiculousness of stereotypes by portraying our characters as ridiculous. By doing this, we acknowledge that these stereotypes exist while showing the audience that we do not take them seriously. This opens us up to laugh at these inane beliefs. This is why I love working with broad comedy such as this; it allows to us be over-the-top and almost otherworldy.

One of the biggest challenges of working with a script like this is that, even though we are using the script of the play to work as an antiwar satire, there is an inherent sexism worked into the play that we need to work against. It's a challenge to do so while still remaining true to the text of the play.

This is also the second play that I have worked with where the cast has played "The Hot Seat." It's a game where each actor takes the "hot seat" and is drilled with questions by the other "characters" sitting in front of her/him. This gives characters a chance to interact with each other in a way that they may not have otherwise. It also gives characters who don't interact with each other at all a chance to finally do so. I wasn't sure how well this would work with such "out there" characters, but it worked better than I thought it would; it had very intriguing results. I always find it extremely stressful at first, but it always ends up being a lot of fun. I have to admit that I felt a little uneasy when I responded as the sexist, overbearing Rod, just because I had to trust that the cast would realize that I was not truly responding as I would, but as my character would. It could have easily been seen as a group of guys using the activity as an excuse to rail against women. The game was beneficial and appropriate--I'm definitely glad we played--those were just my insecurities coming through.

Posted by Derek Bontreger at 1:35 PM | Permalink

It's been about 6 years since I've been in a play. I was pleased, therefore, to discover that with time and life experience comes a better awareness of humanity, and by extension, a greater ability to find the humanity in my character. I was surprised at how quickly I came to an understanding of who my character is, and his relationship with most of the other characters. (Credit also has to go to Laura's excellent and efficient direction!)

Now I'm ready to start figuring out how to communicate all this to the audience.

Posted by Jeffrey Stuart Martin at 10:02 AM | Permalink

and i also agree. i think it's partly because we've only done it a couple times, so the scene as a whole isn't focused at all--everyone's into doing their respective 'partying' thing and something is just getting lost in the mix. i would love to talk through this scene--i think it's extremely important that we show why we are celebrating and partying instead of just doing celebratory things (getting drunk) and hoping the audience gets it. true, maybe the script doesn't give us tons to work with, but i think by playing the last scene how we are right now, we are dismissing the message that the rest of the play tries to make.

Posted by Nicole Miazgowicz at 11:14 PM | Permalink

(This first part started as a comment on Tara's post, but it ended up being a bit longer, so I just decided to post it. Plus, I think it's a really good conversation to have.)

Tara, I agree with you. I think that's why the last scene feels so awkward to me. I'm not sure if I have any good, concrete ideas of other ways to play it, since some of it is scripted, but I think that perhaps we could take a less drunk-out-of-our-minds-approach to that last bit and maybe appreciate more of the subtleties and relationships.

Also, maybe the ending is a product of Aristophanes' culture - women go back to being secondary, in their own private sphere, while men seem to take all the credit for making peace. Maybe that was accepted in ancient Greece, or maybe we can play it in a way that makes it obvious that the women are just humoring the men by letting them take credit for ending the war. (Or maybe that's degrading to the men. Hmmm...)

Regardless, I think we could be a lot more careful of inter-personal relating and connection in that last scene.

SECONDLY, I came across this review of a dance company that talks about "artistic dissent", and the ways that art can be, and is, political. It reminded me a bit of what we are doing with this play, and it's definitely an interesting read. Plus, the picutre reminded me of one of the chorus fight scenes...

Posted by Cassie Greer at 10:05 AM | Permalink

First I'd like to say that I'm really enjoying this play and I think everyone is doing a good job and while most of my feelings about this show are positive, I have to vent a little.
I really don't like the last scene. It bothers me that instead of tying things together with the main character, Lysistrata is put into the background and men drive the plot. I realize this is totally a flaw in the uber-patriarchal society of Aristophanes and not in our production of it, but I wish it weren't so.
Throughout the play there are really good examples of women standing up for themselves, taking a stand against war and gender inequality, practicing moderation, etc. (Calonice isn't the best example, but the point remains). At the end, the war is over, but it seems like all the progress made, as far as equality goes, is lost. I wish we could emphasize the final scene between the chorus leaders instead of the drunken song and dance number, (this should not be viewed as a critique on the actors...look who's talking) but we can't change the play.
I don't have any good ideas about what to do about this, I'm just venting. I'd be willing to talk more about it though. And perhaps I'm blowing this out of proportion, but the last scene makes me feel a little uneasy about the message we are portraying.

Posted by Tara Hershberger at 10:00 PM | Permalink

Thanks for a great weekend of photo shoots everyone. I think that I came up with some materials that you'll enjoy.

Above is the image for the poster, but since everyone did such a good job and we ended up with surplus photos, we'll be using other images for different pieces of publicity. I have gone and put everything up on my Flickr account, so please check it out. If you like what you see, or hate it, say so in the comments.

Danny

Posted by Daniel Palmer at 11:40 AM | Permalink

Here are some images inspired by last week's animal-movement-warm-up-exercise:

I think that Lysistrata alternately moves like a horse (think: strong, powerful, willful, bold, etc.) and some variety of large cat (again powerful, but also manipulative/seductive, cunning, sexy). It's interesting to play with how and when Lysistrata's tactics (and therefore the animal) change...

Posted by Cassie Greer at 3:12 PM | Permalink

Here is a beautiful video by Sigur Ròs, just copy and paste the link and then download the hoppipòlla video. (sorry, i'm really incable of creating links or posting videos!) I thought it might have some good things to look for as far as movement in elderly people. and it's just fun and makes me smile every time i watch it:)

http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/dldvideo.php

if this doesn't work, you can also find it on youtube.

Posted by Nicole Miazgowicz at 10:06 PM | Permalink

i don't do a huge amount of acting, but whenever i do i always wonder why i don't do it more often. it's a great feeling to work together with a group of people to produce something that we all care about. like a big group of people having a baby together. or something. i also particularly enjoy doing comedy, i love the meatiness of comedic roles - being able to push myself physically and vocally. being able to be ridiculous. extravagant. hyperbolic. it's like wearing a garish, brightly coloured mask. okay, it's late and i'm babbling. anyways, i love the magistrate character - he's a loud, pompous, self-important, narccississtic (how do you spell that word anyway?) ass and a character with great comedic potential.

Posted by Aaron Liechty at 1:35 AM | Permalink

Just checked out my archive photos. The blog space cuts off about 25% of them...shoot.

Posted by Tara Eary at 12:51 AM | Permalink