October 7, 2021
It feels literal. “He’s helpless. He’s a buffoon” Don’t[in monotone voice] “he’s helpless. He’s a buffoon”. Guys, don’t play the same rhythm. Keep changing the rhythm, changing your pitch. By the way, if this seems foreign to you, this is what we do in life. Right? We say “act at the speed of life” act at the rhythm of what’s happening in the writing, act at the pitch, but we’re so busy looking at these [gestures a phone] all the time, that we don’t use our voice. Think about how often you use your voice on the telephone. Now it’s just maybe a couple times a week. It used to be hours a day! Now you have an argument with your thumbs, writing ALL CAPS, exclamation point, exclamation point! It’s not the same as “he’s helpless, he’s a buffoon” buffoon, sounds like bassoon. Baboon. He’s a baboon, he’s a buffoon. Or I can just say [in a monotone voice] “he’s helpless, he’s a buffoon” well yeah, but I’m eliminating dramatic possibilities. Ultimately, as actors, you have to compete with this guy and right now he’s got more of the funny stuff. So i gotta look and go “ok what am i going to do here to compete with that ”. Buffoon like you. Now again, i’m going to use streety talk, because this is not à comedy of manners, this is not a drawing room, British comedy about moneyed people. If i’m you, Gaia, guys, there’s something we call textual improvisation. I find it’s very good to go back and forth with one line and find different ways of saying it. Then you can improvise in your rehearsal, using your own words imaginitively that feel true to this. When you actually play it, you must use these words.