"Measure for Measure"

 When I was seven years old, my parents took me to see my first Shakespeare play, "Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. One play, that's all it took, and it was hooked. I wanted to be on that stage. I wanted to wear those beautiful costumes, say those beautiful, nonsensical words, and play pretend for hours on end.

  In June I got to fulfill this lifelong dream of mine. It wasn't in the Utah Shakespeare Festival--those guys are crazy talented, I could only dream of having half their ability--but it was satisfying nonetheless to know that I could memorize lots and lots of obscure lines written by the Bard. Lines such as, "This outward sainted deputy whose settled visage and deliberate word nips youth i' the head and follies doth emmew as falcon doth the fowl is yet a devil. His filth within being cast he would appear a pond as deep as Hell."

   I was so friggin' proud of myself when I could finally say that line verbatim. Even prouder when I figured out what the crap it meant.

  "Measure for Measure" is a . . . unique play. Even people who love Shakespeare (such as myself) are often unfamiliar with it. That is because "M4M" is one of the friggin' weirdest comedies ever.

  There are some weird tragedies I'll grant you ("Titus Andronicus", anyone?), but usually the comedies are a bit lighter. But technically the definition of "comedy" (in Shakespeare terms) is that it ends with marriages rather than deaths. And this play fits that bill in the strictest sense.

  In our "Measure for Measure", I played Isabella, a nun who is about to take her vows. Isabella's brother, Claudio, is thrown in jail for getting his common-law wife (not for realsies, though) pregnant. He is sentenced to death, because the judge in charge while the duke is "away" is . . . strict. To put it lightly.

  Isabella goes to plead his case to the very pious and upright judge, Angelo, . . . who promptly falls in love with her. He demands that she sleep with him if she wants her brother freed.

   IRONY'D.

   The duke who is normally in charge is in disguise (it's Shakespeare, after all). Due to the clever disguise, he ("she" in our version) finds out about the creepiness going on and does a classic Shakespeare switcheroo. The girl that Angelo had been engaged to (but had the misfortune to lose her dowry, so he won't touch that) goes to him disguised as Isabella.

WHICH IS THE REAL ISABELLA?!

  Aaaaaand the judge still orders Isabella's brother executed--EVEN THOUGH HE TOTALLY THINKS HE JUST GOT IT ON WITH HER--because he thinks her brother will seek retribution.

ANOTHER Shakespeare switcheroo, the duke has the head of another man sent to the judge . . .

The only reason this play is considered a comedy for reals is because of this guy right here. Chuck is a master. He played Pompey, a tapster turned executioner's assistant.

   BUT STILL TELLS ISABELLA HER BROTHER IS DEAD. Because . . .why not?

  Isabella is distraught, and agrees to confront Angelo in front of a ginormous crowd.

  In the middle of all the confronting, the duke is revealed to be the duke. Then all the revelations and marrying take place, because THIS IS A COMEDY, DARN IT. Claudio's alive--HOORAY!--

This is pretty funny when you know the Duke was played by Claudio's real-life mother.

    Angelo is forced to marry Mariana (the girl he'd been engaged to before the ship-wrecked dowry disaster).

Forced marriage instead of execution. All the makings of a happy ending.

 And the duke proposes to Isabella because comedy, remember? The duke did not propose in our version, however, as the character was played by a woman and it was set in the fifties.

  If I could sum up my part in two words, they would be:

Kneeling. 

And crying.

  Often both at the same time.

  I LOVED the cast of "Measure for Measure". I had a lot of fun with them. I loved singing "We Are Siamese If You Please" with Javan, who played Claudio, in the makeup room. I loved talking Firefly, Doctor Who, and everything nerd with all the other geeks in the cast. We had interesting discussions on morality, marriage, and other serious topics that were kept respectful despite our many varied backgrounds. We really had some good times.

  That said, if asked to put on the show again, I would have to pause. This role took a lot out of me. On any given night of rehearsal, I would have to kneel and/or cry about fifteen times. Let me tell you, spontaneously sobbing and falling down in grief over and over and OVER is no day in the park. So the night of our last performance was a bit of a relief. If for no other reason than I would never have to say "Even for our [ow-er not "are", took me forever to say it right] kitchens we kill the fowl of season" again. Seriously, try saying that five times fast. 

  Despite this, I'm really, really proud of myself and my performances. I wasn't sure I could do such a heavy role justice, and I think I passed muster.

    I'd like to thank everyone involved with "Measure for Measure". To the director, for giving me a chance to live out my dream. To the cast, for being awesome. To all the crew who worked like crazy. And everyone else I'm forgetting because I'm a jerk. 

  Thank you. Really. Emotional exhaustion aside, it was great times.

Lincoln's Debut

  In those good old days (last week) when I was in "The 39 Steps", I would often run through my lines throughout the day. Lincoln would always look slightly concerned that I was talking to no one, but he did enjoy the accents. He especially loved the line, "Altnashellach". Which is a place in Scotland, apparently. Anyway, it turns out Lincoln is a budding actor!

  Aaaand, my baby is awesome.

The Skinny on my Characters in "The 39 Steps"

  Ah, Miss Anabella Schmidt. I had an extremely difficult time with her. Ditzy, angry, down-trodden, embarrassed, goofy--I can do that. Confident and sexy? I'm trembling in my boots. It got to the point where I dreaded rehearsals when I knew I would be playing her. In the end, though, I think she got the most laughs of my three characters. And due to the blinds splitting, falling off, and rising sporadically, I also got to exercise my improvisational skills. Besides, who doesn't love a ridiculous death scene?

 Memorable Anabella moments:

• It feels like an age since rehearsals first commenced, so I honestly can't remember if someone told me to make the "Alt-na-shell-ach" so long and guttural. But I like to think I thought it up, especially as it became a running gag.
• I can't think of anything I'm more proud of in this show than the fact that I did not laugh when the blind fell down. I helped Michael put it back up in character, and fooled my own mother into thinking it was part of the show. Woot woot!

  

  Margaret was my fastest change, and thanks are due to Shirley and Kellie for making sure I was always ready by the time Chuck yelled my name. 

  Memorable moment as Margaret:

• Really, the only thing that comes to mind as Margaret is looking at Michael over the table and always noticing a trail of sweat making its way down his face (which he had JUST WIPED backstage. Seriously, anytime Michael was not onstage, he was wiping extremely large amounts of sweat off his face). Anyway, I'd look at Michael and brace myself for when I had to kiss him. Poor Michael, he never once complained about the fact that my nose seemed to be perpetually runny. But apparently I'm the kiss-and-tell type. I am no gentleman.

  The second act felt quite relaxing in comparison to the first. Just one character, and no costume changes (besides a robe I put over my dress for the last scene). From the first reading of 39 Steps (which was a month or so before the audition), I wanted to play Pamela. The other characters, fine, whatever, but Pamela was the real meat for me. The proper British accent (RP) has never been an issue for me, and Pamela got to have some excellent screaming matches. Such a treat for me!

Memorable Pamela moments:

• I always hated the stocking scene, where Michael trails his hands down my legs since we're handcuffed together. I think Johanna, our director, could tell I was very much out of my comfort zone, because the first time we worked on that scene she made us do it about a dozen times. Probably so I'd stop grimacing so much. But even by the last show, my inclination was always to slap Michael's hand away. Not sure why it bothered me so much more than the kissing.
•  My wrist was bruised for probably two months solid from the handcuffs. Which was completely my fault, because I would always jerk my hand around. Michael was too soft with me, I kept forgetting when I had to yell, "Ow!" because he would barely twitch my hand. Pansy.
• Our car scene was probably one of the most difficult things for us to get down. Turning in unison, let alone turning to the correct side (we forgot for a while that we had to lean the OPPOSITE way that Chuck would turn the wheel), plus timing the bump in the road made for a few hilariously terrible rehearsals.

The blind that had a mind of its own.

"This renders the engine . . . completely silent." It's weird/funny knowing EXACTLY which line was just said by our expressions.

The car scene that gave us so much trouble.

The whole cast, including our wonderful understudies/extras!

  I almost want to do a third post, just thanking all the incredibly talented and kind group that were backstage. Heck, they each could have their own post. Jade, who always made sure my props were in place and was a most excellent sign-holder. James, thanks for all the dance parties while I was waiting to go onstage. Kellie, who made my hair look fabulous every night. Kayla, who made my face up like a movie star. Eric, who built such an incredible set. Johanna, for having such an amazing vision and for giving me such an incredible opportunity. GAH, you guys were all awesome, I could ramble on and on about it forever! Know that even if I didn't mention you by name, though, I really appreciate everything you did. Every person added their own bit of awesome, and the show would have suffered if even one of the people involved had not been there.

  It was incredible. Thank you one and all.

Cast of 39 Steps

  "The 39 Steps" is over. I'm feeling rather bipolar about that at the moment. What I can say is that I think we did a fantastic job every night, and that I feel extremely lucky to have worked with such an amazing group of people. In fact, let me count the ways. . .

Nancy (who played one of the Clowns) is a creative, jolly person to work with. Always positive, always willing to try new ways of doing things, she's a wonderful actress.I don't know many women that could pull off the dozen or so men's roles she played, but she did it with finesse.

  Chuck (also a Clown) is the biggest ham I've ever met. He steals every scene, but you really can't get upset about it, because he's making you laugh, too. His expressions are masterpieces, each and every one. Plus, Chuck makes everyone around him feel warm and fuzzy, you can't but help love him.

  Michael (who played Richard Hannay) is one of the most brilliant actors I've ever had the pleasure to work with. He could put anyone to shame in any role. Including mine. Great, now I'm envisioning what he could have done as Anabella, and I'm already embarrassed at how much better he is at it than me. *sigh* Anyway, not only is he a fantastic actor, he's also a generous one. He's more than willing to set up his fellow actors for jokes, and he somehow makes everyone around him better. Like some weird acting wizard.

  This is getting pretty long, so I think I'll break this up into multiple parts. It's hard to cram the people and events of your last three months into one post . . .

  Great, now I'm sad again.

Opening Night

I keep writing and re-writing this post to try and give it the effect I want, but honestly, I think I'm getting rusty, because I can't seem to do it justice.

  Long story short, opening night of "The 39 Steps", the front half of the bed collapsed. With me and the lead character sitting on it.

  We did our best to keep our composure; bracing ourselves for the strange new angle that we had to contend with, working muscles I didn't know I had in attempt not to slide off. We managed not to snicker for overly long, and put on our game faces to continue pretending to eat Styrofoam sandwiches.

  In any case, the audience seemed to love it. Afterwards, many congratulated us on keeping our composure, while a select few complimented our set designer for building a collapsible bed. Live theater, huh? Gotta love it.

  Anyway, that about sums up my weekend.

  Sorry about my lack of bugging you guys lately. Laptop issues, they should be fixed in about ten business days. Right now I'm risking my old laptop going nuclear, because the bed thing seemed so hilarious in my head. Maybe you had to be there.