We spent a good deal of time today in discussion about various things affecting the group and then moved on to some scene work. The participants decided to work on Act II Scene ii, in which Caliban meets Trinculo and Stephano. We worked a bit with Caliban on her physicality, what immediately precedes the scene and how that affects her character. We also spent some time discussing how, even though one’s character reacts differently depending on the given circumstances, there must always be consistency about who the character is – just like in real life.
The participant playing Trinculo was a little hesitant about her performance, so we talked about the character a bit. I mentioned that he makes a lot of proclamations and is very outspoken. “Do you think he’s maybe a little fruity?” she asked. “Maybe,” I said. “That’s up to you.” The group discussed it for a bit and asked her to give it a try. Changing her physicality and delivery to be more “fruity,” as she interprets it, made the character begin to really come to life – he was much more believable and funny. She liked the approach a lot and is going to stick with it, at least for now.
The participant playing Stephano is newer to the group and doesn’t have as firm of a grasp on the character yet, so we talked a bit about him. She is going to do some more work on her own before approaching the scene again so that she is more comfortable.