Thursday
We spent some time today discussing our set. We have some flats that we’ve used as backdrops for the past two performances, and after some talk we decided to use last year’s, if possible, painting both sides so they can be flipped and used as two different locations.
We welcomed our new facilitator, Vanessa Sawson, to the group, and then decided to tackle Act IV Scene I, of which we’ve only worked the very beginning. The group decided, after reading through it once, to cut two of the servants from the scene and redistribute lines a bit. The woman who is playing the Widow agreed to play one of the remaining servants.
We all worked together to figure out how to interpret and stage the scene. Who is on stage and what times, and what are they doing? We determined that Petruchio does not usually behave toward his servants the way he does in this scene, and that this will give us “a glimpse of his humanity,” as one woman put it.
We also read through Act IV Scene IV once to get a feel for it. Our plan for the next session is to read through the entire play, make sure everyone is caught up, and make whatever cuts we feel are necessary. I’ll then be printing new scripts for the group to work with, and everyone will really get down to memorizing their lines.