Week 13: from scene to scene
May 11, 2012
29 January 2012
In our version of The Comedy of Errors, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse (played by Jonny McGuinness and Bruce MacKinnon) arrive in Ephesus in a wooden crate. As the play transitions from the first scene to the second, the audience will watch this crate being brought into the port, and will see the exchange of money that allows for the Syracusians' illegal entrance to Ephesus.
I play a port worker. Director Nizar Zuabi asked Actor Kevin McMonagle and me to direct the crate, brought in by an overhead crane. In my initial improvisation, I followed an impulse to play the port worker as a working-class Indian immigrant. In an Indian accent, this port worker said improvised text including 'forward,' 'backward,' 'up,' 'down,' and 'get out, you lazy bastard' in English. Kevin and I also improvised rudimentary gestures to direct where we wanted the crate to go.
Nizar then asked me to do all of the spoken text in Hindi. I did this: 'aagé,' 'peeché,' 'uppar,' 'neeché' and 'jaa, tu kaam chor.' The next day, Kevin came in with a pictorial graph, which showed a selection of hand gestures used by ground staff to communicate with crane operators for the movement of freight. I learned the movements from Kevin, Kevin learned the Hindi words from me, and the first transition of the play took shape.
Nizar is creating modern-day transitions between each Shakespearean scene, to reinforce the smugglers'- town setting. These transitions include the importation of fake designer purses, public executions, a parade for Antipholus of Syracuse mistaken as Antipholus of Ephesus, and the twin Dromios unknowingly running past each other.
These transitions feel a bit like taking an Etch A Sketch drawing and swiping it clean to create a new image.
Dromio of Syracuse: I am transformed, master, am I not?
Antipholus of Syracuse: I think thou art in mind, and so am I.
Dromio of Syracuse: Nay, master, both in mind and in my shape.
(II. ii. 195-197.)
These brief, fast-paced transitions should help guide the audience from one setting to another. They also ensure that the entire cast is very busy for the entire show, even if they are not in the scenes written by Shakespeare. In Nizar's words: 'I hear the dressing rooms in Stratford-upon-Avon are lovely; it's a shame you won't be in them very much.'
Photo: Actor Bruce MacKinnon, who plays Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, and Stephano in The Tempest.
by Ankur Bahl
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