It’s never fun to get a bad review. Well...though that may be true it’s still kind of exciting to see your name in print and your picture in the paper. That’s how I approach it anyways. The fact that somebody came out to review a show I was in is fantastic. And if I’m honest…and not as overly dramatic about things as I usually am…it was a really great review.
For the other 3 actresses in the play.
Apparently, I however, was the “odd dramatic speed bump” in the play (maybe a future blog title, perhaps, as my sister-in-law suggested). All because there is a kiss near the end of the play, which the reviewer thought was suppose to be the big emotional climax, and it ended up being very chaste. Well it would be if you were playing a character that had been through 4 “straight” marriages to men and then decided that she was in love with her best female friend from childhood.
The play stage directions for the kiss don’t provide much enlightenment on how the kiss should be performed. Just a simple kiss here and a longer kiss there…that is all. God…can I just say I really disliked the script…spelling errors everywhere (how did that get published?) and all the characters repeat a few specific lines so frequently that sometimes during rehearsal we had to stop and think, “wait is this the second time I’m talking about her being striking or the third?”
Anyways, that’s just me providing excuses for myself. Truth be told, I completely agreed with the reviewer, it is a crap scene and I didn’t really know how to make it work any better than what I gave it. At least this play has been a great learning experience. I know now that kissing scenes are something I need to work on…and I need to stop dropping the end of my lines as the director kept saying over and over again.
This is the second production I’ve been in with this particular theatre company. After the first, I was asked to join the executive board. It’s all great fun because I get to read lots of plays and help decide what we should put on. However for the play I was in, I never actually read it before I auditioned for it…also something to consider doing in the future.
Our company puts on a Rainbow Festival each year and this play was a part of that festival. Last year I was in a monologue show for the festival. Which was also a great learning experience because I’ve never done monologues in front of a paying audience…it was so much fun to have that much control over the audience’s attention. I was in my element for sure. Of course for one of the monologues I did, it was the director’s and my choice to change clothes on stage in front of the audience. So I had to strip down on stage (I did have on a slip though), which to me was fine because it was necessary for the piece. I had to do the same thing when I was in college and I was in the play “The Most Massive Woman Wins” by Madeleine George. We decided to end the play with all of us taking off our hospital gowns and standing in our underwear.
You know…now that I think about it, both those performances of mine had decent reviews…maybe I should always try to throw a little nudity into all my performances. I’m sure my parents will be excited to know they’re attending yet another play where I’ll be in my underwear.
P.S. The photo is from the script, taken from my camera phone, sorry about the poor quality. In the middle, italicized, is the stage directions for the kiss scene. "Gwen leans in, hesitantly, kisses her briefly; Thema kisses Gwen, this is a longer kiss."
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