My French Theatre Debut!
- 22 minutes ago
- 2 min read
It took us nine months to get to last night.
Ha! Like making a baby.
And we delivered!
And according to the audience, it was worth every minute.
"That was an amazing evening. So impressive, both for the text and the performance. You were wonderful. But that was no surprise." (B.C. journalist)
"What a brilliant performance last night. So brave of you - and you rocked it." (N.P. artist)
"Bravo à vous les comédiens ! Quel spectacle ! C’était vraiment bien joué dans un spectacle rythmé et enrobé....bravo vraiment!" (A.A French fan)
“Well done to you actors! What a show! It was really well done in a rhythmic and exciting show....well done!
What was the play?
It wasn't just one play - it was excerpts of 17! Our director/instructor, Pierre Blain, pulled extracts from classic plays - Plautus to Molière to Gênet, spanning 2200 years - to create "Maîtres et Valets" a fascinating, entertaining and informative look at the evolution of the relationship of master and servant over time.
Who were the actors?
Me and the other 21 participants in an "atelier de théâtre" - an acting workshop - at the renowned Anthéa theatre in Antibes - now the second largest subscription theatre in France, after the Comédie Française.
Our course begin in September - meeting every Monday night for three hours - and ended last night, June 17th. My class - those of us who joined for the first time - can stay for another two years. Then you're out! To make way for others.
What did I do? I have three "moments."
1) Molière - Dorine in Tartuffe.
The maid who tries to remind her master his wife is more important than the charlatan Tartuffe, who has taken over the family.
Watch below.
2) Beaumarchais - Ile des Esclaves.
I play a slave shipwrecked with my master on this topsy-turvy island - where servants become the masters.
Watch scene below.
3) Lastly, a Nasty Master.
Wholly a product of the imagination of Pierre - who berates his servant/slave for all the new rights he has - like to being paid!
Watch below.
I was the only non-French person in the bunch! (ok, one guy was half French/half English.
This was a huge stretch for me - and my mouth. And my brain.
So for months now, I've been doing articulation exercises every day. Like these.
And I've been running my lines as I walk to town. I'd put my headphones in so people thought I was on a call and not crazy.
Hats off to Pierre - who had the task of not only selecting the excerpts, but writing the narrator segues. Then he had to cast 22 actors in a fair way -giving everyone equal stage time/weight in pieces that showed them off to best advantage.
He's an amazing actor as well...always running all over France to tread the boards.
Even my hair went nuts at the curtain call! Ok - time to bow out now!
CHAPEAUX, PIERRE!
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