Restoration Rehearsal Blogs - Blogs One to Four

Blog One for The Rover



We have officially started the Restoration section of our Classical project. In order to get a good grade I must contrast my part of Audrey from ‘As You Like It’ with my newly assigned part called Angelica, a high class prostitute and widow living in Naples. She is an older women, not too old but is recovering from the loss of her husband. Being previously married she doesn’t want to be involved with any other man and has set off her career as a prostitute. Because the Restoration period is one of the biggest for parody of the higher class, characterisation and satire, I need to make sure I am paying full attention in lesson and recording everything we do in these weekly blogs.

We are blocking the play in chronological order, and since Angelica isn’t in the play until Act Two I thought it would be a good idea to stay behind in rehearsal and watch the others and see how they are showing their characters in the first few scenes. The first scene includes characters called, Florinda and Hellena (two sisters who are close to receiving the fate of family tradition), Pedro, their older brother, who has taken on the role of making sure these family traditions stay in place and their respective servants, Callis and Stephano. Since I am playing an older woman compared to Florinda and Hellena, I wanted to check out their current characterisation and the notes they were going to be given. It is important because all women in this era were very similar and had similar fates, that of being married off to a man her family thought fit, however Angelica is someone who has seemed to escape a fate of becoming succumbed under a man she doesn’t want. I understand her previous marriage may have been arranged since she was married to a General and a general is something that many people respect, but she does talk of how happy she was in the marriage in her first scenes and I believe she was simply a woman of tradition back then, she met the General and was happy enough to marry him, although he was away a lot and probably did have affairs, she was treated very well and couldn’t complain at all. Florinda in the first scene is discussing with her sister Hellena how she does not want to get married off to anyone but Belvile, she thinks the men her brother has suggested are no match compared to Belvile and she is very in love with him. Florinda is a representation of freedom and I believe Angelica is too, but her freedom was forced upon her due to the death of her late husband, whereas Florinda would like nothing more than to have freedom to marry who she wants. I also think it was a good idea to watch the first few scenes of Florinda and Hellena because I wanted to see the posture, voice and characterisation of the two girls and how I could use that and portray it in an older woman. Jess Wash and Jess Grinter are the Florinda and Hellena in my cast, and I watched closely as they became two beautiful young women of the Restoration period in Naples. Their backs were poised and their chests slightly out, when they sat down their legs were always closed and placed lightly next to each other, not crossed over like we do today. They always greeted each other with politeness, and used their fans to communicate and express how they were feeling.

It’s good that I’ve picked up on the different characterisation and the way they are with each other, since I have a lot of scenes with Moretta and she is my older friend I feel like I can express my relationship with her more, Moretta is like my older sister and looks out for me when she feels I’m being naïve with men and love. Although Angelica acts like she is at the top of her game, I believe she is secretly looking for someone to fill in the role of the General because she misses the time when she didn’t have to worry about herself and she always had good company when she needed it.  Now her only true company is Moretta and her servants, and although she is quaint like this I think she has a hole in her life that she needs to be filled, and she attempts to fill it with the attention of different men, as she says in the play she is more pleased with men who look at the price and decide not to pay and just admire her beauty, instead of them actually paying the price and using her for her beauty. She is a woman of quality and wants to keep this image, even if her career choice says otherwise, and I’m glad that I saw how Hellena and Florinda were with each other because now I can engage on that and work on the politeness of my character, while keeping in mind that she wants to be powerful. Angelica is a sly fox compared to the other girls in the play, and I know that watching Jess and Jess would have helped me. Also, the way that Pedro treats his younger sisters helped me too, because I saw that men were not extremely kind to their female members of the family unless they were a mother to them. It gave me an idea of how to treat men I come across in the play, they aren’t kind to women unless they give them what they need, and Pedro is not up for giving Florinda or Hellena anything that they desire unless it fits in with their family tradition.

I’m very happy that I was able to compare my character in the play to other women; I feel it has given me an advantage in how I am going to play Angelica. Seeing how men act in the play as well has really helped me. I’m going to learn my lines for the first scene I am in during the rest of rehearsals for Act One, there isn’t a lot I can do other than collect ideas for characterisation and learn my lines so that I am fully prepared for when it is my time to rehearse, but I believe I have already made a strong correlation between the two girls at the beginning and my character Angelica. I am confident I am going to really succeed in this play, and now I understand how I want to play her, keeping in mind the traditions and ways of women in the Restoration period.

Blog Two for The Rover

This week we carried on with the play and I was finally able to explore my first scene, Act 2 Scene 1, I wanted to show my characterisation that I have picked up from the previous scenes and I wanted to also explore the potential of flirtation I could have with each male character. It's a very feisty scene, with elements of sword fighting, rivalry, sexual desire and fun. In it, I am stood upon my balcony with my fellow prostitute and only friend Moretta, in which we evaluate the customers who have come to purchase our "product", on a daily basis men from all over the place come and look at me and Moretta to spend 1000 crowns on either one of us, and we give them exactly what they want for so much of a week. Willmore and his crew of cavaliers come to mine and Moretta's house in hopes of checking out and purchasing us for a night or so, but after looking at the price they are completely stumped as none of them can afford it. Willmore, being the overly confident woman's man he is, decides that he is not thrown off by the price and will try his best to get Angelica in his clutches for one night. Don Pedro and Don Antonio make a brief entrance in this scene, flaring up the objectives and sub plot of Florinda's future wife. Don Antonio was in line to become Florinda's new husband, but he has been spotted here by Don Pedro (Florinda's brother) attempting to purchase Angelica's service, since he is so flattered and taken by her charms and looks. This causes a feud that Angelica is confused about, since she is unaware of the proposed marriage between the two families.

Looking into Angelica's character, I thought it would be a great idea to play her out as if she slightly enjoyed men fighting outside her house. It wouldn't happen often, but women (especially those of Angelica's social status) would have stayed in the house often because they had poorer or lower classes working for them and doing their work outside. They wouldn't have the joy of learning how to sword fight and I assume any upper class woman showing any enjoyment of the sport would be instantly frowned upon since it was such a masculine thing to enjoy and practice. However, it was a carnival, and throughout the play the leading women are seen to be enjoying a little reckless behaviour such as sneaking out and finding men to love and tease, an example of this is Hellena in the play, she is so keen to go out and enjoy herself in the wonders and colours of the carnival before she is latched onto her fate of family tradition. She goes out in disguise and pursues Willmore's attention and desire, along the way causing a bit of mischief in Angelica and Willmore's relationship to gain Willmore as her own. Angelica, being an older women, does not have as much time and free will as the younger girls in the play. She has already seen death, sorrow and has been through love and seen the selfishness of men many a time, but I think she wants to forget about the burdens that life holds for a women of her situation, she wants to be free and feel powerful with her youthful innocence once again, this sword fighting sparks is what sparks a desire in her, making her realise how much fun she is missing in this carnival in that first moment of excitement. I love the idea of women's secret freedom and power in this era, regardless of how little they had with men around. I wanted to emphasise that even older women, even with their proper attitude and their loyalty to being formal, can still have a side to them that the devil prescribes. When saying "Oh, Moretta! What's the matter?" I wouldn't seem horrified, I would play it out a little sarcastically, since I already am aware of what is happening out on the street because I can see it from my Balcony, but I want to know more at the same time and since Angelica believes Moretta has less persona to lose, she asks her to investigate. She watches the fight eagerly, I want the audience to see the desire burning in her eyes and movement, I want it to be apparent that she is a bird trapped in a cage, I feel like this part of Angelica is so important and I want to restore the youth in her, I want the audience to see how much she wants to be free of the life she has set up for herself, even if it is just for a carnival season.

I'm really glad I got to explore this scene thoroughly, even the motive and objective in one line has uncovered so much of my character and has given me so many ideas on how I want to play her. I really enjoy playing and portraying Angelica and I believe that if I carry this attitude on throughout rehearsals I can discover so much about her as a woman, a woman of that era and a prostitute of that era with her reputation and loyalty to being proper. No woman wants to be caged away to one fate, and that is shown throughout the whole play with characters like Florinda, Hellena and Angelica alike. In a way, I'm happy that Angelica is older because I can show it from a different point of view in terms of age, it gives the audience an idea of how all woman of all circumstances wanted to retain their youth, and had hardly any of it, even if most were accepting and willing to embrace this fate (which would be so frowned upon in today's society).

Blog Three for The Rover

Exploring the scene after my first, this is when Angelica and Willmore have their first encounter with each other. It's an extremely fiery scene with a lot of passion, tension and conflicting personalities, and it's something me, Rufus and Leah had to work on continuously together to make sure we got the right pace and the right type of friction to the scene, we all agreed that we wanted this scene to have such a build up but a calmness to it, we wanted the two high statuses of Angelica and Willmore to clash but at the same time, explode in perfect harmony. We wanted Moretta to be the water that cooled the fire, she was initially supposed to control Angelica  in this scene and look out for her as a friend and business partner, Moretta has looked upon Angelica's rising fame throughout the years and knows how much she can abuse it as well as fall victim to it. Moretta is the person in the play who knows Angelica most, and thinks she is incredibly foolish to give Willmore the privileged to even enter the house of such beauty let alone giving him her body and heart. Angelica knows Moretta's opinion but refuses to believe that Willmore, let alone any man who enters her chambers, could refuse her love and beauty in such a generous way, little does Angelica know this is exactly what Willmore does, as a fun and women loving cavalier. The scene is overly repetitive, with both Moretta and Angelica fighting off Willmore's high status with their clever words and seduction. The energy has a strike in each line said, until Willmore grabs Angelica by the waste and whispers sweet nothings into her ear that she, like any women wanting a young passion, believes. It's like two bombs setting off in perfect harmony, they want each other's power and glory, but Angelica wants his more than Willmore wants what Angelica has to offer.

Looking through this scene, there are so many lines that emphasis Angelica's character in such a powerful way. It was my favourite scene of the play because it formally introduced Angelica's vulnerable side as well as the inner passion she stores underneath her cold and hard persona, if played right, the audience will be able to see how much there is to Angelica's character without immediately stereotyping her as the "villain" of the play as some audiences tend to do with plays like this, since the initial writing is hard to understand for an audience of today without hard research and rehearsal (which we have had and the audience lack). One of my personal favourite lines that really shows her weakness is her aside to the audience, "His word go through me to the very soul!" and then she bounces back to her cold persona saying to Willmore "If you have nothing else to say to me.", I wanted these lines to have a complete contrast when said with correct pace next to each other to show how much Angelica is actually excited and happy in this moment of lust, but at the same time resisting the urge to show any sign of weakness because she still understands that Willmore is a customer and she is a product that needs to be bought, I firmly believe she has never given her body away for free to any customer before Willmore, and this pride she has built up for so many years is definitely too valuable to give up for a man she's just met, or is it? Angelica tries her last bit of pride by trying to persuade Willmore to pay the price she asks of him but he quickly throws her pride off by seducing her with words of love, that are (unknown to Angelica) completely shallow and empty, he eventually gets her into bed without paying the price Angelica asks of him and they share a night of passion together. Angelica, instead of the payment, asks that Willmore gives her his love and devotion, but this is a grave mistake since he lies through his teeth when saying he will stay faithful and devoted to her. In some ways I love that Angelica does this because it shows so much about her character, it shows how lonely she is and although she has men begging to be with her everyday, she wants true devotion and love for herself as a soul and heart, not just for her beauty and body.

I love Angelica's character in this scene and I'm so glad I know how to portray her in a right way for the audience to understand that she isn't pure stone, she has a heart that needs care. Due to Angelica's loss of her husband, I believe she has locked her heart up shut, deep beneath dungeons of pride and honour because of loss of her first husband. I believe she truly loved this man, and he was exactly the type of person she wanted to spend her elderly days with, and ever since becoming a widow and losing such an emotional connection she doesn't want to give it to anyone else and feels her body is the only thing she has to offer now to support herself, but when she discovers Willmore she realises how similar he is and that she needs a man's support in her life, she doesn't want to die alone and her chances of finding a new man are running low since since she isn't getting any younger and her parents are there to set her up with another man, like I assume they did with her first husband. I want to portray every emotion in such a stone cold way and I can't wait to experiment with this.

Blog Four for The Rover

This week we decided to work on one of the longer scenes in the play that I'm involved in, The Molo. This is the scene in which I confront Willmore about his affair with Hellena, or so Angelica thinks it is. Willmore met Hellena before Angelica, and has been playing them both throughout the carnival in hope for a fun time after spending so long at sea. Hellena is aware that he is flying off with Angelica and Angelica is aware of his involvement with Hellena, and in this scene Hellena disguises herself as a young messenger boy and pretends to be a messenger for Hellena herself. She reveals all that Willmore has done with her, and how he has been cheating on Hellena with Angelica and vice versa, Hellena in disguise and Angelica corner him into admittance and Angelica becomes flustered with rage and betrayal. She tries to keep her persona but cannot keep her emotions within her, this scene is definitely one in which we see Angelica's true lower status, when she is betrayed and her pride is shot down, she turns to violence and rage, I believe Angelica is a lot like me in which we both react in similar ways, I wanted to use this scene to really express how much of a victim she has been. She gave up work and her own pride, two of the only things she had left to survive on, for a man who had left her shallow the second it suited him. Of course she'd be angry, I would be too.

I wanted to combine my own personal anger in this scene with her, but I know that I couldn't become informal and modern with my movements and that was one of my notes throughout rehearsal, to improve my posture, in this scene especially. Constantly throughout the scene I would note down every part I felt like being heavy on my feet or started leaning too far forward when in the middle of confrontation, using certain words I say in my lines to emphasise and keep up with my movements. After continuous practise after practise of this scene, I became used to expressing my anger as a lady and as Angelica, I knew she wouldn't let her anger get the better of her in movement, just in her words, she's feisty and knows how to strike fear in anyone who dares get in her way just by her clever wit and pride. I knew I had to lead by my chin and chest, always keep an upright back and make sure that when I move I glided like a lioness on a hunt or a hummingbird in flight. I wanted Angelica to have two contrasting animal personalities, she is a lioness but has the gentle luring and beauty of a hummingbird, it's a perfect and conflicting combination. The comparison to two animals that are polar opposites helped and improved my characterisation dramatically, it's always advised you compare a character to an animal to gain a better understanding to how they are, how they would react in certain scenarios and how they would move, since all animals are different and have personal traits about them that are a lot easier to identify as they act on instinct rather than emotion like humans do.

I'm really glad I got to find my animal personality in this scene for Angelica, although a later scene in the play it is better late than never to completely work on posture and gain a complete understanding of how my character would react in a scenario like that, I'm really glad in a way that me and Angelica both are similar despite different eras, this is the first character that I have felt completely involved in emotionally and haven't struggled to pick up on how she would react, she's such a tough character to portray but I fully believe I can give her 100%.