Read the play once a day

Jeff (JULIAN) & Holly (POOPAY)

This is a photo we took at First Read-Through. These are mock-photos -- close-ups in rough costumes, before a single scene has been rehearsed -- to give to newspapers & magazines. Jeff is JULIAN, the killer; Holly is POOPAY, the prostitute and main character. For long-time readers, Jeff is also my housemate.

Rehearsals start with Check-ins, Moosh, then Tablework. Tablework is where we read the scene aloud, then discuss. Its main goal is to 1) get us all in the same world, and 2) make that world more real by raising questions and associations. "Why doesn't she leave?" "What would it really be like to be a prostitute?" "Why does he suddenly talk about his daughter?" "This IS his confession." "This reminds me of when King, my first dog, ran away..."

Holly is blowing me away. She knows her own Given Circumstances -- what is said about a character in the text -- and everyone else's. She quotes lines of all characters', from all over the play. It's the kind of comprehensive command of the text that I usually only associate with Shakespearean actors who have memorized their Big Book -- the fat volume containing all the Shakespeare plays.

Her command of the text is a sign of classical training -- and of excellent actor Ethics.

Curious, I asked "How do you know the text so thoroughly?"

"At First Read-Through, you told us to read the play once a day," she said. "I do."