Today at band camp ...

Still not band camp, of course, but Tboy thinks it's funnier than "acting camp," at least for the moment.

Anyway: Today at band camp, we played bunny-bunny, which isn't nearly as filthy as it sounds.

I'm afraid it's an indescribable experience, though, and trust me when I say that "indescribable" isn't a word a critic  uses lightly.

No, let's try. Bunny-bunny, as some of you will surely know, is a warm-up exercise, a kind of fast-paced game of hot-potato involving whiskery gestures and bouncy motions and exclamations of "Bunny-bunny" on the part of whoever's currently "It," while those on his or her left and right chant "dunga-dunga" and walk (in place) like developmentally disabled Egyptians.  "It" then passes the bunny -- oh, this just sounds increasingly seamy -- by making the whiskery gestures at anyone else in the circle. The new "It" must immediately begin bunnying, while the two flanking him commence with the "dunga" business.

Once again Tboy recalled that perhaps there's a reason he's a critic rather than an actor. He can handle the TV-chat thing, even without notes; there's only so much of an idiot they'll let you make of yourself before they call "cut" and start the conversation over again. But this -- this is terrifying.  Talk about yer performance anxiety.

Let's just say Tboy dropped the bunny more than once. If alertness and quick reactions are the point of this exercise--you've got to watch for the bunny, catch the bunny, pick somebody to pass the bunny on to and remember to go "dunga" if the person next to you gets the bunny--then clearly Tboy has leagues to go before he's ready for improv.

After we'd recovered from the bunny-bunnying, we took a speech from The Tempest -- “Twas monstrous, monstrous...”--and broke it up into 12 pieces, each student voicing a phrase, trying to connect them in one voice. Tboy got to deliver the last line, “and with him there lie mudded,” in his best despairing basso, in unison with another guy. Everybody giggled.

Then more sonnet work. Tboy's getting behind on his reading and his character development, not least because he had to go see The Disputation last night. (And tonight's Passion Play, then a drive to New York.)

Must go study.

Comments

[luckyspinster]

Thanks for the nice mental pics.

[Theater Squirrel]

I just have to say that I - truly - feel your pain. I HATED those ridiculous "acting" exercises and juvenile "warm-ups" before curtain. How does repeating "Sally sells seashells by the seashore" 100 times before a performance somehow make you better connected to your character? I would show up at those ridiculous pre-show festivities and marvel at how much more important actors think they are when they're acting like second-graders.

They all retaliated by calling me a diva. As if that's a BAD thing...

[tongue twister]

The point of saying "Sally sells sea shells" isn't to get you more connected to your character. The point is to warm up your voice so the audience can hear and understand what you're saying. That's usually an important thing when performing in front of an audience -dontcha think?

[Theater Squirrel]

I just think it's a cop-out to disguise actors who aren't up to the task. Why wait until you are just about to do your job to be "warmed up?" A good actor is ready to dive into a role at any given moment, supposing that he or she has the chops to do so. All of these bad actors who have to do jumping jacks to "prepare" for the stage... that's just a fancy way for saying "Look at me being so actor-y with my actor-y ways." I can't picture Judi Dench needing to recite Sally's Anthem or playing Bunny-Bunny. She just HAS it - and when YOU HAVE IT, you have no need for silly theatre games and affirmation from your fellow actors. Let the work on stage speak for itself... when the spotlight is on you, people know if you're warmed up, and it doesn't matter how you did it.

[luckyspinster]

whether or not you "have it," you still need volume and clarity so the audience can "get it." a dancer wouldn't go on stage without doing plies. a singer does scales before a show, as does a concert pianist. an actor must warm up her body, mind, and voice. to not warm up is a bit careless--it's actually more egotistical to think you are above warming up. i say actors are allowed to do whatever it is they need to in order to give their best. your body is your instrument.

that said, i hate GROUP warmups with a passion, but that is mostly borne from my own self-consciousness because i didn't study theatre in college so i always feel like the last kid picked at kickball and i often blanch when it's my turn to be a bunny. nevertheless, i recognize the helpfulness of such games. perhaps what you're taking exception to is the type of person who may use them to assert some sort of self-importance, but they're probably quite tedious in many other ways as well and i wouldn't discount the value of warmups based on their behavior.

as far as whether or not dame judi warms up, i'd be more surprised if she didn't.

[Theater Squirrel]

I'M NOT SAYING ACTORS SHOULDN'T BE PREPARED VOCALLY BEFORE A PERFORMANCE. I'm saying that all of those second-grade theatre "warm-ups" are usually just an excuse or needless opportunity for bad actors to assert their theatricality amongst OTHER ACTORS. I did study theater in college and I absolutely hated those group activities (like Bunny-Bunny) we were subjected to. It doesn't help gain any perspective of character and it's a substantial waste of time!! I still have a hard time picturing Judi Dench getting excited about playing Monkey See, Monkey Do 30 minutes before curtain.

That's all I'm saying.