17.12.14

   Today we were working with the 1st year on the first scene and especially the opening monologue of Orsino's. We did a lot of similar exercises we have done with the 2nd years before, such as reading the monologue line by line together as a group and then each choosing four words from their line to define it. This exercise helps to find meaning in the monologue, by identifying the important words and creating a mood for it. We also realized, that the first few lines basically define the entire play: If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it, that surfeting The appetite may sicken and so die. The play is pretty much about love, music and the excess of love.

After this we started to experiment and play around with the set of the beginning. We started by simply walking around the room and as Siou would clap her hands, everyone would go on their tippy toes breathing in and on the out breath fall into a direction and keep walking, This was to declare the momentum and explore the release that the monologue sort of has. Then, we changed it to simply fall to the ground and start to say the poem in unison.
 Orsino is very much a person of free love and we all agreed he probably has had and still has multiple lovers, and so the beginning could be some sort of a harem type of set, where everyone is laying around with each other, relaxing and enjoying their times. We were told to use the first three lines and change positions between each lines to create different connections with the people around us. At first, it was hard for people to be so close each other, but soon everyone started to relax, and I felt quite connected with the group.