closer by patrick marber
see it with your insignificant other

Getting "Closer"
a blog by the cast of Closer about their experiences working on the show

the final hour

Posted 2007-10-17

Author: Genevra

How to translate something that has become familiar into new territory? The technical challenge of bringing a show into its final resting place. You get comfortable using a stand-in prop, miming looking at a watch, gazing at a blank wall where a placard is supposed to be, and all of a sudden, in tech week, these things are actually there (at least, most of them.) As my castmates point out, tomorrow there will be actual PEOPLE too. With their laughter, confusion, rustling and sneezing, and- ideally- understanding. Last night (er, actually this morning) after a looooong run of the show, Tony advised the cast to put aside concerns about technical elements and refocus all our energy on acting. We gratefully acknowledged this to be a good strategy, staring blankly at him with glazed eyes. We have a great crew, so I feel confident leaving the logistics in their hands and, well, doing my job. What a luxury.


Deep Breaths

Posted 2007-10-17

Author: toddtownsend

My fellow actors have already said most of what I wanted to express in this posting so I will be brief. We find ourselves, the day before we open, excited, scared, anxious, and tired. At this point, we have all stepped far beyond our roles as actors, to help piece together the many technical aspects of the show. Because of this we are all, as Jordan said, "invested" and from my past experiences I can say for sure that a show in which the actors and crew are invested, can not fail. This has been a great ride... lights up.
Hope to see you all sometime during the course of the show.


Overdrive

Posted 2007-10-16

Author: Jordan

There is a special fuel that kicks in at a certain point during opening week. It makes one exhausted and wired at the same time; punchy and sad; excited and, at moments, full of a combination of all those feeling at once, realizing that in a matter of short days, now countable in hours, other human beings who we do not know will be sitting in the very nice seats of the Waterfront Theater and looking at you. Holy Shit. It's the same fuel, obviously, that makes a person (me in this case) write a sentence like that. Nervous nervous nervous nervous. But I can say, as I have before, that I am more excited to traipse this sucker out in front of Joe and Jane Everyperson than I have been in recent memory. The reason for this is that I trust everybody. I know that they actually give a crap and aren't simply going through the motions of "being in the theatre". The actors in this show are invested, the director is invested, the producer is invested and the crew is invested: we are all in the same boat and we all adore her, even though she can be one hell of a ride sometimes.


will it all come together?

Posted 2007-10-15

Author: victoriatownsend

So here we are. Opening is upon us literally. We get into our new space tonight with costumes, tech elements, hopefully finished set peices. So the question is, will it all come together? I think after our last full run, the cast is at a place where we are feeling really great about where we are acting-wise. Of course, it is never going to be perfect, but I think we are all really pleased with the product that we are going into tech week with. However, we are all anxiously waiting to see if all the rest of the elements will fall into place. This is the nervewracking part of a rehearsal process when it feels like we are so close and yet so far away. How can we possibly be ready when so many new elements are about to be added? This is also the part of a rehearsal process when you simply have to trust that it will get there no matter how difficult it seems. I trust that our fearless director will help push everyone to get to that final, polished product. We start tonight! Deep breath...

PS. I am 21 as of today, so all the baby jokes can stop now...


seven days out

Posted 2007-10-11

Author: Genevra

We open in one (1) week. Yes, it's true. Tonight we had our first full run of the show, and it was tremendously exciting (especially the fact that the run didn't take three hours.)
"Talk to me in real life," says one character to another. The funny thing is, at this point, rehearsal and everything surrounding the show feels like "real life", while everyday obligations kind of shrink in importance. Tonight I got the first pang of premature nostalgia, the knowledge that soon, we'll finish this project and everyone will move on to other ones. I know that sounds crazy, considering that we haven't even opened yet, but I guess it's a testament to how valuable this whole process has been, and how excited I am to do this work with these particular people.
We've been trying to work on projection lately, which I think is a concern partly because of all the subtle moments in the script where we're naturally inclined to soften our voices. It's not the kind of story that calls for actorly bellowing and grandiosity. I love the way the language somehow remains subtle and believable even when the characters are "debating sexual politics" and slinging epithets at each other.


that ran how long?

Posted 2007-10-10

Author: toddtownsend

Cutting the fat off a show, even a great show, can sometimes prove to be the hardest step in the process. Here we are, a week before opening, and we all feel great about the progess we are making and the work we have done. Yet still there is this ever-looming concept of time and the length of the show that just won't go away. We have worked these scenes so many times to get them just how we want them, and have only concerned ourselves with time in the sense that it will eventually need to be "tightened a bit." There are so many factors that determine the length of a scene: anything from the pace, to the energy, to simple line stumbles can cause a moment to drag on for two minutes when it should last 30 seconds. So, now our challenge is to trim the fat and get to the core of what we have been exploring. We need to find the precise moments and try to eliminate any extranious action that may draw the scene out longer. Like any other step, this is exciting work, but that doesn't make it easy.


Excited

Posted 2007-10-07

Author: victoriatownsend

Today was a good day. We all had a day off yesterday from rehearsal and I think the time did us a lot of good. Today we came in and ran Act 2. The first scene felt kind of crappy for me but after that everything just seemed to gel. Our running times miraculously shrank and things that have felt horrible in the past really seemed to work this time. It was really wonderful to feel things finally falling magically into place. As we ended this rehearsal Tony told us that if this was where we were at in a week he would feel good about going into tech week. That is a really great feeling. It is such a treat to have an extra week to polish this show and just play with the amazing work we have already. For me, much of this process has been filled with a sort of slow-creeping terror, almost dreading opening and the judgment it will incur. However, after the work of this past week I find myself truly excited to get this show in front of an audience. I want to show this work to people and have others witness the amazing revalations we have been finding about these characters, love and life. Patrick Marber wrote a damn good play and I can't wait for everyone else to know it. This is truly a lot of fun.

See you later,

PS: Tickets are on sale now!


Discoveries

Posted 2007-10-03

Author: toddtownsend

I agree 100% with everything that Jordan said about coming together as a group and starting to see the play take shape. There is a certain form that seems to be developing and with such an intense script and such complex characters the potential for discovery is limitless. We are past the point of questioning why our characters "might" do something, and we have moved into the world where we believe truly that our characters "choose" to do something. While I am still struggling to discover things about Dan (the accent for one), I am finding now, as I didn't before, that my fellow cast mates are there to help. While most actors are more concerned with their role in the play, this cast seems focused on the grander picture - the play as a whole. This leads me to my final point, which is to address the idea of an ensemble. While most people feel that there has to be a star for every show, this script demands that no one character over shadows another. It requires, in fact, that each character feed one another in such a way as to create an overarching definition of "the modern lover." Everyone involved in this particular ensemble is aware of this, and for that I could not be more grateful. We are, as Marber demands, becoming "closer."


Getting Closer and Closer

Posted 2007-10-02

Author: Jordan

Every time I've done a play, there's always a time, a moment, where you can finally see (and feel) the show starting to come together. Most of the time it's a good feeling. Sometimes one is completely filled with terror. The moments begin to gel, the characters become more and more defined. Actors start to understand each other as actors and there is a general feeling of heightened trust. The director knows how to corral the talent: what they need and how they communicate. And there's one other thing about this I'd like to mention. Whether for good or bad, the firming-up time frame of all these aspects tends, in my experience, to happen the last week of rehearsal.

This is happening now in this production, 16 days before opening curtain. It has been quite some time since I have worked with such a tight group of persons and I have been and continue to be impressed and fascinated by everyone's work.


Acessorizing

Posted 2007-10-02

Author: victoriatownsend

As we get closer and closer (no pun intended) to opening, Tony has been pushing us further and further in our choices. What he has challenged us to do is to find those simple moments that bring truth and humanity to the scene, a handhold, an embrace, a look, etc. He has taken to referring to these things as the “jewelry.” I love this particular term because it is really these small touches that make the work sparkle. I can feel the difference when we do find them in a scene. However, like all things, the difficulty is in finding them. We are all human and so you’d think such things would come naturally and easily to us. But it is amazing how quickly we shed our human tendencies on stage where we know we are being watched. How can we get back our simple, basic humanity on stage? Tony has been lovingly screaming at us for weeks TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!! I think this is an idea that this project has slowly been teaching me to embrace. As a young actor, it is so easy to second-guess, be tentative and think I need to cover up who I naturally am for success in the role. I have found through this project that the best work comes when I stop limiting myself within the role and start jumping on these impulses no matter how far from the role they may seem. Often what I think is too far away from Alice ends up being the best stuff I have found for her. So I suppose Tony is right and trusting my instincts is the best way to regain my humanity on stage. The trick now is to keep going forwards, not back. Less than three weeks to go…yikes :)


the details

Posted 2007-10-02

Author: Genevra

We're in the last couple of full rehearsal weeks, with a fantastic new rehearsal space and lots of details to discuss. The smallest thing can make a difference. To borrow an analogy from Tony, we've got the outfit and now we're talking about the jewelry. It's interesting to be at the point where the question is "which way is the bench facing, and how will that matter?" rather than grand philosophical inquiries about human motivations (though there is still plenty of that.)
We're all trying to get a handle on our accents, with the added challenge of four characters with different backgrounds, each with a different accent. Hopefully any linguists in the audience will forgive us if we're not spot on.
Last night on the way to rehearsal, riding down Manhattan Drive on my bike, the air for a moment smelled like Edinburgh. The smell of the breweries there is like nothing else. It reminded me of being in a place where my only job was theater: performing, publicity, the revelry and occasional misbehavior that comes with that lifestyle. I couldn't wait to get to rehearsal and live in that world for a while.


Frustrations

Posted 2007-09-27

Author: toddtownsend

Acting would not be acting without frustration. Or maybe it would, but it certainly wouldn't be as valuable an experience. The only analogy that comes to mind for what I have experienced over the last few rehearsals is Golf. (I know theatre dorks, stay with me just for a minute and I promise I will make some sense of it.) In golf you train, practice and work hard to perfect every aspect of your game from the the swing to the contact, to the follow through. The same is true of acting. You work to perfect your technique and become more confident with every show in your ability to develop a character. However, in both situations there exists a phenomenon called "THE SHANKS." For those of you not familiar with golf the shanks are an inexplicable phenomenon in which the player, no matter how skilled just begins hitting the ball into the woods, or the water, or missing the ball all together at some times. The shanks can be deadly to a players game and are normaly the result of undue stress or a simple mental block that brings the player back to the infancy of their training. Well, the shanks in acting are very similar. I have found myself wondering in the past few rehearsals why I can't hit the ball straight, or rather why the work I have been doing is not paying off. Luckily I have a great director and fellow cast members who are all willing to be patient while I work through the kinks. I have been working some improve exercises, and imagination techniques that have been very helpful, and am also confident that working out Dan's accent will help tremendously. When struggling with all of this I am reassured by the immortal words of Michael Chekhov that "the less talented the person is, the earlier he forms his 'convictions' and the longer he tenaciously clings to them."


cheers to discomfort!

Posted 2007-09-27

Author: Genevra

We've rehearsed this week at two very different venues, and the change was unsettling at first, accustomed as we were to Tony's cozy apartment. (The average Burlington apartment has nothing in common, in size or acoustics, with the Harvest Moon Banquet Hall.) At first, I felt a little lost on the echoing dance floor, almost swallowed up by the cavernous space. It was kind of like the feeling of being onstage during a Big Comedic Moment when nobody laughs. Intimacy was difficult to feel.
But last night felt a lot more comfortable. Maybe it was because we were rehearsing a scene set in a museum, so the vastness was an asset. Or maybe it was because we're building on ever more intricate connections and cross-references. We've been talking about how, in scenes we haven't run for a while, there's a new energy informed by our understanding of the rest of the show.
I also think it has to do with thinking about my own version of Todd's trusting his instincts or Victoria's embracing her (and her character's) youth: accepting uncertainty, discomfort or especially embarrassment as not only valid, but valuable. I have to accept the fact that a character might do unpleasant things, hurt and manipulate people, be hurt and manipulated, taken for a fool, made to feel like a whore. Everything can't be polished, clever, anticipated, scripted, or tidy. As the director Anne Bogart says, "If your work does not sufficiently embarrass you, then very likely no one will be touched by it." Here's to embracing the moments of uncertainty that make discovery possible.


youth, and everything that goes with it.

Posted 2007-09-26

Author: victoriatownsend

Yes, it's me, the final member of the Closer cast.

At 20, I'm the baby (yes Tony, baby) of the cast. I'll just barely be legal to enter the pub by the time our pub night rolls around. Coming into the show in this position has been an interesting challenge.

I have been fortunate enough to be cast in a show with three slightly older, perhaps wiser and absolutely incredibly talented individuals who come to rehearsal each day ready to work. These folks don't hesitate, aren't shy and don't second-guess themselves. What am I saying? They're actors, of course they second guess, but they do it with a grace and confidence that makes their second guessing seem like reverential intellectual reflection. As I'm sure you can imagine, you can't bring anything less than your A-game if you hope to keep up.

As the baby, this was an intimidating group to mingle with. Each day during scene work I just kept praying to myself "don't say anything stupid, don't show that you're just a dumb kid." Even the thought of blogging has caused anxiety as I sit back and read the eloquent words of my peers. What could I say to match? However, as rehearsals have continued I have decided that I can't fight my youth. Why should I? You're only young once, right? More importantly, why am I fighting what Alice most certainly is?

Alice is by no means dumb, but she is most definitely still a kid. She is the baby of Closer just like me. This is the path I have tried to embrace in the past few rehearsals, letting the child-like part of Alice come out and play, whine, stomp, yell, throw a tantrum, or anything else she likes without censoring her with maturity. Alice plays at maturity and plays the game well but that does not mean she is. I hope letting Alice (and myself) go like this will bring me closer to her. I don't know if I'll go so far as to pee on the floor to get my point across (see script) but I will try to remember and embrace the fact that she and I are only as old as we are and that will have to be enough to get me to her truth.

But, what do I know? I'm just a kid.


TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS

Posted 2007-09-23

Author: toddtownsend

One of the hardest things to accomplish in a new role is getting to the point where you are confident enough in the work you have done to trust your instincts as the character. I especially struggle with this task, as it requires a huge amount of faith in your abilities not just as an actor but as a person. You have to believe that the choices you are making on the fly or in your gut are the choices of the character and not just the choice that Todd Townsend would make.
We, in this cast of closer, have the pleasure of working with a director who feels passionately that following your instincts, and more importantly trusting your instincts, is a key component in the rehearsal process.
I discovered this to be true the other night in rehearsal when I hesitated on, and ultimately withdrew from an action, only to hear Tony scream "TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS." The moment was at the end of scene 11 when Dan and Alice are breaking up for the last time, and I have to hit her. We had discussed the slap and I didn't follow through because "todd" thought that "dan" would not have done it. Tony reminded me that Dan had just experienced the loss of everything he knew to be true and all at the hands of this woman, and he reminded me once again to listen to my gut and trust the work I had done. The next run through was overflowing with energy and discovery and opened a slew of doors that I can't wait to explore in our next run-through.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that often, in this business, we become self-aware thinking that if we are conscious of our actions they will seem more real, when the reality is that we must make ourselves fully vulnerable in order to discover the true nature of the characters.


Something I Found

Posted 2007-09-21

Author: Genevra

One could spend hours digging through the mire of YouTube and probably come away with nothing more than bloodshot eyes and a lower IQ. Man, there's a lot of garbage on there. But I found an interesting clip of Charlie Rose interviewing Patrick Marber & Natasha Richardson (one of the cast members of "Closer" on Broadway.) As a bonus, there's also an interview with the Israeli Minister of Defense, if you're looking for some fluffy, feel-good times. I will post more in-depth "Closer" coverage after rehearsal, which I'm really looking forward to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXezUAo4K14


rehearsal spaces

Posted 2007-09-18

Author: Jordan

Closer by Patrick Marber.
I'm acting in this show.
Tony Tambasco is directing.

I, along with Genevra MacPhail, was in a show by Stephen Goldberg: Flying on the Bright Wings of Despair. Tony was the stage manager. From the beginning I said to myself, "Finally, someone who knows his fucking business." Years of doing independent theatre had spoiled my one-time (and realistic) expectation that some people were into it not solely for the off-stage drama of being "Actors" and "Theater People." Quietly, Tony fulfilled what it was that had lacked for me in smaller ventures: professionalism for the sake of such.

It was, therefore, a wonderful surprise when Tony asked if I would be interested in playing a role in Closer. It is, I think, the greatest feeling for any artist to feel that the common ground in a project is firm and reliable. From my experience of Tony in the role of Stage Manager, I knew that it would be even a better experience working for him as a director. This has been proved in the thoughtful, tight-as-a-ship rehearsals. There is no greater luxury for an actor to be able to focus on the moment, the scene or simply on one page, without distraction and with well-aimed intent.


Pictures of Strangers

Posted 2007-09-18

Author: Genevra

We're one month away from opening night. This fact has not engendered panic in me. Perhaps this is because I have genuine respect for the people I'm working with. Or maybe it's because all the panic has taken place outside of rehearsal... In "Closer", I play a photographer, so our director, Tony, gave me an intriguing and somewhat terrifying assignment.
I was asked to venture out into the savage streets of Burlington and photograph strangers, as my character expertly does (she builds an entire exhibition around such photographs.) Even though I have been researching portrait photography for a while, I'm honestly dismayed. There's no faking this. You either know your way around a camera, or you don't. (I don't really know my way around strangers either. Never have.)
Ever intrepid, I twisted my hair into an Anna-esque chignon and strode out onto North Winooski. The first likely candidates were employees on a smoke break at a local restaurant. They looked at me skeptically when I asked to take their photo and described the show, but ultimately, one of the two conceded.
I then wandered pathetically down Church Street, spotting many likely candidates and skipping them just as fast. Finally, I asked a kindly-looking bicyclist if he would mind if I took his photo. He ended up being friendly and receptive. My fear of strangers should be well assuaged (after all, I'm 2 for 2.)
We'll see what happens.