Blog post #5

The Ways To The Wall

I never consider myself as an actor before I come to the Literature and Performance class. Acting is like opening a new world to me, there are a lot of things that I don’t know how to do, but I am very curious about doing them. In the coming performance project, I am going to act out Lord Capulet in the Act 4, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. In this scene, Lord Capulet is very controlling to his daughter Juliet, he is angry at the beginning because Juliet refuses to marry with Paris, and he changes significantly when Juliet obeys him. In order to performance this version of Lord Capulet, I am going to pay attention to the props, body languages and the lines during the acting. I hope I can learn more about acting and staging in this performances.

In my opinion, the first step to acting out a character is to understand the character. Lord Capulet is a very serious grown man, he is leading one of the biggest, richest and more powerful families in the play. In the Balling scene (Act 1, scene 5), I see Lord Capulet as a person who knows how to value the reputations and powers very much. Lord Capulet stops Tybalt from fighting with Romeo because he does not want to trouble his guest, and more importantly he does not want the fighting embarrasses himself. So my Lord Capulet will be more likely a dominate person. Also, he makes a plan that using Juliet and Paris’ wedding to reinforce his family’s reputation. So after Juliet refuses his plan, Capulet is very angry. He also says “How now, my headstrong” when he sees Juliet's return. He is trying to control his angry toward Juliet at that time. Then, Lord Capulet has a significant emotions changes after Juliet agrees to the marriage. Lord Capulet’s lines in the latter show how happy he is. Lord Capulet is very excited, and even can not sleep, as he says “I’ll not to bed tonight…...reclaim’d” (4.2.39-47). So I want to focus on Lord Capulet’s emotion changes in Act 4 scene 2, because it is very significant in the scene, and it is easier to be shown by lines and body languages. Moreover, Lord Capulet focus less on the marriage itself but focus on his plan’s succeed at the end. I think he is happy not only the marriage will be held, but also he can raise his family’s reputation. Lord Capulet has his ambition to win the Montague family, and he wants to use his daughter’s gear wedding to show Capulet family’s strength. So I will also show a little image of “ambitious” at the end of the scene. In total, my understanding of Lord Capulet is a person who very dominates on Juliet, having ambitions to raise his family and showing a significant emotions changes in Act 4 Scene 2.

Understanding a character is the basis for acting out the image of the character to the audience. To act out a person is a whole new experience for me. I am glad that I join the drama this fall, where I learn a lot from Mr. Aronson. Mr. Aronson tells actors of the play to think about the personalities, circumstances, and motivations as “The ways to the wall”. For example, imagine I am a character wants to go from the wall on the right to the wall on the left in the black box theater, and there is a chair in the middle. There are many ways to the wall, but the character’s personalities, the surrounding circumstances, and the goal of the characters determine the best way to the wall. For Lord Capulet, he is a dominate person, he knows that his daughter finally agrees his plan, and he knows the wedding will help his family a lot. I will keep this in my mind during the acting as a guide to show Lord Capulet.

Also, I will use props, body languages and the lines to help me show a complete image of Lord Capulet. For props, I will wear a suit, with ties and white suites inside. I want to show his image as a dominate person like a boss. Then I will say the lines with nervous, and angry at the beginning. Because Lord Capulet is still unhappy about Juliet’s opposition. Also, body languages will help me to expressive those emotions. For example, I will wave my arms widely, and shout out the lines to order the servants at the beginning. Then after Juliet apologize, I will show Capulets’ happy by saying the lines more joyful, with the expectations for the bright future in his mind. Also, there will be less violent body language at the ending, and there will be more smiling, actions about caring Juliet at the end.

These are all preparations for the performance this week. I know the true challenge is always on the stage. Before I am on the stage, I must prepare as much as I can. “The ways to the wall” help me to act out the character because it let me understand what I should do if I am Lord Capulet. It is like Sanford Meisner wants - to live truthfully in an imaginary circumstance. Everything will begin on the stage, it will be a challenge for me as an actor, but I am excited about the experience I will get in the performance. I believe to be an actor on stage will help greatly in lighting designers too. For me, this week will be very challenged but also excited.