Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in Carolingian Mummers Forum's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
11:10 pm [chaiya]	Upcoming workshops, anyone? Physical Comedy Workshops, mostly about Commedia. Anyone else interested in going? Current Mood: artistic (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 29th, 2004
8:24 pm [hawkegirl]	Cast Party Reminder... MacBeth cast Party this Saturday, after the event. You can angst in person! Call me if you have any questions (my e-mail is not so happy right now). I'm in the liber under Ruadh. Wassail! (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 28th, 2004
4:25 pm [chaiya]	"Thou Shalt Nots" for Shakespeare Production As discovered to me by way of herooftheage, I highly recommend the following entries for a good laugh and some sound advice on Shakespeare's theatre: http://www.livejournal.com/users/angevin2/148520.html http://www.livejournal.com/users/angevin2/151336.html (Comment on this)
Monday, October 25th, 2004
9:22 am [msmemory]	Not angst (Catrin suggested I post this here, since perhaps one of you would be interested in trying it. It's another Challenge for the Laurels' Challenge event in March. -- msmemory) Period Mumming or Disguising Performance Mistress Catrin o'r Rhyd For Starting with an extant text or description of a pre-1600 mumming or disquising, design and execute a performance recreating the entertainment. Please note, the performance should not be of a mummers play or mystery play but rather a mumming or a disguising - in other words, a visitation with disguises. Your choice can be as simple as the early civic mummings done by townspeople or as elaborate as the court disguisings staged with formal poetry by John Lydgate. Theater in the SCA requires compromises because of limited budget and personnel. Don't worry that you cannot duplicate the number of performers or elaborateness of the set pieces - think creatively and do your best to recreate the feel of the piece. Documentation should describe the decisions made on how to perform the piece, including the blocking, staging, and treatment of the spoken word if there is any. Documentation should also list sources consulted in making these decisions. Due to timing restrictions, the performance should be no more than 25 minutes. There is a stage available that is approximately 16'x12' and processions in the hall should be possible. Judging will be based on how the performance of the piece was derived based on existing research and the quality of the execution of the piece. For more information, contact kgandek at rcn.com Sources for general information on the topic: The Theatre in the Middle Ages by William Tydeman The Medieval Theatre by Glynne Wickham The Mediaeval Stage by E.K. Chambers Early English Stages by Glynne Wickham (multi-volume work) (Comment on this)
Monday, August 23rd, 2004
4:10 pm [msmemory]	Macbeth rehearsals Rehearsals start tonight! For this week (only), we'll be in Room 13-4101. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 4th, 2004
3:07 pm [cristovau]	Memorize This Okay, so we're in the pre-practice part of the Macbeth production. We have our parts, scripts and lines. What do you do now? How do you procede? Has anyone worked on memorizing lines? Has anyone worked on character development? What tricks or tips do you have on either? Right now, I've been reading through my lines only. I'm trying to get a handle on Angus as a snarky, cynical sidekick who gets a major guilt trip (along with Ross) for letting the Macduff cat out of the bag too soon. I'm mostly looking over the file of my lines at work every now and then. Anybody working harder? Curious Scottsmen want to know! Current Mood: pensive Current Music: Groovelilly "Sittin' on the fence" (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 6th, 2004
1:49 pm [cristovau]	Quick review of Casting Okay, I know some casting choices, but not others. Feel free to post your role (or the fact that you aren't cast/didn't audition). I'll start: Angus/messenger: The lord on the right. He has some fun snarky lines. I expect to run into Angus-Scottish-Sheepfancying jokes. ( The complete cast list ) Current Mood: curious Current Music: Great Big Sea (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 5th, 2004
8:46 pm [new_man]	Casting Fergus has started the calls. For those of who who were interested (and don't read my LJ), I wasn't cast as anything. I'd like to make it very clear that I never said "Macbeth or nothing". Fergus' memory of Taming of the Shrew is that I said something like that about Petruccio (I hadn't), and as a result I wasn't originally cast in that either (I ended up playing three small roles). Thorgeirr has been cast as Macbeth. I have no idea who has been cast as anything else. This is a public forum. I'll keep the rest of my thoughts to myself. If you're curious, feel free to contact me privately. Current Mood: cold (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 28th, 2004
11:35 am [msmemory]	Catrin on Casting Posted on behalf of Catrin, who still doesn't have a LiveJournal: Having now heard from several people that there is some curiousity as to what is happening on the director's side of the table in auditions, I'm offering the following to Jane to post. I hope it is of use - although having been the person auditioning in the past, I'm not sure anything was when I was in the midst of the process! During auditions I am not looking for an actor to fit a role like Cinderella and the glass slipper. If I had a large talent pool that was only reading for one or two parts a piece, then I might. However, I'm looking at a limited talent pool and many roles to fill. Unless it is clear after the monologue and first reading or two where a person best fits _and_ that no one else is likely to show for that part (which rarely happens), then the best thing I can do is to have people read for a variety of parts and watch for qualities. What do I mean by qualities? Things like this: vocal range, how you use your body, what comes across in your eyes, variety and malleability of facial expressions, power (with and without volumn), range and depth of emotions, ability to convey nuances. When I ask people to tweak things, it's usually to see how much more they can get in one of those areas. Once auditions are done, it's a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. I stare at the character list keeping in mind what qualities are most important for each character, and I start moving actors' names around until they fall out in a way that fits all the holes as well as possible. Call backs are to gather more information if there are new questions, clarify confusion as to how actors read a role or to check pairings for parts who have an intense relationship on stage. Previous work done by actors is a big factor only once - when I'm choosing a play. I want to be sure we have a large enough talent pool with the necessary strengths to do a particular show, so I count heads. If I have more than enough people, then I feel alright doing the show. (This is why I still haven't done Henry IV Part 2 even though I want to, although the numbers are getting better.) Previous work is less influential when casting for me because it's a bit like mutual funds - previous performance in one role is not necessarily an indicator of how someone will perform in another role. Unlike commedia, characters change too much from play to play - and sometimes so do the actors. The things that do carry over for me are things like knowing an actor auditions poorly but performs well; who has trouble learning lines consistently (because some people learn coping mechanisms and improve each show); or who has other performance related issues like reliability. Obviously those can affect the size and kind of part a person is given. Macbeth is Fergus's show with me assisting, and I can't say exactly what goes on in his head - but I don't think it's that dissimilar from mine. FYI, I'm not a live journal person (although apparently a lot of you are :-) and I have a very busy week so I don't expect to do any follow-up - but I hope this was useful for someone! Catrin (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004
3:31 pm [cristovau]	Welcome Fellow Thesbians This is an unofficial group, set up to gripe, gossip and grouse about theater in the Boston area SCA group known as Carolingia. Currently, there are auditions being held for Macbeth. For a first set of questions then: What is so horrible about auditions? What is good about the way we do auditions? How would you improve auditions? Inquiring minds... OK, just mine for now, want to know. Current Mood: creative (21 Comments |Comment on this)