Another country heard from

I've mentioned that we have a strong international group in the class but I don't think I've taken time to call the roll of nations. In addition to the aforementioned women from Egypt (Language Girl) and Holland (Soap Girl), we have the Frenchman, the Venezuelan (female), Irish Guy, a woman from Nigeria, and a bilingual woman from Montreal (the Canadian).

I'll say a word about the Frenchman - he's a very talented actor from Paris who has come to the States to study at least in part because Stanislavsky isn't revered in his home country. His English is O.K., sometimes it's obviously a struggle for him and I've wondered if he is fluent enough to get as much as he can out of the classes.

All this by way of saying that his scene (Uncle Vanya, Astrov-Yelena) with the Canadian today was perhaps the strongest yet, and the only one that got applauded after the first run-through. It had a strange non-Russian quality to it, which at least in part came from the language issues. The Canadian speaks fluent French and at times has served as a translator between the faculty and the Frenchman. At times I thought they were both going to put on berets, smoke cigarettes, and debate
philosophy. I mean that as a compliment, because even though the scene lacked some of the Russian attitude Sam's been talking about it undeniably worked. Sam liked it too, but gave the Frenchman notes to be a little less rococo (his words) and more Russian. The second run-through was more "conventional" in a way, but still very strong.

I mention all this because while I certainly think an understanding of Russian history and national character is valuable here, I was so impressed that two actors could handle not only a language barrier but their own national characteristics and still produce great work. What does that tell you about the power of Chekhov's writing?

We met our "official" Voice & Speech teacher Jason Little yesterday and had our first real class with him today. His style is a little more frenetic than Dusty's (our techer last week), but we're still talking about breath & relaxation. I'm much more conscious of my breath (where it comes from, how to control it) after a week of lying on the floor.

I'm getting plenty of sleep tonight because tomorrow is our ultra-physical movement class. I've got another crack at my Trofimov scene on Thursday.....