Before we even began passion projects, Monday was already off to a personal great start. Long story short, the person who I was understudy-ing for is now my understudy, which means I now have the role of Blousey! Which is really cool for me, as this will be my first lead role at Hornby unless you count an angry goddess in Shakespeare or a narrator as a lead role. I'm not sure how many people know, but I actually used to do drama outside of school. I did two years at Hope church and a term at Ignite studios, giving me a track record of about 2 performances with 4 plays. Plus 5 or so years of hip-hop and like a term of ballet. So, I have a little experience up my sleeve ;)Anyway, not the point. We'll get to the reflection later, but for now?
1920s Lingo!
What better way to get into acting a part of the roaring 20s than to learn how they would've spoken! To do this, we've been given the task to create a conversation between our character and someone else in the cast using 20s slang. So, here's a small conversation between Blousey and Bugsy! (don't worry, there will be aBugsy: Slurred Helloooo, Blousey
Blousey: Oh, go chase yourself, Bugsy! You're completely zazzled!
Bugsy: C'mon Blousey, don't be such a wurp. I have to go see a man about a dog, come with me, let's blouse!
Blousey: Know your onions, wisie, no need to end up in the big house tonight.
Bugsy: Man, no need to be so upstage about it, everything's jake.
Blousey: Go on without me, buster and don’t take any wooden nickels.
Okay, yes, that was very exaggerated and slightly out of character. I'm sure nobody would use that much slang in one sentence. I kinda hope not. No idea what just happened? Well, here's a loose translation
Bugsy: Slurred Helloooo, Blousey
Blousey: Oh, get out of here, Bugsy! You're completely drunk!
Bugsy: C'mon Blousey, don't be such a buzzkill. I'm gonna go get myself some whiskey, come with me, let's get out of here!
Blousey: Know what's going on, wisie, no need to end up in jail tonight.
Bugsy: Man, no need to be so snobby about it, everything's fine.
Blousey: Go on without me, man, and don’t do anything stupid.
Right, with that out of the way, reflection time! Ugh, that sounds like some primary school lesson. Well, like always, we started off with a warm-up. We did our usual, with Covergirl and Five More Hours, except this time we learnt a new dance to Pitbull's iconic Fireball!
After this, and the roll, we split up once again. The main actors went with Mr Aiken and Mrs Clark over to Kowhai to begin blocking, which is like my favourite part of performing because it's the first time you actually get to see how everything is going to come together and your lines are no longer sentences on a page, while the dancers learn Fat Sam's Grand Slam choreography and the ensemble learnt So You Want To Be A Boxer choreography.Over in Kowhai, the mock stage area and the props were already set up so our first run through was more so getting used to props and spacing. For me, as Blousey, I get to use the old type dial phones and a cool vintage bag, paired with a red 20s hat. I kinda look like a dork with the hat on though... Anyway! It was super fun to watch as the script began to come together. This continued throughout the rest of the day, with a few hiccups here and there with overlapping roles as we had actors who were also dancers or whatever.
Return in a few days to see any new progress. Thank you for reading and I hope you continue to follow our journey through musical theatre!
Samantha you are killing it!! You have really captured the essence of Blousy. I had no idea you had done drama outside school. You can definitely see your experience showing! What is your favourite scene so far.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Miss! My favourite scene so far would have to be either the last phone scene between Bugsy and Blousey ("You two timin' bog Irish meatball wop") or the scene between Bugsy and Blousey before the second Grand Slam splurging ("Then I'm going this way")
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