Blocking: A Director's Nightmare? Maybe a Little Bit...But We're Managing...Somehow

I really want to talk to the Genetian players.  Blocking this past Monday was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.  First, I didn’t know what kind of props we had, whether we had lighting and sound, if the curtains would be moved—all things that would affect how I blocked out our two scenes from Titus Andronicus.  To add to this, I was missing a character (Chiron) so I had to fill that spot while still trying to direct my actors.

Okay, I suppose that’s enough griping for today.  My point is that basically what I said in my second sentence: blocking is hard to do.  It’s so easy for me to see how everything would play out in my head, but getting my actors to walk, stop, turn, and sit where I want them to has become more difficult than it probably should be. 

We somehow managed to block (roughly) the entire first scene, though we got barely anything done with our actual stage time.  As a homage to the movie Titus we decided to have Titus playing with toy knights as the scene opens.  Later when Chiron and Demetrius follow their mother into Titus’ house, they too will sit down and play with the toys.  Our interpretation of the play is meant to be comical—a parody in essence—but I feel this scene will make an underlying comment about the characters.  By having all three playing with the action figures, we’re showing the childishness that all display.  I’m sure that childishness will show up more in our version, as madness in Titus and stupidity in the sons.  To add to this, we wanted Tamora and her sons to have overly exaggerated movements (my actors have already decided on a signature pose for Revenge, Rape, and Murder—one especially looks like something out of The Karate Kid) to add to the ridiculousness of the scene. 

Because we don’t have a balcony for Titus to stand on and talk to Tamora, we decided to have Titus and Tamora yelling back and forth at each other through the doorway (invisible or actual, we’re not sure yet).  The rest of the scene is going to take place inside of Titus’ study.  There just isn’t any room on the other parts of the stage so we were forced to change the location of the conversation to inside instead of outside. 

My only hope is that my actors remember our blocking from Monday.  I’m relieved we’re going to get more stage time because I really think that will help us—just knowing how much space we have and getting a feel for the location.

Anyway, thanks for listening to me rant.  I’ve been involved in play productions before, but my role was usually that of writer so I never got much say in how it was performed.  I’m realizing now just how much work goes into a single scene of a play.  Hopefully by laying out my problems and accomplishments in front of myself, I can better figure out what my next step is in this whole directing process.