First Thebes rehearsal

Had my first rehearsal last night for Burial at Thebes. Quite different from La Belle Helene! The director said there'll be some underscoring (i.e., music under some of the action) at the beginning and end, and possibly somewhere in the middle, but in general this is a straight play - no music, no singing, no dancing.

Another difference is that this play has long chunks of speeches more than dialogue. The chorus has several "choral odes" (that's what the director is calling them), which have been divvied up among those of us in the chorus - some solo lines, some lines spoken by 2 or more of us.

I learned that the director wants me onstage as Eurydice the whole time - no starting as a member of the chorus, then going off to change costume/hair/make-up to become Eurydice. I enter w/ Creon, my husband, stay on stage through much of the action, leave w/ Creon, then come back later by myself to hear horrible news, then exit to kill myself. While I'm on stage the first time, I have a few solo lines in the choruses and join in some of the "all" sections, but don't really have a lot of lines to learn. The challenge will be figuring out how Eurydice feels about what's going on, what she thinks of Creon's decision not to let Antigone's brother be buried, and so on. Mostly silent acting, which can be the hardest kind. That means homework - reading up on the Oedipus cycle to learn Eurydice's history, to give me a better idea of how she'd react to all this.

Which brings me to another point. The script says near the end that "the body of Eurydice is revealed." The director said he may have someone bring me on; should be interesting! If they carry me, I'll have to work at staying limp, and then playing dead for however long the director decides to leave me there.

Counting up all the firsts: first tragedy, first non-singing chorus, first time to be dead on stage (though I don't actually die on stage), first tole I've had to do any research for. It's all good!