Tonight we all had a really good night - great energy and our timing was spot on. We were all keenly aware of the others' reactions and really hanging on each speaker's every word. I don't know whether it was because we were all eager to get back to Thebes after having to do without for nearly a week or for some other reason, but I think this was our best performance to date.
The Burial at Thebes, being a Greek tragedy, involves a lot of anguish before the bodies start piling up. Eurydice, my character, has very few lines but I spend a lot of time on stage reacting to what others are saying. One such scene involves Creon, my husband and the new king, and Haemon, our son, arguing about Creon's verdict that Antigone, Haemon's fiancee, must die for defying the decree not to bury Polyneices' body (her brother). It starts out tense and gets worse, with Haemon saying all the wrong things, Creon flying off the handle, and Haemon essentially threatening to kill himself if Creon executes Antigone. Eurydice gets more & more upset as things escalate, gasping when it looks like Haemon's about to do either himself or his father an injury, then flings off in a rage.
The first night we rehearsed the whole show, I was surprised to find myself actually getting a bit misty-eyed in this scene. Some nights the tears have been reluctant to flow, others they've come more readily. Tonight I was more into that scene than I ever have been, so that the tears started sooner and just kept rolling. I don't wipe them away, but leave them alone until I get offstage. Until tonight, I never knew whether the audience could see any of that.
Tonight our director decided to have a post-show discussion for any interested audience members, with the cast joining as we got out of costume. Those patrons who stayed to participate were very complimentary. One woman commented that she & her husband are regular patrons of community theater and had observed that nearly every show had at least one performer who didn't quite get into it or stay in character throughout. Not so tonight - she said we all were completely engaged and solid in our characters.
Our Antigone's mother had some good questions for the cast, then looked straight at me (!) and said that she cried easily and seeing me cry during the Creon-Haemon scene had her crying too. Another woman told me something similar afterwards, that she thought my reactions were very moving and completely believable. She also found my final scene, when I learn Antigone & Haemon are both dead, "very powerful". In fact, our Antigone said the same - that when she peeked out one night during that scene, I looked so very bleak upon hearing the bad news that it was quite moving.
Perhaps because mine is such a tiny role (if our director hadn't decided to include me in some of the chorus stuff, I'd only be on for one tiny scene near the end), the director hasn't had much to say to me about what I've been doing. Now all of a sudden, in one night I get all kinds of feedback, all positive. Yep, I'm feeling the love! :D
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