Character Intensive

Between Volleyball, the "Battle of the Books," and illness, I only had four actors show up for practice... Fortunately two of them were Gandalf and Thorin, and I had intended to work on their scenes together (it would have been nice to have Bilbo, but I'm generally feeling good about how our lead is reading his lines at this point). To shake things up a a bit, I had them read the scene in very different ways--first as if they were all on the verge of tears, then as if they couldn't stop laughing, and finally as if they each wanted to kill the other two. I was impressed with the range they showed, and I think it helped in distinguishing the characters. I found that each character in that particular scene needs to move towards two of those emotions--Bilbo needs to move in the direction of both humor and sadness (or somberness) as he wrestles with the Baggins and Took side of his personality. Thorin needs to move in the direction of both anger and sadness (as he recalls the fall of Erebor and how the dragon killed many of his people). Gandalf needs to move in the direction of both anger (which helped the actor to achieve a sense of authority he'd been lacking) and humor (as he is playing a great joke on both Thorin--passing Bilbo off as a professional burglar, and Bilbo--tricking him into hosting this Unexpected Party and join in the adventure). I'm not sure the ACTORS were able to see the benefit of the exercise, but it helped me to see what they are capable of, and know what I can bring out of them in their performance. A day well-spent!

Goblin faces

I re-watched the Rankin/Bass animated version of "The Hobbit" last night (on an old faded VHS copy). I'd love to manage some goblin costumes in that style (with the huge gaping mouths), but, given our budget and talent pool, we'll be lucky to find some simple masks and armor for our goblins. More importantly, I'm realizing I have a goblin shortage as we reach the Battle of Five Armies. Earlier, when the goblins grab the dwarfs seeking shelter from the storm, I can actually spare six or seven actors to put on goblin costumes, but at the end of the play, when Erebor is overwhelmed by goblin hordes, I only have TWO actors who aren't supposed to be other characters! So, we're trying to recruit some extras to put on the masks and attack the King under the Mountain. But that gets back to the issue that we need to find or make the masks...

Although my Smaug will largely be covered by piles of treasure, I felt I needed to get some idea of the overall size and shape he should be. Since he is often referred to by Tolkien as a "worm," it seemed he needed to be more serpentine, that is, more long and thin than many dragons I've seen (and certainly not the squat, bug-shaped lizards of "How to Train Your Dragon"). So, here are my early sketches, including the most important "curled up" sleeping pose. He will be reclining through most of the scene, with only his head and neck extending out as he speaks with Bilbo; but at the end of the scene, he needs to rouse himself and "exit" to go take out his wrath on Laketown. And if we can get the one wing to look like he's getting ready to take off, all the better!

I was hoping for a larger dragon, but I had to "scale back"...

I designed a pretty cool-looking 40' Smaug for our production of "The Hobbit," but then realized there was not enough room on stage for him to curl up. So we're down to 30'.

And at rehearsal today, I found out that two of our actors have backed out of the production. One came to me to break the news that he has family commitments out of town the weekend of the show. The other didn't show up and hasn't said anything to me or the producer, but he apparently told all of his cast-mates he couldn't do it.

So, back to the drawing board for THAT as well...