'The Man of Mode' - Post 04

Classical Theatre Performance Assignment –

‘The Man of Mode’ or, ‘Sir Fopling Flutter’

Tuesday 19^th – Thursday 21^st January 2016

Act II Run Through

     Unlike the first act, Act II was broken down into two scenes.  My role as ‘Young Bellair’ was limited in this Act as the character only took a minor part in the first scene, but I became rather fond of this scene.

     This scene takes place in the building where ‘Emilia’, ‘Young Bellair’s’ love, lodges and they have discovered that his father, ‘Old Bellair’, has returned from his travels and wishes to marry ‘Emilia’ and have his son marry ‘Mrs. Harriet’.  Plus, ‘Old Bellair’ is completely oblivious to ‘Young Bellair’ and ‘Emilia’s’ love for each other.  Therefore this scene intrigued me into the brief conversations between ‘Young Bellair’ and ‘Emilia’.

     To me it indicated various emotions:

·         Love – unlike many in the play their love for each other is deep and passionate.

·         Dread – knowing little to nothing as to what the future may hold for the pair of them.

·         Hate – particularly from ‘Young Bellair’ towards his father.

     Plus when ‘Old Bellair’ enters I wanted to indicate new emotions, to set a different range for the character:

·         Love – this will be maintained throughout the character as he is loyal to ‘Emilia’.

·         Grace – at the knowledge that ‘Old Bellair’ knows nothing about him and ‘Emilia’.

·         Admiration – toward ‘Emilia’ who is staying loyal to ‘Young Bellair’ and not revealing their secret.

     All in all I feel there is so much to be taken from this scene, where there is little to no stage directions and minimal dialogue.  Plus maintaining the Restoration performer’s characteristics and staging style I feel we could even add a sense of comedy within the entertaining scene.

The Scripted Text

     Throughout the script of ‘The Man of Mode’ the adaptation has stayed as true as possible to the original text, similarly to all Shakespeare productions.  Our director especially wanted us to say loyal to the script and perform in word for word accurate projection.

     Another interesting aspect of the script, I couldn’t help but notice, was the lack of stage direction.  This has proven to be a challenge for our director, and us performers, as it gives us the opportunity to experiment with our staging/performance abilities and bring the play to life in a style that was making homage towards the Restoration period and making an entertaining production for our contemporary performance.

     The goal was to continue the rehearsal process breaking down each scene and key lines of dialogue so we may bring the play to life with good intentions and leave no details out of perspective.