Today in class we were each challenged to read a line of "King Lear" and convey the feeling of the character who speaks. I found myself rather stumped by my line, which was a part of Goneril's speech to flatter her father, because I don't think Goneril's emotions as she delivers this speech can be easily identified or reduced into one explicable feeling. Although her words are loving and full of compliments, her speech is forced and exaggerated because, as she articulates in later scenes, she does not truly hold her father in such high regard. Clearly, her emotions in this scene are complex and conflicting.
It is difficult to properly convey Goneril's exaggeration of her love for Lear while also accounting for the fallacy of her words and her discomfort in the situation. Identifying Goneril's predominant emotion and "giving 500%" sounds simple in theory, but it's challenging to deliver the lines of a character with such complex feelings. This might upset our friend Nabokov, but I think an actor needs to really understand and empathize with the character they are playing in order to accurately convey their emotions.
As someone whose theatrical experience is limited to a couple of middle school plays I'd rather forget, I know I feel challenged by our reading of "King Lear." However, I've realized that reading a play out loud allows our class to understand characters in a different way from reading novels. Acting challenges us not just to analyze characters, but also to bring them to life.
I agree with you. This is going to be a challenge, but will benefit the class as a whole and I think the trade off is worth it. It's also fun to listen to David read. He's good at it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I think there are two main schools of acting: one where people completely try to change who they are (they often make a big deal of wearing only clothes their characters would wear including undergarments) and one where people try to identify with the character and in that way, better understand the character's emotions. I've always thought the latter was the more effective.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who had to read the sames line you are speaking of, I can see where you are coming from. Goneril is a complex character, especially when one must consider the audience of all of her speeches, which is difficult to visualize when we are not actually acting it out. It really helped me last night to go through her lines and fill out the worksheet with the different ways they could be read because it helped me analyze the different parts of her personality. Even so, I'm sure my delivery today was no where near 500%.
ReplyDelete