Dark Receiver

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

Glen walked to the center of the stage, hands on his hips, trying his best to look upset. He could feel the tension building as he came to a stop and looked up at the top most curtains. He sighed deeply shaking his head and threw his hands in the air as if there was no words for his misery. He saw one of the cast wiping away a tear, like this was the last thing she was expecting, he turned and then smiled warmly and clapped his hands

"I swear that if you just read like that you are the best cast that I have ever had the pleasure of directing. People I can now die a happy man and you are the ones who made me so happy"

That broke the silence and relieved laughter and chattering filled the stage, Elron came walking over and shook his head

"You know Glen sometimes you just act too damned well, I almost broke down in tears myself"

Glen chuckled and patted Elron's shoulder

"Hey I said I'll be working you and I hope that just gave everybody a reminder that we still have lots to do, now if you will excuse me I have work to do"

He clapped his hands together

"Right everybody backstage is a few drinks and a light breakfast, you have ten minutes then I want everybody back, if you are not back I'm carrying on without you and if you don't catch up..."

He let the threat hang and when the cast still didn't move he shooed them away like a flock of geese

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire watched Glen walk onto the stage and watched his charade of disappointment. Of course she had nothing to compare their read through with, but it seemed to her that they had all worked together and that the words had just flowed. In her mind's eye she could almost see the action as the story unfolded.

His applause was met by relief, but she mutely shook her head at his game-playing.

"I swear that if you just read like that you are the best cast that I have ever had the pleasure of directing. People I can now die a happy man and you are the ones who made me so happy"

His praise was definitely worth having and that he had praised them as a group meant alot to Claire as she didn't want to be treated like some Prima Donna. The "Nurse" and "Lady Capulet" both hugged each other and then drew her into their embrace and she joined in with the laughter and chatter. She thought the actress cast as the nurse was especially brillant and a perfect support for her role as Juliet.

"Hey I said I'll be working you and I hope that just gave everybody a reminder that we still have lots to do, now if you will excuse me I have work to do"

His words and the clapping of Glen's hands got their attention.

"Right everybody backstage is a few drinks and a light breakfast, you have ten minutes then I want everybody back, if you are not back I'm carrying on without you and if you don't catch up..."

And Claire found herself borne away by the two other women and introduced to Paris and Lord Capulet as they sipped coffee and ate pastries.

She couldn't have been happier!

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

He sat down on the edge of the stage, reading through the script, he had his breakfast early, too early for some, but he had a long day ahead of him, so he would snack when he could get the time. Around ten minutes the cast started to drift back, but he gave them some time. No real rush, but he didn't want them to take all their time, after fifteen minutes he got up. As he turned to the face the stage everybody turned their attention to them.

"Right most of you should know the next act very well, it is the one most iconic moment of the play. Romeo oh Romeo, why forth art thou Romeo? These words spoken from a balcony had gripped the attention and also fueled so many other sort of parody's. Right let's get started, Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio center stage if you so please. Juliet, you can remain as you are, on cue you can step from the side and we can just image that it is your balcony"

He looked around,

"So everybody set? Let's begin then. Chorus you're up"

He looked around as nobody made a move

"Chorus?"

Elron chuckled

"Come on Glen, stop teasing the people"

Glen smiled

"As you wish oh mighty Romeo, the lover of Verona. Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, and young affection gapes to be his heir; That fair for which love groan'd for and would die, with tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair. Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, alike betwitched by the charm of looks, but to his foe supposed he must complain, and she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks: Being held a foe, he may not have access to breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; And she as much in love, her means much less to meet her new-beloved any where: But passion lends them power, time means, to meet tempering extremities with extreme sweet"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Right most of you should know the next act very well, it is the one most iconic moment of the play. Romeo oh Romeo, why forth art thou Romeo? These words spoken from a balcony had gripped the attention and also fueled so many other sort of parody's.

Right let's get started, Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio center stage if you so please. Juliet, you can remain as you are, on cue you can step from the side and we can just image that it is your balcony"

Claire stood and watched the first short scene, stepping forwards at the line;

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks ...

It was just she and Elron on stage. She studiously avoided responding to Elron's words, moving forward and speaking her own lines out to Glen until Elron's speech demanded her attention:

I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

The interplay was all between them then. Without the help of the raised balcony, it was difficult to get the dynamics right; but to Claire it reminded her of their meeting in the park as they read through lines, but this time both of them were involved, almost trying out the words and their delivery.

By the end of the scene, neither actor felt that they had mastered the scene, but for a first read through, they knew they had a solid basis to work from.

At the end Elron was left on the stage. He had many more scenes to come, but Claire could take a seat to watch the action until the Act's final two short scenes, Juliet and Nurse and then the 'marriage'.

After that, poor Juliet's scenes were all misery and desperation.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

It was not the best, but it was much better than he had ever wished for or have ever worked with before. Pretty soon he had to let them stop because it was lunch time and they had to keep up the energy to continue their work, soon enough they would skip meals, but not yet. He sat in one of the front row seats as the cast was busy with the provided meals. Making notes in the script, he had to admit that he was glad that Elron decided to step up and play Romeo. Well apart from the fact that Juliet earned her spot with her brilliant audition, he knew that there was no other male who could do such a good job of making Romeo believable. He wondered if this play would turn more serious for Elron and Claire, he had seen it happen before. He shrugged and went on making notes, sure he felt the pangs of jealousy, he really liked Claire, but he was not a man to stand in the way of anything his friend decided.

"One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. Therefore, the man who stands in the midst of the struggle and says, "I have it," merely shows by doing so that he has just lost it."

He knew he was talking to himself, but then again there was nobody to listen to him, nor judge him.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire Westall

Lunch was a sociable affair. Claire managed to speak more with the young man playing Paris and the actor playing her father. There were difficult scenes coming up and they were all keen to try to make the best first impression possible and by the end of the meal all were looking forward to try out their initial ideas.

Neither Glen, nor Elron sought her out, not that Claire had expected them to. Along with the rest of the cast, she was keen to impress at this read through. The only person who seemed to have no nerves was Elron. Whilst Claire might have begrudged his lack of nerves, Claire understood that he was considered brilliant and so had a hidden pressure on him to deliver time and time again, even at this stage.

Act III Scene I was announced. The fight scene and the key turning point in the play. Glen introduced this scene, it’s background and importance to the forthcoming plot and tragic outcome. Claire sat in the stalls with only half an ear on his direction as she read through her part in the following scene. The speech anticipating her forthcoming wedding night was probably the speech she knew least and was the most out of her comfort zone. Once the nurse arrived to announce Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment, she had a massive emotional shift to make. She just hoped she was up to it.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

"Right people, let's get this one in, work through it and if you do well I'll give you a tea break,"

He grinned and walked down the center of the stage and then back to the front, thinking deeply, then he looked out at the empty seats

"Now before we start I have to find out, Mercutio and Tybalt, can you two fight with a rapier and make it look convincing?"

The two actors looked at each other and slowly shook their heads

"Right then, starting tomorrow morning I want you here at seven for a week, if by then you can't at least swing a rapier like a broad sword then I will give up and hang myself from the rafters"

He hopped off the stage and took his seat

"Proceed if you will"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire Westall

The time for her scene came.

They were not words she knew and so Claire read through the 30-odd lines and made a reasonably good effort at it, but it was Claire the actress, not Juliet who was on the stage.

Things improved when the Nurse entered, the woman's animated reading helping Claire to approach the level of grief required for the scene.
As soon as the brief episode were over, Claire moved to stand before the stage and watch Elron's scene with the Friar. To her, Romeo's "breakdown" had always seemed self-pitying and over dramatic; but even at this read through, Elron brought the young man's pain to life. She watched in admiration, not as Juliet, but as an observer who felt his pain.

There followed a brief scene between Paris and Capulet and then she and Elron were to act out the morning after their wedding night. Only now did Elron make his way across to Claire, no doubt preparing for their appearance on stage and their awakening from their "marriage bed".

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

"Stop, hold up a second"

He was not very happy at the effort Claire had put in, something had thrown her off game, now she sounded like the bored actress.

"Claire, a moment if you please"

He motioned her to come to him, when she joined him, he looked at her

"Right what is it? You sounded bored and not into the scene. I know this is just a reading, but I did say that I want to see a little bit of your character as well. You seem off of your game"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Stop, hold up a second.
Claire, a moment if you please"

Claire glanced at Elron and walked over to Glen.

"Right what is it? You sounded bored and not into the scene. I know this is just a reading, but I did say that I want to see a little bit of your character as well. You seem off of your game"

She blinked as he spoke.

"Which scene?"

She queried, taken aback.
To her mind she had read as well as any of the others.

"... this ... middle bit is unfamilar ... what character were you wanting to see?"

She told him defensively wondering how he could accuse her of being 'bored',

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

"I was hoping to see Juliet. I didn't and now I am asking what is wrong. Go over the part again and when you are ready we will start again"

He gave her a pat on the shoulder

"I need you to be Juliet when you are on that stage OK? If you have any problems just tell me and we can work on it"

He frowned

"I think I used the wrong word, you didn't seem bored, more...withdrawn? It's like you were Juliet up until now and she ran away from you"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"I was hoping to see Juliet. I didn't and now I am asking what is wrong.
Go over the part again and when you are ready we will start again.
I need you to be Juliet when you are on that stage OK?
If you have any problems just tell me and we can work on it.
I think I used the wrong word, you didn't seem bored, more...withdrawn?
It's like you were Juliet up until now and she ran away from you"

Claire listened to Greg's words. The opening speech hadn't been her best, but being called over to him and told to go away and read through and do it over again did little for her confidence. Sure he asked what was wrong and what problems she had with the scene, but she could hardly discuss that with him now.

She glanced round aware that she was holding up the schedule and that she was the only one who had been told to do a scene over because it wasn't good enough. She had no idea where she was going to get Juliet's pre-wedding night euphoria from in the circumstances; even given time she didn't feel she could better the speech without guidance.

"Fine ... "

Claire responded instead and took herself off to read through the words once more whilst the others were told to take a coffee break.

For the first time, she considered that perhaps she was out of her depth ...

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

He winked Elron over

"Please find out what is wrong, something is bothering her, but it seems she doesn't trust me enough to discuss it with me at the moment"

He got up and gave Elron a mock punch on the shoulder

"With your tact I'm sure that she will be able to tell you what is wrong. As this is her first time I just hope I wasn't too harsh on her you know?"

He clambered onto the stage and headed to the back, he had picked up that there was a few others that didn't really bring their part as from what he could remember in their auditions and compared to the first act. He spoke to them all quietly, making a mental notes of some problems they had.


Elron Kramer

He had noticed that Claire didn't really like being called aside, but he could understand Glen's fear. Claire was his leading lady and if she didn't seem all into it, it would ruin her acting further. He found her where she was with the script and he sat down next to her.

"Hey"

He gave her a smile

"Told you he might be a bit much, so what is the problem? From the looks of it you are a bit uncomfortable, but I may be wrong."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire Westall

“Hey”

Claire looked up from her script to see Elron sat beside her.

” .. Hey ... “

She responded with a smile.

“Told you he might be a bit much,”

Claire shrugged; deliberately non-committal.

”So what is the problem?”

She bit back a sigh. She was beginning to get a complex about this speech!

” ... From the looks of it you are a bit uncomfortable, but I may be wrong.”

She smiled at him then nodding.

”... yes ... more ’uncomfortable’ than having a ‘problem’ with it ... “

She confessed, her eyes running over the lines.

” ... I think I always skipped through this speech whenever I’ve read the play ... especially those first 15 lines or so ... it’s just so ... wordy ... “

She hesitated wondering how much to tell him.

She glanced back to where Glen was speaking with a group of the others and turned back to Elron.

”I ... just don’t know how to play it ... “

The confession fell from her before she realised and she knew she’d have to elaborate.

” ... I mean the whole story ... it pins on the force of the love between Romeo and Juliet. And ... I have no problem identifying with first meetings, the parent-conflict scenes, even the ending tragedy, but I guess the speed that Juliet initiates the whole marriage process and the whole wedding night scenes ... I guess I find that difficult to ... relate to ... “

She blushed hoping she hadn’t made her own sexual inexperience too obvious.

”She just ... grows up ... so fast ... and much of that happens in this speech ... and I just can’t get into those thought processes yet ... “

 

[DeathsKnight]

Elron Kramer

"Hmmm the reasons of why would be more Glen's forte, but let's see if I can give it a shot. She meets Romeo as she are to be wed to Paris right? So instead of going into this arranged marriage she would rather be wed to what is seen as her true love. Since she turns fourteen in such a short time, the wedding has to be rushed to annul the arranged marriage. Such a thing has to happen at a pace and through this she has to cope with the death of a family member and also the disapproval of her family, this brings the innocent little girl into womanhood"

He tapped his lips with a finger

"If you want to you can read it to me, just read it and then tell me how you think Juliet would feel"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Hmmm the reasons of why would be more Glen's forte, but let's see if I can give it a shot. She meets Romeo as she are to be wed to Paris right? So instead of going into this arranged marriage she would rather be wed to what is seen as her true love. Since she turns fourteen in such a short time, the wedding has to be rushed to annul the arranged marriage. Such a thing has to happen at a pace and through this she has to cope with the death of a family member and also the disapproval of her family, this brings the innocent little girl into womanhood."

She nodded, hiding a smile.
He really hadn't gotten what she'd been hinting at at all.

"Don't you think it's a bit of a leap from:
'I'll look to like, if looking liking move ...' ? "

To Claire it still seemed strange that she fell in love so completely and so quickly.

"If you want to you can read it to me, just read it and then tell me how you think Juliet would feel"

She nodded.

"Thanks ... that might help ... "

She looked down at the speech, but before she started to read she looked up at Elron.

"How do you manage to make the change between the "love sick" Romeo to the state of him being totally in love with Juliet?"

She wondered if Elron had ever felt anything like that in real life, or hopefully if he drew on something else to make his acting so convincing.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Elron Kramer

"It's just a little mind trick to be honest. Like Glen said stay in character, or as you would know it, method acting"

He adjusted his glasses

"To go from the total doting idiot who would scale high mountains and swim dark seas, to the "I-will-do-anything-for-your-love" kind of guy takes practice. Also you have to remember this is not my first show and by now I actually know what Glen wants, what I do know is the same that I will be doing at the end"

He shrugged

"Just call it all out commitment to the cause, it works for me. The transition is something you have to work on, even if you stand and talk to yourself in the mirror,"

He chuckled

"I have done the strangest things for my art"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"It's just a little mind trick to be honest. Like
Glen said stay in character, or as you would know it, method acting.
To go from the total doting idiot who would scale high mountains and swim dark seas, to the "I-will-do-anything-for-your-love" kind of guy takes practice. "

She listened to him as he explained, feeling the weight of her own inexperience.

"Also you have to remember this is not my first show and by now I actually know what Glen wants, what I do know is the same that I will be doing at the end. Just call it all out commitment to the cause, it works for me."

She had started fine, but the break and the chit-chat with other members of the cast had distracted her. The relative informality of the read through was actually more difficult to handle if you were less experienced in sustaining the character.

" The transition is something you have to work on, even if you stand and talk to yourself in the mirror. I have done the strangest things for my art"

Claire laughed, considering his words as she glanced back down at the script and flicked back to the previous scenes of first meeting and marriage and then forward to the shared scene she and Elron had been about to act out when Glen called a halt to proceedings.

Unlikely that she would fall in love with someone and be desperate to get him into her bed, she mused, her lips twitching at the thought, but perhaps she could get into that mind set after all ...

"Ok ... I think I'm ready to give it another shot ... "

She told him finally.

She had realised that this scene was about anticipation. In truth Juliet knew little more than she about "wedding nights". The difference was that Juliet was eager to change that and perhaps had an idealised image of what her night with Romeo would be like. The following scene with Romeo was the biggest transition, for that was in fact where Juliet had in fact "grown up".

 

[DeathsKnight]

Elron Kramer

He smiled

"That is what I like, you get quickly back into character. Just the glint of your eye already tells me that you know how you want to do this. Read it for me please?"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"That is what I like, you get quickly back into character.
Just the glint of your eye already tells me that you know how you want to do this. Read it for me please?"

Claire smiled at his praise; it was just the boost she needed.
She turned to face Elron, her eyes casting over the speech before she started.

”Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging! Such a wagoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west
And bring in cloudy night immediately. “

She paused, considering. The next part of the speech was all about her new husband, so it was easy to address these to Elron.

”Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway eyes may wink, and Romeo
Leap to these arms untalk’d of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties;”

Somehow her embarrassment seemed to have disappeared.
She was Juliet, with all that idealistic anticipation, ignorant of what was soon soon to come. Again her focus was outwards, urging the nightfall.

” .. or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play’d for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty. “

The hardest part of the speech was over, yet again her eyes focused on Elron as she continued.

”Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow’d night;
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”

The irony of the words more marked by the lightness of Claire’s delivery of Juliet’s fancy followed by the impatience.

”O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess’d it; and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy’d. So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.”

The combination of woman and child more telling here than Claire had realised before.

” O, here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo’s name speaks heavenly eloquence.

Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords(35)
That Romeo bid thee fetch? “

She halted then, the soliloquy having developed into dialogue almost before she was aware.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

He had silently moved closer, yes that was Juliet, he smiled at Elron and when she finished he softly clapped his hand together.

"That is exactly what I wanted, I'll say Bravo and Encore"

He gave her a friendly smile

"There is still five minutes left before we continue"

He walked off to his seat

"Oh die zeiten und die gezeiten"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire linked at the applause noticing for the first time that it was Glen who responded first.

"That is exactly what I wanted, I'll say Bravo and Encore"

Elron gave her a conspiratorial smile as GLen continued.

"There is still five minutes left before we continue"

She was ridiculously pleased to be back in his good books again.

Only 5 minutes to go and Claire was determined not to lose her character and so she did not head back to the others and waited for her call before returning centre stage to go through the scene again.

As before Claire spoke out to the stalls and beyond at the start and although she knew she couldn't act out the rest as if speaking to Elron, Claire used the technique she had used in her audition and moved to the stage apron, the words, though quiet still carried throughout the theatre, but seemed all the more intimate as if the audience were truly eavesdropping on the young girl's thoughts.

"Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun. "

She had leaned backwards, her face still visible to the audience, yet looking upwards lost in the imaginings of a star-filled sky.

For long moments she stayed thus, until with an almost inaudible sigh she rose and began to pace impatiently;

"O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it; and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd. So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival(30)
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them."

She was almost a child again and all set to rush at the returned nurse as the woman entered on stage.

Previously Claire had been happy with Juliet's speech: "Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? " But this time, she was fully emerged in the emotions and distraught by the time she reached the words;

"‘Romeo is banished’— to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’—
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound."

The scene ending in stark contrast to Juliet't optimism.

"Poor ropes, you are beguil'd,
Both you and I, for Romeo is exil'd.
He made you for a highway to my bed;
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed."

The scene was much better received, but Claire took herself off leaving Elron to play out Romeo's breakdown at the news of banishment.

His scene done, he moved to join her once more, an arm around her and a hug as they moved to the wings. Their unspoken agreement to remain in character binding them and preparing them for the coming scene. Both halting that Glen did not call a halt at this stage and thus break the momentum as they advanced rapidly to the coming catastrophe at the end of the third act.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

It was flowing now and he waved them on to continue with the reading into Act Four

"On Thursday, sir? the time is very short.

My father Capulet will have it so; and I am nothing slow to slack his haste.

You say you do not know the lady's mind: uneven is the course, I like it not.

Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death, and therefore have I little talk'd of love; for Venus smiles not in a house of tears. Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous that she doth give her sorrow so much sway, and in his wisdom hastes our marriage, to stop the inundation of her tears; which, too much minded by herself alone, may be put from her by society: Now do you know the reason of this haste."

Ah how good these people took the advise he gave them during the break, how much fun it was to listen to them. He smiled and leaned back in his seat, placing his hands behind his head, watching and listening intently.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire Westall

Again, the opening of the scene was just she and Elron; Romeo and Juliet.
With still two acts to go, this was the last scene they would share, the last time they would see each other alive.

With that in mind, the pace of those precious moments between the two were lingering as if savouring every word that passed between them.

"Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear.
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale."

This contrasting with the abrupt change to;

"Hie hence, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. "

And the Nurse's appearance;


"Your lady mother is coming to your chamber.
The day is broke; be wary, look about."

... changing the tone of their leave taking to a panicked rush.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen Kane

He smiled, Claire was back in character, this was what he needed from her, he watched her, mesmerized by her movements. The original clothing would not suit her, picking up a writing pad he still watched them as he sketched a plan for Claire's costume, something a bit more daring, yet it should keep her innocent. Something that would keep the Shakespearean look, but also interest the younger audience, if this worked, then a mayor revamp was to be expected. He grinned as he drew and listened.