The Blue Room

I first became interested in this play that was first performed in London on 10 September 1998, mainly because its playwrighter was David Hare ('The Hours', 'The Reader') and the director was Sam Mendes ('American Beauty', 'Revolutionary Road'). So when I had the chance to buy the book of the play in London I didn't doubt it.

The play is freely adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's 'La Ronde' and follows a series of linked stories where in each of them different characters of different backgrounds have a sexual encounter and it's always between man and a woman, there are no more characters involved in the scenes. When it was performed in 1998 only two actors did play all the characters in all the different scenes, those were Ian Glein and Nicole Kidman and it had such a commercial success that was brought to Broadway with mixed reviews.

Even though I wans't able to see this play, reading the playwright is good enough to see how challenging for the director and the actors must had been to perform it, with one same scenario that has to be changed for every scene (there are ten scenes in the play) and how the two actors had to be constantly having costume and role changes from one scene to the other. Here are the titles of the ten different scenes:

1. The Girl and the Cab Driver
2. The Cab Driver and the Au Pair
3. The Au Pair and the Student
4. The Student and the Married Woman
5. The Married Woman and the Politician
6. The Politician and the Model
7. The Model and the Playwright
8. The Playwright and the Actress
9. The Actress and the Aristocrat
10. The Aristocrat and the Girl

Here's part of the last scene that I liked the most:

10. THE ARISTOCRAT AND THE GIRL

Aristocrat: Did you sleep well?

Girl: Mmm.

Aristocrat: I was just off.

Girl: What are you staring at?

Aristocrat: On the way the light is falling. The way you woke. You're a pretty girl. You could easily find a man. How old are you?

Girl: 20 in December.

Aristocrat: And how long....

Girl: A year.

Aristocrat: A year. I must go. [...] Perhaps we'll meet again.

Girl: Just ask for Irene.

Aristocrat: Irene. Fair enough. (I've spent the whole night with her and all I've done is kiss her eyes. That's something.) Irene, does this happens a lot?

Girl: What?

Aristocrat: That men leave you. That they just leave you?

Girl: Sure. Everyday.

Aristocrat: No, I mean without... without...

Girl: No. Never!

Aristocrat: It doesn't mean I don't like you.

Girl: I know that. You liked me well enough last night.

Aristocrat: I like you now.

Girl: Yes. But liked me better last night. Don't tell me you've forgotten.

Aristocrat: Yes. No.

Girl: God, you must have been drunk, baby.

Aristocrat: Yes. (Well... it would have been romantic if I'd just kissed her eyes. That would have been romantic. But there we are. It wasn't to be. On we go.) Goodnight.

Girl: Good morning.

Sources: enotes & imdb

Bibliography: David Hare The Blue Room (1998). Ed. Faber and Faber Limited. isbn 0571197884

Theatrical experience (2)

During my first year at the University, I decided to take the Theatre subject with Patricia Trapero as I had always been interested in plays and it had a part of theory and a practical part but before this I had never dared to take part in an acting class and I was curious.

At the end of the course we had two options in order to get our final mark, one was to make an exam of all the theory we learnt over the year and the other one was to make a play or to perform a scene, so with a group of five other students (including Vicky Izquierdo from our class) we decided to make a play and perform it and the end of the year. Our director was a student who had done theatre before and that had this idea of four monologues from four different actresses which was based in a Pedro Almodóvar's idea during his works in the eighties. The first one was the shy actress, who suffered from stage fright and everytime she entered the stage, she looked at the audience scared and left screaming. The second actress was the "silly" one, who between one actress and the next one, entered the stage with a chair and left it there, dancing and singing, until at the end there were five chairs on stage. The third actress was the one who always went to castings and never got any job, and the fourth was, in my opinion, the most interesting one of the play and the one who had a more serious tone, it was a monologue based on the life of actress Romy Schneider and all the difficulties she had during her life and dealing with fame. At the end of the play all four characters joined on stage to witness the director's monologue which was a conclusion of all the struggles actors had to go through.

I had the role of the third actress, the one who went to all the castings and never got hired, and I had to say that it was very difficult for me to get into this role, mainly because it was a character I could not relate to in any way. Her outgoing and "dumb" personality were very hard for me to portray as I am nealry unable to tell a joke in a funny way and it took us, as all in the play worked together, to make it work. I also had to wkr a lot with my voice as I usually speak in a low voice and I had to rise it in order that the audience did hear what I was saying. As a characterization device, I had to wear punk clothes and a pink messy wig which in a way helped me more to get into character. Here is my monologue:

Off- Te imaginas la cámara y dices tu nombre y número. Alto y claro

Ella- Miranda Miguel. 281. (muestra la tarjeta)

Off- Puedes ponerte de perfil un momento?

Ella- Claro. (Lo hace)

Off- No, no, el otro.

Ella- Ahh… (Lo hace)

Off- Muy bien, Martina…

Ella- Miranda (lo corrige)

Off- Eso, Miranda… das muy bién el perfil que estamos buscando (irónico) me dices… a que dedicas tu tiempo libre y te describes con una palabra. Recuerda, sé original. Buscamos gente… original.

Ella- Pues soy Miranda Miguel y soy lerda… (extalla en risas). Perdón, puedo volver a empezar? Corta! Corta! Soy Miranda Miguel y soy imbécil. Y mi tiempo libre lo empleo básicamente en la cría de setas. Sí… me encantan los champiñones; ya sean de lata, en sopas de sobre o al natural. Por la noche de marchita me como unos hongos alucinogenos y abajo… tengo hongos vaginales. (muy lerda)

Off- Ah… Y en quien te inspiras, guapa?

Ella- Me encanta el manga, el porno… ah… y el Atletico de Madrid. La Montiel y la ratita presumida. Viva la Monroe y el gazpacho andaluz. Olé! Abajo Julie Andrews cantando vestida de monja. Y la Mira Sorvino, que tiene el oscar menos merecido de la historia del cine…

Off- (cortándola) Muy bien, Martina (sorprendido)

Ella- Miranda (lo vuelve a corregir más mosca)

Off- Bé, Martina, Miranda, da igual… Coge el paquete y ya sabes lo que tienes que hacer.

Ella- (abre el paquete que tiene en frente, son unas galletas). No, es que yo me he preparado un monólogo. “La gaviota” de Chejov.

Off- Qué gaviota?.. No, no, guapa… A mi con que me digas: “ Me encantan las galletas Mariblanca por la noche y por la tarde” ya me va bién.

Ella- Pero es que a mi en la agencia me dijeron…

Off- Me importa una mierda lo que te dijeran a ti en la agencia. Venga, que tengo una cola de chicas esperando con una nariz mucho más fotogenica que la tuya.

Ella- Me encantan las galletas Mariblanca, por la noche y por el alba

Off- Por la noche y por la tarde (la corrige)

Ella- Pero es que si no, no rima, no?

Off- Y quien coño te ha dicho que tenga que rimar!!?? Venga…

Ella- Me encantan las galletas Mariblanca, por la noche y por la tarde (comiendola), me encantan las galletas Mariblanca (muerde mas), por la noche y por la tarde… (la boca llena, triste frustrada) Me encantan… (desgraciada, dramatica. Cae al suelo… Los otros vendran a cantarle Playback1)

In the center stage during my scene there were two chairs left by the other actress and I had no other object close to me, just the box of cookies that was standing bellow my chair. The director's voice could be heard from the back of the audience so they could not see him and he had to rise his voice a lot too. I had to be sitting there and looking directly at the front which was a really intimidating position at first. In the end we performed it for the teacher and the rest of the class and all went pretty well, the teacher appreciated our effort to create these different scenes and not only to perform a scene that was already written so we all were very satisfied with the result. As for my acting experience I have to admit that theatre is not for me, I had other acting experiences in shortfilms and I find it more suitable for me even though I really enjoyed being part of the producting process of the play and giving acting directions, it would be something I would love to do if I had another chance with threatre, better than performing.