So lovely to watch the chemistry between Ferdinand and Miranda grow, seeing their scenes become romantic and lovely rather than awkward or even cliched. I love that Miranda proposes to Ferdinand. You go girl. 

Have been exploring Ariel’s physicality - trying out hand gestures, twitches, different runs etc. During the “Before you can say and come go!” speech, I need to run right across the width of the platforms. I blanked on a line (we had changed it from “Each one tripping in his toe” to “Ariel tripping on her toe”), and rather than call out “line” and have the SM feed me the text, I kept moving across the platforms. When Denise gave notes on the scene, she said, “The bit with the “cry so-so”, the twitches were perfect. More of that!” Who needs to endlessly explore physicality when you can nail it fudging a line?! Good reminder that sometimes letting go, and letting it happen, can open up new discoveries! 

Met Kirsten, Suzanne, and Rebecca, our hair/make-up/costume designers. Realizing we have separate hair/make-up/costume designers. LUXURY! The funny/bizarre feeling of having people look you over and working things out, assessing hair length, final thoughts on designs... It's not about YOU. It's about how the production will look. Looking forward to seeing sketches! 
A long night with lots of scenes where Ariel flits about making magic, but not saying very much. It’s more exhausting than scenes with lots of lines. Getting more confident off-book, having fun with the harpy. 

Going back to basics, re-calling how to get grounded, speak from the pelvis, resonating the voice out clearly. Exploring Ariel’s energy. Fire and dark energy. Thinking about Ariel as dark and gnome-like. Twitchy. Gnarled. NOT graceful!!! 

Have been working on an image board to try and get a better sense of Ariel. Made a cue sheet for myself of my exits/entrances and main blocking thus far. Satisfying the inner nerd, helping to learn it all! 

Busy night blocking with the harpy, and putting spells on Gonzalo and Antonio. The dynamic of the rehearsal space changes each night with the presence of different cast members and characters. Tonight I was the only female on stage. The boys are a lot more boisterous than working with Judy. It’s not good or bad, just a different energy! 

The harpy speech is my favourite Ariel section in the whole show. It’s so meaty, and deliciously fun to play a scary mythic bird. 

Need to do more work on articulation, as Denise mentioned during notes that some of my words are being swallowed. Happy to say, am getting off book more and more. Hurrah!

Phew! Lots of work tonight. We did my first scene with Prospero, and most of Act V, Sc I - “were I human” and “where the bee sucks...” etc. It was thrilling to really discover the power of Prospero’s shift from revenge to redemption - “the rarer action is/in virture than in vengeance”. 

Still trying to find Ariel’s twitches and ticks. My concern is that the speech will become disjointed and lose its rhythm. Perhaps it will be easier when the text is fully ingrained into my head... 

Now, I know this is entirely my JOB as an actor, but running around and speaking lines is exhausting! Show fitness is no joke people! But, oh my, how I LOVE IT. It makes me feel ALIVE. More of this please!

We’re up on our feet, and out onto the floor! EXCITING! Denise gave us basic entrances and exits, an idea of blocking, and then we’d run the scene. Lots of textual discoveries along the way, finding ways to incorporate what we found from the Meisner work into the blocking, making sense of the text. I’m glad I’ve done the work I have on the speeches. It makes being up on my feet, quite a challenge in itself with lots to think about, that much easier. 

DISCOVERIES

• Finding stillness in the movement to define it
• Finding Ariel’s erratic movements, the twitches 

Worked on some more character analysis, basic biography kind of stuff, looked at Ariel’s backstory, what happens to her throughout the play, analyzed her function within it. I love this kind of intricate detective work. You realize what you don’t know. You realize what is actually important. It's a little painstaking, but it gives you a better understanding of the play, and who you are in it. Also, I am an enormous nerd and this kind of work is FUN. 

Borrowed Denise’s copy of Prospero’s Island - a, now out-of-print, book published in 1984 that analyzes The Tempest through Jungian analysis. Quite an academic analysis, it’s heavy going, but unearths an interesting perspective of the play. Made some notes on Ariel, mainly that she is an extension of Prospero’s power and represents the alchemical. Helped to make more sense of Denise’s vision of the play. 

I have all but two speeches memorized. The language is becoming easier to handle, and I hate to admit it, but that damn scansion absolutely helps!! 

Absolutely melting at the language and substance of the play. The speech that got me tonight is one of Prospero's (rather famous) speeches -

I mean, COME ON! That is seriously DELICIOUS writing. 

• Establishing authenticity in rehearsals: how we do keep that authenticity in the space, and on the stage? 
• What is revealed to us as actors? As characters?
• FINDING EACH MOMENT 

Tonight I had to ride my bicycle to rehearsal - my first time cycling through Fort Collins in the dark. The moon, two days away from a full moon, was out.I channeled my inner fire spirit and imagined flying through the dark night... 

It was delicious. Except for the fact that it was freezing. Alas, I am not a spirit, but a human, and I lack the ability to create fire at will. I arrived at rehearsal resembling an ice block. All my drama school tutors harping on about arriving to rehearsal early and ready to start trilled through my head as I spent the first half of the rehearsal trying to defrost and pay attention to the scene rather than my frozen feet. Thankfully we were still reading, and I wasn’t actually required for the first half-hour (see, I was EARLY and therefore ON TIME!)... but it was a good reminder to be prepared: i.e. will getting to rehearsal impede my ability to function at said rehearsal? I'm an Aussie living in the northern hemisphere in winter. It's harder than I imagined. 

TONIGHT’S DISCOVERIES 
- How can Ariel help to create the drama: emotional investment in what is going on? Ariel needs to be invested not only for the purposes of creating drama, but for herself - if all goes to plan, she will be freed. 
- Harpy scene: I will be mic-ed, and my voice distorted through the microphone.