Misalliance (2 scenes), Week 2: "Duty and Desire" - The Rehearsal Room - The Working Actor's Journey

Episode Transcript
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>> Erica Raltrude (00:00):
So, Dylan, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

(00:02):
Maybe we can give you a Cliff Notes version of us so we can all,
you know, know each other. So
where. Where are you based out of? And.

>> Dylan La Rocque (00:13):
based in Los Angeles. Beautiful Culver City,
although probably not right now. It's a little cloudy,
and rainy. but, other than that, been
acting pretty much my whole life.
Went, to high school for it. Went to,
actually, London for three years
to study acting at Lambda. Absolutely

(00:33):
loved it. and I actually was fortunate enough
to understudy, not any of these parts,
but, Julius Baker in Misalliance,
At a Noise within, and was actually fortunate enough to go
on.

>> Paul Nicholas (00:46):
What?

Wow.

Yeah, so I. I've actually, been
fortunate enough to listen to the Percival Hypatia
scene from Inside a Turkish Bath multiple
times.

Ah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's good. That's a. You got a head start.
Yeah.

Yes.

Wow. That. That would be a very wow. Because
I've understudied, too. And I. Last one I
did, I closed the run. And, you know, the
nerves, crazy. But that first night,
having to sit in the Turkish bath and wait to go on.

Yeah.

Must have been insane.

I mean, luckily we had, like, a little part where he walks in
and then he hides. So I kind of
got nerves out a little bit. But, like, I'm sitting in there and I'm just
like, oh, God, I have to do a
scene with Peter Van Norton. And I'm terrified.

Pbn. He's the best.

Oh, he's amazing.

I think everybody does it. Everybody know pbn.
Peter. That's right, Paul. You're still east,
mostly East Coast. Yeah. Peter's Devon.
La. yeah, he. He played my father in
Cymbeline. fell madly in love with him.
yeah. And do you want to introduce yourself
to Dylan, Ms. Michelle, if you don't know him already.

>> Michelle Schultz (02:00):
Hi, I'm Michelle Schultz. I'm based in Los Angeles
as well. Right now I'm sitting in, Santa
Monica, live in Westwood.
and I, have
gotten back to acting after
a very long hiatus. I only got back to
acting about seven or eight years ago. And
then before that, it wasn't until I.

(02:22):
I got my mfa, you know, at the normal
time, and then just
went off to become an attorney.
So that's what I do now.

You actually do that?

I actually. I actually do that. And, But I.
I'm. I'm getting more and more to think of myself as an actor.

There you go. Nice. You are an actor. You're
an actor. Yes. Michelle.

Michelle, I don't think I've ever asked you what kind of law do you
practice?

entertainment law.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, I. I do, motion, picture development
and production.

So you've stayed close?

Yeah, as close as. As possible,
yes.

Building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right.
Wow. I always noticed the
trace of accent. So are you from, like, England
originally or. I trace the trace of
accent. I'm.

I was. I was born in New York. My parents are
American. I grew up in England and then came back to
the States when I was in my teens.

Wow. Wow. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah,
I was. I didn't remember it from. From doing,
Alison, and the nurse. I
didn't. I didn't quite remember, but then again, we were trying to speak
French. Trying to speak. Right.
You were succeeding. yeah. So.
And then, Ms. Nicholas, you'd like to say
hello?

I'm.

I'm just the opposite, Michelle. I was born in England. I was
born in Croydon.

No kidding.

Oh, my gosh.

But, spent most of my life, away from
England, and I've never lived there since.
And, I've been. Been to visit a couple of times, but
a few times, but never lived there.

Wow.

And so if you ever hear me doing a British accent, I know you didn't hear
it last week, but if you ever hear me doing it, it's fake.

Got it.

I'm also a dialect coach. I do teach
particularly, variations of
British accents. Oh, cool.

What I can think is I'm just watching him going, where do you find the
time for all of it?
I admire your energy and focus.
hi, Dylan. I'm Erica, and,
I'm based out of New York City, but I'm a
proud Seattle person. and
I've been here for, like, almost 30 years now. And,

(04:41):
we're theater regions off on
Broad, all that kind of stuff away. And,
Shaw. The. The two full productions I've done of
Shaw were both Miss alliance, and I played
Lina, and then I played Miss M.
Charlton. So, and I just adore
Shaw. So,

(05:01):
last week we talked a lot about, like, just a quick
catch up. We talked about what this period was like in terms of, like,
the Edwardian period and, and the idea of the different
classes, the upper class being like the, aristocrats, the people born
to the manor and that kind of thing, versus the
middle class, which was slowly growing. And
the, they were actually,

(05:21):
when I talk wealth, they were actually the
Wealthy, the upper class really wasn't
as so much. And then the majority of the population, 80% I
think, were lower class. The labor
just living day to day, hand to mouth.
and Mrs. Charlton jokes, as you may have remembered, but she
basically says don't ever lend the aristocracy money because

(05:41):
they'll just keep coming back like you fed a straight puppy, you
know. so it's, it's an interesting dichotomy of
class and I've been rereading and
going through this. and I'm,
I'll get to this in a second because
I promise to go through and see how everybody addresses
Bunny Bentley
and Johnny only calls him Bunny.

(06:05):
but what. In front of his father he says
when, when I think it's Hypatia suggests they go off and
play tennis. And he calls him young
chapter. but I don't know that Johnny is doing it
because he's aware of his father being there because he also just had a conversation
with him talking about how Bentley's
kind of a disappointment. Hypatia
calls him Bentley and Bunny,

(06:28):
about a mix. Lord
Summerhays calls M. Mostly Bentley.
He never says Bunny, but he does call him a baby
at one point when he's scolding him.

Joey.

only calls him Ben. His you know, classmates.
And I'm gonna turn on my
do not disturb and my favorite. I. Well,
Tarleton doesn't.
I don't think. I think he only refers to him with endearments
like no, you know, good boy and ah, that kind of
a thing. but Mrs. Tarleton, I,

(07:01):
I probably should be saving this for Nathan actually is.
She calls him child and boy and
refers to him as the little ones. She's very sort of
infantilizing with him. She never really
calls him by his name and she refers to him at one point
our visitor. So there's
still I think the mother thing. Trying to. Not sure if
she's approved of Bentley as a marriage. Anyway,

(07:24):
so rereading
this and I'm, I'm going to come up with a list. Maybe I'll email you
guys, during the week.
But. So I spent a
semester, a summer and a semester studying
abroad. I was at Bada in Regent park
and Regent's park and one of my teachers was Jane, ah,

(07:44):
lapaterre. And she said to us,
she said if you're doing a Shakespeare character, if you're doing
Cleopatra, you can do all the history that you
want. You can do all that research if you want But Shakespeare just
gives you exactly what you need to know about her to play her.
and to some degree, I mean, you could say the same. I think
it is important to know the period that it's, written in. I

(08:07):
can't see production photos
of another production where they. I think he modernized it.
They put it in a. More of a, I don't know, 1940s, 50s. I
don't know why, but I
think for the most part, people stick with the period that it was
done in. which, personally, I. That's the
way I would go. But it is interesting

(08:27):
to, go through
and, look at what other people say about
you as a character and also what you say about
you. so I would encourage
you to do that. going forward,
I would say, and I'll get more into it with Johnny
and, Bunny when Nathan, is done with

(08:47):
Theo duty.
but we're going to go into now Hypatia and
Joey. So we're just going to throw you right into the fire. Dylan.
yeah. so why don't we.
Would you like to read it first? Read it first, and then we'll go back and we'll
start talking. Yeah.
So get to not see where

(09:09):
m. Did I put it.
Do.
That's my hold music.
Okay, so, I'm going
to pop off video and let you guys
just give it. Give it your best shot
and any input you have. Paul too. Just

(09:30):
hop in there. You got it.

Mr. Perful. Mr. Percival,
where are you?

Ah.

aren't, you glad I've caught you?

No, I'm not. Confound
it, what sort of girl are you? What sort of house
is this? Must I throw all good manners to the
winds?

Doo doo doo doo. This is the house
of a respectable shopkeeper. Enormously
rich. This is the respectable shopkeeper's
daughter. Tired of good manners.
Come, handsome young man, and play with the
respectable shopkeeper's daughter.

Lo Lo. Don't you know you mustn't go
on like this with a perfect stranger?

Drop down from the sky. Don't
you know that you must always go on like this? When you get
the chance, you must come to the top of the
hill and chase me through the bracken. You
may kiss me if you catch me.

I shall do nothing of the sort.

Yes, you will. You can't help yourself.
Come along. Oh, fool,
fool, come along. Don't you want
to?

No, certainly not. I should never be
forgiven if I did it.

You'll never forgive yourself if you don't.

Nonsense. You're engaged to Ben.
Ben's my friend. What do you take me
for?

Ben's old. Ben was
born old. They're all old
here, except you and me
and the man woman or woman man or whatever you call her that
came with you. they never do anything.
They only discuss what other people
do is right. Come and give them
something to discuss.

I will do nothing. Incorrect.

Oh, don't be afraid, little boy.
You'll get nothing but a kiss, and I'll fight
like the devil to keep you from getting that. But
we must play on, the hill and race through the
heather. Why? Because we
want you, handsome young man. But if
everybody went on this way, how happy.
Oh, how happy the world would be.

But the consequences maybe c. It is.

Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may
be serious. My father says so.
And I'm my father's daughter.

I'm, the son of three fathers. I mistrust these
wild impulses.

Take care. You're letting the moment
slip. I feel the first chill of
the wave of prudence.
Save me.

Really, Miss Tarleton.
Damn you. I beg your pardon,
but since we have both forgotten ourselves, you'll please allow me to
leave the house.

Are.

Are you ashamed of having said damn you to me?

I had no right to say it, and I'm very much ashamed of it.
And I've already begged your pardon.

And you're not ashamed of having said, really,
Miss Tarleton?

Why should I?

Oh, man. Man.
Mean, stupid, cowardly,
selfish, masculine male man.
You ought to have been a governess. I was
expelled from school for saying that. The very next person that
said really, Miss Tarleton to me, I would strike
her across the face. You were the next.

I had no intention of being offensive. Surely
there is nothing that can wound any lady in
at least, I really didn't
mean to be disagreeable.

Liar.

Of course, if you're going to insult me, I'm quite
helpless. You're a woman. You can say what you
like, and.

You can only say what you dare. Poor
wretch. Tisn't much,
really, Mr. M. Percival. You sit down in the presence of
a lady and leave her standing.
Mr. Percival. Oh, really?

Really?

Really, really, really, Mr. Percival. Now, how do you
like it? Wouldn't you rather I. Damned you, Miss
Tarleton. I. Patient Joey.
Patsy, if you like.

look here, this is no good. You want to do what
you like, don't you? No.
I've been too well brought up. I've argued
all through this thing, and I tell you, I'm not Prepared to cast off
the social bond. It's like, it's like a corset.
It's a support to the figure, even if it does squeeze
and deform it a bit. I want to be

(14:02):
free.

Well, I'm tempting you to be free.

Not at all. Freedom, my good girl,
means being able to count on how other people will
behave. If every man who dislikes me is to throw a,
handful of mud in my face, and every woman who likes me
is to behave like potty Per's wife, then
I shall be a slave. The slave of uncertainty,
the slave of fear. The worst of all
slaveries. How would you like it if every laborer

(14:29):
you met in the road were to make love to you?

No.

Give me the blessed protection of a good stiff conventionality.
Among thoroughly well brought up yellow. thoroughly well
brought up, ladies and gentlemen, another
talker.

Men like conventions because men made them.
I didn't make them. I don't like them
and I won't keep them.
Now what will you do,
folk? I'll, cut you.

Yay.
Well done. so what are your first
impressions about this? Or
what are your impressions about this scene and the
characters?

I mean, he's def. He's definitely. I don't know
if he's as stiff as, say,
Johnny would be, but I think he's
definitely being brought up in this world of like,
this is how you need to act, this is what you need to do. And,
and he's kind of been thrust into this
wild haymaker of a house and it's. And

(15:35):
then he kind of just ends up falling
into the, the allure of it, I guess.

Yeah, I mean, quite literally dropped in from the
sky.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and then, what
about you, Michelle?

it's, it's. There's a very interesting duality, I think,
because clearly she
has not gone through all of
the straight laced upbringing
that
most women would have. She's got a very
independent mind, but by the same token, she

(16:10):
has also absorbed
a lot of social convention and
propriety. And she's probably
gone along with it,
just to get along, but you get the sense. And
she's just completely bored out of her
mind. And this is

(16:31):
the most, I mean, God, whoever would pick
Bunny to marry.

You know, I don't really go into that. They don't really talk
about their origin.

Story, really, as to how they, how they got. I mean, you
go. I think she might at one point even say sort of like
she expects Bunny would be the best, that she could
expect.

Yeah.

Because maybe she can boss him around a bit more.

And she talks, she talks about him like, you know, well, I like to kiss
him like a little baby and I like to call them and things like
that.

He's more like a lap dog.

Yeah. I truly, I think it's. He's more like
a lap dog to her. And she could put up with a lap
dog.

Right, right. So. But, but this is
something like completely different.
Like I, I think, I think she
sees Percival and it's sort of like, ooh, everything goes all
tingly.

Yeah. I mean, as her father Charlton says
at one point that, you
see, she's not satisfied, restless, wants things to
happen, wants adventures to drop out of the
sky.
Boom.

M. You know, and I got my wish.

Yeah, exactly. What do you think Paul? Got any
ideals or impressions?

I had an initial
reaction to something that Dylan said.
Dylan said, Percival's not as
stiff as, ah,
Johnny. And my, my gut
reaction was, of course he is. He's way stiffer than
Johnny. But then I start to think about it. I'm thinking,

(18:06):
I'm sorry, I'm being selfish. I'm thinking my character.

No, of course he's playing Johnny.

wait a minute. Maybe Johnny is that
stiff. And maybe Percival is not as stiff as I thought he
was.

Yeah.

maybe he's just doing the
right thing. And it's not because he's
stiff and rigid and proper and,
and all of those things. Maybe it's because he does the
right thing because he's a gentleman.

Yeah. I mean he was like all his lines of
like, I was underlining
this. what do you take me for?
I will do nothing. Incorrect. Yeah,
but if everybody went on this way, you
know, the consequences may be serious.
I'm the son of three fathers. I mistrust these wild
impulses.

He also, he also gets upset with himself
because he said damn it to a lady.
Damn you.

Actually, he said, Yep. And also
I find it very interesting because her
story about, you know, slapping him that I was told,
you know, at school. And I said, you know, the next
person who did that, I'd strike her across the face.
And you were the next. Well, Lord Summer
has Summerhays says that to her,

(19:19):
didn't strike him then. But in the scene when, you know, it comes
down to, why are you here? You're blackmailing me. And she's like, what
is that? You know, I don't have
enough experience to know what that is. You know,
that, that she is in A mood for intrigue
this day.

I also have questions. I don't have
a lot of feedback. I think y'all. I mean, it makes
sense the way you all played it, but I have questions
like, and these
questions come from me not knowing to play that well.

Sure.

How well do they know each other? Where does this,
this is more than just an attraction. This is like
lust. Where does it come from?

She just met him.

Yeah, yeah, like that day, right? Or
day before.

And, and Ben.
Well, I think, I don't think she's in the space
when, Bentley talks about the Three Fathers. I don't
remember. but yeah, somebody
talks about his three fathers.
It's somewhere in here. I'll find it.

I think at some point she sort of is intrigued by the
idea of him and wants. When, when will you
introduce me? Introduce me to him?

And how.

This is, this is not, this is not a commentary
on, on what's her name,
Hypatia's. Character. But
in that time, a man's wealth was
a part of the package and was a part of the attraction.
Is he way wealthier than Bentley?

I don't know why I know it, but I'll have to
double, check myself. But I, I have a feeling that.

Yeah, but because you said that
Bentley comes from serious money.

Yeah, yeah. And if they went to school together.

Okay, but, but it's not about the money because Bentley has money.

Yeah, well, no Bentley, I mean, they have money, but
they're not like Uber.

They have status.

They have status.

Okay.

They definitely have. They've got the aristocracy. But I
think I do believe Joey's upper class
too.

he'd have to be to be able to go to a school
in the same school as a public school as the
Lord.

Yeah.

And to call him a chum. Yeah, yeah,
yeah.

and the interesting
thing, being interesting to explore the dichotomy of
having sort of the Three Fathers aspect in
an odd way. You can see how that actually
lends more color and
multiple levels to Joey
than it would to Johnny. I mean, it's, it's,
it's certainly there's more thinking, there's more

(21:52):
Tarleton esque sort of ideas to
explore because like, unlike that, Johnny is
like when I read, I read fiction,
when I go to the theater, I want to sit there and not think about
the work for the two hours you're entertaining me.
And that's the extent of it. I don't need
these philosophy books that dad keeps putting in my way, I
just don't need it. so to me, to me it's like Joey

(22:14):
is sort of an interesting.

Marriage of, well, Hypatia.
He's the total package.

Yeah.

He's got the wit and intelligence
of Bunny.

Yes.

With hunkiness.

Yes, absolutely.

I mean, Johnny's probably a very nice
specimen, you know, her brother, you
know, and it would be quite fine for most women, but
she needs something. She's her father's daughter.
She needs something more.

It's like, One of the things that I got, got me to thinking
because I think we don't hear it the same way.
But I would love to
mark down the things that are sort of shocking that
she's saying. Like when she calls somebody or
refers to somebody in a casual way, has she
crossed a line? Is there a, you know, there's like,

(23:08):
like when she's, she's talking with Lord Summerhays about why
he's not there and he calls her,
ah, I think a. A glorious young beast.
and she says, ah, nobody has ever
called me a glorious young beast. I like that.
Glorious young beast expresses exactly what
I want to be. And there's. And I don't

(23:28):
remember where I put it.
I do love this line. Well, I can't
be poor. We're rolling in money, so it's no use
pretending we're not like that.
but I can be wicked and I'm prepared to
be. So, I

(23:49):
love it.

There's a line here that I'm stealing, that I'm going to keep and use in
my life. I feel. Was it. I feel
the first chill of the wave of prudence.
I'm stealing that.

I, I do love that one. That's another.
Yep. it's,
She says it's a dirty job, but Johnny and I were
vulgar enough to like it. making mud
pies as a kid.
Because, No, I like young people because they're not too afraid
of dirt to live. I've

(24:21):
grown out of mud pies. But I like slang
and I like bustling you up by saying things that
shock you. And I'd rather put up with
swearing and smoking than with dull respectability.
And there are lots of things that would just shrivel you up
that I think rather jolly.

Wow.

Yeah. And I, I got to thinking too about, I mean, if
Tarleton built his wealth
from a small, you know, beginning,
what was their upbringing like to the degree that. How
long were they sort of,
maybe not lower class, but building
up into the wealth. You know,

(25:02):
where Mom, I mean, mom has her whole speech
about her transition too. of what
it was like to
suddenly be in. In a more
upper class kind of thing. But they're not aristocracy, so they're
not bound. And they certainly weren't raised in a
household where they were bound by certain rules

(25:24):
the same way it seems that both
Bentley and Joey were
raised in. The interesting thing that I
find about Bunny and Hypatia and why they
kind of work as at least those friends is they're
both sort of shockers. They like to
antagonize. So at least there's
that. But I will say one thing and then we'll keep going

(25:46):
with the scene. But, are they
also think very quickly?

Yes, they both think very quickly.

I think very fast. Yes.

Johnny is not very quick. Except with
his fists.

Yes. And that, that's something that I think is very built
up in her because he's like. At one point when mom,
is scolding him, he said that except for the
one time that I beat her up
and I apologized and I promised you I would
never do it again. And
he's lived under this, you

(26:21):
know, Johnny, are you gonna. Johnny.
But one of the things that I love because, Shaw wrote a lot of these
stage directions is when Hypatia first enters and Bentley's throwing
his fit, pouncing on Bentley with
no gentle, no very gentle hand.
So, you know, it's like she's taking the. The puppy by the.
Yes.

Like, is it, Is it also fair to say
that both of them are
not, big fans of rules.

And boundaries of Bentley and
Hypatia?

Oh, absolutely.

Oh, I think so. I mean, their approaches, ah, might be
different, at the way they attack that
sort of idea.

But, Hypatia would have been a
flapper.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She would have hidden liquor everywhere in the house, and
only used the books for cutting out
in the book. and she would have been the first
to cut her hair short.

Right, right. Oh, she would have done that almost. Almost
immediately.

Yep, yep.

And had a whole collection of, jazz records.

Completely. Oh yeah. And her father would have loved it.

Yes.

I told her to read something. so
Dylan, talk
to me where you think, Peral rides
the mannered, aspect and
the temptation of this scene with
Hypatia. I find it very interesting that
a lot of times people can really lean into the.

(27:54):
The aspect of like. No, I'm arguing against you. No, I'm
arguing against me, but the, the idea of where is the
temptation? that she's really.
Because she's. You've never. First of all, you crash
landed into this place with a pie, a partner that you
thought was another guy.

Yeah.

Turns out you've got this bizarre
creature, Polish creature, who just did some
acrobatics in the air as you were crashing and saved your
life.

Yeah.

and I think you were trying to set the record for,
if I recall that you're doing the flight because
you're setting the record for passengers.

I thought it was the other person that was setting the record.

Oh, Nina.

Yeah, yeah.

Convince them. Yeah. M.
But pardon me. But
So. And, and I mean this woman, you've
been there for what, two hours? An hour
maybe.

Yeah.

So tell me, tell me about where you think Percival's
headed. This isn't a test or anything like that.
As we're bantering, we're coming up with more and more ideas.
So what do you think?

I think in the beginning it's like what are you
doing? This isn't how you're supposed to
act. But as the scene progresses it's sort of like
a I'm gonna keep my morals but where
is this going kind of thing.
And so it's, it's having the boundary. But in
the conversation, in his lines, he's allowing her to keep

(29:22):
going.

Yeah.

Because I think he's intrigued. He's like, I've never met someone
like this. I've been well
brought up and I have my morals. But like
where is this going?

Right. Nobody covered this in any of the chapters, you know, that
I was, I was raised with. Nobody told me what to do
in this circumstance. Yeah,
yeah, it's, it's pretty odd. She's pretty
audacious with him. I mean,
and there's a part of me that loves
Joey and sort of
feels like there's a softer side to Joey because

(29:56):
he was so kind to Bentley
that you can tell that he's not
joining the pylon Bentley movement.
Doesn't call him Bunny. He's the only one who calls him
Ben. Which I find very
sweet and endearing. which
to me also suggests an intimacy

(30:17):
and, and a friendship
and a, a respect which nobody is
giving Bentley.

Yeah.

Tell Lena at the end when she's like, you'll come with me.
And he says yeah,
so all right, let's, let's
look at the top and just
start from there.
So,

(30:47):
and yeah,
let's. Let's just start reading and then I'll stop you.

Mr. Percival? Mr.
Percival, where are you?
Aren't, you glad I've caught you?

No, I'm not confounded.

What.

What sort of girl are you?

What.

What sort of house is this? Must I throw all good manners
to the winds?

This is the house of a respectable shopkeeper,
enormously rich. This is the respectable
shopkeeper's daughter. Tired of good
manners. Come, handsome young
man, and play with the respectable
shopkeeper's daughter.

All right, I'm gonna stop you now. Stop, stop, stop. I
wanna. Let's start the scene again.
And I. I, want you to
both try
and take your time with this.

With.

With Percival.

What the me.

Right now. And. And. But it's.
It's also happening with a woman who
has probably never made you go woo. Little pinwheel.

Yeah.

and. And then Hypatia,
a lot of like,
You know how it's funny when you. You It's. You're easy with the other
guys and you're clever and things like that. And then when you. You actually
are attracted to someone and you suddenly sound
like a. You lose words or
you find. Or you blurt something out and then

(32:30):
see where it would take you. If it's when you catch
yourself doing something.
Oh, that felt good. Or,
oh, did I go too far?

Or.

You know, because you are pushing
a. A social norm. I think she's
very well aware of them because
that's how she knows how to break them. You
know what I mean? So let's,
start at thinking that you actually have lost him.

Okay?

Gotten away from you. And how you react when you find out
that he's you. Oh, you did get him after
all.

Mr. Percival? Mr.
Percival,
where are you?
Ah. Aren't, you glad
I've caught you?

No, I'm not.
Confound it. What sort
of girl are you?

What sort of house is this?

Must I throw all good manners to the
winds?

Do, do, do, do, do.
This is the house of a respectable
shopkeeper, enormously rich.
This is the respectable shopkeeper's daughter.
Tired m of good manners. Come,
handsome young man, and play with the

No, no. Don't you know
that you mustn't go on like this With a perfect, stranger?

Look down from the sky. Don't you
know that you must always go on like this? When you get the
chance, you must come
to the top of the hill and chase me through the bracken.
You may kiss me if you catch me.

Excellent, excellent. Sort
of starts things up just a little differently.
Just a little differently. yeah. I really
like that. Yeah. The
it, and it's so funny because I love that she
slips her hand into his and she, he
doesn't pull away until after she said, come handsome

(34:45):
young man and play with the respectable shopkeeper's daughter.
Yeah, that, you know, that it's not. So
there's moments of, oh,
okay, no, I can't
watch Percival fight with that,
while he's also fighting with her.
Is going to be really interesting to go with the

(35:06):
journey. and Hypatia having,
having fun, taking the risks and, and
when you get the do, do do do do do you know,
play with that, like do
do you know, or whatever you want to do.
Just, just play around with it, you know, and it
could, it eventually just falls out of her mouth.

(35:28):
M. But the thing that I, I, I love to
repeat over and over, is like my old teacher
used to say, Richard Easton, he, used to
say you should always try anything in
rehearsal because even if you don't end up going that
way, the ghost of it will be in your
performance. So if you pull the
doo doo doo doo's apart and try different things, different

(35:51):
rhythms or whatever, that will help
sort of play into what you end up finally doing.
At least that's what, that's what I believe.
it, it would be interesting to play around with
Joey when

(36:11):
there are quotes around what you say.
You know what I mean? Like if,
you know the whole thing about. No, no, you know, you mustn't go on
like this with a perfect stranger. My dad told me
that. Dad number two told me that.

Yeah.

Just every once in a while the phrase like, it's
like a reset.
yeah. Drop down from the sky.
And it would be fun to find moments on
your own lines.

Percival,

Of just maybe a second somewhere where you go, God, did I hit
my head? You know.

Sure, yeah,
yeah.

How could you not have at least cut your fate? I don't know.
But, because it's Shaw. It's a play. Suspend
your.

Yeah.

and going into this, how much of,
of, is your
knowledge of her engagement to Ben
part of the, the, it's part of the
manners. Yeah, it's true. Or
is this a woman that when you first saw her you're like, yeah,
and then you found it. Oh, oh, shoot, Ben's

(37:24):
already got her.

Yeah.

These are all things I'm Just going to throw at you like.
Yeah, symbolic acting and directing. Just
see what hits the wall and drips down the best.
So,
I'm gonna let you go further with those ideas. So start again
from the top. I loved you. You playing with those ideas at the
top, you know.

Mr. Percival.
Mr. Percival. where are
you?
Aren't you glad I caught you?

No, I'm not.
Confound it. And what sort of girl
are you?

What sort of house is this?

Must I throw all good manners to the
winds?

Do, do, do,
do. This is the house
of a respectable shopkeeper.
Enormously rich. This is the
respectable shopkeeper's daughter. Tired of
good manners. Come,
handsome young man, and play with the

No, no.
Don't you know you mustn't go on like this with a perfect
stranger?

Look down from the sky.
Don't you know that you must always go on like this when you get a
chance? Oh, you must come to
the top of the hill and chase me through the bracken.

I shall do nothing of the sort.

Yes, you will. You can't help
yourself. Come along.
O o come
along. Don't you
want.

No, certainly not. I should
never be forgiven if I did.


Nonsense. You're engaged to Ben.
Ben is my friend. What do you take me
for?

Ben's old. Ben was born
old. They're all old here
except you and me
and the man. Woman. Or woman man or whatever you call her that
came with you. They never
do anything. They only discuss
whether what other people do is right.

(40:08):
Come and give them something to discuss.


Don't be afraid, little boy.
You'll get nothing but a kiss. And
I'll fight like the devil to keep you from getting that.
But we must play on the hill and race through the
heather.

Why?

Because we want to, handsome young man.

But if everybody went on this way.

How happy, oh, how happy the world would
be.

But the consequences may be serious.

Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences
may be serious. My father says
so, and I. My father.

Sorry.

I'm the son of three fathers.
Mistrust these wild impulses.

slip. I feel the first chill of
the wave of prudence.
Save me.

All right, before we get to
slapping. Nicely done. Nicely done.
My friends. let me.
Sorry. I had
a couple of thoughts.
play around with the idea, Michelle,
of you must come to the Top of the hill and chase me through the
bracken. Is that

(41:34):
something that she just sort of like she's looking around. She's like,
bracken. Let's do it.

Do it.

Is it something that she's fantasized about? Like, oh, I've got to
fill out, all the things that I fantasized about. Rolling around in the hay
loft, that kind of a thing. Oh, let's
do this one. You know, play around
with that. Because if it is a
new idea, then coming back to it when you
do could be even more. I'm committed to
this fantasy. You know, if you wanted

(42:03):
to do the. To help find other colors and tap back
to other.

Yes, yes.

now, so
I love that when you go, yes, you
will. You can't help yourself. Come along.
He doesn't move.
Not only is he standing there
not going with you, but he's not leaving
into the house either.

(42:32):
So Joey, that gives you
a sense of like, oh, crap, where is he at?
His indecision, his temptation versus
propriety. Never met a girl like this
before and you can see that
like, as a possibility of like, oh,
is it working? It's not working. Is it working? It's not
working. You know what I mean? Does that make sense,

(42:54):
Michelle? and then,
so here's one for you, Dylan.
the, the moments when he lists out the reasons for not
chasing. He's
trying to convince her. But is he really also trying to convince himself?

Probably, yeah.

Yeah.

Because while he's learned all these rules,
he's never been tested on any of them.
Yeah, certainly probably never thought he'd be
tested like this.

Yeah.

In a, you know, a, wealthy atmosphere in
a place where people are dressed well and they're mannered and everything. And
suddenly this vixen.

Yeah.

and which leads to the other question. If she wasn't
engaged to Ben.

Which.

Might, however you answer it for yourself,
might give you an idea of how hard it is for him to
resist her in the scene.

Yeah.

you know, I've never, I had never thought of
that, Erica, until you just said it.
Oh, that he did. He doesn't leave. There's a reason
he doesn't leave.
And he never thought of that. I just always thought that he was like,
wasn't interested. But it's a play. Why would
he not be interested? Of course he is.

Yeah. Yeah. And that the next time we see them
together.

Yeah.

He's chasing her.

He's chasing her. It's so it's like,
it. It might have been a far more interesting play up on the bracket,
and we just didn't get to see it. You know,
we have to leave that little door open of like,
I'm confused m. By something sure hit me.

when Hypey,
says drop down from the sky, I
mean, I know what literally it means. The plane crashed. I get
it. But, But I'm confused by what she
means because he just said,
yeah, I'm not even looking at the script.
But she says it in response to him saying,

(44:56):
don't you know you're not supposed to do things like that? And she says, drop down from
this guy. Don't, you know, you.

You.

You always should do something like that or something like that.

The way I think of it is that he's not just a
perfect stranger. He has come into my
life like a gift.
Yes. Literally heaven sent.
And. Oh, all I've wanted was to have an adventure.
How more adventurous can you get than having somebody
drop down out of the sky? He's not just a

(45:25):
perfect stranger.

Because when I read it, it kind of clicked my head too. Like.
Like you would sometimes if, you know, you're reading a translation and you feel like
they may be in the translation or adaptation.
Right. That. The
way I think to make it clear
is if you're making a point to him with it.

Yeah. So what Michelle just said, does
that mean. It's not a response to what he
just said. It's just an, exclamation.
Oh, my gosh. This gift has landed in my lap. Or
is it in response to what he just said?
Is it tied to what she says next?

Right. Right.

Yes.

Yeah, I think.

I think it is. In response, literally,
I'm saying, you are not a
stranger. You are
the most amazing thing that has ever
happened in my life.

Yeah. And. And. But I would also. And
I would. I would say,
trapped down from the sky. It's like
pointing out to him the absurdity.

Ah. okay. Okay.

What. What an extraordinary moment.
So how should we be behaving? Except for,
like, this.

Yeah.

You know, it's. And it could be anything from like.
Like apostrophizing like you dropped like the gods
to. Excuse me. You just
drop down from the sky.
You know, it could be any sort. But as
long as there's a. You're pointing it. To make
that point with him, that will clarify

(47:02):
the sort of the. For lack of a better phrase, a rough. The rough
connection. Because I caught that little Tweak
too when reading through it.
because it doesn't feel necessarily like a direct response
initially. But I think as long as
you continue to point out to him that the rules that
he's applying are to any and

(47:22):
all other circumstance from this
one where you just
dropped in from the sky,
your rules mean nothing.

Yes.

So. And I will say that they don't. They do
have one exchange when he first comes in and they sit at the
same table and Lena's coming
and everybody's kind of gobsmacked. And he said, he
asks her, well, you know, if you're married. And she says, I'm
not married. And you know, my patient leans
in and she says, it's clever of you.

Yeah.

What. You know. And she's like to find out
if she's single or not. To call him on it.
And I don't know that any other well brought up woman would have done
that. She might have noted it, but
I find it to be anything that I think,
I think with Hypatia. And back to the whole, I would love
to know how much of this is slang,

(48:16):
how much the audience during Shaw's time
would have gone, oh, oh my God. Oh, oh, oh. you
know what would be shocking to them if any of
it or whatever, because now we just hear it and
things are funny. You know, it's just kind of a great turn of
phrase. She's the only person in the play who talks like this.
So I think it's,

(48:38):
it's finding the awareness
of that using those moments of
slang with her. She thinks very
differently and she's willing to take a
risk to get out of this situation. And
so now she's got to convince him
to take the risk with her.
Like the drop from the sky can also be. You

(49:01):
just survived a plane crash.
How much more extraordinary does this moment need to
be?
I don't know. I think there was something else I was going to say in there, but then of course I went
off on one of my little rattles.
so, yeah.
M.

(49:21):
One more time from the top. And I want, first of all, I want
this to be so hard for you. Because you want to rip her clothes
off?
Just as a try.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Let's just give that a shot and see what
happens. We'll keep going.

Okay.

Mr. Percival?
Mr. Percival,
where are you?
Aren't, you glad I caught you?

No, I'm not.

Confound.
It.

What sort of girl, are you? What?
What sort of house is this. I mean, must I throw all
good manners to the winds?

Do.

Do, do, do.
This is the house of a respectable shopkeeper.
Enormously rich. This is the respectable
shopkeeper's daughter. Tired of good
manners. Come,
handsome young man, and play with the respectable

No, no, no. I mean, don't you
know you mustn't go on like this with a perfect
stranger?

Drop down from the sky.
Don't you know that you must always go on like this when you
get the chance
m. You must come to the top of the hill and
chase me through the bracken. You may kiss me if you catch
me.

No, I shall do nothing of the sort.

Yes, you will. You can't help
yourself. Come along,
fool. Come along.
Don't you want to?

No, certainly not.
I should never be forgiven if I did it.


Nonsense. I mean, you're engaged to Ben.
Ben is my friend.

Do you take me for Ben's
old? Ben was born old.
They're all old here
except you and me and that
man woman or woman man or whatever you call her that came with
you. They never do
anything. They only discuss what
whether other people do is right.

(51:55):
Come and give them something to discuss. No,


Ah.
Don't be afraid, little boy. You'll get
nothing but a kiss, and I'll fight
like the devil to keep you from getting there. But we
must play on the hill and race through the heather.

Why?

Because we want to, handsome young man.

But if everybody went on this way, how
happy.



Nothing is worth doing unless the
consequences may be serious. My
father says so. And I'm my father's
daughter.

I'm the son of three fathers. I
mistrust these wild
impulses.

slip. I feel the first chill
of the wave of prudence.
Save me.

damn you. I beg your
pardon, but since we've both
forgotten ourselves, you'll please allow me to leave the
house.


I had no right to say it. I'm very much
ashamed of it. I have
already begged your pardon.

And you're not ashamed of having said
really, Miss Tarleton?

Why should I?

Oh, man. Man.
Mean, stupid, cowardly,
selfish, masculine male man.
You ought to have been a governess. I was
expelled from school for saying that. The very next person that said
really, Miss Tarleton to me I would strike her across.
Across the face. You were next.

I had no intention of being offensive.
Surely there is nothing that can wound any
lady. Or at least
I, I really didn't mean to
be disagreeable.

All right.

Liar.

Got it. I. I hope you know because I. I've have.
I have my audio off, but I'm giggling like crazy.
Some great stuff, you guys. I want to go back
to.

That was really, really, really good. That was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun. A lot of fun.

Michelle, you are. You are entirely too believable
playing that role.

I concur. Oh my God. That's
hilarious. All right.
I'm going back to
Yes, you will. You can't help yourself. Come along, fool,
fool. Come along. Don't you want to?
And the fun thing. And it's sometimes it's, it's.

(54:43):
It's. Can make things actually even
more funny in the joke sometimes if you genuinely ask the
question don't you want to.
You know those kind of. Just sort of
instead of it being like oh come on.
It's just a plain old. And I would say this
for both of you is we're about to get into a. A. A

(55:03):
real back and forth argument. M.
Ah. An intellectual one. Would you give it another color if
she's. You're actually at the point of convincing
him. I'm going to convince you of this. And I
can see you're thinking
so go with me. And then she
hits him.

(55:24):
Cuz the logic part isn't
quite getting him over the line either.
I would love to see as. As we go through. Well, we'll find
moments later on but with Percival
moments where you sort of smile at her and
you just. You have to convince yourself not
to. Yeah.

(55:47):
So when he says you know, but we must play on the hill and
race through the heather and he. And genuinely ask her
why.

Why? Yeah.

Just to try this as an actual conversation. This
section. M. Because we want to. Handsome young
men really make that point. Just because we
want to. You know.
Why? With all these manners and such.
Why? that's not a line reading. But but if
everybody went on this way. Get them with this point.

(56:15):
How happy. How happy would the world be? You know. But the
consequences may be serious. To me that sounds a little like
he's really sort of starting to. Well, this could be
bad. He's no longer saying this
is bad. It could be bad.

Could be bad. Yeah.

nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may be Serious. My father
says, oh, and I'm a father's daughter. I am the son of three
fathers. I miss Justice. wild
impulses. Take care. You're letting the moment
slip without
it going internal.
Maybe get a little impatient with him just

(56:51):
as another color, like, oh, for sake, would you get
there. You know, it's
like, And, it is
such a wonderful turn of phrase. I feel the
first chill of wave of impudence or, you know,
prudence. I love that.
And then, really, Ms. M. Tarleton, she strikes him. Damn
you. Beg your pardon. But since we both forgotten

(57:14):
ourselves, really, you have committed a major sin.

Yeah.

Big sin. Even though she smacked
you. I mean, but a real man would
never. You know, you went too far.
And, it would be interesting if you. You genuinely asked him, like, in a
puzzling way. Hang on. Really?
Really. Again asking the question,

(57:46):
think, about what to do with, like. So I had no right to say it. I'm
very much ashamed when he says, I have already begged
you. I've already said I'm sorry. You know,
I just find it interesting that in his mannered way, he's
pointing out to her, I said I'm sorry. You know,
it's like, so there'd be something
really curious. It could be anything from a whimper

(58:06):
to anger to
things that would make Percival uncomfortable if they slipped out
kind of thing. M. We've seen the crack in the
facade. Maybe,
I think it should be really, really puzzling
when. When she says, you know, you're not ashamed of having said real
mischargement, because that's a statement.

(58:27):
She's not asking him.

She's.

It's a state. She's saying it.
and then the why should I really ask
her?

Yeah, you don't know.

because this is new to you. And then the
next one, and partly why I stopped here is.
Is the story about the governess and hitting and everything. Is it a
lie?

I think it may be the truth.

It is. But she didn't slap Lord Summerhays.

Oh, no, no. Oh, that's true.

Yeah, that's true.

Just.

Just something to think that I don't know the answer.
A color to play with. It doesn't have to be, you know,
know I'm lying audience. But the, The idea
of where she goes and why.
Because I don't think Shaw made the. Made the
mistake of saying having Lord
Summerhays is really Ms. Tarleton.

(59:21):
And nothing comes up. She doesn't have a twitch. She doesn't.
But it's here.
I mean, she's got to come up with a reason why you.
I don't know if it's her trying to justify it, like this is
her, you know. Well, this is
why, she may not know why she hit him, except

(59:43):
to maybe just hit him because she's frustrated and she wants him to get on with
it. I don't know.
These are just ideas I would love for you to play
with. I
struggle across the face and you were the next.
Or if it's the truth, give it to
me like it's a vow that you made before God.

(01:00:05):
I said I'd do it.
I, had no intention of being offensive. Surely there's nothing that can wound any
late. Finish that sentence
for me in your head. I don't know.
so I had no intention of being offensive. Surely there is nothing that
can wound any lady in.
Not at least.

(01:00:27):
I really didn't mean to be disagreeable.

>> Dylan La Rocque (01:00:29):
Yeah.

>> Erica Raltrude (01:00:31):
Is he breaking at this point? Is he about to
say, you know, a lady who's, I
don't know, coming at me like you are, or
there's a reason he stops himself. He knows his
train of thought stops himself, kind of bumps
along and then gets back to
manners. I really didn't mean to be.

(01:00:52):
And you don't have to have an answer right now. This is
spitballing as we're going along, right?

>> Paul Nicholas (01:00:58):
Can I ask another logic question?

Sure.

Just because my brain is weak.

No, you are the curious mind.

She says I was
expelled from school
for threatening to hit the next
person who said that to me. Right. Not for
hitting someone, but
for threatening to hit someone.

Hm.

Right. Is that what she's saying?

Yeah.

>> Michelle Schultz (01:01:27):
Or.

Or is she saying
I was so intimidated? No, that doesn't make sense. I was
so intimidating. They were afraid of me and they kicked me out of
school. And so. And so you opened your
mouth and you got hit.

right.

Or is she saying
because I was out of line, I was out of order
for threatening to hit someone. I was kicked
out of school and I've been waiting ever since for someone to say
that to me.

Well, it's. It's just hitting me. I think the thing that also
is getting lost is
you ought to have been a governess.
And this is why. Because the last one I
dealt with. Oh
yeah. I'm just making that connection too.

Oh, because she said that to the governess?

Yeah, yeah.

She was going to hit. She told the governess, if you say that to
me again, I'm gonna hit You.

Yeah, okay. Yeah. But she's
also, in the same time, she's just gone
from oh man, man. And she's railing at the
idea of the masculine male man and then
says are you a governess? Because I tell you, the last
time I dealt with one, this is what
happened. M. And
really find Michelle. Those words

(01:02:43):
of the mean, stupid, cowardly,
selfish. Be
a blundering thesaurus. M.
and the interesting. He doesn't finish that sentence.
He hesitates, not quite convinced.

(01:03:06):
So I'm still, I don't know what the rest of that sentence
is.
But he's, he's rattled, clearly.
Cracks are showing. But I would love it if
anybody can figure out
the possibilities of where that sentence
goes.

(01:03:27):
If you don't mind the collective throwing in,
Dylan.

No, of course.

Yeah.

and we don't have to have the answer tonight either. But
that, that has really like stuck
with me as a sort of a flag like God, what is he saying?
Where was he going to go?

The, the way, the way I look at it is
that he's taking
at first, he's taking just the naturally
taking the position that a man
takes. I know how to behave and
nothing in what I said is offensive. But all of a
sudden he maybe

(01:04:06):
is seeing something a little from
her point of view. And so
it's not that it wasn't offensive, but
I didn't mean to be offensive when
I said that. But something is getting through to him
is, is what I think, right?

That that's what I'm thinking too. Not quite convinced.

Yeah.

And if that's a Shaw stage direction, convinced
of her argument,
which would make sense since.

And yeah.

and the way I'm hearing it is a little
different. It may not be different than what you're saying.

No, no, no, do it, do it.

What I think I hear him saying is
in all of this resistance that I've been giving you,
I never meant, none of it is meant to be offensive.
That just slipped. That offensive thing that I just said slipped
out.
Which maybe is exactly what you're saying. But,
but a little bit different in my head instead of

(01:05:02):
I, I, I, those words that I just
said, I didn't really mean to be offensive with them.
It's a little bit different to me than this whole evening.
I'm resisting you, but I don't mean to offend you and
that sounded offensive and I'm sorry.

Okay.

My brain is weak. So that all of what I just said may not make Any sense at
all?

No, it's a. It's a nuanced difference. There's a. The difference
there. and I think. Think it all
like us. he's having trouble articulating
meta. Moment. so let's.
Yeah, so let's think about that. Keep. Maybe if we go a little further
because Percival's about to talk a little bit

(01:05:42):
more,
things will become clearer.
So how about we start from,
Hypatius. Are you ashamed of having said
damn you to me?

Okay.

And. And. Well, actually, no. We want to go back a little bit further
because I want to hear your, having a real discussion
about,
But from. From. But we must play on the hill and
race through the heather. Why?
M. I really want to hear the.
The conversation. The argument

(01:06:19):
going through and forward.

Oh, don't be afraid, little boy. You'll get nothing
but a kiss. And I'll fight like
the devil to keep you from getting that.
But we must play in the hill and race through the
heather.

Why?

Because we want to. Handsome young man.

What if everybody went on in this way?

How happy, oh, how happy the world would
be.

But the consequences may be
serious.

Nothing is worth doing unless
the consequences may be serious. My
father says so. And I'm m. My father's
daughter.

That's actually one more. Try this actually one more time.
And I want to make sure Dylan convince
even though he's getting a wavery,
his points are also back at her.

Yeah.

instead of just musing on the points that she's making,
yeah, try and make the point back to her.

Okay.

Same, place. Good job.

Oh, don't be afraid, little boy.
You'll get nothing but a kiss. And I'll
fight like the devil to keep you from getting that.
But we must play on the hill and race through the heather.

Why?

Because we want to. Handsome young man.

But if everybody wanted on in this.

Way, how happy, oh, how happy
the world would be.


father said so. And I'm my father's daughter.

Well, I'm the son of three fathers.
I mistrust these wild
impulses.

Hey, Claire, you're letting the moment slip. I feel the
first chill of the wave of prudence.
Save me.

Really, Ms. Tarleton?
Damn you. I, beg your
pardon, but since we've both forgotten ourselves, you'll
please allow me to leave the house.

Are you ashamed of having said damn you? To you? To me?

I had no right to say it. I'm very much
ashamed of it. I have already.
Beg your pardon?

And you're not ashamed of having
said, really, Ms. Tartan?

Why should I?

Oh, Man, man,
man. Mean, stupid,
cowardly, selfish,
masculine mailman.
You ought to have been a governess. I
was expelled from school for saying that the very next person that had
really missed hearted to me, I would strike her across the

(01:09:11):
face. You were the next.

Surely there's nothing that can wound any lady in.
Or at least

Liar.

Of course, if you're going to insult me, I'm quite helpless. You're a
woman. You can say what you like.

And you can say only what you dare.
Poor wretch. Tisn't much
really, Mr. M. Percival. You sit down in
the presence of a lady and leave her standing.
Really, Mr. Percival? Oh, Really? Really.

>> Nathan (01:09:52):
Really.

Really. Really, Mr. PercivAL. How do you like it?
Wouldn't you rather I. Damned you, Ms. M.
Tarleton. Hypatia, Joey,
Patsy, if you like.

Look here, this. This is no
good. You. You do what? You want to do
what you like, don't you?
Well, no.
I've been too well brought up. I've argued
all through this thing and I can tell you that I'm not
prepared to cast off the social bond. It's
like. It's like a corset.

(01:10:26):
It's a support to the figure, even if it does
squeeze and deform it a bit. I
want to be free.

Well, I'm tempting you to be free.

Not at all. Freedom, my
good girl, means being able to count on how other
people will behave. If
every man who dislikes me is to throw a handful of
mud in my face, and every woman who likes me
is to behave like Potia's wife, then I shall be a
slave. The slave of
uncertainty. The slave of fear. The worst

(01:10:59):
of all slaves. Slaveries. How
would you like it if every laborer you met in a row were to make
love to you? No.
Give me the blessed protection of a good stiff
conventionality amongst thoroughly well brought up ladies and
gentlemen.

another, talker.
Men like conventions because men made
them. I didn't make them, I
don't like them and I won't keep them.
Now what will you do?

Both.

I catch you.

Really. Well done, y'all. This
is great.
Ah.

We have an intruder.

Daddy.

>> Nathan (01:11:49):
Hi, everybody.

Hey, Dylan, how are you?

How's the one thing that I was thinking of?
There are times when I think
Hypatia's actually acting
like a director. She's got a scene, a fantasy scene she wants
to play in her mind. And she's not entirely going along
with it. No, no, no, no, no. That's not what you do. This is
what you do.

And it, but it's, it's almost like at a certain point she
has to let go of the bar on the roller coaster.

Yeah.

She's trying to convince him to do the same.

Yeah.

so, you can. And you can only say what you dare. Poor
wretch. It isn't much and I think
it's really, it's a great moment to take
advantage of his manners. And it's almost like an
automatic like sit, beg, stand up. You know, with
the whole, you know, he sits down and she's
like, oh, really? I think you can play

(01:12:41):
with that to mock him. Like, oh my God,
I'm so offended that you sat in my presence kind of thing.
Really play around with it. And then you, I loved how you really went into the
really, really, really, really, really, you
know, that was great. Ms. M. Charlton.
Hi. Patient Joey. Patsy, if you like. look here, this
is no good. You want to do what you like.

(01:13:04):
I, I, it's so funny. Well,
yeah, but
Percival,
I'd actually come in play with the
idea. Sorry. That his no is
immediate. Because it's programmed.
Yeah. I've been too well

(01:13:26):
brought up. I've argued all through this thing and I'm,
I tell you, I'm not prepared to cast off the social bond. I find that
so interesting. Maybe he's had these temptations
before, has been around very long.
But maybe the moment he saw her, he started
arguing through all these different things.
Statement of more immediacy. I don't know.

(01:13:47):
And maybe it's disappointing to you.
I can't cast off the social bond. I just can't do
it. it's like a
corset. I love this
metaphor to support the figure, even if it does
squeeze into form a bit. I want to be free.
And here's what's really great and I think needs to be
crystal clear is there are different definitions of what freedom

(01:14:08):
is.

Yeah.

It happens, earlier when
I'm not sure if it's Hypatia or Johnny who says to large
Summerhays, you know, I think it's great because you make people
toe the line. And Summerhays
basically says, yes, but there's no progress if they
stay at the line. Which is
really interesting considering he's, he was Sort of

(01:14:31):
the imperial, you know, Indian civil
servant who was cracking the whip and making sure we
followed English rules. But
yeah, I caught that one today. when it's Potiphar.
I think it is Potiphar, Yes. Potiphar
was the wife of.
I think he was the. The guy in charge of all of

(01:14:52):
Pharaoh's army or guard.

Okay.

she made a pass at Joseph and she
lied and said that he raped her. And so he was sent.
So that's what he's referencing there.

Got it.

likes to behave like Potiphar's wife. Then I shall be a
slave. A slave. Uncertain slave. The worst of all
series. And you could, you can build
that with the, you know, I should be a slave.
No, no, no, no, no. I'll be a slave of uncertainty. No, no, no.
The slave of fear. The worst. I
can't even describe what the worst is. Just the worst.

Yeah.

just, just for my own cheap joke sense,
Michelle, when he says,
how would you like it if every laborer you met in the road
were to make love to you? I think that is a delightful
idea. Okay, then
I want to hear what. However you want to react, Dylan,
to with your. No.

(01:15:51):
Give me the blessed protection of a good stiff conventionality among thoroughly
well brought up ladies and gentlemen.
And here I would play with the
idea, Michelle, of
maybe not doubt, but maybe a little
disappointment. Love. Like

(01:16:12):
that. She's drawing the line. It's like, well, are you going to do it or not?
Because maybe it's this frustration of. I. I've. I've given you all of
my arguments. You're either going to come play with me in the bracket or
you're not. So
it's like almost an ultimatum.
And I love that he bolts. And so clearly

(01:16:33):
he's not going back into the house.

Yeah.

So when you decide to do that, Dylan,
allow yourself to enjoy the idea of what? You're
gonna bolt. You don't know what's gonna
happen to Bracken, but it's gonna be fun.
so let's do that from
Sa. Of course you're going to insult me. I am quite

(01:16:59):
helpless. You're a woman and you could say what you like
through to the end. Really great work you
did.

Of course, if you're going to insult me, I'm quite helpless. You're a
woman. You can say what you like.

And you can only say what you dare.
Poor wretch. Tis much,
really, Mr. Percival, you
sit down in the presence of a lady and leave
her standing.
Really, Mr. Percival.
Oh, really?

Really?

Really, really, really, Mr. Percival.
How do you like it? Wouldn't you rather I Damned
you, Ms. Tarleton. Hypatia,
Joey, Patsy, if you like.

Look here, this is. This is no
good. You want to do as you like,
don't you? No.
I've been too well brought up. I've
argued all through this thing and I'll tell you,
I am not prepared to cast off the social
bomb. It's like. It's like
a corset. It's a support to the figure, even if it

(01:18:14):
does squeeze and deform a bit.
I want to be free.

Well, I'm tempting you to be
free.

means being able to count on how other people
will behave. If every man who
dislikes me is to throw a handful of mud in my face, and
every woman who likes me is to behave like Potiphar's
wife, then I shall be a slave. A
slave of uncertainty, a slave
of fear. The worst of all

(01:18:46):
slaveries. How would you like it if every laborer you met
in the room were to make love to you?
No. Give me the
blessed protection of a good, stiff conventionality.
Among thoroughly well brought up ladies and
gentlemen, another
talker.

Men like conventions because men made
them. I didn't make them.
I don't like them. I
won't keep them. Now
what will you do?

Fault.

I'll, catch you.

Really nice work, you guys. Really,
really, really, really, really, really.
I got, as we were going there,
the progression of the whole overarching theme. I
think when they actually get down to talking about
their own definitions of what freedom is,
there it's the deciding moment.

(01:19:48):
It's the, you know. Oh, wow.
For Joey, is it?
Wow. Now that I say it out loud,
I kind of want to try your freedom.
You know what I mean? that it isn't until she draws the line
and says, well, what are you gonna do?

(01:20:09):
And,
what's kind of fun with him as a partner is that while he's
another talker, he sticks
around. He never actually
leaves. and he could very
easily walk into the house,
say, Mrs. Tarleton, do something about your daughter.

(01:20:29):
Ah. You know, or Mr. Charlton.
but it's really great, you guys.
It's gonna be fun. The beginning, the middle of the end.
Yeah, very much so. So,
there was also one little.

Thing that I, that I got, was when he says, I'm, not
prepared to cast off the social bond. It's
like a corset and
Any woman who has ever worn a
corset knows that
it is not something that you want
except to do make a false
presentation to the outside world.

And they've been told they have to wear.

And they've.

And you've been told that only because. Because
otherwise you. You're like. You are like Potiphar's wife. You jiggle
around. And that's not a good lady. A nice
lady does. And so, I think. I think
that re. I just realized that. That would really set me off
too.

M. Yeah, because she goes
into,
It. It. It's funny if you play with the idea of, like,
if he thinks that he's making a good point because he's talking about
a garment that she has to wear.
You know, like when you women have to wear
bras, it's not always comfortable, but it

(01:21:43):
keeps you from bouncing around, doesn't it?
You can play with that too. Because
after his whole. And I loved
your building of the different slaveries. That was great.
Give me the blessed protection of a good civic conventionality among
thoroughly well brought up, ladies and gentlemen.

(01:22:04):
Like, I don't know if that's his final word
or that's where he disappointedly lands.
I don't think I can do it.
Another talker. Men like. And maybe
just for the try of it,
the whole thing about. Well, if you're going to talk to me

(01:22:24):
about corsets, you know,
men like conventions because men made
them. That it's actually a point to him.
Yes, that about men. That it's
because you got a chance to do that before with cowardly and blah, blah,
blah. Get my
point?

Yeah.

You go by this. We're all supposed to go by this because
you guys created this. Yeah.
I'm asking you to find another
convention. So what are you
going to do?

Yeah.

Vault.

Yeah. I'm gonna, try it.
You know, you thought the most exciting thing in your day was
crashing in an airplane,
but. Yeah. Excellent, excellent work. Yes.
All. we got a half
an hour left.

(01:23:20):
do you guys want to try it once from the
tippy top all the way through and to see what we retain
and what we are inspired by and.
Okay. And we can show Theo's dad what
we did and, you know,
have some fun with it. And then we'll see if we want to
maybe touch on the boys briefly to leastways review
how far we got before. If we have that time.

(01:23:43):
If that makes sense. All
right, give it a shot. Curtain up in two
minutes.

Mr. Percival.
Mr. Percival.
Where are you.
Aren't, you glad I've got you?

No, I'm not. Confound
it. What sort of girl are
you? What sort of house is this?
Must I throw all good manners to the winds?

Do, do,
do, do, do, do.
This is the house of a respectable shopkeeper.
Enormously rich. This is the
respectable shopkeeper's daughter. Tired of
good manners. Come, handsome
young man, and play with the respectable

(01:24:45):

No, no, no. You know you mustn't go on
like this with a perfect stranger.

Drop down from the sky.
Don't you know that you must always go on like this? When you get
the chance, you must
come to the top of the hill and chase me through the bracken.

I shall do nothing of that sort.

Yes, you will. You can't help yourself.
Come along,
fool. M. Fool.

Come along.

Don't you want to?

No, Certainly not.
I should never be forgiven if I did it.


Nonsense. You are engaged to
Ben. Ben is my friend. I mean, what do you
take me for?

Ben's old. Ben was born
old. They're all old here
except you and me
and that man.

>> Nathan (01:25:55):
Woman.

Or woman man or whatever you call her that came with you.
They never do anything. They only
discuss whether what other people do is right.
Come and give them something to discuss.


Oh, Don't be afraid, little
boy. You'll get nothing but a
kiss, and I'll fight like the devil to keep you from getting
that. But we must play on the hill and
run through the heather.

Why?

Because we want to. Handsome young men.

But if everyone went on in this way, how
happy.



father says so, and I'm my father's
daughter.

I am the son of three fathers.
I, mistrust these wild impulses.

Take care. You're letting the moment slip. I
feel the first chill of the wave of prudence.
Save me.

Oh, damn you.
I beg your pardon, but since we've both forgotten
ourselves, you'll please allow me to leave the house.


I had no right to say it. I am very much
ashamed to say it. I have already begged your pardon.

And you're not ashamed of having said,
really, Miss Tarleton?

Why should I?

Oh, man
means he
Cowardish, selfish,
masculine male man.
You ought to have Been a governess. I was
expelled from school for saying that. The very next person that said
really, Miss Tarleton to me, I would strike her across the

(01:27:54):
face. You were the next.

Surely there's nothing that can wound any lady.
At least.

Liar.

Of course, if you're going to insult me, I'm quite doubtless
you're a woman. You can say what you like and.

You can only say what you dare.
Poor wretch. It isn't much.

Really.

Mr. M Percival. You sit down in
the presence of a lady and leave her
standing. really,
Mr. Percival.
Mr. Percival. Now, how do you like it? Wouldn't
you rather I. Damned you, Miss Tartan.

(01:28:45):
Hi, Patient Joey. Patsy, if you
like.

Look here, this is no good.
You want to do what you like, don't
you? No.
I've been too well brought up. I've
argued all through this thing and I'll tell you, I'm not prepared to cast
off the social bomb. It's like.
It's like a corset. It's a support to

(01:29:10):
the figure. even if it does squeeze and deform you a
bit. I want to be
free.

Well, I'm tempting you to be
free.

means being able to count on how other people will
behave. If every man who
dislikes me is to throw a handful of mud in my face, and
every woman who likes me is to behave like Potiphar's
wife, then I shall be a slave. The
slave of uncertainty, the slave of

(01:29:41):
fear. The worst of all slaveries.
I mean, how would you like if every labourer you met in a row was to
make love to you?
No. Give me the blessed
protection of a good, stiff conventionality among,
Thoroughly well brought up ladies and gentlemen,
another talker.

Men like conventions
because men made them.
I didn't make them. I
don't like them. I won't
keep them. Now,
what will you do.

B?

I'll catch you.

Excellent. Bravo.
Bravo.
Really, you retain a lot. This is great. Y'all
really, really wonderful. Just a
couple of ideas. What
I'm really loving is how specific it's becoming
for both of you. And I really want
you to lean in this week and think about how they change

(01:30:45):
from who they are at the beginning of the scene to who they
become at the end. Because I think also
in some of these expressions of truth for,
Hypatia. I was gonna say Michelle
M. Before My eyes, is that
maybe this argument is almost
helping her to refine what she believes.

(01:31:06):
And it's the first time that's happened
to her to say, what do you really want?
This is what I want. And this is why.

Yes. I think she goes from
a conventional, sort of a conventional flirt
at first. And something much, much deeper is
happening where we're really talking
about what should be the relations
between men and women. What, you know, what is being
free. And, this is really

(01:31:36):
catnip to somebody with a good mind like
hers.

Yeah. Different way of thinking. I love it.
I do love it. It's fantastic.

Yeah.

And Dylan, the same. All this questioning
about. It's all been up in your
head, all three of the fathers that you have. It's all been about
arguments. It's all up in your head. Very British and
M Mannered and all that kind of thing.
That there's something stirring in him that he's
never experienced before.

Yeah.

And it's a little like some of the things
that, Hypatia says earlier with Lord Summerhays and everything.
How she said, I expected to be married by
23 or by 20, that.
That she understood what the role was supposed
to be, but it is so unlike who she actually
is. Yeah.
So in a way it kind of makes sense why she goes with

(01:32:29):
Bentley because he's so different.
Really. On some level, because
she doesn't expect marriage to be romantic or
sexual or enjoyable, for that matter.
it's all very heady. So.
Yeah.

And he at least could give me that.

Yes.

He's got a sharp mind.

He's hot
and she's hot.
So, brow. So I would just lean more into that
as you look on it. And
to remember that they both deeply
believe these things.
So when, they're questioned or challenged

(01:33:10):
on it,
what rattles them about it? Like.
Oh, oh, I could see that.
Okay. Yeah. Oh. You
know, and it's a quick scene, really,
relatively speaking. And when it. When you're thinking about
it, it's very smart and you move through it. It's wonderful. There really isn't
a waste of words. Even though they. These people speak,

(01:33:33):
like in long sentences and ideas.
I would. And as you play, I'll be very interested to see
what the AI does here. Nathan, when he
describes this session.
Oh, one more note before I forget, Dylan. Let. When
you say damn you to her, let that freak you
out. Like m.

(01:33:55):
You just damn you to a woman. A woman you don't.

Yeah, yeah.

So let that really, however it
manifests, freak you out and you got to get the hell out of
there. So, but
what I would say is, play with.
When you want to get yelly,
play with the musical tone. I had. I had a.
Had a, A vocal coach in, In England who

(01:34:21):
said the main difference between an American accent
and English is that when we want to emphasize a
word, we hit it percussively. Right.
In England, the dialect is
more musical, so if you want to make the point, you raise the
tone. And.
And it will also lend itself to the erudite, maybe,

(01:34:42):
you know, sound of Shaw or whatever. Although
erudite. He's rolling in his grave right now
asking for a Guinness. that's
true.

That's. That's. That's a really, really good point. I have to remember it
myself because, yeah, it is. It is more about the
range of expression rather than
the force of expression.

Get percussive and loud.

Yeah.

And, ah. that can get to a point where if you. If you're not
really using the words at each other,
it can become a screaming match. And that's not.
Yeah.

One dialect note. F, I, G, U, R, E
is figure.

Figure, figure, figure.

Right.

Instead of figure, figure, figure.

Yes.

Alrighty. Hello,
Nathan. Come on.
How are you?

>> Nathan (01:35:31):
Good, good. Ready to play a little
bit.

Oh, good. We'll give you a little play time.

We only have 15 minutes, Nathan.

Oh, better play fast.

>> Nathan (01:35:42):
Time flies.

I think Daddy needs it. I can just tell.
so, shall we just read until.
Well, let's read through it once because you need to get it out of your mouth
anyway. And it might. It might be just
the perfect amount of time. But I. I will say I did
look up, how people address,
Bunny. Johnny's the only one who consistently calls

(01:36:05):
you bull. Funny to.

>> Nathan (01:36:08):
To my face or at all to your face.

Okay. And, I think he calls you a young lad
at one point, but that's because Summer Hayes is standing there and,
you know, Hypatia
refers to you as Bentley and Bunny,
but mostly Bentley. Lor.
Your dad calls you Bentley, but at one
point he scolds you and he calls you a baby.

(01:36:32):
Joey only calls you Ben, the only one I've
heard so far. As I'm, rereading all this.
Tarleton does a lot of old chap
and say you m. Know, he never really uses names
except for the authors he recommends. and Mrs.
D, she infantilizes you like
crazy without, I think, realizing it. She calls
you child and dear Boy. And.

(01:36:54):
And you know, she says to Johnny, you mustn't bully
the little ones.
She's referring to Bentley. and she
also. She
refers to him as our visitor too.
So it's interesting to me that. That was interesting. It caught my ear,
like. Hm. So in her mind, she.
He hasn't won yet. He hasn't won her over yet, really.

>> Nathan (01:37:16):
Right.

And I. She said it. Well, she says at one point in her scene with
Hypatia, he's overbred like one of those expensive
little dogs. I think is.

>> Nathan (01:37:26):
Right, right.

Fabulously insulting. But, then she doesn't mean
it to be. She just. That's how she's describing
you. and
then one of the things that I said before is to
go through and see what other people say
about you. You have your own
opinions too, which is always to
highlight for yourself. But see what other people's

(01:37:50):
opinion when you're not in the room is. Because
that'll often tell. Inform you what
Shaw wants to see on some
level. It's like, I was saying, Jane
Laer was a teacher of mine in, In London. And
she said if you're doing Shakespeare while
you can do a lot of historical research and that sort of thing,

(01:38:10):
all you need is whatever Shakespeare's written down. Because that's how
he wants you to play it. She said,
historically, Cleopatra was a dog. The only
things that you know, we have a picture of hers on a coin,
not a pretty lady. But in the
play she was considered the most
exotic, sexy, beautiful
woman, you know, and this amazing

(01:38:32):
leader and all this kind of stuff. So, you know,
see what other people say about you.
let's, let's. Let's read through it once to at least was. Get it
out of your mouth and refresh some ideas and then.

>> Nathan (01:38:46):
Sure, sure.

Okay. All right. I'll get out of here.
M.

Hello.

Where's your luggage?

>> Nathan (01:39:01):
I left it at the station. I've walked up from
Hazelmere.

Oh.

And who's to fetch it?

>> Nathan (01:39:09):
Don't know, don't care. Providence probably. If
not, your mother will have it fetched.

Not her business exactly, is it?

>> Nathan (01:39:17):
Of course not. That's why one loves her for doing
it. Look here, Chuck away your silly weekend
novel and talk to a chap. After a week in that
filthy office, my brain is simply blue
moldy. Let's argue about something
intellectual.

No, now seriously, Bunny.
I've come down here to have a pleasant weekend and I'm
not going to stand your confounded arguments. If you want to
argue Go out of this and go over to the Congregationalist
ministers. He's a nailer at argument.
He likes it.

>> Nathan (01:39:47):
You can't argue with a person when his livelihood depends on his
not letting you convert him. And would you
mind not calling me Bunny? My name is
Bentley Summerhays. Would you please.

What's the matter with Bunny?

>> Nathan (01:40:01):
It puts me in a false position. Have you ever
considered the fact that I was an afterthought?

An afterthought? What do you mean by that?

>> Nathan (01:40:08):
I,

No, no.

Stop.

I don't want to know. It's only a dodge to start
an argument.

>> Nathan (01:40:14):
Don't, be afraid. It won't overtax your brain. My father
was 44 when I was born. My mother was 41.

My.

>> Nathan (01:40:20):
There was 12 years between me and the next eldest. I was
unexpected. I was probably
unintentional. My brothers and sisters are
not the least like me. They're the regular thing that you always
get in the first batch from young parents. Quite pleasant,
ordinary. Do the regular thing sort. All body and no
brains like you.

Thank you.

>> Nathan (01:40:41):
Don't mention it, old chap. Now
I'm different. By the time I was born, the old couple
knew something. So I came out all brains and no, more body than
is absolutely no necessary. I am really a good
deal older than you. Though you were born 10 years sooner.
Everybody feels that when they hear us talk. Consequently,
though, it's quite natural to hear me calling you
Johnny. It sounds ridiculous and

(01:41:03):
unbecoming for you to call me Bunny, does
it?

Right, George. You stop me
doing it if you can. That's all.

>> Nathan (01:41:13):
If you go on doing it after I've asked you
not, you'll feel an awful swine.
At least I should. But
I suppose you're not so particular.

I'll tell you what it is, my boy. You want a good talking
to. And I'm going to give it to you. If you think that,
Because your father's a KCB and you want to marry my
sister. That you can make yourself as nasty as you please and say what you
like, you're mistaken.

Let me tell you that.

Except Hypatia, not one person in this house is
in favor of her marrying you. And I don't believe she's happy
about it herself. The match isn't settled yet.
Don't forget that you're on trial
in the office because the governor isn't giving his daughter money
to giving. Giving his daughter money for an idle man
to live on her. You're on trial here because

(01:42:01):
my mother thinks A girl should know what a man is like in the house before she
marries him. That's been going on for two months now.
And what's the result? You've got yourself
thoroughly disliked in the office and you're getting yourself
thoroughly disliked here. All through your bad
manners and your conceit and the damned impudence
you think clever.

>> Nathan (01:42:20):
That's enough, thank you.
You don't suppose, I hope, that I should have come down
if I had known that that was how you all feel about me?

no.

You don't run away. I am going to have this
up with you. Sit down, you hear do.

Here.

That's the advantage of having more body than brains, you
see. It enables me to teach you manners. And
I'm going to do it too. You're a spoiled young
pup and you need a jolly good licking. And if you're
not careful, you'll get it. I'll see to that next time you
call me a swine.

>> Nathan (01:42:55):
Didn't call you a swine. But
you are a swine. You're a beast. You're a brute. You're
a cad. You're a liar. You're a bully. I should like
to wring your damned neck for you.

My son.
Fighting isn't in your line. You're too
small and you're too childish. I
always suspected that your cleverness wouldn't. Wouldn't
come to very much when it was brought up against something solid.
Some decent chap's fist, for instance.

>> Nathan (01:43:27):
I hope your beastly fist come up
against a mad bull or a prize fighter's
nose or something solider than me.
I don't care about your fist. But if everybody here dislikes
me.
Well, I don't care.
I'm sorry I intruded. I didn't know.

Oh, you beast.

You pig.

Swine.

>> Nathan (01:43:49):
Swine.

Swine.

Swine.

>> Nathan (01:43:50):
Swine.

Now.

All right, my lad, all right. Sling your
mud as hard as you please. It won't stick to me.
What I want to know is this. How is it that your
father, who I suppose is the strongest man England has produced in
our time.

>> Nathan (01:44:04):
You got that? You got that out of your ha'penny paper.
A lot you know about him.

I don't set up to be able to do anything but admire him and
appreciate him and be proud of him as an Englishman.
If it wasn't for my respect for him, I would have stood
your. I wouldn't have stood your cheek for two days, let
alone two months. But what I can't understand
is why he didn't lick it out of you.

When you were a kid.

For 25 years he kept a place twice as big as England
in order. A place full of seditious coffee
coloured heathens and pestilential white
agitators in the middle of a lot of savage tribes.
And yet he couldn't keep you in order. I don't set up to
be half the man your father undoubtedly is but
by George, it's lucky for you you were not my
son. I don't hold with my. I

(01:44:49):
don't hold with my father's views about corporal punishment being
wrong. It's necessary for some people and
I'd have tried it on you until you first learned to
howl and then to behave
yourself.

Yes.

>> Nathan (01:45:04):
Behavior wouldn't come naturally to
your son, would it?

Now you keep a civil tongue in your head.
I'll stand none of your snobbery.
I'm just as proud of Tarleton Tartleton's underwear
as you are of your father's title and his KCB and all
the rest of it. My father began in a little hole
in a shop and a little hole of a shop in Leeds
no bigger than our pantry down the passage there.

He would,

>> Nathan (01:45:32):
Oh yes, I know. I've read it. The
Romance of Business or the Story of Tartan's
Underwear. Please take one. I took one the day after
I first met Hypatia. I went and bought half a dozen
unshrinkable vests for her sake.

Well, did they
shrink?

>> Nathan (01:45:51):
Oh, don't be a fool.

Never mind whether I'm a fool or not. Did they
shrink? That's the point. Were they worth
the money, I couldn't wear
them.

>> Nathan (01:46:02):
Do you think my skin's as thick as your customers
hides? I'd as soon have dressed myself in a nutmeg
grater.

Pity your father didn't give your thin skin a jolly good
lacing with a cane.

>> Nathan (01:46:13):
Pity you haven't got more than one idea. If you
want to know, they did try that on me once when I
was a small kid. The silly governess
did it. I yelled fit to bring down the house and
went into convulsions and brain fever and that sort of thing for three
weeks. So the old girl got the sack and serve her
right. After that I was let do what I

(01:46:33):
liked. My father didn't want me to grow up a broken
spirited spaniel. Which is your idea of
a man. I suppose the only good thing for.

You that my father made you come into the office and shoe
what you were made of and I didn't.
And it didn't come too much, let me tell you that. When the
governor asked me where I thought we ought to put you, I
said, make him the office boy. The governor said you were
too green, and so you were.

>> Nathan (01:46:58):
I dare say so you. So would you be pretty
green if you were shoved into my father's set? I
picked up your silly business in a fortnight. You've
been at it 10 years and you haven't picked it up
yet.

Oh, talk rot, child.
You know, you simply make me. You know, you simply make me.

Pity you.

>> Nathan (01:47:17):
Romance of business, indeed. The real
romance of Tarleton's business is. Is a story that you
understand anything about it. You never could
explain any mortal thing about it to me when I asked
you. See, what was done the last time,
that was the beginning and the end of your wisdom. You're nothing but a
turnspit.

A what?

>> Nathan (01:47:39):
A turn. Spit. If your father hadn't made a roasting
jack for you to turn, you'd be earning 24
shillings a week behind the counter.

If you don't take that back and apologize for your
bad manners, I'll give you as good a hiding
as ever. You.

Help. Johnny's beating me.

Oh, murder. Don't be a fool.

Stop that noise, will you? I'm not going to touch you.

And the voice, Nathan,
I love it. I loved it. It was
great. That's really great. And you guys have. I mean,
it's. It's gotten even deeper from just our,
first week of work. That's
great.

I was laughing throughout.

Oh, yeah, it's. It
is delightful. It, some things to.
To, play with.
first of all, he mentions. Because we were
talking about. We never really find out how the coupling
between Bentley and Hypatia
happens. Sure. So, by the sounds of

(01:48:43):
it, in his little thing about. Oh, I picked up
that little pamphlet that. When. The first day I met
Hypatia. So they
met when. I guess when they were in the store or in the
office. Must have been the store, because he only got the
office job when he decided to hook up with
Hypatia.

>> Nathan (01:49:02):
Right.

and on that day, he bought suit. Six vests.

>> Nathan (01:49:06):
Yeah. So he, like. I don't know. Yeah. Wandered into the
store or something. Wandered by it, you know. I guess.

Or.

>> Nathan (01:49:12):
Or maybe he saw her. He probably met her somewhere else, then
knew she was Tarleton's daughter. So he went over to
the store and. And, you know, I'm
like, all right, let me. Let me try to get, you know, deeper into this.
Let Me try to figure out what's going on here.

Yeah. Because the wonderful and
tricky thing about Bunny, is he's
terribly insecure. I
think he's like a overbred puppy. I
mean, but I
think he genuinely can get hurt.

>> Nathan (01:49:43):
Oh, sure. Yeah.

You know, and I, I was already seeing that, which is
fantastic. The, The. The challenge of this
first scene is you guys
sort of set the tone for the play. Play.

>> Nathan (01:49:56):
Right.

And, while I. I'd have to talk
to the. My costume designer if I ever did
this, A lot of times people, because it's the
summertime, they're all wearing summer clothes in
pastels. So
we need to, I think,
almost. And I think that's why Shaw starts it off with an
irritation like, where's your luggage?

(01:50:18):
That the tone of the two men
are very different. Sure. And
so the. Really, we need to
sort of heighten the differences between
the two of them and how they handle it.
Who's got the thinner skin? Who's the one who can
cover? I mean, Bunny's pretty much got his own thin skin,

(01:50:39):
but Johnny is pretty quick to start getting
aggressive and angry. So they know how to touch.
You know, touch. Press each other's buttons.
So.

>> Nathan (01:50:49):
And, yeah, it's kind of. Kind of related to this. Just a technical
thing. do you want, like, it's. It's this kind
of. This is a question of, how fast the characters think.
Because there are some lines that we respond to
that are so quick. Like the
last. Like the last person. Last thing somebody said.
And we come, you know, our next line responds to it.

(01:51:09):
So just technically, do you want us to try to just
pull the air out of that between the lines and just.
If we're going to take a pause or take more time.
Is that question clear?

Yeah.

And.

And I think for. For like, as we work on the next,
we can pull it apart a bit and, and sure, play
with that and really make, the
points with the arguments. and
it's, Director once gave us all a note that said, never
mistake speed for energy.
So I would encourage the idea

(01:51:41):
of, like good old dame Edith Evans said,
pull the period towards you.
So you're driving your point through to the end of your
sentence.

>> Nathan (01:51:51):
Right.

And I think, you can speed
up as you begin to understand
better, how these guys
function in terms of, like,
Bunny is awfully passive aggressive and he throws these things. Well, of
course, you wouldn't understand. You're a rube. But Bubba, Bubba,
you know, those needling
things. And Johnny just You know, flat

(01:52:14):
out insults him. You know, it's.

We might, we might have Nathan, a built
in technological challenge with that because I
think there's a little bit of a delay when we try to pick up
our cues.

Yeah, sure.

>> Nathan (01:52:27):
Yeah. No, no, I, that, that I hear. I think it's just,
I think it's just having that conversation about like how quick like that these
characters may respond a lot faster than
like just we do. You know, just, you
know, regular humans do. They just, they process it, I
think faster. But I, I totally hear what you're saying, Paul.

The whole thinking on the line and, and yes,
Paul, that's true. I've noticed that for some reason today I
noticed it a little bit more.
Oh. Because I was just curious,
just FYI. So a
congregationalist minister. Congregational
churches believe that God is the only true head of the church.

(01:53:05):
Members or congregants, hence the name, are free to
interpret the Bible as on their own without
priests or ministers around matters,
of belief and understanding of the divine. So they really
are, they're great arguers because I,
I guess to keep their faith active, they're really great at
arguing their interpretation of the Bible. Just

(01:53:25):
FYI, when he says, you know, go have a
good conversation with him.

>> Nathan (01:53:34):
We do probably need to wrap up here. We could probably
go like a third hour but you know.

Oh, we totally could. Totally could.
so I would again same sort of thing that I was saying to
them. well,
because I don't think a lot of change happens
be from the beginning to the end. They do
learn new things. How does that affect them? Like Bunny
doesn't know that people really think this way about him.

(01:54:00):
right.

>> Nathan (01:54:01):
And I don't know that he's really exploded on Johnny this
way. you know, like that
I think that like, I think he's managed to keep his cool or,
or retain any social graces or whatever
social heirs that he has. So.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And And what has happened
between the two of them in these last two months that,
that Johnny has built up this head of steam
and he's just ready. Yeah. Unless
Johnny's just that hot headed. But

Well, that's a question for you. Do you think he is.

I'd have to think about that because,
you know, just being hot headed for the sake of being hot headed isn't really as
interesting, I guess. I don't know.
But he's got a temper with everybody,
so I don't know. I, I shall muse and sleep on that.
And all this kind of stuff.

>> Nathan (01:54:49):
and Erica, is it. Is it Tarleton? Is it like, the E
is silent? Just Tarleton. Okay.

Yeah, I call it. Yeah. That's all I've ever. Yeah.
Tarleton. Yeah.

>> Nathan (01:54:57):
Tarleton. Okay.

Yeah. And it's fun to.

>> Nathan (01:54:59):
I just wanted to make sure, Paul, that you and I were saying it the same way.

Tarleton.

Tarleton.

>> Nathan (01:55:03):
Tarleton.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Nathan (01:55:05):
The E is kind of silent, which.

Is really fun to do with the Polish accent, you know.
Tarleton. so excellent work. I'm
sorry we didn't have more time with you, Nathan, but next week
we'll start with you guys.
and, let's get down to the crux of the arguments
and. And that kind of a thing, and then we'll worry about
speed and. And sound. Sure, yeah,
yeah, because that'll come.

(01:55:30):
and because, like I was saying to them, as we worked
on their scene, it came, it went faster,
and, there really wasn't a wasted
idea.

Cool.

Really didn't waste any words, and you guys got a lot of words.
So just, you know, take your time
this week to just sort of think through that and where they're going.

>> Nathan (01:55:49):
Yeah, absolutely.

So awesome, everybody. Yeah.
great session. Really well done.
Hey, yeah.

>> Nathan (01:55:57):
Ah, great. All right, well, we'll see everybody, next week.
Thanks again for coming in. And, yeah, I really enjoyed the part
I saw of the first of the other scene. We'll go back and
listen and watch and all that, but, yeah, no,
everything seems to be coming along nicely, so great work,
everybody.

Happy. Have a great week, y'all. Nice to meet
you.

Yeah, guys, good job, everybody.

Yep.

>> Nathan (01:56:19):
Good night.

Bye.

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Misalliance (2 scenes), Week 2: "Duty and Desire" - The Rehearsal Room

Misalliance Team - with artists in California, Pennsylvania and New York!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Misalliance (2 scenes), Week 2: "Duty and Desire" - The Rehearsal Room