Nottingham's Legacy: Oliver

So it's time to introduce the new protagonist, and I gotta say, he's going on the list of my favorites.

Oliver Scathelocke.

Oliver is the adopted son of Cassian and Ravenna (yes, they had to adopt and the whole story behind that is better discussed in person) which makes him the grandnephew of Robin Hood.

He's grown up in the shadow of two heroes rather than one, and he's got a secret that not even he knows about.

For loyal followers of this blog, that means that he has grown up as a combination of Cassian and Jean-Luc.

Oliver is rash, and impulsive and has a couple of rage issues. He holds grudges and doesn't like being told what to do(but then, that's what every sixteen-year-old is like).

As is the case with all the inhabitants of the Sherwood Cycle, Oliver has a spirit animal: the falcon.

The root word of "falcon" comes from the Latin word for foreigner or stranger, which is a perfect fit for Oliver because he has no clue who he really is. Falcons symbolize victory, superiority, determination, loyalty,  and strength (so there's Cassian's influence) and also wisdom, the ability to be patient and strategize(thank you, Jean-Luc).

 

Oliver's celebrity model has changed several times, since in the initial phase of writing anything, I can't make up my mind about anything.

However, I recently saw bits of a little thing called "His Dark Materials"(I don't have HBO, which makes me mad, but I know who's in the cast and I can squirrel out clips from somewhere, so that's...fine I guess?);

and then I saw a fun miniseries on Netflix called "A Letter for the King"(which is a perfect YA GOT and if you're an entertainment cynic, then as long as you keep in mind that it's YA then you'll enjoy the heck out of it);

and a trailer for the upcoming remake of "Secret Garden"(which will be released in August in the UK only, so I have to wait. And it's fine);

and this particular celebrity was in all three and the first time I saw him I went "ooooh, that's Oliver!" And, at least in my head, he's perfect.

His name is Amir Wilson aka Will from "His Dark Materials" aka Turi from "Letter for the King" aka Dickon from "Secret Garden".

And yes, I know I just repeated myself and yes, it's fine.

I had an interesting discovery about Oliver's soundtrack--for some reason, there is a lot of K-Pop in it.

I posted about my mini K-Pop obsession a couple of years ago, and it never really went away so I guess that the muse has decided that there should be K-Pop in Sherwood now.

And again, it's fine, I'm ok with that.

Oliver's Soundtrack

Unbreakable (feat. Jay Park), by Kim Hyun Joong

Boomboom, by Adam Jensen

Indestructible (feat. Jung Youth), by Sam Tinnez

Own It, by Mack Wilds

Purple Line, by TVXQ!

Breakdown by Jim Hyun Joong

Mama (feat. William Singe), by Jonas Blue

Runaway, by 3 Doors Down

I Stand Alone, by Godsmack

Beg, by Jack & Jack

Stay, by MBLAQ

Figure It Out, by Royal Blood

Keep Your Head Down, by TVXQ!

Made for This, by The Phantoms

Need the Sun to Break, by James Bay

How Do You Sleep, by Sam Smith

This Is Me (from "The Greatest Showman"), by Pasek and Paul

It Has Begun, by Starset

Two of Us, by Louis Tomlinson

Stronger than Ever, by Raleigh Ritchie

Nottingham's Legacy: A Hit Over the Head & A Swan Song

Lauren Willig says in the acknowledgements of one of her books "Some books...hit you over the head and hold you hostage until you give up and write them."

I can absolutely attest that this is true.

Because that's what happened with Nottingham's Legacy.

aka the final play in the Sherwood Cycle.

aka Jean-Luc/Cassian/Ravenna/Tirzah's Swan Song.

Ugh! That hurt so much to write!

(luckily, there's still one more script--the first in the cycle--to write, but that's for later and I digress...)

Lemme start out by saying that I had no idea this play was part of the Sherwood Cycle in the first place.

It was a smattering-of-short-scenes-that-I-wrote-down-in-the-middle-of-summer-like-two-years-ago-just-to-get-my-creative-juices-moving.

(how's that for a project title? 😛) 

And then Oliver(the protagonist, more on him later) said something like "my father, Jean-Luc Scathelocke," and I went

and then as I started to scribble down more notes and scenes and bits of dialogue, it became more and more obvious that this was, in fact, true.

Which meant I had another story to tell

and I got to write more about

Jean-Luc,

and Tirzah,

and Cassian,

and Ravenna,

and Declan(yep, Declan's back!)

And the more I worked on this outline the more my "wait what" turned into this:

(you know, if I was Joey and my Muse was Monica and Chandler)

Cue very excited squealing and jumping up and down(both of the internal and external variety very much like the antics in the clip above, ha ha)

and then I calmed down and started to actually write the thing.

Tidbits of which I will be sharing for the next little bit on this blog.

You're welcome.

Thespian Musings: Tablework and Why We Do It

When people outside the world of the Stage and Screen hear the word "tablework" you get one of two reactions:

A totally blank stare accompanied by a "huh?"

Or a "that's cool...what is that?"

Sometimes you get both from the same person, seconds apart.

And it has very little (or nothing) to do with an actual table.

It used to be a word I loathed.

Sitting around talking and doing nothing, I thought, which made me distinctly twitchy(thank you for that, ADD).

But, several experiences--including a couple quite recently--have come to convince me how important this aspect of production is.

You can't do a show without proper tablework.

If geniuses like Steve McQueen did tablework, why aren't you?

You can't.

I've tried.

And I wouldn't say that it exactly failed, but the result wasn't as good as it could have been.

"Tablework" is a term used for what happens at the very beginning of any production. The entire cast(and hopefully, the production team) sit down, scripts in hand and do the following:

1. Read the script in it's entirety, including stage directions(aka a Tableread). The biggest difference between a Tableread and Tablework is:

2. The discussion in as much depth as possible of the nitty gritty bits of the script afterwards: the relationships between characters, the characters themselves, the plot schematics(exposition, climax, etc.) and how they will mesh together as part of the director's overall concept. (Note: this part of tablework is sometimes stretched over a couple of rehearsals rather than crammed into one--see below. It depends on the director(s) and how he/she/they like to work)

Number 2 is also known as "Script Analysis"--which is one of my absolute favorite things to do. So much so that when I write scripts of my own I analyze the ever living crap out of it to make sure that I have a good skeleton to put the plot meat on.

But I digress...

Tablework is the part of the rehearsal process where discoveries are made, about the character(s) an actor(ress) happens to be playing and how he/she/they fit into the story.

Sometimes they make discoveries about a character that is based purely on their interpretation rather than just what is in the script--and that's ok!

This is what Carrie Fisher did to her script during "Empire Strikes Back". In this theatre artist's humble opinion, every page of your script should look like this.

As of this posting, I have seen the show "Cyrano de Bergerac" three times(the latest was one presented by National Theatre Live staring James MacAvoy and oh my WOW!!!!!); and each Cyrano was different from the one I saw previously. No character will ever be played the same way twice, and if they are it's because there's a stipulation in the playwright's contract somewhere that says as much (and, of course, I have an opinion about that, which I won't go into here).

Anyway....

Several actors/actresses I know(and quite a few that I know of) do their tablework on their own and at rehearsals. Sometimes they'll leave a rehearsal where they think they've nailed down a character only to come back the next day and say "hey, I actually figured something else out, let me try it"; and sometimes it works and sometimes it flops. But it was tried so that's what counts.

Thing is, "tablework" isn't just done around a table. Sometimes it's done with the actors on their feet. When this method is used, directors ask the actors what their motivations are, what their objectives are, things like that.

In order to succeed at tablework, you have to be flexible. Don't be "married" to any of your ideas as an actor because chances are that your ideas will evolve and change--more times than you can count.

Butterflies: Dido

What with life being what it is, I took a mini-break again from little blog to get other things done. But now that deadlines are met I can finish what I started, which is introduce to you the characters of my latest piece: Butterflies. and I have one person left to introduce you to:

Dido Quintessa.

This woman was a mystery to me from the beginning. And a total surprise--she was one of those characters that popped into the story and refused to leave.

Which, as it turns out, was a very good thing.

Dido embodies The Organization, which is the shadow antagonist of this particular show(there's a physical villain, too, but that would be telling). She's a powerful politician and has a very logical working mind but can also surprise you.

Also, she's and excellent foil for Isaac.

I love the celebrity model for Dido. The ironic thing is that this particular actress has played a powerful politician before on a show that you may have heard of. Granted, it took her like six seasons to figure it all out, but by the end of the show she was a powerhouse. 

The show was "Game of Thrones", the character was Sansa, and the celebrity portraying her was:

Sophie Turner.

And, as all my characters, do, of course, Dido has a soundtrack. Which is just as eclectic as she is--with a couple of surprises. And I'm not too entirely disappointed with that.

Fires by Allman Brown

Without You by Breaking Benjamin

Far Away by Breaking Benjamin

Lights Down Low by DJ Max Turn