Interrogation Freewrite

When playing the part of Cupid, I found a timid young man. More timid than you would expect someone of his stature to be. He seemed to feel eclipsed by his mother. All he has ever wanted was a genuine love. Both to help in its creation and to hopefully experience it himself. He is conflicted in helping his mother because he knows he is aiding in the removal of people’s free will. But he does it in the hopes that good will come of it.

When the interrogation started, I chose a point in time from the story to use as a reference point to respond to questions. That point was just before Psyche comes to the castle. I realized later that this made the ‘are you a virgin?’ question awkward without that as a general knowledge. But I felt he was still a virgin til he was with Psyche. Cupid is torn by his mothers promiscuity and because of her lack of faithfulness he longs for a stability and commitment that he finds in Psyche.

I found that when Cupid’s interrogation was over, I continued to see things from his perspective as others continued to be interrogated. The questions I asked, or wanted to ask were questions I thought Cupid would be interested in knowing the answers to.

Tiltes, Sentences, and Other Thoughts

The Nag, or How to Madden a Rogue Youth

Thereupon she calls her winged son Cupid, mischievous enough in his own nature, and rouses and provokes him yet more by her complaints.

She annoys Cupid so much with her complaining that he’s pissed at Psyche just because he has to listen to Venus’ whining about being old and unattractive. She probably starts wearing clothes that are too skimpy to try and prove she’s still desirable. And she probably asks Cupid whether or not she looks good in her new outfits, which is the last thing he wants to be asked by his mother. With a groan he’ll reply ‘you look fine’ without even looking.

A Knowledgeable Mother, or How to Lose an Idiot Son

She points out Psyche to him and says, "My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give your mother a revenge as sweet as her injuries are great; infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification as great as her present exultation and triumph."

This actually happens. She falls in love with Cupid and eventually has to jump through all these hoops that make her miserable and cause her to almost commit suicide. Does Venus foresee this? Does she see Cupid as a low unworthy being? She thinks: “What is the worst punishment I can inflict on Psyche? Horrible deformations of her beautiful face? No. I will give to her my slacker, good for nothing son.” And Cupid falls in love with her for her beauty. And Psyche’s doubt of his love only fades when she sees that he too is beautiful. Then some stuff happens and the two beautiful idiots live happily ever after.

The Green-Eyed Sisters

With this idea, without saying a word of her intentions, each of them rose early the next morning and ascended the mountain, and having reached the top, called upon Zephyr to receive her and bear her to his lord; then leaping up, and not being sustained by Zephyr, fell down the precipice and was dashed to pieces.

They had married princes, which were not enough for them, fore they desired gods and immortality. Sounds like something I’d do; to give up a good thing in search or something better only to end up alone and broken.

WEDDING NIGHT

A thought on the wedding night...

We could show two figures behind a sheet, backlit so that they are the shadow-puppets. We could have interlapping/interlocking text from various authorities on sex:
Joy of Sex
Kama Sutra
Cosmo
romance novels
Hustler

We could have the figures "disrobe" and begin with tame simulations of sex, moving into wilder and wilder, more acrobatic simulations. We could have a description, story-style, of Psyche's wedding night discoveries...then turn the lights out, Cupid disappears, the sheet comes down and wraps around psyche, becoming the sheet from the marital bed, in which she is entangled and bereft.

Any interest?

Jenny and her frickin' daydreams

Keep seeing this image:

The face of a woman seen through an ENORMOUS MAGNIFYING GLASS...so that we see all her pores and stray nosehairs and all the things that we micro-analyze when we look at ourselves to see "beauty". Perhaps this image somehow repeated in several media.

New York Fringe Festival?

Wouldn't it be great to take this to the New York Fringe festival, if we put it up in New Works? Here's the page for it.

http://www.fringenyc.org/

Their criteria fits nicely with the mandate of the New Works Festival...innovative, low-tech, low-budget. I really think that we could do this, and that its/the NWF constraints might force us to be creative with our staging in cool ways.

Re: First Rehearsal

Marie, that beginning exercise sounds great. I've done similar ones before.

The idea of this being about "psyching ourselves out" and falling on our own arrows...eros...yes, I'm very much there with that, nice, nice...

I like the idea of people having read th story, then talking through the story and DRAWING the thing on some huge-ass piece of paper...making a map, if you will. Still of the original story.

And then generating?

Tom, thoughts?

I feel like we're still at the point where we should each lead a piece of the rehearsal...then the next time we meet, we can plan a broader arc for the time we have this semester, and figure out our rotation.

Yes?

Do we need to get a room? Do we need any props or supplies?

New to the blog world

So this is my first time working with a blog. I personally have a strong dislike of the word "blog" but the idea is great!

Anyway. Thoughts. First. I think some of Jenny's ideas for jumping into the material are great. I think a homework assignment of reading the myth and finding one image that resonates would be fabulous and not too much to do. I actually did a shameless internet search the other day to find a quick version to read and found a whole bunch with no problem. So a far as I am concerned that is all it has to be. Just something to get a little refresher on the details of the myth.

I think actually that as far as time-breakdown percentages go maybe more like 20% physical and 80% material would be better right now. I think I personally want to jump start the whole thing.  The sooner we have some sense of a piece to fiddle with, the sooner this will feel like it is breathing on its own. 

As far as the physical...I was thinking of doing an ensemble exercise I have always found really effective at either building ensemble of demonstrating what needs to happen to build ensemble.

It goes like so. Everyone standing in a circle. Lock eyes with the person across. Soften gaze. Include the two people on either side into your scope of awareness. Then add the new two and the next two until you are "looking" at the how group. And then with no particular leader everyone simultaneously take two steps forward and on the the left. It usually takes a few tries but once it is going we just let it go and see where the group goes. This can lead to incredible things when everyone is able to give into it.

It would take maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

As for content work, I think taking part of the time to talk through the story the major plot points, and identify the really rich symbolic elements that resonate for each of us; the points that there can be lots of exploration. And then we can take the rest of the time to take a few scene titles ( as Jenny suggested) and try to explore those through either scene work, or more elemental compositional gestures and tableau; in a sense just start to explore the physical vocabulary we might want to work with. 

For me I look at this myth mostly in reference to the symbolism of how we interact with love. The ways in which we hide ourselves from our lovers for fear of what...? of being as fully ourselves as we absolutely are?...of having sides that are to big, too ugly, too powerful, too weak, too divine to handle?  That we lay too much value in the perfection, blind faith, trust. That we fall on our own arrow when we either least expect it,  or would really prefer not to cause it's gonna make mamma real angry. That we are so able to "psych ourselves out" (HELLO!!) and to convince ourselves or be convinced our partner might be not right, they might be false,  or not good enough, or  stupid, or downright monstrous when really all those fears are parts of our own dark side more than anything else.  And how mythologically typical to finally realize what you have as it flies out the door. And all the ridiculous bologna we put ourselves through to get another chance. That is what I am excited to explore in this story. 

that is all for now.