Reading and Casting A New Play

1. During the Age of Louis XIVDramatistSamuel Chappuzeau, at the time of Moliere’s death 1673, wrote Le Theatre Francois, a 3 part book describing the phases of theatrical life and the details of how a play became preformed and produced.

2. Reading and Casting A New Play • Samuel Chappuzeau discusses that a playwright will enlist an actor in whom he has most confidence in to evaluate his work. • Actors are most adept at judging whether a play will be a success or failure. • By having the actor that he trusts judge his work, the playwright saves using up the time of the theatre company. Instead he has complete faith that the actor has good taste and will influence the company to accept his opinion. • If the play is well received a date and time are set for a reading. The playwright doesn’t make any introductions (actors do not like it) and reads his work to the best of his ability. • At the end of each act the actors discuss what they did and didn’t like, they comment on the writing style, verses, jokes and the general flavor of the play. The actors also comment on whether the plot was good or not, if the scenes were well connected and whether the characters were well rounded and consistent.

3. Apparently, women due to modesty allowed the men to judge the plays and rarely came to readings, though they were allowed to share their opinions and comments with the playwright. • Chappuzeau suggests that while some playwrights read their own work well, others damage their plays by reading them.

4. Once the play has been deemed good enough, the proper task of casting often causes minor differences between the players because they all think they should have the lead roles. However there are some actors who will abide and take secondary roles and alternately would get a lead role in the next production. • The same rules apply for the actresses, however Samuel Chappuzeau notes that women are harder to manage than men. • Some women's talents are better to play tender passionate roles.

5. Some women are more suited in violent or serious roles and some women have more talent for vivacious parts • Apparently petty rivalries amongst actors were more common in rural theatre troupes and to avoid it in Paris the playwright would cast the roles by the advice of one of the actors in the company. It is to the plays success that actors are given the parts that suit them best. Duh!

6. 2.Rehearsals • Once a play was cast, If there was a lack of time, it could be memorized in 8 days and some players could memorize a large part in 3 days! • First rehearsal gave the basic idea of the play, but by the 2nd and 3rd rehearsals the general success of the play was estimated. • The author/playwright attended the rehearsals and would actively criticize (constructively?) if the actor was missing meanings, or was unnatural in their tone and gestures, or if the actor didn’t have enough zest or overacted than what the scene called for (Directors role). • Esteemed intelligent actors were allowed to comment and give suggestions during rehearsals without bothering their fellow actors in the name of common interest.

7. 3.The functions of the orator • Orator: a person who delivers a speech or an oration, eloquent/skilled art of public speaking. • Well known orator Demos-the-nes was an Greek orator whose well known reputation is based on his ‘Philippics', a series of orations exhorting the citizens of Athens to rise up against Phillip II of Macedon. (First known Orator & Demonstrator ?) • Oration was taught in schools and practiced by lawyers ,states men, public orators at official entries, participators of triumphs, pageants and public shows-such as theatre. • One of the most important roles an actor could have in any acting company was that of orateur. Oration was used for the announcements and promotion of the play in the visible public (street). • Orateur had 2 functions – one was to address the audience, the other to compose the poster: At the end of a performance the orator would give a speech, thanking the audience for their attendance and to promote an upcoming play. This advertisement was usually unrehearsed unless he was describing a machine play or if royalty was attending.

8. The Orateur also prepared his speech when announcing a new play that needed praise, as well as for a closing speech before and after a holiday like Easter to get the masses excited and to create anticipation of shows to come. • The second function of the orateur – the posters prepared under the speakers guidance were street proclamations that advised the readers how good the play was, the one coming up, and that they should get their tickets early since all of high society will be there ( In Promotion this still works). • As time went on the orateur’s speech went from being attentively listened to as he used new tactics to keep the audiences attention and prove ‘the fertility of his mind’ to a decline of the orator’s embellished announcements and posters to a simple introduction of the play by name. (As today and often no intro.) • Orator also had the role of calling the cast to open and state the agenda for readings, rehearsals and meetings. • Actors are ‘orator’s’. 1944 Presented by San Diego State University: Theodore Kornweibel Jr.- Dept of African Studies: ‘How I shook up the field of rail road history’. “ He researched the use of slaves to build the railroad and uncovered unpleasant truth’s, challenged historians- their stereotypes, confronted their gender and racial biases, revealed their hidden loyalties and questioned their definitions of railroad history.”

9. 4. Prompter and Decorator • Samuel Chappuzeau writes- “the copyist was the keeper of the library of the original play scripts. He had to copy the parts and give them to the actors, he was in charge of holding the prompt book in the wings during performance (stage hand role?) incase an actor forgot his lines- called prompting also known as ‘Le souffler’ (French for wind/whisperer)”. • Some actors would tell the prompter to keep quiet because they didn't need his help and wanted to prove they were the masters of their craft. • The ‘souffler’ was advised to prompt using a voice that could be heard only on stage to avoid laughter in the audience as some spectators would laugh at anything, even the serious parts of the play. • Apparently some actors had such good memories and never needed prompting, they could also put other actors back on track Without being noticed. • Chappuzeau also notes that women have a more reliable memory than men. (so prompt box was invented ?)

10. Decorators had to be people of imagination and could skillfully embellish the stage. • Generally there were 2 decorators who worked in cooperation to make decisions for new productions, but generally for the performances only 1 attended alternating. • Decorators role included checking the set machines and chasing the ‘little folk’ who had crept up on stage blocking the entrances and exists of the players and blocking the audiences view.

11. The decorator also had the task of providing 2 candle snuffer’s if they didn’t want to do the task themselves. This had to be done quickly so the audience wasn’t left waiting between acts and so that they wouldn’t be offended by the smell of the tallow candles. • The snuffing was done at the back and front of the stage – they constantly had to watch that the flats did not catch fire –they had barrels of water incase. • Candle remains formed a small part of the decorator's income.