The New Hobbit Hole

[JenB]

Oh, that sounds like the kind of 'acting' I've had experience with. When I was 13 my Shakespeare class put on scenes from Romeo and Juliet; I was in the scene where Romeo kills Tybalt, as Benvolio (because I could memorize the lines and that's one of the longest parts in that scene.) We were so bad but we had a lot of fun... and only one girl had to read her lines off of cue cards.

Well, we've got three young women playing Romeo, Benvolio, and Tybalt, and the only guy in the class as Mercutio (because that was a long part and he could memorize lines also, and because the other two girls wanted to get to kill someone. Twisted group.) Anyway, we're not wearing costumes or anything - it's just a five minute scene - but the other three have to have swords. One girl shows up with a plastic toy knife, about five inches long. The other girl has a tinfoil-covered cardboard 'broadsword'. And the guy comes in with a genuine, four-foot arm saber that his father or grandfather had! Now that was an interesting scene, especially since he was the first to get 'killed'!

Anyway the really funny part was that this was at a homeschool co-op with rather, er, strict rules about guy-girl contact, a dress code, all that stuff. It was in the rules that unrelated teenagers of opposite genders were not supposed to engage in physical contact. And the scene we were doing required my character to help the 'mortally injured Mercutio' off the stage. (Mercutio was play by the guy, remember). My mother (who taught the class) had to reassure us that this was a special case, being theatre. Oh, that was fun...

In the interest of full disclosure I should perhaps confess that I was protesting too much when I said I wanted to follow the guidelines...

[2Jedismom]

Oh, they just stand around like "stokin' bottles" as my grandmother used to say! A stoking bottle was a bottle of water kept by the wood burning cookstove to cool it down as needed. Grandma used to say "Well, don't just stand there like a stokin' bottle! Do something!"

[carton253]

I can totally relate...

Just so you know... one week before they go on... the group has opted for getting out of the way. So, now the two fight... there are three who break it up... and the other 15 get out of the way before they return to standing around and looking at each other...

[2Jedismom]

I was in the scene where Romeo kills Tybalt, as Benvolio (because I could memorize the lines and that's one of the longest parts in that scene.)

LOL I think this is why I always got the lead parts in high school...not because I was any good...just because I was dependable and could memorize things incredibly well. Also, I came into my rather sedate family like a tornado from the day I was born...I have a lot of energy! LOL Everyone used to do relaxation exercises before play practice. Not me. They found it better if I ran a few laps around the school! LOL

[carton253]

And the fact you can memorize and would memorize would make you prize students in my class. I would pile on and pile on because the number one killer of any play is the fact the actors don't know their lines.

[JenB]

I find it easy to memorize lines, especially if they're good lines, and I have someone to bounce off of. I still remember scraps of the stuff I memorized for Shakespeare class, but the scenes with other people were easier than the monologues by a long shot.

[2Jedismom]

Matthew (my 6yo) is the same way! He will memorize an entire commercial the first time he hears it and then recite it to me at the store! It's really funny...once, when he was five, we were walking down the cereal aisle and he said something like "I want to experience the chocolatey-peanuty burst of flavor from Reeses Puffs!"

So after much consideration, I let him try out for The King and I. We should find out whether or not he got a part today or tomorrow.

[ecurbh]

I have the entire "Princess Bride" and numerous Monty Python skits memorized. Does that count?

[2Jedismom]

Anyone, who memorizes the entire "Princess Bride", should be taxed!

[2Jedismom]

Let's start a new page!

[2Jedismom]

Ahh!

[Overtaxed]

I don't start new pages until "00".

[Countyline]

I loved your post.

Speaking of being an emotional wreck ...
Have you been to the Elephant Sanctuary site?

http://www.tappedintoelephants.com/

There is a live elephant cam and the seven stories of their elephants play on real player.Great.

... and the most beautiful thread on Barbara ... Quite long. Very moving.

http://www.elephants.com/barbara_inmemory.htm#ourbarbara

If you are and animal lover this is a terrific site.
http://www.elephants.com/

this is the home site.

Sorry I don't know how to make them live links.

[ksen]

Pippin is a Took!

It's Merry who's the Brandybuck.

Oh my. I guess my cover has been blown. Drat!

-Kevin

[JenB]

Anyone, who memorizes the entire "Princess Bride", should be taxed!

Why? It's got some of the greatest lines in all of film history! After all, who doesn't love the whole: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!" thing? Someone with no sense of humor, I suppose.

[ksen]

...you might as well hand an inmate the keys as expect the Mirkwood elves to keep them locked up!

Hhmmm, well JenB, maybe all that Miruvor has a LITTLE bit of an effect.

-Kevin

[2Jedismom]

I love the PB! I was just kidding with ecurb. The "should be taxed!" thing is part of a Monte Python skit. One skit that I remember was some old guy standing in a stream. He's banging two bricks together and he says in a really slow voice "ANYONE....STANDING IN A STREAM...BANGING BRICKS TOGETHER...SHOULD BE TAXED!" It was so absolutely rediculous is was funny.

[JenB]

Ok, I haven't seen that particular sketch. I thought you were saying that the Princess Bride was vile or something. I know my little brothers (6, 8, and 9 are the ones I'm thinking of) love that movie and run around shouting lines from it all the time. I thought maybe your boys watched it too much and you were fed up with it, or something.

[ksen]

It's got some of the greatest lines in all of film history!

"Bye bye boys! Have fun storming the castle!", "Think it will work?", "It would take a miracle. Bye bye!"

;^)

-Kevin

[2Jedismom]

It's a pretty weird skit and would come on late at night when I was sitting up waiting for my brother to come in from a date or something. The guy would bang the bricks together and then fall flat backward into the stream. British humor, you know.

As a matter of fact, my husband LOVES the Princess Bride! I think I'll get it for him. The boys have never seen it and would probably love it too!