7 December 2016
There's only one week left to go before our performance, so today we went over everything many times over. As the narrator, I'm supposed to know the running order inside and out and I still don't quite know it as well as I'd like to...so I've typed it up so that I can read it over and over again.
Here's what I've typed up:
Multiplex Running Order
Welcoming in guests
Movement with me sitting in the “chair” and eventually walking through the screen
At the end of this scene it goes straight into this line: “There three types of ushers, right? There’s plankton, that’s like, the lowest of the low. Don’t know shit! Then there’s dudes...they’re you know, cool, but they don’t know movies. And at the top of the food chain, there’s the buffs...know everything about every movie ever made. And to them right, cinema, it’s not just entertainment -it’s life. Interior. Multiplex Cinema. Day. So that’s it. Plankton, Dudes, and Buffs.”
King dances around. DA. “It’s like a ghetto you know. A 15 screen, all singing, all dancing, multiplex ghetto.”
3. Favourite film scene. You do all the movements with everyone else. When King starts
to say his line, you move so that he can be on the riser. After he says his line you say,
“That’s King, he’s like the uber-usher. Undisputed master of the multiplex, capiche?
And me? Favourite film? Metropolis...Fritz Lang. Black and white and silent and shit
hot. Cause I’m a Buff, top of the food chain.”
4. Making a new film? Shit hot man. (then my line) “And then, a couple of times per year,
something fucking wonderful happens. King makes a film! He’s out there and he’s
doing it. He’s making it happen.”
When King says- Kind of set in the future, you go “ooooo”
Elton- Cool
King says- The Earth’s dying, and you go “ahhhh”
LATER, recognise this line from King - Gonna be shot in black and white...etc. Then Princess starts talking and this is when you need to start getting ready for your line.
Princess- No
King- This isn’t some zombie flick.
Princess- So what, romance then?
King- It’s not romance. ‘Course it’s not romance. They’re all dying.
Princess- But in love, yeah?
Then it’s my line, “That’s it, that’s who we are, united through film! And for awhile you feel like you’re somebody...living it man. It’s real! Everybody wants to be your friend and with free tickets to the multiplex you can pull dead easy just like” *snap*
5. The girls chat about the boys and you don’t leave the stage.
6. The first filming scene, straight away I say, “ Interior. Multiplex Foyer. First day of
filming.”
Last line of this scene is also in a monologue, “...salvation army, and eat doughnuts and maxi packs of crisps and go on Trisha. Then I’ll die. The end.”
Then it’s my line, “That’s it, in a nutshell, we like films, so we work in a multiplex. King likes films, so he makes his own movies. Simple. And then something happens, kind of out of the blue. But that’s just the way things happen...just when you’re not expecting them. Interior. Manager’s Office. Day.”
7. Mouse’s entrance. Line before mine…”application form filled.”
My line, “This kid walks into the cinema. 16. Small kid right? Wouldn’t reckon nothing to look at her.”
On Mouse’s line- Citizen Kane. Orson Welles.- We all run into a huddle.
After ‘out of the ark’ and ‘yeah’, turn head and put out hand to get her application form.
After ‘Click. Flash. All stored away.’ you go “oooo”
After ‘no shit?’ and ‘yeah no shit’, you get mouse and say, “and this...is Mouse”
After ‘Welcome little mouse, I’m Spike and this is Elton’ and ‘Pleased to meet you’, I say “Now the thing about Spike and Elton, they’re like henchmen, see? King’s heavies. Not that King wanted heavies, they just kind of chose him. Spikes the brains”
After Spikes monologue that ends on ‘Cushy number really school’, you come out from the side and say, “and Elton’s the brawn, you look at him and think...what the hell is going on inside your head?” Then you go back and sit on stage left.
7. Then there’s the flashback sequence with Jay in it
His last line is ‘happy thing, laughing. Not punching and blood. Smiles and shit’
Then I say, “ Interior. Canteen. Night. Ok, so back to the film...so the thing about King, he’s cool ‘cause he hasn’t got any competition. He’s top of the heap. Pig in shit. Happy yeah? But ever notice how fucking flimsy life is? Just when you’ve started to understand things, got some system sorted out...some little prick comes along and fucks things up. In this particular case Mouse…”
8. This transitions to the second filming scene ‘walk, walk, horror. Turn’, as soon as you
say the above line, sit down in your designated filming spot.
On the line, ‘maybe if you started again’ from mouse, you walk backwards and turn your head from King to Mouse on ‘yes’ from mouse you say ‘ooooohhh’
Then there’s the line, ‘you what?’ from Spike and Mouse says, ‘I’ve done a bit. Before I moved here…”
Then you say your line, “ And that was it, wanky I suppose...but kinda the moment everything changed. One thing that hadn’t changed was Elton...like the missing link in man’s evolution. Interior. Boiler Room. Night. The boiler room, nobody goes there...just King, Elton, and Spike. It’s where King goes to think and Elton goes to hit people.” Then you sit down on stage right.
9. Then there’s the bit where Elton gets all pissed off that ends with, ‘life is like a box of
Chocolates...but you always get the fucking caramel.’
10. Then there’s the three monologues (Princess, Twiglet, and Geach)
Jay has his monologue and King enters, the last lines of this scene are, ‘thinking just screws your mind up.’ and ‘you should know.’ and you say the line, “Then there comes the point when King finishes making one of his films. He knows this projectionist, so when the multiplex closes down at night...he screens his films. And we all come to see them, kindof on pain of death. But it’s great, yeah! Cause we’re pulled together.”
11. We transition after ‘Interior. Platinum Class. Screen One. Night.’ and Spike says, ‘You
are now viewing Platinum Class’ and you say, ‘This time it’s a bit different, ‘cause
we’re christening Platinum Class. A new concept in multiplex entertainment...at least
that’s what it says on the posters…”
There are a few lines and then Spike says, ‘this my friends, is cinema heaven.’ and you say, “Cause this is the future and everything’s changing… gone super sonic”
Then we *watch* King’s film and a few lines later Mouse says, ‘it was okay’ and Elton says, ‘say what?’ and Mouse says again, ‘I said it was okay…’
Then I say, “And shit, it was like… that was it. You know the moment in the movies, when two tons of bricks just kind of falls from nowhere… Interior. Boiler Room. Night.”
12. Then King and Elton and Spike have their pep talk
The end of this scene’s lines are, ‘That’s it. There’s only one way to sort this out.’ and Spike and Elton say, ‘Fuck’ in unison
Then I say, “And whenever anything happens… whenever anybody questions King’s authority, he does this quiz right. But honest, a clean game. Cause say whatever you like about him...cocky shit… but honest to the core.” Then you drop back and get ready for the game show.
13. And I say, “are you ready ladies and gentlemen?”
14. King and Mouse have their scene where they become friends. Their last lines are:
King- Cause no one gives a fuck...blah, blah...They don’t care
Mouse- What do you want me to say?
King- Dunno don’t say anything I suppose, just listen.
Mouse- Ok.
Then I come in and wrap my arms around them and say, “That’s the point about this place, it’s about leaving...not about staying. Like some big fuck off departure lounge on the way to someplace else. And the people that do stay, you feel sorry for them, right? Sad bastards who haven’t got the courage to piss off and get on with their lives. Man, if that was me...Shit.”
Then Mouse and King say their bits about the ushers and I come in, “...and at the top of the food chain, there’s the Buffs...know everything about every movie ever made. And to them right, cinema, it’s not just entertainment. It’s life.”
15. Then it ends, and I don’t have to say anything.
This weekend, I'm planning on running my lines and the running order for at least an hour -probably more like 3 (on and off) so I feel completely confident with everything. We've got another practice on Monday where we can finalise anything that needs to be finished off, so that will be extremely helpful. I also recorded this running order, you can listen to it in another blog post:
Multiplex (running order) RECORDING
12 December 2016
The play is tomorrow and I think this final practice went extremely well, considering some things are just now falling into place. I got any questions I needed to ask Emin, answered (had some confusion about the running order because we cut out some scenes at the last moment).
Today was was also a dress rehearsal. Wearing my costume actually helped my character's personality come out a little bit more than usual. Here's a picture of my costume:
Wearing this costume really helps me feel a lot more like Dillion, rather than myself, playing an usher named Dillion. I've been using method acting to play this part because this character is very similar to myself; I think looking the part can help a lot with becoming that person.
For tomorrow, I've just got to keep rehearsing the running order and going over my quiz scene lines (scene 18). Here's some practice I did earlier today (before the rehearsal): I wrote all of this without referring to the typed version of the running order that I did last week or the script, so I think I'm on the right track.
