I love you all so, so much.

photos from early in the rehearsal process:

I can't wait to see what the next part of journey holds...

Top 10 things to do while waiting for the fulll OMF

I know it's only been a few days since the workshop ended. Sure, maybe my attention span is short. But I'm bored. And I want to start the full OMF.

But this post also goes to those of you who won't be in the full play. And after the intro, there's going to be another whole week and a half while we wait for our casting. So for the impatient among us, or those who won't be with us for the full play, 10 things to do while waiting for all your free time to mysteriously disappear:

1. Read the book.

2. Re-read the book. It's surprising all the things you notice the second time around, especially when you've played some of the characters. Among other things--Bradley Headstone has a scene with John Harmon?

3. Watch a film version. Or two. I know we're critical of the versions, and you shouldn't let them influence your interpretation too much, but as Richard often says, there is no performance without at least some good things about it. (Alternatively, if you're a monomaniac, you can join me in my quest to find the lost film version of OMF--a silent short called "Eugene Wrayburn" with only the Eugene/Lizzie plot made by Thomas Edison's film company in 1911. I haven't been able to find these anywhere yet, but I'm going to keep trying!)

4. And what was four? Why, making pudding, he was four!

5. If you've done 1-3 already, read something else by Dickens. My personal favorites are Bleak House and David Copperfield, although I love Nicholas Nickleby as well. Or get adventurous and read some other Victorian novel--I'm currently in the middle of Vanity Fair, but I'd also recommend Middlemarch, Wuthering Heights, Barchester Towers...those were pretty good years for the novel.

6. Sit in the corner of your room at night and turn your lights on and off very quickly, to mimic a strobe light. Or walk down the bike path in character, muttering your lines under your breath. Yes, I have tried both of these.

7. Feel nostalgic about rehearsals by watching this video, filmed by Nick. (Back when we were still saying Georgiana incorrectly. Also, watch Alex come up with the Georgiana/Fledgeby not- wanting-to-sit-next-to-each-other idea--it's so cool to see everyone's thoughts happen in real time!) Or, if you're really desperate, watch this section 14 OMF workshop blooper video. Yep.

8. Volunteer to help out with the incredibly FUN process of counting lines and creating stage change lists for acts 3 and 4! That's what your directors are doing! Fun, fun, anyone want to join in the fun? Why are you all running away?

9. Read the 19th-century reviews of OMF. Two of the most interesting are that of G. K. Chesterton (he praised it) and Henry James (he Wray-burned it pretty badly).

10. I can't think of a ten. Write blog posts about OMF?

Anyway...I can't wait until the intro!

Eugene Wrayburn and Bradley Headstone PART THE FIRST

Ah. Hello. I've been writing this for a while now, and basically it's not even done yet. But I promised to put it up this week-or part of it, and here is roughly the first half.

I would like to thank everyone who I talked about these characters with, but especially Greer, Oliver, and Brewer, because they play these fantastic characters and it's so interesting to see what they come up with.

It has been extremely interesting these past weekends to see the result of some buildup in farther past weekends relating to the topic of certain persons Eugene Wrayburn and Bradley Headstone. The general opinion seems to be all in favor of Bradley! Why is this? While I acknowledge that he is an incredibly interesting and quite sympathetic character, and very deserving of all the love, I have not been able to fully understand why Eugene is so disliked, and I also have been confused as to why people are comparing them. Simply because persons are involved in a love triangle does not mean that is the defining part of their character.

While I confess myself strongly bias towards Lizzie and Eugene on the love triangle level, I regard Eugene and Bradley as equally interesting on a character level. And so, if you do not all mind reading a little analytical rambling of character on my part, I would like to ramble a bit about both of them.

One may argue that one of the points of Bradley Headstone is to make, through comparison, Eugene more favorable as a match for Lizzie. This may work in some places, but as demonstrated by the strong bias towards Bradley Headstone at YSP, that is not really working here.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I am not fond of love triangles, they always seem to make someone unhappy or dead (or in Bradley’s case, both, so I was not incredibly pleased to see one developing on my first read-through of Our Mutual Friend. Eugene or Bradley was going to end up unhappy (or dead), and that’s just a depressing thought to be reading with. At this point I considered Eugene amusingly aloof and dismissive (but actually, I thought Mortimer was even more so), and Bradley was just a guy who repressed his emotions WAY TOO MUCH for it to be healthy. So they weren’t great-but not that bad either.

AND ON REFLECTION

BRADLEY HEADSTONE

Bradley Headstone is many things. Object of romantic interest to Miss Peecher. Romantic pursuer of Lizzie Hexam. Stalker of Eugene Wrayburn. Schoolmaster to Charley Hexam. Schoolmaster in general. Conflicted. Confused. Man of repressed emotions. Passionate. Obsessive. And possibly just a little crazy. But that is up to you.

When you first meet Bradley Headstone you are given a brief glimpse into his ‘normal’ persona. I say brief, because pretty much as soon as you meet him, he meets Lizzie and then, sadly, it is all downhill from there. He is decent, constrained, and from the beginning it is hinted that there is something lurking beneath.

Bradley Headstone, for all his tragic character and somewhat sympathetic villainry, is not exactly a good man. He is briefly shown as in control of his life, but changes to being ruled by his passions very quickly. While love can be a redeeming passion, hate is not really regarded as such.

So he falls madly (literally!) in love with Lizzie and starts to pursue her, and rather abandons his stable life for the passions of the heart. His love for Lizzie leads him to develop a very deep hate for Eugene Wrayburn, very fast, and for very little cause. Raging jealousy, hate, and love are often a bad combination.

What did Eugene do? His air-his speech-his condescending aloof and disinterested laziness seem to affect Bradley almost immediately. Admittedly, he is not very nice to Bradley Headstone either, but is that really enough to justify murderous hate? But more about Eugene later.

I find it important, when talking about Bradley Headstone, to mention his proposal to Lizzie. On his part it seems desperate and sympathetic, a man who is madly in love attempting to win over object of said love. However, what is it to Lizzie?

Take the location, for instance. A graveyard. Consider his name. Headstone. While you roll your eyes and go ‘Oh, that Charles Dickens!’ and also thank the various worshipped heavenly powers that his name wasn’t Deadstone, also consider that if you were being proposed to-would you want to be proposed to in a graveyard? At night? I will not add ‘from a man whose name is Headstone?’ because the name really isn’t his fault, poor man.

However, the whole ordeal mostly freaks Lizzie out. I cannot blame her because it is just not a position that any young woman wants to find herself in, at night especially. She refuses his proposal of marriage, and then he fixates on Eugene as the causer of all his problems. He cannot blame Lizzie for this-he blames Eugene. For everything. And Lizzie realizes this and gets even more frightened because she actually kinda likes Eugene. Bradley retreats with some dignity left (actually he makes a pretty good exit, considering the way things went) and actually doesn’t really ever bother her again, except to attempt to kill Eugene, but that’s an indirect bother.

Eugene, on the other hand, is a different story. He is now the object of an obsession for Bradley Headstone-he is the reason that Lizzie refused him, and after all, Bradley was in love with her, so yeah, Jealousy and all that fun stuff. Good thing there wasn’t a Iago around, eh?

As the story continues, Bradley gets more and more unhinged. However, soon, a very notable Bradley and Eugene interaction takes place.

THE BAITING OF BRADLEY HEADSTONE

The big all-caps title was probably unnecessary. However, it sounded cool and ominous.

In all honesty, and I will talk about this later, this is not exactly Eugene’s shining act of humanity. And as the line between the two in terms of ethics becomes blurred-by this time both of them are doing strange, selfish things, or at least planning to do strange, selfish things. And while it is very entertaining to picture Eugene running around town, stalked by Bradley, and taking all the silliest and odd routes just to irritate and further infuriate Bradley, it just doesn’t click with the moral evaluators. So really, this is where Bradley is portrayed as quite a victim. Provoked by Eugene’s amused…provoking, he starts to really go crazy. As long as we note that he started following Eugene, which prompted Eugene to bait him, we can continue. (Also interesting is that it is implied that Charley too takes part in this follow-the-Eugene game from time to time. In fact, in my copy of OMF, which I found in a used bookstore, the lines of Eugene describing his followers are underlined, and beneath is written ‘headstone&charley’).

You may all glare at Eugene now, so we can get back to Bradley.

Bradley is murderous. And angry. And wrathful. And absolutely bent on following Eugene in the hope that Eugene will lead him to Lizzie. I do, though, wonder if that is just one of the reasons he is following Eugene. After all, when he finally follows Eugene to Lizzie, he doesn’t even bother with her and beats up Eugene instead.

In my humble opinion, throughout the rest of the book, Bradley is strangely enough, a really sympathetic character. Before he proposed to Lizzie, Charley was a very bad influence on him, I think. But then, as things near an end, something happens to make Bradley go completely insane.

And it is ALL CHARLEY’S FAULT.

He’s rejected by the woman he loved. He’s baited and provoked by the man he loathes. And finally, he is ‘cast off’ by Charley Hexam. The horrible part? It’s thanks to Charley that he met Lizzie, and consequently went insane (and then died) because of the events that happened after.

There’s not much else to say. He hangs about with Riderhood, stalks Eugene to Lizzie, and then in a fit of fury, beats him nearly to death and dumps him in the river.

In this murderous act, Bradley has actually imitated the dress and look of Riderhood, probably to lay the blame on him if there should be an investigation. Riderhood is no fool, and notices. He proceeds to attempt to blackmail Bradley, and in a final act of, well, something, Bradley grabs him, they struggle, and then fall to their deaths in the river. It’s pretty much suicide, he knows that if he kills Riderhood, he’ll die too, and that makes Bradley’s death very tragic, and really rather heroic, in a way.

To be continued...

Not a Real Post, or You too could be a blogger

This isn't a real post. Every time I try to write one, I have to think about OMF, which immediately provokes a train of thought something like this:

"Our Mutual Friend gotta do those stage changes and re-tape the stage and finish blocking Anne's costumes are so cool I can't wait to read act 4 God I love Bradley Headstone I can't believe we have only two more weeks of this production this is so amazing!!!!"

So, yeah. I'm a little distracted. So instead, I would like to open up this blog this week to all of you who are not directors but are dedicated OMF actors. Do you have any thoughts about the production? About your characters? Pictures/stories you'd like to share? Email me. I'll compile them into a post which I'll put up by the end of the production.

In the mean time, relax, sleep, run lines, come to our last two rehearsals, and I'll see you all at dress rehearsal.

--your friendly neighborhood intern/articulator of human bones/creeper-and-arch-nemesis

P.S. Try this! Name all 20 novels Dickens' novels within 10 minutes. I remembered 16 of them--how many can you get? http://www.sporcle.com/games/dickens.php

How Dickens wrote Our Mutual Friend, or Amos Deadstone

So the other day, I was reading scholarly articles about Our Mutual Friend. (Yes, I read academic scholarship for fun). And I found this fascinating article from 1944 about how Dickens planned OMF--with copies of Dicken's original notes!!

So here, in all their typographically-reproduced glory, are Dickens' own notes about how the story of Our Mutual Friend should go. He's also experimented with some lines and some names in the margins. A few interesting observations:

Miss Peecher was almost named Miss Pitcher, Mr. Riah was almost Mr. Oden, and Bradley Headstone was almost Amos Deadstone. (Amos? Really Dickens? I'm glad you switched to Bradley).

When comparing the notes to the original OMF manuscript, the scholar who wrote the article found that each book was written in the same ink as the notes for the next book. So Dickens was planning as he went--he didn't plan the whole book from the beginning.

The most interesting speculation the scholar makes is that Eugene Wrayburn might have originally been supposed to die! By Eugene's scene with Lizzie, Dickens has "Eugene dying" underlined, and a line written by Eugene: "I hope I should amend, if I recovered, but I'm afraid I shouldn't." As much as I hate to say it, I'm glad Eugene doesn't die. It seems like Bradley was fated to die from the beginning, so it would be really sad for Lizzie if she was left without both of them at the end of the story. Plus, Bradley's death would be totally in vain. So...darn.

Anyway, here is the article. If you want to skip to the notes themselves, go to page 8.