Gini's Letter to the Company 20.05.07

Hello, all!

I am attaching an updated cast list which lists additional roles you
will be playing (it is not the end, believe me!) PLEASE NOTE, that in
my hurry to get the original list to you I listed "Sade's Mother",
where it is supposed to be "Marat's Mother" (DV: please change on
website)

Again, please try to resist seeing the Peter Brook film or listening
to a recording. We want to create our own. New. Fresh.

I know some of you have a script. Enjoy. The cut version is coming
very soon and I will be able to e-mail it to you. There are fewer
cuts than I thought, so you will be able to start learning the long
speeches soon. I will indicate when I send it, what HAS to be learned
before you return (all, would be nice). This is a very rhetorical
play. Lots of the text comes from actual speeches and writings. The
sooner you get it in your body, the sooner we can work with it.

RESEARCH
What I would like you to do NOW is to start doing research. We will
be providing you with some information, but part of your actor work
will be your own research. Start keeping a journal - now - and in it
include your research - now. So, historical characters (Simonne
Evrard, Jean-Paul Marat, Duperret, Coulmier, Jacques Roux, Charlotte
Corday, Marat's Mother & Father, Voltaire, Sade, Lavoisier) - research
this person and their work, their writings, their speeches, their
lives, surroundings, etc. The more you know, the more you can draw
upon in your work. You will be presenting a short oral report to the
company on what you have learned.
Rossignol, Kokol, Cucurucu, Polpoch -- find out where they come from
-- find out about entertainment in France between 1789 and 1808 (or
earlier)
Herald -- where does your character come from in theatre history?
French theatre history?
Scientist -- what were science and the Academie like 1789 to 1808?

EVERYONE: If you are not currently able to discuss the following
comfortably, please find out about them. I don't want to spend a lot
of time filling in history for you:

Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette
la Bastille
the 14th of July
the French Revolution
the Reign of Terror
les Incroyables
the National Assembly
Napoleon and the Empire
the Napoleanic wars

Happy hunting! If you have questions, I am just an e-mail away!

If your character's mental illness is stated (usually by the Herald),
please feel free to read up on it, but don't worry - that we will be
working through with you.

Gini