We tried to create a vocabulary for poses so it becomes more purposefully. We also realized that a dynamic in the text that we haven't explored is status. How does status affect their relationship.
The actors explored status in the opening of "How We Do it" and discovered that C aka Conrad is higher status than G, Greta. This affects Conrad driving Greta out of audience interactions and into the top of their scenes.
Status also plays a role in their interactions with the manager and waiter. The manager and waiter are lower status than G & C. (Kieran and Caroline realized playing them as dumb Mobster w/ NYC accents was the perfect foil for G & C)
One thing I realized is that during their re-enactment of the waiter/ manager exchange, Greta plays higher status than Conrad, as Greta is playing the manger and in terms of their comedic sketches, Greta drops the punchlines. The fascinating thing about that is that all of G & C's interactions really embrace the interchangeability of their relationship. Even in status they cross lines and break rules. Which feels very G & C. And very vice.
I've also included this great Vaudeville Comedy duo clip. As the precision of movement and language that G & C hammered down for their manager/waiter re-enactments really solidified their comedic timing.
We also realized that the current casting of audience members for this scene was too complicated. If you watch in the video above, while Lee and Shaw call out to the audience they maintain the comedic timing of their scene by keeping it simple. Just them onstage, and their bits are well rehearsed. With so much audience interaction the drive to the central question of would you accept art as money was getting lost.
So we re-worked the audience interaction, to just one moment, where one audience member is cast to say yes, YES, they will take G/C's drawings of money!
*Footnote: Vice = maintains the integrity of the vaudevillian world we are trying to create!
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