Working Drama Blog

When doing evil manical laughter- prentend I am doing it to Jon

Ideas, Tips and Suggestions:
*Use sheets to create backdrop, sceneary, reveal and hide things
*Gags must be wrung out of all lines
*If unable ot find a character within self, use examples from other characters

Dario Fo 'Devils in Drag'
Scene 14/15
Me: Francipante (F)
Gwen: Barlocco ( B )
James: Pizzocca (P)

stage

F/B enter through coal sacks, and begin to jump towards P. F- Master status- sucessful jumps, B- bumbling idiot- less sucessful jumps. Adds comedy element and shows status immidately. Jump and sneeze.

F could have quite a booming voice, with strong Itialian tones -need to work on that (perhaps have a look at some Godfather films for ideas)- if B then had a less sonorous voice with Italian tones, it would also establish athourity.

When it comes to changing B, if we have several she-devils to come and dress F in appropriate attire (i.e. Hat, Cloak, Wand etc.) they can hold the curtain whilst F does the spell. As it is quite difficult to do by self. Also adds to humour of the scene. Pos song of the spell?

After 2nd time B shuffles out of curtain to be replaced by plasiticine model of B. B uses high-pitched squeaky voice to indicate smallness.

When inserting B into P, perhaps change from Magician to Doctor using she devils-long rubber gloves for F(which are dusty with coal) Then make motions and gestures that indicate that it is a bit of a struggle- with she devils in the background making appropriate noises.

Comedy/Dramatic tension must be kept up during that scene. Need to work on that.

'Get in there my son' should be said in a rather football-ish lout manner looking under the covers where B has been inserted. 'Congratulations' should be said in a rather gleeful way with hands being rubbed together.

Go to center stage- let out manical laughter- MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA or BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA, must be manical and evil and strong. Then walk back to coal sacks, perhaps comedy tripping on the way.