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Rehearsal 5-21

Posted by DCA Theater on May 22, 2009 in January-June 2009 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Rubicon Theatre Project

by Scott Allen Luke, Managing Director of Rubicon Theatre Project

Tonight we started playing around with Act II, having worked exclusively on Act I to this point.  As I sat and listened to Meg simply read the words of the opening monologue of Act II, something hit me.  The character of Christine (the one who is “obsessed” with “becoming Ingrid”) says something to the effect of how “torturously boring the holidays were,” referring to the winter break between semesters at the school in Scotland where she’s taking class.  Christine is married, and normally the holidays are usually a pretty joyous time people get to spend with their family, right?  Christine is married too, which made me wonder why?  Does she hate her husband?  Is it simply a marriage of convenience or tax purposes for the couple?  Talking about how the holidays with your husband were “torturously boring” is a pretty bold statement.  She also asks Ingrid during a short meeting in Ingrid’s office during Act I (Christine is taking a writing class taught by Ingrid during Act I) what it’s like living alone.  She also goes as far as saying that she’d like to live alone.  I know I’ve talked about obsession quite a bit already, but the idea really fascinates me:  to be interested in something so deeply, so religiously, that everything else just fades away to the background.  I imagine that this stems from some past, emotionally-scarring event, but what?  Can any type of “obsession” be good?  Obsession to be the best at something?  Is that really what obsession is:  the yearning to be the best at something?  The yearning to have the most knowledge about something?  Is it more dangerous than that?  Furthermore, is this marriage able to be saved?  I encourage anyone to respond with their opinion about any of this.  I’ve never been “obsessed” with anything, so I’m interested in getting other opinions and thoughts.