Godot

Last night was my second night at theatre class. It was amazing. I love my life.

This week I actually got to do stuff. Last week I got there late and only did part of the warm up. Then I sat for the remaining three and a half hours watching other pairs of students doing scenes from 'Waiting for Godot' (or 'En attendant Godot'). It was interesting but boring too.

This week, I had made some friends and I had a scene. I was the second one there, which is always nice, and I had my lines memorized. We warmed up (but I got singled out for not bending my knees enough in a slow motion fight exercise and for not air-punching energetically enough. At least I understood what she said.)

Then we did an Italian (which in my understanding is a speed-through) and I was partnered with one of my new friends. I was excited to realize I really did have these lines memorized in French, and she helped with some of my slaughtering of the pronunciation.

Then it was acting time. We ended up going last, which means we did our scene at 10:30 at night. I was so sleepy. And nervous. I'd been fine at the beginning but after watching everyone else I freaked myself out. There were some great scenes.

One really cool one was the two Spanish people we have in class. To help them get into character, Sylvia (the teacher) let them do the scene in Spanish. It was awesome and a little confusing for me cause it was my scene too but in Spanish, not French or English. A bit mind-boggling, but what isn't these days?

Finally it was our turn. We rocked it! Miraculously, I understood all the directions she gave us. And she liked what I was doing so much, she made me do it again and told everyone to watch my gestures. It was embarrassing but I was excited. I think I act better in French. It's liberating somehow.

During the scene, everytime I said a certain line, I heard snickers in the back of the room. Afterward, a few people came to talk to me and I discovered that my accent is "delicious", and the way I said that line was cute, and I reminded them of Jane Birkin. I'm so glad I knew who that was because they asked and I felt cool that I knew.

I think the others are more willing to talk to me now that they've heard me speak. I probably seemed standoffish, but really I just didn't know what to say or how to say it.

Anyway, after everyone left I stayed to pay the teacher for the lessons and she told me that what I had done was really good. I'm so excited! I'm pretty sure I didn't stop smiling all the way home.

Oh, and driving in Marseille is so much easier the second time. Next time, it'll be a piece of cake! And hopefully I'll find somewhere to park that doesn't cost me 7 euros, because that is ridiculous.