Our play centers around three characters: Clara (the time-travel girl), William (the guy who falls in love with her) and Theodore (William’s brother). Late in act two, there’s a moment where the two brothers finally blow up at each other in a scene we like to call “irrevocably disastrous things”. You could refer to it as our “angry” scene, because our two male characters are pretty dang angry. But really, they’re not angry. They’re frustrated. Which is what (theoretically) keeps the scene interesting, and not too one-note.

This Monday, I attended a rehearsal where I got to watch Shannon and the boys play a game with “irrevocably disastrous things”. Stu and Jed did the scene a few times with a less-minced version of the following instructions: one of the characters must be full-on-angry, and the other must be frustrated, but more controlled. If either actor wants to change who is which level of angry, they just do it and the other needs to compensate by changing too.

This is just one of those awesome things for a writer.  Lines you assumed were shouted are spoken through gritted teeth. Lines you assume were spoken through gritted teeth are spoken calmly and coldly. It almost changes the meaning of the scene, and always for the better. And it makes the brotherly rivalry between the two exactly the long-term “I’ve known you my whole life” sort of thing it should be.

Rock, Shannon.  Rock, rock on.