Today we did intimacy and fight work, as well as an Act 2 runthrough. Peyton and I were taught a lot of useful concepts for our intimacy scenes, in addition to communication about where we felt comfortable being touched:
- Level of touch: Skin, Muscle, Bone
- Counts: How long? 5 counts?
- Closing distance or receding
- Where am I aiming and with what?
- What kind of approach? Curved? Linear?
We blocked three intimacy scenes. One was a hug with 3 counts of skin-level touch, 2 muscle-level, and one count to slide out of the hug and hold hands with skin-level touch.
Next, a kiss that’s initiated by me with a skin-level shoulder touch with my left hand, followed by a skin-level brush of her hair with my right hand, each taking 1 count. We then pressed our hands together to indicate the level of affection. I have a predetermined change in ‘passion’, and everything I’ve mentioned is documented on a contract for all the parts we worked on.
We also choreographed the moment I lift Poirot into the air. I made sure to consider how my clothes would limit me, and in my costume fitting today I found that I did a good job.
My main note from Marc today was to explore the idea of making others fear me more. We identified that Arbuthnot’s instantaneous reaction is usually intimidation, but when I do it it seems more like pleading. This was because I’d intimidate someone, and afterward, I’d try to see if they’d give me what I wanted. This means that my full action is “Give me what I want now!… please?” So next time we run through the rehearsal, I’ll be looking for fear in my partner’s eyes and confirmation that they understand.
I also found myself extremely weary during the intimacy training. I was awkward, I didn’t initiate much, and I think it’s because I am afraid to make my partner uncomfortable. Even though we established clear boundaries, I still approached everything with immense caution, which certainly limited our abilities. I am unsure of how to overcome this at the moment, but I will talk to my partner before rehearsal to at least be honest with them.