Kissing tells of constant work behind scenes of theatre

Lisa Vasconcelos blushes. She covers her neck with a few tosses of her cardigan. She pulls the sleeves down past her hands.

The artistic director in March hadn’t yet overcome a source of discomfort about her upcoming performance. Her character is scripted for a kiss — and with a fellow actor, formulating that kiss for how it looks, how long it lasts and every other detail is tricky.

“Theres a million ways you could do it,” says Vasconcelos. “It’s hard. It’s probably the hardest thing to be intimate with someone who isn’t your partner in front of a whole bunch of people. Like how do you do that?”

Vasconcelos’ company, Mecca Productions, is showing “Mamma Mia!” in Brandon in April. She told the Sun in March the cast members spent huge amounts of time and energy behind the scenes hashing out details of what the show would look like. A few kisses in the script set a perfect example of the job left for actors: interpreting and telling the story.

“I’m pretty sure we will,” said Vasconcelos. “But … it won’t be anything long or dramatic.”

Unlike other parts of telling a story, a kiss introduces to the equation a break in personal boundaries. A romance in a fictional story is usually expected to lead to some sort of intimacy — and its up to actors to walk the tricky line of negotiating how a kiss or romantic scene makes sense for the story, while also not overstepping in the real world.

Fellow actor Brody Burr is also scripted for a kiss in the show. He told the Sun in March that his scene with a separate actor in the cast is a constant process of gauging comfort with each other.

“Me and Olivia have really been working to get comfortable,” said Burr, set to play a love-interest character. “Each line can be interpreted in a different way in terms of what your character’s motivations or desires are.”

Burr said the two have practised so far with a kiss on the cheek.

The duty of being scripted for a kiss, and how to negotiate that, puts a spotlight on an important element of local theatre. The Brandon actors told the Sun there’s a world of question marks that must be answered.

“OK, this happens, but what is my actual back story, (and how does that affect me here?),” says Vasconcelos. “Little details like that.”

Vasconcelos pointed to a recent decision where she was acting upset. With help from her director, she acted one scene quiet-mad rather than huffing-loud-mad. The small detail impacted the scene and rippled off into the story, giving co-cast-members a different stimuli to work off and leading to changes.

It’s this reason that theatre companies around the country can produce “Mamma Mia!” but no two shows will be the same. The chemistry, decision making and personal interpretation of each crew means different teams will produce different shows, even if it is the same script.

A kiss is perhaps a salacious example of how this happens in theatre — a delicate approach to how to interpret a script — but in Brandon it has put a spotlight on that work in general. Vasconcelos said there’s endless problem-solving between actors, directors and cast members about how scenes will look.

As Mecca Productions rehearses ahead of their shows in April, Vasconcelos said cast members are hashing out every detail. In March, they are practising everything that will happen on stage down to the specifics, like whose head will go on what side during a hug; what a kiss will look like for a fictional romance.

The show is set to run at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium from April 10 to 12. Roughly 50 people are involved in the show, Vasconcelos said. It involves a number of musical numbers from the band ABBA, with hits like “Dancing Queen.”

The plot is about a mother preparing for her daughter’s wedding, when she learns three men from her past have been invited to the wedding. One of the men is believed to be the father. The musical was first introduced in 1999 and is licensed out from Broadway to theatre crews.

Vasconcelos is playing the mother, and Burr is playing her daughter’s fiancé. Vasconcelos told the Sun in March she would go back to rehearsals with a special emphasis to help co-actors negotiate their kiss. It’s a small part of the show, but brought forward a focus on detail and emphasis for the cast.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com