This was a script I found while browsing titles on Simply Scripts (among other things, there are a large number of Shakespeare scripts linked from there, all links are to free online sites) described as "full length" and "scifi" and not much else. I decided to indulge my nerdy side and give it a go.. not realising yet that it was only a short sketch. There's very little character development and it's more of a protracted story-style joke than a dramatic piece, but this entire endeavour being about challenging myself in new ways, I was determined to find something to get out of it rather than dismiss it out of hand as "cheating". Thus, it being a short piece and having someone handy to read with me, decided to actually go through it aloud and acted rather than just reading it.
First impressions, it flows a lot better read outloud than it does on paper, something my friend agreed with right away. By the end of the first reading it was clear what the lesson was today - not corpsing at the punchline. Something very basic, but also something I've had a bit of a weakness with in certain circumstances. Enough so that I ran a workshop one week in my drama society at uni on the subject, and there's even now the memory of a single line I had to respond to in my largest role to date which was always delivered so well the only way to get through it on the night was to grit my teeth so hard on my response that projection became an issue.
However, the second run through I was getting off the page more, and that helped a lot, and was able to keep playing straight through by focussing on the next line - being dismissive rather than a particularly emotive line helps a lot as well. It's something I've noticed, thinking back, in gag reels it's often very contrasting emotions or ridiculous situations that lead to corpsing, and that dismissing the joke in character makes it easier to also dismiss the need to laugh at it.
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