Rehearsal by Petrichord will be the next story I will be reviewing today. Featuring two more obscure characters, I was definitely interested in checking this piece out. Let’s see…

ERehearsal

• MLP: FiM
• Drama

Sometimes, it can be hard to be a model. Particularly a model out of her depth, under the guidance of a complete nutbar.

• Fleur de Lis
• Svengallop

Petrichord · 2.3k words  ·  9  1 · 410 views

As usual, this review will contain spoilers. You have been warned!

Summary

It is hard to be a model, but under a complete nutbar like Svengallop? Good luck!

Content/Plot Analysis

I think that the first thing that jumped at me was how much resentment I had for Fleur de Lis and the other characters who were partaking in his music video stunt based on how Svengallop portrayed himself. It reminded me of how tyrannical and off-putting some dogmatic employers could be, especially when they expect absolute servility and unwavering respect from their employees.

Indeed, the characterization of Svengallop was done splendidly to what I would expect from him. These aforementioned traits noted were definitely believable. One could clearly detect his underlying pride and forced air of authority over the situation, especially from his dialogue with Fleur de Lis. From the perspective of Fleur de Lis, this story talks about how a tyrannical micromanager like Svengallop would manage a set for a music video. There, I could feel the injustice from between the lines of dialogue seeping into me and bestowing upon me a hatred that I did not feel before from this character. It certainly struck a chord with me and my own personal experiences at work by drawing a tangible connection.

As for Fleur, her experience of being a model certainly shines through into the piece. Her professionalism was exemplified through her tactful answers to her contract employer Svengallop and in the manner she presented herself skillfully off and on the set. Her past experiences rang through in her thoughts visibly in the story, when she was reminded how to best deal with situations such as this by other, more seasoned model in the past.

When one reads through the story, one would be able to see how Fleur’s experience with Svengallop would impact how she would think about the way she used to try to detach herself from her reality of work. Let’s draw attention to the following excerpt –

I am a function of my dress… The dress is a function of the scene… I accentuate that which accentuates the motifs of the set piece… I accentuate, but am no more than an object. As it has been, as it should be.

This was a “speech” that Fleur would recite to herself as a way to relieve the stresses of her job, as something to detach her feelings away from work; to think of herself as nothing more than a tool, an inanimate object in the set. Personally, I could relate to this when I had such hatred for a job which I could not back out thanks to the contract, as I remembered clasping onto a similar mantra or virtue in this fashion to help me get through it too. However, the more interesting point was how Fleur had a revelation that she was more than a tool, even if her tyrannical employer would brand her as nothing more than one to bolster his success.

I am a function of my dress… The dress is a function of the scene… I accentuate that which accentuates the motifs of the set piece… I accentuate but… [But]… Nopony else can do my job… Nopony else can stomach the makeup and the preparation and the dieting and the grooming and the life management and… nopony else can stomach ponies like… [Svengallop]. It’s all me.

Because… I demonstrate what the outfit does. I am not just a mannequin. I have voice, personality, my own character. Jokes aside, I project, and I…

Here, let’s consider how Fleur’s mindset had changed. Throughout her career, she was perhaps used to thinking that she was nothing more than an object in the set. She might have this perception of herself in her job ingrained in her mind for a good period of time before coming to the point that she was something of value in the set. She might not be perceived to be of value in the set, as Svengallop would say, but she would think of herself as worth something more than that.

This was an interesting conflict to note that was occurring in Fleur’s mind, and it was clear that she was conflicted or even hesitant to buy this concept. This was a unique view into Fleur’s character, though I would argue that this came too abruptly. Owing to the rush to this conflicted conclusion, it was not necessarily simple to empathize and comprehend how this change would have come about. There was little development that went into justifying how this simply happened and to point at a specific criterion that was responsible for this change. Granted, new ideas might come to challenge older, more rooted ones, but there must have been something more substantial, perhaps, that would galvanize this change.

However, this spark of thoughts was killed when Fleur realized how she and the rest of the crew in the set were being used like literal stage props in the set. It was worse to note that the setting proffered by Svengallop could best be described as completely silly.

…I’m really nothing more than an object, here.

Resultant to this, she wanted to inform, or maybe hint at another character who she was interacting in the play with. One could see how much she had hesitated in doing so, but yet her thoughts could somehow match with her lines in the script in an almost congruent fashion. It was a beautiful take at how the scene would amplify her message in the story, in my opinion.

Overall, I wished that the story had developed the “foreground” of the story (the backstory to this scene) more strongly. I would think that the reader would be able to better immerse themselves into the setting of the story and understand the unfortunate plight that Fleur (and the other actors) had when they chose to work with Svengallop. Clearly, it was a mistake, but the long description had promised to discuss how the prospect of money would sway employees to work for him in spite of dealing with him on a daily basis. I felt that this would be one potential way to look into the development before the story.

Language

Errors were fairly scarce throughout the story. Let’s take a look at a few recommendations that I would like to make to the author.

“…Svengallop”, Fleur replied as a familiar face trotted in front of her.

“…Svengallop(,)” Fleur replied as a familiar face trotted in front of her.

“Absolutely, Svengallop”, Fleur replied, lifting her head.

“Absolutely, Svengallop(,)” Fleur replied, lifting her head.

Another thing to note would be the usage of angle brackets to show that the piece of dialogue was spoken in a foreign language even though it was translated to English in the story. I personally found their usage to be unorthodox. I wonder if these pieces of dialogue could have been replaced with normal quotation marks; the author could then specify that these were spoken in a foreign language outside of the dialogue, as mandated by Svengallop’s eccentric script.

Stance

Rehearsal is a thought-provoking read that I definitely enjoyed. The story took advantage in its characterization of Svengallop and Fleur to portray a message which could be perceived in more ways than one. However, I wished that the conflict in Fleur’s mind would have been built more concretely in the story to help drive the message home.

Content/Plot: 7/10
Flow/Communication: 6/10
Language/Readability: 6/10
Overall: 6.3/10

<For archive purposes: 6.3/10>