Frantic Assembly Essay
Frantic assembly is a theatre company that specialises in physical theatre based work. That is expressing emotion or parts of the narrative through movement alone although they may use music to help convey the intended mood/atmosphere.
They were founded in 1994 and the founders had wanted to start a physical theatre company for ages and had thought that their initial style of play was a bit too unoriginal and maybe a bit too similar to the groups they had been inspired by such as DV8. While DV8 had a more of a style that focused on political, social and human nature issues, Frantic Assembly wanted to go in a different direction and by that I mean that they have no real direction for their company but still there work doesn't seem focused on these kinds of issues or themes. They also have a different way of devising their work such as DV8 often use certain human issues to inspire an idea in which they then expand upon and there is always an element of symbolic movement in each scene where as Frantic assembly they will have an idea that is inspired by very simple things such as conversations they've heard or thoughts that come to them listening to contemporary music. Their ideas can circle around and be thought about for years before they even get started on becoming a production if at all and their shows are split between a mix of naturalistic acting and having scenes of physical theatre which is another thing that differentiates them from DV8. They take pride in that their ideas are considered for a very long time if they need to be and this in my opinion is a wise decision since they can discuss and recognise the flaws of a certain idea if there are any. I think this because I have had ideas and thought that they were great at the time but upon reflection just a short time after thinking them discovered a few reasons for why they wouldn't work. I even did this recently with a physical theatre activity in class. The ideas I came up with under the time limit of the day upon reflection seemed unfinished and that they could be developed and even though we didn't actually get to further any of them in class because they were scrapped but the more I developed them in my head the better they got even after a while of thinking about them.
Frantic often use "Building blocks" such as the "Round by through" which is basic movements which they can string together in any order or any amount of times they wish and then they can form a narrative around it. This is something I also used in the recent activity but I didn't use the move and formed a story around it I incorporated this move into the already existing narrative but used the move to help with establishing a specific moment and an intention. I used it to show that I was killing someone by going through them and them after I've pushed their head down to symbolise killing them I moved around the body. However I did build upon that move by adding the emotion on my face and to make it seem like getting through him was indeed a struggle which showed more aggression which did come across according to the class feedback. Another building block they use is "hymns hands" which involves two or more people moving either their own or their partners hand/hands to anywhere on their body or their partners. They can also lead their partner to do something such as they can make them turn round or push their head down or make them do some simple motion. This was also something I used to a degree in my task. After I had gone through this person I pushed their head down with which was inspired by this and also from another thing called "Chair duets" but it did come from this too and even before I went through him I grabbed his arm arm pushed it away which does come from this but like i'm supposed to, I added something to it. I added speed and aggression which fit the theme and stimulus we were given. These methods of using building blocks and using your idea/theme/stimulus to add depth to them is an excellent way and it shows because it did help with me quite a bit during my devising.
These methods do show up in there work for example "Lovesong" which is a beautifully done play and does incorporate these elements although since it's frantic assembly they don't show up too often or have had so much more added to them that you may not notice even if you know these techniques. Adding these layers of depth to it does work to hide the basic moves because you're taken in by it's extra layer of whatever emotion is being portrayed in it. "Lovesong" does this very well. The movements have clearly developed into something more fluid and with more purpose and since "Lovesong" is part naturalism and part physical theatre, the physical moments stand out more to show that they mean something a lot deeper, something emotional or in the case of this play they can convey the passing of time which is a theme throughout it. So while these moves may start off basic, their depth and the fact that they aren't constantly use help to make them stand out or seem special and help them to be beautiful moments in a beautiful play.
Frantic assembly do have some very useful devising methods that have worked for them very well in their productions and even helped me in my early devising work and probably will help me in the future. Their style of naturalism mixed with physical theatre is a great idea and makes the moments of extreme/surreal movement stand and mean something deeper or emotional than the rest of the story even though they are still very well written, acted and overall excellently produced.
Monday 30 November 2015
Enter Achilles review/DV8 essay
"Enter Achilles" by DV8 review.
"Enter Achilles" is a physical theatre based play by DV8 that centres around a group of men in a pub as well as another man who is new to the place and doesn't exactly fit in with the crowd. The whole piece is looking at the "lad" culture which had a rise in popularity in the 1980's and 1990's although is still found to be happening today. Since this is DV8 and they deal with issues that involve any political or human nature themes this fits right in with there work and I must admit that after my scepticism I found it to be a genuinely engaging and even enthralling piece of work. I will be talking about the film adaptation but it is extremely physical theatre based and I believe that there is most likely very little deviation from the stage version.
The plays focus for it scenes was on a bunch of "lads" in a pub doing their usual activities which involve drinking, insulting "banter", and behaviour that most people wouldn't call the friendliest. One day a man who is somewhat different to them (As in he is a fair bit camper and is wearing very different clothing) comes into the pub and due to his difference is appearance and actions is rejected by the mentality of the group. He then manages to show a couple of them (one at a time) how trying these new things can be interesting or that they should be more open and when these people do open up the rest either reject it or get very angry about it. My initial response to the play at the start was that I wouldn't be able to take it seriously since the first scene was someone fondling a sex doll but then I tried to think of what it was trying to say. As it went along I thought I had an idea of what was going on but the more that happened the more my idea didn't seem to make sense even though I was never looking at any of these events literally and only at what they could symbolise and while I found it to be engaging and it held my attention very well throughout it was something that I had tot think about for a while before I had an idea. The fact it stayed in my head for so long shows that it definitely did something right.
Since it's physical theatre based and it's done by DV8 we know that it'll be left open for the audience to interpret about what themes and actual plot of the piece is. The themes in particular are quite ambiguous and one of the most interesting parts about it. A common interpretation of the class that there was a running theme of repressed homosexuality due to most of the men rejecting this very camp man and since one of them has a sex doll which can symbolise that his desire for women isn't real and a fabrication. I however disagree. There are a few moments in my opinion that don't seem to fit thematically with this interpretation although it does have it's merits. One part is where one of the lads has the bottom covered in shaving foam by the camp man as if to mock him for going along with the others in their ways. The foam incident in my opinion represents the mans view of autonomy in human nature and the need to feel like we must fit in or go along with everyone or the fact we are restricted to make our own decisions by the mentality of society. There is a moment near the end where the lads use the found doll in a sexual manner and the instant one tries to protect it one of them stabs it and it bleeds and deflates. This in my opinion shows that the piece has no consistent theme (For example repressed homosexuality) but instead has many running through it and shows many of the problems with this kind of culture. The doll bleeding to me represents how they were using the doll sexually and the will to keep it as an object in there minds as a very real thing. The themes show objectification, discrimination, fear of change, and showing the problems of a certain culture by showing the extreme sides. It seems to show that people do want to make their own decisions but due to pressure of society they can't or are scared to show who they truly are.
The movement in the piece is extremely fluid and in my opinion incredibly well done and it has helped grow towards liking physical theatre and while I highly admire it as an art form I don't think it would be one I want to do but would happily watch and be impressed by. One moment in particular was when one of the lads was lying on a pool table and another had to land on him and then be pushed off. When I saw that moment I flinched because I was assuming it would look heavy and that there would be too much weight but I was surprised to see that it looked very light and extremely fluid which showed the potential of the style with the right training. It was beautifully done throughout the whole thing but that moment in particular stood as as the most surprising to me. The score/music for it was very subtle yet combined with the movement did an excellent job at establishing the mood of a certain moment. The fact that the actors could keep the pints of lager full and not spill it as they do all these very complicated moves was also very impressive. The actors were all very well cast and played their parts amazingly which is impressive because they somewhat combined naturalistic acting with a very unnatural style which is definitely worth a lot of credit because it was pulled off very well. The story or at least the themes conveyed were very entertaining as well as thought engaging and I was very I'm pressed with the production as a whole. It had a very nice set, great clothing and props with thematic purpose, wonderful acting and combination of styles, amazing and beautifully done choreography and was overall very well produced and great to watch so I'm glad I saw it and it got me thinking about this aspect of human nature.
"Enter Achilles" is a physical theatre based play by DV8 that centres around a group of men in a pub as well as another man who is new to the place and doesn't exactly fit in with the crowd. The whole piece is looking at the "lad" culture which had a rise in popularity in the 1980's and 1990's although is still found to be happening today. Since this is DV8 and they deal with issues that involve any political or human nature themes this fits right in with there work and I must admit that after my scepticism I found it to be a genuinely engaging and even enthralling piece of work. I will be talking about the film adaptation but it is extremely physical theatre based and I believe that there is most likely very little deviation from the stage version.
The plays focus for it scenes was on a bunch of "lads" in a pub doing their usual activities which involve drinking, insulting "banter", and behaviour that most people wouldn't call the friendliest. One day a man who is somewhat different to them (As in he is a fair bit camper and is wearing very different clothing) comes into the pub and due to his difference is appearance and actions is rejected by the mentality of the group. He then manages to show a couple of them (one at a time) how trying these new things can be interesting or that they should be more open and when these people do open up the rest either reject it or get very angry about it. My initial response to the play at the start was that I wouldn't be able to take it seriously since the first scene was someone fondling a sex doll but then I tried to think of what it was trying to say. As it went along I thought I had an idea of what was going on but the more that happened the more my idea didn't seem to make sense even though I was never looking at any of these events literally and only at what they could symbolise and while I found it to be engaging and it held my attention very well throughout it was something that I had tot think about for a while before I had an idea. The fact it stayed in my head for so long shows that it definitely did something right.
Since it's physical theatre based and it's done by DV8 we know that it'll be left open for the audience to interpret about what themes and actual plot of the piece is. The themes in particular are quite ambiguous and one of the most interesting parts about it. A common interpretation of the class that there was a running theme of repressed homosexuality due to most of the men rejecting this very camp man and since one of them has a sex doll which can symbolise that his desire for women isn't real and a fabrication. I however disagree. There are a few moments in my opinion that don't seem to fit thematically with this interpretation although it does have it's merits. One part is where one of the lads has the bottom covered in shaving foam by the camp man as if to mock him for going along with the others in their ways. The foam incident in my opinion represents the mans view of autonomy in human nature and the need to feel like we must fit in or go along with everyone or the fact we are restricted to make our own decisions by the mentality of society. There is a moment near the end where the lads use the found doll in a sexual manner and the instant one tries to protect it one of them stabs it and it bleeds and deflates. This in my opinion shows that the piece has no consistent theme (For example repressed homosexuality) but instead has many running through it and shows many of the problems with this kind of culture. The doll bleeding to me represents how they were using the doll sexually and the will to keep it as an object in there minds as a very real thing. The themes show objectification, discrimination, fear of change, and showing the problems of a certain culture by showing the extreme sides. It seems to show that people do want to make their own decisions but due to pressure of society they can't or are scared to show who they truly are.
The movement in the piece is extremely fluid and in my opinion incredibly well done and it has helped grow towards liking physical theatre and while I highly admire it as an art form I don't think it would be one I want to do but would happily watch and be impressed by. One moment in particular was when one of the lads was lying on a pool table and another had to land on him and then be pushed off. When I saw that moment I flinched because I was assuming it would look heavy and that there would be too much weight but I was surprised to see that it looked very light and extremely fluid which showed the potential of the style with the right training. It was beautifully done throughout the whole thing but that moment in particular stood as as the most surprising to me. The score/music for it was very subtle yet combined with the movement did an excellent job at establishing the mood of a certain moment. The fact that the actors could keep the pints of lager full and not spill it as they do all these very complicated moves was also very impressive. The actors were all very well cast and played their parts amazingly which is impressive because they somewhat combined naturalistic acting with a very unnatural style which is definitely worth a lot of credit because it was pulled off very well. The story or at least the themes conveyed were very entertaining as well as thought engaging and I was very I'm pressed with the production as a whole. It had a very nice set, great clothing and props with thematic purpose, wonderful acting and combination of styles, amazing and beautifully done choreography and was overall very well produced and great to watch so I'm glad I saw it and it got me thinking about this aspect of human nature.
Wednesday 18 November 2015
"The Cherry Orchard" Performance Evaluation
"The Cherry Orchard" Performance Evaluation by Jack Collins.
This is an evaluation that aims to explain if/how the performers of "The Cherry Orchard" gave the intended naturalistic performances that were required of them to an audience and if they were of a good standard.
Lines: The majority of the cast remembered there lines very well however there were one or too slip ups for example in part 4 there were two points in which Sam interrupted me meaning he forgot his cue and said his line to early. Chloe as Varya even messed up on one line but she still remembered it she just got a word out of place and it sounded a little silly. I myself didn't mess up on any of my lines and I remembered all of my cue lines which set me up quite well. All of the extra rehearsal work I did with remembering and practicing with other students over the phone really paid off and for only having weeks to do it I'm impressed I did my lines properly. Although I did use a script for part 4 because I was not being assessed on that and put focus on parts 1 and 2 but I still remembered a fair few of my lines. I even covered up one unplanned change in a line. Max was supposed to say Can I have a glass of water" but instead of "Water" he said "Brandy" and I just simply had to go along with that. It may not seem much but it's a detail that if i didn't change would've stuck out like a saw thumb and I just feel like I need to mention
Entrances and exits: Everyone including myself came onto stage with the right amount of energy for the appropriate scene or mood. We all acted as if it was cold if it was supposed to be and we all came on looking how we were supposed to feel such as when I come on in part 4 I'm in a rush and I made it look like I was due to my speed and energy. There was not a single stage entrance on my part that went wrong and no one else as far as I'm aware. The only exception I can think of was that Rhys allegedly tripped up when going on stage and while I never saw or heard this everyone else did.
Pace: The pacing throughout parts 1 and were excellent, everyone including myself said our lines at the correct time and there were no long pauses between anyone's lines due to them remembering their cues well and this kept the pace fast and means that it didn't drag so the pacing for parts and 2 was very well done and paid off brilliantly. However the pacing for part 4 was still quite good it was definitely slower. This was partially due to me reading a script and having a few small pauses between lines although I did get much better as I went along. Another reason was because some people such as Sam and Jack t had clearly not rehearsed there lines as much as everyone else. They did remember them it's just they were sometimes delivered slowly or at least slower than they should've been. These few reasons made part 4 a bit slower than it should've been although it was much better than when we rehearsed it so that's something.
Timing: It was obvious that everyone in parts 1 and 2 had rehearsed enough in order to learn there cue lines because there were no unnecessary pauses and the ones that were there were intentional and for dramatic effect. However in part four there were a few pauses that were a little too long some of them even from me due to I was allowed to use a script and even though they weren't long they were still a second or 2 too long for it to seem completely natural.
Aim: Our aim was to give naturalistic performances and I think that most of the cast did this brilliantly. I believe mine was very natural and believable due to the idiosyncrasies that I gave my character and how I was consistent with them which kept it engaging and alive. Most of the other actors did this very well too with the exceptions being Sam/Alexander and Mike/Boris. Sam was completely wooden with almost no energy throughout his performance and mike was excellent when he had to deliver lines but when he did not, he was completely still and when he started moving it stuck out and was a little jarring so he needed to practice his idiosyncrasies more and keep them consistent. or at least just use them a little because he didn't at all as far as I'm aware. so while some were a little off, most of the cast were very good at acting in a believable and natural way.
Characterisation: I think I got Leo's objective of wanting to help his sister across quite well or at least I gave off the feeling that he cares for her deeply. Such as when she hallucinates her mother I go up next to her and try to make sure she's OK and I was visibly worried. Me wanting to hide my sadness came across well too in part 2 and it gave off the impression that I didn't want it to be seen by anyone and especially not Lyuba. So getting across my objectives, motives and movements was natural and seemed to work very well.
Vocal delivery: For the most part the cast delivered there lines very well. They were articulate, had very good projection and there delivery was emotionally diverse when it had to be. I think I had all those qualities and have improved quite a bit during the rehearsals. I was worried that playing an old man and adding frailty to him meant that my projection level may be lowered but from what I experienced and the feedback afterwards that was not the case. I was surprisingly loud and very articulate and even managed to get the sad about to cry tone right which was another thing I was worried about. Exceptions in the cast would be Rhys for his projection because he was actually quite quiet and hard to hear sometimes where as Mike was excellent in terms of projection because he was the loudest of us all and somehow kept a natural tone in his voice which was quite impressive.
Gesture and movement: I already mentioned about Mike and his idiosyncrasies and how he needed to use them to appear more natural and while I think that about him and Sam, everyone else as far as I'm aware did use them and no one was ever motionless unless they had to be for a specific purpose such as a dramatic stare/look. I used my 3 movements/idiosyncrasies consistently and made my performance seem more alive and realistic. I'm proud of the way it turned out and it actually was useful to me as well as engaging. It made me more focused while on stage and ready for my next cue line or cue for movement.
Focus: Everyone was extremely well focused throughout the production with just a couple of exceptions that I can think of. One was me when I smiled on stage when I wasn't supposed to. It was the moment when Charlotta/Becca goes "Waaa" because I just think it sticks out too much and sounds ridiculous. I covered it up by acting as if I was finding what she was doing endearing but I admit there was the one moment where I lost focus and I covered it up well in my opinion but the flaw was that it shouldn't of happened so that is something I would need to improve. Another example was that Anya/Yasmin was allegedly laughing on stage when she was in her scene with Peter/Logan and even though I didn't see it I heard she did it from a few people. The final example of lack of focus was that there was a fair bit of whispering backstage and I'm guilty of this too and while I didn't do it much I still did it and this may have been distracting to anyone who heard it.
In conclusion I feel that the performance as a whole went extremely well despite a few minor flaws. I think my performance was very natural, utilising the idiosyncrasies and body language while projecting my voice and keeping the natural tone. I showed varied natural tones and a range of emotions in a subtle and believable way. The only fault with my performance as far as I can tell going by opinion and feedback is that I used a script for part 4 however I'm not being assessed on part 4 so that isn't a fault in my eyes although I'll admit that it did affect pacing and maybe my tone of voice occasionally. Everyone else I can say did the same with the few exceptions I mentioned to do with Mike, Sam and Rhys. There are a few things to improve with those 3 such as projection, energy and idiosyncrasies. I'm proud of the way this performance went and the feedback afterwards seemed quite positive especially for the performances.
This is an evaluation that aims to explain if/how the performers of "The Cherry Orchard" gave the intended naturalistic performances that were required of them to an audience and if they were of a good standard.
Lines: The majority of the cast remembered there lines very well however there were one or too slip ups for example in part 4 there were two points in which Sam interrupted me meaning he forgot his cue and said his line to early. Chloe as Varya even messed up on one line but she still remembered it she just got a word out of place and it sounded a little silly. I myself didn't mess up on any of my lines and I remembered all of my cue lines which set me up quite well. All of the extra rehearsal work I did with remembering and practicing with other students over the phone really paid off and for only having weeks to do it I'm impressed I did my lines properly. Although I did use a script for part 4 because I was not being assessed on that and put focus on parts 1 and 2 but I still remembered a fair few of my lines. I even covered up one unplanned change in a line. Max was supposed to say Can I have a glass of water" but instead of "Water" he said "Brandy" and I just simply had to go along with that. It may not seem much but it's a detail that if i didn't change would've stuck out like a saw thumb and I just feel like I need to mention
Entrances and exits: Everyone including myself came onto stage with the right amount of energy for the appropriate scene or mood. We all acted as if it was cold if it was supposed to be and we all came on looking how we were supposed to feel such as when I come on in part 4 I'm in a rush and I made it look like I was due to my speed and energy. There was not a single stage entrance on my part that went wrong and no one else as far as I'm aware. The only exception I can think of was that Rhys allegedly tripped up when going on stage and while I never saw or heard this everyone else did.
Pace: The pacing throughout parts 1 and were excellent, everyone including myself said our lines at the correct time and there were no long pauses between anyone's lines due to them remembering their cues well and this kept the pace fast and means that it didn't drag so the pacing for parts and 2 was very well done and paid off brilliantly. However the pacing for part 4 was still quite good it was definitely slower. This was partially due to me reading a script and having a few small pauses between lines although I did get much better as I went along. Another reason was because some people such as Sam and Jack t had clearly not rehearsed there lines as much as everyone else. They did remember them it's just they were sometimes delivered slowly or at least slower than they should've been. These few reasons made part 4 a bit slower than it should've been although it was much better than when we rehearsed it so that's something.
Timing: It was obvious that everyone in parts 1 and 2 had rehearsed enough in order to learn there cue lines because there were no unnecessary pauses and the ones that were there were intentional and for dramatic effect. However in part four there were a few pauses that were a little too long some of them even from me due to I was allowed to use a script and even though they weren't long they were still a second or 2 too long for it to seem completely natural.
Aim: Our aim was to give naturalistic performances and I think that most of the cast did this brilliantly. I believe mine was very natural and believable due to the idiosyncrasies that I gave my character and how I was consistent with them which kept it engaging and alive. Most of the other actors did this very well too with the exceptions being Sam/Alexander and Mike/Boris. Sam was completely wooden with almost no energy throughout his performance and mike was excellent when he had to deliver lines but when he did not, he was completely still and when he started moving it stuck out and was a little jarring so he needed to practice his idiosyncrasies more and keep them consistent. or at least just use them a little because he didn't at all as far as I'm aware. so while some were a little off, most of the cast were very good at acting in a believable and natural way.
Characterisation: I think I got Leo's objective of wanting to help his sister across quite well or at least I gave off the feeling that he cares for her deeply. Such as when she hallucinates her mother I go up next to her and try to make sure she's OK and I was visibly worried. Me wanting to hide my sadness came across well too in part 2 and it gave off the impression that I didn't want it to be seen by anyone and especially not Lyuba. So getting across my objectives, motives and movements was natural and seemed to work very well.
Vocal delivery: For the most part the cast delivered there lines very well. They were articulate, had very good projection and there delivery was emotionally diverse when it had to be. I think I had all those qualities and have improved quite a bit during the rehearsals. I was worried that playing an old man and adding frailty to him meant that my projection level may be lowered but from what I experienced and the feedback afterwards that was not the case. I was surprisingly loud and very articulate and even managed to get the sad about to cry tone right which was another thing I was worried about. Exceptions in the cast would be Rhys for his projection because he was actually quite quiet and hard to hear sometimes where as Mike was excellent in terms of projection because he was the loudest of us all and somehow kept a natural tone in his voice which was quite impressive.
Gesture and movement: I already mentioned about Mike and his idiosyncrasies and how he needed to use them to appear more natural and while I think that about him and Sam, everyone else as far as I'm aware did use them and no one was ever motionless unless they had to be for a specific purpose such as a dramatic stare/look. I used my 3 movements/idiosyncrasies consistently and made my performance seem more alive and realistic. I'm proud of the way it turned out and it actually was useful to me as well as engaging. It made me more focused while on stage and ready for my next cue line or cue for movement.
Focus: Everyone was extremely well focused throughout the production with just a couple of exceptions that I can think of. One was me when I smiled on stage when I wasn't supposed to. It was the moment when Charlotta/Becca goes "Waaa" because I just think it sticks out too much and sounds ridiculous. I covered it up by acting as if I was finding what she was doing endearing but I admit there was the one moment where I lost focus and I covered it up well in my opinion but the flaw was that it shouldn't of happened so that is something I would need to improve. Another example was that Anya/Yasmin was allegedly laughing on stage when she was in her scene with Peter/Logan and even though I didn't see it I heard she did it from a few people. The final example of lack of focus was that there was a fair bit of whispering backstage and I'm guilty of this too and while I didn't do it much I still did it and this may have been distracting to anyone who heard it.
In conclusion I feel that the performance as a whole went extremely well despite a few minor flaws. I think my performance was very natural, utilising the idiosyncrasies and body language while projecting my voice and keeping the natural tone. I showed varied natural tones and a range of emotions in a subtle and believable way. The only fault with my performance as far as I can tell going by opinion and feedback is that I used a script for part 4 however I'm not being assessed on part 4 so that isn't a fault in my eyes although I'll admit that it did affect pacing and maybe my tone of voice occasionally. Everyone else I can say did the same with the few exceptions I mentioned to do with Mike, Sam and Rhys. There are a few things to improve with those 3 such as projection, energy and idiosyncrasies. I'm proud of the way this performance went and the feedback afterwards seemed quite positive especially for the performances.
"The Cherry Orchard" Blog 4: Character Profile.
"The Cherry Orchard" Character profile of Leonid Gaev by Jack Collins.
This is a profile detailing the character of Leonid Gaev from from the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov. He is the character that I'm playing in our level 3 production of the aforementioned play.
Who am I?
My name is Leonid Gaev. I am a man who throughout his life has been raised and lived in wealth with serfs (servants) and have recently had to lose my serfs due to them gaining the rights to leave or that they have to be paid to be kept so I'm going to have to get used to doing my best to look after myself and have had to get a job due to the debt my family is in and I'm trying to help save my family estate.
I see myself as automatically superior to people that are not within the realms of my social class. This means people such as serfs and the villagers that don't have the same wealth or background as me I see as below me but I don't treat them too differently although I do like to put them in there place occasionally and I always speak to people like Yasha and Firs in a demanding way to make sure they remember who is in charge. I will out right tell Firs to be quiet but I won't aggressively enforce what I ask of them because I think that would be too cruel but I still like to show power to show them who calls the shots. I see myself as quite understanding of the people around me, especially my sister Lyuba who I do love and try to keep out of trouble or try and reminisce on old times. I'm much more polite to the people within my class although I'll still judge them or at least be somewhat critical of them because I feel that people need to hear their mistakes or faults so that they don't repeat them. I consider my self somewhere between an optimist and a realist because I like to be as happy or as optimistic as possible but there are times when I need to look at things realistically and approach them the best way I can.I wear glasses. My eyesight has gotten worse due to my age. I wear black trousers, white shirt, bow-tie, black shoes and a tweed jacket. This is my usual option for clothing because it's simply what I think suits me. I do like to wear other things but this is my usual style and I like it.
What are my circumstances?
The year is 1902 and between the months of May and October. The weather outside is quote cold yet is very beautiful. We're in Russia, in our family estate and childhood home and we're welcoming home my sister who is returning from France. The other people with me are my relatives, family friend and the serfs that work for the family. The area outside the house is fields and trees and which isn't too far from the village. We go between the nursery, the living room and my bedroom (which isn't on stage) and I have an obsession with billiards and even have my own table which I use.
My sister has just come back from Paris after being robbed by someone she trusts there and we're welcoming her home and I know that she will be distressed due to these events and other things I'm sure are to happen. My plan is no matter what to try and keep her happy or at least prevent her from being as sad as she could be.
What are my relationships?
I am Lyuba's brother and I feel a duty to help her whenever I can so that's why I'm doing what I must even if it may stress me out I do want to protect her
These are the people I know/associate with and my relationships with them:
Lyuba: Is my sister and I love her dearly, I'm always trying to be supportive of her and try to help her as much as I can.
Anya: She is my biological niece and I think she is a lovely young woman and I can see Lyuba's influence on her but thankfully more positive traits. She also of course cares for her mother which I can respect.
Varya: She is my adopted niece and I have a lot of respect for her, I think she is a nice young woman although she can be a bit angry sometimes but she sees the same faults in Lyuba that she wants to get rid of so she can also make her mother happy which I completely respect.
Yasha: He is also a serf here and I'm not too sure if I like him because he seems to be very arrogant and disrespectful and since he is a serf and not in my class I find it more unacceptable
Firs: He has been a serf at our house my whole life and while I do respect firs and do see him somewhat as a friend I still see him as below me because he's a serf and not with in my class. So although I still respect him I still put him in his place every now and then.
Alexander: I don't fully trust him because I have a vague feeling he has an alternate motive to wanting to be so nice to Lyuba. I can't tell but there's something about him that I don't like.
What do I want?
My objective throughout the play is to try and help my sister Lyuba with what ever problems she has. She has problems with debt due to someone robbing her in Paris and she has some very uncontrollable spending habits that have not helped her. I want to try my best to try and make her see what she's doing wrong so she can correct it and also just make her as happy as possible considering the situation. I will tell her that she shouldn't give away her money if she's in debt and it's a habit she needs to get out of. I will remind her of old times when we were growing up just so she knows that we have had great times here and that it's not all lost even though we are losing the estate we still have the memories of it so it's not all bad. I would like Lyuba to look on the bright side. I will not cry in front of her because that will just worry her more and I think she's had enough stress and worrying so I don't want to add to it. I will distract her when Paris is brought up so she doesn't think about it, I literally start talking about a bookcase to get her mind off of it. I really do want to see her happy and I try my best but her current situation isn't helping.
What is my obstacle?
There are a few things that get in the way of Lyuba being happy. One thing is her horrible spending habits, she will just give money away to anyone that asks for it even when she knows she mustn't because it's something she has done most of her life because she has been able to do so but now she can't and it's not a good habit to have at this time. Another thing is peter coming along because he is just bringing back memories of her son and my nephew Grisha who drowned when he was young. This she understandably never gotten over and I feel that seeing peter (who taught and looks like Grisha) will just remind her of it all again. She is also reminded of the incident in Paris quite a lot even just by things such as letter from there or people mentioning that she has returned but that means she is just reminded of what happened there. This in turn reminds her that she is in a lot of debt since her money was stolen and she can't pay the mortgage on the estate so she has a very big chance of losing her home and her beloved orchard. This is all she has left and to lose it would destroy her emotionally. One last thing is Alexander buying the estate just so he can build some cottages and he's betrayed her trust which I know has had an effect on her. These things really get in the way of me simply wanting her to be happy, she's my sister and I do love her and to see these things happen to her isn't exactly nice and I'm trying my best despite these things to help her be as happy as possible.
What do I do to get what I want?
Since I've mentioned quite a few times now that I wan to keep Lyuba happy you can probably tell that is one of my priorities. I do what I can to make her feel better. For example I reminisce about old times to Lyuba because it makes her feel young again even though it may make her think of the fact she's losing it, it does seem to help her be happy for at least a few brief moments when remembering her good time in life. I tell her that she should not be giving her money away when she knows not to but feels she must because that will only make things worse. I tell her when she's done something wrong because I feel she must learn from it. I even change the subject when Paris is mentioned or she's got letter from there. I literally start talking about a bookcase to get her mind off of it and try to stay cheerful so she doesn't get up set. Overall I just try and divert her from hearing about her troubles so she doesn't get too upset but I know she'll have to face them at some point which upsets me.
This is a profile detailing the character of Leonid Gaev from from the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov. He is the character that I'm playing in our level 3 production of the aforementioned play.
Who am I?
My name is Leonid Gaev. I am a man who throughout his life has been raised and lived in wealth with serfs (servants) and have recently had to lose my serfs due to them gaining the rights to leave or that they have to be paid to be kept so I'm going to have to get used to doing my best to look after myself and have had to get a job due to the debt my family is in and I'm trying to help save my family estate.
I see myself as automatically superior to people that are not within the realms of my social class. This means people such as serfs and the villagers that don't have the same wealth or background as me I see as below me but I don't treat them too differently although I do like to put them in there place occasionally and I always speak to people like Yasha and Firs in a demanding way to make sure they remember who is in charge. I will out right tell Firs to be quiet but I won't aggressively enforce what I ask of them because I think that would be too cruel but I still like to show power to show them who calls the shots. I see myself as quite understanding of the people around me, especially my sister Lyuba who I do love and try to keep out of trouble or try and reminisce on old times. I'm much more polite to the people within my class although I'll still judge them or at least be somewhat critical of them because I feel that people need to hear their mistakes or faults so that they don't repeat them. I consider my self somewhere between an optimist and a realist because I like to be as happy or as optimistic as possible but there are times when I need to look at things realistically and approach them the best way I can.I wear glasses. My eyesight has gotten worse due to my age. I wear black trousers, white shirt, bow-tie, black shoes and a tweed jacket. This is my usual option for clothing because it's simply what I think suits me. I do like to wear other things but this is my usual style and I like it.
What are my circumstances?
The year is 1902 and between the months of May and October. The weather outside is quote cold yet is very beautiful. We're in Russia, in our family estate and childhood home and we're welcoming home my sister who is returning from France. The other people with me are my relatives, family friend and the serfs that work for the family. The area outside the house is fields and trees and which isn't too far from the village. We go between the nursery, the living room and my bedroom (which isn't on stage) and I have an obsession with billiards and even have my own table which I use.
My sister has just come back from Paris after being robbed by someone she trusts there and we're welcoming her home and I know that she will be distressed due to these events and other things I'm sure are to happen. My plan is no matter what to try and keep her happy or at least prevent her from being as sad as she could be.
What are my relationships?
I am Lyuba's brother and I feel a duty to help her whenever I can so that's why I'm doing what I must even if it may stress me out I do want to protect her
These are the people I know/associate with and my relationships with them:
Lyuba: Is my sister and I love her dearly, I'm always trying to be supportive of her and try to help her as much as I can.
Anya: She is my biological niece and I think she is a lovely young woman and I can see Lyuba's influence on her but thankfully more positive traits. She also of course cares for her mother which I can respect.
Varya: She is my adopted niece and I have a lot of respect for her, I think she is a nice young woman although she can be a bit angry sometimes but she sees the same faults in Lyuba that she wants to get rid of so she can also make her mother happy which I completely respect.
Yasha: He is also a serf here and I'm not too sure if I like him because he seems to be very arrogant and disrespectful and since he is a serf and not in my class I find it more unacceptable
Firs: He has been a serf at our house my whole life and while I do respect firs and do see him somewhat as a friend I still see him as below me because he's a serf and not with in my class. So although I still respect him I still put him in his place every now and then.
Alexander: I don't fully trust him because I have a vague feeling he has an alternate motive to wanting to be so nice to Lyuba. I can't tell but there's something about him that I don't like.
What do I want?
My objective throughout the play is to try and help my sister Lyuba with what ever problems she has. She has problems with debt due to someone robbing her in Paris and she has some very uncontrollable spending habits that have not helped her. I want to try my best to try and make her see what she's doing wrong so she can correct it and also just make her as happy as possible considering the situation. I will tell her that she shouldn't give away her money if she's in debt and it's a habit she needs to get out of. I will remind her of old times when we were growing up just so she knows that we have had great times here and that it's not all lost even though we are losing the estate we still have the memories of it so it's not all bad. I would like Lyuba to look on the bright side. I will not cry in front of her because that will just worry her more and I think she's had enough stress and worrying so I don't want to add to it. I will distract her when Paris is brought up so she doesn't think about it, I literally start talking about a bookcase to get her mind off of it. I really do want to see her happy and I try my best but her current situation isn't helping.
What is my obstacle?
There are a few things that get in the way of Lyuba being happy. One thing is her horrible spending habits, she will just give money away to anyone that asks for it even when she knows she mustn't because it's something she has done most of her life because she has been able to do so but now she can't and it's not a good habit to have at this time. Another thing is peter coming along because he is just bringing back memories of her son and my nephew Grisha who drowned when he was young. This she understandably never gotten over and I feel that seeing peter (who taught and looks like Grisha) will just remind her of it all again. She is also reminded of the incident in Paris quite a lot even just by things such as letter from there or people mentioning that she has returned but that means she is just reminded of what happened there. This in turn reminds her that she is in a lot of debt since her money was stolen and she can't pay the mortgage on the estate so she has a very big chance of losing her home and her beloved orchard. This is all she has left and to lose it would destroy her emotionally. One last thing is Alexander buying the estate just so he can build some cottages and he's betrayed her trust which I know has had an effect on her. These things really get in the way of me simply wanting her to be happy, she's my sister and I do love her and to see these things happen to her isn't exactly nice and I'm trying my best despite these things to help her be as happy as possible.
What do I do to get what I want?
Since I've mentioned quite a few times now that I wan to keep Lyuba happy you can probably tell that is one of my priorities. I do what I can to make her feel better. For example I reminisce about old times to Lyuba because it makes her feel young again even though it may make her think of the fact she's losing it, it does seem to help her be happy for at least a few brief moments when remembering her good time in life. I tell her that she should not be giving her money away when she knows not to but feels she must because that will only make things worse. I tell her when she's done something wrong because I feel she must learn from it. I even change the subject when Paris is mentioned or she's got letter from there. I literally start talking about a bookcase to get her mind off of it and try to stay cheerful so she doesn't get up set. Overall I just try and divert her from hearing about her troubles so she doesn't get too upset but I know she'll have to face them at some point which upsets me.
"The Cherry Orchard" Blog 3
This week we have been practicing our scenes and have been trying to focus on things such as not using our scripts and trying our best to keep it as well paced as possible.
Research/Development and understanding:
I've mentioned in my previous blogs that i have had difficulty trying to fully define Leonid and figure out a way of playing him but I think it's finally starting to make sense to me. From the research I've done and some experimenting in class I think I'm understanding him now. Since we are only doing extracts of the play it means that we don't have the entire script to read and since I can't find find a complete version of the translated script by Simon Stephens to read every detail about Leo I decided to look up some details about his arc in the play/ his part in the play. One character profile I found stated that they thought of Leo as a "big baby" due to the fact he likes candy, mimes billiards all the time, and generally can't dress himself, However I see him as less childish than that profile seemed to make him out to be. To me he seems like a man who ha been spoiled by being wealthy most of his life but has some level of immaturity. Since he has been wealthy most of his life he is somewhat used to the sense of being superior and he feels like he needs to enforce that occasionally (Similar to some of the other characters) For example he'll moan at Yasha for something smell related or he'll try and undermine Firs by telling him to be quiet but he never does it to the point that he would repeatedly do it/do it aggressively. For example after he tells firs to be quiet, Firs just keeps going on with his speech and then Leo just ignores him and starts messing around with the piano. He even at some points just doesn't listen to things Alexander says. I've even picked up a little cynicism from him as he criticizes certain issues such as Varya marrying Alexander and that Lyuba throws her money around. While they are valid it does stick out from his usual upbeat personality. I think I'm getting better at showing this side of him more. Over the last week of rehearsing I've gone from being a very unintentionally somber character to a much more emotionally diverse one. He shows humour, optimism, upbeatness, sadness, disapproval and even mild fear when he talks about Lyuba's spending habits and even the regret and realisation that there's nothing he can do to help her with the debt. This all started coming to me properly the more I rehearsed my scenes in the theatre, They would just come to me more naturally and this didn't really happen at any specific moment, it happened at a many small moments and gradually improved so I can't pin point any of the moments specifically with the exception of that when we first did my only scene in act 2 where I say "I'm tried, Firs can you help me? I need to get changed." I tried it so that throughout that line or the preceding one so that I would look like I'm finding it progressively harder and harder to hold in my sadness and only just really reveal it as I'm at the very edge of the stage. this seemed to work because the instant I got off stage Karen said "Lovely" so I kept it and I think it works very well. One other moment is when I say to Anya "You look just like your mother.", I tried the line with a lot more energy and enthusiasm more than I did last time and to me it made him feel more alive because saying it the way I did before just seemed very wooden. So I have developed and made him more 3 dimensional in my opinion or at least I have made the 3 dimensional aspects of the written character come out. He's become more diverse and it seems to have worked because I've been getting some very good compliments about my acting from some of the other cast members and even Karen. That was during a costume run when I put as much effort into the mannerisms as I could and thankfully it seems to have payed off. Let's hope I can stay like that for the performance which I believe I will do because at the moment I'm finding it easy to use his mannerisms to age him and it feels natural to me. We also recently had a workshop to give our characters some idiosyncrasies and I had already given Leo some that came naturally as a result of trying to age him. They were, Putting his hands into fists and putting them on his knees when sitting and moving them occasionally along with mild adjustments to how he is sitting. I move around and make like I'm putting a little effort into it so the movements look a little rough like they should do. I also made it so that when he walks or stands his head maybe be slightly lowered when not doing anything but held up enough to see and when he walks he hold his arms in a little and leans ever so slightly forward. I do this all the time during the rehearsals and try my best never to keep him still and thankfully I have got some very positive feedback about my subtleties so it's clearly working and I plan to keep them as they are with no exaggeration or lessening them.
.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths: One strength of this week is that I'm completely off book now and not using a script for part or 2 but I'm still using it for part 4 because I'm not being g assessed on it although if i had more time i would've learnt it as well because I have a feeling it will be a little distracting when I read a script in part 4. I've finally learnt my monologue although I may need to change a line of it. I say "I pulled out the bottom draw" but the bookcase we're using has no draws so I'm changing it to "I had a look at the bottom shelf" or something along these lines because it may vary between performances. Another positive is that i have finally developed Leo more and he is really starting to come to life, like i said earlier he is becoming more dimensional and due to me trying somethings out and seeing other interpretations (even though I disagree with the one i saw) has actually helped me quite a bit in realising what suits his dialogue and I'm happy with the results so far.
Weaknesses: One weakness of this week is that I have still occasionally blanked on my bookcase monologue but that was only twice and that was due to lack of focus and the pressure to remember but overall I'm confident i won't forget for the performance. Also there have been a few times where I call it a wardrobe instead of a bookcase which is very annoying but with practice I think I'll be fine. Another negative about this week is that we still have not fixed the pacing in part four because at the moment it is pretty terrible, it is very slow and sometimes unbearable. This may be due to some of us reading scripts and the people who aren't are having trouble with there cues but with the time in the theatre we have left I really hope that we can improve and keep it going because it need to be 20 minutes and I think that it's close to 25 which is too long for this assessment. The next negative just applies to me. When Charlotta has a baby she makes a "Waa" noise. Becca did this during the rehearsal and the first time I heard it I laughed uncontrollably for 3 solid minutes because at the time i thought it was awful and stuck out like a saw thumb. That on my part was awful and I need to show control. since she's done it more I've go used to it but i still have to cover up a massive smile even though my character is supposed to grin I'm not supposed to laugh so I'm going to have to show control. Also the fact I was laughing made me miss one of my cues which again affected the pacing and another reason why I need to get completely used to it.
New learning and self reflection: Initially I tried to age Leo by quite a bit and to me it came off as older than he should have been but when I asked people about it they said that it looked appropriate so thankfully it was more subtle than I thought. At first I thought that the upbeat movements and the subtle movements due to his age would contradict but as soon as I found out that it didn't come across as too frail or too old and tried mixing them up a bit more I realised that they did go together pretty well. Also I have tried to use the system to try and help develop Leo and there have been a few examples I've used this week. Emotional memory, like most people I have reminisced about times past, I even do it about my last course to my current class mates and I noticed that when i do so I always tend to go into a somewhat somber tone yet with a hint of optimism. It's like I'm sad that time has passed but I'm still looking forward to the future and I think that has influenced how I say some of Leo's lines when he's reflecting on times in his past such as when he says "My dear sister, we slept here, do you remember? And now I'm 51. How strange to be old. I don't feel at all different.". That line made me think he was reflecting on the past yet trying to find the positive in it as if yes they are moving on but he's still the same man he always was and that's good enough for him. So my own memories of telling people somewhat similar situations had influenced how I did it and it worked in my opinion although I added a little more upbeatness to the line to suit Leo just a little more. I used the magic if and I thought how I would react if I was in this situation of wanting to do what I can to help a relative but there's very little I can do and dealing with inevitability which is upsetting and quite stressful. If i was in this situation I'd try my best to hide being upset because it would just bring further stress onto everyone involved and I have fit this into certain lines such as when I say "could you help me, Firs? I need to get changed." I'm trying to hide it but end up not succeeding in doing so and that's what came naturally because it's probably what I'd actually do. Another thing I considered when looking at the system was Leo's objective. Now it seems as though he may have varying objectives throughout the play but the one that is the most consistent throughout and the one that sums him up in my opinion is that he's always trying to help/comfort his sister. He's always reminding her of old times to reminisce on, he tells her not to give her money away due to her debt and her spending habits, he leaves the room so she doesn't see him crying and she doesn't get more stressed out and even tries to change the subject when the Paris situation is brought up so that she doesn't get upset which is what leads into that bookcase speech. He always tries to be positive when he can to keep the mood up.
Teamwork: As i mentioned last week some of the class have been helping each other out with learning lines and we're still doing so.and thankfully it's still paying off the improvements to my monologue i mentioned earlier. Me and Chloe have still been practicing our cue lines and it all seems to be going pretty well and we can now respond to them pretty fast. Everyone has also been giving some helpful encouragement for each others performances and I think it's kept the morale of the production up which is helping because everyone seems to be relatively happy and very focused when practicing.
Overall this week I feel I have improved significantly. I have finally developed Leo a lot more than I have over the last two/three weeks of doing this production and it's going pretty well in my opinion. I just hope everything goes well for the performance now because now I'm a lot more confident with the character due to understanding him more and the help from everyone with the encouragement. I have faith that this production will go well and my only concern will be the pacing for part 4 but that's about it.
Research/Development and understanding:
I've mentioned in my previous blogs that i have had difficulty trying to fully define Leonid and figure out a way of playing him but I think it's finally starting to make sense to me. From the research I've done and some experimenting in class I think I'm understanding him now. Since we are only doing extracts of the play it means that we don't have the entire script to read and since I can't find find a complete version of the translated script by Simon Stephens to read every detail about Leo I decided to look up some details about his arc in the play/ his part in the play. One character profile I found stated that they thought of Leo as a "big baby" due to the fact he likes candy, mimes billiards all the time, and generally can't dress himself, However I see him as less childish than that profile seemed to make him out to be. To me he seems like a man who ha been spoiled by being wealthy most of his life but has some level of immaturity. Since he has been wealthy most of his life he is somewhat used to the sense of being superior and he feels like he needs to enforce that occasionally (Similar to some of the other characters) For example he'll moan at Yasha for something smell related or he'll try and undermine Firs by telling him to be quiet but he never does it to the point that he would repeatedly do it/do it aggressively. For example after he tells firs to be quiet, Firs just keeps going on with his speech and then Leo just ignores him and starts messing around with the piano. He even at some points just doesn't listen to things Alexander says. I've even picked up a little cynicism from him as he criticizes certain issues such as Varya marrying Alexander and that Lyuba throws her money around. While they are valid it does stick out from his usual upbeat personality. I think I'm getting better at showing this side of him more. Over the last week of rehearsing I've gone from being a very unintentionally somber character to a much more emotionally diverse one. He shows humour, optimism, upbeatness, sadness, disapproval and even mild fear when he talks about Lyuba's spending habits and even the regret and realisation that there's nothing he can do to help her with the debt. This all started coming to me properly the more I rehearsed my scenes in the theatre, They would just come to me more naturally and this didn't really happen at any specific moment, it happened at a many small moments and gradually improved so I can't pin point any of the moments specifically with the exception of that when we first did my only scene in act 2 where I say "I'm tried, Firs can you help me? I need to get changed." I tried it so that throughout that line or the preceding one so that I would look like I'm finding it progressively harder and harder to hold in my sadness and only just really reveal it as I'm at the very edge of the stage. this seemed to work because the instant I got off stage Karen said "Lovely" so I kept it and I think it works very well. One other moment is when I say to Anya "You look just like your mother.", I tried the line with a lot more energy and enthusiasm more than I did last time and to me it made him feel more alive because saying it the way I did before just seemed very wooden. So I have developed and made him more 3 dimensional in my opinion or at least I have made the 3 dimensional aspects of the written character come out. He's become more diverse and it seems to have worked because I've been getting some very good compliments about my acting from some of the other cast members and even Karen. That was during a costume run when I put as much effort into the mannerisms as I could and thankfully it seems to have payed off. Let's hope I can stay like that for the performance which I believe I will do because at the moment I'm finding it easy to use his mannerisms to age him and it feels natural to me. We also recently had a workshop to give our characters some idiosyncrasies and I had already given Leo some that came naturally as a result of trying to age him. They were, Putting his hands into fists and putting them on his knees when sitting and moving them occasionally along with mild adjustments to how he is sitting. I move around and make like I'm putting a little effort into it so the movements look a little rough like they should do. I also made it so that when he walks or stands his head maybe be slightly lowered when not doing anything but held up enough to see and when he walks he hold his arms in a little and leans ever so slightly forward. I do this all the time during the rehearsals and try my best never to keep him still and thankfully I have got some very positive feedback about my subtleties so it's clearly working and I plan to keep them as they are with no exaggeration or lessening them.
.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths: One strength of this week is that I'm completely off book now and not using a script for part or 2 but I'm still using it for part 4 because I'm not being g assessed on it although if i had more time i would've learnt it as well because I have a feeling it will be a little distracting when I read a script in part 4. I've finally learnt my monologue although I may need to change a line of it. I say "I pulled out the bottom draw" but the bookcase we're using has no draws so I'm changing it to "I had a look at the bottom shelf" or something along these lines because it may vary between performances. Another positive is that i have finally developed Leo more and he is really starting to come to life, like i said earlier he is becoming more dimensional and due to me trying somethings out and seeing other interpretations (even though I disagree with the one i saw) has actually helped me quite a bit in realising what suits his dialogue and I'm happy with the results so far.
Weaknesses: One weakness of this week is that I have still occasionally blanked on my bookcase monologue but that was only twice and that was due to lack of focus and the pressure to remember but overall I'm confident i won't forget for the performance. Also there have been a few times where I call it a wardrobe instead of a bookcase which is very annoying but with practice I think I'll be fine. Another negative about this week is that we still have not fixed the pacing in part four because at the moment it is pretty terrible, it is very slow and sometimes unbearable. This may be due to some of us reading scripts and the people who aren't are having trouble with there cues but with the time in the theatre we have left I really hope that we can improve and keep it going because it need to be 20 minutes and I think that it's close to 25 which is too long for this assessment. The next negative just applies to me. When Charlotta has a baby she makes a "Waa" noise. Becca did this during the rehearsal and the first time I heard it I laughed uncontrollably for 3 solid minutes because at the time i thought it was awful and stuck out like a saw thumb. That on my part was awful and I need to show control. since she's done it more I've go used to it but i still have to cover up a massive smile even though my character is supposed to grin I'm not supposed to laugh so I'm going to have to show control. Also the fact I was laughing made me miss one of my cues which again affected the pacing and another reason why I need to get completely used to it.
New learning and self reflection: Initially I tried to age Leo by quite a bit and to me it came off as older than he should have been but when I asked people about it they said that it looked appropriate so thankfully it was more subtle than I thought. At first I thought that the upbeat movements and the subtle movements due to his age would contradict but as soon as I found out that it didn't come across as too frail or too old and tried mixing them up a bit more I realised that they did go together pretty well. Also I have tried to use the system to try and help develop Leo and there have been a few examples I've used this week. Emotional memory, like most people I have reminisced about times past, I even do it about my last course to my current class mates and I noticed that when i do so I always tend to go into a somewhat somber tone yet with a hint of optimism. It's like I'm sad that time has passed but I'm still looking forward to the future and I think that has influenced how I say some of Leo's lines when he's reflecting on times in his past such as when he says "My dear sister, we slept here, do you remember? And now I'm 51. How strange to be old. I don't feel at all different.". That line made me think he was reflecting on the past yet trying to find the positive in it as if yes they are moving on but he's still the same man he always was and that's good enough for him. So my own memories of telling people somewhat similar situations had influenced how I did it and it worked in my opinion although I added a little more upbeatness to the line to suit Leo just a little more. I used the magic if and I thought how I would react if I was in this situation of wanting to do what I can to help a relative but there's very little I can do and dealing with inevitability which is upsetting and quite stressful. If i was in this situation I'd try my best to hide being upset because it would just bring further stress onto everyone involved and I have fit this into certain lines such as when I say "could you help me, Firs? I need to get changed." I'm trying to hide it but end up not succeeding in doing so and that's what came naturally because it's probably what I'd actually do. Another thing I considered when looking at the system was Leo's objective. Now it seems as though he may have varying objectives throughout the play but the one that is the most consistent throughout and the one that sums him up in my opinion is that he's always trying to help/comfort his sister. He's always reminding her of old times to reminisce on, he tells her not to give her money away due to her debt and her spending habits, he leaves the room so she doesn't see him crying and she doesn't get more stressed out and even tries to change the subject when the Paris situation is brought up so that she doesn't get upset which is what leads into that bookcase speech. He always tries to be positive when he can to keep the mood up.
Teamwork: As i mentioned last week some of the class have been helping each other out with learning lines and we're still doing so.and thankfully it's still paying off the improvements to my monologue i mentioned earlier. Me and Chloe have still been practicing our cue lines and it all seems to be going pretty well and we can now respond to them pretty fast. Everyone has also been giving some helpful encouragement for each others performances and I think it's kept the morale of the production up which is helping because everyone seems to be relatively happy and very focused when practicing.
Overall this week I feel I have improved significantly. I have finally developed Leo a lot more than I have over the last two/three weeks of doing this production and it's going pretty well in my opinion. I just hope everything goes well for the performance now because now I'm a lot more confident with the character due to understanding him more and the help from everyone with the encouragement. I have faith that this production will go well and my only concern will be the pacing for part 4 but that's about it.
"The Cherry Orchard" Blog 2
This week we have carried on with rehearsals of the play and even went to see a play by Anton Chekhov (The writer of "The Cherry Orchard") called "Platonov", a play he wrote before "The Cherry Orchard". I was honestly not looking forward to seeing the play due to that I don't really like "The Cherry Orchard" all that much but I gave it a chance and was very surprised. It was a very entertaining play and was extremely well performed. I was expecting something rather slow and dull and while it was slow paced, it was done in a good way and it wasn't at all dull. It was surprisingly funny and consistently good throughout the performance. The thing that surprised me the most however was the acting and this was due to my idea of what naturalism meant. The play had a lot more energy and was a lot less subdued than I thought it was going to be which made it all the more entertaining to watch. The plot itself was pretty well done and was driven by the well written and entertaining characters. so overall I highly enjoyed it and am now more looking forward to trying to develop "The Cherry Orchard" into something more entertaining than it is at the moment.
Development and understanding: When we went to see "Platonov" and had expectations of it being dull I think my idea of what naturalism was exactly was not right. I had the feeling that it means it's extremely subdued and subtle but from watching "Platonov" that just wasn't the case. While some people said it's a little outside the realms of naturalism and to some extent I agree but it still made me realise that our play lacks energy and needs more in order to bring more character and to bring out the humour more otherwise if we keep it as it is then it will be somewhat stilted or wooden or at least for me it will be. I realised that naturalism isn't extremely subtle so when I get to do Leonid again on Monday I'll try and give him more energy and a more upbeat personality and if this works since I have less feeling of restriction now but I'll try to keep it natural and not go into melodrama. I'm going to try and develop more of an understanding of naturalism and see if there's any further developments I can achieve.
Strengths and weaknesses: The strength of this week is that I have developed a little in playing Leo because due to the change of perspective on naturalism I've been putting more energy into the performance than before and it's becoming more and more interesting to play and is opening up more ideas for me in how I can portray him. I have tried adding more energy because I realised I can be natural while being energetic and I have a feeling that it may help with the humorous side of the character because at the moment I seem somewhat flat when portraying him. another strength is that most of us are getting better with our lines. I'm almost ready to not use a script for parts one and two (the parts i am going to learn off by heart while part 4 I'll use a script most likely) but there are some pieces and cues I'm struggling with especially my monologue to do with the bookcase. the first half i can do just fine however the second half i always seem to blank when trying to do it with out a script but I'll keep practicing and I'll get there. I've been relatively focused while in class and outside of it terms of doing my work and learning my lines and I've even been helping people with learning theirs. I'm trying more experimenting with tone and body language more instead more than I did in the wardrobe even though I was fairly focused during that project but there is an improvement in my opinion. This may be due to the time limit we have and the need to do as much as possible puts more pressure on me but that's in no way a bad thing because I'm actually trying my best to do what I can with Leo and be natural.
The weakness is that I feel I'm playing him in a way that is too down beat for some of his dialogue and I'm coming across as somber in my vocal tones when I don't mean to and it seems to contradict my body language and sometimes i think may come across as unintentionally funny instead of how it should be. I'm still going to try and experiment with my vocal tone but I have a feeling I'm just gonna go with something much more upbeat than I originally intended. which in itself isn't a bad thing it's the fact it's taken me this long with in our time limit to establish this. Even though we're getting better at blocking, we've discovered that the pacing for part 1 is very slow and it's not supposed to be. this is due to some people reading scripts or forgetting cues which meant there were a lot more pauses than needed and it was way too long and went over our time limit for each part. I hope that the more we practice and get used to the lines then the pace should pick up. I'm doing OK at the moment but I do feel I can still pick up the pace by saying my lines with more enthusiasm and at a faster speed.
Teamwork: An example of people helping each other out in the production is that some of us have been helping each other with learning lines or practicing cues to say certain lines. this has paid off for the people that are actually using this technique because most of us are off book and getting used to the cues. Me and Chloe often rehearse our lines and read our cue lines to each other over the phone. At the moment I'm not focusing on how to say the lines during these calls just trying to remember them but as I get better I think I'll move on to things such as pacing and tone and see what I can do.
Personal aims: My main aim is to try and finally work out Leo as a character because I'm still somewhat confused but I'll get there. I'm going to try and experiment more even though I have made some improvements from last week such as I think I'm getting the body language and energy right but the vocal tones while apparently well done don't actually suit what I'm doing so I'll try to be more upbeat during the next few rehearsals and hope that it suits him more and brings more life into him because at the moment Leo is a little flat still.
Development and understanding: When we went to see "Platonov" and had expectations of it being dull I think my idea of what naturalism was exactly was not right. I had the feeling that it means it's extremely subdued and subtle but from watching "Platonov" that just wasn't the case. While some people said it's a little outside the realms of naturalism and to some extent I agree but it still made me realise that our play lacks energy and needs more in order to bring more character and to bring out the humour more otherwise if we keep it as it is then it will be somewhat stilted or wooden or at least for me it will be. I realised that naturalism isn't extremely subtle so when I get to do Leonid again on Monday I'll try and give him more energy and a more upbeat personality and if this works since I have less feeling of restriction now but I'll try to keep it natural and not go into melodrama. I'm going to try and develop more of an understanding of naturalism and see if there's any further developments I can achieve.
Strengths and weaknesses: The strength of this week is that I have developed a little in playing Leo because due to the change of perspective on naturalism I've been putting more energy into the performance than before and it's becoming more and more interesting to play and is opening up more ideas for me in how I can portray him. I have tried adding more energy because I realised I can be natural while being energetic and I have a feeling that it may help with the humorous side of the character because at the moment I seem somewhat flat when portraying him. another strength is that most of us are getting better with our lines. I'm almost ready to not use a script for parts one and two (the parts i am going to learn off by heart while part 4 I'll use a script most likely) but there are some pieces and cues I'm struggling with especially my monologue to do with the bookcase. the first half i can do just fine however the second half i always seem to blank when trying to do it with out a script but I'll keep practicing and I'll get there. I've been relatively focused while in class and outside of it terms of doing my work and learning my lines and I've even been helping people with learning theirs. I'm trying more experimenting with tone and body language more instead more than I did in the wardrobe even though I was fairly focused during that project but there is an improvement in my opinion. This may be due to the time limit we have and the need to do as much as possible puts more pressure on me but that's in no way a bad thing because I'm actually trying my best to do what I can with Leo and be natural.
The weakness is that I feel I'm playing him in a way that is too down beat for some of his dialogue and I'm coming across as somber in my vocal tones when I don't mean to and it seems to contradict my body language and sometimes i think may come across as unintentionally funny instead of how it should be. I'm still going to try and experiment with my vocal tone but I have a feeling I'm just gonna go with something much more upbeat than I originally intended. which in itself isn't a bad thing it's the fact it's taken me this long with in our time limit to establish this. Even though we're getting better at blocking, we've discovered that the pacing for part 1 is very slow and it's not supposed to be. this is due to some people reading scripts or forgetting cues which meant there were a lot more pauses than needed and it was way too long and went over our time limit for each part. I hope that the more we practice and get used to the lines then the pace should pick up. I'm doing OK at the moment but I do feel I can still pick up the pace by saying my lines with more enthusiasm and at a faster speed.
Teamwork: An example of people helping each other out in the production is that some of us have been helping each other with learning lines or practicing cues to say certain lines. this has paid off for the people that are actually using this technique because most of us are off book and getting used to the cues. Me and Chloe often rehearse our lines and read our cue lines to each other over the phone. At the moment I'm not focusing on how to say the lines during these calls just trying to remember them but as I get better I think I'll move on to things such as pacing and tone and see what I can do.
Personal aims: My main aim is to try and finally work out Leo as a character because I'm still somewhat confused but I'll get there. I'm going to try and experiment more even though I have made some improvements from last week such as I think I'm getting the body language and energy right but the vocal tones while apparently well done don't actually suit what I'm doing so I'll try to be more upbeat during the next few rehearsals and hope that it suits him more and brings more life into him because at the moment Leo is a little flat still.
Saturday 24 October 2015
"The Cherry Orchard" Blog 1
We have been given our new play "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov and have started rehearsing it only a day or two after finishing our last play "The wardrobe". We have had a couple of rehearsals this week and the performance is in about weeks so this is one we need to get moving on. I play the character Leonid who is Lyuba's brother and Anya's uncle.
The play focuses on a family of people and some of their associates as they welcome back Lyuba after staying in Paris for a few years and having some horrible things happen to her. They welcome her back and this is during the liberation of the serfs (A time when a lot of servants were allowed to leave their masters and chose to do so) and they are somewhat trying to get used to living without them even though they still have two left. Lyuba is in debt and can't pay off the mortgage of the cherry orchard estate and neither her nor my character Leo can pay it off so the bank is going to auction the house and they will lose everything. The play has quite a few sub plot but the one that gets the most attention is to do with Lyuba's debt because it's the one that has the most consequence or at least in the script we've been given. as of now I have not read the complete script but I feel I may need to in order to try and flesh out my character Leonid.
Strengths and weaknesses of this rehearsal week:
Strengths: We have worked out the staging of the overall set quite well and did it quite fast, so less time was focused on that and we get more time to focus on actually blocking the scenes. We've put a table in the middle with some chairs which is where we'll spend most of the time, there's another table that may become a cot which should be on a separate higher piece of stage to show it's another room. Also everyone including myself seemed very open and willing to do their parts over and over again because Karen wanted them perfected while it may have been a little annoying having to do a single piece about ten times, we all did it and got through it and we achieved what Karen wanted.
Weaknesses: A major downside to these rehearsals is that I have no idea how to portray Leonid at all. I don't know whether or not he is overly sarcastic, bitter, energetic, optimistic, pessimistic, somber, melancholy or all of the above. I'm finding it really hard to define him and it definitely comes across in the rehearsals because I feel that what I'm doing doesn't really match what's being said but on the flip side I can't think of what matches in anyway. So I think I'm coming across as quite inconsistent or just a bit wooden and confused at the moment. Another weakness is that we are quite slow with blocking the scenes at this point because Karen is trying to perfect everything and while being a perfectionist isn't the problem, the fact we're taking so long with a limited time is and I feel that we'll most likely get it done it will just take a while.
Rehearsal methods: The class has had one read through of the play and that was when we were doing "The Wardrobe" and it was very quick and to be honest not very well done and we haven't had another one since then. We're just focusing on actually blocking it and rehearsing our lines at the same time. This is a somewhat slow process because we have to do individual pieces over and over again at points and go slow for some parts just to figure out how they should be done. While this may take up some time, I honestly think it's a good way to do it because it helps me somewhat with remembering lines alongside learning them outside of class. So it's an effective way and a good compromise to how we do it normally due to the time limit.
Personal Aims: My main aim is to try and focus or to figure out Leonid's character. I'm going to have to try and do some research into the play and the character to see what conclusion (If any) I can come to. At the moment I have not done much in terms of research except look up a character synopsis and it says he is one of the more comedic character but I don't know if that really means much because it doesn't say if it's bitter humour, energetic, light hearted humour or what but I'll figure it out the more I play around with the character.
The play focuses on a family of people and some of their associates as they welcome back Lyuba after staying in Paris for a few years and having some horrible things happen to her. They welcome her back and this is during the liberation of the serfs (A time when a lot of servants were allowed to leave their masters and chose to do so) and they are somewhat trying to get used to living without them even though they still have two left. Lyuba is in debt and can't pay off the mortgage of the cherry orchard estate and neither her nor my character Leo can pay it off so the bank is going to auction the house and they will lose everything. The play has quite a few sub plot but the one that gets the most attention is to do with Lyuba's debt because it's the one that has the most consequence or at least in the script we've been given. as of now I have not read the complete script but I feel I may need to in order to try and flesh out my character Leonid.
Strengths and weaknesses of this rehearsal week:
Strengths: We have worked out the staging of the overall set quite well and did it quite fast, so less time was focused on that and we get more time to focus on actually blocking the scenes. We've put a table in the middle with some chairs which is where we'll spend most of the time, there's another table that may become a cot which should be on a separate higher piece of stage to show it's another room. Also everyone including myself seemed very open and willing to do their parts over and over again because Karen wanted them perfected while it may have been a little annoying having to do a single piece about ten times, we all did it and got through it and we achieved what Karen wanted.
Weaknesses: A major downside to these rehearsals is that I have no idea how to portray Leonid at all. I don't know whether or not he is overly sarcastic, bitter, energetic, optimistic, pessimistic, somber, melancholy or all of the above. I'm finding it really hard to define him and it definitely comes across in the rehearsals because I feel that what I'm doing doesn't really match what's being said but on the flip side I can't think of what matches in anyway. So I think I'm coming across as quite inconsistent or just a bit wooden and confused at the moment. Another weakness is that we are quite slow with blocking the scenes at this point because Karen is trying to perfect everything and while being a perfectionist isn't the problem, the fact we're taking so long with a limited time is and I feel that we'll most likely get it done it will just take a while.
Rehearsal methods: The class has had one read through of the play and that was when we were doing "The Wardrobe" and it was very quick and to be honest not very well done and we haven't had another one since then. We're just focusing on actually blocking it and rehearsing our lines at the same time. This is a somewhat slow process because we have to do individual pieces over and over again at points and go slow for some parts just to figure out how they should be done. While this may take up some time, I honestly think it's a good way to do it because it helps me somewhat with remembering lines alongside learning them outside of class. So it's an effective way and a good compromise to how we do it normally due to the time limit.
Personal Aims: My main aim is to try and focus or to figure out Leonid's character. I'm going to have to try and do some research into the play and the character to see what conclusion (If any) I can come to. At the moment I have not done much in terms of research except look up a character synopsis and it says he is one of the more comedic character but I don't know if that really means much because it doesn't say if it's bitter humour, energetic, light hearted humour or what but I'll figure it out the more I play around with the character.
Sunday 18 October 2015
The wardrobe Blog 4: Rehearsal updates 2
Strengths and weaknesses:
One strength is that I have got more time with Chloe on scene 5 and that we got to try our costumes on for it which gave me an idea for how the character in scene 5 should walk and I think it works but maybe should downplay it to keep it natural. Also Karen finally got to see it and give us some constructive criticism which is well appreciated and it's made us realise we need a little more depth with in the piece itself such as to convey some very subtle yet effective emotions. Another is that I have been rehearsing more with Sam due to that he has been in more and we've been running through it more thankfully.
The weakness of this was that me and Chloe realised our characters motivations for the scene didn't really make much sense or were at least a bit far fetched so we sat down and came up with something a bit more believable and easier to portray in my opinion and I feel the back story we've come up with is good so while there was a down side in some initial time wasting it's made up for it with an even better story for us to do.
Creative ideas: Like I said I had an idea of how the character should walk. If I had to describe it I'd say it's a bit like Jack sparrow's from "Pirates of the Caribbean". It looks very similar to how I saw some certain stances from a play called "Double dealer" and it made me think that it did suit the time period and character but I decided to tone it down and make it a bit more subtle so that it stays with in the realms of naturalism. Another one was the back story I mentioned. We performed it and she said it was great but could do with adding some depth to it. She asked us who is "He" that is mentioned in the script and neither of us knew. I always assumed that meant whoever was hypothetically attacking him meaning anyone but that means it would've been written "They" instead of "Him" so we thought it would be wise to go into more detail. Even though the audience would not know this it will hopefully develop us enough so we can add some subtle yet effective expressions or actions to the scene. Me and Chloe thought about what we could do and we ended up changing some of our motivations and set up. We originally thought that she'd do this teaching self defence thing as an excuse just to be violent and get back at me for just being annoying but really i don't think that works to well. So Chloe came up with the idea that she is genuinely teaching me self defence so i can't protect my self from our eldest brother who has violent tendencies. I think this can add a sense of urgency to it as in I must learn before my brother strikes again and I hope it may bring out some form of care in Chloe's emotions but we'll see the next time we have to practice the scene.
Teamwork: Since Sam is in now and I don't think he's been practing his lines I have been prompting him in the scene. I know my lines so glancing at the script to see if he gets his right is appropriate I think. I think it is helping him, I'm trying to do what I can and he is even correcting me on some of my lines when I get the occasional mess up so we're both benefiting each other.
One strength is that I have got more time with Chloe on scene 5 and that we got to try our costumes on for it which gave me an idea for how the character in scene 5 should walk and I think it works but maybe should downplay it to keep it natural. Also Karen finally got to see it and give us some constructive criticism which is well appreciated and it's made us realise we need a little more depth with in the piece itself such as to convey some very subtle yet effective emotions. Another is that I have been rehearsing more with Sam due to that he has been in more and we've been running through it more thankfully.
The weakness of this was that me and Chloe realised our characters motivations for the scene didn't really make much sense or were at least a bit far fetched so we sat down and came up with something a bit more believable and easier to portray in my opinion and I feel the back story we've come up with is good so while there was a down side in some initial time wasting it's made up for it with an even better story for us to do.
Creative ideas: Like I said I had an idea of how the character should walk. If I had to describe it I'd say it's a bit like Jack sparrow's from "Pirates of the Caribbean". It looks very similar to how I saw some certain stances from a play called "Double dealer" and it made me think that it did suit the time period and character but I decided to tone it down and make it a bit more subtle so that it stays with in the realms of naturalism. Another one was the back story I mentioned. We performed it and she said it was great but could do with adding some depth to it. She asked us who is "He" that is mentioned in the script and neither of us knew. I always assumed that meant whoever was hypothetically attacking him meaning anyone but that means it would've been written "They" instead of "Him" so we thought it would be wise to go into more detail. Even though the audience would not know this it will hopefully develop us enough so we can add some subtle yet effective expressions or actions to the scene. Me and Chloe thought about what we could do and we ended up changing some of our motivations and set up. We originally thought that she'd do this teaching self defence thing as an excuse just to be violent and get back at me for just being annoying but really i don't think that works to well. So Chloe came up with the idea that she is genuinely teaching me self defence so i can't protect my self from our eldest brother who has violent tendencies. I think this can add a sense of urgency to it as in I must learn before my brother strikes again and I hope it may bring out some form of care in Chloe's emotions but we'll see the next time we have to practice the scene.
Teamwork: Since Sam is in now and I don't think he's been practing his lines I have been prompting him in the scene. I know my lines so glancing at the script to see if he gets his right is appropriate I think. I think it is helping him, I'm trying to do what I can and he is even correcting me on some of my lines when I get the occasional mess up so we're both benefiting each other.
"The Wardrobe" Essay
"The Wardrobe" Essay
The historical events:
Scene 5: The time period is mentioned to be anytime between 1665 and 1770 and this general period of time for France was a decent time in history. A lot of it's wars were coming to an end around this time such as the war of devolution, the war of reunions, the nine years war and even the 30 years war had finished just before this general time period. Once I found these out it contributed towards the motivation of the scene being different because the condition of the violence in France during this time was not as bad as I thought it was.
Scene 9: This scene is based during a historic event, the time of Jack the ripper. In fact this scene takes place 2 days after the murder of his last victim so it makes sense that the boys are just seeing all this in the paper and there was quite a lot of mystery surrounding who it was at the time so it's also completely plausible that they would be so enthralled yet disgusted by it so the scene does represent the time period very well and the most likely reaction to these crimes.
Scene 12: Since this scene takes place in modern day I have a pretty good idea of what it's like. Even the subject matter in the scene I have had friends who have gone through it so it's a real problem that's addressed in the play and nude photos being leaked is very common nowadays and can have some traumatic affects on people. So it is an issue that's worth bringing up and one of the most common in today's society as far as with teenagers and social media are concerned. It's actually actually very relatable for audiences nowadays to talk about invasion of privacy or social embarrassment because now people have the means to do it they will.
The pre-scene events:
Scene 5: I needed a reason to go into the wardrobe in this scene so I thought that I should bring in a piece of clothing to hang up but I never thought of why I was doing it considering my characters wealth and that they most likely had servants. So I decided that before the scene, the character simply got changed and wanted his clothes hung up but all of the servants were busy so he had to hang it up himself but hasn't done that much and didn't remember to bring a hanger and that's why he simply throws it over the pole in the scene instead of hanging it. His sister may have sent the servants away so that no one knew that she was teaching him in the wardrobe.
Scene 9: Since the scene is focused on choir boys hiding and reading a news paper I thought it would make perfect sense if they were all so fascinated by the killer they were reading about that they actually got somewhat excited to be updated about him or at least a couple of them were and the others just tagged along but were still interested. They were getting ready for choir practice or a rehearsal or something along these lines when the latest update on the killer arrived but the probably weren't allowed to read it because they're still quite young and live in a strict environment so they had to hide somewhere and they hid in the wardrobe to hide from the father and to get the latest news.
Scene 12: Quite a bit of the context for what comes before the scene is given in the script or dialogue. My character is at a museum with his class and have been tasked with identifying certain things with in the museum on a worksheet and then come back to a meeting point that is a gift shop. He realises that one of his friends most likely a task partner has disappeared and he knows the most likely reason, that he doesn't want to be seen by the other students due to an embarrassing photo being leaked so he decides to look for him and convince him to try and just get on with the task at hand other wise they will get into trouble and that's when the scene starts.
The dramatic events:
Scene 5: I can't really pin point a dramatic moment that changes the course of the scene except one possibility and that literally at the beginning of the scene when my character goes into the wardrobe in a very relaxed state simply hanging some clothes and then sorts out his own that he's wearing but the instant his sister comes in and grabs him around the neck, the whole mood changes to being somewhat relaxed to being confused and in a state of panic. It changes both the characters mood and the mood of the audience cause they're both trying to figure out what is going on. Another one I could pick is when I finally decide to give in and stop fighting back so that she let's me go. This moment could be that I realise she is talking sense or that I simply figure out to listen so that I can leave faster but it's also the moment I surprise my sister the most.
Scene 9: The dramatic event of this scene is near the very end of the scene where Father Aloysius finds the boys and knocks on the door loudly which scares them, they all stay still and are in disbelief that the Father is back and has found them. That's when 3 of the boys leave and leave Tom to be dealt with by the father in an implied sexually abusive way. The exact moment in this scene that the tone changes to more dramatic is the instant father Aloysius knocks on the doors because that happens right after them play fighting so all the innocence and fun of the scene has just been changed to dread and fear.
Scene 12: The dramatic moment in scene 12 for me is the moment that the character going through the embarrassment reveals that their friends, some relatives and most importantly there [parents know about. That's the moment that more or less all the reassurance seems pointless to my character even though he tries he knows it will be a lot harder since now he knows it's not just at school that his friend will deal with it, he now has to deal with it at home so the problem got a lot worse with in just one sentence. So he now has more of an obstruction in the way of his objective on top of a crushing revelation.
Characters:
Scene 5: The only characters you see in scene 5 are the 15 year old brother and the 17 year old sister but some of the off stage character that are not even mentioned but are with in the back story that we made up for them. They are the eldest brother who is quite abusive but has to high of a status in the family and the community to do anything about, a father who is often busy working or socialising with other upper class associates and a mother who spends all her time with the wives of other rich men. The objective of my character is to leave the wardrobe because this lesson is too much of a surprise and too sudden and the objective of my sister is simply to teach me how to defend myself against my abusive brother and give me a lesson on how to defend against surprise. The only prop in the scene is a pair of trousers for me to bring in.
Scene 9: The characters you see on stage are the choir boys who are aged between 15 and 16. The only off stage one is father Aloysius and is the person the boys want to avoid. That is there overall objective to stay away from him or anyone who may catch them but there personal objectives are to either find out what's in the article or just to annoy my character. They are all friends but my character has the lowest status. The props are a newspaper, candles and a cross or two to carry.
Scene 12: There are two characters in this scene and they both have very different objectives. My character has the objective of getting the other out of the wardrobe in time so they don't get into trouble and then tries to reassure and comfort him but he only just manages to succeed at either of them. The other character has the objective of pushing the other away or just out right not listening to what he has to say or just letting everything out. One character who is mentioned has no name but is simply called "He" and is the one who humiliated the other character. Neither of us have a good opinion of him but our knowledge of him differs. both the characters in the scene are good friends but aren't too close. The only props in this scene are clipboards for each of us.
Image of close approximations to costumes:
First choir boy and then 17th century style clothes. Colour may differ but style is extremely similar.
The historical events:
Scene 5: The time period is mentioned to be anytime between 1665 and 1770 and this general period of time for France was a decent time in history. A lot of it's wars were coming to an end around this time such as the war of devolution, the war of reunions, the nine years war and even the 30 years war had finished just before this general time period. Once I found these out it contributed towards the motivation of the scene being different because the condition of the violence in France during this time was not as bad as I thought it was.
Scene 9: This scene is based during a historic event, the time of Jack the ripper. In fact this scene takes place 2 days after the murder of his last victim so it makes sense that the boys are just seeing all this in the paper and there was quite a lot of mystery surrounding who it was at the time so it's also completely plausible that they would be so enthralled yet disgusted by it so the scene does represent the time period very well and the most likely reaction to these crimes.
Scene 12: Since this scene takes place in modern day I have a pretty good idea of what it's like. Even the subject matter in the scene I have had friends who have gone through it so it's a real problem that's addressed in the play and nude photos being leaked is very common nowadays and can have some traumatic affects on people. So it is an issue that's worth bringing up and one of the most common in today's society as far as with teenagers and social media are concerned. It's actually actually very relatable for audiences nowadays to talk about invasion of privacy or social embarrassment because now people have the means to do it they will.
The pre-scene events:
Scene 5: I needed a reason to go into the wardrobe in this scene so I thought that I should bring in a piece of clothing to hang up but I never thought of why I was doing it considering my characters wealth and that they most likely had servants. So I decided that before the scene, the character simply got changed and wanted his clothes hung up but all of the servants were busy so he had to hang it up himself but hasn't done that much and didn't remember to bring a hanger and that's why he simply throws it over the pole in the scene instead of hanging it. His sister may have sent the servants away so that no one knew that she was teaching him in the wardrobe.
Scene 9: Since the scene is focused on choir boys hiding and reading a news paper I thought it would make perfect sense if they were all so fascinated by the killer they were reading about that they actually got somewhat excited to be updated about him or at least a couple of them were and the others just tagged along but were still interested. They were getting ready for choir practice or a rehearsal or something along these lines when the latest update on the killer arrived but the probably weren't allowed to read it because they're still quite young and live in a strict environment so they had to hide somewhere and they hid in the wardrobe to hide from the father and to get the latest news.
Scene 12: Quite a bit of the context for what comes before the scene is given in the script or dialogue. My character is at a museum with his class and have been tasked with identifying certain things with in the museum on a worksheet and then come back to a meeting point that is a gift shop. He realises that one of his friends most likely a task partner has disappeared and he knows the most likely reason, that he doesn't want to be seen by the other students due to an embarrassing photo being leaked so he decides to look for him and convince him to try and just get on with the task at hand other wise they will get into trouble and that's when the scene starts.
The dramatic events:
Scene 5: I can't really pin point a dramatic moment that changes the course of the scene except one possibility and that literally at the beginning of the scene when my character goes into the wardrobe in a very relaxed state simply hanging some clothes and then sorts out his own that he's wearing but the instant his sister comes in and grabs him around the neck, the whole mood changes to being somewhat relaxed to being confused and in a state of panic. It changes both the characters mood and the mood of the audience cause they're both trying to figure out what is going on. Another one I could pick is when I finally decide to give in and stop fighting back so that she let's me go. This moment could be that I realise she is talking sense or that I simply figure out to listen so that I can leave faster but it's also the moment I surprise my sister the most.
Scene 9: The dramatic event of this scene is near the very end of the scene where Father Aloysius finds the boys and knocks on the door loudly which scares them, they all stay still and are in disbelief that the Father is back and has found them. That's when 3 of the boys leave and leave Tom to be dealt with by the father in an implied sexually abusive way. The exact moment in this scene that the tone changes to more dramatic is the instant father Aloysius knocks on the doors because that happens right after them play fighting so all the innocence and fun of the scene has just been changed to dread and fear.
Scene 12: The dramatic moment in scene 12 for me is the moment that the character going through the embarrassment reveals that their friends, some relatives and most importantly there [parents know about. That's the moment that more or less all the reassurance seems pointless to my character even though he tries he knows it will be a lot harder since now he knows it's not just at school that his friend will deal with it, he now has to deal with it at home so the problem got a lot worse with in just one sentence. So he now has more of an obstruction in the way of his objective on top of a crushing revelation.
Characters:
Scene 5: The only characters you see in scene 5 are the 15 year old brother and the 17 year old sister but some of the off stage character that are not even mentioned but are with in the back story that we made up for them. They are the eldest brother who is quite abusive but has to high of a status in the family and the community to do anything about, a father who is often busy working or socialising with other upper class associates and a mother who spends all her time with the wives of other rich men. The objective of my character is to leave the wardrobe because this lesson is too much of a surprise and too sudden and the objective of my sister is simply to teach me how to defend myself against my abusive brother and give me a lesson on how to defend against surprise. The only prop in the scene is a pair of trousers for me to bring in.
Scene 9: The characters you see on stage are the choir boys who are aged between 15 and 16. The only off stage one is father Aloysius and is the person the boys want to avoid. That is there overall objective to stay away from him or anyone who may catch them but there personal objectives are to either find out what's in the article or just to annoy my character. They are all friends but my character has the lowest status. The props are a newspaper, candles and a cross or two to carry.
Scene 12: There are two characters in this scene and they both have very different objectives. My character has the objective of getting the other out of the wardrobe in time so they don't get into trouble and then tries to reassure and comfort him but he only just manages to succeed at either of them. The other character has the objective of pushing the other away or just out right not listening to what he has to say or just letting everything out. One character who is mentioned has no name but is simply called "He" and is the one who humiliated the other character. Neither of us have a good opinion of him but our knowledge of him differs. both the characters in the scene are good friends but aren't too close. The only props in this scene are clipboards for each of us.
Image of close approximations to costumes:
First choir boy and then 17th century style clothes. Colour may differ but style is extremely similar.
"The Wardrobe" Evaluation
"The Wardrobe" performance evaluation by Jack Collins
I'm going to go over each aspect and give an opinion on how each of them went:
Remembering lines: Overall I remembered more or less all of my lines consistently throughout the performances. I never skipped any lines of my own and when people did such as Sam in scene 12 I skipped to the line right after it so there was no confusion. Speaking of Sam I even completely made up a line of dialogue because I knew he'd forgotten it and the pause was going on a bit long. While I never missed a line during the show there was one point in scene 9 where in missed a cue, it took me a second to realise and then after 3 or 4 seconds I said it which broke the pace of the scene a little.
Entering and exiting stage: This was something that I had no problems with at all. I went in at the right times and with the appropriate costumes and props. They kept the pace of the play going and I never had to correct something when going in or out of the wardrobe.
Pace and timing: I feel that my pacing throughout my scenes was pretty well done. I used my dramatic pauses only when needed such as in scene 12 when my character is struggling for words and and scene 5 when I realise there is no point in struggling and that I have to stop. The pause mixed with the emotion on my face portrayed this very well I believe and kept the play scene moving yet letting pure emotion be shown. One down side is that In scene 9 as I mentioned I missed one of my cues and delayed the scene by a few seconds when I wasn't supposed to but other than that there were no pacing issues I attribute to me.
Vocal delivery: I feel that may vocal delivery was overall pretty good but could do with some improvements. I my lines were articulated very well for more or less all the play and I do not recall any stuttering at any time during the play. I feel that I portrayed emotion quite well in my voice too so I wasn't wooden or one note throughout the play. For example when in scene 12 when I hear what my friends has been through I showed regret, sorrow and sympathy in my voice and in scene 9 I showed a mixture of intrigue and anger depending what was going on and I transitioned between emotion quite smoothly so they weren't over the top or too comical. One downside to my vocal delivery was that I don't think I projected my voice loud enough or at least not to what I know I'm capable of.
Style of the piece: I believe that my performance was quite natural. I was trying to keep my face from over expressing on stage because that's something that I'm somewhat known for doing and initially I was worried I'd do it but I showed restraint and was subtle enough to keep it realistic but just expressive enough so that my emotions could be seen by the audience since it is a play and not a film where you can focus on whatever emotion is being portrayed. One example of that that I'm quite proud of was in scene 5 when I have to show that I can't do anything and have to surrender. I showed in my face pretty well and at a realistic pace, looking her in the eye and showing realisation before giving up.
Focus and consistency: I think that I was very consistent throughout the show, keeping my voice at mostly the same volume and giving it the right amount of energy required for the line.There were occasional moments where I accidentally lowered my volume when I was supposed to like at the beginning of scene 9 when I say "Get on with it Tom" and some other lines in scene 12 like "Oh." and "I didn't know." were a bit too quite. I feel that I was very focused throughout the entire play with the exception of one part during scene 9. Max had to sing and he got his lyrics wrong. It was supposed to be "The once was farmer who took a young miss" but he said "There once was miss who took a young farmer and I'm pretty sure he still got some of his other lyrics wrong which made me lose focus and smile because it sounded ridiculous but I tried and focused as as hard as I could but still had trouble so I quickly decided to work around it by acting as if I thought it was playfully funny at first but got annoying as it went on which still worked for the character so i was quite lucky that I thought of doing that. The rest of the cast seemed to be extremely focused as well, delivering there lines well, generally not forgetting those lines and always being ready for the next scene or cue. However there were a few exceptions such as after the show I looked at my phone and realised that Sam had taken a picture and put it on snapchat while we were performing to the audience which when I found out did slightly annoy me and there was a fair bit of whispering backstage but other than those two examples the cast were very well focused and professional.
Conclusion: Overall I think that the performance went very very well. Everyone gave great performances and kept with in the boundaries of a naturalistic performance. While they certainly had a few issues with volume/projection, mixing up or forgetting lines and the occasion mess up such as when the pole from the top of the wardrobe fell on Becca's head and she reacted so well that i didn't even know it had happened until after the play had finished I can safely say that the cast showed commitment and were very professional and did well with portraying there characters in a natural way. As for myself, I still think the same for me even though I did have a few little mistakes but apart from the ones I mentioned I feel that I gave 3 well executed performances that were at a good standard of being naturalistic.
I'm going to go over each aspect and give an opinion on how each of them went:
Remembering lines: Overall I remembered more or less all of my lines consistently throughout the performances. I never skipped any lines of my own and when people did such as Sam in scene 12 I skipped to the line right after it so there was no confusion. Speaking of Sam I even completely made up a line of dialogue because I knew he'd forgotten it and the pause was going on a bit long. While I never missed a line during the show there was one point in scene 9 where in missed a cue, it took me a second to realise and then after 3 or 4 seconds I said it which broke the pace of the scene a little.
Entering and exiting stage: This was something that I had no problems with at all. I went in at the right times and with the appropriate costumes and props. They kept the pace of the play going and I never had to correct something when going in or out of the wardrobe.
Pace and timing: I feel that my pacing throughout my scenes was pretty well done. I used my dramatic pauses only when needed such as in scene 12 when my character is struggling for words and and scene 5 when I realise there is no point in struggling and that I have to stop. The pause mixed with the emotion on my face portrayed this very well I believe and kept the play scene moving yet letting pure emotion be shown. One down side is that In scene 9 as I mentioned I missed one of my cues and delayed the scene by a few seconds when I wasn't supposed to but other than that there were no pacing issues I attribute to me.
Vocal delivery: I feel that may vocal delivery was overall pretty good but could do with some improvements. I my lines were articulated very well for more or less all the play and I do not recall any stuttering at any time during the play. I feel that I portrayed emotion quite well in my voice too so I wasn't wooden or one note throughout the play. For example when in scene 12 when I hear what my friends has been through I showed regret, sorrow and sympathy in my voice and in scene 9 I showed a mixture of intrigue and anger depending what was going on and I transitioned between emotion quite smoothly so they weren't over the top or too comical. One downside to my vocal delivery was that I don't think I projected my voice loud enough or at least not to what I know I'm capable of.
Style of the piece: I believe that my performance was quite natural. I was trying to keep my face from over expressing on stage because that's something that I'm somewhat known for doing and initially I was worried I'd do it but I showed restraint and was subtle enough to keep it realistic but just expressive enough so that my emotions could be seen by the audience since it is a play and not a film where you can focus on whatever emotion is being portrayed. One example of that that I'm quite proud of was in scene 5 when I have to show that I can't do anything and have to surrender. I showed in my face pretty well and at a realistic pace, looking her in the eye and showing realisation before giving up.
Focus and consistency: I think that I was very consistent throughout the show, keeping my voice at mostly the same volume and giving it the right amount of energy required for the line.There were occasional moments where I accidentally lowered my volume when I was supposed to like at the beginning of scene 9 when I say "Get on with it Tom" and some other lines in scene 12 like "Oh." and "I didn't know." were a bit too quite. I feel that I was very focused throughout the entire play with the exception of one part during scene 9. Max had to sing and he got his lyrics wrong. It was supposed to be "The once was farmer who took a young miss" but he said "There once was miss who took a young farmer and I'm pretty sure he still got some of his other lyrics wrong which made me lose focus and smile because it sounded ridiculous but I tried and focused as as hard as I could but still had trouble so I quickly decided to work around it by acting as if I thought it was playfully funny at first but got annoying as it went on which still worked for the character so i was quite lucky that I thought of doing that. The rest of the cast seemed to be extremely focused as well, delivering there lines well, generally not forgetting those lines and always being ready for the next scene or cue. However there were a few exceptions such as after the show I looked at my phone and realised that Sam had taken a picture and put it on snapchat while we were performing to the audience which when I found out did slightly annoy me and there was a fair bit of whispering backstage but other than those two examples the cast were very well focused and professional.
Conclusion: Overall I think that the performance went very very well. Everyone gave great performances and kept with in the boundaries of a naturalistic performance. While they certainly had a few issues with volume/projection, mixing up or forgetting lines and the occasion mess up such as when the pole from the top of the wardrobe fell on Becca's head and she reacted so well that i didn't even know it had happened until after the play had finished I can safely say that the cast showed commitment and were very professional and did well with portraying there characters in a natural way. As for myself, I still think the same for me even though I did have a few little mistakes but apart from the ones I mentioned I feel that I gave 3 well executed performances that were at a good standard of being naturalistic.
Character profile
Who am I:
Scene 5: My characters name is Benedict. The script refers to him as "Two" So I decided to name him in order to give him more of an identity to me and make him a little easier to define. He is walking into the wardrobe to put some clothes in there and is in a relaxed state since he's simply doing an everyday task. He is 15. He is the youngest child in an upper class 17th century family. He has a mother and father (obviously) as well as and older brother and an older sister. The older sister is somewhat protective of him due to that they both get physically abused by their older brother and due to their age, sex and status and especially considering the time period and how much reputation matters they can't really expose him or bring it up so they either have to hide it or just try and defend themselves. He views himself as the lowest of the family mainly due to his age even though his sister would generally be considered lower than him due to her gender but he doesn't see it like that.
Scene 9: My characters name is James. He is very intrigued and tense while reading the Jack the ripper article with his friends after having snuck away from their boarding school choir. He knows that he is generally the butt of his friends jokes and that out of all of them definitely has the lowest status but will not take any of it and let them get away with, he'll retort with a comment if he is given one and he generally doesn't like the joker/friend having the last word in terms of these things. so despite having a low status he considers himself confident enough to fight back and somewhat fit in. Since he is at a boarding school and has snuck away from the choir he is either wearing a choir outfit or is still in his uniform because he could have snuck away before he put the outfit on.
Scene 12: My characters name is Tom although in the script he is refereed to as "Friend 2". I decided to name him because it adds some ore realism to him instead of just being a vague product of someones writing. The character may be vague to the audience but in order to portray him properly i need to flesh him out and define him even though the audience will not know certain details. Tom is going into the wardrobe in order to try and get his friend out of there. It's a friend that he is not overly close to but does respect and gets along with very well. They're the kind of people that only talk occasionally outside of school but will happily talk a lot in school.
What are my circumstances?
Scene 5: It is France, most likely Paris and takes place at some point in the late 17th century. My older sister has surprised me while I'm in the wardrobe hanging up some clothes to teach me about defending myself from my older brother who is quite abusive towards the pair of us and very little can be done so that the family can protect their reputation and their sons status. She has out of nowhere got me in a chokehold and I have to go along with it because I can't get out of it even though I try.
Scene 9: It is the 11th of November 1888 in London, England. Me and my friends, Tom, Archie and Hugo have snuck off from choir practice at our catholic boarding school to read the latest article about Jack the ripper and have hidden in the wardrobe so that father Aloysius doesn't catch us or try to punish us in a violent or sexually abusive way.
Scene 12: It is Britain, most likely London, England and in a museum. I am on a school trip to a museum and have been asked to identify things from it for a worksheet task and one of my friends has hidden in the wardrobe so go in there with the task of getting him out in time to get back to where we were supposed to go. He has had a photo of himself put on the Internet and is hiding and I need to convince him to come out.
What are my relationships?
Scene 5: I get along very well with my older sister who is quite protective of me, especially from my violent older brother. She is two years older than me and I am very fond of her, she's always there even if she may be somewhat blatant or somewhat excessive with her methods of teaching or protecting me but I know she is doing it simply because she cares for me and doesn't want to see any harm come to me. My older brother while I do have some respect for because he can be a generally polite, articulate and well mannered person in public or at any social gathering, I genuinely can't stand when he's in the house or anywhere private because he abuses me and he knows he can get away with it due to his status in the family and due to the family wanting to protect their reputation so they would not do anything. I don't know why he does this, it may be spite but I don't know, I just don't like him in general. My parents I am somewhat distant from mainly due to my father working or being somewhere "more important". He still looks after me or at least makes sure I'm with a carer or something but I don't see him that often. My mother just spends time with the wives of the other wealthy men and is often too shallow to leave them to come and see her children but she can pay for the care so it doesn't bother her.
Scene 9: I have three good friends, Tom, Archie and Hugo. They live with me at the boarding school and are the people I spend the most time with. Even though I obviously have the lowest status an get mocked by the relentlessly I still like them and I won't take that much mockery off of them. I do respect all of them although they can be pains at times. Father Aloysius and some of the other fathers here aren't the nicest of people to be honest. They will hit you for speaking out of turn or for saying anything allegedly blasphemous. He ha been known to abuse the boys sexually although I've never been a victim to this but I am scared it will happen to me.
Scene 12: My relationship with the other character in my scene is that we're good friends but not too close. We will happily talk and get along very well in class but outside of school we don't really talk or meet up so while we get along, we're not too close but I care enough about him to not want to see him upset. I do not personally know the person who uploaded the photo, I know of him and who he is but I've never spoken to him so I don't have an opinion of him and don't understand his reason for uploading the photo of my friend. This certainly hasn't helped form a good opinion.
What do I want?
Scene 5: My objective in this scene is to simply leave the wardrobe and stop being somewhat assaulted. While I do appreciate the help from my sister, it was a bit too sudden and surprising and I Just want to get out of the wardrobe to go and relax or just prepare for something like this instead of being ambushed. I just want to leave and not do this self defence "Lesson".
Scene 9: My Objective is at first to get Tom to read the article because I find this stuff fascinating while a little disturbing but they keep getting distracted and I want them to read it so I do what I can. Later on my objective changes to trying not to be heard by father Aloysius so he doesn't find us and punish us which does scare me so I'll be as quiet as possible.
Scene 12: My objective is to get my friend out of the wardrobe in time to finish the sheet we were given for the museum trip and then get back to our class meeting point to hand it in but also not wanting either of us getting in trouble for touching the wardrobe which is an antique. However when I find out more of how my friend is feeling my objective changes to wanting to comfort and reassure him and possibly even distract him from this news at certain points by doing the work sheet.
What is my obstacle?
Scene 5: My obstacle is my older and more protective sister. She is constantly telling me to do a certain manoeuvre or method of hurting or defending against an attacker. She even has me pinned against a wall for quite a bit of it and even during the parts where she doesn't, I'm scared that she'll still stop me from leaving so I don't attempt it but I really want to leave and not go through this. While she's just trying to protect me I want to leave the wardrobe but she is stopping me and I don't want to risk it.
Scene 9: My obstacle is the other boys in the scene because all I want is to simply get the article read or read it myself but they either keep talking, get distracted, intentionally take their time to annoy me or snatch it off me so I can't read it myself. Also they make too much noise and I do not want father Aloysius to hear us but it is likely that he'll find us at some point due to them.
Scene 12: My obstacle is my friend who won't get out of the wardrobe, he doesn't want to the other judgemental school kids to see him and won't come out when I ask him multiple times. When I realise this and then I want to comfort him he still seems to reject and retort to everything that I say so I find it difficult to achieve my objective but I still try even though he's somewhat pushing me away.
What do I do to get what I want?
Scene 5: I can't really do anything to achieve my objective other than to simply go along with it. If I try to leave I fear that she'll stop me so I wont attempt that and even if I try fighting her off without using her methods she won't let me go so I will simply go along with it and it will be over sooner. I give into what she says eventually and I realise this and keep going until she'll let me go which may be a while but it'll be longer if I resist.
Scene 9: I keep telling tom over and over to keep reading so I can find out what the article says and when that doesn't I take it off of him when I have the chance to read it myself but the it gets taken off of me by the others so they've stopped me again. When my objective changes to not being heard, I try and make as little noise as possible but the others still whisper so I say one thing that may make them be quiet. I say "You were laughing so loudly you gave us away" so this may make them realise their error and hope they stay quiet.
Scene 12: I repeatedly ask him to leave and try to convince him to come out and even mention that I could get in trouble if he doesn't. This doesn't work and I realise that so I try and comfort him by reassuring him and saying that no one is talking about it so he shouldn't worry. in the end i just distract him with the work sheet and get him to answer the questions and it seems to take his mind off of it for a while.
Scene 5: My characters name is Benedict. The script refers to him as "Two" So I decided to name him in order to give him more of an identity to me and make him a little easier to define. He is walking into the wardrobe to put some clothes in there and is in a relaxed state since he's simply doing an everyday task. He is 15. He is the youngest child in an upper class 17th century family. He has a mother and father (obviously) as well as and older brother and an older sister. The older sister is somewhat protective of him due to that they both get physically abused by their older brother and due to their age, sex and status and especially considering the time period and how much reputation matters they can't really expose him or bring it up so they either have to hide it or just try and defend themselves. He views himself as the lowest of the family mainly due to his age even though his sister would generally be considered lower than him due to her gender but he doesn't see it like that.
Scene 9: My characters name is James. He is very intrigued and tense while reading the Jack the ripper article with his friends after having snuck away from their boarding school choir. He knows that he is generally the butt of his friends jokes and that out of all of them definitely has the lowest status but will not take any of it and let them get away with, he'll retort with a comment if he is given one and he generally doesn't like the joker/friend having the last word in terms of these things. so despite having a low status he considers himself confident enough to fight back and somewhat fit in. Since he is at a boarding school and has snuck away from the choir he is either wearing a choir outfit or is still in his uniform because he could have snuck away before he put the outfit on.
Scene 12: My characters name is Tom although in the script he is refereed to as "Friend 2". I decided to name him because it adds some ore realism to him instead of just being a vague product of someones writing. The character may be vague to the audience but in order to portray him properly i need to flesh him out and define him even though the audience will not know certain details. Tom is going into the wardrobe in order to try and get his friend out of there. It's a friend that he is not overly close to but does respect and gets along with very well. They're the kind of people that only talk occasionally outside of school but will happily talk a lot in school.
What are my circumstances?
Scene 5: It is France, most likely Paris and takes place at some point in the late 17th century. My older sister has surprised me while I'm in the wardrobe hanging up some clothes to teach me about defending myself from my older brother who is quite abusive towards the pair of us and very little can be done so that the family can protect their reputation and their sons status. She has out of nowhere got me in a chokehold and I have to go along with it because I can't get out of it even though I try.
Scene 9: It is the 11th of November 1888 in London, England. Me and my friends, Tom, Archie and Hugo have snuck off from choir practice at our catholic boarding school to read the latest article about Jack the ripper and have hidden in the wardrobe so that father Aloysius doesn't catch us or try to punish us in a violent or sexually abusive way.
Scene 12: It is Britain, most likely London, England and in a museum. I am on a school trip to a museum and have been asked to identify things from it for a worksheet task and one of my friends has hidden in the wardrobe so go in there with the task of getting him out in time to get back to where we were supposed to go. He has had a photo of himself put on the Internet and is hiding and I need to convince him to come out.
What are my relationships?
Scene 5: I get along very well with my older sister who is quite protective of me, especially from my violent older brother. She is two years older than me and I am very fond of her, she's always there even if she may be somewhat blatant or somewhat excessive with her methods of teaching or protecting me but I know she is doing it simply because she cares for me and doesn't want to see any harm come to me. My older brother while I do have some respect for because he can be a generally polite, articulate and well mannered person in public or at any social gathering, I genuinely can't stand when he's in the house or anywhere private because he abuses me and he knows he can get away with it due to his status in the family and due to the family wanting to protect their reputation so they would not do anything. I don't know why he does this, it may be spite but I don't know, I just don't like him in general. My parents I am somewhat distant from mainly due to my father working or being somewhere "more important". He still looks after me or at least makes sure I'm with a carer or something but I don't see him that often. My mother just spends time with the wives of the other wealthy men and is often too shallow to leave them to come and see her children but she can pay for the care so it doesn't bother her.
Scene 9: I have three good friends, Tom, Archie and Hugo. They live with me at the boarding school and are the people I spend the most time with. Even though I obviously have the lowest status an get mocked by the relentlessly I still like them and I won't take that much mockery off of them. I do respect all of them although they can be pains at times. Father Aloysius and some of the other fathers here aren't the nicest of people to be honest. They will hit you for speaking out of turn or for saying anything allegedly blasphemous. He ha been known to abuse the boys sexually although I've never been a victim to this but I am scared it will happen to me.
Scene 12: My relationship with the other character in my scene is that we're good friends but not too close. We will happily talk and get along very well in class but outside of school we don't really talk or meet up so while we get along, we're not too close but I care enough about him to not want to see him upset. I do not personally know the person who uploaded the photo, I know of him and who he is but I've never spoken to him so I don't have an opinion of him and don't understand his reason for uploading the photo of my friend. This certainly hasn't helped form a good opinion.
What do I want?
Scene 5: My objective in this scene is to simply leave the wardrobe and stop being somewhat assaulted. While I do appreciate the help from my sister, it was a bit too sudden and surprising and I Just want to get out of the wardrobe to go and relax or just prepare for something like this instead of being ambushed. I just want to leave and not do this self defence "Lesson".
Scene 9: My Objective is at first to get Tom to read the article because I find this stuff fascinating while a little disturbing but they keep getting distracted and I want them to read it so I do what I can. Later on my objective changes to trying not to be heard by father Aloysius so he doesn't find us and punish us which does scare me so I'll be as quiet as possible.
Scene 12: My objective is to get my friend out of the wardrobe in time to finish the sheet we were given for the museum trip and then get back to our class meeting point to hand it in but also not wanting either of us getting in trouble for touching the wardrobe which is an antique. However when I find out more of how my friend is feeling my objective changes to wanting to comfort and reassure him and possibly even distract him from this news at certain points by doing the work sheet.
What is my obstacle?
Scene 5: My obstacle is my older and more protective sister. She is constantly telling me to do a certain manoeuvre or method of hurting or defending against an attacker. She even has me pinned against a wall for quite a bit of it and even during the parts where she doesn't, I'm scared that she'll still stop me from leaving so I don't attempt it but I really want to leave and not go through this. While she's just trying to protect me I want to leave the wardrobe but she is stopping me and I don't want to risk it.
Scene 9: My obstacle is the other boys in the scene because all I want is to simply get the article read or read it myself but they either keep talking, get distracted, intentionally take their time to annoy me or snatch it off me so I can't read it myself. Also they make too much noise and I do not want father Aloysius to hear us but it is likely that he'll find us at some point due to them.
Scene 12: My obstacle is my friend who won't get out of the wardrobe, he doesn't want to the other judgemental school kids to see him and won't come out when I ask him multiple times. When I realise this and then I want to comfort him he still seems to reject and retort to everything that I say so I find it difficult to achieve my objective but I still try even though he's somewhat pushing me away.
What do I do to get what I want?
Scene 5: I can't really do anything to achieve my objective other than to simply go along with it. If I try to leave I fear that she'll stop me so I wont attempt that and even if I try fighting her off without using her methods she won't let me go so I will simply go along with it and it will be over sooner. I give into what she says eventually and I realise this and keep going until she'll let me go which may be a while but it'll be longer if I resist.
Scene 9: I keep telling tom over and over to keep reading so I can find out what the article says and when that doesn't I take it off of him when I have the chance to read it myself but the it gets taken off of me by the others so they've stopped me again. When my objective changes to not being heard, I try and make as little noise as possible but the others still whisper so I say one thing that may make them be quiet. I say "You were laughing so loudly you gave us away" so this may make them realise their error and hope they stay quiet.
Scene 12: I repeatedly ask him to leave and try to convince him to come out and even mention that I could get in trouble if he doesn't. This doesn't work and I realise that so I try and comfort him by reassuring him and saying that no one is talking about it so he shouldn't worry. in the end i just distract him with the work sheet and get him to answer the questions and it seems to take his mind off of it for a while.
Monday 5 October 2015
The Wardrobe Blog 3: Rehearsal updates and The System (Updated)
Scene 5:
Further developments:
The scene is getting better each time we rehearse it but unfortunately due to finding out that we only have about 2 weeks until our show we have decided to go back to using English for the scene since it will be easier to learn. While this is useful I feel that it will lose an interesting dynamic and some intrusive about what's actually going on but we do have to compromise. I mentioned this last week but we've made up our minds and even though we don't like it that much we have to in order to do the scene. We are getting better at remembering lines but for me it's more getting better at remembering the cues for my admittedly very few lines. The choreography is improving, it's getting more fluid and less awkward looking thanks to the help from students and just general practice. One example is my character getting out of the head lock at the beginning, that is looking much better than it started off.
Teamwork:
Like when other people who had spare time during our last rehearsal, mike helped us out with the choreography of the scene to help it flow and to help Chloe make it look like she was hurting me without actually doing it although this time it was a bit more helpful. He specifically showed her how to do the choke hold in the opening of the scene and he even gave advice to me such as wriggling to simulate a realistic struggle.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths: I got a lot of rehearsal time with Chloe on scene 5 so this means we can developed it further and try and improve it. Quite a bit of this has been in class so students have helped or at least watched and it's been getting a lot of focus so it has improved massively because of this. Also when we got to show the scene to Karen when she was in and she loved it. She was very impressed and had little criticism of it but to be fair I think it was due to her having little time so we'll most likely show her again with her giving more criticism.
Weaknesses: Two weaknesses have been that since this scene has been getting the attention my other scenes haven't been getting much and though it's partially due to scheduling, it's still a downside to the rehearsals of the show in general for me. However the other weakness of the rehearsals this week has been due to Karen not being in and the class being somewhat unfocused. For example Sam was in and we hadn't practiced in ages and needed to do readings but he was with other people and whether or not they were working i don't know but he never seemed to want to work. this somewhat goes for the others as well besides Chloe because me and her practiced our scene a lot like I said. Another thing is that while we have been practicing lines and choreography quite a bit, we still haven't done much in terms of actually thinking about the characters themselves yet or at least I haven't and that's due to me not having many lines and prioritizing my other scenes in terms of character but I will give this character some focus at some point before the show.
Scene 9 and 12:
Problems and solutions:
My other groups have either been busy working with their other scenes or have been unfocused with in the time Karen has been away which to me is the problem but I can still benefit my self by doing scene 5 in class and simply rehearsing my lines in my free time so I'm still getting some work on the scenes done instead of just leaving them until Karen is back.
Last week we learned about Stanislavski's system, a series of techniques that actors use to help with naturalism in their performances so it can add believability to what they are doing. A few examples of the techniques are:
Emotional memory: This is where an actor will use a real life memory to create empathy for the character, put them in the characters shoes and try to express the emotion more realistically. So if they had to play sad, they would think of a sad memory to make them feel sad and they would display it. While this can work it's usually not recommended to do because it can back fire sometimes such as with the example i gave someone can get too upset which may distract them or if they have to change their emotion again it may be a lot harder to do.
Method of physical actions: This is about trying to express an emotion through a believable action. so to show anxiety or agitation you can simply pace up and down or rub your hands together or even twitch your fingers slightly. subtle and believable movements that reflect an emotion can go along way although you must still portray the emotion in your face otherwise using the elements separately doesn't work and can seem unnatural or just bad,
Subtext: This is trying to understand the intention or meaning of the script or even just specific lines. This can help understand how something should be portrayed or how a line should be said so that it doesn't contradict the message or intention of the writer.
The magic if: This is where the actor would imagine how they would react in a certain situation and apply it to the text or stimulus and try to get a somewhat realistic reaction out of themselves. This is similar to Emotional memory but you're making it up instead of remembering it. So if you have to be sad you would act sad due to sympathy and not empathy so while it may be somewhat less effective depending on the person it';s generally a lot safer.
Objective: This is where an actor considers what the character is trying to achieve in a scene or production. For example if the character has the objective of wanting to leave a room and the actor knows this then it will come across in the performance because while they're talking to another character they could be adding some subtle movements showing that they want to leave and it'll stick easier because they've thought about this. For example my character in scene 12 has the objective of wanting to get his out of the wardrobe and so he initially wants to get out of the as quick as possible so he may lean towards the door, act with energy or just look in a rush until he starts to want to help his his friend then his objective changes to wanting to help or comfort him so he may seem more relaxed or speaking more softly to seem comforting.
Considering these things can really help develop a character into acting as naturally as possible. This will make them believable and sell any emotion portrayed in it if done correctly.
Further developments:
The scene is getting better each time we rehearse it but unfortunately due to finding out that we only have about 2 weeks until our show we have decided to go back to using English for the scene since it will be easier to learn. While this is useful I feel that it will lose an interesting dynamic and some intrusive about what's actually going on but we do have to compromise. I mentioned this last week but we've made up our minds and even though we don't like it that much we have to in order to do the scene. We are getting better at remembering lines but for me it's more getting better at remembering the cues for my admittedly very few lines. The choreography is improving, it's getting more fluid and less awkward looking thanks to the help from students and just general practice. One example is my character getting out of the head lock at the beginning, that is looking much better than it started off.
Teamwork:
Like when other people who had spare time during our last rehearsal, mike helped us out with the choreography of the scene to help it flow and to help Chloe make it look like she was hurting me without actually doing it although this time it was a bit more helpful. He specifically showed her how to do the choke hold in the opening of the scene and he even gave advice to me such as wriggling to simulate a realistic struggle.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths: I got a lot of rehearsal time with Chloe on scene 5 so this means we can developed it further and try and improve it. Quite a bit of this has been in class so students have helped or at least watched and it's been getting a lot of focus so it has improved massively because of this. Also when we got to show the scene to Karen when she was in and she loved it. She was very impressed and had little criticism of it but to be fair I think it was due to her having little time so we'll most likely show her again with her giving more criticism.
Weaknesses: Two weaknesses have been that since this scene has been getting the attention my other scenes haven't been getting much and though it's partially due to scheduling, it's still a downside to the rehearsals of the show in general for me. However the other weakness of the rehearsals this week has been due to Karen not being in and the class being somewhat unfocused. For example Sam was in and we hadn't practiced in ages and needed to do readings but he was with other people and whether or not they were working i don't know but he never seemed to want to work. this somewhat goes for the others as well besides Chloe because me and her practiced our scene a lot like I said. Another thing is that while we have been practicing lines and choreography quite a bit, we still haven't done much in terms of actually thinking about the characters themselves yet or at least I haven't and that's due to me not having many lines and prioritizing my other scenes in terms of character but I will give this character some focus at some point before the show.
Scene 9 and 12:
Problems and solutions:
My other groups have either been busy working with their other scenes or have been unfocused with in the time Karen has been away which to me is the problem but I can still benefit my self by doing scene 5 in class and simply rehearsing my lines in my free time so I'm still getting some work on the scenes done instead of just leaving them until Karen is back.
Last week we learned about Stanislavski's system, a series of techniques that actors use to help with naturalism in their performances so it can add believability to what they are doing. A few examples of the techniques are:
Emotional memory: This is where an actor will use a real life memory to create empathy for the character, put them in the characters shoes and try to express the emotion more realistically. So if they had to play sad, they would think of a sad memory to make them feel sad and they would display it. While this can work it's usually not recommended to do because it can back fire sometimes such as with the example i gave someone can get too upset which may distract them or if they have to change their emotion again it may be a lot harder to do.
Method of physical actions: This is about trying to express an emotion through a believable action. so to show anxiety or agitation you can simply pace up and down or rub your hands together or even twitch your fingers slightly. subtle and believable movements that reflect an emotion can go along way although you must still portray the emotion in your face otherwise using the elements separately doesn't work and can seem unnatural or just bad,
Subtext: This is trying to understand the intention or meaning of the script or even just specific lines. This can help understand how something should be portrayed or how a line should be said so that it doesn't contradict the message or intention of the writer.
The magic if: This is where the actor would imagine how they would react in a certain situation and apply it to the text or stimulus and try to get a somewhat realistic reaction out of themselves. This is similar to Emotional memory but you're making it up instead of remembering it. So if you have to be sad you would act sad due to sympathy and not empathy so while it may be somewhat less effective depending on the person it';s generally a lot safer.
Objective: This is where an actor considers what the character is trying to achieve in a scene or production. For example if the character has the objective of wanting to leave a room and the actor knows this then it will come across in the performance because while they're talking to another character they could be adding some subtle movements showing that they want to leave and it'll stick easier because they've thought about this. For example my character in scene 12 has the objective of wanting to get his out of the wardrobe and so he initially wants to get out of the as quick as possible so he may lean towards the door, act with energy or just look in a rush until he starts to want to help his his friend then his objective changes to wanting to help or comfort him so he may seem more relaxed or speaking more softly to seem comforting.
Considering these things can really help develop a character into acting as naturally as possible. This will make them believable and sell any emotion portrayed in it if done correctly.
Friday 25 September 2015
The Wardrobe Blog 2: Titles (Updated)
Today we were asked to come up with some titles for our scenes in "The Wardrobe". As far as I'm aware we only to do this for one scene that we're in and since I'm in 3 scenes I decided to name the one i was working on at the time of being told this. My scene is scene 12 and I'm working with Sam. The scene is about someone trying to get there upset friend out of a wardrobe he's hiding away in. The implied cause is that the friend had a private photo put on the Internet by someone else. We tried some names that were centered on what is happening in the scene but we found some titles that seemed more interesting and grabbing that were focused on the cause of the scene. The two we decided on in the end were "Exposed" and "Leaked". We thought these worked the best because they were the most interesting and they were short and to the point but just ambiguous enough so that you're intrigued and when you get context from the scene it'll make sense. although what made us think of them was both the incident of the photo itself being leaked and the other title focusing on how the character feels which could be exposed among other things. So while it may not sum up the scenes it does hint at the situation which i think could make it somewhat intriguing if the audience actually knows what the scenes are called. The other titles that i thought of were for example "In the closet" because it's both a reference to the implied sexuality of the character and it's a line from the script that just sounded like it implies this has happened before like it's a cycle or has happened repeatedly for different reasons, "Worksheet" as it's used as an excuse for both characters. Character one uses it as an excuse to get in the wardrobe and Character two uses it as an excuse to try and get his friend out of it so it's a plot devise used for similar motives but for different reasons. Another was "Betrayed" which kept to the quick and vague implication of the other two and also stuck to how the character was feeling but i felt at the time that it was somewhat cliched or unoriginal, or at least compared to the two we decided on but i still think it was a good one. The last one I remember was "Comfort and Rejection", this one i did like because it implied in a sense both characters objectives or at least some intentions and actions at parts in the scene but to be honest it didn't seem interesting compared to the others. So overall we went with our two titles because they are quick and to the point while also being vague enough about the emotion or the situation to be somewhat intriguing which is what grabs the audience's/readers attention.
Rehearsal developments:
Scene 5: This scene has only had one rehearsal since the last blog and even then that was out of class time.
Development and understanding and creative ideas:
We decided to try and read the script while doing the stage directions and had stuck to keeping the lines in french and overall it went much better than the first rehearsal because we stopped worrying about the choreography so much and just did what we could. That does contradict what I thought last time but seeing as we're not focusing on it in class cause of time I thought it was necessary to compromise due to time restrictions but the movements themselves are fine for now but we will work on them. However Karen did mention that we may have to change the lines to English to to time which was actually quite disappointing to both me and Chloe due to it being half the reason we volunteered and changing the language would ruin the dynamic of the scene that most intrigued me.
Strengths and weaknesses:
The main weakness is that we haven't actually learnt the lines of the scene because we have been focusing on our other scenes during class time and Karen says to put more focus on those just in case this one gets cut. It is somewhat worrying but we are still focusing on other aspects of the scene so our time is being put to use.
A strength of this scene is that our choreography is getting much better and this is due to us deciding to change it or do what we can do. I thought it was necessary to compromise mainly due to the limited time we have to do this scene. If we were given more time in class we may have tried to stick to it more with the help of Karen but since she won't help us outside of class I thought we must do what we are able to and not worry about it too much as long as it fits the scene which at the moment it does.
Scene 9:
Development and understanding|:
This scene has had a few minor yet effective developments in terms of my character. Initially I thought that I may be disgusted by the article we're reading but Karen pointed out that my following dialogue suggests more intrigue in it which did come to mind but I just didn't use for some reason. Also to play up being defencive of the accusations the other boys throw my way seeing as they are somewhat serious and also to change up my performance and not have it so one note throughout the scene. Also Karen gave the good idea of adding in some pauses with sigh of surprised as if I'm overloaded with detail of the subject to show while I'm interested it's having an effect on me.
Creative Ideas:
We also tried the scene with music for the first time and it worked very well other than some cue issues which will be easily fixed when we have sound equipment because for now we're just using Max's phone. The music adds an atmosphere to the scene during the first part but during the last part as it changes it makes it very tense and according to Karen too tense but even then it was cause the music didn't cut off when it was supposed to so it will be more effective but in a different way when we actually do it. I gave the idea that it should cut off just before Mike says his final line which would emphasize it and possibly add some dread to the scenes closing.
Scene 12:
Further development:
This scene has mainly been to do with staging and talk of objectives to help us understand how we're supposed to say our lines. My characters objective seems to be that he wants to try get his friend out of the wardrobe and try to reassure him that the situation isn't as bad as he thinks. When keeping these things in mind it did add more naturalism to the tone of my voice so considering these things does help even the slightest bit. I need to appear more cautious when coming into the wardrobe because it matches my dialogue as I enter. This can add to the comedy to scene which makes the next subject and shift in tone more apparent so it should have a somewhat bigger impact. Since discovering these things me and Sam haven't been able to change much because of him either not focusing or being ill but we have progressed a bit which is good enough for now.
Rehearsal developments:
Scene 5: This scene has only had one rehearsal since the last blog and even then that was out of class time.
Development and understanding and creative ideas:
We decided to try and read the script while doing the stage directions and had stuck to keeping the lines in french and overall it went much better than the first rehearsal because we stopped worrying about the choreography so much and just did what we could. That does contradict what I thought last time but seeing as we're not focusing on it in class cause of time I thought it was necessary to compromise due to time restrictions but the movements themselves are fine for now but we will work on them. However Karen did mention that we may have to change the lines to English to to time which was actually quite disappointing to both me and Chloe due to it being half the reason we volunteered and changing the language would ruin the dynamic of the scene that most intrigued me.
Strengths and weaknesses:
The main weakness is that we haven't actually learnt the lines of the scene because we have been focusing on our other scenes during class time and Karen says to put more focus on those just in case this one gets cut. It is somewhat worrying but we are still focusing on other aspects of the scene so our time is being put to use.
A strength of this scene is that our choreography is getting much better and this is due to us deciding to change it or do what we can do. I thought it was necessary to compromise mainly due to the limited time we have to do this scene. If we were given more time in class we may have tried to stick to it more with the help of Karen but since she won't help us outside of class I thought we must do what we are able to and not worry about it too much as long as it fits the scene which at the moment it does.
Scene 9:
Development and understanding|:
This scene has had a few minor yet effective developments in terms of my character. Initially I thought that I may be disgusted by the article we're reading but Karen pointed out that my following dialogue suggests more intrigue in it which did come to mind but I just didn't use for some reason. Also to play up being defencive of the accusations the other boys throw my way seeing as they are somewhat serious and also to change up my performance and not have it so one note throughout the scene. Also Karen gave the good idea of adding in some pauses with sigh of surprised as if I'm overloaded with detail of the subject to show while I'm interested it's having an effect on me.
Creative Ideas:
We also tried the scene with music for the first time and it worked very well other than some cue issues which will be easily fixed when we have sound equipment because for now we're just using Max's phone. The music adds an atmosphere to the scene during the first part but during the last part as it changes it makes it very tense and according to Karen too tense but even then it was cause the music didn't cut off when it was supposed to so it will be more effective but in a different way when we actually do it. I gave the idea that it should cut off just before Mike says his final line which would emphasize it and possibly add some dread to the scenes closing.
Scene 12:
Further development:
This scene has mainly been to do with staging and talk of objectives to help us understand how we're supposed to say our lines. My characters objective seems to be that he wants to try get his friend out of the wardrobe and try to reassure him that the situation isn't as bad as he thinks. When keeping these things in mind it did add more naturalism to the tone of my voice so considering these things does help even the slightest bit. I need to appear more cautious when coming into the wardrobe because it matches my dialogue as I enter. This can add to the comedy to scene which makes the next subject and shift in tone more apparent so it should have a somewhat bigger impact. Since discovering these things me and Sam haven't been able to change much because of him either not focusing or being ill but we have progressed a bit which is good enough for now.
Wednesday 23 September 2015
The Wardrobe Blog 1: Context and Rehearsal Notes (Updated)
We've been given our first play of the year entitled "The Wardrobe" and have received our parts. I have been given 2 scenes and volunteered for a third.
Scene 5:
This is the scene that both Chloe and I volunteered for. I was interested to do it mainly because of the fact that while the dialogue is written in English we have to do it in another language. That to me would stand out in the play and possibly make the scene more aggressive or more intriguing depending on how people interpret it. and the fact its open to interpret is what is interesting to me. also the challenge of learning lines in another language. The scene consists of one person teaching another person self defence, person 1 teaching moves and then person 2 eventually getting the upper hand in the fight. We assume that the two characters are siblings because the script says they are aged 13 and 15. The scene can take place at any point between 1665 and 1770.
Research:
From some of the historical events that happened around this period such as the french revolution, many religious wars and some of the things that were still allowed to happen such as burning people at the stake and the amount of street crime and generally less ability to enforce the law, I think it's safe to say that this was a much more violent time in history. This made me think that this is probably the motivation for the older sibling teaching the younger one to defend themselves. It does make sense with in the context of the time period and considering the age of my character. He is only a teenager and is far more vulnerable while on the streets so teaching the younger one is a logical thing to do.
Link: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/france-in-the-seventeenth-century/
Teamwork and Creative Ideas:
We have decided to do the scene in french for a couple of reasons.
1: It's a language that Chloe can find easier to learn and can do the accent on very well so due to the time limit we have, we want the easiest one possible to learn and due to that I have about lines I think we should focus on what suits Chloe more as she'll have more to do.
2: It will add an interesting dynamic to the scene because the audience won't fully understand what is going on and the vagueness of plot but violent nature should keep there attention so i think that sticking with another language is a good idea.
We've taken each others amount of lines into consideration and tried to make it so that it's easier for each other in general. Due to that i have 2 scenes already and Chloe finds learning the lines in french with the accent much easier than me so we have agreed that Chloe will be the older sibling and I'll be the one being taught.
Strengths and weaknesses:
The main weakness of rehearsing this scene was the choreography because we both fond it very hard to actually understand what the script was asking us to do. We could vaguely understand the movements but whenever either of us tried them they just seemed like they didn't work or were just awkward. I have a feeling it was probably due to that it was our first time doing them and that we just needed some help. Unfortunately this means we didn't get much done in terms of staging which is a shame but we will try next time we get a chance because we are doing this out of class time.
A strength of the day was that we did quite a few read throughs of the dialogue in English just so we could get our emphasis and the way we say our lines right or at least get an idea of how to do them before changing the words. Also while the choreography was pretty bad we did get quite a few people helping and suggesting to change it but at the moment we want to stick to the writers choices.
Scene 9: This scene I was originally in with Mike, Max and Pau but Pau has been recast with Brad. The scene takes place in a catholic boarding school in the year 1889 and focuses on a group of choir boys hiding in the wardrobe reading articles about Jack the ripper. I play a character named James and I have the lowest status of the four boys, he is the one that is mocked the most although he seems to be confident enough to insult or fight back so while he's arguably the lowest in terms of status he's not too low in general. This character I find somewhat easy to play due to him being somewhat similar to me so while it does work I do admit I'm somewhat disappointed that people said this was my better performance of the ones we did cause while it was natural I don't feel like I was proving anything in terms of acting seeing as he's like me anyway.right about. However I still think that it is a good character and I do enjoy playing him so there is no real problem for me.
Creative ideas and Input:
It was recommended that we use music from a game called "Bloodborne" due to it having very fitting music since it has a very similar setting to our scene and we decided that it would be timed to go with the final line in order to emphasize it and make it more impactful. I think that is an excellent idea and in motion will probably be great but I need more time with my other scenes since this is the one I've done the most work on. The ending to scene is possibly my favourite moment due to it being the most dramatic and most powerful moment. It is implied that the character tom is about to be violently or sexually abused b a Monk/priest working at the school. As we walk out of the wardrobe and leave him I have to stop and cross my heart. I decided to stay facing the front so I don't turn my back to the audience and to slowly cross my heart while having a sad face that signifies that he's upset he can't do anything but will still wan to. that's what I'm getting from it at the moment but that may change. The moment that it's implied he may be abused does seem to fit seeing as the catholic church does have a bit of reputation for these kinds of things even nowadays so back then during these horrible times it most likely would have been worse and more prominent.
Research: Since it's implied that the character is going to be sexually abused i thought I'd look up a history of sexual abuse with in the catholic church and from what i could find it says that's a lot less common place nowadays so it's safe to assume that it happened a lot more back then and seeing as it's a well known aspect of the bad side of the church it wouldn't be out of place for this to happen, especially with in the time period.
Link: http://www.themediareport.com/fast-facts/
Props: For this we will need just a news paper and a knife for Brad to use.
Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaUq8QiIb-U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5p_U8J0iRQ
Scene 12: This is a scene I got from the re casting and it's a scene that to be honest I'm not a huge fan of. I think it has some interesting vague plot elements but the characters to me at the moment aren't too interesting but I haven't had the scene long so I'll give it a chance and do it properly. It focuses on two school students sitting in the wardrobe which is in a museum in the year 2014 and it's implied that a photo (Presumably a nude photo) has been seen by the school and the family which leaked online. Going by what is said and the embarrassment the character is going through I came to the conclusion it is most likely that. My character is trying to get his friend who is upset out of the wardrobe so they can do a worksheet to do with a (assumed) history assignment or trip. My character has to be caring or sympathetic in order to convince the friend that the situation is a little out of proportion. That is my objective, to cheer him up and relieve him of the fear of the situation.
Creative Ideas and personal Aims:
Neither of us have at the moment done any staging of the scene as we decided to focus on the way we say our lines first and try remembering them but we will get onto staging at some point and it will improve no doubt. The scene does tackle the issues of the negative side social media and the impact it can have on a person and their trust and since it's a common enough problem for some people (Even people I know) it does fit and doesn't seem unlikely so it keeps the scene believable. Since I know people who have dealt with this I want the scene to grow on me so that I can do the subject matter justice.
Props: For me all I'll need is a watch, sheet of paper and a pen. Sam will need the same minus the watch but plus a phone.
Scene 5:
This is the scene that both Chloe and I volunteered for. I was interested to do it mainly because of the fact that while the dialogue is written in English we have to do it in another language. That to me would stand out in the play and possibly make the scene more aggressive or more intriguing depending on how people interpret it. and the fact its open to interpret is what is interesting to me. also the challenge of learning lines in another language. The scene consists of one person teaching another person self defence, person 1 teaching moves and then person 2 eventually getting the upper hand in the fight. We assume that the two characters are siblings because the script says they are aged 13 and 15. The scene can take place at any point between 1665 and 1770.
Research:
From some of the historical events that happened around this period such as the french revolution, many religious wars and some of the things that were still allowed to happen such as burning people at the stake and the amount of street crime and generally less ability to enforce the law, I think it's safe to say that this was a much more violent time in history. This made me think that this is probably the motivation for the older sibling teaching the younger one to defend themselves. It does make sense with in the context of the time period and considering the age of my character. He is only a teenager and is far more vulnerable while on the streets so teaching the younger one is a logical thing to do.
Link: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/france-in-the-seventeenth-century/
Teamwork and Creative Ideas:
We have decided to do the scene in french for a couple of reasons.
1: It's a language that Chloe can find easier to learn and can do the accent on very well so due to the time limit we have, we want the easiest one possible to learn and due to that I have about lines I think we should focus on what suits Chloe more as she'll have more to do.
2: It will add an interesting dynamic to the scene because the audience won't fully understand what is going on and the vagueness of plot but violent nature should keep there attention so i think that sticking with another language is a good idea.
We've taken each others amount of lines into consideration and tried to make it so that it's easier for each other in general. Due to that i have 2 scenes already and Chloe finds learning the lines in french with the accent much easier than me so we have agreed that Chloe will be the older sibling and I'll be the one being taught.
Strengths and weaknesses:
The main weakness of rehearsing this scene was the choreography because we both fond it very hard to actually understand what the script was asking us to do. We could vaguely understand the movements but whenever either of us tried them they just seemed like they didn't work or were just awkward. I have a feeling it was probably due to that it was our first time doing them and that we just needed some help. Unfortunately this means we didn't get much done in terms of staging which is a shame but we will try next time we get a chance because we are doing this out of class time.
A strength of the day was that we did quite a few read throughs of the dialogue in English just so we could get our emphasis and the way we say our lines right or at least get an idea of how to do them before changing the words. Also while the choreography was pretty bad we did get quite a few people helping and suggesting to change it but at the moment we want to stick to the writers choices.
Scene 9: This scene I was originally in with Mike, Max and Pau but Pau has been recast with Brad. The scene takes place in a catholic boarding school in the year 1889 and focuses on a group of choir boys hiding in the wardrobe reading articles about Jack the ripper. I play a character named James and I have the lowest status of the four boys, he is the one that is mocked the most although he seems to be confident enough to insult or fight back so while he's arguably the lowest in terms of status he's not too low in general. This character I find somewhat easy to play due to him being somewhat similar to me so while it does work I do admit I'm somewhat disappointed that people said this was my better performance of the ones we did cause while it was natural I don't feel like I was proving anything in terms of acting seeing as he's like me anyway.right about. However I still think that it is a good character and I do enjoy playing him so there is no real problem for me.
Creative ideas and Input:
It was recommended that we use music from a game called "Bloodborne" due to it having very fitting music since it has a very similar setting to our scene and we decided that it would be timed to go with the final line in order to emphasize it and make it more impactful. I think that is an excellent idea and in motion will probably be great but I need more time with my other scenes since this is the one I've done the most work on. The ending to scene is possibly my favourite moment due to it being the most dramatic and most powerful moment. It is implied that the character tom is about to be violently or sexually abused b a Monk/priest working at the school. As we walk out of the wardrobe and leave him I have to stop and cross my heart. I decided to stay facing the front so I don't turn my back to the audience and to slowly cross my heart while having a sad face that signifies that he's upset he can't do anything but will still wan to. that's what I'm getting from it at the moment but that may change. The moment that it's implied he may be abused does seem to fit seeing as the catholic church does have a bit of reputation for these kinds of things even nowadays so back then during these horrible times it most likely would have been worse and more prominent.
Research: Since it's implied that the character is going to be sexually abused i thought I'd look up a history of sexual abuse with in the catholic church and from what i could find it says that's a lot less common place nowadays so it's safe to assume that it happened a lot more back then and seeing as it's a well known aspect of the bad side of the church it wouldn't be out of place for this to happen, especially with in the time period.
Link: http://www.themediareport.com/fast-facts/
Props: For this we will need just a news paper and a knife for Brad to use.
Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaUq8QiIb-U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5p_U8J0iRQ
Scene 12: This is a scene I got from the re casting and it's a scene that to be honest I'm not a huge fan of. I think it has some interesting vague plot elements but the characters to me at the moment aren't too interesting but I haven't had the scene long so I'll give it a chance and do it properly. It focuses on two school students sitting in the wardrobe which is in a museum in the year 2014 and it's implied that a photo (Presumably a nude photo) has been seen by the school and the family which leaked online. Going by what is said and the embarrassment the character is going through I came to the conclusion it is most likely that. My character is trying to get his friend who is upset out of the wardrobe so they can do a worksheet to do with a (assumed) history assignment or trip. My character has to be caring or sympathetic in order to convince the friend that the situation is a little out of proportion. That is my objective, to cheer him up and relieve him of the fear of the situation.
Creative Ideas and personal Aims:
Neither of us have at the moment done any staging of the scene as we decided to focus on the way we say our lines first and try remembering them but we will get onto staging at some point and it will improve no doubt. The scene does tackle the issues of the negative side social media and the impact it can have on a person and their trust and since it's a common enough problem for some people (Even people I know) it does fit and doesn't seem unlikely so it keeps the scene believable. Since I know people who have dealt with this I want the scene to grow on me so that I can do the subject matter justice.
Props: For me all I'll need is a watch, sheet of paper and a pen. Sam will need the same minus the watch but plus a phone.
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