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.