Day time performance

During college we performed a matinee performance for our peers and staff inside college, I think that this show was a great success as it allowed us to correct mistakes made in the previous show such as Dan interjecting my lines and performing the extract too quickly. This performance was a lot more chilled and had a lighter atmosphere around it as people were confident in their extract and there was less stress on people who did well in the previous show. I personally enjoyed this show a lot more as the audience had a more positive reaction to the show and laughed through out, this was due to the audience being younger and appreciating a good nob joke in comparison to adults who watched the first show. 

This show overall went a lot better but I personally preferred my performance in the first show as I was much more fluent and comfortable, where as I felt the nerves in the second show because I find it more intimidating when my friends watch as they add a layer of pressure and I believe this showed in my performance, as I was a lot more weary of what I was doing and concentrating too much on my lines. My tempest piece was better in both performances as it had more dialog and emotion to build a character on in comparison to Maria in Twelfth Night who is only in the extract briefly and doesn't show her character completely like she does in the rest of the play.

characterisation techniques

Miranda

When looking at the characterization of he character Miranda from The Tempest I used many different character exploration techniques such as identifying the physical aesthetics of the character and then making this a reality to get a feel of. He character. I learnt from this that the character was in need of a dress which flowed with her movements as she is a free character full of youth. When I put the costume on I felt so much more in character compared to when I was running the scene in my normal clothes this was due to the costume giving me more freedom to move and explore the characters mannerisms such as the way she walks with a hop in her step and her jumping around when she is happy. 

Another excessive I tried was looking into the characters dialogue and how she would say it, I did this exercise with Dan during a rehearsal and we read through the script at different passes and in different emotions first trying it in a sad dramatic way creating a very theatrical performance, this varied to extremely happy and energies where me and Dan danced around the stage and ran through the script to fit. I found this experience extremely fun and rewarding when It came to character exploration, this was due to how clear it made my character and how it allowed me to see how Miranda needed to be a happy medium between the overly exited ball of energy and low energy more realistic character we had when first reading the script. 

I missed e lesson when the class hot seated their characters but I took the opera unity to do my own hot seating with Dan in lesson, we had a full discussion about our characters and why they do want do in the scene and why they feel and react to certain lines throughout. This convocation heeled me to cement the meaning of lines in our extract for example the line "I do not know one of my sex, nor woman's face remember,save from mine glass mine own." This line clearly means that she hasn't seen any other women's faces except her own. But due to my discussion with Dan we deduced that Miranda would be a masque in character as she has never had a strong female presence such as a mother, this helped me not only with characterization but with my costume also as I decided that the character wouldn't have good hair or clothes as she wouldn't feel the need to look feminine and attractive for Ferdinand as she wouldn't have been taught to do her hair nice or fix her clothing like women would have done.

Before I started this extract I watched the film version of the play online to get a feel of the character and how she I'd portrayed by other actresses, I watched many different interpretations of the character and decided that I wanted to play the character a little differently, because I noticed that many people tent to play Miranda as quite ditsy and girly, but after looking into her background I don't believe this is how she would have been. I believe she would have been a lot more rough and not care what she does or looks like due to her growing up on an island. To highlight her rough side I threw wood across the stage without a care rather than softly placing them down as a more girly Miranda would have done. Also I steel the pile of wood from Dan and run off with it in contrast to Miranda tenderly taking it from Ferdinand in a more kind way, this highlights her child like side and how playful the character is. The way I created my character Is not based on another character but is derived from how I didn't want to play MIranda in comparison the the way I have seen others portray her.

SHOW DAY

The show was very good in my opinion as it was full of energy and pace and you could tell that the whole class where not only happy to get going but excited throughout. The show seemed to keep the audience engaged and interested in what was happening and received a positive reaction afterwards. i was proud of the way my groups performed in our extracts as we flowed with each other an made it a much smoother experience in comparison to how it could have gone. At first i had my doubts on how the extract where going to tun out as I am no he biggest fan of Shakespeare, but after the month o work i have grown o appreciate its complexity and how interesting the language is, i think this helped my performance because i started to like my wok more an when i enjoy what i am doing my work quality in my opinion improves massively.
There were many aspects of the show that went well in my opinion for example the sound effect such as rain and lightning ran smoothly and acted as a vial part the show and how engaging it was. I liked the transition music for both halves of he play but i preferred the more modern music in the second half as it was more relevant to the audience and something they would prefer listening to. I understand the reason we have jazz music for the first half as it related to the gangsta theme which we are incorporating into he piece, i personally think we haven achieved making the gangsta aspect that clear as no one in the class in using an accent and the costumes do have nuances of the era but not enough to make it clear o a stage.  

Things did go wrong nearing the end of the show when a board got stuck on a curtain chain and this threw one of the scenes off but i don't think it was too disastrous as the scene went on as normal just not to the standard it could have been. A major problem which i came across was the blackouts in the storms as it became a hindrance to building the set, usually we fix the set with ease as there is external light coming though the doors. During the show all the curtains where closed so i couldn't see a thing and there was a massive possibility that the set wouldn't have been properly built and would have been left with no rostrum lids and danger hazards scattered around it. To fix his problem in the show on Thursday we are going to make the set a lo simpler to fix and this should eradicate any problems which we had in the past. Also during mine an Dan's scene in the Tempest there was a slight error when Dan interrupted my line with a very assertive "No" this didn't throw me off as Dan managed to work around his mistake with some fumbling over lines and we pulled it back effectively, his kept the scene going and allowed us o stay in character throughout.    

First tech run

Today we had our first ever full tech run incorporating the two storms and following a specific running order. I think that this went well but could have been better, the pace was slow and people didn't really have much energy but this was due to the class mentality that it was only a tech run. There was a few slip ups with lines and knowing which scene was where but this is a problem which is easily solved through writing down the scene order and just going over lines repeatedly. I took the opportunity in this run to apply my class notes to my extracts for example I learnt that the line "gaskins fall" in my Twelfth Night piece means pants falling down, I applied this knowledge to my work through making my character much more playful trying to pull Festes (Ryan) pants down and being dismissed in a comical way. When I first tried to apply this I didn't manage to apply it as it was new and I forgot to do it but after a small five minuet practice with Ryan I felt confident that I would be able to do it in the show. I have addressed the mistakes I made in this run through and know confidently that I won make the same mistakes again in the show. When the run began I was suppose to say my line to open the show and I forgot to stay on stage after the storm this was something I struggled remembering as it was a last minuet change but I decided that during the storm I would get into position so when the lights come up me and Megan are already on stage, this helped with pace and was effective as it allowed us to jump straight into the show with out a long entrance. There was a small debate during the tech run as to weather the storm was to act as a motif and be repeated for the second half, as we know that both plays start with a storm we decided that having the storm again would be relevant and a good way to keep the audience interested in a difficult performance to keep up with. I like the storm as its very interesting and different in comparison to the extract in the show.

 

1st December The Tempest

During today's rehearsal we ran through the scenes to get a rough timing of each extract so we can see how long the full show will take to perform. This run was very relaxed and allowed people to have a good go at running their scenes without their lines to hand. My partner wasn't in for this rehearsal to I ran through my scene with Ryan, due to the relaxed feeling of the run I sailed through it without being too serious and too into it. After the performance my feedback informed me that the relaxed nature allowed me to relax into the character and portray the character of Miranda with a much more child like manner which I have been trying to emulate over the past weeks of rehearsal. I am planning on trying this relaxed care free approach in the next run through to see if I can get the same feel for my exam. Through this day of refusal I learnt more about my character and how she would be less love struck stalker which I was border line in past rehearsals and more of a free moving, care free type of person which was explored in this rehearsal.

Blocking of scenes "Twelfth Night"

During a group discussion we spoke about the beginning to our "Twelfth Night" scene and how we can improve it. To start with we had a very simple opening which was static and boring to watch, after contemplation we thought about the opening character Feste and his personality. As Feste is a clown character we came to the decision that he need to do something comical and playful to introduce his character the same way as he means to go on. Ryan who plays Feste in our extract tried out a few different ways to open the scene such as jumping in and announcing his arrival and climbing in over the set. We didn't think this was quite right for the situation in the scene then we though what do naughty kids to and derived the idea of blowing a "raspberry" as my character Maria, this worked well and we kept it as the opening to our scene. 9/12/1012 Over the weeks we have improved on this scene massively and the raspberry which starts the scene was found to be effective and we kept it in but elongated it to make it more clear and comical. I started the project with a nerdy character which turned out to be wrong for the character and not work in the scene, I changed my character over the weeks making Maria progressively more relaxed and free eventually ending up with a more teenage girly girl who has banter with her class mates. in my scene where I say "he is a fair young man and well attended." I decided to hint that my character has a crush on Sir Toby who she is referring to. I decided to do this due to my research into the play where I learnt that my character ends up in a relation ship with Sir Toby, therefore she would have a crush on him when she first saw him.

Themes "Twelfth Night"

The themes of Twelfth Night are very simple even though they represent confusing situations such as mistaken identity.  The main theme in this play has to be mistaken identity as it is the foundation of the play.  This theme is seen in modern television today and is a widely used subject for modern drama such as “the parent trap” which is also based on twins.  Mistaken identity is a very good subject matter in my opinion as Shakespeare was able to construct a whole play around it whilst keeping an audience entertained for two and a half hours. Mine, Chloe's and Ryan's extract doesn't contain this theme but a good example of this would be Jess's scene where she plays a girl playing a man.

 The theme of disguise flows through this plays not only through the character Viola but also with Feste when he visits Malvolio in prison. Also Malvolio’s tights and garters act as a personality disguise when he is trying to woo Olivia. This leads me back to mistaken identity as this costume is very feminine and highlights how people can be sexually ambiguous. Sexual ambiguity was briefly highlighted in out piece when Ryan puts the cloth over his head like a nun as he talks to Olivia.  Cross dressing goes on a lot in this play and is still a very common thing today as we have drag queens and cross gendered people, this subject is socially accepted now and this is how this play would be modernized as it acts as a musical comedy anyway throwing a drag queen in there would just add to is whilst also modernizing it and it would cater to a modern sense of humor. The cross dressing aspect would have also been a normal thing in Jacobean times as the actors where all male and would have had to cross dress to play women so the people playing Olivia and Maria would also be cross dressed so it would be a very socially excepted thing.  Actors cross dressing is where the idea that male actors are camp Came from and is the past the actors may have been sold for sex as they were skilled at emulating the female form, this portrays the similarities and connections with the past views and modern views which stemmed from each other.  Smaller and wider spread themes such as love are represented in this play as in much of Shakespeare’s other plays like “Romeo and Juliet.” Love acts as a motivator for many of the characters in this play such as Duke Orsino who has a passionate love for Olivia, but quickly falls for Viola making me question if there is another connection with homosexual tendencies with this love plot, as he would have had to develop feelings whilst Viola was a male to fall instantly in love with her when she reveals the truth. After erase arch into my character Maria I found that she and Sir Toby form a real relationship at the end of this play and to highlight this When She says "he's a fair young man and well attended" I looked all lovey Dover as a teenager who has a crush would using my body language to show this by swaying and smiling. Homosexual tendencies arise in the plot of Antonio and Sebastian when Antonio helps Sebastian to the island but doesn’t leave him alone claiming to have some sexual chemistry with him. Grief briefly shows in this through the death of Olivia’s family members and the separation of the twins, the theme of grief is shown in our piece as Olivia makes reference to her brothers death and how sad she is, this is mocked by Feste as he teases Olivia saying her brother won't go to heaven. Love, Grief and greed are all themes in this play which will never become old as they are used in nearly every piece of drama known to man in even the most mundane shows such as children’s shows and light television.  These themes don’t need modernizing as they will always be modern forming the foundation of any story or character.  

Themes "The Tempest"

There are many different themes flowing through The Tempest starting with a overlying theme of power and control highlighted In the text through scenes such as Act 1 scene 2 where Prospero admits to sinking the ship highlighting that he has some much power and control to change people’s fates and manipulate the sea through the help of his magic and Ariel.  Also in Act 5 scene 1 where another character Ariel shows his control over people through putting the men to sleep without their consent, causing them to conform to his power.  This theme is still relevant today as there are still people with immense power who control many aspects of our everyday lives such as the government and the queen, just as in those days where they had royalty and dukes. In mine and Dans piece we don't show the theme of power as the scene is a back and fourth between the two characters, originally we had Prospero looking over us displaying his omnipresence and power over the two characters but this was cut as the character wasn't needed in the scene. Obviously we don’t have real magical powers, but this theme of magic is used in many plays and productions today and shows something much more than human capabilities highlighting maximum power and control that humans wish they had. Magic is a theme that will always be used as it is a theme with a wide variety of things you can do with it from fairies to dragons. We don't use magic in out scene as it doesn't call for it but it flows through the play and this in my opinion is why the play is so popular as everyone likes to see the impossible. 

The theme of betrayal is depicted right from the start of the play when Prospero feels betrayed by his own brother after he is banished along with his daughter Miranda. Also the character of Caliban highlights betrayal as is he not only betrayed by Prospero who entices him with kindness but then turn to betray Prospero’s trust through attempting to rape his daughter. Betrayal comes about for all of the characters such as the two drunken men plotting to kill Prospero and also the king’s men’s mutiny with their plot to kill the King in his sleep highlights betrayal. My character Miranda acts as a symbol for betrayal as Prospero attemps to get her with a prince so she can rise above his enemies and show how he will always rise back into power even if he does this through the medium of his daughter. 

Love is a universal theme which is intertwined throughout all Shakespeare plays for example Romeo and Juliet and twelfth night. Love appears in more than one form in The Tempest between Miranda and Ferdinand in my scene which is the obvious love story of the play but a different kind of love is portrayed between Prospero and Miranda as it is a farther and child love which is unconditional and this is shown through Prospero wanting what’s best for her and aiding her to fall in love with the Kings son. Revenge is a small theme in this play as it appears in such a subtle form, Prospero gets revenge on Caliban for trying to rape his daughter through condemning him to be a slave and taunting him with the concept of magical spirits which are always watching him. 

Revenge is in all of the characters provocative but not all are followed through so this theme falls to the waist side a bit as it’s more the idea of revenge rather than the actual act itself. Lastly Forgiveness is the theme which ends the play as all is forgiven between the characters and they basically all live happily ever after. The play basically comes full circle as Prospero had a strong motive to gain his dukedom back and to give his daughter the life she deserves, when all of this comes to fruition he has no motive to be sinister or evil therefore all he can do is forgive people of their actions and going to live the life he had taken away from him by his brother.   All of these themes still stand today and don’t need modernising as they are wide spread in everyday life and heightened in modern television such as the show “Revenge” where the whole plot is based on: love, revenge, forgiveness and betrayal all themes highlighted in “The Tempest.” I don’t think it will be a struggle presenting these themes to a modern audience as they are widely recognised today and would be easily accepted without a need of modernising.  If you watch any modern television program or play you will see many connotations within them connecting to the themes of this play as they are a good platform to create drama and keep a production interesting. 

The opening of the show

After a class debate over linking the two plays "Twelfth night" and "The Tempest" we looked at the two plays to find a common aspect and we found that both plays open with a storm. This allows us to add a physical aspect to our work, we have looked at incorporating a dance into the opening of the play, and I think that it will be very effective id done properly. At the moment i don't think the dance is at the level it can be to create a hard hitting opening but I do think it had potential. I personally think that the movement should be a lot more classical to create a flowing wave like dance, which can become more frantic and physical throughout to show a storm and the chaos that comes with it. At the same time as the dance movement we have added in sailors who come out from the black and start to create sails with the black curtains and to start pulling thick rope to emulate the panic on the ship trying to amend the situation. We will also include the characters Prospero and Ariel to highlight clearly that we are opening with "The Tempest" extracts.

This is how I imagine the movement to look but in a much darker setting as we will be including strobe lights and a fog machine. The use of tech will be very effective is the opening motif as it will contrast what the audience is expecting as it is completely different to Shakespeare's simple approach to his works. We will be using the motif twice in the performance but we will change it for the second section as we will be using it to highlight a change in play and setting. We will do this through taking out Prospero and Ariel from the storm.

11/12/2014
We have kept the bare boned of this concept but over time the storm has changed massively, it has become much less physical in comparison to what we originally started with as we scrapped he dance which we had created and replaced i with freeze frames. Every person now has a number and comes on in order to create a picture on stage of sailors on a boat. Once everyone is on stage we begin to add movement and voice, some shout lines over the sound of the storm such as "Land" and "heave." This is effective as it gives the audience not only something to look at but a reason to constantly change their point of focus throughout, this keeps it interesting and engaging.

character exploration in twelfth night

When looking at my character i have been researching the attitudes of servants to their superiors on Elizabethan times. I found that they would have been very respectful to their superiors as they wouldn't have a lot of money and to lose their job over a snide comment or sly look would be the worst thing in the world. I do think that servants would let their hair down when not working or with other secants as they were normal human beings like anyone else who would have a laugh and joke around with their work friends. I have been told repeatedly that i need to lighten up in this scene and i have been working on my character to accommodate this. Originally i had a very swatty and nerdy character to fit in the school theme but i found that this makes my character sound harsh and serious which i don't want at all. I have tried lots of different types of characters like the school head girl type character which is less stern and more of a kiss ass character than anything. This did make an improvement and mad the character a lot more playful and chummy with the other character Feste, but the in the next rehearsal i tried another character which was a mixture of the two and was told that i had become more angry and stern again so i have decided to go back to the head girl type character who can have a laugh. i went through the script and highlighted all of Feste's jokes as this was a barrier at first to making my character lighter as i didn't pick up on the banter between the two characters so i didn't react in the correct way throughout the piece. I am working on making my character lighter in this through a more open and happy physicality and working on laughing in the correct moments during the performance. I use the set and the cloth in this extract to create more interesting pictures in the scene I use the red cloth as a noose during the line "but, you shall be hanged for being so long absent" and I release it on the line "turned away" this gives me more to do and makes the scene less static as we are making use of the set and props throughout.

11th nov the tempest

Today was a very productive day for me and Dan because we got lots of blocking done which took our piece from being very bland and simple to a lot more lively and interesting for an audience to watch. We have had a very planned and set out blocking for this scene for a while now and in this lesson we developed this and thought about our characters and how they would wove in the space in correlation to their attitude and approach to things. For example my character Miranda is a very free spirit who is very child like and playful in her physicality, after performing our scene to the class i was told in my feedback that i need to be more 'fairy like.' I have been working on this in the lesson and think i have achieved a more flowing and girly physicality through walking with my shoulders held back and being lighter on my feet. In this lesson we added lots of different blocking ideas and i decided to use the set more than we have been in the past, on the line "pray, rest yourself hes safe for these three hours" I jump up onto the stage blocks with my legs swinging and relaxed this created interesting levels in the scene and through me and Dan crossing over in this section it keeps it interesting and makes it less static and awkward like it was the first time we performed it. Also me and Dan have been thinking about our character connection as when we started we acted like two goof friends rather than two young lovers and this makes all the difference in a performing context. To create more of a love connection which comes through clearly in the performance we added playful chasing into the scene and suspense moments where Dan and i get really close to the point were we are almost touching and then one of us walks away. We didn't do those in our performance in front of the class as we are yet to perfect it and feel completely comfortable doing it without bursting out laughing. I still have a long way to go in my characterization and i will be working on the points which i was given in my observation feedback, for example i need to be less breathless in some parts of the scene where i get a bit carried away in the Shakespeare aspect of it all and put on a bit of a Shakespeare voice which i need to stop.

props and costume

 

This is how my character Miranda is usually portrayed when it comes to costume and this that this is quite accurate as she has lived her whole life on an island with no access to new styles. I have thought a lot about my costume and as the class have decided to set this play in a gangsta era how to plan my outfit accordingly. I don't want my costume to be so different that it doesn't fit with the other characters and looks out of place but I don't thin it should follow the gangsta theme as she wouldn't have been exposed to this style as a child. I am planning to wear a simple dress which isn't flashy or showy and doesn't have modern elements to it, I am also going to have bear feet as the character is a very free young woman who is comfortable living a natural life as she has grown up in nature living on an islands with her father.

This is exactly how I see Miranda to look as she looks very natural and young. Her dress is rough and ragged as it would be if you lived in the same clothes nearly every day. I will make my hair look messy and tousled as my character would not have access to modern hair equipment or accessories. I will also wear extremely minimum makeup just so I don't look pale on stage as she would have a sun kissed complexion I she's outside most days.

 

This is the attire that I would expect Maria the maid to wear in the original play as it is simple and dull and your typical maid costume really. As we are setting out Twelfth Night in a school to modernise it I will not be wearing something like this I will be wearing something more along these lines.

The tie will be different depending on what the others in my group are wearing but the simple idea is a black skirt a white shirt and a tie to make it perfectly clear that we are set in a school. I an thinking about getting glasses as my character is following the swatty rout but I haven't fully decided on this yet. And I will also be wearing tights as I have to jump off the staging and I think it will be practical for the sage. I will tie my hair back as I am going for the clean cut student look rather than the rebel like Ryans character the Clown who will be dressed messy and comical to fit his character.

 

The cloth 4th November twelfth night

Today's rehearsal was very productive as we came up with lots of interesting setting ideas and uses for props. To day we looked at a specific section of our script just before Olivia talks about her dead brother. We obtained a long red cloth from upstairs and tied it to the set to cover up a shrine we have created on the stage inside the stage blocks. We decided to use this piece of cloth for more than concealing purposes as it is on the stage anyway so why not use it? We looked at Ryan's lines as the clown ;
Two faults, Madonna, that drink and good counsel
will amend: for give the dry fool drink, then is
the fool not dry: bid the dishonest man mend
himself; if he mend, he is no longer dishonest; if
he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Any thing
that's mended is but patched: virtue that
transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that
amends is but patched with virtue. If that this
simple syllogism will serve, so; if it will not,
what remedy? As there is no true cuckold but
calamity, so beauty's a flower. The lady bade take
away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away.

The cloth is used almost entirely in this speech as we thought it was very funny and made this section of out extract interesting and fun to watch, in the first line we added in a cheap joke where Ryan puts two fingers up to Chloe the authority figure in the piece in a rude and disrespectful way then he turns it into a piece sign and gives her a big grin ad the clown character would do. Next he will pick up the ends of the cloth and place them around hos neck to imitate a royal to show his control and power in the situation as he taunts Olivia. During this speech Ryan works the cloth creating different images to fit the speech and what he does is very lyrical movement. For example on the line "virtue that
transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue." Ryan created a nun head cover with the cloth and quickly opens it up like a bat on the word "sin." On the line "The lady bade take away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away." Ryan runs across the stage and is choked by the cloth revealing the shrine behind to allow Chloe to come in as her character grieves for her brother.

the cloth is used later on in the piece and still has many opportunities which we are yet to discover.

The importance of warming up for Shakespeareian work

Today we did a warm up in lesson before we got to work on our scripts. It is very important to warm up for Shakespeare as you need to be relaxed before going into any type of rehearsal, you wouldn't start singing before warming up so why no warm up for acting.

getting yourself physically ready for acing is very important as it prevents injury and allows you to do more physical things in rehearsal, allowing you to explore more concepts for your piece. Heres an example of a drama warm up:

A Theatre Warm-up

Stretch – Your right arm up, up; your left arm up, up. Repeat.
Your right arm to the side; your left arm to the side. Repeat

Roll – Your head to the front, right, back, left. Repeat.
Your shoulders to the front, up, back, down. Repeat

Bend from your waist forward, to the right, back, left. Repeat

Step forward with your right foot (leaving your left foot in place). Stretch. Switch, step forward with your left foot (leaving your right foot in place). Stretch

Shake out your hands, your head and shoulders, your legs
and feet. Shake out your whole body.

Stand quietly with your arms at your sides.

Breathe in to the count of 1,2,3,4 Breathe out to the count of 1,2,3,4 Repeat.

Tongue and lip warm-upsSay very fast 

1. ta, ta, ta, ta
   da, da, da, da
   bah, bah, bah, bah
   ma, ma, ma, ma,

2. Tongue twisters
   Have your teacher or another student read the line first, then as a class repeat it. Be very certain you are really moving your tongue and your lips! You will be practicing good diction.
   • Babbling Baby Bobby
   • Ki-ki, the cuckoo, cuts capers
   • Don didn’t do the difficult dangerous deeds
   • Few folks find the fine flavor
   • Jim, Jill, Jane and Johnny jammed jollily
   • Little Lillian lets lazy lizards lie along the lily pads
   • Nine nice nieces never noticed nine nice nieces noticing nine nice nieces
   • Popular people, people popular places
   • Suzy Sampson is surrounded by her sousaphone
   • Sheila shall surely show her shining seashore shells
   • Little Teddy Tucker toots his tooter toute suite
   • Thick thistles throbbed in Thelma Thimble’s thumb

If the next step is to start your rehearsal, it is a good idea to close your eyes and “see” who you are – as the character. Where are you? What did you just do? What are you going to do?

Now you should be ready to really concentrate on your character and the rehearsal. It is also important to warm-up for a performance

http://artswork.asu.edu/students/lessons/drama_theatre/theatre_book/acting_warmups.php

This is a good warm up as it works of the body, the voice and the breathing which is so important when performing Shakespeare, as you need to be able to take in large quantities of air to project long phrases of text in one breath. The tong twisters and ta da's are very good for Shakespeare as you need good diction and ability to say complicated phrases quickly when saying your lines to an audience, this makes sure they understand what you are saying and can hear it clearly.

13th of October rehearsal

During today's rehearsal we got a lot done to be honest, I did I film run though without my scrip, there were a few stutters and lingering moments for lines but I didn't use a script to prompt me, this is a massive improvement from last week’s rehearsal as I was very sketchy on my words and I was picking my script up every two seconds to prompt me. Dan on the other hand needs a little longer and is yet to learn him lines for this extract so we spent about 15 minutes going through Dan’s lines so he could familiarize himself with it more, this resulted in a smoother rehearsal therefore we were able to get the scene fully blocked. The blocking isn't quite up to standard yet but this will come in time with more recurs all, but we now have basic blocking which can be worked around to start showing a relationship between the characters. This week me and Dan started to look at our characters relationship and started testing out ideas on how we can get a romantic theme across through physical actions, we came up with ideas such as only touching hands right at the end of the extract and making this the only physical connection in the piece as it is a pivotal moment where the two characters decide to join their lives through marriage. I think this will have a good impact on the audience as it will be built through the piece to finally the two characters touching and giving the audience a sense of completion that it finally happened. I have learnt a lot about my character this week, for example I found that Miranda would find much more of a thrill from touching Ferdinand than a modern teen would today as she hasn't grown up around men and would have this romantic connection with her farther so it is something new that is not only exciting for her but also scary resulting I her having a small break down in hour scene calling herself "unworthy."

Character development

Today hasn't been very productive as no one from my groups have been in, this means I was unable to practice or block any scenes. I spent my day looking at my lines and looking at my characters for both The Tempest and Twelfth Night. My first interpretation of Miranda is that he is a very young woman who has been raised under male influence as shown through the lines "no woman's face remember" and "nor have I seen more that I may call men than you" this shows that she isn't used to female energy and I think this means she would have a boisterous aspect to her character and she wouldn't be very feminine unlike how the films and other plays portray her. I'm not saying she would sit with her legs open, fart and burp like a man, because her farther knows the conventions of women and would tell her what not to do as she grew into a woman. Also as Prospero was a duke before he was cast out he would be well held physically and would install a higher class way of being into his daughter Miranda. We are setting this extract in a 70's setting but I don't think that this will affect my character much as we have decided not to do an accent and the setting is still on a desolate island. But the costume will be different as she will be wearing vintage style clothes to fit the time period. This differed from the way Miranda would be traditionally dressed as she would be played by a man and would be wearing Shakespearean clothing which fits the character. The reason we have changed the time period is to give the play a different edge to the conventional way that it's usually done and to modernise it. I know it's not set in our modern day but due to movies and theatre today different eras have been normalised and recognised by a modern audience.  In Shakespearean times there was no creative and freedom of imagination when performing one of Shakespeare's plays as it was staging convention to perform it as it is written but now we can do what we want with it as long as we don't change the dialogue it's self. This gives us the freedom to change costume, voice and women playing women unlike in the past where this was just never done. Secondly when looking at my character Maria I tried to find a contrast between her and Miranda as I wanted to play something completely different. At first sight they seems very similar to me but after reading the play I saw the character in a completely different light as I discovered the comical and cynical side to my character. These aspects to Maria aren't really shown in my extract as it quite short but you do see her relationship with the clown and how she has a comical side. My character is one of the slaves under lady Olivia's rule and I interpreted her as quite a swath character who kisses up to her mistress whilst at the same time integrating herself into the naughtiness of the other characters around her. Due to us setting this play in a school setting my character fits perfectly into the swatty stereotype of modern day schools. As the clown enters what we have set as the classroom you start to see Maria loosen up and banter with Feste, this allows me as an actor to move physically from class swat who's up tight into a normal school girl being entertained by her class mates foolery back into a know it all trying to rationalise his jokes with her knowledge. When we first performed this for our teacher he noted that my character was not quite right yet as I hadn't picked up on all of Festes jokes and reacted to them so I sat and looked through the script picking out the "gags" and now I an a physical stimulus to the audience that something funny is happening even if they don't understand the joke it's self. All of the characters are archetypes of the modern school scene for example we have the class clown the school swat and the righteous teacher. These archetypes are very important in modernising our extract as it makes it more relevant with the school setting and it helps them make personal connections and interpretations of the characters due to past experiences in their lives.

Tempest Rehearsal 6th October

During today's rehearsals of The Tempest we put up the set the way that it will be for the show. This allowed me and Dan to work with it and set out our scene. We decided on a simple walking pattern for the scene utilizing the set and integrating levels into it. At the moment our scene is very staged and static as we having looked at integrating small nuances and body position into it yet but this will come when we get off scrip and beckon more comfortable with what are characters would be doing. During the rehearsal my character started to develop as i discovered that Miranda would be young, youthful and childlike as she wouldn't be exposed to a more mature world in her life. Ferdinand would be older than Miranda and would have lots of life experience so Dan has decided to play him in a more composed manner to Miranda who has teenage like mood swings when things start to get serious in the scene with a proposal of marriage. Due to our scene being centered around a flirty fight over a pile of wood,we have decided that this will be a back and too motif throughout our extract, as me and Dan are going to take the wood from each others grasps to highlight a conflict.

Production meeting 2

This was a short production meeting where we set yourself goal to look at over the following week, for example to learn our lines, find music for the piece if needed, bring in props and to create a advertising poster for the event. Amy and Daniel took the responsibility to the poster, and the only props we need for our piece is a pile of wood which is easily obtainable. When it comes to line learning i am still a little sketchy but i know the basic bones of my script, this will take time to cement but its easily done, where as Dan is struggling with The Tempest script but is confident with the Twelfth Night script, we have decided to go thorough the Tempest extract a lot so Dan can get his lines down quickly.

Twelfth Night work

During today's rehearsals we looked at our extract from Twelfth Night. Chloe who plays Olivia wasn't in so we focused on the beginning of the piece as that contained the characters Feste and Maria. As we have decided as a class to set this play in a school environment we looked as the concept of our extract and how we could change it to fit the theme. We decided that as the fool, Feste will remain the silly funny character but Maria will be a nerdy stuck up character which is easily broken by Feste's cheeky comical ways. This scene follows the theme of polar opposites as shown through the characters of both Maria and Feste and also OLivia and Feste in our extract. Firstly Maria is developed as quite a cruel character within this play but in our scene she is very ridged character in contrast to Feste who is full of folly and hasn't got a care in the world, Feste is a very humble fool who is extremely witty and down to earth, this contrast Maria at the start of the scene but as she relaxes and starts to banter with Feste a common ground is shown between servants. Olivia enters next and has a clear contrast to Feste not only in character but in status; we are depicting this through having her enter at the highest level on stage to show her power and ladyship in comparison to Feste being a servant. This theme could easily be modernized to suit a modern audience by fitting in with the school theme through having two characters such as a queen bee bitch character and a shy wall flower.

setting up

In previous rehearsals the set has been discussed and attempted but it was told it looked sloppy and not thought through. So today I decided to give it another shot and sat down with the people not dancing Andrew a sketch of what we thought the set should look like and how it could cater to both The Tempest and Twelfth Night.  In previous lessons the idea of Prosperous entering from behind a curtain on the same level as the highest rosters was a concept brought up last week so we solved this problem through having a Rostand stand behind the curtain with steps to get up to it so that Prosperous can step through the curtain with ease straight onto the highest level without and sloppy climbing and this also adds to the magical aspect of the work as it looks like he's come out of nowhere.   I saw the opening storm dance today and when I saw it on its own with the music I was skeptical as it looked very ropy and I couldn't see the potential in it but later i saw it with a strobe light and under the sound of a storm and waves and it looked very dramatically effective. I can now see real potential and can't wait to see the finishes article. We did note that it needs to be more manic and needs more people to give it the strong and forceful impact it can achieve. Due to the play opening in a storm and a shipwreck we added the concept of sailors in to the opening and as the singing and drums kick in in the music a single sailor step tour on stage and when lightening cracks the others come out creating a frantic group of people pulling ropes and fighting a storm. As a class we talked about using white sheets on ropes to act as sails and create a visually stimulating image on stage, I love this idea and can't wait to give it a go and see if it works well with the piece.

The first Tempest rehursal

We started this rehearsal going through the script as Dan my partner is still not secure on his lines and there is no point jumping into blocking when he doesn't even know what his lines mean. We went through the lines and looked at what they mean and what to think about when saying them, for example my line "do you love me" was seen completely differently by Dan than I saw it as he thought it was Miranda asking Ferdinand if he loves her as in the idea that he is superior and she is completely in love with him to the point that she couldn't wait to know if he feels the same. Whereas through looking through the lines previous we found that as a character she is very nice and she's not  consumed with swooning over him but rather she doesn't know any better and the only way for her to learn is through simply asking, so we deduced that  she is more inquisitive rather than stupidly falling over him, but it's all up to people's interpretations.  also after a class discussion we found that we are setting The Tempest work in the 40's/50's style so me and Dan looked at if we were going to do accents or not, we decided against it as it wasn't an accent Dan was completely comfortable sustaining through the piece. The time setting doesn't really change the context of the piece we decided that we are keeping the logs described in the extract and not changing anything other than the costume during our piece. By the end of the day we decided on our opening positions for the piece but there is much more to do in future lessons. Adam has kindly said he would step in and play Prospero for us in our work and we have placed his character at the highest point of the set to watch over the events and say his lines over us to highlight his status in the play.
11.12.2014
We have removed the character Prospero from our piece as he is not a vital part of the scene and he only acts as an over looker in the extract. The scene is still effect without this character and still makes complete scene. This hasn't pose a problem and in my opinion it has made it a lot easier to follow for both he audience and me as an actor. I personally think that this change allows me and Dan to create a connection between our character as there is no interruption through out. 

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter is a form of verse, like a frame work on how to rhythmically say Shakespearian text. The words iambic pentameter means five sets of two syllable sections and is sometimes referred to as feet. Sometimes iambic pentameter is not used and replaced with rhyming couplets or no verse form is used and this is when the text is written in pros, following no form of rules.     Iambic pentameter follows a De-dumb De-dumb De-dumb De-dumb De-dumb rhythmic pattern with the occasional extra De at the end; this is called a soft ending. There is an emphasis on each dumb as they are stressed.         The typical way Shakespeare highlights the status of a character is if their text is written in pros or iambic pentameter. For example if you are a dumb comical character your text will be in pros whereas higher status character such as my character Miranda in The Tempest will speak in iambic pentameter but also used pros such as in her line 'oh heavens' with the occasional extra syllable at the end of each section, this highlights how she is a sideline character rather than a comical or main character.    Some say that iambic pentameter is used as it mimics the sound of the human heart are beat which is natural and produces a calming rhythm. Others say that it is used as is copies the way people speak everyday with its stressed syllables and variations. Through using iambic pentameter the text stays interesting and it eliminates and monotone aspects to the text and prevents it becoming dull.    Iambic pentameter has a specific purpose and it is to inform the actor that they need to come straight in with their lines to keep the rhythm flowing not let the pace drop. There is one rule when using iambic pentameter and it is to make use of the pauses in the text when punctuation occurs and not to stop speaking at the end of a sentence unless there is punctuation indicating you to.
Here's and example of Iambic Pentameter:

If music be the food of love, play on; -  this is a good example of Iambic pentameter as it clearly 
                                                               shows 5 sets of 2 syllable phrases.
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, -
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before. - this phase show the use of a soft ending.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, not withstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

The scene between me and Dan's work is more complex and highlights how iambic pentameter can move onto another characters speech.

O most dear mistress,
The sun will set before I shall discharge What I must strive to do. If you'll sit down, This shows clearly how iambic pentameter follows onto my character Miranda's lines. I'll bear your logs the while: pray, give me that; I'll carry it to the pile. Iambic pentameter workshop
During the first session looking at Shakespeare's techniques we completed a workshop in the rules of iambic pentameter and how to use it without sounding like a rhythmic robot. We were given a piece of text and told to turn at every bit of punctuation such as commas and full stops, this forced us to take a rest as we resigned the text when necessary. This was incredibly useful to me as it physically showed me how the rhythm flows and stops thought the text. We were also taught about stressing the second syllable and to cement this concept we were told to tap heavily on out led when a syllable is stressed, I found it difficult to keep up when everyone around me was doing it but it showed clearly how the way you say the text had different dynamics rather than it being monotone. If we filled these rules we would sound stupid and it would be teetering on the edge of some so we took away a monologue from the character Caliban and tried using these techniques in a realistic way to make the speech sound natural and flowing.
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Production meeting

During our first production meeting we spent Our time deciding on how we are going to structure the two pieces " The Tempest" and "Twelfth Night."  As a class we decided that we are doing  to kick off the show with a storm as both plays involve a storm as it seems logical to incorporate a common aspect to comment the two pieces and create a smooth flow. Also we have decided to incorporate physical theatre into the storm as we have been using this dramatic technique in the past and this is a good opportunity to incorporate it.   There was a small debate on how we were going to structure the different extracts of text as some wanted to mix "twelfth night" and "The Tempest" texts where as I and others wanted to separated them evenly and do each play separately to avoid confusion for the audience. We eventually decided to keep the plays separate to keep the work separate and uncomplicated.   Another topic covered in the meeting was the rehearsal schedule and how we were doing to work on our extracts. Many different ideas were put forward such as working on and developing one play first then the second after this, but I argued that when we start working on our second piece we would start to forget the first and it would produce sloppy work as it would have been forgotten. We decided on working on the separate texts together one in Mondays practical lessons and the other on Tuesdays lessons as this allows you to keep up with your work and not forget small nuances which we create in rehearsals..