Week Twenty-Three Part 3: Human Zoo (Physical Theatre)

The Human Zoo

Developing Physical Theatre Performance

     Throughout the course of this term our physical theatre lessons have been leading up to developing our understanding of our individual physical movement.  Each member of the tutor group has their unique way of body language, and the main point of this assignment was to look at our own physical movement and see how we can relate to the movement of animals.

     At the beginning of this assignment we were given a task to create our own animal.  The purpose of this task was to show our understanding of how many different species of animals have their way of movement.  We had to create the animal, present its key features, inform the group about its habitat and if it was a predator or if it was a prey of another species.  In creating our own animal we were to show our understanding of how to present an animal’s movement, as well as mixing a combination of animal features which was to be performed to the group.  The animal I created, fictionally lived in South American, it key characteristics were having sharp teeth, with long Ant-Eater like arms, with claws, and frog like legs so it may spring into action to catch its prey.  After inventing the characteristics of the animal, I then had to present its movement.  My idea of its movement was for it to keep low as if it were constantly stalking its prey, its claw were to be scratching the floor, in the way of showing off his main weapons.  To conclude I presented its spring into action using its legs to propel above its prey and impale it with its long sharp claws, then it would rest and eat away.

     I felt this lesson was a good introduction to the assignment, as not only did we present our originality in creating a made up animal based around real living creatures, but we were also able to show our understanding of animal movements.  In doing so we made our first step in embodying another species that was completely different to our own.

 

     In the following Physical Theatre lessons we began to look at our own physical movement, and studied each step as to how we could relate it to a real animal.  The animals had to be a land based animal and something you would find in the zoo.  Our teacher carefully analysed each of our movement then resulted in see what we would look like in presenting that certain animal, then make the decision.  Judging by my own movement, it seemed to be quite speedy yet can be at a slow pace at certain times.  My teacher then made the decision to see if I could present the physicality of a dog.  The breed of dog I chose, in particular, was a Jack-Russell, the reason being I understood their physicality being that they can be slow at some times, but the majority being that they can be very fast.

     The following lessons were for us to present the movement of our chosen animal and begin research into how we could develop the characterisation.  But as the lessons went on it became clear that my chosen animal wasn’t the species that can be found in the zoo, therefore my teacher changed my animal to a wolf.  The wolf’s characterisation is very different to a house dog, as the wolf’s keen instinct is to protect their territory and hunt for food.  Also a wolf’s physicality is being tall and proud, in the sense they are the alpha wolf (a tough leader of a group).

     This became more of a challenge to present the characterisation of a wolf, so we then came to the final decision to keep the wild style of an animal and stick to the canine species.  The decision was then made for my animal to be a fox.

 

     When being assigned the task to present a fox’s characterisation, I did some research as to how different their movement is compared to an average house dog.  The research I looked at was some found footage of a fox trespassing in someone’s back garden.  Now what was interesting about this type of canine’s characterisation was its slight relation towards a wolf’s.  Foxes have a strong protection over their territory, which relates to the wolf, except a wolf takes pride in keeping their land, whereas a fox likes to make their area as big as possible.  In doing so their body language is kept at a low, in the same way a land predator stalks their prey.  Another key factor, to studying the fox’s movement, is I discovered that foxes have a strong ability of speed.  From the footage I watched the fox was marking its territory by teasing a dog to leave its area, teasing by demonstrating its ability to run twice the speed of the dog.  But when the fox unleashed its yell of anger, it was almost screaming to the dog “stay away”.  So watching found footage of a fox, I discovered its speedy pacing, when showing off to opposing garden animals, as well as its low physicality in the of it not taking as much pride in its territory, but wanting to keep the area wide and to itself.

     When observing this animal my key instinct was looking for obvious movement that stood out compared to the foxes slow pacing which was very similar to dogs.  Watching the whole footage I was able to understand why the fox was moving at the exact speed and why is could have been slightly hesitant.  But another key point in the foxes physicality that I needed to understand was what the vocal cords of the fox sounded like.  At first it sounded as if the fox had the vocal cords of a human and was simply yelling at foes.  But from watch other footages repeatedly I was able to analyse the footage to know that it was a combination of barking and howling.  Again used to mark its territory and present its strength and anger.

 

     What I had to do to achieve this performance was simply to watch the videos repeatedly and fully understand why the fox would move in at the certain speed.   I managed to understand that the key features in a fox’s performance were the concepts of fear of the unknown and protection over what could be theirs.  So during rehearsals we came up with a stage that was to have wide walking area so people may observe our animals, and there were to be small stages that were to represent our animal’s cages.  The movement I decided to present was, to begin with, to present the foxes pacing, in its cage, and also show how alert the fox constantly is.  Without giving any of the vocal presentation.  Then our teacher introduced the idea of having each member of the group present their animals eating habits.  Next the animals were to move outside their cages and walk amongst the other animals, in order to present more of the animal’s physicality.  So during the movement segment, I decided to present more of the fox pacing, then its concern and fear by jumping into a speedy run away from what it thinks is an enemy.  This would then lead to an opportunity to present the fox marking its territory as well as presenting the foxes vocal cords.  To conclude the show, our teacher suggested, that we were to take our performances of our animals and turn into our humans.  The purpose of this was to show the relationship between both physical movements.  Thus showing our own movement is relatable towards the animals movements, this would help the audience to understand why we were the chosen animals.

     The next step I took in researching the fox’s physicality was looking at some photographs and observing the facial expressions.  From the photos I found I discovered that the main facial expression of the fox reflected on their constant feeling of being alert.  This was shown through their wide eyes, locked on what surrounding area.  The second photo showed the fox in a position of stalking and having its eyes focused on an enemy.  This showed the face lowered to the ground with the eyes still as wide as possible fixed on their prey.  But the final photo showed how fierce the fox truly can be.  Presenting its vast anger against its enemies, this again, was presenting more of the fox showing off its skills and over protection of its territory.

     I thought these videos and photos were extremely helpful, because it assisted deeply for when it came for me embodying the fox.   It helped me to understand how and why it moved at a certain speed as well as knowing the facial expressions to give that extra bit of detail to ensure an accurate portrayal of the fox.
 

     When it came to achieving the physicality of the fox I looked into my own physical structure, in order to see if I could give the decent interpretation.  When rehearsing the stage movement, my first decision was begin on all four legs, then to learn and understand the standing structure of the fox.  From watching the found footage of the fox, within somebody's back garden, I analysed its physicality and I noticed that it was very alert of its surroundings and it physically stood its ground as if to say "this is my land".  So during rehearsals we create a scenario where the animals would interact with one another so I thought this would be a good opportunity to present the fox standings its ground as well as presenting it fears.  How I achieved the physicality, of the fox, was beginning by relaxing my body in preparation for the movement.  Whilst being on four legs I kept my back straight so I was able to keep a solid appearance, as well as presenting the fact that the fox wants to keep and stand his ground.  Another part of my physical presentation I thought was essential for embodying the fox was my neck muscles.  I decided to keep my neck muscles strong, by finding focus points in the room, keeping eye contact, and have both my neck and facial expressions solid.  In the sense of delivering the moral message that even though the fox, and the audience, know that this zoo isn't the fox’s territory, but likes to keep its distance from other animals.

     Another physicality I looked at was when the fox was literally moving on stage.  Again, from the found footage, I saw that it was slightly different to its alert standing structure.  Whilst pacing it took each step at an average speed, keeping its head low but eyes up, looking ahead.  I was able to achieve this when it came to the open half of the performance, as the animals were all in their cages and I wanted to present the fox confusion by pacing in its cage, the pausing once in a while to show how alert it is of the other animals, and is ready to strike if needed.  I think this was effective for my main performance because the audience would be able to understand what the fox has been through, in coming to this zoo, what emotions it is feeling at the exact moments of the performance, interatcing with the other animals, and ensure the audience get every detail of the fox’s physicality.

 

     Before rehearsals came underway we had two lessons of watching two movies which showed two stories of animal to human transformation.  The first movie was of a stage production called “Kafka’s Monkey” and the second movie was a documentary called “Project Nim”.

     “Kafka’s Monkey”, I thought was a great example of a humans portrayal of an animal (a monkey).  The story of the play was of one actor on stage, breaking the forth wall, in telling the audience the story of how she was originally a monkey and, over time, transformed into a human.  The script of the production went into so much detail of how painful it was for this character to travel from her home and become this creature she never knew existed.  Whilst the plot was interesting and intriguing, the main focus, for us, in the production was the actress’s physicality on stage.  The idea that she was once an animal and had become a human, meant that she would have to walk and talk like a human, only to show little hints to the audience that she still had a bit of the animal within her.  This was shown in both physically and verbally.  Verbally we could understand her, but there was that slight impression that this language was new to her and she was still learning.  Whereas physically, her body was, in some ways, split into two.  The bottom half of her body was almost normal, with the legs being in use for pacing; whereas the top half of the body had more relation to a monkey of all.  As one of her arms was fixed on her back in the way that a monkeys arm is and the other is to the ground.  But mainly there was a strong hint of the being human aspect as she communicated with the audience as a human, she used some of her physicality as a human; but there were times when, especially when she climbed a ladder, it was obvious that she was once a monkey.  But I thought this video of the production was very good, as the actress gave an incredible presentation of a human who was once a monkey physically.

    But when it came to the documentary of “Project Nim”, it was a different story entirely.  This documentary told the story of a group of scientists in the 1970s that began a project in which they took a monkey in captivity and taught it sign language so it would become a human.  I thought this was interesting, yet not as effective as the previous video.  “Project Nim” showed us the physicality of the monkey and how it slowly evolved and developed a hint of characteristics of a human.  This documentary showed us that monkey developed a personality of its own and it was interesting to see how, in many ways, it rebelled against learning the ways of a human.  The story of the scientist trying to change Nim’s way and see if they could increase Nim’s personality was interesting, but not as affective, in the way of showing us the physicality.  We saw what it was like for the monkey to be developing slowly but it wasn’t as detailed as “Kafka’s Monkey”, as we saw the point of view from the monkey who became human.  Whereas “Project Nim” showed us the point of view of the scientists, of who didn’t think this project through as it wasn’t a success.

     But I think these videos were very helpful towards my performance, because I knew that when it came to the physicality of the human, to show a few hints of the animal in the actions as well as to give a slow change into the human as to show the slow development of the animal.

 

     Throughout this assignment I found it very interesting to know the physical movements of the animals and how that can be reflected on your own physical movement.  What I found easy in the assignment was learning how to move and embody the fox.  But what I found difficult was understanding the reasons why the fox moved in a certain way and why it gave different forms of facial expression.

     However I managed to overcome these difficulties by spending more time watching the found footage videos of the foxes repeatedly.  Constantly watching these videos helped so I could analyse the foxes movement and facial expression to get more detail, and fully understand how to embody the fox.



Week Twenty-Two: Shakespeare (Performance Week)

'Shakespeare's House Party'

     Our second assignment was drawing to an end, and this week was the performance week of our Shakespeare assignment.  Having the theatre for ourselves to rehearse, our teacher didn't hesitate to get rehearsals underway.  We had to focus on a few scenes and a few actors that needed developing to make their scene more convincing for the performance.  More convincing in the sense that it needed to link in with the other scenes and keep that feeling of a house party atmosphere.  This was all achieved very well, with each cast member prepared for their scene, we then turned to the dance pieces.  From the last few rehearsal weeks we had the whole movements under our sleeves, it was only a question of, again, making them more convincing.

     What our choreographer wanted was for each cast member to keep the house party atmosphere flowing, keeping a positive attitude, and present the idea that all these characters are good friends who haven't seen each other in a while.  With a slight adding of dialogue to signify that their all enjoying the dance, their all pleased to see one another, and they love this feeling their experiencing at the moment of dancing.  Another contributing factor was to keep the characterisation active whilst we were dancing, so my character Valentine was to have his eyes in the sky and keep a positive attitude. 

     Monday's rehearsal was focusing mainly on developing the certain scenes and our dance pieces, whereas Tuesday's session was to focus on practising and practising for the main performance, then receive notes from our teacher as to what we need to work on.  With a few errors here and there, each cast member worked on their minor problems.

 

     Our assigned job roles were also due in this week, so costume managers were to ensure that each cast member handed in their own costumes.  Prop managers had to ensure that each prop, that is needed for every scene, is ready for use in rehearsals and the main performance.  So every prop was at its position ready for to taken by their owner/actor.  Sound and lighting managers were to hand in  the cue lists, they created, ready for the technician to set into the computer.
     With everything ready on stage and back stage, we began rehearsing.  Just like the plan, to focus on incomplete scenes and develop every scene to it's potential, the first set of rehearsals were updates to develop the scenes.  A slow developing rehearsal lead to a technical run through.  Again it was a slow run through as the technician was just getting use to setting the lighting cues and the sound cues, ready for speech or movement cues.  We then received some notes from our teacher as to how we could make the whole performance more entertaining for the audience and what we could change develop, performance wise.  The first day of rehearsals concluded with a positive attitude, knowing what everybody had to do to make their performance pitch perfect.
     The following day was another day of rehearsals, but today's main focus was developing our dance performances.  After the previous week working on the choreography of the dance pieces, this rehearsal was to work on developing the performance of the dance pieces.  To present the characterisation of our characters, as well as the key factor of presenting our individual characters objectives.  My characters objective was to gain the trust of his best friend, so my aim was to keep a positive characterisation throughout the dance performance, as well as sticking to the choreography of dance movement.  The rehearsals took the majority of the day, but I thought it was well spent because we managed to rehearse each set of movement, received a decent idea of how to present our characterisation and objectives, whilst rehearsing to the music, with near perfect timing.
     To conclude the second day of rehearsal we had another technical run through of the show, ready for the main performance the next day.

     The rehearsals came to an end and now it was time for one final run through before the main show.  A final rehearsal was helpful, to keep all physical and verbal movement prepared for a main performance.  Plus we received more notes from our teacher which help us be more aware of what others are doing on stage and how to present certain lines to make it more entertaining for the audience.
     Finally it was show time.  With a positive reaction from both audiences and equally positive outcomes from out teacher and choreographer, we managed to complete this assignment, and walked out with a smile.
     However there was a few moments during the performance I think I could of improved on certain verbal and physical points.  For example I think I could of improve on how loud I was speaking on stage and work on pronunciation.  Physical wise there was a few moments when I forgot certain dance steps, however over the course of the show I was able to improve to make it seem it was more of a comedic mistake, rather than a accidental mistake.  In the way of making it seem my character was really in the moment and just went straight back into the dance with the rest of the group.  Rather than just me as an actor blanking out and looking disappointed on stage, making it more obvious that I made a mistake.

     But over all I really enjoyed performing in the 'Shakespeare's House Party' production, and I think it was another well completed assignment.

Week Twenty-Three Part 2: Character Development (Shakespeare)

Character Development

     ‘Shakespeare’s House Party’ is the title of our assignment’s main performance.  The plan is to put a modern twist on three extracts from three of Shakespeare’s comedy plays: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ and ‘The Taming of the Shrew’.  My extract scene is from ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’.  The scene is referred to as ‘the lads in love’ where my partner and I have our unique portrayals of the characters Valentine and Proteus.  My character is Valentine.

 

     Valentine is a young gentleman, who, in the play, is respected by his friends.  In this extract scene Valentine has a moment with his best friend, Proteus, where he confesses that he is madly in love.  The whole plot tells us the name of the character that Valentine is in love with; she goes by the name of Silvia.  The purpose of our scene is for Valentine to confess, to Proteus, that he is in love; whereas Proteus is to put doubt into Valentine’s mind and turn him against Silvia.  We learnt when we researched the play that Proteus is in love with Silvia as well.

     To begin with my first impression of this character was that he would be a wide eyed dreamy character.  But as I read on with our scene extract, I was beginning to get the impression that the character was one who always saw his cup as half full.  He was a character who was always happy and never saw a negative in his life or with his friends and family. 

 

     After getting a decent impression of what the character was like, I then turned to do some research into how I could deliver a more accurate portrayal of the character, rather than just a first impression.  After learning the majority of my lines, I analysed the written text that was in the Shakespearean language, and studied it so it made sense in my own head; I would know how to deliver each word.  Then I began to think how it could be portrayed.  I understood the main characteristics of a man deeply in love and then I began to work with the script to see how well both would collide and work together. 

 

     So a young man in this position, knowing full well that Silvia is in love with him as well, would be very dreamy, this would show that he is constantly thinking about her.  This alongside the positive atmosphere around the character, as if to physically deliver the message “yes I’m in love”, and he could also be trying to make everyone feel happy for him so others can support him.  Hence Valentine’s objective in this scene extract is to gain Proteus’ trust and friendship.  So my research method was analysing the script to see how the character could be portrayed and it also helped me to understand what the purpose of this extract scene is. 

 

     The next step was for each members of the group to get a decent understanding of how to develop our characters into the modern day, whilst speaking in Shakespearean language.  The idea of our performance was to create a house party, in the modern day world.  Various scenarios with different people occur and in these are the extracts from our chosen Shakespearean comedies.  For example, for the group who have the extract scene from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ they have the responsibility of recreating the scene with the actors rehearsing in the forest.  But to make it more realistic, they have the job of portraying it as if they were just a group of drunken friends who are just showing off at the party.  Whereas my scene extract was more interesting to develop towards the modern day scenario. 

 

     I could imagine and understand what this scene would be like if the plot and language was modernised.  This scene would be like two young lads, who are the best of friends, having a chat about the girls they fancy.  However that wasn’t the case.  Because the true meaning of this scene is to show that these two characters are truly best friends, and they have to address the fact that Valentine is truly in love.  So I decided there was to be no change in the characterisation, as we had to keep the fact, and address it through the physicality of our performance, that these two lads are in fact best friends. 

 

     As for the written dialogue, I liked the fact that we kept to the Shakespearean language, because if we were to change it to modern day language there is a possibility that the audience might become less interested in the performance.  An example of a Shakespeare play being modernised is the motion picture adaptation of ‘Romeo + Juliet’.  In the movie we have the same story and the same dialogue, except with the big twist of setting it in modern society, with the use of gun as weapons instead of swords.  So I turned to this example for inspiration as to think of how they succeeded with the movie and how I could make a similar transformation with this extract.  In this case I thought it would be similar, by the sense of adding in our own modern clothes.  Also, to present the physicality perspective so the audience knew it was modern, whereas the dialogue was to be untouched. 

 

     However I thought the most important thing was how to present the lines.  Instead of delivering with a proud majestic Shakespearean voice, I thought if we were to use our natural conversation voices, then it would be more realistic.  We would show the friendship between Valentine and Proteus from both the physical and verbal side of the modern day adapted performance.

 

     We explored methods to make the scene more realistic and interesting in a modern day adaptation, but another key factor for the actors was to explore the themes that reflect on our own characterisation.  How can we relate to these characters?  This step was very interesting because I felt I could relate to these characters in these circumstances. 

 

     Our extract scene is very comedic, which helped me and my partner to create this scene.  To have two friends in the scenario in which they both are in love with Silvia leads to tension, but give a feeling of comedy drama.  On the comedy side of the performance, my partner and I worked well together during rehearsals to see how we could present the friendship and deliver comedy timing, to entertain the audience.  This was all to be shown through our physicality, gestures towards one another to show the friendship, and voice tone to show the jokes and comedy of the scenario.  But we then turned to the drama side of the scene.  We wanted to present the reality of the tension; what was happening isn’t just for entertainment, it is true, from the characters perspective.  So throughout the scene Valentine confesses his love for Silvia, whereas Proteus is just putting doubt into his own and Valentine’s mind, as if to say “yeah right, very funny!”  But as the scene draws to an end Proteus metaphorically hits the wall and realises that Valentine speaks the truth.  Now this was fascinating because this is what makes comedy dramas work, in the presentation of a decent plot with comedic scenarios and comedy timing but it draws on the reality of the situation. 

 

     An example of this is the comedy television series ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’ where the stories take place in World War I and deliver some hilarious scenes, as if to say it was all a big joke.  But, at the end of the series, when they go over the front line, the audience are suddenly hit with the reality of war and the fact that it isn’t a joke any more. 

 

     All of this, I feel, affected, yet helped my characterisation and saw sorrow towards Proteus.  Using the Meisner technique, an acting technique to focus on the other person, I was able to see the story from Proteus’ point of view.  With a hint of anger, but disappointment as Proteus then realises that Valentine is truly in love with Silvia, which is more than Proteus can offer.  As for my characterisation of Valentine, I feel as if it has to end with him coming near to tears to suggest that he fears that Proteus thinks it is all a big joke, when he is being serious.  This all should give an accurate portrayal of the scenario with dramatic tension, comedy timing and reflect the drama.

 

     When embodying the character of Valentine on stage, during rehearsals, I felt I could relate to this character.  Beginning with the fact that Valentine sees the world with a positive attitude, I like to view the world with a similar attitude.  Whilst I did have use of the Meisner technique, to focus on the other character, I did also reflect on my own character.  I was able to look at my own relationships and draw on the feelings of excitement, mixed with confusion and self-doubt, but with the over whelming joy of wanting to spread the news with my friends.  Knowing what Valentine was going through I was able to give a relatable portrayal on stage to show these emotions from another characters point of view.

 

     Another key factor to this assignment was our originality, to test to see how creative we could be in making these scenes realistic to a modern day adaptation.  To begin with my acting decisions were to learn my lines using a new technique.  I learn to speak the lines aloud repeatedly then I would be able to automatically speak the lines aloud on stage.  Once I learnt the lines I focused on how to deliver the lines in a comedic and realistic way, to reflect on the modern day society.  Whereas with the physicality side of the performance I looked at the scene being just as the friends meeting as the party draws to an end.  So the characters would have been exhausted from interacting with other people in the party.  So, to begin with, I imagined they would just be wandering and collapsing on any piece of furniture they could find.  Then when they see each other, we pictured it as if they were best friends and they hadn’t seen each other for a while, so they are pleased to meet.  Valentine was to be the most excited, as he is alone with a friend, he feels, he can trust and finally he gets the chance to tell Proteus about the woman he loves. 

 

     As Valentine delivers his lines about his new love, I thought it would be good to show it through his continuation of wandering the room staring into space, thinking about her, and also give a slight physical mime of what the joys of being in love are like.  But then as the scene draws to an end, I think it should be shown through a negative, so Valentine would look down to the floor as to physically present that he fear that Proteus thinks of him and his being in love is a big joke.  But then lifts his chin when Proteus sees kindness towards Valentine at the end of the scene as Proteus agrees to help him.

 

     The process would have been a lot slower if we didn’t have the assistance of our new techniques to discover that there are other ways to give a decent and near accurate performance.  Such as learning the Meisner technique, this all about the other person, this helped extremely.  In the way that it helped to discover both characterisations as we looked into presenting the characters friendship. 

 

     But the technique that I thought was the most helpful was “discovering the objective”.  Discovering the objective helped us to learn what do our characters want?  So from reading the script I discovered that Valentine’s objective is to gain Proteus’ friendship so Proteus will assist Valentine in running away with Silvia.  Whereas Proteus’ objective was to do the opposite, to plant doubt into Valentine’s mind and make him feel differently about Silvia.  These two techniques in particular helped me to develop the characters physicality on stage and towards Proteus, as well as it helping me understand the plot by seeing things from both perspectives.  

 

     Keeping the Shakespearean language was an essential part of both the assignment and the performance.  It helped in the assignment because it helped us as actors to understand the vocabulary of the past, and see the evolution of the English language.  But also essential to the performance because it made it an official extract from the Shakespeare comedy which was more realistic for the audience.  However to begin with, many people in the group did not fully understand the script text, as well as not fully understanding of how to pronounce certain words.

 

     Our voice preparation came across in our warm up exercises.  At the beginning of every lesson we had a quick warm up session, which prepared us for physical movement and vocal work.  The vocal warm up was simple to prepare us with pronunciation, by our teacher giving us rhymes and tongue twisters.  This was all very helpful because it prepared us to pronounce each word in a tone which made it clear so we could understand each word; we then reflected this technique onto learning our script.  We then pronounce certain words that were new, from our point of view, but old in the English text so we had to understand how to pronounce the words in the correct way so the audience understand what we’re saying.

 

     Another step in learning what our script text meant was a helpful website, our teacher showed us, which translates the Shakespearean text to a modern day, written text.  Thus making it easier for us to understand what is happening in our scenes.  But once we understood what the unique words meant we then were capable of being able to pronounce the words and deliver them in the style which showed we understood the subtext.  We were also able to deliver a comical performance making the speech on stage intriguing and equally entertain as the physical performance. 

 

     In the last half of my script, both characters see the reality of the situation, so the speech tone loses its comedy and turn to a deeper tone to show my character Valentine isn’t joking and wants to start taking the situation more seriously.  So the vocal technique in the performance was to begin the extract scene with a comedic tone to entertain the audience, and then change the tone to break it down to the drama of the scene.

 

     As for the movement techniques we used, the warm up exercises helped us to prepare for the day’s session; whereas our performance movement was our own choice.  An example of this excellent physical acting would be the character ‘Bottom a Weaver’ from the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.  This character is supposed to be really up himself, in the way he thinks he’s the best actor in the group of actors, so his movement on stage would be to present his pride and confidence amongst others.

 

     So I had to analyse my character in order to get an idea of how to present the characters movement on stage.  The first thought on my character Valentine was him being a man who always saw his cup as being half full, so my first instinct was to present Valentine as a very positive man with a movement around the stage to show happiness and confidence.  The confidence was based around the fact that he is in love and that he is with his best friend, at the point in the scene extract.  So my movement technique in the performance was to present a man who was very positive about the world and desperate to tell his friend the news of his new found love, all to be shown in his passing around the stage with a positive attitude.  Also a use of mime movement to signify he is over the moon and excited for what the future might have in stall for him.

 

     The key process involved in the creation of the dramatic work was to create the character and develop it for the main performance.  To begin with I thought the play ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ was to have a more comedy tone to the entire plot.  However, as our production session went on, I began to discover that there are more layers to the plot. 

 

     We had a lesson in which we had many scene extracts from the three comedy plays and our task was to put the scenes in order.  This was so we could have a decent understanding of all three plots.  Then after I’d analysed my scene extract I was able understand what the characters are talking about and what their friendship is like; leading me to develop my own character and see the plot from both perspectives.  Also seeing the dramatic tension in the plot with both Valentine and Proteus loving Silvia, I was able to develop the scene to show both genres mixed within the scene extract.  This made the scene more comical by showing Valentine and Proteus’ friendship with use of comedic stage movement and speech delivery.  But showing the dramatic tension when Proteus realises that Valentine is truly in love with Silvia.

     So, in summary, over time learning my lines and analysing the characters through plot summaries and learning objectives, I think that the character of Valentine is to be presented with an uplifting tone which turns to the reality of the situation.  This will make the scene entertaining and intriguing for the audience.  To have the opening of the scene very comical and up lifting and see the characters emotions turn to the dramatic and emotional.  This will show the truth and point out the elephant in the room, that Valentine is telling the truth. 

 

Week Twenty-Three Part 1: Contextural Research (Shakespeare)

Context Research: Shakespearean Studies

     For our assignment titled ‘Shakespeare’s House Party’ we took some steps into developing our understanding of William Shakespeare’s Theatrical studies.  William Shakespeare; best known for his methods of breaking away from the traditional theatre styles with his own iconic theatre productions and all round originality.  William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England; his early life between the years 1585 and 1592 remain anonymous due to the fact those years were known as ‘the lost years’, due to a gap in the history records.  But we do know that at the age of eighteen Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway and they had three children.  Along with Shakespeare’s early carrier stating he was one of the managing partners of ‘the Lord Chamberlain’s Men’, which was later known as ‘the King’s Men’.  As time drew onwards to the Elizabethan era, also known as ‘the Golden Age’, Shakespeare drew to the theatre and built his own theatre called ‘the Globe Theatre’ and began writing his thirty-seven plays, which deliver many iconic stories from the three genres: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. 

     One of the main techniques used in the Shakespeare Theatre was his unique method of language.  During the Elizabethan era the English language was on the blink of development, and William Shakespeare pushed that development forward’s by inventing many new words and phrases, all of which are used in his productions, and they became a key part of the English Language.  Another method he is best known for is the methods of how to deliver speech on stage.  Prose, Rhymed Verse and Blank Verse, were the names of these methods.  Prose was used in Shakespearean theatre, and is still used in today’s theatre; the use of prose is to deliver ordinary speech with no regular pattern.  Rhymed Verse is a speech pattern which is usually a use of rhymed couplets.  Whereas the use of Blank Verse is to deliver speech in a rhythm, an example of this would be the Iambic Pentameter.  The Iambic Pentameter is a method used in theatrical studies to deliver lines and speech in a rhythmic pattern, an example of this would be a rhythm like “de dam” to be repeated but delivered using English words.  Referred to as a heartbeat, the actor would deliver the words “de dam” in ten beats, with five stressed beats and five unstressed beats.  An example of written Shakespearean script with use of the Iambic Pentameter: “They call me Katherine that do talk of me” and “I swear I’ll cuff you, if you strike again”.  With certain words, in the quotes, written in bold it is to represent a stressed verse, and unstressed isn’t written in bold.  The purpose of this is to assist an actor in delivering their lines with a non-hesitant performance, as well as making certain words stand out from the rest of the speech, and possibly make the performance more intriguing for the audience. 

     All these techniques were used in Shakespeare’s form of writing, all of which developed the English language and had a huge impact on the Performing Arts Industries.  Words and in particular phrases which are still used today and are considered to be common expressions, proverbs and clichés.  Phrases listing from: “Brave new world” (from the comedy The Tempest), “Break the ice” (from The Taming of the Shrew), “Knock knock!  Who’s there?” (from Macbeth), as well as “Star-crossed lovers” (from Romeo and Juliet).  These are but a few of many words and phrases in particular that evolved the English Language to be what it is today.

     Another part of the Shakespearean studies was his new and unique change to the stage design.  The key factor that made Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre unique was its building design, by the fact that the audience would be seated in a circular position around the stage, making every part of the performance visible to the audience.  Whilst other theatres at the time, and still do today, have their seating positions in front of the stage, giving the audience a clear view of the production but a limited amount of space for both the audience and crew of the production.  There was also the fact that the rich had to sit with the poor, which the rich couldn’t abide.  Therefore Shakespeare’s Globe theatre created a premise in which there were plenty of seats for an audience who could afford seat, and boxes for the rich people to reserve and have a high view of the stage as well as some privacy.  The Globe also included a standing area, where many could stand and observe the play from a front row.  This was all very helpful from the audiences point of view, however it was also the matter of the stage cast and crew as well, because with a standing audience who was to question the fact that someone would come on stage and cause havoc.  So this is when the stage was built on a higher level but with more space, this was done because nobody could get on stage from the audience without the use of a ladder, and with more space meant the actors could spread around the stage.  The reason for it being close to the audience is to give a dramatic feeling that the audience weren’t just watching the play but there were in the play, as the actors could walk towards, or perhaps walk within the audience.  Shakespeare’s key factors in the development of the English Theatre were his use of Characterisation, Plot and Language, and it was important that the audience could experience the best of Shakespeare’s unique twist on his own theatre.

     With actors interacting with the audience by stage movement, there was also the question of involving the audience with use of speech.  Another key factor to Shakespeare’s written text, along with making it a huge impact on the Performing Arts Industries, was use of “breaking the forth wall”.  This drama technique is adding in scripted lines for the actors to verbally include the audience and physically present the fact that they know the audience is there watching them.  Written dialogue can tell whether it involved “breaking the forth wall”, as certain sentences are written in brackets which signify addressing the audience.  An example of this would be from comedies such as “the Two Gentlemen of Verona”: “My foolish rival that her father likes, (Only for his possessions are so huge) is gone with along and I must after”.  In brackets to highlight it towards the actor and show what comedic tone it can be delivered on stage.

     Shakespeare used this technique in his scripted work as to involve the audience and intrigue them, as well as giving a slight comedic feeling to Shakespeare’s comedies.  An example from a comedy would be from the use of monologues.  Shakespearean comedies are known for putting characters in scenarios which do not always appease certain characters, in which the following scene leads to the character expressing their thoughts through a monologue.  Whilst a monologue keeps an audience entertained through the scene changes, it is a prologue and epilogue that begins and ends show and intrigues an audience.  The purpose of a prologue is to have an actor on stage and give the audience an introduction to the performance; this could also involve the audience as the actor in a way is expressing the fact that they will like this production.  Whereas an epilogue is to conclude the performance, summarising the plot and, in a way, saying to the audience “we hope you enjoyed the show”.

     In the development of the English Theatre one of William Shakespeare’s key factors, which he focused on most was the three main genres: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.  Shakespearean comedies can be identified by the sense of an uplifting story with a group of characters in which some will eventually fall in love, and all comedies have an entertaining and happy ending.  Shakespearean Histories can be defined based on the fact that the stories are inspired by royals, such as King John, Richard II, Richard III and Henry IV, V, VI, and VIII.  The purpose of the Histories was to deliver the true stories of the royals to entertain the audience and possibly attract the royal family of the time.  Although they may not be historically accurate they still provided an entertaining story and a select few produced second parts (sequels).  Finally the Shakespearean tragedies which can be identified based on the ending of the play.  What makes the tragedy tragic is the fact the writer kills off the main protagonist.  An example of this would be ‘Romeo and Juliet’ while both star crossed lovers fall deeply in love, both characters result in dying.  While some tragedies may have some entertaining scenes the main purpose is to deliver a story line in which one bad event leads to another. 

     With fourteen comedies, twelve tragedies and ten histories, William Shakespeare was able to define an era with his new and unique twist upon the Theatre Industry with has had a huge impact on the world.  The Romantic and the Victorians thought him as a genius, as well as his reputation increasing in the nineteenth century.  William Shakespeare tragically passed away in April 1616, but left a legacy which continues to be taught by people in the performing arts industry, whether it be learning a new speech technique, or acting technique, or even a stage management technique, it’ll most likely have a key part with Shakespearean Studies.  Shakespearean Studies are still taught today and will be to future generations.

Week Twenty-One 2: Shakespeare

Production Meeting

25th February 2014

     With rehearsals under way and the performance improving it's construction, the purpose of today's lesson was to continue our production meetings.  In our previous production meeting we were placed into groups and we all volunteered for a job role for working back stage on the main performance.  I volunteered for the job role of creating a lighting cue list.

     Me and my partners task was to create a list which was to be suitable for the technician to create and was idea for the cast, as we needed their input.  In our second production meeting me and my partner spoke to other members of the cast, so we could get a decent idea of what lighting they would like in their scene.  But it was today's meeting when we started to construct the cue list.  In creating the cue list we had to know the positions of the lights on stage, what colours were on offer and how to make the list understandable for the technician.  To begin with we drew a sketch of the stage so we could know where the lights were positioned.  Then we spoke to other members of the cast, to receive their input in what lighting they liked.  Together me and my partner worked together to create the cue list in chronological order and put detail as to what lighting goes where and why.  An example of this would be the lighting for the actors scene; the idea was to have a green lighting to simulate the back garden, where the scene is set.  I also suggested we add a white lighting on stage left to simulate the moon light, unfortunately that idea was dropped because that one lighting wasn't possible to create.

     After a lesson of constructing the cue list and getting a decent idea of what lighting will be in each scene, we had a rough plan of how to present the cue list for the technician and in time for the performance.  The lesson ended with me and my partner discussing how we could work together outside of college and improve the cue list as to make it more understandable.

 

     During our spare time, before our next lesson, I came up with a decent construction as to what lighting would take place in each individual scene and why.  I included the lighting and the cue line for when it was to start.  For example, green lighting for actors scene was to open on speech cue: "Are we all met?", then fade out on music cue.  I finished my version of the cue list, with the starting prologue, to the multicoloured lighting for our dance routines, to each scene extract, to the climax and the epilogue.  However I still needed my partners input.  So I showed him my idea of the cue list, and he gave me some of his input, of changing a few of the lighting positions and making the list decent enough for the technician.

 

     After a big lesson of a production meeting me and my partner created a decent lighting cue list for the performance.  We concluded the day by continuing rehearsing our dance pieces for the main show, developing each step to make it more realistic and convincing to create the house party atmosphere.