Week Twenty-Eight: Junk

The Hot Seating Exercise

Tuesday 6th May 2014

     In this week of rehearsals we continued to block scenes, in which we hadn’t already rehearsed, as well as explore the meaning of the script in more detail in order to properly understand the play and story inside out.

     That was our aim for today’s lesson, however the beginning was an interesting and very helpful for our character analysis.  In previous blogs I have explored my character of ‘Vonny’ and looked into detail of the script and with use of my own ideas, I managed to create the character.  But in the beginning of today’s lesson it was now my chance to demonstrate how much I had learnt in creating the character, by means of ‘hot seating’.  The purpose of the exercise was for me to sit in the centre of the class room, staying in character, and have the rest of the tutor group ask me questions concerning my character and the plot.  My classmates asked me questions concerning Vonny’s origins with other characters (how Vonny met Richard, with them being best friends) as well as concerning Vonny’s thoughts and feelings about other characters relationships (such as Tar and Gemma’s relationship with one another, and how Vonny personally felt about the whole situation). 

     When it came to exploring Vonny’s origins and how he came to meet Richard, was an area I hadn’t explored in the past, so this was a great question for me to answer in the exercise.  From the original story line (where Vonny is a female character, and has a relationship with Richard) I came up with the idea that Vonny and Richard both knew each other dating way back towards their Primary School years.  Also in my previous blog I stated that the character of Vonny ended up in the position of a squatter due to the loss of a parent/guardian and another abusive parent/guardian.  Therefore I improvised the idea that both Vonny and Richard came from the same origins and therefore understood one another.  So this lead to, similarly to Tar’s back story, the pair of them running away together when they were about in there early teenage years, hoping to start a new life together.  But in our stage version Vonny is male and therefore slightly tweaks this story as the characters were not in a relationship and they were the best of friends and they were simply looking out for each other.

     The other question I was asked concerned what Vonny thought of Tar and Gemma’s relationship.  I have also previously explored this part of Vonny as well, in the sense that Vonny is character who likes to see the glass as half full, therefore likes to keep a positive attitude around people.  But when Vonny is introduced to Gemma, Vonny is already frustrated in the fact that a meal in which Vonny prepared was now ruined, due to Tar and Gemma’s absence.  Also when Vonny bare witnesses to Gemma’s actions with Tar, he is annoyed even more.  This is what I explored in the hot seating exercise.  Vonny has a rougher attitude towards Gemma, nearing the end of act one, this is because Vonny is the father figure amongst the group and does his best to ensure that they are safe and know what they are doing and know the consequences of their actions.  So I explained that, in the eyes of Vonny, Gemma was a ‘spoilt brat’ that did not know what she was getting herself into and didn’t the consequences of her actions and how much of an impact they will have on herself and all the people she knows.  As well as stating that Tar was a character who, as well, didn’t know what he was getting into and needed an opportunity to see what he can do in the world.

     So overall this exercise helped extremely as I was able to explore area’s in which I didn’t look into previously.  As well as explore what other characters Vonny has a perspective on and how that effects Vonny’s actions and the actions of other characters in the plot of ‘Junk’.

What is the Style of the Play?

     After a day’s rehearsals it was now time to receive our blog points and begin to think about a rhetorical question, which we hadn’t looked upon before: what is the style of the play?  For this we were to explore the main themes, the main languages, and the main structure of ‘Junk’.
 

Themes

     In this story of tragic events there are a number of themes in can explain and summarise the plot in minor detail.  For example, the first main themes in which have a huge impact on the plot and characters, and that is the themes of trust and friendship.  Trust is important in the plot, as we follow the stories of both lead characters ‘Tar and Gemma’ we see it from both point of views and what their perspective of trust is really like.  In the case of ‘Tar’ his version of trust come in the formation in the sense that he does not know what he is doing and trusts as far as his eyes can see.  This leads to a huge impact on his actions around other characters and how his life goes from bad to worse.  This could be because Tar had a very complicated childhood, with dreadful parents, which backs up the fact that nobody was there for him to tell him what he should and shouldn’t do.  For example “DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS”.

     Whereas ‘Gemma’s’ perspective of trust is similar, but more in the style of the way that she knows she is making these choices and doesn’t care as much about the consequences.  This could be because Gemma had a childhood in which she had very strict but caring parents who just wanted the best for their daughter, and Gemma just pushed away their advice on how to live life in best way possible.  Therefore when it comes to Gemma running away to join the group of squatters, she has an impact in which delivers the moral message to both her and the audience that “you should always listen to your parents”.  This message is near invisible to Gemma, and them has a huge impact on her at the end of the play as she them realises that her parents were right, and she went too far.

     Both characters perspective of trust also leads to their different vision of friendship.  Tar’s only confident friendship is with Gemma, as he personally thinks that their relationship can go far, and not evens his friendship with the characters Richard or Rob, can interrupt his friendship with Gemma.  Whereas Gemma’s perspective of friendship is her confident feeling around Lily, as she can feels happy and relaxed around her.  This also backs up the theme of trust as Gemma doesn’t know what she’s getting into.  She may feel confident around Lily, but doesn’t really know her well enough to trust her with lifelong secrets.  Such as her true feelings about Tar, as we learnt from reading the novel that Gemma doesn’t have the same feeling of romance with Tar as he does of her.  This shows the polar opposite visions of friendships, as Tar doesn’t attempt at any because he cares too much for Gemma, and Gemma think more of the happiness rather than the trust of other characters.

Language

     The language used in the play is very modern, which has an impact on the presentation of the production.  For example the language used in classical ‘Shakespearean’ productions is to create a signature mark on the script writing as audiences recognise the author based on the written language.  As well as presenting characters statuses, showing whether they are upper class, or lower class.  Along with showing what time period the play is set.  But for this play, the language is used to have an impact on the audience so they can understand what type of characters they are and what situation they are in.  For example, if it was a very ‘street wise’ type of English, then it would present the idea that their origin was rough and they have spent a lot of time living on the streets.  Or if it was a more ‘posh’ English accent, then it would give the idea that they are well educated and possibly rich in their family’s status.  So the purpose of the language is to give the audience the idea of what type of character they are and what they have been through.

 

Structure

     The final part in exploring the style of the play is through the means of what the structure is.  For the plot of ‘Junk’, in my eyes, it is quite obvious that the plot structure is a journey.  The reason being is if you look at the whole play through most of the main characters point of views it is a story of how they journey through this cruel and harsh version of life. 

     For example the lead characters Tar and Gemma, the story revolves around them and we see both characters point of view, showing their journey of their lives of how they go from bad to worse.  But if you look into their characteristic, actions and plans and how they evolve in the play there is more and more versions of a journey in their lives.  So beginning with Tar, his journey to being a squatter to a junkie gets worse.  But there is also the fact that Tar’s attitude towards people changes, as he is begins as rather shy around people and then he shows a darker mean attitude towards people who simply try to help him.  It is a journey of his attitude and also his feelings as he has high trust at the beginning, and at the end he has little trust.  Whereas Gemma’s has a journey in which has a huge impact on her feelings around the people she loves.  For example, in the beginning she is cruel and a brat towards her parents and at the end she has suffered too much and begs for her parent’s forgiveness.  It is a journey of her emotions, as well as, similarly to Tar, a journey of how her trust of other characters changes from high trust, to low trust.

     With other characters it is also a matter of how their emotions towards other characters change, beginning with Gemma’s parents.  When we first meet her parents, the audience is immediately on Gemma’s side as we see her parents the way she sees them.  Cruel and strict.  But as the play goes on we see that Gemma’s parents were right and Gemma was wrong, but it also leads to Gemma’s parents becoming more worried, concerned and caring parents who just want to see their daughter, rather than cruel and strict parents who want their daughter to be disciplined.  So this is a journey for both the parents and the audience’s perspective view of the attitude of Gemma, and how the audience go from being on Gemma’s side, to her parents.

     There is also a link of a journey of some of the characters which are in the group of squatters.  For example it is a journey for Vonny as he succeeds in his lifelong ambition of living a normal life.  It is also a journey for the character of Richard as he is the one who builds his confidence around people.  Also it is a difficult journey for the characters Lily and Rob, as they begin as overly confident squatter/junkies and they end up being the less confident and wanting to be safer when it comes to drugs and their lives in general.

     So the main structure of the play is the countless journeys amongst all the characters, whether it is their physical or emotional journeys through this rough view of life.

     In summary of what is the style of the play, it is a strong play which explores many themes, a specifically strong signature modern language, and a structure that is an endless journey.
 

     Finally at the end of the day we also had another focus point and that was another question concerning the importance of a vocal warm up.  It is always important to vocally prepare yourself with to a rehearsal session because, much like a physical warm up exercise, you would need to go the extra mile.  By this I mean you should see how far you can test the limits of your vocals so in rehearsals if you were needed to scream then you would need to know if you were capable of screaming at right tone and pitch, to make yourself fully capable for the main performance.

     As the lesson ended, I added in my own input of how a scene should be presented for the main performance and why.  But all in all, I feel this lesson was extremely helpful as it helped me to understand true meanings of the plot and my character.  I may have previously said that each lesson is helpful, but it truly is.  When taking part in the Performing Arts a session of exploring the play increases your understanding of the chosen play, whether it is you’re looking into more detail of a certain scene, or expanding your understanding of your character, or even looking into great depth of the subtext.  Either way ever lesson is helpful to ensure that our group gives an incredible final performance of the play ‘Junk’.