Physical Theatre Research Blog 01

Our First Week of Commedia

Monday 24^th, Wednesday 26^th and Thursday 27^th November 2014

     To begin this week, concluded our first assignment’s coursework, our lecturer introduced us to our next assignment’s topic.  For these sessions we were to be given a brief background understanding of ‘Commedia dell’Arte’.

      Translated to the meaning of “Comedy of the Artist”, ‘Commedia’ is a subject of performance that I was interested to learn and take on board as an aspiring actor.

     ‘Commedia dell’Arte’ originated in the mid-1500s, as ‘performers’ had the priority of performing in the outdoor world to the general public using ‘Masks’.  Its sole purpose, for the ‘performers’ was to attract customer’s attentions in the market street of Venice.  The ‘performers’ gave off many characteristics and emotions, that were all pretend and lies, just to grab the public’s attention.  But it was only a matter of time until the ‘Masked’ ‘performers’ became a common and traditional thing within the market’s atmosphere.  Resulting in more of the ‘performer’s’ products being sold, as well as their being a new form of entertainment for the marketing public.  As time passed this type of performing grew in size and became the centre of attention in public carnivals and festivals, launching a new type of performance that was entertaining and comedic. 

     As the performances developed, there came to be two key words depicting their two key performance types.  Farce and Slapstick.  Farce, was a performing strategy used in theatre, depicting a fast paced comedic performance, involving plot twists and turns, and producing unlikely, yet hilarious, situations for their characters.  Whereas Slapstick, gave a more physical aspect, involving more hysterical violence and physical actions between the characters, all the more engaging their audience members and bringing a vast amount of laughter.

     It was also the ‘performers’ usage of ‘Masks’ to hide their facial expressions that allowed them to further express physical reactions towards certain scenarios and give an extra bit of detail to their performance.  Ensuring the audience gained full understanding and detail to what the characters were going through mentally and physically.

     But throughout the history of performing arts, ‘Commedia dell’Arte’, and ‘Comedy’ in general, has had a huge impact towards the ‘performers’ acting abilities and the audiences love for theatre such as ‘Comedy’.  Actors learn how to truly get an understanding of their characters inside out.  But it is within ‘Commedia dell’Arte’ that ‘performers’ were introduced to the many types of characters reflect their current society and bring forth opportunities to test their abilities as a ‘performer’.  These characters list from:

1)      Arlecchino (or Harlequin) – The loveable clown within ‘Commedia’, that allows ‘performers’ to explore their physical and verbal abilities to bring forth the true fool within him.  An example of ‘Arlecchio’ (‘Harlequin’) within modern day entertainment would be ‘Joey Tribianni’ from the hit television show ‘Friends’.

2)      Brighella – This character depicts a crafty servant character.  Paired with ‘Arlecchino’, ‘Brighella’ is the servant within the posh house that always does his best to be the best servant, yet always makes the mistakes and makes a fool of himself.

3)      Pantelone – ‘Pantelone’ is the character in charge.  Depicted as the character always looking down to his servants, and always keeping a posh manner.  Although there is a sense of elegance to him, as we discovered that he would need a helping hand if really necessary.  An example of ‘Pantelone’ in modern entertainment would be ‘Basil Fawlty’ from the BBC’s comedy classic ‘Fawlty Towers’.

4)      Il Dottore (the Doctor) – While having the appearance of an old wise character ‘Il Dottore’ was the lord of the manners, ‘Pantelone’s’, good friend.  Except one of the key characteristics of ‘Il Dottore’ is that he doesn’t have a clue.  This character allows actors to show off their abilities to add “plumpness” to their physicality and bring forth a sense of clumsiness towards every action ‘Il Dottore’ brings to the performance.

5)      The Innamorati (the Lovers: Silvia, Corallina, Ottavio and Lelio) – It is these four characters that bring almost realistic interpretations of married or engaged couples.  One pair showing off their long lasting marriage, yet constantly arguing.  Whereas the other shows the pair in the youth, as well as including difficulties in amongst their day to day actions in the performances.

6)      Isabella – The daughter of ‘Pantelone’, ‘Isabella’ is the character that every man falls for.  She is also depicted as the young rebellious lady, always keeping her headstrong and desperately wanting to control her life.  This character in particular has key physical poses and props that really show off her rebellious character traits.

7)      Il Capitano (the Captain) – Similarly to ‘Il Dottore’, ‘Il Capitano’ is the perfect example of a cocky show off who really up himself.  ‘Il Capitano’s’ characteristics show that he brings forth a sense of power and loyalty, but if you were to put a mouse in front of him, he would be nothing but a coward.  A perfect example of this character in modern entertainment would be ‘Gilderoy Lockhart’ from ‘J.K. Rowling’s’ novel ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, as this character bring a sense of him being in love with himself, yet lied to gain popularity and is a coward to near everything he speaks of.

8)      Colombina – The sneaky female servant ‘Colombina’, with the ability to make the ‘Lovers’ turn on each other, she is a character you’d have to be careful with.  Physically she has a posh attitude, yet give off an amazing twist when telling lies to her superiors.  An example of ‘Colombina’ in modern entertainment would be ‘Polly’ from the ‘BBC’s’ comedy classic ‘Fawlty Towers’.  

9)      Pierrot – This is the definition of a naive clown.  ‘Pierrot’ comes across as a misunderstood character.  How the physicality of a really sad person, ‘Pierrot’ will do anything to be welcomed and be laughed at for being one the entertainer around.  But ‘Pierrot’ always get his tricks wrong and continues to be upset.  This character was interesting as it gave us a chance to express strong emotions such as “happiness” and “sadness”. 

10)   Pulcinella – Often considered ‘the Punch’, ‘Pulcinella’ is the character that is stuck in between servant and master.  A quite confused character, ‘Pulcinella’ has the physical traits of being tired and board, bring forth some pure entertainment involving the many other ‘Commedia’ characters.

     I personally found that learning about these characters was really interesting.  Learning about how much of an impact they have had on modern comedy theatre/performances.  Plus how to portray these characters in the proper fashion for production work, both physically and mentally.

     One character in particular that stood out for me during the practical exercises of ‘Commedia dell’Arte’ was ‘Il Capitano’.  I personally liked the characters personality traits, and particularly how to present their physical state on stage, enhancing their ability to show off, and give a cocky attitude to everyone he meets, yet how a strong cowardly outcome to his actions.

     The practical exercises were extremely entertaining to take part in, and I look forward to any performance work we might do to bring a Contemporary Physical piece of production to life.

'13' Blog - Evaluation

Performance Evaluation for ‘13’

By Frank Hussey

Basics

Strengths:

1.      Learning Lines – Keeping my former technique of speaking lines out loud repeatedly in a monotone voice, I succeeded in learning lines in time for final rehearsal session and main performance.

2.      Memorising Entrance and Exit Calls – After memorising the stage layout for the main production, I successfully managed to memorise when I was call on and off stage in the main performance.

3.      Pacing – Rehearsing in ‘speed runs’ helped vastly in our understanding of how the pacing for the final performance should be.  Plus it gave me an understanding of what scenes I needed to speed up, for timing, or slow down, for dramatic effect.  One scene in particular I kept at a slower pace was Act One, Scene Ten, in order to enhance dramatic tension between the characters ‘John’ and ‘Rachel’.  I personally felt the end result was excellent, with perfect timing and pacing.

Weaknesses:

1.      Keeping Track of Time – Struggling only slightly in rehearsals, in keeping track of my entrance calls, I wanted to ensure that I was on time for my scenes in the main performance.  While rectified in time for the show, I feel this is an area to focus on for future reference, ensure I’m on time and the flow of the play continues to a success.

 

Stylistically

Strengths:

1.      Adding a Sense of Naturalism – I personally felt I succeeded in reflecting on ‘the Stanislavski System’ of adding a sense of naturalistic flow and realism to my performance.  Both physically and verbally I believe I succeeded in bringing ‘John’s’ character to life, ensuring that audience members saw the character, not the actor.

2.      Reflecting on the Themes of the Play – Pre-rehearsals, I managed to get a good understanding of the context of the play.  I learnt that the key themes of ‘13’ were the themes of war and the morals in politics.  I personally wanted to reflect both these essential themes in ‘John’s’ emotions, and I succeeded through his passionate public speech, in Act Two Scene Six.

3.      Presenting ‘John’s’ Objectives – Once again pre-production process, I gained a decent understanding of what ‘John’s’ objectives were throughout the play and certain scenes.  I personally felt I succeeded in presenting these objectives to the audience while all the more keeping the character alive and in the moment of the scenes.

4.      Including Contemporary Theatre Elements – One scene in particular that stands out for me personally is Act One Scene Fifteen.  Our goal was to include the element of ‘balancing the stage’.  Thereby reflection characters emotions, current state, while keeping every actor on stage visible for our audience. 

Weaknesses:

1.      We Used Less Contemporary Elements – One area of which I felt we could improve upon for future reference is to use more contemporary elements.  This way we could achieve near professional standard of bringing ‘13’ to life.  But I still feel positive about what we achieved in the final performance; I just feel we could have included more elements to achieve a better standard of production work.

2.      Not Using a Large Amount of Movement – I always pictured ‘John’ to be a more verbally descriptive character, rather than using physical actions to back up his descriptions.  Therefore for my main performance I wanted to use nice and simple movements to increase the sense of realism to my performance.  But I do feel I could have used more physical actions for ‘John’s’ speeches, but this an area I aim to improve upon for future reference.

 

Actors Skills

Strengths:

1.      Understanding my Character’s Physicality and Vocalisation – During the main performance, I felt extremely confident in projecting ‘John’ physicality and vocalisation.  I felt I achieved well, in delivering these elements in a high standard to ensure our audience understood everything about my character and the play.

2.      Learning New Performing and Staging Strategies – I personally felt that learning new strategies helped vastly towards my final performance, as I felt I could bring great depth to the character and the play for our target audience.

Weaknesses:

1.      Vocal Variation – I did feel for certain scenes I could have improved upon my vocalisation, in particular projection.  While I did keep a low tone, to increase dramatic effect, I do feel that I could have taken on board a louder tone ensure audience members did not miss any hidden details.

2.      More Physicality – As mentioned earlier, I wanted to keep my physicality to a nice and simple standard.  But I do feel that, for future reference, I could have added more physical action to further engage audience members.

 

Ensemble

Strengths:

1.      Keeping High Focus and Confidence – I found that working in a new production team helped vastly with boosting my own confidence.  We all kept a high amount of energy and focus with one another.  Plus it ensured that we would all succeed in our performances, as well as offer many ideas and suggestions as to how we could improve for the final performance, making this assignment piece a success.

 

 

'13' Blog 7 - Production Week

Production Week: ‘13’

Monday 10^th – Thursday 13^th November 2014

Last Minute Rehearsals

     Taking these last minute opportunities, we gathered as a cast and crew and prepared to organise the last few run through, before the open production at the end of the week.  Going through each scene of each act, focus particularly on scene changes and entrance and exit calls.  We focus specifically on these areas because our goal was to give a contemporary theatre feel to the production, reflecting on ‘13’s key theme on reflecting the people and morals of contemporary society.  Plus it would give the pacing and time spend of ‘13’ seem at a natural and realistic flow to it.  All the more making it realistic and relatable for our target audience, of further education students, and seem as a professional and entertaining process for us actors.

     The sessions were a little repetitive, yet I personally found them to be rather interesting.  I took this opportunity to look deeper into my portrayal of the character ‘John’.  Putting my understanding of the character to good use and developing any speech dialect to a level where I was comfortable for delivery, and it was loud enough for our future audience members.  Plus one area that I really enjoyed particularly was developing ‘John’s’ physicality.  Having spent the previous week looking into detail as to how I could portray ‘John’s’ physical structure, I put that to good use and developed it to a level of extreme detail and comfort for myself.

     Taking warm up exercises supported my development of the physicality extremely well, as I could understand what the character’s current state would be (of my choice) and how they would react to certain moments.  I enhanced the use of standing in a tall upright structure and increase the movement within my hands and fingers to suggest ‘John’s’ concern, worry and control throughout the play.

     The end results were excellent and I was proud of what I had achieved, and I was extremely eager to bring ‘John’ for life for audience members.

The Technical Side

     For my job role in the play I was to take on portraying ‘John’ within acts one and two, then allowing another cast member to take over for acts three and four.  This would allow the pair of us to give different interpretations yet relatable characteristics of the same character.  Therefore what was my secondary job role, for when I had completed my portrayal of ‘John’ once act two was completed.  For this I was assigned to assist in the technical sides of ‘13’.

     While we did have some support from second year students, who had the job role of activating the lighting and sound effect queues, it was my job role to ensure they were on time and prepared.  I found this job role to be an interesting experience.  In the past I have experience the job role of the Deputy Stage Manager, ensure all technicians and crew members were on cue for the production.  The difference was this time I was sitting side by side with our technicians and observing first-hand what it takes to produce and cue the lighting and sound effects.

     The lighting and sound effects were essential particularly for this production as it reflected the atmosphere of the scenes, the tension between the characters and even foreshadow future events within the plays storyline.  While our lighting effects were pretty simple with green reflecting a park environment and white lighting within a dark setting enhanced the feeling of a dark society.  But it was our sound effects that brought them to life, either before or after an actor has spoken in character.  It was the sound effects that enhanced the relevance of certain props and montages, all the more to make the storytelling all the more intriguing for our target audience.

     As mentioned earlier my only job was to double check that the technicians were on cue and in time with the script.  But I did enjoy being up in the sound box and witnessing the process of perfection to bring the play to life in fashion which our director intended.  Therefore it was a joy to behold and a privilege to take part in.

Have I Developed?

     As the production week drew to an end I asked myself, have I developed?  To which I responded, yes.  Yes in two formations.  Yes, in the fact that I have developed extremely in understanding my character, the play he is in, and why he fits into the play.  As well as, yes, I have developed as an actor.

     Throughout this assignments process I really come to admire Mike Bartlett’s depiction of a world where morals and responsibility are essential, but are not taken seriously by the youth generation.  I really liked the hidden details and references in amongst certain characters and story arcs, making the play all the more interesting and entertaining for our target audience.

     Plus I feel I have developed as an actor.  I loved using contemporary theatre elements to make my performance all the more entertaining.  As well as understanding and developing all the hidden details from the script and brought them to life through this unique form of storytelling.  I have learnt new strategies and techniques in acting and I aim to keep them and reuse them for any future production work to ensure realism and detail within portraying a character out of my comfort zone.

     All technique and hidden details I have/shall expand upon within blog entries focusing on my character and the rehearsal and production process.

The Production – Wednesday 12^th and Thursday 13^th November

     As the week came to an end, the theatre doors opened.  As each production began and finished I could seriously feel a positive response from the audiences’.  Plus I personally found each performance to be an extremely entertaining experience, as I brought the character of ‘John’ to life the way I intended, and how I hoped Mike Bartlett imagined the character to be.  Making this production alone one of my personal favourites and it has given me memorises which I shall treasure and memorise for any future production work.    

Voice Portfolio: Vocal Health

Vocal Health

Wednesday 5^th November 2014

     For this week’s voice portfolio, having previously explored how vocalisation within the human vocal folds is produced and how it can be amplified at will, it was now our session focusing on the vocal health of an individual in the performing arts industries.  Beginning the session in a class discussion we all gave bullet points for any positive and negative states for a performer’s vocal health.

     Categorising our bullet points as ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’, we all inputted what we believed to be good and bad for a performers vocal health.

     The points we took note of were:

The Don’ts:

·         Smoking – With side effects, such as ‘lung cancer’, it can cause serious damage to an individual’s vocal and physical health.  A key area of damage is caused to an individual’s vocal health as it disarranges the individual’s vocal chords.  As smoking causes the vocal chords projection give off a deeper and raspy sound effect.

·         Alcohol – There are known alcoholic substances that can cause physical damage to the inside of an individual’s throat.  Similarly to the outcome of smoking, too much alcohol can give serious damage towards the vocal chords and the diaphragm.  Resulting in a deeper and rusty tone formation.   

·         Physical Damage – Depending on how aggressive the outcome of the physical damage is.  This “don’t”, in particular, can cause serious changes and disarrangements of the individuals pitch and tone, original formation, possibly even the loss of voice itself.

·         Coughs – This “don’t” can happen to anybody, it is just a matter of how serious the cause of the coughing is.  Symptoms such as asthma, colds, or other illnesses are some of the key examples of how coughs are produced.  But the damage it causes to the individual’s vocal health, depending on how violently they are coughing, can result in less projection and quick/constant opening and closing of the vocal cords.  As well as violent vibrations within the inner edge of the vocal fold.  

·         Tonsillitis – The larynx itself becomes swollen and is caused mainly by infection.  The outcome of tonsillitis can result in a painful experience for the individual when projecting.  Plus it may cause more infections and block clean oxygen entering towards the larynx.

·         Sore Throats – Once again, the main causation could be various, the most common being a cold.  But this symptom can cause changes in the pitch and tone variations, resulting in a quieter voice and slight pain when projecting.

·         Sugar – Similar to taking too much alcoholic substances, too much sugar can also cause damage to an individual’s vocal health.  Resulting in different pitch and tone variations becoming too uncomfortable when projecting.  

·         and Voice Cracks – Caused by sudden cracks within the singing or speaking voice projection,.  This is the result of the individual projecting sound vibrations in their vocal folds too quickly without taking in enough oxygen to support their projection.  Resulting in a voice crack, putting their projection to a halt, and a sudden loss of voice for the individual.

      All together we understood that these key ‘don’ts’ would have a vast effect on the performer’s vocalisation.  Knowing these “don’t” being strong negatives, knowing the outcome and how we could fix these “don’t” should we ever experience such vocal health issues in the future. 

The Dos:

·         Drinking Water – It is this particular healthy liquid that cleans the insides of an individual’s vocal folds.  As well as it widens the gaps to allow oxygen to enter through the throat smoothly without any pain or damage, that one would get from too much alcohol.  

·         Vocal Warmups – By taking vocal warmup exercises an individual can practice their projection and mentally understand a good and health state for their vocal formation.  Ensuring that their voice is prepared and healthy for their performances.

·         Warm Drinks to Sooth the Throat – Similar to water, it is hot drinks that can put the vocal folds to rest.  Ensuring a comforting and soothing feeling within an individual’s throat and vocal formation for any performance work that requires a large amount of projection.

·         Physical Exercises – Much like the vocal warmup exercises, physical exercises help an individual to understand their current throat state.  Plus it allows them to alter their vocal formation, but to a state that is comfortable and healthy for the individual, yet different to their traditional vocal formation.

·         Meditations – These exercises help vastly for an individual to focus on key areas within their physical structure and help them gain a new physical posture.  Through gaining a new posture, their vocalisation becomes very relaxed and can be altered at will to a new formation.  Meditation can help performers, such as an actor; take on board a new physical and verbal formation to create a posture different to their own.  But it helps with their vocal health as it relaxes an individual’s vocal folds and ensures comfort and no damage is caused throughout meditations or performances.

      It was these bullet points that we strongly agreed on.  I know from hands on experience that these liquids and exercises help vastly in soothing the performer’s vocal health and give them decent preparations for their performances.

     I found this session to be extremely interesting as, not only did I learn that a performer has to ensure that their vocal health is at a positive to ensure they are for filling their performance ambitions, but it also has made me more aware.  This session, in writing these bullet points, I personally have become more aware of my own vocal health.  Not only that, but I am now constantly aware of what I am eating and drinking, and in weather conditions if my throat is kept warm and comforted.  All to ensure that my health state is at a positive and that I can keep it in a good state for any future production/stage work.

The Presentation

     To end this session our teacher assigned us a class of creating a poster or presentation, explaining the vocal health to performers.  Referring back to the ‘dos’ and don’ts’ bullet points me and my partner created a poster explaining to performers the positive and negative states of an individual’s vocal health.

     Here is our final result of the poster:

 





     Highlighting in big and bold captions our goal was to ensure that whoever read/observed this poster would miss out on any details concerning their vocal health.  With the use of attention grabbing images we wanted it to be eye catching and have it likable as well.  To which my partner suggested the use of the caption “your voice is your career”. 

     I am, personally, pleased with this piece of work as it is straight to the point and intriguing for any observers.  Plus it is something for everyone.  Whether they’re in the performing arts industries (acting, singing and dancing) or in any lecture job roles or courses, as the voice is a key part to their succession, and I feel this poster can help them to ensure positive vocal health welfare.



'13' Blog 6 - Final Rehearsal Week

Final Rehearsal Week

Monday 3^rd, Wednesday 5^th and Thursday 6^th November 2014

Character Physicality

     Beginning our final rehearsal week, our lecturer had us walk continuously around the class room, staying on a focus point and changing our directions at random for once we had reached that point.  But we walked we were told specifically not to give off anything.  Staying in ‘Actor’s Neutral’ we had to ensure that we were not giving any facial or physical expressions and gestures.  This way we would not be giving off any characteristics or story behind our walking pace.

     As we stayed at an average speed of walking our lecturer set us some tasks.  While staying in ‘Neutral’, it was now our chance to fully embrace a new physicality that would soon become our characters.  These tasks were:

1)      Reacting – Giving off friendly or unfriendly gestures or emotions to one another, to suggest a story arch between ourselves.

2)      Communicating – Physically and verbally communicating with one another helped us see a variety of examples for many types of character relations.

     The results were pretty humorous and entertaining for both us involved in the tasks and for those watching.  It was a brief, yet good, introduction to how we could physically change our attitude towards the simplest of things such as a handshake.  So our next goal was to bring our characters for ‘13’ physically alive.  

     Having spent the previous weeks exploring our characters, how they fit into the story, where they potentially came from, and how they would live in this fictional depiction of the world.  It was now our opportunities as actors to put our research and understanding of both the play and our character, to the test and physically become the character.  All in preparation for our ‘Production Week’.

·         Standing Posture – I pictured ‘John’ to have a standing posture of being tall and upright.  All to physically present the thought of mystery and calculation behind the character and his motivations.  Whilst including a little detail of his fingers twitching and scratching various areas on his upper body and leg area.  I felt this could backup ‘John’s’ emotional state, and his worry and concern within certain scenes, and embrace the fact that he is scared of his past.

·         Walking Pace – For ‘John’s’ walking pace I imagined ‘John’ liking to take his time mentally and verbally, yet keep an average speed within his walking.  This could give of the impression of him wanting to complete his objectives (of beginning an anti-war protest march).  But ‘John’ would also maintain a slower pace for when he felt the need to think, in deep thought, and pace back and forth (shown especially in Act Two Scene Three as ‘John’ prepares his first public speech).  Plus I felt the need to include a pushed out chest, this way I could imply to audience members that ‘John’ isn’t in these scenarios by choice and make it seem he has been pushed back into this world.

·         Sitting Posture – Referring back to ‘John’s’ standing posture, I wanted to reflect this within his sitting posture.  Keeping the tall and upright figure to imply a little mystery and a sense of calculation within his mental state.  As well as showing the character’s instinct and preparation to be ready to jump toward his next goal for certain scenes (an example would be at the end of Act One Scene Ten as ‘John’ finds an excuse to exit away from ‘Rachel’ and not talk about his past).

     These were my final results on the ‘John’s’ physicality and I was eager to put them to use for the rehearsals and particularly the main performance. 

 

‘13’ in 1 Minute

     Taking a short break from our character work, our lecturer assigned us, as a class, a little task.  Splitting us into four groups, my group being “group number one” we were all assigned to recreate each act of ‘13’.  Having a performance time of one minute, our groups were allowed to recreate each act in any style of production we liked (an example would be ‘amateur dramatic’, meaning we would perform in a serious and dramatic style).  Being assigned in ‘group number one’ it was our task to recreate Act One of ‘13’, and the style we decided to do was ‘pantomime’.

     Using our scripts we looked at each scene within Act One and decided which moment of each scene was most important.

1)      For Scene One, it was the lead ‘twelve’ awakening from their nightmares.

2)      For Scene Two, it was ‘John’ arriving in Britain and encountering ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sarah’.

3)      For Scene Three, it was ‘Amir’ being verbally abused by the police officer.

4)      For Scene Four, it was ‘Ruth’ introduction and discussion with her MP’s.

5)      For Scene Five, it was ‘Amir’ taking down a police officer and him being arrested.

6)      For Scene Six, it was ‘Stephen Crossley’s’ atheist lecture all about God.

7)      For Scene Seven, it was ‘Mark’ and ‘Alice’s’ meeting in the park.

8)      For Scene Eight, it was ‘Rachel’ meeting ‘John’ after two years of his disappearance.

9)      For Scene Nine, it was ‘Ruth’ meeting the American politician ‘Dennis’ for the first time.

10)   For Scene Ten, it was ‘John’ and ‘Rachel’ sharing a moment together in the park.

11)   For Scene Eleven, it was ‘Mark’ becoming ‘Amir’s’ solicitor and tries to support his case.

12)   For Scene Twelve, it was the Alpha Group discussion concerning Christianity.

13)   For Scene Thirteen, it was ‘Ruth’s’ speech to the general public.

14)   For Scene Fourteen, it was ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sarah’s’ argument at their dinner.

15)   For Scene Fifteen, it was ‘John’ getting ‘Amir’ out of jail.

16)   For Scene Sixteen, it was ‘Edith’ seeing her granddaughter ‘Holly’.

17)   For Scene Seventeen, it was ‘Ruth’s’ meeting with ‘Stephen’.

18)   For Scene Eighteen, the act concluded with a nuclear blast.   

     Taking these key moments we all expressed ideas as to how we could make them more humorous and entertaining for the rest of the class, yet still keep it intriguing as it would give details towards the plot of ‘13’.  Extracting a few of the scenes/moments for time reasons, I personally found the end result to be extremely entertaining and a joy to take part in.

     But the task wasn’t over as we were then tasked to all come together as a big group and repeat the task yet bring Act Two to life.  Once again we all looked at the act and each scene, looking particularly at the important moments.  All offering/suggesting ideas as to how we could bring this to life in a comedic way.  The end result was bound to be entertaining to all of us.

     I found this to be a great little task.  It took us briefly away from rehearsals and allowed us to express our love of performing as well as demonstrate our understanding of the play, its plot and its characters.

 

A Full Run through of Act Four

     Continuing with our rehearsals we began with act four.  The largest act, containing some climactic scenes involving key characters; it was now time to finish blocking the act and input any elements to enhance to storytelling.

     One scene in particular, which stands out for me the most out of the entire play was Act Four, Scene Eight.  In this climatic scene we find the character ‘John’ and his key rivalries/enemies (Ruth and Stephen) confronting one another.  Resulting in some brilliant dialogue which begins to wrap up the play and reveals more and more about the characters (particularly ‘John’s’ origin story), as well as foreshadowing the future of this fictional interpretation of modern society.

     When blocking this scene I really admired the performers on stage as they delivered realistic dialogue and developing physicality to make the scene all the more believable.  I also think if developed any further, this scene will be the highlight of the play for our target audience, of further education students, as it reflects the morals and truth of modern society.  How everyone should be treated equally, how everyone’s perspective on a political matter should be heard, and particularly how there is always a light in dark times.

     But what did I have to offer/input for this Act?  When blocking of Act Four, Scene Nine, ‘John’s’ last speech to the general public I thought it would be good to input:

 

1.       ‘John’ standing centre back stage (keeping a tall, strong, upright posture) to signify his willing to stand down from his current position, enhancing his failure to bring the nuclear war to an end.

2.       Having ‘Ruth’ and ‘Stephen’ stand both sides to him on the lower levels.  Indicating ‘John’s’ key rivalries/enemies throughout the play, as well as showing that ‘John’ is willing to step down and be seen by the rest of the world as one of them (possibly an enemy of the general public).

3.       While for Act Five, Scene One, instead of ‘John’s’ final speech, I thought it would be good to end the play on the same note of how it began.  With the twelve lying on the floor and suddenly awakening from their nightmare.  Plus after ‘Rob’s’ monologue telling audience members of how the world changed to a wasteland of some sorts, and how it impacts the fact that the ‘Twelve’ predicted their future within their nightmare visions of “The explosion.  The monsters.” – John, Act Four, Scene Eight.

     Concluding on blocking Act Four, I was pleased to input these elements for the final production piece, and was eager to see it brought to life.

Returning to Rehearse on Acts One and Two

     To conclude the week, we returned to rehearsing, what we had already accomplished, in Acts One and Two.   Memorising our entrance and exit calls and putting our character work to good use.  Experimenting with our character’s physicality and verbal work, we took the next steps towards making the flow and pace of ‘13’ seem more natural and realistic, all in time for the main production week.

     Plus one area in particular that needed rehearsal work on was ‘the club montage’ taking place at the end of Act One.  Working on the montage we could embrace the true meaning and purpose of having various characters dance on stage at the end of the opening Act.  Making our movements seem more fluent and meaningful, it make the montage more entertaining for us cast members as well as aim to possibly increase audience members attention to detail within ‘13’.  Although from my perspective, the montage gave the meaning of showing the audience the youth generation of modern society and how serious debates in politics is something that should be taken more seriously.  This is shown especially at the end of the montage as a nuclear bomb explodes.  Interrupting this specific social event and indicating their lack of focus towards important matters at hand.  Once again reflecting modern society and how our target audience, of further education students, should think twice when it comes to important matters within their lives outside of socialising.

     But all in all the rehearsal sessions were a success.  It helped me to get a better understanding of certain elements within the play and how it can give those details to our target audience.  But what I particularly enjoyed out of these rehearsal sessions was putting the character work and understanding to the early test stages.  Because it also allowed me to set myself some goals for next week’s production sessions, seeing if I could develop any speech dialect or movement pacing, in order to make my final performance all the more convincing and realistic.  As well as constantly working on movement segments, such as the ‘club montage’, to ensure we could gain a naturalistic flow in time for our main performance taking place next week.