'ROAD' - Post 03

Blocking Character Study and Development

Monday 23^rd, Wednesday 25^th and Thursday 26^th March 2015

What did we do this week?

     This week’s main focus was our own character study plans and how we have developed in both our portrayal and understanding of the characters.  In previous blocking sessions I gained a rough idea of the following:

·         My character’s origins,

·         His objectives,

·         His age range,

·         and his status.

     It was in this week that I managed to enhance on these certain areas and develop for my main performance and for my character study/profile.

What new points did I learn?

     In a working session we proceeded to work in small groups, or pairs, and work closely towards showing our portrayals and understandings of our characters, so far.  In my pair I went first.  I expressed my understanding of my character ‘Jerry’, so far, to my partner telling them:

·         ‘Jerry’ has had quite the history, having served in the RAF and possibly indications towards losing his friends and loved ones.  At first I believed ‘Jerry’ to be a middle aged character, which seems young but has seen many things.  In his scene we find ‘Jerry’ at his home preparing for a night out.

·         When looking for ‘Jerry’s’ objective, I came to slight pause and thought track.  I personally found ‘Jerry’ to be home sick in his own house.  Initially thinking he would have no objectives what so ever, I now see his objective in his scene to leave his house, but to not see some friends or relatives, but just to go to a pub to, attempt to, drink his memories away.

·         Through my first read through of the script, I personally pictured ‘Jerry’ to be aged between the ages of 25 and 35 years old.  I thought that this would be convenient and would work, because I could show the vast amount of deadly history has had an impact on him.  Such as serving in the RAF, and with the setting in the 1980s and the theme of change being indicated, I thought these elements could strongly be reflected through his structure and basis.  But when analysing both the script and my performance my partner and I agreed that having the ‘Jerry’ at an older age, 50 years old, this would make the reflection of the elements and themes all the more realistic and pitiful for the audience to behold.

·         Going back to our first week into ‘ROAD’ when taking exercises and games focusing on the many character statuses.  Such as, standing tall with pride and majesty, or barely standing at all showing the depression and lifestyle of the character.  I wanted to use those status exercises and games, to reflect ‘Jerry’s’ status.  I pictured ‘Jerry’ as a fighter, so I would say he was capable of standing, but because of his dark origins and concern of his future going nowhere I wanted to show that through having his hands nearly crossed at the upper half of his rib cage and twitching and turning his fingers.  Hopefully I would be able to project two elements: firstly the impact of his past and how he cannot hide from it, and secondly how the constant change in his society is not to his liking.

     Once our session in pairs had completed I took all these points into account, saved them for two occasions.  Firstly for all blocking and rehearsal sessions, to succeed in projecting the layers details and really engage the audience into this character.  Secondly in my character study/profile I want to strongly reflect and detail in the following:

·         ‘Jerry’s’ Intentions – By taking my performance pace to a slower level, I may succeed in showing his emotional cocoon and being trapped in the past.  Thereby reflecting his sorrow and depression.

·         ‘Jerry’s’ Language – A personal goal of mine is to master the ‘Northern English Accent’.  I personally aim to take my previous line learning method and alter it to repetitively speak my lines in the accent.  Thereby making my lines/script a muscle memory.  In learning the accent I will use the techniques we used last week, plus I will use this video (Accent Tag – Emily Bland) for inspiration and support so I may truly master the ‘Northern Accent’:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OktDllQvXIY

·         ‘Jerry’s’ Imagery – When developing and planning my character study/profile I shall use real imagery or how I pictured ‘Jerry’ pre-blocking and post-blocking the monologue to show my development as an actor.  Plus imagery depicting ‘Jerry’s’ views on his society might help me to embrace how he thinks and views the world, to really enhance on his objectives.

·         and the Thematic Awareness ‘Jerry’ brings to ‘ROAD’ – In summarising the entirety of ‘ROAD’, I would say it offers various depictions and interpretations of the changes within a society and how people’s views and opinions really matter towards the future.  But to go into more detail I will reflect the awareness ‘Jerry’ had to offer for this production.  Particularly when there is a historical involvement referencing Margaret Thatcher’s rise to Prime Minister, and the change in currency all reflecting people’s opinions and arguments towards these subjects all concerning their society.  More info I will find and research into from this article: “Let's call them the long 1980s.” - http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/19/1980s-cultural-history.  All in all I will show how I feel a character like this can have a huge impact on modern theatre and society.

What feedback did I give to my partner?

     My partner’s character, ‘Valarie’, is a character that similarly to ‘Jerry’ is trapped with emotions and thoughts that all came from a haunting past.  I watched her performance knowing very little info about the character, and focused particularly on her performance and reflection of any elements I could deduce.  This was the feedback I gave her:

·         Good posture to show: anger and disappointment, with a hint of sadness.

·         Perhaps a little improvement in the accent (brief moments when the accent disappeared).

·         Really good timing, particularly in the moments of bursting out rage and anger in the speech.

·         and Really convincing performance showing the journey of the character’s though tracking.

     I found her performance to be really entertaining and intriguing, especially as it built up and up to its conclusion.  I particularly liked her development towards realism, as it captivated what I feel is essential to our performances. 

     By having realism and an impacting flow we can truly involve the audience into these characters and plot line.  Of course the majority of us, including me, had steps to take to progress and develop to an exceptional performance standard, but I found these sessions extremely handy as it brought me to a good stepping stone point of development.  Plus with my goals set I will be able to develop and improve for future session, and hopefully other members of my tutor/cast have done the same and are in a better place of understanding their character as I have.