28/12/14 - Ensemble

Finally I'm posting, now that Christmas is finished! On 11/12/14, we really started focusing on ensemble. To me, ensemble is the whole cast working together to create a piece of physical theatre for a greater impact. To create a successful ensemble, the atmosphere in the room has to be focused and everything has to listen so they can work together smoothly, if one person isn't listening, they could lag behind and drag everyone else back with them as this is a team task. My favourite ensemble moment in East End Tales so far is in tale 3, where us girls and boys pile onto the stage at different times but we all take a drink at the same time, I think its really effective.

In this lesson, we created tale 3 and the beginning of tale 4. Tale 3 is taken place in a pub, with the boys sat on stools and the girls scattered around, making the atmosphere warm and relaxing. Halfway through the tale, the atmosphere changes because it's a more serious and sad topic. The boys are at the back of the bar and the girls are him in a circle in front, creating levels.

There is only one character really in this tale, who is being played by Matteo, and everyone else is a narrator, talking about Matteo's character. Speaking of atmosphere, tale 3 differed from the first two tales because it was sort of telling a story, whereas tales 1 and 2 were more about describing someone.

Tale 4 is telling a story so everyone is moving about as an ensemble nearly all the time. We start off as pedestrians with umbrellas, then as a sidewalk and then shelves in a shop. I'm not a particular character, I am part of the ensemble to help create an atmosphere of being in the shop or being outside.

One skill that I know I've been developing is my physical theatre and my teamwork with others. This term I've had to do a lot of movement that I'm not used to doing, so I feel more fit to be honest! My teamwork with others is better because I'm getting used to being an ensemble, I usually work independently because I usually find working with others annoying and time wasting.

To summarise each tale with one line from each, I would say:

Prologue - 'which turnin then? Eh?'

Tale 1 - 'even the traffic stops for him when he crosses the road'
Tale 2 - 'and her pillow is wet when she wakes'
Tale 3 - ' you can see all of this if you look in Jack's eyes'
Tale 4 - ''nobody's ever helped me before''

- Matilda ^_^

6/12/14- First rehearsal

So this Thursday's lesson we began bringing the script to life and directing the first three tales: the prologue, tale 1 and tale 2.

Staging we are using for the performance

The advantages of using this stage space are:

• You can connect more with the audience because the stage is 'thrust' towards everyone
• You have to use your imagination more because scenery will get in the way so it's more effective with just raw acting
• The audience has a '3-D' effect when watching the play as the actors don't just walk side-to-side

The disadvantages of using this space stage are:

• The audience will see every actor at a different angle which could possibly ruin the effect of the performance for some viewers
• If you're not careful when acting, you could end up having your back facing a large amount of the audience for an extended period of time which is unprofessional

As an actor, I think that the challenges that I will have to face when being directed in this space is to make sure my back isn't facing the audience for a long time and that everyone can see my facial expressions as best as they can. I also will have to make my movement bigger and bolder so everyone knows what I am doing even if my back is facing them.

I will need to learn these off by heart, it will come in handy!

For the prologue (the taxi driver scene) we have staged it so there are 7 'taxis' scattered around the stage, facing every way so that the audience can see at least one taxi properly while we perform. I find this very effective because it makes everything more stylized and the use of the torches makes it look very unique. 

After working on the prologue, I was grouped with all the other girls and we all worked together to create tale 1. My role in the tale (as all the others) is a normal girl who is describing what the east-end would be like if it was her friend. The lines are being said in a different ways, so either as a text or as a phone call. 
It has been staged by everyone starting off sat down and then to create effect, everyone walks off in different directions at different times using different routes, like to show that we are all separate people, and then finally we all turn around and speak at the same time like we are all one person. These choices have been made because it combines the dialogue with a lot of physical movement which includes lots of levels and techniques. 

The strengths of this piece so far is that when all the lines are spoken fluent, it sounds very smooth and very organized and snappy which suits the context of tale 1. Finally, the developments that need to happen during this rehearsal is pace and timing as sometimes some of us don't get to the right place in time or one of us will read a line too fast or too slow.

4/12/14 - (late) Monologues

I apologise profusely for this late blog post!

So, last Thursday's lesson we focused on monologues, we chose our favourite characters. I chose the abused girlfriend. 

Monologue

We had about 20 minutes to come up with our monologues, by ourselves. We then worked in pairs to stage the pieces and I worked with Sherene. We were both really supportive of each other and we gave a few improvements so that our performances were to the best of our ability! Sherene said that my main focus was to make sure I keep the same emotion in my voice so it's not just everywhere, so it's planned and sounds planned too! When I performed my piece I used a light, cheerful and excited tone while delivering my lines because my character had a new boyfriend and so she didn't know how abusive the relationship would get, I was playing her when she was still completely oblivious. I tried to make my physicality comfortable because I felt that my character was content with her life at that moment, so she is relaxed in her body language.

The monologue task helped me to understand the play further because the situation and character I created can be quite common nowadays, especially as it was set in the east end, so I was able to imagine it clearer. It also helped me understand how difficult a situation like an abusive relationship can be and that it is very hard to get out of. 

Once we had all performed to each other we were given feedback from the cover teacher, Chris. One of the monologues that really stood out for me was Rory's because he didn't hold back in his acting. At one point he got really angry and knocked over the chair. You have to be careful when doing strong emotions because it can look over-exaggerated but Rory managed to make it look naturalistic and it let his character's emotions pour out of him. Rory had written about the abuser of the girlfriend, and his was set in the police station, answering questions about her death.

We didn't actually get onto the research task as we didn't have enough time and I didn't get another developing assessment sheet so I'll just write it here!

I think I worked at a merit level because I used some of the research I found out about relationships to help me with my monologue. I understood every task that was given to me and I stayed focused and ready all lesson.

- Matilda ^_^  

25/11/14 - Physical Theatre

I never really liked the idea of Physical Theatre, it might be because I'm a lazy person but I always thought that dialogue and emotion in the voice gave a stronger impact then just creating shapes or using your body physically. My mind has been changed dramatically. I watched a few videos explaining Physical Theatre because I know that it will be a major part of out final performance at the end of term.

From the videos I found out that you can show how a character is feeling just by using your body, I don't mean small movements but big ones like moving across the stage or twisting and turning. For example to show your angry, every move you would do would be sharp and strong, you would be fast and alert. I also learnt that you could tell a whole story by using Physical Theatre. If you think carefully about every detail and move you do then you can easily tell a story without words. 

I then watched the two provided videos about movement direction. A movement director is, well, a director of movement! They help look after the actors and come up with the physical sequences. It is there job to make sure the actors are safe from harm. I also learnt a few techniques that can help with characterisation:

• Looking at pictures of your character or someone similar to them and really looking at how they are standing and the gestures they are making, that will help you understand a bit more of how the character presents themselves.
• Thinking about an animal that represents your character, and learning how to move like that animal, and then adding a few of those traits into your character's movement to add that extra detail.
• Wearing your character's costume so you adjust to the weight, feel and restrictions that it brings when you are acting. This will help you to use your costume to your advantage and let it help you develop your character easily.

I feel much more comfortable with trying out Physical Theatre because I have more knowledge about it, I definitely learnt something new today! I also have a few more characterisation skills I can use to help me develop my own characters!

- Matilda ^_^

24/11/14 - Tale 4/6

Tale 4 characterisation 

Unfortunately, on Thursday's lesson we didn't have Mr Worden, but another cover teacher so we weren't able to discuss each other's homework. But we did interpret the characters in our piece to create a small two-minute improvisation. Me, Aaron, Roseby, Rory and Anya brought the scene to life with me playing as the son (which we decided that together would be a girl instead). This was sort of like a warm-up to get us ready for the lesson. 

We went into groups of 6/7/8 and together we read tale 6. We then had to underline all the people mentioned in the play and highlight them (I wasn't there for that part because I was having my injections D:). I managed to catch up with the class from my ten minute absence and after the highlighting, we had to stick to only one of the characters (I chose the 'sly-man') and we had to create a role-on-the-wall. 

Role-on-the-wall

We had a lot of freedom to use our imagination when writing these because the character's were very vague, I nearly managed to make a whole back story for 'Mark' just by looking at the few lines describing him. I think that role-on-the-walls are very handy when creating a character because it helps you plan out and picture a rough image in your head so it's easier to refine later, and to add extra detail.

Once developing these characters, in our groups we had to create a scene to show that these characters exist outside of the script. As there was eight people in our group, we decided to split it into three groups (Me and Sarah/Ella, Ella and Tim/Aaron, Oliver and Rory) and do our own thing but making sure they link. Me and Sara decided to be the sly-man and Sara would start by saying a word on the interior of the role-on-the-wall and then me countering it with an exterior word. We did those to show the major comparison of what 'Mark' was really feeling to what feelings he was trying to show. For example Sarah would say 'Tired' and I would say after 'I'm Rough!' We didn't move, we stood/sat in the same place so the words were being focused on the most. It was almost like thought-tracking. 

We didn't actually have time to give any feedback, but I thought that each performance was very well done, especially as they had monologues which were very much improvised. One that stood out for me was Roseby's group because everyone spoke for a good amount of time and it was very smooth and it looked rehearsed. 

-Matilda ^_^

24/11/14 - Developing criteria

At the end of Thursday's lesson, we all had to fill in a 'Developing Criteria' sheet, to see if we thought we were either working at a pass, merit or distinction at the moment. 

Developing criteria

- Matilda ^_^

19/11/14 - Tale 4 character development

I had to analyse Tale 4 and the characters. 

My character descriptions

Part of the Tale 4 script

- Matilda ^_^

18/11/14 - Tale 8

In groups we read through Tale 8 and we had to underline anything that suggested a location, weather or atmosphere. My group was me, Sherene, Tara, Roseby, Alabama and Matteo.

Part of my highlighted script

Once we had done this we went through the key phrases we created a scene representing the sounds and atmosphere of tale 8. As we were asked to focus more on the atmosphere, we had little or repetitive movement in our piece. We found out that the whole scene is a big build up of suspension and there is a huge climax. We showed this by creating a sort of thunder-storm. Everybody started out calm and slowly walking around each other, one in a while one of us would clap quietly. Then someone walks into the middle of our huddle and screams, which make us all fall to the floor in silence. Everybody starts banging the chairs, slow at first and then rapid as the person who screamed starts chasing one of us.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to perfect our performance and no-one was able to perform to the class as there was not time, but hopefully we can finish this exercise in next Thursday's lesson.

This exercise really reminded me about soundscapes. I've always found soundscapes really effective because if you close your eyes while you're doing one, it really sounds like the sound/mood you're trying to create. I also think it's amazing how we can create sounds like that just fro using our hands, feet and other places.

- Matilda ^_^ 

16/11/14 - Prologue

We had Mr Worden again today, we didn't do a lot of acting because he wanted to know what we thought of the school so far so lots of questions were being thrown at us!

We started with two tiring warm-ups to get us energized, and then we moved onto the prologue.

We all had to get into pairs and add in another character's lines between the original lines, so it was a proper conversation. The prologue was simply about a taxi driver. Roseby and I used our imagination and quick thinking to come up with an interesting piece, it went a little something like this:

-Ever been hit?
Shit (both stagger back)
Jumped a light there
Woops, so you goin back to your bf?
-Well, actually I'd rather be anywhere BUT where he is right now.. so have you ever been      hit?
Nah
It don't bother me really
I mean sometimes I'll get a bit of a thump from the Mrs!
-No but I mean properly hit, like domestic violence? Does that stuff worry you?
Not really
Well it does a bit
I spose

We decided to link our scene to tale 5, with the domestic violence because it would make it different and stand out. We also chose to stage our scene standing up and walking around. We walked around as if we were driving in a taxi and every so often the woman would lag behind to show a sign of weakness. We had about 15 minute rehearsal time, we shared them to each other and then we all discussed. Everybody's mini performances were well created in the short amount of time and every group had different ideas of how they interpreted it. I really enjoyed Alex, Ella and Sarah's performance because theirs was the most realistic to a taxi journey, and also it wasn't boring to watch as the scene was staged interestingly.

We continued to explore the taxi driver by doing a whole class hot-seat. Hot-seating is an effective technique to use in a rehearsal because it prepares you for the unexpected and keeps you on your toes mentally. It is also a good way to help you with improvisation. I learnt that the taxi driver is comfortable with his job because he has been doing it for a long time and he likes to see the city during the day and at night. I asked one question: what do you do if someone has thrown up all over the place?

Ensemble taxi driving happened next. Everybody sat by the wall in a long line and we had to read out the prologue in our own unique way, we had to interpret the taxi driver to what we thought they were like. My taxi driver was a woman in her mid-30s and it was her first day working, so she was very bright, excited and bubbly. I made this choice because usually taxi drivers are male so I wanted to change it up a bit. I also made her bubbly because usually taxi drivers look bored and fed-up, so I wanted to see what it was like to be the opposite. Two examples of other taxi drivers that people did were Alex and Benji's. Benji's taxi driver was a young male who seemed very 'camp', he had his legs crossed and was very happy and did non-stop chatter. Alex' taxi driver was much different as it was a middle-aged man who was very 'laddy'. He sat slouched with his legs open wide and when he spoke his mouth didn't open very much. We all worked together as an ensemble by looking and listening, when we had to copy Alex, we all waited until we got used to her character's physical traits and accent, and then when we were ready we would join in.

- Matilda ^_^

9/11/14 - Reading 'East-End Tales'

Unfortunately, our lovely teacher wasn't able to teach us Theatre last Thursday, so we were taught by Mr Worden, nonetheless, we read through the script that is 'East-End Tales'!

I have never seen or read a script that unique before. I'm used to the traditional: 'Character - "Line"', but this didn't have any of that, it was more like a monologue, could even be considered a poem! I found the layout of this script very intriguing because it made me really think of different ways to perform it. An example of one way to perform EET could be for someone to play as the 'narrator' and read the lines while people mime the actions to bring the story to life. I also found the script very deep and emotional and the topics that were talked about were dealt with very well, some parts were quite upsetting! What I loved about reading the script was, there were no roles, so we came up with a way for everyone to read, if they wanted to. One person would start reading, and when you thought that you should read, you just jumped in, the person reading previously stopped and let you read. This worked very smoothly and I felt much more confident with myself because I jumped into read three-four times!

The play itself is, obviously, about the east-end and the everyday occurrences and thoughts that commence there. The script has been split into a prologue, 8 tales, and an epilogue. The tales vary in size, from half a page to three pages! The stories in the play have been influenced by photos and articles from local papers in the East London area.

My favourite tale has to be 'Tale 4' because it's about a young teen who helps an elderly woman go to the shops in the rain. I like this one as it shows that no matter what generation you are, anyone can be there to help and the stereo-typical rude teenager isn't true. It also shows that people can be kind wherever you are, just because the east-end is known as rough doesn't mean that it doesn't have helpful citizens. This tale shows one of the many good sides of East London.

One of the activities that my classmates and I did was to try and create a scene of the east-end of what we know without research. Mateo and Jake were spectators of our scene because they are from the east-end, so they were observing us to see how accurate we were. A summary of our scene: Smokers, thugs, annoying women on their phones, druggies, spitters, lots of rude people and just downright commotion! Mateo and Jake looked unimpressed! They explained to us that the east-end wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, it had it's fair share of druggies and smokers, but they said that lots of people are friendly with each other, kids play in the streets, wealthier businessmen and women left, right and centre and happy communities in the estates. So what I learned was, 'EastEnders' is nothing like the real east-end!

Everyone was split into groups of three-four, my group consisted of Sherene, Alabama and myself. We were asked to focus on 'Tale 6' which was about a young boy who was in a pub, recounting what happened when a woman accidentally spilt her drink down the front of a young man. Our task was to quickly re-enact a part of the tale to the rest of the class. Quite simply, we did what I said as the example earlier. Alabama was the narrator and picked out the most important lines to say while me and Sherene acted what she said in mimes, occasionally cutting in with our own speech. I think it worked well because every group's interpretation was slightly different!

I am really looking forward to learning more about this play and putting on a performance about it!

- Matilda ^_^