16/2/15 - Final evaluation

On February 12, my ensemble and I delivered two performances of 'East End Tales' which we have been working on for about two terms now. It was performed with physical theatre, lack of props and scenery, and no conversational dialogue. I think our performance was a great success and everyone should be proud of what we achieved, I know I am!

We developed ideas for the performance by using the play-script itself, doing deep research and also class discussions. In the early stages of research, we discussed altogether that because there isn't a specific role to give out, we should have to think of a creative and imaginative way to perform 'East End Tales' The script was structured out as a monologue, also like a poem, and so we decided that physical theatre would be a good option. I had never done any form of physical theatre in drama before so this was exciting to me. This term wasn't just working on physical theatre, but also improvisation. I don't particularly like improvisation, but in these past two terms, I've grown a bit more comfortable with it. During the rehearsal process, I could see that we made progress every lesson. We made progress in our improvisation, team work, listening and leadership. We let everyone have their own individual moment. Before the actual rehearsals, we did mini improvisations of our own so we could interpret the texts ourselves with our own views and opinions.

There were a lot of strengths in the final piece and there were a lot of moments that worked really well. One moment that really stood out was in tale 5 where Taffy is being carried away by other actors. This was to symbolize her body being taken away after her death. My favourite moment was in tale 6 when the lady puts her hand on the man's shoulder and his anger melts away. I think this moment affected the audience because the whole scene was very suspenseful because his anger was building up and then it suddenly vanishes. We wanted the audience to feel a connection with the characters as the man was letting his guard down and we wanted the tense feeling to have an impact on the audience, we wanted them to feel emotion for the two people. I think the scene was perceived well by the audience because it was a very still, quiet moment for the play, with nobody moving. An effective moment created by another actor was Harmony's line 'You are the weakest link, goodbye.' This line was effective because it created a small atmosphere of humour because in a way, it took the idea of domestic violence and sort of made it surreal, as if it was just a game, or a TV show.

The two main weaknesses of the piece were pace and the storytelling. Especially in tale 2, the pace was quite slow, I wanted people to be interrupting each-other, in which I tried to do but the pace of the scene kept me back from doing it. If the pace was faster then it could have been 10x more exciting. What made up for the lack of speed was the way in which each line was delivered, everything was spoken differently to give the tale levels. The storytelling itself could have used a bit more commitment from everybody. It's a story, so it should be thrilling when you  tell it to someone who hasn't heard it. We should be accounting each story as if it's the first time we're telling it.

The main acting skill I have developed is trusting someone else and working in a team who all have different ideas. I don't particularly like working in groups, but this project has let me put trust in my classmates and not have to be the only one doing any work for once. I have learnt that acting isn't all about dialogue, you can show a great lot of emotion and messages through your physicality and just overall using your body.

Reflecting on my personal management skills, there isn't a lot to say to be honest. I learnt my lines during the Christmas holidays, I always made sure to stay focused in the classroom and I gave 100% effort every rehearsal.

In conclusion the performance went very smoothly both times (even if I was pretty ill) and I think I have definitely developed my skills as an actor by participating in this project. I feel more confident with improvisation, team work and physical theatre. I can't wait for the next project!

- Matilda ^_^   

16/2/15 - Overall research

This is an overall evaluation of the research that I did for this project.

'East End Tales' is set in the East End of London (east of the Roman and medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames.

East End present day

East End 1882 

The play doesn't exactly specify where in the East End it is set so you can imagine the story happening anywhere there. To be honest, the tales and stories that occur in this play don't just take place in the East End, they can happen anywhere.

'East End Tales' doesn't have a specific day, month or year in which it is set in. It is set in the present, it is set right now, this very second because the drama in the play are things that happen every single day, these things can happen to anyone at any random time.

The East End has always been, stereotypically, a rough area to live in, an example of this is it's portrayal in the media ('Eastenders'). The writer, Fin Kennedy, wrote his play using photos and news articles from local newspapers as inspiration. Some of the tales are quite gritty and dark, but some are also quite happy and very easy to connect with, showing that the East End cant be as bad as anywhere else. (Although I am saying this but I haven't been many times myself so I don't know first-hand).

Also, the specific tales Kennedy chose to write about are very relatable, not like if you've experienced any of it primarily, but it does appear in the news a lot or if you've witnessed it yourself from friends, family or neighbours.

Here are some links to news articles and photos that could influence a play like 'East End Tales':

Bow cab driver pleads guilty to sexual assaults
Pupils pack East End Jewish cemetery to remember Auschwitz
Stroke survivors hold public fair in East End to explain how to avoid risk

As I've never really been to the depths of the East End, this research had helped me an awful lot. I also got a lot of research out of some of my classmates because Jake and Matteo both live in the East End, so we got told stories about certain interesting characters in their area, the scenery and the overall atmosphere. They said that the atmosphere is pretty good as everyone knows each other and it's a good community. Of course there are drugs and crimes but the towns aren't all run down and dodgy.

Research helped me with my characterization. I'm not playing one character, I'm playing multiple characters, like a narrator, along with everybody else in my ensemble. Learning about the different types of faces and people in the East End of London helped me to differentiate my speech and objective to every character.

- Matilda ^_^

28/1/15 - Rehearsal

With the actual performance in a few weeks,  I think its safe to say that everything is coming along nicely with rehearsals. Just a few more things need polishing off and changing, and then we're done!

In last Thursday's rehearsal we ran through tale 5 again, my group finished working on tale 6 and the whole cast ran through tales 1, 2, 3 and 4 again (which were just a bit rusty because we haven't gone through those tales since before Christmas!)

Tale 6 is finally taking shape, a few more runs of the ending and it will be pretty much sorted. At the end of tale 6 we get into partners and come up with a small sequence of slow physical movement. Me and Lloyd did have a sequence but we are going to think of better movements which will cause us to use levels because right now ours looks a little boring.

The main focuses of the next rehearsal will be getting all the technical things sorted.

Set yourself three rehearsal targets

1. Think of a new routine with Lloyd so it's more interesting and eye-catching.
2. Keep being persistent in my listening and focus as always.
3. Learn to be on time with all my queues.

Reflect on the targets set: Have they been achieved? How?

I have achieved one of my targets from last week which was to add more character to my voice so I don't just sound like a robot. I thought about how I'm going to deliver my lines and I'm much more confident now about doing so.

What would you give yourself for today's rehearsal? Why?

I would give myself a merit/distinction again because I know I'm working my best and my hardest in everything but I don't know if I'm for for a distinction.

- Matilda ^__^

21/1/15 - Rehearsal

We got a lot done in last week's session, we managed to plan the rest of tales 6 and 7 and finish tale 5. I've already learnt all y lines, so now I just need to remember when and where I come on and off stage.

I really enjoyed the work I did in the session because of the amount of progress we all made, it was a very productive lesson! me and my group working on tale 6 have finally finished running through the whole scene, now we just need to polish it off, it took a long time because our scene was pretty long, but we managed to include lots of physical theatre, (which is a good thing because that's the main focus this term!) We have added a lot to tale 5 because it is the longest, most complicated tale. We used different techniques, one I really like is when Jake and Sherene go in the room behind and have an argument and the audience will only be able to hear them, not see them. This will give the effect that an argument is taking place 'next door'. 

I decided to type up the self-observation sheet straight onto the computer because why not?

Unit 15 Performing Scripted Plays Rehearsal Self Observation

Marking criteria:

P2 Demonstrate personal and technical skills in rehearsal making a positive contribution to the process

M2 Demonstrate personal and technical skills in rehearsal, consistently making a positive contribution and constructive contribution to the process.

D2 Demonstrate personal and technical skills in rehearsal with consistently positive and constructive contributions, engagement, commitment, input and self- reflection.

Set yourself  three rehearsal targets:

1. Remember my blocking.

2. Add more character to my voice so I don't just sound like a robot.

3. Still give it my all in every lesson so I'm on the ball.

Reflect on the targets set:  Have they been achieved? How?   

Looking back at my targets from last week, I have learnt my lines well enough so I say them smoothly so I do keep the flow of the scene going. I did (like always) keep a positive attitude through the lesson, even when I was hungry and tired, and even when I wasn't in a scene and just waiting. I spoke up a little bit more in my group and some of my own ideas are in tale 6 which I like allot!

What would you give yourself for today’s rehearsal? 

For last week's session, I would give myself a merit/distinction because I feel like I tick all the boxes for those two, I make sure that I am consistently self-reflecting on my acting and others, contributing to scenes and ideas, and committing myself to everything.

12/1/15 - Recap on Tales 1 & 2/ tales 6 & 7

Last Thursday's session was mainly focussing on recapping tales 1 and 2 and creating tales 6 and 7. I'm not in tale 2 so for me and the rest of the girls we focussed on tale 1.

Going back through the tale made us realise that there are things that we could do to improve our piece, like our characters. Everybody had interpreted their own character so everyone had different accents and personalities but it didn't quite match when we said it all together so we now speak in the same typical 'East-end' accent. When we ran through it like that it sounded smoother and more fluent. Everybody has already learnt their lines so that wasn't a problem. Some cues were a bit delayed but other than that it flowed well. The tempo, however, needed a bit of speeding up because our feedback from the director was that it was a bit jagged and slow. It needed to be as if we were saying gossip, and each line was overlapping each other in fast movements to make it more exciting. Lastly, some of us had to speak up because some lines couldn't be heard clearly.

Tale 6 rehearsal 

Tale 1 rehearsal 

We were split into two groups (I was tale 6) and we, as a group, had to independently come up with all the ideas and create the scene ourselves. My scene was the argument in the bar. We chose lots of creative elements which I think are going to work really well. The first creative
choice we made was for two people from the other group to hold up a sheet at the back so two people can go behind it and create a silhouette of the argument on the bar. We chose to do this because it's different and it will help the audience to focus on the actors instead of the argument taking place, it will also make the scene abstract and interesting to watch. The second creative choice we made was for everyone to do certain moves at the same time or say the same line at the same time, to give it a sense of routine and order. We thought this would work well because it would help represent that we are all actually one character.

We definitely haven't finished our piece (we are only about halfway) and the parts we have rehearsed need polishing off immensely but we are very happy with what we have done. We haven't particularly thought about what we want to do next with the dialogue, we've been working on things step by step.

- Matilda ^_^

4/1/15 - My lines and script

Before I say anything else, happy new year! Anyway, the last lesson before we broke up for the Christmas holidays, we rehearsed the rest of tale 4 and started tale 5.

My task over the holidays was to learn all my lines, I know I'm going to be prepared with them for the first Theatre lesson of the year! Learning the lines off by heart is always a good thing, especially as this is a physical theatre performance, we don't need scripts getting in the way while everyone is moving about. 

For each tale everyone is working in an ensemble and I have a character for every scene, whether that just be me or a group of people playing it. 

I have been asked to go through the whole script and summarise every character I am playing in each scene.

Prologue - I am simply one of the headlight's to Lloyd's taxi.
Tale 1 - One of the many women describing what the East End would be like if it was her friend.
Tale 2 - I am not included in this scene as it is boys only.
Tale 3 - I am one of the many witnesses to what Jack does.
Tale 4 - I am one of the many narrators to Nina's thoughts and feelings.
Tale 5 - I am playing (along with others) the thoughts that are going through the child's head while the abuse is taking place next door.
Tale 6 - I am the boy narrating what he sees taking place in the pub.
Tale 7 - I am only in the ensemble for this scene, repeating lines that the cashier clerk said.
Prologue - I return to being one of the headlights to Lloyd's taxi.

I chose three of my lines and wrote what the objective was in saying it, this will help me know actually how to say it, and with what emotion.

'All 10p of it' - The objective is to show how little she probably usually gets from her dad, so she is used to getting so little.
'No way
Not at all' - The objective is to show how against that statement we are'
'And the next
And the next
And the next' - The objective is to show that is keeps happening. It could start to get boring because of the repetition. 

- Matilda ^_^

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 ^_^