Saturday 20 December 2014

contemporary Theatre performance evaluation

What went well?
The blocking was strong at the start of the performance we all knew it very well it flowed very well, props were effective like the diary for example we passed it around to the person who was playing Rachel, my lines were delivered strong and with character. The way we told the story was c,ear and told in an abstract physical theatre style which is what made our performance different and strong.
What went wrong?
Towards the end the blocking became weak but that is because certain members of our group didn't come to rehearsals to help create new blocking that would have been stronger but they didn't remember the new blocking I gave to them, all of us had to have our scripts on stage with us, which showed weakness. We also had a member missing from our group, Shaine she had an accident and wasn't able to attend the assessment so we had to miss her parts of lines.
Overall on the performance?
The beginning was strong characters was strong the story we was telling in our own perspective and blocking went well and you could see this clearly. Our abstract physical theatre was strong and clear through the start, we should of worked on the end scene more but it was difficult organising rehearsals.
What would you do next time to make it better?
I think I would of rehearsed my lines more so that towards the end I was more confident with them, as a group we should of tried to organise more rehearsals so that our blocking would have been stronger throughout the performance and I think we know that as a group, but we still tried our best and tried to perform it as our characters to the best of our ability which I think was strong even though we had a group member missing.

contemporary Theatre 9

On pages 38 and 39 we repeated again the 'perfect' American garden scene with rachels mother and father played by sky and Chris is in the garden reacting to the email rachel has sent back to them they both comfort each other clearly showing the relationship and how they are worried for rachel.whilst this is happening Montana is typing up the email to the mother and father,  this scene is a split scene between the mother and father and rachel.
On the last paragraph on page 38 rachel is talking to her dad saying if he wants to pretend she's actually living a happy life then do so because that's what she likes to do to distract herself from the recurring horror in Palestine, whilst this is being spoken by me Chris is putting members of our group into different positions with the examples rachel has been giving him for example "I am in a Hollywood movie, or a sitcom starring Michael J fox".
The very last scene we worked on was all about rachel going to the bought pantry with her friend Colin,  ifs all about the 9/11 incident in America she hears this in a shop on the radio whilst in Palestine to show this we simply had everyone shopping around whilst I was talking then we all shared the lines from "I convinced Colin" up to the line "I figured if it was world war III" when we each say these lines we sit on the floor in a line  as if she was sitting on the pavement out side the shop looking very concerned and shocked with Colin, we paused for 3 seconds and then all shrugged. That's how we ended our script to really give that final message of the terror that Rachel is trying to stop and how maybe she's beginning to become used to terror having been in Palestine for so long.
I think this ending is strong we hope to give an impact on our audience.

contemporary Theatre 8

So we started off from where we left off on page 36 and 37, this scene is all about rachel making a check list and asking her friend to come and visit her, so Emmy who at this point is playing Rachel is making a check list on the things she has to either set up of do so as Emmy is saying her lines standing central all of us in the back or round the side act out the errands she needs to do.
The next scene which we also recreated at the rehearsal was page 37 which is all about the water supply for Rafah being shot at to workers and activist and receiving an email from her father, so we thought to repeat the scene from page 29 but instead of civilians being knocked out instead they are shot out to show the progression of terror through the play, this scene are my lines which I read out and the repeated scene is at the back of me, we thought that repetition would be f festive especially since the next time it's worse.
The next scene was rachels dad email, who is played by Chris he plays the father who has more of a close bond with rachel and let's her make her own decisions unlike her mother who worries a lot about rachel which doesn't mean the father doesn't, anyway Chris says all this whilst drinking a bear and having a barbecue with the mother on the hammock just like the previous scene this is again to highlight different world's through blocking.

Contemporary Theatre 7

Contemporary Theatre
Originally our blocking for pages 34 and 35  which is all about the emails that Rachel sends to her mother and father so we wanted to keep it quite simple  at first it was going to be me  sitting in the middle  Shaine to my left and sky to my right, I was going to react to the emails from Rachel’s mother in this scene played by (Shaine and sky) and then respond and they would do the same with my emails I think we may have had a small scene playing in the background acting out the emails but we changed that in rehearsals we changed the whole next scenes after page 34 and 35 which didn't really go well because of people not turning up to rehearsals, in rehearsals which me and some others of our group turned up to we changed the scene completely we wanted to show the difference between Rachel's parents world and  Palestinian world . So in the new blocking we had Sky and Shaine in a 'hammock' living in a luxury world talking to Rachel and with her husband having a barbecue. Me and Montana who was playing Rachel who at this point in the script are staying with family's in Palestine who offered to take her in and care for her, she talks about how she and a family who she is staying with have to all share a a room with the parents so to show this we had all of us from our group apart from Shaine and sky to bundle up and be asleep to represent the squished room, So because me and Montana hare lines in this scene whenever one if us spoke we would sit up and pretend to be on our computers replying to our mother, We thought this would be realistic and really dynamic with how we were showing two types of world's.

Thursday 18 December 2014

contemporary Theatre 6

In this lesson we wanted to continue with the blocking so we started with Montana small scene in the script to summarise she is talking about life and death and the different lives people live terror wise to show this we had two cloths to symbolise life and death for death we had a black Cape which Gian luca wears and we had a white Cape to symbolise life which Chris wears. Montana stands in the centre reading her lines Chris is to her left Gian luca to her right on the line "the difference between Hitler and my mother" Emmy steps forward symbolising the mother, on the line "the difference between Whitney Houston and a Russian mother" me, Shaine and Sky stand forward I pose signing symbolising Whitney Houston and Shaine and Sky play the Russian mother and her son dying we hold these positions until my line "And I knew back then" in which everyone circles round me shrugging and shaking there head because my lines is rachel talking about how she knows that her whole life is going to amount to one shrug so we thought it would be really effective that the whole group would circle round me to stress and add more of an effect to the message we was trying to convey about the shrugging because we feel that Rachel felt quite strongly about how people in Palestine reacted to the terror with a sort of shrug attitude.
The next scene we worked on was all about the tufah checkpoint  which is all about  the citizens wanting  to go  through  and start there jobs or who have errands to do it's to show to the audience how long people have to wait just to go to there jobs  which they should have the right to do , so we created a simple spread out licking to show this chris stands in the centre if the room to represent  the checkpoint which let's citizens through he wears a white cloth to create a wall through his body, to represent the wall  and a soldier.  Me, Emmy and Shaine play the women  we stand on the right hand side of the stage because Rachel in the script says "women and kids on right men on left" so of course we put Gian Luca, Sky and Montana on the left to play the boys and the lines on page 32 was our  wue lines to either go through or wait, for example "the women kneel, stand up again, and return " on this Gian Luca runs forward miming a yell to us the women and we kneel the. Stand up and go back to our original positions. After this short sequence me, Sky, Gian Luca  are trying to reach over chris looking in the other side to resemble  the people who want to  to visit families or go to there jobs and university's you can see this when Rachel says "this means that Palestinians who want to go and register for their next quarter at university can't."  Whilst we are on the side of begging to go over Montana , Shaine  and Emmy are looking back at us or trying to look over the wall upset and missing lived ones , we thought it was interesting to show it from this perspective because your seeing both point of views  and how it's effecting everyone with the checkpoint.
The last scene which follows straight after the checkpoint scene on pages 32 & 33 Emmys lines are next and her scene is all about how she has left rafah to stay in Palestine she talks about being I'll and a family taking care if her especially a woman who reminds her to keep in contact with her mother we showed this by Shaine who plays the woman comforting Emmy. Emmy is playing a sick Rachel in this scene and we showed this by Shaine simply walking her forward from the check point comforts her and cares for her and walks away this is all during Emmy's lines
Next lesson try and get more scenes blocked keep trying hard

Contemporary Theatre 5

Contemporary Theatre
We started to develop more blocking this lesson on Emmy’s scene on the  new IDF tower in Rafah, we obviously wanted something to symbolise the towers so we had Sky and Chris as the towers and Gian luca as the new tower, we wanted to show how Rachel (Emmy) was slightly scared and worried about the new tower so to show this we had Gian luca stand with a white sheet over him and Sky and Chris reveal him to the public whilst Emy reacts to this me and Shaine who are doing our laundry are just shrugging it off and confused to why she is reacting the way she is, this is to put more emphasis on the fact of how used to all this terror the citizens of Palestine are, also while this is happening Montana walks around hanging round banners as an activist with Emmy.
The next scene which is Sky's lines is all about how at 10pm people get shot down to show this we had Montana as the shooter watching over me, Emmy and Gian luca as if I was conducting an interview meaning I was playing Rachel and interviewing some citizens, Chris and Shaine symbolise the clock striking 10 on the line "but after about 10pm" that is our ques to check our watches and run out of the interview, when I run out I don't get shot obviously because I'm playing Rachel but Gian luca and Emmy do, after that scene ends we all end with a shrug with is something we do for the continuity for the play.
The last scene that we worked on was Shaine's lines, to summarise this part it's about how the media is telling everyone how people have been protesting in the UK and the USA we showed this by Shaine watching the TV reacting to me reporting on the TV the staging for this was all of us facing the front, Sky, Emmy and Gian luca protesting representing the USA and UK citizens, Chris creating a background by holding a white sheet behind me, and Montana played the person recording me, who was the only one with back to the audience this scene was very spread out.
This lesson was very productive we got a lot done and we plan to get much more scenes blocked next lesson

Contemporary Theatre 4

Contemporary Theatre
The next scene we started to focus on was Gian luca’s lines which focus on the water supplies of Rafah and how it is taken for granted, so we all discussed how we was going to show how soldiers are taking the water and how it’s unfair and wrong that they are able to control the water supplies, so me and Chris play two soldiers, Montana and Shaine play soldiers who are guarding the well and Gian luca, Emmy and Sky play the citizens begging for water. Me and Chris walk up to the well and ask permissions to be let through we drink the water handsomely and walk away and chuck the water on the citizens to mock them and we then knock them out this shows the power the army have over the citizens by levels with the citizens being on the ground below them, after this scene we then show in a more abstract way how the government and the army are taking the water. So Shaine and Montana are crawling to drink the water and me and Chris again are taking the water by using a blue cloth to symbolise the water Emmy and Sky are standing behind us with their hands to show how the government control and influence the Israeli army. We shrug in this scene towards the end of each of them we really thought it would be effective to keep shrugging every time something wrong and terrible happens to show how things like this is an everyday thing and how it’s become normal something terrible or wrong was happening to show people in Palestine and Rafah

The next part is Chris’s lines where he explains how homes are destroyed and there’s rubble everywhere because of the bulldozers, to symbolise the 12 meter high wall that Rachel (Chris) is witnessing in Rafah me and Emmy use a plain white sheet to show this which then later turns into a tank to shoot the children who are playing in the street sand bulldozing homes, the people who play children/protesters are Montana and Shaine and me, Emmy, Gian luca and Sky are the bulldozer/tank. We knew this scene was important because we wanted to show how homes are being destroyed and that the army is careless, we also stomped our feet to symbolise the bulldozers loud noise because realistically it sounds loud and scary and that’s the sort of impact we wanted on our audience.
Next lesson: focus on getting more scenes done for script

Contemporary Theatre 3

                                                        Contemporary Theatre
In today’s lesson we focused on casting and lines, playing Rachel is me but her lines are shared out to our whole group so it’s from different views and it’s more abstract because there isn’t many roles especially when there is 6 of us and basically only 3 speaking parts in the whole script which is: the mother, the father and of course Rachel. We took two lessons to do this only because the lesson after we was added a new member to the group. So everyone basically has parts of Rachel’s lines, but I in a way play the main part of Rachel physically, Chris plays the father of Rachel. Sky and Shaine play the mother, John luca, sky and Emmy share some of those lines. I’m quite pleased with my lines and I think the way we’ve set up the lines are going to be effective for our audience because it’s not only going to be focused of one person per character it’s going to be different people.
Next lesson: focus on developing more scenes from the script, try and devise them to become abstract.

Contemporary Theatre 2

                                                       Contemporary Theatre
In this lesson we were given a new member to the group, Montana we explained to her the moral of the story that we are doing for a play and showed her one of the scenes we had done. We all then thought of what we could do for our next scene and make it abstract because we didn’t want it to look GCSE we wanted to show the story through our bodies. So we started with the opening scene, we wanted to sum up a part of the start from the line “I rode on the bulldozer as it repaired the road throughout the day” up to the line “I don’t know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank- shell holes in their walls” but we didn’t add speech we only added in movement because Miss. Day wants us to layer our pieces so we understand each key element to put together a scene which is important to do so we value each element in our pieces for the play which will become more in depth and well thought through, so we all stood together and said ideas of what we could do for the scene and how to make it abstract, we started it off with me and Montana standing doing a sequence with our arms to show that we are protesting, because me and her are playing activist and I’m playing Rachel. Whilst we are protesting Chris, John Luca, Emmy and Shaine who are playing soldiers are driving by and watching us, they stop and get out of the car march in a straight line in front of us and shoot us they stamp their feet they stand up shrug and March away. We originally had them shooting with fake guns with their hands but Miss. Day said what would happen if we took that away, instantly it becomes more abstract so instead they just stamped there feet symbolising gun shots, we really wanted the stamping to be loud and deep because we want to shock or try and scare our audience to the reality of what a gunshot may sound like or how it might feel hearing a gun shot, whilst this is happening me and Montana are falling down in a slow, fast dynamic movement and showing facial expressions in slow motion after being “shot at” I’m hugging Montana’s lifeless body on the flow and the scene moves to the part of me putting Montana’s dead body under a blanket which is when it then turns into a child sleeping in bed I’m tucking her in when all of a sudden there are banging noises in the background symbolising the shots fired from a tank, I’m reacting badly to it worried for the child’s safety, whilst Montana (the child) is thinking what is she doing why is she acting like this. At the end of it I try and comfort Montana when she shrugs it of as if whatever, which is our groups message from this play that the war has made people become used to tragedy like it’s a shrug of the shoulder for them because they get tragedy everyday which is mentioned in the play.
This lesson I think it was very productive, we had a lot of creative ideas from everyone which is going to be useful for the other scenes and hopefully make this play more abstract and different so it has an effect on our audience. Next lesson we are highlighting our lines and officially casting people with characters.

Contemporary Theatre 1

Contemporary Theatre
So Miss Day introduced a play to us about a woman named Rachel who was an activist and when to Palestine in the middle of the Palestine war to protest that the Israeli stop what they’re doing to Palestine there enemies, we read through the script and I really felt attached to the main character (Rachel) until in the end Miss Day revealed that she was murdered by an Israeli tank, Rachel parents tried to sue the Israeli government for murder which didn’t work because the driver of the tank which ran her over claimed that it was an “accident” that he ran her over four times. This started off a class discussion on how silly war is and that it’s so unnecessary, I really liked this because I think this cold tell how passionate we were about this play and that we wanted to talk about it. After we split off into groups to start devising a piece for the play because we was going to do an abstract version of the play, my group started off with devising the water scene it’s when the Palestine are queuing for water but the Israeli can walk right through me and Chris played the two Israeli citizens being smug to the Palestine citizens that they get the water no problem, we showed this by John luca and Emy queuing for water and Shaine as the guard Me and Chris walk through and Shaine attacks the two citizens who become angry at our selfishness, we all walk away together and shrug because that’s our groups message and what we got from the play at how in the Palestine war, war happens every day and how it’s like a shrug of the shoulder, we really felt like this conveyed a message about the war and the citizens of Israeli and Palestine. We tried to make it abstract but I think next lesson we will work on the scene or maybe move onto another scene and try and make it abstract and different.
Overall I’m excited about this lesson and this subject, I think we can really make this play abstract and different one that draws in an audience.

Thursday 12 June 2014

Principles of acting


Overall Evaluation


I think the performance for the assessment went very well throughout all the times we had to go through the script, for other actors who had to play understudy's of some of the main characters. I kept in character the whole time and always performed it full out with my character, I was very happy with my performance I was a successful ensemble member what I like about an ensemble is that everyone has an important role to play if you pulled me out of the performance people in the ensemble would miss cue lines or movements and the performance would fall apart that's the same with everyone because everyone is important with this performance.as an ensemble, we all work as a team, listen and communicate with each other and be constantly in focus whilst being in character. I wouldn't have done anything different I believe that I did it full out and tried my best I never came out of roll and my character was consistent. Throughout rehearsals I realised how important the rehearsals were, they helped me develop my character and let me know how I think the role should be played and also how to show how my character is feeling in the script, I knew this already of course but this style of theatre that Steven Burkoff does for Agamemnon and other plays showed me how important it is to exaggerate physically, facially and vocally and just how important they are. I think my strengths were my facial and vocal expressions I really tried to express how my character was feeling and also to show what was happening in scenes so the audience find it better to understand and are more engaged to the performance, rehearsals helped me develop character and physicality for the performance and I think they definitely worked because my performance, character and us as an ensemble performance was strong and consistent throughout the script.
Overall - The performance went well as an ensemble we were strong and consistent we all worked as a team and responded well to each other and worked as a  team, individually: I was consistently in role and performed as my character full out to the best I could to make a good performance because as a member of an ensemble no one can not be in character from time to time or not putting as much effort in because you'll make the ensemble look weak and you'll be picked out from the group which isn't what its meant to be its meant to be as a whole, I did it full out which is definitely important as a member of an ensemble.


Principles of acting

Line running

Miss day told us that as an ensemble we needed to sound stronger and more in sync as a group, also people with individual lines needed to speak them better. so as a group we all stood in a circle and read through our lines full out and with character, I don't think there was one time were I didn't try my best with my lines in the line run, Laura gave others general directing notes who she thought weren't saying there lines right and was trying to motivate them. The only personal note I gave myself was to make sure that my effort in my lines was continuous throughout my performance for my assessment this line run really helped because I was able to actually hear myself and know how I sound or how I should change things to sound better for the performance, this helped me understand that my lines and how I'm performing them are right to the theme and to my character that I developed with those lines.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Principles of acting

What acting skills are required for performing as an ensemble?
  • Team work
  • concentration
  • listening skills
  • continuously in role
  • exaggeration
  • react well in time
  • projection
  • strong body language
  • communication skills
For our class performance as an ensemble for the play Agamemnon, we all had to use these skills like in the start of the play we all have to do a sequence of symbolised movements to certain lines
 for example the line "clawed hate" we all as an ensemble have to at the same time react to line being read out and reach across our body and claw our hands out and bring them back to our sides, the skills used there would be concentration, listening skills, react well in time, strong body language and team work. Another example would be that I had to listen to my cue line in the 'javelin' sequence, my line was "thrust" my cue line was "cut". so as a class and as a individual we all had to work and listen to each other so that we could perform the scenes well.


You definitely need these skills if you are to perform as an ensemble, because its all about knowing your cue and reacting well, and these skills will help you to perform well and make things easier for people in an ensemble for performance.

Principles Of Acting

What is an ensemble and how is it effective within a play?


An ensemble is when a whole cast in a play performs as a whole, everyone has an important role to play, there isn't times where its all about the main characters explaining and helping carry the story. The whole ensemble helps show a emotion or theme in the performance.


How is it affective in a play?
In my opinion an ensemble is very effective to portray an emotion or help give more detail to parts of the story, I think this way its easy for an audience to understand whatever performance they are watching, this helps them become more engaged to the performance and have more of a reaction to what the cast are doing.
In Agamemnon I believe it looks so much more powerful and really has a full effect on an audience, an ensemble for Agamemnon really works to help show emotions of characters even if its not in there lines its as if the ensemble is showing you what the character is thinking in there head, an extended conscious if you like. But some of the lines spoken together as a whole cast instead of one person just makes the whole play so bold and loud, it really helps with projection with characters instead of one person trying to travel there voice out to an audience and across the room.

principles of acting

Who is the author of Agamemnon? and what is his style of theatre?


Author-
Steven Berkoff wrote his version of Agamemnon but the original author of the story was: Aeschylus an ancient Greek playwright who wrote the story of Agamemnon.


Style of theatre-
Like smoking, naturalism can damage your health[3] which sums up Berkoff’s approach to naturalistic theatre. His style is non-naturalistic, often focusing on movement rather that voice. According to him, the only purpose of a script is to help “minimalise and physicalise[4] the story; stripping it down to its most basic components.
The theory of Total Theatre is key to Berkoff and stemmed from Artaud’s theatre style. Total Theatre maintains that every aspect of theatre must have purpose: every movement, that is choreographed; to each line, that is learned perfectly; to each lighting effect, that is used to convey a mood or message; to each sound effect, that enhances the audience’s experience; to each prop that has a use. The aim of Total Theatre is to create extreme moods to give the audience an overwhelming experience and to shock, amuse, scare, or amaze them.
 Reference : doesn't share name. "Steven Berkoff Theatre Technique" Blogspot.com. http://dramaandsuch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/steven-berkoff-theatre-technique.html?m=1 , 10/02/2013. Web. 11/06/14.
Conclusion - Steven Berkoff didn't necessarily re-write the whole play he just applied his own style of theatre, which is necessary I think with this play because its got such a bold story line and add the exaggerated movements and types of body language you can really make the performance effective to an audience in ways that will engage them and keep them wanting more.

Wednesday 30 April 2014

principles of acting


Adding movement and stage blocking to our Agamemnon scripts

bold words= my lines

Today we focused on page 17, we carried on from where we left off from page 16 where we all scatter out from "disband the fleet" from there we all stand there until the line "he chose his course" we all move in together for the sacrifice scene with Zoe who plays Agamemnon's daughter, she needs to be lifted by some of our classmates I'm not one of them but I stand there and react to what's going on in the sacrifice spread round the front of the stage whilst the others are lifting Zoe as if she is on the sacrifice table, I have to act like I cant do anything my hands are tied if the gods need a sacrifice then it needs to be done this explains the line where we all shout "wait" as if its a second thought like we don't need to do this or do we do this It's not really the right thing to do I really emphasise this part in my voice and facial expressions to show how I think my character would react like, we continue reacting to what's happening with Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter until my line cues her death and Zoe falls backwards and the other classmates behind her catching her the cue line is "her murderers with, why?" this line basically is Iphigenia (the daughter) pleading to the others with why me why did I have to die she is pleading for them to do something to save her from the sacrifice. when the line "the vision passes I see no more" we all scatter out again from our old positions into our new ones and whilst Clytemnestra says her part about how she is so angry about the sacrifice and how her daughter didn't deserve to die she had so much to live for whilst this happens the rest of us react to her words feeling bad and how she shouldn't of died and we could of saved her, with this part I really tried to put a lot of emotion in my face as if I'm looking back on a memory of the daughter being killed and showing the disgust and guilt on my face also grabbing my neck as if remembering them slitting her throat I really feel in my character at this point in the script, as if I've really experienced this horrific sacrifice. At the end of Clytemnestra's part she moves round to the other side to make an announcement as if she's about to make an announcement, us as the villagers we are being two faced and sarcastic towards her but some others like myself are really interested in what she has to say about the news of the war maybe or something else important, my line is "shh!" I really put emphasis on this line as if I'm really angry that they're talking because I want to hear what she has to say, after this part of the script Clytemnestra says "our armies have taken troy" we all react to being relieved and happy that the war is over and our soldiers are coming back from the 10year war some of us ask when or how she simply answers "the very night before this glorious day" we all shout a tribal shout as if cheering on and celebrating that we've won the war. we then stop from here we chose to end the script from here because we didn't have enough rehearsals to finish of the rest of the script because of the variety show and it was appropriate and the story still made sense to end it here. We then went through what we did before and practiced it all together. I loved this script it really made me come out more with my acting also to experiment with my character, its taught me to not be embarrassed and to just try my best to show emotions both facially and physically its important that we try and do both, its definitely helped me pick up new skills that will help me improve my acting later on in future scripts and characters. I really put a lot of emotion Into my character to how they are feeling in the sacrifice and guilt parts of the scripts I think this helped me develop the character more to almost get a feel of what they're feeling, to show there emotions and how they might of felt in certain scenes and made my character and performance effective to an audience, my lines I made into my own I stuck with  the original words I just added my own developed character to it and add in the themes of that section of the script and already my lines have more character and emotions to them., which will make them more appealing to an audience.

principles of acting


Thursday 6th march

Adding movement and stage blocking to our Agamemnon scripts

Bold words= my lines

In today’s lesson we focused on the boat scene in the Agamemnon script page 16, this scene is about how Agamemnon and his army are waiting in their boat for the sea to pick up its pace and let them travel faster. In this scene I play more of a physical role as the boat. Me and other class mates who have to be the boat our job is to sway back and forth creating an image to our audience that the sea is calm and steady. as a part of the ensemble who plays the boat we found it quite difficult at first to find out which way the left side of the boat was going to the right side, so we had to communicate with each other and figure out which way we was going, after we figured it out we wrote it in our scripts to learn and remember, we then started to sway slowly throughout the paragraph Francis speaks its from the line “where is the captain of the fleet” to line of “hoist yourself to helm and mast” this is where we pick up the paste of the swaying as if hope comes through a storm  and we sway faster and rougher showing the danger of the storm and how its picked up from being gentle. It was very interesting to do this because I’ve never really done anything physical like this for a scene with my body and it was very interesting that I was a part of the boat and helping explain the story. Whilst we are picking up the paste we all have to say our lines loudly and panicky as if we are a part of the storm, one of my lines is “the seas like vast shaking mountains” I think this is one of my favourite lines because I try and put as much panic and worry in to my voice also I really try to project my voice and I really try to show how bad the storm is. The fast swaying stops as soon as the line “top sail smacks barque” is said we all stop and when Francis says his first line “what must I do what remedy” we all turn in to stare at Francis in a circle around him, I like to think of this part as peer pressuring him to sacrifice his daughter to repay for lives that were lost, one of my lines are “a maid must bleed” I try to put as much emphasis into this line as possible as if I’m stressing to Agamemnon that this has to be done, the whole class apart from Francis shouts to him “do it” we all stand and stare at Francis and Shayne who play Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, she is asking him not to do it and warning him if he does she will get revenge on him. He says he must do the sacrifice otherwise disaster will follow if he doesn’t, Francis then says “disband the fleet” and we all scatter out to our new positions around the room. From there we went through the boat scene which at first was difficult but we pulled through as an ensemble and the scene came through beautifully. This lesson I learned that using our body’s in a performance is vital to help setting a scene but also more interesting to an audience and helps create more of a character, vocally I learned to put a lot of emphasis and try and think as a character how would I say this line or feel about it so I can show it in my facial expressions, this is good for development of my character because I feel like I'm learning more of my character each day. This lesson I learned using tone of voice and body language help incline to the audience what is happening and what my character is saying or trying to do. this is what I love about my character it has so many ranges of personality so its almost like playing multiple roles and different feelings at one point which helps showcase my acting more showing the different roles I am able to do. This style of theatre really helps showcase actors abilities physically and the script just adds to showcasing our talents as an ensemble.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

developing physical theatre


Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart
What worked well with the stage blocking and movement to the script of A Tell-Tale Heart?

One of the things that worked really well for me was the build-up of the scene, with all of the pieces of furniture moving slowly and building up faster and faster for them to all melt away next to the old mans bed to create angels and demons. To develop this first part of the script I would of tried to make it more obvious that there were angels there because it seemed that the demons were more noticeable in the scene, so maybe I would have had the angels do gestures like prayer hands or looking up to god, just something to let the audience know they are demons AND angels looking over at the old man. I think the narrator (the main character) who I was playing could have had more stage blocking like maybe more sneaking around the room staring oddly at the old man as if inspecting the eye, this would of made it more interesting and showed maybe how afraid and nervous the narrator was when near the eye, it would also show how vulnerable the old man was in this situation he’s partially blind, and its pitch black so he wouldn’t be able to see the narrator, I also would of have me walk off more in a sneaky way when the old man wakes up on the eighth night as if I’m still being precocious that the old man can sense me there so I can murder him.

Developing physical theatre


Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart
Working in groups for the staging and blocking of parts of A Tell-Tale Heart
1. (About the old man’s heart) "it grew quicker and quicker"
we wanted someone to play the old man who is laying on the floor and a person playing the narrator watching him sleeping and we want some people to get the sticks and make a large heart and make it pulsate slowly and then grow quicker as the narrator of the story grows closer to the old man and then play out the murder scene, we want the narrator to read the whole paragraph during the scene. Starting from that line “it grew quicker and quicker” up to end line of "his eye would trouble me no more" and for the pulsating of the heart to just suddenly stop representing the old man’s death.
2. "As the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier"
We again wanted someone to play as the old man asleep on the bed and someone playing the narrator watching him and for there to be some other classmates to stand in an orderly line and stand straight and pretend to be soldiers, but as the old man lies there and becomes uncomfortable we want them to start marching and pretending to play the drums with the sticks, to represent how the old man’s heart is becoming anxious. Whilst this is happening maybe for the narrator to shout out the line "as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier" or read out the start line “it was open—wide, wide open” up to the finishing line "as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier" and we then want to narrator to play out the murder scene and end when it is clear the old man is dead.
3."Because death in approaching him"
A person playing the old man lying on the floor sleeping and as he's sleeping a person playing the narrator standing there watching and we want some class mates to play death and approach the bed slowly and in a very sinister kind of way gather round the bed and maybe touch the old man or just circle round him at this point we want the old man to look anxious or make it seem like a bad dream as if he is sensing something there.

developing physical theatre


Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart
 What is the story A Tell-Tale Heart about?

Plot:

 The narrator an unnamed character starts by addressing the reader that he’s not mad but nervous, he then says that he’s going to tell a story that will defend his sanity but also confess to a murder in which he killed an old man. He loves the old man but hates a part of him in which he is afraid of his ‘evil eye’, he thinks that killing him will save the man from the ‘evil eye’ which shows he doesn’t realise he’s insane. The narrator explains that for eight nights he stares at the old man when he is sleeping by the old man’s bedroom door inspecting his eye. On the eighth night the old man wakes from his sleep inquiring about a noise he heard he doesn’t see the narrator or anything else, the narrator describes to the reader how the old man’s heartbeat quickens because he is afraid the old man goes back to sleep thinking it’s nothing only to be woken again by the narrator who then kills him with the old mans bed but not without a cry from the old man. The narrator then cuts the old man’s body into pieces and hides him beneath the floor boards; the narrator explains that he is no longer afraid of the eye or nervous as if he has been cured. All of a sudden the police are knocking at the old man’s door inquiring about a noise complaint made by a neighbour who had heard a cry or a scream coming from the house, the narrator who is very confident and no longer nervous allows them to conduct a thorough search of the house and the bedroom of the old man. He allows them to sit in the bedroom for a while and answers there questions confidently the police are convinced that he has done no wrong but whilst they are talking amongst themselves and laughing away the narrator has a break down saying to himself he can hear the old man’s heartbeat becoming louder and louder and tears the room apart and confesses to the murder of the old man.

Theme:

Love and hate is the two themes in a tell-tale heart, in a part of the story the narrator confesses that he loves the old man but hates his evil eye, which is why he dismembers the old man’s body, to separate the old man from his evil eye. His delusional state only lets him focus on the hate for the eye instead of the love he has for the old man.

Characters:

Narrator

He is in a very nervous paranoid state throughout parts of the story, his state also causes trouble for him to realise what’s real and what is reality, and he has a sort of love for the old man but hates his evil eye it makes him more nervous and paranoid. The Mysterious narrator says that he has intense hearing and later on in the story explains that he can hear a ringing noise, these are symptoms of tinnitus which can cause hallucinations. It seems that the character truly doesn’t understand his own insanity.

The old man

The old man has corneal ulcer which is an infection in the eye which can decrease you’re vision, this is why the old man struggles to see the narrator through the door on the eight night that he hears a noise because he is slightly blind. The old man seems to trust the narrator or perhaps the narrator is a carer for the old man, because the old man gives the narrator the run of the house. The old man is wealthy because the narrator states at one point “for his gold I had no desire” the narrator must be his carer if he knows of the old man’s money and has the run of the house it would make sense because he’s blind he may need help with certain things around the house especially since he’s old.

The three policemen

They don’t play a major role but they are what drive the plot to the end, they are wise on staying around the house because they end up seeing what the pressure does to the narrator and how he confesses to murdering the owner (the old man) of the house.

The neighbour

The neighbour has a small but massive role to the story, the neighbour shows us that the neighbour and the old man are isolated from the community, we can see this from when the narrator is worried that a neighbour will hear a noise but why not anyone else like the street or the town? It also proves that the character doesn’t go to the police that often otherwise the police wouldn’t have bothered going to the old man’s house. I think the neighbour is a sort of friend to the old man because why are they both isolated from the community which therefore states there must be some form of communication between the neighbour and the old man.
References:
Sparknotes, 2013, poesshortstories, www.sparknotes.com/lit/poesstories/section6.rhtml2noredirection=true , accessed 12/1/14
Shmoop, 2014, shmoopuniversity, www.shmoop.com/tell-tale-heart/characters.html , accessed 12/1/14





developing phyiscal theatre


Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart
Who is Edgar Allan Poe?

  • He was an author, American poet and an editor
  • Gothic fiction was what he was known for
  • Most of his themes were based on death, the effect you have of discomposure, being buried alive and the reanimation of the dead and mourning.
  • Beside gothic fiction and horror he also wrote, satires, humour stories and hoaxes.
  • When writing he mainly stuck to one theme and not a variety of themes.
     

Biography

  • Born 1806 and died 1849
  • His parents were both actors
  • He is the middle child of his siblings he is the 2nd of 3 children
  • Within 3 years of his life his parents passed away
  • He was adopted by a rich merchant who sold tobacco and his wife
  • Studied at the university of Virginia, but struggled to pay his fees
  • At 18 years of age he published his first book
  • In the year 1845 he published ‘the raven’ this poem was what made his name known and what made him big
     

Famous publications

  • The Masque of the Red Death (1842)
  • The Cask of Amontillado (1847)
  • The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)

Developing physical theatre


Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale heart
How did we as a class adapt it into a script?

before we got to setting up the scenes or any stage blocking our 'A tell-Tale Heart' we highlighted the speech of the narrator (internal thoughts), speech of the old man and echoes (stage whisper). it was a long process but only took one lesson to do this made it easier to set up lines and stage blocking for our scenes we devised. once we started devising the scene with the lines we where given I wrote down stage directions or what I was meant to do during or before the lines, I also wrote other students stage directions so I would know my cue lines or when to start saying my lines after a specific important movement. All of this annotating really helped me with understanding where I'm meant to be or what I'm supposed to do.
(pictures with email)



Monday 21 April 2014

developing physical theatre

Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart
lesson two of Adding stage blocking and movement to 'a tell tale heart' script

Todays lesson we went over the part we did in lesson one, we wanted someone to be the mysterious character 'the narrator' to be watching the old man sleeping because that was the scene we was acting out, I volunteered to play the part of  the narrator because I think the character is so interesting and different I was really interested in the role, also we didn't know whether the narrator was a man or woman because it is never revealed in the story, there would still be a clock because Skye was playing the other clock so the build up was still there, I had to stare at the old man for a bit before the build up was happening and say my lines that were given to me, I start of with the line "it is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain;" up to line of "thus rid myself of the eye forever"  the furniture is moving at this point calm and steady,  I had to build up my voice with the building movement of the bed furniture at this point I added more anger to my voice and slightly louder as if I was being irritated by something I think this showed  how mentally ill the character really was, I do all of this while saying the next lines "I undid just so much that single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for several long nights-every night just at midnight--but I found the eye was always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his evil eye"and as the furniture melted up to the bed to create demons and angels, I had to move closer. I carry on looking at the old man becoming louder and say the next lines "never before that night had I felt the extent of my powers--of my sagacity" I add more nervousness and anger to my movement and voice and said the next lines louder but not to point were I was shouting "I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern" up to the line of "the old man sprang up in bed crying out" I stop immediately and Reece who plays the old man says the lines as I walk past the bed staring at him because he cant see me that well "it is nothing but the wind" up to the line "it is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp". throughout this scene I tried to stare and look as sinister as I could I also wanted to try and show the need in my voice to get rid of the eye but also talk intrigued like my character is with the eye , that's why I wanted to go over the scene so I could get a feel of different ways I can be as my character, maybe there all weirdly calm on the outside but mentally unstable within, but I tried to make a sinister face as much as I could and work with what facial expressions I thought was needed and best fitted for the scene or what I was comfortable with.
We went through the scene multiple times so we could memorize the blocking and movement and the build up. I enjoyed this lesson because I loved the character I was playing, very mysterious and interesting, rehearsing also really helped with getting into my character more and becoming comfortable within the scene.

developing physical theatre

Sarah Brown
Edgar Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart
Lesson one of Adding stage blocking and movement to 'a tell tale heart' script

we started to build up the main scene of the mysterious character staring at the man sleeping, I was one of the clocks at first in the scene of the old mans bedroom, he is one of the main characters of the story. Physically to become a clock I had the help of the sticks that Miss. Day handed out to us which is what we used in one of our build up lessons before working on the script. Other students where pieces of furniture that you would find in a bedroom they also ha the help of sticks to create there shapes so it is easier for the audience to understand what object they are they were spread around the room placed like actual bedroom furniture. I had to use the sticks for the hands of the clock ticking around, my job as one of the clocks was too be the first ornament to make a noise or movement, other students which were other pieces of furniture had to follow after me by making a slow, quite noise or movement to start off, as I quickened moving the sticks and making a ticking noise the other parts of furniture had to quicken as well. But this all built up gradually it was not straight into a quick movement, after we are all moving fast and the movement has built up to its highest point we all melt to the side of the old mans bed, who is played by Reece Hodges he speaks the line of the old man inquiring about the noise to himself. we rehearsed this part throughout the lesson up to the end of the old mans lines so we could memorize the blocking and movement that was added.
this lesson helped me understand to how a scene should build up and have suspension in it, also shows how important and effective movement is in a scene.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Princples of acting

Thursday 27th February

Adding movement and stage blocking to our Agamemnon scripts
Bold words = my lines
In todays lesson we focus on page 15, we went through the start of the script cleaning up bits that were slightly messy and then we got up to page 15 from where we left off. We are in our new positions from where we run into them shouting our lines and finish off with "HACK", Shaine walks on from the left side of the room and stands upon a chair to show her power and what she's saying is important, we all look up to her as she says her lines and then Francis who is playing Agamemnon comes in from the right side of the room and stands upon the chair to show his power and what he's saying is important. The two are saying how they have parted because Agamemnon has had to leave for the war, Clytemnestra is saying that her husband is gone and he is no longer an interest to her, she is now sleeping with Aegisthus (Agamemnon's cousin) because her husband is away at war "my husband is in troy, he has left me, he is a memory that is faulty, he is desire that is curdled, stride through my body Aegisthus, send your armies through my veins". Agamemnon is saying that he has left and he is no longer interested in Clytemnestra and how he is going to fight in the war "I am in troy, I have left her, she is a memory that is faulty, she is desire curdled, I float in heat and blood, I stride through men's flesh like cancer, my hands are the claws of eagles". After this we are all still standing in our positions spread across the room and our lines all represent how the Greek civilians have been waiting years for the war to finish, as we say our lines we have to do a really creepy face and say it in a slow creepy way, whilst tilting our heads to the side and hold it there until the end of the chorus lines I start of the lines with "meanwhile we wait" I found it a little difficult to do the creepy face and voice because I was slightly embarrassed but that's what I like about this script it pushes you to do these sort of things and helps you become more confident in that area. after that part of the script we all look forward towards the audience and stand there whilst Clytemnestra speaks her part about how the gods will seek revenge on the war and that her Childs life will be taken as sacrifice to the gods. we then moved on to page 16 which is where Shaine's lines finish and the chorus start explaining about how Agamemnon is on a boat and how his men are growing stale because of the horrible wind, we walk out from our old positions and we form a boat as a ensemble and hold each others hands, to make the boat more interesting and realistic we added swaying movements to show that the boat is moving, unfortunately we had to finish off from here and carry on page 16 next lesson. Todays lesson was interesting I had to slightly come out of my comfort zone and do some interesting lines, facial and vocal expressions. This lesson I've learned how to come out of my comfort zone in the 'meanwhile we wait' scene even though I was slightly uncomfortable with doing a creepy face and voice I really did try vocally to go into that creepy old voice, I know I need to work on my facial expressions for this point in the script to become more of my character and develop more of that character and show how I'm feeling vocally and facially to the audience, but also to become more comfortable with this part in the script, I would try and achieve this by not being embarrassed or just keep going over that section of the script to become more confident with that part.

Principles of acting

Thursday 20th February


Adding movement and stage blocking to Agamemnon scripts
Bold words = my lines
This lesson we returned to page 14 from where we left off and went through Helen's and Paris's love scene who is played by Tarrik and Amy P. Were we left off last time we was all surrounding Tarrik and Amy P in a semi-circle looking at them in disgust because they are having an affair against Menelaus Helens husband while staring we say our lines about how this affair is having an impact on the war we are whispering this to the audience as if its a forbidden secret one of my lines is "Trojans drowning in each others blood". This is one of the reasons aggamemnom went to war to defend Menelaus because they think Paris had kidnapped Helen which he did kidnap her until them two actually develop feelings for each other. We all surround the two and look at them in disgust and Tarrik says his lines talking to Helen about making love to her, when he finishes his lines he leans in to kiss Helen  and freezes there, we continue with whispering to the audience talking about Helen and Paris one of my lines are "insatiate weapon" then at the end of the lines we shout out in anger "TEN THOUSAND MEN, TEN THOUSAND TIMES, WILL TROJANS BELLIES OPEN UP TO THEM" from those lines we run in a opposite position into our new positions spread across the room shouting the actions of what is happening in the war, one of my lines is "thrust" and after everyone has announced our lines we all shout "HACK" and stand in our new positions, which is being spread out from across the room. from here we kept rehearsing running into our new positions so we could memorize where we stood and make it effective enough to show the anger in our voices as if we are in the war, we kept running it from the start of the new part that we just added and kept going over it making sure that we all understood what we were doing and to make sure it looked effective and clean. This lesson I really got a feel of what my character feels with this part of the script and I really tried to project and show anger in my voice to show those emotions with my character, this will have an effect on the audience because you are intimidating the audience by shouting at them and giving them a taste on how you as the character feel. 

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Principles of acting

Thursday 13th February


Adding movement and stage blocking to Agamemnon scripts
Bold words = my lines

Today we worked on the first part of page 14 which is a battle sequence in-which we are spread across the room with our fighting partners, we all chose our own partners to choreograph a fight after the two separate lines are read which are "I am fighting for Troy" and "I am fighting for Greece". My partner is Amy Barnard and our fight that we choreographed is fighting with our hands rather than weapons I think this is a more brutal way of fighting and could show a little story that our weapons are gone and our fists are our last resort, after the fight sequence is over the people who are 'fighting for Greece' have to end up on the floor because in the story troy does win. The people playing troy start off shouting "your blood soaks me" "your sword is my pain" "your skin tears like silk I am fighting for troy" "I am fighting for Greece" "you are killing me brother "you are killing me" and then we all scream and the fighting scene finishes. We kept going over the first pages into the fight sequence so we know our queues for us to run out of our triangle formation and into our fighting positions. After going over that part of the script we moved on to the next part of page 14 which is the part were we all surround Tarrik and Amy P in a semi-circle Tarrik and Amy are playing Helen and Paris, we only got up to here in the end of the lesson and this was to carried on next week. This lesson I learned to project my voice and stay in character throughout awkward or uncomfortable situations.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Principles of acting

Thursday 6th February
Adding movement and stage blocking to our Agamemnon scripts


In the first lesson of adding movement and stage blocking to our script we started with pages 12 and 13. Were all in a triangle formation staring down at our feet and on the first line "this is Argos" Miss day wanted us to look up and say the line all together because we are all narrating parts of the story, so this prepares the audience that this is how the story is going  to be told also its quick and bold which is an effective way on how to start the story. on the line "Agamemnon murdered his own child" The whole of the class turns to Agamemnon and gasps in shock, this really is quite effective because it indicates to the audience what kind of character he is and how they should be feeling. Later on, on page 13 we are still in our triangle formation looking towards the audience, on the line "clawed hate" we reach out then to our sides with both hands at the same time, then on the next line "wings beating they swooped" we swoop down as if we are a bird 'maddened for the prey' we go back to our first positions in a triangle and on the line "they ripped they tore" we reach up and down with our arms across the opposite side of our body as if resembling something being ripped and torn. we again go back to our first positions and on the line "the gods above heard the furore" we look up as if looking at the gods and hold our hands up as if pleading something, we hold this position but then start melting down on the line "and so the house of Atreus swept on to crush the house of Priam" on the word 'crush' we hit the floor so it really gives that melting down effect more of a sound instead of it being silent and boring. After we added these directions to our scripts Miss. Day wanted to go over it again and again to make sure we was all in sync and it was strong and well remembered. This lesson gave an insight to what my character is going to be feeling in this part of the story and just to try different ways of how to show how my character is feeling by going through facial expressions or physicality, I will work on my character and analyse my script to see what I'm meant to be feeling in this first part of the script and how we are going to be setting the scene.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Historical context self study

Briefly explain peter brooks production of 'a midsummer nights dream'


This production directed by Peter Brook was immensely influential. Brook approached the play with deliberate radicalism, taking up the baton from Granville-Barker almost 60 years earlier who innovatively presented the play in London on an apron stage with minimal set.
The set consisted of a brilliantly-lit white box which replaced the traditional Dream set design of pretty forest and classical Athenian court. The actors wore bright silks and performed circus skills such as plate-spinning and trapeze-swinging, inspired by Chinese acrobats.
By doubling the roles of Oberon and Theseus and those of Titania and Hippolyta (played by Alan Howard and Sara Kestelman), Brook made it clear that the Fairy King and Queen were the alter egos of the mortal rulers. In this way, Brook suggested that the conflicts and erotic adventures of the nocturnal wood were the uncontrollable eruption of subconscious fears and desires


Reference:
Royal Shakespeare company, 2014, Royal Shakespeare company, http://www.rsc.org.uk/explore/shakespeare/plays/a-midsummer-nights-dream/1970.aspx , accessed on 5th February 2014


Why do you think peter brook's production of 'a midsummer nights dream' was so revolutionary?
Peter brook's midsummer nights dream is revolutionary because he sent a message to other artist that we can interpret ideas or the script for him and make it you're own. That abstract is more interesting and personal for our audience, to make them more involved in the art or performance. He helped other possible artist discover that its time for classical and original art or theatre to become more our own and modern.

Monday 3 February 2014

Principles of acting

Thursday 30th January
Aggamemnom


This lesson we went through the script and highlighted our lines and rehearsed parts that the class would have to say in synchronisation. we also was set objectives:
  • Being off script
  • knowing cue lines
  • Tone of voice
Style of ensemble:
  • formation
  • synchronisation
  • image through body language
  • speaking and moving as one
  • chorus as narration
Miss. day told us what she is marking us on and what we have to be able to do on this term assessment which is:
  • how well you take direction and feedback
  • quality of performance
  • how you interpret the script and style
This lesson it helped me get a feel of my character and what they say and know what I'm saying in the script but it also lets me see how I'm meant to be feeling in certain scenes which will help me work on my character development so I know how to feel or what I'm meant to be showing facially or physically.

principles of acting

Thursday 23rd January
Steven Burchoff's aggamemnom


This lesson was helping us understand the plot to aggamemnom and what was the relationship between the characters, this lesson helped me hugely to understand everything to do with the script and will improve my performance especially if I'm suppose to be explaining it. the skills I learnt today was how to research and understand my scripts story line more so I know what story I'm telling, what part I have in the story and how I should feel as my character.


Principles of acting

Thursday 16th January
Steven Burchoff's aggamemnom


Today we studied Steven Burchoff and how he uses the full potential of his actors and stage, so to understand how useful and effective this is during performances we tried some starter exercises of teamwork and ensemble room exercises.


Frog pad
The key to this exercise is to have good spacial awareness and good eye contact with others. you have to imagine that you are a bunch of frog pads floating on top of the water and that someone who jumps is the frog, when the frog  jumps you must imagine that you the frog pad are in the water and that that jump is going to cause a ripple effect in the water, as a class at first we were slightly slow in some areas but once we kept working together as a class and figuring out when it was our turn to jump it became successful, because we used good listening skills, teamwork and concentration.


The plate
so as a class we had to imagine we were on a plate that was balanced on a stick I was the person on the opposite side of the whole class and wherever I went they had to be opposite of me other wise the plate would drop. this was a fun exercise and really helps you with special awareness, teamwork, communication skills and reacting well in time.


Make a room out of body's
This exercise was hard we had to create a room with our body's this was challenging because we had to think of small details as well for creating a room and as a class we wasn't working together each clique group was doing there own thing while other cliques was also trying  to figure out. but eventually at the end of each one we came together as a group and really thought about what furniture or objects we could be, this helped up more with realising that if we are going to do things as an ensemble then we need to have good team work skills.


After all the exercises Miss. Day gave us a script called aggamemnom and said that Steven Burchoff's version is really good for staging, special awareness and teamwork as actors. Myself and other class mates have been given the part of the chorus that narrate parts of the story. I'm really interested in Steven's style and the script itself and cant wait to see what its going to look like staged and it being acted out.


Overall this lesson was really good to prepare us for the script and the style of how we are going to do it, which will be as an ensemble.
The skills I learnt in this lesson where team work, listening and concentration, this will help me respond and react to others body language or lines physically. like another group piece we are doing called 'A Tell Tale Heart'.

Developing physical theatre

Sarah Brown
Tuesday 14th January
Edgar Allen Poe's 'A Tell-Tale Heart'


For a self study we had to research the plot and characters of the story 'A tell tale heart'. doing this helped me understand the language and content of the story, also helping me understand the main character more and what is wrong with he/she. We then shared what we had found out about the story and what its style was, so even if you didn't have information that the other classmates had then you could just write them down and then you haven't missed out on anything important.
Style
  • abstract
  • surreal
  • dream-like
  • unrealistic
  • fantasy
  • over the top
We then was given a sheet by Miss. Day of information on Edgar Allen Poe it was a sheet of information based on the famous writer to help us understand him more and what kind of style his writing was which is gothic fiction, horror, satires, humour and hoaxes.


Overall this lesson really helped me understand not just the story and characters but the writer as well.