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)



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.

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. 

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.

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.