This lesson was spent developing Robert's scene (scene four). He decided to have a fairly naturalistic approach by acting the scene out. Initially I was quite worried about this as I thought it was steering away from the idea of telling a story and heading towards devising. However, all the narration has been kept and is being told by Robert (who is also playing the role of the Crow). He has given me the part of Gerda, Rhiannon as the princess, Charlie as the prince and the others as chorus roles. Lewis also has the role of the "lamp"; we decided to have an actor play this role instead of using a prop to ensure that all transitions were smooth (so we didn't need to leave and pick up a prop and come back) and also to make this scene more abstract. We staged the piece so I would almost follow Robert round the whole time and the others would play the characters we run in to on the way or become the scenery (for example, at one point the rest of the group form "rose-coloured satin" hanging, "embroidered with artificial flowers". Moreover, whenever our characters have dialogue we shall speak it whilst Robert then says a reporting clause. This therefore ensures that we keep to the idea of telling a story as opposed to performing the scene.
Research: I have decided to listen to a few celebrities who I enjoy listening too to work out why I enjoy listening to them. I will try to work out what makes their voices so engaging to me and I shall try to incorporate this into my narration (to make my scene more engaging to the audience to try and hold their attention throughout the piece). Below are the celebrities I listened to and what I liked about their voices:
- STEPHEN FRY -- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf14im33I) -- good use of pauses to create intrigue / constantly varies in pitch / puts on different voices for different characters / uses his breath to create natural pauses / pronounces all consonants to be clear -- very soothing
- TOM BAKER -- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r35GVB_2xmk) -- emphasises certain syllables and consonants to focus the listener on important details / varies his tone to be more engaging / well-spoken so is clear / doesn't over-pronounce vowels so not annoying or overly posh
- JUDY DENCH -- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lFe_MPduhw) -- constantly varies tone and tempo / very well-articulated / quite husky yet clear / understanding approach yet sense of security about it
