Commedia dell'arte (11)

We began this lesson by adding elastic to our masks so we can wear them in our lessons now. We have made a rule: when we are in masks we are in character - if we wish to speak to each other not as our characters then we have to face the wall to take our masks off as to not spoil the illusion. We will use our masks every lesson now to ensure we get a lot of practise in them. The masks completely alter our focus points as our peripheral vision is dramatically decreased when we wear the masks. Although this makes our lives difficult as we have to look directly at what we need to see with our heads (as opposed to using peripheral vision or looking just with our eyes) it does make us look directly at the audience to acknowledge them.

I then ran a physical warm up as to make our risk of injury (for example, pulling a muscle) a lot less. We then did an in depth characterisation exercise to help us with ideas for new scenes. The first section of our characterisation exercise was to move around the room as our characters (so with our masks on), thinking about what part of our bodies we lead from (for example, Zanni leads with his nose and toes, whilst Il Capitano leads with his chest). For the second section of the exercise we had to greet the characters we walked past using Gromalot (or not greet as the case may be depending on status and if we think our character would choose to interact with the character we are walking past). The final section in the exercise was to walk around and see how our characters moved when given different emotions. Below is what I learned from each section of the warmup:
     ((1)) The parts of my body I lead from are my elbows and my ears. I travel with bent knees.
     ((2)) I greeted Pantalone as if I really respected him. I greeted Doctor slyly. I greeted Columbina with contempt. I greeted Harlequin with anger (as his character typically frustrates Brighella). I greeted Il Capitano with sarcasm as I think my character sees him as pathetic. I greeted Zanni by belittling him.
     ((3)) I found the anger and curious emotions were pretty much my character naturally, but I struggled when it came to being told to be "sad". This was because I don't think my character would really be sad about anything and instead would be angry.


Thoughts progression in this lesson:

• Staging - Cabaret style (different, casual and laid back - suits Commedia) - bit like being in a restaurant
• Scene idea - a wedding? - the lovers could get married - not having the lovers so everyone organising - what could go wrong? - something bad could happen to the cake - food - restaurant - restaurant instead of wedding
•  Who's involved at a restaurant - guests, manager, head chef, dishwasher, waiters - who could be who? - guests could be Pantalone and Doctor (as they come as a pair and have high statuses) - dishwasher could be Zanni (as he has a very low status) - head chef could be Il Capitano (as he think he is the best) - manager could be Brighella (as she can watch what everybody is doing and manipulate things) - waiters could be Harlequin and Columbina (Columbina could flirt with the guests, whilst Harlequin can't be trusted in the kitchen so is sent out of the way whilst being watched)

Things that could go wrong in our restaurant / would be funny:

• Il Capitano throwing lettuce about as he is cooking and then a packet of crisps is on the plate to be served
• Zanni running about with a lot of pots of pans piled up which look like they could fall over any minute (but are actually glued together and Zanni actually succeeds with something!)
• Plates crashing to the ground and making a loud noise in a previously calm and quiet restaurant
• Il Capitano claims that he makes everything from scratch and how amazing he is... when in fact he is "cooking" microwaveable meals
• We could have a performer booked for the evening who doesn't turn up, so we get Zanni up to perform. He "sings" (mimes) a song to a track, which is then cut when Harlequin pulls out the plug, leaving Zanni "singing" (squawking)
• Harlequin spilling drinks on people
• Having critics in the restaurant but mistaking them for someone else - thus treating someone else really well and not caring for the critic at all - in fact treating the critic exceptionally bad because they are focussing on who they think is the critic
• Harlequin stealing food off people's plates (as his character is always hungry)
• Kitchen inspection from a health & safety inspector and the most inconvenient time
• Harlequin plays a prank and puts a dead rat in the kitchen
• Timers going off to remind people that a timer is going to go off 
• Fire!

Historical Context (12) (Medieval)

The Medieval era began after the Roman Empire fell. Roman drama was proscribed by the Church but ended with the era. The actors merged into jugglers and minstrels (musicians). They were crude and immoral and seen as neither important nor relevant.

How Medieval Theatre changed drama:
-- VERNACULAR (language or dialect spoken by ordinary people) The Church normally used Latin or Greek so drama would help the Church by introducing Vernacular around 1200AD
-- SPECTACLE (a visually striking performance or display)
-- STAGE DIRECTION (an instruction in the text of a play indicating the movement, tone or position of an actor, or the sound effects and the lighting)
-- FARCE (a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterisation and ludicrously improbable situations)

Theatre Staging:
-- MANSION - originated in churches. Small wooden platforms with supports and a roof. Used to represent specific locations (Heaven/Hell). 1actors could move between these mansions. The acting area was called the PLATEA, which the mansions were placed around.
-- PAGEANT WAGONS - used for cycle dramas to hold the mansion, the plateau and a small dressing area. The wagons would move around to different places, rather than the audience move around . Mansions turned to pageant wagons as mansions are difficult to take apart and re-build.
-- CORNISH ROUND - tiered seating (from Greek). Often outdoors, so restricted to time of year. Permanent structures. Elaborate set.

Types of plays at this time:
-- SAINT PLAYS - religious plays/melodramatic.
-- PASSION PLAYS - special holidays. Normally the Passion of Jesus Christ, his trial, suffering and death. Performing in the annual Passion play is generally awarded to the most respected members of a church congregation. (Still exist today - i.e. Nativities)
-- MYSTERY & MIRACLE PLAYS - Based on stories from the Bible. Became more elaborate over time. Became comic to appeal to masses. This annoyed the church and other authorities so were often banned.
-- SECULAR THEATRE - included masques (dance and music interludes by skilled performers between courses of banquets). Christmas carol singing. Travel and tell jokes.

Costumes:








The Decline of Medieval Theatre:
-- Increased interest in classical learning - affected staging and playwritting
-- Social structure was changing - destroyed feudalism and "corporate" nature of communities
-- A break down within the Church led to religious plays being banned in Europe
-- Drama lost its force so professional actors were needed, not amateurs
-- Professional theatre rose and became commercial (no longer a community venture)
-- Religious plays ended - returned to classics for new ideas for stories


(http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/medieval.htm)

Storytelling (20) (The Snow Queen)

In this lesson we ran through every scene in order to work out what we still had left to do to improve. Below are the scene numbers and what we have left to do as a group...

1. (Lorna) Record narration. Get masks and practice with them. 
2. (James) Run the scene with the sheet up and film so we can see what it looks like. Run now we have cut more out. Get music to repeat itself.
3. (Lewis) Record narration. Make placards. Run for Rhiannon's sake as she has only done this scene once.
4. (Robert) Cut down then run again to alter movement.
5. (Rhiannon) Go over the movement to ensure it is neat.
6. (Charlie) Read lines with more expression. Add movement in.
7. (Oliver) Try the scene with the projection and lighting.

Below is what I personally need to do for each scene...

1. (Lorna) Record narration and perhaps find music to play underneath the narration. Get masks.
2. (James) 
3. (Lewis) 
4. (Robert) Learn my lines (though not much point until I know what Rob is cutting).
5. (Rhiannon) Learn my lines.
6. (Charlie) Learn my lines and movement.
7. (Oliver)

Next lesson we aim to tick as many things off of our lists as we can. Hopefully everyone would have recorded their narration by then so we can focus on group work, as opposed to things we could do individually. Moreover, we would like to be off of scripts as much as we can, but our main focus is to tidy the piece in general.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (17) (Runs)

26/02/16 Today we stuck to our rehearsal schedule and managed to complete our second "behind the scene's" script, as well as managing to stage it as well. We wanted to script this scene in a way that it would make the audience feel uncomfortable and uneasy - therefore we decided to be vague when mentioning the "manager" so we didn't give any information about them to allow the audience to use their imaginations (as our piece is aiming to make the audience think throughout it).We then staged this scene (which didn't take very long at all as we wanted to keep this scene very simple and not move much at all as to create more tension). Next lesson we shall run the game show scene in its entirety a couple of times to polish it. We shall film it as well so we can look back over it to decide if we want to change anything. We shall also run everything else as well to keep it fresh in our minds.

01/03/16 Today we ran everything that we had so far and filmed the game show scene in its entirety. We thought this was needed so we can look back at it and see what we needed to improve. On the right is the video of the game show with both of the "behind the scenes" sections either side. Obviously one of our first steps to getting this scene to where we want it to be is for all of us to learn our lines so we don't need our scripts - thus enabling us to move more freely and focus on our characterisation more. Also, we will have a voice-over recording for the following lines: "this is your five minute call", "and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and "and we're off" (the last line being an additional line we shall add between Ollie saying that we shall have an ad-break and our last scene that makes up the game show - I feel this is needed to make the change between Ollie and I on stage and off stage more clear). Another thing we need to improve is our staging; we felt this scene was a bit static so we shall develop our movement. We also need to actually make the boxes, rather than just using Ollie's journal as a stand in prop! Finally, we shall be adding music and costume to this scene at some point, a little bit nearer the time.

03/03/16 This lesson we ran absolutely everything and timed everything too. We timed our main scenes and then also timed what was going to become our motif: the beginning of our Chasing Pavements movement section up until the press-up. To show either going back in time or to use in the "possibilities" scene we had discussed in our earlier lessons, we could take them same section but perform it in reverse. We had to run through this a few times to understand what we were doing and also to polish it as well. We did discuss playing the track in reverse but decided against this as the vocals and track just sounds messy - we thought that having just the movement in reverse was enough and looked and sounded tidier. Not including the reverse dance section, so far our piece is just under the fifteen minute minimum time limit. However, once we have added the reverse dance scene, our party scene and maybe our "possibilities" scene if we feel like we need it, we will definitely go over the fifteen minute mark. Although we didn't get round to getting up and devising our party scene we did manage to come up with some ideas for it. The notes we made for our party scene are as follows:
   - music
   - movement / slow-motion
   - narration / story-telling
   - contrast between narration and movement
   - sound effects
Although we didn't get to devise anything for our party scene yet as we spent a lot of time polishing and timing sections, I felt this was a better use of time as we needed to know how long our piece is so far (as to know if we are on track) and so we can have our scenes even stronger by the time we perform.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (16) (Run // Movement)

23/02/16 In this lesson we ran through all of our scenes so far. We began with the movement section (intercourse) and then went straight into the scripted scene between the best friends. As we haven't done this for a little while, this scene wasn't as smooth as it used to be so we spent a little while making this cleaner. Our dialogue section was fine so we didn't need to spend much time going over it. The next thing we went over was the scene before the game show and then the game show itself. Our main focus when running through this was to perfect our blocking of this scene. We wanted to work on our character's movements and body language. Mine and Ollie's characters in this scene needed to be so inseparable that they were intimidating and false, whilst Kat and Rob's characters had to be very realistic. We decided that we would like to include a scene after the game show to show the two presenters and the two contestants behind the scenes.

However, we thought we would save writing this scene until next lesson as we were in a very practical mood. Therefore, we recorded our sound scape for the abortion clinic instead. We had to think of what noises we could include, and eventually decided on a heart monitor, a heartbeat, someone breathing and a calming voice. We ended our sound scape with one elongated "beep". Although we thought this might not work as that is the sound at a hospital when a person died, we decided this would work as it is the foetus that dies. We then decided to begin developing a movement section to go with the sound scape, so the audience had something to watch whilst listening to the sound scape. However, we didn't finish this movement section this lesson, so we made a plan to complete it next lesson.


25/02/16 Today's lesson was spent completing and polishing our movement section for our sound scape and also we began writing our "behind the scene's" section after our game show scene. We began this lesson by making a rehearsal schedule to ensure we achieve everything we wish to achieve with plenty of time to spare before the performance. We intend to stick to this schedule as best as we can (as we made the schedule together carefully considering what we do on each day, as to try and make best use of our time).


The movement piece now looks really effective. It took us quite a while to polish it and get it to the standard we wanted but we are finally there now. We wanted to ensure our timing was correct and that all movements flowed smoothly into each other, as well as ensuring we got the message across that we wanted to. We wanted every movement that Kat and I do together to be in unison to represent us being the same person. To ensure that the audience understood this, when we face each other we both mirrored each other by tidying our hair. This "mirror" section also aims to present that our character is trying her best to put on a brave face although she is struggling inside. The fast movements of pushing away suggests that our character feels uncomfortable and is extremely distressed. She eventually hugs her best friend (so we ensured I was partners with Rob and Kat was partners with Ollie to match the conversation scene earlier), who has been standing back just watching and waiting the whole time, to show she is grateful for their presence. Although Kat and I are supposed to be the same person in this scene, we decided we would end with a hug to show that at the end of the day it is her decision to have the abortion. As a group of people who are against abortions (unless it will save the baby or mother suffering severely - mentally or physically) we found this scene quite challenging but are  happy with it as we hope to raise awareness and make our audience think about the topic and maybe even challenge their own views.

Commedia dell'arte (10)

To begin this lesson I took a physical warm up to ensure we were ready to move as our characters. We decided to run the scene we had created last lesson to see if everyone remembered it. Thankfully, everyone did remember roughly what they were doing but unfortunately the scene was no longer slick and had become a little bit messy. Therefore, we thought it best not to add any more to the scene yet and that we should go back through the scene and make adjustments (using forum theatre). Due to the piece not being slick, we had lost the comic timing we had before; so our first step was to tidy the scene again. The parts that needed to be tighter were whenever Columbina turned around and spotted Zanni. As soon as Columbina turns around, Zanni needs to instantly stop struggling and try to impress Columbina. As James needs to keep interacting with the audience (to fit the Commedia dell'arte style), he didn't always notice when Rhiannon had turned round and spotted him. Therefore I suggested that Rhiannon could make a little noise whenever she turned round and spotted him (perhaps an inquisitive "hmmm" or a subtle cough). Our next issue was that James "used the glue" realistically until he clapped the bottle over his head, when the bottle seemed to magically disappear. Therefore Oliver suggested that, when we did the scene again, James should use a plastic bottle as the glue bottle. We then ran the whole scene up until Doctor enters again to see how the scene looks having done forum theatre. Thankfully, the scene was a lot better as it was tighter, clearer and funnier.

Having improved the section before Doctor entered, we decided we would run the scene from Doctor's entrance until Il Capitano's entrance. This scene was a lot stronger though still had a couple of parts we wanted to improve. The first of these parts was to do with being stuck to each other. At times, the illusion was lost as they let go of each other and then quickly tried to cover this up (for example, James moved his head to fast that Rhiannon lost grip on his hair, thus spoiling the illusion of Rhiannon's hand being stuck to his head). Having sorted this, we decided to alter the section where Zanni gets stuck to Columbina who is stuck to the Doctor. As this happened too quickly, the audience may not have noticed how he became stuck - therefore we decided to try the section just before Zanni became glued to Columbina in slow motion. This took quite a while to perfect to make it look realistic and to ensure the three of them were moving at the same time. Our thoughts then turned to sound - we discussed having some tense music whilst this was happening to add to the tension. Originally, we did have them talking in slow motion as well but we decided against this as it was a little bit too typical and thought that having either the tense music or just silence would work better. This also would allow the transition back in to "normal speed" to be smoother - this happens by Rhiannon moaning at Zanni (starting quietly and then getting louder - the moan is an elongated "ah" sound). By having just Rhiannon do this and then have Oliver join in afterwards, ensures that the transition is clean and smooth and the audience understands what is happening.

Once the section with Doctor had been improved, we worked on Il Capitano's entrance. We decided to have Robert pretend he was on horseback and that this would also be a good opportunity for sound effects too. We wanted Il Capitano's entrance to be very grand and elaborate to match his character. We then kept the rest of the scene how it was and then added more to the end. We then had Harlequin enter and frighten Il Capitano, who then jumps in to the Doctor's arms, resulting in everybody being stuck (except Harlequin). Doctor asks Harlequin for help; Harlequin considers this and then walks off, dancing as he goes (as this is how Harlequin moves as he is very playful).


Ideas for new scenes:

• Pantalone bosses Brighella and Harlequin around. Harlequin never does as he is told so Brighella has to do everything herself, meaning the jobs are never done quite to Pantalone's standard. However Brighella gets the blame and not Harlequin. Brighella comes up with a plan to get Harlequin in trouble. Brighella ensures that the opposite of what Pantalone asks is achieved and frames Harlequin. However, Pantalone prefers the way that work has been done and praises Harlequin for his hard work and gives him the week off.
• Il Capitano is trying desperately to win Columbina's love. Brighella and Columbina have had a massive argument and cannot stand the sight of each other. Il Capitano asks the Doctor to create a potion to make Columbina love him. The potion doesn't work for Il Capitano and Brighella actually falls for Brighella. Il Capitano is livid with Brighella for supposedly wooing Columbina and puts a potion into Brighella's drink to ensure that Brighella did not fall for Columbina. Unfortunately, this potion doesn't work either and Brighella falls for Il Capitano. (This scene was inspired by Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and is extremely similar, but I thought we could make this scene similar and almost mock the play to make ours comical).

Historical Context (11) (Elizabethan)

Today we completed my Elizabethan scene of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Below are the two ways I thought I could stage it and my reasoning for and against each (TF = Tom // L = Lewis // TS = Toby // D = Dan):

+ Audience fells involved and is part of the audience too
- Not a clear view of Tom and Lewis

- Can't see Toby and Dan's face and reactions

- Toby and Dan less audible as their backs are to the audience

+ Can see Toby and Dan's faces

+ Clear view of Tom and Lewis

- Audience less excluded

We began this lesson with Tom and Lewis running through their scene again to ensure they remembered all of their movements. Whilst they were doing this, Toby and Dan listened to them to work out when they could intercept and what they would say. I then got Toby and Dan to pause the action and say whatever came to mind when they were watching the piece. Dan did mention that the piece would be easier to understand "if we had a sign language person" (hinting at Ashley to come up and join in) once he had paused the action, but as funny as it was, I didn't want this as to ensure we wouldn't offend anyone (as none of us can actually sign) and I didn't want to overcomplicate the scene. However, I did suggest that they could rewind sections. We had to practise the rewind a couple of times to make it believable. I told them to remember their gestures and movements throughout the piece, as Toby could rewind the scene whenever and back to whenever he wanted. To show they have gone back in time I asked them to perform their gestures in reverse and travel backwards and also make elongated sounds, as if they were speaking backwards. Overall, I think the scene looked quite effective. I kept the traditional conventions of Elizabethan theatre with Tom and Lewis, yet made it appeal to a modern audience by adding in a layer between the real audience and the action - the layer being appealing to a modern audience as it is inspired by the TV programme "Gogglebox". If we were to do this scene again and if I had more time, then I could have considered costumes. I also could have given Toby and Dan the prop of a television remote. Unfortunately, Toby and Dan were not very loud on the recording so a lot of their dialogue is lost.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (15) (Movement)

In this lesson we weren't going to add any more to our piece as we were supposed to be watching the Nation Theatre Live performance version of "Frankenstein" all lesson instead to give us inspiration and an idea of different techniques we could use; however, we had some technical difficulties with the video which delayed the start, so to make use of time we decided to add more to our piece instead. As we didn't know how long we would have, we decided we wouldn't add any more on to the game show scene and instead decided to run our sound scape again. We went over the movement as well as the sound but couldn't add more on to it as we didn't know what to do with it next, so we left it and will come back to it at another stage. Instead we began creating another little movement section to show the abortion. Our movement section outline (and the reasons for each stage) is shown below [K = Katya, L = Lorna, O = Ollie, R = Robert]:

• L standing in front of R, with R holding L's stomach. K standing next to L with O behind, holding K's stomach -- Both girls are pregnant. They stand together to protect each other.
• L and K face each other. They put their right hand on the others left shoulder forming a cross -- Shows support and strength in numbers.
• L and K touch hands -- Again, to show support and suggest that what they are doing is right.
• Both L and K and push R and O's hands of their stomachs and turn around -- They do not need the men and want them to leave them alone. They want to "turn" back the clock and start a fresh.
• L and K run forward but are stopped by R and O who pull them back -- You can't just run away from your problems.

 At this point, we were told that the film was working so we watched the film for the remainder of the lesson. Next lesson, we shall discuss what techniques we liked from "Frankenstein" and shall also continue developing our movement scene (and hopefully run and stage our game show scene so far as well).

Commedia dell'arte (9)

In this lesson we had a complete change of idea. We have decided against our "Murder Mystery" idea as we felt it wasn't working. We felt that we were so focused on our storyline that we were not thinking about our characters enough; therefore our piece was becoming a story involving the stock characters of Commedia dell'arte as opposed to a Commedia dell'arte type of story. To rectify this (after doing a physical warm up as Commedia dell'arte characters are very physically demanding where we have to hold specific stances throughout the piece), we split off into groups and thought about our characters and devised a short scene each. Lewis (Pantalone), Robert (Il Capitano) and Charlie (Harlequin) wanted to go together, so Rhiannon (Columbina), James (Zanni), Oliver (Doctor) and I (Brighella) formed a group of four.

Our group of four decided that we shall work together to create a scene between Zanni and Columbina. We wanted to have a scene where Zanni is trying to impress Columbina (as Columbina is a very flirtatious character that we thought Zanni would probably fall for). We began by thinking of something that Columbina could be doing whilst Zanni is trying to impress her. We decided that she could hanging out the washing on the washing line as this is an outside location which would allow us to involve other characters later on coming out and getting in the scene. Our next step to creating our scene was thinking of things for Zanni to do to show that he was trying to impress Columbina, we came up with the following ideas: smelling his armpits, checking his breath, sorting his outfit and tidying his hair. We then discussed each idea in detail and what we would be able to do with them. Our two favourite ideas were Zanni with smelly armpits and him sorting his hair. With Zanni smelling his armpits, we could create a scene where he is planning exactly how he will speak to Columbina and how he will stand, and then she asks him to help her out and he then has to try and do the jobs she asks of him whilst keeping his arms down. This would have the potential to create a comical Lazzi. However, all though the armpit idea had potential, we much preferred the hair idea...

The four of us sat down and had a "what if" conversation. We began by saying "what if Zanni was trying to impress Columbina by making his hair tidier". The next comment was "what if he spat in his hands to tidy his hair", which then made me think of "Flint Street Nativity" when the Innkeeper used glue to tidy his hair for Mary. Therefore, my next comment was "what if Zanni used superglue to tidy his hair", which then lead to a lot more "what ifs", eventually creating our scene outline! The scene we created from this discussion is as follows (Z = Zanni; C = Columbina):

• Z spots C pegging out the washing on the washing line
• Z uses superglue (which he thinks is hair gel) to slick his hair back
• Z runs his hands through his hair and one hand gets stuck to his head
• C notices Z and smiles, when she turns her back Z struggles in attempt to get his hand free
• C turns round and Z poses as if nothing is wrong. Then putting the other hand on his head to show off his muscles, which he kisses. C turns back around and Z realises both hands are now stuck to his head. He struggles so much he ends on the floor
• C looks at Z, who is now doing sit-ups to pretend nothing is wrong
• C laughs realising something is wrong. She finds the superglue and questions Z
• C then ties to pull Z's hands off of his head. She succeeds but ends with her hand stuck to his head

 Once we had devised this scene by using improvisation and forum theatre, we then thought of how we could include other characters and what we could add to the piece. We decided to include the Doctor (D):

• D enters to find C's hand stuck to Z's head. C asks D for help (he rambles and finally helps).
• D removes C's hand from Z's head. He pats C on the shoulder as to say no problem, resulting in D's hand getting stuck to C's shoulder. 
• Z hugs C's leg to say thank you, resulting in his hand being stuck to C's leg.

We called the other group in to have a look at what we had done, having been told that they had not made a scene but instead done a lot of research on their characters to help them devise the next lesson. They said they thought the scene was very clever as it helped the audience understand the characters better, and was very comical - true to the Commedia dell'arte style. As we had more time left, we decided to add another character into the scene. The character we decided to include was Il Capitano (IC). Our scene outline as it stands now is as follows:

• IC enters and demands that D lets go of C or he will attack D 
• D demands that he shall need another minute (which is not the best thing to say when he has his and on C's shoulder who is bent over trying to get Z off of her). D, C and Z are all moaning and groaning, and then realise what this must look like, so the three of them look at the audience and then at IC who is livid.
• IC runs at D as if to attack. IC lunges forwards with his swords several times narrowly missing D as D, C and Z work together to try and avoid IC's sword.

We didn't get any further this lesson as we ran out of time, but we shall run this scene again next lesson and add more to it as well. Hopefully we will be able to use our masks too as this lesson they were having the holes drilled in to them ready for the string to be attached.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (14) (Script work)

Today we spoke to Katya about our idea of having a scene either just before or just after the game show. We then came up with a conclusion: why not have a small section before and after the show?! We decided that we would all write the "before the show" section together. Our aim of this section before the main scene is to intrigue the audience and increase the tension levels. We also wanted to show a contrast between mine and Ollie's character onstage and offstage. By having this section end with Kat and Rob's characters having an argument, makes Robert's breakdown onstage confuse the audience as they are left unsure if Rob's character came round to Kat's way of thinking and was part of a plan, or if he genuinely broke down onstage.

We read through our new scene a couple of times to get used to our characters offstage and then eventually read this scene straight into the actual game show scene. I felt a lot happier with my character when we did this as I feel I have improved my characterisation by making my character profile, as I understand my character better. We didn't block the scene today so I didn't get to explore my character's movement, but I have decided to make my voice sound more patronising by raising my pitch and elongating vowel sounds to belittle the contestants in the show.

Next lesson, we shall write a script for a "behind the scenes" section after the game show. To be able to do this we had to decide whether our game show was live or recorded first. If we were to pretend our game show was recorded then Ollie and I could get obviously frustrated and stop Robert's character once he had finished and then demanded we did another take. However, if we pretended our game show was live then we wouldn't be able to do this and would instead jump to an ad break instead. We eventually decided the our game show would be live as it creates more tension (as there is more pressure on the contestants) and also our piece is actually in front of a real live audience, and so our game show is technically in front of a real live audience too, so we thought we could use this to our advantage. Having decided that our game show would be live, we can begin writing the next section of our script next lesson. 

Historical Context (10) (Greek)

08/02/16 Today was our last lesson before we filmed our piece. Therefore, I couldn't add any more to mask (which isn't a problem as it is one block colour and is in the shape I wanted it to be, also I cannot see any of the paper underneath it). As Tom missed a couple of lessons, the majority of today's lesson was spent teaching him the choreography he had missed. We then ran the piece a few times to ensure we were all in time with each other. We also worked out our contact improvisation duets with Ashley so we were more confident with these (as we need to ensure we come back to the group safely so we don't crash in to each other). Our next issue was our chorus speaking parts - the problem was that we couldn't stay in time with each other and therefore or speech sounded messy and you couldn't understand what was being said properly. To solve this, two of us decided not to join in with the chorus speaking. We thought it would make sense for Tom not to speak in this piece as he hasn't run the piece that many times so was unsure of when these dialogue sections were and what they consisted of. The other person who we decided wouldn't join in with the dialogue was me! As I am female, this would fit with the Greek convention as the women not having as big as a role as the men. Although they would be in the chorus and would join in with the speaking parts with the chorus, they wouldn't have as big as a job as the men, so we decided I wouldn't join in with the speaking. This also meant that I wouldn't need to hold a script, which is useful as I am confident with the choreography so can make my movements clearer to help the others follow me if they need to.

10/02/16 We have now completed our piece of Greek theatre adapted to appeal for a modern audience. By doing this piece I have learned about Greek conventions of theatre (about masks having big mouths, and women only being allowed to be chorus members and having a lesser role than mean in theatre). I think Lewis was very clever by making this piece a physical theatre piece, as it is fits the conventions of mask work and having to use large gestures (due to the very large audiences they would perform too), as well as creating an opportunity to use more modern music (that the audience would recognise and appreciate, as opposed to watching a piece in silence). I personally think our piece went well today as the chorus speaking was clear and everyone remembered the choreography. If we were to perform this piece again I think we would alter the part of the choreography where we swap places (as this became untidy as we almost trod on each other's feet), spend more time on our masks (as I could have added a lot more to my mask) and perhaps have the same style of mask (to represent unity and show uniform amongst the soldiers).

Storytelling (19) (The Snow Queen)

Today we developed Rhiannon's scene - the fifth story: "The Little Robber Maiden". Rhiannon's narration is going to be live, and she chose to have us all perform gestures and small movements that link to what she is saying. She also wanted any speech in the script to be spoken in communal voice. We read through the script first and she quickly decided against communal voice as the emotion and meaning of the lines was lost where we said the lines not quite at the same time and they became slurred. This would also mean we had a lot of lines to learn each for this scene (in addition to lines from the other scenes). Therefore, Rhiannon decided that she wanted to allocate characters: I was given all the lines the "little robber child" said, James was the old woman and the reindeer, Charlie was the pigeon, and Oliver, Lewis and James were given the role of Gerda. We then did another read through, which was much better as the lines were clearer and had more meaning.

Having read through the script, we decided to block the scene. So far, we have been beginning and ending each scene in a circle as a motif, to show when one scene begins and when another ends. Therefore, we had to begin this scene in the same way that our previous scene ended (in the same circle). Rhiannon then gave us gestures and/or small movements to do on certain sections that made sense and were quite obvious. The purpose of this was to give the audience something to look at whilst listening to the story develop. Our movements also aim to help the audience imagine the scene and the events unveiling (for example on the verb "dazzled", we all shield our eyes with our hands to emphasise how bright the lights were). As to not make this scene too repetitive, with gesture after gesture, we included moments where we step out of the circle and back in, and also a change in levels (when we sit down to represent getting "into bed" and also for the robbers who "sat round the fire"). [The picture on the left shows a character profile I decided to do on my character of the little Robber Maiden. I decided to do this activity to give me a better understanding of my character to therefore give my lines more feeling and meaning.]

After blocking and running this scene a couple of times, we ended the lesson by running through the first scene (my scene) for the first time since the first week of December! Amazingly, we managed to remember almost all of the movement and cues. We missed out one little section (a return to the original circle to do an ensemble move and then return back to a straight line at the front) but everyone remembered it once I reminded them about it. Next lesson, we shall look at Oliver's scene and then run as many scenes as we can (starting with scenes we haven't rehearsed the longest).

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (13) (Character Profile)

Katya wasn't in this lesson, so we decided to have a lesson of comparing notes we have made so far to ensure we all had everything we needed (for example, the list of scenes we have / are wishing to include so far and what type of scene they are). Once we established we all had everything we needed, I decided that I would make a character profile for when I am the presenter of the game show "Keep or No Keep". I thought this would be very useful for me as my character is quite complicated anyway. Although Katya and I are playing the same character throughout our piece, this character is very different and shows a different side of the pregnant girl. This character shows her hostility towards everyone (as she gets frustrated at those who try to get involved) and shows her tendency to have mood swings (one moment caring only for her appearance on camera, and the next admitting she wishes to have a family).


Having done my character profile, Ollie and I discussed our game show scene. We spoke about our characters and how we are going to portray them. I decided that I wanted my character to be more patronising as to make the audience feel even more uncomfortable and possibly frustrated at how the contestants are being treated. I therefore decided to change the way I said my line about having "a family as well" and being "able to make them memories". Originally I said these lines as if my character did actually want a family; however, now I am saying this line as if to mock Rob's character - my character is perhaps laughing at him. Ollie and I also spoke about our inspiration for this scene (the "Ten Tiny Fingers" script) and thought of having an offstage moment either before or after this scene to show contrast and to make the audience feel more sympathy for the contestants. We then spoke to Robert about this idea later on and he liked the sound of it. Next lesson we shall ask Katya what she thinks on the idea and whether she would like to include it as well.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (12) (Prop design // Staging)

04/02/16

This lesson we were missing Ollie again so decided to continue with our script writing and began "box designing". The boxes are for our Game show of "Keep or no Keep". We are planning on getting hold of three boxes and painting them red, to look like the boxes on the television game show "Deal or no Deal". We would also like to have tabs on the boxes which we have to pull to open them; however, we have to be careful when designing and making these as we need to ensure that we can open the boxes easily enough still. Haven written the numbers of the boxes we were going to include in our script, I decided to get three pieces of paper and paint a different number on each in red (copying them from images on line to look like the numbers on the boxes on the actual show). I then decided to outline the numbers in thick black pen to make the edges neater and to ensure they were as clear as they could be. Whilst Rob and I were designing and beginning to make the boxes, Katya continued with script writing. Hopefully Ollie will be in next lesson so we can read through this scene and begin staging it next lesson.


05/02/16

This lesson we got our scene up on its feet! We began this lesson by just reading through the scene together and thinking about how we would play our characters. We then read through the scene a couple of times swapping characters each time. This exercise was useful as we could see how other people would play our individual roles. I particularly liked the way that Robert made my character a bit patronising and sarcastic at the same time, making everybody else feel uneasy as they don't know how to take this character. Therefore, I have decided to take his patronising approach as I want the audience to feel uneasy about the topic and the way it is being presented. In this scene, Ollie and I will always be over-the-top for the camera (always by each other's side), Katya shall be a little bit theatrical (as if she is reluctantly abiding by our conditions on how to behave on TV), whilst Rob shall be completely blunt and uncomfortable (and doesn't cooperate with our TV conditions, frustrating my character who tries not to let her anger show).

Although we were happy with the way we staged it, I decided I wanted to try something out... to show that Kat and I are the same people and Rob is therefore my boyfriend as well as Kat's, I thought that when I introduce "myself and my boyfriend" out on to the set that Kat and I could mirror each other with a gesture (like tucking our hair behind our ear or adjusting a piece of clothing) whilst Rob and I would then hug. We thought this idea looked interesting but we need to make this clearer. Despite this scene being effective at creating our intended effects on the audience, we are going to adapt the script a little bit by adding more to the beginning of the scene (as if they were getting ready to start filming the show - our inspiration for this section came from the section of "Ten Tiny Fingers" posted one of my previous blog posts). Next lesson we shall write this part of the script and continue building our characters by making character profiles for this scene. 

Storytelling (18) (The Snow Queen)

Today's lesson was spent developing Charlie's scene; his scene is the sixth scene, our penultimate scene of the story. Charlie's narration shall be recorded. We began this lesson by sitting down and Charlie reading his scene to us. In this scene Gerda is on her way to Finland when she comes across a house and meets a lady who gives her advice to help her on her way to Finland. A reindeer took her there and abandoned her in the middle of "dreadful icy Finland", without her boots or gloves (which she had forgotten to take with her).

Charlie wanted to use choral speaking at multiple points throughout this scene. We sat down with our scripts and pens and worked out when would be best for us to use communal voice. We decided that every time the "Finland woman" or "Snow Queen" was mentioned, we would use communal voice, as these two women are very significant in this scene. We also wanted to emphasise "miserable", "creep", "diminutive", "dirty" and "barefooted" as these were either extreme states or shocking things (like the idea of a small child walking "barefooted" in deep snow and on ice). Furthermore, we thought the phrase "she knew it by heart" should be communal voice, as it is impressive that a little child remembered a random paragraph written down by memory. Moreover, the noun "heart" links back to Kay as he had a "splinter of glass" in his heart. This is reiterated to the audience later in the scene anyway, so we decided to use communal voice for this section too to really emphasise this point (as this was the cause of Kay and Gerda being pushed apart). In the final paragraph, we are using choral speaking for "boots", "gloves", "large bright tears" and "dreadful icy Finland". We wanted to use choral speaking for "boots" and "gloves" to exaggerate Gerda's instant panic having just realised that she had forgotten these two items. Finally, we wanted to all say "large bright tears" and "dreadful icy Finland" to make these phrases sound more sinister.

Having discussed what lines we would like to say at the same time, we read through the piece all saying the lines we had decided on. However, we quickly discovered a problem; with everyone saying the decided lines at once it became a bit messy and the words lost their meaning. Therefore, we tried to read it again but using a stage whisper for communal speaking instead of just saying the words. Although this was an improvement, it still wasn't what we intended. The words became slurred as we didn't speak at exactly the same time. Also, the meaning and emotion still wasn't there as it just sounded exactly the same as before but quieter. To attempt to solve this we split up the communal voice a bit - instead of everybody speaking at the same time, we are having one person or two people joining in for the words and phrases we decided (the words underlined in purple, in the picture above, are the words I am saying). This worked a lot better as we had less people to ensure we were in time with and you could hear the words clearer and could hear the emotion and intended emphasis.

After reading through the script, we decided to get the scene up on its feet. We also made a final decision with our staging. We want to have the audience sitting on one side of the room facing the performance area (as if it were proscenium arch staging) but we would like to separate our audience from each other. This would make them feel isolated and lonely (like how Kay and Gerda are separated as a result of the sprites mischief and the events that followed). We decided on this staging today as it would work for all of our scenes, but especially for this scene and what Charlie wanted to do with it. He has positioned us in between the audience in random places facing different directions - this alone would make the audience feel a little bit uneasy and a bit lost (like Gerda is in this scene). Moreover, when we would all say our lines at different times, the audience would be unsure of who was speaking and would have no clue who would be speaking next, thus increasing tension levels and making them feel even more uncomfortable. We also decided that when the "Lord's Prayer" is mentioned in the final paragraph that those who know the Lord's Prayer (Robert, Oliver and I) would whisper it whilst the remaining lines of the scene are being spoken. Although this scene is complete, it was a little bit flatter then it could have been as it was lacking a little bit of energy - it was more like narration as opposed to storytelling. Therefore, we decided to listen to "The Escapologist's Story" from Matilda. Although we are obviously not 10 year old girls, we were inspired by her vocal energy and enthusiasm and aim to include this energy in this scene when we speak.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (11) (Scene order // Staging // Inspiration)

Today we had another discussion based lesson. We spoke about what scenes we have at the moment and what ones we would like to include. We haven't decided on an order for these scenes as we don't feel this is our priority at the moment, and instead we should be focusing on getting these scenes down and sorted. Also, we think that we should look at our scenes (once completed) and decide which one would be best first (as this would open our entire piece and we want to see what effects on the audience different scenes would create if they were first). So far what we have decided is as follows:
   -   Love making (Movement) = Complete
   -   Talking to the best friend (Dialogue) = Complete
   -   Game show: Keep or No Keep (Dialogue) = Started
   -   Party (Slow mo / movement / dialogue) = No started
   -   Abortion clinic (Sound scape) = Started
   -   What would have happened if they had kept/didn't keep (Split screen) = No started

We also decided on what staging we would like to use. We have decided not to use a traditional and well-known type of staging (like proscenium arch, thrust, in-the-round or traverse) but have instead gone for our own type of staging. We have decided that we would like the audience positioned as if they were in a clinic waiting room. We decided against proscenium arch as we wanted a more unusual and more complicated type of staging, as the issues explored in our piece are complicated and challenging. However, we decided against in-the-round and traverse as these two wouldn't work for our dance scene (Love Making) as we would like people to see it from mainly the front. We have decided on the staging shown in the picture on the left as it is unique and would fit with our scenes so far.

After discussing staging, we spoke about our Game show scene. We read a part of Scene Five from "Ten Tiny Fingers, Nine Tiny Toes", in which a serious situation is presented like a show. We were inspired by this style and wanted to make our Game show completely inappropriate (hopefully without offending anyone) to express how some people don't think about the seriousness of the topic and see it as a way out completely disregarding the consequences.

Historical Context (9) (Greek)

Today we began making our masks for the Greek theatre scene. We bought masks instead of using plaster of Paris to save time. Once we took the masks out of the packets, we drew our designs we had made on to the mask itself. We then cut out the areas of the mask that we don't need; these areas were the mouth (as a Greek mask convention is to have a large mouth) and eye/nose area (as the mask didn't actually fit me at all). Moreover, I had to trim the forehead down as the mask was far too big for me. After we had cut our masks down to our desired shape, we used PVA glue to stick pieces of scrap paper over the whole mask to give it extra strength. We also used more paper to give more dimension to certain areas to emphasise features. Next lesson, we shall continue adding more paper if necessary, wait for the glue to dry and then finally paint our masks.

03/02/16 Today we continued with our mask work. Although when I came to continue with my mask it was perfectly dry and hardened, unfortunately it had warped when it dried so it no longer fit my face properly. To resolve this I had to cut the areas off that made it too small; these areas were the tips of the cheek bones. However, when I did this, it made the mask a bit pointless as the idea of it is to look like an ancient helmet... but it would be a but pointless having a helmet that doesn't protect your face properly! To solve this, I built up the cheek area by adding rolled up paper to the areas that I needed to expand, and then adding a layer of paper over this to hold the extensions in place and give a smooth effect. Net lesson, I shall add features to the helmet (maybe a dent to show the soldier is an experienced fighter and has been in many battles). Afterwards, I shall paint my mask an appropriate colour (either a gold or bronze colour as these were typical colours for helmets).

04/02/16 Today I began painting my mask! I began with a base coat of orange paint to experiment and see what the mask would like this colour. I decided that the colour needed to be a little but lighter but bolder at the same time; therefore I decided to use an acrylic paint, but I mixed a yellow and an orange paint to make the colour lighter. I used acrylic paint as it is a lot thicker and covers the fact that I used two different colours of paper to build my mask (as there wasn't any other paper left). Although the colour was a bit too dark and bold still, I am glad I used this coat to give the mask one smooth cover. Next lesson, I shall add a lighter colour over the top in certain places to create the effect of light bouncing off the helmet, and darker colours in other areas to contour the mask and to give it more shape.