Individual Unit (11) (Making the timeline - drafts)

Before doing my research, I had done some designs on how I would lay out my timeline (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/individual-unit-2-timeline-layout-plan.html), however since doing the research, I have realised that my design will have to change. This is because there are a lot more dates involved than I had anticipated, and also, I am including a lot more different sections of information that I had originally intended.

To begin working out how I would lay out my timeline, I wrote down all of the dates from my research blogs and a couple of words on what this date was. I then re-wrote this list in chronological order. By doing this, I was ensuring that I wouldn't miss any dates out and would be able to leave plenty of room to include all of these dates. I then managed to make another draft on how to lay my timeline out. I quickly realised that I would have to group a lot of dates together. I decided to put the different topics in the right place on my timeline, but write the information about this topic in the same box, regardless of the dates. This was the easiest and clearest way to present my information as all of the information about one topic was in one place. The image at the top shows my first draft.

After completing this draft, I realised that my "Twitter" section could be moved down (as it doesn't need to connect to the actual timeline) allowing the "Music Hall" section to become below the timeline. This meant that I could have a bigger Broadway section and could have West End and Broadway next to each other. I then realised that there was a big gap between West End and Broadway - I wanted to fill this gap and realised that a comparison between the two would be appropriate due to the positioning of this on the timeline. Therefore I shall do a research blog on the difference between Broadway and West End. Any other gaps shall be filled with images to improve the overall aesthetics of my display.

Individual Unit (10) (Social media investigation results)

On the left are the results of my social media investigation. As explained on my previous blog (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/individual-unit-9-influence.html) I expected Music Hall to win as people normally associate Music Hall to Musical Theatre due to the resemblance in the title and also because people don't tend to count Opera as Musical Theatre. Music Hall won in the end with 57%. During the early stages of this poll running, the results were very close and fluctuated between 50:50 and 53:47. At one point, Opera did take the lead, however, this quickly changed so Music Hall was in the lead again. I found this experiment quite interesting as I was asking mainly Musical Theatre fans this question, as opposed to random people.

Contemporary Theatre (29) (Recording // Physical Scenes)

Today we decided to do all the filming we needed to do for our play. We managed to do all of the sections apart from Ollie's as he was not in this lesson due to a trip. When we filmed Hope and Kat's section (where the Thoughtcriminal gets shot in the head), we had Hope wearing a lab coat (to show authority and to show she is a torturer) and Kat wearing a jacket (to show she is a 'normal' civilian and to cover up her performing arts logo on her top!). We decided that I wouldn't be in the video and instead would say my line as a voice-over. I stood behind the camera when saying this line to make it seem as if my character was filming the event. Next lesson we shall film the sections with Ollie in and shall record the voice-overs.

Whilst we were doing the filming, Rob and Oliver staged their interrogation scene that ends the play. We all said that this scene was far too long - we did
n't think that they would be able to learn all of their lines in time for the performance and also it was a little bit long for the audience too. Therefore, they are going to work together to cut down this scene. We also staged the section just before this as well, when James enters as Parsons. We decided that I would walk him on as I shout "REMAIN STILL" to Winston a few lines back, and then at Parsons. To give me reason to say this line, James moves a little bit in his chair as he attempts to face Robert - however, I shout my line as I push him back in to his original position. When shouting I have to ensure that I am using my diaphragm to ensure that I don't strain or damage my voice.

We are fully aware that we have quite a lot of scenes left to stage, but shall do this next lesson (after recording the voice-overs) as we shall hopefully have everyone - therefore, we shall continue our run from where we left off last time, but staging scenes as we go. Instead, as we were worried we might forget some of it, we decided to run all of the physical theatre sections. We began by running the prologue. We are very glad that we did as we managed to correct the timing and tidy the piece a little bit. We then moved on to the chaotic transition from the canteen scene to an interrogation on page 29. Although this transition is supposed to look chaotic (so we are using Artaud conventions of loud music and lots of bold lighting), it still needs to be safe and ordered from the performers view - therefore we walked through this scene to work out who does what and goes where. I am glad we did this as it has reduced the risk of accidents, as we all know where we need to be and when. We then ran our movement scene that destroys the Book Club. As we has only spent one lesson on this section, a lot of us had forgotten it, so going over it again a couple of times really helped and got it into our muscle memory.

F(l)ight - (7) (Ollie // Run)

In today's lesson we taught Ollie what he had missed in the previous lesson. We also walked through the ending scene. We found this quite challenging as we are so used to the opening, so doing this backwards felt rather strange. However, the ending does look really effective now.

We then ran through the entire piece. We altered sections that we thought needed to be altered as we went along. We decided that we shall have the chairs positioned SL and SR facing inwards. When we are not performing we shall sit on these chairs and watch the performance. We have decided to do this instead of facing out as it symbolises how many people may see domestic violence but do nothing about it. We also decided that abusers should sit SL and victims SR, as this is where we finish the opening scene, but also to make it clearer to the audience. To keep continuity, we had to leave these chairs to begin our duet/group sections and then return to them. To be able to do this, we had to alter our entrances and exits.
Moreover, Lewis and I ran our duet section twice: once to see if there were any mistakes and once to perfect it. The first time round we realised that we had forgotten our speech and a little bit of our beginning section. Therefore we quickly recapped this and then ran it again.

Afterwards, we all agreed that we would cut out the facts at the beginning the reason for this is that when we came to reverse the scene at the end, it wouldn't make sense.

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (21) (Recording)

Today, Charlie, Ollie, Rhiannon, Robert, James and I met up to record the narration for the sin section. We recorded each sin section as different tracks to make the editing process easier. We decided that we would record the narration whilst Rhiannon was still here as it meant that we didn't need to spend time changing who says what line. We asked if Rhiannon would be okay for us to use her voice in the play and she agreed to it. This was really helpful as it saved us a lot of time.

Lewis has offered to take our recordings and mix each one with the music we were using for that scene. He will then edit the complete sin tracks together so the transitions between each will be smooth and seamless. He shall be using Audacity to do this. As soon as we have the one complete track we will be able to run the whole sin section smoothly (once we have completed the movement for the last two sins, which we will do when we meet up again outside of lesson time). Moreover, by having the one complete track for the sin section, we are less likely to have technical difficulties or the wrong track being played at the wrong time.

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (20) (Act 1 // Changes)

In today's lesson we found out that Rhiannon is leaving The Howard School, so will not be performing in our version of "Dr Faustus". Therefore we knew that we would have to alter all of our movement sections, and cast someone else as the role of Good Angel.

Adapting Movement:

• The first thing we thought we needed to do was adapt the movement sections we already have - as we completed our prologue last lesson it was fresh in our minds so would be easier to change now, rather than later when everything is in our muscle memory. James now doesn't perform in the middle with Ollie so Charlie does this section more central - instead James now does all the movement that Rhiannon used to do.
• After completing our prologue, we moved on to our sin section. We haven't worked out who will say her lines yet, but we shall allocate them when it comes to recording the narration. We didn't need to change Sloth or Gluttony as the positions are random (as for Sloth we all lie in a head across each other, and for Gluttony we move freely throughout the stage space). We kept Pride exactly the same, apart from Rob now lifts James with me. We chose Rob to do the lift with me as we are similar heights and so James would be kept level, making the lift safer.
• For our sin of Wrath, I perform the section that was originally a duet with Rhiannon as a solo. James and I have adapted our trio section (of James, Rhiannon and I) into a duet. As we still haven't recorded our narration as of yet, Ollie read our lines for us. He started reading at an earlier time to which we originally used to. However, we much preferred this - this version meant that we could finish our Wrath section when Rob and Charlie finish their duet, as opposed to doing the whole section. This worked well as we didn't think the section we had before looked brilliant compared to how we began our Wrath section. Moreover, as we had not done this scene very often, we had forgotten what we had done. Also, by cutting this section, we saved a lot of time as we didn't have to adapt it at all. 
• For Lust, I have made our duet into a solo section again. I worked out that I will have to walk slightly towards the right side of the performance space, so when I roll, I end up central. This also means that I can involve both sides of the audience (as I shall look at the right side when I walk, and the left side during the roll and stretch). We also realised that James will not being doing his original duet whilst I am doing a duet with Rob, so he can create a little section with Charlie. They haven't worked this out yet but shall do this very soon. 
• As of yet, we still have not completed Greed and Envy. The little duet section that James and I made up shall remain. I thought that James and I could do this section facing the left side, and teach Rob and Charlie it, so they can perform this to the other side of the audience. We could then do a very similar section (maybe repeat some movements) but involving all four of us together, rather than two pairs.

 Running Act 1:
     After sorting all of the physical theatre sections we had so far, we began running the play, and managed to complete Act One. When doing this run through, we were focusing on characterisation, working in our chosen stage type (traverse) and sound cues. Characterisation is obviously essential as so the audience understands what is going on and to understand the character relationships. Constantly considering both sides of our audience is very important, as we want everyone to have a clear view of the action as to avoid disappointment in choice of seat and so everyone understands the play. From previous performances, we have learned that we should sort our sound and lighting out well in advance to our performance date. The lighting design shall be sorted by Lewis and Rob at a later date, but we began writing down our sound cues.
     On page four, we have created a movement section to "show the passing of time". At this point, Faustus, Valdes and Cornelius are researching and trying out necromancy. To show Valdes and Cornelius arriving and beginning work with Faustus, they perform short naturalistic movement sections split up by blackouts. Each movement section shows a different time (the first one shows them arriving, the second is them at the desk, the third is them in different positions at the desk, etc.). Meanwhile, Lewis and I are under a black sheet at the other end of the traverse. Whenever, Faustus is reading from the book, Lewis and I begin to move beneath the sheet, to represent the spirits beginning to arise. However, we fall back to the floor and lie still every time Faustus fails in trying to conjure the demonic spirits. When Faustus succeeds in his attempt, Lewis stand up tall beneath the sheet and I stand with him in an isolated position, to make the overall shape of the sheet distorted. We then fall to the floor, mainly so I can be ready for my next scene, but also because Faustus then summons Mephistopheles later on. Lewis will appear in the same way, under the sheet at first, until he is then told to go and then come back in "some other form".
      Moreover, whilst trying to find some music that would work well for this section, Lewis came across a piece of music that would be perfect for when Mephistopheles shows Faustus the Heavens. We will be using the first section of this track that Lewis found ("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shKgUFifa_w"). We thought this track was ideal for this scene as it starts off a little unsettling but becomes more calming and impressive later on. This would represent them taking off and their journey to the Heavens, and the music becomes more joyous when they reach the Heavens.

Contemporary Theatre (28) (Page 11 - 51)

In today's lesson we ran from the beginning of the play itself (so not the prologue) up to page 51. As the performance date is looming, we are desperately trying to run through as much of the script as we can each lesson. We are trying to do full runs in lessons, and spend time outside of lessons to go over sections that only involve a few people - this is to ensure we are spending our time wisely and will achieve everything in plenty of time. Whilst going through the play, we stopped at whenever we were unsure of why certain characters said certain things, and also to go over any parts of the blocking we were unsure on.

On page 23, we discussed why Charrington called "The Diary" a "Keepsake album". We decided this was because it is less illegal to keep a "Keepsake album" than an actual diary. We stopped again on page 24 as the section when Winston faints didn't look very realistic. The problem with this section was that everyone was waiting for the previous person to finish their line before they began theirs. This would not happen in a real life situation - everyone would end up talking over each other because they would be panicking and/or rushing. Therefore we decided to run this a couple of times overlapping the lines more each time.

On page 29, when we all go back to Book Club (apart from Winston and O'Brien), we shall all sit down and then freeze. Winston and O'Brien are the only characters that are not frozen at this point. O'Brien can move freely about the Book Club people and can even look at them if he chooses (almost as if we frozen Book Club people are people that O'Brien has interrogated and are becoming unpersoned).

On page 40, when Rhiannon says "We're not dead yet", Rhiannon and Robert kneel on the floor facing each other. Rhiannon takes Rob's hand and places it on her hand, neck, head, leg then cheek (as she tries to reassure him that she is real). The purpose of this was to make this scene more intimate. Rhiannon is now acting this section in a more hopeful manner, as opposed to her previous sarcastic style. We needed to make it clear that Winston and Julia are in a relationship so the play makes sense later on. We also decided on page 42, that when Julia says "We are the dead" it is her equivalent of saying "I love you" - as she has basically said that their relationship is worth dying for.

On page 44, when Rob has his break down, he will end on the floor to show that he has completely lost the plot, and this lower level makes him look more vulnerable. On page 45, Rob is taken aback by Julia's comment "[my grandfather] was unpersoned when I was eight". This is because Winston's job is to unperson people.

On page 50, Syme is not in the canteen scene, assumedly because he has been unpersoned. Kat and James go into slow motion on James' line "I mean, there is a war on". This is to show that for Winston time has slowed down as everything has become confused in his mind. Also, this ensures that the audience will be focussing on the action between Winston and O'Brien.

On page 51, when characters move their chairs from the canteen to the Book Club, Lewis will come in and pick up what was his chair, and he shall look at Robert as he looks at him. This would show that Syme is still alive in Winston's mind and still exists.

Next lesson, we shall film all of the parts that need to go on the projection, and record any voice overs.

Individual Unit (9) (Social media investigation)

I have decided to broaden my investigation by using social media to find out the public's opinion. The question I wanted to find the public's opinion to was the following: "What was more significant in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today: Music Hall or Opera?". To ask this question I messaged the Twitter page "Musical Polls" (https://twitter.com/justmusicalpoll). The reason I asked them is because it is a poll page that is aimed at and followed by Musical Theatre fans, thus meaning that people are more likely to respond to it, and those responding are actually interested in Musical Theatre. I asked the page to set the closing date of the poll to Th/30/06/16 as my deadline for the entire unit is Fr/01/07/16. The page posted my question for me and so far (27 minutes after posting the question) 52% vote Music Hall and 48% vote Opera! I shall keep checking on the page to see how this develops and changes. I wasn't going to vote on the page as I didn't want to make the vote biased, but unfortunately, I had to as to be able to see the votes and see how it was developing. However, I made the vote fair by going for the option that I genuinely thought was true, rather than going for what I thought would win. I voted for Opera as it was around before Music Hall and involves lavish costumes, exaggerated gestures, song and sometimes dance. However, I predict that Music Hall will win as it has the word "Music" in it, making it sound more like "Musical Theatre" so people may see the resemblance more.

Individual Unit (8) (Musical Theatre Types Examples Research)

I decided to do an example of each of the different eras that were posted on my last blog to ensure that I completely understood what was involved in each era. By doing this research activity, I have also gained a broader understanding of Musical Theatre by researching a few different musicals all from different eras.

Individual Unit (7) (Musical Theatre Types Research)

https://www.daydreameducation.co.uk/poster-history-of-musical-theatre-1
https://www.daydreameducation.co.uk/poster-history-of-musical-theatre-2
https://www.daydreameducation.co.uk/poster-styles-of-musical-theatre

Pre - 1900 = Musical Comedies & Operettas
1900 - 1929 = Musical Reviews & Broadway Extravaganzas
1930 - 1939 = Jazz Musicals & Naturalistic Dialogue
1940 - 1949 = The Golden Age
1950 - 1959 = Book Musicals & Romantic Comedies
1960 - 1969 = Counter-culture & Rebellion
1970 - 1979 = Rock Musicals
1980 - 1989 = Mega-musicals & Vast Concepts
1990 - 1999 = Jukebox Musicals & Revivals
2000 - 2009 = Reality TV Talent Contests

Most people tend to class Musical Theatre and Opera as two separate types of entertainment, however, Opera does count as a style of Musical Theatre. Although different vocal techniques are used for Opera and Musical Theatre, both involve exploring the plot through song and drama (and in Opera's case, through song the whole time, rather than being broken up by acted scenes). It is difficult to decide where the cross-overs are for Musical Theatre, but I believe that if a piece involves singing, acting and movement (i.e. the three threats) then it counts as Musical Theatre.

Individual Unit (6) (Broadway Research)

DEFINITION:
"a street in New York City, famous for its theaters, restaurants, and bright lights." - http://www.dictionary.com/browse/broadway

FIRST THEATRES:
"Thomas Kean and Walter Murray, actor-managers in the area, established a theater company that housed 280 residents. The Revolutionary War abruptly stopped all productions and the theater did not open back up until 1798." - http://www.newyork.com/resources/broadway-and-theater-history/

THEATRES:

 http://alfa-img.com/show/broadway-shows-map.html










LONGEST RUNNING MUSICALS:

• Phantom of the Opera - 26/01/1988 to now - Majestic Theatre - 28th year
• Chicago - 14/11/1996 to now - Ambassador Theatre - 20th year
• Lion King - 13/11/1997 to now - Minskoff Theatre - 19th year
• Cats - 07/10/1982 to 10/09/2000 - 18 years

Contemporary Theatre (28) (Page 87- 90)

We began by discussing what location we are in at this point. We decided we are in a new reality. Earlier in the play, Winston mentions a picture of some people in a café that he thought he had unpersoned. So we then considered if this café was a sort of purgatory - which lead us to question whether Winston is alive or not. We decided that we would leave this question unanswered as the people in Book Club would not all share the same opinion.

The waitress and Julia are supposed to be played by the same actress, but because there are too many girls in our class, the waitress and Julia are different people. However, to present them as the same character, we shall have Julia on stage at the same time. Also, Hope and Rhiannon shall say the line "I betrayed you" in unison to show they are the same. In addition, when Hope says "Do it to...", she looks at Rhiannon, as Winston did shout "DO IT TO JULIA" on the previous page.

The very last section is set in Book Club, so whilst I am sitting on my chair at the back saying my monologue (having entered as Hope says "I was just asking if you were feeling unwell"), everyone else enters to set up and sit in Book Club positions.

We realised that the present is at least 2084 due to the line "because that was over a hundred years ago". We then discussed how we would show this. We discussed that for Book Club we could either use books, iPads, Kindles or image holograms. We thought that holograms could be too complicated and would not be clear enough for the audience to understand. With the iPads and Kindles idea, we could have a stand on the table in the middle saying "Book of the week: 1984", to make it clear. However we decided on books in the end as it is really clear to the audience what is going on.

We decided that once I have finished my final monologue, we would all look up to the ceiling (to show that everyone is deep in thought and is quite shocked), whilst Winston would look at O'Brien and said "thank you".

F(l)ight - (6) (Chair duets // Ending)

Our group counselling scene:

• Bring chairs on and sit down. All repeat one movement that shows our character (the victims did a movement that showed they were vulnerable, e.g. cowering / the abusers did a sharp sudden movement) - I did a sudden kick before I crossed my legs, to show my character's unpredictable nature and violent tendencies.
• We all perform a movement towards the person on our left, in cannon. When the circle is complete, we go back the other way reacting to the movement that happened to us on the other way round - James is on my left and goes to hug me, but stops before he touches me. I turn and spit at Rhiannon. The reason I spat was to show continuity as I spat at Lewis during our duet section. Rhiannon's reaction to me is to wipe her face and then turn me to face James. My reaction to James is to put my hands up in a cross and then throw them down. This also shows continuity as I do this in my duet as well.
• To allow Rob to have some movement, we thought that he could be the leader of the counselling session. Rob does a little duet section with the three victims where he uses a puppetry technique to get them to stand up tall (to represent them becoming more confident) and he turns them away and makes them stand to the sides.
• Rob then stands in the middle of the circle and uses puppetry again to make us stand and then move over one place to then sit down in the seat that was on our right - when the abusers sit in the victims chair, we are representing the abusers seeing things from the victims point of view.
• We then repeat the movements that the person who was sitting in the chair before did at the beginning - this is symbolic of the abusers being in the victims shoes.
• Whilst the abusers are performing the victims movements, the victims pick up the other chairs and place them behind the abusers so they are back to back. 
• Rob does a duet with each of the three abusers. The duet consists of him trying to touch us on the shoulder and then give us a hug but we reject both. We then takes our arm, lowers us back to our chair and then pulls us back up again. We then turn round and sit facing the victims backs - Rob lowering us on to the chairs represents him lowering our egos and reducing our anger. The fact that abusers take Robs arm shows that they have calmed down and are more trusting.
• The victims and abusers have a duet section in which the victims at first refuse to accept their apology because they are scared, but by the end they seem to have resolved their problems - we end our duet with the abusers putting their hands up, and the victims flinching at first, but realising that the abusers haven't moved, they put their hands up to them as well as touch hands.

Ending:

We have decided that we shall end our piece in a similar way to how we began our piece, but we shall do this section in reverse. We thought this would look effective as it shows that although things may take a long time, things can be turned around.

Dialogue:
We thought that we should add dialogue into our piece to ensure that the audience understood what our piece was about. We thought that we could complete the rest of our facts (that we stated a statistic for in the opening scene) in our ending scene. We also thought that we should include some dialogue during our duet/group sections to ensure that the audience understood what each groups section was about. Originally Lewis and I said "I'm sorry" at two moments in our piece - me at the beginning and him at the end. However, we decided to change this. Instead, when I break away and run to the mirror I say "it's going to happen again". The audience may assume that I mean that he is going to abuse me, but my meaning is that I am going to abuse him again. At the end Lewis then breaks the fourth wall by saying "you didn't expect that, did you?". I think it is important to break the fourth wall in this piece as we do not want the audience to get too involved in the piece and should instead be focussing on the meanings and the issues we are actually addressing.

Individual Unit (5) (West End Research)

DEFINTION:
"The western section of central London, England, noted for its fashionable districts and its shops and theatres. It includes Mayfair and Hyde Park." - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/West+End

FIRST THEATRES:
"London's first playhouse was built at a location known as the Shoreditch in 1576 and carried the name of 'The Theatre'. Prior to this plays had been performed in courtyards, Inn yards and even in people homes. In 1663 the first West End theatre opened, the mini venue played host to the earliest stars such as Neil Gwyn and Charles Hart. Tragically the theatre burnt down due to a fire in 1672." - http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/londons_vibrant_west_end.html
"The history of the London West End has been inextricably linked to the theatre for hundreds of years. From the opening of the first West End venue in Drury Lane in 1663, locals and visitors to the burgeoning capital flocked in their droves to the West End to be entertained and enthralled by the various shows on offer. - http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/london-west-end/

THEATRES:

 https://www.londontoolkit.com/theatre/london_theatre_breaks.htm

LONGEST RUNNING MUSICALS:

Les Misérables – opened 08/10/1985 at the Barbican, now at the Queen's Theatre – 30th year

The Phantom of the Opera – opened 09/10/1986 at Her Majesty's Theatre – 29th year

Blood Brothers – opened 27/08/1988 at the Albery Theatre, later transferring to the Phoenix Theatre and closed on 10/11/2012 – 24 years

Cats – opened 11/05/1981 at the New London Theatre and closed on 11/05/2002 on its 21st anniversary

Mamma Mia! – opened 06/04/1999 at the Prince Edward Theatre, moving later to the Prince of Wales Theatre and now playing at the Novello Theatre – 17th year - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End_theatre

Contemporary Theatre (27) (Page 11 - 35)

In today's lesson, we decided to run as much of the script as we could.  We went from the beginning and kept running the piece until we found anything we wasn't sure on, or wanted to alter.

Page 24: The first section we decided to alter was when Winston collapses in the Book Club on page 24. Originally we just had Winston walking in looking dazed, humming the tune of "Oranges and Lemons", and then stumbling and passing out. However, we thought this looked a little sparse and Rob found this difficult to make it look naturalistic. Therefore, we decided that Rob would just walk in to the middle, and the rest of us would walk in at different times to form a half circle around him. We thought that Lewis and James would walk in first, as Rob would then walk in towards them and then be stopped by them. Rob would then turn around and bump into Kat, as she will walk in after Lewis and James. This would keep happening until an entire half circle was formed around him by the rest of us. When Rob realises he has been surrounded he stumbles and falls. We will have a black out just before he is caught by Lewis. When the lights come back up, Rob is left on the floor and we are all seated in our Book Club positions. When we are all forming a circle around him, we thought that we could represent his thoughts to suggest that his thoughts and mind will one day be the death of him. When we all walk in towards Rob, we decided that we would sing "Oranges and Lemons" as we walk in - we decided we would sing at different times, rather than everyone sing at once. The purpose of this was to make the song sound distorted to represent Winston's confused state of mind. Moreover, by us singing, it meant that we were not adding another sound cue (as we already have a lot of these, and the less we have of them the less there is to go wrong, hopefully!).

Page 31: Originally, Charlie sat down and delivered his lines as Speakwrite. However, he now stands up instead as he looks less humane standing up and staring out to the front. Also, whilst this is happening, the rest of us would start typing. This would represent us doing Winston's job. This also makes everyone look quite inhumane as we are sitting up tall with a blank expression.

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (19) (Prologue // Characters)

Prologue: This lesson we completed our prologue. After being put down (having been lifted) and drawing on the flat nearest us, Rhiannon and I walk towards each other and walk a half circle around each other. This half circle represents the half circle we have just drawn on the flats. We then do our short hymn hand section and run to the other flat to complete the circle. We walk back in to the middle to walk another half circle round each other (to show completion and it is too late for Faustus to turn back), and then we join the rest of the group in a circle around Faustus (who is sitting down on his chair). We all move our hands in slow-motion towards him, as if we were going to stab or strangle him, whilst Lewis shows him a scroll. Once we are about to touch him in slow-motion, we instantly move outwards at a fast pace. We then went back to the beginning of the prologue when we all stand behind him. We had a rather heated discussion about whether we should have us all performing arm movements behind Faustus and Charlie the whole time, or only part way through. The argument for arms the whole time was that it looked strange having us all standing behind them and not doing anything. However, my argument against this was that us all doing arms from the start would distract the audience from the movement involving Faustus. Moreover, by adding arms in a bit later enables the tension to build a little bit. We decided on the latter of the two so added these arms in. We made sure that we all reached up to represent the desperation to get to Heaven. We also decided it would be nice to end our play with how we ended our prologue, apart from Faustus could look down as if he has been killed. However, we will sort this out when we get to the final scene.

Chorus introduction: At the beginning of our version of the play, there was some dialogue that the chorus say together. We came up with a few ideas of how we could present this section. One idea we had was speaking in blackout whilst wandering around the audience - we thought this was very Artaud as the audience is left feeling vulnerable and there is a high level of tension. We could split the lines up, but all say the final line of "Decided for yourselves you have the time..." together as it is a very significant line, as it mentions the theme of "time".  However, we thought that it could be nice to continue the idea of puppetry from the prologue whilst speaking these lines - also, this is quite a long time to have a black out and may look as if we couldn't think of what to do during this section. Another idea we had was speaking the lines with different intentions - Rhiannon and I could say the first line quite naturally, Lewis could say the line about being "dark and maybe a little scary" in a sadistic manner, the line about introducing the audience to Faustus could be very over-the-top as if at a circus (to suggest necromancy is entertaining), and "decided for yourself" could be very eerie and spoken in black out. In the end, we decided that we wouldn't actually include this chorus section at all as everything that it foreshadows and tells the audience we feel our prologue portrayed anyway. Therefore, we felt that there was no need to add this chorus section in. Moreover, Faustus is left in his chair on his own, at the end of the prologue, so this works nicely as he begins his monologue in the same position.

Characters: Below are the notes I made in the lesson about our thoughts on certain characters:

• Faustus:
  
  • OK - Mid 20s. Angry. Arrogant. Autistic.
  • RA - Old Man. "Wants to go out with a bang". Be remembered.
  • RD - Controlled. Condescending rather than angry. Angry when under-mined.
  • CS - Doesn't worry about appearance. Only cares for work.
  • COSTUME - initially thought very smart (waist coat, etc.) but now considering quite scruffy modern look for someone approximately 27?
•  Murdock:
  
  • LC - Childhood friend. Very trying. Cares for Faustus. Faustus helped him in the past so feels duty to tend to him.
  • JBC - Faustus was left a lot of money to buy a butler - Murdock.
  • RD - Still feels like he has to try to ensure they stay friends. Feels guilty that Faustus is so obsessed with his learning. 
  • COSTUME - Start casual (sloppy university student) then suit (to show he has graduated. become a business man).
•  Valdes & Cornelius:
  
  • OK - Internet friends. Met through forums. Online gamers.
  • CS - Older than Faustus. Online gaming friends.
  • LC - Gamers. Faustus gets a higher rank on the game. They find a cheat mode to cause him to lose. The whole play is a game. The play plays tricks on the audiences mind (as at the time the play was written people were extremely religious and would have strongly believed in the sins and that you should repent if you did sin - they would have felt more conscious watching the play and would have been quite frightened by it).
•  Mephistopheles:
  
  • RD - Very chill. Seen thousands like him.
  • LF - Everyone has their own Mephistopheles. Reflection of Faustus. Wear the same thing?

Individual Unit (4) (Opera Research)

DICTIONARY DEFINITION:
"an extended dramatic composition, in which all parts are sung to instrumental accompaniment, that usually includes arias, choruses, and recitatives, and that sometimes includes ballet" -
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/opera

ORIGINS:
"Ballet and Opera were born out of royal entertainments in 17th-century Italy and France. They were unashamed propaganda aimed at impressing foreign dignitaries and other royals. The stories or themes were taken from classical mythology, drawing parallels between the ruler and the mythological gods or heroes." - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/early-opera/ 

FIRST OPERA:
"The first opera was Daphne, first performed in 1598 during Carnival at the home of Jacopo Corsi (d.1604) in Florence, music by Corsi and Jacopo Peri (1561-1633), libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621). It is recognized as the first because it was the first of a series of similar pieces which established the form of early 17th century Italian opera, and all subsequent developments were based on that tradition. The score does not survive." - http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/opera.html

COMPOSERS:
Corsi (1561 - 1602) & Peri (1561 - 1633) - http://www.hoasm.org/IVD/Corsi.html
Bach (1685 - 1750) // Mozart (1756 - 1791) // Beethoven (1770 - 1827) // Verdi (1813 - 1901) // Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) // Chopin (1810 - 1849) // Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) // Puccini (1858 - 1924) // Handel (1685 - 1759) // Stravinsky (1882 - 1971) - http://historylists.org/people/top-10-most-famous-classical-music-composers.html

PERFORMERS:
Lind (1820 - 1887) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind & http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/0-9/19th-century-opera/
Schwarzkopf (Soprano) (1915 - 2006) // Geda (Tenor) (1925 - ) // Price (Soprano) (1927 - ) // Wunderlich (Tenor) (1930 - 1966) // Flagstad (Soprano) (1895 - 1962) // Pavarotti (Tenor) (1935 - 2007) // Sutherland (Soprano) (1926 - 2010) // Domingo (Tenor) (1941 - ) // Callas (Soprano) (1923 - 1977) // Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone) (1925 - ) - http://listverse.com/2012/04/08/top-10-greatest-opera-singers/

I researched Opera as it was heavily influential on musical theatre we know today. Some opera does technically count as musical theatre as it obviously involves singing, acting (through song) and sometimes dancing. The musical "Rent" (by Jonathon Larson) was loosely based on Puccini's opera "La Bohéme". Opera was also influential with its use of lavish costumes and comical songs (such as "Mein Herr Marquis" from "Die Fledermaus").

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (18) (Prologue)

To begin this lesson we did a quick warm up exercise. We began by lying down on the floor and then mimed our daily morning routine (we had to do this as naturally as possible so we couldn't perform this routine, and instead had to become immersed in our own little world). The purpose of this exercise was to make us focussed and to start a fresh, as it were - by going through our morning routine, we forgot everything that had happened during the day and so could begin the lesson with a clear state of mind. Also, we were going to be focussing on rituals. A ritual is "a series of actions or type of behaviour regularly and invariably followed by someone" (according to Google). We then made up a short morning routine, as a group, in an abstract style. We picked five movements and performed them in an abstract way (for example, instead of lying however we would normally sleep, we laid on our backs in a pencil position), and we performed them in cannon. We then added sound to our ritual.

After exploring personal morning rituals, we made two mind maps to explore how we could present rituals: one about movement and the other about sound. After making our mind maps, we split into two groups to make a mini prologue each. The reason we split into two groups was so we could explore more ideas and see what these ideas look like and then pick our favourite parts. My group (Rhiannon, Lewis, Oliver and I) decided to use cannon, unison, levels and contrasting dynamics. Rhiannon and I used the wall (as if it were a flat) to mime drawing the circle part of a pentagram on it (as symbolism is very important in "Dr Faustus"). Lewis and Ollie had a section where they did the movement from a scene in the play, to foreshadow what is to come. We decided to use lines from the play itself to foreshadow events (Lewis said "Cut deeper Faustus", Rhiannon said "But at what cost?", I kept listing the sins, and Ollie read his Latin part). If we had time to add to our piece we would have included chanting. After watching each other's performances, we decided we wanted to include the following: lifts, different directions/dimensions, unison and pace. We haven't decided what sound we shall include as of yet, but we decided what music we shall use - "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpCEfrOvYC0". We searched for demonic music and found this track. We liked this piece as we thought it wasn't too over-powering, but it still set the atmosphere that we wanted to create.

Our prologue so far is as follows:

• Faustus sits in his chair and everyone is in a straight line directly behind him - (we decided to have an aisle in both sides of the audience for the flats to go in. This was so all audience members would be able to see a flat and also see all of the action around the flats. Moreover, by having an aisle, we have created another set of entrances and exits that we can use in our piece)
• James (standing behind Faustus) shall have a short puppetry section with Faustus - to show manipulation and power
• Lewis and I step out to the right, whilst Rhiannon and Rob step out to the right - to suggest a confused state of mind and to build tension
• The two pairs do different lifts to take us girls to just in front of the flats
• (I'm not certain what they are doing at this point, but Charlie, James and Ollie have a section in the middle together). Rhiannon and I draw half a circle on the flat we are by
• We run past each other to the other flat to complete the circle - the fact that we have drawn in a clockwise direction represents the passing of time and suggests that this will be significant in the play itself. 

 This is as far as we got on our prologue today. However, Rhiannon and I did have an idea on what we could include. Originally, we thought of having a short hymn hand section together before we went to draw on the flats. We thought that we could include hand symbols used in necromancy. We then thought we could be dragged away and wave at each other to make the piece more sinister and creepy. We would then draw half a circle on the flat and run towards each other. We did think of singing a nursery rhyme whilst drawing the circle to make the piece more eerie and to fit the stereotypes of nursery rhymes being used for horrors. Initially we thought of "ring a ring of roses", but decided to see if there was any nursery rhymes that fit the theme of necromancy and Satan better. We quickly researched for nursery rhymes relating to Satan, and found "The Clip-Clop Man" (http://storywrite.com/story/7929629-The-Clip-Clop-Man-by-myriad-dark). We then thought that as soon as soon as we finish drawing the pentagrams, Rhiannon and I could scream. This would be very Artaud (as sounds are being used rather than words) and this idea of screaming was actually inspired by "People, Places & Things" (as when the main character had a relapse, the multiple versions of her would run across the stage and scream). Next lesson we shall hopefully complete our prologue and film it. 

Contemporary Theatre (26) (Page 67)

On page 27 there is an important stage direction, this stage direction is as follows:

"Suddenly there is an almighty crash and countless MEN IN UNIFORM flood into the room and set about dismantling it. It is terrifying and completely disorientating; the whole world changes."

We wanted to do a movement piece here involving everyone to make the audience feel confused and on-edge. The purpose of this section is to confuse the audience by destroying their "safety net" of the Book Club. Throughout the play to this point, we have lured them into a false sense of security by keep returning to the Book Club - this is a safe place to the audience as they understand what goes on during the Book Club scenes and are comfortable at these points as they are not tense. By having a movement section that destroys the idea of Book Club, and basically suggests that it never existed, confuses the audience and makes them feel very vulnerable.

Our initial thought for this section, was to have Julia and Winston in the middle, and everyone else moving around them quickly and we would use strobe lighting for this. However, we decided to forget about lighting for the time being and focus on the movement itself. We instantly decided that we wanted to use Mudvayne's "Dig" again to have continuity in the piece and to suggest to the audience that something terrible is happening. Our first step to creating this section was by working out what the stage space looked like in the previous scene. We realised that the Book Club chairs were still set up, so we would use these in our section. To show the Book Club being destroyed, we would pick up these chairs and get rid of them. We wanted to make this section quite chaotic, so Charlie came up with the idea of throwing and catching chairs, stacking them and then leaving. The aim of this would to be disorientate the audience.


We liked the idea of throwing chairs around, but knew we would want to include more movement as well as to build more of an atmosphere. Therefore we got into pairs and came up with a few movements that would be suitable for the piece. We picked our five favourite movements and would use these throughout our section. The movements were varied in terms of levels (with three of them being on the floor and two standing).

We began our physical theatre section sitting in the chairs as if we were about to do a Book Club scene, but Winston and Julia stood centre stage. We sit still for the first four bars but put our hoods up on the last beat of the last bar. The purpose of this is to show the audience that we are not our normal characters (as we are representing Thoughtcriminals at this moment). We then all perform any three of the five movements in different orders. Once we have done this, Hope and Oliver go back to their places and catch the chairs that are thrown at them and then catch and stack them. When throwing chairs, we had to ensure that they were thrown flat as to ensure that no one would be injured. We also had to make sure that anyone not throwing or catching chairs were right out of the way. Those not throwing chairs continue performing some of the five movements and mime tearing down posters off of the walls.

Once the chairs have all been stacked and are moved away, everyone performs lifts or short sections to get off-stage. The first thing that happens in this leaving process, is Julia has a paper bag put over her head (as instructed by the stage direction) and is taken off by Ollie. In the meantime, Charlie picks up the one remaining chair and places it centre stage (ready for Winston to be placed on at the very end of this section). Charlie then stands on this chair and is lifted by Lewis, Oliver, James and I, and is carried off to the back. I exit by being picked up by Oliver and carried in a bridal carry lift, but my body is limp. 

Contemporary Theatre (25) (Prologue // Character development)

To begin today's lesson, we ran the prologue to see if we all knew/remembered it. We quickly found out that not everyone knew it, therefore, we ran the prologue without the music. We adjusted some sections to make the piece smoother and tidier. We altered the first lift with Rhiannon because it looked a little bit pointless as she was barely visible. We also changed the timing of our arm section to ensure that we were confident with the timing as to make the piece look clearer and more impressive.

After improving our prologue, we made character profiles and did some writing in role (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/contemporary-theatre-24-character.html). I found these tasks quite challenging as the characters appear in different worlds (as in modern day book club, past reality and Winston's memory) therefore making it difficult to keep what you decided to be true accurate and consistent across the different worlds. I found the tasks quite useful though, as it forced me to make decisions about my character and therefore furthered my understanding of my role of Mother.

When moving as mother, I shall lead with my forehead to present vulnerability and innocence. I have used the Laban Movement Analysis technique to help me decided how I shall move (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/rudolf-von-laban.html).  I shall have mainly light movements to show my nerves and anxiety, and to emphasise my vulnerability. I shall be mainly direct to show that my focus is getting my family "back to normal". Also, I may be quite sudden to show that I am on-edge and am being pushed to breaking point.

Contemporary Theatre (24) (Character profile // Writing in role)

MOTHER - Character Profile

Name: Debbie Smith
Age: 32
Children: 1 son, 1 daughter
Relationship: Married

Personality: I believe that mother is very vulnerable as she is pressured by her son, as he constantly asks questions and doesn't stop answering back ("I WANT IT - I NEED IT"). I personally feel quite sorry for this character as she is constantly pushed by her son to the extent where she actually has to leave her son and her home because she cannot take it anymore. She tried her best to keep her calm and to be fair (as she stands up for her daughter and tells Winston off when he does wrong), but she "can't bear [it]" by the end. I also believe that she suffers with anxiety and is a very nervous person as she stutters a lot on page 15 of the script ("It's all very... just... we're inside his head. You know?"). Moreover, I think that mother is very caring and has a strong maternal instinct, because when Winston passes out (on page 24) she automatically calms others down and tells them what to do, and then comforts Winston.


MOTHER - Writing in Role

I don't know what to do anymore! I can't bear it and I don't know how much longer I can cope with it. Ha! I say that... like I'm coping with it at the moment anyway! This constant questioning, interrogating even. The constant demanding and pressure he puts on me - what have I done to deserve this?! Chocolate. Constantly chocolate! Can I have some chocolate? My stomach is clawing me! I WANT IT - I NEED IT! Why? Why has he turned out like this? I didn't bring him up like this?! His poor sister - I gave him my chocolate and then he snatched his sister's out of her hand! Her sweet little hands! I shouted at him. I kept calling his name but he kept running. My little girl was crying and I couldn't do anything. I felt helpless. This happens daily and I don't know what I can do! Me missing out is one thing, but stealing from his sister is not on!

F(l)ight - (5) (Groups // Ideas)

Last lesson we discussed mine and Lewis' duet beginning with a section that makes the audience think that I am the victim, to then make them feel guilty by going on stereotypes to assume that the man was abusing the woman. We now begin our piece with Lewis sitting on the floor and me walking in towards him. We did a very basic hymn hand section to make it look like Lewis is authoritative and dominant over me. At the end of this section, I get up and run to the front to then sort my hair (as if looking into a mirror). We then begin our original section from this point.

After sorting out the movement for this piece we decided on what song we shall definitely use. We decided we shall use an Eminem song, as the other two groups have used an Eminem song for their pieces. We considered using "Mockingbird" as it is a slow piece and is about relationships, but decided against it as it mentions children in it. We suggested this piece to Rhiannon, Ollie and Robert as their piece involves a child. In the end, Lewis and I decided that we would use "Space Bound" by Eminem as it is a slow piece but still conveys the right atmosphere. We then ran our section a few times with the music to make it fit nicely. We wanted to make sure that our climatic moments in our piece fit with the climatic parts of the song.

After we all completed our sections, we discussed having dialogue in the piece. Lewis suggested having the victims say a monologue at the end of their sections but he then changed his mind and said that this would be too cliché and be too much like an advert. We then decided that I would say "I'm sorry" when I walk in, and Lewis would say "I'm sorry" when I walk out after spitting at him. When I say "I'm sorry" the audience would assume that I am apologising for doing something wrong, though in fact I am apologising for beating him.

When then discussed how we would end our piece. James mentioned mirrors - as if the victims were visiting their abusers, but we thought this would limit us as we couldn't physically touch each other. We then realised that we have an odd number in our class so this wouldn't work very effectively and we then questioned why the victims would visit their abusers?! We then decided we wanted to end in a circle of chairs as if in a group therapy session. We did not get round to creating this section but discussed that we would like to include chair duets.

Individual Unit (3) (Music Hall Research)

DICTIONARY DEFINITION:
"A form of variety entertainment popular in Britain from circa 1850, consisting of singing, dancing, comedy, acrobatics, and novelty acts. Its popularity declined after the First World War with the rise of the cinema" - http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/music-hall

ORIGINS:

"Music halls can be traced back to the taverns and coffee houses of 18th century London where men met to eat, drink and do business. Performers sang songs whilst the audience ate, drank and joined in the singing. By the 1830s taverns had rooms devoted to musical clubs. They presented Saturday evening Singsongs and Free and Easies. These became so popular that entertainment was put on two or three times a week." - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-story-of-music-halls/

PERFORMANCES:

"Members of the public flocked to theatres around the country to sing along to favourite popular songs, or watch entertainments as diverse as acrobats, trapeze artists, ‘operatic selections’, ‘black-face minstrels’, or can-can dancers." - http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106422.html

PERFORMERS:

Paul Cinquevalli (juggler); Lottie Collins (skipping rope dance act); Gus Elen ('coster' comedian); El Niño Farini (acrobat); Dan Leno (pantomime dame); Marie Lloyd (singer); Vesta Tilley (impersonator) - http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/m/music-hall-performers/

THEATRES:

"Mr Charles Morton, publican of the Canterbury Tavern in Lambeth, opened the first purpose built music hall, The Canterbury Hall, in 1852. It held 700 people. Audiences were seated at tables and food and drink was served throughout the performance, which took place on a platform at one end of the hall under the watchful Chairman, the vocalist, Mr John Caulfield. Entrance was by a sixpenny refreshment ticket and the star was Sam Cowell, who had been lured from Evans’ Supper Rooms. So great was Cowell’s success that Morton had to build a larger hall on the same site. The more ornate hall opened in 1856 complete with chandeliers, balcony and art exhibition. It held 1500 people. Admission was sixpence to the floor and ninepence to the gallery. Refreshments, now charged separately, were served at tables. Mr Chairman sat at a table on the stage." - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-story-of-music-halls/
"Institutions: The backroom of the pub, where simple sing-songs gave way to the singing saloon concert // Popular theatre, sometimes in pub saloons but mainly at travelling fairs // Song & Supper Rooms, where more affluent middle class men would enjoy a night out on the town // The Pleasure Gardens, where entertainment became more low brow as the years passed." - http://www.musichallcds.co.uk/music_hall_history.htm

STRIKES:

In 1907 there were strikes due to contracts becoming stricter. - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-story-of-music-halls/ (bottom of the page)

THE END: In the 1950s, Rock and Roll arrived, which drove away older audiences and brought in younger audiences (who weren't interested in the Music Hall acts). Competition for Music Hall also appeared in the form of television. "The music hall is dying, and with it, a significant part of England. Some of the heart of England has gone; something that once belonged to everyone, for this was truly a folk art." — John Osbourne, The Entertainer (1957).- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall


I knew it was essential to conduct research on Music Hall to enable myself to have a strong knowledge of the history of Musical Theatre, as I had heard of Music Hall and believed it to be where Musical Theatre stemmed from. However, I do understand that Opera had a strong influence on Musical Theatre, so I shall research this in depth too. I was eager to begin my research on Music Hall, as I have had a little taster of it having taken Musical Theatre singing grades, and found it really interesting. I thought that having a dictionary definition of the term "Music Hall" would be a good place to begin my research. I then broke the research down into small subtitles to make the research more manageable. Having done a research log of purely Music Hall, I will be able to produce a very detailed timeline by the end of this unit. I strongly believe that by understanding the routes and influences of a chosen subject, you will gain a better understanding of the subject itself.

Contemporary Theatre (23) (Page 33 - 49)

In today's lesson we carried on from where we left off.

At the top of page 33, when Hope says as Telescreen that "The Two Minutes Hate will begin in ten seconds", we all stand up and move to three lines facing front but looking up (at a projection of Hope). At this point we are all representing supporters of Big Brother. During Goldstein's line, he appears on the projection - at this point we all start shouting at the projection of him speaking. We decided to have Ollie recorded and appear on the projection to show the audience what we are watching and then the projection would represent the telescreen. Also, by having Ollie recorded it meant that we could turn the volume of his voice up to ensure he is still heard over our shouting. Our first thought was to shout any insults or angry phrases as the projection, but then we decided to shout the three Party slogans in random orders. Kat and James suggested that front line could keep repeating one phrase, the second line another phrase, and the back line another phrase. However, although this would ensure that the audience could hear everything clearly, it didn't create a chaotic enough atmosphere, so we decided to all shout all the slogans in any orders.

When Winston begins speaking, everyone continues with the angry body language, but instead of actually shouting, we shall mime. This is so Rob can be heard and also to emphasise the fact that Winston is in his own little bubble of thought. However, when Rob says "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" four times, we begin shouting the slogans again on the second time he says his line but completely stop on the fourth time. The reason the shouting stops is because the Party supporters watch the shooting of a Thoughtcriminal. Once the Thoughtcriminal is shot, we all raise our hands in the air with our hands clenched into fists, and our wrists crossed to form an "X". This idea of the crossed arms was influenced by a short video clip of this scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zYlOU7Fpk). We found this video as we wanted to see how they performed this "Two Minutes Hate" section, as we weren't sure on what it all was before. When the "klaxon sounds", the canteen scene is formed (by the characters in this scene moving their chairs and sitting in the same positions as the previous canteen scene), whilst the rest of us exit to the sides behind the curtains.

Charlie did a little bit of research into "Victory gin!" as we were not sure whilst the character of Martin kept repeating this. Charlie found out that "Victory" is a brand made by the Big Brother Party (and was not actually them celebrating with a drink) - as well as gin, the company also produced cigarettes. Although we are still not sure why Martin says this, at least we understand what "Victory gin" actually is.

On page 37, Julia's voice "seems to echo" according to the stage directions. Instead of recording Rhiannon's voice and trying to edit this, we decided to have the all of us girls say the line at the same time. This increases tension and forebodes that the relationship won't last and something terrible will happen. Having all of us girls saying this line symbolises the fact that Julia has gone through a similar fling with many other Party members - she is secretive.

On page 42, Julia leaves and as Winston turns around to see where she has just left, Charrington is standing in this spot. This is similar to how Charrington entered earlier when the child left. This makes the transition smooth and confuses the audience as they realise that the location has just changed again. Charlie and Robert will perform this scene exactly the same as how they performed the scene earlier in the play to show continuity and to give the audience a sense of Deja Vu.

On page 46, Mother seems to randomly appear and then disappears again. We had a discussion as to why we thought this was. We all agreed that Winston is just reminiscing of the time his mother used to sing to him, but we questioned as to why this was. We decided that as this happens between scenes with Julia, that Julia reminds Winston of his mother (as Julia sang to him in the previous scene, hence triggering the memory of his mother singing to him). I did not know what this song was, so I typed the lyrics into Google and just found it was a George Orwell quote. I then found a link to YouTube called "I an ipril dye" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=650wHSwip3U). I watched this video and found the tune to the lyrics in the script (starting at 0:58). Whilst trying to discover the meaning of this song, I found out that this is a song that Winston hears "a prole lady" sing while he waits for Julia at the antique shop. The phrase "a hopeless fancy" is used, perhaps suggesting that the idea of Winston and Julia loving and trusting each other won't last.

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (17) (Scenes)

As there were only four of us in this lesson, we decided not to do any physical theatre sections and would instead work on our scripts. Lewis helped Rob go through some Valdes and Cornelius scenes, whilst Ollie and I worked on the sections between Faustus and Murdock. We were confident with how we used our voices, as we had both worked on this at home, however, we were not sure on what we were doing with our movement as we had only ran through these scenes together once (though the last Murdock scene we had not done together at all). Having done research on Laban to help with my movement, I already knew how I would move so only had to work out how Ollie and I would use the space together.

The first section between Murdock and Faustus is on the second page of the script. To make our movement as convincing as possible, we had to work out what our character motivations were at this point. As mentioned in my previous blog, my character is normally either concerned or angry - at this point my character is deeply concerned for Faustus as he has told Murdock that he wishes to gain a better understanding of the "dark arts". For this section, I shall walk closer to Faustus for when I speak to him, but shall face the audience (both sides by pacing between the two) when talking to myself and "aside". By constantly swapping between the two sides, I aim to portray my character's anxiety and deep concern for Faustus.

The next section is on the third page. In this section I don't talk to myself at all and instead speak directly to Faustus. In this section I am still concerned as I find him speaking to himself but I am very obedient by answering him. To show this, I do not look at the audience this time, and instead just face him.

My third section with Faustus is on page five; in this section I go from being concerned to angry. I show this contrast by altering my movements. When concerned, I move in a more fluid way, have my shoulders slumped forward and lead with my forehead (to give myself a lower status). When I become angry, I stand up taller and lead with my chest - I may also do quick sharp hand movements. I believe that the line that I change on is "Yes, you are right". I don't just think this because the voice direction is "angry", but because this is when Murdock completely opens up and says what he thinks. However, on my line before this ("you may be right"), I feel Murdock is being very sarcastic as he knows that Faustus is right in saying they are not similar, but is wrong by implying that Faustus is so much better than Murdock. Therefore, on this line, I roll my eyes and stand my ground with my back to him.

The final section that I am with Faustus for is on page 21. On this page, I have the higher status as Faustus asks if I would stay, but I turn him down by quoting him from earlier. To present myself as being more authoritative, I stand taller than before, with my shoulders back and chin raised slightly.

Once we all practiced our scenes that affected us the most and stood in for other characters, we began discussing the final scene. Ollie suggested having him being just well enough to go back to his office, but he collapses on his chair. Murdock, Valdes, Cornelius and Scholar would than all hear him collapse and would rush in. Faustus will be dragged out of his chair by "demons" (Rhiannon, and possibly me too depending on whether we think Murdock would be there or not) to "Hell" - or behind a curtain, or under the stage (as previously mentioned on one of my earlier blogs - http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/dr-faustus-marlowe-11-act-1.html). In the meantime, Murdock (?), Valdes, Cornelius and Scholar would tend to the chair and attempt to resuscitate where Faustus was, as if they could still see his body, but his spirit has gone. We shall mention this idea to the rest of the class next lesson.

Individual Unit (2) (Timeline layout plan)

At the end of this unit, I shall present my research in a timeline. I think that this is the most appropriate way to display my research as I can include all information on it and it would be clear and easy to read. This method also provides a clear visual presentation of the history of musical theatre, making it easier to understand and find specific information you desire to find out. 

The fist image is my original draft for my timeline. I wanted to separate Broadway and West End from each other so I could clearly see the difference between the two. However, I then made a second draft which mirrors the two sets of information, with the date bar in the middle, to make it easier to compare the two sets of information. I thought this would be useful as it would be interesting to see how both Broadway and West End were developing at certain times. After making my second draft, I realised that Music Hall was a type of British entertainment, ad so would not be relevant under the Broadway section of my timeline. I then remembered that opera came before Music Hall and so needed to include this on my timeline as well. As neither of these two sections fit my idea of comparing West End and Broadway, I decided I should make my timeline less focussed on them and more broad to include all of the history (as a lot of musical theatre productions originated in fringe theatres as opposed to being large-scale Broadway and West End productions). Therefore, in my third draft, I have made my timeline very broad and shall write next to the title of each example of types of theatre whether they are West End, Broadway or Fringe. (To make these drafts fairly accurate, in terms of where I placed Opera and Music Hall, I did a tiny bit of research to discover the approximate dates of when these two types of entertainment existed).

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (16) (Sins // Coma // Signs)

Planning: For the first section of this lesson, we tried to complete the sin section. The two sins we had left to complete were Greed and Envy. We began by writing down connotations of these two words - the point of doing this was to give us inspiration for what we can do, as well as keeping us focussed to the meaning of the sin. For greed we came up with the following: money, stealing from those less fortunate, desperation and willing to do what it takes. For envy we came up with the following: jealousy, relationships, wanting what you can't get and ugliness.

Greed: For Greed, we decided to keep the section that James and I had already made (this section involved reaching towards each other's pockets to show stealing and a round movement to create tension and to represent how being greedy can completely change you). James and I finish this section with him downstage and me upstage (having just ran forwards and backwards to represent desperation to improve and get what we want). James runs into Rob and they do a duet section and I run into Rhiannon and do a duet with her. We made sure we finished with one group downstage and another group upstage to ensure that this worked with our traverse staging - so all audience members would have something interesting to look at. The duet section I did with Rhiannon started off fairly naturalistic but then became very abstract. We began with me bragging to her about how much money I had. We then do a very short lead-and-follow section where she follows wherever I move my money to. I then drop money on the floor and she follows the trail on her knees as if she were a dog. This is to represent how greed can change who we are and even bring out a completely different side to us (animal instincts).

Envy: This Greed section will lead smoothly on to Envy as we shall begin our Envy section in the positions we ended our Greed section in. My character has been greedy by training my dog to do whatever I want it to do; for the envy section, I will look across and see what James and Rob have accomplished and then will compete with them by constantly trying to show-off and better the tricks my dog can perform. The two duets will keep trying to over-through the other and eventually just ruin each other, and Charlie comes in and betters the lot of us. This is what we are planning for the Envy section, but have not physically tried out this idea. As we have spent a lot of lessons on the sins, we shall work out this in our own time.

Recorded Narration: As we have recorded the narration for Lust, we then considered recording the other sections. By recording the other sections, we would be able to focus on the physical theatre itself and also, each time we then rehearsed, the timing would be consistent as we wouldn't be altering the pace in our lines.

Faustus wake up: We had to decide if we were going to end our play - would we have Faustus shutting his laptop and panting heavily as if he had frightened himself with what he had researched, or if we were going to have him waking up from a coma. We decided to go for the latter of the two ideas as we could involve everyone and make an interesting physical theatre section. We decided that in a blackout, Faustus would move to and lie down on a bed centre stage (three stage blocks). We then had to decide how we would show Faustus starting to recover. We discussed the National Theatre's production of "People, Places & Things" and how they showed the main characters road to recovery and also how they showed her break down. We all liked how they had seven actresses who all looked identical to the main character on stage at once (wearing the same costume and hair styled the same way) doing different movements to show time passing. We would have like to have done this, but we couldn't due to us all not looking the same! We then came up with the idea of us all playing a doctor doing different things (like taking his blood pressure, giving him an injection, plumping his pillows, etc.) to show time passing. We initially thought of Faustus' hospital bed being on wheels and we would keep turning him round and working on him individually. The circular movement would have shown the passing of time quite clearly. However, we then realised that this would take up a lot of space in our traverse staging. We then realised that we could all move around Faustus and do a similar thing but decided against it as we wanted to make this section more chaotic to fit Artaud's conventions. We wanted to make this very abstract, so we took realistic things a doctor would do, but performed them in an abstract style. For example, Rhiannon and I are both working on his arms (her giving him an injection, and me checking his blood pressure) so we lift the opposite arm up to the one we are working on, and swap places by cartwheeling over the bed or rolling on the floor around the top of the bed. Moreover, when I check his blood pressure, each time I pump the machine, he lifts his arm up higher - this is very abstract and portrays the idea that things aren't right and foreshadows that he shall not recover thoroughly.

Signs: At the very end of this lesson, we began to discuss signs to do with necromancy. Therefore I have looked up "necromancy signs" on Google images, and the most common image that came up was of a star in a circle. We will be using images to project in our piece so we will continue to discuss images next lesson to decide which ones we shall use.

Contemporary Theatre (22) (Page 28 - 33)

In this lesson we continued where we left off with the script.

Transition to Interrogation:
On page 29 we have to do a transition from past reality to the interrogation. For this transition, some people pick up chairs and move them in place for the next scene, whilst the rest of us alter Winston's appearance (to show that he is in a different location and has a different state of mind). We wanted to make this transition as frantic as possible, so will use changing lights, loud noises and a lot of movement (i.e. take the long route to where we need to go to make the transition more chaotic). This was inspired by the National Theatre's production of "People, Places & Things". We liked how the transitions in this show confused the audience and left them on the edge-off their seats - as an audiecne, we did not know what to expect next and were disorientated by the loud noises - this is an Artaud convention (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/antonin-artaud.html). The piece we are going to use for this is "Dig" by Mudvayne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z704rxchxq8) as it very loud and quite messy - representing Winston's state of mind. This transition ends with Winston in a chair DSR with O'Brien standing, and the rest of us frozen in Book Club positions.

Transition to Past Reality:
On page 31, we have to transition to past reality and the stage direction states that there should be "an abrupt lighting change". Therefore, we shall have a complete black out. During this black out, Rob will move from sitting DSR to DSL. Whilst he does this, the rest of us move our chairs in cannon to face front. As we pick up and chairs and place them down to face front, we make a loud noise, to make the audience feel on-edge and fit with the Artaud idea of loud noises. On the last noise, the lights shall come on to reveal Winston sitting in a different place, thus representing a different time.

"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (15) (Murdock)

Although the majority of the play is very abstract, I believe that Murdock is quite a naturalistic character. I think he needs to be naturalistic as he attempts to ground Faustus and make him come back to reality. I know this because Murdock says to Faustus that he is losing his humanity, and so he needs to represent the whole of humanity and he pretty much says what the audience thinks. Below are my notes on voice and movement.

VOICE: To make my character naturalistic I will use what I have learned about the practitioner Stanislavski (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/stanislavski.html). He believed that actors should not only know their lines, but know the intention behind them. Therefore, I have gone through the script and really thought about Murdock's attitudes and intentions with each line. In my very first line - "Valdes and Cornelius? What do you want with them?" - I believe Murdock is anxious. He doesn't trust Valdes and Cornelius as they are "only interested in themselves" and are not a good influence on Faustus. Therefore, I will speak with concern when delivering this line. I shall continue this tone of concern when speaking of how "I do fear for him as he reads those books". On my final line on page two, I become increasingly more annoyed as I say how he has "forgotten" when I was part of his learning. However, my anger turns to panic as I say how Valdes and Cornelius have only one fellowship. On my line "I will contact them now Faustus", I show my loyalty through sounding sincere but I shall have an undertone of concern as I only contact them reluctantly, as I don't want to see Faustus in trouble. So far, I have hidden my anger from Faustus, however, this changes on page five on the line "Yes, you are right, we are not alike". Prior to this outburst, I only show my deepest concern for Faustus and this then causes my outburst as he ignores my warnings and denies our friendship. I try to make the audience sympathise with my character but trying to show genuine concern in my voice (by having an element of fear in my voice by having a fairly shaky quality of voice and by being quite breathless), this is so they still agree with my character and understand my character when he has his outburst at Faustus. During this outburst I raise my voice, speak slightly quicker and emphasise the consonant to sound my aggressive. This is exactly the same on my final appearance on page 21 when I leave Faustus for good. However, on the first line of this page, I try to keep my cool as to not make a scene and to see if things have changed. When I realise that things are still exactly the same as how they were before, I have another outburst. I think that by looking for deeper meanings in the text and studying my characters intentions has really helped as I understand my character better and can play my character more realistically - this is why I decided to use Stanislavski's methods.

MOVEMENT: I have decided to use the Laban Movement Analysis method (http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/rudolf-von-laban.html) to create my body language and embodiment of my character of Murdock. The two emotions my character mainly feels are anger and concern. When angry I shall be quite heavy with my movements to emphasise power and aggression. I will be mainly direct as to get my point across but slightly indirect to show frustration and to make me unpredictable. This will show that my character tries to stay calm but will stand up for themselves when he needs to. I will also be mainly sudden to show that I am unpredictable and am at boiling point - I will use sharp and sudden arm movements. When angry, my movements will mainly lead from my chest to be more authoritative. Contrastingly, when I am concerned I will lead from my hands in front of me and by my forehead - this will be to show that I do not want to anger Faustus but am deeply serious about what I have to say. Also, I shall use less space when I am angry than when I am concerned, as when I am angry I shall stand my ground more (whilst when I am concerned, I may pace up and down a little bit - this will also ensure I use the traverse space and everyone can see). Moreover, I shall be very light with my movements when concerned, as to move faster and to appear like I am on-edge. I shall be slightly indirect to show that I am panicking and am anxious about what is about to happen. Finally, I shall be fairly sustained to show that I am constantly thinking, though will have moments of being sudden as to create a contrast and to be unpredictable to match my confused mind. I think that by answering these movement questions, I have understood my character better as I have created his body language.

F(l)ight - (4) (Opening sequence // Groups)

Mine and Lewis' duet section: We added more to the end of our duet section. We added a few moments where we used the space (by stepping around each other) to create tension. To finish our duet, I offer to help him off of the floor but drop him back down and spit at him. We liked this idea of spitting as it is not very movement-orientated like the rest of the piece, so therefore stands out more. We have decided that we would like to add more to the beginning of our piece. Lewis came up with the idea of us sitting on a bench in the park (to show that these things can happen anywhere), but instead of using a literal bench, we could use other people in the class to form this bench. This idea was inspired by DV8's "Can We Talk About This?". We thought that this could represent other people not standing up to what they see and instead blending in to the scenery (in our piece, them being a bench symbolises those who do not stop what they see). At first, we thought our first section could be us two looking like an ordinary couple, with no issues, to make our piece more shocking. However, we decided that we shall create our beginning section in a way that makes it look like I am the victim in our section. This will shock the audience more when they realise that I am in fact the abuser. Our aim with this is to make the audience feel shocked and a bit guilty for assuming that the men are the guilty - we are breaking stereotypes. We have not created this beginning section yet, but shall do this next lesson.

Opening group section: We added a lot more to this section in this lesson, but we also slightly adapted what we already had. Instead of having James in the middle, we decided to put Rob in this place instead. This is because Rob is the only character in our individual groups that isn't directly abused, nor is he abusing anyone. Rob's character is a small child who watched his father abuse his mother daily. Therefore, we decided that he should be in the middle of the opening section to symbolise that he is literally in the middle of everything - he is being surrounded by all of this and cannot escape it. We then realised that we happen to have the three victims on one side of Rob and the three abusers on the other side of Rob - we decided to use this. After Rob is lifted, Ollie puts him down on the floor (as is putting him to bed - as Ollie is Rob's dad in their group piece). Ollie, Charlie and I are in a straight line on Rob's left, whilst Lewis, James and Rhiannon are on his right. Ollie, Charlie and I do three aggressive movements (as if about to hit him), but they are joined with a smooth transition. This is to show that the abusers are unpredictable. On each of our three movements, we have a lower level and our hands become closer together - we end on the floor on our knees with our hands together, as if we have been arrested. Contrastingly, Lewis, James and Rhiannon do three movements (beginning on the floor in the same position as the abusers finish in) to show them getting a higher status and escaping from their trapped lives - they are free.