Tuesday 19 July 2016
Monday 18 July 2016
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (28) (Evaluation)
What went well:
- The majority of lines were remembered and nothing was skipped
- The physical theatre sections looked really effective and conveyed the right feeling
- Our set was really effective - both aesthetically and practically for what we wanted it for (e.g. the stage bocks created levels: something interesting to look and for us to work with, as well as them being practical to move about)
- The lighting created the appropriate atmosphere and moods at the right times
- Our transitions were mainly smooth and lead to a seamless performance
- Our simplistic costumes fit with the abstract style of the piece, as they were not naturalistic for each character / character specific
- We all remained in character -we kept up our voices, stances and body language in general when performing as said character
- Our use of props worked nicely (e.g. the ribbons used in the Heavens section really added to the sense of movement that we tried to create)
- Some lines were forgotten at times, but this did not matter as the cast members managed to improvise and get back on track with the script without the audience noticing a problem
- Couldn't use the projection due to not having a cable long enough to reach, without someone being on stage to operate this. Therefore we decided to scrap our projection - which was a shame as Charlie had done a really good job on it, and it did help aid creating the desired atmosphere. However, I think our piece worked quite well without it though as I believe that having a projection as well might have distracted the audience away from the movement. Also, the movement was clear enough in portraying the narrative
- The sheet that Charlie and I used, for the physical theatre scene where Faustus practices necromancy, was rather large and therefore difficult to negotiate and manoeuvre. Also, due to a stage block positioned on the steel decking not being moved far enough forward and due to the lack of visibility, I hit my head on the corner of the stage block. Although this was rather painful to say the least, I still continued with the scene to the best of my ability, when I could then have a drink before I next needed to go on stage.
- To avoid any accidents, we could practice in the space with all props and the set sooner in to the rehearsal process. Thankfully there wasn't any serious accidents, but I think we all would have been a little bit more confident if we had rehearsed in the space a little bit sooner
- If we were to do this performance again, I would still set the piece in traverse, as I thought this type of staging actually worked really well. This is because the audience felt a bit uncomfortable as there was distance between them and the audience on the opposite side, making the audience feel more vulnerable. The fact that the audience could see each other was also symbolic of how Faustus was constantly being watched by the Lucifer's demons.
- I would also keep the cast size the same as it worked really well for our space, and there wasn't too many people involved in our movement section. If we had more people then it would have become a little bit too chaotic and the attention to detail would have been lost (e.g. too many people in the Hospital physical theatre scene would have resulted in certain parts not being noticed).
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (27) (Final Rehearsals)
Periods 3 & 4:
- Put all of our set in place
- Drew the pentagrams on the flat
- Set up the lighting and went through our lighting plan with Dan
- Got the sound files together
- Ran Act One
- Ran Act Two
- Blocked the final scene (Faustus ends centre stage, and there is a black out as he runs off screaming. I enter as Murdock looking for him, but ending up finding his pocket watch. I hold the pocket watch up)
- Ran Act One again as it didn't go to smoothly on the first run (a couple of scenes were skipped)
- We got into costume and took photos
- Went through the lighting for Act Two
- Made a decision - unfortunately we had to scrap all of the projections due to the cable not being long enough, which would result in someone having to be on stage, but no one could have done this and it wouldn't look right
Thursday 14 July 2016
Contemporary Theatre (36) (Evaluation)
What went well:
If we were to do this production again:
- When mistakes happened we covered each other well. We also used our initiatives to prevent mistakes from happening:
- When Kat put down the tray with drinks down at the side of the stage, Charlie drank them to prevent them spilling if someone were to accidentally knock them over.
- A Chair wasn't left on stage for the Interrogation / Room 101 for James to sit on, so before I knew I had to take James on, I walked on and placed a chair in the right place. I did this as quietly as I could, but I had a serious expression and looked at O'Brien so it looked as if I was working for him, organising things.
- We didn't have a box to put on Winston's head for Room 101, so Charlie used his initiative and put his jacket over his head. This actually worked quite well as we hadn't practiced with a box, and the jacket gave Winston a blackout and the sense of being trapped, but it also allowed the audience to use their imaginations. Moreover, as our play is very abstract, it worked quite well being representational.
- On the whole, everyone remembered the majority of their lines. Although at times there were a couple of stumbles, we all quickly recovered, making them barely noticeable.
- Physical theatre sections went really smoothly. We all remembered the movements, and there were no accidents.
- Everyone's characterisation was really strong. We all used our facial expressions and body language to the best of our abilities.
- I used my stance to create a contrast between when I am Mother in Winston's memory and when I am during Book Club and the two minutes hate. I lead with my forehead and was very inverted as Mother in Winston's memory, but when I was in the two minutes hate I stood taller and lead with my chest.
- I think our costumes all looked very fitting for the 1940s setting.
- I think that our set was very effective, although it was quite simplistic. The posters created the feeling of corruption, manipulation and dystopia. The fact that we left the chairs in the Book Club positions representing that everyone is always being watched. The fact that we sat at the sides whenever we weren't in Book Club or on stage also represents that we are always being watched.
- I really liked the fact that a blood capsule was used for when Winston's teeth were pulled out, as it looked really realistic.
What didn't go so well:
- The posters of the Party Slogans that we stuck to the curtains:
- Not all of the posters were pinned up (some were only attached with duct tape), so a couple fell down during the performance - however, this didn't matter too much as it symbolised that the Party was corrupt and that Winston was being mentally broken down.
- As we pinned the posters up, we should've taken the duct tape off, as when we pulled the posters down, we ended up with the posters getting stuck to our feet as we were walking about... however, if we wanted to become analytical, we could say that the Party manipulates you and becomes a part of you, whether you want it to or not!
- A couple of transitions were a little bit messy as chairs ended up in the wrong place, as well as props.
- As we hadn't rehearsed with props, the props were often forgotten (e.g. the chocolate and the coffee) and so were mimed instead. However, this actually worked well as the play is very abstract anyway.
- Not everyone was confident on their cue lines. I went to say my line in the interrogation, asking Winston his name, but was cut off by another cast member. However, this wasn't too much of an issue as they left a slight pause and gave me a look so I could say my line, and then they continued with theirs in a way in which it still made sense.
- Due to not doing a costume run earlier, and due to the costumes themselves, not all of us wore coats for the Book Club scenes. The idea of wearing coats was to show that it was "present day" and that we ere in a different location. However, I don't think this was too much of an issue as some characters in the Book Club completely overlap into different locations, so it kind of worked.
- We would pin the posters up with pins and not have duct tape on them at all, to avoid them getting stuck to people's feet.
- We would warn our audience that some scenes were violent and may be upsetting, as there were some younger audience members.
- We could have had a whiteboard saying "This week's book: 1984" turned to face front every time Book Club was happening - this would help the audience realise that it was a Book Club and not a school or anything. Alternatively, we could have had a little introduction at the beginning to welcome everyone to the Book Club.
- Our video projections could have been a little bit louder as we struggled to hear every word.
- Done more rehearsals with props and in costume.
Contemporary Theatre (35) (Final rehearsals)
Periods 1 & 2:
Costume:
- We attempted to do a full run through. However, some people did not know their lines and the run was coming to a standstill, so we decided to draw this rehearsal to a close.
- We sent Rob and Rhiannon off to go through all of their scenes together, whilst the rest of us covered books with a 1984 cover so we all have a "copy" for the Book Club.
- Posters of the Party's slogans were printed ready to be put up. They were printed on A3 paper so the audience could clearly see them and also so we could cover the curtains more.
- In these periods we put up all of the posters with duct tape. We put them at different heights and at different angles to make the place look messy, chaotic and dystopian. Unfortunately, the posters kept falling down due to the duct tape getting to hot because of the lights.
- Charlie went to his house (as he lives just around the corner from the school) to pick up props that we needed - a tray, wine glasses, biscuits, chocolate, lunch box, crisps, blood capsules, etc.
- We began our second full run-through but although there was a great improvement, there were still sections that were dodgy due to people forgetting lines still, so we decided to cut these scenes / small sections (if it made sense to do so).
- We got into costume and continued with the rest of our run-through.
- We took photographs.
- We put the posters back up again but this time with pins.
- We ran the movement sections.
Costume:
I wore this dress and theses shoes because they were the right style and they suited my character. I styled with my hair with victory rolls and curls as this is what I learned from my research. I did try doing a sweeping fringe into a roll but decided against it as it made me look a lot younger. I made sure I did a lot of rehearsals in my heels to ensure that I could do the physical theatre sections comfortably. I wish I did a rehearsal earlier in my dress as it completely changed my posture and restricted my movements. My petticoat rode up quite a lot and became very difficult to move with. If I had practiced in the dress more, then I could have pinned my petticoat to the actual skirt of the dress.
Tuesday 12 July 2016
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (26) (What's left?)
What we have left to do before the performance:
- Do a full run in costume with props
- Do a full run with lighting and sound
- Block the final scene
- Draw the pentagrams on the flats and cover them
- Set the space (e.g. props on Faustus' desk)
- Ensure the sound files are all complete and are in one playlist
- Ensure all lines are learned
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (25) (Act 2)
Stage Design:
We began this lesson by setting up the hall ready for our extra-long rehearsal. We decided to set the hall how it shall be when we perform so we get a feel of what it would be like, and also to see if we wanted to change anything. Originally, we were going to have Faustus' desk, chair and armchair all on the stage to give us more room in the traverse; however, the feel of intimacy was lost and Faustus' office felt very distant and disconnected. We then thought of putting Faustus' desk and chairs on the floor, but we thought that we needed restrict Faustus' room a little bit (so the audience could tell where his office ended). We also missed the levels that we had created by having Faustus' office up higher, so we decided that we would put Faustus' office on a small section of steel decking - by doing this we solved the issues of intimacy, levels and practicality. However, we kept the stairs to the actual stage as Charlie, Ollie and I use the curtains as entrances/exits at various points during the play.
Moreover, we have put flats on either side of the steel decking at the other end of the traverse. This is because we sometimes enter from the back of the flats (i.e. when I am Helen of Troy near the end of Act Two) and we wanted to make these entrances/exits tidier and more discreet. We can also do any costume changes behind these flats. When not on stage we will probably stand behind the flats as we are then not visible to the audience, but can still hear our cues. In addition, we are not using flats at the sides anymore as we do not have enough flats. Although, we did want the flats here, I think the play works better without them there, as it would have looked strange with us all walking between the flats at the back and the flats at the side to get to where we needed to be. As we don't have flats at the side, we will have to adapt the prologue where James and I go to draw a pentagram on the flats. However, I have just had a thought... I will suggest this to the class tomorrow... but I thought that instead of drawing the pentagrams, they could be pre-drawn and covered with two pieces of black paper - James and I would take one of the pieces off the board (to reveal half of the pentagram) instead of drawing half the pentagram, and then swap and do the other piece of paper on the other flat.
Blocking achieved this lesson & adaptions:
We began this lesson by setting up the hall ready for our extra-long rehearsal. We decided to set the hall how it shall be when we perform so we get a feel of what it would be like, and also to see if we wanted to change anything. Originally, we were going to have Faustus' desk, chair and armchair all on the stage to give us more room in the traverse; however, the feel of intimacy was lost and Faustus' office felt very distant and disconnected. We then thought of putting Faustus' desk and chairs on the floor, but we thought that we needed restrict Faustus' room a little bit (so the audience could tell where his office ended). We also missed the levels that we had created by having Faustus' office up higher, so we decided that we would put Faustus' office on a small section of steel decking - by doing this we solved the issues of intimacy, levels and practicality. However, we kept the stairs to the actual stage as Charlie, Ollie and I use the curtains as entrances/exits at various points during the play.
Moreover, we have put flats on either side of the steel decking at the other end of the traverse. This is because we sometimes enter from the back of the flats (i.e. when I am Helen of Troy near the end of Act Two) and we wanted to make these entrances/exits tidier and more discreet. We can also do any costume changes behind these flats. When not on stage we will probably stand behind the flats as we are then not visible to the audience, but can still hear our cues. In addition, we are not using flats at the sides anymore as we do not have enough flats. Although, we did want the flats here, I think the play works better without them there, as it would have looked strange with us all walking between the flats at the back and the flats at the side to get to where we needed to be. As we don't have flats at the side, we will have to adapt the prologue where James and I go to draw a pentagram on the flats. However, I have just had a thought... I will suggest this to the class tomorrow... but I thought that instead of drawing the pentagrams, they could be pre-drawn and covered with two pieces of black paper - James and I would take one of the pieces off the board (to reveal half of the pentagram) instead of drawing half the pentagram, and then swap and do the other piece of paper on the other flat.
Blocking achieved this lesson & adaptions:
- 12 -- Originally Lewis was going to click his fingers to cue a chorus member to roll on with the scroll on his line "Here is the scroll on which thou pledged your soul to Lucifer". However, we decided that he shall have the scroll in his back pocket, as to not break the audiences' focus and to avoid the piece looking messy (as the chorus member would have to walk to the entrance and then roll in).
- 13 -- Originally, I entered from the other end of the traverse and walked towards Faustus' office, but now I enter from behind the curtains and walk down the steps. This uses our levels more and makes me seem more mysterious and magical as I "appear" rather than enter. I shall enter through the curtains, walk down the stairs to Faustus, have the section in his office, and then walk back up the stairs and behind the curtains with him. He shall remain behind the curtains for a while, but will then reappear adjusting his clothing to imply what Faustus and his "wife" had just done.
- 13 -- We are utilising our space by all entering from different places to begin our heaven section. I shall appear from behind the curtains as I had just ended there.
- 16 -- Today was the first time we ran our sin section with the track that Lewis made. We loved what he had done to the track but thought that some of our voices lacked emotion and volume at times - therefore we shall re-record our narration tomorrow so Lewis can re-do the track for us. Our timing was also a little bit dodgy so we ran this section a couple of times to improve it. We had to slightly alter some of the movement to make it fit. There is a long pause with in my Lust section at the end, as the narration is longer than I thought. Therefore I shall add more to it tomorrow.
- 17 -- We created another physical theatre section, but this one shows "Pontius Pilate, Hitler and Osama bin Ladan, all three figures changed the way the world viewed others". Our first section is our "Hitler" section. Faustus whispers in James' ear as he stand on the central block. Charlie, Rob and I entered from different directions, looking distraught, and ended on our knees around the front block. James mimes giving Hitler's speech - as he does this, we get off our knees and stand tall giving the Hitler salute. James sharply moves his arm across and we all fall to the floor. From these positions, we begin the bin Ladan sequence. Charlie is made to stand up by Ollie by him using puppetry mime. This is to portray Faustus' power and manipulation and lack of morals. Charlie then gets Rob and I to stand, hold guns, walk towards James, pick him up and drag him to his knees in front of Charlie. I then pull James' hair back and Rob mimes slitting his throat. This is to symbolise the beheadings. Charlie then walks off to the back and we begin our Pontius Pilate section. This section has Charlie representing Pontius Pilate and Rob representing Jesus. This section involves a lot of James and I reaching towards Rob as he stands on the central block, whilst Charlie paces up and down the steel decking on the further side of the traverse. We end this section by doing a lift with Rob (in the crucifix position) and carrying him off.
- 20 -- We worked out where we would enter for the "Hospital" physical theatre section. We went over this section a couple of times to make it more fluid and seamless. We decided that we needed a black out right after this section, to allow us to move the stage blocks ready for the next scene.
- 21 -- Originally James, Rob and Charlie sat down ready for when Scholar enters, but we decided this looked a little bit faux. To make it more natural, they all stood up and lingered in the middle for a little bit. Contrastingly, I enter, ask my question and sit down as I finish asking - this shows my character as being a little bit hostile and authoritative - my character is angered by Faustus and by the others attitudes.
- 22 -- Instead of having a "dance of the devils with Faustus at the centre", we decided to have a black out, in which they would all change positions. This would suggest that time has passed.
- 23 -- Instead of being lifted by the "demons", I shall simply walk on to the steel decking, entering from the very back. The reason we are not doing the lift is because the rest of the cast is all on stage at this point and also we didn't want to over-complicate anything. I walk on, almost ghost-like, and stand still gazing out in front of me, into the distance. I look dazed as I then move my hand outwards as if greeting people. I stay on the steel decking until Scholar's line "but she fades, she leaves us Faustus". At this point, I walk backwards (to representing fading away) and then turn (to show how times have changed) to leave off the way I came on.
- 25 -- I enter as I did before as Helen of Troy, but this time I walk off the steel decking and towards Faustus in the centre. I follow his lead as we have a romantic section in close proximity. We have not planned what we shall do in this section as the section is more raw and natural if we just go for it in the moment - as this is what Faustus would be doing at this point. To leave, I walk backwards and then turn and leave as before.
- 26 -- We have decided to cut from "My offence is too great" up until "What did I gain?". The reason for this is that we do not see much need for this section. We didn't like how Ollie would have been using direct address to speak to the audience, as he hasn't done this in the play and so seemed a little bit strange. It also interrupted the flow of Faustus' feelings.
- 27 -- We haven't physically blocked this yet, but we have worked out what it is we would like to do. We didn't like the stage direction of the chorus "violently tearing, as pieces of flesh and blood litter the stage" as it seems a bit too extreme and over the top. Therefore we thought that we could have a freeze frame of the chorus coming towards Faustus near the steps to the stage. We would then have a blackout, and then everyone would have left, and the stairs would have red paint dripped down them, to look like blood. I would then walk in as Murdock and look panicked. I would then call out Faustus' name repeatedly, calling and hoping for a response: "John? ... John?... JOHN?!........ John". I shall really use breath in this section to show my fear and my realisation of what had just happened.
Contemporary Theatre (34) (Run)
For today's lesson we were planning on doing a full run-through, but we were missing Rhiannon and Charlie so this became very difficult. We ran the piece from the beginning up until page 60. We stopped the run here as we were having issues with lines. We then skipped forwards a few pages to run the interrogation.
What we have left to do before our performance:
Hair: I have now worked out how to style my hair for tomorrow. I have looked at a lot of images on Google of "1940s hairstyles". I discovered that women either used head scarfs, had pin-ups with rolls, or down with rolls and curls. As I do not own rollers, I experimented by using and gripping in a loo roll to get the right shape, though found this was very unstable. I then tried doing the roll with purely hair grips - however, I then found that doing a quiff worked just as well and looked the same. I will be doing one large quiff at the front of my hairline, and will do two smaller quiffs (one on either side of my head) and have the rest of my hair down with the ends curled.
What we have left to do before our performance:
- LEARN LINES!
- Decorate C5 ready for the performance (posters on walls)
- Do a costume run
- Do a full run without scripts
- Rehearse with props
- Rehearse with sound and lighting (as there are a lot of cues)
Hair: I have now worked out how to style my hair for tomorrow. I have looked at a lot of images on Google of "1940s hairstyles". I discovered that women either used head scarfs, had pin-ups with rolls, or down with rolls and curls. As I do not own rollers, I experimented by using and gripping in a loo roll to get the right shape, though found this was very unstable. I then tried doing the roll with purely hair grips - however, I then found that doing a quiff worked just as well and looked the same. I will be doing one large quiff at the front of my hairline, and will do two smaller quiffs (one on either side of my head) and have the rest of my hair down with the ends curled.
Saturday 9 July 2016
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (24) (Sins // Hospital)
Sins:
Today we finally completed our sin section. We worked out where we ended for our lust section and took it from there. We didn't want to over-complicate the last two sins as we had complicated the Wrath and Lust sins. However, we did know that we wanted Greed to be fairly fast paced, as Lust was quite slow. We decided that we would use a lot of Frantic Assembly's "round-by-through" movements as these are ideal for travelling and duets, which is something we wanted a lot of in this piece. As Rob and I ended with each other for Lust, we do a duet section of these movements, whilst Charlie and James do a duet up the other end of the traverse. Mine and Rob's duet shows manipulation (as he pulls me up) and then disregard as he walks under my arm, to them walk towards James (to begin a duet section with him). I am them "pulled" towards Charlie by him miming pulling a rope. This also shows manipulation. He catches me as I fall towards him, then he spins round and I steal from him whilst his back is to me - this shows deceit. I then move on and do a duet with James that shows us fighting to gain authority over the other one. We end this scene by doing a lift with Charlie and putting him on the ground - this shows that Greed has been the death of Charlie.
We then go straight into our sin of Envy. For this scene, we really use the blocks to create levels. As the central block is higher than the other blocks, we decided that we could be symbolic by fighting each other (i.e. pushing each other off of the surrounding blocks to prevent each other from getting to the "top spot"). Whilst James, Rob and I are fighting, Charlie shall walk around us all. As the three of us are so focussed on preventing each other from reaching the top spot, we forget about Charlie, who walks over us all and stands on the top block. We then step down and bow down to him.
Hospital:
We have created a movement section on page 20. We begin this section fairly naturalistically. It begins with Faustus lying down on three stage blocks, positioned in one line to look like a hospital bed. We have a fourth stage block positioned next to the three to act as a chair. The music we have chosen begins with about 20 seconds of strange abnormal sounds and there shall be a complete black out - this will confuse the audience and a tense atmosphere will be created. Charlie shall walk in after a while and mime checking a clipboard at the end of Faustus' bed - as if he is checking charts as a doctor. However, he shall exit by spinning. The purpose of this is to lure the audience into a false sense of security - they will think that the following scene will be fairly normal, but Charlie's exit will suggest that it shall be abstract, confusing and shocking. We have picked a number of different things that happens in a hospital, but we shall perform them in an abstract style - e.g. I give Faustus an injection by holding a syringe in my teeth and doing a handstand right next to him. We all perform at least one of these unusual movements, and then we all join in for the last section. Charlie checks Faustus' heart with a stethoscope - on each heartbeat, we all make two sudden leans back and then come back in. We do this a few times but on the last one we all disperse. Faustus then has a naturalistic section where he looks around for a moment. This relieves the audience as well.
For the scene directly after, I thought that we could form a mini traverse within the actual traverse by using the stage blocks. I thought this would be a good idea as Valdes, Cornelius, Scholar and Murdock are awaiting Faustus' "floor show" - so they shall be Faustus' audience, forming a show within a show. However, I suggested that the sides of the mini traverse are not directly opposite each other, and are in fact diagonally opposite, to ensure that the characters can be seen by the other side of the traverse.
This is as far as we got this lesson, but next time we shall work out how we shall end our play and run scenes we haven't yet done.
Today we finally completed our sin section. We worked out where we ended for our lust section and took it from there. We didn't want to over-complicate the last two sins as we had complicated the Wrath and Lust sins. However, we did know that we wanted Greed to be fairly fast paced, as Lust was quite slow. We decided that we would use a lot of Frantic Assembly's "round-by-through" movements as these are ideal for travelling and duets, which is something we wanted a lot of in this piece. As Rob and I ended with each other for Lust, we do a duet section of these movements, whilst Charlie and James do a duet up the other end of the traverse. Mine and Rob's duet shows manipulation (as he pulls me up) and then disregard as he walks under my arm, to them walk towards James (to begin a duet section with him). I am them "pulled" towards Charlie by him miming pulling a rope. This also shows manipulation. He catches me as I fall towards him, then he spins round and I steal from him whilst his back is to me - this shows deceit. I then move on and do a duet with James that shows us fighting to gain authority over the other one. We end this scene by doing a lift with Charlie and putting him on the ground - this shows that Greed has been the death of Charlie.
We then go straight into our sin of Envy. For this scene, we really use the blocks to create levels. As the central block is higher than the other blocks, we decided that we could be symbolic by fighting each other (i.e. pushing each other off of the surrounding blocks to prevent each other from getting to the "top spot"). Whilst James, Rob and I are fighting, Charlie shall walk around us all. As the three of us are so focussed on preventing each other from reaching the top spot, we forget about Charlie, who walks over us all and stands on the top block. We then step down and bow down to him.
Hospital:
We have created a movement section on page 20. We begin this section fairly naturalistically. It begins with Faustus lying down on three stage blocks, positioned in one line to look like a hospital bed. We have a fourth stage block positioned next to the three to act as a chair. The music we have chosen begins with about 20 seconds of strange abnormal sounds and there shall be a complete black out - this will confuse the audience and a tense atmosphere will be created. Charlie shall walk in after a while and mime checking a clipboard at the end of Faustus' bed - as if he is checking charts as a doctor. However, he shall exit by spinning. The purpose of this is to lure the audience into a false sense of security - they will think that the following scene will be fairly normal, but Charlie's exit will suggest that it shall be abstract, confusing and shocking. We have picked a number of different things that happens in a hospital, but we shall perform them in an abstract style - e.g. I give Faustus an injection by holding a syringe in my teeth and doing a handstand right next to him. We all perform at least one of these unusual movements, and then we all join in for the last section. Charlie checks Faustus' heart with a stethoscope - on each heartbeat, we all make two sudden leans back and then come back in. We do this a few times but on the last one we all disperse. Faustus then has a naturalistic section where he looks around for a moment. This relieves the audience as well.
For the scene directly after, I thought that we could form a mini traverse within the actual traverse by using the stage blocks. I thought this would be a good idea as Valdes, Cornelius, Scholar and Murdock are awaiting Faustus' "floor show" - so they shall be Faustus' audience, forming a show within a show. However, I suggested that the sides of the mini traverse are not directly opposite each other, and are in fact diagonally opposite, to ensure that the characters can be seen by the other side of the traverse.
This is as far as we got this lesson, but next time we shall work out how we shall end our play and run scenes we haven't yet done.
Friday 8 July 2016
Contemporary Theatre (33) (Preparing)
In today's lesson we were missing a couple of members of the class, so instead of running anything, we decided to start preparing and planning for our performance on Wednesday.
Room design: We decided what we wanted our room to look like. We knew that we would need to use the blue plastic chairs we have been rehearsing with for the Book Club, as these chairs are stackable and we also throw them. We also discussed having wooden chairs on the two sides of the room for us to sit on when we are not needed, as opposed to sitting on the floor. This would make the stage space look tidier and more professional. We also decided that we want to put dust sheets on sections of the curtains to make them look dirtier (as the curtains look too clean to create a dystopian world). We also decided that we wanted to put posters saying "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Strength" on all of the dust sheets. We then thought we could add small sections of sheets of scrap metal to make the place look more dystopian and eerie. In addition, we thought of adding posters of the Rebellion which we would them rip down during the "destruction of Book Club" transition.
Costumes: We have started getting our costumes together for our version of "1984". We had to get costumes that would make us look as if we are from the 1940s. We didn't want to wear any bright colours so are looking for dull blues, beiges, browns, whites, greys and blacks. I think I will be wearing seamed tights, black brogue heels, a grey tartan vintage dress and my hair in the 1940s rolled style. We are all bringing in our costumes next lesson to see if they are suitable.
Room design: We decided what we wanted our room to look like. We knew that we would need to use the blue plastic chairs we have been rehearsing with for the Book Club, as these chairs are stackable and we also throw them. We also discussed having wooden chairs on the two sides of the room for us to sit on when we are not needed, as opposed to sitting on the floor. This would make the stage space look tidier and more professional. We also decided that we want to put dust sheets on sections of the curtains to make them look dirtier (as the curtains look too clean to create a dystopian world). We also decided that we wanted to put posters saying "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Strength" on all of the dust sheets. We then thought we could add small sections of sheets of scrap metal to make the place look more dystopian and eerie. In addition, we thought of adding posters of the Rebellion which we would them rip down during the "destruction of Book Club" transition.
Costumes: We have started getting our costumes together for our version of "1984". We had to get costumes that would make us look as if we are from the 1940s. We didn't want to wear any bright colours so are looking for dull blues, beiges, browns, whites, greys and blacks. I think I will be wearing seamed tights, black brogue heels, a grey tartan vintage dress and my hair in the 1940s rolled style. We are all bringing in our costumes next lesson to see if they are suitable.
F(l)ight - (9) (Evaluation)
What went well:
- All remembered all the movements
- Transitions were smooth
- Timing was good on the whole
- Good facial expressions
- Chairs were moved fairly quietly
- Lifts were all safe and successful
- The audience understood our piece
- Rhiannon and I stood Rob up a little bit too early - though this worked quite well as Rob said his little monologue at this point
- Rob's monologues were a little bit basic and didn't convey his character very clearly
- I think my facial expressions weren't very good when I was getting up, as you could see that I struggled to get up
- Plan the dialogue carefully to ensure it conveyed the message we wanted
- Consider costumes? This could help show Rob's age, for example
Thursday 7 July 2016
Contemporary Theatre (32) (Pg 22 - 44)
In this lesson we ran from where we left off last lesson (page 22) up to page 44. We did this section without any scripts to see how far we could go. Unfortunately, not everyone has learned their lines still, so this was a bit difficult and took quite a while.
However, we did try something different with our piece - we tried to have everyone stay in the Book Club positions throughout the play, regardless of what scene we were on. This idea was working up until the section where Julia and Winston go into Charrington's back room. At this point, the Book Club chairs are in place, but we would not be able to sit on them as they use them. Therefore we had to scrap this idea. We considered having us stand behind the curtains when we are not on stage, but we decided against this as we cannot see/hear when we need to go on, and this could also be hazardous (and look a bit messy when the curtains are constantly moving). In the end we decided to have everyone sit on the floor, in front of the curtains, cross-legged. We thought this would be appropriate as no one gets in the way, we can see and hear when our cues are and we don't look too messy. It also suggests that we are always being watched.
What we have left to do:
However, we did try something different with our piece - we tried to have everyone stay in the Book Club positions throughout the play, regardless of what scene we were on. This idea was working up until the section where Julia and Winston go into Charrington's back room. At this point, the Book Club chairs are in place, but we would not be able to sit on them as they use them. Therefore we had to scrap this idea. We considered having us stand behind the curtains when we are not on stage, but we decided against this as we cannot see/hear when we need to go on, and this could also be hazardous (and look a bit messy when the curtains are constantly moving). In the end we decided to have everyone sit on the floor, in front of the curtains, cross-legged. We thought this would be appropriate as no one gets in the way, we can see and hear when our cues are and we don't look too messy. It also suggests that we are always being watched.
What we have left to do:
- Everyone learn their lines!
- Sort out the videos
- Discuss and decide on costumes
- Get and rehearse with all props
- Do an entire run
- Do an entire run with costumes, props, lighting and sound.
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (23) (Page 11 - 17)
"A Devil woman": In this lesson, we ran from the beginning of Act Two (page 11). As Rhiannon is not in the piece anymore, I have to be the "devil woman, sexy and seductive". Therefore, on page 13, when Lewis clicks, I have to walk the whole traverse towards Ollie and the caress his upper body with my hands. We go to kiss but we freeze as Ollie answers Mephistopheles question. We then sit on the desk and I give him a massage. The massage shows that Faustus is not stressed and also shows that he gets everything that he wants - he has given in to the sins.
"The Heavens": We have now created a physical theatre section to show Mephistopheles and Faustus travelling through time and space, until they reach the Heavens. Our piece begins with Lewis standing on the central block and Ollie on the lower block in front of him. The rest of us kneel in the gap between the four outer boxes. This shows the level of status, with Mephistopheles on the highest level, then Faustus, and then the rest of us. We do a little trust fall with Ollie, where he stumbles back but the rest of us had gone round to stand behind him by this point, and we support his back and get him to stand up again. This is to represent that this journey is dangerous and foreshadows Faustus' gruesome end for having gotten involved with necromancy. We knew when we first decided we were going to have a movement section here, that we would need to include a lot of fast movement to show him travelling; however, we then discussed having different historical events as well to show him travelling through time as well. As soon as we separate after doing the trust fall, we move to the corners of the traverse (whilst Ollie and Lewis go to one end of the traverse to look at the projection of stars and space). Once at these corners, we mime a sword-fights down the traverse (to represent battles during the past). We decided to do this down the traverse to ensure that all audience members end up seeing a battle. Faustus them stands on the centre stage block, and we hand him our swords, to show Faustus gaining power and giving in to the sin of Wrath. We all have individual things to create the sense of movement (e.g. Charlie does turns) - I do stag leaps to represent the animals in Africa when poaching wasn't as much as an issue. Later I do a medieval courting dance with Faustus (to show time changing and to add another era to this piece). Whenever we are standing still, we use a ribbon to swirl around us to create a sense of movement. To end our physical theatre piece, Faustus and Mephistopheles stand up on the middle block, whilst the rest of us lay on the outer four blocks across each other, as if we are completely content and satisfied.
What we have left to do:
"The Heavens": We have now created a physical theatre section to show Mephistopheles and Faustus travelling through time and space, until they reach the Heavens. Our piece begins with Lewis standing on the central block and Ollie on the lower block in front of him. The rest of us kneel in the gap between the four outer boxes. This shows the level of status, with Mephistopheles on the highest level, then Faustus, and then the rest of us. We do a little trust fall with Ollie, where he stumbles back but the rest of us had gone round to stand behind him by this point, and we support his back and get him to stand up again. This is to represent that this journey is dangerous and foreshadows Faustus' gruesome end for having gotten involved with necromancy. We knew when we first decided we were going to have a movement section here, that we would need to include a lot of fast movement to show him travelling; however, we then discussed having different historical events as well to show him travelling through time as well. As soon as we separate after doing the trust fall, we move to the corners of the traverse (whilst Ollie and Lewis go to one end of the traverse to look at the projection of stars and space). Once at these corners, we mime a sword-fights down the traverse (to represent battles during the past). We decided to do this down the traverse to ensure that all audience members end up seeing a battle. Faustus them stands on the centre stage block, and we hand him our swords, to show Faustus gaining power and giving in to the sin of Wrath. We all have individual things to create the sense of movement (e.g. Charlie does turns) - I do stag leaps to represent the animals in Africa when poaching wasn't as much as an issue. Later I do a medieval courting dance with Faustus (to show time changing and to add another era to this piece). Whenever we are standing still, we use a ribbon to swirl around us to create a sense of movement. To end our physical theatre piece, Faustus and Mephistopheles stand up on the middle block, whilst the rest of us lay on the outer four blocks across each other, as if we are completely content and satisfied.What we have left to do:
- record Lucifer's lines as voice overs - using choral speaking and editing it to sound distorted
- complete the sin section movement, and rehearse the sin section with the completed track
- sort the projections for the piece
- everyone learn their lines
- run the entire piece in costume and with sound and lighting
- rehearse with all props
Contemporary Theatre (31) (Physical Theatre // Page 11 - 22)
Physical Theatre:
We began this lesson by creating a physical theatre section (on Page 86) when we go from Room 101 to the Café. We wanted a fast-paced section that will shock the audience and would look very violent. This would fit with our Artaud theme so far that we have adopted for all of our physical theatre sections so far. We are using Mudvayne's "Dig" again, as we kind of have a running theme of returning to this song throughout our version of this play. We thought this song was ideal for this section as it creates a very manic atmosphere and makes the audience feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.
Our piece begins with Rob sitting centre stage and everyone else in a semi-circle around him. We use four bars to take four steps in towards him, ending with us all around him with our hands on his chair. This builds up a tense atmosphere as the audience realises that Winston is about to be attacked. We then do a lift with Rob in his chair to show that he is vulnerable and has no escape, he is being controlled by the Party. We end the lift with Rob sitting in his chair SL. Everybody then does a different thing to Rob showing different types of torture. Whilst the torture continues (such as Kat and Rob pretending to pull Robs fingertips off, and James cracking his neck), someone else brings on the table that shows he is at a café. Charlie brings on the table cloth - before putting the table cloth on the table, he strangles Rob with it. After this physical theatre section, we all return to our Book Club positions, ready for the final scene.
Page 11 - 22:
We then ran the play from the beginning without scripts. I am pretty confident with my lines now for the entire play, as I recorded myself saying them, and the line before, and I have been listening to the recordings every morning and evening. I have also been writing out my lines too. Lewis and I have also been helping each other learn lines by testing each other on them. One of my fears is that not everyone will know all of their lines in time. Another thing I am worried about is people forgetting where the physical theatre sections go. Moreover, we haven't discussed costumes yet so I would like to do this next lesson. As the setting (both location and time period) constantly changes, I think we should all wear black, and have an accessory to show that we are Winston's memory when we are - for example, I'll wear all black during the entire play, apart from when I am Mother NOT in the Book Club, then I could wear a 1940s headscarf.
We began this lesson by creating a physical theatre section (on Page 86) when we go from Room 101 to the Café. We wanted a fast-paced section that will shock the audience and would look very violent. This would fit with our Artaud theme so far that we have adopted for all of our physical theatre sections so far. We are using Mudvayne's "Dig" again, as we kind of have a running theme of returning to this song throughout our version of this play. We thought this song was ideal for this section as it creates a very manic atmosphere and makes the audience feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.
Our piece begins with Rob sitting centre stage and everyone else in a semi-circle around him. We use four bars to take four steps in towards him, ending with us all around him with our hands on his chair. This builds up a tense atmosphere as the audience realises that Winston is about to be attacked. We then do a lift with Rob in his chair to show that he is vulnerable and has no escape, he is being controlled by the Party. We end the lift with Rob sitting in his chair SL. Everybody then does a different thing to Rob showing different types of torture. Whilst the torture continues (such as Kat and Rob pretending to pull Robs fingertips off, and James cracking his neck), someone else brings on the table that shows he is at a café. Charlie brings on the table cloth - before putting the table cloth on the table, he strangles Rob with it. After this physical theatre section, we all return to our Book Club positions, ready for the final scene.
Page 11 - 22:
We then ran the play from the beginning without scripts. I am pretty confident with my lines now for the entire play, as I recorded myself saying them, and the line before, and I have been listening to the recordings every morning and evening. I have also been writing out my lines too. Lewis and I have also been helping each other learn lines by testing each other on them. One of my fears is that not everyone will know all of their lines in time. Another thing I am worried about is people forgetting where the physical theatre sections go. Moreover, we haven't discussed costumes yet so I would like to do this next lesson. As the setting (both location and time period) constantly changes, I think we should all wear black, and have an accessory to show that we are Winston's memory when we are - for example, I'll wear all black during the entire play, apart from when I am Mother NOT in the Book Club, then I could wear a 1940s headscarf.
F(l)ight - (8) (Performance to Year 8)
In this lesson we performed our piece to the Year Eight's to see how they would react to what we have done so far, so we could work out what we wanted to change before we performed it to our Single class.
What went well:
What went well:
- We all remembered the movement and it looked really effective
- Our transitions between each section were smooth and we went back to the correct chair
- We all put a lot of emotion into it by using our facial expressions
- I tried to use a contrast of dynamics when performing my duet section with Lewis, this was to trick the audience into thinking that I was the victim.
- There was a large gap between each section due to the music not coming in on time.
- At one point, the wrong music track came on due to technical difficulties.
- Our timing was a little bit dodgy at the beginning, due to the fact that we scrapped the quotes.
- We shall create a duplicate playlist on another phone, so if one goes wrong, then we can use the other one.
- Rhiannon and I shall lift Rob a little bit later to ensure that the rest of this section fits better with the music.
- We weren't 100% certain that our audience understood our piece completely so we shall adapt what some people say during their group sections to make sure they did get it. Also we have now created a projection PowerPoint that we shall play at the very beginning of our piece. This PowerPoint will be made up of questions such as "What would you do if you saw domestic violence happen in public?", "Does domestic abuse have to be physical?" and "Is domestic abuse gender specific?". This will ensure that our audience understands exactly what the piece is about.
- At the end of this lesson we also discussed Rob's character. To show that Rob is the same character in the opening and the councillor, we though that he could have a monologue at the beginning and then a short one at the beginning of the counselling scene. His first monologue could say how he "is stuck in the middle" and his later monologue could mention how he "was stuck in the middle". This monologue would introduce the abusers and victims and audience to the counselling session.
Wednesday 6 July 2016
Individual Unit (14) (Evaluation)
Overall, I am very pleased with my completed timeline. I am pleased with the aesthetics of it, but am more pleased with the content. Due to my in depth research process I managed to include a lot of information on my timeline. I really enjoyed the whole process of making my timeline as I found it really interesting.
When I decided I was going to do my project on the history of Musical Theatre, I instantly knew I would have to include Musical Hall, as having done my LCM Musical Theatre singing grades, I knew that Music Hall played a big part in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today. However, by choosing this topic for investigation, I got to research Music Hall in detail and learned a lot about it. For example, I did not know any information on the first purpose built hall, and nor did I know about the regulations that lead to the strikes of 1907. As I am very passionate about Opera, I particularly enjoyed researching this section. I learned about a lot of performers as well as learning about their original purpose - to impress foreign dignitaries and other royals. It was obvious that I was going to have to include West End and Broadway on my timeline. As these are very common today and I have been to both, I was already rather knowledgeable on both West End and Broadway, but I learned something new when researching the first theatres. As my draft left a gap between West End and Broadway, I thought it would be ideal to have a section between these two comparing them both. I found this section rather fun as I could combine my first-hand experience on this as well as some research. I also enjoyed researching different Musical Theatre types. I knew this was essential for my timeline as Musical Theatre has changed a lot over the past hundred years. Moreover, I was interested to see what types of Musical Theatre there were and where the cross-overs were. Although it wasn't really essential for my timeline, I wanted to do a couple of example shows for each type. With each example I wanted to give a little bit of information on the show just out of intrigue and because I enjoy gaining as much knowledge as I can on Musical Theatre in general. Also, for purely intrigue alone, I decided to conduct a social media investigation to find out Musical Theatre fans' opinions on what was more important in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today. I expected Music Hall to win but didn't anticipate on Music Hall and Opera being so close throughout the polls run.
On reflection, I probably should have been more selective on my special subject investigation title, as my investigation was rather broad. Although I did manage to produce a detailed timeline showing the progress across time, if I had come up with a more focussed investigation title, then I could have had a more detailed piece. For example, I could have done my whole investigation on Opera, and so could have written about multiple composers and their work, a variety of different operas, or even certain characters from different operas. This would have made my unit a lot more in depth, focussed and arguably easier, but I enjoyed the challenge of trying to research such a vast point and I found it interesting piecing together all of the different parts of the puzzle.
If I were to do this project again and if I could have had more time, I would have been a little bit more in depth with all of the different sections - for example, I would include more information on the longest running shows, and just generally make my timeline bigger. The main thing I would change though, however, is that I would have made my piece interactive! I would turn this timeline into an online timeline, with just the titles of each section in the correct place on the timeline - when you click on a title, the box would enlarge and the information on the desired section would appear. I would include video clips and links on the sections as well (for example, when you clicked on the composers to find out more information on them, a piece of music written by them would start playing). Furthermore, I would also create a quiz section that is made up of a variety of different questions on any of the information in the timeline to test the readers' knowledge.
When I decided I was going to do my project on the history of Musical Theatre, I instantly knew I would have to include Musical Hall, as having done my LCM Musical Theatre singing grades, I knew that Music Hall played a big part in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today. However, by choosing this topic for investigation, I got to research Music Hall in detail and learned a lot about it. For example, I did not know any information on the first purpose built hall, and nor did I know about the regulations that lead to the strikes of 1907. As I am very passionate about Opera, I particularly enjoyed researching this section. I learned about a lot of performers as well as learning about their original purpose - to impress foreign dignitaries and other royals. It was obvious that I was going to have to include West End and Broadway on my timeline. As these are very common today and I have been to both, I was already rather knowledgeable on both West End and Broadway, but I learned something new when researching the first theatres. As my draft left a gap between West End and Broadway, I thought it would be ideal to have a section between these two comparing them both. I found this section rather fun as I could combine my first-hand experience on this as well as some research. I also enjoyed researching different Musical Theatre types. I knew this was essential for my timeline as Musical Theatre has changed a lot over the past hundred years. Moreover, I was interested to see what types of Musical Theatre there were and where the cross-overs were. Although it wasn't really essential for my timeline, I wanted to do a couple of example shows for each type. With each example I wanted to give a little bit of information on the show just out of intrigue and because I enjoy gaining as much knowledge as I can on Musical Theatre in general. Also, for purely intrigue alone, I decided to conduct a social media investigation to find out Musical Theatre fans' opinions on what was more important in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today. I expected Music Hall to win but didn't anticipate on Music Hall and Opera being so close throughout the polls run.
On reflection, I probably should have been more selective on my special subject investigation title, as my investigation was rather broad. Although I did manage to produce a detailed timeline showing the progress across time, if I had come up with a more focussed investigation title, then I could have had a more detailed piece. For example, I could have done my whole investigation on Opera, and so could have written about multiple composers and their work, a variety of different operas, or even certain characters from different operas. This would have made my unit a lot more in depth, focussed and arguably easier, but I enjoyed the challenge of trying to research such a vast point and I found it interesting piecing together all of the different parts of the puzzle.
If I were to do this project again and if I could have had more time, I would have been a little bit more in depth with all of the different sections - for example, I would include more information on the longest running shows, and just generally make my timeline bigger. The main thing I would change though, however, is that I would have made my piece interactive! I would turn this timeline into an online timeline, with just the titles of each section in the correct place on the timeline - when you click on a title, the box would enlarge and the information on the desired section would appear. I would include video clips and links on the sections as well (for example, when you clicked on the composers to find out more information on them, a piece of music written by them would start playing). Furthermore, I would also create a quiz section that is made up of a variety of different questions on any of the information in the timeline to test the readers' knowledge.
Tuesday 5 July 2016
Individual Unit (13) (Timeline)
Monday 4 July 2016
Contemporary Theatre (30) (Page 51 - 70)
In this lesson we ran from page 51 to page 70. We blocked scenes we hadn't done as we went along.
Page 51: I enter from SR and stand behind Winston's chair. This is to show that the mother has entered Winston's thoughts. As I enter, Ollie enters SL and sits on the floor. From the audience's point of view, it looks like I am looking at Rob, but instead I am looking at Ollie. This happens throughout the scene - we change positions, where Rob sits next to Ollie on the floor and I move closer to them both. Rob and Ollie sit in the same position to show that they are the same person. The fact that Rob is acting in this section presents that Winston is reliving this memory. Moreover, the fact that I do not look at him shows that he can't relive the past regardless of how much he wants to. When I mime taking out the chocolate, I pass it past Rob and give it to Ollie, almost as if Rob was a ghost. Meanwhile, Rob returns to his chair to continue telling the story to Julia. We decided this would be the appropriate place to do this as Rob is now saying reporting clauses ("Mother was calling out to me". On my last line, I back out SL as if I am fading away - this represents not just the memory fading but his Mother's existence.
Page 54: On this page we have a transition to get to O'Brien's flat. To do this everyone moves a chair (to end with a semi-circle of chairs, with four chairs in the middle in the canteen positions). Charlie and I move our chairs and then we move the coffee table to the centre, then part, then leave. Originally, when Julia and Winston entered we were going to have them sit down pretty early on, but we decided to keep them standing instead as it makes the situation seem more awkward. When Winston says "Is it-?" and O'Brien replies with "switched off", this is a repeat of the phone situation in Book Club.
Page 67: We then skipped the next section as it only involved Rob, Rhiannon and I, so we jumped to this section as it involves everyone. I originally stood DR, but now I stand on a chair in the centre. I will be using a megaphone for my lines here. I am a little bit worried about this as I am very loud when I shout anyway, so with a megaphone, I will be incredibly loud! However, the aim here is to completely overwhelm the audience. On Page 68, Charlie enters in his hunched over stance, with a walking stick, as Charrington (to make himself look older). However, as he walks slowly towards Rob, he drops his walking stick and stands up straighter. The purpose of this is to reveal the fact that Charrington was in disguise the whole time and was in fact a "bad guy". This should completely confuse the audience and shock them. On Page 69, every marches on to form a semi-circle around the outside of the room.
Page 51: I enter from SR and stand behind Winston's chair. This is to show that the mother has entered Winston's thoughts. As I enter, Ollie enters SL and sits on the floor. From the audience's point of view, it looks like I am looking at Rob, but instead I am looking at Ollie. This happens throughout the scene - we change positions, where Rob sits next to Ollie on the floor and I move closer to them both. Rob and Ollie sit in the same position to show that they are the same person. The fact that Rob is acting in this section presents that Winston is reliving this memory. Moreover, the fact that I do not look at him shows that he can't relive the past regardless of how much he wants to. When I mime taking out the chocolate, I pass it past Rob and give it to Ollie, almost as if Rob was a ghost. Meanwhile, Rob returns to his chair to continue telling the story to Julia. We decided this would be the appropriate place to do this as Rob is now saying reporting clauses ("Mother was calling out to me". On my last line, I back out SL as if I am fading away - this represents not just the memory fading but his Mother's existence.
Page 54: On this page we have a transition to get to O'Brien's flat. To do this everyone moves a chair (to end with a semi-circle of chairs, with four chairs in the middle in the canteen positions). Charlie and I move our chairs and then we move the coffee table to the centre, then part, then leave. Originally, when Julia and Winston entered we were going to have them sit down pretty early on, but we decided to keep them standing instead as it makes the situation seem more awkward. When Winston says "Is it-?" and O'Brien replies with "switched off", this is a repeat of the phone situation in Book Club.
Page 67: We then skipped the next section as it only involved Rob, Rhiannon and I, so we jumped to this section as it involves everyone. I originally stood DR, but now I stand on a chair in the centre. I will be using a megaphone for my lines here. I am a little bit worried about this as I am very loud when I shout anyway, so with a megaphone, I will be incredibly loud! However, the aim here is to completely overwhelm the audience. On Page 68, Charlie enters in his hunched over stance, with a walking stick, as Charrington (to make himself look older). However, as he walks slowly towards Rob, he drops his walking stick and stands up straighter. The purpose of this is to reveal the fact that Charrington was in disguise the whole time and was in fact a "bad guy". This should completely confuse the audience and shock them. On Page 69, every marches on to form a semi-circle around the outside of the room.
Friday 1 July 2016
Individual Unit (12) (West End vs. Broadway)
- Broadway's quiet days are Mondays, whilst West End's quiet days are Sundays
- Broadway call their break an "intermission", whilst West End call it the "interval"
- West End has a fire curtain or safety curtain come down in the interval. whereas Broadway doesn't
- Stalls = Orchestra section // Royal, grand or dress circle = Mezzanine // Upper circle = Balcony // Balcony = Broadway doesn't tend to have - http://www.campbroadway.com/2013/12/16/west-end-vs-broadway/
- West End theatres are beautiful examples of Victorian architecture, where you can wait inside large foyers or entrance halls. When going to see a Broadway show, you wait outside in line, and then walk a few feet through the doors to the auditorium - https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/west-end-features/broadway-baby-a-reflection
- If you want to know who is in the cast at a West End performance, you must buy a programme, whereas at Broadway shows you are given a free "Playbill" that states who is performing and a little bit about the show.
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (22) (Act 1)
Today we ran Act One from the very beginning without using our scripts as much as we could manage without them. We made corrections as we went along and added parts we thought we needed too.
Good Angel: We have now worked out what is happening with the role of Good Angel. Charlie is now playing both Good Angel and Bad Angel. To show the difference between these two characters, Charlie alters his body language and his voice. When Charlie is the Good Angel he has a stronger posture with an erect carriage and an innocent voice, whilst as Bad Angel, Charlie moves on a lower level, hunched over and has a gravelly voice.
Page 4: On page four, Faustus practises necromancy with Valdes and Cornelius. During this section, I do a few movements under a sheet to show Faustus summoning the spirits. However, today we put Charlie into this section. We got a bigger piece of fabric, and now he does the section under the sheet with me. We ran this once and we decided that we needed to make it clearer when Faustus fails. To show this we needed to drop to the floor quicker. Although we dropped quicker, the fabric took longer to float down. Therefore, Charlie and I pinch the material slightly so we can pull it down with us when we drop to the floor. This was more effective at presenting Faustus failing as this happened at the same time and at the same speed.
Page 6: Charlie and I go under the sheet to do another movement under the sheet, but this time to show that Faustus has succeeded. Charlie and I shall end standing under the sheet forming a distorted and creepy outline. We shall use lighting to make our figures look even more creepy, thus prompting Faustus to say "No, no, not that, I fear that entity". When Lewis appears from behind us, Charlie and I roll out and sit by the stage blocks at one end of the traverse. Lewis will sit on top of the blocks, and the rest of the cast (excluding Faustus) shall sit around him, in crouched and creepy positions. When Lewis moves towards Ollie, we shall crawl/roll/move over towards them. When Ollie is pushed to the floor, we all move to surround him to emphasise the power Mephistopheles has.
Page 10: We haven't physically blocked this section yet, but when Mephistopheles states "here is a treat for your eyes", we shall perform a freeze frame from each sin section, but mould them together with seamless transitions. This will foreshadow the events to come and the sins Faustus will commit. Moreover, by having smooth transitions between each freeze frame, we are showing that Faustus was lured in by the attractive offer. Rather than walking to the other end of the traverse with everyone else, I walk towards Faustus and "provocatively" move around him. Before Faustus' letter, I sit on Faustus' desk leaning back slightly, with Faustus pressed up against me with his lips on my neck. We then have a blackout whilst a voice over of Faustus reading the letter plays (although he has not recorded this as of yet). The lights come back on, and my hair shall be a bit messy to imply that we just had sex, as Faustus has already given in to the sin of Lust. As Faustus says his last line, he leads me to his arm chair, where I sit on his lap and move in to him as we have another black out.
Good Angel: We have now worked out what is happening with the role of Good Angel. Charlie is now playing both Good Angel and Bad Angel. To show the difference between these two characters, Charlie alters his body language and his voice. When Charlie is the Good Angel he has a stronger posture with an erect carriage and an innocent voice, whilst as Bad Angel, Charlie moves on a lower level, hunched over and has a gravelly voice.
Page 4: On page four, Faustus practises necromancy with Valdes and Cornelius. During this section, I do a few movements under a sheet to show Faustus summoning the spirits. However, today we put Charlie into this section. We got a bigger piece of fabric, and now he does the section under the sheet with me. We ran this once and we decided that we needed to make it clearer when Faustus fails. To show this we needed to drop to the floor quicker. Although we dropped quicker, the fabric took longer to float down. Therefore, Charlie and I pinch the material slightly so we can pull it down with us when we drop to the floor. This was more effective at presenting Faustus failing as this happened at the same time and at the same speed.
Page 6: Charlie and I go under the sheet to do another movement under the sheet, but this time to show that Faustus has succeeded. Charlie and I shall end standing under the sheet forming a distorted and creepy outline. We shall use lighting to make our figures look even more creepy, thus prompting Faustus to say "No, no, not that, I fear that entity". When Lewis appears from behind us, Charlie and I roll out and sit by the stage blocks at one end of the traverse. Lewis will sit on top of the blocks, and the rest of the cast (excluding Faustus) shall sit around him, in crouched and creepy positions. When Lewis moves towards Ollie, we shall crawl/roll/move over towards them. When Ollie is pushed to the floor, we all move to surround him to emphasise the power Mephistopheles has.
Page 10: We haven't physically blocked this section yet, but when Mephistopheles states "here is a treat for your eyes", we shall perform a freeze frame from each sin section, but mould them together with seamless transitions. This will foreshadow the events to come and the sins Faustus will commit. Moreover, by having smooth transitions between each freeze frame, we are showing that Faustus was lured in by the attractive offer. Rather than walking to the other end of the traverse with everyone else, I walk towards Faustus and "provocatively" move around him. Before Faustus' letter, I sit on Faustus' desk leaning back slightly, with Faustus pressed up against me with his lips on my neck. We then have a blackout whilst a voice over of Faustus reading the letter plays (although he has not recorded this as of yet). The lights come back on, and my hair shall be a bit messy to imply that we just had sex, as Faustus has already given in to the sin of Lust. As Faustus says his last line, he leads me to his arm chair, where I sit on his lap and move in to him as we have another black out.
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