AAS (41) - Performance Evaluation

Curious Incident:

• The costumes worked quite well. We decided that all of us (except Ollie M) would wear all black as we multi-roll, and also to show make sure Ollie stands out. Ollie's costume was kept simple (as to not get in the way during lifts and movement) but clearly different to the rest of us. 
• The steel decking that we had at the back and used for out tube platform section worked really well, as it enables Ollie M to jump down onto the tracks. It also meant that the two Ollie's actually had to struggle to get back up again on to the platform.
• The new audio tracks worked well as they came in at the right place, they didn't move on to the next one, and they were all loud enough.
• The use of the camera case as a rat cage actually worked really well as it was a suitable size and looked convincing as it was the right shape. However, when Oliver picked Ollie back up onto the tube platform, Ollie left his rat cage prop on the tracks. This could have and should have been avoided by us practising with the props earlier.

People, Places & Things:

• Our costumes worked well for our scene. To make myself look slimmer and ill, I contoured my collar bones to make them appear to protrude more, and added black eyeshadow under my eyes to make my eyes look sunken. I also added a bruise on my arm to show where I had been injecting, and bruises on my knees and legs to show how weak my character is.
• I had a bit of trouble with my zip during the first costume change, but it didn't matter as our set being moved took the same amount of time as me getting changed.
• Our use of props was effective, as we had all the props we needed and used them in the right places. 
• We still had a bit of trouble with dialogue, but it wasn't a catastrophe as we just carried on afterwards. However, all the dialogue was a lot better today on the whole. 
• I think that our characterisation was effective in terms of facial expressions, body language and use of voice

AAS (40) - Final rehearsals

"Curious Incident":  (final run through)

• Transitions into each different scene were smooth and effective.
• The slow motion section worked well.
• Our movements fit perfectly with the tracks I made.
• The Information dialogue was too quiet and so Ollie struggled to hear them over the top of the music I put in, thus meaning Ollie didn't say his first line, thus making the dialogue not make sense. Therefore between this rehearsal and the performance, I edited the track again, amplifying the track of Kat's voice. 
• It was also difficult to pause the tracks and play them in the right place because they ran in to each other - therefore I added ten seconds of silence on to the end of the three tracks, to ensure that they didn't run on to the next track before someone could press pause.

"People, Places & Things" (1):  (penultimate run through)

• Use of movement and body language was strong.
• Characterisation was, on the whole, convincing.
• Some people still needed prompting with lines.
• Use of bright lights in contrast to blackouts worked well.
• Projection needs a bit of work in places for a lot of us.

"People, Places & Things" (2):   (dress run)

• Characterisation was fairly strong throughout (in terms of facial expressions and body language).
• Diction and projection could do with more attention in places.
• Costumes looked really effective.
• Use of props was effective.
• Lines were still forgotten, but we didn't get prompted, we tried to make it work. 
• Lighting was effective.

Musical Theatre (29) - Random songs

Below are the numbers we went over today and how they went:

• "Without You":   This number went really well. The vocals sounded really nice and all the movement was effective. We remained in character throughout and created the right atmosphere.
• "I'll Cover You (reprise)":   The acting side of this is getting a lot stronger. The harmonies have all really improved, and so has Lewis' vocals, but his tuning is slightly off at times (but this is understandable as he has not had any vocal training, but it works well for the situation as he is supposed to be really emotional).
• "La Vie Boheme":   This wasn't so great today. Some people forgot their lines and it was just generally lacking energy. In places, the piece was fine, but a lot of it just felt awkward. We need to put so much energy in to this number to make it work. However, I still think that it would help if we had some more set movement in this number.
• "Happy New Year B":   This number was fine again. I think we are all happy with this number now as we know our blocking and are comfident with the song. However, I think to improve this number, we should work more on character relationships and how our characters would feel about the current situation - as these decisions would alter our body language and facial expressions.
• "Tango: Maureen":   Vocally, this song went really well. We did our dialogue leading in to this number as well today for the first time. Our dance didn't go quite to plan during the lesson, as we hadn't managed to meet up outside of lesson to go over it at this stage, but we remained in character and worked on our relationship. I really liked the movement that Cameron added to his character nearer the beginning of the song on the line "as she keeps you dangling, your heart she is mangling". After this lesson, we went through the dnace together to ensure we both knew it and were happy with the steps - we then did the dance with the music.
• "Light My Candle":    I am confident for Henri and Taylor with this number, as every time they perform this number it looks the same - the standard never drops. The vocals sound good and the number is entertaining to watch.

AAS (39) - Making the track for "Curious Incident"

I had to put all of the dialogue tracks together to form two longer tracks. I also had to put music that was appropriate for each part underneath, as well as finding a convincing tube train sound effect (for when Christopher and Man with Socks narrowly escape getting hit by the tube). I wanted to make just one long track but decided against this, as it would be near enough impossible! This is because we would have to ensure that our timing was deadly accurate during the live scenes to ensure that our sound effects came in at the right time. Therefore, I split the track into two with a third track in the middle of  the tube sound effect. Below is how I made the tracks for our version of the London scene from "Curious Incident".

Track 1   -   (All up to the tube):

• Downloaded our dialogue tracks from the email sent to me by Ollie M
• Converted all of these Mpeg4 tracks to wav files and dowloaded them again, placing them into one folder (screenshot number one)
• Opened Ollie's first track on audacity and added the "Left Right" track in the right place - trimming the beginning of this track so it fit better, and also cutting the end so there weren't as many "left right's" as we only wanted Ollie to say eight of them (screenshot number two)
• Put all dialogue tracks in the right place and edited them so they flowed one in to the next (though leaving a gap between the voices and the information, for the live dialogue of the station guard)
• Put the downloaded theme tune track into audacity, and split stereo to mono, to enable me to transfer on to the track in progress (screenshot number three)
• Put the theme track into the track in progress and layered it underneath the desired section of dialogue. Cut the track to the appropriate length and did a fade in and a fade out to make the transition smooth (screenshot number four)
• Did the same above for the information section into the Ed dialogue but with a different track of music. I used a techno track as it suited modern day London - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=howEQTHVl3Y. I cut this to the right length and put it in the right place of the track (screenshot number five)
• I didn't put any music underneath the section that starts "stand behind the yellow line" as it makes the moment more tense and allows Christopher to concentrate, as it were.

Track 2   -   (Tube sound effect):

• Downloaded the desired tube sound effect
• Cut the track to the desired length, using audacity
• Put a fade in at the beginning of the track to give a sense of the train approaching, and a fade out at the end to give a sense of it getting further away. 

Track 3   -   (Tube Voices):

• Imported the track from my folder onto audacity
• Put the mono version of the theme track underneath the dialogue
• Faded in the track and cut it to the right length
• Faded out the track at the desired moment.

Finalising:

• Saved all three tracks as projects
• Exported them all as the correct files
• Downloaded them all into one album (screenshot number six)

Auditions (32) - Performance Evaluation

This lesson was our performance lesson. We all had to perform our monologues and film them. Below is how I think my monologues went.

Contemporary Monologue:

• Voice:   I think that my accent suited my character. Although, in context of the play, she should have had a Yorkshire accent, as my monologue was a stand-alone performance I felt that the accent I chose was appropriate. I managed to maintain this voice throughout as well. I used a slightly higher pitch to how I normally talk to make my character appear younger.  However, on reflection, I think that I could have made my character a bit more ditsy to appear more innocence and therefore younger. 
• Use of prop:   I am glad that I used a cigarette for this performance as it not only made my slow down my dialogue more, but I think it suited my character, as it adds more comedy to the monologue, as the audience would assume that she stole some cigarettes. However, I feel like I should have taken longer with the cigarette when it was in my mouth. It would have been more shocking for a 14 year old to know how to smoke properly, but on the other hand, it could emphasise her naivety by her not knowing how to smoke.
• Movement:   My hand gestures showed my character's common nature and laid back attitude. I changed my body language when I imitated Carl, by leaning forward and pointing. Although I used a lot of hand gestures throughout this monologue, I perhaps could have used the space a bit - however, I did use the space a lot for my classical monologue, so by not using much space for this monologue, I created another contrast between my two pieces.

Classical Monologue:

• Voice:   I think that I had good diction and articulated well throughout this monologue. By using a lower pitch when speaking I presented my character as being older and more mature. I have done this monologue better before in terms of creating contrasts between thoughts. I should have made a larger contrast between my thought patterns by going on more of an emotional roller-coaster by changing my tone. 
• Facial expression:   Although my contrast of thought patterns wasn't as clear as I had hoped, in terms of voice, I did vary my facial expression throughout. 
• Movement:   My use of pacing was appropriate at showing my character's frustration with her father. I felt that my use of hand gestures worked quite well. By keeping my hands very close to me and inwards, it presented my character as being refined - however, the tension I put behind my hand gestures presented Goneril as being unpredictable and unreliable. The only thing I wasn't happy about in terms of movement, was at one point I sat into one of my hips a little bit - this made my character appear a bit common and casual, but she is supposed to be very authoritative and upper-class.

Musical Theatre (28) - "Goodbye Love" & Random Songs

To begin this lesson we sang through "Seasons of Love" as we hadn't done this for quite a long time. We then sang through "Goodbye Love" a few times. As some cast members were struggling with the timing of their parts, or they weren't confident on how they went, we sang this number a couple of times with the original track, before attempting it with the backing track. We staged the second half of this number (with Mark, Roger, Mimi and Benny), but we are still yet to stage the first half of this. We worked out where and when would be appropriate for characters to move - for example, on what line Roger should walk towards the door before he sees Mimi.

We then did "Happy New Year B". This went really well today. We all remembered the blocking and our lines. Our timing was a lot better and we all acted throughout this number. We then just sang through random numbers to see how they were getting on. Henri sang "One Song Glory" then Alice and I sang "Take Me or Leave Me". I finally got the harmonies right today but I really need to keep listening to it at home to ensure that I am confident with them. Cameron and I then sang through "Tango: Maureen". We didn't bother attempting to dance it today, as we haven't had chance to meet and go over it and perfect it - we shall hopefully do this on Monday after school. However, we both remembered our harmonies and it all sounded okay. We all then ran "Life Support" into "Another Day" and then "Will I?". These three were all okay as we remembered our directions and how we had set them previously - however, some people need to go over the lyrics for the ensemble part in "Another Day".

Next lesson we shall be doing a full run. What I feel we should prioritise is staging the beginning of "Goodbye Love" and working on the transitions for each number. We also need to ensure that everyone knows all of their lines and songs.

Business (20) - Task F - The Band

Having spoken to a member of staff at school, who also is involved with a theatre company outside of school, I have found out how much it will cost for the band. Below are the musicians we would require to put on "Grease":

• Piano 
• 1st Reed
• 2nd Reed
• 1st Guitar
• 2nd Guitar
• Drums
• Bass

I was told the cost per musician per night would be £30 for this production. With four performances and a tech run and a dress run, we would be requiring each musician for six nights, thus costing us (6 x £30) £180 per musician. To pay for the entire band we would have to pay (£180 x 7) £1260, but as the drummer is a music student at the school and the pianist is a teacher at the school we won't have to pay for these two musicians - meaning our total cost for the band is (£180 x 5) £900.

Auditions (31) - "Spacewang" monologue

I spent almost all of this lesson simply trying to learn my monologue. However, I did perform it once at the end, just to get some feedback on it to know what I should do with it next. My feedback was the following:

• "Slow down. Vary pace" - I spoke my monologue at a very fast pace, as my character is very common and I felt she would speak quite fast. However, I did speak a bit too fast, meaning that some of my lines were lost at times. I need to speak slower to give the audience more time for what I have to say to sink in.
• "Have a fag?" - It was suggested that I smoke a cigarette during this monologue to present my character as trying to be older than what she is, but she is still immature. By smoking a cigarette, it would give me something to do with my hands (as I have only done the monologue with a script in one hand) as well as slowing my pace down.
• "Vary tone" - I maintained my common accent throughout the piece, but I need to vary my tone more so the piece isn't too repetitive and to bring out more of the comedy aspect of the monologue.

Musical Theatre (27) - Blocking Numbers

In this lesson we blocked two numbers we hadn't done before.

"Without You":   As we are not doing "Contact", this is the number in which Angel dies. Taylor and Henri will sing this song at opposite sides of the stage, and we shall have a bed in the middle. Lewis walks in, carrying Owen and lies him down on the table. Everyone else (excluding Benny) walks in at set moments in the song, and acts around Owen, trying to comfort him. Alice is in the scene with Collins, and then Warren and I enter a bit later. Alice and I never make eye contact in this scene, but we look at each other at different points, to create a sense of tension in the room - thus causing Maureen to walk out not that long after I walk in. Everyone exits at different points, apart from Collins. Nearer the end, Benny enters and stands a distance away from the foot of the bed. He doesn't approach until Angel smiles at him, then he shall walk to Angel and hold her hand. This was to show that Benny feels awkward and bad for everything that has happened. Benny will then put his hand on Collin's shoulder to show that he cares for him and wants to support him. Collins responds by giving Benny a hug, thus showing that he is forgiven. Benny brings Collins over a chair and places it next to the bed to show that he is really caring and is trying his best to look after Collins at such a difficult time. When Angel dies, Benny says his goodbyes to her, and then puts his hand on Collins' shoulder and walks out (but doesn't exit), as to give Collins a moment with Angel - Collins then joins Benny.

"I'll Cover You (reprise)":   For this number the table is still there (to represent the open coffin) and we all stand either side of it, apart from Collins who stands directly behind it. When Lewis starts singing, we all step out slightly and face in; this is so the attention is focussed on him. Meanwhile, at the beginning of this song, Owen is sitting down behind Lewis (but slightly to the side so he is still visible) on steel decking. When the song builds up a bit, Owen stands up and joins in. This is quite abstract but shows Angel as if he were a literal Angel, looking down upon and supporting Collins.

AAS (39) - Going over everything!

In todays lesson, we ran all of our pieces from start to finish to see what stage we are at with out performances, and also to time them (to see how long our showcase will go on for). As Lewis wasn't in today, the scene from "Advice for the Young at Heart" was skipped, and we also had to pretend that he was shouting in the "People, Places & Things" scene. We decided in this lesson what our order for the showcase will be. We put "Curious Incident" between "Advice for the Young at Heart" and "Waiting for Godot" so that the too naturalistic scenes are split up with physical theatre. We put "People, Places & Things" fourth (rather than last) so that we didn't end on a depressing note - therefore we finish with "The Government Inspector". Below are the notes from how these two scenes went today:

"Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time":

• Our movement needs to be faster and more chaotic in the first scene as otherwise our slow motion section doesn't have the impact that we would like. The slow motion section wouldn't look like slow motion if we were moving at a regular / quite slow pace anyway.
• Ollie M needs to practice his dialogue for the Information section with the track more to know how long he has to say his lines. He knows his lines now, but the timing just needs work.
• James needs to work on his slow motion walking. Although he knows his movement and knows where he needs to go, he just needs to make his slow motion walking a little bit more realistic.
• We are having trouble with our tack, as we appear to be missing a line at the end of "Ed track 2" dialogue, meaning that the following dialogue doesn't make sense. Therefore, we will need to re-record this dialogue before I can edit the whole track.
• Although our first "train coming" section had really improved, we need to ensure that we are all perfectly in time with each other, when moving our heads, because if someone goes at slightly the wrong time they will stick out like a sore thumb.
• Our second "train coming" section worked really well today. Thankfully we all remembered our movements.
• All we have left to do for this piece is re-record James's dialogue so Ollie can send the tracks over to me, so that I can put the tracks together with the music underneath.

"People, Places & Things":

• Thankfully, I managed to remember all of my dialogue, but I had forgotten my movements for the first scene. However, this wasn't too much of an issue, as it doesn't affect anyone else; but I shall try to remember them as they work for my character.
• When Ollie M is the nurse, he shall now use my left arm as (not only is this the arm that is used in this scenario, but) it means that we can both be seen at all times.
• Hope's use of pace really worked for her character and made the scene more comical, however she has to be careful not to slur her words at times.
• Hope is really good with her use of pauses - especially the pauses around the line "falafel, it's falafel". However, we thought that she could do more of a pause before she says "I haven't seen it" in response to my "your mother sucks cocks in hell" line. This would make this section more comical as she is so calm and collected.
• We need to rehearse this scene with all of the props to ensure that we are used to using them. We also need to set up the lighting so we can practice with our black outs.

Auditions (30) - Contrasting Monologues & Movement

Classical Monologue:   I spent the first part of this lesson learning my classical monologue off by heart. By not needing to hold the script, I could then work more on my movement. I have now decided what I am going to do in this monologue. James and Rob agreed that I need to keep a strong posture throughout, with my shoulders back and a long neck, to portray my character as being from a higher class and in a position of authority. They told me that I should keep the walk in that I did on the first line, instead of beginning centre, as it helps me get into character, as well as showing the audience that my character owns the place and can do what she wants. For this reason, I shall also pace now and again, when appropriate. I shall be using minimal hand gestures throughout, but keeping my elbows in to show that my character is quite refined. I shall put a lot of tension behind my hand gestures to present my character as being unpredictable. After walking in on the line "by day and night he wrongs me", I stand in one place, until that line "his knights grow riotous" when I pace to the left and back to the centre. This was to present my frustration with my father as well as my struggling to come up with a way to describe his knights. On the line "let him to our sister" I look away whilst throwing the back of my hand upwards to show that I don't care what happens to my father, and that I am willing to push him away. On the line "that still would manage those authorities", I pace to the right and back to the centre to present my anger.

Contemporary Monologue:   I didn't spend much time on my contemporary monologue this lesson, as my focus was on my classical monologue (as I hadn't done it for a long time). Therefore I spent the majority of this lesson trying to learn the "Spacewang" monologue off by heart. Although this monologue is set in Withernsea, I am going to speak this monologue as if I were really common (as I would prefer to perform the monologue to the best of my ability with an accent I am more comfortable with, rather than get stuck behind the accent). However, I have decided what movement I shall be using for this. I shall use my hands a lot in this monologue and sit into either one of my hips (to show how casual she is and to form a contrast to the strong posture of Goneril). I shall work on this monologue next lesson as I am confident with my classical monologue now.

Musical Theatre (26) - Investigation into Musical Theatre

To prove that we understand Musical Theatre we have been asked to show evidence of a "detailed investigation into the key features of musical theatre performance". Having done my "Special Subject Investigation" unit on Musical Theatre, I have already done a lot of research into this topic! (The following is a link to my "Special Subject Investigation" unit blogs - http://lornaclarkra.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/SSI ). 

The BBC Bitesize Website has a lot of information on songs, stating the difference between action songs (which move the narrative along) or character songs ("which enable characters to express their feelings"). The song types are as follows: ballads (reflective/romantic), comedy, production numbers (ensemble songs) and rhythm songs (energetic rhythm patterns).

AAS (38) - Going over CIDN

Apart from the final section where the class worked on their "Government Inspector" scene, we spent the lesson polishing our "Curious Incident" scene. There were three things that needed work on which he have now corrected:

• The First Lift:   Despite our work on this lift in the previous, it still wasn't working, but we have now worked out why. The reason it wasn't working was because we weren't all in the right place at the right time, and we also rushed it a bit. In the slow motion section, whilst the two Ollie's do the lean, James walked towards the back - but now we have changed it so he walks round on the spot, so he is ready for the lift, rather than having to walk into it. Also, instead of Ollie having a run in for the lift, he now steps into it, simply lifting one leg at a time. Our other problem with this lift was how we turned it, and Ollie's legs. We have to ensure that Ollie's legs are in line with the rest of his body - this may sound simple but it is so important that his legs aren't lifted higher than his shoulders, as this would then make him slip forward and his weight would not be equally spread. Moreover, it is also essential that I lead the turn, as otherwise Ollie is being pulled away from my shoulders.
• Lines:   We spent a lot of time in this lesson, learning lines and fitting Ollie's lines in time to the pre-recorded vocals. It is essential that Ollie knows all of his lines (especially for the Ed section) as otherwise the timing would be wrong, or worse, the pre-recorded dialogue would then not make sense.
• "Train coming, train stopped (reprise)":    The second time the "train coming, train stopped" section of dialogue is repeated, our staging is different. However, today we clarified the movements. As we had to change the order we came in on (due to our places for the next scene), we had to alter our movements. We worked out how many steps we would do to come in and when we would turn, etc. It is crucial that these movements are as precise as possible, because if someone's head turns a fraction of a second after everyone else's it would be really obvious.

Business (19) - Task F - Tuck Shop

Lewis was also allocated the task of deciding what we would want for a Tuck Shop and roughly how many of each item we would require for the run of the show. Due to having to buy in bulk, some of the figures include a few additional items (but this wouldn't matter as they would either be used as spare or surplus for the next show, as they would still be in date). Below are the items that Lewis thinks we should have, the quantities of each and the websites he found that were cheapest:

• 500 x Bottles of water   -   www.tesco.com   -   (12 x 500ml bottles = £2)
• 600 x Coca Cola   -   www.tesco.com   -   (24 x 330ml cans = £7)
• 500 x Diet Coke   -   www.tesco.com   -   (24 x 330ml cans = £7)
• 450 x Mars Bar   -   www.makro.co.uk   -   (48 x 51g = £20.87)
• 450 x Snickers   -   www.makro.co.uk   -   (48 x 51g = £20.87)
• 450 x Smarties   -   www.makro.co.uk   -   (48 x hextubes = £19.79)
• 450 x Haribo Starmix   -   www.makro.co.uk   -   (120 x 5p = £4.31)
• 600 x Haribo Maoam Stripes   -   www.makro.co.uk   -   (100 x 10p = £5.87)

 Below are the prices per item and how much I think we should charge per item. I also worked out the overall profit we would make if we sold everything.

Auditions (29) - "Spacewang" research

The http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/spacewang-iid-153450 website said the following about my monologue and the play:

"A short monologue in which a teenage girl roams the streets of Withernsea in search of aliens. Nora may seem your stereotypical fourteen-year-old girl: playing truancy and nicking vodka to neck behind the wheelie bins, but looks can be deceiving. Today is a special day for Nora and her homemade alien radar kit. She’s sure all the signs are pointing to a possible contact, tonight, and she wants to make sure she doesn’t miss it. Though Wells’ monologue has many comedic highlights, it is also tinged with melancholy too as the audience slowly realises who Nora is really trying to reach. Spacewang was first performed at Hull Truck Theatre in 2011."

The monologue is as follows:

"Shoplifting is a piece of piss. You just, you basically just: nick it. And then you get caught. And the security man goes: ‘What you doing?’ and you just have to say really loud: ‘NO, CARL’ or whatever his badge says. And if there’s any old ladies near- by, or nuns and that, and there always is, they look over and Carl gets well con- fused. Starts steering you by your shoulders to his little office. And you hang on till you’re just in the doorway then shout: ‘COS I DON’T WANT TO SHOW YOU MY FANNY. AGAIN.’ He panics and you just run off. Next time you nick something though he remembers what happened and you can see him thinking ‘not worth it’, just lets you get away with it. So you can get quite a lot of vodka really, it’s no trouble. And actually I’m quite good mates with Carl now. He gives me this little nod near exotic fruit then in about five minutes he’s out the back on his break. We get pissed between the wheelie bins. And I did show him my fanny in the end but. Just to say thanks but. He wasn’t fussed."

 My character is 14 and appears to be quite lonely, as she has a fascination with aliens and doesn't seem to have any other interaction with people (apart from Carl). I assume she doesn't have supportive and caring parents as she often shoplifts and gets drunk.

Auditions (28) - "Spacewang" monologue by Tom Wells

Last night, a teacher from my theatre school emailed me a few monologues for audition practice. One of the three monologues was a comedy one starting with the line "shoplifting is a piece of piss". I decided that I wanted to try this one as I didn't think that the "divorce papers" one suited me. As I received it last night I hadn't done any research on it at all so was reading it cold.

Therefore before performing it in class today I was told that I wasn't get any feedback for the first attempt as I needed to do research into my character and the actual play itself. Also before performing, I had to cut down my monologue to an appropriate length as it was over a page and a half long.

Although this was just a cold read, the reactions from those watching were very positive. However, I need to make my voice sound more common. I also need to do more with my hands - I was speaking with my hand out but my palm was facing up; this works for a lot of it, but it would be more engaging to have my palm facing downwards.

We then split into pairs and helped each other with our monologues. Rob said that this attempt was a big improvement. I took the note about my hands and tried to work with them, however, I still feel like I need to add more movement in to the piece. I also changed the way I said the line "I DON'T WANT TO SHOW YOU MY FANNY AGAIN". In this attempt, I really exaggerated it and went over the top with it - making it as melodramatic as I could. I also imitated the security guard, Carl, to show a contrast in my voice (in terms of pitch and tone).

My next step will be to do research on my character and the play itself.

Musical Theatre (25) - Act One Run

Today we ran the whole of Act One from start to finish (however, we skipped "We're Okay" and "Tango: Maureen" as I have a really bad throat at the moment and am not supposed to be singing). The main thing we need to work on from this lesson is knowing our lines! Sadly, there are still some songs which we have already done where people are still using scripts.

• "Rent":   Needs more vocal energy, but movement was a lot better.
• "Light My Candle":   This was the best it has ever been today. Henri and Taylor acted throughout, their character interaction was very believable, and their vocals were strong.
• Voice mails:   These need to be really over the top in terms of characterisation.
• "Today 4 U":   Owen sings thing really well but will need to project more so he is definitely heard when we put the show on stage. 
• "You'll See":   Is getting stronger every time they perform it. Will's voice has really improved since the beginning of this unit. He puts a lot of energy into his performance (in terms of vocals and character work), however, the rest of the people in this number have to match Will.
• "Life Support":   We had to spend quite a lot of time today on getting the timing right for this number. The names were all spoken at the wrong times, meaning that the actual song itself came in late. Another thing that needed work for this number was our American accents. Throughout the entire show progress so far, our accents have been fine, but when it came to saying the names at the beginning of this song, we became quite British and common! 
• Transition:   Originally, we all stayed where we were at the end of "Life Support" in a freeze frame until "Will I?". However, we have now changed this as not everyone will be singing "Will I?" now. Therefore, everyone acts as if they are saying goodbye then walks off in different directions. However, I remain where I was and Owen stands facing the back where he was. Owen and I remain in these positions in a freeze frame during "Another Day".
• "Will I?":   This song has changed the most since we started doing it. Originally, everyone was in this number and it was performed in a round - unfortunately, we couldn't get this number to work in terms of coming off at the right time, and it was all a little bit too repetitive. Therefore, Mr Webb cut people out of this number, so only people who the song was relevant to, sang it. Mimi and Roger sing this song, as they both have AIDS and they just broke up in the previous song, so is very relevant to them. We also wanted either Angel or Collins in this number too, as both of them have AIDS. Originally, Lewis was going to do it, but he was struggling with the tuning of this number, so Owen is doing it instead. As I was singing the first solo in this song anyway, I am still in this number. Although it is not clear whether my character has AIDS or not, it is still relevant to my character as I could be singing about Maureen, or the lyrics still would make sense if I sang about my sexuality and how my parents aren't supportive of this ("for mummy's sake kitten no, Doc Martin's this time"). The staging for this one is really simple. Roger stays centre, Mimi stands stage right, I remain in my position from "Life Support" and Owen stands between Henri and I. So that the piece isn't too repetitive, I shall sing the first round (as before), then everyone else will join in with me. As we were having trouble with the timing, we shall sing in unison. The fifth time, I sing as a solo - Owen and Henri exit on this one. The final round is sung as a solo by Taylor (I walk off on this time). The fact that Taylor is left on the stage on our own emphasises her feeling of isolation and emptiness, thus foreshadowing "Without You".
• Angel discussion:   Mr Webb and I had a long debate about when Angel dies, when she should wear her wig and the staging for "Without You". Mr Webb spoke about having Angel take her wig off when she joins in with the song "Will I?" but I thought that this could either be a little bit tacky, or it would be too much too soon - this could be saved until "Without You" when he is dying. Mr Webb and I finally agreed that he wouldn't take his wig off here and would save it until "Without You" as it would be lovely (and very abstract) for him to put the wig back on during "I'll Cover You (reprise)", as it would show Angel changing from how he was when he died to how he will be remembered by everyone at the funeral. Our staging conversation was about split screening. Mr Webb was speaking about having a split screen for "Without You", but I feel like this would detach the audience from the emotional side of the piece. I agreed that it would look good to have a split screen and would work well in a play, but as it is Musical Theatre, I feel like the audience would suspend their disbelief and the location doesn't really matter. I would prefer to create the right atmosphere and a moving looking piece, rather than keeping it completely realistic and obvious. We will hopefully be staging this number next lesson.

Musical Theatre (24) - Act Two & Audacity

In this lesson we ran the whole of Act Two from beginning to end. What we desperately need to do is learn the dialogue between all of the songs to ensure that the songs flow better from one to the other. By having the appropriate dialogue between musical numbers, not only does the audience get a better understanding of the plot, but this also enables us time to move any set on or off stage.

Our feedback from Mr McKay about "La Vie Boheme" was mainly to do with movement, and that we need to keep the energy going the entire time. However, our other note for this number was to ensure that we know all of the words for the "bisexuals, transsexuals" part. I also feel like we need to articulate more here to make sure that the lines are clear.

Our main note from the teachers was to ensure that we know all of our lines and how the songs go! We also have to set "Without You", "I'll Cover You (reprise)" and "Goodbye Love" still, but apart from these three, I think we have pretty much staged everything else. Mine and Alice's note for "Take Me or Leave Me" was "boom". They said that they were really happy with how we acted it and the energy we had put in to it - they liked our character relationship too and how we varied our proxemics when our emotions and intensities of emotions changed dramatically. However, I am still not overly confident on the harmonies for this number, so I need to listen to them more.

There is a section of dialogue in "Goodbye Love" between Maureen and Joanne. Due to us cutting a lot of Act Two, I personally felt that this was really not necessary; I also feel that it takes away from the main action. It was not used in the movie version of Rent so it is clearly not essential to the story. Therefore, I explained my thinking to the class and told them that I would edit the backing track on audacity so we don't have a long section of music in the middle. The top left image shows me putting the track on to audacity, whilst the top right image shows the track after I made the cut in the track. I halved the instrumental section in the middle which the dialogue is spoken over. I thought this would be appropriate as I left enough music for the characters that are not needed in the rest of the scene to leave on. As Alice and I aren't doing the dialogue, I thought that we could look at each other (whilst still being emotional from the funeral), make a smile to comfort each other, and then hug to show that we have forgiven each other - then we would leave, before the next part of the song. The bottom left image print screen shows me fading out the instrumental part to ensure there isn't an abrupt stop before the next part of the music comes in. The bottom right image shows that the track was saved and exported successfully.

Business (18) - Task F - The Rights & Ticket Prices

As I had done the research into printing, venue hire and microphones, Lewis did some research into the hiring the rights to put on a musical. The rights include the scripts, the score and to actually put the production on. Lewis worked out an average cost for the rights of a musical by looking at the following website: www.josef-weinberger.com

The cost for the rights would be as follows:

• £310 for scripts
• £195 for musical scores
• (Option A) £100 per performance OR (Option B) 16% of total ticket sales

Tickets:
Assuming we sold all of the tickets for every show, then we would have sold 1200 tickets. We will sell our tickets for £5 each, and £2 for concessions. If we said that concessions take up 60% of the audience, then we would sell 720 concessions and 480 standard tickets. The overall concessions tickets prices would be (720 x £2) £1440, whilst the standard tickets would be (480 x £5) £2400. The overall ticket sales would be (£1440 + £2400) £3840.

Option A:

• Script prices and score prices (310 + 195) = £505
• Four performances (4 x 100) = £400
• Overall price for Option A Fee (505 +400) = £905

Option B:

• Script prices and score prices (310 +195) = £505
• 16% of ticket sales (16% of 3840) = £614.4
• Overall price for Option B Fee (505 + 614.4) = £1119.40

Conclusion:
Unfortunately, we have to go for the option which costs more, so we have to go for Option B, costing us an additional (1119.4 - 905) £169.40.                                           

AAS (37) - Completing CIDN & Going over PPT

I spent the first half of this lesson working on the "Curious Incident" scene with the physical theatre group, whilst Lewis and Hope put Rob into their Brechtian scene. We began our session by simply walking through our piece from beginning to end, stopping whenever we encountered a problem. The alterations we made today are as follows:

• The first lift. We have been having trouble with this lift for quite a while, so we decided that it was best to spend a while getting this right. The first thing that needed correcting was how Ollie got in to the lift. Originally he ran in and had to jump up. However, we have changed it so he just steps into, putting his weight through his arms on to my shoulders, and just lifts his legs one at a time with momentum. The next thing we changed was how James got Ollie's legs. Orignially, James tried to lift Ollie's legs, rather than just taking them once Ollie puts them up. We also changed where James stood to ensure that Ollie wasn't leaning to one side and thus going off balance. 
• We edited the section between the station guard part and the information dialogue. Oliver felt awkward having just backed away from Ollie, but then returning almost instantly to pick him up - therefore, we have added a little bit of movement in to prevent this. As the last movement we did was all walking round Ollie, we do another circle around him to have continuity and to make the piece flow.
• We also sorted the slow motion section, during the Ed dialogue. We all discussed where we wanted certain things to be in the space (e.g. where we wanted the board with the times on to be, or where McDonald's is, etc.) - this ensures that this section is consistent and makes more sense. We have semi-choreographed our movements now, so that we interact with each other at points. For example, I move as a child towards the pasties stall, whilst Oliver moves towards McDonald's. He bumps in to me and turns round as if he's angry at me, whilst I poke my tongue out at him. 
• The other part we polished was the very ending. We re-arranged what way we would walk off before the final scene (which changed our position in the line) to make more sense for our places for the final scene. This made our transition smoother. Also, we changed what lines we walk off on at the end, as the original lines didn't work now for our new places. 

Our tracks of dialogue are currently being put together with music underneath and sound effects at appropriate places (i.e. a train sound effect for when Christopher and Man with Socks narrowly miss the tube). After going through our scene, the class spent the rest of the lesson working on their scene from "The Government Inspector". However, Ollie and I decided that we didn't want to be in this scene as we both have a lot of lines to learn for our other scenes. Therefore, Ollie and I spent the rest of the lesson helping each other learn our lines. I helped him with his scene from "Waiting for Godot", whilst he helped me with "People Places and Things". 

Musical Theatre (23) - Random Songs & New Song List

"Happy New Year B":   Today (28/11/16) we began working on "Happy New Year B". We began by singing through the song. The majority of the cast didn't know this song, so we listened to it for a few times first. We then sang it with the backing track a few times. We have been finding this song quite challenging as the song is quite conversational, so we have to fit a lot of lines in to not a lot of music. Also, some of the lines overlap. Thankfully though, there are no real harmonies for this song, thus suggesting that the group is all together and creates a real sense of unity. However, once we got fairly comfortable with the song, we then staged it. The first section of the song is a conversation between Joanne, Maureen and Mark about making another protest. This will be done on the L-Shaped decking, stage left. We then jump down to the actual stage to join the rest of the cast on the first "Happy New Year". By singing the first part on a different level and section of stage shows that we are in a different location at that time. On the first "Happy New Year", we all greet each other with celebratory hugs etc. Will then enters stage right and we all just stare at him. We have left a gap between Benny and the rest of the ensemble. The use of proxemics here makes the situation more awkward for Benny and shows everyone's dislike for him. We don't have any other set movement, but we just act and interact with each other. On Owen's solo line of "it's gonna be a Happy New Year", he pushes Taylor towards Henri (DSR) in an attempt to get them back together again. We then all leave stage right to leave Taylor on stage with "The Man" - i.e. her drug dealer.

Musical Numbers:   We have cut a couple of songs from Act One, as they are not really needed, but a lot of songs from Act Two have now been cut, due to our performance date fast approaching. We have also changed where our interval will be due to the two acts being completely different lengths. I think that this was a good decision (to cut songs out) as we are running out of time, so it is better to perform less of the show to a high standard, rather than trying to do the whole show and it not be great. We have been careful about what songs we cut out to ensure that the show will still make sense. The difference with our version is that Mimi doesn't die and come back (i.e. "Your Eyes" and "Finale B"), and instead we don't see Mimi and Roger get back together.

• Our Act One is now as follows:
  
  • "Tune Up #1" /// "Voice Mail #1" /// "Tune Up #2" /// "Rent" /// "Tune Up #3" /// "One Song Gory" /// "Light My Candle" /// "Voice Mail #2" /// "Today For You" /// "You'll See" /// "Tango: Maureen" /// "Life Support" /// "Another Day" /// "Will I?" /// "Santa Fe" /// "I'll Cover You" /// "We're Okay" /// "Over the Moon"

• Our Act Two is as follows:
  
  • "La Vie Boheme" /// "Voice Mail #3" /// "Happy New Year B" /// "Take Me or Leave Me" /// "Without You /// "Voice Mail #4" /// "I'll Cover You (reprise)" /// "Goodbye Love" /// "Seasons of Love A"

05/12/16:   We began this lesson with a vocal warm up and then Henri and Taylor sang "Without You" a few times. Taylor knew this song, but Henri wasn't overly confident with it so they sang through it a few times. After this we all sang through "Happy New Year" again to ensure that we remembered it. The first time we sang this today, the vocals were a bit out of time in places and the acting was a bit flat. We did it again but put more energy into it thus creating the right atmosphere and mood for the piece. Afterwards, we then sang through "Goodbye Love" for the first time. We hadn't sung this through before, so we sang it a few times. We didn't bother staging it as a lot of people didn't know the song well enough yet. Therefore, we moved on to "I'll Cover You (reprise)". Lewis knew this song, but the majority of the cast didn't know the backing vocals, so we worked on the harmonies for this song. The backing vocals are important in this number as they are symbolic of how everyone is supporting Collin in this tough time.

Auditions (27) - "Goodbye Charles" monologue

For the first half of this lesson we split into a pair and a three and were told to give each other help on our monologues. Ollie, James and I split the time we had up into three and allowed each person to perform their monologue twice with feedback in between. Once we had all helped each other, we had to perform our monologue to the class.

• First attempt to group:   I was told that my use of volume was good as I varied it throughout. However, I could have done more with my pace and pauses. I was told that I could take more time on my laugh before the line "I'm not crying". James then said that it was too naturalistic - although it was believable he said that I could be more hysterical. I should go on more of an emotional roller-coaster.
• Second attempt to group:   The boys told me that this was a lot better than my first attempt, but I could still afford to be more of a mess. On my first attempt, I had forgotten the whole tipsy idea. We discussed me having a glass of wine and being a little bit tipsy to make me more over-the-top on the sarcastic parts and just more vulnerable in general.
• Performance to class:   My feedback from the class was that it was believable and very promising. My group said that it was a lot better than I had rehearsed it, but they still think that I could contrast the emotions more, I was also told that I need to start working with the props to make it become more natural. What I need to do now, if I decide to do this monologue, is to work with props and to do so character development work (such as writing in role) to get into the mind-set of the character.

AAS (36) - CIDNT - Full scene & Vocals

In this lesson we finally completed our "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" physical theatre scene. We polished what we thought we needed to after last lesson. Movement wise, what we needed to do was the very beginning of the scene:

• "I waited for five more minutes..." -- For the whole of this section we stand in a tight group with Ollie in the centre. We stand still so that the audience listens to the dialogue and is not distracted by watching movement. This also intrigues the audience as to what is going to happen thus creating a sense of tension. 
• On the "Left, right, left right" lines, we walk forwards as a group and then all split. When we split, Oliver and I walk out to opposite sides and then walk round in our own circles. This shows the different sides to London and how disorientating it can be for someone who hasn't been there before. Whilst Oliver and I split and circle, Kat and James split and walk backwards to their beginning positions. This forms a square around Ollie in the centre. The fact that James and Kat walk back is symbolic of how Christopher probably should have gone back, foreshadowing that it was a mistake to travel on his own. 

Also, in this lesson, we recorded all the dialogue properly. This took quite a long time as we wanted to create certain effects on the audience. As we are rapidly running out of time before our performance, and James' voice still isn't back to normal, and he keeps coughing, we asked him if he would be happy if we split his voice lines up and gave them to Oliver, Kat and I. We said that he could still be Ed - he was happy for this. By not having James in the Voice recording it meant that we didn't have to keep stopping due to him coughing. For the Voice section, Kat, Oliver and I said all the lines very close to each other and over-lapping at times to create the busy atmosphere of London. We also tried to make each one slightly different so it didn't just sound repetitive. The Ed and Christopher recording went well. They did a couple of practice runs just to get the emotion and characterisation right, so it sounded really good on the recording. For the Ed and Christopher section, and the Information and Christopher section as well, we had to leave moments of silence in the track as Ollie is going to be saying all of his lines live. Before we finalised each different section, Ollie spoke his lines to the recording to ensure that enough of a gap was left for him to fit his lines in. Now that the recording is all done, Ollie will be putting these all together on one track with appropriate music underneath.

Auditions (26) - "Look Back in Anger" & "Goodbye Charles"

In the first half of this lesson (02/12/16) I performed my "Look Back in Anger" monologue, but for the second half, I started work on a new monologue.

LBIA (1)
My positive feedback from this monologue was that it was very emotional and believable. However, I was told not to make it too defiant and rooted - although it was believable it doesn't completely work for the monologue. I performed this role in a similar way to how I performed Nora from "A Doll's House", but what I had to remember was that Nora does stand up for herself in the end and leaves, whereas Alison remains with her husband. Although I like this monologue and believe that if I continue my work it could be quite strong, it is still a bit too similar to my classical monologue, as both are very serious. Therefore I got out the "I ate the divorce papers" monologue from "Goodbye Charles".

GC (1)
I hadn't done any research on this monologue and had only read it a couple of times before, so I basically performed this monologue with no preparation. I was told that I could experiment more with this monologue - there are lots of opportunities to show contrasts, thus making the character seem more unpredictable and funnier. Although the monologue is supposed to be funny, I still can add a lot of emotion as the character is deeply hurt as she doesn't want to lose her husband. To show that she is hurt inside and to make it more comedic, I was recommended to try the monologue as if I were a little bit tipsy and smoking a cigarette.

GC (2)
This attempt was a lot more successful than the first. It was better in terms of emotion, as I began to explore the range of emotions that this character can go through. It definitely worked being a bit tipsy and smoking, however, I need to watch how I hold the cigarette - at times I was so focussed on getting the right sort of emotion for each line that I would've burned my fingers if it were a real cigarette I was holding! My next step to working on this monologue will be to annotate it on where I shall take a drag on my cigarette or take a sip of wine, for example. Another priority for me to improve my monologue is to make pauses and use them in certain place.

Business (18) - Task F - Microphones

We won't be requiring any handheld microphones in the wings, as our ensemble is large enough for the backing vocals to carry to the back of the auditorium. However we will definitely be requiring a lot of headset microphones. Below are the characters that will be requiring a headset microphone:

• Sandy (for the entire show) -- 1
• Danny (for the entire show) -- 2
• Rizzo (for the entire show) -- 3
• Kenicke (for the entire show) -- 4
• Marty (for Act One - for "Freddie My Love") -- 5
• Teen Angel (for Act Two - for "Beauty School Dropout) -- 5
• Doody (for Act One -- for "Those Magic Changes") -- 6
• Radio Voice (for Act Two -- for "It's Raining on Prom Night") -- 6
• Patty (for Act One -- for "Rydell Fight Song") --7
• Johnny Casino (for Act Two -- for "Born to Hand Jive") -- 7
• Roger (for Act One -- for "Mooning") -- 8

As some characters can share microphones (as shown above), and those with solo singing lines in songs can sing into someone else's microphone, we only need to have 8 microphones. However, we shall get 10 headset microphones so we have two spares.

I found discreet neckband headset microphones at £19.99 each. Although these are very cheap and would cost us £199.90 in total, the quality could be questionable, so we would be best off renting headset microphones. Thankfully, we don't need to worry about hiring speakers or a sound desk, as the cost of the hall hire covers this.

I did some research into the cost of hiring headset microphones and the best company I found was "Warehousesound". They charge £12 per day for the headset we would require or £48 per week. We would be requiring the microphones for 6 nights, which would cost us £72, so it would actually be a lot cheaper for us to use the microphones for an additional day, saving us £24 per microphone. To hire the ten microphones we require for a week would cost us a total of £480 (which is a saving of £240 due to not paying for six days at £720).

AAS (35) - CIDNT - Video of Rehearsal

This video shows our rehearsal from our lesson on the 1st December. This run-through was nowhere near polished as we had only just put James into the piece, where he had been off ill.

What went well?

• The first Voice section leading up to the lift was very smooth. The slow motion was effective here as well. I think the use of the Frantic Assembly technique of round-by-through worked well in creating a busy atmosphere. 
• Our transition into and use of a variety of different types of people was effective in showing what London is like.
• The lift where Ollie is on Oliver's shoulders and is then thrown off.
• Our use of different directions in the slow-mo section of the Ed and Christopher dialogue.
• Our moment of stillness before the "train coming" dialogue, shows unity but creates a slight sense of tension.
• I like our use of repetition with the "train coming" section being repeated again but slightly differently.

What needs changing / improving?

• The first lift. We really need to practise making this slick. Our timing was wrong in this attempt. We need to have more of a momentum for this lift and James needs to almost pick Ollie's legs up, rather than trying to catch them and re-adjust them. 
• We still need to record all of our dialogue and learn the lines that are spoken live. All of the Christopher lines will be live and not on the recording, so Ollie will not be miming to his own voice. 
• The section of dialogue with Ed and Christopher - the slow motion needs to have bigger movements for it to work. We can't be miming on our phones as you wouldn't get a signal in a tube station. Also, Ollie could be moving at normal speed to emphasise how isolated he is.
• When we record all of our dialogue, we will add music underneath and make it in to one long track to ensure we don't have the wrong section of dialogue played. 
• With the section that the two Ollie's have just got back on the platform, having caught the rat, we need to make sure that mine, Kat and James' slow motion of watching the train go past is clear.
• That we all go off on different tube stops at the end.

Business (17) - Task F - Venue & Rehearsal Room Fee

Rehearsal rooms:
We are using C5 as our rehearsal room. We have planned to do 15 rehearsals, all of two hours in length. The cost of this room is £15 an hour, and therefore £30 a rehearsal. The overall rehearsal period will cost us £450.

Hall Hire:
By speaking to the office staff at the school, I have found out that the hall is rented out at £30 an hour. The dress and tech run would be approximately 4 hours long each, thus costing £240 in total for the two nights. On a show day, we would be requiring the hall for 3.5 hours (due to the audience coming in and leaving) but we would round it up to 4 hours, due to packing away afterwards. Therefore to hire the hall for one show, we would be required to pay £120, so multiplying this by 4 (for the four shows) would cost us £480. Therefore, the cost of the hall for the four shows (£480) plus the hire fee for the two rehearsals (£240) would total £720.

Flats:

A quote I received for two flat panels (of 2.7m by 1.2m with two colour reversible covers) were £449 and a set brace at £94. This would therefore cost £1086. This quote was from Frameset UK, who are a London based company. Thankfully, the hall hire covers the cost of hiring the flats as well, and so we will not be requiring to buy new flats, thus saving us over £1000. Fortunately our hall hire also covers the use of steel decking too, so we do not need to pay out for this either.

Total:
The total price for the rehearsal room usage and the hall fees would be (450+720) £1170.

AAS (34) - CIDNT - All blocked minus the beginning

To begin this lesson, we put James in to what he had missed. After doing this and polishing as we went, we sorted the section where there is dialogue between Ed and Christopher. For this section, everyone goes in to slow motion while Ollie continues at normal speed. This is to suggest that everything has slowed down around him, almost as if time is about to stop for him, to enable him to have this conversation in his mind with his dad. For the slow motion section to work, we need to make our movements really big and obvious.

We continued straight on with this section into the part with Punk Girl and Man With Socks. We have now added in a little bit more movement here. As the tube train goes past, Kat, James and I watch it go in slow motion whilst looking relieved. This is to make the scene less naturalistic, as our scene in supposed to be physical theatre. Although we wanted to include naturalistic movements, we also wanted to show moments of unison.

The next part of script is Christopher repeating the "train coming, train stopped, doors open, train going, silence" part again. We are using the same movements as last time, however, we have slightly adapted it. Instead of us going backwards, only Ollie shall move backwards on the line "doors open", whilst the rest of us move forwards. This happens in a straight line. On the last two times this line is said, Oliver and I move our "doors open" movement inwards to form a square around Christopher. This is to emphasise his feeling of isolation and disorientation. It also resembles the closeness of being in a tube.

The next section after this is the final Voice section. This is where our scene will end. The lines in this section are supposed to be adverts in the tube. In this section, we are including another lift. James and Oliver will lift Ollie in a pencil lift, whilst Kat and I stand in front to mask this lift. Kat and I also mime holding on to a handle, as we sway side to side, to show that we are on a tube. Therefore, we are combining naturalistic movement with more abstract moves. The fact that Ollie is lifted is symbolic of how Christopher's emotions and feelings are heightened compared to everyone else on the tube. Oliver and James then put him down, and we all walk off in different directions on a certain location line at the end (e.g. "Maida Vale", "Queens Park", etc.). This is to represent us all getting off at different stops. The scene ends with Ollie on his own looking up on the line "Willesden Junction".

Next lesson, we shall sort the beginning of the piece as well as recording the dialogue.