Historical Context (10) (Greek)

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

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

Storytelling (19) (The Snow Queen)

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

04/02/16

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


05/02/16

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

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

Storytelling (18) (The Snow Queen)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Historical Context (9) (Greek)

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

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

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