Workshop (7) - Running down the wrong path...

To begin this lesson, we mind mapped our ideas for the song "She Cries". Below is what we came up with:

• James sings it all, but I possibly harmonise for some parts
• Physical theatre showing me at various auditions
• Others all at the auditions and be quite bad, but I would be good but still fail - to add a bit of a comedy element to the piece
• Rob could be the choreographer at the front of the session
• Possibly return to the warm up / stretching line from the "Opening Sequence"

We then utilised the majority of these ideas and created a section of this number. We returned to the taxi that we created in the "Opening Sequence" - however, James and I were passengers in the back. Rob became the headlight that I was, and I became the "taxi" placard holder! After we've done the taxi, we break out and put our bags down - i.e, we pick up our stalls, and turn them upside down, and carry them collapsed. When we go to go in our bags, we put the stalls down upside down, open them and then mime looking through them and getting the things we need out of them. We then put our bags down to the side and got into the line from the "Opening Sequence", and began doing our stretches. Meanwhile, James is singing at the sides. I run over to him on the line "she cries" as if I am panicking because I don't think I'm good enough. We hug. We then all go into the audition line and learn the choreography. I then get cut and cry again over on James's shoulder...

We then realised that we were really heading down the wrong path with this song as we looked back at the words and realised that what we were doing didn't really fit. We then stopped trying to make anymore as we realised that we would have to alter everything we've done as it really didn't work. We therefore decided to sit down and write down the lyrics that we thought were really important and needed to be used in some way or emphasised - below are the lines we agreed we would have done more with if we had more lessons on our mock:

• "Flames are not what get you burned. It's the cold and the ice"
• "Never look in a woman's eyes" 
• "She cries and you want to hold her. She lies and you want to run away"
• "For all she can take. You've got more there to steal"
• "Always thought I was much strong for hating and still I keep waiting"
• "So I'm stuck in this world of her magic mystique"

We decided that we would mind map another song to see what we could come up with in the remainder of our last lesson. The song we did was "Stars and the Moon":

• I could sing it all, but move through different boys...
• James would be the first guy I sing to / interact with, as he is the character who my character was with but wasn't happy because he didn't have enough money. I then spot Ollie and move over to him.
• I then sing to / interact with Ollie. He offers me everything he has, but then I spot Lewis, who has a lot of money.
• I then sing to / interact with Lewis. We show us to getting married and me with a lot of money, but I am not happy with him. I then see James with someone else looking happy with someone else.
• We could do something clever with costumes. We thought that we could have me in lots of layers of costume. I could wear an ugly looking coat, with a nicer cardigan underneath, and a pretty dress underneath it all. Each time I get with a new guy, I take off a layer.
• We thought on the final line, I could run over to James and hold his hands, but he smiles and then walks away.

We quite liked the ideas we came up with for this number, but today was the last day of our mock workshop progress, so next lesson we shall move on to "Sweeney Todd".

Musical Theatre (37) - Costumes & Lighting

In today's lesson, we all got into costume to ensure we were happy with what we were wearing and to get used to them. Everyone's costumes looked really good - however, Owen didn't have a wig today, but he shall wear it on our final rehearsals on Friday to ensure he is comfortable with it and to get used to it. I was originally wearing my heels (so I am not too short to dance with Cameron, and so I am closer to Alice's height), black trousers, white shirt, long coat and a tie [as shown in the photos]. However, my costume has now changed:

• Due to staples in the stage block I sit on during "Life Support" until "Will I?", I now have a hole in my trousers, so have had to get rid of them. Unfortunately this was the only pair of trousers I own. Therefore, I shall now be wearing black leggings instead - although this wasn't what I had originally planned, I am really happy with this as they are more comfortable to move about it, they don't fall down and still look smart. 
• I have now scrapped the tie as when it moves (due to "Tango: Maureen" mainly) it looks ridiculous and scruffy (as my shirt doesn't button to the top). Although I had planned to wear a tie, I prefer my costume without it as it guarantees that it can't move and then look scruffy, and the neck line of my shirt makes me look smart and a lot older. 
• Due to the fact that I can't tuck my shirt in (as I am wearing leggings not trousers now), I shall be wearing a thick black belt to bring the shirt in - this will prevent it from looking too floaty. It will also hopefully make me look more sophisticated and smart as the belt will add shape, rather than just wearing a shirt with leggings. This works well for me, as the shirt kept coming un-tucked whilst I was dancing, so having it out but with a belt will prevent this but still make me look smart. 

Also in this lesson, we ran through a lot of Act One to set the lighting cues. Some numbers we had to keep going through to ensure that Mr McKay had got all the lighting cues he desired. A lot of us learned how to do the lighting and designed it, but Mr McKay actually set the lighting list up for us - as we were all needed on stage to see where the stage needed to be lit. Some numbers we have a lot of lighting cues for (these numbers we had to run a few times, thus we didn't finish the whole run through), whereas others we don't have that many cues for - some even have the same lighting throughout. We didn't manage to get through all of the lighting cues, so those who had frees after this lesson continued to help Mr McKay with the lighting cues we needed.

Devising (5) - Further discussions

To begin this lesson we clarified the following:

• That no one knows why he is so brainy - the audience can decide for themselves - we shall let the audience think
• Object or person? - it is the person that is unusual and not the technology, as otherwise they could just destroy the phone and software
• The classroom scene shall not continue naturalistic dialogue, as this would become very cheesy and cliché. Instead we shall have a voice over of the teacher and use a soundscape for this scene
• We shall have a non-linear structure - made up of multiple flashbacks and flash-forwards! We shall also have a motif running throughout.  

We had previously discussed that we would like our piece to be in the style of Artaud so we came up with some techniques that we would like to include to achieve this style: non-linear structure, soundscapes / loud noises, use of contrasting lights, lots of movement and emphasis on spoken text. As Artaud liked to use a lot of movement we had planned to do a lot of physical theatre - however, he also liked spoken text, so we began to discuss where and how we could incorporate dialogue:

• Parent-teacher meeting
• Parents at home talking to child
• SEN teacher conversations
• In a common room

Our idea of a common room scene formed into a whole new conversation, where we discussed what we could do for this. We thought we could make it a physical theatre scene inspired by "Frantic Assembly". We thought we could use ideas from our version of a scene from "Curious Incident" for the Applying Acting Styles unit - this involved lots of movement around the centre character and involving them, but Ollie would walk through it all as if he doesn't really notice / care about his surroundings.

As we didn't want to waste time trying to think of a song to use there and then, we moved on to our motif and developed different versions of it. We had our original motif of Ollie walking from SL to SR, with Lewis then coming in and following him with a clipboard. Our second motif would be Ollie and Lewis walking from SR to SL, whilst Rob walked in from SL towards them both. Our third motif would be Ollie walking in from SL and me walking in from USR and ending with me putting my hand on his shoulder. We wanted our motifs to be quite unusual and leave the audience unsure on what is happening - we want to make them think.

Although we went off topic today and ended up moving back to our motif idea, we did manage to create our motifs and come up with some basic ideas to what we could do next.

Musical Theatre (36) - Random numbers

Today we spent the lesson going over numbers that we thought needed the most work:

• "Without You":   This number went really well today. Taylor and Henri got all of their lyrics right and sang it really well. The only feedback we received for this number is that Taylor has to use her face more and we all have to really commit to our characters.
• "I'll Cover You (reprise)":   Lew sang this really well today. However, he needs to look up more during the number so the audience doesn't disconnect from him. The harmonies were really strong for this number.
• "Goodbye Love":   We now all start on stage for this number as there is no need for a scene change. Instead we all move as if about to leave but we don't as they all start singing.
• "Seasons of Love":   This number went really well. We all sang at a good confident level. Our harmonies were all strong and the number sounded fine. Although the scene before this number is quite depressing, I still believe that we should make this number more upbeat and fun, as it is the finale. To ensure that audience realises that "Goodbye Love" is the ending of our version, I think we could ask our teacher to say something along the lines of "I hope you have enjoyed the Revolution Arts production of "Rent"; to sing us out is the whole cast singing "Seasons of Love". Then would could perform the number as an uplifting inspiring piece to brighten the mood, after a depressing ending.
• "Tango: Maureen":   Apart from a few wrong lyrics in places, this number sounded quite good today. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the dance at times, as there were a few mistakes. Due to our height difference (as I didn't wear my heels today) we struggled with the parts where we go under each other's arms, and the part where I dip him before dropping him. However, these mistakes haven't happened before, and were purely due to me not wearing the heels (due to a burn on my ankle); and the lyric issues were just a slip of the tongue - so therefore, we are not really worried about this number.
• "I'll Cover You":   This number was greatly improved today. They ran it a couple twice, once for us to watch and make suggestions, and the second time to implement the suggestions. These suggestions included the point that when there is a large distance between them, they need to show even more with their body language that they love each other. However, the second time was really impressive. They were really committed and professional as they did kiss at the end of the song.
• "La Vie Boheme":   This number is definitely improving all the time now. The only real notes from this piece is that we need to ensure we use the space more to avoid us ending up in a semi-circle, and to watch our timing in places. Apart from these notes, this number is looking a lot better - our energy levels have improved.
• "Santa Fe":   This number is consistent every rehearsal now, so I am confident with this piece. The vocals sound fine and the spacing works well.

A change we made for today was that we moved our four microphones (that were on stands on stage blocks on the floor) to the stage (so they are closer to head height to pick up more sound). Although you could hear us all slightly better, the microphones on stage make the piece look messy and especially looks strange for "Tango: Maureen" when I am 'setting up a microphone' and singing in to it. Therefore, we shall have to put them back where they were but bring all of the numbers slightly further forward. We shall spend part of our last two rehearsals re-spacing a couple of numbers to ensure that whoever is singing is near a microphone. We shall also do a full run with costumes, props and set, and do a tech and lighting run.

Workshop (6) - "King of the World" & Structure

In today's lesson we had a bit of a break through. Initially we thought we were going to be performing the seven songs in different styles, and they were all connected through our characters we had created. However, after today's lesson, we appear to have made our own musical / play!

Losing the job:   We began our lesson by going over what we had come up with for "King of the World" so far. We then discussed having an additional scene after James has sat in the chair. We thought this scene could involve us all sitting in a line, with Lewis at the very end and James in the centre. Lewis's belongings would get passed down the line and put in a box by Lew's feet - bit like a conveyer belt. We could have items like a framed certificate, or newspaper cuttings being passed down. This is to show Lewis being kicked out of his job. Before this physical theatre section though, we would like to have a bit of dialogue in the piece to show the characters feelings at this point.

In Jail:   We work-shopped a scene which would show Lewis's character in jail. We had previously discussed him losing his job for having spent money that was the companies and not his, but we then discussed the idea of tax avoidance and thought that he could actually be arrested. We put three chairs in a triangle facing outwards - this formed the cell. Rob would multi-roll and become a police officer and walk Lewis in to the centre of the chairs. As Rob went to lock the door, Ollie, James and I all turned sideways on our chairs and put one arm up to reach the chair in front of us. Lewis then spoke the bridge of the song (that starts "why are we punished") as a monologue. Ollie, James and I all look up at Lewis during this to present him as going mad as he feels the walls are talking to and listening to him. We thought we could then go into a court room scene with me as a judge, sitting on Ollie's shoulders, and James and Rob as lawyers.

Characters:   This picture shows what we came up with for our characters. We knew that we definitely needed Ollie and Lewis to be within the same company for this piece to work. We thought that they should be of similar positions in the company. We then discussed that maybe Ollie and Lewis could be aware that a promotion is about to happen so Ollie and Lewis are in competition with each other. Jealousy takes over so Ollie wants to get as much dirt on Lewis as possible. Ollie, with Rob's help, could then discover Lewis's spending history. This would then result in Lewis's arrest. It would then reveal that Lewis's old college friend James helped him with the tax avoidance - resulting in James getting arrested too. James agreed to the scheme with Lewis as he needed money to feel / be good enough for his love interest (an inspiring actress / performer who is using him for his money and support to help prosper her own career).  Having come up with these back stories for our characters, we thought that we could have a court scene and then have flashbacks during this scene to explain the characters back stories.

Structure:   We originally were planning on doing the songs in order, but have now decided on creating a non-linear structure. We decided on this because we thought it would be nice to have a few flashbacks during the court room scene to show everyone's stories. We also discussed having a split screen to show Lewis spending his money on suits and James on the other side buying flowers for his lover - however, we decided against this idea as we are trying to keep it as separate songs for separate characters. Below is the structure that we came up with (however, we haven't decided what way round we would like to have the three flashbacks - we shall wait until a later lesson when we have created them to decide this):

• "Opening Sequence" - The first number which shows everyone's characters
• Dialogue to show the finance department people - this will have Lewis, Ollie and Rob in it. Lewis will leave and Rob and Ollie will then mention something about Lewis being suspicious and that they shall look into it.
• A section to show an email conversation between Lewis and James and what they have done. (Not sure what style this shall be)
• "King of the world" - From the beginning of the song up until Lewis's possessions being passed down the line and put in a box.
• Court scene - this shall be a dialogue scene that is returned to between each flash back.
  
  • "River won't flow" - duet of Ollie and Rob explaining their jealousy of Lewis. [For this number we also discussed creating two cars - re-creating what was the taxi in the "opening sequence" and then an old car. Lewis's posh car would be presented in the same way as the taxi, apart from the lights would fold up (to look like flip up lights on an old-fashioned car). Meanwhile, Ollie's car shall be made the same as the taxi, but he would get in and try to turn the lights on but they wouldn't come on - he would then mime hitting the steering wheel, and they would flicker on].
  • "She cries" - James's solo to explain his reasoning for agreeing to pull of the scheme. 
  • "Stars and the moon" - shows my characters thoughts and feelings. How she wants / needs money. 
• "Hear my Song" - Conclusion of our story and how each character wants their story to be told

Business (26) - Task H - Funding

Workshop (5) - "King of the World"

Swapping characters:   Lewis really liked the song "King of the World" and has agreed to sing it for us during the performance to enable us to do a more Musical Theatre styled number. As we wanted this number to be about the business man (as this made the most sense) we initially thought that Lew could sing the song, but it could be about Ollie - however, we then weren't sure on how this would work. We were worried that Lewis would then almost become the narrator, as it were, and therefore wouldn't be involved in all the movement. Therefore, we resolved this issue by Ollie and Lewis swapping characters - Ollie is now the taxi driver and Lewis is the business man (this means at some point we will have to spend a couple of minutes swapping Ollie and Lewis's  places in the "Opening Sequence" so Lewis now does the "round-by-through" section with everyone, and Ollie sits in the taxi).

Opening discussion:   We liked the idea of throwing chairs, so knew we definitely wanted to include this in the piece, but wasn't sure the duet sections were very relevant. We all agreed that the opening of this number should set the scene - we then discussed what the "scene" was. As this song (we decided) is about the business man, we agreed that the "scene" was an office, and thought that we were all office workers. Lewis then thought that this could still work for our characters - the lover (James) could be an office worker, and my character could be working in an office whilst doing auditions and waiting for her big break. Although this is a clever link, we won't be presenting this link intentionally in our piece, as the focus needs to be on Lewis's character. Lewis suggested that we could include my original idea from how I had initially envisioned the "opening sequence" of getting ready in the mirror. From Lewis's mention of getting ready to work, we thought we could all have specific movements as if we were in an office. We would all then repeat these movements until Lewis started singing.

So far:   Below is what we created this lesson and why:

• During intro, Lew sits on office chair facing back. The rest of us throw chairs and place them in a straight line either side of Lewis.   -   The purpose of this is to create a busy and crazy office setting. It also presents the idea of everyone doing work except for Lewis's character, thus foreboding what will happen to him. 
• All do individual movements (my movement is miming typing and then stretching out my knee) which get repeated until Lewis begins singing.   -   (Inspired by the physical theatre group "DV8") To make it clear that we are in an office. To make the scene quite abstract but very "musical theatrery"! 
• On "once upon a time" we all look in at Lew.   -   Focusses the attention on him, which is what his character wants.
• On "I had tides to control" we all lean outwards.   -   Irony that we're moving away from him.
• On "I had worlds to win" we move back in towards him.  -   He has won our attention back.
• On "Stars to ignite" we fact the front again.   -   As if ready for our work opportunities to ignite.
• We then all do a neck roll and go back to our original movements.   -   The neck roll shows us stretching as if preparing for the hard work to continue.
• During the next verse, Ollie and James take their chairs off, whilst Lewis sings to Rob and I. When Lew looks at Rob or I, we look really interested but as soon as he looks away, we roll our eyes and continue with our work.   -   Ollie and James leaving suggests Lewis has lost support. Rob and I present his co-workers being two-faced and getting fed up of him. 
• On "there were people at my side" Rob and I stand up and look really fed up. Ollie and James take our chairs off.   -   Shows that Lew's character is losing support as he is being too arrogant.
• On the first "Let me out of here" Rob and I put our inside hand on his shoulder to hold him in place. The next time we all hold him down, the third time we all try to pin him down but he breaks free.   -   This presents us giving him a warning not to get to big for his boots and us trying our best to persuade him to stay grounded. However, him breaking out shows that he is choosing to ignore our warnings.
• For the next section, Rob and James mime measuring Lewis up for a new suit. Ollie then shows him a jacket but Lewis doesn't like it, I then show him my own (which he likes) and I put it on him.   -   This scene presents him spending a lot of money to make himself look better than other people. We debated on making this scene really abstract with people doing ordinary things but in unusual ways (e.g. offering him a new watch but by doing a turn and then presenting out of the inside of their jacket whilst bowing)(similar to our hospital scene in our version of "Dr Faustus") - however, we realised we wouldn't have much time for this, so we kept it quite naturalistic. This worked out better as we can ensure that the audience will understand what it going on in this section.
• Lewis runs over to his chair (which has been placed USL by this point) and attempts to slide across the stage to DSR, but is taken off the chair by Ollie and Rob. The chair continue to glide over to DSR, after Lewis is taken off of it. It is caught by James who then sits on it. I mime serving James a tray and then give him a massage.   -   The office chair represents the job that everyone wants. The fact the James catches the chair and then sits in it shows that he landed the job, and I act as his secretary and PA. 

 Ideas:   We would like to break this song up with sections of dialogue. As we included a section where Lewis was spending money on new suits, we thought we could have a scene here where he gets in trouble for his excessive funding as maybe it was company money or something. We shall discuss ideas for scenes next lesson.