Directing (8) - Emma and Jerry

As Ollie wasn't in, Lewis and I ran the all of the scenes that are just between Emma and Jerry.

• Scene One   -   1977   -   Pub   -   We worked on portraying our intentions by using our tone of voice specifically. We also worked on our pauses and why the meaning of certain lines (e.g. what they mean by "do you remember, I mean, you do remember?" "I remember" - their flat).
• Scene Three   -   1975   -   Flat   -   We imagined what the conversation would have been before the start of this scene to get us in to the right frame of mind. We wanted it to be really awkward and tense between us, as this is the end of their affair. Our main focuses with this scene were our intentions and body language. We directed each other for this scene. My directions to Lewis were mainly to do with proxemics - how far away from me he should be at different points - depending on what was just said.
• Scene Six   -   1973   -   Flat   -   We hadn't done a lot of work on this scene. We worked on the opening and how we would do it. Lewis and I start hugging and he kisses me on the cheek. I then break away from him and put the basket down. We practiced using my bag as a basket to work out how we would move around each other with it. We also worked a lot on our spacing and physical interaction with each other in this scene. On my lines "Do you think we'll ever go to Venice together? No. Probably not" I put the table cloth on the table. The pause after this is used for me to walk over to the chair and sit down again, and used by Lewis as if he wants to ask a question but doesn't know how. The ending is sweet, as I sit up against him I lay my head on his shoulder. This is supposed to be sweet to make the audience want them to stay together.
• Scene Eight   -   1971   -   Flat   -   We had done this scene a few times before so working more on the intentions of these lines, as we had already pretty much staged it. We need the scene to be quite awkward from my perspective as I want to tell Jerry about my pregnancy but don't know how to tell him and scared how he will take it.
• Scene Nine   -   1968   -   Robert and Emma's House   -   We had worked on this scene a lot previously so we just ran it today to cement it in our minds.

Workshop (16) - Mrs Lovett Research

The print screen shows my research and comparisons between Angela Lansbury's, Patti LuPone's and Helena Bonham Carter's versions of Mrs Lovett. I looked at different aspects of characterisation, relationships and different songs. I have highlighted what I liked from each category from each of the actresses. 

Sondheim and Wheeler's script contained the following description: "Mrs Lovett, a vigorous, slatternly woman in her forties, is flicking flies off the trays of pies with a dirty rag as she sings or hums".

Stephen Sondheim's "Finishing the Hat" contains the following description: "Mrs Lovett is not only a chatterbox, she is a glitteringly disorganized one. ... She is cheery one moment, complaining the next, and can instantaneously alternate her attention between pie and customer. Her garrulousness causes her to seem irritating but harmless."

Going by the first description, all three women were perfect in the role. However, going by the second description, I personally think Patti LuPone was the best Mrs Lovett. Obviously, Helena's version is going to be completely different as her performance was for the screen and not for the stage. I like Angela's crazy nature, but I felt it was a little too much, and I prefer Patti's voice. 

Although I highlighted my favourite aspects from each characters, I have found a couple of things that none of them did that I would want to do - firstly, I would want to focus my attention on Todd rather than the razors  in "My Friends"; secondly, I want to show two contrasting mind-sets in "Wait".

Three questions I ask myself about Mrs Lovett are as follows:

1. Would she eat her own pies?
2. Did she break Albert's leg?
3. Did she kill Albert?

I haven't decided on the answers to these questions for my character as of yet, but I shall keep these in mind as I need to remember that she is arguably the most dangerous character in the show.

Devising (13) - Lewis's Scene

During the day on Friday we had a physical theatre workshop with Annie Sutton, exploring Berkoff's and Lecoq's methods. We particularly liked the use of ensemble movement where we all walked in the same direction. We thought it was really effective when we moved forwards as an ensemble, having been moving in random directions as individuals. This was really effective with a large ensemble, so we weren't sure if it would work with just three of us, but we tried it out and it looked surprisingly good. We used this idea to show the relentlessness of the paparazzi and how intimidating we could be. However, as this was really abstract, we decided to do some naturalistic movements as the paparazzi first, as to set the scene. After we've all run round frantically to try and capture the best picture, we then go into our more abstract ensemble movement.

Whilst we are swapping between individual directions and ensemble movement, Lewis stays in one spot to suggest that he is surrounded by paparazzi and cannot escape. The three of us then form a straight line behind Lewis, who mimes eating breakfast. At various points, whilst he is trying to eat breakfast, I shall pull one of his shoulders back at a time to force him to stop eating and turn slightly - as I do this, Rob or Ollie (depending on what shoulder I pull) shall mime taking a photo of Lewis. On the last time this happens, I pull his head back and then push him forward to the floor. The purpose of this breakfast scene is to show that the paparazzi and media are very controlling and leave you unable to do daily activities (such as eating or going to the shops) without being stalked - it shows they are intrusive and powerful. 

We discussed having Lewis watching TV whilst eating breakfast. After we have taken pictures of him, we thought about somehow forming a TV and we would have one of us be a reporter, speaking about Lewis (either coming out of rehab or being spotted doing something). This would be an ideal and hopefully non-cheesy way of introducing more dialogue into this scene. We haven't decided yet how we shall do this but we shall try things out next lesson. As we were on the topic of dialogue we discussed how we could use dialogue but not be cheesy with it. The best idea we came up with regarding dialogue and sticking to our stimulus, was to use a split-screen - we would have a conversation about rumours and media presentation (i.e. what a group of people heard about Lewis's character and what they think of him because of this) and Lewis on the other side. We want what Lewis is doing on one side to be completely different to what the people are saying about Lewis (e.g. the people saying how he has just given up and is really lazy, whilst Lewis is doing a lot of writing on the other side and really concentrating on something). We shall all be thinking of ideas and discuss and try out what we come up with next lesson.

Directing (7) - So far...

Scenes:

1. Staging complete // Intentions need work on being portrayed clearer
2. Staging complete // Intentions understood // Needs cementing
3. Staging complete // Intentions understood // Needs cementing
4. Staging complete // Intentions understood // Practically finished
5. Staging complete // Intentions understood // Finished
6. Staging incomplete // Intentions need discovering // Needs a lot of work
7. Staging complete // Intentions understood // Practically finished
8. Staging incomplete // Intentions need work // Needs a lot of work
9. Staging complete // Intentions understood // Finished

Rehearsals:   We are not making a definite rehearsal schedule, as of yet, because we haven't touched on all of the scenes. However, next lesson we shall do scene six and eight, as we have done the least work on these scenes. We can leave scenes five and nine for a while, as we have completed these and they need the least amount of work. Once we have done a substantial amount of work on all of the scenes, we shall do a full run and then create our rehearsal schedule for the lessons leading up to the performance, where we shall work out our priorities.

Staging:   So far, all of our piece has been made up of just two or three chairs. Not only do we think that this may be too repetitive, but we feel it is a bit Brechtian for a very naturalistic play. We are intending on including a table that shall be used for the bar scene, the restaurant and as a coffee table at different places. As Pinter has written in a naturalistic style, we are taking a Stanislavski approach, and so will be using many props in our production where requires (e.g. glasses, the book, keys). Although, above I have written that the staging is complete for the majority of the scenes, we haven't worked with the tables or any props as of yet, so will need to do this as soon as possible. We shall incorporate the table in to every scene as to minimise the length and potential chaos of scene change. This table recycling can help form the set - i.e. by returning the table to the same place for the flat scene, helps establish the setting.

Dealing with problems:   For every scene that contains just two actors, the third person shall direct that scene. For scenes that contain all three of us, the person who is in it the least shall direct. If there are any disagreements the actor shall make the final decision, if the can justify their reasoning.

Characters:   We all have to decide on how we want each character to be portrayed, and how we want the audience to view them. We have agreed that we want the audience to be sympathetic towards Jerry and like him, but still be torn between Jerry and Robert. We want them to go between wanting Jerry and Emma being together because they seem sweet together, but at the same time knowing that the relationship is wrong so wanting Robert to find out. However, the audience would want Robert and Jerry to be friends so everything resolves itself.

Directing (6) - Scenes One, Two, Three and Four

Today we ran the first four scenes of the play. We had done a couple of them before, in date order, but we decided to run them in the order of the play.

Scene One:   We decided to run this scene as if Emma and Jerry are very awkward. The only movement that was in the scene is when Jerry goes to the bar and returns again. However, although the fact that they were sitting fairly still throughout made it quite tense, we decided that we should add a little bit more movement in it to break it up a little bit. We decided that my character, specifically, should change positions quite a lot to show that she is uncomfortable and doesn't know where she stands - as she doesn't really know what she wants (though it is evident that they still have feelings for each other). For my line, "are you jealous?", I shall be a bit flirtatious as if to attempt to break the ice. I believe she wants Jerry to be jealous as she does miss him - she has lost her husband and as lost the man she had an affair with for seven years, and is now going out with Casey on the rebound.

Scene Two:   This scene is set in Jerry's house, and shows an emotional meeting between Jerry and Robert. Pinter has written all of his dialogue in a very conversational way (by including fillers, false starts and disjointed constructions), thus suggesting he wants his plays to be performed very naturalistically. I directed this scene so it went on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. I wanted the scene to be quite awkward and tense between them to start, to make Jerry feel more on-edge. I liked how Robert was quite angry at the beginning of this scene as it forms a contrast to the end of this scene. The first time Ollie said the line "don't call me a bastard Jerry", he said it as if he was really angry - he really raised his voice. I then re-directed this line and got him to say the line in quite a bitter way - I got him to say this line through his teeth, in a lower tone and quite quiet. The purpose of this is to show that Robert is warning him on what he says - Robert is probably suggesting that it's best off that Jerry doesn't call Robert a "bastard" for not telling him, when Jerry has had an affair with his wife for seven years. We discussed the line "we used to like each other" and who we thought "we" was. I suggested that they are both referring to other people. I believe Jerry is saying that line as if to try and justify his actions - he is trying to say to Robert that he didn't just get with Emma for the hell of it, and they did in fact have strong feelings for each other so he couldn't help it. I wanted Ollie to say the line as if he was calming Jerry down by stating that they are still friends. The line "I bumped into old Casey the other day. I think he's having an affair with my wife" is used to relieve the tension. I wanted Ollie to say the line in a way that breaks the tension, as I reminded them that despite everything that has gone on, Robert and Jerry are best friends - Robert continued seeing Jerry and didn't say anything about the affair.

Scene Three:   When we first tried this scene, we were a bit tense and awkward with each other. I had played the scene before as I was reluctant to end the affair. However, Ollie gave us the direction to think as if we had had a massive argument just prior to this conversation. This made our scene really tense to begin with. We imagined what we would have been saying before this scene - as Jerry's first line is "what do you want to do then?", we agreed that Jerry had been giving lots of suggestions on what to do, but Emma kept disagreeing with everything he had said. We have agreed that at some point in the near future, we shall all agree where things are in the flat, so we can paint the scene for the audience.

Scene Four:   We had already worked on this scene before but decided to run it so we ensured that we had remembered what we had directed. 

Workshop (15) - Anthony & Fogg

Costumes:   Would it be better to where full costumes or should we wear blacks and be representational with small items? I would have preferred to have us all in full costumes as the audience would get a better understanding of the show, the characters, and would become more engrossed in the show. This would have worked if we had a larger cast, however, as some of us have to multi-roll, we shall be taking the representational option with our costumes.

Page 112 - 114:   This scene is between Beadle and Anthony, but involves a passer-by too. Dan will be playing the passer-by, as his main character, Pirelli, had been killed a long time before this scene. Our first question was where should we set this scene. Our four options were either on the stage, under the stage, on the floor facing the audience, or on the floor facing up at the stage. We instantly decided against under the stage (as this isn't practical as it is a scene with more than one person) and on the stage (as the scene directly after this scene happens on the stage. We decided on doing it on the floor, and Tom would shout towards the audience, to suggest that the audience were in the madhouse. The other decision we quickly made about this scene was that Tom would run away at the end of the scene, rather than being beaten up by the police. We didn't think it was necessary to show Tom beaten up for this section. By getting Tom to run away, we save time, we don't need to worry about forming a convincing piece of stage combat, and we don't need to worry about multi-rolling and quick changes. We workshopped how Ollie would play Beadle in this scene. The first time round, Ollie was quick aggressive and really raised his voice at Tom. On their second time, Ollie didn't shout at all - instead he was really measured, which made him creepier. They decreased the distance between them to increase tension and to make Ollie seem creepier. 

Page 136 - 137:   This is Fogg's asylum scene. As we don't have Alice in our lessons, I stood in for Alice today. We decided that everyone (apart from Rob and I, as we are in the scenes just prior and just after this scene) would play people in the asylum. We have staged our scene starting with Dan and Tom walking down the aisle of the audience towards the stage. This therefore involves the audience in the scene - as if they were in the asylum too. The rest of the class shall be positioned randomly on the stage, but Alice would be seated on a chair on the stage (to make it easy to move about with her; to make her one of the last people to get to; to ensure she is visible the audience). The main part that we workshopped for this scene was Fogg's death. We questioned why Anthony says he "cannot shoot" Fogg. We decided that we wanted Fogg to be holding Johanna close to him, so Anthony cannot shoot because he might accidentally shoot Johanna. So Johanna could get hold of the gun, we decided that Alice would elbow Dan in the stomach to be able to get out of Dan's grasp to the grab the gun. After trying this, we thought that Johanna looked a bit too gutsy, bearing in mind she has been presented as very vulnerable and fragile throughout the show. Therefore, on the second attempt, as I elbowed Dan, I dropped to the floor as if that really exhausted me. I would then quickly crawl over to the gun, whilst Dan held his stomach. As Dan recovered and went to come forward, I would shoot him from on the floor.

Page 127 - 134:   This scene involves Mrs Lovett locking Tobias is the bakehouse, and then her talking to Beadle. As we can't do full scenes under the stage, as there isn't enough room and the audience wouldn't be able to see much, we do the scene on the floor. Instead of going down under the stage, I change all of my dialogue to future tense - e.g. I have changed "Now the bake oven is here... always be sure to close the doors properly, like this. Now here's the grinder" to "The bake oven is in there... make sure you close the doors properly! Next to it you'll see the grinder". James would then walk down the steps to under the stage, and I would shut the doors behind him and then lean on the stage, as if my heart was aching from what I had just done. To show the bakehouse scene we tried doing a split screen - one side would be Lovett's pie shop and the other would be the bakehouse. This did work okay, but we thought we could be more clever with this so decided we would use the stage. As James walks down under the stage and I close the door behind him, James would then go up through the trap door to be on the stage. When it comes to the bakehouse scene, the curtains would open on stage about halfway to reveal James using the grinder. By staging it in this way, the audience can see everything that is going on, there is enough space for this scene to take place, and it is practical as it is not in the way of the pie shop setting or tonsorial parlour. Also with this section of script, we cut all mention of pianos and bells, as it is not necessary for the script, it take up time and would involve us having to get a piano on set as well - there is no need for any of this.

Devising (12) - Developing ideas

Completing Rob's Scene:   We spent the last two lessons completing Rob's scene and trying to come up with ideas. We ran all of Rob's scene with the narration and worked out how we were going to show him committing suicide. We didn't want him to stand on a table and almost act it out, as we felt this might be disrespectful but also look a bit basic. Therefore we decided to use the laces that we had been tying together throughout the entire scene. Rob shall now sit on the edge of the table and we shall use puppetry to get him to hold the laces and lay backwards over the top of the table. The fact that Lewis, Ollie and I each played the central role (of victim) in a different scene was then symbolic for our ending - the use of puppetry (with us three dictating Rob's actions) is symbolic as it represents how our past can dictate our future.

Domestic Violence Scene Discussion:   We were still struggling on this scene so we decided to leave it until later. We have got a couple of ideas in mind from previous lessons but are really not inspired from it at the moment. We did, however, come up with ideas for Lewis's scene so we decided to complete move on from this scene for now and see what happens when we return to it.

Lewis's Scene Discussion:   We initially thought that we wanted Lewis's scene to be either about losing a loved one or the influence of drugs. We weren't very inspired by the death idea (and thought it would be too typical) so we decided on the idea of drugs. To ensure we weren't steering away from our stimulus, we decided that we wanted to show more of the after-effects and how things can haunt you. This idea then lead to discussing rehabs and celebrities that have been through them. We discussed many celebrities that have been through rehab, including Russell Brand, Amy Winehouse and Macaulay Culkin. We did a bit of research into Macaulay Culkin to get an idea of what he has to deal with - we soon realised that paparazzi are everywhere and are relentless. We discussed how the paparazzi jump to conclusions, follow people's every movement and how they often bend the truth slightly or exaggerate to sell more papers. We then discussed how the paparazzi stalk people and basically haunt them - so not only are people haunted by their past but also by their present. The questions asked by reporters and paparazzi can also haunt them - especially if someone has been very sheltered in rehab and protected by the outside world; whatever the paparazzi says about current affairs will probably be the first the person has heard of it. We thought about this, and used our research into Macaulay Culkin to help come up with questions that the paparazzi would ask. We thought that we could make a sound scape of these questions, to which Lewis would walk out from behind the curtains and we would all move about him in a frantic manner. We could also use flashes of light now and again (but not a strobe as this is too patterned and organised) to represent cameras flashing whilst we move frantically during the sound scape. We recorded us saying the following questions overlapping:

• What will you do now?
• Is it true your parents won't talk to you?
• How has your use of pills impacted your career?
• How will you recover from this financially?
• How do you feel about the studio cancelling your contract?
• Did you know your girlfriend is seeing someone else?
• Do you regret that Instagram picture?
• When will you return to twitter?
• Why was your rehab extended? 

Obviously, Lewis shall not be playing Macaulay Culkin, as it were, and instead shall just be playing a character who has gone through rehab. We are not focussing on the rehab section, and instead are purely focussing on the idea of overcoming such a hard time and how that in itself haunts you, but then the added pressure of media interrogation haunts you too.