22rd October

Performance Workshop 

As we have not been able to rehearse our piece fully as a group in a while we rehearsed our scene's continuously. We decided to not include the first and last scene as we did not feel confident doing them and our play still made sense without them.

As the characters could be played by both men and woman we decided to make it gender-neutral and very Brectian. A solder is a solder male or female they are both doing the same job. I received feedback saying I was standing in a feminine way, so when we do the show I will make sure my body in fairly neutral. However we were told that we work well as a group and that we had a good connection and relationship between character. You could clearly tell they respected me as the Sargent but when I turned into a general solider they were more relaxed around me.  

17th October

Performance Workshop

Today we worked out a running order for our performance then ran through it start to finish. This gave us a chance to work out any transitions between each scenes. After our loneliness scene we needed a smoother transaction as the first time we walked out everyone huddled together and it looked messy. I thought as we are already in a line it would look effect if we split in the middle and walked off holding hands in a line either side. This fits with the piece as it is like we are walking of united as friends. Also as the bullying on a mountain scene is next, it works well to start the music as we are walking off so that by the time our scene starts the music is playing in time with our scene.

We also developed our scene so after the 2 girls jump of the mountain, we turn around as if we are at a funeral. We revised feedback saying that looked powerful because it was as if the people that bullied them felt sorry for there actions. Also at the point the line in the song was 'I can't change' showing that the couple couldn't change who they were, this also makes the audience think about the 3 bullying characters could they change? 

We then devised an end scene. We developed the roller-coaster scene so that all of us made up the roller-coaster. After trying out a few different staging options we decided on a roller-coaster with 4 rows. Once the roller-coaster finished we stood up in each column and each said a different word to describe us. After trying this out we realised it didn't work as the words got lost and you couldn't hear them clearly. I had an idea of each row saying the same word that reflects all of the people in that row. Our row choose the word Explore, because everyone in our row wanted to explore another city in the UK or the world. 

We then rehearsed our scripted scenes, we couldn't rehearse ours because our team member was still off so we ran lines making sure we knew them. We then showed back 2 scene as our team member arrived, and received feedback. We were told that there was a lot of humour in both scene's and that the audience found them both very funny.

   

15th October

Performance Workshop

We started of by looking at a few scenes from Cinderella. We decided it would be good if we all got a chance at playing each character, this gave us a chance to experiment and find which character we liked the best. It also showed us how each group member interpreted each role.The character I liked best was the Stepmother. I decided to play her quite 2 faced, in front of the stepsisters and Cinderella she was really nasty, however when the Baron came into the room she was sweeter and acted liked she loved her family and him. 

We then started work on our scripted scenes, as one of our members was off it was hard for us to rehearse. So instead we helped develop other peoples scenes and give then feedback. 

10th October

Performance Workshop

Today we figured out which pieces we wanted to have in our  performance. We listed all the scenes that we had put together and then as a class we voted on which scene's we liked the best and which would fit with the stimuli self. Then the scenes that we picked we showed back and talked about ways we could develop them. One of the scene that was picked was our scene of Bullying on a Mountain. Because last time we showed it back we didn't rehearse with the music and the timing was slightly off, so we were able to show it back with the correct timings. Because of this we received feedback saying that the music helped them understand that the scene was about a homosexual couple. Also we where told that our scene was very powerful and had lots of potential however it was kind of rushed, so if we slowed it down it would improve it.

We then rehearsed over what we have so far of our show. We developed it by giving everyone a number so that they knew which order to go in so on the day of the show we don't mess it up and talk over people.

After that we focused on our scripted scenes, as one of our member was off we helped other people develop there's. I watched over peoples scene's then gave them feedback on how they can improve. For example one of the group I helped with had a strong comedic piece however they lacked energy. Also as they were meant to be friends there laugher seemed rather fake so I told them that they should maybe laugh louder and for longer as having your class mates make fun of the teacher is probably on of the funniest things they have ever seen.

9th October

Musical Theatre 

Today we learnt a dance to the Time Warp. We used the original movie and classic time warp as stimuli. We kept to the creepy feel to the movie by adding moves such as creepy walks and also at the start its as if we are rising from the dead. We also adding mild sexier moves, we flick our hair around and smack our bum, these moves where used because the original movie is rather sexy.  

8th October

Performance Workshop

Today we devised a scene that can be used before Nothing. We were given a start word to a sentence that was used to previously end the sentence before, and we were told to elaborate on our monologues and talk about things we would have to overcome. My sentence started with Going and I wrote 'Going to University will be hard and I'd have to overcome many struggles'. 

We then had to use these phrases as stimuli to create a scene. However the scene must have included a chair being used 3 times, characterisation, phasing out, being spaced far apart, levels.

We decided to do it as an interview and talk to the contestants about there hopes and dreams. We used characterisation and had Lauren interviewing us. I came up with the idea that the contestants could use different levels while they were waiting to be interviewed, some people stood up, others laid down or sat on the floor and I sat on a chair, also use the whole of the stage so that we are far apart. Also I came up with the idea that after the contestants are finished being interviewed they could phase out. Having the contestants sit in this way shows the audience that they are all individuals. 

After showing our scene back, we received some feedback. We were told that they found the scene very comedic however the jokes being told were inside jokes that the audience might not have gotten. So we would have to change some of the jokes so that the audience could understand them.

1st October

Performance Workshop

Today we focused on Nothing. We rehearsed the over the first verses and I decided to add in a spin after the bobsled. Me and Fran hold hands and spin around, I think this works well with the piece because it adds a lot of energy and looks like we are creating wind. 

We where all put into partners and told to think of some choreography for a verse. My team was given the part where she tried to melt like and ice cream. We thought it would be effect if she actually tried to melt on the floor. We staged it so that everyone was stood around her in a half circle and she was stood in the middle and all the focus and pressure was on her. We played around with different levels and had some pupils sit on the floor, this gave the scene more dimension and less like a stereotypical pressure circle.

We then had to choreograph the church scene. I played an angel, who kneels on the floor. After improvising the angels singing the lyrics we realised it actually worked well if the angels say "This man is nothing" "This course is nothing". This is because in the lyrics it says 'and the voice from down at the bottom of my soul'. So we decided it would look good if the 2 angels walk over the her and say in it her ear. We then decided to take a risk and have Mr Karp being lifted up and turned around. This symbolised his death, because you see him being lowered as if he was being lowered into the ground.