25th June

Today we ran though all of Act 1 and Act 2. We also blocked the second to last scene, and changed the ending.

I think the rehearsals went okay, as we have not rehearsed the second to last scene a lot I messed up a bit, but tonight I am gunna look over my lines and make sure I know them.

I relieved some feed back from saying that I should be loading when I am talking to Oggy in the Disco scene. Also that I need to annunciate my words, so when I say my lines im clearer.  

Scene 23 Asylum Scene

Today we worked on the Asylum scene, this scene is one of our drama classes. Its very important that we don't looks like we are messing on in the class, and that we are actually doing work.
 We had to think of a few different characters to play. I picked a baby and a bull. I think these work well because when I am a baby I just sit down and cry, because i'm crying loudly it makes loads of noise and it really effective, also it shows i'm playing a character and not still Gail messing around in a classroom. Then I play a bull this is good because when I can see space on stage where no one is stood I can run into the space and fill it up. Also I can use other people in the class to be a matador.

11th,13th and 14th of June

11th

Today we ran most of Act 1 without scripts and with scene changes. We had made some changes to Scene 2, which shows the different between how teachers and students move though the corridors. In scene 6 we added some music between the scene changes. I push Simon off 2 chairs then move then around and sit on them. When I sit on them I but my feet up on the other chair.

13th

In the morning we rehearsed Scene 1. We where think that if half way though Hobby could get some crisps out and start eating them when Salty says his part about sitting on the floor freezing his Knackers. I thought it would work well if when Salty says knackers she could spill them on the floor, this would also work well because at the start of the next scene Doug the Caretaker cleans the floor and he could clean up the crisps.

In the afternoon we ran Act 2 without scripts. We play around with different entrances, say my lines as we walked on, also says them after we walked on. I think it walked best to say then once we had walked on to stage.We also blocked the car scene, where Mr Nixon hits Oggy. 

14th

We did scene 20, however after getting feed back some people thought it was to busy and that there was to much running around. Instead we can up with an idea that when Hobby say "The ninja's are in action" we all pull different Ninja poses we thought it would be good if in the background we played some Ninja music. Also when I turn into the French assistant I changed my posture so I was sat up right and also wagged my finger when I was shouting at Rachael. 

Scene 16

Today Me, Dan and Chelsea, who play salty and hobby, blocked scene 16. We thought the scene seems really fast paced and energetic.

I came up with the idea of hobby hitting me with a piece of paper, rather than her actually hitting me. I think this would work better because it looks more effective and kids often throw paper, also its less painful for me.Also when I take her pen I throw it high in the air rather than just at the side, this worked best as it got the biggest laugh from the audience. Before I take her glasses Me and Chelsea stand up and stare at each other, this works well because it gives the scene a little pause, but it doesn't take so long that the scene loses its pace and energy. At the end when we are try to get  Mr Nixon's attention, we stand up and shout, this works well as Gail and Hobby have been arguing and it's as if we are seeing who can get Mr Nixon's attention first.

23rd and 25th April

On the 23rd we rehearsed scenes from Act 1, and showed them back to the class. I helped people work out there blocking and timing as some people weren't moving when they should and it would mess up the timing of the scene.Most of the first scenes set the scene of the play and introduce the characters. Its it important it know why your character is on stage and doing what they are doing. In the first scene its important to have lots of energy so get the audiences attention. Scene 6 shows the audience how out of control the classrooms are, this is the first classroom scene that the audience sees. So its important that the classroom is out of control.
I think the first scene could use some more energy. Scene 6 needs to be more crazier. I also thought that when Gail and Salty are taking about Benny Good it would almost be like a little argument.

We talked about how your character moves. This helped me because I had to think about how my character would move her hands and what part of her body she walking from. 

I think Gail wouldn't sit on a chair properly she would slouch on it, she would sit with her legs crossed because she is quit feminine. During scene where the classroom is crazy and all the kids are doing whatever they what she would sit with her legs up on Hobby or Salty's chair. I think this will work well because it will show the audience that the class is not doing what they are suppose to without distracting from the action.

John Godber

John Godber is the writer of Teechers, he also wrote plays such as Bouncers and Shakers. All of these play's have title that explain exactly what the play is about. However Teechers is spelt wrong. Teechers is a play that is written by the pupils of Whitewall, these pupils are poorly educated, therefore it is ironic that Teechers is spelt wrong.

John Godber was raised in a working class family, however he broke away from the and went into drama. He became the Head of Drama at a local secondary school. This is where he got his inspiration for a Teechers.

John Godber is also inspired by Brect, he makes theatre that you can relate to. Teechers have minimal set, this is a very Brechtian style. Also the school doesn't have a lot of money so the pupils wouldn't be given a lot of money for a set. Teechers only has 3 cast members in the play, however we have adapted it so everyone only plays on character. But in the original the cast have to change character on stage, they shows there character change by changing there gestures, facial expression and how they hold there bodies. This is another Brectian technique.

16th and 18th April

On Tuesday we had to work out which character we wanted to audition for. I picked Gail Saunders. I was thinking I could play Gail as your typical airhead, After I read the script some of the things she says are quit random and stupid. This would fit into the story well because the Whitewall teachers struggle to teach the pupils.

For my audition Lauren, Lucy and I performed the opening scene from Teecher. I think the audition went well, I had lots of energy and enthusiasm. However if I were to do the audition again, I would do it off script as I think it weakened my audition.

In small groups we discussed teachers from our school. We discussed their personalities, gestures, the way they spoke, posture, ways of moving and there appearance. We then used this to take part in a workshop audition where we improvised a scene as teacher's in a staff room, we used the notes we made on teacher's from our school as stimuli. This helped me to get into role as an older character and understand the differences between how young people and old people move.


On Thursday we found out who we had been cast as. I found that I had been cast as Gail Saunders.

We then did a full script read though. My first impression of the script was that there was a lot of humour in it. Also that we could put a lot of physical humour in it. Then in our casts we discussed the 10 most important moments in the play, and used them as stimuli to create still images. This helped me to get into character as I was able to play about with different postures and body language. Also it helped me to under the most important points in the play and how Gail would react to them.

We then did an off-text improvisation of the school disco scene. This helped me think about how Gail would act with the teachers and the pupils. Also it helped me to get into character, because I was able to think about how she would walk, her posture, any gestures she might have and also her vocal mannerism. I was able to play about with them more because I wasn't warring about my lines and trying to follow along to story line as it was improvisation.

We also discussed what we wanted the audience to get from the play. I think they should be thinking about there time at school. Did they get the most out of it, could they have tried harder. We also what them to see how influential one man can be to a whole school. He changed Gail, Salty and Hobbys life's. And maybe when the audience leaves they could be thinking about people who was influential in there life's, or if they were influential in other peoples life's.