Single Performing Arts Lesson (21st January 2016)

In today's lesson we completed our scripts for our scene we worked on in the previous lesson. We have created our scene so that our two duologues overlap. In the end we stuck with our original idea of having one pair speaking and the other miming to add the effect of the contrast in conversations. (E.G-  Kat's character sees abortion as a solution to an unwanted pregnancy, whilst Rob's character is completely against abortions and finds the whole matter entirely serious.)
Once we had written this script, we did a read through. 
However, as we were focusing on our lines we were not in character. We then read through the script again but this time in character. Unfortunately, at this time, we felt the scene was a little bit flat so we separated the dialogue again (with the intention to create two conversations.)
However, we did actually prefer the original idea of having the conversations overlap as we thought this was an interesting and different style of writing script.

Lorna then suggested we swap characters and read other peoples lines in the hopes it would give us some inspiration in the way our characters act. (We got this idea from our 'Flint Street Nativity' rehearsals when we swapped characters).
We then spoke about creating a soundscape here but we didn't get this far as we were focusing on character building and development.

Double Performing Arts Lesson (20th January 2016)

In today's lesson we moved onto my part of the story in the snow queen. Previously from this lesson I had read through my script and cut down from 5 pages too 3 and a half to make it easier for us to create. I decided I wanted to use movement for my piece as that was the only technique I felt comfortable using myself as I had used it before.
As I was inexperienced and unsure on how to approach my ideas I relied on my fellow actors to help create my scene.
I began by casting my scene-
                                              Rob- The Crow
                                           Lorna- Gerda
                                     Rhiannon- The Princess (snow queen)
                                         Charlie- The prince
               (Olly, Lewis and James- Played lots of little extra parts E.G- 'The Lamp' and 'The Guards')

We staged the piece, we decided it would work well if Gerda (Lorna) followed the Narration of 'the crow' (Me) whilst the others would play the characters we run in to on the way or become the scenery (for example, at one point the rest of the group form "rose-coloured satin" hanging, "embroidered with artificial flowers". 
Furthermore, whenever the other characters have important dialogue we decided they would speak it whilst I then says a reporting clause. This therefore ensures that everyone keeps to the idea of telling a story as opposed to performing the scene.

At the end of the scene Miss Cordell discussed my narration and how I could improve it. She set us all the task of finding a 'famous' narrator who inspires us and writing down why they inspire us and what it is about them that we like.   
                                           

Single Performing Arts Lesson (19th January 2016)

In today's lesson we decided to work on dialogue, as part of our marking criteria talks about 'the use of different techniques'. Therefore as we focused on movement last lesson we moved onto dialogue. We began discussing a scene we thought would need a lot of dialogue. We decided this would be the scene we wanted to be hard hitting so we discussed ideas of gritty dialogue. We then thought of a conversation (duologue) between the pregnant girl and her best friend. We discussed using a mirrored effect, so we thought that Kat and Lorna could be the same person throughout the piece and Ollie and I would be the same person throughout the piece as well. However, the relationships couples would be Kat & I and Ollie & Lorna. 

We started our the scene having Kat telling Ollie that she is pregnant. We didn't want the entire performance to be depressing so we wanted to try and introduce some comedic lines into our dialogue. 
We tried out a few ideas for Lorna and I to be introduced. We Kat and I back to back whilst she has her conversation with Ollie I have the same conversation with Lorna but mimed. This was a good idea however it was complicated and hard for an audience to understand, However we liked the idea for Kat and I to be back to back as it shows the two conversations with the same people but with different intentions. 
We decided to try out cross cutting the scene. Therefore Lorna and I wrote a new script that links in with Ollie and Kat's.   

As we didn't have long left of the lesson we ran the new scene to see where we were with it. So Kat and I started off back to back with Lorna and Ollie on opposite sides of the stage. Our conversations were very controversial as Kat was telling Ollie she didn't want to keep the baby and she was going to abort the baby (making it all a joke) and I was telling Lorna that I didn't want to her about it and she doesn't care about how I feel.

Double Performing Arts Lesson (18th January 2016)

In today's Lesson we split off into groups (James, Rhiannon and I) and (Lewis, Lorna, Olly and Charlie). Rhiannon gave us the idea of a game of Cluedo, so I took her idea and created a flow diagram for each character and the part they would play in the game. We decided to change the idea of Harlequin being killed, and we would kill Magnifico instead as no one is playing the character of Magnifico. Therefore everyone would be involved in the story line.

                                                                    Breakdown of the Court Case-
                                                                                                  Judges/Jury- The Doctor and Pantalone                       Lawyers- The Captain and Colombina                             Suspects- Zanni and Brighella
Witnesses- Harlequin
           
             The Captain
            -Defending Brighella
            -Spreading rumours (so he can have the spotlight)
            -Trying to get Zanni in trouble

             Colombina
            -Defending Zanni
            -Hated Brighella

             Harlequin
           -Claims he knows who killed Magnifico


I decided to present my ideas to the rest of the class on the white board (shown in the picture above) and people seamed to like my idea so we decided to try it out. We began creating the scene. We began with positioning we had Lewis in the Middle (As he is the most important) with Olly to the right of him (showing he is next in control) Lorna and James in line with Lewis and Olly but slightly further out., with me and Rhiannon in front of them.
We began with Lewis calling 'The Captain' forward to give his side of the story. (As I created the Captains roll to be more fictitious so he's only there for the spot light, instead of giving my side I decided to ramble on about any old nonsense (in the hopes it would get a few laughs from the audience) with Pantalone trying to get me to stop. (Saying things like "that's enough now Captain" to try and get me to stop talking) After being unsuccessful to get me to stop Pantalone eventually has to shout to get The Captain to stop (with the intention to catch the audience off guard, but produce laughs once they realise what happened).

The next part of the scene moves onto Colombina giving her side and introducing 'Harlequin' as her witness.
We were unable to continue with the scene as we were out of time. However Miss McSherry decided that we would not continue with this idea as she believed it was too static and boring and not what Commedia De'll Arte was meant to be about. Therefore we decided that for the next lesson we would use the other groups idea and see how we could expand that.

Double Performing Arts Lesson (15th January)

At the start of this lesson we re-caped our ideas about our story plots and our character relations. We began with our idea to kill Harlequin. We re-discussed who would kill Harlequin as we began to cover motives from each character. We defined our idea of Zanni killing Harlequin as he would have no motive, therefore it would be a shock for the audience as they wouldn't expect it to be Zanni. Therefore we thought it would be funnier if Zanni killed him accidentally showing his clumsiness.The most difficult thing now is to think of a realistic death for Harlequin to keep the comedy because if it was an unrealistic death the audience wouldn't find it as funny.

Therefore we began to discuss a suitable place for the death, as they would need to be in the same place. We began doing more research on both characters to find out what they are like. I found out that Zanni is a slave and Harlequin is typically always hungry and always looking for food. After sharing this knowledge with the rest of the group we agreed on having the death in the kitchen where Harlequin is looking for more food and Zanni is working. 

After this we brain stormed how he would die. So we began discussing ways he could die in a kitchen and what could have been used- E.G- knives, cookers and even out of date food. (Inspirationally from Hansel and Gretel) We decided to use the idea that Zanni accidentally pushes Harlequin into an over, therefore we covered all the points made previously. (E.G- making it an accident, showing Zanni as being clumsy). 

Single Performing Arts Lessons (14th and 15th January 2016)

14th January 

I was absent for this Lesson, however Lorna sent me the information and research I needed for the next lesson. It consisted of a piece Olly had seen before about a boy who decided he wanted to bury his brother in the pavement. Lorna decided to research it a bit more.

https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/Book/1626/Burying-Your-Brother-in-the-Pavement.html

This is an overview from the website she found- 

'Tom’s brother Luke is dead. This has upset a lot of people but it hasn’t upset Tom. Or, rather, it has upset him, but in ways he can’t explain and other people can't understand. You see, Tom and Luke were never friends. In fact, Tom didn't really like Luke at all.

So it’s an odd decision - to try and bury Luke in the pavement of the Tunstall Estate where he was killed. But to Tom, it sort of makes sense, in a stupid-weird kind of way. As he sleeps out on the pavement, he comes across planning officials, tramps, undertakers, police officers, sisters, mothers, estate agents, ghosts, pavement elephants, sky dragons and a strange lad called Tight who wants to sell him a Travelcard.'


15th January

For the first part of this lesson Lorna, Olly and Kat briefed me on the short piece they began to devise from the last lesson. 
The piece was based around children (which we were all very comfortable with as we had used it in previous pieces) and war. We began to incorporate different techniques such as freeze frames, naturalistic acting, abstract drama and stop-start motion.  We wanted to make our transitions between acting as children and our war freeze frames (or abstract war scenes) as smooth as possible, therefore we decided to make them link: 

Children playing a game of tag/it   --->   Freeze frame of soldiers in battle
Children eating packed lunch, talking about a paper cut   --->   Freeze frame of injured soldier       
Children playing eye spy and spotting a plane   --->   Abstract representation of a fighter jet
Children playing tag/it   --->   Abstract drama of chaos of bomb exploding

We decided that we would signal these changes with a click to make it easier for everyone to know when to change. We then began to get into the children acting mindset and began to think about what would make it seam more like a children s piece. Ironically we thought of a school bell, we discussed how we could incorporate it into our piece and Olly gave the idea that we could begin the piece as children (having the bell to signify the start of lunch) and end the piece as children with another ring of the bell (to signify the end).

We then performed the piece to the rest of the class.   

Double Performing Arts Lesson (13th January 2016)

In today's lesson we continued with section 2 of 'The Snow Queen' (James's Story). We decided we needed to spend more time working on the lift to make sure it was performed safely.
We discussed a few ideas on how we could perform our lift, we started with Rhiannon stepping into Olly and lifting her legs up so Lorna and I catch them in the air. However Rhiannon didn't feel comfortable with it so we had to change it.
We then came up with the idea that she would jump into Olly's arms then she stuck her arms and legs out, supported by Lorna Charlie and Rob (Me). This idea was good however it took too long to get into the correct position.
Therefore Charlie volunteered to do the lift to make it easier for the group to finish off the story as Rhiannon was comfortable with being lifted.
After this we decided to have a full run through of the story to refresh out memories and then to run the entire performance weve completed so far to make sure it all flows smoothly.

Double Performing Arts Lesson (11th January 2016)

At the start of today's lesson we all prepared our presentations for our characters. I researched my character 'Il Capitano'. I created a 6 slide presentation about the character of The Captain the way he acts and why. His costume and mask, aswell as his movement.

After our presentations we were asked to think of a plot for our performance so Lewis, James, Rhiannon, Lorna, Olly and I created a diagram on the board of the pecking order for all our characters and who we believed would be in love with who to make it easier for us to create a plot.
James came up with the idea for a murder mystery so we discussed who we believed would be the best character to kill off and who would kill them.

We decided Harlequin would be the character we killed off and we discussed Brighella would be the one who killed him however that might have been a bit too obvious so we went with the plot twist idea that Zanni would kill him in an attempt to get himself up the importance ladder we created earlier in the lesson.

Double Performing Arts Lesson (8th January 2016)

In today's lesson we began by using the computers to find out more about 'Commedia Dell' Arte'.
I decided to focus on the two extremes of the table (Zanni and Pantalone). 

I researched that the Zanni is a character type of Commedia dell' Arte, best known as an astute servant and trickster. The Zanni comes from the countryside. The Zanni is known to be a “dispossessed immigrant worker”.
I also researched that Pantalone is one of the most important principal characters found in commedia dell' Arte. With his exceptional greed and status at the top of the social order, Pantalone is "money" in the commedia world.

After this we discussed a group who we wanted/needed in our commedia. We decided in our performance and who we wanted to be. Therefore Miss McSherry cast our group and this is the list we received:

• Pantalone- Lewis 
• Zanni- James
• Brighella- Lorna
• The Doctor- Olly
• Columbina- Rhiannon
• The Captain- Rob (me)
• Harlequin- Charlie 
• 1st Actor- James
• 1st Actress- Rhiannon

As a result of this cast list I began to research 'Il Capitano' and decided I would create a PowerPoint to present to Miss McSherry next lesson.  

Single Performing Arts Lesson (8th January 2016)

We started this lesson in our groups with our spider diagrams from the last lesson. Our task was to create another piece from our ideas and perform it in our groups.
In our previous lesson our group were undecided on whether we wanted to use our idea for Domestic Abuse or our idea for Abortion. As we went for abortion previously we agreed on Domestic Abuse.

We brain stormed more ideas on how we could portray this and we came up with the idea of a clock. I was facing Lorna and Olly was facing Kat. On tick Olly and Kat would take 1 step clockwise and on Tock Lorna and I would take one step clockwise.
After 4 'tick tocks' Olly would repeatedly say 'Make it stop!' and on 6 'tick tocks' Kat would say before its too late.
We decided we wanted our audience sat in the middle and we would walk around them.
On the 10th 'Tick Tock' Katya shouted BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! That's where we stopped.

Kat and I turned to face the audience and Lorna and Olly went to the back of the stage. Katya and I simultaneously read statistics about Domestic abuse as Lorna and Olly created a real life interpretation of different forms of abuse (including physical and manipulation).

We ended the performance with Katya and I saying "Make it stop, before it's too late!"

-- The attached video shows the start of the sketch. --

Double Performing Arts Lesson (6th January 2016)

In today's lesson we went back to 'The Snow Queen' and continued working on James's piece. 

We started with Lewis, Lorna, Charlie and Olly's dance Justin Bieber, We then continued to elaborate on the scene and include more movement. 

We continued with Lorna and Lewis freezing after their dance but Charlie and James both get up and lift the curtain for Rhiannon to roll under. As she is the 'snow queen' we had to find a way to show it. We decided that Lorna and Lewis would make jagged movements with their hands to show the ice as mentioned in James's story. 

The next section of the story was about Kay and Gerda reading a book about 'beasts'. Therefore Charlie, Olly, Lorna and I would create the shape of a mammoth behind the curtain to show the 'beast'. The next part is the description of the glass in Kay's eye. 
As Lewis was Kay to show this he dramatically fell to floor in pain holding his eye. As James reads through describing that the shard of glass is no longer in his eye (at this part Lewis shows a sigh of relief) however he still has some glass in his eye that he does not yet know about so Lewis began to hold his heart as he begins to feel it.
Lorna enters to Lewis in pain and asks whats wrong and he insists he is fine. During this scene Olly, Rhiannon, Charlie and I arise behind the sheet and create silhouettes of flowers because the next line in the story is Kay saying how bad the flowers. To create his aggression as the glass goes deeper into his heart. Lewis Kicks out and we all lay on the floor giving the illusion he kicks the flowers over. 
The flowers all arise again but create the mammoth once again as 'the beast' is mentioned once again in the story. 
At this point we all split off showing the mammoth deconstructing and creating something else. As this happens I walk forward and under the curtain. Lewis enters the stage (still with everyone else in the background in their mammoth shapes). Lewis and I create a possession scene as Lewis controls me as if i'm on string.
The next scene shows me after being possessed by Lewis on a sledge (as it mentions in the story). We created this by Olly, Rhiannon and Charlie on all 4s with me sitting on their back. They then begin to move up and down as if I was doing over bums down a hill. 

This was all he had for this lesson however we already began discussing ideas for the next lesson where we decided to continue with James's story. 

Single Performing Arts Lesson (5th January 2016)

Today's lesson was the first one back after Christmas and we were starting our new topic 'devising'. 

We started off our lesson by discussing the assignment brief and familiarising ourselves with the required criteria. Once we were all explained the work we were then assigned our groups. We were split into 3. 

Group 1- Lorna 

               Ollie M

               Katya 

               Rob 

Group 2- Olly K 

               Rhiannon    

               Cerys 

               James

 

Group 3- Charlie 

                Hope

                Lewis

After this we decided to watch the music video for chasing pavements.(our chosen stimulus)

As I had never seen this video before it was intriguing for me to see other peoples interpretations of the video and what they believed it meant. For me the lyrics "should I give up? Or should I just keep chasing pavements? Even if it even if it leads nowhere" was the most understandable for me as I believe Adele was singing about her recent break up giving the song a more depressing feel. This helps because it makes it easier for us to identify the topic for our piece and the emotion. 

We began (in groups) brain storming ideas for our pieces.

The 3 best ideas my group discussed were: 'Abortion, Domestic Violence and Technology.' 

After we brainstormed we presented our ideas to the rest of the class. Our last activity was to choose one of the ideas and begin to devise a piece for it. 

We decided to go for the idea of Abortion our piece included: Ollie M having a party so Kat and I were on one side of the stage dancing and Ollie and Lorna were reflecting on the other. We planned for Kat and I to show having sex and making Kat pregnant whilst Ollie and Lorna were reading statistics about young pregnancies and the effects. We would then show the change as the lights go off. It would then show Ollie and Lorna in the hospital having an abortion whilst Kat and I would be reading out statistics about abortions and the risks, all with chasing pavements playing softly in the background. 

However we did not have sufficient time to create the entire piece so when it came to performing in front of the class at the end, the only part we had completed was the introduction of the piece. 

For the next lesson we will have to come up with a new idea and see what we can create from that. 

Flint Street Nativity (Evaluation)

We finally completed our first 'contemporary theatre' piece 'The Flint Street Nativity'. Overall I believe our performance went well as a group with minor mistakes that I don't think would be overly recognisable for the audience. 

Personally, I believe I performed well throughout maintaining my child like personality. I don't think my voice was as 'childlike' as I'd hoped, however, I was able to keep my childlike stance (e.g swinging arms, staring into space and shuffling) throughout the performance. 

I thought my voice was clear and loud all the way through the performance meaning the audience could understand clearly every word I said. I don't believe I rushed my lines and I remembered the majority of them. I was accurate on where I should enter from and when I should enter. I remembered all my cue lines and was able to prompt others with their own cue lines.  

I believe the highlight of my performance was my save during my 'Once with Royal David City' duet with Lorna. I was able to keep my composure when I realised I had said the wrong line and my quick thinking to adapt the line to the rhythm of the song. 

Moving onto my adult scene, I thought I performed well. I was successfully able to show a clear comparison between my two characters (with the way they walk and the way they stand) I emphasised the fact that I was on the phone during my conversation with Olly K including my PHILL! and ANDY!

Personally, I believe the highlight of my adult scene was the last line of the production. I was able to take my time and not have to worry about being interrupted (because there were no more lines). I believe I confidently walked out (onto the empty stage) I didn't rush into my lines I used the phone to emphasise the sort of person my character is. When I felt I was ready I finished off the production using my own idea of how my character should have been portrayed. 

Overall I believe I gave a strong performance in 'The 'Flint Street Nativity' 

   

Single Performing Arts Lesson (16th December 2015)

Today was the day of the performance and we needed to set up the stage, so Lewis, Charlie and I set up and decorated the Christmas tree. James. Olly M and I set up the playhouse. Miss Cordell and Ashley set up the backdrops, then Cerys and Lorna decorated them. We decided to use the new platforms that the school had recently bought. These platforms were placed at the back of the stage to be used as the apparatus (later on in the show) and to symbolise Miss Horrocks special cupboard. 

After we set up the stage we began rehearsing. We ran the entire show slowly making sure everything ran smoothly with all the props we included. The biggest issue we found in the play was the lighting because when people were speaking they forgot to stand in the light so they wouldn't be seen by the audience. So Miss Cordell decided to set up a lighting exercise. She asked us to walk forward (one at a time) and stop when we felt the light on our face. Therefore, we would guarantee that we would be in the light when we were speaking.

After this, we continued to progress through the play and another error pointed out was that when we weren't speaking as children we would need to be doing something (e.g colouring/ playing a game etc.....) otherwise it would look weird if we were all just sat there waiting for our lines not doing anything.

   

Single Performing Arts Lesson (15th December 2015)

In today's lesson, we were practicing on the stage for the first time. We decided the first thing we needed to work on was the use of the wings and our entrances/exits on and off the stage.
Once we worked out our entrances we began to rehearse.

First off we decided to work on the adult scenes so we know where to set out tables out so they are in our spotlights and to get a feel for the size of the stage. We quickly realised that Sarah Bennet's breakdown would be a struggle as most of us were concentrating more on what our exact lines were and when they appeared in the breakdown causing us to hesitate slowing it down and not giving it the effect it is supposed to have. So we decided we would forget the lines and just shout stuff out that is based on the breakdown so it would be a lot quicker because we concentrate more on the breakdown rather than the lines. After trying this, we realised it was a lot better and gave the right effect for the breakdown. This made the adult scene work a lot better and be a lot more effective.

After this, we decided to start from the beginning and have a full official run through (with props and costumes). I decided I wanted to make myself more like a child by moving around more never standing still and shuffling my feet when I walk.