A handbag - Lesson two

In today's lesson we had another go at reading through however we tried to stage some things however we found it really hard as to the fact that we were holding our scripts and it make things slightly difficult because we tried to show as much movement as possible yet we couldn't because we needed to know our lines.We then thought that it would be really good idea to try and get an idea of how we want to have our audience set out. It didn't take long for us to decide as we all had a similar idea but we all wanted to have our audience is a square like audience, however without one side. We thought that using this staging would really give the audience a close experience and feel as if they're involved with this play and inside the institution / young persons prison.

Greek Theatre Rehearsal

For the physical theatre piece, we have come up with a song that can help us move along to and it's called Heartbeat by Chase and Status. With the help of our tutor and Lorna, We were able to come up with an idea of how we can move, so we kept repeating some movements that represented Greek soldier (spearing and bashing monsters with our shield). We then found places in which we sould stop the music and as a chorus we would say our lines and Lewis then decided to cut out all the soldier lines and just keep it as chorus.

Will I

For the song Will I,  I had a similar idea to the Life Support. The idea being that we're all in the floor with our audience. However talking to a class mate about my idea, it would seem realistic and slightly better to have Life support on the stage as it's like a group for people with aids and having it on stage means that the audience can look in on the group but then for will I, I'd like to have it on the floor because the song has a slightly different effect and it's as if we are talking to the audience. I think that the whole point of having levels will really demonstrate or symbolise who's closer to dying and who's closer to the earth.

A handbag - lesson 1

Today was the first lesson on having the script for the play "A handbag". We have recently done some auditions for the parts from this play and personally I wasn't too kean on it. However I hadn't read through the entire play so I couldn't be too closed minded about it. So in the group that I'm in We all decided that we were going to just read the play through just so we can really see what it was all about.

Cast

Kai - George
Kinsey - Toby (Me)
Rose - Ellie
Specs - Dom
Allan - Ashley
Irene (Milo) - Dan

We managed to read through the entire play in one whole period and personally I didn't really like it that much as my character didn't really seem to do that much at first and he just seemed like he was a really ungrateful child and he seemed to have a massive issue with George as George tries to blame Kinsey for the reason he's there.

Seasons of Love + Seasons of Love B

For seasons of love I had this idea of having a blackout before we start the song and we all have these different levels that we use and we stay there for the entire song and for the end of the song we all go to the front of the arch towards the end so that we can really project and make it sound really powerful. The staging for this idea would be similar to the staging we have at the moment, however the blocks would be separated and the height of the blocks would be greater. I don't think that this song can be like Will I or Life Support where we blend in with the audience due to the fact that I think that I think it would be unnecessary but also we don't want to over do the whole cast in the audience idea.


Seasons of love B in my view was slightly pointless however it is a good song to use to show a changing in time in the musical. I feel as if that we could have maybe done a bit more with the types of movement and maybe walked into another line under the arch so that we can really be heard and so that it looks rather plain and rather simple for some sort of choreography.

Lewis's Greek Theatre Piece

Today we started to work on Lewis's scene. We have been given a script which is based on Greek theatre. My character is called 'blue soldier'. There isn't much much dialogue in the piece that he has chosen however there is a fair amount of lines for me in the chorus. I was rather confused as to what I was doing for most of the lesson due to the fact there wasn't really any direction from Lewis, however once he settled on the decision to perform a physical theatre piece, however hadn't really thought what to do with the type of theatre.

Life Support

We focused on Life Support today which is a rather touching song due to the fact that everyone there is a bit depressed or sad because the group is for peole that have aids. It starts off with everyone introducing themselves and they're set out in a circle. Even though we are staged in the center stage, I feel that we should maybe perform it in the center of our audience so that they feel as if they're apart of the group and also so that they can feel the emotions that come from this song. One thing that we all did last lesson when we ran through it was all hold hands. At first I was a bit baffled as to why people were doing it but then I thought about it and it gives a strong message that they're all united and all come together to try and help each other face the fear that they might die of this virus.

Pillowman - Lesson 13 - 15/01/2016

In today's lesson we looked at how we will be making the Pillowman and how we will be able to actually afford to get all the pillows. We ended up making a list of all the props that we would need to buy or look into. We ended up ordering around 18 pillows and a back of hooks so that we could use the Pillowman on a pulley system when the story was being told. We didn’t need to get any rope as Tom could supply us with some and also supply us with a big wooden cross for the ‘little Jesus’ story. For any scenery we didn’t really need much as the room we performed in had everything that we needed (cabinets and desks and chairs etc).

When the pillows and everything arrived, Dan was able to sew the pillows together and then we had to tie a knot in the rope that we had and cut it into four long pieces so that we could attatch the ropes to the pillowman’s arms and legs.

In the end it was decided that we would stick with the usual pillowman which is a friendly looking character. 

Finale B

After towards the end of Finale A, the only people on stage should be Mimi and Roger which then leads into the song "Your eyes". Towards the end of "Your eyes", Mark, Collins, Joanne and Maureen all enter as they all think that she's dead. She then gasps for air and is a live, however shes very sweaty as her temperature is all over the place. And at this point she's talking about how she was entering a light and that Angel told her to turn around and go back to reality. Then Roger, Mimi and Mark sing about how that they're glad Mimi is alive and how that they're going to move on and be happy. Then in the next part of the song everyone else comes onto the stage and sings the rest of the song. We staged this so that everyone could be included but also so that we can get the song to sound the best it can but also look really good and make it look like a happy ending even though it shouldn't be.

Finale A

In finale A, the song starts of with the homeless people singing the reoccuring  "Christmas bells" song which then leads into Mark and Roger trying to show off their film that Mark has made. The power then goes out and then they talk about how Alison (Benny's Wife) found out about. Then Collins enters after not really seeing anyone since the funeral of Angel. He then tells them about how he has managed to hack an ATM machine outside a food emporium which he then rewired so that when he typed in the code angel, he got a load of money. And then he decides that he wants to live out his dream and open uphis own resteraunt in Santa Fe with Mark and Roger. Just as you think that it's all happy for them, Joanne and Moureen then end up at ther appartment carrying Mimi. She was in the park and she was overdosing and coinsidently Maureen and Joanne found her on a bench. and then bring her to the appartment as she wanted to be around Roger in her last mments. For this scene we decided that we would go for the classical set up for their appartment with the tabel being the center point of the stage and we can then lay Mimi on the table and hopefully warm her up so she doesn't freeze to death.

Light my Candle

On Tuesdays lesson, we had a full run through of the first act and most of the second act. At the end of the rehearsal we were given notes on what we can improve and what we can add. So in yesterday's lesson we started to work on things that we were told to improve or work on. We started on all the group stuff like La Vie Boheme, Seasons of Love B, Christmas Bells and Happy New Year B. We done this so that everyone was able to do something in the lesson and so that no one felt as if we had wasted a rehearsal. After the group work, we ran through Light my Candle. Meg and Tom performed it in the way that they usually do. After that we thought that Meg needed to be more 'flirty' as her character is a rather teasing towards Roger and she had the right ideas but it just seemed like it wasn't enough to be a tease. So we got her to try and make it more flirtatious and by doing this we got her to keep being intentionally clumsy and also rather cheeky as the audience can see she's trying to "get a bit" of Roger.

Pillowman - Lesson 12 - 08/01/2016

Today was the first lesson we have had since before Christmas. As we have had a few weeks off we have had time to learn our lines and be able to get them sorted so that when we come back we are able to focus more on what we are doing practically and not have our scripts weighing us down. I think the rehearsal ran rather smoothly however it was a bit of a challenge to learn most of the lines and there was a few points in which we got muddled up and maybe skipped ahead. Also another thing that I found rather challenging is that I was trying to find ways in which I could play Ariel as this mysterious character (as in you don’t know when he’s going to slip). So as a sort of task, our teacher asked myself and Dom who is also playing Ariel in his group to act out our monologue from scene 3 and to watch how each of us perform it. When watching Dom, he was playing Ariel as a more chilled out character and more of a character that tries to get in your head. Whereas I was playing it as if I was going to really hurt Katurian and I really wanted to threaten him and make him know what was going to happen to him. A comment that I received was that I needed to play it a bit more like Dom however still have my own twist to it (basically, I needed to make him a bit more chilled out).  

Happy New Year B

For Happy New Year A, we decided to scrap it as it wasn't really important o the story and it also was a song that would just be taking up a load of time for no reason. So we have decided that we will be using Happy New Year B.  In this there is more of a story as Benny, Mark, Roger and the other cast members are all on stage and that Benny says that he would have unlocked their building but instead they broke into it and he also sees an opportunity to try and mess up Mimi and Rodgers awkward relationship.  Towards the end they all try and sympathies and try to be calm with each other and try to stay on good terms. For the staging of this song, we mainly base ourselves around the table as we all start off with a freeze frame and then "come to life" as we start singing.

Evaluation fo Humaity in Crisis

I have really enjoyed working on the unit "Humanity in Crisis". I have enjoyed it as I feel like this unit has really helped me think of ideas in a different perspective and become really open to people's suggestions. Also I've really enjoyed working with the people in my group as we have all really worked hard and everyone has pulled their weight and has brought something to the table, eg: techniques and ideas, lighting etc. I'm also really fascinated as to how much our devised process has changed and how it had taken shape really well and really quickly. For example, when we started the whole process, we were looking at big scale events that have really had an effect on modern day society, things such as 9/11 and world war 2 and the kinder transport. To go from these to then work on a piece in which we highlight a massive a big issue that isn't recognized by many people in the public.

Comparing this Unit to last year's "chasing pavement's" unit, I'd say that we have all massively developed and really learnt from any mistakes that we made last time and have really knuckled down and focused really well and really quickly. I think that a big factor of this, is that our groups were different and we had a more reliable group this time round, a group that I know would work well together and do a fair amount of work. Where as last year I feel that I didn't have the same sort of connection and that I feel everyone was more relaxed about it and didn't put in as much effort with discussions and after this year, I can really notice it now that I think back to it.

As far as the performance went, I think I've never had such a smooth performance and if we messed up at places, it wouldn't matter as I believe it looked rather creative. I think that the lighting worked well and helped create the right atmosphere and the music really helped fill up any awkward silences (scene changes). One thing that I wish we could have changed in the performance is instead of eating biscuits, it would have been easier to eat crips as they have a louder crunch noise to them and can be more irritating that biscuits. 

I feel that with the research for this unit is greater and more officiant than before as I put more effort in this year and I knew what I had to do to meet the grading criteria and achieve a distinction. Also I tried to use as much as my knowledge and effort to really show how much I had researched and really thought about what ideas that the group could use and mabe participate in. I think that the most creative idea was the Amenian Genoside as its something that wasn't really known that well and could actually educate the audience. However, I don't think that they would understand it and it would get a bit boring for them. 

Devised - Comination of the two movement pieces

After having a long discussion about we would combine our two movement pieces together, we decided that in order to do this, we would have to possibly scrap some pieces and replace them with something that would be more effective. So at the beginning of this final version, we move around with the chairs, messing with the teachers mind. This originally wasn't in either of the pieces. We then changed my scene so that instead of using stage combat of some sort, I tried to make it seem like I'm trying to scare the teacher in a psychopathic way and really get to him. By doing this it mean that we were less likely to have injury as one time I accidentally kneed Carl in the nose.

Here is the link to a video of the final movement piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vTcLnQa480#action=share