11.12.14

In today’s lesson we started blocking Tale 3 and 4. Both tales are performed as an ensemble piece, and the lines are split up between us.

Write your own definition of what ensemble means in theatre.

In my opinion the definition of ensemble means in theatre when a group (3+ people) perform a piece to theatre with several people acting as the same person. Also I think some of the lines have to be said all together, and some actions.

What has to happen in the rehearsal room to develop a successful ensemble?

I believe that to have a successful ensemble in the rehearsal room, everyone has to work together and ‘give it their all’. I think this, because if someone is not listening, so therefore they don’t understand what they are doing, the rest of the cast will have to do it again, which will waste everyone’s time, and you would get less things done. Also if you don’t try hard and give it your all, you will be letting down the rest of the cast as their performance will look bad because you are not trying.

Write about your favourite ensemble moment so far.

So far my favourite ensemble moment so far is in Tale 2, when all the girls turn to face each other and all say the line ‘even the traffic stop for him when he crosses the road’. This is my favourite ensemble moment as I feel it gives the lines more meaning and power as we are all saying it at the same time. Also while saying the line we shine our torches away from us, I like this as it creates a bit of an eerie atmosphere, as it’s only our faces which are lit up. We also make the movement very sharp and clean, I think this is effective as it makes the audience get more involved with the performance as it grabs their attention.

TALE 3

• How have we decided to stage Tale 3? 

We decided to stage tale 3, in a typical East End pub, which was filled with loads of loud punters. We did this, as in tale 3 it talks about a fight breaking out in a pub. Also we used red stalls instead of actual bars stall, which were left on stage from tale 1. I think that looked effective as because the stalls were all exactly the same it made the performance look more ensemble. We also used music in the tale in the beginning, I liked this as I think it created the feeling that you were actually in a busy pub and helped me perform better.

• What characters do you play in this tale? 

In tale 3, I played one of the punters in the bar, me and the rest of the class all acted as typical pub punters. By this I mean I had a pint in my hand and I slouched a lot. We all had to give ourselves an occupation as in the monologue it talks about the main character being a ‘jack of all trades’. I decided that my occupation would be a boiler repairs man. I did this by going up to someone in the audience and telling then their boiler was broken and I talked about the cost.

• What is the atmosphere of Tale 3? How is this different to what we have created for Tale 1 & 2

In tale 3, I think the atmosphere was very informal and busy but also the mood was quite light and not dramatic. This is very different to tale 1 and 2, as the atmosphere they had contained a lot more tension in them and were spookier. I think this as in tale 1 and 2, the scenes were quite quiet, and sparse and doing this automatically creates tension. Unlike tale 3, where there is a lot of noise and there is conversation everywhere, which makes the scene more relaxed.

TALE 4

• How have we decided to stage Tale 4? 

For tale 4, we decided to split the stage in two halves,  half of it was outside in the rain, while the other half was inside the house and in a living room. This is effective and you can clearly see what is going and it makes the scene flow nicely. In the living room we made a couch chair out of the red stalls for the dad to sit on. I really liked this idea as I think it kind of made it abstract and made it interesting and unique to look at. Then, outside, it is raining so we have a load of people walking around with umbrellas. This works really well as it creates the atmosphere of being outside in the rain especially because we have the sound of rain playing in the back ground

• What characters do you play in this tale? 

In this tale I played a teenager walking with my friend to the shop in the rain with my umbrella. I was also used to create the atmosphere that they are walking across the road as me and the rest of the class all kneel down facing each other, in a diagonal line.

  Further questions...

• What acting skills have you continued to develop over the past few weeks? Is there anything new you have discovered about your own skills?

Over the past view weeks I have continued to develop my characterisation skill as each lesson I am working on a different character so I don’t have weeks to study my character. So therefore I have to be able to adapt to a new character, and be able to make quick decisions about my character. Also I have discovered that I am capable to help create scenes using only movements and sound.

• Return to all of the sections of the text we have staged so far. Select a line from each that sums up that tale.

Prologue: ‘That when you see the real East End shadowy. ‘I picked this line as I think that the prologue is summing up what life could be like in the East End, and I think that explains it.

Tale 1: ‘Even the traffic stops for him when he crosses the road’  I selected this line as I think what the tale is trying to tell you is that the main character is quite intending and thinks that he is ‘all that’.

Tale 2: ‘She’s bold cold, but warm on the inside’.  I picked this line as I think that tale is saying that everyone already had their preconceptions on what the East End is like. But in fact it’s nothing like that and the people who live their like it, and I think that that line describes it well.

Tale 3: ‘Cheers London pride’.  I chose the line as throughout the tale it talks a lot about typical East End men, and I feel a lot of them would be really proud of where they come from.

Tale 4: ‘Nobody’s ever helped me before’. I picked this line as I think that the tale is making out they are helping an elderly lady across the road which is something very uncommon.  

This is a copy of my script, as you can see I have annotated it with stage directions and I have highlighted my lines. 

04/12/14

In today’s lesson we worked on developing the play, and started creating a performance. We worked on the prologue in the first half, and in the second half, the girls began to develop tale one and the boys started on tale 2.

Here is the basic configuration of our performance space. It is called THRUST staging. 

• Give an advantage of using this stage space.
• Give a disadvantage of using this stage space.

Advantage

An advantage of having thrust staging is that you will be able to fit more people into the space.

Disadvantage

A disadvantage of having thrust staging is that at some point in the performance the actors back will be facing the audience.

As an actor what are the challenges you think you will have personally being directed in this space? 

As an actor, I feel the challenges I will have personally being directed in the space will be, not only facing one side of the audience throughout the performance but trying to project to all three sides. I think this, as I will have to be more aware that I have an audience looking at me from more than one angle so I have to be careful  not to only be looking at one side.

How have we staged the prologue? Why have we made this choices? What is the effect that is created? 

In our adaptation of East End tale, a key prop is a torch, this is because the performance will be performed in the dark. When working on the prologue we use the torches as two head lights as it was set in a taxi. Two people sat on the floor holding the torches, one of them, being me, and then one person sat on a red stall being the driver. We were in groups of 3-4 and we all had a section of the prologue. All the groups were on stage at the same time and lit their torches when it was their section.  We decided to use torches because I feel it drew the attention towards the taxi driver, as it acted as a spot light. This was effective as it gave the scene intense atmosphere. I also think it gave the scene a nice twist, as it makes it more interesting. In my opinion I think it is a clever way to perform the scene, as it automatically grabs the audience attention as it adds a sense of mystery.

Answer for the tale you are in. Girls - Tale 1, Boys - Tale 2

What is your role in the tale?

How has it been staged?

Why have these choices been made?

What are the strengths of this piece so far?

What developments need to happen throughout the rehearsal period? 

1.       In the tale 1 I don’t feel as if anyone had an individual role, I feel everyone is the role was one body. I think this, as we split the monologues into lines and were all the couple of lines to say. However I still played a role, me and the rest of the group were all playing teenagers, who were on our phone, either texting, calling, or taking a picture.

2.       We also used the torches when creating tale 1. We used them as individual spotlights as we held them facing our face. The scene starts with us, the majority of the cast on red stalls with their back to each other and facing out to the audience. Then the rest of the cast were sitting on the floor in front of the stalls. We stated the scene in darkness, then as each person said the line they would bring out their torch and shine it on their face.  Then gradually people would stand up while saying a line and move into a space.

3.         We made these choices to stage it the way we did because doing this would allow the audience member to see what was going on stage as half the cast were facing one side and the rest the other side. This is a good thing, as the audience would not be struggling to see what was going on stage and wouldn’t lose interest. Also the reason we decided to have the torches facing us was because by keeping the light on your face the audience could see all your facial expressions. This was effective, as it enabled the audience to learn more about you character, as during the scene we all pretend to be using our phones.  This help the audience learn more about the character as you could see how all the different characters were reacting when they were on the phone. I feel that bringing the torches out, one by one was effective as it gave the scene a nice build up, and it grabs your attention and made you look at the person who was talking.

4.       In my opinion I feel that a strength of the piece, so far, is that everyone stays in character even when it’s not their line. This is a strength because it makes the scene more interesting as there is always something going on, also it makes it more believable that we are actually on phones.

5.       A development that needs to happen throughout the rehearsal period is to work on a pace, I think this because the lines are said one after the other by different people. Therefore we need to work on pace as it will make it flow better and to make sure the stakes do not drop. One way we could work on that is becoming more comfortable with our lines so there are not any pauses because someone forgot their line.