Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 26 (Evaluation) - 13/07/16

What went well:

My costume for Syme in 1984

• Everyone learned all of their lines and there were very few noticeable mistakes, if any.
• I felt we all maintained our characters throughout. For those of us who had multiple characters like me and James, I felt we all had brilliant characterisation which clearly displayed that we had different characters. I made my characters distinctively different by varying my posture and tone of voice. For Man, I was very slouched and used my regular voice, as we wanted book club to be very modern and casual, whereas, for Syme, I sat up straight, due to being in a work environment and that my character is more mature than Man, and my voice was very nasally and boring as I wanted to make Syme the comic relief of 1984.
• All of our physical theatre sections were on point every time with every lift being safe and impressive, all of actions were expressive and had purpose instead of being used to, "wow," the audience and everyone was where they were meant to be.
• Whenever an issue occurred, we covered each other very well, for example when a chair was left on stage when it wasn't meant to be, someone onstage sat in it as opposed to on the floor so it looked like the chair was left there on purpose.
• One of my favourite scenes was the torture section where in Room 101, Rob has his teeth pulled out and his finger tips torn off. When the blackout occurred for the teeth removal, Charlie opened Rob's mouth and gave him the blood capsule for him to chew on before the lights came up. When the lighting was restored, Rob spits out some of the blood and lets some blood drip around his mouth to show how gruesome his torture is. For his fingertips, I walk over to him in the blackout and Rob puts his hands in his mouth covering his fingers in the red liquid.
• Our set was very impressive with posters of the Big Brother propaganda. Despite being simplistic, it displayed to the audience how controlling the government was of that era.
• I believe that all of our costumes were impressive and matched the 1940's fashion which were going for.
• Our lighting and sound was mostly on time and even when it wasn't, it wasn't a big deal.

What didn't go too well:

• Many transitions didn't go well as some of us were unsure who was moving props/set; however, some mess ups were well covered.
• Not everyone wore a jacket or coat over their 1940's clothes because they either forgot, or felt uncomfortable with the coat on.
• Props like the chocolate which Julia brings Winston were forgotten and not brought on stage due to not ever rehearsing with props.
• After taking full responsibility of taking the table on and off stage, I didn't take it offstage when I was meant to once when we transitioned from book club to a scene between Mrs Parsons/Mother, Child and Winston. However, I believe this wasn't too much of an issue with this scene as this scene would take place in homely environment which would include a table.
• Our posters kept falling down as we only gaffer taped them to the curtains. We then pinned them in also as throughout the course of the day they kept falling down but we should've taken the tape off before pinning them to the curtains as this resulted in the posters sticking to our feet in later scenes.
• Some of our scenes were very scary and gruesome for younger audience members.
• Some of our audience were unsure of the plot until the very end and felt that the change in setting needed to be clearer.

Ways we could improve:

• Run through the entire piece more in rehearsals, focusing on transitions, set, costume and props.
• Pin the posters instead of taping them (or both).
• Warn the audience beforehand that some scenes may not be suggested for younger or squeamish members of the audience.
• To make setting changes more obvious, we should have a sign saying something like, "Book Club: This week's book 1984." This would make the transition into book club more obvious.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 25 - 12/07/16

Today we ran from the beginning up to page 60! When doing this we kept a note of any issues however there were very few of them:

• Where some cast members didn't know their lines, there were very frequent pauses and prompts needed. This ruined the flow of the runthrough and left the rest of class very bored as they were waiting for their scene. We will ensure that everyone knows their lines in time for the performance.
• In the beginning book club scene, although everyone knew their lines for this bit, there was confusion of what order each line was said in which resorted in repeated lines, missed out lines and awkward pauses paired with confused expressions.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 24 - 08/07/16

Today, we discussed costume and spoke about how we'd adapt the drama room into our 1984 environment!

We decided for the play we'd be dressed in 1940's styled clothing which was generally smartwear such as suits and dresses. This was because we believed that George Orwell, despite predicting future inventions such as telescreens (more known as CCTV in present day) wouldn't have predicted the fashion of 1984. When browsing the clothes we already had in the costume cupboard, I found the perfect outfit for Syme. As my character is in his late 40's and is generally very dull, I feel he would dress in very bland colours like browns and greys. The items I found in the cupboard were a grey v-neck jumper and burgundy boat shoes:

I feel that these items will suit my character very well! Added to this will be black trousers, a plain white long sleeved shirt and a burgundy/dark red tie.

For book club, we'd wear the same clothes but have zip-up and pullover hoodies on over the top. This shows how the characters are completely different and distinguishes the difference in time eras as Syme is from 1984 whilst my book club character (Man) could be from as early as 2084, as it's stated in book club that the events of 1984 were at least 100 years before the era of book club.

When discussing how we'd like to adapt our acting space to the world of 1984, we thought it would look very cool to stick hundred of posters of Big Brother propaganda across the three walls surrounding our space. This would be accompanied by very few Goldstein posters to represent the rebellion; we could also have a few posters scrunched up on the floor too. Below are the three main posters we're using:

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 23 - 07/07/16

Today we ran through everything from pg 22, the first appearance of Charrington, up to pg 44, Winston and Julia in the backroom of the Antique Shop.

When performing my Syme section without a script, I felt my characterisation was much much better. As I had learnt my lines I could focus more on how I'd say things rather than what I'd say. Also, not having a script in my hands allowed me to use gestures more often. We decided that I will have a noisy food like a packet of crisps to eat while Parsons is talking about his daughter. We discussed how my character is very comedic and is a sort of comic relief in this very dark play we've chosen. Eating a loud food will relieve the audience from what has been a dark plot for the past 26 pages.

After this scene we continued running the play up to pg 44 as we had run out of time. I feel that we would've gotten through a lot more of the play if everyone knew their lines but we still have 6 days to cram in line learning.

Next lesson, we will discuss costume and Rob and Ollie will have sorted their interrogation scene section.

After lesson, I created an event on Facebook to advertise our production:

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 22 - 05/07/16

Today in single we blocked a physical theatre section where Winston leaves Room 101 and ends up back in the café. Below is the movement we planned:

• Winston starts on the chair with the box on his head, "Dig" - Mudvayne starts and O'Brien takes the box off his head and exits. The chorus, still in the surrounding formation from the interrogation take four lunged steps towards Winston, one per bar, as if we were to attack/grab Winston.
• On the fourth beat Lorna, James, Hope and I grab a leg from his chair and lift him up with Charlie supporting the back of the chair. We tilt the chair back and Lorna and Hope go to the back with Ollie and Kat and help them support Rob's body. James and I pull the chair out from beneath Rob and we slam it down in the position it needs to be for the next scene in the café. James and I stand behind the chair ready for the next section.
• Everyone else lifts up Rob and turns him around. They then place him in front of the chair and push him into it. Rhiannon fetches the table while they bring him to the chair and places it in front of him.
• James mimics breaking his neck and fetches his chair for book club.
• I smash his head on the table and fetch my chair for book club.
• Ollie M and Kat mimic breaking his fingers and fetch their chairs for book club.
• Charlie pulls the tablecloth over his face and suffocates him then lays it out across the table. He then fetches his chair for book club.
• Lorna almost smashes his head on the table but then pulls him up ready for the waitress scene; she then fetches her chair for book club.
• Hope walks on with a vase of flowers and by the time she places it on the table, everyone will be back in book club.

We then ran everything from the opening to the end and resolved any issues we had. We got up to the beginning of pg 22, the first scene featuring Charrington. The one issue we had, besides people not knowing their lines, was confusion at the end of the Prologue. When we walk off in our lines, we were originally weren't sure where to grab a chair from and where to go with it as the two lines weren't in order of how we sat in book club. After a quick bit of organisation, we sorted this out so that when we exit we all walk off to the side we sit in book club, we grab a chair then we sit in book club and wait until everyone is seated until we begin.

Next lesson, we will continue to run the play as much as we can.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 21 - 01/07/16

Today, we spent time moving on with the narrative of 1984 by leading on to where Winston and Julia form an alliance with O'Brien. We set this out by having O'Brien's apartment set out the same way as the canteen at Winston's workplace. This subliminally suggests to the audience that O'Brien is supportive of Big Brother's views, just like Syme and Parsons and this connection of similar setting is confirmed by the appearance of Martin.

We then went on to discuss our ideas for the Room 101 scene and added other members of the class into the sections of this scene which we'd already done. For example, when Parsons shouts, "Down with big brother," we all walk in together and surround the stage in a semi circle similar to the our original opening before we came up with the concept of book club. Next lesson, we shall continue blocking Room 101 scenes. 

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 20 - 30/06/17

Today, those whom needed to film any parts did what they needed to do whilst the rest of us blocked the Room 101 scenes. During this section I was given the roles of Torturer and Man In Uniform as we hadn't accounted for those characters. I took these roles as I was in the room at the time and my other character's weren't needed again.

We also ran our two physical theatre scenes, the prologue and the transformation into Room 101.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 19 - 28/06/16

Today we ran every scene we have so far up to the second Charrington scene and sorted the issues we had. Below are the issues we had and how we resolved:

• When transforming the book club into the café, some of us were unsure as to whether we had to take our chairs off or not. We discussed and said the chairs don't need to be moved as it makes a lot of noise.
• When Rob enters the back room of Charrington's shop, we walk in at different intervals. We got confused as to when we have to walk in but we resolved this with discussion. Prior to this we discussed why Charrington chose to refer to the diary as a Keepsake Album and came to the conclusion that diaries were banned in 1984 so the word was considered taboo.
• During The Two Minutes Hate, we were unsure as to when we have to mute and what we say when Rob finishes his small speech.

Next lesson, we'll finally film any video's required and go over some of the scenes in Room 101.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 18 - 23/06/16

Today we took a look at the end of the play as the scenes leading up to this are very based around just Winston and O'Brien. This featured the section between Winston, Julia and Waitress which transforms into book club where the 1984 enthusiasts cap off the story with a surreal thought.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 17 - 21/06/16

Today, we ran through most of what we had completed so far and resolved any issues we had with the movement.

We had nothing to discuss or change about what we had besides the first scene between Charrington and Winston. We gave Charlie some notes on his characterisation which improved his portrayal of Charrington a lot. We also added a small piece of movement into the section where Winston goes into the storage room and passes out. Below is our movement:

• Rob walks towards the centre of the empty book club and then walks towards SR, James and I walk towards him slowly whilst singing, "Oranges and Lemons." He walks away and walks into Charlie and Kat doing the same but singing the song out of time, Hope and Lorna, and Ollie M do the same. The overlapping of the Rhyme will show the distortion of that current reality.
• Rob turns and passes out and we have a blackout just before I catch him as we feel it would look good if the audience don't see him hit the floor.
• I lower Rob down and James replaces his seat back into book club.

This scene was the only thing we changed and next lesson we will run the rest and work on the Room 101 section.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 16 - 17/06/16

This lesson, we devised a physical theatre scene for the chorus during the capture of Winston which leads to his placement in Room 101. The song we performed this to was, "Dig" by Mudvayne.

Below is the outline of our completed scene:

• When the music starts, on the 3rd opening beat, we put our hoods up and be prepared to stand up.
• On the 4th beat we stand and perform one of three movements:
• We breakdown to our knees and pound the floor.
• We lean back and stretch our arms up.
• We stay standing and arms cross across our chests, uncross them but keep them close to our chest and finally drop them to our sides. We repeat this three times.
• After we perform one movement, which takes four beats, we move to a new position on stage which again takes four beats. We repeat this twice.
• Following our fourth beat, we in turn throw our chairs from book club at either Ollie K or Hope and they stack them together. This represents the destruction of the only definite reality which the audience has now associated itself with.
• Next, we have Charlie place the final chair in the centre and he stands on it. We then have Ollie K, Lorna, James and I catch and lift him as he falls backwards off of it. We carry him towards the back curtain and he "disappears" offstage. We aim to get rid of everyone on stage to just leave Winston and O'Brien. Whilst that happens, the stacks of chairs get removed besides the one left in the centre.
• Ollie M puts a bag over Rhiannon's head and the pair exit offstage. Meanwhile, Kat and Hope perform a series of hand actions and then exit in fear as they realise many have already left.
• While Ollie K and Lorna perform a lift in order to take Lorna offstage, James falls and I drag him offstage.
• Ollie K leans against the chair left in the centre and bends over having his back in a table top. I then run from the left side of the stage and perform an across the back roll and exit quickly.

Next lesson, we will run through everything we have done so far.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Character Profile & Writing In Role - 16/06/16

Character Profile
Name: Syme
Age: 42
Height: 6ft
Likes: Newspeak, Big Brother, Work
Dislikes: Oldspeak, Synonyms, Antonyms, Goldstein, Rebellion
Occupation: Executive Head of Unpersoning Department
Writing In Role
Today was another day of the norm. I wake up at 6. I go downstairs. I eat breakfast. I go upstairs. I brush my teeth. I get showered. I get dressed. I catch the 331 bus. I get to work by 8:30. I work until my lunch break at 1. At my lunch break I saw Winston and Martin. I felt Winston needed some reminding on the term Newspeak. I new innovation. A good innovation. Notice how I didn't say some sort of synonym like great or wonderful. That's the beauty of Newspeak; less words means less chance of a rebellion. This innovation is amazing. The whole turmoil caused by an outburst could destroy Big Brother. Why would anyone want that? Order turned into chaos. The worst thing imaginable. Parsons decided to join us. As usual, he went on about how good his kid is. "Oh she caught these people holding hands in the woods." Oh how good!!! I hope he's proud! I mean I would've been happy when hearing the story the first time but he's told us 17 lunchtimes in a row.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 15 - 14/06/16

This lesson, I was quickly brought up to speed on what I missed. Last lesson the class went on from where we left off (pg 29 to the beginning of pg 33). The movement between those pages is very naturalistic so I haven't missed anything too complex which involves me.

We continued on from pg 33 which is the first mention of The Two Minutes Hate. We decided that during the countdown, we'd get up slowly and randomly and stand in formation ([Left to Right] Row 1: Ollie K, Rob, Rhiannon; Row 2: Ollie M, Lorna, Kat, Charlie; Row 3: James, Hope, Me.)

When each character speaks during The Two Minutes Hate, they will have their voice recorded as a voiceover and they will be projected onto the ceiling. While Goldstein is speaking, we all shout out the slogan of Big Brother, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength." However when Goldstein says, "We must fight for our freedom," we become muted but we still mime as if we were still shouting.

When the Telescreen announces the end of The Two Minute Hate, we all exit, besides Winston and Julia.

When we return to the stage as Syme, Parsons and Martin, I bring mine and Rob's chairs over, Kat brings her's and Rhiannon's chairs and James brings his own. When talking to Winston as Syme, I looked deeper into the character and thought about how he would've spoken.

He obviously seems to be a firm believer in the values of Big Brother so I feel he would talk about it very passionately. He would take his time with his words and drone his beliefs into the skull of whom he's talking to. I to add to the boring drone, I will speak rather monotone.

For the rest of the lesson we helped work on scenes between Julia and Winston as that was all that followed the last scene, excluding a short scene between Winston and Charrington.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 14 - 07/06/16

Today in Single, we ran through everything we already had in order to make sure everyone was up to speed with what we already had! We also staged the scene between Charrington and Winston as Charlie was here this time.

When we came up to my section where Syme is first introduced, I had the challenge of working out how to say my rather large monologue. When I first performing I felt that Syme was rather observed with the concept of Newspeak so I assumed he would speak very fast. However, I came to realise this was more due to my personal intentions of wanting to get the monologue over and done with. I decided to slow it down more and elongate my vowels. This monologue is supposed to bore Winston and my fellow co-workers but still inform the audience on Newspeak; so speaking slowly will do well to fulfil both.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 13 - 27/05/16

Today we restaged everything we have so far as a lot of it contrasted with our new idea of having the book club.

Last lesson, we arranged a large chunk of the storyline into different layers but we realised what we already had staged contrasted with our layers system as characters from different layers would interact with each other. This completely ruins the need for layers.

We used the idea of chairs in a semi circle to show which scenes involved the book club.

Next lesson, we will continue to stage more of the script.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 12 - 26/05/16

Today we continued to collate ideas on 1984 and decide what is real.

Below is the work we got done:

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 11 - 24/05/16

Today we continued on with the script of 1984 and went on to study what is reality and what is fantasy.

We continued on from where we were last time where O'Brien appears for the first time. For the section where Martin describes a café, we wanted to use our bodies and props to change the environment. We were going to simply move our chairs and sit in a café style seating arrangement but Charlie suggested we use a physical theatre technique which DV8 used in their "Can We Talk About This?" video. In this video, Ann Cryer stands on one leg, crosses it and squats down to make it look like she is seated; her fellow actor holds her body weight with one hand and keeps her balanced. We decided to try it out and it worked perfectly!

For when the lights go out, we all, whilst saying our lines, walk to hide behind the curtains. This meant when the lights come back up, it would only be left with Winston and O'Brien. This creates the illusion of what is real and what isn't.

After this, we gathered and discussed what is real and what isn't. There was discussion on who Julia was, whether she was in alliance with Winston or if she was an agent of Big Brother, and whether she truly betrayed Winston or if O'Brien made it up.

We then drew our attention to the idea of the beginning being a history lesson/book club and Host is some sort of leader and they're looking at the novel of 1984. This links to some of the lines at the beginning such as "I had a feeling while I was reading it," and "This is a text which..." This led onto the discussion of whether they're regular people of 1949 (when the novel was written) reading the novel of 1984 or whether they're people within the novel of 1984 who are reading Winston's novel.

Next lesson, we will continue to work through the script some more.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 11 - 20/05/16

Today, we started our work on the script of 1984. 

We started by quickly showing Charlie and Hope the prologue and catching them up with what they missed from last lesson. We then started performing the opening of the script.

Whilst Lorna reads her opening section, we all walk in unison to form a semi circle around the staging. This portrays the omniscient government of 1984; always watching the public and having total knowledge of their goings on.

When Father (James), Mother (Lorna), Child (Ollie M) and Man (Me) get involved, we added some round-by-through as famously used by Frantic Assembly. This shows the interconnection of the community of 1984.

We have chairs aligned on the sides of the staging ready for us to sit on when there are scenes between only a few characters to represent how the government are overwatching the public constantly.

Next lesson, we will continue going through the script and blocking more.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 10 - 19/05/16

Today we continued and completed blocking our prologue for 1984!

Below is the rest of our movement:

• After placing Rhiannon from the second lift, we get into two parallel lines facing the front (LEFT: Charlie, Lewis, James, Ollie M, Rhiannon; RIGHT: Lorna, Ollie K, Rob, Hope, Kat)
• We look to the left then look to the right in four pulses, then we kneel down, tie our shoe laces, look up then slide backwards from kneeling. This section highlights the unity of the people of 1984 due to the lack of individuality.
• Next, Lorna and Charlie lift up the sheet, which was behind Rhiannon's head, and Kat runs into it in attempt to escape from the "utopia." Everyone else then runs into the sheet from all angles, hands first. Everyone then forms a single file line facing the audience and Charlie and Lorna join the end (ORDER: Kat, Ollie M, Rhiannon, Rob, Lewis, Hope, James, Ollie K, Charlie, Lorna)
• We each throw an arm our desperately in different directions to each other but then pull it back in with our other arm. This represents the desperation for freedom in 1984.
• We then bring our arms out, side-by-side, one-by-one as we the leaders get higher and higher then back down again.
• We them separate one by one into two parallel lines and we then turn to the back where Lorna is sitting on a seat (LEFT: Kat, Rhiannon, Lewis, James, Charlie; RIGHT: Ollie M, Rob, Hope, Ollie K)
• We snake around Lorna's chair in both lines then walk offstage.

Next lesson, we will begin working through the script.

Single - Contemporary Theatre Unit (1984) - Blog 9 - 17/05/16

This lesson, we began with vocal exercises and then went on to create our prologue for 1984!

We started with vocal exercises which would help us regulate our breath by breathing through our diaphragm, project our voices without straining our throats, improving our diction and articulation with tongue twisters

For our prologue, we wanted to keep a lot of stuff we had in our prologue for After Troy but making it relevant to 1984. Below is our movement we have so far:

• Rhiannon, Kat, Rob, Ollie K, Ollie M and Lewis are seated in the center looking up at propaganda projected onto the ceiling. This last for the entire soft start to Avenged Sevenfold's, "Nightmare."
• During the first explosive bar, Lorna, James, Charlie and Hope step in with a stomp from each corner (Lorna - Back Right, Charlie - Back Left, James - Front Left, Hope - Front Right.)
• During the second, us in the center huddle in to each other in fear of what will happen.
• For the third, Hope and James come toward Kat and Rhiannon and pull out a small sheet of material from behind them which represent their thoughts, Rhiannon's colour would represent bad thoughts whilst Kat's would represent good thoughts.
• The rest of us on the floor, including Kat, stand and back away in disgust of Rhiannon's bad thoughts. The "enforcers" back grab her but she runs to the back.
• Rhiannon attempts to run and jump over the enforcers but she grabs Charlie's shoulders and Lorna and I lift her legs up. We push her up, then she runs to the back again. She runs back in, Charlie lifts her shoulders above her head, Lorna grabs her core, James and Hope grab her legs and the rest of us are there for support.

This is all we have so far but we are hoping to complete this next lesson.