Single - Applying Acting Styles - Blog 12 - 07/10/16

Today we continued on from last lesson running through our scene for He's Talking and working more on how we say our lines and our movement when saying them.

We looked more into who our characters were from the given descriptions of them at the beginning of the play. I already knew that my character, Luke, was very supportive of the bombings and that only Rosie really supported him in this. However, I learnt that Luke was the only one who knew about Deon and Tanya's relationship.

Before when playing Luke, I played him as a more quiet strategic man, but after performing it again today, on the second run, I was more violent and more willing to shout. I performed more as a leader of the group rather than someone who was just there to support. I showed this by having a stronger tone of voice and having a deeper voice which suggests power.

Next lesson, we will continue working on this scene and finally record our final performance of it.

Double - Auditions for Actors - Blog 9 - 07/10/16

Today I performed Eddie's monologue from Fading Joy.

These are the notes I received:

• Sound more excited - your character is bouncing from one idea to the other so show some more enthusiasm with each new idea.
• You need to move more - perhaps even stand and pace around when changing idea; move everytime you change your idea.
• Know the meanings - annotate your script to decide what tone to take with each line.
• No reflective pauses - you take too long with your pauses so either shorten them a lot or remove them entirely.

After today, I have annotated my monologue with key notes on when to change tone, pitch, pace etc.

We were also asked to comment on each others monologues today and these are the notes I made:

• Ollie
• The plane miming was very effective and comical
• The rapid movement was very suitable for the character
• Your diction needs slight work in some areas as it's difficult to hear what you're saying
• Rob
• You calm down too quick after announcing Chuck's death; remain frantic until your pacifying line
• The section about Merissa was very comical
• When mentioning the roof shingles, sound more cheeky than nonchalant
• Avoid repeating the same hand gesture constantly
• The line about asking Chuck to jump was great and well delivered
• James
• Brilliant facial expressions throughout
• Don't look at your watch if you're not wearing one in the performance
• When beginning, look away from your watch, pause then address the audience; don't look up at the audience and stare them out as it doesn't match this character
• Lorna
• The monologue seemed much more rushed/fast paced as opposed to last time which I feel lost the effect and attention you had last time
• Your accent was excellent throughout most of the monologue but non existent in some parts
• Great facial expressions throughout (although one from last time wasn't used which I thought was very funny)
• Good movement considering you were seated the whole time
• Charlie
• I feel your voice and posture seemed too much like you rather than your character
• I believe you shouldn't be sitting down as your aim is to rally up your fellow soldiers and it's very hard to inspire that when sitting down
• At times, you were talking to people who would be onstage with you while at other times you spoke to the audience; choose one don't do both
• Very good facial expressions throughout

Triple - Musical Theatre Unit (RENT) - Blog 6 - 05/10/16

Today we performed Seasons of Love once more and moved on to blocking La Vie Boheme. We started off by just singing through the song a couple of times to get a feel for it, but then got up and started trying to act it out. We decided that for Over The Moon, the song before, we will have Alice on steel decking to the right of the audience and while she performs this song, the rest of us would, silently, set up the stage ready for La Vie Boheme, then sit along the edge of the stage and moo along with Alice when she asks the audience to do so! She would then step from the decking to the stage and greet us where we then step straight into La Vie Boheme.

We decided for the tables, we'd have one for the left, middle and right with 3 people at each (Left: Lorna, Alice & Tyler/Joanne, Maureen & The Waiter; Middle: Taylor, Owen, Me/Mimi, Angel & Collins; Right: Cameron, Henri & Warren/Mark, Roger and Diner). We would then have steel decking on one side of the stage where Will (Benny) would be seated to show he has a higher status than the rest of us; this is a typical convention of Epic Theatre.

When walking in, we'd have Tyler chasing after Cameron, telling him to leave ("No, please no, not tonight...") whilst everyone frantically walks about the stage sitting down. This looks very comical as Tyler's attention is constantly changing between Cameron and the rest of us.

After a few runthroughs, I can only see a few issues but some of them are rather major:

• We all need to listen to the song more to get a feel for the rhythm and have a better idea of when we have a line and how to sing it.
• We all need to be more familiar with our lines as we spent more time looking at our lyrics than actually characterising our voices/movement.
• We need to add more movement and give our performance more emotion. This supposed to be the feel good song of the musical and most of the group don't look as happy as we should be.

Next lesson, we will continue on with La Vie Boheme.

Double - Auditions for Actors - Blog 8 - 05/10/16

Today, after a change in preparation, we had all brought one new monologue which we had prepared. After already having learnt Arthur's monologue from An Inspector Calls, I was well prepared for this lesson. These are the following notes on my first and only attempt on this monologue:

• Think about body language - think about your character, their age, their background, and what era they're in; would they sit slouched? Upright? Legs crossed? etc.
• Who are you directing this at? - Are you talking to? Someone else onstage? The audience? It can't be both.

From this, I know that now I need to be more precise on my characterisation otherwise the meaning of my monologue can be lost.

Next lesson, we must bring in either a brand new monologue, well-prepared, or to bring in a monologue we've already done before which we have decided to use as our final monologue for our first performance. I have chosen to bring Eddie's monologue from Fading Joy as I feel it's a monologue that I can perform very well and I am very good at characterisation when playing a younger role.

Single - Applying Acting Styles - Blog 11 - 04/10/16

Today, we ran through our scene from He's Talking. With James as Director he sat on the side and offered constructive criticism on how we can improve based on our voice, movement and positioning. When it came to where we were seated, we based this on relationships and the order our character discussed where they were now. For example, we had Deon and Tanya (Rob & Kat) sat next to each other because they were dating, Luke and Deon (Lewis & Rob) were sat opposite ends of the room because it's later revealed that they had an argument recently. Skeets (Ollie M) would be next to Deon but further away due to being quite distant to the group and everyone else inbetween would go from Luke to Deon in the same order they tell their stories; Oscar, Rosie, Sal, Tanya (Ollie K, Lorna, Hope, Kat).

After this we read through and rehearsed Scene 1 (replay 1) where I was now the director as James had to step in to be Miles to make up for the absence of Charlie.

Double - Business - Blog 3 - 03/10/16

Today we presented our powerpoints on 3 job roles within a theatre company. I feel that mine went very well and contained all the relevant info.

For next lesson, we must create portfolio on 3 different drama school/university/college courses within performing arts and give reasons for why we want to go to one of them and why the other two are not appropriate. Below is my portfolio:

Triple - Musical Theatre Unit (RENT) - Blog 5 - 03/10/16

Today, we continued working on Seasons of Love, working out the issues such as walking in at the right time, singing out with more volume, and getting different notes correct.

We also spent a lot of time getting familiar with, and singing, a few songs including Rent and La Vie Boheme.

Next week, we will work more on choreographing La Via Boheme.