21/10/2011 Stan Theory

Today's lesson was the debate on Naturalism and Non-Naturalism. My team was first up and was debating in favour of Naturalism. I brought up points about how Naturalism can educate and how it can bring important issues to light. When I was debating for Non-Naturalism, I talked about how much money musicals have contributed to theatre and how Brecht used theatre to speak out against the Nazis. One thing I did well in the debate was counter the points of the other team. I did this by noting down my opponent's arguments and points I could bring up about them.

20/10/2011 A Doll's House

We bean the lesson with a quick warm up. We had a major setback today as someone had left our group. This left just myself and one other group member. As the extract we had originally chosen required three actors, we had to pick a new extract. After discussing dramatic moments in the play, we decided to perform the section where Helmer discovers what Nora has done. We did a read through of that section in character and decided that it was too long. So we decided to cut sections of Helmer's monologue, but were careful not to cut anything important. By next lesson, I want to have learned some of my lines.

20/10/2011 Non-Naturalism

We began with a warm up game to prepare us for the lesson. Today, I was put into a group of five where we prepared for a debate where we would take two sides, a pro-naturalism stance and a pro-non naturalism stance. I contributed many ideas to how we could structure our arguments such as talking about the economics of both types of theatre, the impact they have had on people and the world and the ways in which an audience enjoy them. I also provided examples of the plays 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' by Tennessee Williams and 'Fear and Misery of The Third Reich' to help validate the points we make in our debate. I believe that we are well prepared for the debate tomorrow.

20/10/2011 Berkoff

We began the lesson with warmups. We then rehearsed all of what we had done so far. I've achieved the target I set last time as my footing is much better and less sloppier than it was last week. After the fight scene we were given actions for the next part of the fight. The waitresses went into another room to practice the vocal delivery of their lines while we worked on the actions. One of them was bending over backwards in a slow motion style while standing. I found this physically challenging as I had difficulty keeping my balance and creating the slow motion illusion. I plan to practice this move at home so I'll be able to perform it better and transition more smoothly into the next move, a long step forwards. After that we were instructed to perform the final part of the fight in two clumps of Eddys and Managers. That's what we will work on next lesson.

14/10/2011 Stan Theory

We began the lesson with a warm-up game of sign-sign. We then proceeded to tell each something that made us happy or nervous. After listening to everyone's story we lay on the floor and were told to remember distinct details of the saddest moments in our lives. I found myself reliving it fairly quickly and found myself in a similar mood as I was then. Afterwards, some people in the group told everyone else their stories.

14/10/2011 Berkoff

After some physical exercises and "Hop Bunny Hop" we did a quick runthrough of what we had already created. We then worked on the actual fight scene. We were split into four groups and where we were given four words and had to create a slow motion fight. The words we had were pain, overpower, explode and filth. We came up with a slow motion sequence where Niall grabs me in a headlock, I escape pulling his arm behind his back, he shakes me off and I spit at him. After practicing it a few times, we decided that we needed to block it better as our faces and facial expressions were not always reaching the audience. After a lot of practice, we managed to alter parts of the headlock and arm grab to face the audience at crucial parts. For next lesson, I need to work on the movement of my feet during the slow motion sections to stop it from appearing sloppy. However, I think I worked well in creating what I think was a good fight sequence in such a short amount of time.

13/10/2011 A Doll's House

Within our group, we did vocal warm ups to prepare. We then ran through our extract vocally to help understand how our characters speak. I fulfilled my targets of last lesson and learned the first half page. We then read through it again with the objective of giving feedback to each other. I was given very little negative feedback, but I still think I need to be more pompous with my voice. After another physical runthrough, we watched some extracts from other people's performances. For next week, I want to have improved my voice and physicality as well as having learned some more lines.

13/10/2011 Non-Naturalism

We began the lesson with warm up games to prepare us for the lesson. We then got into the groups we were in last week to work on our performance of "The Arsonists". We now have a new member in our group as she wasn't here last week. This gave us the challenge of incorporating her into the group. We first did a runthrough of what we came up with last week. We decided to change a few parts to prevent masking on-stage, for example, the people controlled as puppets/mannequins now kneel down. Another thing this does is elevate the masters over the puppets. We've added a canon on the line "No need to ask how the terror began" with each of the four puppeteers beginning their line after the last person has said: "No Need" and then pushing over their puppet. We now have the new group member coming in as an overall puppeteer after the line: "To wipe out a few human beings" who moves us all into our positions for the clock section where we all sing a clock chime. Our synchronisation in this section has improved greatly since last week as our singing and head movements are now more fluid. For next week, we want to work on a new concept we've made called "The Circle of Evil" which involves us all in a circle around the new group member as lines are spoken. We interact with the audience in this section, which is one of Brecht's techniques we have incorporated.

13/10/2011 Berkoff

We began the lesson with warm up exercises to prepare our minds and bodies for the rehearsal. After a runthrough, the dialogue before the fight was choreographed. This involved me walking up to Niall in a menacing way and saying the line "no one talks to me like that". I believe I need to work on my performance of a menacing Eddy as I don't think it was convincing enough. For next lesson, I am going to exaggerate my posture and allow my voice to become more gruff. I also have to push Niall to the ground, grab his arms and kick him over while saying the line "I'll tear you all to pieces, rip off your arms and legs and feed them to the pigs." There were issues with synchronization on this line as different people were delivering it at different speeds. I think that in a couple of lessons time, we will all have learned to synchronise this line and action.

07/10/2011 Berkoff

After a quick warm up of 'The Banana Game' to help increase focus, we rehearsed all we had done so far. Our tutor then added a small bit where everyone who makes the dining booth turns to face the audience on the word 'coffee'. I think it worked well, although it took a few attempts for everyone to turn on cue. There is then a section where almost everyone turns into The Waitress and we have to put most of our weight on our right knee and put our right hand on our right hip. We then strut into the centre and simultaneously serve a single Eddy his coffee and then call him "a complaining heap of rat shit". I began to find this a challenge after a few runthroughs as it was putting a lot of pressure on my right leg. The males were then put in pairs with one person being an Eddy and the other being a Manager. I was an Eddy. We were told that we were to have a fight scene and that the Eddys would kill the Managers in it. One of the other performers commented that my small physical appearance made it difficult to appear fierce. This is something which I will have to improve upon in the future.

07/10/2011 Stan Theory

We began the lesson today with the warm up game 'Mafia' to help our focus. We then did an exercise where we walked round the room at different paces before being told to immediately imagine our selves in a situation, for example, at a funeral or at the stock market. I found it most easiest to put self in the situations that I had some previous experience of. I had been to a funeral before and knew how I would react and how everybody else would, but the stock market is something I had very little knowledge of, which made it difficult for me to believe I was there. We were then told that that was an exercise to help us understand about pacing in a scene. We were then told to imagine that we were anxiously waiting for a phone call from somebody we like. I tried to show signs of anxiety by breathing irregularly and fiddling with my clothes. I behaved similarly in a later scenario where we were late for a meeting and the train had been delayed. I think I was more convincingly anxious in this situation as I had experienced this many times and was genuinely beginning to feel anxious. In the group, we then discussed how we did in the task. Our tutor then explained about Inner Tempo Rhythms and Outer Tempo Rhythms, explaining that the only time they don't match is when someone is being deceptive. In pairs, we did a short performance where one of us was an interviewer and the other was an interviewee. The aim was for the actor playing the interviewee to feel nervous but to try and play confident. As I was the interviewer in this task, I did not have the chance to portray this till later where we were told to swap round. I then took the role of someone who had feelings for the other person, lying to them that their boyfriend had been cheating on them. I found it difficult at first but I eventually convinced myself that I had feelings for my partner. I then found it easy to improvise, giving the impression to an audience that I was lying.

06/10/2011 A Doll's House

We began the lesson with the usual physical warm up where we jogged round the room and did various exercises and stretches. These helped prepare me physically and mentally for the next task. Our group was split into smaller groups where we would perform a 3-5 minute extract from 'A Doll's House'. I was given the role of Helmer, the husband of Nora, who constantly talks down to her and considers himself superior to her. Our group began by reading through our extract a few times and decided where our starting and finishing point should be. We then created a rough blocking of it on stage, making mental notes of where the entrances, exits, furniture and props would be. After we ran through it a few times, we decided that we should have our lines learned by the end of half term, for the lesson on the 3rd December. I then suggested that we try and improve the physical characterizations of our characters. I did this by altering my posture, gesture and gait. I then helped the other members of the group by giving constructive criticism on their physicality. I think that I worked well today as I helped start the production process. By next rehearsal, I hope to have learned some of my lines and to improve my vocal delivery of the lines.

06/10/2011 Non-Naturalism

We began the lesson as usual with the warm up games 'Spy in the Room' and 'Splat'. We also split into two groups and used our bodies to create things such as a plane and a house. These warmed me up physically and mentally. We were then given our task to perform an extract from the play 'The Arsonists' by Max Frisch. We split into the groups we were in for the warm up. I contributed an idea for the first 5 lines where half the group's arms are manipulated like a mannequin by the other half. This accompanies dialogue referring to being "only human". We then created a part where I kicked the human mannequin I was controlling on a line about human life being expendable. We then moved into a sequence to represent a clock where we tilt our heads in either direction and, in unison, sing a clock chime. I think that in the time given, we created a good, short piece of theatre. However, I think that we will have to rehearse what we have already done, as synchronisation was poor in our performance. In future rehearsals, I think that problem will be fixed. We made a good start to the piece in this lesson, so I believe that we will progress well in the next lesson.

06/10/2011 Berkoff

We began as usual with a warm up, where we played the game 'Fuzzy Duck'. We then continued to rehearse the extract from 'Greek'. We went through what we had already done, then continued to work on the Cheesecake Clump section. One thing I improved on was avoiding masking my face during the Clump. The first ending for the Cheesecake sequence was everyone falling to the ground when a group member spoke the line: "Okay". I think that this was a mistake as several people around me had hurt them self in some way as they fell. In later attempts at the fall, a lot of people, myself included, fell slower and unrealistically to avoid hurting themselves and others. This was then changed to the members of the Cheesecake Clump scampering off into their positions for the next section. We were then sorted into three groups of eleven with each group having one Eddy, one Waitress, one Table and eight people to make a diner booth. I was part of the booth. However, we did not have the room to make this, so we made one large diner booth with the three Eddys, Waitresses and Tables in the middle. To help the Eddy's time their movements, we all whispered the word 'Cheesecake' after the Waitresses say the word. I think this worked really well as it made the Eddys' actions synchronise. There is a section after the dialogue where there is a Chinese Whisper of 'Coffee' round the dining booth. I think this worked well as it created an echoing effect that worked well atmospherically. I think both myself and the group progressed well in this lesson and can continue to do so in future lessons.