Rehearsal
For love and information, the class was split into two groups. I was away on the first day of rehearsal but I was informed that the my group had chosen and designated scenes to people, each person in the group has been assigned three to four scenes in the play. I was assigned:
Fan: A two person scene in which both characters are arguing about who loves and obsesses over another person more, this allowed me to use the technique of emotional memory, remembering how I've felt during arguments and debates with people where I was sure I was in the right, just like my character. The other actor and I both agreed that from the impression we got of the two characters, we need to portray our characters as unstable, desperate and manic. One way we attempted to do this was by having another actor in the scene, standing in between us as we pull him from side to side. Shenagh made a directorial suggestion to make the man in our scene a celebrity we had kidnapped. We like this idea and ended up putting a hood over his head enhancing the scene as it played into one of the themes of the play which is control.
Lab: Lab is another two person scene, however there is very little going on, it's simply a question and answer conversation between an ordinary person and a scientist. Therefore it was up to us to create the story behind the scene. My creative response to the scene was to have the scientist set up items in their lab and the have the person asking the questions, stealing the items as the scientist puts them out, using the questions as a distraction. As the lines were quite sparse but did suggest it was a lab experimenting on animals we decided to specifically set it in that environment, using Stanislavsky's technique of given circumstances. Furthermore, this led us to the idea that the character asking the questions would be anti animal abuse, hence why they would steal from the lab, their objective being to interrupt and discontinue the experiments.
Recluse: Recluse is a more intense scene. To us it was about a person, possibly someone that used to be famous or an ex criminal, seeking total privacy, being badgered, harassed and disconcerted by a reporter outside he and his wife's house. This scene, similarly to Fan, highlighted a recurring underlying issue within the play, which is that people are desperate for information and struggle with the idea of being kept in the dark; to communicate this message, we had the the character trying to get information, in the shadows, off stage. For dramatic effect we decided to take advantage of lighting and sound and have a blackout and a gunshot sound at the end of the scene, leaving the audience in suspense. Later on in the rehearsal process, we were informed that having a blackout would not be possible, forcing us to find another way to to end the scene that would be just as intriguing.
Wedding Video: This scene includes all the actors in the group, We decided to have four people in the middle, watching the 'wedding video' while the rest of the actors and I act out the lines. To do this we were going to use split scene, having those watching the video freeze while the lines were being acted out. Unfortunately, due to the short amount of time and lines not being learnt, wedding video was cut from the performance. It was a shame that it was cut because originally, it was going to be the last scene in the performance to bring everything to a close, also, after watching the other groups performance, I saw how Wedding Video could be linked to each and every scene and help the audience make sense of the production.
Rehearsals were very frantic from the beginning as we aware that we didn’t have a lot of time to create this piece because our last project, Macbeth, has taken longer than expected. While this was stressful, at least it allowed us to practice being able to work under pressure.
Besides the lack of time, the first issue we ran into was the set. We originally thought we would be able to take chairs and blocks on and off stage, but it turned out we had to have the set a certain way and it had to stay that way through out the entire performance. To work around this issue, we altered ‘Fan’, we changed it from pulling one actor from side to side, to dragging him on with fabric over his face, having him sit in between us and speaking over him.
Feedback: Work on vocal projection.
‘Lab’ was a tough scene in terms of learning lines, my partner in this scene and I spent the majority of the rehearsals just rehearsing lines, trying to perfect them before we moved on to characterisation; this was slightly problematic, again due to the short amount of time we had because it meant we spent more time trying to perfect lines than working on our characterisation.
This was also the scene I received the most teacher feedback on.
Feedback: Spend more time writing after each line to make it clear you're a reporter.
- Add more movement/gestures, such as taking pictures of the 'lab' as you walk in.
‘Recluse’ was one of my favourite scenes to perform. I decided to have a doorbell sound at the beginning of the scene so my character had a reason to enter the scene instead of just walking in, I also had toe pieces of cloth as props, to fold through out the scene to make it more realistic.
Evaluation
Rehearsals were very frantic from the beginning as we aware that we didn’t have a lot of time to create this piece because our last project, Macbeth, has taken longer than expected. While this was stressful, at least it allowed us to practice being able to work under pressure. However I noticed that rehearsals quickly became deprived of energy and enthusiasm, this meant that there was little to no peer feedback between my group. Unlike group productions in the past, such as Macbeth, everyone mainly focused on their own scenes, only giving constructive criticism to those they were in a scene with. However, I believe our group worked well as individuals and in their specific scenes, in creating this production as everyone was able to incorporate their ideas into their scenes. Additionally, one actor took control of the entire production for our group as a director, this caused tension between members of the group as they were concerned about not having the opportunity to incorporate their ideas into the piece.
For 'Lab', my partner and I had to improvise lines as she had forgotten them. While this was tricky, I believe that knowing how to improvise on stage is extremely important as anything could happen and you need to know how to carry out the production no matter what occurs. Thankfully, we were able to get back on track and deliver the message of the scene.
As an individual I see that this experience has increased my ability to work under pressure by not having a lot of time to learn lines and focus on characterisation but still managing to do both. However, I believe I could've improved my characterisation in the 'Lab' scene by exaggerating my character more and playing it more aggressively, alternatively, the nuances in 'Recluse' worked very well in the scene.
Overall, I'm glad this piece gave us an opportunity to showcase our ability to play characters that are significantly different to each other; it was nice to show a contrast between the uncomfortable and insensitive character in 'Lab', the calm and loving character in 'Recluse' and the erratic and unstable character in 'Fan'.
Moving forward, I will not allow having a short amount of time to create the piece, to be an excuse for not putting as much effort as possible into the production; like the second group, I'll see it as a challenge, instead of a setback. Also, I will not allow a student or students to take control of the entire performance, I will make sure evryone has their say and is allowed to share their creative ideas, discuss possibilities and apply them to the piece.
Fan: A two person scene in which both characters are arguing about who loves and obsesses over another person more, this allowed me to use the technique of emotional memory, remembering how I've felt during arguments and debates with people where I was sure I was in the right, just like my character. The other actor and I both agreed that from the impression we got of the two characters, we need to portray our characters as unstable, desperate and manic. One way we attempted to do this was by having another actor in the scene, standing in between us as we pull him from side to side. Shenagh made a directorial suggestion to make the man in our scene a celebrity we had kidnapped. We like this idea and ended up putting a hood over his head enhancing the scene as it played into one of the themes of the play which is control.
Lab: Lab is another two person scene, however there is very little going on, it's simply a question and answer conversation between an ordinary person and a scientist. Therefore it was up to us to create the story behind the scene. My creative response to the scene was to have the scientist set up items in their lab and the have the person asking the questions, stealing the items as the scientist puts them out, using the questions as a distraction. As the lines were quite sparse but did suggest it was a lab experimenting on animals we decided to specifically set it in that environment, using Stanislavsky's technique of given circumstances. Furthermore, this led us to the idea that the character asking the questions would be anti animal abuse, hence why they would steal from the lab, their objective being to interrupt and discontinue the experiments.
Recluse: Recluse is a more intense scene. To us it was about a person, possibly someone that used to be famous or an ex criminal, seeking total privacy, being badgered, harassed and disconcerted by a reporter outside he and his wife's house. This scene, similarly to Fan, highlighted a recurring underlying issue within the play, which is that people are desperate for information and struggle with the idea of being kept in the dark; to communicate this message, we had the the character trying to get information, in the shadows, off stage. For dramatic effect we decided to take advantage of lighting and sound and have a blackout and a gunshot sound at the end of the scene, leaving the audience in suspense. Later on in the rehearsal process, we were informed that having a blackout would not be possible, forcing us to find another way to to end the scene that would be just as intriguing.
Wedding Video: This scene includes all the actors in the group, We decided to have four people in the middle, watching the 'wedding video' while the rest of the actors and I act out the lines. To do this we were going to use split scene, having those watching the video freeze while the lines were being acted out. Unfortunately, due to the short amount of time and lines not being learnt, wedding video was cut from the performance. It was a shame that it was cut because originally, it was going to be the last scene in the performance to bring everything to a close, also, after watching the other groups performance, I saw how Wedding Video could be linked to each and every scene and help the audience make sense of the production.
Rehearsals were very frantic from the beginning as we aware that we didn’t have a lot of time to create this piece because our last project, Macbeth, has taken longer than expected. While this was stressful, at least it allowed us to practice being able to work under pressure.
Besides the lack of time, the first issue we ran into was the set. We originally thought we would be able to take chairs and blocks on and off stage, but it turned out we had to have the set a certain way and it had to stay that way through out the entire performance. To work around this issue, we altered ‘Fan’, we changed it from pulling one actor from side to side, to dragging him on with fabric over his face, having him sit in between us and speaking over him.
Feedback: Work on vocal projection.
‘Lab’ was a tough scene in terms of learning lines, my partner in this scene and I spent the majority of the rehearsals just rehearsing lines, trying to perfect them before we moved on to characterisation; this was slightly problematic, again due to the short amount of time we had because it meant we spent more time trying to perfect lines than working on our characterisation.
This was also the scene I received the most teacher feedback on.
Feedback: Spend more time writing after each line to make it clear you're a reporter.
- Add more movement/gestures, such as taking pictures of the 'lab' as you walk in.
‘Recluse’ was one of my favourite scenes to perform. I decided to have a doorbell sound at the beginning of the scene so my character had a reason to enter the scene instead of just walking in, I also had toe pieces of cloth as props, to fold through out the scene to make it more realistic.
Evaluation
Rehearsals were very frantic from the beginning as we aware that we didn’t have a lot of time to create this piece because our last project, Macbeth, has taken longer than expected. While this was stressful, at least it allowed us to practice being able to work under pressure. However I noticed that rehearsals quickly became deprived of energy and enthusiasm, this meant that there was little to no peer feedback between my group. Unlike group productions in the past, such as Macbeth, everyone mainly focused on their own scenes, only giving constructive criticism to those they were in a scene with. However, I believe our group worked well as individuals and in their specific scenes, in creating this production as everyone was able to incorporate their ideas into their scenes. Additionally, one actor took control of the entire production for our group as a director, this caused tension between members of the group as they were concerned about not having the opportunity to incorporate their ideas into the piece.
For 'Lab', my partner and I had to improvise lines as she had forgotten them. While this was tricky, I believe that knowing how to improvise on stage is extremely important as anything could happen and you need to know how to carry out the production no matter what occurs. Thankfully, we were able to get back on track and deliver the message of the scene.
As an individual I see that this experience has increased my ability to work under pressure by not having a lot of time to learn lines and focus on characterisation but still managing to do both. However, I believe I could've improved my characterisation in the 'Lab' scene by exaggerating my character more and playing it more aggressively, alternatively, the nuances in 'Recluse' worked very well in the scene.
Overall, I'm glad this piece gave us an opportunity to showcase our ability to play characters that are significantly different to each other; it was nice to show a contrast between the uncomfortable and insensitive character in 'Lab', the calm and loving character in 'Recluse' and the erratic and unstable character in 'Fan'.
Moving forward, I will not allow having a short amount of time to create the piece, to be an excuse for not putting as much effort as possible into the production; like the second group, I'll see it as a challenge, instead of a setback. Also, I will not allow a student or students to take control of the entire performance, I will make sure evryone has their say and is allowed to share their creative ideas, discuss possibilities and apply them to the piece.
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