UAL Level 3 Acting Units 1-4
Skills, fears and hopes
A couple of days before, we had an induction day where we completed sheets of paper full of the skills we need, fears and hopes for the upcoming course. We had a range of different ideas but when we came back on Monday, we had a finalised it into a list:
Skills:
*confidence
*awareness
*imagination/creativity
*collaboration
*discipline
*listening
*openness
*voice
*observation
*enjoy!
Fears:
*habits
*being shy
*getting it 'wrong'
*fear of failure
Hopes
*friends
*openness
I hope to go back to this list at the end of the year to see how many of these I have achieved by then/need to work on improving.
Vocal work
On Thursday we did vocal work in class. We first laid on the floor to relax and stop tension before practising our vowels and consonants.
Vocal work is important within acting to help with diction and concentration. We also learnt about glottal stops which are harsh stops of the vocal cords when saying consonants such as 'c' and 'g'. After practising we performed a few lines of different poems to use these properly.
Performing Greek theatre extracts
On Monday we received our Greek theatre extracts and were assigned groups/pairs to perform them in. We were taken through pointers to making sure our pieces sounded genuine and not as if we were reading from a script. I am performing an extract from the Greek tragedy Trojan Women about the slaughter of men in the city of Troy and the decisions made about what to do with the women there. The guidance was to:
1. Read the play/synopsis
2. Take your time in rehearsals
3. Learn your lines
4. Look online for clips
5. Underline words/terms you don't understand and look them up
6. Avoid exclaiming- dial it down
7. Listen and react to the other person
We then observed two other classmates' performance and gave them tips on how to improve. This also helped us with our piece as the notes benefited us too.
Performing Medea in a small group
On Tuesday we performed an extract from the Greek play Medea and I was in a small group of five. We performed the first section of the extract. We wanted to focus most on how we could incorporate physicality and movement into the piece to help clearly show the story to the audience. Beforehand, we divided the lines into equal parts that seemed to suit the best. At first, we rehearsed the piece just as how it was given to us but we decided this was too plain so we added an extra element of vocal chorus instead. This was on the lines 'You talk to her', 'You're the oldest' and 'You know her best'. We did this to build up the tension of the moment and show how frustrated our characters were getting over Medea. This was then built up to Harry saying the line 'Just stop her being so stupid' which sounded annoyed and wanting to break up the argument. This added layer of dialogue helped make our performance much tenser and it flowed better.
Refining our performances
On Wednesday we rehearsed more in our group to clean our Medea performances. To warm up beforehand we learnt some tips and tricks to have a good 'neutral' when performing. A neutral position on stage means that, when you are not saying a line or you are working as an ensemble, it is important to not fidget or slump, therefore steering the attention away from the main action. So, a neutral is established to make the performance as a whole look neater. In our warm-up, we learnt how to maintain this posture via our legs, arms and chin. Our legs must be hip-width apart, arms down by your sides, not swinging around, crossed or in your pockets and your chin must be at a middle (neutral) level. To make sure our positions were perfect, we got into pairs/small groups and assessed each other on our neutrals while we walked around the room. For me, my feedback was that I needed to not look at the floor as much and heighten my chin slightly. This was useful when it came to our Medea performance as there were many times that I was not speaking and needed to do this.
When we performed our piece, we received helpful feedback. The feedback was that we had a great use of tableaux in our performance where we paused briefly to create a freeze frame after the hectic, chanted beginning. We also worked well as an ensemble and used the space provided nicely without staying upstage all the time or just in one corner (e.g stage left). The constructive criticism we received was also very helpful too. We needed to project our lines more as some were slightly inaudible and needed better diction. We also needed to develop our characters more. What were their goals? What do they want to achieve? What are they like?
Expanding on the sentence: 'In this lesson, I learnt that as well as putting an emotion with your line also give your character a motivation.'
Improvisation work
On Thursday, we started off the day by doing improvisation work with mixed media artist Blandine Martin. We were given multiple props by her, as seen below, which could be used to portray anything. To start off with, we played 'This is not a book', a game in which you must use the object in front of you as something completely different to what it actually is. For example, you could use a tennis racket as a guitar, or a sleeping baby. It was important to make our gestures big and not confined so instead of strumming the 'guitar' you could vigorously play it as if you were at a rock concert. After this, we started the main improvisation task. The variety of objects given to us by Blandine were very unique and unusual in some cases; there was a huge curtain or blanket on a clothing hanger that was splattered with paint or multiple colours. It was our task to make something out of this.
However, I learnt that you shouldn't use the object as it is given to you. For example, another one of the props was a large suitcase full of shredded up newspaper. Many used the paper as money and the suitcase still as a suitcase, which was valid but too linear. Instead, you could use it as a machine and the paper is the wires inside or as a bowl and the paper is spaghetti, something a little different. Linear vs surreal was very important in this exercise. A show such as Eastenders, for example, has a very linear approach. The stories go from A to B to C and so on with the standard plot of beginning, middle and end. This makes the show very realistic but also very linear and sometimes monotonous. When it comes to improvisation tasks it is crucial to think outside the box and not see things as they are commonly seen. This is what makes actors stand out. What worked really well within the lesson was that the ideas many people came up with were extremely unique and on a tangent rather than linear and straightforward. This made the performances dynamic and interesting to watch. What didn't work as well, was that as people were thinking more about what to use the objects as the dialogue became shorter and sometimes overlapped and rushed. It is vital to find a neutral middle in which the improvisation and dialogue flow nicely alongside each other. The lesson was very exciting and interesting to take part in and I learnt a lot from it.
Rehearsing Trojan Women
In Monday's lesson, we started to rehearse our small group performances- ours is Trojan Women.
To start off the lesson we did a warm-up where we had to pretend be somewhere on time, running for a train, and had to use different paces to show how much we needed to get there, i.e. a train station. This was our character's objective. An objective/motivation is something the character wants/needs to get to and the actor has to portray this when performing to make their character more believable and realistic. Depending on the objective, the character's behaviour changes.
We also learnt about subtext which is a 'hidden meaning' behind the character's words, wants and needs. It helps keep the action real and true despite the actor actually not going through the experiences themselves. Thought processes are also crucial when it comes to this as deciding what your character does in a moment and when you think about what they want while you're saying your lines, it will help to bring across some real-life aspects of the piece.
When rehearsing for Trojan Women, we learnt that less is more when it comes to movement in the space. If you move around the whole time, it makes it hard for the audience to keep focus as they have to follow the actors a lot instead of just watching the performance unfold. We use minimal movement in our extract so that the audience is not distracted and also remembered to keep our performance further downstage as this is easier for the audience to hear and see.
Preparing for Papa Tango
In Wednesday's lesson, we started preparing for the scriptwriting group, Papa Tango to come in and help us write one act of our own play. We got into groups of three or four and used to a sheet to help us come up with the basis of our play. First, we decided on a theatre company name in which we decided to to go with 'Westenders Theatre Company', seeing as we had agreed that our play would be based vaguely on 'Eastenders' the popular soap which is very dramatic and commonly has a family-based plot line. Also, 'Westenders' is a play on words with 'West End', the main theatre district in London. Filling in our sheets we started to create our characters and come up with a vague plot. the character I created was called Claire, she is 30 and a successful businesswoman of a large company. Her objective (the character's main motivation) is power. She loves to be in charge of situations and wants to have a lot of authority over people. Her biggest secret is that she has been hiding a child from her now ex-husband, Mickey. With this, the others could work with their own creations to see how they would fit with Claire and vice versa. Eventually, we invented the four main characters: Mickey, Claire, Mary-Rose and Vera. We immediately decided that each character would be just as important as one another and link together in some way. We had a lot of debates over the plot during the lesson as everybody had different ideas but eventually, we decided that our main storyline should be to do with family, trust and blame.
Our lesson with Papa Tango
In Thursday's lesson, we had our proper lesson with Papa Tango. We started off the lesson by stating our favourite TV show or movie and why. This would help us use the theme and genre of the show/movie perhaps as inspiration for our own creations. My favourite TV show is Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the show is a comedy-drama. I realised we could use some of these elements in my own piece to bring a bit of life into the play. We then reformed into our groups and started the process of our thinking up our story.
First, we were given the base structure of our plays: exposition, build up, climax, consequence and resolution. In the exposition, the scene and characters must be set up for the audience and a question must be placed in the audience's minds. We had to think about the conflict and wants between the characters. The question we decided was 'Who do you trust the most?'. This scene consisted of our four main characters waking up at the same time but freeze-framing so one character can continue their own process. However, all of the characters receive a phone call from an anonymous caller to end with. This leaves the audience wondering who it is. In the build-up is where the problems start to become clear to the audience, however, don't go straight into the biggest dilemma of all. In our build up, Mickey and Claire argue over their relationship as Mickey finds out Claire is cheating on him. He kicks her out of the house. In the climax, it is revealed to the audience that Claire has evidently had a child and has been adopted. This would come as a shock to the audience as they would not know that Claire was pregnant at the time. Mary-Rose, her daughter, is adopted by an abusive mother, Vera, who has a gambling problem. The conflict between these two characters results in high tension and conflict which makes the audience uncertain of Mary-Rose's safety. In a consequence, Mary-Rose unites with her birth father as a result of Vera's actions. In the consequence, you need to define whether the actions resulted in a bad effect or a good effect. Mickey quickly realises when they meet at a local coffee shop that Mary-Rose is her child, somehow, after she shares her backstory and links it up with his own timeline. In the resolution, we decided that we would end our story on a good message rather than a bad one. This would leave it on a high note and make the audience feel as if they had learnt something too.
Feedback Session 1
Feedback Session 2
Q&A Session With Hamilton Cast
Performance of Trojan Women
The Cherry Orchard
Today we were given our script The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov and I was assigned the role of Ranyevskaya. We read through the two scenes given to us and made notes on what our first thoughts on the characters and the plot were. I observed that there are many exits and entrances written into the stage directions. The flow of the action onstage doesn't stop and continues, only fully stopping when Acts start and finish. To expand on this, I believe that this was used to show how hectic the house is with its many characters filling up the house with stories and anecdotes. As one character leaves, at least two others join the scene, keeping the audience engaged and watching all the time. We completed three sheets full of observations and questions that we could answer and talk about to understand the script more.
The synopsis of The Cherry Orchard is about a widowed woman called Madame Ranyevskaya who returns from Paris after a long absence to her family home to discover that it has been heavily mortgaged, so subsequently, all of her luxuries have been sold. She returns with her daughter, Anya, and her German governess, Charlotta. They are greeted by Varya, Ranyevskaya's adopted daughter who manages the once-grand estate, Gayev, Ranyevskaya's brother, Lopakhin, once a peasant now a wealthy merchant and other neighbours and friends. The whole plot revolves around Ranyevskaya deciding on what to do with her house and her beloved cherry orchard on her grounds. The whole play takes place in the summer, from the arrival in May to the auction in early Autumn.
Hamilton performance and Q&A
On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to see a performance of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. It was an educational performance meaning that afterwards, the cast would come out and answer our questions. We were given stalls tickets which we were very fortunate to have. The show from start to finish was amazing and so well written. Every number was compacted with choreographical and vocal brilliance by not only the principle cast but also by the ensemble who really brought the whole show together. Each person in the cast worked in harmony with one another so, at the end of the performance, they all bowed together in a line showing equality between them all. Every single person was just as important as each other in telling the story of Alexander Hamilton and I thought that that was very unifying and wonderful.
Stanislavski
In Thursday's lesson, we covered Stanislavski and his exercises/techniques. We learnt about tempo, rhythm, circles of attention, emotional recall and concentration.
Stanislavski worked in theatre from the age of 14, performing on his parent's stage. But his work really propelled when he and others established the Society of Art and Literature, linking with an amateur theatre group. They put on their first production of Leo Tolstoy's The Fruits of Enlightenment in 1891 at a major Moscow production.
During Stanislavski's years, at the time, socially, was the Russian revolution was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917 which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The two revolutions were the February Revolution and the October Revolution. Stanislavski welcomed the February Revolution and the overthrow of the absolute monarchy of 1917 and called it a 'miraculous liberation of Russia'. Vladimir Lenin, a communist politician and head of government in Soviet Russia at the time, praised him on his work at the Moscow Art Theatre but the revolutions of that year put an abrupt change to his finances and his factories were nationalised meaning his wage from MAT was his only source of income. Stanislavski was arrested on 29 August 1918 by the Cheka though was released the following day.
Using Stanislavski's techniques in my performance
Some of Stanislavski's methods that I used to help enhance my role of Ranyevaskya in The Cherry Orchard was remembering to include a high level of naturalism/realism into my reactions and speech as Stanislavski's biggest technique was making the performance as realistic as possible. I limited expressions when having a conversation but I also made sure they were visible for the audience to see. Alongside this, I was certain that my circles of attention were kept within the scene and the other actors within it to not distract the audience and myself from the action.
Introduction to Professional Practice
In the world of Performing Arts, there are a variety of different roles to help bring to the whole thing together. Some of these include:
-Actor/Actress
-Director
-Stage Manager
-Dance Captain
-Vocal Coach
-Choreographer
-Set Designer
-Lighting Designer
In order to work as an actor. my chosen career path is very much open in the fact that there are many paths in becoming an actor. Many favour going to drama school and continuing on from there as it gives them the training and confidence they need to continue their training/acting elsewhere. Drama schools are very important and, although they cost money, scholarships are always available and the training you can get there is unbelievably good. A few good examples of drama schools are:
-Guildford School of Acting
-Rose Bruford School of Theatre and Performance
-Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
-Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
-Central School of Speech and Drama
All of which have amazing facilities and an impressive list of famous alumni.
I will be considering drama school, however, I am hoping that after I finish college I can get acting roles/work from my agency that I have been with for around 2 years already. As I have been involved/trained within acting since I was 6, drama school is still an option for me but I also would like to have a time period open for just purely work from my agent. I am aware that getting work isn't easy and even if auditions are frequent and every week, it is never guaranteed that you will land a role. However, I have been prepared for rejection and failure: I have experienced it many times so I am prepared for such a thing to happen again. I have my options open to a lot of things as a career path of an actor is very varied and can change within a day.
What are the health and safety aspects involved in the voice of an actor?
As an actor, whether you are in TV, film, or theatre, your voice needs to be prepared and ready to go on stage so you do not damage it. Some possible warmups you could do are:
-Sirens
-Lip trills
-Scales
-Tongue twisters
Some do's and don't's of warm-ups are to not overwork your voice too much in the warm-up itself. Vocal warm-ups are intended to prepare the voice for singing and not strain your voice. By doing simple glides from low to high in your voice or stretching your tongue/jaw are perfect examples of a good vocal warmup without belting and overworking right off the bat. Warmups are personal and are not a competition to see who can siren the loudest etc. They are meant for you and not one warmup is perfect for everybody as everyone has completely different voices. They can be done as a group but afterwards, if you need to warm up anything else, you should do so in your own time. Never rush through a warmup or do it half-heartedly as most probably, you will harm your vocal chords.
As an actor, you must learn how to shout/yell/scream properly to ensure your voice is not harmed in the process. A stage scream does not come from the throat, but from the stomach. It has the same effect on the audience as a normal shout but is safer for the actor to do. Every time before I do a scene, even if there is just a small bit of dialogue, I always do a siren/glide of the voice to myself backstage before I go on. It helps my voice seem safer and less likely to be damaged.
Macbeth
Before the term, we were given the shortened script of Macbeth and we looked over it before we came back after the holiday. When we all returned, I was given the role of Lady Macbeth.
I read through the script and pondered on what I believed she was like as a character. I believe that Lady Macbeth starts off as controlling, manipulative and her power status is above Macbeth majorly. She sees Macbeth's worrisome nature and clutches at this chance to abuse her power and get him to inevitably kill King Duncan. As Macbeth struggles to cope with the witches coming into his life, Lady Macbeth sees this through his letter and plans everything perfectly. However, as the play goes on, Lady Macbeth becomes haunted by the organised deaths of Banquo, Lady Macduff and her children by Macbeth. She slowly goes insane, seen most progressively in the 'Out, damn spot' scene. Her tragic death (believed to be suicide) at the end shows that her power has been lost and driven her insane.
A couple of days before, we had an induction day where we completed sheets of paper full of the skills we need, fears and hopes for the upcoming course. We had a range of different ideas but when we came back on Monday, we had a finalised it into a list:
Skills:
*confidence
*awareness
*imagination/creativity
*collaboration
*discipline
*listening
*openness
*voice
*observation
*enjoy!
Fears:
*habits
*being shy
*getting it 'wrong'
*fear of failure
*friends
*openness
I hope to go back to this list at the end of the year to see how many of these I have achieved by then/need to work on improving.
Vocal work
On Thursday we did vocal work in class. We first laid on the floor to relax and stop tension before practising our vowels and consonants.
Performing Greek theatre extracts
On Monday we received our Greek theatre extracts and were assigned groups/pairs to perform them in. We were taken through pointers to making sure our pieces sounded genuine and not as if we were reading from a script. I am performing an extract from the Greek tragedy Trojan Women about the slaughter of men in the city of Troy and the decisions made about what to do with the women there. The guidance was to:
1. Read the play/synopsis
2. Take your time in rehearsals
3. Learn your lines
4. Look online for clips
5. Underline words/terms you don't understand and look them up
6. Avoid exclaiming- dial it down
7. Listen and react to the other person
We then observed two other classmates' performance and gave them tips on how to improve. This also helped us with our piece as the notes benefited us too.
Performing Medea in a small group
On Tuesday we performed an extract from the Greek play Medea and I was in a small group of five. We performed the first section of the extract. We wanted to focus most on how we could incorporate physicality and movement into the piece to help clearly show the story to the audience. Beforehand, we divided the lines into equal parts that seemed to suit the best. At first, we rehearsed the piece just as how it was given to us but we decided this was too plain so we added an extra element of vocal chorus instead. This was on the lines 'You talk to her', 'You're the oldest' and 'You know her best'. We did this to build up the tension of the moment and show how frustrated our characters were getting over Medea. This was then built up to Harry saying the line 'Just stop her being so stupid' which sounded annoyed and wanting to break up the argument. This added layer of dialogue helped make our performance much tenser and it flowed better.
Refining our performances
On Wednesday we rehearsed more in our group to clean our Medea performances. To warm up beforehand we learnt some tips and tricks to have a good 'neutral' when performing. A neutral position on stage means that, when you are not saying a line or you are working as an ensemble, it is important to not fidget or slump, therefore steering the attention away from the main action. So, a neutral is established to make the performance as a whole look neater. In our warm-up, we learnt how to maintain this posture via our legs, arms and chin. Our legs must be hip-width apart, arms down by your sides, not swinging around, crossed or in your pockets and your chin must be at a middle (neutral) level. To make sure our positions were perfect, we got into pairs/small groups and assessed each other on our neutrals while we walked around the room. For me, my feedback was that I needed to not look at the floor as much and heighten my chin slightly. This was useful when it came to our Medea performance as there were many times that I was not speaking and needed to do this.
When we performed our piece, we received helpful feedback. The feedback was that we had a great use of tableaux in our performance where we paused briefly to create a freeze frame after the hectic, chanted beginning. We also worked well as an ensemble and used the space provided nicely without staying upstage all the time or just in one corner (e.g stage left). The constructive criticism we received was also very helpful too. We needed to project our lines more as some were slightly inaudible and needed better diction. We also needed to develop our characters more. What were their goals? What do they want to achieve? What are they like?
Expanding on the sentence: 'In this lesson, I learnt that as well as putting an emotion with your line also give your character a motivation.'
Improvisation work
On Thursday, we started off the day by doing improvisation work with mixed media artist Blandine Martin. We were given multiple props by her, as seen below, which could be used to portray anything. To start off with, we played 'This is not a book', a game in which you must use the object in front of you as something completely different to what it actually is. For example, you could use a tennis racket as a guitar, or a sleeping baby. It was important to make our gestures big and not confined so instead of strumming the 'guitar' you could vigorously play it as if you were at a rock concert. After this, we started the main improvisation task. The variety of objects given to us by Blandine were very unique and unusual in some cases; there was a huge curtain or blanket on a clothing hanger that was splattered with paint or multiple colours. It was our task to make something out of this.
However, I learnt that you shouldn't use the object as it is given to you. For example, another one of the props was a large suitcase full of shredded up newspaper. Many used the paper as money and the suitcase still as a suitcase, which was valid but too linear. Instead, you could use it as a machine and the paper is the wires inside or as a bowl and the paper is spaghetti, something a little different. Linear vs surreal was very important in this exercise. A show such as Eastenders, for example, has a very linear approach. The stories go from A to B to C and so on with the standard plot of beginning, middle and end. This makes the show very realistic but also very linear and sometimes monotonous. When it comes to improvisation tasks it is crucial to think outside the box and not see things as they are commonly seen. This is what makes actors stand out. What worked really well within the lesson was that the ideas many people came up with were extremely unique and on a tangent rather than linear and straightforward. This made the performances dynamic and interesting to watch. What didn't work as well, was that as people were thinking more about what to use the objects as the dialogue became shorter and sometimes overlapped and rushed. It is vital to find a neutral middle in which the improvisation and dialogue flow nicely alongside each other. The lesson was very exciting and interesting to take part in and I learnt a lot from it.
Rehearsing Trojan Women
In Monday's lesson, we started to rehearse our small group performances- ours is Trojan Women.
To start off the lesson we did a warm-up where we had to pretend be somewhere on time, running for a train, and had to use different paces to show how much we needed to get there, i.e. a train station. This was our character's objective. An objective/motivation is something the character wants/needs to get to and the actor has to portray this when performing to make their character more believable and realistic. Depending on the objective, the character's behaviour changes.
We also learnt about subtext which is a 'hidden meaning' behind the character's words, wants and needs. It helps keep the action real and true despite the actor actually not going through the experiences themselves. Thought processes are also crucial when it comes to this as deciding what your character does in a moment and when you think about what they want while you're saying your lines, it will help to bring across some real-life aspects of the piece.
When rehearsing for Trojan Women, we learnt that less is more when it comes to movement in the space. If you move around the whole time, it makes it hard for the audience to keep focus as they have to follow the actors a lot instead of just watching the performance unfold. We use minimal movement in our extract so that the audience is not distracted and also remembered to keep our performance further downstage as this is easier for the audience to hear and see.
Preparing for Papa Tango
In Wednesday's lesson, we started preparing for the scriptwriting group, Papa Tango to come in and help us write one act of our own play. We got into groups of three or four and used to a sheet to help us come up with the basis of our play. First, we decided on a theatre company name in which we decided to to go with 'Westenders Theatre Company', seeing as we had agreed that our play would be based vaguely on 'Eastenders' the popular soap which is very dramatic and commonly has a family-based plot line. Also, 'Westenders' is a play on words with 'West End', the main theatre district in London. Filling in our sheets we started to create our characters and come up with a vague plot. the character I created was called Claire, she is 30 and a successful businesswoman of a large company. Her objective (the character's main motivation) is power. She loves to be in charge of situations and wants to have a lot of authority over people. Her biggest secret is that she has been hiding a child from her now ex-husband, Mickey. With this, the others could work with their own creations to see how they would fit with Claire and vice versa. Eventually, we invented the four main characters: Mickey, Claire, Mary-Rose and Vera. We immediately decided that each character would be just as important as one another and link together in some way. We had a lot of debates over the plot during the lesson as everybody had different ideas but eventually, we decided that our main storyline should be to do with family, trust and blame.
Our lesson with Papa Tango
In Thursday's lesson, we had our proper lesson with Papa Tango. We started off the lesson by stating our favourite TV show or movie and why. This would help us use the theme and genre of the show/movie perhaps as inspiration for our own creations. My favourite TV show is Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the show is a comedy-drama. I realised we could use some of these elements in my own piece to bring a bit of life into the play. We then reformed into our groups and started the process of our thinking up our story.
First, we were given the base structure of our plays: exposition, build up, climax, consequence and resolution. In the exposition, the scene and characters must be set up for the audience and a question must be placed in the audience's minds. We had to think about the conflict and wants between the characters. The question we decided was 'Who do you trust the most?'. This scene consisted of our four main characters waking up at the same time but freeze-framing so one character can continue their own process. However, all of the characters receive a phone call from an anonymous caller to end with. This leaves the audience wondering who it is. In the build-up is where the problems start to become clear to the audience, however, don't go straight into the biggest dilemma of all. In our build up, Mickey and Claire argue over their relationship as Mickey finds out Claire is cheating on him. He kicks her out of the house. In the climax, it is revealed to the audience that Claire has evidently had a child and has been adopted. This would come as a shock to the audience as they would not know that Claire was pregnant at the time. Mary-Rose, her daughter, is adopted by an abusive mother, Vera, who has a gambling problem. The conflict between these two characters results in high tension and conflict which makes the audience uncertain of Mary-Rose's safety. In a consequence, Mary-Rose unites with her birth father as a result of Vera's actions. In the consequence, you need to define whether the actions resulted in a bad effect or a good effect. Mickey quickly realises when they meet at a local coffee shop that Mary-Rose is her child, somehow, after she shares her backstory and links it up with his own timeline. In the resolution, we decided that we would end our story on a good message rather than a bad one. This would leave it on a high note and make the audience feel as if they had learnt something too.
Feedback Session 1
Feedback Session 2
Q&A Session With Hamilton Cast
Performance of Trojan Women
The Cherry Orchard
Today we were given our script The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov and I was assigned the role of Ranyevskaya. We read through the two scenes given to us and made notes on what our first thoughts on the characters and the plot were. I observed that there are many exits and entrances written into the stage directions. The flow of the action onstage doesn't stop and continues, only fully stopping when Acts start and finish. To expand on this, I believe that this was used to show how hectic the house is with its many characters filling up the house with stories and anecdotes. As one character leaves, at least two others join the scene, keeping the audience engaged and watching all the time. We completed three sheets full of observations and questions that we could answer and talk about to understand the script more.
The synopsis of The Cherry Orchard is about a widowed woman called Madame Ranyevskaya who returns from Paris after a long absence to her family home to discover that it has been heavily mortgaged, so subsequently, all of her luxuries have been sold. She returns with her daughter, Anya, and her German governess, Charlotta. They are greeted by Varya, Ranyevskaya's adopted daughter who manages the once-grand estate, Gayev, Ranyevskaya's brother, Lopakhin, once a peasant now a wealthy merchant and other neighbours and friends. The whole plot revolves around Ranyevskaya deciding on what to do with her house and her beloved cherry orchard on her grounds. The whole play takes place in the summer, from the arrival in May to the auction in early Autumn.
Hamilton performance and Q&A
On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to see a performance of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. It was an educational performance meaning that afterwards, the cast would come out and answer our questions. We were given stalls tickets which we were very fortunate to have. The show from start to finish was amazing and so well written. Every number was compacted with choreographical and vocal brilliance by not only the principle cast but also by the ensemble who really brought the whole show together. Each person in the cast worked in harmony with one another so, at the end of the performance, they all bowed together in a line showing equality between them all. Every single person was just as important as each other in telling the story of Alexander Hamilton and I thought that that was very unifying and wonderful.
Stanislavski
In Thursday's lesson, we covered Stanislavski and his exercises/techniques. We learnt about tempo, rhythm, circles of attention, emotional recall and concentration.
Stanislavski worked in theatre from the age of 14, performing on his parent's stage. But his work really propelled when he and others established the Society of Art and Literature, linking with an amateur theatre group. They put on their first production of Leo Tolstoy's The Fruits of Enlightenment in 1891 at a major Moscow production.
During Stanislavski's years, at the time, socially, was the Russian revolution was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917 which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The two revolutions were the February Revolution and the October Revolution. Stanislavski welcomed the February Revolution and the overthrow of the absolute monarchy of 1917 and called it a 'miraculous liberation of Russia'. Vladimir Lenin, a communist politician and head of government in Soviet Russia at the time, praised him on his work at the Moscow Art Theatre but the revolutions of that year put an abrupt change to his finances and his factories were nationalised meaning his wage from MAT was his only source of income. Stanislavski was arrested on 29 August 1918 by the Cheka though was released the following day.
Using Stanislavski's techniques in my performance
Some of Stanislavski's methods that I used to help enhance my role of Ranyevaskya in The Cherry Orchard was remembering to include a high level of naturalism/realism into my reactions and speech as Stanislavski's biggest technique was making the performance as realistic as possible. I limited expressions when having a conversation but I also made sure they were visible for the audience to see. Alongside this, I was certain that my circles of attention were kept within the scene and the other actors within it to not distract the audience and myself from the action.
Introduction to Professional Practice
In the world of Performing Arts, there are a variety of different roles to help bring to the whole thing together. Some of these include:
-Actor/Actress
-Director
-Stage Manager
-Dance Captain
-Vocal Coach
-Choreographer
-Set Designer
-Lighting Designer
In order to work as an actor. my chosen career path is very much open in the fact that there are many paths in becoming an actor. Many favour going to drama school and continuing on from there as it gives them the training and confidence they need to continue their training/acting elsewhere. Drama schools are very important and, although they cost money, scholarships are always available and the training you can get there is unbelievably good. A few good examples of drama schools are:
-Guildford School of Acting
-Rose Bruford School of Theatre and Performance
-Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
-Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
-Central School of Speech and Drama
All of which have amazing facilities and an impressive list of famous alumni.
I will be considering drama school, however, I am hoping that after I finish college I can get acting roles/work from my agency that I have been with for around 2 years already. As I have been involved/trained within acting since I was 6, drama school is still an option for me but I also would like to have a time period open for just purely work from my agent. I am aware that getting work isn't easy and even if auditions are frequent and every week, it is never guaranteed that you will land a role. However, I have been prepared for rejection and failure: I have experienced it many times so I am prepared for such a thing to happen again. I have my options open to a lot of things as a career path of an actor is very varied and can change within a day.
What are the health and safety aspects involved in the voice of an actor?
As an actor, whether you are in TV, film, or theatre, your voice needs to be prepared and ready to go on stage so you do not damage it. Some possible warmups you could do are:
-Sirens
-Lip trills
-Scales
-Tongue twisters
Some do's and don't's of warm-ups are to not overwork your voice too much in the warm-up itself. Vocal warm-ups are intended to prepare the voice for singing and not strain your voice. By doing simple glides from low to high in your voice or stretching your tongue/jaw are perfect examples of a good vocal warmup without belting and overworking right off the bat. Warmups are personal and are not a competition to see who can siren the loudest etc. They are meant for you and not one warmup is perfect for everybody as everyone has completely different voices. They can be done as a group but afterwards, if you need to warm up anything else, you should do so in your own time. Never rush through a warmup or do it half-heartedly as most probably, you will harm your vocal chords.
As an actor, you must learn how to shout/yell/scream properly to ensure your voice is not harmed in the process. A stage scream does not come from the throat, but from the stomach. It has the same effect on the audience as a normal shout but is safer for the actor to do. Every time before I do a scene, even if there is just a small bit of dialogue, I always do a siren/glide of the voice to myself backstage before I go on. It helps my voice seem safer and less likely to be damaged.
Macbeth
Before the term, we were given the shortened script of Macbeth and we looked over it before we came back after the holiday. When we all returned, I was given the role of Lady Macbeth.
I read through the script and pondered on what I believed she was like as a character. I believe that Lady Macbeth starts off as controlling, manipulative and her power status is above Macbeth majorly. She sees Macbeth's worrisome nature and clutches at this chance to abuse her power and get him to inevitably kill King Duncan. As Macbeth struggles to cope with the witches coming into his life, Lady Macbeth sees this through his letter and plans everything perfectly. However, as the play goes on, Lady Macbeth becomes haunted by the organised deaths of Banquo, Lady Macduff and her children by Macbeth. She slowly goes insane, seen most progressively in the 'Out, damn spot' scene. Her tragic death (believed to be suicide) at the end shows that her power has been lost and driven her insane.
Broken Hearted Youth Theatre Company
Broken Heart Youth Theatre Company came into our college in December to help us learn about some Meischner techniques and help us to write some of our own scripts. We started off with a basic warmup and then moved on to some more Meischner style exercises. One we used a lot was a repeating exercise in which two or more people must first observe each other and someone makes a statement to do with how the other looks. For example ‘You have a red hat’ and ‘I have a red hat’. This would continue until somebody’s mannerisms or emotions change. Then it may change to ‘You’re smiling’ and ‘I’m smiling’. In this exercise, we were told not to be nice and that we should say whatever we feel like saying. An example of this would be if we found that the other person was doing something that we found annoying or repetitive we could call them out on it by saying something like ‘You’re being annoying’ or ‘You’re being too predictable’. The point of this exercise was to help us be more focused and aware of our surroundings. When performing we need to think more about who we are having a conversation with rather than just remembering our lines and what to say next. It makes the dialogue more realistic if we are both in tune with each other.
Another thing we did with Broken Heart Youth Theatre Company was to create our own duologue scripts. We got into partners and devised a script between us. Were told to think inside the box and to not be predictable. So, my partner and I, Danielle created a duologue script about two patients in a psychiatric ward. We used the repetition of sentences and out of the ordinary answers to depict that these two patients were not somewhere normal. We were told to develop on our scripts over the holidays.
When Broken Heart Youth Theatre Company came back in January, we had worked on the rest of our short dialogue together and now had a strong base to continue with. While in the workshop, Danielle and I worked on adding some additional lines to our work. We were told that we should not add any stage directions to our script as we were going to pass our work over to another pair who would perform it as they thought it was fit. This would leave the scripts open to interpretation and up to each individual person on how to stage it. This experience really helped improve our writing skills and also our skills as a team.
Macbeth rehearsals
In rehearsals, we first started by performing a quick, improvised and modern version of Macbeth to help us better understand what was going on and the plot as a whole. We also, in blog time, rewrote some of our lines into the modern language using the website No Fear Shakespeare. For example, using the text in a modern language I further understood what Lady Macbeth’s emotions, wants and objectives were in her first scene.
Working as a company we have created some scenes using our knowledge as an ensemble and our ideas individually that we have strung together to create something in equilibrium to one another. We made sure nobody’s voice is heard more loudly than anybody else and that everyone’s ideas get used fairly. One scene that worked well amongst us was the banquet scene (Act 3 Scene 4). We discussed possible ideas for this as it is a major scene involving a huge majority of our cast. We thought first about staging. As it is a royal banquet, we needed a large table in the middle of the stage facing on a diagonal as our audience are in the round and need to see everybody on stage. There will be multiple chairs but, importantly, two thrones (possibly a smaller one for Lady Macbeth to show status) positioned at the top of the table near to upper stage right. This is also the scene where Banquo’s Ghost comes back to haunt Macbeth after he orders him to be murdered. We thought that the lighting should play a huge part in this scene to show the presence of a ghostly spirit every time he enters the stage, possibly changing from neutral to either something red (to symbolise death) or white (like a ghost).
Something that didn’t work in our company was within a discussion on how the three witches, who open the play, should enter the stage. Despite not appearing too often, the three witches (the Wayward Sisters) play a vital role within Macbeth. They are the first to bring about Macbeth’s delusion and greed when they tell him that one day he may become King. As a group, we discussed on how to portray such important figures. At first, we decided that they should enter on a blackout then when the lights come up, they are already standing there. This idea changed due to creative differences and we then thought that they should enter from the wings normally. I argued that as such poignant characters they should have a more sinister entrance. Then, as a collective, we decided upon having the sisters sit in the audience before the play begins and when the lights go down, to stand up and enter while saying their first lines. Thus scaring and surprising the audience just in the first few seconds.
Some ideas I contributed were some Lady Macbeth costume ideas. I thought that Lady Macbeth's outfit should be feminine but still quite tough and looking like she has a lot of the power. I decided on a black dress with a white panel on front and some high heeled boots. She has a bold style but still understands her position and power so keeps herself looking professional, approachable and womanly. The main factor to do with Lady Macbeth's personality is that she can use her femininity to deceive people into thinking she is harmless and calm, when in fact she is the opposite. I wanted to convey this through her outfit and makeup. I kept the whole look dark in dark colours. This shows that she is mysterious and dark herself but still has a womanly stature to herself.
The collaboration with others was good as we all listened to each other's ideas and worked together to make sure everybody's creative input was included within our performance. When it came to more personal scenes such as a Macbeth and Lady Macbeth scene, the two actors would decide between themselves and then the rest of the group would put some ideas in afterwards and comment on it. We thought this was fair and a fair way to decide on staging, lighting, blocking etc.
My personal journey through the Macbeth rehearsals was very educative. When we were first given our groups, I wasn't sure how I would work within a group and how I would express my thoughts and ideas clearly without being overlooked or dismissed. But, at the end of this journey, I have learnt to be more confident working among people and discussing ideas. When I received the role of Lady Macbeth I knew I had to make sure my adaptation and performance of her character was impeccable as she contributes a lot to the plot and has the most layers of depth than any other character. She isn't someone who's emotions are laid out in plain sight, she has a lot of secrecy to her, therefore, I wanted to make sure she was perfect.
For inspiration on Lady Macbeth, I researched other performances and adaptions of her to get a good feel for her overall. I knew that I was going to make sure her downward spiral to insanity to clear to see to the audience with every passing scene. There's one line where she talks about how she did have a child, but as it isn't mentioned again, the audience can only assume that it is dead. The line 'I have given suck and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me' is a line that I thought was very important. I wanted to expand on my knowledge (now that I knew she had a child) and thought about how that would make her feel and how the consequential death of her babe would rock her emotions. If the child died very young, it would be a sudden shock to her and leave her distraught. However, if the child was a bit older, she would have seen it grow more than if it were younger and truly rock her spirit. Either way, I thought that the death of the Macbeth's child was a key factor in why Lady Macbeth is the way she is. I used this as a motive for getting into character and knowing that although she is very tough and manipulative
Macbeth Final Performance
On Monday 18th March, our group did our final performance of Macbeth. We had been revising and working on it for the past few months and, although the process was a long one, the end result was very much worth it.
Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1606 which tells the story of a Thane, Macbeth, whom, on the hearing from three unearthly witches that one day he shall be king, sets out to kill the current king of Scotland, thus sending him and his wife, Lady Macbeth, into a fit of frenzy and insanity. I was given the role of Lady Macbeth, a manipulative, power-hungry woman, whom, as soon as she becomes Queen, starts to doubt everything and feel guilty about the killings of everyone she wanted to be killed. Throughout the play, her motives change from manipulative to frantic whilst Macbeth is almost the opposite. My character's main ambition is power and money. When she finds out about the Wayward sister's promises, she doesn't even pause in her own goals to become Queen, her only worry is if her husband is strong enough to do the deed. This shows that she has a lack of trust in Macbeth, even though they are deeply in love, and through the line 'too full of the milk of the human kindness', further perpetuates that she feels he is too caring and kind to murder anybody even if it's for their own good (as she thinks). I think the purpose of Lady Macbeth in the play Macbeth is to almost be a juxtaposition of women of that time. The play is based on the actual king Macbeth in around 1040 to 1057, in which time, women were only seen as servants and caregivers to their children, to not voice their opinions and be womanly and pure. Lady Macbeth flips this on its head as she says things like 'unsex me here' and 'fill me from the crown to the tow top full of direst cruelty'. This shows that she wants to be filled with anguish, rage and every other emotion and ambition seen as 'manly' in those times. I believe that, as this was based on a real king, as soon as a 1600s audience saw Lady Macbeth, they would know that the play is purely fictional. The real Macbeth was actually a well-respected man and due to the dangerous times it was written in for royalty (with lots of beheadings and death), I'm sure Shakespeare wanted to make sure it was clear that this was a fictional tale. Even in the 1600s, a powerful woman with more control over the man of the relationship was still very much unheard of. Alongside the role of Lady Macbeth, I also played the smaller role of Apparition 2 in Act 4 Scene 1. The use of multirole was important in our group to cover the vast amount of roles in Macbeth, without losing any due to a lack of actors. My apparition was the second apparition the witches conjure up and they are holding a bloody child with them, to symbolise how no one born of woman shall harm Macbeth, and also perhaps representing the Macbeth's child that seemed to have died, mentioned earlier in the play : 'I have given suck and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me'. The witches may have used this to guilt trip Macbeth into believing the things they have been telling him, even if it is fake.
To understand and learn more about the character of Lady Macbeth, I did some research on her. I watched some of the Macbeth adaptations including the 2010 and 2015 movies and used their character interpretations as inspiration for my portrayal of Lady Macbeth. In the 2010 film, Lady Macbeth is portrayed by Kate Fleetwood whos portrayal is very alluring and fascinating, showing not only her derangment and insanity but also showing how she uses the love her husband has for her to get what she wants. She is sly and seductive but you still see her journey to madness nearer to the end. I used some of these points in my adaptation of Lady Macbeth. Despite her using her power to gain control over him, she still loves him and stays in a marriage with him. In my performance I made sure my love to Macbeth was clear to the audience but also still with a sense of manipulation manifesting within him. During rehearsals, I actually decided upon the Macbeths having quite a disdain towards eachother, and that Lady Macbeth can get quite fed up with him quickly. However, when I came across this portrayal I decided to change the way I acted towards Macbeth, while still keeping a sense of annoyance which I could use while manipulating him. In the 2015 adaptation of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is portrayed by Marion Cotillard whos portrayal inspired me to know that less is more when it comes to acting. There are many scenes where Cotillard simply uses facial expressions instead of lines and still manages to convey the whole story. This made me feel as if Lady Macbeth should be alert at all times. She has many secrets and conveying that to the audience would be beneficial into letting them into her life as she sees it. I decided based upon this that I should really get into the mind of Lady Macbeth and with each line that she says, think about how she would react, think and feel. With that in mind, I decided to run through my script and translate all my lines into modern English using the website No Fear Shakespeare. This helped majorly when it came to the final performance as I understand every word I was saying and knew how to present the line.
Alongside doing personal research for my character of Lady Macbeth, I also did some for our group. We wanted to make sure that although our own ideas were important and made our performance unique, we wanted to gain some helpful inspiration into other productions to help bring our performance to the next level. We all went off and did individual research and then came back as a group and discussed what we should do. For my research, I watched several different performances of Macbeth on YouTube and decided on some costume ideas. A video I found compared the opening scene (Act 1 Scene 1) of three of the Macbeth movies together, 1971, 2006 and 2010. The 1971 version had the witches set on a beach. They were wearing ragged clothes and blood on their faces to show they were withered and worn down. I liked the idea of them not being in a forest but being on a beach, however, the costumes, for me, didn't work with our style. In the 2006 version, the witches are three young girls wearing school girl outfits. I thought this was a bold take on the witches and you could tell the style was obviously modern (like our production) but I didn't like the idea of the school girl outfits so we, as a group, decided against it. In the 2010 version, the witches are actually dressed as nurses tending to the bloody Captain from the battlefield in which dies and they remove his heart (quite gruesomely). As soon as I saw the idea for the nurse/doctor costumes, I knew we had to use it. I brought this idea up to the group in our discussion and we all decided we loved it but we weren't sure wether it fit for that scene as we had decided to set it in a forest. So, we decided to look over some of the scenes in the play and saw that the character of the Doctor was used in a few scenes. Originally, he would just wear a normal doctor's uniform but, due to our setting, we decided to change it up a bit. During my research, I discovered some of the things the doctors of the 17th century would wear. When treating patients of the bubonic plague, the doctors would wear a bird like mask, a cape and wooden cane. This was thought to stop them from catching any airborne disease such as the plague. We discussed this costume choice and came upon the decision that we would use the mask for the doctor scenes. An example of when this was used was in Act 5 Scene 1, when lady Macbeth has gone mad and is trying to wipe imaginary blood from her hands under the observation of a Doctor and Attendant. The fact that the Doctor wears this mask makes the whole atmosphere of the scene seem eerie and frightening, impacting helpful emotions onto the audience that set up Lady Macbeth's lines to seem even more insane and frantic: 'Hell is murky', 'But who would've thought the old man to have so much blood in him?' etc.
We faced some challenges while rehearsing, planning and preparing for our final performance. However, the thing that our group did well is that we were able to overcome these challenges and face them head on to improve our performance. One problem we faced was during our dress run of Macbeth. In our performance area, we had a little platform on the back of the stage which we used as a throne at one point and in scenes where important things were being said that we felt were necessary to highlight to the audience. The raised stage, when used, made the audience know that a poignant moment was happening and was not to missed. However, due to our performance are being quite large and our small platform being near the back of the stage, we were told via some feedback from some people watching our dress run that it was difficult to hear some lines. As the most important moments were occuring up on the platform such as the crowning of Malcolm as King at the end of the play or where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth sit during the banquet scene, it was vital that all lines could be heard at all times. We knew collectively that we should project more and use more diction to enunciate our words properly. We tested this by having a few people sat at the back of the auditorium while we spoke our lines on the platform. When we recieved feedback from them, they said that it made a huge difference and that we spoke very clearly. Not only did it make it easier for the audience to hear but also improved the quality of our lines majorly.
Our planning and production period for our performance was very thorough and had a lot of thought put into it. From the beginning we knew that we didn't want our performance to be set in the traditional 11th century setting in Scotland, we wanted to change it up a bit to make our production more unique and interesting for the audience to watch. We wanted them to be drawn in by a different version of Macbeth that they had never seen before. As a collective, we debated over many different eras including 20th century, 15th century, the modern day and even, someone put forward, the future. We all had so many ideas and different versions of the play that we wanted to showcase which was very helpful as we were never stuck for inspiration, however, it did make it difficult in the fact that we could only choose so many different ideas before the performance became too crowded and crazy. We then definitively decided that our production was to be timeless. There were elements of every era involved without it being too messy and we managed to incorporate many different periods of time into the performance. Personally, when the idea was put forward, I immediately took inspiration from the movie La La Land. Although there are scenes that could only happen in the modern day, there are also multiple different locations, props and outfits used to nudge the thought into the viewer's mind that maybe it takes place in the 20th century, or even later. For example, sometimes a current mobile phone is used but then a character will arrive at a building that really harkens to 40s/50s Los Angeles. Using this inspiration, we knew that the costumes had to be a mix between old and new. All the soliders wore camo jackets (a modern element) and my costume was a black and white panel dress which, personally, I believe had quite a 90s vibe to it. However, to mix in some traditional elements, the witches wore capes that we thought resembled that of a traditional witch and the palace officials wore traditional suits. A humorous element that we added within the costumes was, during Act 2 Scene 3, when all the palace staff and guests to Macbeth's castle wake up, they are all wearing pajamas of the modern era. For example, Kadie, who played Lennox/Ross, wore a sleeping mask, sweatpants and slippers while one of our cast mates even wore emoji pajama bottoms. I myself wore a dressing gown and slippers, not as bold as some other choices, but Lady Macbeth wasn't one to make very bold fashion choices. Even though this scene is the climax of Macbeth, in which the King is killed, we wanted to add that element of humour to not only see the light through the dark but to remind them of the modern components we had added to give our production some extra spark.
Lighting was very important to us when it came to the performance as a whole. We knew that it would play a huge part in bringing our performance to light and helping build a certain atmosphere for the audience to experience. In our planning stage of lighting, we wanted to highlight important scenes with memorable lighting choices. A scene in particular that we struggled with choices at first was the Apparition scene (Act 4 Scene 1). In this scene, three apparitions are conjured up by the witches to give Macbeth hints on what is to come for him. These witches were the fuel to the fire for Macbeth as they tell him three of the most important pieces of information in the play: that he 'must beware Macduff', 'that no man born of woman shall ever hurt him' and be fearful 'when Great Birnam Wood comes to high Dunsinane Hill'. The three apparitions were played by Michael, me and Kieran and all of us knew that this scene must be unforgettable. To achieve this, we pondered over the lighting. As we were all sat near the back of the stage, we knew that we must be lit up the achieve the desired look for the scene. We decided upon putting a spotlight onto the chair in which we would sit while the rest of the stage remains in darkness. Macbeth's lines would be said whilst he remains onstage but unlit and the witch's lines would be said from off stage. This helped the audience focus on the most important part of the scene: the apparitions. Another situation in which we used lighting to help further perpetuate the importance of a certain character or moment was in the banquet scene (Act 3 Scene 4) when Banquo's ghost enters and haunts Macbeth at the table. We came up with the idea that Banquo should be wearing some sort of mask and Kieran (who plays Banquo) decided that it should be a light up purge mask. A purge mask is a mask that originated from the film series The Purge and so kept our play timeless still. When he wore it during the scene, although it looked good to us, we felt that, as there were lights on on stage, it ended up drowning out the light from the mask, not completely our effect properly. To ensure that it was visible and impressive to the audience, we added a moment of blackout in the scene to show the mask off properly while dialogue is still said underneath. Then, after around 10 seconds, the lights came back up showing the scene how characters see it. This lighting decision was very important in showing off our costume, lighting and props ideas to the audience and helped the performance as a whole.
Unit 7- Preparation for Specialist Study
In terms of where I want to go after my two years have finished on this course, I plan on working full time with my agency. I will definitely be continuing to the second year of the course and plan on achieving enough UCAS points to be able to go to drama school if I change my mind. I'm currently with an agency, Byron's Management who I have been working with for 2 and a half years, although I have had a total of 3 agents from age 6 and up. As I have familiarised myself with the ins and outs of the industry and auditions as best as I possibly can at my age, I feel confident that if I had the time, I could receive more work and attend more auditions. At Drama school, they are quite restrictive with letting you go to meetings and auditions and rarely let you go during class hours. As a person who is quite independent and likes to grab every opportunity I am given, having non-flexible hours and restrictions when it comes to auditions and work isn't ideal for me. Furthermore, drama schools can often cost up to £20,000 or more for a three-year course, and while a BA in acting would look good on a CV to employers, it would also cost a lot of money and set me back in debt for many years. This is a reason why I am not considering university as an option after college. Not only is it expensive but university doesn't suit my needs for the future. Most universities that do interest me are too far away from me (Exeter, Cambridge etc) which would mean that I would need to spend more money on an apartment, sharing or even paying every day for travel. All three of these options, however, do come with their positives. With receiving work from an agency, although you are never guaranteed to get work, auditions are frequent and you have a lot more freedom over your time. At a drama school, you receive years of high quality and professional level training and also get a degree at the end of it too. At university, you get to meet lots of new people and learn a lot about independence and looking after yourself. All three come with their pros and cons but, out of them all, getting work from my agent is the best option for me right now. If I do change my mind, I have a few drama school options in mind too such as Guildhall and RADA, which, if I chose to go there, I would strive for a half scholarship or even full scholarship to help with fees.
Over the past year I have developed my skills well and have made considerable progress in improving them too. At the start of the year, I was not very confident. I lacked the ability to communicate well and work successfully in a group environment. However, I have managed to change this about myself and I can now work creatively within a group of people without feeling held back or shy. My peers have told me that I am quite determined and I like to challenge myself within my work which I agree with. Confidence is key when it comes to performing and being able to adapt yourself to your environment and who you're working with is essential in creating a successful and full functioning performance. Another skill I possess is my punctuality and consistency with sticking to a schedule. From the start of this course, I have always been on time and present at all lessons but the main reason this skill is important to me is that, as the course has gotten more challenging and different, my attitude to learning hasn't changed (and has even improved). I am much more invested in my work now and my constant drive to do better keeps me punctual and never absent.
Beyond this course I would like to be a professional, full time actress as I want to continue the skills I have gained from this course so far into later life. I have always wanted to pursue acting since I was very little so being able to continue this for as long as I can would be amazing for me. I have also become very interested in directing and screenplay, so being able to write a script or even direct and movie is another big dream of mine. To do this, I will continue to work on and improve the skills I already have as no skill you own is perfect straight away and I will also learn and listen from others to gain new skills that can help me in the future. I aim to keep driving for what I want to be able to do and only see obstacles as necassary barriers that can be broken down with time and hard work.
Some ideas I contributed were some Lady Macbeth costume ideas. I thought that Lady Macbeth's outfit should be feminine but still quite tough and looking like she has a lot of the power. I decided on a black dress with a white panel on front and some high heeled boots. She has a bold style but still understands her position and power so keeps herself looking professional, approachable and womanly. The main factor to do with Lady Macbeth's personality is that she can use her femininity to deceive people into thinking she is harmless and calm, when in fact she is the opposite. I wanted to convey this through her outfit and makeup. I kept the whole look dark in dark colours. This shows that she is mysterious and dark herself but still has a womanly stature to herself.
The collaboration with others was good as we all listened to each other's ideas and worked together to make sure everybody's creative input was included within our performance. When it came to more personal scenes such as a Macbeth and Lady Macbeth scene, the two actors would decide between themselves and then the rest of the group would put some ideas in afterwards and comment on it. We thought this was fair and a fair way to decide on staging, lighting, blocking etc.
My personal journey through the Macbeth rehearsals was very educative. When we were first given our groups, I wasn't sure how I would work within a group and how I would express my thoughts and ideas clearly without being overlooked or dismissed. But, at the end of this journey, I have learnt to be more confident working among people and discussing ideas. When I received the role of Lady Macbeth I knew I had to make sure my adaptation and performance of her character was impeccable as she contributes a lot to the plot and has the most layers of depth than any other character. She isn't someone who's emotions are laid out in plain sight, she has a lot of secrecy to her, therefore, I wanted to make sure she was perfect.
For inspiration on Lady Macbeth, I researched other performances and adaptions of her to get a good feel for her overall. I knew that I was going to make sure her downward spiral to insanity to clear to see to the audience with every passing scene. There's one line where she talks about how she did have a child, but as it isn't mentioned again, the audience can only assume that it is dead. The line 'I have given suck and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me' is a line that I thought was very important. I wanted to expand on my knowledge (now that I knew she had a child) and thought about how that would make her feel and how the consequential death of her babe would rock her emotions. If the child died very young, it would be a sudden shock to her and leave her distraught. However, if the child was a bit older, she would have seen it grow more than if it were younger and truly rock her spirit. Either way, I thought that the death of the Macbeth's child was a key factor in why Lady Macbeth is the way she is. I used this as a motive for getting into character and knowing that although she is very tough and manipulative
Macbeth Final Performance
On Monday 18th March, our group did our final performance of Macbeth. We had been revising and working on it for the past few months and, although the process was a long one, the end result was very much worth it.
Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1606 which tells the story of a Thane, Macbeth, whom, on the hearing from three unearthly witches that one day he shall be king, sets out to kill the current king of Scotland, thus sending him and his wife, Lady Macbeth, into a fit of frenzy and insanity. I was given the role of Lady Macbeth, a manipulative, power-hungry woman, whom, as soon as she becomes Queen, starts to doubt everything and feel guilty about the killings of everyone she wanted to be killed. Throughout the play, her motives change from manipulative to frantic whilst Macbeth is almost the opposite. My character's main ambition is power and money. When she finds out about the Wayward sister's promises, she doesn't even pause in her own goals to become Queen, her only worry is if her husband is strong enough to do the deed. This shows that she has a lack of trust in Macbeth, even though they are deeply in love, and through the line 'too full of the milk of the human kindness', further perpetuates that she feels he is too caring and kind to murder anybody even if it's for their own good (as she thinks). I think the purpose of Lady Macbeth in the play Macbeth is to almost be a juxtaposition of women of that time. The play is based on the actual king Macbeth in around 1040 to 1057, in which time, women were only seen as servants and caregivers to their children, to not voice their opinions and be womanly and pure. Lady Macbeth flips this on its head as she says things like 'unsex me here' and 'fill me from the crown to the tow top full of direst cruelty'. This shows that she wants to be filled with anguish, rage and every other emotion and ambition seen as 'manly' in those times. I believe that, as this was based on a real king, as soon as a 1600s audience saw Lady Macbeth, they would know that the play is purely fictional. The real Macbeth was actually a well-respected man and due to the dangerous times it was written in for royalty (with lots of beheadings and death), I'm sure Shakespeare wanted to make sure it was clear that this was a fictional tale. Even in the 1600s, a powerful woman with more control over the man of the relationship was still very much unheard of. Alongside the role of Lady Macbeth, I also played the smaller role of Apparition 2 in Act 4 Scene 1. The use of multirole was important in our group to cover the vast amount of roles in Macbeth, without losing any due to a lack of actors. My apparition was the second apparition the witches conjure up and they are holding a bloody child with them, to symbolise how no one born of woman shall harm Macbeth, and also perhaps representing the Macbeth's child that seemed to have died, mentioned earlier in the play : 'I have given suck and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me'. The witches may have used this to guilt trip Macbeth into believing the things they have been telling him, even if it is fake.
To understand and learn more about the character of Lady Macbeth, I did some research on her. I watched some of the Macbeth adaptations including the 2010 and 2015 movies and used their character interpretations as inspiration for my portrayal of Lady Macbeth. In the 2010 film, Lady Macbeth is portrayed by Kate Fleetwood whos portrayal is very alluring and fascinating, showing not only her derangment and insanity but also showing how she uses the love her husband has for her to get what she wants. She is sly and seductive but you still see her journey to madness nearer to the end. I used some of these points in my adaptation of Lady Macbeth. Despite her using her power to gain control over him, she still loves him and stays in a marriage with him. In my performance I made sure my love to Macbeth was clear to the audience but also still with a sense of manipulation manifesting within him. During rehearsals, I actually decided upon the Macbeths having quite a disdain towards eachother, and that Lady Macbeth can get quite fed up with him quickly. However, when I came across this portrayal I decided to change the way I acted towards Macbeth, while still keeping a sense of annoyance which I could use while manipulating him. In the 2015 adaptation of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is portrayed by Marion Cotillard whos portrayal inspired me to know that less is more when it comes to acting. There are many scenes where Cotillard simply uses facial expressions instead of lines and still manages to convey the whole story. This made me feel as if Lady Macbeth should be alert at all times. She has many secrets and conveying that to the audience would be beneficial into letting them into her life as she sees it. I decided based upon this that I should really get into the mind of Lady Macbeth and with each line that she says, think about how she would react, think and feel. With that in mind, I decided to run through my script and translate all my lines into modern English using the website No Fear Shakespeare. This helped majorly when it came to the final performance as I understand every word I was saying and knew how to present the line.
Alongside doing personal research for my character of Lady Macbeth, I also did some for our group. We wanted to make sure that although our own ideas were important and made our performance unique, we wanted to gain some helpful inspiration into other productions to help bring our performance to the next level. We all went off and did individual research and then came back as a group and discussed what we should do. For my research, I watched several different performances of Macbeth on YouTube and decided on some costume ideas. A video I found compared the opening scene (Act 1 Scene 1) of three of the Macbeth movies together, 1971, 2006 and 2010. The 1971 version had the witches set on a beach. They were wearing ragged clothes and blood on their faces to show they were withered and worn down. I liked the idea of them not being in a forest but being on a beach, however, the costumes, for me, didn't work with our style. In the 2006 version, the witches are three young girls wearing school girl outfits. I thought this was a bold take on the witches and you could tell the style was obviously modern (like our production) but I didn't like the idea of the school girl outfits so we, as a group, decided against it. In the 2010 version, the witches are actually dressed as nurses tending to the bloody Captain from the battlefield in which dies and they remove his heart (quite gruesomely). As soon as I saw the idea for the nurse/doctor costumes, I knew we had to use it. I brought this idea up to the group in our discussion and we all decided we loved it but we weren't sure wether it fit for that scene as we had decided to set it in a forest. So, we decided to look over some of the scenes in the play and saw that the character of the Doctor was used in a few scenes. Originally, he would just wear a normal doctor's uniform but, due to our setting, we decided to change it up a bit. During my research, I discovered some of the things the doctors of the 17th century would wear. When treating patients of the bubonic plague, the doctors would wear a bird like mask, a cape and wooden cane. This was thought to stop them from catching any airborne disease such as the plague. We discussed this costume choice and came upon the decision that we would use the mask for the doctor scenes. An example of when this was used was in Act 5 Scene 1, when lady Macbeth has gone mad and is trying to wipe imaginary blood from her hands under the observation of a Doctor and Attendant. The fact that the Doctor wears this mask makes the whole atmosphere of the scene seem eerie and frightening, impacting helpful emotions onto the audience that set up Lady Macbeth's lines to seem even more insane and frantic: 'Hell is murky', 'But who would've thought the old man to have so much blood in him?' etc.
We faced some challenges while rehearsing, planning and preparing for our final performance. However, the thing that our group did well is that we were able to overcome these challenges and face them head on to improve our performance. One problem we faced was during our dress run of Macbeth. In our performance area, we had a little platform on the back of the stage which we used as a throne at one point and in scenes where important things were being said that we felt were necessary to highlight to the audience. The raised stage, when used, made the audience know that a poignant moment was happening and was not to missed. However, due to our performance are being quite large and our small platform being near the back of the stage, we were told via some feedback from some people watching our dress run that it was difficult to hear some lines. As the most important moments were occuring up on the platform such as the crowning of Malcolm as King at the end of the play or where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth sit during the banquet scene, it was vital that all lines could be heard at all times. We knew collectively that we should project more and use more diction to enunciate our words properly. We tested this by having a few people sat at the back of the auditorium while we spoke our lines on the platform. When we recieved feedback from them, they said that it made a huge difference and that we spoke very clearly. Not only did it make it easier for the audience to hear but also improved the quality of our lines majorly.
Our planning and production period for our performance was very thorough and had a lot of thought put into it. From the beginning we knew that we didn't want our performance to be set in the traditional 11th century setting in Scotland, we wanted to change it up a bit to make our production more unique and interesting for the audience to watch. We wanted them to be drawn in by a different version of Macbeth that they had never seen before. As a collective, we debated over many different eras including 20th century, 15th century, the modern day and even, someone put forward, the future. We all had so many ideas and different versions of the play that we wanted to showcase which was very helpful as we were never stuck for inspiration, however, it did make it difficult in the fact that we could only choose so many different ideas before the performance became too crowded and crazy. We then definitively decided that our production was to be timeless. There were elements of every era involved without it being too messy and we managed to incorporate many different periods of time into the performance. Personally, when the idea was put forward, I immediately took inspiration from the movie La La Land. Although there are scenes that could only happen in the modern day, there are also multiple different locations, props and outfits used to nudge the thought into the viewer's mind that maybe it takes place in the 20th century, or even later. For example, sometimes a current mobile phone is used but then a character will arrive at a building that really harkens to 40s/50s Los Angeles. Using this inspiration, we knew that the costumes had to be a mix between old and new. All the soliders wore camo jackets (a modern element) and my costume was a black and white panel dress which, personally, I believe had quite a 90s vibe to it. However, to mix in some traditional elements, the witches wore capes that we thought resembled that of a traditional witch and the palace officials wore traditional suits. A humorous element that we added within the costumes was, during Act 2 Scene 3, when all the palace staff and guests to Macbeth's castle wake up, they are all wearing pajamas of the modern era. For example, Kadie, who played Lennox/Ross, wore a sleeping mask, sweatpants and slippers while one of our cast mates even wore emoji pajama bottoms. I myself wore a dressing gown and slippers, not as bold as some other choices, but Lady Macbeth wasn't one to make very bold fashion choices. Even though this scene is the climax of Macbeth, in which the King is killed, we wanted to add that element of humour to not only see the light through the dark but to remind them of the modern components we had added to give our production some extra spark.
Lighting was very important to us when it came to the performance as a whole. We knew that it would play a huge part in bringing our performance to light and helping build a certain atmosphere for the audience to experience. In our planning stage of lighting, we wanted to highlight important scenes with memorable lighting choices. A scene in particular that we struggled with choices at first was the Apparition scene (Act 4 Scene 1). In this scene, three apparitions are conjured up by the witches to give Macbeth hints on what is to come for him. These witches were the fuel to the fire for Macbeth as they tell him three of the most important pieces of information in the play: that he 'must beware Macduff', 'that no man born of woman shall ever hurt him' and be fearful 'when Great Birnam Wood comes to high Dunsinane Hill'. The three apparitions were played by Michael, me and Kieran and all of us knew that this scene must be unforgettable. To achieve this, we pondered over the lighting. As we were all sat near the back of the stage, we knew that we must be lit up the achieve the desired look for the scene. We decided upon putting a spotlight onto the chair in which we would sit while the rest of the stage remains in darkness. Macbeth's lines would be said whilst he remains onstage but unlit and the witch's lines would be said from off stage. This helped the audience focus on the most important part of the scene: the apparitions. Another situation in which we used lighting to help further perpetuate the importance of a certain character or moment was in the banquet scene (Act 3 Scene 4) when Banquo's ghost enters and haunts Macbeth at the table. We came up with the idea that Banquo should be wearing some sort of mask and Kieran (who plays Banquo) decided that it should be a light up purge mask. A purge mask is a mask that originated from the film series The Purge and so kept our play timeless still. When he wore it during the scene, although it looked good to us, we felt that, as there were lights on on stage, it ended up drowning out the light from the mask, not completely our effect properly. To ensure that it was visible and impressive to the audience, we added a moment of blackout in the scene to show the mask off properly while dialogue is still said underneath. Then, after around 10 seconds, the lights came back up showing the scene how characters see it. This lighting decision was very important in showing off our costume, lighting and props ideas to the audience and helped the performance as a whole.
Unit 7- Preparation for Specialist Study
In terms of where I want to go after my two years have finished on this course, I plan on working full time with my agency. I will definitely be continuing to the second year of the course and plan on achieving enough UCAS points to be able to go to drama school if I change my mind. I'm currently with an agency, Byron's Management who I have been working with for 2 and a half years, although I have had a total of 3 agents from age 6 and up. As I have familiarised myself with the ins and outs of the industry and auditions as best as I possibly can at my age, I feel confident that if I had the time, I could receive more work and attend more auditions. At Drama school, they are quite restrictive with letting you go to meetings and auditions and rarely let you go during class hours. As a person who is quite independent and likes to grab every opportunity I am given, having non-flexible hours and restrictions when it comes to auditions and work isn't ideal for me. Furthermore, drama schools can often cost up to £20,000 or more for a three-year course, and while a BA in acting would look good on a CV to employers, it would also cost a lot of money and set me back in debt for many years. This is a reason why I am not considering university as an option after college. Not only is it expensive but university doesn't suit my needs for the future. Most universities that do interest me are too far away from me (Exeter, Cambridge etc) which would mean that I would need to spend more money on an apartment, sharing or even paying every day for travel. All three of these options, however, do come with their positives. With receiving work from an agency, although you are never guaranteed to get work, auditions are frequent and you have a lot more freedom over your time. At a drama school, you receive years of high quality and professional level training and also get a degree at the end of it too. At university, you get to meet lots of new people and learn a lot about independence and looking after yourself. All three come with their pros and cons but, out of them all, getting work from my agent is the best option for me right now. If I do change my mind, I have a few drama school options in mind too such as Guildhall and RADA, which, if I chose to go there, I would strive for a half scholarship or even full scholarship to help with fees.
Over the past year I have developed my skills well and have made considerable progress in improving them too. At the start of the year, I was not very confident. I lacked the ability to communicate well and work successfully in a group environment. However, I have managed to change this about myself and I can now work creatively within a group of people without feeling held back or shy. My peers have told me that I am quite determined and I like to challenge myself within my work which I agree with. Confidence is key when it comes to performing and being able to adapt yourself to your environment and who you're working with is essential in creating a successful and full functioning performance. Another skill I possess is my punctuality and consistency with sticking to a schedule. From the start of this course, I have always been on time and present at all lessons but the main reason this skill is important to me is that, as the course has gotten more challenging and different, my attitude to learning hasn't changed (and has even improved). I am much more invested in my work now and my constant drive to do better keeps me punctual and never absent.
Beyond this course I would like to be a professional, full time actress as I want to continue the skills I have gained from this course so far into later life. I have always wanted to pursue acting since I was very little so being able to continue this for as long as I can would be amazing for me. I have also become very interested in directing and screenplay, so being able to write a script or even direct and movie is another big dream of mine. To do this, I will continue to work on and improve the skills I already have as no skill you own is perfect straight away and I will also learn and listen from others to gain new skills that can help me in the future. I aim to keep driving for what I want to be able to do and only see obstacles as necassary barriers that can be broken down with time and hard work.
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