Wednesday 14th May
With Jill we did a Stanslavski workshop where she got a piece of paper and turned it into a bird and we stood in a circle and she passed it around, we had to each had to add a bit of background to the bird. Once Jill got it back, she scrunched it up and then asked us how we felt about it. I said I felt a little upset, although I knew it was a piece of paper I had got slightly attached because we had created a whole story/life for this 'bird'. This was a good exercise because it helped us show natural reactions. Then we did some relaxation as it's important for an actor to be relaxed and to be able to get control of our own bodies.
Tuesday 20th May
Me, Adam and Lauren have gone together. Adam is Jimmy, I'm Helena and Lauren is Allison. We are doing Act 3,Scene 2. We chose this scene because it was full of emotion and we had so many ideas of how we wanted to set it up and how we would say our lines. We thought we could start off with me and Lauren smoking together, so we decided we need to do some research in what cigarettes they would've had in that time and then we decided we need to learn little habits that smokers have. So, we have watched a few video clips on youtube, the first thing we thought of, was Coronation Street and all the people that smoke in it so we have had a look and are working on there habits such as, how they hold them, how they take back the smoke and let it go when they begin to talk. After a couple of run throughs, we thought, there's so many little things that we could do that would work nicely, such as little glances, or pauses in speech. I was thinking as Helena (who is in love with her best friend's husband, Jimmy but is leaving him) she has a nice paragraph that she says to him how much she loves him, like just cup Jimmy's face and hold a look for a few moments as a tell him how I feel about him. The props will be easy to get a hold of, the set will be a joint kitchen and living room so we can make a cup of tea.
We also did a vocal warmup, done by Zoe. We did tongue twisters and played a vocal game, this was good to do today because it helped with our diction and our accents.
Wednesday 21st May
In Jill's lesson she taught us 'emotional memory' which is being able to connect your lines/character to something that has happened to you in the past. So we all sat down and talked about personal things that had happened to us, then narrated a nursery rhyme portraying those emotions. Remembering the smells and colours help you connect with those feelings again. Jill told us not to go too deep with our memories because it's draining to have to think of that terrible memory every time you have to perform a show. I found this really difficult to sit through. I think we went way too far with the stories. I know when I make a connection between my storyline and my life, I know I can handle it in my mind and snap out of it quickly, but saying it out loud I wouldn't be able to, so I told Jill I had nothing emotional to tell because I wouldn't have been able to give her the example she was looking for. When it got to Beth's story, seeing her breakdown the way she did and because of how close we are, it really got to me, so i cried a little bit. But then Jill asked Lauren to sit in the chair and have a conversation with Beth about her granddad, and Lauren's granddad passed away last week, so she was upset and knowing this really aggravated me. I began to calm down, but with the mood that was set I was still down, and then when Jay told his story and had to pretend to be telling Danny his brother isn't coming home, that's when i really lost control of my emotions because I'd been through it, and I felt like i was 9 again because that's exactly how it was worded to me and it was the one memory I was trying to avoid. Jill kept saying 'snap out of it' but it's difficult to snap out of something when you've gone to deep, I'd never have taken it that far because I know my limits and how much I can handle.
Obviously, we learnt what we had to but I still feel the same as I did at the beginning of the lesson. My view is, I know how to connect to my character without having to explain why and I would prefer to keep that to myself. However, I do understand why some actors use it.
Thursday 22nd May
First lesson, Jill wanted to do some work on concentration and naturalistic movement. She asked a couple of us to simply have a cup of tea, on the stage in front of us as an audience. Danny went first, however I didn't see naturalism, I saw Danny being aware of the audience and the way he moved was too stiff. When Danielle did it, she was very natural, and you could definitely see the difference between Danny and Danielle.
In the afternoon, we did a lot of rehearsing. I really love doing this scene, I love having a part where I can just throw myself into and really get involved in. After a couple of run throughs and discussing what we could do such as, I go and do the dishes and tidy a little to show, as Helena, this is my home now. Then Lauren had to leave early for a doctors appointment, so it was just me and Adam. We decided to go through our scene as Jimmy and Helena. We learnt our part together and have now be able to try and do it without the script. This was so helpful because I was able to move and do the things I wanted to do, e.g when I tell Jimmy I love him, I touch his face and hold his gaze and then push him away. To be able to keep it as natural as possible, I just act as if, this is genuinely what's happening to me right now and how I would feel and I get wrapped up in the role.
Tuesday 3rd June
In the morning we talked about props and set that we needed. The set will be the single chair as Jimmy's chair and the couch and a small table. A few magazines scattered, then a kitchen on the right with a washing up bowl. We will need cigarettes and teapots and teacups. Then once we decided on the set and prop ideas, we did a run through with Daniel watching. He said our characters were very realistic and when me and Lauren are having a conversation he said my facial expressions are subtle and that we treat the scene as though it's the first time we are having this conversation. Also, he pointed out that our proxemics are good, that there was enough movement and movement for a reason. Moving closer to Lauren and drawing away from her during conversation is a good idea and I need to make sure I carry on doing that. Daniel also mentioned to Adam that he let's too many of his own habits come through,so I'm going to keep an eye on the things that I do because I know I have a lot of bad habits. When Helena comes to the decision to leave, the audience needs to see the thought process so I need a bigger pause when talking to Alison about it. There was a bit where Lauren was speaking about Jim while there's the noise of the trumpet and during this rehearsal I accidentally interrupted Lauren a come of times. But Daniel says to work it into it as it was more realistic. I need to be more agitated with the fact that there's so much noise going on whilst I'm trying to have a serious conversation.
Wednesday 4th June
Jill's lesson-
We watched a few clips of method acting such as, 'Raging bull' and 'Look Back In Anger' to be honest, I didn't want to watch Look Back In Anger because I didn't want to compare my character to the original. However, we only watched the first clip and Helena wasn't in it. I thought that the man who played Jimmy in the 80's version was over acting. Then for rehearsals we decided to focus on our lines as we were in the dance studio without the set, so we put our scripts aside and tried to remember them all, and I pretty much know all of mine.
Thursday 5th June
Jill watched our groups run full through, and she said it was absolutely brilliant and said she can't wait to see the end piece. During the rehearsals, we got a few props out such as the teapot and tea cups and practised how we are going to do it and were we were going to keep them. In the afternoon, we did Danny's voice exercise and then carried on rehearsing.
Monday 9th June
We decided to add a new ending. We decided Helena should come back in the end and look upset and hurt but just walk away. This shows she really did love him, but she cares about Alison and knew how much Alison had been through so she just let it go. I definitely needed to practise with props as whenever I moved or picked something up, I forgot or messed up my lines. We then watched a few clips of Look Back In Anger. In the 1959 version, I felt it wasn't and was very theatrical, however back then that was considered naturalistic. In the 1989 version, again I felt that that Jimmy was theatrical and kept moving for no reason.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
I think the performance went really well however, I wish we had more time to set up because we didn't get to use the kitchen set, which felt weird for me because I felt I had no where to get up and go to so I felt that I was sat down for most of it. I added in Daniel's advice of pausing before I came to the decision on leaving Jimmy and I think that helped. Daniel liked our twist at the end of the play, where Helena came back so I think that was good considering it shows them all together at the end and then the audience can see how Helena feels. For the tea we used iced tea so it looked like normal tea, we also added in a spare dress to leave on the ironing board that Adam could throw at me in the end. Also, I needed a reason to go back on stage at the end, and because the kitchen wasn't there I had no where to slam my news paper down so I noticed a jacket on the ironing board so I just went on and grabbed that. During rehearsals, I had passed the newspaper to Lauren to symbolise the 'sharing' factor. Such as with Jimmy. We kept the ironing board in the back of our set to remind the audience of the beginning on the play, and how Jimmy had hurt her, and in a way it was a metaphor for forgiveness because she let it stay there even though it had cause her pain before, the same way Jimmy had hurt her yet she let him back into her life. I decided when I'm speaking about Jimmy that I should sit in her chair to show that I do love him, but I am strong enough to confront him and leave him. I played Helena as a strong independent woman, who obviously cared a lot about her best friend and how she felt towards this man and was strong enough to walk away. I loved how Lauren played Alison and how Adam played Jimmy. I think we definitely got the tone and atmosphere right. If I could improve anything, I think I should've added a bit more emotion to make it more intense as Lauren was really crying by the end of it and I felt there should've been a build up between us before that. In rehearsals, we hadn't really shown any affection by putting our arms around each other when speaking. However, in the performance we did things like that, Adam put his arm around Lauren because we said we should just do whatever feels natural to be able to get a natural reaction between us. We also said we weren't really going to use emotion memory however, during the performance when Helena decides to leave Jimmy, I portrayed past emotions and put myself back into a previous situation to make what I was saying more natural. Stanislavski also believed in characterisation in which I bared in mind when incorporating an accent into my character. I feel an accent is important for my character and others in the play as I feel it divides the class system and shows how they grown up. Which is one of the main themes within the play. We watched clips together, and decided we didn't want to make it as over the top as they did, we felt they were very theatrical, for example in the 1989 version, Alison and Helena both moved for no reason, and we felt during our performance we needed a reason to be able to move to make it a lot more natural as in real life, no one gets up and walks around for no reason. While I was talking to Lauren about her losing the baby, I felt it was the right moment to touch her arm and try to comfort her as her best friend but then pulled my hand away as after everything Helena put Alison through, I'd feel that Helena would feel it wasn't her place. During rehearsal, Jill watched us and said that when she was watching the scene between me and Alison, she wanted me to touch her arm and I did as the right moment and she said that it was magic.
Wednesday 21st May
In Jill's lesson she taught us 'emotional memory' which is being able to connect your lines/character to something that has happened to you in the past. So we all sat down and talked about personal things that had happened to us, then narrated a nursery rhyme portraying those emotions. Remembering the smells and colours help you connect with those feelings again. Jill told us not to go too deep with our memories because it's draining to have to think of that terrible memory every time you have to perform a show. I found this really difficult to sit through. I think we went way too far with the stories. I know when I make a connection between my storyline and my life, I know I can handle it in my mind and snap out of it quickly, but saying it out loud I wouldn't be able to, so I told Jill I had nothing emotional to tell because I wouldn't have been able to give her the example she was looking for. When it got to Beth's story, seeing her breakdown the way she did and because of how close we are, it really got to me, so i cried a little bit. But then Jill asked Lauren to sit in the chair and have a conversation with Beth about her granddad, and Lauren's granddad passed away last week, so she was upset and knowing this really aggravated me. I began to calm down, but with the mood that was set I was still down, and then when Jay told his story and had to pretend to be telling Danny his brother isn't coming home, that's when i really lost control of my emotions because I'd been through it, and I felt like i was 9 again because that's exactly how it was worded to me and it was the one memory I was trying to avoid. Jill kept saying 'snap out of it' but it's difficult to snap out of something when you've gone to deep, I'd never have taken it that far because I know my limits and how much I can handle.
Obviously, we learnt what we had to but I still feel the same as I did at the beginning of the lesson. My view is, I know how to connect to my character without having to explain why and I would prefer to keep that to myself. However, I do understand why some actors use it.
Thursday 22nd May
First lesson, Jill wanted to do some work on concentration and naturalistic movement. She asked a couple of us to simply have a cup of tea, on the stage in front of us as an audience. Danny went first, however I didn't see naturalism, I saw Danny being aware of the audience and the way he moved was too stiff. When Danielle did it, she was very natural, and you could definitely see the difference between Danny and Danielle.
In the afternoon, we did a lot of rehearsing. I really love doing this scene, I love having a part where I can just throw myself into and really get involved in. After a couple of run throughs and discussing what we could do such as, I go and do the dishes and tidy a little to show, as Helena, this is my home now. Then Lauren had to leave early for a doctors appointment, so it was just me and Adam. We decided to go through our scene as Jimmy and Helena. We learnt our part together and have now be able to try and do it without the script. This was so helpful because I was able to move and do the things I wanted to do, e.g when I tell Jimmy I love him, I touch his face and hold his gaze and then push him away. To be able to keep it as natural as possible, I just act as if, this is genuinely what's happening to me right now and how I would feel and I get wrapped up in the role.
Tuesday 3rd June
In the morning we talked about props and set that we needed. The set will be the single chair as Jimmy's chair and the couch and a small table. A few magazines scattered, then a kitchen on the right with a washing up bowl. We will need cigarettes and teapots and teacups. Then once we decided on the set and prop ideas, we did a run through with Daniel watching. He said our characters were very realistic and when me and Lauren are having a conversation he said my facial expressions are subtle and that we treat the scene as though it's the first time we are having this conversation. Also, he pointed out that our proxemics are good, that there was enough movement and movement for a reason. Moving closer to Lauren and drawing away from her during conversation is a good idea and I need to make sure I carry on doing that. Daniel also mentioned to Adam that he let's too many of his own habits come through,so I'm going to keep an eye on the things that I do because I know I have a lot of bad habits. When Helena comes to the decision to leave, the audience needs to see the thought process so I need a bigger pause when talking to Alison about it. There was a bit where Lauren was speaking about Jim while there's the noise of the trumpet and during this rehearsal I accidentally interrupted Lauren a come of times. But Daniel says to work it into it as it was more realistic. I need to be more agitated with the fact that there's so much noise going on whilst I'm trying to have a serious conversation.
Wednesday 4th June
Jill's lesson-
We watched a few clips of method acting such as, 'Raging bull' and 'Look Back In Anger' to be honest, I didn't want to watch Look Back In Anger because I didn't want to compare my character to the original. However, we only watched the first clip and Helena wasn't in it. I thought that the man who played Jimmy in the 80's version was over acting. Then for rehearsals we decided to focus on our lines as we were in the dance studio without the set, so we put our scripts aside and tried to remember them all, and I pretty much know all of mine.
Thursday 5th June
Jill watched our groups run full through, and she said it was absolutely brilliant and said she can't wait to see the end piece. During the rehearsals, we got a few props out such as the teapot and tea cups and practised how we are going to do it and were we were going to keep them. In the afternoon, we did Danny's voice exercise and then carried on rehearsing.
Monday 9th June
We decided to add a new ending. We decided Helena should come back in the end and look upset and hurt but just walk away. This shows she really did love him, but she cares about Alison and knew how much Alison had been through so she just let it go. I definitely needed to practise with props as whenever I moved or picked something up, I forgot or messed up my lines. We then watched a few clips of Look Back In Anger. In the 1959 version, I felt it wasn't and was very theatrical, however back then that was considered naturalistic. In the 1989 version, again I felt that that Jimmy was theatrical and kept moving for no reason.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
I think the performance went really well however, I wish we had more time to set up because we didn't get to use the kitchen set, which felt weird for me because I felt I had no where to get up and go to so I felt that I was sat down for most of it. I added in Daniel's advice of pausing before I came to the decision on leaving Jimmy and I think that helped. Daniel liked our twist at the end of the play, where Helena came back so I think that was good considering it shows them all together at the end and then the audience can see how Helena feels. For the tea we used iced tea so it looked like normal tea, we also added in a spare dress to leave on the ironing board that Adam could throw at me in the end. Also, I needed a reason to go back on stage at the end, and because the kitchen wasn't there I had no where to slam my news paper down so I noticed a jacket on the ironing board so I just went on and grabbed that. During rehearsals, I had passed the newspaper to Lauren to symbolise the 'sharing' factor. Such as with Jimmy. We kept the ironing board in the back of our set to remind the audience of the beginning on the play, and how Jimmy had hurt her, and in a way it was a metaphor for forgiveness because she let it stay there even though it had cause her pain before, the same way Jimmy had hurt her yet she let him back into her life. I decided when I'm speaking about Jimmy that I should sit in her chair to show that I do love him, but I am strong enough to confront him and leave him. I played Helena as a strong independent woman, who obviously cared a lot about her best friend and how she felt towards this man and was strong enough to walk away. I loved how Lauren played Alison and how Adam played Jimmy. I think we definitely got the tone and atmosphere right. If I could improve anything, I think I should've added a bit more emotion to make it more intense as Lauren was really crying by the end of it and I felt there should've been a build up between us before that. In rehearsals, we hadn't really shown any affection by putting our arms around each other when speaking. However, in the performance we did things like that, Adam put his arm around Lauren because we said we should just do whatever feels natural to be able to get a natural reaction between us. We also said we weren't really going to use emotion memory however, during the performance when Helena decides to leave Jimmy, I portrayed past emotions and put myself back into a previous situation to make what I was saying more natural. Stanislavski also believed in characterisation in which I bared in mind when incorporating an accent into my character. I feel an accent is important for my character and others in the play as I feel it divides the class system and shows how they grown up. Which is one of the main themes within the play. We watched clips together, and decided we didn't want to make it as over the top as they did, we felt they were very theatrical, for example in the 1989 version, Alison and Helena both moved for no reason, and we felt during our performance we needed a reason to be able to move to make it a lot more natural as in real life, no one gets up and walks around for no reason. While I was talking to Lauren about her losing the baby, I felt it was the right moment to touch her arm and try to comfort her as her best friend but then pulled my hand away as after everything Helena put Alison through, I'd feel that Helena would feel it wasn't her place. During rehearsal, Jill watched us and said that when she was watching the scene between me and Alison, she wanted me to touch her arm and I did as the right moment and she said that it was magic.
Good. You have covered a lot here. When you talk about your performance like this there is clear evidence of your thought processes and the application of new ideas and understanding. You reference your research and the themes of the play, you justify some creative decisions and you give your thoughts on some of the exploratory activities Although you do not go into quite enough detail about individual rehearsals or the impact of research on your performance.
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