#devised performance sample work; 2.1

  - Discussed costume

    To start of the day we had a discussion about set and costume. The costume designers, Jasmine Bayram and Affton Smith, pitched the idea of having different coloured polo shirts to represent the groups of people, onlookers, bullies and victims. They were thinking of having yellow for onlookers, red for bullies, and either green or blue for the victims. I personally like the idea of colours, but on the other hand I felt we were spoon feeding them the information, and possibly spoiling the plays outcome along the way, but the decision of having colours will be made in weeks to come.

  - Working script (Harry’s playground + Headmasters + Bedroom scene)

      I had written a couple of scenes of the script, so I printed them out, handed them to the couple and we had a read-through of them all. It was plain to see the simple mistakes I’ve made and the various edits that will have to be made. When writing, it sounds completely different to when its said out loud, and this first read through, all though very minor, was an example of that. Although there were obvious alterations to be made, the response from my fellow peers was for the most part positive yet constructive, and they wanted to get it up on its feet straight away. The first scene John wanted to block was the first time we meet Toby’s character, as well as the first time Chelsea meet’s him also. The blocking for the most part was simple and the only bit that needed some looking at was the ball throwing as it looked rather dishevelled and wasn’t quite working, but being it was our first day we had plenty of time to re-work it in upcoming rehearsals so we moved on and looked at the next scene. The next scene was when the Headmaster, Mr. Parsons, puts Chelsea into her new class, 4NH. Being John was in this one himself and his co-director, James Jollie, was absent there wasn’t a lot of work that could be done so the blocking was very primitive, and it would be looked at again in detail when James was in. Despite not having Gemma, who plays Chelsea’s Mum, the company wanted to attempt to block the first scene, with Sophie filling in. I was surprised how quickly the actors involved got the snappy rhythm that the scene possesses, even when still being on book. The characters really came through, and they weren’t letting the script hold them back, which was refreshing to see.

    - UCAS Session, and song

  Wednesday 21st November my group did a forty-five minute workshop for 'Heronsgate Primary School' in West Thamesmead. Here is a breakdown of what happened.

      - Name Game -

  We formed a circle firstly. When then introduce ourselves by asking the kids if they knew who we played, and once they got it right we said how we were actor’s portraying that character. We then went round the circle and got the children to say there names and an action along with it, and then everyone would copy them. For example; I would go in and say ‘Phil’ and then shoot my fist into the air, and everyone would do the same.

  I think this was a fun and effective way to break the ice, as well us getting to know the kids, should we need to refer to them ever. Although we got a couple of people who were shy and didn’t want to do it in front of everyone, that problem was soon overcome when Affton Smith agreed to do it with them, giving them that confidence to do it.

      - ‘Banana’s Of The World’ -

  A small, fun and silly song with actions. The kids remained in a circle, and the person leading this part of the workshop, would do the action and the words, and then get the kids to do it; call and response. Once going through it all separately they’d then put it together.

      This for me was one of the most successful aspects of the workshop, as it was a bit of fun, that allowed the kids to just let loose and enjoy themselves. It was especially successful when they were given the opportunity to do it again at the end, sort of like a reward for being well behaved.

      - The Pirate Game -

  A simple game where the object of the game is too run to different parts of the room, which are labelled as different parts of the ship; Bow, Stern, Starboard and Port. After a while a shark comes on board, and you have to avoid it. The storm passes, the shark goes back into the sea, but you have to ‘scrub the deck’ as its dirty and then salute when ‘The captain’s coming’.

      I was always quite sceptical of this particular game because it involves a large number of kids running around in a fairly small space, and from my observation I had a right to be because it was very dangerous as several kids, especially the boys, were sliding on the floor and taking each other out. Personally, I think what would have been better, would have been Cat & Mouse, as its fun and energized, without everything running around all at once.

      - Interactive Scene -

  This was only used in our workshop. We would get actor’s to re-enact a crucial scene from the piece, and then freeze it at moments. During the frozen moments we would ask the audience some questions.

      Being it was me and James who ran this section and we improvised our whole way through it due to not knowing what to expect I’d like to think it was a success. It made us think on our feet whilst also having to think of responses that inform the kids about the effects of bullying. It was both fun and educational.

      - Frozen Images -

  Usually for the frozen images the children would be put into small groups, but this time round they were all one big group creating several different big images.

  I felt having them all doing one big one was hit and miss, as in a big group there was room for more injuries, but it also creates the element of teamwork and working together. Allowing the kids to pick the word was a good touch as it gave them some status in the situation.

      - The Ending Song -

  All the kids would get back into a circle, and then we would teach them the actions and words to the end songs chorus. We would get there interest first, by asking them if they remember it, And if they would like to learn it.

      The song worked if the person running the workshop was aware of the children’s capability. Especially on our turn, a lot of them didn’t get it first time round, but Toby progressed on, making it more confusing for them, and by the end of it a high percentage of the kids didn’t really know what to do. For those who did it was great, so my only note on this would be to be more vigilant, and to be able to read the ability correctly.

    - The Freeze Game -

  Used as a device for when the kids we’re getting to much to handle, any workshop leader could shout freeze, meaning the kids would have be frozen in position and completely silent. We would then tell them how long it took and whether it was low/high try and encourage them to make sure they maintain it/improve.

      This was never really that successful as the kids that were making all the noise and causing the problems, were the ones that didn’t really buy into the game and just carried on messing about. For those who followed the rules I worked really well, it was just a shame it was the wrong set of kids we were trying to control.

  - Read through

  - Working Scenes; up to Scene 6

  - Professional practice. Production meeting.

  Today in professional practice we looked at several different units and how we would go about claiming them and what we would have to do in order to pass. After that we then had a production meeting. Here is a ling to a recording of said meeting; http://miskinlink.posterous.com/production-meeting-recording

      - Stylized Moment

  - Working our song with Marc.

  Today we worked the ending song for the peice with Marc. We firstly sung it how we had practiced it, and then dissected and looked at all the various different parts. Marc decided it was still good to have the stand-up chant going on, so he said the kids to be the ones to do the first two lines of each verse, and the adults to remain doing the chant, we all then do the next two lines and the chorus, but revert back to the styling of the verse previously for the second time round.  Marc wanted to keep the singing element to a minimum as its not our voice that’s important, it’s the message the songs conveying, and he said how he’d prefer us to be a bit off key so long as we are punching out the words and making them understandable to the audience.

      - Workshop Trial (as a child)

Strengths

- Characterisation:         I created a character with a lot of energy and brought the words on the page to life, despite it only being a cold reading.             

  Weaknesses

  - Possession:                 I was rather possessive over my work this week, and I need to learn to hand it over to the director’s more.

      - Singing:                      I struggled with some of the higher notes, but will practice of the right technique, time and dedication I can get there.

      The improvement in my singing will take time as it’s not an instantaneous thing, and I need to hone my ability. I just need to learn to be more sharing and stop being precious with my writing.

          This week has been all about acknowledging our specific roles for me, and how each member

  - Discussion about workshop

  From the workshop we did last week and what worked and didn’t work, today we had a discussion about workshops with Bronagh, who passed on her knowledge from personal previous experiences. During this discussion here were a couple of pointers that were mentioned;

      Must be able to explain tasks rather physically to help the EAL students (English Additional Language).

      Kids love structure something they can follow, as well things that are rather identifiable as they can respond to them.

      Clowning and stereotypes are both rather effective when getting an idea across.

      High male to female ratio within target audience; Year 4, 8-9 year olds.

      VAK; All kids learn in different ways; kinaesthetic, auditory and visual. Make sure there is a balance.

      Make people feel more comfortable in the new situation there in by having an ice breaker or using something that is fun or comical to make people feel at ease.

      15% ice breakers/games 85% looking at activities.

      Have a signal for silence (Freeze Game)

      - Closer Scenes

      After that we were given some ‘Closer’ scenes to look at. I was given three scenes, the first was between Larry and Alice (Sally O’ Boyle) in a Hotel Room; the second was between Larry and Dan about each other’s respective partner, where I was Larry again (Mike May was Dan) and finally the last scene with the three remaining characters, this time I played Dan, Mike played Larry and Charlotte was Alice. I enjoyed this script because it wasn’t comedy, it was actually quite serious and intimate, two things I hadn’t really divulged in, and although it was just a ‘on feet on book scene run’ I still feel I delivered the lines quite well, and the story had meaning, and the atmospheric nature of each scene was helped by the actor’s working with me understanding there characters position as well as mine, which I am rather thankful for. It was interesting to see how the story developed with different people portraying different characters and seeing what individual traits they gave them, making them unique to the one before.

      - Worked up to scene 8 (‘The barging part)