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In today’s lesson, we finished decorating the Chaplaincy and Mr Caplin organised the lighting in our space.

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June 2019

My group (Eesha, Jennifer and Peter) and I had to make the Chaplaincy come to life as the play ‘Hedda Gabler’. For starters, we had already decided that we wanted a Victorian theme. We used props such as: curtains, table cloths, doilies, tea cups etc.

We were given a £30 budget to spend on props and costumes. We spent this on 4 sparkly silver bows, to represent who is Hedda, 2 fake beards, to represent who is Judge Brack, flowers and 2 plastic guns.

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Casting of Hedda Gabler

In today’s lesson, we were put into groups at random and those were the groups each individual had to create a show with. I was put into a group with: Eesha, Jennifer and Peter. I was quite pleased with my group as it was a mix of people I am usually with all the time and people I am not often with; this was a test on my team working skills.

Eesha, Jennifer, Peter and I came together to craft our own script and plan out the design of our set as we had been given the Chaplaincy as our area of performance.

We decided that we wanted to have a Victorian theme, therefore, we wanted to decorate our set with crockery, flowers, table covers, cushions and candles etc. We also dissected the play by choosing scenes we wanted to use and putting our own twist on it.

Our play consists of a lot of multi-rolling and non-naturalism as we will be putting on an immersive show at the end of the school year.

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April 2019

As a class, we completed the reading of ‘Hedda Gabler’. In today’s lesson, we dove into our own ideas of the play; we were put into groups so we could craft our own twist on the play. I was put into a group with Eesha, Lily and Diona and we had to work together to act out a scene from the play, with our own twist.

The character of Hedda Gabler, in my opinion, is a very interesting persona. During the Victorian era, Hedda Gabler would most definitely not be a typical, perfect housewife as she is portrayed as a strong minded and cold hearted woman in the play.

‘Hedda Gabler’ is a very interesting play and the reason why I have taken a liking to the play is because the main character of the play is a strong woman who unravels. I enjoy playing characters that are on the crazy side as I believe you could experiment with the character in a variety of ways.

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Hedda Gabler

In today’s lesson, we explored a play called ‘Hedda Gabler’ which was written by Henrik Ibsen, a very influential playwright during the 1800s.

As a class, we read the text and will do so for the next couple of lessons, in order to understand the play as a whole as we will be crafting our very own performance on Hedda Gabler at the end of the school year.

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March 2019

This was our second workshop as part of the programme ‘Take the Lead’. Today’s session was different to last week’s “being an actor”- today was more about what happens offstage, being yourself.

We started the workshop with a warm up which we were all told to stand in a circle, we were then told to put our hands in the middle and link with someone else this instantly created a puzzle, a chain. Our workshop leader told us we then had to untangle ourselves at first it seemed impossible but we instantly got into it, this warm up triggered our problem solving and actively got us looking for ways to communicate and work efficiently as a team.

The second warm up was a walking around the space game, this helps us focus and become aware of our surroundings and this also allows us to listen to instructions clearly as they were then reversed.

First task- we were given cards with a specific word on them. Each card belonged to a category we had to find our category and get into two groups of 6. I was given the card galaxy instantly I thought to myself I could be a chocolate bar or I could be the term used in science, in the end I had compromised with mars bar and the other chocolate bars that I may be a chocolate bar seeing as the other group was mainly planets. This task really got me thinking that even though you think you are right, you should always remember everyone’s perception of things can be totally different and in a team you must be ready to compromise.

Second task- UNLOCKING THE IPAD- this was a task that really kick started our problem solving as a group, we were given a Ipad with a clue at the back. At first we were confused until we realised it would be best to communicate with the other teams which then led to finding one another’s codes. I believe the purpose of the task was even though you work to help yourself, if you do not network and ask questions as an individual, will you ever gain full understanding of anything you do, because you never know people could have answers and information that could open doors in your life or understanding of things.

Third task was the stimulus, we were given 5 pictures and told to make a 30 second story, with a beginning middle and end. My group had thought when working with stimuluses the best thing to start is the setting, a character and the time period. we started with thinking of a character and from there it just kick started our 30 second story. In delivering this pitch we applied techniques from our first workshop to our story, the projection of the voice how you can make yourself stand out.

Last task- From the stories we had created it was going to be the stepping stone for the next task which was we were a performance company who have a play and we need budgeting money to have the show put together. this was all about management- how to find reasons in the certain things you may do as a company. the first thing we decided was on the mission statement however in my group we had 4 things to cover and i was the concept and idea for my company. I had came up with how to introduce our play,The name of our play, the style of performance and why we had it that way

WWW- I really enjoyed this workshop as it was very rich in detail and it was all about problem solving and communication what i think im really good at and so are my class mates is our time-management, we take everything serious and always meet the times set

EBI: when pitching an idea always remember if you have involved the important things that are going to draw the panel as i did slip up with remembering to say the name of the production we are putting on

I feel like every workshop i discover new things about me, i realised my communication skills are much stronger and my problem solving is improving every day

Ended the session with compliments

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February 2019

This was our first workshop as part of the programme ‘Take the lead’. Take the lead is a free employability programme from The Old Vic for students aged 16–18 that uses theatre techniques and creative workshops to build on five core skills: communication, self-management, self-belief, teamwork and problem solving.

Our workshop started with a walk around the space, walking around allows us to familiar ourselves with our surroundings and also be aware of others in the space walking with us. As we are still walking, our workshop leader had asked us to imagine we are walking in chewing gum and then added believe we are walking in gum but also late for work. This allowed us to add reality to our actions.

We played a very familiar warm up game which was ‘Stop’ and ‘Go’ which was then reversed, this game allowed us to listen carefully and focus on the key words.

Leading with the body parts was something that took me by interest, I saw that when you use different body parts, changing the physicality it shows something about the person’s character. If you were leading with your chest, the type of character portrayed would be someone who is vain, proud and intentionally walking with purpose.

Focus game: This game was all based around focus and team work, we was given a word to all say in unison along with a gesture, which I found very hard but after figuring it out, it was all about using your provisional vision.

The improvisation was my favourite part of the workshop: The first was being in your dream job interview and I had not been chosen for the job, there were given lines, the last being a improvisation of how you can handle the situation of not being chosen for a job. This relates to self-motivation being able to accept criticism and learn from that allowing it to push you to reaching your end goal.

The last improvisation task was the elevator, in a group of 5 you were given 5 objectives to put into your own devised 90 second scene taking place in a lift.

1. A difficult question

2. A prop

3. An unexpected visitor

4. The phrase”you are absolutely amazing”

5. A loud noise

My group and I had come up with an idea towards this activity:

- An unexpected visitor- one person acted as Jesus Christ

- A difficult question- if you are really Jesus Christ, why is there suffering?

- the phrase- ‘you are absolutely amazing’ in reaction to Jesus Christ

- A loud noise - a thud from the lift breaking

- A prop - a bible

WWW: I was very engaged and ready for this workshop, the tasks had me on my feet I was alert and felt alive. I was also able to develop my focus and work as a team with people I may not be too familiar with working with

EBI: I feel like it would be even better if when doing a specific voice range task, I was able to actually understand what level of voice is neutral for me and if I could increase that volume or decrease it.

We ended the workshop with something called sharing the positivity, this is where you compliment the person beside you and own it. This allowed us to know what others think about us that we may not strongly already see in us.

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Mike Alfred

Mike Alfred is an English theatre director who uses actioning and improvisation as his main methods of direction for a lot of his naturalistic work. Alfred has a very Stanislavsky feel about his directing with his ‘ACTION, REACTION and DECISION’ methods. He is a revolutionary director who believes in actors and their instincts.

“Theatre is not about plays. The art of theatre is acting. The theatre isn’t there to serve plays.  Plays are there to serve the actors. Plays need actors and without them, they’re just blueprints. Actors, however, do not need plays. They can improvise. They can mime. They can tell stories.” -Mike Alfreds

I think that this method can be used for me in the future by using the improvisations with characters to explore different ideas and themes and can provide more raw material to add into character work or scenes. I think that Alfred’s, 'Action, Reaction and Decision’ naturalistic way of thinking is really interesting and definitely something I will consider when directing or acting.

Points of concentration is something i found rather interesting. Points of concentration are things that can affect your character, their objective and the scene you are in. You can have an environmental point of concentration which is something that has happened in the outside world that can affect you, for example, it is cold. This could affect you if you are in a scene where you are walking around a park. Then you can have an individual point of concentration, for example, you have just come out of prison for theft. This can affect you if you are in a scene when you are shopping because it may push your character to want to steal something. These points of concentration add to the scene and make the actor think more about how they can play their scene.

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November 2018

Today was another one of our lessons with Clive Perrot and today’s topics were: line learning and ‘respect for acting’ - a book written by Uta Hagen. Hagen was a German American actress and theatre practitioner.

A brief summary of her life: Hagen’s mum was an actor and they had moved to La when Hitler had taken power. She grew up in La, America, where she became an actor and her first ever cast was in “Street Car Named Desire”. During her time in America, she was in the middle of what we know as the ‘Cold War’.

Uta Hagen worked with a black actor at the time called Paul Robeson who before he could go on trial for being communist, went to England and became a successful actor, leaving Hagen to take the blame as they had also believed she was communist by association. In consequence to this, her career ended overnight and instead she figured if she cannot act, she will take all the teachings her mother told her about Stanizlavski and teach people.

Her book ’Respect for Acting’ is simply an interpretation of Stanizlavski’s methods.

A part in the book that we focused on was casting and important questions to ask when you get a cast in a role:

1. Who am I? (are you a woman or a man, are you old or young?)

2. What time is it? (what is the season?, the era?, the month?)

3. Where am I? (are you in a room, a park, a basketball match?)

4. What surrounds me? (animate and inanimate objects, complete details of the environment)

5. What are the given circumstances? (Past, present, future and all of the events)

6. What is my relationship? (relation to events, other characters and to the things that surround me)

7. What do I want? (Character’s needs, main objectives)

8. What is in my way? (Obstacles that prevent me from getting my objective)

9. What do I do to get what I want? (the action, physical and verbal)

What I learnt is by applying this to your character, it helps you gain a deeper understanding of how your character lives their life and also the motives around what they actually do.

After this, we had learnt how to memorise lines and actually the best way would be applying Stanizlavski’s methods. Reading your lines one by one and bringing it to life, is, apparently, the worst thing an actor could do. Clive described this way of learning lines as a ‘parrot’ because the moment someone else forgets their line, your tower of words that you learnt like a parrot comes crashing down.

This lesson was very useful because I would have never been able to uncover the depth of a character’s life properly without knowing Uta Hagen’s 9 questions.

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November 2018

Today was one of our lessons with Clive Perott. In this lesson, we learnt about the ego boundaries that an individual has. This interested me as I realised that only in certain situations will people be able to shrink their ego bound, for example, on a packed train. We all squash together, because we have no choice.

Another example of this is when two people are talking, there is usually an ego bound. Ego bounds can be affected by friendship, gender or height. If a stranger was talking to you, you would most likely not expect them to be in your personal space because when the ego bound is close, it narrows down the options the 2 people have. They will either have a fight or give each other a massive hug.

We also looked at Harold Pinter and more about his theatre of intimidation.

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Animal Work

This is taking an animal’s traits and applying it to a certain character. For example, acting as a turtle. Turtles are very slow, therefore, I could imbed that into my acting as being very innocent and fragile and old-like.

In contract to this, acting as a lion. Lions are large animals and they are protectors of their pride and territory, therefore, I would act as a very bold character who has a lot of power.

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7 states of tension

Jacques Lecoq developed an approach to acting using 7 levels of tension. These exercises help actors transition into different emotions that could be incorporated into a scene.

1. Exhausted (most call the jellyfish, there is no tension in the body at all, when I do this state I like to lay on the floor to show complete relaxation)

2. Laid back (normal, everything you say is cool and relaxed. I like to imagine myself walking to school or getting into bed)

3. Neutral (present and aware)

4. Alert (indecisive, like you’re late for the bus, when I did this, I imagined losing my oyster)

5. Suspense (a crisis is about to happen, looking for a bomb that was assumed to be placed in the room I am in)

6. Passionate (there is an identified bomb now! Anger and fear, snake in the shower, lion in the room, difficult to control)

7. Tragic (the bomb is about to go off, it’s on 1 second, body can’t move, petrified)

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Laban Effort

For some time the Laban Movement was primarily used for dancers and dance choreography to discover new ways to move. In the 80s and 90s, it was used to help actors improve their performances.

This movement was named after Rudolf Laban who was a movement theorist, a choreographer and a dancer, he is also considered a pioneer of modern dance. Laban categorised human movement into four components: 1. Direction- is either direct or indirect 2. Weight- is either heavy or light 3. Speed- is either quick or sustained 4. Flow- is either bound or free

So for example if you are looking at flow and the movement is bound, then it’s very tight and held in. An example of this would be a businessman, whereas someone who moves freely, is the opposite of bound- a child. And if you are looking at a direction you are either moving towards something directly or your meandering towards it. 

The Laban effort helps an actor both physically and emotionally identify and play characters who are different to themselves, which extends an actor’s movement and ability to play characters physically. 

The eight efforts are: Wring Press Flick Dab Glide Float Punch Slash

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October 2018

In today’s lesson, we explored the laban effort and acting through animal work. These are techniques which enable us to extend our movement as actors within a piece or adapt a characters physicality.

What went well: What I was able to pick up from today’s lesson was how beneficial Laban effort is for the dynamics of an actor. I was able to apply the 7 tension states to each of the character’s personas. The animal work helped when using my script for ‘One for the Road’. I played the character Gilla as a deer, mainly because of how fragile and innocent deers are. Gilla is a character who was once delicate, however, because of the abuse she is no longer herself. The Laban effort used for Gilla was flicking and dabbing; the flicking because of the very light and small personality and also the need to avoid contact and the dabbing, having my fingers pressed against my leg showing how nervous and very uncomfortable I was.

Even better if: I could have explored the character of Gilla more and feel her state deeper and expand other animal work. I could have experimented with other Laban efforts to add more depth.

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The Beauty of Improvisation

“Something created spontaneously or without preparation.” is this the real definition of improvisation? Being able to compose something spontaneously is a skill, definitely, but understanding the true meaning of improvisation is KEY. Improvisation is something that should be truly mastered as it is a key area in acting as it is a moment in which you can express yourself. I digested the idea of expressing myself through improvisation, even if I feel silly or uncomfortable performing it ; that just means I am doing it right!