meganblackledge

[meganblackledge]

Gecko

Gecko creates visual, visceral and ambitious theatre to inspire, move and entertain its audiences

Gecko was founded in 2001 and is led by Artistic Director Amit Lahav. With an expanding ensemble of international performers and makers, Gecko creates work through collaboration, experimentation and play. Its work is global. It tours nationally and internationally and continues to develop strong partnerships around the world. Working across all age groups, nationalities and forms, Gecko celebrates diversity

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Konstantin Stanislavski

He was widely recognised as an outstanding character actor and the many productions that he directed garnered a reputation as one of the leading theatre directors of his generation. His principal fame and influence, however, rests on his 'system' of actor training, preparation, and rehearsal technique.

https://g.co/kgs/ivq8FR - An Actor Prepares by Stan

Stanislavski subjected his acting and direction to a rigorous process of artistic self-analysis and reflection. His 'system' of acting developed out of his persistent efforts to remove the blocks that he encountered in his performances, beginning with a major crisis in 1906. He produced his early work using an external, director-centred technique that strove for an organic unity of all its elements—in each production he planned the interpretation of every role, blocking, and the mise en scène in detail in advance.[ He also introduced into the production process a period of discussion and detailed analysis of the play by the cast.Despite the success that this approach brought, particularly with his Naturalistic stagings of the plays of Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky, Stanislavski remained dissatisfied. Both his struggles with Chekhov's drama (out of which his notion of subtext emerged) and his experiments with Symbolism encouraged a greater attention to "inner action" and a more intensive investigation of the actor's process.He began to develop the more actor-centred techniques of "psychological realism" and his focus shifted from his productions to rehearsal process and pedagogy.He pioneered the use of theatre studios as a laboratory in which to innovate actor training and to experiment with new forms of theatre.Stanislavski organised his techniques into a coherent, systematic methodology, which built on three major strands of influence: (1) the director-centred, unified aesthetic and disciplined, ensemble approach of the Meiningen company; (2) the actor-centred realism of the Maly; and (3) the Naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement. 

The 'system' cultivates what Stanislavski calls the "art of experiencing" (to which he contrasts the "art of representation"). It mobilises the actor's conscious thought and will in order to activate other, less-controllable psychological processes—such as emotional experience and subconscious behaviour—sympathetically and indirectly. In rehearsal, the actor searches for inner motives to justify action and the definition of what the character seeks to achieve at any given moment (a "task").Stanislavski's earliest reference to his 'system' appears in 1909, the same year that he first incorporated it into his rehearsal process. The MAT adopted it as its official rehearsal method in 1911. 

Later, Stanislavski further elaborated the 'system' with a more physically grounded rehearsal process that came to be known as the "Method of Physical Action".Minimising at-the-table discussions, he now encouraged an "active analysis", in which the sequence of dramatic situations are improvised."The best analysis of a play", Stanislavski argued, "is to take action in the given circumstances." 

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Laban

Laban movement analysis is generally divided into four categories: 

Space (Choreutics, space harmony)  

Body (Bartenieff Fundamentals, total-body connectivity) 

Space

Effort (Energetic dynamics) 

Rudolf von Laban, also known as Rudolf Laban (Hungarian: Rezső Lábán de Váraljas, Lábán Rezső, Lábán Rudolf) (15 December 1879 – 1 July 1958), was a dance artist and theorist. He is considered as one of the pioneers of modern dance in Europe, as the “Founding Father of the Expressionist Dance” in Germany. His work laid the foundations for Laban Movement Analysis, Labanotation (Kinetography Laban), other more specific developments in dance notation and the evolution of many varieties of Laban Movement Study. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of dance

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27/11/18

Today we had our movement assessment.  Me and Honour both passed and we are very pleased with how the performance went, minus Honour’s slight wardrobe malfunction.  We have already discussed that she will need to change top for the showcase, and wear something that won’t move.

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Part 2 of the “Exodus” feedback.

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Part 1 of the “Exodus” devised piece feedback.

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The feedback for our devised piece with the stimulus of fear.

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21/11/18

Today we did our third hour long improv.  The genre was comedy and the stimulus was that there were two chat shows.  The group was divided into two to make the two chat shows.  One group was Jeremy Kyle and the other group was Oprah.  I was in the group doing Oprah.  I was a bodyguard in the back so I mostly just stood behind our Oprah.  I personally found my role quite hard as I didn't do anything which led me to find more things funny and want to corpse.  Eventually I started to turn this into my character, so I became a very unprofessional bodyguard who wasn't intimidating at all.  I found this improv to be better than the first but not better than the second one.  So far the courtroom improv was our best one because there was control in that one.  The issue with our group is at the moment, people are taking major and not handing it to someone else which then leads to several people taking major at the same time.

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20/11/18

 Today we performed ‘Slow Train Coming/License to Kill’.  I felt like the performance went quite well and we stayed in time the whole way through unlike last time.  as a group we need to work on our facial expressions because at the moment we don't look enthusiastic which is disengaging to the audience.  We also continued with learning lines and learning our scenes for the duologue pieces.  me and my partner have learned more of our lines and are figuring out our placement on stage.

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Here is my personal feedback for my solo movement.

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19/11/18

Today we looked at emotion and how to extract a feeling from a memory.  To do this we got into our duologue partners and the person who needed to work on their emotion (me) stayed in the studio while the other left.  When our partner left we had to think of a time where we struggled or faced something that matches the emotion you need to express in your movement piece.  In my case I needed to think of a time/event that makes me upset.  After we had captured the emotion we were told to keep replaying the memory and then ask our partners to come back.  When our partners were back we had to put them in up to 6 positions that showed how we were feeling.  I only managed to get 3 positions as I still need to work on leaving the memory behind and just having the feeling.

We also performed our devised pieces.  My role was Mel a 16 year old girl who was raped by Aaron, a boy who she is infatuated with.  He has no romantic interest in her, he just wants to use her for his own benefit.  I will attach my personal feedback in the next post but the feedback we were given as a group is:-

Andy - What I was impressed with was that we tried to incorporate all disciplines.  I was also impressed with the fact that we used technical aspects, we had people on sound, people on lights and first years you are really starting to get to grips with now, which is something I will be relying on you a lot more for in the future. Language were its needed at times is fine, but I felt it was gratuitous at times and what it did was it detracted from the message, if you’re swearing too much the audience will get distracted by the language so pick your moments when to swear.  Within theatre and film sometimes they use swearing in a very lyrical way either to punctuate a point or to make something a lot more serious.  If we are swearing all the time it takes away the power of those words so be careful.  The thing I will say about singing, I would have actually preferred it if you hadn't used the original track as a backing if you’d have used a live instrument or something like that.  If you’d used a more intimate version of that song then what that does is you have ownership over that particular piece of orchestration, buy what I liked was the fact you were using live voices and gone one step further with someone playing guitar or something, you could have done it that way and then those dances and those movement sections would have felt a lot more organic

Josh - We know the head of musical theatre at Edge Hill and she teaches musical theatre, she’s designed the course to say musicals aren't just like Blood Brother or Chicago or Wicked, musical theatre is any form of performance where there is vocals with a melody, there’s movement whether that's dance or not and there’s story telling happening, that was musical theatre.  First years I think you feel like a company, and when you watch them you feel like they are supporting each other.  You just have this care for one another and I promise you, it comes across on stage.  And that is something out of mine and Andy’s control, it is up to you whether or not you have that group support.  A constructive criticism for first years, we have seen a lot now that your transitions are bit basic.  Its not that they’re rubbish but what I’m trying to say is why don't we have less blackouts in terms of lights down, and lets find a different way, a clever way where a blackout isn't needed to swap a scene so lets compromise there.  A lot of professional theatre companies are doing this, there’s barely any blackouts.  A pet peeve of mine is when you’re on the phone to somebody and you look at them.

I agree with all the feedback given.

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14/11/18

Today we had our second 1 hour improv assessment.  The setting was in a courtroom and the case was about a teacher who had been charged with harassment and assault on a teenage girl.  I was a cleaner in the school who witnessed the event the teacher was charged with.  I was part of the ‘Prosecutors’ and made a story up that the teacher had threatened me if I told anyone what I knew.  I found that in this improvisation there was real emotion.  I was getting angry and frustrated more as the story progressed and I felt like I was my character.  I find emotions easier to understand and express now than I did when we first started to look at emotion.  One thing that I am slowly learning is not to take real emotion on stage, just extract the feeling and use the feeling.

As a group I do feel like we did very well and we used all the improv techniques instead of the same people taking major throughout.

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13/11/18

Today we worked on our duologues.  Personally I am finding the duologue harder to engage with, but I do feel that it is partly down to the fact that we started working on the movement pieces first and they have had more time put into them.  I feel that for my duologue to progress now, I need to continue learning my lines and understanding the space I will be performing in.

We also worked some more on ‘Slow Train Coming/License to Kill’.  As a group I feel like we have taken to this song very easily and we understand the harmonies, pace, pitch etc.  We will be performing this in the library next Tuesday.

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12/11/18

Today in movement we looked a performance by ‘Gecko’ a physical theatre group.  The piece we watched is called ‘The Time of Your Life’.  Initially I was quite confused with the piece and took the movements too literally.  I then began to make sense of what was going on when I began to think about what the sequences could be symbolising.

We also worked on our movement pieces.  Mine and Honour’s piece is starting to pull together and the emotions are coming through better now.  We both agree with the feedback we were given which was that there is more fluidity to the first half of our piece as that half is more rehearsed and there is a deeper meaning.  I am excited for this piece to be graded as I have exceeded what I thought I could do and I have put a lot of effort into the meaning behind the story.

As a group we did more work on our devised piece.  I have a solo movement piece that I have learned half of the choreography to.  I personally feel like this piece of work is going to be very strong and work well.

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06/11/18

Today we did some more work on our scripts for the duologues.  We did a read through of the script up to where we have agreed to cut it off.  The read through together helped me to understand the relationship between the two characters better as it helps me to visualize what I am learning.  

We also began practising a new song, ‘Slow train Coming/License to Kill’ from The Girl in The North Country.  I enjoyed learning this song and I enjoyed learning the harmonies as they are quite easy to remember and they sound very good.  I struggled to find volume when I sang in a higher pitch initially but after a few run throughs of the song it became much easier,

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The feed back for our devision piece.

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05/11/18

In movement today we looked at impulses and trust again.  We performed our devision pieces with the stimulus ‘fear’.  We also did a mock assessment for our movement pieces.

The impulse activity we did was we all had to begin to walk at the same time with no communication.  Then the walk had to develop into a jog, the jog to a run then from the run back to a jog, back to walking and then finally a standstill.  The purpose of this activity is for us as a group to be able to become fully synchronised with no communication.  This skill is important because if there is no music or lighting que, the group must be able to react at the same time.

For the trust exercise we got into pairs, one pair put their hands on the other hips and the person being held has to lower themselves down as if they are going to fall forwards.  Then you both have to walk to the other side of the room.  I found this quite hard initially as at first I was confused and then got in my head again and felt like I was going to fall over.

For the mock assessment of our movement pieces, me and my partner Honour were graded a merit/distinction as so far we have showed push and pull, emotion shown through our facial expressions and a strong relationship between the two characters.

 We performed our devision piece with the stimulus of ‘fear’.  I personally feel like the overall performance peaked in the first scene but went downhill as an unrehearsed part was added and threw off the other actors.  I think that my personal performance was good as although I couldn't speak due to the makeup I had on, I found my physicality to fit what my character was.  My character was a patient in a mental institute who lost her ability to speak as she put safety pins through her lips.  I was carried on but I was kicking, twisting and turning and resisting the hold they had on me.  When I was let go I got close up to the audience.  I will attach our feedback in the next post.