Lesson 7 - 18.12.14

CHARACTERS THAT I PLAY IN EAST END TALES

DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTERS

Prologue

In the prologue I play the part of a taxi driver. The taxi driver I play comes across as a bit greedy as he is stating that because he has 'a baby on the way' he should deserve a tip. I enjoy playing this character a lot. He also comes across as being a tad cheeky because he is indeed asking for a tip which is something that a passenger should give at their own discretion. This really helped me characterise this driver. In the Epilogue I also play the same taxi driver, but in this scene, to me,  he comes across as lazy as he states that he doesn't want to pick anyone else up as he's "knackered". I felt like this was more of an excuse than a fact, therefore I made him come across as excusive.

Tale 2

In tale 2 I play the collective character of a boy/man personifying and describing the East End as if it were a woman. I contribute to the personifying description by saying the lines:

"A woman" - This is a line that is right at the start of the scene, therefore clarifying that the thing we're describing is indeed a woman. On the wall drawing we create of this women

"She's happy" - Indicating that, despite what has previously been said, she is a happy person. This contradicts previous lines about being depressed.

Tale 3

In tale 3 the whole class works as an ensemble to personify the east end one last time. I am part of this so this is one of my characters in this scene. I also play the part of a plumber who is talking to a woman about a burst pipe. Near the end of the scene I also play the part of a witness of the crime that "Jack" committed. During the part where the boys are stood at the back in the "bar", I decided to take on the role of someone who's pulling pints at the bar and who occasionally looks around to see what's going on in the rest of the scene.

Tale 4

In tale 4 I play the part of the child (as do all of our cast) who's told by their father to go and buy him some cigarettes and who is also the child who helps the old lady across the street. My character feels sorry for the old lady who we help and I show this by using my facial expressions because physical characterisation was limited in this scene.

Tale 5

In tale 5 I play the part of an angry boyfriend at the start of the scene banging on the door screaming at my girlfriend. I also play the part of one of the 'zoo animals' that is mentioned in this tale. Finally I play the part of someone working at the counter in the cafe who gives the woman with the empty pram her tea. I also have to carry the woman's body across the stage so I would guess that I also play the part of some funeral procession.

Tale 7

In tale 6 I play the part of one of the brothers behind the till in a shop. I also join with all the rest of the cast that play our family members at the end to scare of the racist shopper. At the start of the scene my character is very bored and I used my body and posture and facial expressions to magnify this.

Next, write out some of your lines from each tale and next to the line write your OBJECTIVE for saying the line. Think about why are you saying the line and this will help you with finding how you might say this.

PROLOGUE

"Work all hours me" - I think the objective of this line is to get my passenger to feel sorry for me.

"If you could sort us out wiv a tip" - This is the line that shows the drivers personality as he is trying to make his passenger feel sorry for him so he can get a better tip.

TALE 2

"A woman" - The objective of this line is show that if the East End was to be described as a person it would be a woman. Maybe this is because he sees the east end as a feminine thing. 

"She's happy" - Again, as we are talking about the East End and not an actual woman maybe this is a metaphor for the atmosphere around the east end or the people that live there. 

TALE 3

"A bit of everything" - As we are talking about a man who is described as "a jack of all trades", the objective of this line is to explain that he has many different skills.

"Which he doesn't as such" - We are talking about Jack talking, maybe this line insinuates the fact that Jack is quite quiet after what happened outside of the pub and the objective of the line is to try and get across to the audience that he is more sensitive than he seems.


TALE 4 (I only have one line)

"And crash off the walls of the estate" - The objective of this line is to emphasise how hard it is raining by using onomatopoeia.

TALE 5

"But even stranger, I look down at the pram
And it's empty" - The objective of this line is to emphasise the abnormality of someone walking around with an empty pram. Also the seperation of the line by using enjambment creates a sense of hesitation.

"No way
Not at all" - The fact that we say this as an ensemble helps emphasise the lines. The objective of this line is to do this.

TALE 7

"My brother stacking the shelves" - The objective of this line is to show that shop that the scene is set in is run by a family, therefore making it more intimate for the audience.

"Facing the rusty old till" - The objective of this line is to show that this might be a shop that doesn't make much money as it is described as "old"

Lesson 6 - 11.12.14

Lesson 6

Ensemble

Write your own definition of what ensemble means in theatre. An approach to acting that creates a unified effect made possible by all members of a cast working together on behalf of the play, rather than using individual performances.


What has to happen in the rehearsal room to develop a successful ensemble?

Every actor needs to be focused and ready to work hard because we are only as focused as our least focused actor.

Write about your favourite ensemble moment so far. Write at least 4 sentences to explain why. 

My favourite ensemble moment so far is the taxi driver scene. I think it is really well put together and the use of the lights from our phones is really effective. I also enjoy how we had freedom to a certain extent on how we created our sections so that everyones was different. I really enjoyed working in a group to create something because everyone had different ideas we could use.

Today we focused on creating Tale 3 and the start of Tale 4.

TALE 3

• How have we decided to stage Tale 3? 

The start of Tale 3 flows from the end of Tale 2. All the boys stand up one by one whilst muttering the line "If the East End was my friend" and goes and stands behind the stools that are still set up in the same order from the girls' ensemble scene. After that, one by one, we all pick up a stool and swing it over our heads and slam it down, jeering and cheering like a bunch of 'lads' in a pub. The song 'London's Calling' is playing in the background and we all take a big swig from our pints in slow motion. On the second time the song says "London's Calling" we slam our 'pints' down and stamp our feet. We say a few lines as an ensemble and then proceed to all turn into a 'jack of all trades' eg. a plumber, builder etc.. We then form a bar at a pub and Matteo is left in the middle and we tell the story of a man and an incident occurred involving him. On the line "Where a body of a man lies covered in snow" a white sheet is placed in the middle and is lit up with the girls' phones that are surrounding it. 

• What characters do you play in this tale? 

In this tale I play one of the men in the pub throughout the whole scene. Also, for the 'jack of all trades' part I casted myself as a plumber who is talking to a woman about a burst pipe.

• What is the atmosphere of Tale 3? How is this different to what we have created for Tale 1 & 2?

The atmosphere in Tale 3 is quite mysterious in some places but also loud and rowdy in others. In the start pub scene everyone is being loud and there is lots going on. As we progress through the scene it gets more haunting and mysterious as we talk about a fight that ended badly. This is different to Tale 1 & 2 because both of those scenes are much more choreographed which gives it a really flowing feel. Also Tale 2 is much more visual than this scene because of the drawing on the wall

TALE 4

• How have we decided to stage Tale 4? 

The scene starts out by flowing straight out of Tale 3 from the bar scene. We change the bar made from the stools into a chair for Will who is playing "Dad" in the scene. After that, a few girls have umbrellas and everyone goes to join someone under an umbrella. We then move to the floor where we are all covered by the umbrellas. After that we move to face someone and create a "road" diagonally down the stage. After the road we then go into 3 lines that represent the aisles in a supermarket. After Nina has traipsed through the aisles my line (which is the middle) go to our knees downstage centre stage to create the counter of the shop. Nina then scans the items and everyone but her sits down. As she gets 'home' Sarah and I simulate the action of a door that Nina proceeds to slam.

• What characters do you play in this tale? 

In this tale I play the part of a horse racing commentator at the start, I then play part of a supermarket aisle, a supermarket counter and finally a door. 

Further questions...

• What acting skills have you continued to develop over the past few weeks? Is there anything new you have discovered about your own skills?

Acting skills I am continuing to improve on throughout the past few weeks are: 
My projection - I have found that creating a play using the thrust staging really improves projection as depending on where you are you have to project to three sides of the room instead of 3.

Spacial Awareness - This is another skill that has been developed because of the thrust staging. It has made me be more aware of where I am and where I need to be on the stage. Sometimes I need reminding that there are audiences on three sides but I definitely think it helps my skills.
Coordination - Working as an ensemble has really helped develop my coordination not only with others, but with myself. It helps me be aware of the other actors that I'm working with.

• Return to all of the sections of the text we have staged so far. Select a line from each that sums up that tale.

Prologue - "Yeah I get all sorts in here"

Tale 2 - "If the East End was my friend"

Tale 3 - "The loudmouth routine is just a disguise"

Tale 4 - "Nobody's ever helped me before"

Tale 5 - "They were fucked up"

Tale 7 - "I am SO not in the mood for this"

Lesson 5 - 4.12.14

Lesson 5 - 4.12.14

Rehearsing

This is the basic configuration of our performance space: 

It is called Thrust staging.

What is an advantage of using this staging?

An advantage of using this staging is the fact that you almost perform to 3 different audiences (in front of you, to your left and to your right) instead of just invfront of you.

What is an disadvantage of using this staging?

A disadvantage of using this staging is the fact that you have 3 sides to perform to, but at some points you may have your back to one side, and you can't be face on to the audiences.

Question:

As an actor what are the challenges you think you will have personally being directed in this space? 

I think one challenge that I may face is that my staging will have to be good and evenly spread out so that I'm not just performing to 1 of the 3 sides.
Another challenge would be adapting my projection. For example, if I'm performing to one of the audiences on stage left or stage right, I would have to project so that my voice would bounce off of the walls and reach the other set of audience members. 

Here is some vocabulary that I can use as an actor:

How have we staged the prologue? Why have we made this choices? What is the effect that is created? 

We have created a scene where all the lights are off and the only light is coming from our phone torches. The torches are used as headlights on taxis and there is also a light above each of the drivers heads. Each driver is designated to a paragraph and each group came up with different sections of the scene. We have decided to do this because it gives the effect that we are all taxi drivers driving late at night, talking to our passengers. This also gives a sense of mystery as the light is very minimal and you cannot see much of the driver.


We then explored Tales 1 and 2 in two groups. Girls and Boys.

What is your role in the tale?

In Tale 2 my role is to take part in the description of what the East End would be like if it were a woman. Each of the boys take it in turns to say one line which adds clarity to the description of this so called woman. I say three lines:
"A woman"
"She's happy" 
and,
"A personal shopper"

How has it been staged?
The scene starts off with all the boys walking around muttering "If the east end was my friend". Once we are into position a beat kicks in and we all say our lines to the beat of the music, in a sort of rap fashion. 
When we say each of our lines we go up to a wall that is downstage and we draw our description onto an image with chalk.

Why have these choices been made?
These choices have been made because it will feel like everyone is making a contribution to the creation of the metaphorical woman that is the east end while drawing them on the wall. We decided to stage it how we did at the start because it gives a sense of mystery and it makes the scene flow.

What are the strengths of this piece so far?

The strengths of this piece so far are:

We all work well together as an ensemble so the pieces will look great when we get to the finished product. I also like how the piece flows like a poem so everyone really feels like there's a beat to follow. 

What developments need to happen throughout the rehearsal period? 

A definite improvement that needs to be made is the focus of the class in general. We may have made quite a good amount of progress but I think everyone including myself needs to be more focused to make sure we achieve the maximum amount of progress.