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.