Evaluation of Our Performance

Last night we did our final production of Noughts and Crosses. I personally think that it went extremely well, everybody was extremely focused and I could honestly tell how far everyone has come since the start of the term. I think that my first term at Brit has helped me tremendously already and I hope that I have proved this throughout my reahursals and my performance. I am very excited to continue working and developing my acting skills!

Character development

During our theatre classes we have continuously worked on our characterisation. We have done so by doing various warm up exercises before performing, which really helps us to let go of ourselves and transform into our character. 

To start it off, we got into our groups of characters (all the sephys together, all the Calum's together etc). Lynette (my character) is also played by Matilda, so once we got together we had a long discussion about what Lynettes personality traits were, and how we were going to portray this on stage. This helped a lot as it was interesting to hear Matilda's different point of view even though we had the same character. I am still referring back to mine and Matilda's conversation just to help me with what I do on stage.

What's more, in a Theatre lesson taken by Miss Goodall, we explored the topic of subtext. Subtext means looking behind the actual text and discovering what the words really mean. In our exercise, we ran through our scene but instead of delivering our actual lines, we said the subtext instead. This exercise was very useful because it helped me understand what Lynettes reasoning was for delivering her lines- why she was saying them and what her objectives were. 

In another lesson, we did a exercise on visualisation. We were told to stand in our own space with our eyes closed and to picture a space that our character was familiar with. I chose to visualise Lynettes bedroom as I feel that it is somewhere she feels comfortable in. Once we had the imagine in our head, we were tapped on the shoulder and told to speak out loud and describe what the room looked like. This was usefull as it helped me to picture every single minor detail within her room; old carpets, cold floors, condensated windows, peeled wall paper... Etc. These little details can really  contribute to how you play your scene and how you incorporate subtle movements to work for your character. 

In another lesson we were told to write a short passage about an important moment that happened to our character in the play. I decided to write about the moment she saw herself for who she was after being forced to look in the mirror and remember all the traumatic events that had previously happened to her. 

This helped me develop my characterisation as I took the time to think deeply about how I, personally, interpreted Lynettes thoughts and feelings. By doing so I can now convey this onto stage to make the audience realise just what she has been through and how heartbreaking the acceptance is for her. It can sometimes be very emotional to feel what she feels!

Our ensemble piece that takes place at the end of the scene is a physicalisation exercise where we take out our lines, and use our body movements to replace what we would've said.  This is very effective as it is interesting to see how our scene changes in what mood and aura it gives off. All in all I think the pieces are very beautiful to watch because, as a class, we are all very focused with what we are doing. 

What's more, in our lessons Ms Bailam helped us to block our scenes. In my scene, we work around a box which is in the middle of the stage. After Miss gave us some simple staging, we then went on to develop this. This was useful as it has helped me to think more about how important staging is and how it can change our piece to become more effective. 

How I have reached my targets

My first target was "To create character development throughout the scene/ what are lynettes aims/objectives?" 

I am still continuing to improve how I use this target, but I have achieved this by constantly reading over my script and making notes on what I think Lynny is thinking when she delivers her lines. Every time we do the scene I see it in a different way to how I did before which really helps me to understand just what Lynny wants. 

My second target was "To read beneath the lines and think about subtext". I have reached this target as we did an exercise on Thursdays class which helped us to look between the lines of what our character was saying, and it helped us to understand what they really wanted to get across. Instead of saying the actual lines we said what we thought their objectives were for each line. Now that I have done this I can fully understand what Lynette is feeling which then helps me to chance the tone of my voice and spacial awareness on stage. 

In class we were given marking sheets that we filled out for somebody else. These marking sheets were used in order to peer asses and to help eachother improve. Here is my assessment sheet I recieved: 

 

And here is the assessment sheet I filled out for Alex: 

Acting skills audit page (all 3)

Here are my Acting skills audits:

And here is a link to my character profile page:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007515587667

Task two- research about the play

Book cover for noughts and crosses

After reading the script I think that it is clear that the main theme of the script is Racism. Other main themes of the play also include: violence, discrimination, friendship,courage, betrayal and forbidden love. Here is a link that I found which gives a clear detailed description of the themes of the play: http://blackandwhitexo.weebly.com/theme.html


Another article I found about Noughts and crosses is reviewed by the guardian, it gives a breif description of what happens in the play (in case you dont already know!) :
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/aug/30/review-noughts-crosses-malorie-blackman

Here is a beautiful poem I found about racism. It also talks about friendship in this poem so I felt like it was  extremley well suited for Sephy and Callum's relationship.


My skin is white like vanilla ice cream,
Or the clouds in the sky.
Your skin is dark like chocolate,
Or a cup of coffee.
We look different,
Yet we are one in the same.
Our hearts beat as one.
I face judgment,
You face judgment.
I face hard times.
You face hard times.
But in my mind,
We'll make it through,If we come together
And accept each other.
We want the same things.
I want to be accepted.
I want to be loved.
I want to be educated.
I want to be successful.
I want to be happy.
My family, they grew up with racism around.
Acceptance was buried deep in the ground.
They never learned to love the differences,
They never learned to have tolerance.
They learned stereotypes and hate,
Cruelty and race.
Kids at my school,
They don't understand.
Our world is cruel and bland,
Because we can't relate.
We don't concentrate,
On the good in people.
Your skin is ebony.
My skin is ivory.
My skin is light.
Your skin is dark.
My skin is beautiful.
Your skin is beautiful.
It shows we are human beings,
So much more complex,
Than we ever imagined.
I accept you into my heart,
If you accept me into yours.
We look different,
Yet we are one.

11/9/14 Homework- Lessons plan (how it helped me)

We started the lesson with a physical warm up, which was inspired by 'Frantic Assembly'. The exercise helped us to warm up as it certainly sent all of our heart rates through the roof! We had to walk, jog, run and then sprint on the spot repeatedly for a few minutes which really woke us all up! After this warm up we were all ready to get going. 

Actors need to warm up physically before rehearsals as it helps them to stretch out their muscles, limbs and whole body in order to vigorously move about on stage without inguring themselves. Warm ups also help to quicken your pulse- this keeps you more alert and energised. Actors need to stay energised in order to transfer that energy to stage! 

My body felt very stretched out after the warm up, especially my face! We did various exercises and techniques which really helped to relax any tense muscles. After the physical warm up I felt as if my body had a right amount of strength to get to work! 

Voice is an important tool for actors as it is key to project your voice appropriately on stage. If the audience cannot hear you, this is no good whatsoever! So in order to maintain a clear, pronounced voice, you must undergo certain warm ups that will keep your voice strong and settled. Warm ups also help to control breathing- breathing is important when on stage as it supports how you use your  voice. Warm ups are also important for your health- if you do not warm up your voice correctly you could damage your vocal chords, resulting in not being able to speak properly!

After the vocal warm up my voice felt soothed and my breathing was under control. Having asthma can be hard at times so the vocal warm up really helped me to keep it under control! My lungs also felt strong and supportive so I knew I was ready to project my voice without straining it. The warm up was very usefull and I now know just how important it is do to them frequently! 

Status is all about levels and how high some characters are on these levels compared to other characters. High and low status are used to portray to importance and superiorness of a character, or their insignificance. For example, a King who would have a high status may be standing tall and strong, whereas a peasant may be standing hunched over and timid. Your status of your character may also depend on how another character is acting around you. Status can also change and vary throughout a scene. 

Me and my partner Alex were given a script that was very short- about four short lines to each character. After reading the script a few times, we decided which character had a higher status, and which had a lower. After determining this we then went on to try out different ways of acting this out- should the character with the higher status be standing or sitting? Should the character with the lower status be rushed when speaking or slow and afraid? We decided that the character which held a higher status (B) would be on the floor, lying down as if they were relaxing. When the other character comes in (A), they would be a little anxious, as if nervous when in the presence of B. A great way to show status is eye contact- Character A never bothered to look at character B- as if they were inferior and not worth looking at! Instead character A would look at their nails or hair instead. Suttle movements like this can also create a great effect when portraying status. Another way we showed status was by using our voices- character A would speak monotone and a little distant, as if the conversation was not worth getting involved in. However character B would speak with urgency and a little anxiety to show how they clearly could not live up to the presence of character A. 

Other pairs showed status successfully by encountering a scenario into the scene, for example one pair chose to have it as if the character with a higher status was a customer at a resturaunt and the other character was a waiter. This was a clear way to show who held the higher status in the scene. 

We then played a scene between Callum and Sephy. In the scene Callum held a higher status as he was extremely angry with Sephy, and she was very apologetic. My partner and I showed this by different levels. When sephy entered Callum was on the floor- yet after a while he stood up and started shouting at Sephy, which was a great physical way to show status. Also juxtaposition between tones of voice- sephys voice was soothing and a little desperate, whilst Callums was booming and frustrated!

Callum was on the ground, looking out into the ocean. After 5 seconds or so, Sephy enters. When Callum notices Sephy, she looks at him with guilt and apology in her eyes, yet he responds to this with a look of sheer disgust on his face. Eventually he looks away from Sephy- he doesn't want to see her. Sephy cautiously sits on the floor a few meters away from Callum, and after a while he starts to loose his temper- he immediately starts shouting at her.  As Sephy starts apologising Callum stands up in defeat, he starts to walk away. Sephy tries to follow him- she pleads him but he does not stay. After he tells Sephy "Promise me you will never use that word again," and she replys with "I promise" they both leave their separate ways, and Sephy does not follow. 

My characters objective was to make Sephy feel guilty about what she had done. Obviously, Calum and Sephy share a history, so Calum can't stay mad at her for a long time, as we see at the end of the scene. Towards the end he still has an angry flame inside him, yet it has died down a bit. He tries to teach Sephy that what she said was wrong, no matter how  she meant it. Sephy understands- she cares for Calum and he cares for her aswell. In this scene we see Calum's angry side, but we can also see that there is an equal amount of timidness behind his anger. Calum could have easily decided to make the choice which was to never see Sephy again, but he didn't. 

Here are my notes from class about other pairs work:

Notes for drama:

Susanna and Eric:

Nice use of pauses, silences, spacial awareness on stage. Suttle movements of Eric- touching his nose, shaking his head etc. clear status representation.

Sincerity within his words - looking at the floor (showed how he was sad). 

Roseby and benji

Took their time. Sephy was portrayed as equally angry and hopeless as Calum. She seemed desperate towards Callum. He was clearly hurt. Nice spacial awareness 

Jake and Alabama 

Tone of voice by sephy was soft and quiet. Calum's voice was loud and fierce, sephy touched Calum's arm as a gesture of resentfulness. A really nice build up in tension and anger between the two. 

In this session I have developed the skill of how to clearly portray status. I learnt that eye contact and suttle geastures are KEY when trying to portray status! I feel like this lesson helped me immensely and I am certain I will continue to use this skill when I am performing in future! 

Some pictures from our class :) 

 

4/9/14 Homework 1

Throughout my time of acting, i've always had a rooted passion to improve- wheather its my projection ability, my stance as a performer or maybe even learning my lines, I am always open to hear how I can do better. Wheater this feedback comes from my peers or my teachers, I am 100% open to hearing constructive criticism. 

My acting skills at the moment are ones which have been developed over the years of learning- learning from others, learning from myself. I feel that my main skill as a developing actor is to get lost in my character- I am always interested as to how I can portray the character role, yet also how to feel what they feel. Acting, of course, is an art, and it took me a while to figure out what exactly was meant by that. But I understand now. To place yourself in someone else's shoes- to forget about you and your world- to step into something unknown despite yourself- that is an art. I feel as if my passion for acting as also helped me to create a strong interest towards whatever I am faced in theatre. Me, personally, I find that I enjoy myself so much more when I am intrigued by what I am doing, which is always the case for myself when it comes down to drama. Taking an interest towards my character then helps me to develop the way they speak, use spacial awareness and what kind of appropriate facial expressions to use. If you have this attitude towards your project, then it really helps to bring the script to life, which is key, because- let's be honest. No one enjoys a dull script. 

What's more, I know that I have room to improve (as I'm sure we all do) with my improvisation skills- how to free your mind from being limited. I know that as an actor this mind set is cruicial and will help me with many tasks that come my way, so I hope that by studying theatre at BRIT will help me to achieve just this, along with other new skills which I can't wait to take on board!