The units end

The classical theatre unit has now come to an end, but I will keep developing the skills which I have learnt and the information I have gained. I have found this unit incredibly challenging but also very interesting as I had no idea how much classical theatre had to offer. It was also amazing to see the journey theatre has taken over time, how it has evolved and who and where these changes happened e.g. I think its incredible how clever the architectures of the ancient amphitheatres must have been to create them in such a way which projected speech and seated around 15,000 people!(especially with the limited technology they had). I have learnt just how much theatre and drama has influenced and affected so many lives throughout history and in the modern day e.g. productions have even been specifically designed to express a certain point or opinion, often politically or religiously (morality plays).
http://www.theatrehistory.com/  -  interesting website concerning theatre history

What skills have I learnt or developed?

• Monologue performance
• presenting skills
• vocal skills -projection, enunciation, pronunciation, intonation and punctuality
• I have learnt more about the old English language and how it has evolved
• team working skills
• The importance of independent study and reliability
• performing on your own- confidence building

I hope to put these skills to good use in future units and to keep on developing and improving them.
below is a video which will explain the history of theatre, it is part of a series of videos which you can locate on youtube- if you are interested these videos will help explain the history of theatre in an understandable manner.

presentation- final assessment

Today we performed our presentations for the final time, therefore It was our final chance to improve the grade (for the presentation). Since the initial assessment I changed and added a few pieces of information to my presentation e.g. Melo-drama and molieres death on stage, I also added a prop (a shilling replicate). After I had made the changes to it, I rehearsed it in front of my family a few times to make sure I remembered the information correctly and to get a second opinion.

How did my presentation go?
In some ways my presentation was better today, as I pronounced moliere correctly and had more information in it than previously,  Although the way I presented it was less effective e.g I said some of the information in slightly the wrong order and got a bit lost half way through. Although this was annoying, I don't think it affected it massively as I still managed to get the information across in an understandable manner. I also think I projected more effectively, yet this is still a skill in which I aim to improve.
If I do a presentation again I will make sure to rehearse it further and try not to be put off by having an audience.

I tried not to turn my back to the audience whilst explaining information

Final assessmnent- Monologue and scene

Today we performed our monologue and scenes for our final assessment. I have been rehearsing my monologue throughout the half term, working on all aspects of feedback (given by my tutor and myself) with the aim of improving it as much as possible. I used the ideas I came up with after the initial performance (see blog-monologue assessment-feedback) and added them into my monologue, I then rehearsed them to see if they suited my character (Frosine) and to make sure that they worked and made sense. I had to discard a few ideas along the way as I didn't believe them to look correct e.g. I was going to walk behind Mr Harpagon and pretend to have money in my hand, as if reminding him that she can supposedly make him money, I discarded this idea as It just didn't look natural during performance. I hope that the gestures added and the changes made have improved my monologue.


Personal interpretation of my final assessment- monologue
I am slightly happier with myself than the initial assessment, yet I am still frustrated and a bit disappointed with myself as I know I have performed it much better on other occasions, I also used my props differently as I had improved there use over the half term, yet I just completely forgot this during the performance. I believe these issues to be due to confidence and nerves (something which I am aiming to improve). Yet on a brighter note I know that it was better than the first assessment, as I projected my voice better and used more gestures. It is interesting for me to see how it has changed from my first reading of the monologue to my finished product in a way.
Personal interpretation of my final assessment-Scene
Our group scene mainly went to plan, the couple of mistakes that were made were well hidden. I still know it could of been slightly better but I suppose in a way you can never improve anything enough!. This experience taught me the importance of working together as a group and individually to create a group piece of work. It  has also shown me how much the industry and the acting profession relies on everybody working together, rehearsing and putting the work in themselves as one person can affect a majority of people.

In the future I hope to be more creative with my use of gesture and perform pieces it to my best ability during assessments!. I think I also need to experiment further and be more brave with my movement choices.

Monologue assessment - Feedback

Monologue assessment-feedback
I  received feedback from my tutor concerning my monologue- this is the feedback I received  

• It was fairly good but it has the makings of being a good monologue, I just need to be more creative and add in some more movements e.g maybe I could stand up on occasions when my character is getting carried away with herself.
• I need to project my voice further
• when I am taking down notes at the end, I need to make sure I actually look at what I am writing down!

I have come up with a few ideas to improve this:

1. when my character (Frosine) is getting carried away during the line "I could match the grand Turk and the venetian republic" I am going to stand up, yet she remembers very quickly that Mr Harpagon is watching her therefore she shakes her head in dismissal and sits back down. I am also going to stand up during the lines "she has not any hankering after extravagant dresses, expensive jewellery or sumptuous furnishings" and " do you mean to say that a modest appetite, a sober taste in dress, and a dislike of card playing don't amount to anything tangible? why, they are a marriage portion and an inheritance rolled into one!" during the first line (she has not any..) she stands as she is getting excited about the dresses she is talking about, she twirls and tugs at her own jewellery showing this; It also gives off an impression that she is a bit gossipy, which i believe her to be. She stands during the second line as she is confused and slightly frustrated that Mr Harpagon can't imagine what she believes to be flawless and wonderful ideas! she will shake her head and glare at Mr Harpagon in frustration.
2. I am going to work on the aspects which need improving e.g projection and making sure I look at the notebook when writing.

I intend to go closer to Harpagon, similar to the
picture. I wish to mime money in my hands
to show that Frosine is using His greed to her
advantage

                                                                              

  

 

Presentation and feedback- 9th Febuary

Today we were given some time to look through our presentations, during this time i chose to read through my presentation to ensure that it flowed and contained the correct information. I also added some information that I thought might help; the information I added was about the different sections of the theatre and their entrance prices e.g the pit, galleries-(1shilling). I added sections of this information on my note cards (as a stimulus) to remind me about these aspects, for example I wrote down "pit" and "stage sections" which reminded me to mention this in my presentation. I chose to use note cards as this would prevent me from constantly looking at the slides (on the PowerPoint), which shows that I fully understand what I am talking about!.

First assessment
We showed our presentations to our tutor, who then gave us feedback and the grade which they would currently achieve. overall I performed my presentation quite well, however I did get some words muddled up at the beginning, although I recovered from this fairly quickly.
Tutor Feedback

• Its clear that I understand what I am saying
• Overall it was a really good presentation which would achieve good grades
• I just need to check up a few bits of information that i may have got wrong or confused about e.g. Mrs Marwood is not gay!! My group has just interpreted the script incorrectly!
• Mention melo-drama and how over dramatic the actors were at the time

Personal interpretation of my presentation

• I am quite pleased as it went better than I expected
• I just need to correct a few pieces of information e.g. pronounce Moliere correctly.
• I am going to continue rehearsing it for the final assessment after half term.

                                                                         
 





Monologue assessment

In the morning we were given some time to rehearse our monologues and scenes.
I read my monologue through a few times (without the script) to ensure I could remember the lines and the pronunciation of the words, I also read it out to make sure that my intonation suited my character and what she was trying to say.
In the afternoon we were given individual time slots to perform our monologues to our tutors. This was our first assessment of our monologues, therefore we will be given feedback so we can improve them for the final assessment. For monologues many aspects are being analysed, these include:

• vocal skills: projection, enunciation, pitch, intonation, pronunciation, pause and inflection
• movement and posture: does your chosen posture suit your character?, do you have any nervous habits or in other words do you look wooden or awkward? do you add in appropriate gestures and facial expressions?
• Lines: how well do you know your lines? do you understand them and can your audience understand what you mean/

What layout and style have I chosen for my monologue?
I have decided to use the two chairs facing (tilted) to the audience, I talk to Mr Harpagon (the chair!). I have 2 props which are a note-book and a pen, My character uses these when she is calculating the cost of Mr Harpagon being married to Marianne, she also has the pen in her hand constantly and waves it about slightly, After experimenting i decided to do this as it gives the impression that Frosine (my character) does this sort of business all of the time, and is therefore used to carrying a notebook and pen around with her, this means that the pen might have just become a habit of hers. I know that if I was in her place I may have picked up that habit (the StanislavskI system) -http://www.kryingsky.com/Stan/Biography/bot.html----
This link contains more information about the Stanislavski system and putting yourself in a characters shoes to make the performance seem "real" and not "fake", this is what a man called Konstantin Stanislavski believed to be essential, the link will explain this :-)


My monologue performance went alright, but to be honest I don't really know how well i did. I remembered my lines correctly and I think I enunciated well. I know that my projection wasn't great and that I didn't use some of my planned gestures, I aim to improve these skills for my next performance.

Restoration theatre- further study

Last Friday we watched a presentation about restoration theatre, this explored what it was, how it came about and what it involved. I believe the following information to be important and interesting:

• After 7 years of civil war Charles 1 was removed from the throne and beheaded by Oliver Cromwell, leader of the puritans in 1649- the next 11 years were known as the commonwealth- during this period basically everything was classed as sinning included theatre, this meant that almost all theatres were burnt or destroyed by the government.
• In 1660, Charles II, who had been living in France, was invited by a newly elected Parliament to return from exile and rule England. The Monarchy was restored and this period was called the restoration.
• Restoration Drama- Unique fusion between Elizabethan stage conventions and Italian and French styles. French culture was especially influential in Restoration society as Charles 11 bought back various parts of french culture back when he returned from France. Serious Drama- consisted of Heroic tragedy and restoration tragedy.
• Restoration comedy- consisted of comedies of Intrigue (daring exploits of romance and adventure with complicated plots) and comedies of Manners (Focuses on the fashions and foibles of the upper class – gossip, adultery, sexual escapades).
• Actors- actors were mainly men, although women were finally allowed to act during this period of time( this hugely influenced theatre). Actors learnt their craft through apprenticeships and were offered jobs via contract. rehearsals for plays could last just 2 weeks. 
• Theatre Architecture- All buildings were indoor and the stage was divided into two distinct halves. lighting was difficult yet they managed by showing performances in the afternoon to use some natural light, they used candles alongside natural light as well. –

Time line of outfits during the restoration period

"The way of the world"- character interpretation and ideas

My character in our group scene is a maid called "Peg", After experimenting and analysing the script I have come up with a few characteristics which i would like to incorporate into the role.

• I would like "Peg" to be loyal to "Lady Wishford", yet she can still get irritated by her arrogance and occasional selfishness. She shows this by sighs, secret looks and eye rolling.
• I quite like the idea of making her rather nosey, She can be listening subtly to the conversations going on around her, yet she resists in-put (although its obvious that she would like to participate via eye and mouth movements). I believe that she would like to speak because if I was in her situation I would think that Lady Wishford and Mrs Marwood's conversation was slightly petty and immature, therefore i would want to subtly make them realise this. But in this situation "Peg" knows her place (as a maid) and knows better than to speak out.  

How is the scene developing and making progress (as a group)


The scene is becoming more structured and understandable with rehearsals and line learning, the ideas are developing and being used during rehearsals. Vocal skills are good as i would say everybody sounds in character and has added in comical characteristics to their voice (and movement skills for that matter). We have also discussed props and costume, we came to the conclusion that we would use an empty brandy bottle (cherry brandy), an empty liqueur bottle (red ratifia), plastic glass's and a mirror for the props, we have decided who will bring in which props to ensure we all know and understand what we need for the performance day. Costume wise we have all decided to find them individually, as we know our own characters the best. I have simply decided to wear a black top with an apron or cloth as i believe that is suitable for a maid.
Overall I believe we are working well as a group, sharing opinions and are making progress, yet further rehearsal and development is still needed.

Thursday 2nd Febuary

Today was completely focused on our monologues. We had some time to rehearse independently or in groups, I read my monologue to Matthew and Peter (on my course) who gave me feedback so that I could improve. My feedback was that overall it was well-spoken yet I need to project  my voice further and add in more movements. I then listened to their monologues (Matthew and Peter) to give them feedback before rehearsing independently.

After a short break we got given time slots of which we could work on monologues with Sonya (our tutor), this gave us the chance to get useful feedback, to discuss what was or wasn't working and to develop new ideas.

What did this achieve?

• I learnt that overall my vocal-skills during my monologue are good, i just need to project my voice further and leave gaps during the last part of my monologue (which is as follows)- "Do you mean to say that a modest appetite, a sober taste in dress and a dislike of card playing don't amount to anything tangible? Why they are a marriage portion and an inheritance rolled into one" as this would make it clear that she is both confused and slightly irritated that he isn't completely agreeing with her.
• During a discussion with Sonya I have developed some new ideas, Although i was originally planning to stand up i have now decided that i could sit down opposite another chair (placed slightly forward so it is still visible), directing the conversation to an imaginary Mr Harpagon who is sat there!, this means i could also use props like photos which i would be showing to him (obviously photos were not invented in 1668!, but we can modernise the style of the monologues).
• I can now experiment with the new ideas to finalise the blocking for my monologue, once it is finalised i can improve it with rehearsal.



The chairs would be positioned in this
manner so they are visible and so that it is obvious 
that Frosine is talking to somebody 



Wednesday 1st Febuary

Today was based on independant study, scene work and rehearsing monologues.
In the morning I rehearsed "The way of the world" with my group, we looked through the script first and did a quick run through to familiarise ourselves with the lines and previous ideas (written on the script). We then got on our feet (group decision) to perform the scene and put it into practise (act it out), this was highly productive as we have developed and memorised parts of the blocking.
The afternoon was basically independent study (monologues and lines) and a small amount of scene work. I read through my monologue a few times before performing it off-script, I believe I have now learnt my monologue which means i can focus on the movement and vocal aspects of the monologue more thoroughly . We did a small amount of scene work ("The way of the world") which consisted of idea devising, line learning and rehearsing: So what did this achieve?

• We have come up with an idea for our scene- Mrs Marwood gets pushed into the closet to hide from Foible,  yet she puts her glass out and looks at peg for a refill (blatantly not attempting to keep hidden effectively!)  and Peg (the maid) is trying her very best to cover for Mrs Marwood by taking the glass and pretending it was hers.
• I have rehearsed and learnt my monologue so i can focus on other important aspects
• As a group we have developed our scene further and gained ideas and blocking.

http://www.enotes.com/way-world- if you would like to understand more about "The way of the world" the link will explain the plot and history :-)