East is East brief

• We looked on the REP website to find out some background information on East is East
• We then were split into two groups and had to devise a scene to show how Tariq was an outcast. We also had to show his thoughts and use a section of the actual script. Ours involve and almost corridor effect with people on either sides. We had the main speaking characters at the back whilst the background characters had their own little conversations at the back. The other group used a more casual setting of in a pub with everyone laughing and drinking. They had Tariq further away from the group and had the other characters making fun of him. Both of the scenes were performed very well and got the point across, despite being contrasting.

Analysing A View From The Bridge

Today we analysed A View From The Bridge in many ways.

• Rehearsal Technique- Ways to help you get more in to character mentally and before hand
  Performance Technique- Ways to better your actual performance so physical things you do on stage
• Before Time- How the character would feel before the scene bearing in mind the events from the last scene and anything they may have done in between the scenes
  After Time- How the character feels after the scene and what they might have done after this scene before the next scene
• We did the before and after time for a character in the play and picked a particular scene. I chose Catherine and when she has just got back from town.
• We also chose a scene from the play and thought of an objective for each line. This can also be referred to as a wish or a want. I found it quite easy to do this however found it harder for shorter sentences. This is a rehearsal technique as it helps you get into character mentally but is not always demonstrated on stages unless by using actions or stage directions.

Stanislavski Exercises 2

The exercises we did today were:

• We had to sit on the floor and listen to the noises we heard around us. At first we tried to only hear the sounds in the room, then out to the corridor, out to the road and then back to the room. This is useful when acting as can help get you concentrated, teaches you to only focus on what you're doing so not to be distracted by the other sounds around you and also could be a way of staying in character so not being distracted.
• We also got into pairs and had to study each other and then had to close our eyes and give a description of the person and answer a question.
• The one person then also had to copy the other whilst just sitting normally and then when walking around. This showed us that when you are doing this compared to the other exercise you are not analysing as much detail as you have to think about what you're doing too and its hard to get things in exactly the same time.
• We were also given numbers and maths signs and had to create an answer to the sum using people whilst hopping and waving. This showed how concentration is hard when doing two things at once.
• We also all sat in a circle and had to imagine something we owned in our hands. We then had to describe it when asked and really look at the object to pretend that it really was sitting in our hands. Like me, most people chose an object from their bedrooms however I found this quite difficult as I kept imagining it in my bedroom rather than in my hands. Despite this, I found it quite easy to imagine other people's objects so this exercises was a good test of our imaginations and our describing skills.
• Finally, we had to close our eyes and think of a really sad moment then Sally and Rachel said how they feel and acted it.They acted it really well as you could see they really felt it and they also made me feel sympathetic. We then thought of happy emotions and i had to act it this time. I felt happy was actually a lot harder than sad as I think some of the sad feelings are still there but unless its recent i don't think the happy ones are. This technique is good to use when acting however can be a little too depressing so you need to snap out of the character quickly after.

Two contrasting conformatism scenes

Today we had to devise and perform two contrasting scenes to show if we can still relate to the message of Metamorphosis today.

• The First scene involved Ellie playing Gregor and started off with us all rising her using our hands and saying 'Gregor' in a slightly patronising and creepy voice. We then kept the voices and handed and put on her different things to force her to go to work and at the end said 'Now you can make...money!' We did this to show how Gregor needed to conform even in his bug state and was forced to work by his family. We then put our hands on 'Gregor' and pushed him to the ground to symbolise the pressure whilst saying 'beer, clothes, money, cigars' in succession. We then said them a further time together whilst on the floor and formed the bug with Gregor. The most effective thing about this scene was our use of levels as as it showed how Gregor had to conform to our standards as we were more powerful than him. The fact that we used puppetry could also show how the weak can be controlled easily and how they conform to society. This suggests how Metamorphosis can relate to the reader today so is still relevant as shows hows we should be wary of the weak.
• The second scene was a very typical school corridor scene. At the end of the first scene, we were all on the floor do moved into the next scene Ellie finding her lip gloss on the floor. We then all stood on chairs in a diagonal line and all together we reached for the lip gloss, put it on from left to right and then rubbed it in. Lloyd then walked across wearing a scarf and we all turned with our hands on our hips to look at him in disgust. We then made various comments about how she was a fashion reject as he was acting as if he was a tomboy but we were all very stereotypical girls. We then showed a complete contrast as when Yvonne had the scarf, we all had how lovely it was and wanted one of our own. We then all looked at Lloyd at the end to show that, even though one of us now had the same scarf, he still wasn't allowed to be part of our group. This shows that fashions change and how trying to conform in one society may be different to another. I think it links to Metamorphosis as it demonstrates how easily people are outcast. In these cases, it was only a scarf that Lloyd was discriminated for and, although it is quite a big thing to be transformed into a bug, he was still part of the family so I understand they outcast him too easily.

First dualogue performance

I have a mixed opinion of my first duologue performance. Firstly, I found I did quite well remembering my lines. Although I may have missed a couple of little line out, I remembered all of the important ones and felt I did not show I'd forgotten a few. I also felt I remained in character and did not really laugh which I felt was an achievement!
I also felt my accent was not too bad but I did not feel I was loud or overpowering enough. This is something I definitely need to work on as I don't normally play those kind of characters. I also felt that I maybe didn't make my character so believable as I played the character very differently to other people. This is because I focused more on being angry rather than fantasising over 'big men' which I think I should have focused on more as I think this would have made it a more effective and believable piece. I also think I needed to attack, emphasise and slow down the words a little more.
Finally, I feel that although I was not too nervous when performing the duologue, I still need to improve my confidence and audience and awareness when acting. Overall, I believe my first duologue performance was a good start but now I know what I have to improve on.

More Stanislavski Exercises

• Today we looked at ways to relieve unnecessary tension when acting.
• Internal Monitor- the way you are tensing and how your muscles are feeling
• External monitor- how you look from the outside
• Eg you could be reaching up to try and get something so that would come from your external monitor but if you are tensing it will come from your internal monitor so will make it more realistic

Exercises:

• We tensed our heads and subtracted 1 from 100, then 2 from that number, 3 from that number etc and found it was a lot more difficult that it normally would be. We concluded this was because we were concentrating on doing two things at once and you do things better when you are in a relaxed frame of mind as your brain functions more easily
• We also had an imaginary fence across the room and had to crawl under it however it was very low and got lower each time. It links to how you should be when acting as because we really wanted to not touch the fence and really pretended it was there, you should have the same motivation when acting even though you are pretending
• We had to lie on the floor and stretch certain parts of our bodies to get rid of the unnecessary tension
• We also had to watch someone stack 4 chairs and put them on a table and shout out which parts of the body they were tensing. They then had to do the exact same thing and we had to decide where the unnecessary tension was eg because we were watching him. He then tried to relieve his tension which should be done when performing to make it more believable to show you are not unnecessarily aware of the audience
• We also had to walk round the room and shout which parts of the body we were tensing when walking normally to relieve it and have a greater awareness of our internal monitor.
• We also had to pretend we were cats and pretend to be defensive and then going to sleep to learn how tension can make a performance more realistic
• We also learnt about our centre of gravity and had to rock back on a chair, stand on a chair and stand on the ground and lean to see how far we could go to show how centre of gravity changes
• We also became rag dolls and had to tense one part of our body and relax the rest to discover more about what tensing one part of the body only can do to the other parts
• Finally, we mimed lifting and moving different objects eg a small table, a table with a glass of water in the middle, a bucket full of water, a cupboard, to use what we had learnt about tension to make our mimes the best mimes we had ever done

Stanislavski exercises

• 'Given Circumstances' - This is what Stanislavski works around to build a character eg the setting, the date, the relationships between people, where people have come from
• Stanislavski's ideas were adapted into 'The System' or 'The Method' that are still used widely by many actors today for example famous film actors like Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman use his techniques
• Real I- us
• Dramatic I- the character
• We did the walking exercise although, when I have done this exercise previously, we have been put in pairs and one person had to copy the other and then we switched, this time we just started by all walking around. We then had to pick someone across the room and when told to do so, walk behind and copy them. For me, this caused a problem as the person I had picked to copy was already copying me!
• We also did an exercise where the whole class had to watch one person in the class's actions and follow them exactly and this included whilst speaking, whilst walking and also whilst normally standing still.
• Another exercise was where we were tricked into looking for a pen so, for the first time round, had real motivation to find the pen. We then had to re-act the scene exactly as it was. It showed that when acting, you know exactly what's going to happen so, to be a very good actor, you need to have the same motivation the character would however not over act it.
• Similarly, someone sat in the middle and pretended to read a book without actually reading the words on the page. I learnt that, to make it as natural as possible, you need to not stay too still as normal people tend to fidget and also to be careful of the expression on your face even though you are reading. How your eyes move is also very important when acting this particular action.
• I also learnt that it is useful to observe people often to build up a personal bank of characteristics for example different walking styles. This helps when getting into a character as it makes it more believable as if for instance you were playing someone who was quite bossy you probably wouldn't walk very slowly or slightly hunched.
• After the lesson, I observed the characteristics of one of my friends. I noticed how how she always sat with one leg over the other and was always moving her one foot. I also noticed she was often twiddling with her hair or fiddling with her nails. I also noticed that when she walked she led from her feet and also moved her arms slowly if they were not in her pockets. She also looked down quite a lot. From this, I learnt that I could adopt these similar characteristics when playing someone who is not overly loud but not overly quiet as that is the personality of my friend.