Costumes

On Friday 29th we got to try on our costumes. From what I can see the costumes look great and are really comfortable. Everyone has a similar with added accessorises to match their character. For example, my character will be wearing a red sash and Katie will be wearing a helmet which looks so cool!

The costumes are leggings and a leotard but with tea dye fabric sewed on o make it not look like a leotard and leggings. At first I was slightly worried about wearing a leotard on stage however after seeing everyone wear it has made me feel less insecure.

Finally, I think I so cool how the TTA are making the costumes themselves and I know they have a lot of work to do for the end of next week however but I'm sure they will get it done to a high understand.

Week 7 - Thursday 28th April

Today we got given our timetable for next week as we tech runs and plots etc. This has made me realise how soon the show which is quite scary as there is still a lot more detail I think we need to add.  I thought this would make us have a really productive rehearsal and we would run the whole second half this wasn't the case. We only got through two scenes, even though there is ensemble for these two scene there still is no excuse to why we only got this amount done and it is shame and we have no one else blame but ourselves.

Having said this I do feel more confident on the two scene we did.  the two scenes we did was after the second Haka and the end scene. This is the scene where I am Goth soldier and I am happy that we went over this scene because after seeing the theatre I am starting to work out how I can add move my body in the space. For example , at one point I have to help tie up Aaron but what I need to start thinking about is how would an Goth tie up Aaron because before hand I would just run and help tie him. For this I think I am going to think about the animal is a hyena and the Laban movement of slash so I can start to explore my character of a goth. 

In the last scene I am a roman soldier and I am finding it hard to connect to when Lavinia dies. I think it is because I am soldier who I think would be strong and use to seeing death and therefore wont cry. For scene to work I think I may need to look at how I connect to me playing Marcus and how I connect to Lavinia.

Overall, I did find this rehearsal helpful however the class could of definitely got more done and as we only have one week left of rehearsals we need to start focusing more.

Week 7 - Wednesday 27th April

In this week rehearsals we got the opportunity to work see our set in the new theatre and to do a run through of the show. Overall,  from what I have seen of the set I think it looks great and TTA are doing a really good job. The only small thing I would is the cauldron needs a bit evil. However having said this, the cauldron isn't yet complete so I cant say I don't like it yet. From looking at the space it is a lot bigger than our rehearsal space, which is good thing however it just means that we have to work a lot harder. Another thing I noticed was we need to vocally work harder as everything in the theatre absorbs sound.

Before we begun the run through TTA had to take us round all of the entrances and exits which is really important as now to need to start picturing us exiting though the doors and knowing where to enter next. We should of all ready known what doors we enter and exit but now we need to work how long we have to get to next queue. After we did this we started the run the show.

The Haka is the introduction to the show which did go well however there just wasn't enough room. We are all starting to make are own characters in this section which I think is really good as it means we are becoming more confident. The only thing we would need to do is rearrange the formation in order for everyone to fit. When we got to the first scene the blocking seemed to corresponded nicely and everyone knew what they were doing. The only thing that went funny was when  Katie takes Olivia into the corner of the stage  but Olivia has to walk backwards and over the muddle thing that surrounds the stage. I think small actions liked this happened a lot through out of the run as we have never worked in the space before. Things like this made the run stop and start due however this needs to happen so we can work out what to do. An important change to the opening scene is I exit after the Haka and come on when I first say my line 'Long Live Lord Titus....' . I spoke to Ben and suggested this idea as I felt like I was bit irreverent to the scene and I would get in the way when Samara gets carried off.  Furthermore it gives my character more of an intention to be happy and proud when I see Titus.

The show was stop and start like this however I wouldn't say there is much to change. The part I would slightly change is the love day could expand off the stage maybe and into the entrance A and B so there is more room on stage. Another element is the trees I think the trees just look messy as whole as it is so hard to stay still for 15 minutes in a good strong position. However, on Wednesday afternoon Ben redirected this section with the bamboo and it looks so much better.  From Tuesday rehearsals in the new theatre I was worried about this section due to the trees however now it has been changed I think it looks so much better.

Due to timing we only got up to when Katie and Esther which is shame as I feel confident on the first half of the show but not the second. I think we need to start focusing on the second half more because a lot of people feel the same way and the ending needs to be just as good as the beginning.  Even though I feel this way I think in about a weeks time it will be fine and everyone will be up to performance level.

For personally notes I would say is I was working a lot harder than I had in the theatre rooms. Which isn't bad thing at all I am quite this is something I noticed this because in the theatre is on three sides therefore we need to work three times harder in order for every audience member to see us.  Another element I would is I need to start saying thy like 'th-eye ' not 'they' as I have been pronouncing it wrong. However having said I'm not massively worried and I know I will get it and Shakespeare was something I feared as a theatre student because of the pronouncatnion of  words however rehearsing  Titus Andronicus has made me a lot more confident. 

Finally, I think the run in the theatre went really well and has got me a lot more excited about Titus Andronicus as I know its going to be amazing!


 

Run through of the show

This week in our rehearsals we did a whole run through of the show.  At first I was quite worried as I didn't think it would it would go that well. However, I think it all went better than we expected it be. It was stop and start due to minor errors but we worked them out managed them out.

Before we start the show starts we do a Haka dance which I through was going to go horribly wrong, I mean it was quite sketchy but it went a lot better that last week and we are all starting to embrasure our inner warrior. Even through it is early days I think we still need to fully cerrmitt to the dance and start adding our characters to it however I think this is will come over time. An element to improve on is we need to believe that we all know the dance as when people start looking around the formation doesn't look strong and we brake character. However I think what works really well in the show is the sound effects we do. I think they are everyone's favourite part as our voices fill the room and we all say them at the same time.

In addition to this, we all remembered are beginning positions and the show began. I think the first five pages where when everyone was off book which isn't that bad however our show is in three weeks so we do need to start getting off script asap so we can properly start doing run through. The small errors in the beginning were when Saturninus is crowned king and when Mutius dies. When Saturninus is crowed king the Andronicus group have to on one knee and say long live lord Saturnine! This went a bit weird as the transition and the order of where we knee. We got there in the end and it did look quite good so we just need to make sure that this doest keep happening as it just wastes time and we are quite behind anyway.  When Mutius dies everyone is meant too freeze and Aaron get the blood pack however no one freezed. This is virtual part in the play and if this doesn't happened when Shanay cant enter or the section wont look that good.  What did work really well was when we got everything right the show looks so good! I think it was good for us to do a whole through as the show as it gave us some belief and confidence because some people where moaning about it before hand.

The went quite smoothly until we got to the love dance. the transition into the dance was quite messy as we have to find our partners. My parter is Katie and as she was on the other side of stage which meant I had to run across the other side of the stage. I need to make sure this does'nt happened in the show as I don't think it looks very neat.  However when we got into the dance it looks so good and the breath that we all do in time with one another is really clever. Then when Nicole changes the rythm of the drum we do a the love dance in slow motion. No one did this and this created a lul in the dance as this makes it easy for us to transition into being dead on the ground. However , even though this happened I am still not concerned as it is something that can easily be changed and we do have a lot remember anyway.

The part that I thought looked really good throughout was us transforming into trees. I really like this bit and it is properly the best transition that we have got right so fair. The trees looked good however we do need to commit to the to this section. I get it that this is really hard as the scene is about 10 minutes long but it looks rubbish if we didn't commit. However , I do think when it comes the tech runs and dress rehearsals it will be fine.

The next section I should comment is my monologue. I would say my monologue is quite good however I to work out my states of tension because I tend to jump into a certain level and I tend to stay there. This is something I will do when it comes to character work. In addition to this, this is something I need to work on in general as when Ben told me I realised that I do it a lot, epically when it comes to monologues, It is a really bad habit that I need to improve so my technique can improve.

As a whole I would say the first half of the show is stronger than the second half just because we have practised it more. The elements that we need to work on in the second have of the show is the energy and transitions. I think the reason why we are loosing energy is because we get work hard on the first half so we get tired and slightly give up on the second half. This is something that people need to work on as if this happens in the show the ending will be rubbish and in my opinion the ending is the most important part in any show.  Furthermore, having energy in the second half will dramaticly improve the acting as a whole.

The transitions I am talking is when the Aaron walks around the cast and we have to picture a fly's around and try and shooo them away. This section could look really good but at the minute it looks quite bad as we aren't picturing seeing fly's we are just pretending.

The next part I would say is when we play the Goths. At the minute we are blocking it in however no one is actually playing a goth because we are just sitting on the floor. As the show is in two and half weeks we do need to start being a goth as when it comes to the show we wont know what to do and we will just look stupid on stage.

Finally, the next main section that needs focus on is the ending when many people get killed. This is because it is the ending of the show needs to be very detailed as the ensemble needs to react to this to create a picture. Overall, I think what needs to improve are the ensemble moments as some people are doing it half heartedly which brings down the energy in the piece.

Character Questions

To help me develop my character more I wanted to answer the five w's questions that the practitcor or used Stanislavski. I learnt about Stanislavski methods in year 10 and I have used them every since as I have found them very helpful.

The Five Questions are:

Who I am?
Why am I here?
What do I want ?
Where am I?
What will I do want achieve my want?

Answer:
I am Marcus Andronicus who is brother of Titus Andronicus. I love my brother and I am proud that he is one of the best soldiers in Rome. I am here because I have just come back from a ten year war and now I want peace.I just want to live my life how I use to live.  However , this isn't the case as so much has happened since I have been back in Rome. Like my niece has been raped , had her arms and tongue cut off. Seeing her like this was awful and bringing her to Titus was painful for me. The people who did where Demetrius and Chiron and I want to see them suffer. Lavinia is such a sweet and precious and I just don't understand how they could rape a small child or even harm her!  When Titus found out he went mad. It kind of scared me how he laughed about it. Not a shed of tears. Just laughter. I hope my brother is okay as he has just killed his daughter because she is no longer a virgin any more.  It was hard for to watch Lavinia get killed but I can understand why Titus would do it. Because she's no longer pure and no man will want to marry a women who cant please him. If I am honest though I am relieved that Titus has revenge and has killed Demetrius and Chiron because they deserve it! I personally don't want war however if somebody kills people that I love I would want the same on them. What I will do to achieve want I want is try and stay calm and look after everyone as much as I can. I don't want to kill anyone. Sometimes it is hard to calm especially when I saw Lavinia in that state however I have too. Because if I'm not then everyone will be killing each other and there will be nobody left!

Love Dance & Trees

I forgot to post my notes from a couple weeks but in week 2 of this term Ben directed the love dance. The whole cast are in the love dance and we start it when Saturninus ( Hannah) says the line 'This day shall be a love-day, Tamora' . We start doing the love dance getting into our pairs. My partner is Katie and the dance starts with a contact jam but we don't touch each other. Then either one of us can run off and the other must follow and do the same thing again. I found this really fun and quite easy to do. I think we don't need to go over this to many times as it is properly going to be one of the simplest dances we have so fare. After this, the drums start to play and we need to move out the centre and do the love dance contact jam in slow movement. While we are doing this is slowly movement we find our way to the floor and lie dead. 

I like the dance as its simple but effective and its really easy. However everyone needs to commit as it will look rubbish if its not dynamic. Another element that is important is the transitions of getting some people out of the middle because it will look messy if 10 people run. In addition to this, we need to balance the space! as this is a improvised section it can be quite risky as it will look bad if the are the majority of the cast in a certain section of the piece. In addition to this, we need to make sure the space is epically when we fall to  the ground because we will be lying there for a long and when we turn into tress the piece it wont look as effective. 

We do lie down for quite a while and we have to stay because if we fidget it will distract the audience from what is happening in the scene.  We start to transition into a tree on the line " The forest walks are wide and spacious " and we slowly start to move our hands like we turning into a tree. This needs to be really neat, clean and clear to the audience what is going so people need again commit and explore different way in how we can form a tree.  

The tree section does look really good and I love it when moved around the character Bassianus and Lavinia in the forest. However, I like the idea but when we were doing it the scene did look quite but I think is because the space wasn't balanced and we didn't   cleanly move around the space. 

Finally, I do really like the transition from going into the love dance and the forest but we need to build our stamina so can fully commit. 

Week 5 Rehearsals

Tuesday 12 April 2015

Today in Shakespeare rehearsals I think we got quite a bit done however I think we are still quite behind with the process in of where we want our show to be. We started from page 25 which is when Katie and Esther swap as Titus. They swap when Katie dips her hand in the coldrin to show she has cut her hand off and spats the blood pack on Esther's stump ( which is her hand that pretends it is cut off.   In this part I have a small monologue that I don't confidently know as its my last section of lines and therefore I have looked at it last.  When I read the play for the first time in half term I didn't really understand what my character was talking however I know understand that it is about the two that the messenger brings on.  In addition to this, from use blocking this section I have started to understand what my character would do and how he/she would react. For example , we are portraying Young Lucius as this vulnerable, young and scared child and as I am playing Marcus who is 'the mother' of the play I was caring for Young Lucius. The moments I need to work on is when Esther (Titus) throws a skull at me during her monologue. I need to work on this moment because I am aware that I am not acting truthful to the given circumstances and I think this moment is really important in the monologue as it is when Titus is staying to go a bit crazy.  As well as, going through the play itself we started to work on the ensemble moments. I love all the ensemble moments in the play as I think they emphasis the themes of the scene. For example, while Esther is going her monologue the ensemble are pretending to have a fake hand and kind play around with it in a dark and weird way, but it looks really cool. We directed the switch between Nicole and I as we are sharing the role of Marcus. So the way we swap the role is by when I exit after Titus monologue. As the ensemble our round the edge the of the stage when all of the cast walk slowly around the sage to change potion I enter and swap position with Nicole. While this happening Samara who is playing Young Lucius is playing a sort of it game with Aaron while every moves. I like this because it shows Young Lucius is just a small kid and I like the idea of only him seeing the bad in Aaron. 

As I am now the part of the ensemble I need to start remembering and going over the parts we have already directed as I am starting to find it hard to remember for example the Haka. In Act 3 scene 2 the ensemble are sitting down in quite a heavy way.  I found this quite easy to do as from the warm up of exploring our spine I used my spine to reposition my posture which made me feel heavier. We do this until when Lavinia writes on the floor who  cut off her tongue and arms. As this apart is a cruallsuall  part in the play I can see why Ben wanted us to all look in to see who did this to Lavinia . I do like this part as it emphasis the idea of who Titus is dying to know who did this to his daughter. When Young Lucius says the line " Stuprum, Chiron and Demetrius" the ensemble slowly flow back into sitting. I do like this idea however I just feel it the ensemble could do something else like stay by playing the objective to find (while sitting down) so it looks like that they are trying to find them.    

The next ensemble section is when Aaron says the line " did you not use his daughter very friendly? " This is my favourite part of the scene because its just so fun to do. All the females in the ensemble turn out and open our legs we giving birth to the audience. Also, we do the breathe action as well. I like this this idea because it emphasise the line and in the line we are constantly looking inwards so to do something where we turn outwards looks quite nice.  We do this until the line " For our beloved mother in her pains" where we all scream like we in labour. Then Becky gets the black cloth and runs round the stage with it and then wraps it round to form a baby. When Becky has done this she then bangs the drum and we all fall to the floor. As don't actually have the black cloth on rehearsal I cant exactly say what I think of the idea however I do like the transition of the black cloth turning into the baby.  I think it will look fine but it needs to be neat and dynamic and the well Becky walks will massively effect the piece. We leant the power of the walk in week 1 of rehearsal and I found it really helpful as it started to make look at the detail in my acting. 

I think the section in rehearsal looks really good however we still need to pick up the past a bit. In addition to this, in my opinion , the reason why rehearsals are going quite slow past because not everyone in the cast is treating these rehearsals seriously and they are doing it half heartedly which at times can be annoying. For the quality of the show to improve everyone needs to start committing to their character a lot more. I don't just mean the large characters where they have lines but also the ensemble parts that creates the atmosphere on stage. I understand that sometimes it can be difficult to give 100%  in a four rehearsal and sometimes I just give up and sit down and down give however I think we all need to build our stamina a lot more as we are all in the show and hardly anyone leaves the stage. 

After the break Ben wanted to incorporate the sword fighting section. I loved sword as I use to fence foil as kid, so I thought it was really easy.  But I thought wrong. I was properly the worst in the class as I had to my right hand when I am left hander.  I did find it really funny but  difficult to control the bamboo stick. I love the idea of using the bamboo sticks however the question whether we will be able to pull off making the sword look easy and dynamic. 




Wednesday 13 April 2015

Today in rehearsals we practice the Haka dance as we haven't done that in a while. It was helpful to go over the Haka as this could be a strong opening that needs to be perfect. I think the extra on the Haka benefited us some people forgot certain parts and  it was a good opportunity for us to ask each other questions.  We spent about 30 minutes on the Haka and when we did a whole run though it was almost perfect. For the Haka to improve we need to go over re watch the videos and character building on a  warrior character as we concentrating so much the what to do when by the time we get to the dress run it should be perfect. 

After the Haka run we start to block the second Haka which will be when we are all Goths in of Act 3 scene 4. The way the second starts is Jamilah is on stage run to the right hand hand side and gets confronted with the Goths. After this, she runs to the left and gets confronted again.  Then the ensemble do the synchronised movement that is very similar to the first Haka. When we lower on our knees I use the warm up do at the beginning to help with balancing and flow of my movement.  I also find the Laban movement of Slash to get my movement of a warrior. Then ensemble  form a semi circle so Jamilah cant escape. Then Jamilah runs to climb the ladder and says her monologue. While Jamilah is saying her lines we need to be reacting to what she is saying as Jamilah is explaining to the audience what is going.  We need to be reacting constantly to what is especially as we don't have anything else to do until Lucius says " A halter, soldiers! hang him on this tree" and we go and grab Aaron and hung him. I like the how Ben directed this bit as we are hanging Aaron like he's being crucified however I am just concerned that the transition of this will look  messy because we aren't fully confident with our characters and what we are doing yet. When we Shanay who is playing Aaron. We go back to our original position to the floor. After this, I'm not sure if we exit off if we stay as Ben never said to exit off however I thin the Goths should exit because the next scene gets quite tense with Aaron and Lucius and I just feel that  the stage should be bare so there are distraction , in my opinion.  We only got up to page 40 so we have made some progress as we only have nine more pages until we finish blocking everything and then we can start doing run through and focusing on the dances such as the Lone dance and the Haka. 

What I need to do for next week is start actioning my text as I am not responding and reacting to what is happening around me . 

Tuesday 5th & Wednesday 6 April

Tuesday 5th 

So today in rehearsal we did run thought from page 19 to the end of the play. I was quite happy that were doing this because I wanted to know what lines I knew and what lines I didn't know. For example, I realised that I pretty know my lines just not my queues to say them. Therefore I feel like I am in a good place with the process of my character and the lines. To improve, I need to start actioning and doing more character work in spare time as I think this will help me to learn my lines quicker and to help me understand Marcus more. In addition to this, the run through made me realise that I need to start working harder my lines and character as I think this term I haven't been as on it as the previous terms.  Furthermore, I'm kind of like it when Ben just steps back and tells us to start the play as when I read the play I honestly didn't like or understand it but when we did it in lesson I really liked the play.

Before we start the rehearsals we do the warm up that we do before everyone where we roll down the spine and let our upper body freely move. I always like doing this as its more off an independent warm up where can I do one section of it for longer than others. For example on Monday I rolled down my spine three times as my shoulders felt really sift. When every has finished exploring our back, legs and arms we slowly star rise into the potion of the warrior pose so we can start side stretch. When I did side stretch on Monday I think it was the best I have ever done it so fare as I was alert and focus. My my side stretch were really sharp and controlled but the part of side stretch I have improved on is sticking my legs and arms into the air and slowly lowering them. At the beginning of Titus rehearsals I found it really different to lower my arms and legs at the same but I now find it easier and I just embrace the pain!  I find doing this exercises really helpful and easy to do now. It helps me to feel energised.

After the warm up we wet straight into the run through. I have already spoken about the warm up however the thing I have haven't mentioned is my technique in how I am saying the lines. As I sort of ignored the punctuation when I was learning lines I have start pausing and stopping in the places and while I was performing I start realising this.  Therefore I just need to start looking over my lines before and relearn the so I can say correctly. As well as , I need to start doing some vocal colour exercises especially for my monologue as when I am a acting my voice goes really high and doesn't sound or feel supported which means I could be harming it. I need to make sure this doesn't happen in the performance as the audience wont be able to understand me properly and I need to look after my voice and damaged it as we are performing the show four times.

As well as this , in today's lesson we did some work of our animal we have chosen that represents our character. Finding animals that matched Marcus was quite difficult for me  but I think that is because I am quite a picky person. To begin with, Ben told to sit comfortably with our eyes closed. Then Ben told us to slowly start to balance our weight to how the animal would do it and start to re posture our spine to match our animal. I found this part quite easy our however when Ben said to open I found it quite differcult to see the world in my Mountain dogs eyes. I think this could be because I didn't really do much research on how my animal sees the world. However, this is a starting point on how I need to improve on my character as I think I struggle with how Marcus see the world. To overcome this obstacle I could re read the play and start to write down  Marcus thoughts and feelings. As well as this I need to answer the questions from Stanislavsky technique of naturalism as I believe this will help with how Marcus psychologically thinks.

Wednesday 6th 

On Wednesday rehearsals I think I went quite well however we are starting to get behind on what we wanted to get done. The other two plays have nearly finished and we have only directed the first half . Even through we are behind I'm not really worried as I think with our play there is a lot more to think about as we are on stage all the time and directing a cast of all females must be really different. On Wednesday we got to see the set box for the first time. I personally love the set and I think TTA are doing a really good , as well as 'thinking about the budget' .

After the short TTA meeting we did we started properly going through page 19 - 22. Oblivious getting 4 pages done isn't good enough and we cant keep on getting 4 pages every two hours or wise we never finish the show to a high standard. If I'm honest Wednesday's rehearsals were boring I stood there for about 1 hour 30 mins being tree. I mean don't get me wrong I get it that I need to build stamina and stuff but it was really boring however I'm glad that I started standing for the degeneration of time being a tree as some people just gave up and sat down.  After this scene we did my monologue where I am talking about Lavinia tongue and arms being cut off. I think the monologue went really well considering it was the first time I properly went for it and the first Ben directed it. However I do need to ground my voice more as I felt at the end I started straining it.

Overall, I think this week rehearsals went okay however it is going slower than I expected it to be. We do really need to start picking the paste up or wise when it come to end it will be really rushed and in my opinion the ending is the most important as it when the majority of the character dies.

Laban Movement

In term 3 I studied Laban Movements and I found  this one of the most helpful lessons so I wanted to do it for my character Marcus. The Laban Movements consist of combining direction , weight and speed.  direction is direct or indirect , weight is heavy or light and speed is sustained or staccato. I found some really images and videos to help me remember the process of discovering each element., which are:

Finding these were helpful to me as it just reminded me how each one worked. Personally, I think Marcus is Dab because he is caring and loyal friend who doesn't want war but he will stick up for what he believes in. I think this links with dab because dab is a light sudden (staccato ) movement which happens when you don't expect it. The way I make dab  is by working using my weight, speed and direction to help me create it.  I found this is really helpful structure that helps you think of each one to create your movement.

Direct - Heavy - Staccato = Punch
Indirect - Heavy - Sustained = Slash 
Direct - Heavy - Sustained = Push
Indirect - Heavy - Sustained = Wring 
Direct - Light - Staccato = Dab
Indirect - Light - Staccato = Flick 
Direct - Light, Sustained = Glide
Indirect - Light - Sustained = Float 

In the process of making dab I found it really difficult to physicalise being light. So to overcome I decided to be as heavy  and then do you opposite of this and be as light as I can.

I think I find it easier to heavy as I am naturally and push person. Not saying I go round being aggressive all time but I am a direct heavy sustained person who is quite tense a lot of the time.  I did find it easy to be direct as it is one of my characteristics  however when I started combing all the three together it got a lot harder as at times I felt like I was being too light and being sustained instead of being staccato. This is one of the challenges I will face when playing as I need to start working out his given circumstances and objectives so I know where he is more light or more direct.

In addition, last term we did got into pairs and had a conversation with the movement that we chose. I don't remember who my partner was or what movement I chose however I did to think about this as it will help me to start truthfully reacting to the given circumstances.  

Overall , I found independent character work really helpful and helped me know what more I need to do and work on.