Variety Tech Run

My tech run was pretty simple, I wanted general cover lighting so that i would be seen clearly. However I didn't want too much light directly on me because I need to be able to see the balls I would be juggling. There was also only one music track that I bring in and out by signalling to Katie. 

This was all that was really needed for my tech run and it was pretty simple!

Variety Rehearsals

Because I knew what my act was going to be pretty soon in. It meant i could get to work on practising the skills I needed pretty quickly. The mains skills that I needed to work on was my juggling.

I could juggle balls to a pretty decent standard but I wanted to do something a little bit more exciting than just juggling three balls, so I decided that I would learn how to do a couple of tricks with three balls. Once I got these down I started to see if I could learn how to juggle rings.

This is a video of me practicing some of my juggling with rings and balls.

After I worked on these I thought that I could try to learn how to juggle clubs as these look really good on stage when done correctly. I had really struggled with these because there is a whole different technique. This is a video of me juggling some clubs.

I decided that I was not comfortable enough with rings and clubs to juggle them on stage, so I decided that it would be better to do do just balls really well rather than clubs badly. From this point on, all of my rehearsals consisted on working on my ball juggling and the fancy bits of my card trick, such as the card flick.

Nothing really changed in my rehearsals from this point on.

Cats Evaluation

We were part of the year 13 performance of Cats. We were in the song 'Peaks and the Pollicles'. In this song I played the part of paparazzi. This involved us taking pictures of the models before the song, and then during the song performing the dance routine we had we been rehearsing in lessons. I was really happy with how the dance went. 

I think that I showed good strength in this performance. There was one lift that we did and it went really well, we did take another lift out because we did not feel comfortable doing it with the space we had on the side of the stage. I also think that another performance skill I was happy with was my extension. It was something that in all of my previous performances I had not been very happy with, so using the mirrors and watching videos of he performance back, I worked on improving this for this performance I was really happy that this performance had my best extension yet. 

Something that I felt that I could work on in the future after this dance is my flexibility. I have felt that the warm up routines we worked on in lessons helped with this, but as it probably my weakest skill, it could still be improved a lot more. I can work on this by doing some stretches and high kicks to work on the flexibility in my legs. 

Overall I was really happy with this performance. My main target after this is to improve my flexibility. I want to be able to do a decent high kick by a couple of months time. I can do this by practicing my high kicks and working on stretches.

Evaluation of Variety

On the 19th May I performed in the Variety Show. My act consisted of juggling and magic. I was over the moon with how my performance went. I was worried in rehearsals that I would be too nervous and stumble over my words or not have the stage presence I desired, but having watched back a video of my performance I was really happy that I was clear and understandable as well as a little funny (if I do say so myself). I was also really happy that both the magic and juggling couldn't have gone better! There was a risk that I could drop the balls or other things at the wrong time, but everything went exactly to plan. I thought that my stage presence was good because I was on my own and so I had to command the space. I also had to make sure that every part of the card trick was clear to the audience, not just the audience member on stage. This meant projecting my voice well and showing the trick to the front. I think I did this really well and used comic timing well to get the effect of the trick across well. I think this suited the variety bracket well because juggling and magic are both very old forms of entertainment that has been used in variety entertainment for many many years and so my doing it is very much similar to acts that would have originally been used in variety performance.

Practice Routine

Contemporary Theatre Comparison of Texts

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was based on a series of poems by T.S Elliot. It premiered in 1981 in the New London Theatre in London. Because the musical is based on a series of poems there isn't an especially obvious theme or story running through it. There is however a slight storyline regarding Grizabella as she tells the story of how she was once a glamorous cat but now she is not, before going to the heavyside layer and regaining her glamour again. The version of Cats that we were a part of had the overall theme of Fashion. Instead of being Cats, the characters were all part of the fashion business as models, designers and other parts. This was quite a radical exploration of the text as there isn't any reference to fashion in the script. It was also a good premise for having the year 12s involved as we played paparazzi and Journalists trying to get pictures of the models at the 'Jellicle Ball'. We also played party guests at the end of the performance, which involved coming on and mingling before singing and dancing at the end. We were there to add more of a hustle and bustle to the stage and make it look as if there is more people, although we not have any direct impact on the story or any of the songs.

The original staging was set in a junkyard which did not change throughout the performance. Because this version was set about fashion, the staging included a catwalk, an office area, clothing rails and other stage blocks. Like the original performance, none of this changed throughout the performance. The different areas were good for showing the different type of character. For example the models spent the majority of their time on the catwalk and the designers would have spent time in the office. This performance also had the use of projection. This was used to give a bit of background to the characters when their song was happening, this was useful because it was not always clear what connection the different characters had to the 'story' or each other. It was also used for the Email to Mrs. Mistoffelees, and news articles. Because of the lack of storyline, these projections were really helpful to the audience to give them a bit of added information and understanding.

The build up for the performance was quite stressful because lots of it was quite last minute. We were aware of being part of the main dance to 'Peaks and Pollicles' for longer but the Finale and other songs were very much last minute, this meant as a cast we had to all come together to be able to produce something of a really high quality to match the year 13s. We also had to be emotionally invested in our role. Because we were all playing supporting roles, it was really important for us not to steal the limelight. We had to make sure we were positioned right on the stage so that the focus wasn't on us but we added a bit of depth to the stage.

My first impressions of the song we were in was that it was going to be quite manic and busy, so I made sure that in rehearsals I made this obvious in my movements and the way that I carried myself onstage. I have seen videos of paparazzi so I knew the kind of way they act when they are doing their job, they are very up in every bodies business. It was quite odd to try and recreate this because we still had to make it so that we weren't too much in the way, we had to make sure we got the right balance. It was also hard to compare our role in the first act with our role in the second act, this is because it was very hectic and busy in the first act and in the second act it is a lot more relaxed in the way that we move because we are party guests so more sophisticated. Having the interval in between gives us a good bit of time in between the two very contrasting roles to get into the zone.

I felt that I did really well in my dancing because I had been struggling in the past with this throughout the year and I felt very comfortable and in control through this. I was really happy with my extension as this was a target I have been setting myself throughout the year. Something I feel that I didn't do so well with was my facial expressions, because we were so rushed with the dances and most of our participation in the show, I had to really concentrate on making sure I got all my movements correct and in time so I feel this took priority over my facial expression. I definitely think that my physical skills took more priority over my interpretive skills. If we had more time then I think I would have been able to focus on the interpretive skills as well as the physical ones. I think overall I was happy with the performance and it was good how we all came together as a cast to be able to perform well at short notice.  

Evaluation of Perfomance

My performance took place on the 16th April.

The first scene I am in is the Lift scene. I felt that this went really well as a whole because all of our movements were correct, and the audience laughed so we managed to get the comedy side of it across. I was really happy with my lines in this scene. I had struggled with getting them to be both loud and clear. Normally one seemed to be more prominent than the other in rehearsals and I knew that it was really important that the audience heard the lines as they are funny but can also be seen as linking to Vince, as well being the first really obscure stuff she hears after seeing Victoria. If I were to change something in this scene if we were to do it again it would be that there would be some music and all the passengers would move to that, as I feel it would add another layer of comedy to this short scene. 

The next scene I am involved in is the Goat scene. This was the scene I was most concerned about because I was struggling with the line learning especially in the parts where the subject changes, because if I miss a subject change it could mean a vital part of the text isn't said making the story unclear. In the performance I remembered all of my lines so I was really happy with this. Another thing I was worried about in this scene was the movement. It was the one scene I rehearsed the least with Rachel, so a lot of the movements and proxemics were ones that me and Luke both had a lot of input with ourselves and ran it by Rachel rather than her tell us the blocking. Because of this however I felt that I had a bit more free reign over where I moved around the stage, I had to make sure the vital parts were there, for example the tying up and the pushing down had to be down in the right place on stage and I had to be there in enough time to do it. I was really happy that my movement including my posture suited the character of the Goat, being sly and suspicious at first and then changing to mean and really hunched over after the big change in tempo in the scene, when I put the rope around Lisa. I had done a lot of work on the my voice for the Goat as I wanted to show he is sly but almost friendly at first, I don't feel that in the performance I did the best I could at this, I think this was partly due to nerves, which is a shame because I feel that this could have added to my character a lot more and made him more convincing. Overall I don't think my characterisation in this scene was to bad because I showed a dramatic change between the first and second part of the scene before Jane enters. I don't think I would change anything drastic within the scene, however I feel that I could have improved the characterisation in my voice so it was different to all the other characters and my own voice.

I feel that the Brittany scene went really well. I had a lot of fun in it and I think that my movements onstage fitted with the 'confusion' of Lisa. The thing I would say about this scene is that at times I felt that I was overacting and a few of us were drawing attention away from the dialogue. It was hard not to at times, especially with the hot dogs. Because we have to act as if we are confusing Lisa, it was tricky to try to be nonchalant. I feel that we could work on non-verbal communication better in this scene so it is still funny but does not detract from the dialogue too much. 

In Act 2 I play Vince. There is such a dramatic change between my characters in the first and seconds acts that it was quite hard to make the switch from stylistic acting to naturalistic. I had to take a minute to compose myself before going onstage because Holly and I had a tendency to giggle during parts of this scene and we didn't want this. I think that I showed good naturalistic movement in this act, but still showed emotions such as anger so a link between the characters in the first and second act can be made. 

Overall I feel that the show went really well, everybody in both casts did really well and we all had such a laugh putting it together and performing it. I felt that I learnt a lot from this show in terms of stylised movement as well as naturalistic acting and voice.

Thursday 16th April

We had the whole day for rehearsals before our show. We started off with making sure that everybody had the right costumes. I had the same costume for Passenger 2 and I did for Passenger 3 the day before. I used the same thing for the goat that Luke did the night before, I didn't wear the horns because I couldn't easily get them to stay on. We decided that we didn't need to obviously look like a goat because it says it in the text. The main focus for my in this rehearsal was running the show fully without stopping and with the full and correct tech. Because I was absent for the tech run, there were a couple of positioning things I had to work on. These were simple as most of them were just making sure I was in the right light and to make sure I was downstage enough. It was also the best chance to work on all my entrances and exits coming on from the wings all at once. Before this we had only done it for particular scenes. It also meant that I had to do costume changes for the first time. Thankfully I had quite a bit of time between my scenes so they weren't rushed apart form changing from Inhibitions to Vince. 

It was also the first time we had run Act 2 in the correct setting. It was very different being in the round because you had people all around you and had to act it more naturalistically and not act towards the audience. It was easier in the lighting sense because we used house lights so we were always in the light.

After our first run, we felt that the Brittany scene needed the most work so after a short break we worked on this again. We were all a bit sloppy on our lines and group movements but the second run of these scene gave us all some time to talk through what we were going to do so it didn't look bad during the performance. There are a few parts in this scene where we all have the same movement, for example the 'we beg you to reconsider' line. We all get down on our knees and shuffle towards Lisa but some of us didn't do it at the right time so this needed sorting out.

Easter Rehearsal

In this rehearsal we did worked on act 1. Because I was not there for the tech run I had to watch Luke's performance, and get movements and stage positioning from that, the only thing I had to change was how early in the Goat scene I had to get down from the top block. Up to now I had been up on the block until the part when Lisa talk about her hour, but now I am down from the block after my first line, meaning I have to very the way I move around the stage and work on my proxemics. This run was a good opportunity to work on this, I wanted to make sure that I moved around enough to keep the audience interested but not so much that it detracted from what I was saying or looked forced. Me and Holly both had to make sure we were both further downstage as well so we are in the right lights.

I also got a chance to work on my non verbal communication once Jane enters. I don't have many lines so I have to show my emotion and frustration through my body language and facial expression. One of the things I want to get into my performance is a distinct change in Laben's System of Efforts. I feel that there is a dramatic change when I tie the rope round her. It goes from a low number to a high number, perhaps from a 3 to a 5 or 6. This is something that has helped my in rehearsals to show a dramatic change.

13th March

In this lesson we ran Act 2 in Lena's room. Because we are double cast it meant that we had to take turns in doing this. My cast started off and it went really well. I have one part in this act that I have to focus on. Because we weren't in our usual setting and we didn't have the staging we normally do, it was really just useful for our positioning and lines. I was happy with my lines in each of the subject changes but I am struggling to remember certain lines that change the subject, such as the line about the message on the phone. I also got the giggles during this run through which didn't really help with lines.

Singing 13th March

Our main focus this lesson was to learn 'Everything you Didn't Do' By Jamie Cullum. 

Before learning this, we started my looking at vocal warm ups. In the lesson before we had done more research on them and came up with a couple individually. My ones were about developing range. We then showed our techniques to the class and teach it to them. This was useful as it meant that we all got to learn and try a load of different rehearsal techniques that we hadn't necessarily come across before. 

We then started to learn 'Everything You Didn't Do'. We listened to the song first to get a general feel for it, before doing it ourselves. This was helpful because it meant we got a feel for the tempo and the different sections of the song. 

We split the songs up into the sections when we learnt them, the verses are very similar so once you've learnt one, you have pretty much got them all, the same goes with the chorus.

For next time we look at this song, I want to be able to improve my projection, and I think as I learn the song more this will come more naturally. I can also use some of the rehearsal techniques I learnt at the start of the lesson to help with this.

Friday 13th March Dance

In this lesson we carried on from doing 'The Peaks and the Pollicles' from Cats. We had already been working on the dance and we started with going over the movements from last week. Then we added in some new movements. One of the bits that we added in was a slower section of the song in which we dance in pairs. My partner is Holly Hopkins. This adds a new dynamic to the dance because of the change of pace. We added a bit at the end where there is a face off scene between the paps and the journalists. The movements we do here link with the lyrics and it works really well.

My targets for next week is to work on my extension as I feel that this is something that is lacking in my rehearsals and will therefore effect my performance.

Tuesday 17th March

In this lesson we ran through the first 30 minutes of the play for both casts. The first half an hour contains the Victoria scene, lift scene and pretty much the whole guard and oathtaker scene. For me this means that it just the lift scene. I am in this scene in both performances although it is not a long scene nor is there much dialogue when I am in the other casts performance. My cast went first. It was the first time we got to practice our entrances. We come on early when Lisa is on the phone, we did this because it meant we could rush into the 'lift' without it looking too messy from the wings. We have a square of light at the front of the stage which is our 'lift'. I decided that I would deliver my lines overly loud because it is such a cramped space it makes it more comical the louder I speak. We also got a chance to get used to our entrances and exits, these are important in the lift scene because they have to be pretty sharp to keep up the levels on confusion.

19th March

We were in the exhibition hall for this lesson. It meant that we didn't have the space we were used to but it wasn't a problem.

We started off with a warm up which got everybody a bit more into the mindset of getting some work done. Most of the class went to work on their scenes, however me, Taylor, Amber and Olivia were talking to Rachel about our production roles, becuase I am marketing with Luke we talked about getting in local schools to come and see some rehearsals and run throughs. I then looked up the head of drama for the local schools and made a list for contacting later. 

We then watched the other classes performance of their scene. I enjoyed the physical theatre element of the chosen section and the interesting traverse staging.

Then we performed our chosen scene, we decided that we would do from the start into part of the guard scene, my only part in this is the lift scene, and because Luke wasn't here that day it meant that I got to do it and was was a great opportunity for me to perform it to an audience. I went really over the top with the voice in the scene and I was happy with how it went. I also thought the movement had the humour in it that we wanted as it is meant to be a funny section.

10th March

In this lesson our main focus was to work on the Brittany scene. We had worked on it previously but it was a good chance for everybody to work on it again with everybody knowing their lines and with there being more chance to work on the movement as this is a very important part of this scene. Because the idea of the scene is the characters confusing Lisa, it means that if it has a fast pace and lots of confusing movement, then it is easier for Lisa to be confused.

We worked on some movement in this scene in times where there is lots of confusing, one of the main points is when I am on the floor and Biffer trips over me and then we proceed to run about in lots of confusion, but it has to be with the intention of confusing Lisa, not just random running about. Also at the end of scene, when everybody goes off to battle, because I have to come back as Vince very shortly after, I leave on my line "We don't stand a chance" where I run up through the audience and can then come back down dressed as Vince.

In this scene the thing I need to focus on is non-verbal communication because I don't have that many lines but I still need to show how my character is feeling. Using the states of tension is good in this scene because there are times when the mood of the scene changes very quickly and so to be able to show the change in mood through my movement is vital.

March 24th

In this lesson we looked at act 2. It was only the second time we had looked at this act since the first lesson we blocked. Becuase we had mainly been focusing on the first act up until this point I was really struggling with my lines. Because of this I didn't feel that I could as much into my acting as I would have liked. Because we went first in this rehearsal, it didn't give me an opportunity to observe my opposite. Although I felt that my acting took a backseat for lines, I did get the opportunity to look at different ways of moving around the space. In the section where I get quite angry we had it so that I would stand up and walk away from the bed with a tone in my voice that showed I was angry but was subdued in volume because I would still be in a hospital so wouldn't be able to shout. This worked really well, and I felt that it was easier to deliver the frustration that Vince is showing when adopting this tone. What I will be working on for the next time is making sure I am line perfect so I can focus on voice. In this act and part of this act especially, I think that movement isn't as important as voice, because this is a naturalistic scene and people tend not to move so much and it shows good contrast between acts.

Thursday 26th March

In this lesson we focused on the oath taker scene. Because me and Luke aren't in this scene it gave us a good opportunity to run some lines for the goat scene. It was really helpful to have this time to ourselves as it gave us the chance to try out different ways of portraying our character and having the other person there to get feedback from and to work on ideas that they may have had. In this time I decided that I wanted to play the Goat as a sly character being very shady. This means that I will have to think about my posture as a sly character will tend to be hunched over for example. I would also focus on voice. I think that my choice of voice will be smooth and slow paced.

Variety

I started my devising process by practicing juggling balls and working on a couple of tricks that I can do during the performance. Once I had had looked at that and was comfortable with juggling balls I looked at juggling rings. They were harder than balls but once I had got the general technique it was just about practicing until I was happy with being able to juggle rings. After I was happy with juggling rings and balls, I started to think more about the magic side of the performance. I looked into some more tricks which I could do in my performance and how I would link them to the juggling. I worked out how I would do this and so it was just practicing both my magic and my juggling so I would be able to do it in front of an audience and with confidence. 

The week after I looked at juggling clubs, it was the first time that I had juggled clubs so it took a while to get used to it as it is a lot harder than both balls and rings are. By the end of the lesson on monday I was really happy with the progress I had made and knew that by the performance I would be confident enough to juggle clubs as part of my act. I spent a bit more time working on the magic, as it takes some slight of hand and so I want it to really slick for the performance.

After I had knew the layout to my routine I started to think about things like music. I am still undecided about the music for the start of the performance. I am either thinking about using a remix of 'Enter the Circus' which I can use the comedy side of because the music really wouldn't fit my performance. Or 'Welcome Back My Friends' by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Both of these songs are good because they mention about shows in their lyrics and they both have a circus feel to them which fits my juggling.

The overall layout for my routine is going to be some music to start then me doing a magic trick will will go 'wrong' I will then do some juggling with different objects and then the magic trick will go right.  

For my costume I have been looking at lots of different magicians and jugglers to see what kind of thing they wear. It does vary dramatically but mainly they dress smartly, so I will probably wear a something not too different from this.

Homework Task About Pace

'Why is pace so important to the delivery of the play'

Pace - 'Move or develop (something) at a particular rate or speed' '

I think that pace is important to this play because although it does have some serious parts, there is lots of comedy moments and so timings and pace become very important. The first act of this play I think should be fast paced throughout, there shouldn't be any lulls in pace and there should be constant movement. On the other hand, act two is a lot slower, there are blackouts, as well as parts with little to no dialogue. Because of the very sudden change between the two acts, as a cast we have to make sure that the speed from the first act, doesn't carry on into the next.

The play 4.48 Psychosis is a play written by Sarah Kane. It explores the subject of mental illness through a very Brecht like way. There is no setting or no real characters and the dialogue varies from naturalistic to almost poetic. The lack of setting is similar in Dissocia because although it vaguely mentions settings, there isn't any real description of them. Although Dissocia doesn't use any Brecht techniques, it still has a very fast pace matching 4.48 Psychosis.

An example of a slow paced performance is the production of Electra we saw. I felt that although there wasn't any cuts, I didn't feel that it went anywhere in excitement levels. which is similar to the second act of Dissocia. Although there is lots of things going on, there isn't anything particularly thrilling or out of the ordinary.

Lesson 12th February

In this lesson we read through act 1 of the play. We did not have Rachel in this lesson so we took it upon ourselves to do a read through. It was the first time we had read through the whole of the act together as a class. It was quite challenging because it was double cast so it was hard to split the lines up. However my opposite wasn't there for the lesson so it gave me a good opportunity to read all of the lines. What i found really helpful about the read through was having other cast members around to say their lines instead of having to imagine them being said like I had when reading through it alone. The thing that surprised me with the read through was how some people delivered their lines differently to how I imagined them in my head and this sometimes meant that I had to change the way I delivered my lines and it gave them a completely different meaning. The part that I found the most helpful to read through was the voice over parts. Even though they aren't long passages of speech, in the actual performance they will only be voice and no movement so it gave me a chance to try out different ways of delivering the lines so I could put plenty of emotion into them.

It was useful doing the run through before tacking the large chunks of blocking because it gave us all an overall feel for the play before picturing it on stage

24th Febuary Lesson

In this lesson we looked at the goat scene. Before we looked at it we looked at sorting out a level from one to ten on our characters social status. Me and Luke both had different ideas so we did not end up on the same level. I put the goat as level 3 because of his bad intentions in this scene and that the way he treats Lisa is poor and becuase is is almost sly and secretive, it has an element of sleaziness about it. Luke put the Goat at around a level 5 because he felt that although the Goat is sleazy, it isn't as bad as I thought it was. 

I felt that as well as this is my biggest scene in the play, is is also the most challenging because it has my most lines, which I am finding hard to get in the right order, and also needs the most movement. Another challenge in this scene is the mature content and it touches on some very adult ideas that I personally haven't had to portray on stage, so we all had to make sure we dealt with it in a grown up and respectful way so that it comes across to the audience in a professional way. We all decided that we would not show anything explicit on stage but just to suggest it. 

When blocking this scene i was making notes in my script so that I know where on stage I need to be as well as what movements I need to do. I start off on one of the stage blocks on the corner of the stage, when we rehearse this further I will think about the different ways I can react to Lisa being there and how I can be subtle about it as not to draw attention. Because I am going to be high up at the very back of the stage I will need to make sure that I am projecting properly so that I can be heard, this is something I can work on outside of rehearsals whilst running lines, and doing projection exercises. 

I was really happy with what we managed to run through today and I am not comfortable with being able to put movements to my lines when learning them.

27th February Dance

We started off this lesson by going through the warm up sequence that helps with various physical parts of our dance.

We then learnt a short sequence that we will performing when we take part in the year 13s performance of Cats. We learnt the sequence together as a group, before splitting into our two groups of Journalists and Paparazzi. I am in the paps group and so we started to think about ways that we could incorporate having cameras into routine. In our groups we then looked at making tableau's to show that we were paps. We would do these in the begginig of the song before the sequence we learnt. We wanted to use levels in our tableaux so we went in a diagonal line in height order for our first, and then reversed this oder for out next. We then had a 'fight' tableaux to show the violent world of paps and journalist. We felt that we wanted to do something that looked really good so we put in a lift. We struggled with getting Livvy onto my shoulder, but we struggled even more getting her off... with Kat and Emily's help we found the easiest and safest way to get her off so we were really happy with what we did this lesson. Next lesson we will look at ways of altering the routine to match our Paparazzi characters.

27th February Singing

In this lesson we worked in groups on presentations regarding the anatomy of the voice. My group consisted of myself, Holly Hos, Izzy and Max.
We all researched different parts of the anatomy, mainly the vocal chords and the diaphragm. I was happy with our presentation and I felt that I learnt more about the anatomy than I had earlier on in the year.

I have attached a link to our presentation and photos of our posters.



*HOW DO I ATTACH A LINK TO THE POWERPOINT?!?!*

Lesson 3rd March

In this lesson we started to block the Brittany scene. In the first part of this scene my character doesn't have many lines, but I found this lesson useful in getting a feel for the pace of the scene as well as picturing some movement ideas that can be tried out in later rehearsals. There was one point towards the beginning of the scene where all of the characters do fall of of their chairs so I made a note in my script so that I remember when it is because it is not on the stage directions.

Lesson Analysis 5th March

In this lesson we finished blocking the Brittany scene. This scene is quite challenging because it involves the whole cast and there are lots of short lines so learning cue lines are very important.
We looked at the way we stand for a lot of this scene and as well as this, various movements and line delivery. One of the harder bits to block was the Biffer talking part because before this we don't really move on stage and at this point we have to remember where we all have to stand as well as when we have to say our lines.
Although it was tricky, I found that being off script helped because it can be easier to learn cue lines. I am still struggling with when some of my lines come in bit I think that rehearsing this more will sort this out.

Grease dance evaluation

Because my use of extension is my biggest weakness I have looked at different ways of improving this such as looking in the mirror whilst rehearsing  and recording rehearsals and watching them back as self assessment. By my last performance I want extension to be something I can put as a strength rather than a weakness. Using the mirrors will be very helpful in getting immediate extrinsic feedback.

Singing 6th March

In this lesson we looked into vocal techniques. We split into groups and all picked a vocal technique. Mine was range. We discussed as a group different exercises and wrote them down on this sheet.

After we had filled out the sheets, we got back into the class and a few of us shared our exersices. I shared mine with the class and we all did my exersice. It was really useful to see how it worked when it was done and I feel that this will help me with my vocal technique sheet.

Dance 6th March

In this lesson we carried on from our Cats routine we started last week. We started off by running through the sequence again so that everybody remembered it which was useful because over the week I had forgotten the order of some of the movements. After this we split into our two groups and went over the tableaux that we did in last weeks lesson. We used canon, fragmentation and retrograde to look at different ways we could alter the original routine. We altered the beginning section of the routine by facing each other and changing the levels that we used. This added a bit more to the routine and makes it a bit more exciting. We also added a lift into the routine, we struggled with finding the right way to lift up Amber and Livvy but once Kat helped us we could progress onto putting it together. I was really happy with the progress we made this lesson and we plan on altering the rest of the routine next week.

10th February

In this lesson we started off with a warm up. This started with a walking in neutral and then adding layers on top which involved a stretch, drop and running to the wall. We then added another layer by doing it in one of our characters from the play. I chose to do mine as the goat. We then did the whole thing in slow motion. This was helpful because it really made us think about our characters movements to every detail which can then be transferred to when we run scenes. We then went back to normal speed movement but added in greetings and rejections. This made me think more about character interactions. For example the goat would greet Lisa because of the 'friendship' he wants with her, but may be dismissive of Jane because she is taking the place of Lisa in the 'BAU'. The warm up exercise helped me in thinking about how he would do this. We then delivered one line from our character to a member of the other cast as if it were confidential. This was useful as the goat because I picture him as a sly and manipulative character and so it may be that some of his lines are delivered in this way to Lisa, an example of a line that could be effective like this is 'just be quiet and you might just enjoy yourself!' because of the slightly creepy feeling of the line. This warm up could help me with my character development because of the way you can change the way a line is delivered to give in more emotion just perhaps by saying it as if it is a secret.


We then looked into the staging of how the play is set. We set up staging block around the outside of the stage at different heights as though there were castle turrets. In the first act they could be used for characters to stand on or sit on. Me and Luke had the idea of the Goat being tethered in the high up corner turret, but being there a bit earlier than his first line but in the darkness so it is not obvious he is there. Kim also mentioned the idea of the blackboard paint and how boards would be all around the turrets and these will be drawn on to show what something is, for example the hot dog stand, and can also be used to write specific lines on that can then stick with the audience through out the first act. During the second act, these will the be moved to the rig, which will be away at this point, and they will be Lisa's therapy boards in her hospital room.


Me and Luke then went into the classroom and ran our lines for the Goat. The warm up was really helpful with the movement aspect of this. Having Luke playing the Goat as well is good to compare ideas with and if he does something I think works really well it means I can take the idea and work it into my performance.

Tuesday 3rd February

In this lesson we looked at the Britney scene and we looked at our character for this scene in more depth. We talked about what each character represents. I said that my character, Inhibitions, is short tempered because of when he shouts during the parliment scene. I said that his overall energy level is a 3 at the start as there is not much movement. It goes up to a 6 when he shouts an then remains at a 4 for the rest of the scene. 

We then looked at running the scene with only movement. However this din’t work because everybody was a different points in the scene, especially during dialogue parts between Britney and Lisa. 

We than blocked the scene with movement which was a lot easier as everybody knew where we were in the script.

After this we looked at the mood changes within the scene. We split the text up at points where we felt that the mood changed, for example there is a different mood from on page 64 when Lisa starts to get angry at the violinist, this bit is quite serious because shes upset, and then when Biffer starts falling over and so on, on page 65.

Singing 6th February

In this lesson we did our singing assessment songs. I sang ‘Close Every Door’ from Joseph. The first time I sang it I got out of time with the music and had to stop. The second time I was happy with the performance. Although I was nervous I think that this didn’t show during my performance and I sang in tune and in time. I was happy that during the Acapella section I didn’t get out of time because sometimes in rehearsals I had come in too early. I think that my characterisation in this performance was better than it had been in most of my rehearsals. I think that I could have projected better during my performance and if I had another attempt this would be my main focus. Because it is a powerful song I wanted to get this across in my performance, I think I did this rather well but not as good as it had been in some of my rehearsals. Overall I was happy with the performance because my timing, intonation, breath control and characterisation was good. All of the lessons about techniques really helped me in the rehearsal process and the performance.

Thursday 5th February

In this lesson we did a read through of the first act. We did this as a whole class and because my opposite cast member was not there, it meant I read all of the lines for my character. This was helpful because it meant that I got a chance to see how it worked with the way I imagined the different characters voice. On the other hand, I did not get a chance to see how Luke did it which meant that I couldn't gain any ideas from him on certain bits that I thought worked really well.

The read through also gave me the opportunity to see how other cast members delivered their lines and how that affected the mood of the scene and how my characters would in turn respond to that. When reading through the script by myself, I found myself delivering the lines differently than people in the class which is why I think the read through was really useful.

After we finished the read through, I worked with Holly as Victoria on her scene. We were looking at things like movement and pace of the scene. We both felt that becuase of the lack of movement and any real oddity, it seemed like this scene starts before Lisa is in Dissocia, and it also seems very formal. Becuase it is before Lisa knows what is going on, there is an air of confusion about the way she talks, but she also seems to dismiss some odd things, such as Victor asking for a glass of urine. I think this shows that even in the real world, Lisa can sometimes not tell what is abnormal and what is normal

Friday 30th January Dance

In this lesson we only had half an hour because of reach week. I had hurt by back during my drama performance the night before so I couldn’t dance which was a pain because it was a good time to run through the whole thing. Although I couldn’t dance, I walked through where I would be during the dance and it was good for me to be able to see everybody running through the moves so I could still see what I would be doing. We have a rehearsal on Monday lunchtime and hopefully my back will be better by then so I will be able to dance.

Friday 30th January Singing

I had my one to one with Kim today to work on my solo song. I went through it and Kim said that I should be putting more emotion into it so I worked on this the next couple of times. We also had to work on cutting the music because they did not match the lyrics that I was using. We made do for the rest of the one to one. The thing that I am most worried about it that after each two lines of the verse the pitch goes down and the next time it goes up so I have to remember which time it does what. I have another meeting with Kim on Monday so hopefully I will have got it with the new edited music by then. 

Tuesday 27th January

In this lesson we worked again with our opposite cast member to show our movement sequences we had come up with for the Britney scene. We came up with the movements for homework separately and put both of our sequences together to make one. This really helped with thinking of abstract and unnaturalistic movements that would work well in the Britney scene because of its hectic nature.

We then came up with three ideas around how the movement could be incorporated into the performance and specifically in this scene. My first idea is that the ‘Parliment’ bit on page 63 could have lots of movement to show the ‘hubbub’. All the characters would move with fast movements to show the hectic nature. Because of the Alice in Wonderland like themes than run through the play I had the idea of changing places like in Alice in Wonderland. All the characters would change places other than Lisa who doesn’t understand what is going on. This could also be done in slow motion to draw emphasis to Lisa’s facial expression and confession. Another idea I had is that when Inhibitions notices he is naked from the waist down that this could also be done is slow motion and it give more of an opportunity to show facial expressions for him and all of the other characters laughing at him. 

23rd January Dancing

In this lesson we mainly went over what we had done in the week before so that nobody had forgotten and thankfully we went over the parts that I missed when I was singing with Kim. We then looked at adding another part to the end of the dance after the hand jive. This one was quite fast and there were quite a few moves that needed getting round, but I was happy that by the end of the lesson I got them and with the arm as well which I was struggling to do in the week before. This also involved thinking of a short move that I could do when we all run down the centre. I did a finger click for the time being but this might change. 

We then spaced out how the whole thing would go together. It starts with all the boys in the middle doing Greased Lighting, which we will learn at a later date. Then we all got given our positions for the next song and how we would transition into it. and the same for the Hand Jive and we thought about the kind of movements we could be doing at the back of the stage when the other half of the group are dancing. We though that we could be down on one knee and clicking in time with the music. We then put the whole thing together including the transitions and I was really happy with it all. We have a rehearsal on Tuesday which will be good so that we don’t forget some of the things we had done in this lesson

23rd January Singing

Because I sang with Kim last week, I didn’t this week although I will be seeing her during reach week for a 1 to 1 to go over the song I have chosen

22nd January

We started this lesson by doing quad jumping. This is when everybody splits into lines of equal numbers and everybody jumps on each beat and each row turns 180 degrees of different numbers up to 8. Although we all struggled to get the concept at first we eventually got it and were all moving around the room doing it. 

We then looked at Stylised Pedestrian Movement. We did this by going into our pairs that we are cast opposite, mine being Luke. We then had to come up with a few simple movements that our character might do in the performance. We had a judging look, a walk and a couple of other moves. We then had to put all of these together and add a few more in so we had a small physical theatre routine. We then had to pick a section of our choreography and adapt repetition, pace and exaggeration. We decided to slow down the walk to give it more power, we repeated the look at other times in the sequence and exaggerated being tied up. After we had done this we all took turns in our pairs to show the rest of the class one after the other to music by Cocorosie. Once the group before us finished we had to take their place and spin them off. I thought this looked really good and I thought the music really added another layer to the sequences. 

After we had done this we had to choose a page each from the script and worked with our opposite as well as Holly as our Lisa to perform the page in the same way to the movement piece before hand. We were tasked with involving as many appropriate movements from the piece before into our piece. I managed to include a few and I thought they worked really well. 

The first task really helped me to think of movements that would work well into the script that beforehand I might have seen as a bit out of place but this made them fit nicely.

Lesson 20th January

In this lesson we looked at Complicite's 7 states of tension and how it can be used in character development. Our warm up involved us walking around the room exhibiting the 7 different stages of tension from 1 being almost not moving to 7 being very fast and almost panicked. We then looked into our main character from act 1, mine being the Goat, and we tried applying different states of tension to a short passage. We then compared this to our other cast member to see if they had done something similar or different. I decided that I think the Goat is around a 4 or 5 on the scale as he doesn't often get too high or too low. It was useful to think about tension in our character because it adds another stage of development and helps me think more about how my character  would be rather than always being the same.

Then we looked at subtext within Act 2. Subtext is the other meaning to what is being said that may contradict the actual text. This may affect the way that the line is delivered. The example I used was Lisa tells Vince that she is doing better to which Vince replies 'Good' Although he is saying good, he may be thinking something like "no you're not". This changes the delivery from being quite happy to having a heavy sense of disbelief and almost sarcasm. We then applied subtext to all of our lines in Act 2 and though about how they would affect the delivery. I found that this was really helpful because it makes you think a bit more in to what the character is saying and not just thinking that what they are saying is what they actually mean.

We then tried to go through Act 2 with just subtext which was quite hard as it quite often wouldn't make sense.

Then we blocked through Act 2 with the actual text but thinking about subtext in our deliveries.

Using subtext and states of tension was really helpful in character development for speech and for movement.

Variety Performance Report

Introduction

A variety show, which can also be known as variety acts or variety entertainment, is a type of entertainment that is made up of a variety of acts. These performances mainly consist of musical performances of character songs, and also include comedy sketches and sometimes things such as circus skills. Other types of acts can include magic, animal, acrobatics, juggling and ventriloquism. The performance is normally introduced by a compère, who is like a master of ceremonies or a host. 

The Development of Variety

The format of the variety show came originally from the victorian era stage to radio and to television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from its early days in the late 1940’s into the 1980’s. The format is almost identical to that of music hall in the United Kingdom, which was popular form 1850 to 1960, or Vaudeville in the United States, from the 1880's to the 1930'sThe evolution of variety performance in the UK started in theatres and music halls, and then later on it evolved into working mens clubs. This was so that it was more accessible to people who couldn’t afford to go to music halls as this was only more for the higher class and the wealthy. They were there almost for the sole purpose of taking the weeks wages from the lower class as it would have been the only large social meet ups that the people would have had so they spent their weeks wages on drink and food. Most of the early performers on British television and radio had an apprenticeship history in either stage variety, or during World War II, they could have done apprenticeships in Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). It was seen as the highest accolade in UK variety performance to be asked to perform in the Royal Command Performance which was held at the London Palladium Theatre. This Variety show was held in front of the monarch which is similar to todays Royal Variety Performance which is held still in front of royalty.  

Music Halls

Music halls can be traced back to 18th century taverns and coffee houses in London where business men would meet to eat, drink and do business. Whilst they were eating and drinking, performers would sing sings to entertain the men and by the 1830s there were rooms solely used for musical clubs. The popularity of these were so great the two or three times a week there were Saturday evening Singsongs. 

Music Hall is a type of British entertainment that was popular mainly between 1850 and 1960. It mainly included acts such as popular songs, comedy, speciality acts and variety entertainment. The term 'Music Hall' comes from the type of venue and theatre in which this type of entertainment took place. British Music Hall was very similar to the American Vaudeville. 

In the 1830s, saloon bars within pubs housed the first music hall entertainment and these became so increasingly popular that the public houses eventually got demolished and in their place Music hall theatres were put up. The saloon was a room normally at the back of a pub where the variety entertainment would take place. Some of the most famous London saloon were the Grecian Saloon which was at The Eagle in East London. It was established in 1825 and was a former tea-garden. It has been known as "The father, mother, the dry and wet nurse of the Music Hall." It was so popular that the famous nursery rhyme 'Pop Goes The Weasel' references it. The lyrics go:

Up and down the City Road
In and out The Eagle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel.

City Road was where The Eagle was and it implies that lots of money is spent on drinks and probably entertainment. Charles Dickens was known to visit the Music Hall often. In 1883 it was bought by the Salvation Army who were very much against Music Halls and drinking. The building was later demolished in 1901 and re-built as a Public House.



The new music hall theatres meant that more and more people could attend and the popularity would only increase. The new music hall theatres meant as well as more and more people attending, people could eat drink and smoke during the performances. They were built with this in mind so there were lots of tables for people to sit around and watch the entertainment and there were not rows of seats, and a separate bar area. Early music halls included the Canterbury Music Hall in Lambeth, Wilton's Music Hall in Tower Hamlets and The Middlesex in Drury Lane, which was also known as the Old Mo.

The Interior of Oxford Music Hall, London, late 19th century. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Canterbury Music Hall is often seen as the first true Music Hall. It was built by Charles Morton on the site of a skittle alley which was next to his pub, the Canterbury Tavern, on Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth. The Canterbury Music Hall was dubbed "the Father of the Halls" The author Benny Green said that the opening date of the Canterbury on the 17th May 1852 was "the most significant date in all the history of Music Hall".

Vaudeville

Vaudeville is a genre of variety entertainment that originated in the United States of America. Its main era of existence was from the early 1880s to the early 1930s. Although it did not last as long as the British Music Hall, it still had a large impact on Variety Performance as we know it today. Similarly to  Music Hall, the types of performers included popular and classical music, comedians, animal acts, magicians, acrobatics and minstrels, as well as other performers. Vaudeville performers were referred to as a 'Vaudevillian'.

Vaudeville was seen as 'the heart of American show business' and for a long time was one of, if not the most popular types of entertainment that was available in North America during the time it was in full flow. Although the origin of the term Vaudeville is not know, is it believed to come from the French 'voix de ville' which translates as 'Voice of the City', it might have been known as this because of its huge popularity throughout North America. Tony Pastor, a theatre owner and a founding force behind Vaudeville and known as 'the Father of Vaudeville' said that he felt the term Vaudeville was 'sissy and Frenchified' and because of this the term Vaudeville was just called 'Variety' because he felt that this term was more accessible to all classes. What made Vaudeville different from Music Hall was that Vaudeville had more mixed gender audiences and that there was usually alcohol free venues, unlike the drinking halls of Britain, even though the prohibition was not in place until the 1920s. This showed that in Britain people drunk with entertainment almost being second best to drink whereas in America, people went to these shows purely to see the entertainment and there was nothing else to distract them from what they were watching.

The demise of Vaudeville began in the early 1910s because of the boom of low priced cinemas. The first showing of movies for the public happened in Vaudeville halls in 1896. People went to the cinema because of the cheaper prices and because of the wider range of entertainment that was available on screen.

Different Types of Act

Character Songs - Character songs are songs which can be sung with no context behind them and still give the audience enough of a story for them to understand what is happening on stage. This meant that they only had to be a few minutes long and there wasn't the need to go to see a full show to get a sung story. An example of some popular character songs are 'Sam Hall' and 'If It Wasn't For The Houses In Between'. Quite often performers would only have one or two songs but the audience would return again and again to see them because they were so enjoyable.

Lions Comiques - Lions Comiques were usually young, fashionable and handsome young men who would sing songs about the high life and drinking champagne like in the song 'Champagne Charlie' which was sung by George Leybourne, arguably the most famous Lion Comique. Lion Comiques have been compared to boy bands of the 1990s in their popularity.

Male and Female Impersonators - Once women were a started to become a big feature in variety performance it was common for women to impersonate men. Although women had played male roles in the 19th century, it was highly unlikely that women would be in variety shows. There was many impersonators but none were quite as successful as Vesta Tilley who was so popular as a male impersonator that she there was speculation around London that she was actually a man and was also seen as a trendsetter for male fashion.

Aerial Acts - Aerial acts often took place on a series of ropes that would be over the audience, adding to the sense of danger. Possibly the most famous aerial acrobat was The Great Léotard, who was the inventor of the flying trapeze act, an act which is used still often to this day, with some adjustments however.


My Two Acts

Having researched many different types of acts that were popular in variety, and having looked at my own skills and talents I narrowed it down to a character song and juggling. After thinking about it more I decided not to do a character sing but to focus on juggling and also to incorporate some card magic.

Juggling
The word juggling comes from the middle english word 'jogelen' which means to entertain or to perform. It can also be said that it comes from the french word 'jogler' which means to joke or jest.The first recording of juggling in in an Egyptian tomb called Beni Hasan where there is drawing on the wall which depict people throwing balls into the air. This is dated between 1994-1781 B.C although it is believed that juggling was around before this. Through ancient times and into the Middle Ages, jugglers were sometimes persecuted and thought to be witches. In Medieval Europe, the popularity of juggling increased due to storytellers, comic and musicians used juggling alongside their acts to when performing to royalty. It was also a popular form of street performance for entertaining the average person. In the modern era, juggling has been a popular part of circus acts since 1768 when Philip Astley hired jugglers to perform in his troupe. Juggling became a part of American circuses 30 years later. and since these times has been a staple of circus acts.

One of the most famous jugglers of all time is Bobby May. He was alive from 1907-1981. His first professional performance was at the age of 15. He could juggle up to eight balls although it was said he was better with three and five as he did complex bounce tricks and spin moves in these routines. He also had a trick where he could throw a cigarette behind his back and catch it in his mouth, this being followed by a lit match which he also caught in his mouth and used this to light his cigarette.

I will be juggling balls, rings, clubs and eggs as part of my comedy juggling routine as well as incorporating magic and the beginning and at the end of my routine.

Illusion Magic

The first book of magic tricks came out in 1584 although magic tricks would have been performed before this. In the tomb at Beni Hasan, where the juggling drawings are, there is a picture which some believe is a depiction of the 'cups and balls' which is a slight of hand trick. Although it it is not agreed by all that this is what is in the drawing. Magic tricks were very popular during the 18th century.

There are many different types of illusion or stage magic. These range from close-up magic, where the audience is close to the performer, stage illusions, where large props are often used on a large scale and are performed in front of a large audience, escapology, where the performer escapes from an impending sense of danger, and comedy magic, one of the most famous acts being Penn and Teller. I have mainly taken my inspiration from Penn and Teller as I feel their combination of comedy, close up and stage magic is something that I can replicate in my performance.

I have been doing card magic for a few years and so I feel that I can quite happily incorporate this into my act without having to learn too many new things.

My plan for my performance is to start with a magic trick and then juggling and then to finish again with a magic trick.

Dancing 16/01.

In todays lesson we did some more work relating to Grease. Emily had choreographed a dance for us to learn that we would be performing in the showcase alongside our singing pieces. 

Some of the moves that were in this dance were in the dances we had choreographed ourselves the week before. We started off with a dance to Greased Lighting which incorporated some of my groups moves into it. We then had some moves which I struggled to get both the legs and the arms doing the right thing together so I mainly focused on the legs for this lesson so I could get them right before thinking about the arms. There was also a slide which I was struggling with because I was wearing shorts and I couldn’t quite slide so for this lesson I just pretended but next time I will be wearing trousers so I will be able to slide properly.  

After we had learnt all the moves to the songs, the hand jive section of the song in pairs. At this point I had to go and do some singing with Kim so I missed how it worked in pairs. They were thankfully the same moves that we had learnt earlier but they were just set out in a slightly different way so I didn’t have too much to catch up on when I got back. I did struggle with the turns and the directions that some of the turns went. But keeping an eye on other people in the class when I was doing it helped to understand and hopefully in our next rehearsal I will be able to get it right without looking at other people meaning my focus will be where it’s supposed to be. 

I was really happy with most of the moves and although I may not have got everything spot on this time, I will be able to use the next few rehearsals before the performance to get everything right.

I found it really useful having both Kat and Emily there to ask questions to because there were a few times that I wasn’t sure on a particular move and they were both really good at helping me get to grips with bits I was struggling with.

Unit 7 - Performing to an Auidence - Assessment Record Sheet

Form 1

Form 2