Tuesday 12th May 2015 - Peaks And The Policles Evaluation

Tuesday 12th May 2015
Peaks And The Policles Evaluation

Physical Skills - What Went Well

I think in this performance my extension was better than my last dance performance, this is good as this one of my targets to focus on. This was especially good in my arms as when we had to reach out to the models, during rehearsals I had worked on this a lot so that in the performance my extension would have had improved.

Even Better If -

This performance would have better if I had better balance and co-ordination, especially during the freeze fames , if my balance was better I would have been able to stay in the same position rather than having to put my foot down. This would have looked better as I would be still with everyone else as we were supposed to be in a freeze frame.

Interpretive Skills - What Went Well

When watching my performance back I thought that my facial expressions had improved a lot from the last performance, this meant that I was able to portray the theme of the dance to the audience better. This was also one of my targets and therefore I focused on this during rehearsals by using the mirrors in the dance studio so I could see what I was doing more clearly.

Even Better If -

My performance would have been better if I had better focus throughout, this is because I didn't have great special awareness, during the dance I occasionally bumped into other people and some of the set. This could have made the dance look messy to the audience, If I had worked on this It would have made the performance more fluid and clean.

My targets are -

• Balance and co-ordination - For my next performance I am going to work on my balance so that I can keep in one place for a longer amount of time without having to move. I am going to do this by doing different exercises regularly, such as standing on one leg and hold it for as long as possible and then on the other leg.
• Focus - This is particularly in terms of special awareness as when dancing it is important that you don't bump into anyone or anything. I am going to do this for my next performance and work with other people who are dancing around me to make sure that we can work around each other without bumping into each other.

Thursday 7th May 2015 - Set, Colour, Sound and Lighting

Thursday 7th May 2015 
Set, Colour, Sound and Lighting

Set And Props - In scene 3 we used bamboo sticks to represent the guns, these were taken off of the aborigines at the start of the play, this represents the English colony coming over to Australia and taking the land off of the original occupants. It suggests taking things that are not ours and thinking that we have the right to keep it. Throughout the play we used minamilistic simple props, this shows the audience that they didn't come over with a lot of things as there wasn't alot of space on the ship, this also suggests why all of the convicts were cramped together in the opening scene. In scene 6 we used a bench which was later used in the rowing scene and other stalls which were also reused. These were everyday items in the 1700s and so it wasn't unusual to have them, as they were reused it shows that because they were the first colony in Australia they had to make do with the simple items that they had. As well this we used a bamboo stick with ribbons attached to it to form the tent in which Harry sleeps in, this helps the audience visualise the scene. We didn't have a set to base around, this also shows the audience how little they had at this time.

Sound - In the opening scene when the audience were walking in, we had music playing, this is to create an atmosphere and also adds energy to the beginning. Then when we arrived Australia we heard some aboriginal music, this contrasts with the opening music, this also suggests the difference between the English people and the Aboriginies, there was also music in Harrys tent. In the tech run we decided to add in a gunshot into scene 3 when i shoot my gun, this is because without it, it didn't really make sense as the audience couldn't see that i had shot and the other officers comment on it. When the scene is based in a prison sound effects were used to sound like water droplets, this suggests that the environment is dirty with no plumbing, this makes it seem more realistic to the audience.


Lighting - The blue light represents the coldness on the ship and how the convicts all have to keep close to each other to be as warm as possible. In contrast to this the red represents the blood of the convicts after they have been punished, it also represents the fear of the convicts as they are terrified of all of the officers. We also used a UV light to enhance the aborigine marks, this gave a difference between them and the English. As well as this everyone has some paint on them, this represents that everyone is part savage, as it is a part of human nature.


Colour - All of the characters have different colours associated with them. For example all of the convicts ear a dull white/cream with brown and sometimes dull red. This symbolised all of the mud and dirt that the convicts have to live in as they are having to build things with their hands as there are no tools available to them, as well as this they probably don't wash and don't get given new clothes to wear so they are never clean. The dill red represents blood if the convict has been flogged, they would have been given no medical equipment and the wounds would have just been left. All of the officers wear red apart from the governor, who wears navy blue, this is because of his status. They also wear beige, white and black, their whites are not dull and worn out like the convicts as they do not have to work the land. The difference in colours represent the difference in power between the officers and convicts have, the convicts have the most basic clothing whereas the officers have expensive, fine clothing.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Cyclorama


We used the cyclorama for two different concepts and was part of our set and background.

• Shadows - We did this twice, one when Ralph Clark is thinking about his wife Betsy Alicia, Amber stood behind the screen with someone holding out her skirt. This represents his lady and his thoughts towards her. We also used this at the end when Arscott goes out to say his first lines of "The Recruiting Officer".
• Projections - During the opening scene we had a projection of the see, we also used this when Harry is sick and the prison scene. Because we had minimalist set it helped the audience understand the difference between each scene. 

Tuesday 5th May 2015 - CATS Evaluation

Tuesday 5th May 2015
CATS Evaluation

Designer In The Jelicle Ball - During the jelicle ball I was a designer, this meant that I had to stand on the stage blocks holding my folder. I decided to have a confident attitude compared to some of the others who were shy and nervous. This meant that i had to use facial expressions to keep an expression that shows the audience that i have no nerves at all. We then had to walk up to Deuteronomy one at a time and show her our designs, when doing this i opened my folder and pointed at specific things, although this was part of the scene it was in the background. Therefore we ha to make sure that our movements were not too big and consequently draw attention from the main performers, as a result of this we had to keep our movements at a reasonable size. When walking i made sure that kept my head up and held my folder our on my arm, this also shows the audience that i am confident. We also had to sing in the ensemble parts, in rehearsals i found it harder to learn the "practical cats, dramatical cats..." part as there is no set tune to follow and there are a lot of different words to remember in order. To make sure that this was okay we had extra singing rehearsals where we just continually ran through it so that we would be able to remember. I thought that my singing in these ensemble parts were good as i knew the pitching, words and rhythm well so i could sing it confidently, i felt as though my diction was good especially when singing "cats" as i was making sure that i annunciated my "t"s. However i think that my breath control could have been better so that i wouldnt have to take so many breaths in the "practical cats, dramatical cats..." section, this would have made my performance smoother.

Journalist In Peaks And The Policles - I thought that this dance looked better in rehearsals as we had enough space in the dance studio, compared too the theatre where we were in a more confined space. However i thought that it looked okay, because of the spacing we had to change our tablos, as we didnt have enough time to change to our original places, this still looked good as we all kept to our original aims which was to fight to get the front so that we can reach the catwalk. Because of the change, this looked different on the first night compared to the second. I found it difficult when doing the motifs in our groups either side of the runway as when i had to roll there was a wall right next to me so i had to change my direction to make sure that i didnt bump into the wall or anyone else. Then we had to change into our partner bits, this wasnt as good as in rehearsals because my partner who was supposed to come behind me, didnt therefore this made it look like we were missing a person in the dance. We then had to sing "there are dogs out of every nation..." this wasnt as good as in rehearsals as well because in both shows some people didnt sing and therefore wasnt a strong and loud as it could have been. On the other hand i thought that i sung this well, i could have improved it by rehearsing more whilst dancing at the same time, this is because when i started dancing i noticed that my singing became weaker. In the first show i was supposed to move to the front for our solos, however i couldnt get through and i ran out of time so i had to stay in the same place to do it, on the second show i had enough time so i was able to move in time. I thought that when we did the barks, they were in time and were sung well, as a class we kept on the correct pitch as well as this i thought my extension was good as i fully stretched out my arms in this section. I also thought that my extension also good when we had to sink down and then rise up when Sophie was singing to us. As well as this i think that i had good dynamic variation especially when we finished fighting with each other, we were all supposed to freeze, i thought that my transition from that was quite quick and therefore looked good. At the end when Sophie sung "scattered like sheep" i thought that we all ran off quickly and therefore this didnt drag on the transition between the two scenes.

Singing And Dancing At The End - In the last part if the show i thought that the second night went better than the first this is because on the first show some of the ensemble singing at the end wasnt good as not everyone knew all of the words. However inbetween the two shows we has a singing rehearsal where we learnt all of the words and kept on running through them to make sure that we all knew what we were singing. In the second show our singing was all in time with each other and everyone was in time and on pitch. The dance wasnt as good as it could have been as there were so many people dancing in a small space. In the finale the year 12s were at the back doing a simple repeated motif, i thought that i performed this well as i used over the top facial expressions that fitted with the theme of the song. As well as this i fully extended my arms and kept my eyeline and focus up making my projection better.

Monday 4th May 2015 - CATS Research

Monday 4th May 2015
CATS Research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_(musical)

CATS is a musical that is based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by  "T. S. Eliot", in 1980 it was turned into a musical that was produced my Cameron Makintosh and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musical has no dialogue and each song tells the story of a different type of cat. It opened on the west end in 1981 and with the same creative team on Broadway the following year, it was later revived in 2014 on the West End. Orginalli in London it ran for 21 years and 18 in New York. The musical has been translated into more than 20 languages and has also been made into a film.

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/cats-the-musical/images/234201/title/victoria-photo

Characters include...

• Gus the theatre cat, one of the oldest of the cats who used to be an actor.
• Grizabella, A former glamour cat and only wants to be accepted.
• Jennyanydots, an old gumbie cat
• Old Dueteronomy, The leader of the jelicle cats.

Andrew Lloyd Webber - He has composed many different plays including:

• The likes of us
• Joseph and the amazing technicolor coat
• Jesus christ superstar
• Evita
• Cats
• Starlights express
• The phantom of the opera
• Love never dies

He has also gained awards including, seven tony awards, three grammys, seven olives, a golden globe and an oscar as well as many others for his work. As well as this he owns six theatres includes the London Palladium and Drury Lane. In 1992 he was also knighted.

This information was found at http://www.andrewlloydwebber.com on 7th May 2015

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2F2013%2F04%2F11%2Ft-s-eliot-old-possum-book-of-practical-cats-gorey%2F&ei=Ak9KVauAN4HfU_fvgMgL&bvm=bv.92765956,d.bGQ&psig=AFQjCNGwBXSXu-SeDnYvzJg8TJXb6GWrUw&ust=1431019626145278

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fresellerbajudisoloshop.besaba.com%2Fold%2Fold-possums-book-of-practical-cats-harvest-book-t-s-.html&ei=Q09KVYDdFcWsUcCOgPgK&bvm=bv.92765956,d.bGQ&psig=AFQjCNFm3rvb4BqB3k0gOU2F-VWe4SgLLg&ust=1431019708134704

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.afterellen.com%2Fpeople%2F215526-the-afterellen-com-huddle-our-favorite-poets&ei=dVBKVb2VAYnxUr3cgNAK&bvm=bv.92765956,d.bGQ&psig=AFQjCNFm3rvb4BqB3k0gOU2F-VWe4SgLLg&ust=1431019708134704

T.S Elliott - He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1888, he attended Harvard university earning an undergraduate, a masters degree and a doctorate in philosophy. Later he lived in London working as a teacher and then for Lloyds bank. Ezra Pound recognised his talent for writing poems and assisted him in the publication of thee poems in a number of magazines. In 1927 he became a British citizen and was associated with the publication house, Faber and Faber. In 1948 he received the nobel prize for Literature and later died in London on January 4th 1965.

These are some examples of the poems that in the book of practical cats written by T.S Elliott, they were written in the 1930s and were published in 1939 by "Faber and Faber". The original book was illustrated by T.S Elliott himself but when it was republished in 1940, it was fully illustrated by "Nicolas Bently". However other versions have also been illustrated by "Edward Gorey" in 1982 and "Axel Scheffler" in 2009.

This information was found at 

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/t-s-eliot on 7th May 2015

Directors Interpretation - In Worthing colleges version of CATS the concept was changed, so that instead of cats the characters were people who worked in the fashion industry. For example "Old Dueteronomy"  wasn't the leader of the Jelicle cats but the top editor of Deuteronomy designs.

London Fashion Week - This is a clothing trade show held in February and September as well as New York, Milan and Paris. It is organised by the British fashion council it first took place in 1984. It is attended by over 5,000 press and has estimated orders of between £40-100 million. The UK fashion industry supports around 797,000 job. The show is currently hosted at Somerset House and features over 150 designers.

Thursday 30th April 2015 - Our Country's Good Evaluation

Thursday 30th April 2015
Our Country's Good Evaluation

Dress Run - We did our first dress run through in front of another class, this is so we could have a practise performing to an audience in this type of staging. This is important because most of us had never performing in a proscenium staging before, In previous rehearsals some of us were performing as if it was proscenium staging, therefore because we had an audience it was easier to perform to them as they were there.


The opening scene - In this scene where we are forming the ship and being the convicts, I thought this went well in the first show. I thought that I had a good posture, I was slouched and bent over, this shows the audience that we had been on that ship for a long time and many of us were sick and weak. I also thought that I had appropriate facial expressions to show that I was exhausted, when we moved on the floor I just fell down, this suggested to the audience that we didn't have enough energy to stand anymore. When I was laying down my head was facing down, did the occasional cough or cry, this fitted with the context of the play, because we are all so cramped together so that it is likely that diseases and illnesses are going to be spread around. I also thought that this scene in the second show was as good as the first show. Our proxemics with each other contrasted with any other scene in the show as we were so cramped together, this shows the audience that we are prisoners and do not have the freedom to move around. When we changed to laying down we were all still pushed together, this shows that the ships would have been over crowed. As well as this our proxemics with the audience were good as the formation was in the middle of the stage so all of the audience members got a good view of it.


Scene 3 - The transition between the ship scene and the shooting scene was good in the first show because i was prepared and put my jacket on the chairs, however in the second show i forgot to pre-set my jacket and therefore i had to run backstage to get it. Because of this the transition wasn't as quick as it was before. This scene on the first night did not go so well as there was a long pause were we had missed our cue lines, this meant that not all of our lines were said, however even though not all of the text was said, with the pause the "kangaroo" section was timed okay, as when i pointed over at them they were all standing in place. In the second show this went better as in-between the two shows we had gone through the lines together as a group, as well as the this kangaroo timing was also good. I thought that my voice wasn't great in this scene, i needed to be louder and use a lower register, i thought that i sounded too much like my own voice when i needed to sound like i had a lot of power and was very upper class. On the other hand i thought that my posture and body language was good, i thought that i stood up strait with my shoulders back, this shows the audience that i have more authority than the other officers. My body language was similar to this in the second show, i think i could have developed this further to make my status more obvious. Our proxemics with each other were a lot spaced out in this scene, this shows the audience the difference between the amount of space on the convict ship and now they are on land.


Scene 6 - This scene was a lot better than in previous rehearsals, the majority of the lines were correct. However in the first show there was a long pause, this was due to someone missing their cue, therefore the wrong line was said and this cut the scene shorter. My cue line for the last line was said earlier than it was meant to so I had to say the line the finish the scene. I thought that my voice was better in this scene,  I sounded more upper class than in scene 3 however I do think that I could have developed it further to sound more like a man. In previous rehearsals when I said my longer paragraph I found it hard to add characterisation into it, however when I stared to walk around when saying it I found it easier to stay in character. This is because my character was saying this to tell everyone his opinion on the play, he is unlike the other characters who just say their view on the subject, he explains it by seeing how it could effect the convicts in a positive way. I wanted this to be an important part of the scene as it could have changed some of the other officers minds. On the second show I thought this went better as I felt more confident with it, I sounded more like I was important and knew what I was doing, like how my character is written. I also thought that my body language was good in this scene, when I was at down I had a straight back but my legs were more apart like how a typical man would sit. During rehearsals I found this hard as I had never played a male character so I wasn't sure how to use my body language to help with my characterisation. However as we got closer to the show I found it easier to do this as I had noticed how some of the other officers were sitting. On the show our proxemics with the audience were not good. This is because the way that we placed the stalls and the bench meant that some of the audience had a blocked view and couldn't see what was going on. In the second show the bench was placed too far upstage so when I walked over I spoke as my character to tell them to move the bench back as some of the audience were being blocked. This blended in with the scene as at the beginning of it we all having smaller conversations with each other anyway. We also used kinaesthetic response especially when Collins is asking everyone about their opinions on the play, this is how we all have different responses as all of our characters are different. For example my response was different to Major Ross he is a very angry character and doesn't want the play to be put on, my character contrasts with this because my character likes the idea of the play. Therefore when she asked I slightly shook my head, whereas he would make more of a scene about it. 


Liz Morden's Monologue - This scene went better in the second show for me as in the first show I slightly tripped over one of the bamboo sticks which made an unnecessary noise. Other than this I thought that most of my transitions were smooth, this was good as we were moving around Liz as she is telling her life story. One reason that or transitions were smooth was because of the proxemics between all of the actors in this scene, we all kept an adequate amount of space between us. We were able to do this because we had worked on this many times in rehearsals, as there were so many people involved in it. Initially I found this scene hard to characterise because, I didn't have a particular character to portray like the governor. Throughout most of this scene I was neutral, I found that this was the best way to be all of the different characters one after the other. Because this scene uses a lot of space, the audience got a good view of everything as it stretched across the whole stage. We also used kinaesthetic responses when she says "it wasn't me it was Lizzie, look she did it", we all turned and came out of what we were doing and we all turned to look at her.


Scene 2 - I think that my voice was the best that my voice characterisation in this scene was the best out of all of my other scenes. This is because I found my characterisation easier in this scene because it is just a conversation between me and Ralph Clark, he is talking to me about the play and I am telling him my opinion and I eventually give him permission to put it on. The way that the script is written meant that I found it easier to feel as though I was of a higher status than him, Ralph doesn't say much whereas my lines were more in-depth. Another thing that helped me develop my characterisation was my proxemics with George, for example I never stood too close to him suggesting that we are not close enough to be friends. This contrasts with his relationship and proxemics with Mary Brenham, however I do not go out of my way to get away from him, this suggests that we have a professional relationship where we both respect each other for our different statuses. This contrasts with his relationship with Shitty Meg, where he cant stand to be around her and makes an effort to try to get away from her. When moving around I tried to make sure that each time I stopped I was facing a different angle, this was to make sure that everyone in the audience got a good view of the scene. However I think that in the first show my movement wasn't good, this is because I felt as though I was walking too fast or standing still for too long, if I had slowed down my waking pace I would have been able to make the movements more equal. My posture and body language could have been better as when I was standing still, I kept  my back upright and straight, but I didn't walk as though I was an old man, like how my character is written. I thought that my movement and posture was better in the second show, I think that this maybe die to the fact that I was more confident around the space, as before the show we didn't get many rehearsals in the space that we were using.


Scene 10 - This scene was better in the second show, as in the first show some of our lines and cues were still getting mixed up. In the first show there were still a few longer pauses that were not scripted, as a group we found this scene hard as we didn't have many chances to rehearse it and on the dress run we still didn't know many of our lines. Inbetween the two shows we ran the lines as a group to make sure that we knew exactly where the speech was supposed to be faster and where the pauses were. I thought that my voice was good in this scene because I used different tones of voice when talking to and about Liz. For example before she is brought in I speak louder and more like I wanted to get my point across, this contrasts with when she is talking to Liz and she has confessed that she didn't do it, I have a much softer voice as I am trying to make her talk more. My posture and body language was also good I thought as I continued to stand up straight with my chin slightly up, this represents my characters background. All of the officers stood spaced out from each other, this shows the audience that we are in a professional environment, this is the start of a court in their small colony. I keep a fair distance from Liz apart from when I am untieing her at the end of the scene, this shows that I am of a higher status than her but also I do not think that we shouldn't have anything to do with the convicts as they are humans too. As a group we worked well together when George messed up his line in the first show, we just carried on as if nothing happened. This made it look like he was still in character and it was meant to look like that, for example out of anger, he just forgot what he was saying. As we just carried on, this didn't make it obvious to the audience as we just carried on with the subject.



Targets for Next Show

• Voice Differentiation - I think that I need to work on changing my voice to suit different parts of topics, this Is because I feel as though sometimes my voice is too similar and doesn't change, this therefore sounds monotone at times.
• Line Learning - If I put more time and effort into learning my lines for the next show, I will be able to have more time to develop my characterisation further.
• Movement - In earlier rehearsals work on changing my movement to suit different characters, this then makes the character more believable to the audience.

 

Sunday 19th April 2015 - Governer Arthur Phillip

Sunday 19th April 2015
Governor Arthur Phillip

Act 2 Scene 2

When I was going over the scene between me and Ralph Clark I decided to go on to youtube to find another version of the scene. I did this because I wasn't sure how to say particular lines such as "How do we know what humanity lies..." and "We may fail..." and I thought if I looked at somebody else's interpretation of the script it would help me with my characterisation.

After watching this I read through my lines again and decided to change the way I said the "how do we know what humanity lies...", I am going to exaggerate more when I am explaining the way that soldiers came back to life. This is because I don't want my voice to sound monotone as it was previously. I have also decided to change the way that I say "the reverends an ass..." I am going to have a short pause between ass and lieutenant.

Thursday 9th April 2015 - Easter Rehearsal

Thursday 9th April 2015
Easter Rehearsal

We started this rehearsal with running through scene 6, this is is the scene where the officers are discussing whether or not to put on a play. We needed to go through this because in previous rehearsals this didnt go very well because, everyone was finding it difficult to remember their lines as there is alot of people involved. Because everyone kept on forgetting thier lines, the level of energy was constantly being lowered. When we did his today we found that this scene went better than before, as we were all more familiar with our lines so we found it easier to keep up the energy levels. In the week before show week we are going to continue to work on this so that we can cut down the time, this is because at the moment there is still many pauses where some people are still unsure on their lines. This means that the scene drags on and may seem boring to the audience. As well as this we need to go over it more so that we can get used to our different cue lines so that we can be sure when to say our correct lines.

We also worked on scene 3, this is the shooting scene, this needed work because like scene 6 this was flat last rehearsal. The first time we ran this through it was not so good, this was due to lines. To make sure that next weeks rhearsals go better i am going to ensure that i am perfectly clear on all of my lines so that i do not mess up anyone elses cue lines, this could result in them messing up their lines and then the whole scene beign ruined. However when we ran it a second time it was a lot better, i need to further work on my characterisation in this scene. This is because i need to show a complete difference between my chracters authority in this scene and the first scene, in the first scene i am a convict this menas that i have no power over anyone else, on the otherhand in this scene i am the governer so i have authority over everyone in the colony.

We then wanted to do a full run through, however we didnt have enough time, therefore we only got through the first act. Most of the transitions between scenes were good in this run through, this made it easier to move between scenes as all of the props that were needed were put into the correct places. For example the chairs for scene 6 were all together, if they had been spaced apart then, there would have been a long gap between the scene before and this one. On the other hand the whole class needs to make sure than they are more secure on their lines because once one person messes up, either the scene is cut short because the wrong cue line is said or the scene doesnt make sense. For the next rehearsal i am going to make sure that i am more prepared with line learning, as well as this work on my voice to make sure that it is deeper and i sound more like an old man.