'13' By Mike Bartlett - Reflective Blog - Entry 1

Links/Detailed Information As To What I Learnt In Lessons - My Weekly Blog Entry 2:

Week 2: http://sdcperformancens.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/level-3-acting-extended-diploma-week-2_24.html

Introduction: What Is '13' In My Mind:

The play titled '13' is created by the author/playwright Mike Bartlett.  The book of the play was written in the time span of 2010-2011 and was released to the public on the 11th of October 2011.  '13' was later staged the same year at the National Theatre in London. 

The story of '13' takes place in London 2011 and presents a thrilling, mysterious journey that follows the story of a man called John who, prior to the plays events, had been declared deceased but has returned with the purpose to solve the political problems occurring throughout the play by building a revolution against the British Government with an army of protesters.  Other than the purpose of Johns character, there are 12 other main characters within the play that have different opinions, whether for or against, towards the same problems.  These 12 other characters were friends/colleagues of John before he had, unknown to the reader, mysteriously passed away, and now that he has returned, throughout the course of the play he tries to bring the 12 towards his side of the fight against the British Government.

Creative Ideas/My Physical Understanding Of '13' - Responses To Text/Stimulus/Character:

When I had first read the script, it presented to me a mysterious, yet intriguing story that further develops itself to become a thrilling experience to witness.  When I had first gotten introduced to '13', I suggested the idea that it may be a reference to the biblical story of Jesus and the 12 Disciples.  This is one of the many influences Mike Bartlett had for '13', others being that it shows his own personal views towards political matters with the use of his characters and that it presents a story about political matters in the real world to people whom are yet uninformed.

I thought of '13' being influenced by the biblical story of Jesus and the 12 Disciples because the concept and personalities of the characters in both stories is very similar, for example, the character John is reflective to the real character Jesus. John dies before the events of the play and has mysteriously resurrected with the purpose to protest against the political opinions of the British Government to, in his eyes, bring a brighter future for all of mankind; Jesus on the other hand had also died in his story and resurrected with the purpose to guide those lost without him and help spread the word of his return to 'scare off' the Roman Empire.  The evaluation and explanation of my idea makes me think of Johns death prior to the events of '13' being a 'metaphoric crucifixion' since his death and purpose in the play brings a strong familiarity towards the biblical story of Jesus and the 12 Disciples.

To further evaluate my point through more analysis, the 12 Disciples from the biblical story are that much similar also to the 12 friends/colleagues of John in '13'.  Whilst reading the script of '13', I had noticed that there is a strong familiarity between 'The 12 Disciples' and 'The 12' from the two stories by examining their personalities.  Below I will list two examples justifying my idea from the perspective of 2 characters from both '13' and the biblical story:

* Holly (Mary) - The character of Holly presents a supportive role towards Johns' ideas.

Once John had reunited with Holly through his meeting with her, she had given him the utmost support with his decisions against the British Government by spreading the word of his revolution against them to others to help build his protesting army.

John has a lot of respect for Holly, as she does with him, and together they present a good team much like how Jesus and Mary did in the biblical story.

My idea of Holly relating to Mary from the biblical story is evidenced by the fact that they are both prostitutes in their lives.  I don't want to be so cheesy and say that Holly is pregnant with the son of God much like Mary had done, but their personalities towards both John and Jesus shows a strong relationship, a bond that can never be broken, even through death.

* Dennis (Judas) - The character of Dennis is an interesting one, I can see him being a 'voice of struggle' in the story of '13' since he is an American Politician.

Through reading the play, I can see Dennis being an adversary of John.  My idea of him representing a 'voice of struggle' is related to his family life and his relationship with the British Prime Minister in '13' named Ruth.  The struggle of keeping things 'surreal' between Britain and America results in Dennis having some drastic and uncomfortable issues with his life.  This coincides with the death of his daughter and how his wife had joined John's revolution against the British Government, this eventually lead to Dennis joining as well which was against everything he had fought for beforehand.

The evidence that supports my idea of Dennis representing Judas from the biblical story is that he took possession of a 'leaked' video of John's real ideas about his revolution, which he had then later posted on the internet, giving Dennis the title of a traitor from Johns perspective.  This 'leaked footage' that Dennis had posted on the internet had resulted in the downfall of Johns revolution against the British Government.

Conclusion:

Having presented these two examples about my opinions in my understanding of '13', I can now strongly say that the context behind the biblical story of Jesus and the '12 Disciples' is an influence for Mike Bartlett's representation of '13'.  There is a strong familiarity between the characters in both texts and the story alongside them both is very similar, much to the point that they both have an intriguing, interesting and gripping story that, when read, makes the reader believe that it is presenting a very truthful and tragic performance.

Input/Exploration Process - Scene And Character Development/Trial And Error:

Before my teacher had decided what my role was going to be in '13', I had been given different scenes with different characters, to decide which ones I liked and connected to the most.

My input into these scenes were mostly suggestions as to how I would perform as that character and also suggesting ways in which me and the other actors in the scene could perform it in a circular fashion because that's the way '13' is meant to presented to an audience. A lot of what I had inputted into these scenes were considered Trial and Error, me and my partners in the scenes tried out different ways in which we could possibly present it.  Since we didn't have our teachers opinion towards it, we couldn't really feel positive as to what we presented was right and wrong in these scenes.  It was still too early in the rehearsal process to consider what would have been right or wrong when presenting these scenes, but I'm sure that within the next few weeks, I will return to these scenes, possibly as a different character that isn't in it, and present the ideas that I had from this session to whoever will be performing in these scenes instead.

Character's Played And Input Into Scenes (Feedback Edit):

As for the selection of  characters that I had a taster session for, I will list below who I played as and give my input towards their characterisation and scenes.

Character 1. Amir:

When performing as the character of Amir for Act 1 Scene 11 of '13', I had felt the slight sense of aggression coming from the words that he says throughout the whole scene, especially for one of the lines he says towards the other character in the scene, Mark.  The story to this scene is that Amir is sat in a room for taking part in a protesting riot and Mark, whom is Amir's new solicitor, walks through to enter the scene.  When Amir was, for the first time, introduced to Mark, he had left a very bad impression towards him, especially within the first four lines of the scene which are:

Mark: "I'm Mark, your Solicitor."
Amir: "You?"
Mark: "Yeah."
Amir: "I've changed my mind. I'm pleading guilty."

For what I'd discovered from reading these lines and acting it out with my partner in this scene who played Mark, I get the impression that Amir is a very immature and egocentric type of character, meaning that he doesn't care about anyone else other than himself.  This is very different to how I act personally, since I'm never immature and I care about others, as well as myself, equally.  If I had been given the role of Amir for real, I know that it'll be a very challenging process to go through because of how different we both are in our personalities.  But I was very drawn to playing Amir in this scene because of that singular fact; that it'll be a challenge for me as an actor, and it will help me in the development of my current skills and techniques.

For my input into Act 1 Scene 11, I discussed with my partner, for this scene, that we should try and present it in a circular fashion, which was one of the main tasks from our teacher to achieve for this scene.  Not much of this idea was implemented into the first half of the scene, but during the second half when Mark is presenting his speech, I did instruct my partner to walk around the table I was sitting at as Amir, to accomplish the goal of presenting a circular way of movement.  As for the input I delved into for Amir, I had performed as him with bad body language, meaning that I was cross armed and not opening myself up to Mark when he came in and introduced himself.

Character 2. Terry: 

When I had performed as the character of Terry for Act 1 Scene 12 of '13', I had gained the impression that he is a very shy, and perhaps an unusual character that doesn't like to express himself and present his thoughts and ideas very much to others.  I had come to the conclusion of this by reading through the entire scene and realizing that Terry doesn't say very much within it.  The story within this scene is that an Alpha (Christian) Group have banded together to discuss their thoughts with a circle of believers and to seek guidance from each other.  Terry only has three lines to present within the whole scene, which resulted in me thinking about him being a shy character.  But the one line that Terry says in this scene which made me think that he was unusual was:

Terry: "Sometimes I hear voices."

At first glance of reading this, I just shivered with the thought of what kind of character Terry is in '13' overall.  With the unusual vibe of Terry aside, I did like performing as him within this scene, even if he didn't have to many lines to present.  I say this because a few years ago, I once had a shy personality and through committing myself in Acting and going up on stage, my confidence has improved and I'm a very open individual that likes to socialize more than I did prior to this.  I didn't have much to input into this scene in terms of how me and the other actors could present it, but I did observe and agree with some of the suggestions that some people were coming up with on the spot, and through experimenting, we did come up with some good ideas for this scene.  As for my input into my portrayal of Terry, I kept him more on the private side towards everyone, much like how I did with Amir in Act 1 Scene 11, but I had taken away that cross armed gesture, which still left me open to everyone.

Strengths And Weaknesses/Further Development On Character - Posture And Accents:

During my input for suggesting ways of presentation, I was also thinking about my different characters in these scenes and how I may portray them differently.

I tried to experiment with various differences in my characters posture and even the way I spoke (giving off an accent).  I am, in my opinion, quite good at portraying different characters, either physically or vocally, and I would think of this being a strength towards my skills as an actor.

There was one moment when I had volunteered to present an American accent in front of my teacher since one of the characters in the play, Dennis, is American, and to make the performance as truthful as possible, we needed to add the accents to make it more believable to the audience.  I'm not the best at performing accents for characters, so I consider that a weakness in my skills as an actor, but nonetheless, I gave the American Accent my best attempt, even if I hadn't heard it properly in a few years and that I can do a more Southern American accent better, but my teacher had wanted it to be more Northern/Central.  When it comes to accents, this is something I will definitely improve for rehearsal sessions/performances in the future.

Responses To Characters I Will Be Portraying - Martin & Paul:

After having experimented with a few characters from '13' through the decisions of my teacher, I had now been given the characters I will be performing as in rehearsals and the main performance in November, Martin and Paul.

My initial response towards these two casting choices was negative since both Martin and Paul alone don't present many lines throughout the whole duration of '13'.  But after having read the script and performed a few scenes with both of my characters, I had changed my opinion towards them and have given them both a chance since this has presented me with a unique opportunity within the Level 3 Acting Extended Diploma course, that I can develop more on my Physical Theatre skills, bodily and facially, for this production since I appear a lot in scenes but don't say many lines. This presents me with a very interesting challenge for this production and I am willing to give it my best attempt as it is something I have never experienced before in my journey to becoming an Actor. Throughout the rehearsal process for '13', I will be suggesting ways to my teacher as to how I can project more Physical Theatre, either bodily or facially, in my scenes even if there is no stage directions in the script for my characters.

More Development On Character/Research Findings - Aims For Later Rehearsal Sessions:

Having said the previous information, this has inspired me to experiment with both of my characters, Martin and Paul, more within rehearsal sessions and when I'm away from college at home.

I will read the scenes and experiment with ways in which  I could present both of my characters more physically to a higher standard since they both don't have too many lines in the script and input any ideas I have come up with in later rehearsal sessions, I will also find suggestions as to how characters in the scene, mine or others, could present their lines with more emphasis, difference of tone or pitch either when I'm working with my group of actors interdependently or when blocking the scenes with my teacher.

I will also delve into some research about my two characters, Martin and Paul, and devise ways as to how I could present them with choice of clothing.  The fact that I had thought about this during pre-casting did give me the insight to read the script to find out what kind of characters Martin and Paul are in '13' and how I can reflect that with the chosen clothing.