'13' By Mike Bartlett - Reflective Blog - Entry 3

'13' By Mike Bartlett - Reflective Blog - Entry 3

Links/Detailed Information As To What I Had Learnt In Lessons - My Weekly Blog Entry 5:

Week 5: http://sdcperformancens.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/level-3-acting-extended-diploma-week-5.html

Introduction: Refining Act 1 Of '13':

Above is a link to my Weekly Blog Entry for the 5th Week on the Level 3 Acting Extended Diploma Course.  Throughout the first section titled 'Monday 6th Of October 2014' captioned 'Lesson 1 & 2 - Physical Theatre And Contemporary Theatre', I talked about what I had done in these lessons to further refine Act 1 of '13'', so we can move onto blocking and refining Act 2 for next weeks lesson.

In this Blog Entry, I talked about how I had made a brief character profile for my characters in '13', Martin and Paul, and I've also considered the idea to also make a profile for my interpretation for every other character in '13'.

When I have completed a sufficient amount of work on my '13 By Mike Bartlett - Character Profile' Blog Entry, I will include the link for it in the 'Links/Detailed Information As To What I had Learnt In Lessons' section for this Reflective Blog. For this Character Profile, I will have presented my overall interpretation of my characters, Martin and Paul, also including any other characters in '13', and presenting the several strategies that I will be implementing into both Martin and Paul to give a different overall presentation for both characters for future rehearsal sessions and the upcoming performance in November to be able to achieve a higher mark for this production in terms of Physical Theatre.

Practical Exploration - Embodying My Characters Physically And Mentally:

Martin:

Before I had done my brief character profile, I talked about how I had entered the lesson with the task of performing an exercise to make myself become embodied with one of  my characters, which was Martin for the purpose of this exercise.

To give more detail about this exercise, I had explored the physical attributes of Martin by being in his shoes and thinking as though I was him rather than me.  I explored the possibilities for interpreting what his overall posture could be like, how he speaks in a public area, what he looks like and even how he acts towards others in his scenes due to all of the research I have done so far for him.

My own interpretation of Martin is that he is a young, mature and self controlling individual that works towards the idea of what he thinks is right in the world of politics, which is, in his own right, to work of ways to stop all of the violence to prevent more people from dying/protesting across the whole of Britain.

Paul:

I had repeated this exercise at home, away from college, to discover the same possible attributes for my second character in '13', Paul.

My own interpretation of Paul is that he is a believable, faithful and caring individual that does care more about the people that have been affected deeply by the events occurring throughout the story of '13'.  His opinions towards the political side of '13' is not revealed, but it could possibly tie in with his Christian way of life.  This is one of the things I talk more about, in detail, for my ongoing character profile for '13'.

All of this information about both Martin and Paul is included and further detailed in my '13 By Mike Bartlett - Character Profile' Blog Entry.

Further Development/Refinement On Characters And Scenes:

During the rehearsal session in my 'Contemporary Theatre' lesson for Week 5, I had been involved for the refinement of Act 1 Scene 12 in '13' which contains the members of the Alpha Group whom have all gathered together for a meeting to talk about their personal lives.

During the refinement for this scene as my second character, Paul, my teacher had given me some physical activity to work on.  This physical activity involves me to stand up, since I'm sitting beforehand, for a response to a question that another character (Holly) in this scene is asking.  The line in the script I have to present, which involves me to also stand up is "Well, Jesus never claimed to solve our problems", which is a response to a previous statement about current affairs that another character in the scene, Holly, had presented to the Alpha Group.

I also took this time, during the refinement session, to work on my physical reactions towards some of the things the other character's in the scene were saying, for example, when Holly, near the beginning of the scene, says the line "Cos my dad's a shit, and my mum gets anxious, about things", I present a physical response which involves me giving off a negative expression/gesture.  I do this because I want my interpretation of Paul to be a caring individual, that accepts his own friends and colleagues as family, and the fact that Holly despises both her mum and dad made me think that Paul would react negatively towards her use of language.

When the character, Holly, later revealed that her father turned out to be a Christian priest, my teacher instructed that me, along with every other member of the Alpha Group, would present a physical interest in what she was talking about since, before this, when she announced that she despises both her mum and dad and also mentioned that she had no friends at her university, the head spokesperson for the Alpha Group (Sally) had moved on and ignored her, and because she had said this, she kind of redeemed herself within her physical standing of the group.

Near the end of Act 1 Scene 12, I have a moment of comforting with the spokesperson of the Alpha Group, Sally, because she had become upset from the behavior that Holly was presenting towards her during this moment in the scene.  It was then, at this moment, that me and Sally had swapped seats in the scene since she wanted to get more information from another character in this scene called Terry.

Exploration/Research Findings/Development On Characters - Implementing Creative Risks:

After refining Act 1 Scene 12 of '13', and not having any other scenes in which to rehearse for the whole of Act 1, I took the remaining time within this lesson to look over the script of '13' again, more thoroughly in a private state of mind, to hopefully discover anything that may be useful towards these Reflective Blogs and improve my overall interpretation of both of my characters, Martin and Paul.

I had discovered a bunch of information about both of my characters, Martin and Paul,during this private, independent Research session.  Some of the more personal information about both of my characters I'll include separately in my Character Profile.

Nearly all of the information I will post in this Reflective Blog is mostly to do with my first character, Martin.  Any more information that I have considered more personal for both Martin and Paul I'll include in my '13 By Mike Bartlett - Character Profile' Blog Entry.

For the time being, I did have some input to still include for this Reflective Blog in its own right.        I discovered a line from one of my characters, Martin, in Act 5 of '13' which gives me something to work with when I'm included in scenes with the character called Ruth, whom I have previously mentioned in other Reflective Blogs, is the British Prime Minister for the fictional world of '13'.  The line I'm referring to is:

"Thing was, whenever the Prime Minister talked about the tactics, I saw this look on her face.  I don't think she was ever...certain.  I'm going to be a teacher.  I want a small life.  Don't think there's anything much anyone can do, except get through it." 

The first part of this line which has Martin talk about Ruth's uncertainty about tactics interested me to the point where I can include, through physical actions, what he is talking about here for the scenes prior to this Act in the play.  Since Ruth is still a higher member of Politics than Martin, I have to treat her with respect, but I can allow myself, as Martin, to give an expression of disagreement/uncertainty towards her decisions in the background events occurring throughout the whole duration of '13'.  Finding this information about Martin within the script of '13' can, potentially, increase my overall presentation of character in this performance, since I'm getting marked on differences between individual characters and this is something I can definitely work with to help achieve this goal.

Another piece of information that I had discovered through reading the script of '13' more thoroughly, takes place within Act 4 Scene 6 and is a line presented by the character of Liam, whom is the other political adviser, alongside Martin, to the British Prime Minister, Ruth.  The line that Liam presents in this scene further backs up my theory, which I have mentioned in a previous Reflective Blog Entry, about the biblical story of Jesus and the 12 Disciples being one of Mike Bartlett's many influences' for writing '13'.  The line in this scene is:

"The press are calling them (the protesters) his (Johns) 'disciples'." 

The use of words that Liam has provided in this scene is further evidence to support my theory that  the biblical story of Jesus and the 12 Disciples is a possible influence for Mike Bartlett to write '13'.  This influence goes alongside other theories that he may have written it to give his own opinions, through the use of all of the characters in the play, on Political matters within the real world and to also further highlight the real events that are currently happening in the real world behind closed doors, unrevealed to the public eye.

Evaluation/Aims For Next Lesson:

This is all of the information that I have researched through reading the script of '13' that I have found so far in my Exploration Process for this production.

For the remaining period between last lesson and the next, I will look through scenes in the script that I'm not appearing in to learn more about other characters and develop my own knowledge of 'the play which I will include in my '13' Character Profile.