Level 3 Acting Week 7 Synopsis Blog & '13' By Mike Bartlett - Reflective Blog - Entry 5

Introduction:


'13' By Mike Bartlett - The Technical Side Of '13' Blog Entry: http://sdcperformancens.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/13-by-mike-bartlett-technical-side-of-13.html

Above, I have included a link to a separate Blog Entry which details both the different forms of lighting and the different uses of sound within our performance of '13'.  I also give my idea as to what they could represent in certain scenes in which they appear, and I also present an evaluative judgement towards these different elements to show whether or not I think they are effective when working with the scene overall.

Monday 20th Of October 2014 Blog Entry:

Synopsis Of Day:

Lesson 1 & 2 - Physical Theatre And Contemporary Theatre:

To start off this week, the group had returned to the 'Physical Theatre' and 'Contemporary Theatre' lessons, where we started to think about how we were going to open our first major production, '13', to an audience when it comes to the main performances in November.

Firstly, our teacher had split all of the students in the class into 4 separate groups. Our task in these groups was to come up with a dance that fits along with a song which had 4 beats within it.  This song, supposedly, is what '13' is going to start off with on the main performances and all of the actors are meant to dance to the beat presented.

Evaluative Judgement For The Dance Routine And Form Of Lighting (Reflective):

My group had come up with a dance that wasn't like any others in the room, it was a much more aggressive, large and loud routine.  The stance that my group had for this dance routine was very powerful and took the shape of what, to me, seemed like was a large rock, since the movements were so heavy and had a lot of stability.

After each group had presented their individual dance, we moved onto how we were going to fit all of these dance routines into a sort of party scenario to start off the performance before the main prologue for '13'.  This is when we had started to include the technical side of our performance with the use of sounds and lighting.  The sound for this party scene, obviously, is the song playing in the background whilst we are dancing.  The lighting we had used is very unique, and nothing that I have seen or used before for a performance.  We had used a singular light bulb at the centre of the stage area in the theatre and we had performed our dance routines in the circle of light that it was illuminating.

This use of lighting fits into the circular fashion of performance that Mike Bartlett had intended for the presentation of '13', and I'm sure we are going to use the light bulbs area of light for a bunch of scenes within the performance of the play.

After having done the dance routines, our teacher had instructed that the actors who are part of 'The 12' would lie down, in a circle, around the light that the singular bulb was giving off.  This is when we had really started to experiment with the lighting used in this scene.  What we had resulted with is that:

• The light bulb would be turned off after the party introduction.
• The light bulb afterwards will slowly fade on to reveal 'The 12' sleeping to what looks like all of them having a nightmare.
• The alarm clock will go off at 7:13am, which results in 'The 12' waking up from their nightmares screaming and with their hearts pounding.
• A few seconds after this, the character John will come on stage and turn off the alarm clock, which will then lead all of the actors currently on stage to exit to then move onto the next scene.

After devising how we were going to start off the performance of '13', we had started to do a dress/technical rehearsal run-through of Act 1 and 2.  During this dress rehearsal, I did indeed wear my costumes for Martin and Paul, and I had also used the props that Martin uses in his scenes for these 2 acts in the play.

Characterisation/Further Input (Reflective):

I'll include below a description of my costume idea for both Martin and Paul and the props I had used for only Martin:

Martin

Costume:

• White Shirt
• Black Tie
• Black Formal Trousers
• Black Dress Shoes

Props:

• Black Notebook (with Pen)
• Mobile Phone
• Apple I-Pad
• Paperwork (only for certain scenes in '13' where I'm sorting them in the background)

Paul

Costume:

• Large Blue Hoodie
• White Shirt
• Black Formal Trousers
• Black Dress Shoes

The reason that my idea for costumes is similar for Martin and Paul is because my first and only scene where I appear as Paul is set directly after a previous scene where I appear as Martin and I won't have enough time to change into a completely different costume.  Due to this, when I am going to change my appearance, before I come back on stage as Paul, I'll take off the Black Tie and put on my Large Blue Hoodie.  I had told my teacher of this plan for costume changes and she had approved of it along with the props I use for Martin within his scenes in the performance.

As well as doing this, I know how I could possibly perform differently for Martin and Paul by using a different use of posture, including different habits, whether sitting or standing, and I may try to speak differently also to give further characterisation for both.

We hadn't fully completed Act 2 in this dress/technical run-through, but we will return to this and further acts/scenes later on in the week.

Input Into Act 5 Of '13' (Reflective):

For the remaining 45 minutes before the end of the day, our teacher had made the actors who are part of 'The 12' devise how to present the finale, Act 5, of '13'.  Many people had come up with suggestions such as implementing performance techniques used by physical theatre groups such as Frantic Assembly.  I had inputted the idea that, for the scene:

• We once again use the light bulb as the only source of lighting to create the circular area of the stage.
• Then, all of the actors would stand in a semi-circle facing the audience, but with heads down.
• Anyone who has to present a line would lift their face and go out into the centre of the circle of light to present it.
• Lastly, they will go back to their place in the semi-circle and the process would repeat for each character in the scene.

When it comes to the massive monologue presented by the character Rob, 11 of the characters in 'The 12' would lie sleeping in the selective spots as they did at the beginning of the play.  Rob will present his speech, and when he has finished it, he will join into the circle and the play will finish off with the 7:13am sign appearing on the back curtain but this time with no alarm coming out to conclude the story.

It's a simple, but in my eyes, effective way to end the performance.  However, my idea wasn't really explored as the other actors were afraid to think that not much would be happening on stage in the scene resulting in it to become boring and repetitive.

Other actors had made the suggestion that all of the actors would move around the stage, as their characters, in a dream like fashion, and then when the character presents a line, he/she would stop and announce it, and when they finish, the character starts moving again.  This resulted into a messy, rushed scene which everyone disapproved.

Conclusion Of Day (Reflective - Evaluation/Aims): 

The day had ended with nothing put towards this scene after our teacher had sent us away, but when we return to this scene, hopefully before half term, I can once again announce my idea as to how to present this scene, this time with my teacher witnessing, to see if it is effective and bring a, as I said, simple and effective ending to '13'.

When I think back to the technical/dress run-through of both Act 1 & 2 of '13', I had noticed a few things that needed to be worked on before our main performance in November.  Since this was our first technical/dress run-through, I had expected that things weren't going to go very smoothly, but in the time I have left after half term, before the main performance week, I should be able to cope with and memorise these specific things:

• The scenes that I appear in.
• The correct lines and blocked movements for the scene.
• What I have to bring on stage for a scene, i.e, a chair, table or prop.

Over half term, I should hopefully be able to remember all of these necessities so I can then have a smooth run-through of '13' when I come back to further rehearsals sessions before the main performance.

Wednesday 22nd Of October 2014 Blog Entry:

Synopsis Of Day:

Lesson 1 & 2 - Principals Of Acting And The Historical Context Of Performance:

To start off with the day, our teacher had wanted the group to complete, what was left, of the technical run-through for Act 2 of '13'.  There were only about 2/3 scenes which needed to be completed for Act 2, which I didn't even appear in, so we could then move onto the blocking for scenes within Act 3.

Further Character Development & Evaluative Judgement For Act 3 Scene 5 (Reflective):

I had taken part in a few scenes for Act 3 which had needed to be blocked still by our teacher.  What is interesting, for me, is that for Act 3 Scene 5, I appear on stage as a student and not as Martin and Paul.  When I was to perform as the student within this scene, I had to present certain reactions, facial or physically, towards what the character Stephen was announcing in his speech for this scene. 

This was a process, within the blocking session for this scene, that our teacher wanted all of the actors to work on through rehearsing.  She had stated that we all should be able to have some sort of reaction, both facial and physical, to what Stephen was announcing in his speech. 

Since Stephen is talking about the Iranian Regime and how it is, simply put, "brutal", and how they have "clung onto power, rigged elections, kidnapped, tortured, repressed, and murdered their own people in the thousands", I had presented a sad/sorry stance for my character, whom is a student, to represent my own gut-feeling opinion towards the topic announced by Stephen.

I felt that this process, which our teacher wanted me to work on after the blocking of Act 3 Scene 5, is very effective and presents both a naturalistic and realistic performance.  Since I should show a natural reaction in this scene, Staislavski's 'System' does cross my mind and I should delve into it to further enhance my performance in this scene in hopes of achieving a higher overall mark for this production.

As for the objectives and obstacles for my character within this scene, I've decided that my objective would be that I'll be listening to Stephen's speech, giving my opinions towards it with facial/physical changes. My obstacles would be that whenever Stephen announces something that sounds really hurtful, I'll take a step back and feel kind of 'blocked in' whilst standing in the crowd, and knowing that I can't exit the scene until the end as both my character as well as myself as the actor, I would think of this being the obstacle in this kind of situation.

After the blocking session for Act 3 Scene 5, our teacher had then wanted to move onto the blocking for Act 3 Scene 6.  I appear within this scene, but towards the end once Ruth and Dennis have finished their conversation, so for the time before my appearance on stage, I get to witness the blocking for the scene prior to it.

Evaluative Judgement For Act 3 Scene 6 (Reflective):

This scene, in my opinion, stands to be much different, and has a sense of uniqueness, than the other scenes in the play.  What's happening is that the characters Ruth and Dennis are having a political conversation whilst Amir and Rachel are also having one.  What's interesting is that the 2 different conversations also have the same topic, which is about going to war against Iran, and that the characters overlap each other with their individual lines but with the scene still making sense.  I enter the scene intruding Ruth and Dennis' conversation to announce that Dennis' wife is on the phone and urgently wants to speak with him.  I don't have much movement to present, since I'm just walking in the scene to announce 3 lines of text, but I did try to work on how I could deliver these lines in a natural manner, and also, before Dennis had left the scene with me, I tried to listen in on the rest of the conversation Ruth and Dennis had to try and get a idea of what is going on in the higher parts of parliament.

I felt that this scene was well written by Mike Bartlett and has been presented very effectively thanks to the blocking from our teacher.  The way that she had made certain characters in the scene announce their lines, with the different uses of tone and pitch, as well as the timing between the two conversations, did make me feel like that this scene was the most powerful and best presented out of all the others.

My objective within this scene is obviously to tell Dennis that he needs to come talk on the phone which is what I'm imagining is in the next room.  As for my obstacle, I don't really have one within this scene other than that I'm patiently waiting for Ruth and Dennis to finish their conversation, and the fact that I'm listening into it may result in them speaking more quietly to block me out.  If this was somehow implemented into the scene than my obstacle becomes more transparent.

After blocking Act 3 Scene 6, I had rehearsed the already blocked scenes and had gone over my lines to memorise them for later blocking sessions and run-throughs.  Not long after, I then had to be part of another blocking session, this time for Act 3 Scene 8.  In this scene, I had appeared as Martin, and I had to present a still image performance, in the background, whilst the rest of the scene was being performed by the other actors.

Evaluative Judgement For Act 3 Scene 8 & Input (Reflective):

Other than my still image performance for this scene, I had witnessed, yet another, unique and effective way of performing.  There is a certain point in this scene that presents, in my eyes, a sense of foreshadowing for what is going to happen later on in the play.  There is stage directions in the script that says the character Stephen actually collapses in the scene once a human hand has been pulled out of the ground by the character Edith.  I saw this moment as foreshadowing because of the death of the character Ruby, which is later revealed in Act 4 Scene 4 once I receive a notification on my I-Pad about Ruby's mum, Sarah, being arrested for the death of Ruby since the police won't look for anyone else.  Since Martin is using an I-Pad in this scene, it does tie into and presents further evidence to suggest that the contextual research about how '13' links to Modern Day Social Media is shown in our performance.

To go alongside with when I had referred to Act 4 Scene 4 in the previous paragraph, there was another moment after the previously mentioned part of this scene where Ruth asks Martin "What was her name?", to which there is meant to be a pause until Ruth says "Martin. Her name?" and I say that I've already told her, which results in Ruth to become confused.  I had the idea that Ruth was in a sort of 'bubble' moment where she wasn't listening to anything other than her inside thoughts whilst I was telling the other characters in this scene (Liam and Carol) what the child's name was, which was Ruby.  When me and the other group of actors come back to rehearsing this scene, I may implement the use of silent speaking to show this moment more clearly to the audience since just leaving it and not doing anything will not make any sense, much like it did when we had read through the script before performing the scene.

My objective within this scene is to deliver, what the stage directions entitles, some papers to give to Ruth, which leads me into my still image presentation.  My obstacle within this scene isn't clear to me since I'm not doing anything within this scene, but I was thinking that when Ruth rejects me for when I want to give her the papers, and I react with a confused appearance, I would say that my confusion at this moment would be my obstacle because I enter the scene with the objective to give the papers and the obstacle is Ruth rejecting to take them.

Aims For Next Rehearsal Session (Reflective):

After the blocking session for Act 3 Scene 8, our rehearsal sessions for today had ended.  I've got a few more physical/facial activities that I have included in the blocking of a few scenes, which I've mentioned above, that I need to memorise before I come back after half term to arrive to what I think is going to be a full technical/dress run-through of '13'.

Lesson 3 - Performing Arts Business:

During this session for this week, my teacher wanted to go over a few blogs, which I had already finished, to notify me of any changes I want to do before she goes over and marks them during half term.  After our short discussion, I had finalised chapter 4 of my Voice Portfolio which talks about Articulation and how, in our voice sessions, we went over a few exercises to help enhance our own individual articulate skills.

Lesson 4 - Developing Voice For The Actor (Winchester University Representative Visit):

Instead of having a voice lesson for this week, the group instead had a representative visiting from Winchester University whom is also an actor.  In this session, the second year students for the Level 3 Acting Extended Diploma had joined us in a range of physical activities and discussions about what each of us had wanted to do in the future for educational and career purposes.  Since the discussions about further education was mainly aimed at the second year students, my group still had some contributions within this discussion, to which the representative had gone into a long, detailed conversation about joining Drama Schools and Universities after leaving College.

What was interesting in the discussion about further education is that some of the second year students had wanted to move away from performing and wanted to do other career paths such as Technical Performance and even something completely different like Tourism.

The representative from Winchester University had gone over a few of the courses, associated with the performing arts, to see which is better suited for each person in the room.  For me, I was more interested in the Drama side of the performing arts industry, where I would be presenting a story either on stage or on television.  This course had interested me since I watch drama's all the time, and I have been inspired by a few of them to pursue a career in Acting along with many other reasons.

Conclusion Of Day:

This session was very useful as I have learnt a lot about what future decisions I have to faced against in terms of educational and career path purposes.  I'm hoping that in later Performing Arts Business lessons, I will learn more about Drama Schools and Universities, and which one may be better for me in my career path as an Actor.

Thursday 23rd Of October 2014 Blog Entry:

Synopsis Of Day:

Lesson 1 & 2 - Tutorial And Performance Workshop:

To start off the day, my teacher had wanted to do a 1 on 1 session with me, to see if I was:

• Safe at College.
• Enjoying the course as well as listing any problems I have within it.
• Any other things that I'd wanted to discuss with her.

After the 1 on 1 session, I had gone back to going over my lines in '13', more specifically for Martin, in the later scenes of Act 4.  I had also rehearsed already blocked scenes from previous blocking sessions we had with our teacher, to experiment with the forms of movement and staging of the scenes.

Input Towards Act 4 Scene 8 (Reflective):

After waiting a little while, I was called into Act 4 Scene 8, to which I was to walk on stage with the character Ruth (Sophie) once the line "Well they haven't completed the tests yet, but we're not here to play doctors" from Stephen had been presented, to hand out tea/coffee for the rest of the characters (John and Stephen) in the scene.

Since, in the script, it is not mentioned that I appear in this scene and also don't have any lines to deliver, I came into the room a little bit unexpected and not really knowing what I was meant to be doing, but after going through this part of the scene multiple times, I had an idea of how I can present my character, Martin, within it. 

I appear, again, much later on in this scene, near the end, to bring out Stephen once Ruth had called me into the room.  When I enter the room, my teacher had instructed me to present a concerned look on my face since I don't know what Ruth and Stephen had been talking about and I was to be concerned as well since Stephen is bent over as though he feels unwell.  After I present my line "Of course", I would begin to walk out the scene with Stephen, but I pause in my tracks when he turns around and delivers a few last words to Ruth, to which I'm still meant to show a look of confusion and concern.

My objectives within this scene is to deliver the coffee and tea for the people in the room, and to help Stephen get out of the room towards the end of the scene.  My only obstacle is witnessed within the duration of my second objective in the scene, Stephen stops just before Martin and him exit the room so he can say his last words to Ruth, which leaves Martin to stop in his tracks also since he needs to keep an eye on Stephen through Ruth's orders.

Since Act 4 Scene 8 seems to be the longest scene in '13', my teacher had suggested that we would cut some of the later lines in the script out since the scene is just going to drag on and become uninteresting for the audience.

Evaluative Judgement For Act 4 Scene 8 & Creative Idea's (Reflective):

Once I exit the scene with Stephen, our teacher had called everyone else into the room.  She had wanted the characters in 'The 12', excluding Martin, since he is in the scene, to appear as both themselves and/or the protesters supporting Johns' revolution against the British Government.  Our teacher had wanted the characters to have their phones out recording the meeting between Ruth and John, which, yet again, ties into the link to Modern Day Social Media. 

What was interesting to me at this moment in the scene is that when John delivers the line "I'm not here to talk about Simon", all of the characters that have entered the scene will all collapse.  This may be to signify that the character Simon is actually dead and had died due to Johns' intentions through all of his speeches.  This would then lead Ruth and John having an argument about where John had gone prior to the events of the play.  This also leads into the 2 characters talking about the death of the character Ruby, which was discovered earlier on in '13', and how John may have made her kill herself also.

This scene presents a breaking point for the character of John from the audiences' perspective since they have been kind of clueless as to who the villain/hero is in the story of '13' and all is now revealed, right before the ending of the play.  I find this scene to be the most tense out of all the rest and how it has been delivered, in my eyes, is very effective as it brings a very concluding ending to the real intentions of the character John.

Conclusion Of Day: 

Sadly, my teacher had decided she wanted to cut out all of Act 5, apart from Robs monologue, from our performance.  I didn't have the opportunity, due to this, to present my idea on how the group of actors can present this scene.  But, as I have previously stated, my idea may have been a bit repetitive to some of the other actors in this scene, but again, I still think that my idea would of brought a simple, yet effective, end to our performance of '13'.

Strengths And Weaknesses Discovered Within Blocked Scenes (Reflective):

For all of the scenes that I have performed in for this week within the blocking sessions, I actually haven't discovered any Weaknesses in my performance, but in terms of my Strengths, that could be reflected upon my time with my characters and all of the research findings I have implemented into my presentation of them.

With the time I have during the half term and first week back before our main performance week for '13', I still have to finalise how I could react to certain characters within scenes as both Martin and Paul, but also when I come on stage as a student/reporter whom is witnessing a speech being delivered by Stephen.  This all goes towards my personal development as an actor for this production, improving my skills and techniques within performance, to hopefully achieve a higher mark for the assignment.