One. Week. Today.
Excuse me while I scream.
I was quite nervous about performing in front of Chipp, considering last week, and lo and behold, I did terribly. I do not know what went wrong, but I was awful. No real characterisation of the character, a lack of actual acting. I'm at that stage in life where I feel like I'm awful at acting. It happens with every play, at the beginning I always feel like I'm the worst actor there. I'm probably right looking at yesterday. I really need to look at the character of the bass player and get him sorted in my head, and basically just believe that I can act, then hopefully, I won't ruin the whole play and disappoint everybody.
Thursday, 8 December 2016
Chorus Sections - 7.12.16
Again going over sections we'd rehearsed and then adding to them:
After crazy yoga warm-up not suitable for super-not-stretchy-that-could-rip-at-any-moment-trousers,we went into the opening scene, going over the things we'd added on Monday. This went smoothly though the bit where me and Shanice fight in the middle of the room went horribly wrong as we messed up the timings. We moved in then to the scene where Antigone is arrested by the guards and the chorus come into the centre for Antigone to wildly wave her sword at them (hehe). I love this bit, though occasionally we struggle to keep the, "lads, lads!" shouting up, I struggle to find the right things to say as I feel really uncomfortable saying the kind of things we need to, to anybody. I think the first time we did it, I was actually better at doing it, maybe because I was in the middle of performing Oliver as a pickpocket (off note: my Granddad came to watch Oliver and didn't recognise me for half-an-hour because he thought I was a boy who looked strangely a lot like my brother).
Thought I'd add a little anecdote for entertainment.
Additionally on that guards scene, the line where I say, "I can see yur tits in tha' luv" definitely needs to be louder, more central, better timed and in a more crass manner. If you can't tell from the improvements I need to make, I did rubbish at that line. Generally, I really need to do better.
We moved back to the first scene to look at the characters' introductions in the Chorus' monologue at the beginning. There are many, many cues to remember, especially for those swapping parts on different nights. It has been decided that for me and my fellow Creon, we shall swap being King and Page each night. This luckily means that I do not have to suffer the embarrassment of my atrocious dancing skills - despite being a 16 year old female, I apparently have the, "ultimate dad-dancing skills" or contrastingly, I dance "like a middle aged, fat lady" - these are direct quotes. I have no grace. Or timing. Or coordination.
We decided to develop the reaction to Antigone's casting, firstly thinking of a thought at a base level of emotion as whomever i.e. actual person, the actor in the play, or Creon. I decided to go with "I guess their OK, I'll let them give it a go." but then Chipp decided to the though a lot harder: "Imagine that the person who is cast is actually going to be bricked-up and killed." Oh.
I find these kind of emotions hard to define therefore putting it in the form of a sentence is extremely difficult. My first thought was simply, "Please God, help her." in a sort of lost, defeated tone. My problem is, I've been privileged enough in my life to never have had to deal with the prospect of someone dying with all my close friends and family still alive, other Granddad's survived 2 heart attacks, prostate cancer, alcohol poisoning and 3 collapses. I'm sort of lost in how I would feel. I think that I would really be lost for words in a moment of shock and empathetic despair for the loss of life and inevitable fate the girl faces: I imagine knowing someone's is going to die would suspend you in a drawn out feeling of helplessness and horror as you watch someone's life drift away. But I can't define how I would feel in a sentence. I think all I can say is that I would feel caught in a moment of despair and helplessness, as well as shock at the prospect of seeing a death.
Again, all I can say is that I love how Chipp has directed the first scene: it looks good and it feel comfortable. Though, a shock to the system when after rehearsing the Page's role in the first scene, suddenly the Chorus changes the Antigone and I'm Creon. I think I remembered what I was meant to do, but I wasn't really prepared for the part so didn't quite relax into it, maybe next time.
The fruits of our hard labour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rp9BVAKVFs&feature=share
It's in this run-through that myself and my partner went very wrong with our sequence and we really didn't recover, it's also this one where I was surprised into being Creon.
Second Antigone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99-jKklHJg
This one went a little bit better, felt more confident in my part as Creon after the second run through and me and Shanice got our sequence a little more in time.
After crazy yoga warm-up not suitable for super-not-stretchy-that-could-rip-at-any-moment-trousers,we went into the opening scene, going over the things we'd added on Monday. This went smoothly though the bit where me and Shanice fight in the middle of the room went horribly wrong as we messed up the timings. We moved in then to the scene where Antigone is arrested by the guards and the chorus come into the centre for Antigone to wildly wave her sword at them (hehe). I love this bit, though occasionally we struggle to keep the, "lads, lads!" shouting up, I struggle to find the right things to say as I feel really uncomfortable saying the kind of things we need to, to anybody. I think the first time we did it, I was actually better at doing it, maybe because I was in the middle of performing Oliver as a pickpocket (off note: my Granddad came to watch Oliver and didn't recognise me for half-an-hour because he thought I was a boy who looked strangely a lot like my brother).
Thought I'd add a little anecdote for entertainment.
Additionally on that guards scene, the line where I say, "I can see yur tits in tha' luv" definitely needs to be louder, more central, better timed and in a more crass manner. If you can't tell from the improvements I need to make, I did rubbish at that line. Generally, I really need to do better.
We moved back to the first scene to look at the characters' introductions in the Chorus' monologue at the beginning. There are many, many cues to remember, especially for those swapping parts on different nights. It has been decided that for me and my fellow Creon, we shall swap being King and Page each night. This luckily means that I do not have to suffer the embarrassment of my atrocious dancing skills - despite being a 16 year old female, I apparently have the, "ultimate dad-dancing skills" or contrastingly, I dance "like a middle aged, fat lady" - these are direct quotes. I have no grace. Or timing. Or coordination.
We decided to develop the reaction to Antigone's casting, firstly thinking of a thought at a base level of emotion as whomever i.e. actual person, the actor in the play, or Creon. I decided to go with "I guess their OK, I'll let them give it a go." but then Chipp decided to the though a lot harder: "Imagine that the person who is cast is actually going to be bricked-up and killed." Oh.
I find these kind of emotions hard to define therefore putting it in the form of a sentence is extremely difficult. My first thought was simply, "Please God, help her." in a sort of lost, defeated tone. My problem is, I've been privileged enough in my life to never have had to deal with the prospect of someone dying with all my close friends and family still alive, other Granddad's survived 2 heart attacks, prostate cancer, alcohol poisoning and 3 collapses. I'm sort of lost in how I would feel. I think that I would really be lost for words in a moment of shock and empathetic despair for the loss of life and inevitable fate the girl faces: I imagine knowing someone's is going to die would suspend you in a drawn out feeling of helplessness and horror as you watch someone's life drift away. But I can't define how I would feel in a sentence. I think all I can say is that I would feel caught in a moment of despair and helplessness, as well as shock at the prospect of seeing a death.
Again, all I can say is that I love how Chipp has directed the first scene: it looks good and it feel comfortable. Though, a shock to the system when after rehearsing the Page's role in the first scene, suddenly the Chorus changes the Antigone and I'm Creon. I think I remembered what I was meant to do, but I wasn't really prepared for the part so didn't quite relax into it, maybe next time.
The fruits of our hard labour:
It's in this run-through that myself and my partner went very wrong with our sequence and we really didn't recover, it's also this one where I was surprised into being Creon.
Second Antigone:
This one went a little bit better, felt more confident in my part as Creon after the second run through and me and Shanice got our sequence a little more in time.
Chorus Scene - 5/12/16
Well I missed the first 10 minutes because I had to cycle straight from my last school and they had locked my bike in and when I got there there were exams I had to find out where I was because I was stupid and didn't see the sign and eventually I went to student reception and I got to the lesson 10 minutes late. Ah. Stress!
Anyway...
We were doing the opening scene of Antigone and firstly just going over what we had already rehearsed a few weeks ago, it was a bit ropy at first but we soon started to get into the swing of things again. Me and my partner messed up our sequence a couple of times, (especially when the chorus began to go double time) but that was kind of to be expected considering we hadn't rehearsed it in ages. We do need to make it as smooth and fast as possible though, to make it more eye-catching and impressive to the audience. I feel like our movements look pretty good, though we only have one change in level at the beginning and the last few movements are pretty similar.
We then began to work on the transition into the actual script beginning with distinguishing Antigone from the rest of the cast and then where the cast stand and how they react to the first part of the Chorus' speech. As Creon I have to go centre and as the page I have to go behind everyone else, and I am wee bit worried about forgetting on the night which character I'm meant to be and standing in the wrong place. Sure it'll be fine. I do really like how we've done the first scene as the fight sequences are very striking for the audience and the way we transition into the play is very effective.
Anyway...
We were doing the opening scene of Antigone and firstly just going over what we had already rehearsed a few weeks ago, it was a bit ropy at first but we soon started to get into the swing of things again. Me and my partner messed up our sequence a couple of times, (especially when the chorus began to go double time) but that was kind of to be expected considering we hadn't rehearsed it in ages. We do need to make it as smooth and fast as possible though, to make it more eye-catching and impressive to the audience. I feel like our movements look pretty good, though we only have one change in level at the beginning and the last few movements are pretty similar.
We then began to work on the transition into the actual script beginning with distinguishing Antigone from the rest of the cast and then where the cast stand and how they react to the first part of the Chorus' speech. As Creon I have to go centre and as the page I have to go behind everyone else, and I am wee bit worried about forgetting on the night which character I'm meant to be and standing in the wrong place. Sure it'll be fine. I do really like how we've done the first scene as the fight sequences are very striking for the audience and the way we transition into the play is very effective.
Thursday, 1 December 2016
N2C Run Through Night - 30.11.16
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bad.
Really Bad.
Not me specifically, but as we began to do our first run through with the two main guys supposedly knowing their lines, disaster struck. I was prompting the first part and after 'the girl's' first line, 'the boy' turned to me: he had forgotten his first line! This is how it carried on, every single one of his lines, a glance to me and I had to prompt him, somehow with Caitlin ('the girl') keeping her part together while 'the boy' failed. Now all credit to him, he has a mammoth amount to lines to learn with a lot of them repeating, but it meant the scene was excruciatingly slow and painful to watch. It also meant that the blocking was awkward and Caitlin struggled to act off Rob who was constantly getting prompts. (Want to point out, Caitlin knew her lines perfectly). Furthermore, the disaster of the first section knocked everyone else off and it meant that when the drummer came in, although he knew most of his lines, he kept getting brain blocks and so, kept looking to me (for prompts, not because I had the script written all over my face).
When myself and the singer came on, although we knew our lines, it was extremely difficult going through our scene when the boy and the drummer kept stumbling or doing the wrong bit, and it left me feeling extremely uncomfortable on stage.
Then we looked at the time and saw we were meant to perform to Chipp in 5 minutes.
Oh.
My.
God.
Then the cold dread when asking if 'the boy' and 'the drummer' could use their scripts, you could feel the disappointment dripping from his perfectly level voice, saying that "no" we were not allowed to use our scripts because it was a no script run-through. This was going to be painful. Even more horrifying when after five minutes, of Rob not knowing what he was meant to say and Caitlin desperately trying to keep the scene alive, Chipp got up and said he was coming back in 15 minutes.
Thankfully, he didn't have time so we didn't have to suffer through the tormenting embarrassment of the slow-moving play. By the end of the night, we were feeling more confident in our lines and the running of the scenes, I think the embarrassment and horror may have jump-started everyone, and hopefully next week, we will all know our lines, ques and blocking and it will be wonderful. All fingers are crossed.
Must note, the drummer and the boy (Sam and Rob) did try and they do have a huge amount of lines to learn (whilst I just have a few) so all respect to them, learning the lines is a huge job, especially as I mentioned earlier, the script is extremely repetitive making both the lines and the ques quite hard to learn. I just felt so bad for Jermaine who had tried so hard to make it work and trusted us to learn our lines, and it had fallen apart when it had really mattered.
Bad.
Really Bad.
Not me specifically, but as we began to do our first run through with the two main guys supposedly knowing their lines, disaster struck. I was prompting the first part and after 'the girl's' first line, 'the boy' turned to me: he had forgotten his first line! This is how it carried on, every single one of his lines, a glance to me and I had to prompt him, somehow with Caitlin ('the girl') keeping her part together while 'the boy' failed. Now all credit to him, he has a mammoth amount to lines to learn with a lot of them repeating, but it meant the scene was excruciatingly slow and painful to watch. It also meant that the blocking was awkward and Caitlin struggled to act off Rob who was constantly getting prompts. (Want to point out, Caitlin knew her lines perfectly). Furthermore, the disaster of the first section knocked everyone else off and it meant that when the drummer came in, although he knew most of his lines, he kept getting brain blocks and so, kept looking to me (for prompts, not because I had the script written all over my face).
When myself and the singer came on, although we knew our lines, it was extremely difficult going through our scene when the boy and the drummer kept stumbling or doing the wrong bit, and it left me feeling extremely uncomfortable on stage.
Then we looked at the time and saw we were meant to perform to Chipp in 5 minutes.
Oh.
My.
God.
Then the cold dread when asking if 'the boy' and 'the drummer' could use their scripts, you could feel the disappointment dripping from his perfectly level voice, saying that "no" we were not allowed to use our scripts because it was a no script run-through. This was going to be painful. Even more horrifying when after five minutes, of Rob not knowing what he was meant to say and Caitlin desperately trying to keep the scene alive, Chipp got up and said he was coming back in 15 minutes.
Thankfully, he didn't have time so we didn't have to suffer through the tormenting embarrassment of the slow-moving play. By the end of the night, we were feeling more confident in our lines and the running of the scenes, I think the embarrassment and horror may have jump-started everyone, and hopefully next week, we will all know our lines, ques and blocking and it will be wonderful. All fingers are crossed.
Must note, the drummer and the boy (Sam and Rob) did try and they do have a huge amount of lines to learn (whilst I just have a few) so all respect to them, learning the lines is a huge job, especially as I mentioned earlier, the script is extremely repetitive making both the lines and the ques quite hard to learn. I just felt so bad for Jermaine who had tried so hard to make it work and trusted us to learn our lines, and it had fallen apart when it had really mattered.
Antigone Arrest - 30.11.16
We were working on some physical theatre sequences today, looking at the chorus and the guards arresting Antigone when she's trying to bury her brother. Firstly, we went through an exercise of falling to the floor every time Mr Chipp clapped, twisting the legs to the side and sort of sliding down, I don't think my core was strong enough to really control the fall so I fell a bit more heavily than Chipp wanted but I was starting to get the hang of the fall by the end. We then extended this to an amazing game of 'Stuck in the Mud' where if we were 'tug' we fell to the ground and had to be spooned, and rolled over the 'spooner's' body to be back in the game. Following this, we then went through a game where the 'Antigone's' had a 'sword' (really a small stick) which they would wave ferociously at us and we would move away when she took a step forward, we were practising this so that in the play we're sure we'll get away from the mental Antigone who'll be concentrating on acting her convincingly. At first, my reflexes were maybe a bit too slow because I felt that the stick was far enough away that it wasn't going to hit me, so I didn't move, but after a close shave I started to move a bit further and faster when she stepped forward.
We then started to apply these techniques to an actual scene from Antigone where the guards come to her and she takes the sword and starts waving it around. We played 'ladish' guards jeering at her as we came into the middle, at first I found it really weird and uncomfortable doing this to Antigone, but with the others shouting and laughing, I soon got into it and was able to improvise a few lines antagonising Antigone ( that sounds cool). We then used the falling thing when Jonas comes and disarms her so she falls and we grab her. This whole scene was extremely fun to create and it was great getting to play the guards.
We then started to apply these techniques to an actual scene from Antigone where the guards come to her and she takes the sword and starts waving it around. We played 'ladish' guards jeering at her as we came into the middle, at first I found it really weird and uncomfortable doing this to Antigone, but with the others shouting and laughing, I soon got into it and was able to improvise a few lines antagonising Antigone ( that sounds cool). We then used the falling thing when Jonas comes and disarms her so she falls and we grab her. This whole scene was extremely fun to create and it was great getting to play the guards.
Full Day N2C - 28.11.16
The full rehearsal felt quite positive with the scenes appearing to come together as we finished off parts which we hadn't blocked yet. It was extremely useful for the first hour going through the lines of my scene and getting it really fast so that we felt comfortable with our ques ets. though I still struggle with a couple of ques because I've found that the script is relatively repetitive meaning that the line for my que is the same as a line a couple of moments before and that sometimes makes the scene quite stunted/ slow or means I just mix my own lines up and skip a huge chunk of text. Other than that confusion, I feel like I really know my lines. However, I don't think I've quite explored my character enough, partly because I haven't had an obvious opportunity and partly because I just launched into the part without looking at the different ways I could play it. Me and 'The Singer' need to seem more like a pair working together which we are beginning to concentrate on a bit more, and I've decided to make my character not 'stupid' but just a little bit oblivious and confused at the tense situation.
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