Q1: Tale 3 - How have we decided to stage Tale 3? What characters do you play in this tale? What is the atmosphere of Tale 3? How is this different to what we have created for Tale 1 & 2?
A1: The scene opens with the boys moving the stools into the space like a mexican wave while everyone chants 'east end' slowly getting louder and louder. The song Londons calling then plays and the girls enter as if they are rowdy men. The scene is set in a bar. We then all in unison lean back as far as we can as an exaggerated drinking motion. In counts of 8 we then tip back and then bring ourselfes forward. As we finnish the last count of 8 we open with the first line. After a point, to make the transition into the staging of the bar we turn to the audience and act as if we are a tradesman like a boiler fixer or a maintenance man who is talking to a client about a repair. At the point where Matteo bangs his stool down we all move and sit in front of the audience as if we are all watching the bar and Matteo who plays the person we are all describing. Here we have used the stools to create a bar by stacking them up in a line with hight. The boys then lean on them as if they are bartenders and Matteo sits in front of the bar as if he is ordering a drink. As the lines echo around the room everyone else looks sharply at the speaker drawing the attention to them. At the line 'Where the body of a man lies covered in snow ' a sheet is pulled across the space and is lit by our phone lights around the edge. It represents the snow and Roseby,who is now lying underneath, represents the body of the dead man. However, when the lines start to talk about the vunrablilty of Jack there is a transition from the sheet representing the snow to it representing the quilt that Jack cuddles at home.
In Tale 3 I play the character of a tradesman who fixes boiler, a rowdy man in a pub and a spectator on Jacks life. The tradesman is a con-artist who is trying to convinvce his client that the prices he charges are the going rate when in fact there way over priced. He radiates confidence in his job to convince people that he genuinely knows what hes doing. However, often his skill and ability is doubted by his clients resulting in few jobs. He is the type of person that won't be put of by few jobs or doubt in his work. The man in the pub is your sterotypical drunk lad whos having a great time with his mates. Their rowdy and unaware of whats going on around them. He outgoing, loud and will speak his mind without thinking it through. The last character watches Jack and evaluates what hes really feeling and thinking. Sort of like a parental figure who cares for him and reads between the lines. At the beginning its very lively and energetic creative a posative and fun at atmosphere. This is in the pub scene. However, when the focus changes from the pub asa whole onto Matteo who plays Jack the atmosphere becomes a lot more somber and serious. When it gets to the topic of Jack having killed a man the atmopshere becomes even more grave. This Tales doesn't incorparate light as much as Tales 1 and 2. Also, instead as working as one massive ensamble to create the piece we have been split into smaller working groups out of the one ensamble. For example, in Tales 1 all the girls are working together to show one character yet in Tale 3 you have the actors who line the outskirts of the stage, the people at the bar and the Matteo. This looks a lot more separeate then Tales 1 and 2.
Q2:Tale 4 - How have we decided to stage Tale 4? What characters do you play in this tale?
A3: Over the past few weeks I have developed my backgroud acting. Its all very well to be able to act when you have a line but this play isn't focused on speech. Each person has a small amount of lines. Therefore you must act without the lines. Just because you aren't speaking doen't mean your aren't in character. This is what I have been working on, the ability to act your character or scene without lines. Being constantly engaged in the scene emotionly and phyisically even when the focus isn't on you. This skill can be developed by building smalll characters for evey line you have even if its a short line. Constantly think about characters and their emotional outlook on the scene even if you haven't got a line. As long as your on stage you must be acting and in character. I have also discovered various things about my phyisicality and how it changes depending on the scene or situation.
Q4: Return to all of the sections of the text we have staged so far. Select a line from each that sums up that tale.
A3:
Q4: Write your own definition of what ensemble means in theatre. What has to happen in the rehearsal room to develop a successful ensemble? Write about your favourite ensemble moment so far
A4: An ensemble is when a group of people work together to form a piece of art. They support each other and work as a team to create a unified piece. My faviourte ensamble moment was when we were preforming and blocking Tale 1. The atmosphere was very focused and full of energy, everyone seemed very keyed into the moment causing us to work as one unit. I got this impression by how we timed the changing of light. There were certian moment were we turned our light on and off. After a while we seemed to have developed a rythem for it allowing us to change our lights at the same time to each other. To develop a sucsessful ensamble you must be focused so you can be aware of what everyone else in the room is doing. A sense of commitment is also important, especially when the work is physical. If you don't commit to your actions or lines then other people fin it hard to bounce off your line or action and work with you to create a unified peice of work.
A1: The scene opens with the boys moving the stools into the space like a mexican wave while everyone chants 'east end' slowly getting louder and louder. The song Londons calling then plays and the girls enter as if they are rowdy men. The scene is set in a bar. We then all in unison lean back as far as we can as an exaggerated drinking motion. In counts of 8 we then tip back and then bring ourselfes forward. As we finnish the last count of 8 we open with the first line. After a point, to make the transition into the staging of the bar we turn to the audience and act as if we are a tradesman like a boiler fixer or a maintenance man who is talking to a client about a repair. At the point where Matteo bangs his stool down we all move and sit in front of the audience as if we are all watching the bar and Matteo who plays the person we are all describing. Here we have used the stools to create a bar by stacking them up in a line with hight. The boys then lean on them as if they are bartenders and Matteo sits in front of the bar as if he is ordering a drink. As the lines echo around the room everyone else looks sharply at the speaker drawing the attention to them. At the line 'Where the body of a man lies covered in snow ' a sheet is pulled across the space and is lit by our phone lights around the edge. It represents the snow and Roseby,who is now lying underneath, represents the body of the dead man. However, when the lines start to talk about the vunrablilty of Jack there is a transition from the sheet representing the snow to it representing the quilt that Jack cuddles at home.
In Tale 3 I play the character of a tradesman who fixes boiler, a rowdy man in a pub and a spectator on Jacks life. The tradesman is a con-artist who is trying to convinvce his client that the prices he charges are the going rate when in fact there way over priced. He radiates confidence in his job to convince people that he genuinely knows what hes doing. However, often his skill and ability is doubted by his clients resulting in few jobs. He is the type of person that won't be put of by few jobs or doubt in his work. The man in the pub is your sterotypical drunk lad whos having a great time with his mates. Their rowdy and unaware of whats going on around them. He outgoing, loud and will speak his mind without thinking it through. The last character watches Jack and evaluates what hes really feeling and thinking. Sort of like a parental figure who cares for him and reads between the lines. At the beginning its very lively and energetic creative a posative and fun at atmosphere. This is in the pub scene. However, when the focus changes from the pub asa whole onto Matteo who plays Jack the atmosphere becomes a lot more somber and serious. When it gets to the topic of Jack having killed a man the atmopshere becomes even more grave. This Tales doesn't incorparate light as much as Tales 1 and 2. Also, instead as working as one massive ensamble to create the piece we have been split into smaller working groups out of the one ensamble. For example, in Tales 1 all the girls are working together to show one character yet in Tale 3 you have the actors who line the outskirts of the stage, the people at the bar and the Matteo. This looks a lot more separeate then Tales 1 and 2.
Q2:Tale 4 - How have we decided to stage Tale 4? What characters do you play in this tale?
A2: We staged Tale 4 using umbrellas to create the aspect of it raining. We are working alltogther as an equal ensamble with a couple of people representing key characters. This peice is very physical as a lot of the stage is created using ourselfs to represent objects. For example the shopping asiles are created using our bodys standing in three large lines. We also sit in a diagonal line to represent the road. This Tale seems far more physical based than the rest of the Tales. In this Tale I play a narrator, someone whos an onlooker onto this scene. I have five lines which are 'It was raining', 'And she looks up slowly ', 'And her eyes ', 'these watery eyes' and 'she says'. Even though I am a narrator you still hear the emotion of what you are describing as the scene is reflected in your speech.
Q3: What acting
skills have you continued to develop over the past few weeks? Is there
anything new you have discovered about your own skills?
A3: Over the past few weeks I have developed my backgroud acting. Its all very well to be able to act when you have a line but this play isn't focused on speech. Each person has a small amount of lines. Therefore you must act without the lines. Just because you aren't speaking doen't mean your aren't in character. This is what I have been working on, the ability to act your character or scene without lines. Being constantly engaged in the scene emotionly and phyisically even when the focus isn't on you. This skill can be developed by building smalll characters for evey line you have even if its a short line. Constantly think about characters and their emotional outlook on the scene even if you haven't got a line. As long as your on stage you must be acting and in character. I have also discovered various things about my phyisicality and how it changes depending on the scene or situation.
Q4: Return to all of the sections of the text we have staged so far. Select a line from each that sums up that tale.
A3:
Q4: Write your own definition of what ensemble means in theatre. What has to happen in the rehearsal room to develop a successful ensemble? Write about your favourite ensemble moment so far
A4: An ensemble is when a group of people work together to form a piece of art. They support each other and work as a team to create a unified piece. My faviourte ensamble moment was when we were preforming and blocking Tale 1. The atmosphere was very focused and full of energy, everyone seemed very keyed into the moment causing us to work as one unit. I got this impression by how we timed the changing of light. There were certian moment were we turned our light on and off. After a while we seemed to have developed a rythem for it allowing us to change our lights at the same time to each other. To develop a sucsessful ensamble you must be focused so you can be aware of what everyone else in the room is doing. A sense of commitment is also important, especially when the work is physical. If you don't commit to your actions or lines then other people fin it hard to bounce off your line or action and work with you to create a unified peice of work.
