Lesson 4

In this lesson we all observed a casting workshop, where everyone had the opportunity to read in for specific characters.

I enjoyed the casting because as I read in for multiple characters I started to see which one of them suited me best and which ones didn’t for example I thought fill would be a good character for me to go for but as I read his part I did not feel happy about the way I was saying the lines so I tried for different characters I think I read in for most of the parts. I was not sure who I wanted to play because I did not mind which character I get put with so I told miss to choose one for me. 

I found it quite hard to observe and choose who I thought played the part the best because I thought that some people had played the parts well with some improvements in areas and others would be good at what needed improving in the other part but needed improving in what the last person did well. (Sorry about that a bit confusing but I couldn’t explain it any other way) 

I was impressed with Eloise & Romy for the parts of Leah because they were both prepared and when I was watching the scene I did not look at the script and I had no idea that they had made a mistake or skipped some lines I thought it was just part of the script because they carried on as if nothing had happened.

Lesson 3

“Truth on Stage” we want to create truth on stage to make people believe what we are doing is real. We want the audience to be able to relate to how our characters are feeling and believe that it is real.

We played a game called “I don’t believe you” you would be given a situation e.g. you came into the room and everything has just vanished then you would need to make it believable and not too over the top which can be challenging for an actor. This game would help us to bring truth on stage by practicing certain cinereous and using similar feelings you have previously experienced in your life and using that too create a believable atmosphere. While watching a few people perform I learnt that saying nothing is like saying everything you don’t need to speak to get your point across in fact not speaking is more effective than speaking. 

Chem was one of the people who went up and his situation was that he has just got the number of a girl he fancies and has just come into his room. The first time he attempted it, it was too over exaggerated and everyone shouted “I don’t believe you” we told him how to improve and the second time he calmed down a bit more but was still not believable because he was talking to himself and only a few people shouted “I don’t believe you” This time he did not talk to himself and acted more truthfully instead of being an entertainer which made it all more believable.

After break we explored braking bad news using non-verbal communication which is exactly what it sounds like, to communicate without speaking. Me and Ben worked together and in our scene I was breaking the news that someone had died Ben’s character knew that this person was in the hospital but was not sure of the state that he/she was in. To make it believable we made sure it was not too sudden e.g. burst into tears but give a more slow approach and build up the emotion. 

I thought that George’s group was effective because it seemed so real and to not talk made everyone’s pieces more effective but the way George’s group broke the news was good because it had good variations, happy confused denial then sadness it is how someone would react in this type of situation.  

We briefly learnt about Stanislavski who created the theatre genre we call Naturalism

 

Born-Konstantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev
17 January 1863
 Died-7 August 1938 (aged 75)
Moscow
 Occupation-Theatre director, Actor

We worked on a bit of subtext. Subtext is the feelings of the character when they say a line and what they are really trying to express, it’s like a back-story for the lines. We worked out the subtext for Leah’s monolog to help us get a better understanding of her and what she is trying to get across to Phil. Also we are able to know how to say her lines in more confidence and power depending on what she is trying to say.     

Because this play is so real and has probably happened in one way or another we have to communicate this to the audience. Each character is individual and will have a certain way of acting depending on the situation. The writer has made this play very life like e.g. the way each character talks is the way we would talk in real like and does not seem so robotic. This is what the writer wanted to show and this is why it is important that we should show a truthful performance