Pros and Cons of HE

I have listed a number of pros and cons of going to University or Drama school below and I have researched a number of alternative options and routes that I could possibly pursue.
Pros:

• Extensive education provides more studying in a safe environment.
• Gain more confidence as you are constantly working at developing your skills and improving.
• You are surrounded by like minded people whom understand your passion and can offer support and advice.
• It gives you the chance to network through workshops and showcases.
• You have consistent performance opportunities
• It is a structured way to learn.
• Expands your skills and helps you grow as a character by becoming stronger and tolerable to criticism.

Cons:

• It can be very rigid and mould you into a 'type'.
• It is less flexible so you will have to dedicate most of your time to the studying, leaving less opportunity to work outside.
• It is harder to save up money if you can not find a job with the correct hours.
• Going to drama school or university doesn't guarantee a job in the arts.
• Miss out on opportunities in the community.
• Can become too structured in your performance style and loose spontaneity and freedom.

I have read an article on 'The Stage' website which states that going to Drama School isn't the only option in being successful in the performing arts industry which is linked: https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2014/drama-schools-arent-the-only-route-to-professional-acting-success/ and another interesting article I found inspiring was from 'Spotlight' which is linked: https://www.spotlight.com/news/archive/2013/11/26/how-to-train-without-drama-school.aspx

There are alternative routes to attending university or drama school such as working with an acting coach, attending workshops, joining a theatre group, adult education centres, The National Youth theatre and auditioning for an agency to help you find work in theatre, film and TV.


After doing a lot of extensive research into the pros and cons of attending drama school, I have concluded that I will be applying for drama school as I have learnt a lot during my Level 3 Acting and Performance diploma and I believe I can keep learning more and bettering my craft. To be constantly surrounded by the arts and theatre will be a useful and motivating environment with a lot of contacts and access to networking with industry professionals. This article helped me to finalise my decision of attending drama school: https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/tips-and-advice/drama-school-to-be-or-not-to-be-the-pros-cons-of-formal-training/

Monologues

I am preparing two monologues for my drama school auditions; one in which is contemporary and the second is a classical piece. I have chosen the monologue from Sarah Kane '4.48 Psychosis' as my contemporary piece and I have chosen Helena from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare as my classical piece.



The reason I was drawn towards the speech by Sarah Kane in '4.48 Psychosis' is the heightened emotion throughout the monologue and conflicting inner dialogue. The speech is worded with pure intention and feels very personal and flows fluidly. I found it interesting to research about the British playwright Sarah Kane. It was her last piece of work and the play includes no explicit characters or stage directions, which gives me as an actor flexibility and freedom to create my own perception of the monologue. The themes that run throughout the script, in addition to depression, are those of isolation, dependency, relationships, and love. These are all relatable to society in this day and age, and I felt empathetic towards the character which led me into wanting to express the words with meaning and integrity as I became attached and felt protective over the words behind the script. Everyone has experienced hard moments in life, and I found this useful to use emotional memory to really delve into the characters emotions and I used the 'Magic If' to imagine being in a similar situation of abandonment and betrayal. I was drawn to the emotional aspect of the text and I felt I could visualise the scenario and use gestures and movement such as hair pulling and slamming my hand on the floor to portray the anger.


To help “root” the speech, consider:

· What has just happened prior to the speech? 
· What is your inner monologue from moment to moment?  
· “See” the story you are saying i.e. visualise the moment
· Start quite “televisual” with the speech and build from there. 
· Don’t have any extraneous movement unless the role needs it 
· Take your time 
· Give yourself “Actions”. Annotate the script with these actions so you can refer to it all the time

10/11/2017

Today we went to Young Actors Theatre to perform our chosen monologues that we have been rehearing to a panel of 'judges' with an actor watching us and giving us feedback after our monologues. This was to prepare us for drama school auditions and film/theatre castings. I performed '4.48 Psychosis' by Sarah Kane and the feedback given to me was that I was very honest, natural with real emotion. I was told to keep it exactly the way it was as it wasn't over-acted which could have really damaged the emotional yet heartbreaking speech. I chose this play as I felt it would be a challenge to delve in deep into such a dark emotional space as the character feels so low and alone that it's unbearable for her any longer to hold in these feelings. I liked the way the speech allowed me to use different strengths and variety in tone as she has been labelled as having an 'illness', I used this to change my tone into sarcastic whereas I completely went quiet and low when talking about not feeling part of the world. The diversity yet subtly of the dynamics gave this piece strength and I am happy that I chose this speech to explore and use for my audition speech.

Skills Audit

My goals and ambitions are to successfully complete my Level 3 Extended Diploma in Acting whilst using the skills I have learnt from the course to find acting work in theatre and films. I will attend all the workshops on offer at the college and in my local community theatre 'Centre Stage' to gage as much experience as I can. I will also audition for acting agencies to be able to find more work in the industry and find more opportunities to perform in plays and films. To further my knowledge of acting and perfecting my techniques I will apply for drama school to continue learning and keep engaging in the world of arts and I find being surrounded by creativity keeps me motivated to work harder and achieve my goals. I am very committed and also very good at time-keeping skills, which is an important quality to have in the industry as you have to be on time to auditions and performed and you have to be committed to performing for as long as you're needed as in the acting world you could be up all night.

The strengths I obtain are dedication and determination, which will enable me to push myself to always work as hard and best as I can to achieve my full potential. I am also hard working and love learning new things so this level of curiosity and passion for the arts will carry me through to pursue my career in acting. I enjoy working effectively with different types of people which is important as theatre demands actors to work together cooperatively for the production to succeed and run smoothly. Many aspects of theatre involve setting and achieving specific goals. I am task-oriented and capable of finding practical ways to achieve goals. I enjoy acting and performing so this passion and drive to learn more and better myself will keep me not just motivated but determined. I am eager to learn more which is positive because as an actor you are constantly growing and establishing your skills and techniques. I also respond well to criticism which is something I used to struggle with but now take it on board as use it to improve my work.

I would like to take part in community theatre shows, short films and advertisements to expand on my acting CV. Eventually my long term goal is to move to the USA and explore creative opportunities in film and TV, as I am inspired by the energy and motivation carried in the Arts in America and I would like to expand my experiences and work with a range of different acting coaches and directors.

Acting CV

Laura Youna

Mobile Number: 07581358041

Email: Laurayouna@hotmail.co.uk

HEIGHT: 5’7

HAIR COLOUR: Brown

EYE COLOUR: Brown

AGE: 22

PLAYING AGES: 15-24

THEATRE:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory    Dancer            Jigsaw Arts 2008

Fame                                                  Mabel             Jigsaw Arts 2008

Grease                                               Frenchy          Jigsaw Arts 2009

The Glass Menagerie                        Laura             Ellen Wilkinson 2011

Blackout                                             Multi-Role     West Kingsway College 2016

TELEVISION:

No credits at this time.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & SPECIAL SKILLS:

Acting:

Acting Workshop - Talent INC with International Talent scout Dorinda Palikeras.

One to one acting coach - Stephanie Sales.

Group acting class 2008-2010 - Jigsaw Performing Arts.

Weekly acting classes 2012-2013- Sylvia Young Theatre School.

Alice Acting Beginners Acting Course; Technique, Cold reading, Character Skills & Character development, Improvisation and Scene Study. (Alice Acting Company - October 2013)

Level 3 Diploma in Performing and Production Arts- Acting – West Kingsway College 2016-2017
Level 3 Extended Diploma in Performing and Production Arts -Acting – West Kingsway College 2017-2018

Accents – English*, R.P, Cockney, American.

Additional Skills: Swimming, Improvisation and Theatre Devising

Practioners - Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright, whose ideas are very influential. He wanted to make the audience think, and used a range of devices to remind them that they were watching theatre and not real life.

When naturalistic theatre was at its height and acted as a mirror to what was happening in society, he decided to use it as a force for change. He wanted to make his audience think and famously said that theatre audiences at that time “hang up their brains with their hats in the cloakroom”.

In naturalistic or dramatic theatre the audience care about the lives of the characters onstage. They forget their own lives for a while and escape into the lives of others. When an audience cries for a character or feels emotion through the events happening to them it’s called catharsis.

Brecht was against cathartic theatre. He believed that while the audience believed in the action onstage and became emotionally involved they lost the ability to think and to judge. He wanted his audiences to remain objective and distant from emotional involvement so that they could make considered and rational judgements about any social comment or issues in his work. To do this he used a range of theatrical devices or techniques so that the audience were reminded throughout that they were watching theatre; a presentation of life, not real life itself. His kind of theatre was called Epic theatre. He called the act of distancing the audience from emotional involvement the verfremdungseffekt.

Brecht definitely wanted his audience to remain interested and engaged by the drama otherwise his message would be lost. It was emotional investment in the characters he aimed to avoid.

His approach to theatre suits work which has a political, social or moral message.

"Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality but a hammer with which to shape it."
This quote by Brecht means that theatre should not represent society but rather that theatre should influence and mould society so the audience is left thinking.

20/09/2017

Today we worked on a piece of drama about 4 people involved in a car crash. In my group, we started off with three of us in the car, whilst I also narrated the scene stating: "It was just an ordinary summers day, when the three girls were driving down to the beach... when suddenly a giant deer ran across the road" Midway through this, the character acting as the deer ran across the stage and we all fell onto our backs to show we were injured. Jessica, who was playing the car driver stood up and looked at the audience saying "I wanted to save the deer but I ended up killing my friends instead." The aim of this scene was to add narration as this separates the feeling of a magical world and reminds the audience they are watching a piece of theatre. We showed an episodic piece, that portrayed a message about driving without caution and wearing a seatbelt but didn't let the audience form an emotional attachment as we stepped out of role to describe the scene and gave eye contact to the audience.

After this we worked on a piece about a political matter in which we chose to do Animal Rights. We started off our scene in a line as we stamped our feet protesting and chanting "Stop animal cruelty! Stop animal cruelty!" We followed this with each character stating facts about animal cruelty such as the use of injecting animals for testing of cosmetics and the animals being caged in the zoo.
We then split into twos, so two of us were protesters and the other two characters were members of the government. Jessica and I whom were the protesters, approached Alex and Phoebe whom were the government stating our arguments to stop animal cruelty. To end this, Phoebe stepped out of character and faced the audience and closed on the statement: "Stopping animal cruelty will affect the society and the people involved, which way will you decide?" Ending on this statement left the audience questioning their own beliefs and this proved that Brecht's technique and aims were true, as the class started a debate after our piece about "Are animals and humans lives equal?"

Practioners - Steven Berkoff

13/09/2017

Today we looked at a British practitioner Steven Berkoff and his physical, exaggerated style of theatre which is both popular and controversial, defying the norms of naturalistic theatre.

We started off by walking around the room leading with different body parts such as our nose, chest, elbow and knees to explore what characteristics were bought out in doing these actions. I found that when I led with my chest I felt powerful and superior yet slightly arrogant. When I led with my nose, I felt curious and suspicious and like I was searching for information. When I led with my elbows I felt unsafe and guarded with no trust for anyone around me. When I led with my knees I felt laid back yet sloppy and didn't care too much about anything.

We then had to develop the character we enjoyed playing the most by interacting with each other using sounds. I chose to lead with my knees and I made humming noises as I met other characters to display I was in my own bubble, very relaxed and oblivious to the world around me. After meeting the other characters, we got into groups of three and created a short scene using the characters we had created through our physicality. I was leading with my knees, whilst taking Yasmin (whom was playing a dog leading with her head) for a walk. Whilst walking her I slouched and gazed around me with curiosity yet still staying in a carefree state and not aware of my surroundings. I then bumped into Pele who was leading with his elbow and he was portraying his fear for the dog running up to him. The elbow being the centre of his movement showed he his guard was up and he was looking for safety. After performing this we looked at making shapes with our body such as a car where four of us crouched on the floor to represent the wheels whilst another person squatted in the middle to show the steering wheel. This then led into improvising a scenario of a funfair. We all took turns to join the scene and added different pieces to the picture one by one to complete the still image such as selling candyfloss, whilst another character pointed to the flavor they wanted.

We then read scene 8 from the play 'East' by Steven Berkoff which is about dealing with growing up and rites of passage in London's rough East End. In this scene the character 'Dad' is describing how years ago things used to be good and he then reminisces about when they used to always go down to the Southend; Kursaal Amusements. The stage directions then instruct all the characters to create the scene of the Kursaal Amusements. We got into groups to explore this scene and we created a physical piece by having four of us jumping for joy at the beginning to represent the times being good. As the narrator of our group stated the Kursaal Amusements, we all sat on the floor, two by two, to show we were on a rollercoaster 'The Ghost train' and I look at my mum and say 'Smile, Mum'. We then end the scene with a photograph being taken on the ride. I found this scene very energetic as we had to move around a lot and portray the environment at the Kursaal Amusements which helped me to use my body to interpret the difference between standing and reacting the narrator then to creating a whole picture for the audience.

I enjoyed studying physical theatre as it gave the acting more life as I wasn't so focused on saying set lines and I felt more free. I felt I could also develop the characters without judgement of being right or wrong and could let my own imagination go freely. By being abstract, I could really bring each character to life without any limitations set when doing a more naturalistic character.

Moreover, I researched interesting facts on Steven Berkoff which were:

• English actor who played the villain in many films including Rambo: First Blood Part II. He also played General Orlov in the James Bond Film, Octopussy.
• He studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in 1958.
• In 1968 he formed the London Theatre Group
• East was his first original play to be performed and established him as a major talent.  He is now performed over the world, and at the yearly Edinburgh Fringe Festival he is the most performed playwright after Shakespeare.

14/09/2017

Following on from our lesson yesterday, today we looked displaying exaggerated movement with our physicality. We got into groups and numbered ourselves from one to four. Number one started off by doing an everyday activity such as brushing their hair, whilst we followed on in the circle the movement got bigger until it reached the fourth person whom had to use the biggest movement so stretching really high and using long brushes to emphasise the movement. We carried this on with different tasks such as making a cup of tea and putting on our shoes. In partners we acted out a scene of us playing tennis in slow motion followed by a scene of us going grocery shopping. This was useful as it let my barriers down and helped me delve outside the norm and be elaborate without using words. It showed that being physical and exaggerating movement can tell a story and engages the audience as it is out of the ordinary and highlights the scenes actions and motivations without the use of speech.

We then gathered together to discuss our research on Steven Berkoff and each went around and read our interesting facts on him, followed by drawing a spider diagram in groups of four noting all the facts we had found. We then each wrote the most important fact from our groups to summarise Steven Berkoff in a different spider diagram

. This was helpful as it gave me a clearer picture of Steven Berkoff's upbringing, family life, education and studying and all the work he has done.

A quote by Steven Berkoff:

We then moved onto looking at four different characters: a father, a mother, a son and a daughter. This was in preparation for looking at the play 'Metamorphosis'. We walked around the room in neutral and then changed into a 'Father' figure. I displayed this by walking with my head held high and leading my walk with my chest. We then had to do three poses to summarise a father and I showed myself shaving my beard, holding onto the bar of a tube and reading the newspaper. We then transitioned into walking around the space as a 'Mother' figure. I portrayed this by walking around with an imaginary handbag and being smiley. The three poses I did for the 'Mother' were rocking a baby to sleep, drinking a cup of tea and doing the ironing. We then moved onto the 'Daughter' character and I displayed this by skipping around playing with my hair. The three poses I did were doing my hair, doing my makeup and talking on the phone. I then transitioned into the 'Son' figure in which I walked around with a cocky attitude and a slouched stride. The three poses I did were checking my muscles, texting on the phone and playing a video game. This exercise helped to highlight the stereotypes of these characters and helped me to picture the differences between each role. We then read through two scenes of Metamorphisis which I enjoyed as I could visually picture the scenes in my head as their was a lot of stage directions. In groups of four we chose a part of scene 1 to perform. 

We chose the opening section of the play to perform as we liked the fact that all the characters were involved and felt we could use all our physical movement to open the play with a sharp start to draw in the audience. We started off by walking onto the stage one by one as our designated characters. Mr S walked on boldly, Mrs S walked on with her head down, Greta walked in with a violin and Gregor walked in smiling. We then said our lines in a fast motion to represent the chaos of the scene and formed a line to create the insect. I tapped my foot and Jessica made a ticking sound as Greta says the line: "He looked at the alarm clock ticking on the chest." This emphasised the angst building up in Gregor and created a tense, edgy atmosphere. We then slowed the tempo right down to slow motion to say the line "His mothers..." to represent the characters feeling sympathy towards Gregor.  

9/19/2017

Today we carried on looking at physical theatre and focused on emotions and how to emphasise and express them beyond normal standards. We started off by looking at the emotion 'sad' and we walked around the space with hunched over body language, looking at the floor with a sorrowful face. We then had to take this emotion further and I was crying, screaming and putting my hands over my head to display this. We then moved onto the emotion 'happy' and this involved open body language, smiling and eye contact with others in the room. To expand on this emotion and take it further, I started to skip and hug others around me and singing with joy. The next emotion was 'anger' and I clenched my fists and had a frown on my face. To take this further, I started stomping rapidly whilst huffing when walking past others. Lastly, we looked at the emotion 'fear' and I displayed this by rubbing my palms together and walking around timidly and on edge with a slow pace. 

We then got into groups and devised a short scene using each of the emotions. Our scene was two happy girls greeting an angry guest, a sad guest and a fearful guest. The angry guest banged the door with aggression and the sad guest knocked quietly and started crying whilst the fearful guest played by myself knocked slowly whilst looking around with anxiety. To develop the scene we had to all transition during the scene into another emotion. I transferred from fear to happiness and made the change by coming out of my corner with my palms clasped in together to dancing and clapping and engaging with other guests at the party. This exercise was useful as it helped me express different emotions in the most exaggerated style, so in future I can use the same feeling and tone it down to what is suitable for my character. It was also reflective of real life as over a course of the day our emotions fluctuate and I enjoyed going through the different thought processes and actions to change my emotions.

Practioners - Samuel Beckett

21/09/2017

We started off today by looking at Stream of Consciousness which is a method of narration that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters. We got into pairs and played a game in which one person said a word and we had to respond with the first word that came to our head. We followed this on by telling a story stating one word each and then we moved onto saying a sentence each. We then got back into a circle as a class and went around saying a word and responding to the person next to us with whatever came to our mind. This helped to get out of the mentality of thinking about what you were going to say next and speak without worrying about being judged. It also bought out a playful child-like side to the group which eased the tension in the room.

We then went around the circle claiming to be a character, in which I chose to be a nurse. We then had to describe where our character was in detail so I said: "My character is on the way to work, on a hot sticky packed central line train." Once everyone stated who they were and where they were, we partnered up with another character to create a story about how they met in detail. I partnered up with Emily who played a 'professional bed tester'. We then came up with a story which is below:

We discussed everyone's stories, and we concluded as a class that it is important to use strong vocabulary and adjectives to set the scene and characters so you can imagine the story mentally. Strong parts of our story were the detailed description of the temperature of the train and the actions of the character such as 'stumble' and 'run'. This creates a picture in the head of the listener. We learnt that Beckett restricts actors as a theatrical device such as just showing the mouths of a character whilst they speak. I believe this technique is used to focus on the words and by restricting actors we can simplify a scene and not over complicate a story with unnecessary information. The less is more approach gives a clear detailed image and understanding to the audience with less distraction.

26/09/2017

Today we revisited our stories we created in the last lesson and performed them to the class. The main objective was to portray the story using the emphasis of words to create a picture in the audiences head. Beckett’s work is defined by the consciousness that words are incapable of expressing the inner self and by the simultaneous acceptance of the fact that language is essential to the human situation and thus not a removable element. One feature that sets Beckett apart is his overly simplified settings. Another result of Beckett’s stream of consciousness is that since most all of the ideas in the book are the thoughts of the narrator, Beckett makes dialogue a minimal aspect in his novels. Just how little Beckett cares for dialogue is apparent in a few different ways: he use very little dialogue, when characters do speak there are no quotation marks or paragraph breaks to indicate a speaker, and finally, every time there is a speaker Beckett always uses the plainest indication word – “said.” Finally, Beckett’s stream of consciousness often results in long run-on sentences that express multiple ideas without transitions between those ideas.Whilst reading my story, I used minimal movement and stood facing the audience looking into the distance and putting stress on words such as 'sticky', 'stumble' and 'refuse'. 

My story got straight to the point and explained the journey in which my character (the nurse) found her patient lying on the platform with no distractions about thoughts, feelings or actions. This creates a tragic and shocking atmosphere for the audience so they can visualise the heightened dramatic element of the scene in a simplified manner.

I enjoyed listening to other's stories in the class as they were all very unique and creative. They all created a strong atmosphere which ranged from tense, scary and sad to humorous, fun and comedic. To differentiate the atmospheres, the speech was slower and a lower tone was used for the sadder atmosphere and for the light-hearted atmosphere; light chirpy tones were used which forced a smile across my face!
We ended the lesson in pairs, filling out a sheet of paper with facts we had researched about Samuel Beckett.

Practioners - Caryl Churchill

27/09/17

Today we looked at the  British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power and using non-naturalistic techniques. She is also know for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes. Her early work developed Bertolt Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques of Epic theatre to explore issues of gender and sexuality. We looked at the play 'Top Girls' which Caryl Churchill won an Obie Award for best play in 1982. It features an all-female cast, and focuses on Marlene, who has relinquished a home and family to achieve success in the world of business. The play is contemporary and examines the role of women in society and what being a successful woman means.

Practioners - Berkoff & Beckett

28/09/17

Today we got into groups of four and we had the task of choosing a fairy tale and telling this story to the class in the style of either Steven Berkoff or Samuel Beckett. In my group we chose the fairy tale 'Alice in Wonderland' and chose the style of Berkoff.

Steven Berkoffs style of theatre is physical theatre. Physical theatre shows that you don't have to use words to express ideas. It uses techniques such as movement, mime, gesture and dance. Berkoffian actors use techniques such as background movement, repetitive actions, and mime to explore further the ways in which Berkoff approaches exchanges between two characters. Berkoff said that it was important “to see how I could bring mime together with the spoken word as its opposite partner, creating the form and structure of the piece” and also stated that the only purpose of a script is to help “minimalise and physicalise” the story.

We started our piece with three of us hanging over 'Alice' with our hands to represent the trees in the forest. I then acted as the rabbit who spoke and ran across the forest in a hurry as I state ''I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!" in a high pitched tone. I then switch to slow motion as Alice follows behind me to create a curiosity for the audience as this is how Alice is feeling towards the rabbit. We then used two characters to create a circle which was the rabbit hole in which I dive into and Alice follows. We then all spun around in a circle around Alice to show she was in a wonderland and each of us represented a house object and portrayed this with our bodies. I enacted a clock and used my arms to show the hands ticking around, another character represented a chair and squatted into a shape to be sat on and another character was a cupboard; opening and closing with their hands. In the next scene, we all created a roof over Alice who spotted a cookie on the floor. We all chanted with a fast pace ''Eat me.. eat me ... eat me" which created a tense atmosphere as Alice grabs the cookie. She then grew tall and we showed this by Alice trying to stand but as the roof engulfing her we pushed her back down. Alice then started to cry very emotionally, to the point she was drowning in her own tears which we showed by having "whooshing" noises and swaying our hands as waves. Alice then notices a drink, so she points as we say in a slower tone "Drink me.. drink me.. drink me" which was effective as the whisper lured the audience and Alice in. After Alice returns to her normal self she passes flowers which we represented with our arms as petals and swaying from side to side. As Alice  skips past and using our hands to open and close our petals we each commented in a squeaky voice ''Go away your not a flower" and Alice runs off. We then transitioned into the next scene, in which I was the house of cards painting vigorously with big motions and Kojo is also painting with me. We skip around in a circle singing "We must paint the roses for the Queen, we must quote the roses for the Queen before she beheads us!" We used big hands gestures and skipped around with a lot of energy to show how eager we were to complete our task. Alice then arrives and asks to join in and we allow her to. We then notice the Queen walks in and we all bow to the floor and start banging the floor to create a suspense as the Queen questions the paint on the roses. We all point to each other to blame one another and then finally we all blame Alice. Kojo and I then say "Let's get her!" in slow motion whilst pointing and Alice and continue to chase her in exaggerated slow motion to create a suspense for the audience. Alice falls on the floor back to her position that we began with, with her book in her lap and we all gather around her as the trees. She then states: "It was all just a dream!".
I enjoyed using slow motion to create tension and using big gestures to create a fun and enthusiastic atmosphere. We then asked the audience to guess which style we had done and they guessed Steven Berkoff which was correct and they stated that the techniques used to give it away to the audience were the use of exaggerated movement and big gestures. Also using ourselves as actors to be objects such as the ticking clock and talking flowers!

We then had to retell the story using Samuel Beckett's techniques. This is based on being vocal and telling a story through the use of words and minimalistic movement. Samuel Beckett also uses the  Stream of Consciousness which is a method of narration that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters. With all these factors in mind, we all sat on the floor around each other and told a part of the story, really concentrating on the words used to create a picture story in the audiences head. It was important to be concise and keep the story simple yet still relaying the story. I found this style difficult as I enjoy using movement to tell a story and prefer to see the story visually and I felt restricted to just my voice, however I can also see how this style is powerful to some audiences as they can create their own image in their imaginations.

Trestle Theatre

5/10/2017

Today we did a workshop on Trestle Theatre using masks. We started off the lesson by walking around the space and leading with our feet, then we led with a body part of our choice. I chose to lead with my head which gave me the emotion of feeling curious and confused. This exercise helped to get warmed up and thinking about the connection between physicality and emotion. Next, we got into a circle and passed on a facial expression each and copied the person before us. We then added a gesture to the facial expression to connect the body with the emotion.

We were then shown a mask with a face which looked sad and we all copied this image by drooping our lips and then slouching our shoulders and walking with a slump to convey the emotion. After this warm up exercise, we got into groups of three and each group was given a different mask. We labelled ourselves as 'A','B' and 'C' and 'A' led the group by making the facial expression on the given mask, 'B' then followed the same facial expression and added the body language of the character, and finally 'C' mimicked both the facial expression and body language and then turned around to wear the mask. We all stood in a line in our groups to show the transition between each stage of development.

To develop this further, we got into groups of four and had to create a scene using different masks each. In my group, we chose the setting of being at a theme park on a rollercoaster ride. We showed this by having the ticket master standing with a neutral mask holding a sign saying "£5 for a ride ticket", whilst each character entered the stage space one by one. This was an effective way of introducing each character to the scene as it gave the audience a few moments to gage the personality and emotion of each character. The first character entering the scene was scared and had a round mouth to represent this with raised eyebrows. The second character which was played by me, entered the stage with hands on the hips, as the facial expression was eyebrows raised in a unimpressed manner. The third character was very smiley and entered skipping around and grabbing a ticket joyfully. The three of us then worked well as an ensemble as we moved in sync from left, right, down and back to portray being on a rollercoaster ride. We then stepped off the ride one by one to show the audience our reaction on the rides which were scared, unimpressed and happy. We also used theme park music through out the piece to set the scene.

I enjoyed using the masks and learnt a lot about the technique such as less is more. The mask does the talk and the audience enjoy the performance and are really engaged with each character when the movement is subtle yet clear. I learnt that the reaction has to always be out to the audience to create a comedic effect and to let them be involved in the experience. Moreover, I learnt that the masks should not be touched during the performance and no speaking is allowed as this breaks the illusion.

Practioners - Preparing our own piece of theatre

03/10/2017


Today we worked in groups on the question "What makes a good piece of theatre?" and discussed our points as a whole class. In my group we said that theatre is about staying true to your character; therefore doing research into your role, your personality traits, the characters objectives for each scene. This creates a character which is believable to the audience and other actors in the play. We also noted that it is important to appeal to the audience you are targeting, for example taking into consideration the age, gender and interests of a particular audience. We did this when we performed 'Blackout' to the college audience which was about a teenage boy who experienced anger issues and was convicted of a crime after being bullied in high school. This is a story for the age of the audience we performed it to which is why they were engrossed and gripped into the story line, as the language used was current and relatable. Moreover, I believe that the believability of the character is portrayed by acting truthfully under imaginary circumstances which I have learnt through the Stanislavsky technique. In addition, the simplicity of the piece is very powerful, as when we performed 'Blackout' we used minimal props and a lot of the performance was down to us as actors being emotionally engaged as an ensemble and using a lot of physicality to express emotions such as circling characters around victims and stomping the ground to emphasise the tension in certain scenes. Engaging with the audience is also a powerful tool as in the play 'Girl from the North Country' the actors were performing and singing from their inner heart and playing in the moment and as an audience this showed in the warm and committed atmosphere.

We then moved on to the question: "What would you make a piece of theatre about? For who?" and we all agreed we would target a teenage audience around the ages of 14-18 years old and we would all use theatre to educate our audience about issues going on in the world. I believe that theatre can be a powerful tool to raise awareness in a light-hearted manner such as global warming, bullying and racism. This can influence a younger audience to make changes to prevent the world from becoming more destructed, rather than watching theatre about love and romance which is masking environmental and political issues developing in the world. I would demonstrate these types of serious pieces as contrasting scenes showing the 'destructed world' with a lot of dark lighting and contrast this with how the world can be a more peaceful friendly place. This will leave the audience thinking about their actions and will be remembered more visually rather than just verbally.

10/10/2017

Today we worked in our groups from last week about the piece of theatre we would devise to an audience. Our task was to create a short trailer about our chosen piece to attract viewers and give a synopsis of the play. We chose to focus on 'Cyber-bullying and Internet safety', by creating a short scene to begin the trailer with upbeat music. The scene started with Mimi playing a young girl on her phone messaging a man, which I portrayed, whom was pretending to be 20 years old but in reality was 40 years old. Mimi spoke her inner dialogue by saying: "I am so happy I've met someone who likes me, he's only 20 years old... I have to meet him" and it transitioned into me speaking my thoughts by typing on my phone: "She's so silly, I've tricked another one, now I need to meet her!!" Yasmin then walked in between us and says: "And that's how it begun." We then transitioned into the final part of the trailer, where we both meet and hold hands and Mimi speaks her inner thoughts again: "Yes I am so happy I have finally met him. He doesn't look 20 but he's probably had a tough life!" I then respond with my inner thoughts saying "She can't even tell I'm lying about my age. So gullible!" The trailer ends with Yasmin stepping forward again and saying: "These types of scenarios happen everyday, what can we do to stop them?" We chose to end on a rhetorical question, as this is a Brechtian technique to get the audience thinking and build tension as the cliff-hanger makes the audience want to continue watching and find out what happens.