30.01.15

I feel in today's rehearsal Sav and I made huge progress in our scene, as we are now off script and know all of our lines, we can act freely now without holding the script, and we have made progress on our blocking and our character physicality's. 
The scene is much more playful now, and we are really playing around with the scene, and have tried out different things. An example of something we tried today...

• Follow the leader game: as I have mentioned before in my blogs, we have tried out lots of exercises and games in order to create more play and humour in the scene. Playing follow the leader really works for this scene, and it is Sav who is following me. As Olivia's interest in Viola grows, she begins to be touchy feely with Viola and starts to move closer to her on every line, and as she does this, I move further away from her, as I have sussed that she might be attracted to me. Further to this, we performed our scene to our class and we were told we need to make it more clear as to when Viola realises Olivia has feelings for her, and we have taken on board this feedback and we both said today that this game makes it much more clear at what point the flirting begins, and it has made the scene much stronger. So we definitely intend to keep the follow the lead game incorporated into this scene.

We have blocked the scene throughout, and all we need to do now is to keep rehearsing it, and acting on the feedback we receive. I feel every time we rehearse the scene it gets better and better, and I feel more confident about my abilities to play Viola. At first it was quite a daunting thought to be playing a woman pretending to be a man and I did not know if I was happy with the casting, but I have really come to enjoy Viola's character and I love playing her, especially in my scene with Sav. The scene on the whole is mainly comical, and I feel this is the best way for us to portray the scene, as Twelfth Night is a comedy anyway. 

The moment in this scene where Viola realises Olivia is flirting with her, and also when Olivia realises she has feelings for her, is when Olivia takes off her veil to reveal her face to Viola and Viola responds to her beauty...

"Excellently done, if god did all"Again this line is very comical as she is complimenting Olivia as her face is excellent, but then he retracts this compliment by saying, your face is only beautiful if it is natural and made by god only, this I am going to portray as a joke shared with the audience, when I say "if god did all" I will direct it to the audience, as if Olivia cannot hear what I am saying. This will be funny for the audience, but will also build a relationship between Viola and the audience as I want to get the audience involved on this joke.

After this line, this is when Sav and I have decided to change our dynamics, and Olivia will come very close to Viola when speaking to her, and will be touching Viola on her arms, and will generally just be BLATANTLY flirting with Viola, and Viola will be very uncomfortable about this, and the audience will definitely notice, which will add to the comedy of the scene. As Viola is not interested in Olivia, but I feel she plays with her a lot and sees how far she can push Olivia. Viola is teasing Olivia in a way, which I find very amusing and I will portray this to the audience.

The line I really like from Viola is after Olivia expresses how she cannot love Orsino and he should of taken her answer long ago....Viola replies with;

"If I did love you.....in my masters flame"This line is so teasing to Olivia as for a brief moment when I say If I did love you, Sav comes very close to my face, almost hoping for Viola's love, and then I retract this by pausing for a few seconds and saying "in my masters flame" so I am leading Olivia to believe that I could love her, then I include Orsino again, to remind her that I am there to woo her for Orsino, and NOT for myself. 

I just really enjoy this scene as I am having fun playing around with the different behaviours Viola has, as at the beginning she is quite serious and confused as she wants to know who the lady of the house is, and then after she finds out who it is, she is very polite and witty with Olivia, and then when Maria leaves the scene, Viola then becomes very flirtatious with Olivia and begins to tease her, and then at the end of the scene Viola is uncomfortable and shocked as she realises Olivia has feelings for her. So for me this scene is a journey for Viola as she feels lots of different emotions and has different physicality's throughout so my goal for myself is to develop her gestures and the way she walks even further by practising how she moves over and over and also observing the way other actresses do this in Twelfth Night performances which I have been watching online.

This video here I really like the scene between Olivia and Viola(about 20 minutes in) the characters work really well together and it is so funny to watch, particularly Olivia as she hangs on every single word that comes out of Viola's mouth and you can see she is completely obsessed with her! This is what Sav and I have discussed and will be going for in our scene, as it is very funny and comical. 

At the end of our scene, when I say "Farewell, fare cruelty" I hold Sav's face as I say Farewell, and then hold for a few seconds, and let go and retract what i said with, "fare cruelty" and as I exit the scene, Sav followed me off and had her mouth open and her eyes wide, showing how obsessed Olivia is, and it was SO funny. It was completely improvised but it works so well and we are definitely going to use this in our scene!

I really want to start rehearsing my ending scene, which is the final scene with all the second years. We have spoken about this with Andy and will begin to rehearse on Wednesday morning. I am already learning my lines quickly, so when it comes to rehearsals I will already be able to freely act without holding my book to my face. 

28.1.15

In todays lesson we worked with the 1st years on our opening scene, the storm scene and the Orsino languishing scene. This was the first rehearsal on the Orsino scene "If music be the food of love" and I feel it went well and we all really got into the languishing style of the scene and I feel I really was absorbed into the singing at the start and the Food of love speech, which we all speak parts of in groups. The scene is really relaxing and I imagine I am in a luxurious room surrounded by rich and happy people, drinking the best wine and eating the best food and listening to beautiful music, and I am just living in it without  a care in the world, we are all Orsino's to a degree as we all love the same things and it feels like we all look up to him and aspire to be just like him. I really enjoy this scene and I have learned that when you imagine a setting and just be in the moment it really helps your concentration and focus, and it makes the scene more enjoyable. It is a very sensuous scene and we are all very engrossed considering we have only rehearsed this scene about 3 times now and the languishing vibes are very strong. I feel we can make this scene stronger by using more complicity, especially with the breaths we do in unison after Orsino(Greta) speaks.

The lines we all say together in Unison, are Curio's lines, so we are all representing Curio, who is Orsino's servant if you like...

"Will you go hunting my lord?"(all in unison)

"What, Curio?"(Greta as Orsino)

"The Hart" (this is a male deer)

"Why so I do, the noblest that I have, O when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Me thought she purg'd the air of pestilence;

That instant was I turned into a hart (we gasp in unison)

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,

e'er since pursue me."

Narcissus are also a type of flower

During this speech we are all lounging on the floor all linked together by lying on each other, holding hands and looking up to Orsino, who is standing above us, at the front of the stage, talking to us, as if he is a story teller. Orsino definitely loves the sound of his own voice, but I feel he is not an arrogant character, he just loves the idea of being in love and is very high maintenance and materialistic, but he is not a bad person at all. He is very caring and kind, just he could be seen as very shallow and vain. He does come across as a Narcissus, which means someone who is very vain and self loving. The word "Narcissism" comes from Greek Mythology which we learned about in today's lesson, about a young man named Narcissus, who was a hunter and fell in love with his own reflection in the lake. He was the son of a river god, Cephissus and a nymph, Liriope. Narcissus was very proud and self loving, and Nemesis noticed this behaviour and attracted the hunter to the river, where he saw his own reflection and fell in love instantly, he did not realise this was his reflection and thought he had discovered a new Greek God, and went to the river every day to gaze at himself, until one day he fell in and drowned. This was seen as Karma from Nemesis, as being a Narcissus is a bad trait, and one who has a fixation with their own appearance is not a good quality to have. This is where the term "Narcissism" stems from.

We were all discussing how we feel Orsino has these qualities slightly, but as I said before Orsino means well, and just purely wants to love and to be loved.

I learned a lot from today's lesson, as we were mainly taking direction from Siou and Andy on the opening scene, and I have learned that envisioning a scene in my mind and creating a vibe within myself REALLY helps me develop characterisation and to be more involved in a scene. I really enjoy this scene and I have realised that letting go inside my mind really does help my performance and I really hope this shows. The directions we received were mainly about physicality and stage presence, and this has also helped me in my character development for Viola as the physicality of a man are quite hard to get into, but I feel I am making progress with this, and the goal I set for myself to be off script last week has been achieved as I ran lines in my spare time and in college time, and now the scene is coming along so much better as Sav and I are BOTH off script which allows us to be more free, and certainly helps me as I have developed my posture and the way I walk, I feel comfortable in this physicality as I keep practising it in my spare time and during rehearsals, whereas before it felt very awkward and quite funny, as it is such a change from my own personal physicality. 

Monologues for auditions

Alright, by the cut of your suit you went to Oxford or wherever, and naturally think human beings dress like that. But you wear it with such disdain, my guess is you didn’t come from money. And your school friends never let you forget it. Which means you were at that school by the grace of someone else’s charity. Hence the chip on your shoulder. And since your first thought about me ran to orphan, I'd say that's what you are...
Now having just met you I wouldn’t go as far as calling you a cold hearted bastard. But it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine. You think of women as disposable pleasure rather than meaningful pursuits. So as charming as you are, I’ll be keeping my eye on our government’s money, and off your perfectly formed ass. See even accountants have imagination...good night Mr Bond. (Casino royale, Vesper, film monologue)

That I did love the Moor to live with him,
My downright violence and storm of fortunes
May trumpet to the world: my heart's subdued
Even to the very quality of my lord:
I saw Othello's visage in his mind,
And to his honour and his valiant parts
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
So that, dear lords, if I be left behind,
A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
The rites for which I love him are bereft me,
And I a heavy interim shall support

By his dear absence. Let me go with him.

(Othello, Desdemona, Shakespeare monologue choice number 1)

If nothing lets to make us happy both,
But this my masculine u'surp'd attire,
Do not embrace me, till each circumstance
Of play, time, fortune do cohere and jump
That I am VIOLA; which to confirm,
I'll bring you a captain in this town,
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help
I was preserv'd to serve this noble count,
All the occurrence of my fortune since,
Hath been between this lady and this lord.

(Twelfth Night, Viola, Shakespeare monologue choice number 3)

Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
and call upon my soul within this house,
Write loyal cantons of contemned love,
And sing them loud even in the dead of night,
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills,
and make the babbling gossips of the air,
Cry out, OLIVIA, O you should not rest between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.

(Twelfth Night, Viola, Shakespeare monologue choice number 2)

She has a shadow on her lung, such night sweats, you must have noticed how thin and frail she is. And last winter she coughed up blood. Papa bought heartwood as soon as Doctor Payne made his diagnosis, poor Papa he did not realise how ill he was himself. Lucy always was a daddys girl, and he would have done anything to make her well. The sea air and so forth. 
Doctor Seward, her fiance, says we are to be very very careful. We must keep our dear Lucy away from the chills of the evening and the dampness of dawn.
(Dracula, Mina Westerman, modern monologue choice 1)

Monologue for next week

For our Monday lessons: Acting for camera, we have been asked to chose any monologue we wish from any film/book/play to perform in front of Andy, preferably a same sex monologue and no longer than a couple of minutes.
We have been asked NOT to use any Shakespeare monologues we know as it is has to be in modern text. We were also asked to pick a monologue which gives the impression that it is aimed at someone, so it should sound like I am talking to someone and not just talking to myself...
I have been thinking about female monologues I love from films and various plays, and have chosen this monologue from the James Bond film Casino Royale(2006) the monologue is spoken by Vesper, James Bond's love interest and accountant. This monologue is when the pair first lay eyes on each other, and they are both making assumptions about each other whilst sitting on an over night train together.


 Alright, by the cut of your suit you went to Oxford or wherever, and naturally think human beings dress like that. But you wear it with such disdain, my guess is you didn’t come from money. And your school friends never let you forget it. Hence the chip on your shoulder. And since your first thought about me ran to orphan, I'd say that's what you are...
Now having just met you I wouldn’t go as far as calling you a cold hearted bastard. But it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine. You think of women as disposable pleasure rather than meaningful pursuits. So as charming as you are, I’ll be keeping my eye on our government’s money, and off your perfectly formed ass. See even accountants have imagination...good night Mr Bond.


I really like this monologue as it is very witty and sarcastic. Which is the type of character I love to play as I always get really into these types of characters, and she is a strong woman who knows what she is saying, and she is flirting with James in this scene, but in an understated way, as she has a reputation to uphold. So I feel this monologue will work well for me, and I will play around with it this week and learn the lines. I prefer serious monologues like this, with a hint of sarcasm and humour rather than comical light hearted monologues, I just can relate more to these types of monologues, as in a way it matches my own personal sense of humour, as I am quite dry and sarcastic as a person.

Michael Caine Masterclass video

This is the video from Michael Caine's famous Acting Masterclass for actors who want to act on screen.
I watched this video and I found it really interesting and helpful. Michael Caine emphasises the fact that "less is more" and actors do not have to "over act" on screen as the camera is watching everything you do, actors do not need to over do it on screen and he feels actors need to LISTEN and just be.
He aids simplicity and pushes on concentration. He as an actor feels concentration is very important in order to achieve what they want. I really like this video and I feel everyone should watch it, as it is inspiring and very logical to me, he wants actors to not get distracted and to just be in the moment. 

26.1.15 Acting for film

Michael Caine

In today's lesson, we filmed Greta and Heta;s scene from Doctors and Max and Jade's scene. We all took part as crew members, observers and actors. 

In Greta and Hetas scene Sav and I were crew members for the markers, we taped down 2 marking points each for Greta and Heta and in Max and Jade;s scene I sat as an observer, watching how the camera and boom are operated.

Although I was unfortunately absent from last weeks filming, I can still answer the questions we were given as I have worked in front of a camera before, doing modelling and TV acting work.

How does it feel to work in front of the camera? Since the age of 18 I have worked in front of cameras quite frequently for modelling shoots, and also small TV parts and fashion shows. I really enjoy working in front of the camera, and actually prefer it to theatre acting. I have always preferred it, because I feel more at ease in front of a camera becuase I know if I mess up my lines or do something wrong, there is always more takes, and it takes the pressure out of my mind. Even though filming for TV and film is SUCH a long process, and day shoots can take all day, and only have about 1 minute of a TV show or film completed. But to me it feels good to work in front of the camera and to feel supported by those around me, whereas when I perform on stage, I feel nervous before as you only get one shot and once your on stage, in a way your on your own as you cannot rely on the other actors to help you out if you forget a line! So I really enjoy working in front of the camera and I am really annoyed that I missed out on my chance last week due to an illness, as I have experience with working in front of the camera and would have loved to have done this again!!

What skills did I use? The one thing I have learned from modelling and acting is that its all in your EYES. Eyes are so powerful and can tell a thousand stories, and acting in front of camera is reliant on your eyes and facial expressions to portray your characters emotions. So the main skill I have used when acting for camera previously is using facial expressions. Another skill I have used is maintaining eye contact with the other actors, I feel this really helped me out, as sometimes when filming I have became distracted by what is going on around me and it is so hard to not look at what everyone is doing sometimes! So maintaining eye contact and focus is a great skill, and it also makes you feel at ease with the other actors, as they are in the same boat as you and probably appreciate your eye contact as well!

What skills are different to acting on stage? "Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser" Michael Caine

Acting for stage and camera are so different, a main difference is the physicality. Acting for stage requires a lot of gestures, movements and choreography, whereas acting for camera is much more subtle(depending on the film) of course if you are starring in a massive action movie, you may be required to be much more physical, but you would almost definitely have a body double for this. But acting on stage is all YOU. Also facial expressions are not as important when acting on stage, as your face may not be very well seen from the back of the theatre, this is why projection and voice is more important in stage acting. But in camera acting your face says EVERYTHING. You cannot get away with just saying the lines with passion and projection, you have to say it through your face and eyes, but on stage this is not very important as your face and eyes may not be seen very well. As Michael Caine has said, the camera sees everything, so every subtle gesture you make with your face, the camera will see it. So it does not require over the top facial expressions, as the camera sees every little gesture or movement you make. Another difference between the two are the durations. The duration of rehearsal an actor will have, the duration of the days of work they will do and performing/filming. Acting of camera, if it is a film, an actor will have a certain period of months, sometimes WEEKS! To learn their lines, and this will not normally be with the other actors, actors are required to go away separately and learn their lines, then return to filming knowing all their lines, and then they will begin to rehearse. If it is camera acting for a soap opera, actors will have very little time to rehearse their scene with the other actors, most of the time they would have only rehearsed the scene a few times before filming the real thing. Whereas acting for stage, actors will have much more time rehearsing together in a group and will generally have more time to rehearse,and then will have to repeat the performance for however many nights/days it is running for, whereas actors for films/tv shows will only have to film the scene ONCE in full, and will always film small parts of their scenes, and this is quite a long process, especially for films.

From watching today's scenes being filmed, I noticed a lot of differences in my class mates acting techniques, as we have always acted in theatre, and never in front of the camera, and I could definitely notice changes in their acting.

What skills were they using? Eye contact, particularly Greta and Heta, facial expressions and using eyes, more subtle movements and gestures, clear projection, always keeping eyes up and not looking down, working with markers, maintaining focus on the scene and not what was going on around them.

What did they do well? All the actors today focused really well and they were all very clear with their voices, projection is not massively important as they had the boom microphone always over their heads, but they still remembered to speak clearly and slowly. The focus was very good and they always stayed focused to the scene and not what was going around them(camera moving, boom moving, crew members talking quietly ect) They all expressed very clear emotions, as the scenes are all about pregnancy and miscarriage, which is quite a sensitive and tricky subject to get right when acting, and I feel they all achieved this. The scenes were very touching and raw, I could definitely feel the emotions in all of their acting.

What was it like working as crew? I really enjoyed working as crew as it allowed me to see what the crew actually have to do, and not just being their to act. It requires a lot of hard work, and team work is essential. I worked with Sav on the mark points for the actors, and helping out with the camera briefly and observing the scenes. I can see now the hard work that goes into preparing for scenes, and these scenes were only 30 seconds long! So I can only imagine the hard work that goes into films that are 3 hours long!

Best boy? A best boy is part of the film crew, and there are TWO types: Best boy electric and Best Boy grip. The best boy is responsible for the day to day operation of the lights and grips. They oversee the the management of the crew and do a lot of organising and hiring for crew members. 

Grip? A grip is a lighting and rigging technician in film, their responsibility is to build and maintain all of the equipment needed to support the cameras.

GRIPS WORKING ON A DOLLY(a dolly is a moving device which the camera can be placed on)

This is a drawing of the basic camera shot used for filming

These are the markers Sav and I made for Greta and Heta's scene

23.01.15

Today's lesson was very structured and we had a lot to do. We worked with the 1st years on our scenes, Sav and I rehearsed our scene together and came up with ways to make it more playful. We near enough know all our lines now and we have blocked the scene briefly a couple of weeks ago, but we are mainly focusing on the way we want our characters to be together and how we want to be portrayed.
I showed Sav the video I put onto my last blog of Viola and Olivia, and we both really like how playful and witty the scene is, and we want to re create this in our own way. Through our movements and through our acting. 
Games we have used to rehearse our scene...

• Servant and master(leading and following) This game has helped us add a lot of fun into our scene and it helps us both to get more involved with our characters. I like playing this game as it makes the scene much more comfortable and humorous. When rehearsing we have used Viola as the servant and Olivia as the master. Viola will keep her distance from Olivia, whereas Olivia uses much more space, as she is a higher status and is always trying to come closer to Viola, probably in order to intimidate her! We then interpreted leading and following into this scene, so either Viola or Olivia will copy the gestures the other character does throughout the scene, it is like a competition between the two women and it is so funny during rehearsals. Sav and I both have a lot of fun with this scene and I feel confident about this scene as we both enjoy it very much, and this is key to creating a strong piece of theatre, as we are both very into it and I feel this will definitely show on the night of the performance
• The balancing game(axis)This game helped us to block the scene and use the space well, this game is all about keeping the balance on the stage, and also has leading and following involved as well, when playing this game during the scene, we were both focused on each other, so our concentration levels were high, which means the scene was a lot better for both of us.We want to explore how far the characters can push each other in this scene and this game is a real test of concentration and complicity, as we both have to use the space evenly and keep it balanced.

Reflecting on today's rehearsal, I feel the scene is getting better and better every time we do it, we need to up the level of play in this scene, as the more play is better! We also need to be completely off script and I want to set myself the target of coming completely off script by the end of this week(30.1.15) and to make progress on my gestures and how to make myself walk and stand like a man, or like a woman pretending to be a man! 

For the rest of the lesson, we were working with the 1st years and were put into groups of our characters. I was with Chloe, Cat, Jo and Courtney- we are all playing Viola. We were asked to pick one line from each of our scenes that are significant to the character. I chose "ABOVE MY FORTUNES, YET MY STATE IS WELL. I AM A GENTLEMAN" As this line is key to Viola in my scene as she is pretending to be a man, and that is her main objective. The line we all agreed to chose was Chloe's line "I WILL DO MY BEST, TO WOO YOUR LADY"

This I do not feel was the right choice as the sub text was not strong enough,and some of us misinterpreted the line. Viola is very reluctant to do this for Orsino as she is in love with him, but she will do anything for him, for this very same reason. But we misunderstood this and portrayed it in a flirtatious way, when it should of been in a sad and disappointed manner as Viola does not want to lose Orsino to Olivia. 

We did originally chose my line, but changed it at the last minute. We should of stuck with my line as the sub text is much more obvious to the audience and was humorous and witty. In future, personally I will try not to just interpret things without thinking, I feel this exercise was rushed and we did not have enough time to really understand the line and we kind of just improvised it without thinking deep into the meaning of the line. But it was good to work with the 1st years more closely and to hear everyone's interpretations of Viola. 

20.01.15

As I have been learning my lines, I have also been watching my first scene, ACT 1 SCENE 5 on Youtube and have developed a stronger character analysis of Viola. I really like this scene as it is comical, flirtatious and daring. Viola seems very confident in her ability to woo Olivia for Orsino and takes no shame in pushing Olivia. She also does seem to flirt innocently with Olivia, but I do not think she realises that Olivia has taken a liking to her.
I really like the banter between the two and I am definitely going to show Sav this video and express that we should maintain the playful sides to both characters. Together we could make this scene very funny and light hearted, and I feel this video has inspired me. I usually play quite serious and grounded characters, but this is a complete change for me as Viola is very playful and witty,and is not very serious throughout the play. I really like the way Viola is trying desperately to get everyone out of the room so she can be alone with Olivia, and I am going to portray this in my scene as well. We have not rehearsed our scene with Sophie who is playing Maria, as she only has 1 line, but when we do I will show Sophie this video as well so she can get a feel as to how her character should be reacting to Viola, as she is clearly not comfortable or happy with  Viola's demands and interests towards Olivia.
Sav and I have developed our own interpretation of this scene, and we both feel that the two characters should not come too close to each other, as the status is an issue for these characters, but clearly you can see in this video the characters come very close together when talking, but I am not so sure of this. As I feel the way Sav and I have rehearsed it has made it more comical which is the style we have chosen to go for, as we want to portray to the audience that Viola is slightly uncomfortable around Olivia, and especially towards the end of the scene when Sav begins to circle me, asking questions and coming into closer contact with me, I feel it works better if Viola is more stand offish, but I really like how cheeky she is as she begins her speech, and I will use this style as well, but in my own way. So far I feel I have a good understanding of Viola and she is growing on me all the time, Sav and I need to rehearse this scene more, and once we are off script,it will become so much easier to block the scene and to really play around with the characters and the different ways we could do this scene. 

16.01.15

In today's lesson we all presented our power points on Shakespeare. We were asked to take down notes from every bodies presentations and identify 3 points of information that we can use in reference to our characters and scenes.
3 pieces of information I learned from the presentations which can influence my scenes are:

• Shakespeare had twin children-this influences my scenes as Viola is the twin of Seb. I learned this information from Sav's presentation on Shakespeare's life. Twins appear in more than one Shakespeare play and this is definitely because he has a connection to twins as his son and daughter were twins. And one of them sadly passed away at a young age. So I feel from this information Viola and Seb have a deeper meaning to Shakespeare himself and the duality is clearly very important in this play
• From Greta's presentation I learned that in Shakespeare's time, female status was still very low but was getting higher, as women could inherit family money, which before they could not. This influences my scene with Olivia, as Olivia is a very high status character who has just inherited her father and brother's fortunes and she is very powerful. Women status also influences my character Viola and I can use this information to help develop my character. As Viola is posing as a man, it is clear she feels being herself is not good enough and will not get her anywhere,  but acting as a man gives her status and authority in the play as she becomes close to the Duke and Lady Olivia. And without posing as Cezario, she would not have gained this authority.
• Further on Women's status, I learned from Sav's presentation that Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway when he was only 18 and she was 26 years old! This to me suggests he married her as she had a status and was already wealthy, whereas he was only just getting started on his career. This in those days was quite strange as it was usually younger women marrying older men, so I feel Anne had a status to Shakespeare and he liked this about her. I researched further into this information and learned that Anne out lived Shakespeare by Seven years. When Anne and William were married, she was already pregnant with their first child, which leads to speculation that the two married due to the pregnancy and there could of possibly of been some pressure on them to marry from her family, as he was 8 years younger than her and it was seen as a sin in those days to be pregnant whilst not married. There is very little information on Anne and she has only appeared in legal documents due to her marriage and birth of her three children with Shakespeare. Hamnet, one of the twins died at age 11 due to the plague outbreak. With reference to Shakespeare's play "HAMLET" this name is very similar to his son's so I feel this is where the name Hamlet came from. I have noticed in a lot of Shakespeare's play's there are constant references to his family, the repetition of twins and the names of the characters. Anne remained in Stratford, unlike Shakespeare who fled to London to begin his career. This caused speculation due to the fact that the couple were not living together and he was not living with his children, but they never separated or divorced as there was never any legal evidence to prove this. However, when he retired from writing and acting he returned back to Stratford to live with his wife. I feel Shakespeare could possibly be referencing to Anne in Twelfth Night, as Olivia is an older woman with status and wealth, so this could possibly be influenced by his relationship with Anne.
• I am going to use all these pieces of information to develop my characterisation, mainly focusing on womens status back in those days, and how the duality of the twins has a deeper meaning to Shakespeare, and I have learned that Viola is almost like a symbol to Shakespeare of his daughter Judith, and how Seb being lost at sea could represent the death of his son, Hamnet. This information has helped me to have an emotional connection with Viola and I feel I understand her purpose and objectives much more now.  As she is in a way representing the stronger twin as she achieves much more in the play and portrays determination and strength, whereas Seb is seen as "lost" at sea, and he does not feature in the play very much at all.
  

  

  Anne Hathaway

13.01.15

In today's lesson we are all running through our scenes in our groups. I mainly focused on my first scene with Sav, act 1 scene 5. As the last scene I am in involves our whole class. 

Sav and I ran through our lines together a couple of times and then began to block our scene. We together drew out our scene and the movements our characters make in the scene, as we are really focusing on the blocking in this lesson. I feel reflecting on past performances I have always focused more on learning my lines & characterisation rather than the blocking and the physicality. Which I want to do differently this time around as Shakespeare is very physical and I feel much more in tune with my body since beginning Shakespeare due to the Stanislavsky exercises we have been learning, about freeing your body and mind. 

In this scene myself and Sav feel it is very important to maintain playful attitudes as Olivia and Viola do play with each other and wind each other up. We want the audience to find this scene humorous and fun to watch. We have carefully read through the scene and have made decisions about how to deliver certain lines or what our body language will be like at points in the scene.

We have decided due to status hierarchy in the scene that Viola never comes to close into contact with Olivia. As I was told today we are performing Twelfth Night at One Church in Brighton Old Steine and the audience will be in Arena and the cast will be on stage the whole time, similar to Dracula, but we will be sitting in a semi circle at the back of the stage. This I have drawn on our blocking plan I drew in today's lesson. Olivia will already be on the stage sitting on a chair with her veil covering her face, and Viola will enter the stage from the back of the stage and stand opposite Olivia, slightly behind her, but still in full view to the audience, we leave a big gap between the two characters and they only come into closer contact when Olivia moves from her chair, over to the window, (as we are envisioning in the scene) and unveils her face to Viola(Cezario). When Olivia begins questioning Viola about her parentage, and making jokes about her looks and Orsino, she begins to move closer to Viola and circles her once, portraying her higher status to the audience and to Viola, when asking about her parentage. Viola never moves closer to Olivia, as she feels she does not have the right and we want to portray the difference in statuses in this scene to the audience. Viola becomes very uncomfortable when Olivia comes closer to her, and I will portray this through my body language and facial expressions. 

After circling Viola, Olivia orders her to leave and go back to her lord, who is Duke Orsino. Olivia delivers the line "GET YOU TO YOUR LORD, I CANNOT LOVE HIM: LET HIM SEND NO MORE! " When she has said this, Viola retreats back as if to exit the room and looks defeated, she feels she has done all she can and Olivia is not accepting anything she is saying and as Viola begins to leave. Olivia panics and runs after Viola, grabbing her arm and almost flirting but pleading with her as she has developed a thing for Viola in this scene, which Viola does become aware of towards the end, hence her awkwardness and confusion  which I will portray. Olivia pauses after saying this and thinks for a moment to herself, and chases after Viola saying " UNLESS, PERCHANCE, YOU COME TO ME AGAIN" I came up with the idea to emphasis the YOU, in a sassy and flirty way, as this is Olivia hinting that she wants to see Viola again,and it adds humour to the scene, which I love. 

When rehearsing this scene, I decided to try and break away from Olivias grasp and looked very uncomfortable but quite amused at the same time, as Viola I feel probably finds it quite funny that Lady Olivia, fancies not Orsino, or any other man who wishes to marry her, but HERSELF, a woman, pretending to be a man! Olivia tries to give Viola some money, which Viola rejects, and I chose to deliver this line very sarcastically "I AM NO FEE'D POST(this means a messenger who accepts rewards),LADY, KEEP YOUR PURSE. MY MASTER, NOT MYSELF, LACKS RECOMPENSE" 

I do not think Viola is personally insulted by Olivia trying to give her money, I feel she can notice that Olivia has taken a liking to her, and she is doing her very best to reject her feelings and the maintain professionalism and loyalty to Orsino, as she would anyway as Viola has feelings for Orsino, and has learned that Olivia does not have any feelings for him. Viola exits this scene, after the last line " FAREWELL, FAIR CRUELTY" This again is a sarcastic line, but is delivered with humour, it is banter between the two characters, and Olivia does not take it personally that Viola has called her CRUEL. I exit the same way I entered, and walk to the back of the stage and will probably sit back down. Leaving Sav on stage to deliver Olivia's monologue, positioned in centre stage.

I have set myself a target in today's lesson to be as physical as possible, and to also learn how to stand and walk like a man, I have been watching videos about posture and have been watching the way men walk in the street or my male friends. I feel this will help me as physicality is a weak point for me sometimes and this role is challenging for me as I usually play feminine characters, who have a grounded and strong feminine posture, so this character is very new to me.

9.01.15

In today's lesson we worked with the 1st years for our opening scene of Twelfth Night, The Storm. This is a movement piece inspired by Elizabethan dancing, and ballet steps. It is to open the show with a strong piece of movement representing the sea and the storm.

The movement piece is simple, yet effective. We use simple ballet steps, forward and backwards, and skipping and swaying. We all begin very calmly and slowly, and as the music builds up, our movements do as well and the storm begins. We use the music as guidance for the storm and whenever the sound becomes louder and more intense we isolate our bodies and move forwards, almost like jerking with our shoulders. We then all split off into 3 groups, 2 at the sides and 1 in the middle. I am in the middle and lead our group to the front of the stage, by using a ballet style movement, sort of like a step ball change, moving forwards to the front of the stage. My group all do this in canon. When we are all in the centre of the stage, the 2 groups at either side of the stage begin to move in and out again, representing the storm and the boat swaying back and forth. My group do this as well, and I sway to the right,back to the centre, to the left then back into the centre.
We then all freeze, and when the music builds up we all jump into the air, representing lighting and flee across the stage into any position and begin a unison movement piece, ballet steps to the right and to the left, including turns and step ball changes. It looks really good so far and will be a great way to open up the show. I feel the steps are quite easy for me as I have done ballet and contemporary dancing previously, and it is a great way for me to become relaxed in my body before I begin acting in my scenes, it will ease everyone into the performance and we can all support and help each other. 
We as a group need to continue to choreograph this movement piece ans to keep on rehearsing it until it is perfect.

7.01.14 (Absent)

I was absent from today's lesson due to an important doctors appointment and feeling unwell. I have spoken with class mates and have learned that we began to devise the opening scene for Twelfth Night. We were all asked to learn the lines to Orsino's speech for this opening scene. The scene involves the storm and the the two twins, Viola and Sebastian being separated.

The speech we are using in this scene....
If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, 
The appetite may sicken and so die.
That strain again, it had a dying fall.
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound 
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour. Enough, no more,
’Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, naught enters there,
Of what validity and pitch so e’er,
But falls into abatement and low price
Even in a minute! So full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical. 

In yesterdays class towards the end we all got together and performed this speech a few times, the first time all at once, the second time we each performed a line each and the third time we were all back to back in a circle. I have learned this speech now and feel confident with the lines and rhythm of the speech.

6.01.15

In today's lesson we learned about Stanislavski's exercise "TENSION"
"An actor needs a free body" 
Stanislavski believes that if you are not in tune with your body, your performance will not be as strong. He uses a couple of exercises which are there to help actors free their mind which enables them to free their body as well. I really enjoyed these exercises as they relaxed me and enhanced my performance, my concentration levels were also higher as I was relaxed inside my mind, I feel when I am stressing about what to do, my body becomes stiff which affects my performance. One of the exercises we learned involved a chair, we were all sitting on chairs together and we had to stand up, move the chair, and then move the chair back into the same position it was when we were sitting on it. This exercise allowed us all to focus on our main points of tension in our bodies, mine was in my arms and shoulders. This was all to do with our subconscious mind, watching ourselves and analysing how our bodies move when moving the chair and how we felt inside our minds. I felt slightly awkward doing this exercise, as it was strange to just move the chair and then move it back again, it sounds SO simple but when doing it, your sub concious begins to recognise the sources of tension in your body.

• Locate tension
• subconscious watching yourself( moving the chair) 
• relax

The next exercise I enjoyed a lot and felt it really worked for me. It was all about relaxing your mind and freeing your imagination. We were all sitting on the chairs again, and we were told to imagine and visualise that we were all artists, sitting on a green meadow on a hot summers day, painting the landscape. We were thrown into this exercise as we had just finished the chair exercise before. I was not very relaxed, but I still imagined the landscape and then we were told to paint the landscape for 30 seconds, I was very entranced in the excercise and threw myself into it. After we had finished painting the landscape in our minds, we were asked to lie down on the floor next to our chairs, and close our eyes, and to relax our bodies and minds, listening to our teacher. This helped me to relax and I was so focused and in the zone, I felt really calm and my heart rate dropped slightly, which proved to me I was definitely relaxed. We then sat back onto the chair, and began to draw the landscape we had been imagining again, this second time worked better for me, as my body was not tense and my mind was completely relaxed, which allowed me to envision the landscape in more detail and to paint with a higher level of concentration. After the exercise were asked which time we felt more focused, and half of the group said they felt more focused the first time, and the other half including myself said we all felt more focused and relaxed the second time, as we had time lying on our backs on the floor relaxing, rather than being thrown straight into the exercise.   I am going to use these exercises in the future to help me relax my mind and become more in tune with my body because I felt it really worked for me and it was very therapeutic for my mind and body.

2 types of tension

• Built up over the course of our lives unknowingly 
• From our circumstances we are in 

What I need to do as an actor to free my body? Where is my tension? I feel as an actor the main thing that helps me free my body is to warm my body up before I perform, it gets my adrenalin flowing in my body and makes me feel calm and relaxed, I like to jog on the spot or do star jumps before I perform on show nights, this really helps me. And in lessons I feel warm ups help loosen up my body, I feel my main areas of tension are in my arms and shoulders, sometimes I tend to stand with my arms folded and this isolates my arms and shoulders and makes me feel stiff. I like to do arm exercises to help loosen my arms which allows me to become more free with my body, as my arms are definitely my main source of tension. Sometimes I have noticed when acting, I do not know what to do with my arms, if I am standing still, sometimes I feel slightly self concious of my arms and do not know what to do with them so I sometimes cross my arms, which I know I should not do. This exercise today has helped me to realise where my tension is and that I need to warm up before I perform, as it really helps and enhances my performance. I also feel that I can over think things sometimes, and when I relax inside my mind, my body feels at ease, so this exercise has also helped me to relax inside my mind and to not think into what I am doing so much and to just let it happen naturally.

The next exercise we did today involved our Shakespeare scenes. We were put into the groups we will be performing in for Twelfth Night. I was with Sav and we chose ACT 1 SCENE 5. Which is between Viola and Olivia. We were asked to read through the scene together and to pick out 5 lines/phrases which define the scene, we imagined we were peforming the scene to an audience who had never seen the play before and would not know what was going on. So the 5-6 lines we chose, were to make it clear to the audience what was going on. We also had to make it as ECONOMIC as possible, which involved little characterisation, and was more focused on the lines and getting to the point. We used actions and large gestures to define the scene to the audience, the whole point of the exercise was to perform the key points of the scene and to make it as clear as possible to the audience about what was going on in the scene. The 6 lines Sav and I chose were:

• GOOD MADAM, LET ME SEE YOUR FACE
• IS IT NOT WELL DONE?
• YOU ARE TOO PROUD
• TELL ME YOUR MIND, I AM  A MESSENGER
• HOW DOES HE LOVE ME?
• I CANNOT LOVE HIM.

These 6 lines we chose were very clear, and after performing this scene to our class, we recieved positive feedback and were told our scene was easy to understand and very clear about what was going on. This scene is the first scene were the two females meet, and Viola is acting as a man, Cezario, and she is there to deliver a message from Orsino, telling Olivia how much he loves her. And Olivia is not at all impressed and is not interested, but she does develop an interest in Cezario, which Viola is very taken a back by.

We made the scene very physical, and it involved master and servant physicality and also a small game of follow the leader, as Sav would follow me around the stage, after I say "I am a messenger" this was to portray how Olivia is interested in Cezario, and is developing feelings for him. The scene was very humorous, as I was acting as a female, pretending to be a male, and at the beginning of the scene, Sav was sitting on a chair with a scarf over her face and I entered stage right, walking in as a female and quickly noticing Olivia on the chair and began to straighten myself out in order to walk and talk like a man, I looked towards the audience very nervously and began to cough to clear my throat in order to sound more manly and began to adjust my jumper and hair. It was very comical and Sav was also very funny as she was so over the top and took on the Master role, and began to follow me around the stage, and came very close to my ear and took a  big smell of me, and then said " I cannot love him" this was a humorous way to portray to the audience that she is interested in me, and I ran away off the stage after she did this! I feel we were very playful with each other and we should definitely use this in our performance of Twelfth Night, as it worked very well and Sav and I always include humour in our scenes as we have a very good rapport with each other inside and outside of college. All of the exercises we learned today helped me to become more free in my body and to let go inside my mind, which I feel is my main issue at some points, because I do think too much about what I am doing or what I look like. These exercises have helped me to self evaluate and to know what to do in order to become more free in my body.

Acting for camera

In today's lesson with Andy we began our new module "Acting for camera" 

We were given an exercise about TYPE CASTING to do in groups of threes. We each had to interview the other person, asking them various questions which were;

• What is your full name?
• Where are you from?
• Tell us something funny or embarrassing about your childhood
• What is the difference between acting for stage and acting for camera?
• What is your favourite film and why?
• Tell us a secret about yourself...

I was in a group with Greta and Chloe and after they asked me these questions they wrote down how they perceived me as an actor and answered questions they were given, here are my results from my " interview" with Greta and Chloe;

• What is their age range? : 17-23
• City or Country?: City
• Upper class or working class: Both
• Where in the world?: England, America, Southern Europe(Italy, Spain or Greece), Mexico
• What roles could they play?: Love interest, Popular girl, Bitchy character, High status character, for working class casting could see Sophia as a Spanish/Mexican bar tender and for upper class could see Sophia as a rich, beautiful mean girl in a Comedy or Rom Com. Could also see her in a serious drama also.

My reaction to this casting....

I agree with this type casing as it is what I would like to play in films/TV. And I feel I am good at playing these roles and have already played a "mean girl" character in a short scene I did for the BBC. I would like to be cast into serious drama's more so than "rom coms"

Overall I am happy with this casting and I feel Greta and Chloe definitely got the way I look right, as I have Spanish and Italian in my family and I am happy that this is visually noticeable!

We also started to learn about the making of scenes in a film and the different shot angles needed. Myself and Sav were used as an example in front of the class, we were both standing facing each other having a conversation. The shots needed for this scene are:

Master Shot- the establishing shot

Medium Shot

A close up of Sav, and then the same shots for myself.

We learned about "Continuity" and how important it is for films and TV shows.

Continuity for an actor means that everything has to remain the same, for example, in between scenes of a film, an actress cannot return back to set with her hair different, or her make up different, as this will be so noticeable in a film as it would be the same scene, and there is always a Continuity member of staff who will make sure this does not happen.

General Continuity is for props, food and drink are always the hardest to keep continuity. We were discussing how in films and TV shows we have all noticed in some scenes that a cup will be empty one second and then full the next second, or food will move places in the scene, this is not as important as Actor continuity but it is still noticeable, as we have all said how we have noticed this in films!

We learned about blocking for film and how different the meaning is as opposed to blocking in theatre. Blocking in film means that the actor has certain mark points on the floor they need to move to during the scene, they will have to know these markers off by heart, as if they do not, when shooting the scene the actor will be seen looking down on the floor to see where they have to move to, and this does not look good in films if the actor is not looking up during a conversation with someone. So the actor will always need to know where they are going and remain focused in the scene and make sure not to look down.

Audiences in Shakespearian Time

Over the Christmas holidays my teacher asked me to research Audiences in Shakespearian times and what going to the theatre was like back in Shakespeare's time, and to create a presentation on my research.
I have researched into Theatre in the 1500-1600's and the type of audiences Shakespeare's plays attracted.
"you will see such heaving and shoving, such itching and shouldering to sit by the women, such care for their garments that they be not trod on . . . such toying, such smiling, such winking, such manning them home ... that it is a right comedy to mark their behaviour" (Stephen Gosson, The School of Abuse, 1579). 

Shakespeare wrote his plays for everybody, he wants all types of social class to attend his performances and enjoy them, he was not a "poser". He did not write his plays just for the rich and the royalty, nor did he write them for the lower classes, everyone can relate to Shakespeare;s plays, as they are either tragedies or comedies, and all types of people enjoy and understand his work.
Back in the time where Shakespeare was writing his plays for the stage, Theatre was very popular and catered to everybody, like today's Theatres, their are standard seats or standing and there are the more expensive seats with better views and more comfortable surroundings. In Shakespeare;s time there were the standard ground seats and for the richer classes there were seats in "The Lords Room" and "The Gentleman;s Room" these seats were very expensive and were only affordable to royalty and the higher classes. These were the best seats in the house.
In Shakespeare;s time, social class was imminent and everybody belonged to a class,and most people stayed in these social classes for their whole lives. There were FOUR types of social class;

• The Poor: This social class is the lowest, and many poor people were unemployed or worked in factories or work houses on farms, the poor very rarely ever moved up in social class and stayed in the poor class their whole lives, none the less the poor still enjoyed the Theatre and would attend but would be seated in The Ground.
• The Yeomanry: This class is in between Poor and Rich, the middle ground. They would probably be referred to as "Working Class" in today's society. This class were usually Farmers, Tradesmen and Craft workers, they had enough money to live on, but still at a risk of poverty, if they were to become ill or lose their jobs.
• The Gentry: This social class were very wealthy, they were usually Squires, Knights or with some relation to the Royal family. They all came from rich backgrounds and did not have work hard for their money. This audience would most definitely be seated in The Lords Room at the Theatre.
• The Nobility: This social class were upper class, extremely wealthy families. They were usually Dukes, Barons and Earls. The nobility were usually all related in some way and owned very large houses where they would accommodate their servants, maids and cooks. In Shakespeare's time they were only around 55 Noble families.

The Groundlings, would cost One Penny. This area would be filled with The Poor and The Yeomanry, these seats were seen as Lower class seats and would never be filled with the Upper classes or Royalty. People who were in the Groundlings would have to stand in front of the stage to watch the performance, there were no seats. The Upper class would pay as much as Half a Crown to sit in the Lords room, which were galleries up high with comfortable seating and the best views, and they would be served food and drink upon request.

The Audiences were VERY boisterous and rowdy at the Theatre, nothing like today's well mannered and sensible Theatre audiences. The audience would love to be involved and would get very angry or very excited at the Dramas, in The Groundlings there were often brawls and fights happening, and some audience members would try to go back stage to talk or fight with the actors!

The main Theatre in Shakespeare's time was The Globe Theatre in Southwark London. Plays were always in the afternoon, as the sun was much too bright in the morning and the night time was too dark as they did not have artificial lighting. The Globe would show case 2 play's every day. The Globe was an open air Theatre and could seat up to 3,000 audience members. The Globe attracted all sorts of classes, and people travelled from outside of London, so it was always very mixed with classes and males and females. The audience would always angrily boo the bad characters and manically cheer the good characters! As there was no female actors in Shakespeare's time, the Theatre attracted more females than males, but only by a small amount, as Theatre was the only form of entertainment back then, so everybody enjoyed going to the Theatre, just like in today's society, the Cinema is very popular, and so is the Theatre.

After Shakespeare died, the Globe Theatre was burned down by the Puritans in 1644. And was not re constructed until 1970!

Going to the Theatre in Shakespeare's time was not only for entertainment purposes, it was to socialise and network, the audience members would eat and drink, and the different classes would socialise, not with each other but within the classes, the upper class would network and become close, and the lower classes would socialise with each other.

When presenting this Friday coming, I have set myself a target to project my voice and to make my body language warm and open, so the class feel comfortable watching my presentation and they will enjoy it more as I will be warm and inviting, and will not just speak the words on my powerpoint. I feel this is very important in a presentation as I always pay more attention to presentations if the person is very friendly and warm and interesting to listen to. This is what I will do, and I will see on Friday if I have met my target.