Shakespeare Monologues

On Wednesday we performed our Shakespeare Monologues.i chose to perform lady Macbeth monologue because I found it interesting and I could put some emotion into it. Things that went well was that I was confident and was focused and I knew what I was doing and saying. Some things that didn't go so well was I rushed a tiny bit and I skipped some of the lines. What I need to do for next time or for a audition for drama school is that I need to learn the monologue properly and don't rush so much as the audience won't understand what I'm saying.

Stanislavski Research

Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian stage actor and a director who developed the naturalistic performance technique known as the Stanislavsky method, or method acting. He was born in 1863 in Moscow, Russia. In 1888, he founded the Society of Art and Literature. As the years went past he decided to work and provide a guiding method for actors to use and develop, he believed that the actors needed to inhabit authentic emotion while on stage and to do that they can draw upon the emotions. he also developed his own method to get the actors encourage to explore their characters motivations so it gives the performance depth. He was born Konstantin Sergeievich Alexeiev. He adopted the stage name Stanislavski in 1884 to keep his performance activities secret from his parents. Up until the communist revolution

in 1917. and actions in the characters they try to perform. Furthermore, some of Stanislavski method acting is basically in seven steps, these techniques where:

1.   Who Am I?

2.   Where Am I?

3.   When Is It?

4.   What Do I Want?

5.   Why Do I Want It?

6.   How Will I Get It?

7. What do I do to overcome it?

Anton Chekhov Research

Anton Chekhov was born on the 29 January 1860 and  was a Russian playwright. Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. He wrote different play such as The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Three Sisters etc. Chekhov renounced the theatre after the reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre. The play The Seagull was produced in 1901. Chekhov's mother was a storyteller and entertained children. him and Stanislavski began to work together and also played a part in chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard. Anton Chekhov also playing a vital role in Russian society, according to Malaev-Babel. As a medical doctor, Chekov interviewed and treated thousands of political and criminal prisoners and settlers over the course of three months. Shocked by what he saw, he wrote a book titled The Island of Sakhalin documenting his experiences.  As a result of Chekhov's work on the census and book, Malaev-Babel observed, Russian society was confronted with their first exposure to the terrible living conditions and treatment of prisoners and settlers on the island. How he managed to develop his craft was during writing letters which he sent to his writing contemporaries and at the same time family he would discuss work and ideas he had about story craft. All the ideas he created and mentioned back in the 1800's are still valid today in the month of May 10, 1886 a letter to his brother Alexander who is also a writer was sent in which Chekhov jotted down 6 valid principles each story which is good should contain these are:
1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of a political social economic nature
2. Total Objectivity
3. Truthful descriptions of persons and objects
4. Extreme brevity
5. Audacity and originality: flee the stereotype
6. Compassion all looking as though they massive foundations to bring the pieces to life from the page and bring more essence or ingredients to the story so we see varied amounts of tones and emotions throughout the plays and layers such as using objectives and other tools as sources to develop and expand on the character we are playing and the play as a whole.

Engaging with an Audience

We watched Level 3 Dance/ Musical Theatre performance which was involved with chairs which was very different and they got their choreography inspiration from Beyoncé. They had some chairs on one side and some on the other side and they did various movements on the chairs and they repeated those movements for 15 minutes, but to make it not so boring they did movements in cannon so we could see on one side what people were doing. What they could improve on was the know where the chairs are roughly are because some people bumped into the chair and someone didn't know the movements probably so maybe they need a couple more rehearsals so everyone knows what they're doing.

Stanislavski Exercises

Today we worked on different Stanislavski exercises. During the lesson on Stanislavski exercise we spent the lesson that day focusing on learning about his several techniques and familiarising ourselves with those techniques in order to use them for our other works towards the start of the session we were placed into pairs in the class and each pair had to sit on a chair opposite each other making sure we did not interact or move what so ever just remain in complete silence making sure we kept eye contact with each other first got into pairs and we got given a picture and we had to observe the picture and then describe what we observed. we also got given a circumstance and Magic if where we had to be homeless and we want some money for tea but the person in front refuses so we have to threaten then to give us money. We also got given an envelope where it had different dramatic terms and we had to match them up with the description.

Introduction To Professional Practice

 We discussed what Jobs Roles we would need in the acting industry, In my pair we came up with:
Actor
Dancer
Singer
Stage Manager
Box Office
Technical Theatre
Set design
Director
Agent
Casting Manager
etc

We then had to write down all the job roles we would need for a touring theatre company for our play 'The Cherry Orchard' and they are the same roles as the ones that wrote down first. 

 We then discussed the potential issues that could get in the way for these roles and we came up with that a budget because if the producer doesn't want to give that much money for the production to go on then the money will be limited.

Drama Workshop

On Friday we had Gemma from Camden's people's workshop come to work on and improve our drama skills. We first did a warm up where we had to walk around within the space with a straight posture and every now and then the teacher said to stop, go and get into groups of either 2,3,4 etc. We then had to get into groups where we had to create a freeze frame of the different things Gemma said for instance on was where we were at a wedding and we each got into different positions to make the freeze frame more realistic. We then got given paper to write down a question about anything that came to mind and then we had to answer it, my question was Should I take my black belt test in Karate?. When I answered it I listed out different things that would happen in the test such as: the test is taken in Japanese, do I know all of the moves well enough to pass, you have to get 16/20 marks to pass etc. We then had to get into pairs roughly the same height and did various exercise's such as doing a trust fall. after that the class got spilt up into mini groups and the questions that we written down earlier on we got given on question per group and our group got given my question and we had to create a mini piece of drama which include the answer for the question. This all helps us in the future because it gave me more understanding for what types of exercise's and skills we would be doing and learning in an actually Drama school.

Tuesday 20th September

On Tuesday 20th we had Rob and we got given our Scripts for Greek Theatre and I got given the script for Trojan women and to portray the Character of Hecuba. We then went through a line run and tried out different styles of acting the character out, such as I tried to portray Hecuba as an angry character and then tried her as a sad person but keeping in mind that my objective is to not let the Greeks take away the children and for the women not to be slaves

Monday 26th September

On Monday 26th September we were in the theatre rehearsing our Greek theatre and we had to perform it to the class and we got given some feedback and I got given to not rush what I'm saying as the audience won't understand what I'm saying, I also need to move the voice and not stay on one tone as the audience will get bored. some other feedback we got given as a class is to not dance on stage because every now and then Rob could see us moving a tiny bit on stage, we also need to pronounce the Greek words properly.

Greek Theatre

We had Drama and taking into consideration the feedback that rob gave us I went home and looked up on the internet on how to pronounce the Greek words and practiced how to say them with the script. when rehearsing I tried to not rush and I took my time in saying the lines so the audience will be able to understand what I'm saying and also understand what's going on. 

Glasgow Girls Evaluation

On Thursday 29th September we went to see a play in the Royal Theatre Stratford East called Glasgow Girls. The play is about a group of girls who are asylum seekers and they are trying to fight to stay in Glasgow instead of being deported back to their country. I liked the way they projected their voices and they didn't just look straight forward they also looked up as we were up in the upper section, they also had a set design which was very basic and didn't change but it worked well as they used different sections such as the middle for home's. They had really good sound effects which worked well and some was very surprising such as loud bangs which scared me every now and then. What they could improve on was the mic's when they were singing they could be a tiny bit quieter because they were shouting and sometimes I couldn't understand what they saying as it was really loud so when they were singing they could sing a bit quieter so we can understand what they are saying. By watching this performance helped me with how we could perform our Greek theatre and it helped me to understand more about asylum seekers and what they go through and the different emotions they have.

Evaluation: Medea

At the start I didn't know what Medea was so I researched online to find out a bit more about it. The very first lesson we got put into groups of four and got given the first paragraph to work on. We then as a group read through the paragraph and thought of different ideas of how we are we're going to show this to an audience, we all agreed on saying different part of the paragraph, so each of us had something to say. We then had to think of where we were going to stand and how we are going to start it off. We had two people in the front and two people at the back but taking into consideration that we weren't blocking anyone. We then came up with the idea of saying the first line together and then everyone say the rest by ourselves. As we gone through the term we progressed and came up with some lines we say together and then saying the rest ourselves. On the fourth lesson our group and the second group got put into one big group so performance flows and there aren't big pauses we then came up as a group that we each perform and add in different movements and people from the other group get involved with our performance so they don't just stand and do nothing.

What worked well was that we always ran through practicing smoothly and there was no problems and arguments, also everyone learnt their lines for the second lesson so we could add in any movements. What could of been better was we don't rush our words otherwise I thought it went really well. As we went through the term I learnt that working as an ensemble that the only problem is that sometimes you come off target easily. Also if someone isn't in you can work around the problem easily because there are always other people in the group to read that persons lines.

I helped me as a performer as it helped my confidence boost and by working in a group it helps because if you forget your lines there are always the people in the group to help so it doesn't look like you forget your lines.

Feedback

Today we rehearsed for an hour and working on the points and feedback that was made last lesson and trying to develop our acting skills. We then performed in front of the class and they given us feedback so we can be perfect on the day of performing. we got given feedback like I need to put more emotion into what I'm saying and not to rush what I'm saying as the audience won't understand what I'm saying.

Medea

On Wednesday we had Sharon and we are working on a piece called Medea and we got given given a piece of text in a group of 4 and we have to divide it up so we each say something and each week we have to write a log book explaining what we done in that lesson.

                                           


                                           

Engaging with an audience

We were rehearsing and taking into consideration of the feedback given by Rob last lesson i tried to act out my role with different emotions i tried acting angry and then sad. i also tried to move my voice so it doesn't stay in one tone. i also took my time with saying the script. We then had to perform in front of an audience which was the Level 3's 2nd year and then they gave us feedback such as to have more energy when performing. We also got feedback from Rob such as we had good reactions to each other on stage, i had good listening skills, good vocals. What i have to improve on is to enjoy playing the role on stage, and Rob also said to have more energy. So next lesson i have to take these points and rehearse with them.

Greek Theatre Research

The time period for the Greek Theatre was between the 6th century. All the actors were men or boys. Dancers and singers, called the chorus, performed on a flat area called the orchestra. The origin of the ancient Greek theatre is unclear, however, the genre of tragedy became  popular during the late 6th century BC. Comedy gained a wider recognition around 486 BC including satyr plays.The capital city of Athens was the centre of culture, politics and military power during this period. Theatre was part of a festival called the Dionysia in honour of the god Dionysus.




The period of Ancient Greece lasted over centuries. Major political and cultural events include the first Olympic games in 776 BC,  the First Messenian War in which the Spartans conquered southwest Peloponnesia (710-730 BC), introduction of democracy in Athens in 505 BC, Euripides writes his first tragedy (441 BC) and the Goths sack Athens, Sparta and Corinth (267 AD). The social structure and government in Greece was made up of many independent states, called Polis. Greek Society was mainly broken up between Free people and Slaves, who were owned by the free people. Slaves were used as servants and labourers, without any legal rights. Sometimes the slaves were prisoners of war or bought from foreign slave traders. Also the role of women in society was very home centred and they did not have much freedom. They had to look after the children, cook and spin or weave clothes while the husbands went out to go about their businesses or meet friends for meals.


The main playwrights in Ancient Greece were Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophes. The works of Aeschylus include The Persians, Seven against Thebes, The Suppliants and The Oresteia.
Sophocles wrote Antigone, Oedipus - the King and Oedipus at Colonus. Euripides' main works are Herakles, Medea and Iphigenia in Tauris. Aristophanes created The Clouds, The Birds, The Knights and many other comedy plays.Main themes of these plays included love, tragedy, betrayal, power, politics, belief and religion,  separation and grief, adventure and many more.