I was interested in the whole idea of the sections and the whole view of how the government worked. This in itself helped me to go away and try to find research on the play. I immediately overcame a problem within the research because of the limited access of information on the play itself. There was also very limited information on the playwright Sue Townsend which made it hard to get some background research. This meant that the whole research process had to be done in sections, focusing on each piece of information to get to grips with just what the play is actually about. I thought about focusing on the whole idea of the sections and how everyone is separated, then I thought about the idea of the segregation and strict government. This would all help me to get a feel of the time in which the play was written, and Townsend views on what she imagined that the future of the 2000's would be like.
When I was given my character I knew it was a character I wanted when I was given in when jay auditioned our parts. He seemed quiet out there and strange and I wanted to get to know the character and put my own spin on it. This really helped me to enjoy rehearsing and the whole development of the play and how slowly I began to create a character that I did love to play.
At the start I struggled to break out of the barrier of being over the top with my character as it was something that I'd not usually have done. Previously playing the more quieter characters. It was only when we began doing the activities with Mr Langley and Jay in which we had to break the barrier and devise pieces which had to be very over the top. At first I was a little hesitant on what people would think, but when I did it once or twice I began to feel more comfortable and see a side to my acting that I could apply into the character of Alan, Who is very in your face and out there. From this point I found it much easier to develop my character to the best I could and when we began to start constructing and blocking scenes. I could see an improvement to my character.
Within my first scene I am sitting at a table and chair. This in itself I found difficult because I was restricted in movement to what I could do. This is where I looked into character comparisons to help me. Comedian Michael McIntyre uses many OTT movements and expressions to convey his thoughts and tell a story. This is where I found that hand expression and facial expression can tell much more than when your standing on two feet. I could then apply it into my role in using hand gestures and occasionally facial expressions to really draw attention and to show exactly how I'm feeling and how I get on and react with characters around me. The scenes following on however where I have to be more over the top and in your face is where I could really apply what is learnt in more detail and I could really feel my character coming to life.
Within the development of my character it was more so the activities that we did with our director that really helped to push me in developing my character. In doing things such as improvisation and activities that put our characters in different situations. To simple games of using a piece of dialogue to be very neutral and boring to then go round our group and be very clown like and OTT. This helped to show contrasts in characters and get more of an understanding of what our characters suited. Without these activities i think that i would of struggled more to develop my character and i feel that this has really helped me to not only develop my character but to develop as an actor.
As a cast i feel that we all worked in the end really well. At the beginning of the project we all struggled to work together as a group. This was more of a confidence issue as we all have previously worked well in a previous performance. It was more to do with the fact this play made us all break barriers and become more ''Out there'' as actors. Ten tiny fingers required us to really explore humour in dialogue and movements and also just to be more confident as actors and in our roles. This proved a challenge for everyone including myself. It was when we all did the activities with Jay and Mr Langley that i felt there was a change in everyone, beginning to get more comfortable with one another and working as one in the group. This is when the play began to have more life in it and the humour began to show. I believe that completing this project has really helped to show exactly what we are capable of as a group and we have learnt things to take into our future work and new assignments in year 13.
If i was to complete this Project again, i just feel that i would be more confident in the development of my character and not be so reluctant to try new things out. I learnt this from when we all completed a contemporary dance routine as a group in which i learnt that trying things out is the best way to go about it, rather than thinking into to much detail about what to do.
As it got closer and closer to the performance it was more a case of separating into groups focusing on relationships of characters in different scenes. This would help not only the scenes to be more believable, but to make the characters show how the feel towards each other. Whether it be through the way dialogue is said, or through the mannerisms.
I feel that the final performances went really well. I felt that everybody gave an even better performance than through the rehearsals and the reception we seemed to get from the audience was a good one. I felt that many of us were very nervous for the actual performance but we were able to apply this into our roles to give the best performances we could possibly give. I felt that when it came to my scenes i felt that they went really well. The reception we got from my scenes really helped and everything seemed to work. Including a moment in which Ralph and Lucinda hug, in which had many many awkward problems! I didn't change anything with my character other than i was more conscious and aware of how i was to react to other characters in my scenes and took in advice from what I remembered. This was to just really engage other characters on the stage and the people in the audience. Seeing as my character tends to act up to the camera or in this case the audience. The only thing that i feel could of been done better is the organisation back stage and at some points within the play, there could of been more energy and excitement given of from the cast as a whole.
I have really learnt many things in completing this project. Not only as an actor, but as a person and i have learnt many new skills that i can take into account in future performances and assignments.
As a cast i feel that we all worked in the end really well. At the beginning of the project we all struggled to work together as a group. This was more of a confidence issue as we all have previously worked well in a previous performance. It was more to do with the fact this play made us all break barriers and become more ''Out there'' as actors. Ten tiny fingers required us to really explore humour in dialogue and movements and also just to be more confident as actors and in our roles. This proved a challenge for everyone including myself. It was when we all did the activities with Jay and Mr Langley that i felt there was a change in everyone, beginning to get more comfortable with one another and working as one in the group. This is when the play began to have more life in it and the humour began to show. I believe that completing this project has really helped to show exactly what we are capable of as a group and we have learnt things to take into our future work and new assignments in year 13.
If i was to complete this Project again, i just feel that i would be more confident in the development of my character and not be so reluctant to try new things out. I learnt this from when we all completed a contemporary dance routine as a group in which i learnt that trying things out is the best way to go about it, rather than thinking into to much detail about what to do.
As it got closer and closer to the performance it was more a case of separating into groups focusing on relationships of characters in different scenes. This would help not only the scenes to be more believable, but to make the characters show how the feel towards each other. Whether it be through the way dialogue is said, or through the mannerisms.
I feel that the final performances went really well. I felt that everybody gave an even better performance than through the rehearsals and the reception we seemed to get from the audience was a good one. I felt that many of us were very nervous for the actual performance but we were able to apply this into our roles to give the best performances we could possibly give. I felt that when it came to my scenes i felt that they went really well. The reception we got from my scenes really helped and everything seemed to work. Including a moment in which Ralph and Lucinda hug, in which had many many awkward problems! I didn't change anything with my character other than i was more conscious and aware of how i was to react to other characters in my scenes and took in advice from what I remembered. This was to just really engage other characters on the stage and the people in the audience. Seeing as my character tends to act up to the camera or in this case the audience. The only thing that i feel could of been done better is the organisation back stage and at some points within the play, there could of been more energy and excitement given of from the cast as a whole.
I have really learnt many things in completing this project. Not only as an actor, but as a person and i have learnt many new skills that i can take into account in future performances and assignments.
No comments:
Post a Comment