As well as being Daphne I was also part of the ensemble cast so I had other objectives for different area of the play.
Stanley Halls:
Dress rehearsal
When entering Stanley halls, we really got excited for the performance, the justice, liberty and science sign really pulled the play together and it was a beautiful space to work in, did two dress rehearsal's one was very slow because we had to adapt to the space, and work with the sound and lighting and the second run through we did without stopping. These were the first time we had performed the play all the way through and in the space.
We all entered the stage as rehearsed, our objectives were to look and to explore the building, we were told in the real performance we would also have powder paint to put on our faces to become part of the play. In the dress rehearsal it allowed me to practice how I would transform from a teenager into a tribal person. When we became sailors and our objectives were to pray, to panic and to balance I was able to take of my coat and jumper and put it into the orchestra pit whilst moving. The objectives then changed to drown and then to stare as zombies at each other and the audience members.
These first three scenes went very well, because we all kept our characters and they flowed smoothly. However me and Eleanor did find it difficult when rolling out the blue sheet to represent the wave, because it was hard to keep hold of it.
The next scene I was in was the sea scene, in this scene we became the sea, I really enjoyed exploring the movement of the scene and I believe we worked well as an ensemble to create the tide coming in and out by having the objective to sway. In this rehearsal we were also able to alter the way in which Sam was lifted to make it a smooth transition. We need to remember in this scene to commit to the sound we are making otherwise it sounds weak and by grabbing kit and fighting for her it made the scene more tense. Furthermore we corrected our exit, we changed this to marking in order to announce the presence of the raiders which appeared in the next scene.
Scene 8 was the birth scene here all the girls sat in a circle and mumbled, our objectives were to pray and to chant. When the baby was born we all stood then sat back down, our objective was to sigh. Then we watched Daphne and Mau (to watch) and when she ran off we did to giggling to show the similarities of the two different cultures in love and relationships.
In scene 10 our main objectives were to dance, to celebrate, to look and to protect when first entering the stage as hungry islanders. The chanting went well, however we had a limited space so it was quite difficult to move within the inner circle, this could have been improved by stretching out the circle more to make an oval shape. I felt we really pulled together on this scene, there was a exciting atmosphere and the song at the end was very successful.
Scene 14 and 15 were the dream scenes. Our first objective was to look, we were all supposed to be looking at Daphne in order to make her feel uncomfortable. The dream fish section was ok but again the transitions were not very smooth because some people did not know the cue lines. As the islanders dancing I decided to really let go, by closing my eyes I imagined no body was watching and it allowed my movement to be free because my objective was to open and to dance freely. The funeral transition was a lot better than it had previously been but the song still wasn't right, therefore for the performance the directors decided only me and Katie should sing it. We added a drop to the floor to transform back into islanders, again our objective was to look, we were waiting for Mau to wake up and also when creating the cave entrance we were looking at Daphne in order to entice her in. This was the end of act one and I believe it was a powerful image to leave the audience with because we were humming and create an interesting atmosphere that the audience were left wondering what was in the cave.
Act two was a constant flow of movement and lines. Scene one begins with islanders going about there normal lives, cooking, hunting and making things. Me and some others then group together to sing happy birthday to twinkle, we perform abstract movement and sing the tune but replace the words with tribal noises. Our objectives then change to look and to watch, we stare in admiration as the god anchors enter and we are also fascinated by the watch twinkle receives. When they talk of opening the cave I chose a different objective, I decide to change to protect and to hide to show my disbelief and how my islander character completely believed in the Gods. We then turn into statues, the only movement we perform is moving the spine to create a ripple affect. Both scene one and two were good in rehearsal because everyone was on their lines, everyone was committed and it was fast moving.
The transition into scene 3 was good we became servants, and walked to the balcony doors where we stood as aristocrats. Here we just had to react to the scene, by laughing , chatting and gasping at the shocking news.
Scene four - we again created the sea to show Polegrave and Foxlip had been washed up on the beach. My objectives in this scene were to touch, to look and to protect. Whilst scene five occurred we cradled the body of Ataba and performed a chanting gesture to show us blessing the body. I believe this was really effective because it showed the atmosphere on two different parts of the island.
Scene six was the trial scene. Here our objectives were to look, and to follow Mau's command. This scene was good however some of the lines were said in the wrong order.
After scene six I became Daphne which I have talked about in the previous post.
Voice Thursday Lessons and Other Rehearsals
We had to arrange some extra rehearsals during lunch and on Friday in order to finish the play and run through scenes. This occurred because we did not realise the sheer scale of the project and the performance date was approaching fast. These happened at lunchtimes, on Fridays and before school. My tribal group decided to rehearsal our tribal chant during scene ten and we changed it to what we made up previously in the lesson because the shoulder lift was too difficult and the transition would take to long.
In our Thursday lessons we were working on voice work, this was extremely helpful for our performance of nation. The main techniques that have helped me are projection, articulation and breath control. The tongue twisters and facial muscularity building really helped when I had to use received pronunciation as Daphne. The semi supine voice exercises helped me when creating sounds-capes and combining body and voice. By evaluating my voice throughout the process of nation in my voice log book I was able to improve the areas I needed to work on.
The rehearsal period was a very long and slow process, some scenes everyone was together, others only the main characters were taken to run lines and sometimes I would just sit and watch a scene. I did find it difficult to adapt to this way of rehearsal because it meant that I did not know what was going on in every scene which made it harder to know scene changes and create smooth transitions.
No comments:
Post a Comment