East End Tales Evaluation

The past few months of theatre lessons have been very eventful. Some people got upset, others got stressed - but after working together as a team, we all managed to create an enjoyable piece of theatre that we could all be very proud of.
Research - The play is centred around modern life in the East End. It revolves around many different characters telling stories to a taxi driver in the East End of London. The writer could have written "Tales Of The East End' to address his concerns about the current society we live in and the things that we need to sort out with one another. Every lesson, we would take part in different tasks and activities set by the teacher to help us develop our characters and to create pieces of theatre that could be used in the performance. Research has helped me to develop the characters that I am portraying in the play. For example, I have been able to look up Cockney Rhyming Slang that could be used in certain scenes and I was also able to research ways to include an East End accent in the play without being over the top. The aim was to make the play realistic so that the audience would get a real sense of what the East End is like.
I found these websites particularly useful:
http://londontopia.net/londonism/fun-london/language-top-100-cockney-rhyming-slang-words-and-phrases/
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-do-a-cockney-accent

Development - Over the weeks of studying the play "Tales Of The East End", I was able to gain a deeper understanding of many of the characters in the play. As an ensemble cast, we were also able to interpret the characters and scenes in different ways using physical theatre. We developed characters through tone of voice, body movements and we interpreted different scenarios through physical theatre (e.g. using our body to show a certain type of weather). One of the things that stood out for me was using everyone in the cast to create sound effects by using different parts of the body and voices. For example, we would all click our fingers or pat our legs to create the sound of hailstones.

Staging - Our original choice of staging was thrust. This initially came to mind as it meant that we could interact with the audience from all angles. However, we later decided that a proscenium stage would be better as the audience would always be able to see the whole cast and what was going on. It was also more practical this way as it meant that it was easier to fit the cast onto the stage.

Style - The style of this play is very different to many that I have studied in the past. For example, the script doesn't have any stage directions or characters speaking. This means that it is up to the cast and director to decide who says what and how we portray the scenes. A lot of the time, it felt like we were reading a story rather than a script. This was a nice change as previously we have studied a script that was completely the opposite (Noughts & Crosses). I like this style of play as it feels like we have a long creative process to complete, where we can freely decide what we want to happen in the play.

Storytelling - During the devision of this play, we would constantly focus on trying to tell a story through sound and physical theatre. In many of the scenes, there would be a narrator who said many parts of the script to address the audience and give them a better understanding of the play. We also had the task of creating a story through physical theatre. An example of physical theatre in the play was when a few of the actors created an umbrella that opened using just movements with their arms. This helped to tell the story thought body movement, rather than using a literal umbrella to show what is happening in the story.

Multiple Roles - Many of the actors in the cast had multiple roles to portray. In my scene at the supermarket, I would occasionally have to suddenly switch from an angry customer to a happy family member. This was difficult as the change happens very fast, but after weeks of working on developing different characters you start to get used to playing them all very frequently.

Change of Location - To change a location in the play we would all work as an ensemble to make the atmosphere change, like when we used our bodies to create the sounds of different weather. We wanted to try and make the audience feel like they had been transported to the East End through a piece of theatre. This is why we wanted to make the sounds of the locations very accurate. Many of us would create siren or car sounds to emphasise the fact that the scene is taking place outside near many busy roads.

Final Performance - I was very pleased with the performances that we showed to audiences on February 12th. Everyone was very happy with the final piece and we all enjoyed performing our work to two audiences. We all pulled together and worked hard to make a piece of theatre that we were all very proud of. Some of the best moments were when we all worked together as an ensemble to give the audience a taste of what the East End is like. I think that Tale 3 worked very well in creating an atmosphere for the East End. We also added hints of humour into the play, which I think worked well too. Tale 2, where all the boys worked together didn't get off to a great start, but thanks to most of our hard work and determination, we created a piece of theatre that we thought many people would enjoy watching. This was one of the tales that I was most proud of, as you can see that it has improved hugely since we first started working on it. I think that the domestic violence scene with Oriana and Thiago was very good as it created a tense atmosphere and also evoked a lot of emotion and sympathy from the audience. The direction of this piece was very good and the acting was brilliant. I enjoyed watching many of the other tales in the play too. I think it is interesting to see how all of the tales came together to make one big play. We managed to improve many of the weak points in the play to make them more polished. It was difficult to work as an ensemble as there were so many people to direct and sometimes it got a bit out of hand. As lines kept changing throughout the process of devising the play, it was quite difficult to know what to learn but in the end everyone managed to learn all of their lines. One of the main problems was due to people not turning up on performance day. However, the understudies did a very good job considering the amount of time that they had to learn their lines. Over the course of this term, I have improved my physical theatre skills a lot. I feel as though my confidence has also been boosted a lot this term and I feel more comfortable directing scenes now. I have learnt how to interpret characters in other ways and how to put on a play without constant dialogue, by using physical theatre. This term has been very productive and I think that we have all improved our acting skills. In my opinion, many of the rehearsals went very well. There were ups and downs throughout the whole course of creating this show, but all went well in the end.

Final Rehearsals - 02/02/15

In today's lesson, we were directed by a cover teacher called Ms Baggot. She helped us to improve each separate tale and to bring all of the tales together to create our final piece. To bind all of the tales together, she devised a piece of physical theatre, where we would all get into a 'V' shape and pretend that we were in a taxi. This idea was good as the whole play revolves around people telling stories to a taxi driver. Some of the movements included steering a wheel, moving a gear stick and adjusting a mirror. We would then freeze and one of the actors in our class would read a line of rhyming cockney slang. This is language that is typically used in the East End. This lesson mainly focused on bringing the show together so that we could polish and improve it. I feel that we were able to progress a lot further with the play in this lesson.

Working As An Ensemble - 22/01/15

Working as an ensemble cast requires helping each other to make a play the best it can be and to be a part of each others scenes. This can require a lot of hard work and effort as it is difficult to respond and work with so many people. However, if you manage to pull it off, having a large cast can work very well.
We continued to polish the prologue scene to try and make it better. As a cast, we all continued to share ideas and try new things to improve the scene. Ms Lee also helped to direct Tale 3, where the lines were divided out between the class and we were all given a job to fulfil. For example, a few of us were window cleaners and others were carpenters. This gives the audience a feel of what jobs some people may have in the East End. The scene worked well as we were all doing different things, but it didn't look tacky and messy. Some lines would all be said together (for example - "A bit of everything"), and other lines would be said by certain characters in the play. This meant that we were able to play around with the vocals and levels of voice in the play to make it sound like the East End. I think that now the play is starting to take shape, soon we will be able to confidently perform it to an audience.

Overcoming Difficulties - 15/01/15

In the lesson today, we started a new piece of theatre for the play that we are putting together - 'Tales Of The East End'. The class was split into three groups and the lines for The Prologue (Taxi Scene) were divided equally between each group. For this scene, we are all compact in groups and need to move and turn around as part of a pack. As we develop the scene, we will add more sounds and noises into this. Some of the difficulties we faced were turning at the right points and having everyone say their line on cue. To overcome these issues, we added in beats to know when to turn and we agreed to go home and learn our lines so that the scene could be more precise and flow smoothly. To help create this scene, everyone in the group put forward their ideas so that we could look at them all and try to interpret them into the scene. Again, we also worked on developing our smaller group tales (Tale 7). We were able to complete another part of the scene in the time provided and we hope to have the tale finished by the next lesson. Whilst continuing to develop the tale, we will make sure that we include many sounds and movements to incorporate Physical Theatre. In an attempt to polish the scenes, I am going to make an effort to organise a day to rehearse the scenes at Lunchtime.

Target Sheet - 08/01/15

Physical Theatre - 18/01/14

In today's lesson, Mr Crowther covered our lesson. We began the lesson by playing two warm up activities - These were 'Splat' and 'Honey, I Love You'. The game 'Splat' is meant to try and get yourself focused as you need to be concentrating during the activity so that you can react quickly. 'Honey, I Love You' is an activity that is used to help you stay in a character and gain concentration.
After these warm ups, we got straight into devising a new piece of Physical Theatre for our performance of "Tales Of The East End". The class was separated into gender groups (male & female). The males in our class had the task of devising Tale 2 and all of the females had to devise Tale 1. I and many others put forward our ideas to the group so that we could start devising a piece of Physical Theatre for the play. Some of these ideas were drinking pints of beer, being rowdy in a pub and having emphasis on many words and actions. Many different movements were used to put together this piece of theatre. For example, we all parted from a small group on the word 'cold' to show that we were all singular and distant from others, but then we all joined together and made the movement of a heartbeat on the line 'but warm on the inside'. We also interpreted different types of women and created actions for them, when one of the males is talking about what he looks for in a woman. Many of the decisions we made are working well but we need to now work on progressing with the piece to get it finished and polished.
Towards the end of the lesson, the class went back into their original tale groups - In my case, with Frankie, Phoebe, Louis and Raneesha. We had already planned out and started to act out certain parts of the scene. In this lesson, we chose to act as if we were all parts of a supermarket and a cash register. For example, Phoebe would say things like "Cashier number 3 please', or Raneesha would push her arms forward to look like a till was opening. I was continuously making a beeping sound and swiping my arms as if I was working at a checkout. Every time a character spoke, they would stop being part of the cash till and walk forward to speak. At many times in the scene we all say "Kerr-ching" and quickly bob our heads up and down. Our aim as a group is to try and finish the tale as soon as possible by putting all the scenes that we have rehearsed, together.

Tale 7 - Developing A Scene

Performing A Monologue - 11/12/14

To begin the lesson, we got into pairs and performed our monologues to each other. From this, we were able to give each other advice on how to improve the staging, body movements and voice expression. This helped us to quickly change parts of our monologue to improve it so that it was better for when we performed it to the class. I chose to start and end my monologue slouched down by a wall. However, in between this, I would walk around the room slightly. I wanted to show that my character was extremely lost and alone. Also, I needed to show that he had done something wrong and that he regretted it. I started very quiet, increased the sound of my voice, but ended very quietly too. This was to show that I was confused and didn't really know who I was. I felt as though writing this monologue helped me to get a deeper understanding as to who the character was. I was able to interpret him in ways that other people might not have. It helped me to fully figure out how the character was feeling and the reasons for it. I really enjoyed writing this monologue as it helped to develop my writing and theatrical skills.
When watching my peers' work, I thought that they were all very good and I could see that everyone put a lot of effort into writing and performing them. I especially liked Michelle's monologue. She wrote from the perspective of the woman who was being abused by her partner. I felt that Michelle had taken a lot of time to write her monologue as it was very dramatic and full of emotion. One of the quotes she used in her monologue was "If you put a frog in boiling water, it will quickly jump out - but if you put a frog in cold water and slowly raise the temperature, it will eventually die". I really like this quote as she compared it to domestic abuse. I thought that this was good as it gave a better insight on what some people see violence and abuse as. She used facial expressions to show her emotions and you could tell that she was upset and on breaking point by listening to her voice. I think that Michelle's monologue was very successful.

Tale 3 - Monologue

Tale 7 - Concept

News Report Plan

Devising Theatre - 04/12/14

In today's lesson, we began with some warm ups. The whole class was involved in playing an activity called "Splat" which helps you to get focused and to concentrate. It also speeds up your reaction time. After this, we did an improvisation activity, where two people are put into the middle of the room and given a scenario that they need to act out on the spot. This helps us to be imaginative and also improves our improvisational skills. I was chosen to improvise with Gloria, where we created a scene where a school's headteacher finds a student truanting. By working together, we were able to create a good piece of comedy as we always accepted whatever the other person did, so that there were no large halts during the performance.
After the warm up activities, we were put into groups where we had to devise a piece of theatre based on a news story, in the style of the play "Tales Of The East End". This was difficult as there were many decisions to make.  Our news story was about a black man who was beaten up and hurt because he asked two white men to be a bit quieter. They started throwing racist comments at him and continuously kicked and punched him until a woman came and stopped them. The first decision we made was to have the victim in the middle with the two suspects facing the audience. They would punch and kick the air in front of them, to show the actions they used. We chose to do this as if you staged someone being attacked, it often looks very messy. As a group we also had to decide on the comments used as we did not want to offend anyone or use foul language. The narrator stood at the back describing what was happening and then ran into the middle as the woman who found the man being attacked. Our performance linked into "Tales Of The East End", as the narrator was telling the audience about the event and we were acting it out, just like when the characters in the play are talking about the events to a taxi driver. I portrayed the man that was being attacked. I did this by using very dramatic sounds and movements to show that I was being hurt. We used both vocal and physical skills to create this scene.
When we had all performed our scenes to the class, we stayed in the same groups to work on our allocated tale, which is East End Tale 7. Again, we had to devise a piece of theatre, including sound, movement and a few lines from the tale. In this scene, it is late at night in a shop and there is an angry customer. The young worker gets into an argument with the customer. We showed the location by making everyone do different actions to show what they were doing. For example, I was taking things off the shelf, and other people were doing things like walking down the aisles or talking to the worker. Frankie, who played the worker, also used movements to show that she was working the cash register. We communicated the characters through sound, movement and levels. To show the anger of the customer, I kept on pointing to the worker and giving her sly looks. I also leaned over her a lot to show that I was angry at her and that I wanted to be in charge. We used certain words and lines from the tale. For example, when we started, ended and switched customers, we always looked towards the audience and said "Kerr-ching" to make it sound like the cash register was opening. Our group also used the dialogue between the angry customer and the worker to give a better insight on the story. I think that our group did very well in the performances, considering that we didn't have a long time to rehearse.

Tale 6 - Script Annotations

Giving Feedback

For one of the activities in class we had to create a scene using only sounds, movements and occasional words. The image shown is a picture of my script when I was planning my group's performance. In the lesson, we gave feedback to our peers on their performances.
I enjoyed watching Nansi Love and her group perform their piece to the class. It was very dramatic and they all portrayed East End characters very well.
Many of the sounds used were very effective. For example, Thiago hit a pair of shoes against a chair repetitively to emphasize the footsteps that Nansi was making. It made it sound like the echo of a footstep under a bridge, which are very common in London and the East End.
During their scene, some effective movements were also used. I liked it when everyone crowded around Nansi to make it look like she had no escape from what she was running away from. You could feel all of the emotions that were in the scene, many of the characters had very good facial expressions, especially when Nansi screamed.
Towards the end of the performance, it became slightly humourous when the police got involved. In theatre you need to make sure you are adding in humour at the right time and I feel as though this scene could have been a lot more serious and dramatic.
Some of the groups were quite similar. For example, many people included a scream or used the activity we did in class earlier to create sounds for the weather.
In most performances in our class, the sounds and movements help to set the scene, rather than tell a story. Therefore, reading through the script and performing using sounds and movements are both very different and can be used for different reasons.

Development Criteria - 27/11/14

Characterization - 27/11/14

In today's Theatre session, we completed our usual warm ups and took part in an improvisation activity where two people were put into the middle of the room and given a situation to extend on. Using many acting skills, you had to develop the scene by improvising. This was a difficult activity but helped us to think on our feet.
One activity I enjoyed doing in the session was creating the sounds of a storm with our hands. We closed our eyes and it felt like we were outside where there was a lot of bad weather. A few of the movements were rubbing our hands together, clicking and patting our knees and the floor. We had to create these sounds by listening and passing them on to each other so that the sounds became increasingly louder. This helped us to develop our use of sound in performances and our listening and concentration skills. After this, we got put into groups and had to create sounds to portray one part of tale 8. This tale included a lot of weather sounds for us to devise. A few things our group added in were noises to portray thunder (stamping our feet) and whistling to show wind. Our group received positive feedback from the class. However, we thought that we could have developed our performance a lot more if we had some extra time.
Finally, we had to draw the outline of a person again and write about their exterior and interior views. From this, we had to create a small piece of theatre including one of the characters from the scene. We chose the Landlord as we felt that he had different sides and emotions too him. Maybe he was hiding something but putting on a brave and happy face, or possibly he was covering something up by being in control. There are many different possibilities to who the Landlord actually is, so we thought he would be an interesting character to explore. It took a long time to decide how we wanted to portray the Landlord and this gave us less time to rehearse for the performance. Therefore, our performance was not as polished as I hoped it would be.
Overall, I enjoyed the lesson and felt that I used my acting skills to devise and develop many pieces of theatre.

Script - Prologue

Tale 3 - Character

Development Criteria - 20/11/14

Interpreting Characters - 20/11/14

In today's lesson, I was very pleased with all the work I got done. We did some warm ups and started getting to work on the play straight away. I was partnered up with Ellis and we had to include speech for the passenger in the taxi for the prologue of the play "Tales Of The East End". We needed to insert some dialogue so that there would be a conversation between the taxi driver and the passenger. This way, the script made a lot more sense. It was quite difficult to find appropriate questions to add in at certain points of the script. We read through the script many times so that we were able to come up with different questions for the passenger to ask.

After this, we were put into groups and assigned a tale to study. My group was given tale 3. We had to draw the outline of a person and write about their interior and exterior. We wrote about how he was feeling, how he came across to others and words & quotes that had been used to describe him in the play. Following on from this task, our group had to perform a piece of theatre where we interpreted the character and showed his emotions and feelings. At the beginning, Amaia spoke about what she had done and how she was covering up. A few of us created a cage over her using our arms. We then started shouting guilt and other words to describe the character. I then shouted "Murderer" and the scene came to a stop. Our peers gave us very good feedback and said that our piece looked effective. I enjoyed creating the piece and thought that the performance of it went very well.

Telling A Story - 13/11/14

At the start of this lesson, the class sat in a circle and we all discussed the facts that we had researched for our homework. It was interesting to see all of the different things that people found out about the East End. Then we had a class discussion about the play and how the themes and facts we researched link into the play. After this, we got straight to work and were put into groups to create a small repetitive sequence of events to help us tell a story. This will help us when rehearsing for the play as we were able you find out how to tell a story using different body movements and sounds. I was put into a group where we had to create a sequence of events to show the daily routine of a man. Our group chose to portray a typical man getting ready to leave his house in the morning. We chose to act out a man going to the toilet, brushing his hair, shaving, putting on his clothes, pulling up his tie, picking up a briefcase, opening the door and leaving. This showed many different sides to a man as well. For example, the brushing of the hair and shaving shows that he is quite vain and self conscious. This activity will help us to develop our characters in the play as it helps us to know how to portray a particular character.
Towards the end of the lesson, we got put into the same groups to learn a scene from the play "Tales Of The East End". In this scene, I will have a large speaking part, which I have already started to learn. However, in the other scenes I will be a part of the ensemble. In our little groups we read through the script and chose the lines that each of us would be saying. Raneesha is our group leader and director. She will be helping to direct the scene and add in all of the ensemble. I like the tale that our group has been given. There are very strong and interesting characters in it and it has a dramatic storyline. It will be difficult to include all of the class in every scene, but I look forward to seeing how everything works out.

New Term, New Topic - 06/11/14

Today was our first lesson with Ms Lee, since performing "Noughts & Crosses" on Settling In Evening before the half term. At the beginning of the lesson we received our grades and feedback for our last unit (acting skills). My overall grade was distinction and I was very pleased with myself and happy for all my fellow peers who also received very good grades.
Soon after this, we moved on to our next topic. The unit is called "Performing Scripted Plays". Our class will be studying a play called "Tales Of The East End". It follows the different stories of people living in the East End. When reading the play, I was very interested as to how it was written and laid out. For example, all of the people are telling stories to the taxi driver and talk as if they are all the people involved in the story. It gives an insight into the many different situations and things that happen in our society (e.g. domestic violence, love and relationships). I am excited to start rehearsing and learning more about the play.

Facts About The East End

• The first ship to ever be built was in the East End. It was called The Greyhound.
• When slavery was abolished in 1833, 15,000 people were freed and most were found to be living in the East End.
• The first British female doctor was born in the East End. However, due to Britain's refusal for women to study, she had to study to become a doctor whilst in Paris.
• A TV show called "Eastenders" is based on the stereotypes of people living in the East End. It is incredibly popular and has been on TV for 29 years.

• A man known as "Jack The Ripper" was said to have gone on a murdering spree and terrorised the East End.
• After a lot of crime and violence, the East End re-invented itself as the Hub of London Life in the 1980's and is home to Britain's banking and finance industry.

Some useful websites are:

• http://londontopia.net/londonism/fun-london/language-top-100-cockney-rhyming-slang-words-and-phrases/
• http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-do-a-cockney-accent
• http://www.eastendtours.com/charming-lesser-known-facts-london/

Tales Of The East End - Main Themes

• Love
• Hate
• Violence
• Abuse
• Relationships
• Society
• Opinions
• Sympathy
• Diversity