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