Week 14

 Tuesday 9th January 2024

Historical timeline

We started the day off by taking a look at history and how that connects to the performance industry- putting together a timeline of significant historical events. This was a small test on our teamwork and communication skills- having to make sure no one repeated events, and got everything in the right order. The timeline was significant, because it allowed the group to see just how much history effects art and acting, and what is created due to these historical events. So because of this we then added to our timeline: writing down a film, tv show or theatre piece that was created surrounding these historical events or as an effect of them. This to me was a really effective task, because it actively made me think more about the creation processes of the artwork, and the research and commitment that goes into them- so they can be historically correct. The art work that comes from history can also stand as a way to educate and shine light on meaning and significance within society. 

The Stanislavski method of acting 

The main acting style before Stanislavski's method was primarily musical theatre acting- a dramatized version of real life scenarios and behaviours. Instead Stanislavski was captivated by the patterns of human life, so documented his observations of human behaviour- creating theatrical experiments based on them. The whole point of his training methods and techniques is to help actors create believable characters and develop natural performances, opening up a whole other genre of naturalism.   

We then spent the rest of the session focusing on Stanislavski's method of acting, and breaking down some of his practises. The main ones being emotional memory and the magic "if"- were the actor will borrow emotions from a real past experience were they experienced similar emotions to what their character is feeling at that given time. But in contrast the magic "if" is their to help actors try and embody emotions/experiences that they haven't yet experienced themselves- asking the question "IF I was in this situation how would I feel and what would be my initial response/reaction?". This can help put the actor in that mindset by trying to reach into personal response, and then relate that to the character. 

To put this into practise we were all given the script of "The proposal" and told to create the scene in threes- building a brief idea of how we would perform it, to then later show the rest of the class and break it down slower using his methods. For me I personally struggled trying to navigate this script, because it was more of a comedic script and so applying his methods to that was more difficult, but a good challenge. I found that I was being too aware of what my body was doing and then ended up focusing to much on that instead of putting myself in the characters mindset. Looking back I needed to throw myself into the scene more instead of hesitating, but because we were still using the scripts my attention was drawn more to what I was reading and saying the words right instead of applying them to the character. But personally I really like his methods and am excited to develop my naturalist skills using them. I know this activity will be helpful for connections since the script is naturalistic with comedic elements.  

Wednesday 10th January 2024

Connections script read through

Wednesday was spent focusing on national theatre based projects, with the new views scripts first draft being handed in and one of my fellow students Alan informing us about his new views winning script "snowdrop". But what almost the entirety of the day was spent focusing on was this years connections script "shout", reading through the whole play by sitting in a circle and volunteering ourselves to read for certain characters. Although reading for a character you don't have much back knowledge on can be a bit stressful- being uncertain of how to portray them accurately- it allowed me to work on my initiative when it comes to acting, and not stopping myself from just going for it in a scene. I also got to switch in and out of multiple characters in different scenes, which gave me a good idea of some of the characters I was instinctively drawn too- whether it be one I was reading in for or one someone else was reading in for. I'm happy that we spent time on the first read through, because it allowed me to fully make a decision on the script- whilst learning and understanding more about the storyline and it's underlining message of it. I'm really excited to delve into the connections script and I can't wait to see what happens next with it.

Thursday 11th January 2024      

The start of Thursday was spent working on some skills to help us as we progress more with National Theatre connections, one which being the ability to let yourself go without the constraint of judgement or embarrassment. It was all about throwing ourselves into our work instead of holding back, so to do this we used music- re creating the silent disco effect by all wearing headphones and closing our eyes, listening to our music. The whole point of this activity was to encourage us to just listen to our music and do what ever we felt like doing in the moment, whether it be singing out loud, dancing etc. Just letting go without worry. I personally really loved this activity, finding it grounding yet nicely isolating in the way that I became completely unaware that I was surrounded by other people, feeling secure within my own mindset and bubble. This is something that this activity pushed us to embrace- exercising the skill of closing off your mindset when performing around others and really letting yourself perform to the best of your ability. I feel that in the future this will be a really useful tool to use especially with the anxiety surrounding performances, but doing this activity has also made me realise how much music can help you get into character- especially by playing songs or creating a playlist that they would listen too can help you really centre yourself before performing.

Connections scenes  

We then moved onto some scene work surrounding the connections script, getting given a scene to re create at random and then bringing it onto its feet. This task involved a lot of creative freedom, and allowed us to show our interpretations of the scenes and how we thought they elevated what the script is about. The scene my group got was one surrounding two of the main characters: Tristan and Dana; showing them trying to have a conversation over text whilst working around the fact that Dana is selective mute. I personally really like this scene and what it shows between these two characters but especially Tristan, who at this point still has a set mindset surrounding Dana that's been fuelled by bullying- so its important that the contrast of him in this scene and him in later scenes is clear. I was reading for Tristan's message which is basically just a verbalisation of what the actual character Tristan was messaging Dana, meaning that a lot of his emotion was translated through his messages. For our groups interpretation we decided to incorporate both the technology Siri voice, and the actual emotion behind the message into the scene through the messages which is something that on reflection I find quite interesting to watch as it shows what messages can look like on the surface, whilst highlighting how important they are for Dana when it comes to communicating with others. I really enjoyed this activity yet still struggle to delve deeper while holding a script in my hand so can't wait for a chance to dig deeper into certain characters and focus on their dialogue.