My main issues I was focusing on developing was, the projection of my voice in the theatre and the pace of my monologues. I used exercises such as pretending to throw a bucket with my voice to help with vocal projection. I also started looking at the punctuation within my monologue's the commas and full stops and working how to vary my voice within the monologue. Looking at objectives and actions to develop my role.
The main feedback I have gained from this term is:
"Excellent work throughout on The York Realist. Taken part both as an actor and as a director in rehearsals. Played a variety of roles and worked as director giving relevant and knowledgeable instructions to the actors on stage. Blog is also excellent and Georgina is taking instruction and making the links between the text and her ideas clear.
Some very very strong work observed from Georgina throughout the year . Keep this up. you lift off the page really well and have a strong performing dynamic . Good work across the board."
What skills do I possess?
I Believe I came into this course, with skills that have been very beneficial. I have confidence which is important for an actor on stage as I feel the performance is much more believable and entertaining. Secondly, the ability to project my voice on stage is also important, if the audience cannot hear you they will become bored and not connect with your character. Furthermore, being able to learn a script quickly, it allows me to have more time to explore the character and my acting on stage whereas holding a script in my hand for most of the performance.
Moreover, I am able to understand the text reading through the text and seeing how I can relate to that particular character.Understanding the text is important as I am able to understand the story as if it is my own circumstance, keeping the play alive and allowing the audience to see hidden messages and relationships. I also do more character work than I once did, looking at videos and seeing which interpretation suited me best. As connecting with your character, is crucial to perform to the best of my ability. Spacial awareness is crucial, so that characters are not blocking one another and they do not look awkward on stage. I've always possessed this skill making sure I think about where I am positioned at all times.
How I have developed these skills
I Believe I came into this course, with skills that have been very beneficial. I have confidence which is important for an actor on stage as I feel the performance is much more believable and entertaining. Secondly, the ability to project my voice on stage is also important, if the audience cannot hear you they will become bored and not connect with your character. Furthermore, being able to learn a script quickly, it allows me to have more time to explore the character and my acting on stage whereas holding a script in my hand for most of the performance.
Moreover, I am able to understand the text reading through the text and seeing how I can relate to that particular character.Understanding the text is important as I am able to understand the story as if it is my own circumstance, keeping the play alive and allowing the audience to see hidden messages and relationships. I also do more character work than I once did, looking at videos and seeing which interpretation suited me best. As connecting with your character, is crucial to perform to the best of my ability. Spacial awareness is crucial, so that characters are not blocking one another and they do not look awkward on stage. I've always possessed this skill making sure I think about where I am positioned at all times.
How I have developed these skills
I have developed understanding the text e.g. learning how to find my actions, objectives and subtext to be able to develop my character and add layers to them. Therefore, rather than just reading the script then learning my lines, I look closer at punctuation. Knowing when to stop and breathe using those pauses to involve facial expressions, I read through the script and write down all my actions and changes, allowing me to develop my character and more detail. Although I have a good vocal projection, my articulation wasn't as strong. Therefore I used vocal exercises (tongue twisters) to help me such a "A royal warrior will rarely worry why we rule"helping me move towards a more professional voice on stage. I have also developed my character work thinking about the work of stanisvlaski's system, e.g. the magic if and given circumstances. These have helped me as I think deeper into character work making sure I fill out all of stans system to then go on to develop my character. I learnt how to work on spacial awareness in an ensemble, mainly in the donmar workshops, learning how we should always be filling the space and no part of the stage should be empty.
Practical Skills
- To help me with my character in my own time, I look through scripts e.g. 'The Three Sisters' and 'The York Realist' writing down what other characters say about me, actions, objectives and changes.
- For vocal projection, I lean over to one knee, then whilst I'm getting up I throw my voice with the music. I also say a line from a play and must shout it to the front row, then the second row and then the last.
- To exercise my jaw, I pretend to jew gum then begin to over chew.
- Thinking about my character 6 months after the play to work on the trough line and certain relationship with characters.
- What animal my character would represent helping me with body language and movement.
- In ensemble work, walking around the stage but making sure there were no gaps. When survivor was shouted out everyone would have to drop apart from one.
Performances
I believe from the beginning of this year, I have improved massively in my performances. Starting with Romeo and Juliet, playing Juliet was a great opportunity for me. I focused of course on my acting skills e.g. space, body language and movement, however it was important to work on my vocal projection adapting to performing on a big stage. I also had to focus on my subtext when other characters were talking so that I did not just look like I was waiting for my next lines to come. I also had to focus on portraying my different emotions throughout the play which was a little bit of a struggle at first as I wasn't sure how to do this. Although after learning about the technique of emotional memory I was able to find a trigger for the sadder scenes (Romeo's death). Because of the Shakespearean language I didn't take the time to go over any lines I didn't understand therefore, I may have been acting in a way that did not match the language. So I was sure that for the next performances I would look deeper into the text. From Romeo And Juliet I have learnt how to really make my character my own thinking about the way my character would walk and talk, improvisation scenes so we had more background about our characters. Also learning that regardless if you are on stage or off, I must be ready in character to go out and stay concentrated.
In our production of 'The Three Sisters', I really enjoyed playing Natasha, She was over dramatic and a diva and it was a great opportunity to show how dramatic I am. I think it was important that I could relate my character to each of Stanislavski's systems looking deeper into what his theory is and what he believes. I also learnt objectives, actions, changes in the lines, beats, and looking further into subtext and through lines. This helped me massively as I was able to read through the script identify those key things and then put it into practice. Also playing around with how I approached certain scenes and how I should say things, I turned out to be very patronizing and controlling. Activities such as what animal I thought I would represent (poodle), what my character would be doing in six months all really developed my characterization and how I acted towards certain characters. I also wrote down what each character said about me which was important as you can use it to act in certain ways with different ways or how approach certain situations in the play I was faced with. From this production I have learnt, that it is crucial to read through the whole script writing down, highlighting and researching before jumping straight into acting. It helps with developing the character and it becomes more realistic as you understand the text and character therefore are able to give a much better performance.
Whilst working with Toby from the Donmar Warehouse, it was an intense eight workshops to develop our devised piece of 'The York Realist'. In each session we done a variety of activities that all linked to us working as an ensemble, they required a lot of energy and focus. For example, walking around the stage making sure there are no big gaps in the stage or someone standing in the middle, throwing the ball to anyone in the circle then another person goes to the middle on their command of "Go". These activities made us much more stronger as an ensemble and making everyone feel comfortable/confident within the group. I found performing as myself quiet difficult and boring at first, this is because I enjoy playing and exploring other characters therefore when it was just me telling my story I felt it was quite bland. As we developed the scene and I added in movement to my speech, it became more interesting and fun to see my words come alive. I also found it difficult as I wasn't comfortable in sharing my story, I felt everyone was listening to me as a person on stage whereas me playing a character which I was not used to. However, the final performance as incredible we all had the same amount of energy which all encouraged one another, we were all in tune together. I learnt how important it is to work as an ensemble and the amount of training as a whole it takes. I also learnt that we must have a hundred percent of energy at all times because if one persons energy levels drop the audience will then focus on them, being in tune with one another is very crucial so that we can all work together to the best of our ability.
The monologue I choose to do was from 'The Merchant of Venice', play written by William Shakespeare between 1596-1599. About a Merchant from Venice who must default a large loan given by a Jewish Moneylender. It was difficult for me to pick a speech as I didn't want to perform a speech which was close to my other characters. As I was reading through the monologues I didn't feel any connection towards any character, I think not knowing the plays wasn't very helpful. However, when Rob said there was another speech we were able to do and it is very dramatic and over the top, I had to watch it. I enjoyed Launcelot's monologue, it was bold and crazy and this was a complete opposite of what I have performed. Over the half term I began reading through, translating any words I was not sure of e.g. 'Fiend' which is a evil spirit or demon. having to create different characters/voices for either Launcelot, his conscious' and the fiend. Because I had never read or seen the play I watched the National Theatre's version produced by Jonathon Miller in 1973, there are themes of love, social injustice, prejudice and money. I also found the play in a whole comical. I also watched another version of the play whereby Bob Peck plays Shylock, I felt the Bob Peck version was a bit more easier to understand and more appealing as it was a bit more modern. I have gone through different versions on YouTube of Launcelot's monologue and they all share the same thing, lots of energy, switching between the different roles within the monologue and over exaggerated facial expressions and body movement. I must now incorporate what I've seen from the play and the different versions to create my own version of it.
I believe from the beginning of this year, I have improved massively in my performances. Starting with Romeo and Juliet, playing Juliet was a great opportunity for me. I focused of course on my acting skills e.g. space, body language and movement, however it was important to work on my vocal projection adapting to performing on a big stage. I also had to focus on my subtext when other characters were talking so that I did not just look like I was waiting for my next lines to come. I also had to focus on portraying my different emotions throughout the play which was a little bit of a struggle at first as I wasn't sure how to do this. Although after learning about the technique of emotional memory I was able to find a trigger for the sadder scenes (Romeo's death). Because of the Shakespearean language I didn't take the time to go over any lines I didn't understand therefore, I may have been acting in a way that did not match the language. So I was sure that for the next performances I would look deeper into the text. From Romeo And Juliet I have learnt how to really make my character my own thinking about the way my character would walk and talk, improvisation scenes so we had more background about our characters. Also learning that regardless if you are on stage or off, I must be ready in character to go out and stay concentrated.
In our production of 'The Three Sisters', I really enjoyed playing Natasha, She was over dramatic and a diva and it was a great opportunity to show how dramatic I am. I think it was important that I could relate my character to each of Stanislavski's systems looking deeper into what his theory is and what he believes. I also learnt objectives, actions, changes in the lines, beats, and looking further into subtext and through lines. This helped me massively as I was able to read through the script identify those key things and then put it into practice. Also playing around with how I approached certain scenes and how I should say things, I turned out to be very patronizing and controlling. Activities such as what animal I thought I would represent (poodle), what my character would be doing in six months all really developed my characterization and how I acted towards certain characters. I also wrote down what each character said about me which was important as you can use it to act in certain ways with different ways or how approach certain situations in the play I was faced with. From this production I have learnt, that it is crucial to read through the whole script writing down, highlighting and researching before jumping straight into acting. It helps with developing the character and it becomes more realistic as you understand the text and character therefore are able to give a much better performance.
Whilst working with Toby from the Donmar Warehouse, it was an intense eight workshops to develop our devised piece of 'The York Realist'. In each session we done a variety of activities that all linked to us working as an ensemble, they required a lot of energy and focus. For example, walking around the stage making sure there are no big gaps in the stage or someone standing in the middle, throwing the ball to anyone in the circle then another person goes to the middle on their command of "Go". These activities made us much more stronger as an ensemble and making everyone feel comfortable/confident within the group. I found performing as myself quiet difficult and boring at first, this is because I enjoy playing and exploring other characters therefore when it was just me telling my story I felt it was quite bland. As we developed the scene and I added in movement to my speech, it became more interesting and fun to see my words come alive. I also found it difficult as I wasn't comfortable in sharing my story, I felt everyone was listening to me as a person on stage whereas me playing a character which I was not used to. However, the final performance as incredible we all had the same amount of energy which all encouraged one another, we were all in tune together. I learnt how important it is to work as an ensemble and the amount of training as a whole it takes. I also learnt that we must have a hundred percent of energy at all times because if one persons energy levels drop the audience will then focus on them, being in tune with one another is very crucial so that we can all work together to the best of our ability.
The monologue I choose to do was from 'The Merchant of Venice', play written by William Shakespeare between 1596-1599. About a Merchant from Venice who must default a large loan given by a Jewish Moneylender. It was difficult for me to pick a speech as I didn't want to perform a speech which was close to my other characters. As I was reading through the monologues I didn't feel any connection towards any character, I think not knowing the plays wasn't very helpful. However, when Rob said there was another speech we were able to do and it is very dramatic and over the top, I had to watch it. I enjoyed Launcelot's monologue, it was bold and crazy and this was a complete opposite of what I have performed. Over the half term I began reading through, translating any words I was not sure of e.g. 'Fiend' which is a evil spirit or demon. having to create different characters/voices for either Launcelot, his conscious' and the fiend. Because I had never read or seen the play I watched the National Theatre's version produced by Jonathon Miller in 1973, there are themes of love, social injustice, prejudice and money. I also found the play in a whole comical. I also watched another version of the play whereby Bob Peck plays Shylock, I felt the Bob Peck version was a bit more easier to understand and more appealing as it was a bit more modern. I have gone through different versions on YouTube of Launcelot's monologue and they all share the same thing, lots of energy, switching between the different roles within the monologue and over exaggerated facial expressions and body movement. I must now incorporate what I've seen from the play and the different versions to create my own version of it.
In the lesson Rob made us walk around the room and shout out the first few lines, getting us to feel more comfortable being dramatic by ourselves. We then had to make a gesture for every word we said, this adds heaps of energy to our speeches from there we can tone it down when necessary. We were also given different emotions and when someone called them out e.g happy, frustrated, sad we had to match the tone. This is useful as we are able to explore the the text and see which emotions fit best at particular parts adding more layers to our characters.
Throughout the holidays I have been trying to get a real understanding of the text, words I didn't know, figuring out the punctuation and when to switch between conscience and fiend.
Before I searched what fiend means I would just speak in a more devious voice to represent the fiend, however after finding out it means a evil spirit or demon I changed the fiends character completely. I make my voice coarse and widen my eyes, I also hunch my back, this is effective as it shows demon like features and shows how over dramatic the fiend is but brings lots of energy. To contrast this I made my conscience speak with a more subtle voice, made my legs shake and was often pleading to Launcelot Gobbo. This was effective as I now had the three distinctive characters, so now I am able to play around with the tempo of the speech and my body movements. I also thought about stanisvlaksi's system and made sure I incorporated each one, for example the 'magic if' I asked myself what would I do in Launcelot's position and I also said I would run rather than staying with a master who I see as the devil incarnation. I will keeping going over my monologue and see ways I can keep on developing it to the best of my ability.
Throughout the holidays I have been trying to get a real understanding of the text, words I didn't know, figuring out the punctuation and when to switch between conscience and fiend.
Before I searched what fiend means I would just speak in a more devious voice to represent the fiend, however after finding out it means a evil spirit or demon I changed the fiends character completely. I make my voice coarse and widen my eyes, I also hunch my back, this is effective as it shows demon like features and shows how over dramatic the fiend is but brings lots of energy. To contrast this I made my conscience speak with a more subtle voice, made my legs shake and was often pleading to Launcelot Gobbo. This was effective as I now had the three distinctive characters, so now I am able to play around with the tempo of the speech and my body movements. I also thought about stanisvlaksi's system and made sure I incorporated each one, for example the 'magic if' I asked myself what would I do in Launcelot's position and I also said I would run rather than staying with a master who I see as the devil incarnation. I will keeping going over my monologue and see ways I can keep on developing it to the best of my ability.
What do I plan to do beyond this course
At the end of this UAL course I plan on going to drama school. Some of the drama schools I have recently looked at are- RADA
- Mountview
- E15
- Bristol Old Vic
- Julliard
- American Conservatory Theater
- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
After drama school, I would love to work in theatre, then TV series, working towards my biggest goal to be in movies.
How I'm going to make this happen
I will need to go through the drama schools I have listed, what is required for the auditions and also what they study in the school. I will prepare myself well in advanced for the audition, watching more plays, reading scripts, familiarizing myself with all practitioners and directors. Trying to get myself more auditions and an agent and bettering my skills in general.
Overall, this first year has been a year of growth, I believe when I began this course I knew I was a good actor. However, I wasn't aware of how technical script work can be and really taking your time to look over it whereas before I thought a script was just used for learning lines. I've also learnt more technical skills such as subtext and how I can link these to certain practitioners e.g. Stanisvlaski. Learning about practitioners is also beneficial as you can choose different theories which you feel will help your character best and exploring the variety of theories which makes acting so interesting. For example In the production of 'The Three Sisters', I really focused on the idea of Stanislavski's system thinking about the given circumstances, magic if, emotional memory etc. I enjoyed playing Juliet in our first theatre performance however, I've seen my acting skills develop since and I wish I could perform it again but with the things I have learnt since then I feel it would be a better performance. I am excited for our final production as I want to play a complete different character and hopefully with all the knowledge I have gained this year I am able to give my best performance yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment