11/09/14

The exercise at the start off the lesson called 'Clear the Space' helped us concentrate, use space well and  tests our listening skills.  Actors need to do a physical warm up so they're stress free and their muscles will be more relaxed in order to assist them to portray their characters and focus better.After the warm up i felt calm and ready to work I released all the tension out of my body and it was easier to make movement.

Warming up your voice as an actor is really important because obviously acting includes speaking and articulation and making sure there's no tension in your jaw or you're not struggling to move your mouth so warming up your voice makes you articulate better and project more. After the exercise my voice felt clear and there was no tension in my jaws and I felt that my voice could project easier.

 By status it shows  if they are high class which includes being confident and overpowering the low statuses, the low status have a low class so they're uncomfortable, intimidated, shy and quiet depending on the scene/ play.

 In the ‘Hello’ exercise, my pair and I decided to make B to have a high status rather than A. In this scene we thought about the setting and decided to make the scenario about character A knocking at character B’s house asking if they want to come out and play ‘’ Are you coming then?’’

 Some of the pairs made either A or B as a high status which was different to watch and see how they made it clear who was which status.

In the Callum and Sephy scene my pair and I made Callum, have the highest status, because we wanted to make it clear that Callum really didn't want to have anything to do with Sephy and that Sephy really mucked up everything in hers and Callum's relationship and now Sephy has the low status because she is now pleading for Callum to accept her apology we set the scene by Callum and Sephy sitting down on the beach in silence and Callum looking at Sephy and then their eyes lock together then Callum looks away. 

 My character as Sephy had the aim of getting Callum back and wanting the relationship they had before to continue, before Sephy called him a 'blanker' in front of everyone which is in another scene, and making him realise that it was a mistake and she wasn't referring to him. This helped me play the character successfully because I knew in this scene that Sephy would be playing apologetic towards Callum without trying to start an argument. 

 During the pair performance's I wrote notes on two of all the performances I watched which was-

Sarah and Alex's performance :

Different types of tones were used throughout the performance

used the space well

good characterisation, overall was a really good scene

They could of improved by Callum (Sarah) not already being off stage in the middle of Sephy (Alex) talking when the scene wasn't finished and Callum had more to say.

Benji and Rosebee's performance:

climax/ tension was built up when Benji and Rosebee stood up

as Rosebee was playing Sephy, her emotion changed at the end and made it seem like she has actually realised what she has done and the effect it had made on Callum

They used the space very well

They could improve by, using the pauses when needed instead of rushing.

In the session I developed to use voice more and to use different types of tones and I learnt more on proxemics and imagination, so getting a dialogue but having to set the scene thinking about where I am, who's around me, if I'm sitting or standing etc

Themes of the play.

I did research on the play and found a summary about it:

A Book of Love

‘Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make out time and our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope.’

‘Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone.’

‘Radical superiority is a mere pigment of the imagination.’

Sephy is a Cross – a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a nought – a ‘colourless’ member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses.

The two have been friends since early childhood. But that’s as far as it can go. Until the first steps are taken towards more social equality and a limited number of Noughts are allowed into Cross schools… Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity by Noughts, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum – a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger.