WHO IS STANISLAVSKI?

Name: Constanin Stanislavski

Date of Birth: 17-1-1863

Date of Death: 7-8-1938 (aged 75)

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia

Occupation: Theorist, Director, Actor

Memorable work:  An actor's work, My life in art

Other:

*to be added throughout the weeks*

Workshop 4

What was my experience in participating in the workshop, what characters did I try, why?

I loved the workshop experience, it was really interesting seeing everyone in my class try for different roles and seeing what they were capable of. I tried only for the character of Danny, I chose this character because I thought it was well suited to my academically ambitious personality. Originally having wanted to play Leah, and reading through the play I thought Danny would fit me better.


What was my experience of observing the workshop, who was I most impressed by and why?

My experience of observing the workshop was amazing, like I mentioned it was amazing to see how capable my class were. The people that impressed me most would have to be Daniel and Elouise. 
Elouise's memorization skills were amazing, and considering her dedication to the role learning the entire monologue and staging it before even knowing whether she would be cast.
Daniel played both parts he auditioned for (Brian and Adam) beautifully and managed to adapt himself to either role in a very natural way.

Workshop 3

Why did we want to create truth on stage?
To portray a more naturalistic form of acting


We started playing a game called- 'I don't believe you'
In this game, certain people had been given an event that had just happened or is happened and they had to play their response as naturally as possible.


Why did we play this game?
To find out the 'truth' within our acting and be able to use it in actual pieces. So we could resist over acting and exaggeration.

What did I learn from watching it?
From the observations I made, it isn't easy not to over act and try to be natural on stage.



When TJ had been part of the game, he was having to show how he would naturally respond to finding everything in his room was missing/stolen.



What situation did they enter the room in?
He entered in a very neutral, calm manor.

How were they able to show truth?
They thought about how they would personally react to the situation.

What did they change everytime they entered the room?
The different ways they could have reacted to the stimulus.

Were they successful in creating a truthful performance?
I think they were, because knowing the person's personality it's more imaginable than an under acting performance that could have been given. Thinking about TJ's personality being big and dramatic it all made sense for his naturalistic performance to be over the top.


After the break, we explored breaking bad news using using non-verbal communication.


What is non-verbal communication?
Non verbal communication is being able to show or say something without using words or sound, just body language and facial expressions.


What scene did I create and who did I work with?
I worked with Elouise, and the scene we created involved a fairly happy person being eventually approached by someone else and immediately being able to tell what was going on-my character was in pieces and we both sat against the wall awkwardly towards the end.


How did we make sure our scenes were truthful?
By completely staying in character all the way through and have it planned, considering our natural responses to bad news as well.

What other pair did I think were successful and why?
I thought Ursula and Tyler's group was very successful because they did something different to the rest of us.

carrying on from lesson two...PART THREE AND FOUR

TASK THREE


What is a backstory?

Whatever the character is, there is always something that happens before they go on set, we needed to think about their backstory, what is going on in their lives perhaps? Family life, the way they think, act, why?



Why is it important for an actor to know their characters backstory?


It is important to know your characters backstory because then it is easier to play them in a more naturalistic way and be able to connect with them knowing what they may be thinking and what may have happened before hand.



What did you create as a snapshot of your character’s world? Describe what you did and link you choices to the play.


My character was Adam, as a snapshot of his life we portrayed his character as very disturbed. He has a difficult family life, having an abusive step-father, a vulnerable mother and sisters who made his life hell. Adam had voices in his head controlling him, possibly a mental illness and no real friends. We made these choices as perhaps a link and indication to the play where Adam does the barbaric things he is told but other characters in the play in a desperate attempt for real friends.




What did another group create? Was it effective? Why?


Other groups consisted of: Brian, Leah and Phil.
They created pieces quite different from ours, whereas we thought more to what 'could have been', the other characters related more to what we knew and assumed from the script. The other pieces were very effective because we were able to immediately understand which character it was and the link to the way they acted during their part in the play.






TASK FOUR


Are we a product of our environment?
yes or no...


I believe that both are the answer to that, we are a product of what we chose to be a product of, it's also a part of our life influences and what we chose to be a part of. Though our surroundings can make a big impact on that decision for us.

what is Leah thinking?

Lesson Two

Task One

During Lesson Two, in our groups of five we put together a five minute version of 'D.N.A'.

• How did we do this?

We highlighted the key points of the play, being: Adam's death; The framing of the postman; Adam coming back to life and The friends coming apart. Put them together, in less than a minute.

• How did it help me?

It gave me a clearer understanding of the play and how other groups interpreted it and the characters.

• What did I notice about all the pieces that were created, were there moments that were the same?

All the groups found that the important parts they highlighted were about the same, we all realised the important parts.




We discussed the role of the postman - a character that is never seen and doesn’t speak.

• What is the importance of this character of the play?

This character has a rather large part in the play which is very interesting considering, he doesn't speak and we don't see him at all. A lot of it revolves around the postman, because he is who the main characters are attempting frame for Adams murder. According to them, the postman is not real and just a figment of their imaginations, but when they find him they decide to use him for D.N.A which ends up putting him in the place of the murder. So this innocent character who's not even meant to be real becomes wrongly imprisoned for something he had nothing to do with.




Task Two


During our lessons we made 4 very big 'ROLL-ON-THE-WALLS- for the characters Leah, Phil, Brian and Adam.

Our group had Adam.

• Why did we create these?

We created these to get to know our characters a little bit better, to be able to describe what they were feeling and what they portrayed.

• Did we find out anything new about the characters our group was working on?

Our group thought very deeply looking into the language Adam used in the script and thinking about maybe his background and family life. We discovered that Adam maybe had Schizophrenia and had 'imaginary friends' controlling him. His sisters made his life no easier and he was terrified of his abusive step-father. All Adam wanted to do was fit in and have real friends and he would have done anything to fit in.

: http://year10actingup.blogspot.co.uk/
On the last post of this blog, you will find our role on the wall exercise, look for Adam!

first piece of homework!

It's Friday November the 9th and I have received my first piece of Theatre homework for term two! 

Here's a few questions I have been asked...

1. What is my first response to reading the play? Do I like it? I need to discuss my response to the characters and the plot.
2. What are the themes of the text?
3. What am I most looking forward to during this project?
4. What do I think the challenges will be of this project?

And my answers are...

1. My first response to the play is that I think it's very cleverly written, especially as it is within our age group and it actually is people our age playing the characters it makes it a lot easier to adapt to. The plot is very interesting and the way it is written does make you consider "yes, it actually is how teenagers these days talk?!" so it can look very difficult to read and speak if doing it for the first time. The plot is very unexpected in certain parts of the play; for an example-you wouldn't expect somebody that's meant to be dead to end up living alive in a bush, living off live organisms! When it comes to the characters, every individual is very different and its easy to understand what type of person they are within the first few lines, so it's quite big for introduction! I think that after reading it through once I do like the play and I will look forward to the next few weeks of exploring and rehearsing it further!
2. From reading the text once, I would say the themes are various different things considering every aspect of the play. At some points bullying is very obvious, there's also cruelty when we consider Adam's part in the story, there's self and group identity as well, where they would talk about "them" in school and how Adam was trying to be one of their group. Though the core theme I would say is responsibility because they had a lot considering what they were carrying about a death and having to cover it up-the responsibility of not telling anyone.
3. What I'm most looking forward to during this project will most likely have to be the script reading part. I'm so used to improvising and doing things myself or in a group I rarely get the opportunity to work from somebody else's point of view. I think I am fairly good at sight reading so I should find it quite simple though I would like to get to know my character, be able to explore him/her in depth, adapt to what they already are as well as gradually make them my own!
4. The challenges of this project will probably be the fact that I will be sharing a character with a few people so I will have to adapt to their versions as well as explain my ideas to them.

George and I irritatingly singing this throughout theatre-ICT.

Super excited for the show!

introduction to my blog

It's Thursday November 8th, and today was our very first theatre lesson of term two.
As an introduction to my blog I would like to mention the play we will be performing on Thursday February 13th 2013, which we will be assessed on.

It is called DNA by Dennis Kelly.

Over the next few weeks I will be adding to this blog, completing tasks and using it also as a lesson activity diary (project log).

I may also add small bits and bobs I find out about the play itself as an inspiration to my performance and fellow bloggers for any support or help they may want from viewing my blog.

I'll keep you updated!

Alex