Chris Blackshaw

Actor

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

TV and Film Blog 2.

This week I independently watched clips from Peep Show to understand the acting techniques of acting straight to camera. I specifically watched clips from this show as to the best of my knowledge there is no other show like this one on TV that films people looking directly into camera but still manages to keep the show naturalistic. The camera angles were very few, it seemed as though the main ones used were the side on view of characters or the camera looking directly at someone as they looked directly down the lens. The latter was the more predominant angle used. The sound was clear and crisp and was combined with background noises to make the situations being shown in the scenes more realistic. The lighting throughout was artificial but seemed natural to the environment as the scenes I watched were all interior shots which would realistically be lighted with artificial light. The costumes represented that of today’s society and did not have any specific job apart from keeping the scene looking realistic through using naturalistic clothing. The location was the interior of a house which also reflected realism within the scene as the house used was an average person’s house laid out and furnished in a way that the average house would be so that the audience could relate further to the scene in question. The acting in the scenes I watched was extremely naturalistic but also comedic. The naturalism came between the conversations between characters which then became slightly un-natural when you could see the character was being pensive and not talking yet there voice was still overlaid on top of the picture in the scene. However, although this element mentioned seemed un-natural, it did not draw away from the overall scene feeling natural. The naturalistic way the actors performed down the camera as if talking to one and other never drew away from the naturalism either but enhanced it as it made me as the audience feel as though I was a bigger part of the show. The overall genre of Peep Show is comedy, however as it is so naturalistic and almost interview like, it appears to seem more like a comedy/docu-soap. The techniques used by the actors in the scenes from Peep Show reflected that of naturalism but used in a surreal portrayal. It was naturalistic because of the themes in the scene and the way it was set out, but the way it was presented was surreal as the actors were looking directly down the lens of the camera addressing the other actors in a documentary like way yet the scene of show in general is not nor does not reflect a documentary. As the camera was so close up to the actors’ faces, they needed to be highly aware of what facial expressions they would be using as the camera magnifies everything therefore any facial expressions would be magnified. There were always subtle expressions within the scenes but these were never over exaggerated which meant that they always seemed naturalistic and they never drew away from the action in the scene and did not distract the audience’s attention.  

 The techniques we learnt this week were acting directly to camera and performing a script from sight, both in a naturalistic style. The main technique I used today was naturalistic acting as both of the characters I played in today’s lesson were naturalistic therefore I had to reflect upon Stanislavski techniques to bring out the realistic format with my acting, especially for the sight-read duologue which was quite poignant as it was discussing troubles in family life including death and desertion, therefore to do this scene I had to reflect upon a sad time in my life to portray realistic emotions. When I worked on the monologue directly to camera I needed to naturalistically portray my character yet create comedy so I used similar techniques to those used in peep show by using how I say things and react to what I am saying to create comedy whilst saying things in a fairly serious and truthful way to keep up the naturalism in my acting. We were given the sight-reading script to briefly look over last week but we filmed it this week, over the course of time between the two sessions I tried not to look at this script as it was purely a sight-reading test. At the start of today’s lesson we were given a brief period of time to look over the duologue sight-reading script and we were given an exercise to complete in order to work on our reaction techniques. We were asked to individually read every line in the duologue to our partner so that they could naturalistically react to everything being said in order to use these reactions in the real sight-reading test. Sight-reading a script is a technique in itself that we were able to accomplish today as it is sometimes quite difficult to sight-read and be able to portray a believable character at the same time as thinking about what the next line is. These techniques that we learnt today would be useful to retain for future TV and film acting as there is a high possibility that as actors we may have to read a piece of script from sight for an audition to camera. Also, performing directly to camera can sometimes be quite off putting, however, by having practice at this style of acting it will make us more confident in performing to camera.

 Today we continued to work on the sight-reading duologue as well as working on the naturalistic monologue directly to camera. I approached the duologue by not attempting to look at it over the course of the week up to this lesson to make it a fair sight-reading test to camera and to test and improve my sight-reading abilities, especially when under pressure performing with somebody else to camera. I approached the independent monologue by looking at Peep Show, a TV show where the actors perform naturalistically directly to camera whilst still creating comedy as this is the effect I wanted to give. In the duologue, I approached my character by reflecting upon a time where I was fairly sad as this monologue is quite poignant as it reflects death and desertion which creates pensiveness and anger within the characters. To keep this duologue especially naturalistic, I kept my natural accent so that the sight-read words flowed better. In the monologue I performed I initially decided to use a Cockney accent as I thought a 17year old Cockney kid talking about the official secrets act and killing people as though he is a spy would be quite comical. To create further comedy within the monologue I decided to say the whole monologue in a blasé style, even the section when I talk about killing people. The final line I say in the monologue is “oh and I can cook, any questions”, I say this line in a more surprised way as if this is more interesting and important than me saying I have killed people which therefore creates further comedy. I also wanted to make the way my character presented himself very nonchalant to create comedic elements which is why I was sat in a very informal way slouched over a seat not taking much interest in what I am saying apart from when I inform the camera that I can cook. My thoughts on the duologue scene reflected sadness as it is about two young people who seem to have had a difficult childhood with my character, Mike, having one of his parents dying and the other character having one of her parents appear to desert her. As mentioned, I wanted to produce poignancy to this scene and make it appear fairly awkward as the tension builds up between the characters. I wanted to make it naturalistic by showing that my character did not really know how to react to the situation he was being given therefore he was trying every possible outcome to get a response out of the other character in the scene which did not work and just made the scene more awkward up until the point he tries to compare his life to the other character’s life which encourages an argument. I wanted to show a contrasting them in my monologue directly to camera as I could have played this character in quite a serious way as I am discussing taking people’s lives and the official secrets act, but looking deeper into the scene, as the person in question is only 17 these are very unrealistic that he has done. For that reason I turned it into a comedy type scene inspired by the acting in Peep Show. To make it naturalistic, I did not address all of my lines directly to camera as this may not have worked as well as this technique works in Peep Show, so to further add to the blasé style of my character, I looked around the room uninterested until turning to look at the camera at the end of the speech to exclaim proudly that I can cook. The issues that were looked at in the duologue were death and desertion as mentioned previously. Me and Lydia reflected these issues in our duologue by making it quite poignant and reflective but at the same time awkward. We did this to show a naturalistic element to how a scenario like this would have played out in real life by building up the conversation as though no one knew what to reply to each other as though there was something causing tension, which is eventually brought up by my character when he tries to compare his situation of his parent dying to his opposites situation of her parent leaving. To make this scene more naturalistic, we both reflected upon times that we personally felt the emotions that we wanted to portray within our scenes to make our performance more realistic and engaging. In my independent monologue, the issue I felt overpowered everything was lies but at the same time murder and espionage. The fact my character claims he has killed people in different countries and is bound by the official secrets act would suggest he is of high importance and could most likely be an MI6 representative which would mean this monologue would have an underlying serious tone to it. However, at the very start of this monologue we discover that this person is only 17 and has only recently passed his driving test which would suggest he is lying to whoever he is addressing. For that reason I decided to treat this issue as comedy and play off it to create a contrasting performance to the duologue. This is why I decided to speak the whole monologue in such a naturalistic, calm and blasé way because what I was saying was extremely serious however, I said it as though I did not really care which made this monologue funny.

 The main strength I had was the ability to take on two completely different characters in two completely different scenarios with two completely different sets of emotions. Even though this appeared a challenge to do, I feel I portrayed both characters to a high and believable standard which reflected two similar genres in two completely different ways. My ability to naturally take on different accents is good and enables me to play with my characterisation of different roles which also gives a definitive contrast to the characters I play. Being able to learn libretto quickly is another string point of mine which enables me to take on multiple scripts at the same time. I took on the sight-reading challenge well and I feel I was able to produce a good duologue with Lydia that was believable and naturalistic throughout whilst still possessing dynamics in the acting. This week the main weakness I had was in the sight-reading monologue as although I took on this challenge well and performed the duologue to what I thought was a good standard, I felt slightly distracted by having the sheet of paper to read from constantly next to me and at one point I got tongue-tied with a line because I knew what the line was in my head but I briefly looked at a completely different line on the sight-reading sheet which confused me slightly. I feel I covered up this mishap well though. In the sight-reading monologue I feel we could have added in more gestures and reactions to make the scene more interesting as because we were reading from a script, it was harder to add in these gestures when performing. I also feel that I could have made more of my blasé gestures and facial expressions in my independent monologue to create further comedic effect, however, I did receive the response I was trying to achieve from my audience throughout the way I initially performed the scene. The scenes I enjoyed the most were Amy’s duologue, Chantelle’s monologue and Kerry’s monologue as they were three contrasting pieces. Amy’s acting in her duologue was exceptionally good and felt naturalistic as it seemed just like I was looking into an everyday conversation that Amy was having with someone as she kept her natural tonality to her vocals. She performed this duologue in a completely different way to how me and Lydia performed ours as she used a more sarcastic and angered tone of voice to her opposite which worked just as well as the way me and Lydia interpreted our piece. Chantelle’s monologue was extremely good as it was extremely naturalistic and reflected her normal bubbly characteristics, I do however feel she could have shown slightly more contrast in her vocals as they were very similar all the way through. The gestures were sometimes a bit too exaggerated for camera acting as the camera magnifies everything, but these gestures would work exceptionally well in other types of acting. Kerry’s monologue was good as she said her libretto in such a blasé way too like I portrayed my monologue, although I think she could add further contrast to her vocals and facial expressions throughout her performance.  

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

TV and Film Blog 3.

Today I independently watched a clip from the film There Will Be Blood where the antagonist character is bullying and intimidating Eli who is a cowardly like character. The scene shows how the antagonist is telling Eli very forcefully that he owns all of the land and will drain it dry and will drink his milkshake which will ultimately leave him with very little money. The camera angles reflected that of a cinema type film as they changed quite a lot capturing all sides of the action which drew away from making the film seem too naturalistic. The sound quality was extremely good as I could easily hear different dynamics in the voices of the actors which created contrast in their characters and gave the characters more depth. The lighting did not look to be like studio lighting which added to the naturalism of the performance even though the camera angles reflected that of an action type film. The budget for this film appeared to be quite vast as the location, set and props in the scene I watched looked quite extravagant and of high value. The costumes also reflected the style of the characters and looked realistic and expensive which made the scene and overall film look more realistic in general. In terms of acting the most notable element for me was the contrast in the actors emotions for example the protagonist is portrayed as quite evil and sly up until the point he flies out into a rage ultimately killing his poor snivelling victim, Eli, who appears to not be able to do anything to stop his misfortune and his brutal ending. The emotion Eli holds throughout is notable as this must have required high levels of commitment to consistently hold this emotionally energy. In my opinion the genre of this scene was horror as the sly and vindictive antagonist ultimately kills Eli as his rage slowly builds further until his unhinged character kills Eli with fatal blows to the head and has no remorse for doing this. The techniques that these actors use in terms of acting are skills and techniques relating back to those of the practitioner Stanislavski where actors delve deep into the role they are playing in order to understand their given circumstance, how their character thinks, feels and acts around certain people, and how their character would act and react emotionally through using emotion memory techniques to fully immerse themselves in the role they are playing. Although this scene is fairly realistic and naturalistic, there is a slight element of surreal acting as the movements portrayed by the antagonist are quite over the top which is magnified further on camera, this type of acting does however make his character seem more unhinged and slightly psychopathic.

 As the scene I viewed was the exact scene I was taking my monologue from, I had to put myself in the shoes of the antagonist and take on the same acting techniques he used for this scene. I had to prepare myself emotionally to perform this scene as I have to show an emotional build-up of rage up until the point where I am unhinged enough to want to kill. I had to emotionally and physically put myself into a time where I recall being exceptionally angry so that I could truly feel this emotion to make it as believable as possible. Another technique I looked at was acting to camera, I firstly had to act as if the camera was not there so that it looked as though the camera was looking into the action, and then I had to direct my entire speech down the lens of the camera as if the camera was Eli, I had to mainly work on my facial expressions when doing this as this was the element of my acting being focussed on the most. In TV and film acting we could use these techniques to learn to hit the mark when performing so that we get good continuity when filming, and from acting straight down the camera lens it prepares us for the possibility of having to act for TV documentary programmes and other presenting type features.

 The scene I worked on today as mentioned is the ‘milkshake scene’ from There Will Be Blood where the antagonist is threatening the character Eli by stating he will drain his land dry and drink his milkshake. The main element of this I had to focus on was the line learning as there was a vast amount of lines to become familiar with and many of them did not seem to follow on well which made them harder to learn and remember. I also needed to have someone to bounce off when using my emotional portrayal of my character as I found it difficult to be angry towards nothing and it would have looked odd on camera to not be directing this monologue I chose at another character. I approached this character by looking through my monologue and deciding where the emotional changes would occur and how I would show this change in my character. I also began be experimenting with different ways of portraying my character for example; I firstly started off by mostly shouting at Eli which I found showed little contrast. I then went on to look at playing my character in a slightly more sinister style, to do this I reflected upon the techniques used in the film The Godfather by actors such as Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. I finally decided to play my character as a sinister vindictive man who is quite sarcastic and influential with his intimidation techniques. Once I had reached a good starting point with my vocals I looked at where I would change my emotion. I decided that I would start fairly soft and sinister then build up getting louder and more sinister and sarcastic up until the line where Eli interjects saying to my character “don’t bully me Daniel”. After this line is said by Eli I then completely change and become unhinged and psychopathic and grab Eli by the throat and choke him to death. I have decided that asphyxiation is the best option as it is not doable to bludgeon Eli to death with a bowling pin like in the film as we do not have the resources. My initial thoughts on this scene and my reason for choosing this scene in general is because it has a complete contrast to all of my other monologues and scenes I have worked on over the course of this project. By taking on this role I am also able to show my versatility as an actor. I liked this scene initially too as it reflects another character I play in another performance unit and I felt by working on this monologue it would help me generate ideas for my further performance roles in the future where I play similar characters. The main issue this scene portrays is the subject of murder and the issues surrounding power and how power can create this false sense of invincibility. This is because the character I play, Daniel, is an evil manipulative person who believes that because he has almost endless amounts of money, he can get away with doing anything to anyone, and that he can even justifiably commit murder.

 The main strength I felt I possessed throughout performing this monologue was the fact I was able to take on such a strong and powerful character after having very little experience of playing a character like this that is evil and vindictive and portray to a good standard. I found that another strength I had was being able to show the emotional arch of my character by starting fairly calm and subtle before progressing to being more sarcastic and threatening to then come to finally shouting, strangling and killing defenceless Eli. When filming this scene I had to perform one take towards Eli, who I would ultimately kill, and another take directly into the lens of the camera. I managed to work well switching between these two takes and looking directly down the camera lens did not put me off and I felt I kept character well whilst doing this and kept a good continuity to how I performed in the first take with regards to my emotional journey and vocal dynamics. The main weakness I had during this monologue was the fact that I struggled to learn it as the libretto was fairly mismatched and did not seem to follow on from the previous line which portrayed the unhinged style of my character. I also found that when it came to performing the monologue, it was hard to remember the order of the lines during the two takes which distracted me slightly. When I was aiming my dialogue directly down the camera lens I felt I could have done slightly more with my facial expressions to show my emotional journey physically as well as verbally. To have improved upon these weaker areas of my performance, I feel more time practicing my monologue with Joe as Eli would have been beneficial as it was fairly difficult rehearsing without having another actor responding to the libretto being spoken. As I worked briefly with Joe when he played Eli in my monologue, I watched his monologue quite a few times. I enjoyed the naturalistic and very realistic way that he portrayed his character as the way he meandered across the space seemed appropriate for somebody addressing an audience at a conference type event. His straight to the point attitude also reflected this setting too. The American accent he is using is developing well and with a little more practice will be good. For Joe to improve his monologue he needs to be able to trust himself and have more confidence that he knows his lines and not worry about what he is saying because his lines are mostly correct. His American accent could do with slightly more practice but it is getting there. Finally I feel he needs to use a real microphone as a prop instead of using a piece of metal to represent a microphone as this will add to the realism of what he is acting out.  

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

TV and Film Blog 4.

Today we watched a scene from the film ‘naked’ by Mike Leigh, the interesting element of this film is that is was mostly improvised. Mike Leigh is quite big on ‘kitchen sink’ drama, which is gritty and naturalistic. To reflect this naturalism throughout his performances, not only do his actors naturalistically improvise, the medium of naturalistic camera angles are used to reflect this too. The two camera angles I noticed with the scene we watch were stationary front facing and close-up stationary and close-up moving. The sound was realistic and was neither over powering nor under powering and realistic city sound effects were used to set the scene. The city location is also naturalistic as this film is set in London so using London as a filming location adds to the realism of the film. The lighting is also very naturalistic as there seems to be very little use of artificial light specifically used for films as it is not noticeable within the film. The costume was also naturalistic and realistic which also made the film both believable and relatable to the audience. The most notable element of the acting within this film that I realised is the professionalism and characterisation of both actors within the scene. This is because the majority of this film, including this scene, is improvised so for the actors to stay in character as well as they did would have taken extremely high levels of professionalism and good technique skills in order to bounce f each other as actors to create comedy. Another notable element that adds to the characterisation is the accent used by the Scottish character, as he was able to keep up this accent consistently and fluidly throughout his performance which made his acting believable. Finally, the Scottish character added an idiosyncrasy into his performance by maintaining a twitch in his neck which built a further picture around what his character is like and gives the character more of a background. As mentioned, the scene we watched reflects the style of a ‘kitchen sink drama’ as the main element of a ‘kitchen sink drama’ consists of a naturalistic documentary-like gritty drama which usually has the character of an angry young man as the leading role in the production. The two main skills used by the actors within this film are naturalistic performance style qualities and improvisation skills, because as mentioned above, this film is entirely naturalistic and is meant to reflect real life and is majorly improvised to create a gritty and different style of drama. The camera techniques used by the actors in this film include; acting for close-ups which requires very minimal to no movement so that the gestures and expressions do not overpower and take the focus off the main body of the scene, acting for a wide angle which requires knowing where and when to hit the marks for certain parts of the filming so that the camera is always picking up the correct action at the correct moment, knowing circles of attention enables the film actor to know firstly where the camera is focussing which then enables them to work out where to focus their gaze in various shots in the scene, and finally continuity is a skill that the actors require so that they are able to recreate the scene multiple times if retakes are necessary although as this film is improvised this may not have been the case.        

 In today’s lesson we did not cover any new techniques but instead reflected upon the techniques we had already covered in previous lessons. As we were rehearsing both the ‘Eastenders’ script and the ‘This is England’ script the techniques we reflected upon in today’s lesson included; sight reading and acting out a script from memory which can aid us in TV and film acting as in many TV and film auditions you will be simply given a script on the day to sight red to showcase this ability and the art of being able to remember movement and blocking which the actor is able to repeatedly duplicate showcases another skill for TV and film acting, especially when retakes of scenes are involved. We had to constantly hit the marks in our filming session which gives us a taster as to what we would need to do in a professional filming environment and how we would go about achieving the goal of hitting the marks. In relation to the scene we viewed today from Mike Leigh’s film, our script from this is England is very similar due to the fact it is a gritty ‘kitchen sink’ like drama where camera angles are very simple to add to that element of realism. The Eastenders script is also very alike to this film we regards to the simple camera angle that just focusses on the family around the table at breakfast to keep the action looking realistic.

 The two scenes we worked on today were the scenes from the film ‘This is England’ and the TV soap ‘Eastenders’. We rehearsed both scenes briefly before then performing the ‘Eastenders’ scene to camera. Both scenes are naturalistic pieces therefore I decided to approach both of my characters in a toned down acting style up until the point I felt like I was not even acting, this is because over-theatrical and over the top gestures become magnified on camera so any movement, even the most minimal, would be enhanced by the camera. The two scenes in question are set in small spaces, in our case around a table, and the camera only films from one angle which keeps up the naturalism throughout this scene as too many camera angles make a scene look too staged and fake. In the Eastenders scene that we filmed today, we had to use a movement recall skills to keep up continuity within filming to allow for any mistakes happening whch would therefore allow us to retake the scene from where we stopped. In both of the scenes we rehearsed today I play characters that are complete opposites. In the Eastenders scene I am playing the role of a father who is having an affair with another woman whilst trying to hide this fact from his wife and children as he tries to make up excuses why he cannot be with his wife on Valentines night. And in This is England I play the character of a young boy around the age of 12, I have increased the age of this character slightly though to account for my playing age as an actor, I am still playing this character of a younger age to my own though to reflect immaturity after what he has allowed his friends to do to him. As mentioned, I used very little gestures in the two scenes, however, in the This is England scene I swapped my posture every few lines to reflect my immaturity. For example; crossing my arms, looking around as if to ignore what is happening, putting my hands in my pockets, playing with my clothes and just generally sulking and doing anything to avoid the embarrassing situation his mother has put him in. My thoughts of the scenes initially from both viewing them online and reading the libretto inspired me to perform them in the way I did. I wanted to create more of a contrast of acting in the This is England scene that we did compared to the original as I personally found the original boring and monotone which to me was not naturalistic but just regurgitated lines that seemed bland compared to the other scenes in this film. The original Eastenders scene however was much more naturalistic and enjoyable to watch therefore I took a lot of the ideas used in this scene and used them within my scene. The main issue that we were looking at within the scene from This is England was peer pressure as my character had quite obviously been peer pressured into wearing specific clothes and cutting his hair in a specific way by people he refers to as friends. In the Eastenders scene we were looking at the issue of relationships breaking down as the character I played was secretly having an affair behind his wife’s back.

 My strengths within the scenes that we worked on today vary as I believe I am a versatile actor which I also count as one of my strengths. I feel I am versatile because I am able to take two contrasting roles within the two scenes we worked on today and play them in two completely different ways yet still achieve my goal of performing them in the way I want them to be performed. I am also good at naturalistic acting and the techniques within this style of acting such as emotion memory where I recall a time that I felt how my character within the scene feels and I reflect upon the emotions I felt at that moment in time in order to recall them for the portrayal of the character in the scene. Using emotion memory also aids me to make a more naturalistic and believable character whilst also suppressing larger gestures which I might usually be inclined to perform with. I also have good movement memory as I am able to remember my movements and postures within scenes to keep up the continuity therefore if a take was to go wrong the camera could pick up from where the scene cut. My weaknesses in this week’s session were quite minimal as I felt I worked well today in the scenes, the main issue with my group is that because we had multiple actors playing one role, we had to swap the blocking of the scene round sometimes which could easily have caused confusion with actors in regards to the continuity of scenes. I also felt that although I was being naturalistic in the way I was performing, I needed to supress the movement of my arms when they were hanging loose at the side of me during the rehearsal of the This is England scene. Referring back to the first weakness, I also feel that we had the same issue in the This is England scene as the blocking was different for each character that changed which made it difficult to remember the continuity at some points. Another weakness of mine is that I was using my script to sight read off, this was a hindrance to me as it got in the way of props during the Eastenders scene and it also put me off slightly as I felt I knew my lines but just had my script there as a security net like everybody else. To improve upon all of these weaknesses it would have been beneficial, and still could be beneficial for the This is England scene, to rehearse as a group independently to ensure that we are sure of all our lines and to ensure that the blocking in the scenes is kept the same for each character swap to ensure we have continuity within our performance. I was watching the other group rehearsing the This is England script and I liked how they had set the scene as two tables adjacent to a wall to create the effect of a dingy northern café. I also liked it how the actors in the scene kept their original northern accents which I feel added to the naturalism of the scene. The acting was very minimalistic and relaxed which reflected and enhanced the naturalism of the scene. The biggest improvement that the group and the actors in general could make is to improve their focus as there were often lengthy periods of time where little work or goals were achieved.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Made in Dagenham Blog 4.

This week was the technical rehearsal and performance week at the theatre therefore there was a big difference as to how the rehearsals ran. The first job was to unload the gauzes and scenic cloths that had arrived on the lorry containing all of the set and props for the show. We needed to do this so that we were able to lower the fly-in bars down to a clear stage, we then put all of the cloths and pieces of set that fly-in onto the bars to be raised up above the stage and out of the way. The next task was to hang the lights onto the lighting bars that our technician had brought with him so that he could imminently begin programming in the lighting cues for the show. The next task was to unload all of the set off the lorry and begin piecing it together. Whilst doing this, we discovered we had many different items that we did not realise would arrive with the set therefore we had to decide what to leave on the lorry and what to take with us. The next issue we had to overcome was trying to fit all of the remaining set onto the stage after piecing everything together. After a short amount of time, we realised that a small scale theatre such as the one we were performing in would not be at all big enough to use all of the set. A managerial decision was made about which pieces of set to scrap and which could be kept. After making this decision, any remaining pieces of set that were not being used and were cluttering up the wings and the crossover of the theatre were put onto another van and were taken to be stored at college. After the set was completed we had to get our costumes and makeup prepared ready for the technical run of the show. This involved the use of microphones, lighting and rehearsed scene transitions. The next issue we faced was that because some of the set had been cut, people were no longer required to move specific props or set. Another issue was that the stage was not big enough to fit both the trucks and the fly-in cloths onto the stage at the same time in scenes such as Payday. Unfortunately due to all the problems we had to overcome, we did not manage a full technical run before the show.

 Throughout the show days I personally felt I did my best to make sure the show ran as smoothly as it could. I remembered all of my lines, blocking and choreography which helped to create a believable character which the audience enjoyed and reacted to well. Although there were some technical glitches such as long blackouts whilst awkward pieces of set were manoeuvred onto the stage, the acting and performance overall was of an extremely high standard. Throughout all of the shows I was ensuring that I was completing regular props checks for both myself and other members of the cast. I always ensured that my black folder was obtained from Sam ready for the second act, the scene was set ready for the opening of the second act, my golf club was in place for Everybody Out, and the telephone I used in Everybody Out was preset ready for Amy to use during Storm Clouds in act two. I always made sure everyone was ready to sing from offstage at any necessary moments as well as ensuring people such as Luke and Morgan did not miss their cues and knew where they were going for their scenes as they were relatively new to the cast. I also had to ensure that I was ready to launch the dead pigeon onto the stage at a specific moment during the dialogue to create comedy. My other job at the theatre was to ensure that all of the microphones were given out to the correct people and to also ensure that they knew of any microphone changes that they had to undertake.

After each show, I made sure that all of my costumes were neatly hung up, my shoes were neatly stored and my props were put in a safe place in preparation for the remaining shows. This also helped to keep the dressing room tidy which enabled people to access the room easily and safely and ensured that people were able to find anything they needed.

 Overall, the elements that went well during this week were the acting, singing and performance techniques in general as everyone performed to a high standard and did not forget any of their blocking, lines or movements which made the show run smoothly from a performers point of view. All of the cast worked with the set and the fly-in bars exceptionally well and were constantly aware of the dangers of the set which enabled them to carry out safe transitions of set and created a safe performance in general. Everyone was also sure of their cues therefore no cues were missed and also no props were forgotten as everyone carried out frequent props checks. Another element which made the show run smoothly was that everyone carried out their assigned technically jobs well and carried them out at a fast pace which meant very little time was wasted at the theatre.

 The main element of this week that I felt did not go well was the way some of the transitions were performed. Although the transitions were performed safely and to the best of the casts’ abilities, some of the transitions could not be done how we rehearsed as there was not enough room on the stage. Some of the lighting cues were incorrect as we had not had enough time to rehearse at the theatre. There were extremely lengthy blackouts which led to the musical director having to improvise music to fill the gaps to cover scene changes. These blackouts were lengthy because firstly, the props and set were too large and to heavy to manoeuvre onto the stage quickly and easily, and secondly, the stage manager did not have many cues written in his script to fly out cloths from the stage which held scenes back. Another issue was that on the matinee of the performance, all of the microphones cut out because the sound technician had not plugged all of the wires back in to an appliance which meant the microphones could not run correctly so the show was stopped and restarted. If we were given the chance to perform this show again and were given a bigger budget, it would be beneficial to have spent longer at the theatre running the performance to ensure that none of these issues happened in a real show as we would have discovered the issues early and we would have been able to rectify them.

 In the technical rehearsal we worked on all of the songs and dances in act one but because we ran out of time at the theatre, we only managed to rehearse Storm Clouds and the bows from act two before the show. The whole of act one went well and ran as smoothly as possible which enabled us to gather an understanding of how the act should run in the actual performance. Running through the routines in act one and the two songs in act two also meant that we were able to get used to performing on a raked stage. We were also given practice at turning the large trucks on the raked stage too which meant we were able to do this in a safe manner once it came to performing this in the actual show. The element that I felt did not go so well was that we ran out of time at the theatre and were therefore unable to complete a full run through which left large routines such as This is America and Cortina untouched and unrehearsed on stage before the show. If we were to perform this show again and we were given a bigger budget, like I have already mentioned, it would be beneficial to have spend more time rehearsing at the theatre itself to get a better understanding of how the set worked and how the transitions could have been done better to make them easier for the cast to carry out.  

 I have been constantly developing my character throughout the whole rehearsal and performance process as in my opinion I always put everything into my performance in rehearsals, although I feel I am able to put even more energy into my character when there is a theatre full of reacting audience members who believe your character and give you something to play off. Overall, I had discovered that I have had to make my character and the movements that I perform as my character even bigger and stronger as throughout the performance process as the scale of the audience grew larger, I have had to account for this fact in how I perform my character. Depending on where the audience are sat can change what part of the theatre the cast performs to. On the first two shows, there were very few people in the balcony which meant I performed more towards to stalls, however, on the finally show when the theatre seemed almost full, I had to ensure I was performing out to the whole of the theatre with over the top exaggerated gestures so that all of the audience could see. Vocally I changed my performance as just before the technical rehearsal, we were informed that we would not be using microphones for the dialogue in the show, only the singing. This meant that I had to work out how to project my voice yet still keep the sinister vocals which I had worked hard on creating. Luckily, a decision was made to use microphones for both the dialogue and the songs which therefore meant I could revert back to how I had practiced performing as my character.

 Overall my ideas for the performance as I have discussed in previous blogs mentioned rehearsing all of the transitions and scene changes at college so that when we came to the technical run at the theatre, we would be able to achieve a smooth run through of the show if everyone knew what they were doing when. I also mentioned ensuring that everyone was sure of their blocking so that they were able to perform safely around scene changes and fly-in bars when performing at the theatre. Lines, song lyrics and harmonies being tight was also on my agenda of ideas to create a good believable role and a good overall performance. Rehearsing in costume was also discussed so that by the time we come to working on the show at the theatre, everyone is completely sure of what costume to wear at what point. All of these pointers were achieved throughout the rehearsal process and technical rehearsal process which overall gave us a much smoother technical rehearsal than we could have had. However, we did struggle with some of the scene changes and transitions because the set that arrived was exceptionally big which meant moving it into place was a challenge at certain points within the show. Although this was quite a large issue, we all coped well with it and worked together to ensure that everything ran smoothly for the performances.

 Throughout this week during the technical rehearsal and the performances, I have used all of the techniques that were taught by Kerry in her technique classes. As mentioned in my previous blog, the techniques we have looked at with Kerry include accents, vocal control, given circumstance, and hot seating. As mentioned in my last blog different accents and dialects are constantly used by all of the characters throughout the whole performance. I personally begin the performance with an Essex/Cockney accent for the majority of the first act up until the point that I become the character Tooley who is an American manager of Ford. At this point I begin using a low pitched Boston accent to make my character sound nasty. I also use an RP accent when singing the harmonies to the song Always a Problem. The breathing technique exercises that I have developed help me understand when to pause for breath when saying my lines, and through the vocal exercises I have experimented different ways in which to say my lines to enhance the meanings of what I am saying. Given circumstance is another technique that we have covered and a technique which I use frequently during this performance. Throughout the performance to show the audience what my character has been doing previous to the scene beginning, I always give the audience small clues as to what my character was doing previous to the scene and what he is like as a person for example; I am midway through playing golf during my scene in Everybody Out which indicates to the audience that I enjoy playing golf in my spare time, during my second scene I walk forward into the action as if I have only just arrived to find out what is going on. During Storm Clouds I walk up the stairs and collect a clipboard ready to talk with Monty about his expense accounts, then just before my final solo in Storm Clouds I am walking up the stairs to the Prime Ministers office ready to speak to him imminently. In Viva Eastbourne I am stood with my jacket off and thrown over my shoulder to inform the audience that it is hot and I have been outside for quite a while. When I enter the stage to tear up Rita’s letter, it is obvious to the audience that I am not meant to be in that room and that I am deliberately scouting the place out and that my character finding Rita’s speech is purely coincidental. All of these given circumstances combined help the audience to build up a bigger picture of what my character is like and by giving my character hobbies and traits; it also makes him more believable to the audience. I use hot seating to help build upon the scenes that I am in, hot seating enables both myself and the members of the audience to read between the lines as to what my character thinks and feels. This also enables me to delve deeper into how my character would react to certain situations.

 After the technical rehearsal, even though we did not manage a complete run through of the show, we were informed that the run through of everything we were able to do ran exceptionally smoothly taking into consideration the setbacks we had to overcome such as the set being too large to use and the transitions and scene changes being awkward to undertake on such a small stage. We all agreed with this feedback and discussed small elements that we felt need to be improved and that we could work on for the performances. The following day before the show, the transitions that we struggled with were recreated so that the cast carrying out these transitions were able to practice them to make them as smooth as possible before the show. Although the transitions did not run entirely smoothly during the show, they ran exceptionally well for what the cast had to achieve in a small space of time in a small space.

  STRENGTHS

 Keeping Backstage Orderly: I was constantly checking that during every performance I knew my cues for everything and that everyone else knew their cues for everything too. I especially made sure that everyone was gathered around the microphones at the correct moments for singing offstage during certain songs and scene transitions. I also constantly checked that all of the props were in the correct places and were ready for each scene. I also made sure that Luke and Morgan were ready for all of their cues as they were brought into the production fairly late on so I took it upon me to ensure they had the correct props and knew when and where their entrances were, especially for the reporter scenes. I suggested that seats were took off certain sewing machines to make them easier to move around the stage as well as only having the Cortina backstage put up against the wings at the start of the second act to preserve room for other props in the first act. All of these elements put together helped the show to run smoothly.

 Props Checks: I constantly checked that all of my props were set in the correct places ready for me to use them in the scenes I was involved in. I also had to ensure that any of my props that were being used by another member of the cast came back to me in time for my scenes. This saved time and saved panic later on in the production as I always knew which props of mine were situated where at any given moment so that they were accessible and ready to use.

 Working With Transitions: Any transition that I was involved in was performed as smoothly as possible as we all communicated well with each other to move large pieces of set safely into place. I also ensured that all of my scenes took place in the correct place so that transitions were able to occur during my scene taking place. An example of this is the scene just after the song This is America where I intentionally bring the scene down stage right to allow the gauze to come in to conceal a scene change upstage.

  WEAKNESSES AND ACTION PLANS

 Transitions: Although the majority of the scene transitions ran exceptionally smoothly, there was always one scene transition that was never done correctly. This was the scene where The Letter takes place as Rita returns home to find Eddie has gone and has taken the kids with him. The issue was that the two trucks upstage that formed Rita and Eddie’s house were never pushed together to create the house for this scene which left a massive gap between the trucks upstage centre. I was not involved in this transition but each time I saw this transition happening incorrectly I tried to rectify it but there was never enough time.

 Technical Run Through: Although we managed a complete run through of act one at the technical rehearsal, we only managed to run two numbers from act two in this rehearsal. This meant that we were not able to rehearse some of the larger dance routines and the scenes in act two before the first show which left the second act to chance.

 Fly-In/Fly-Out Cues: All of the fly-in cues were marked in the stage manager’s script, however, very few fly-out cues were marked in his script which meant that at any moment I noticed something wrong regarding the fly cues, I was telling the stage manager what needed to fly out at what point to ensure we had a smooth rehearsal and show.

  Finally, to have improved all of these weaknesses, had we had more time and a bigger budget, we needed to have spent more time at the theatre rehearsing and preparing the technical side of the performance which would have meant many of the issues faced in the technical rehearsal and the shows could have easily been averted with practice.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Made in Dagenham Blog 3.

This week we were completing run-throughs of the entire performance to time the show and to constantly observe it to see which sections were in need of improvement. We focussed quite a lot of our attention on the scene transitions and the vocals and especially harmonies within songs. The main reason we focussed on scene transitions this week was to ensure that everyone knew what piece of set they were bringing on when and how it would enter and exit the stage to ensure that we get a smooth technical run at the theatre. We also focussed on the harmonies with myself providing the piano accompaniment and teaching within this section of the rehearsal as some of the harmonies over the rehearsal periods had become lost as little attention has been focused on the harmonies recently. I feel that the harmonies were lost because of people becoming complacent with the harmonies provided on the backing track, therefore today’s harmony session with the piano was beneficial. I through the choice of what songs to cover over to the other students as I felt that it would help them if they were to decide which songs need working on as this enables them to bring up specific areas or harmonies they struggle with which I can help them develop.  

 The acting and blocking of the scenes flowed well and there were good levels of energy from everyone which mean that the scenes became more realistic and engaging to watch. The only improvement that needs to be made is to ensure that the blocking of the scene is being performed on the correct section of the stage, this is because in the theatre, not only will the actors need to be aware of set, props and costume, they will also need to be aware of various cloths flying in to the stage which can not only cause injury but can completed change the scene if the actors are stood in the wrong place.

 For the next session, I personally need to remember to bring the scene after the song This is America downstage right so that the cast can preset the next scene behind my scene either behind a black gauze or in a dark area of the stage. I also need to keep continuously making my character bigger and stronger. As a group, everyone needs to work on the harmonies to all the songs that I covered over the course of this week so that for next rehearsal the harmonies are completely tight which should show a notable improvement in the performance, and especially work on the School Song and the two Union songs as these songs have been covered the least and need by far the most practice.

 As we have been doing run-throughs of the show throughout the whole of this week we have worked on all of the song and dance routines. I personally have taken every single song and every single harmony apart with everyone over the course of this week so that by next week all of the harmonies and songs should be tight and everyone should have had a chance to practice anything that they think needs to be worked on which therefore means everyone should be comfortable with what they are doing. Personally any routines I am involved in consist of me performing more physical movement style choreography than actually dance choreography, however, all of the routines I am involved in have been rehearsed multiple times this week to correct any issues within them and to bring them up to performance standard so that they are ready to be put on stage. As well as rehearsing songs and movement routines, I have also got to rehearse playing the songs on the piano for the performance so that I am able to rehearse harmonies and music in general with the cast so that they are used to performing without backing tracks. There are a couple of areas I struggle with in this book such as the penultimate key change in Always a Problem, the song Viva Eastbourne, and the tied quavers and semi-quavers in the middle of the song Nearly Had it All. I managed to improve Nearly Had it All by quickly going over it with Amy though.

 As mentioned, for the next session, all of the harmonies that I went over with everyone need to be tight and well improved. Any small changes to blocking or choreography need to be retained for the next rehearsal and I personally need to practice playing the previously mentioned songs on the piano that I struggle with.

 I have been developing my character in various ways over the lengthy rehearsal process and each day I find new ways to develop my character which helps to prevent my performance from going stale due to the same movements and blocking being used repeatedly. Physically, I constantly experiment with different movements that I can add into my performance to help build my character and to constantly find out what works and what does not work. I also experiment with how I perform my movements too by using contrasting dynamics such as making more threatening movements slow and smooth, and angered movements more sharp and fast to give a good contrast as to how my character acts. Vocally, I have been exploring and experimenting where and when I should alter the intonation, pace and volume of what I am saying. I have decided to slow a few of my lines down to make them funny and also threatening. For example when I say the line “we’re not here to drink tea”, I leave a slight pause before saying this line, I then approach Hopkins and say this line in a slow, low pitched and low volume manner to create comedy. However, in comparison to this, I use this same technique when I have ripped up Rita’s speech when saying my final line and this creates a totally different malicious outcome of how my character comes across. And again in comparison to this, when I am on the phone to Hopkins I use a more militant and strict tone of voice with a loud volume to create another different side to my character. Relating back to the first vocal idiosyncrasy that I use towards other characters, I also use this same method to be suggestive to characters such as Lisa when I ask her “are you a Swiss dish”.  

 The idea I have for my role is to make my character both funny, yet also villainous as not only is he the antagonist within the performance, he is also quite a comical character with some of the non-politically correct things he says and does. However, as he is the character who destroys Rita’s speech and tries to make it so that she does not have enough confidence to give her speech at the TUC conference, I need to overall make my character vindictive and spiteful and show to the audience that my character is willing to do whatever it takes and crush whoever stands in his way to achieve what he personally wants. For the overall performance, where the acting and storyline is concerned, I feel there needs to be consistently high levels of energy throughout the whole show with tension building up in every scene which final leads up to the end of each act. As I see it, the whole of the first act all revolves around the women revolting up until the point that they finally decide to go on strike. And the second act focuses on the relationships and friendships that are constantly being torn apart as Tooley tries to “bust” the strike. This act also focuses on the willpower of the female factory workers and Rita especially on the lead up to her getting ready to read her speech. The tension that has constantly build up throughout this act then reaches its final stage when Tooley enters and destroys Rita’s speech. But in the song Stand Up, when Rita delivers her speech, there is relief and joyous response from the audience as the women receive equal pay to the men.

 Throughout all of the sessions I reflect back upon the techniques we have developed in other sessions with Kerry such as dialect, vocal control, given circumstance, and hot seating. I use a different accent and dialect constantly through this performance, firstly I start off with an Essex accent for the majority of the first act up until I become Tooley and then I began using a low pitched Boston accent to make my character sound nasty. I also use an RP accent when singing the harmonies to the song Always a Problem. I use the skills learnt in the breathing exercises to help me understand when to pause for breath when saying my lines, and through the vocal exercises I have experimented different ways in which to say my lines to enhance the meanings of what I am saying. I use given circumstance all the time throughout my performance to show the audience what my character has been doing previous to the scene beginning. During my first scene I am midway through playing golf, during my second scene I walk forward into the action as if I have only just arrived to find out what is going on. During Storm Clouds I walk up the stairs and collect a clipboard ready to talk with Monty about his expense accounts, then just before my final solo in Storm Clouds I am walking up the stairs to the Prime Ministers office ready to speak to him imminently. In Viva Eastbourne I am stood with my jacket off and thrown over my shoulder to inform the audience that it is hot and I have been outside for quite a while. When I enter the stage to tear up Rita’s letter, it is obvious to the audience that I am not meant to be in that room and that I am deliberately scouting the place out and that my character finding Rita’s speech is purely coincidental. All of these given circumstances help to build up a picture of what my character reacts like to different circumstances and helps paint a picture to the audience of what has happened previously to the scene taking place. I use hot seating to help build upon the scenes that I am in, hot seating enables me to read between the lines as to what my character thinks and feels and enables me to produce better reactions as my character which makes the scenes look more complete to the audience.

 The main pieces of feedback this week were to simply tighten up all of the dances and the songs within the show to make sure that the acting side of the performance runs smoothly and then we need to ensure that all people who are doing scene transitions know what they are doing so that the technical side of the show runs completely smoothly too especially when it comes to the technical rehearsal in the theatre. Overall, we received good feedback and the overall response to the run-throughs were good but not amazing yet. This feedback was fair and I have looked at ways to improve the targeted areas, the music side of the feedback has already been targeted frequently as I have been taking songs apart all this week with everyone to ensure all of the cast are sure of their harmonies. The scene transitions however cannot be practiced properly until we actually see the set that we have to move on the technical rehearsal day as moving small individual pieces of set is completely different to manoeuvring 10ft trucks. To continue to improve upon the feedback given, I have uploaded to Facebook the backing tracks of the songs and individual harmonies people struggle with so that everyone can ensure they know exactly what they are doing in terms of singing by next week.

 STRENGTHS

 Singing: I am able to pick up any harmony given to me as I have been trained in music from a young age therefore I am able to help both myself and all the members of the musical group learn harmonies and piece them together in all the songs within Made in Dagenham to create a fuller and completely embellished piece of music.

 Movement Retention: I am able to quickly retain any blocking that is given to me and recreate it at any given moment in the rehearsal or performance process. A good example is the blocking in This is America which changed quite frequently to suit the different needs of the piece and the directorial staging of the piece. I also have to ensure that after the song I need to bring the whole scene downstage right to ensure that the gauze can clear the cast on stage and to ensure that the other members of the cast can preset behind this scene.

 Time Management: I have a good understanding of how to utilise my time and how to spread my time effectively over the course of the rehearsals. I am able to judge in my head what I can be doing to help the rehearsal process when I am not specifically needed at a given moment. I usually end up using my spare time in rehearsals to provides music for different people rehearsing in different areas as well as finding individual people to go over certain musical elements of the piece that I feel need improving. Finally, when I am given a long period of time to rehearse with the cast, I am able to think on the spot exactly what needs doing and how long it will take to do. I am also able to work out what are the more important elements to work on and what can wait so that the production as a whole is able to move forward musically.

  WEAKNESSES AND ACTION PLANS

 Playing Specific Songs: playing the songs Always a Problem and Viva Eastbourne have always proved difficult to me, however, Always a Problem appears to be more of a struggle for me to play. The section I struggle with in Always a Problem is the legato thirds scale just after the penultimate key change and the section of the music played in this key. I also struggle with the off-beat chord changes in the song Viva Eastbourne and the section of the song that the Prime Minister sings. To improve this, I will practice both of these songs for around 30minutes each evening, I will practice both piece slowly with separate hands to begin before building up the pace with both hands. I hope to see this element improved by next week. It is essential that I improve this element as the cast rely upon me to be able to play their music correct in order to help them to perform it correctly.

 Blocking: As mentioned, I am exceptionally good at remembering all of my blocking and where the scenes are meant to be placed on stage. However, in the scene straight after the song This is America, although I bring the scene and downstage right so that the rest of the cast can preset behind me, I do often tend to stray a little to far across the stage sometimes which I need to be careful of doing. To ensure I do not do this, throughout the next week of rehearsals I need to watch in the mirrors in the rehearsal space to watch where I am moving within my blocking so that I do not stray too far across the stage. I will be watching for myself doing this in the mirror throughout all the rehearsals this week to ensure I get it right in preparation for the technical rehearsal at the theatre. I hope to see this element of my performance improved by next week and the need for me using mirrors for this purpose to be minimal next week.

 Pace: I have noticed that my pace of speech tends to get too fast at certain points of the production which leads to my character’s vocals being unclear. A good example of me rushing my speech is when I say the line “can we offer her promotions work” which often comes out mumbled and crushed together. I feel I always stumble on this for a couple of reasons, firstly, because I find it a tongue twister to say this line and secondly, I often get cut off when saying this line so subconsciously I say it quicker to get the line out. To improve my vocal pace and the pace of this line especially, I will use the technique exercise that Kerry taught me where I need to constantly say a line that I struggle with but say it in my characters accent in a variety of different ways to discover the most comfortable way to say it. I will use this technique to improve my vocal pace and to improve this line specifically by practicing this method for 10minutes each evening for a week. I would like to see this element of my performance improved by next weeks rehearsals.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Dance Analysis 3 Payday-Made in Dagenham.

1-      What mood are you aiming to create? Describe the skills you use to create this mood.

 In the song Payday, the mood that I personally and the group as a whole are aiming to create is a fun, high spirited, nightclub-like scene. To create a contrast in scene there are different groups of people within the scene taking part in different activities at any given time. For example; the dancers of the cast are carrying out the main choreographed routine which is performed with high energy levels, with typical 1960’s moves to suit the era and good facial expressions to match the mood of the dance and the scene. There are also the factory girls and the male factory workers in their own small groups either performing a small choreographed routine to the music or just talking with each other in character to help set the scene. Chubby Chuff and the MC are going around the space entertaining the clientele at the nightclub. Connie, as she is an older and more work focussed character, is sat at a table writing her TUC speech as well as taking her pills. I personally am playing a drunk character and I am stood around stage left freestyle dancing in a 1960’s style before moving to sit with Connie to talk to both her and the MC in character. The skills that both myself and the other members of the cast use to create this mood are naturalistic skills to help create a believable scene for the audience. I have personally created my character by using emotion memory by reflecting upon a time when I was similar to how my character is in this scene so I can drawn upon believable emotions and movements within my performance of this scene. I have also drawn upon how I have seen other people act in similar situations to this scene in our production and I have used how I have scene them act and put it into my own performance and the development of my character in this scene. Improvised hot seating is constantly used within this scene to make it believable for both the audience and the cast as after the libretto of the song have concluded, there is a long interlude of music before the scripted dialogue commences again. During this interlude of music, myself and the other members of the cast improvise lines and movements that our characters would say and do. This helps to create a believable atmosphere and fills the blank spaces in the performance that the music creates.

  2-      Were you successful in creating the atmosphere for this scene?

 I personally believe that we are being successful in creating the atmosphere that we want this scene to contain. This is because this production is based on true events therefore everything we do during this production should be naturalistic and believable. For that reason, the naturalistic skills and techniques that we use that I have previously mentioned aid the performance as a whole to be more believable for our audience. The atmosphere also has to be fun and lively and by keeping the improvised conversations up between characters and keeping up the high levels of energy within the performance of this routine, it makes this section of the show engaging, interesting and fun to watch.

  3-      What do you need to do to improve your contribution to this mood?

 My only suggestion for the development of this scene would be that everyone overall needs to add as much energy as possible into everything they do within this scene to maintain the fluidity and entertainment that this scene provides as well as always maintaining good realistic facial expressions so that the situation we are in on stage is believable for the audience. I have also noticed that at some points within this routine, people sometimes slip out of character either by accident or due to the fact they have gone wrong in the dance. For this reason, concentration and focus levels need to be high and if something does go wrong in the dance, make a moment out of it to create comedy as the audience will not know that it is not part of the choreography if it was to happen in the actual show.

  4-      What message does the song send to the audience? How do you enhance the message within the dance? What skills do you use to share this message with the audience? What could you do to improve your contribution to this message?

 The message that this dance should send to the audience is that although the workers at Ford underpaid, it does not stop them from having a good time and getting a break from their work by spending their hard-earned cash on payday. The dance should also send a message to the audience of a high spirited and fun atmosphere which the audience should be able to enjoy as much as the characters in the scene itself. The main way in which the dance and the scene in general enhances this message is due to the high energy levels that the cast have throughout the whole of this scene which makes the routine and the performance overall seem more enjoyable and gives a off a party/nightclub atmosphere. Facial expressions are a big part of enhancing the message that we are creating, Everyone should have large facial expressions that related to the uplifting enjoyable mood of the scene, however, I personally think eat facial expression should be different and should naturally change from time to time whilst still portraying the correct message as a large group of people keeping the same facial expression for a lengthy amount of time looks very faked in my opinion and is not believable and naturalistic. The main skill that we use to share this message with the audience is eye contact. Eye contact is a significant part of how we all connect with our audience, it engages them and makes them feel as though they are involved heavily with the auction on stage, it also helps them to feel that the performance is personal to them. Using movements, costume, props and naturalistic ways of addressing people which corresponds to the 1960s era also makes the performance believable to the audience members, especially members of the audience who were born in or remember the 1960s as the performance would be especially believable and relatable to them as they would have good knowledge and memory of how people acted and reacted in that era. To improve the contribution of creating and delivering this message, as I have already mentioned, I believe that overall everyone needs to produce high levels of energy and remember to not only act but react with other characters around them whilst maintain believable and appropriate facial expressions to create a believable engaging section of the performance. I also feel that another way we could all improve the contribution to the message within this routine is by researching into what people would have worn, acted like and what they would have been drinking in a 1960’s nightclub to build upon characterisation and to create a more believable and interesting scene.

  5-      Where does the dance take place? Describe how you show this in the dance. Describe how this effects your movement.

 The dance takes place in the evening and at night in a small 1960s bar/nightclub in Dagenham on payday. To show this in the dance we are using 1960s props and costumes to set the scene, we are also creating a fun, lively, alcohol fuelled atmosphere which shows the audience that we are setting the scene in a bar. There are also many characters acting drunk drinking out of brown bottles which are meant to represent brown ale which also helps to add depth and naturalism to the scene to make it believable. The fact that the characters are acting drunk means that some of the movements can be more free which creates comedy in the way the characters act. The fact that many characters are holding drinks means that they have to contend with this whilst dancing which makes the scene look more realistic as there would be people dancing with drinks in realistic situations similar to the situation in this scene. The nightclub space is quite small and cramped which means that the cast need to have good spatial awareness so that they perform the routine safely, and there will be liquid on stage in these scenes which is another reason the cast need to use peripheral vision when performing in order to not create any hazards on stage.

  6-      Describe how your character feels within the scene. How do you show this in your movement? For example how does this effect your facial expressions and dynamics of the movement?

 As already mentioned, my character is constantly upbeat and enjoying himself throughout the whole of this scene, he is also quite drunk. I show that I am having a good time by maintaining high levels of energy throughout my performance of this scene as well as keeping a constant uplifted facial expression to portray how my character is feeling. I also interact with other characters in a jokily drunk way to create a naturalistic atmosphere and feeling to the performance. As previously discussed, I use emotion memory and personal observational experiences to recreate the inebriated style in which my character acts within this scene which adds to the naturalism of how I perform within this scene. As my character is drunk throughout this scene, it makes my movements naturally become more staggered and disjointed and my facial expressions also become larger and more over the top to portray to the audience that my character is feeling dazed, dizzy and slightly sick from the drunk state he has got himself into. As I am quite staggered with how I move around the space in this scene, the dynamics of my movement become very staccato and fast when I am stumbling around and then very legato when my character is stood or sat still and is slowly swaying in a naturalistic drunk manner.

   7-      Describe three points in your dance which are good and explain why they are effective.

 Naturalism: The naturalistic techniques that I use within this routine that I have discussed already make this scene and the performance in general believable to both the audience and the other characters within the scene. I find that by being naturalistic and constantly acting and reacting in character with other characters on stage makes a much more realistic and believable performance to watch. It also means that there is never a moment on stage where the energy drops as everyone is constantly acting throughout every scene.

 Energy: The energy levels during this scene and dance are constantly high and are always consistent. This therefore makes the scene more engaging for our audience to watch as it makes the scene more exciting and believable as well as creating fluidity throughout the performance of the scene.

 Character and Audience Interaction: Character interaction on stage helps to keep up the consistency of the acting and the scene in general whilst helping to make it more believable. It also makes the scene more interesting for the audience to watch if there is constant action happening on stage, this also means the energy levels and the attention levels of the audience will not drop. Making eye contact with the audience helps to make them feel as though the show is being aimed specifically at them which makes them feel as though they are an important part of the show which keeps them engaged and entertained throughout not only the scene but the whole performance.

   8-      Target three areas of the dance, which need improving. For example timing, facial expressions and dynamics. List and describe the moments you need to work on.

 Spatial Awareness: I need to be constantly aware of who is around me at what point within the routine as there is a part within the music where I feel as though I am in the way just as the larger ensemble dance section of the routine commences. I need to move from downstage left to upstage left just before this section occurs but I need to work out when I should do this as I do not want to give a way to the audience that I am trying to deliberately move out of the way to ensure the dancers can reach their spaces as this will not look naturalistic. To improve this element, throughout the course of this week’s rehearsals, I will be keeping close watch in the mirrors in the dome and listening carefully to the music to this routine so that I can definitely see and hear when it is that I need to change places. After achieving this step I will then experiment with different movements and ways in which I can travel to my next position naturalistically and in character. I am hoping to have improved upon this weakness by the following week’s rehearsals.

 Freestyle Movements: I tend to struggle with creating and developing my own dance movements which is hindering me during this routine. I am finding it a hindrance as I am trying to give 100% energy to the freestyle dance routine that I am doing but I do not feel as confident with my dance elements as I do with the other elements of my performance. To improve upon this element of my performance within this routine, I am going to practice different movements in front of a mirror each evening for around 10minutes whilst also researching what movements would correspond with the 1960s era in order to create a naturalistic and energetic sequence of movements. I hope to have created and developed these movements by the following week’s rehearsals.  

 Characterisation: Although I feel I have excellent characterisation and I constantly keep in character, I have noticed that other people within this scene sometimes slip out of character back into their normal vocals and mannerisms which means they could lose focus in what they are doing and how they are performing. People also need to take on other people by acting and reacting with them throughout the whole scene so that a realistic and believable atmosphere is created and maintained. To improve this element, I feel that an improvised hot seating exercise and focus exercise would be beneficial in order to improve this element of this scene.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Song Analysis 3 Storm Clouds-Made in Dagenham.

Make a copy of the lyrics to the song and enlarge.

     SANDRA: How much is it?

 CONNIE: Two pounds a week.

 SANDRA: Two quid?

 CONNIE: Each.

 SANDRA: I thought strike pay was like a salary. I can’t live on two quid a week.

 Women:

EVERYBODY OUT

EVERYBODY OUT

EVERYBODY OUT

 CASS: Whappen?

 BERYL: It’s gone quiet.

 CONNIE: They’ve stopped the assembly line.

 Women:

STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

TENSION IN THE TOWN

PRESSURE BUILDING UP

RUMOURS GOING AROUND

MONEY RUNNING SHORT

DOWN TO OUR LAST POUND

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN

 STAN: You got some face ain’tcha after this?

 CONNIE: What’s up?!

 STAN: Five thousand men laid off, that’s what’s up.

 BARRY: You happy now?! Eh, eh!?

 CLARE: What’s going on?!

 RONNIE: We ran out of seats, ain’t we.

 BILL: Go back to work!

 BARRY: You’re only working for pin money!

 CASS: It ain’t pin money for me boy!

 BARRY: Wa?! You caannn’ get a man!

 CONNIE: Bill?! You told me there was enough seats for another week.

 BILL: There is.

 CONNIE: Management’s fighting dirty.

 RITA: Listen, this was always going to happen. No one said it would be easy, we’ve got to stick together.

 RONNIE: If you’re a communist go and live in Russia!

 STAN: You happy now, Connie Riley!? You’ve closed down Dagenham. You’ve put five thousand men out of work!

 Men:

WELCOME TO EQUALITY

THIS IS WHAT IT’S LIKE

THIS IS WHAT IT’S LIKE

WQUAL SHIT FOR EVERYONE

WHEN YOU GO ON STRIKE

 Women:

STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

 TOOLEY: Your expense account, you’ve had more fish suppers than Moby Dick. Dry cleaning, rail fares, a Chinese massage?

 MONTY: That’s two separate items, a Chinese and a massage.

 TOOLEY: I need you to bust this strike or I’ll bust you.

 MONTY: You can’t talk to me like that, mate.

 TOOLEY: Mate, I’ll eat you for breakfast and blow you out of my ass.

 MONTY: DO that and I’ll register a grievance!

 HOPKINS: What Mr Tooley wants to know is-which girls are feeling the pinch?

 MONTY: My job is to represent these women-

 TOOLEY: -Men’s jobs are at stake.

 MONTY: Sandra.

 HOPKINS: Sandra Beaumont. She’s a bit of a dolly bird.

 TOOLEY: So one of these broads is short of money and doesn’t look like Walter Matthau. Can we offer her promotions work?

 MONTY: So Ford America’s worried are they?

 TOOLEY: Do you understand domino theory?

 MONTY: Yeah. Get rid of your double six as soon as you can.

 TOOLEY: If England falls to equal pay the rest of the world will follow.

 Women:

STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

 Lisa:

PROBLEMS IN THE HOME

 SHARON: Mum, some men came and took the television!

 EDDIE: We couldn’t pay the monthly.

 RITA: There was ten quid in the kitchen pot.

 EDDIE: I had to get a new tyre for the motorbike.

 RITA: Ten quid on a motorbike tyre!? I don’t spend that on shoes!

 EDDIE: You’re not gonna come off your shoes at ninety mile an hour are you!

 RITA: Don’t you ever ever raise your voice at me in front of my kids, Eddie O’Grady.

 EDDIE: Whassamatter?

 RITA: I’m on strike that’s what’s the matter!

 Harold Wilson:

HELP ME, THE ECONOMY

IS SIMPLY IN FREEFALL

 Men:

CUTTING DOWN ON BOOZE AND FAGS

AND EVEN ON FOOTBALL

 Tooley:

THE ECONOMIC INDICIES

MAKE THE BLOOD CHILL

WITHOUT FORD YOUR TRADE FIGURES

ARE SIMPLY ROAD KILL

 TOOLEY: I never knew eating cheese could be both dangerous and exciting.

 HOPKINS: It’s a fondue, it’s a Swiss dish, like Lisa.

 TOOLEY: Are you a Swiss dish Lisa?

 LISA: No, I’m not.

 TOOLEY: Here’s to the great British dolly bird!

 LISA: Excuse me?!

 HOPKINS: Mr. Tooley doesn’t mean you, darling. One of the strikers, we offered her a cash contract with the promotions department.

 LISA: And she accepted?

 HOPKINS: Yes, the launch of the 1600E Cortina.

 LISA: What’s her name?

 HOPKINS: Why do you want to know her name?

 LISA: Because if I choose to join in this conversation I would like to use her name and not refer to her as the “dolly bird”.

 HOPKINS: Sandra Beaumont.

 LISA: And when does this promotion happen?

 TOOLEY: Friday. You see, Lisa, braking a strike is like breaking a horse. First you gotta break its will.

 LISA: I thought Ford was in the habit of simply shooting strikers.

 TOOLEY: Michigan 1932 is history.

 LISA: Which is my subject. Five strikers dead, and sixty chained to their hospital beds with shotgun wounds.

 HOPKINS: Darling, that’s enough. Please, bring in the dessert.

 TOOLEY: Oh, wow! What’s for dessert?

 LISA: Cheese.

 All:

STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

TENSION IN THE TOWN

PRESSURE BUILDING UP

RUMOURS GOING ROUND

 Harold Wilson:

UNEASY LIES THE HEAD

THAT WEARS THE CROWN

 Barbara Castle:

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN

 LISA: Could I speak to Rita, please?

 EDDIE: Why? Who are you?

 RITA: Don’t be like that, invite her in. She’s a friend.

 LISA: They’ve offered Sandra a Ford promotions contract.

 RITA: What?

 LISA: They’re trying to crack your solidarity. The launch of the 1600E Cortina on Friday.

 Tooley:

WE HAVE TO BUST THIS STRIKE

BE RUTHLESS GET IT DONE

OR IF YOU DON’T WE’RE OUT OF HERE

WE WILL MOVE TO BELGIUM

 Harold:

THIS IS A ROUGH PATCH

I READILY ADMIT

BUT PLEASE DON’T GO TO BELGIUM

 All:

COZ BELGIUM’S REALLY SHIT

 BERYL: Rita!

 EDDIE: Bloody hell, it’s like Piccadilly Circus here!

 BERYL: It’s Connie. She fainted. Went unconscious. She’s in the Old Church Hospital. Acute Unit. Listen, she’s asking for you.  

 All:

STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

TENSION IN THE TOWN

PRESSURE BUILDING UP

RUMOURS GOING AROUND

MONEY RUNNING SHORT

DOWN TO OUR LAST POUND

 DON’T LET THE BASTARDS

GRIND YOU DOWN

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS

GRIND YOU DOWN

 IT AIN’T ABOUT YOU

IT AIN’T ABOUT THE LAW

IT’S THREE THOUSAND FAMILIES

UNEMPLOYED AND POOR

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS

GRIND YOU DOWN

THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN

THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN

THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN

      Song analysis:

 The song Storm Clouds follows the journey of all the characters in the whole story and their thoughts, feelings and plans about what is happening. We see that all the female workers at unhappy, upset and worried that they are going to have to survive on £2 a week strike pay which they have just been paid by Connie in the scene previous to the song Storm Clouds. The male workers at Ford are taking it out on the women after Tooley has decided to lay off all five thousand men at the Ford Dagenham plant because as for the women “most of them are married to men working at Ford” which means it would be highly likely that Tooley would have cut off the pay to entire families who rely on Ford incomes. We see Tooley and Hopkins trying to intimidate and blackmail Monty into releasing names of women who would rebel against the strike to break solidarity in what the girls are trying to achieve. We also see Tooley and Hopkins celebrating the fact that they think they are winning the war against the women and their strike. Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle are shown as worrying that “the economy is simply in freefall”. Lisa is shown as trying to aid the girls with their strike by giving them her inside knowledge about what is occurring behind the scenes. And finally, we start to see Eddie and Rita’s relationship crumbling under the pressures of the strike. As mentioned, the scene just before this song occurs is when the girls are quite happy and content that they are getting the issue about equal pay well publicised, however, there happiness is soon shattered by Connie’s news of their strike pay being £2 per week which the girls would not be able to live off. They then discover that the Ford Dagenham factory has closed as all the men get laid off which ultimately leads the quite depressingly themed song.

   The purpose of this song is to represent the passage of time and to tie up multiple loose ends to the story so that the audience can gauge a better understanding of what is happening. It also helps the audience to see and understand the pressures that the strikers and the workers in general faced at this difficult time in the women’s strike for equal pay and tells the story of how the American management of Ford tried to use underhand and sadistic tactics to make the strikers give in to the management’s demands. By putting this song in both lyrical and scene form, it creates an interesting, engaging and contrasting moment of the performance to watch. The lyrical sections of the song also help to breakdown the information filled scenes into bite sized digestible chunks for the audience to take in and understand. I feel that singing, especially in harmony, helps to enhance any message and enhances the performance in general. The minor key in which the majority of the song is written also helps to inform the audience that the characters are experiencing difficult times as well as helping to enhance the message of sadness and struggle that this song contains.

   This song takes place at different locations across Dagenham at both interior and exterior locations. The people who are involved in this song originate from different areas both nationally and globally. As this song is based around scenes, this means the song is not particularly choreographed but is blocked non-dancing movement. The beginning of this song starts in the home of Rita and Eddie O’Grady after Connie delivers the strikers measly £2 per week strike pay before moving to outside the Ford Dagenham factory. After the first section of the song concludes we fall into a scene between the male and female workers at the outside the factory after the production line is stopped. As all of the people singing so far are from Dagenham, Essex/Cockney accents are used to sing and perform in to add to the actors’ characterisation. As mentioned, this song is not choreographed as a dance routine but is blocked out as scenes, this means that a lot of the acting and movement is done facially and with gestures to portray the characters’ feelings. As this specific scene is set outside this means there is more room for larger gestures and character confrontation.

 The next section of the song is sung by the men only, they are singing to the female characters about equality “when you go on strike”. The meaning behind this section is that in theory they are striking for equality in the sense of equal pay, however, the only equality they are receiving is the fact that everyone at Ford Dagenham has been equally laid off. This section of the song has different meanings behind it for each male character who sings it. For example, the male factory workers are angry that they have lost their jobs, Tooley and Hopkins are feeling smug at the fact they have won, Monty feels as though he has let the girls down, and the Prime Minister is frustrated at the fact that he could lose his country money and cause unemployment if he does not change Tooley’s perception on what is occurring. As this section is serious for all characters who are singing, there is a stillness across the whole stage to mark this moment and give it strength.

 The next section of the song is the meeting between Tooley, Hopkins and Monty. In this scene I am addressing Monty in a manipulative way and I am joined by Hopkins in what I am saying. As I am trying to be manipulative, my vocal tones are lowered and are quite sarcastic and patronising to cause Monty to feel uncomfortable and to make him give in to our demands. My movement in this scene is minimal as it is set in a confined office space, I am also using a clipboard and pen as a prop which means I do not use gestures as such. To keep up the strength of my character and to show him as though he is holding his ground, I do not move until the point where I shout at Monty “I’ll eat you for breakfast and blow you out of my ass”. As mentioned, this section is about Tooley and Hopkins trying to intimidate Monty. They are trying to intimidate Monty up until the point that he reveals names of his strikers that are most likely to abandon the strike and fellow strikers so that Tooley can crack their solidarity. At this point, Tooley is feeling smug yet angry at the fact he feels as though he is invincible against the strikers yet Monty will not reveal peoples names. The inner emotions of my character during this section of the song are feelings of anger at the fact Monty appears to be being deliberately stupid and he is also withholding information from Tooley. The majority of the time Tooley’s outer emotions express smugness and sarcasm as he is keeping cool when he retaliates to what Monty is saying, however, he loses his cool in the middle and at the end of the conversation after Monty’s stupidity riles Tooley to the point that he raises his voice. The facial expressions that I use match the vocal tones of my character for example I always look smug apart from when I am starting to become infuriated when my facial expression starts to change into one of anger. As mentioned, in this scene I am holding a prop so I am therefore unable to use gestures. I use stillness as a way of showing power and authority in this scene but use sharp movements towards Monty when I am angry to enhance what I am saying.

 The next section of the song that my character is involved in is where he crosses the stage on the way to the Hopkins’ house for a meal. The first part of this phrase of the song is sung as a solo by myself about the economic state of the UK and how it will be “road-kill”. The vocals, facial expressions and emotions during the sung section are half serious and half sarcastic which matches the fact that he is being serious yet smug about saying that without Ford Britain’s “trade figures are simply road kill”. There are little gestures apart from a strong authoritative pointed gesture to reinforce what my character is singing. When I enter into the house I am sat at the dinner table after eating a meal of cheese fondue, I am sat slouched over my chair drinking wine looking extremely relaxed and content after what me and Hopkins achieved in the previous scene. My vocals throughout this scene are very calmed and smug up until the point where Lisa retorts at Tooley about shooting strikers in Michigan 1932. Michigan 1932 was a hunger strike that American workers of Ford went on which resulted in deaths and injuries of the strikers. As I am sat down for the whole scene I use just hand gestures, the first gesture I use is when I raise my glass “to the great British dolly bird”, by this I mean Sandra Beaumont whom we have just given promotions work to in order to try and crack the strikers’ solidarity. I then compare breaking a strike to breaking a horse, I show this through showing a gesture of a clenched fist which then releases. The next gesture I use is a threatening pointed gesture which is aimed at Lisa after bringing up the historical Ford striker shootings in 1932. Internally the emotions I feel are calmness and content shown as smug and selfish outer emotions, however, towards the end of this scene the inner emotions turn to worry which are shown as defensive outer emotions. The facial expressions I use match these outer emotions that I feel as I am quite a pompous and extrovert character therefore I am usually unafraid to show how I feel.

 The next section of the song I am involved in is a confrontation between my character and Prime Minister Harold Wilson where I am singing directly to Harold Wilson about busting the strike at the Ford Dagenham plant and if the strike is not resolved I will take the company out of the UK and to Belgium which will cause severe unemployment issues and financial issues for the UK. As I am meant to be in the Prime Minister’s office, this therefore means I have reduced space to move and gesture. As I have been informed to do and as I do in my performance, I stand strong but intimidating and close to the Prime Minister to make him feel uncomfortable and frightened. I sing in an aggressive and forceful manner directly at him to frighten him and make him feel as though I have more power than he does and to make him feel as though I have control over him. At this section of the song I have lost my temper with the Prime Minister at the fact he has not resolved this issue of the strike so my character therefore gives him the ultimatum of give in to my characters’ demands or suffer an economic crisis. My inner emotions are that of extremely strong anger and frustration at the fact the Prime Minister appears to be doing nothing to help Tooley combat the strikers. The outer emotions are shown as similar to intimidate the Prime Minister, however, these outer emotions are slightly more reserved as my character tries his best to contain his anger towards the Prime Minister. The facial expression that I use in this scene is one of anger and frustration combined with an unhinged expression.

 Finally, I appear at the final section of the song alongside Hopkins look smug and content at the fact we feel we have beaten down and scared everyone. Myself and Hopkins are singing in a way that shows confidence, smugness and vindictiveness which contrasts to how the other characters feel as we sing the lyrics “don’t let the bastards grind you down”. As all the characters sing this lyric, everyone is referring to my character and Hopkins and myself and Hopkins are referring to the strikers. Myself and Hopkins are stood at the very front of the stage with high levels of confidence, to reflect this we are stood still with a strong high posture with folded arms which shows we think we are unmovable and unstoppable in what we are doing and trying to achieve. At this point I believe my character is singing to myself as if to reassure himself that he has won this fight against the strikers, as he sings this section he feels and looks smug through both his vocal expressions and his facial expressions. The inner emotion that my character feels is that of relief that he actually thinks he has won his fight against the strikers and that his plans might have worked. His outer emotion reflects smugness and confidence as he hides his inner emotion of relief so he appears constantly strong throughout his whole performance.           

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Dance Analysis 3 Payday-Made in Dagenham.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Made in Dagenham Blog 4 Part 1.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Made in Dagenham Blog 3.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Character Sheet 1-Made in Dagenham.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Character Sheet 3-Made in Dagenham.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Character Sheet 2-Made in Dagenham.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Song Analysis 2-Made in Dagenham.

Make a copy of the lyrics to the song and enlarge. I'M THE GO-TO GUY WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH AND THE GOING'S GONE MAD AND I'VE KINDA HAD ENOUGH I SAY IT HOW IT IS I SAY IT TO YOUR FACE THE REASON I AM HERE'S TO PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE AFTER DEATH AND TAXES AND THE LORD THE ONLY OTHER CERTAINTY MY FRIENDS IS FORD WE GAVE THE WORLD THE VERY VERY FIRST PRODUCTION LINE AND WE WILL BE RIGHT HERE UNTIL THE END OF TIME THIS IS AMERICA (AMERICA) THE USA WE TELL YA WHAT TO DO (WHAT TO DO) AND YOU DO AS WE SAY WE ARE THE TOP DOG (TOP DOG) YOU LOVE TO HATE AND YOU ARE OUR POODLE THE FIFTY-FIRST STATE WE'RE SO MUCH BIGGER (BIGGER) WE'RE SO MUCH BETTER AND OUR SUN IS HOTTER (SUN IS HOTTER) OUR WATER'S WETTER WE MOVE FASTER AND FURTHER TOO BASICALLY WE'RE TOTALLY SUPERIOR TO YOU ANARCHISTS COMMUNISTS WE FOUGHT THEM TIL WE WON WE SAW OFF JIMMY HOFFA AND HIS TEAMSTER SCUM WE BOUGHT ALL THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND THEN SHUT IT DOWN AND NOW THE CAR'S THE ONLY WAY TO GET AROUND TOWN WE'RE SO MUCH BETTER AND IM NOT BEING MEAN WE'VE GOT ROUTE SIXTY-SIX YOU'VE GOT THE A-THIRTEEN WE GAVE YOU ROCK 'N ROLL YOU GAVE US CILLA BLACK WELL THANKS A LOT FOR NOTHING YOU CAN HAVE HER BACK THIS IS AMERICA (AMERICA) THE USA WE'RE ALL STRAIGHT (WE'RE ALL STRAIGHT) AND YOU'RE ALL GAY WE ARE THE TOP DOG (TOP DOG) YOU LOVE TO HATE AND YOU ARE OUR POODLE THE FIFTY-FIRST STATE GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE (HIGH HORSE) PUT AWAY YOUR SERMON IF IT WEREN'T FOR US (WEREN'T FOR US) YOU'D BE SPEAKING GERMAN AND WHILE WE'RE HERE (WHILE WE'RE HERE) THERE'S ONE THING MORE YOU STILL OWE US MONEY (STILL OWE US MONEY) FROM THE SECOND WORLD WAR ALUMINUM BAYSEL TOONA ORIGANO PAYTRONIZE EDINBRO JAGWAR EYE-RAQ KRASSAAN YOOOGURT CAR-RIB-EAN ERB PEECAAHN CAMOMEEL NOTA DAME VAYSE PAREEYSHUN YOURINAL VIE-TAMIN WOO-CEST-A-SHIRE SAUCE YOU GUYS CAN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH THIS IS AMERICA (THIS IS AMERICA) THE USA NOW DON'T FORGET THAT (GET THAT) YOU DO AS WE SAY WE GOT THE T-SHIRT (T-SHIRT) AND YOU GOT THE VEST YOU'RE SIMPLY THE WORST AND WE'RE SIMPLY THE BEST WE GOT HOLLYWOOD AND VEGAS TOO YOU GOT THAMES TV AND WHIPSNADE ZOO WE GOT A PRESIDENT WE GOT SUPERMAN YOU GOT PRINCE CHARLES AND DESPERATE DAN ANYTHING YOU CAN DO OR WANT TO DO ANYTHING YOU CAN DO YOU HAVE TO REALISE EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO OR WANT TO DO EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO WE HAVE TO SUBSIDISE YOU CAN'T PICKET AND CHOOSE WITH FORD THAT'S YOU'RE TICKET TO LOSE WITH FORD ONE THING'S CERTAIN I'LL BUST THIS STRIKE GET READY DAGENHAM GET BACK TO WORK AND ON YOUR BIKE THIS IS AMERICA THE USA WE GOT COPS WITH GUNS WHO WILL BLOW YOU AWAY WE GOT THE KENNEDYS WE GOT SCOOBY DOO YOU GOT TED HEATH AND DANNY LA RUE WE GOT THE WHITEHOUSE YOU GOT NUMBER TEN WE GOT THE EMPIRE STATE WHICH PISSES ON BIG BEN WHEN IT COMES TO MUSIC JUST REMEMBER THIS THERE'D BE NO FREAKIN' BEATLES WITHOUT ELVIS YOU'RE DREARIER AND WEARIER REMIND ME OF SIBERIA YOU'RE BASICALLY INFERIOR DAGENHAM SCREW YOU AND FUCK YOU TOO THIS IS AMERICA What is the song about? Describe the scene. What happened before this scene to lead to the moment? The song features the antagonist of the play, Mr. Tooley trying to intimidate his British employees by telling them how great both he and his country is compared to them and their country. Throughout the song he continuously insults British people by making derogatory remarks towards them such as "you're all gay", "if it weren't for us you'd be speaking German" and "you still owe us money from the Second World War". There is also a section of this song where Tooley lists off words that are pronounced differently in England and America. The writer of this song is very clever in my opinion as to how and why he has done this. The fact Tooley says this list then finishes by saying "you guys can't even speak English" is in fact mocking Americans as English people would normally accuse Americans of not being able to speak English. This makes Tooley's statement comical as he is being hypocritical by saying the British Ford management cannot speak English when it is in fact him who cannot speak English. In this song Tooley is also extremely threatening and manipulative in how he words things such as saying "you can't picket and choose with Ford, that's your ticket to lose with Ford", "we've got cops with guns who will blow you away" and "get ready Dagenham, get back to work and on your bike". Penultimately, Tooley emphasises all he has said by throwing insults rapidly at the Ford Dagenham staff when he tells them "you're drearier and wearier, remind me of Siberia, you're basically inferior. Dagenham, screw you, and fuck you too". He finally finishes his rant by adding "this is America" to reinforce his point and to make the other characters in the scene feel even more intimidated. This scene and the libretto just before the song is the opening to act two. There is no overture as such to act two but there is a sound effect of a helicopter landing whilst a few bars of American military style music are playing which helps to set the scene ready for Tooley's entrance. Tooley's entrance is a grand one through large opening doors with lights that will only reveal his strong and tall silhouette. This immediately informs the audience that this character is powerful to receive an entrance of this scale. Tooley then begins to move forward into the light and remarks "the cavalry's here" which implies he is here to save Ford from what is happening. The few lines during the lead up to the song are written and spoken in such a way that they are used to make the other characters feel threatened by Tooley which helps to set the scene for what the song is about. What is the purpose of this song? The purpose of this song is to properly introduce the character Tooley into the show by giving him a grand and powerful entrance. The entrance just before the lead up to the song helps to emphasise Tooley's power and influential status in the show and helps to set the mood for the song. The song itself is to help portray Tooley as this arrogant misogynistic man who will not listen to the opinions of any other character. It also helps to show the audience that he thinks he is big and powerful and can intimidate anyone. He is portrayed as threatening and evil as well which helps to make the audience see that this character is dangerous and somewhat deluded. Where does the song take place? How does this affect your singing, movement? This song takes place in the management office at Ford Dagenham where Hopkins, Macer and Hubble are drinking tea in a heightened civilised manner. As an office is meant to be a small space, for short sections of the song I confine myself slightly to the space in which the 3 aforementioned staff are standing to make the song personal to them to try and intimidate them. However, when the song begins to crescendo and more and more dancers enter the stage, I begin to use more of the stage. Doing this helps to ensure that all of the audience have a chance to see my character and the manner in which he acts so that they can form an opinion of hatred towards him. The volume of my singing changes throughout the song at various points. I start off at a fairly low volume when I am making the song personal to the other characters on stage, then as the song crescendos and grows, my vocals grow too up until I reach the finale of the song where I am on the verge of almost shouting at the characters on stage. As mentioned, the start of the song is quite compact with many characters positioned in one small space. This therefore confines my gestures and movements slightly but in other ways allows me to use different gestures I would not be able to use on other sections if the stage such as slapping Hopkins and putting my arm around Hubble. When I am in an open section of the stage, I can be more free with my movements and gestures as I have more space to make them bigger. Putting more energy and emphasis into my gestures and movements makes my performance more engaging and interesting to an audience as well. Even though I use some gestures, a lot of my character's movements focus on posture and involve very little gestures to give my character more strength through the stillness of my character's movements. Who are you singing to? My character is singing to the three senior staff members, the audience and himself. He sings at the three staff members as he is trying to intimidate them and prove to them that he has far more power than they do. My character sings to the audience to make the song feel personal to them and make it seem as if it is directed at them which helps to engage them further. He also sings directly at the audience to show his strong and confident attitude as maintaining eye contact with audience members requires high levels of confidence. Giving eye contact to the audience can also intimidate them which adds to the characteristics of the character I am playing. My character also sings parts of this song to himself as he is self-obsessed and arrogant which qualifies him to always think he is correct. Who or what are you singing about? This entire song revolves around a self-obsessed man who believes he is always right and both himself and the country he originates from (America) are far better than the UK and anyone from the UK. My song mainly focuses on the opposites and contrasts between the USA and the UK and all the way through the song, these comparisons I make are always derogatory towards the UK to create comedy. Some of the comparisons and points my character makes about the UK are quite shocking and not politically correct, but this is what makes the song comical, for example when my character sings the lines "if it weren't for us you'd be speaking German" and "you still owe us money from the Second World War". The underlying comedy element throughout this song is that my character is actually mocking Americans through what he is singing and how this character is portrayed. This is because many people are opinionated into thinking that a stereotypical American is pompous, arrogant and always right, therefore the lyricist has played upon this stereotype and has exaggerated the stereotypical features of an American to create comedy. Another large part of this song which stereotypes Americans is during the section where Tooley lists off all the words that that Americans and British say differently and then finishes this section by informing the people from the UK that "you guys can't even speak English". This part, especially the finally sentence, is put in for comedic effect as many British stereotype Americans as not being able to speak English, so therefore when an American informs British people that they cannot speak English, this becomes hypocritically funny. How do you feel during the song? Plot how the emotions change on your lyrics. At the very beginning of the song, my reason for beginning this sung monologue is due the fact my character's anger was sparked from the stimulus of the UK Ford management at the Dagenham plant not doing their job correctly and instead they are just stood around drinking tea. For this reason the start of my song is sung in quite a frustrated, angered and intimidating tone up until the point when I slap Hopkins across the face on the line "I say it how it is I tell you to your face", following on from this line I keep slight anger and intimidation but sarcasm begins to creep into my vocals and movements as on the line "the only other certainty my friends is Ford", I have my arm around Hubble and sing sarcastically at him to make him feel uncomfortable whilst still creating comedy. From this point up until the section where I list off the words that Americans and British say differently, I have a very proud, pompous and self-obsessed way of singing about how great the USA is compared to the UK whilst still keeping the element of sarcasm in my vocals to help to degrade the staff at Ford. When I reach the section of the song where I am listing off the words that British people and Americans say differently, I have sarcastic and intimidating vocals to match my blocking where I am walking towards Hopkins to push him downstage which intimidates him and creates comedy. When I shout the line "you guys can't even speak English" this creates the break in the song to bring in the chorus again where my emotions return to being that of a self-obsessed, pompous and arrogant American who has a sarcastic attitude to match the sarcastic words that he is singing. After the peak of this song during this section where the guitar solo occurs, the music begins to rit. which creates a slightly sinister element to the song where my character's emotions become sinister too when he is singing "you can't picket and choose with Ford, that's your ticket to lose with Ford. One things certain I'll bust this strike, get ready Dagenham get back to work and on your bike." This section of the song begins to give the audience a hint as to how spiteful my character could be, but when the final section of the song begins straight after this section and the music begins to rall., my character goes back to original pompous self as he has been in the other choruses. However, at the finally section of the song, he brings out his sarcastic emotions again as he informs the people of Dagenham that themselves and where they live is "drearier and wearier, remind of Siberia, you're basically inferior, Dagenham screw you, and fuck you too". And to complete the song, Tooley finishes by singing proudly "this is America" to ensure that everyone has understood his message. What are the inner/outer feelings of the character in the song? I'm playing the inner and outer feelings of my character as exactly the same as each other. The feelings and emotions that my character feels and expresses are what I have described in the previous question. I play the inner and outer feelings the same as my character is self-obsessed and is not ashamed to show he is arrogant and pompous. My character would not be afraid or ashamed to show his true feelings to the audience and the other characters because he is high in confidence and power and feels as though he can say anything and get away with anything. His ruthless nature also adds to his power and confidence as he is prepared to "lay off 5000 men" in order to "stop the O'Grady's pay". The high levels of confidence my character expresses within this song adds to the power he possesses within the production as a whole. This helps to build his character as the story progresses so that the audience can see that he is the antagonist in the story. Although this song is comical and portrays an over the top stereotype of Americans, we also see slight inner and outer feelings of vindictiveness when my character sings "you can't picket and choose with Ford...". This vindictive section in the song helps to lay the foundations for the remainder of my character's scenes in the story as the audience are given a slight glimpse of what my character is truly like. What facial expressions will you use to show what your characters are thinking or feeling in the song? The main facial expression I use throughout this song is one of smugness combined with slight anger to show confidence, commitment and power in what I am singing. These expressions are used all the way through the song up until the point where the song starts to rit. at the line "you can't picket and choose with Ford..." where I suddenly change my facial expression to an evil sarcastic one. As mentioned previously this gives the audience a small glimpse into the true colours of my character as being evil and vindictive before changing my facial expression back to how it previously was to bring the comedy back into the piece. At the very end of the song I make my facial expression slightly more serious and angered when I am singing the short comical sentences at the characters on stage. This adds emphasis to what I am saying and as I am singing the final few lines in a serious way when these lines obviously contain comedy, it creates further comedy for the audience by performing it in this way. What gestures will you use to show what your character is thinking or feeling in the song? As my character is strong and powerful, I have been advised to use little gestures or movements which will make my performance look more grounded and confident, however, any gestures I do use need to be exceptionally strong to keep up the energy and confidence in what I am performing. At the start of this song I am stood in a strong grounded position to symbolise my power and authority. I then have my bodyguards take my coat off for me to show that people are both scared of me and respect me so they follow my orders, and through having bodyguards with me it shows that I am quite rich to be able to afford them. My next significant movement is slapping the character, Hopkins, in the face to emphasise the line "I say it how it is I tell you to your face". On the word Lord I throw my hands up in the air to emphasise the word that I am saying. At the same time I am walking past the three other main characters in the scene in a threatening manner to intimidate them. On the line "the only other certainty my friends is Ford" I patronisingly put my arm around Hubble to make him feel personally uncomfortable. From this point up until the line "rock and roll" there are some choreographed walks which I perform with a strong posture and forceful and certain movements before performing a large gesture of my character playing a guitar on the mentioned line of the song. Next I sit on a tea trolley as I am pushed around the stage by my bodyguards. For the majority of this time I do not move and I just hold my strong posture apart from the lines "gay" and "German" where I perform two stereotypical arm gestures to match these words. During the section of the song where I am listing off random words, I forcibly walk towards Hopkins to personally intimidate him. For the remainder of the song up until the end, I move around the stage very little to keep up the strength within my character. Although on the slow section on the lead up to the faster section of the song towards the end, there are choreographed walks and marches to make my character appear self righteous and over the top. Finally, at the very end of the song on the line "and fuck you too", I smack Hopkins' teacup out of his hand to annoy him even further. And on the very last line of the song I ensure that I stand centre stage with my hands by my sides portraying a strong and powerful posture.

[its-rebeccawilkes-blog]

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Picture’s of tutor Becky’s figures for the Made in Dagenham budget and expenditure so far.

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Dance Analysis 2 This is America-Made in Dagenham.

1-                  What mood are you aiming to create? Describe the skills you use to create this mood.

 The overall mood that I am aiming to create throughout the song Made in Dagenham is a mood of fear combined with arrogance that can also be comical. As the scene I enter into is a very formalised situation with management patiently drinking tea and preparing to meet my character, I have to change the mood into one which makes the management nervous of my presence. I also have to make my character appear strong within his presence so he can intimidate the other characters.

The skills that I use to create this atmosphere include a range of different elements, the main element I have to use to make my character within this dance believable is my physicality. I always have a strong physicality with a good upright posture and pushed out chest to show the audience I have a high status and I am a character of high importance. All of my movements have to be extremely strong and self-assured to ensure that I stay in character throughout the dance and I do not lose the power my character should constantly have throughout the production. Although I move around and gesture within this dance routine, I do not do this frequently, instead I stay in one place or area whilst singing and do not use many if any gestures. This skill of having stillness within what my character does enables him to appear strong and unmovable. However, the gestures I do perform are at very specific moments in the song which are put in to enhance my character and the comedy within the dance routine. These moments include; slapping Hopkins round the face on the line “I say it to your face”, on the word “lord” I exaggeratedly throw my hands directly up into the air, on the line “the only other certainty my friends is Ford” I patronisingly put my arm over Hubble’s shoulder, on the line “you’re all gay” I flamboyantly flick my hand, when I sing “speaking German” I perform the Nazi salute, when I sing “we gave you rock ‘n roll” I pretend to play air guitar, and finally on the penultimate line “and fuck you too” I swat Hopkins’ teacup and saucer out of his hands. Because my character acts in this way, the formality of this scene is instantaneously broken and comedy is created for the audience. My spatial awareness also helps to set the mood for the dance and portray my character as intimidating and slightly unhinged as when I get directly into the faces of the other characters within the scene it immediately makes the mood look awkward, uncomfortable and makes Tooley seem manipulative. Finally, another key factor to creating the mood I want for this dance is through the use of facial expressions. Although the song lyrics are intended to be funny, my facial expressions throughout this are vindictive and sly looking as well being extremely intimidating and forceful. These expressions may sound as though they could not work for a comical song but they are the complete opposite of the expressions used by the other characters in the scene which therefore makes this section of the production comical yet enables Tooley to keep his strong characterisation and power.  

 2-                  Were you successful in creating the atmosphere for this scene?

 I believe I was successful in creating and setting the atmosphere and mood for this scene through using all of the skills discussed, however, I believe the atmosphere that I create and the way I create this atmosphere could be improved. This is because I need to exaggerate what I am doing and increase the energy levels within how I perform my role in this scene. I also need to ensure that I am sure of myself when perform this song as some of the movements, and especially the gestures, I become slightly hesitant over so that they look as though they are only being performed in a half-hearted manner. My character interaction is extremely good as I direct the majority of my lines to the characters within this scene, however, I need to perform out to my audience when necessary as I need to keep them engaged and interested and make them feel a large part of my song through giving them plenty of eye contact. Eye contact that is aimed out to the audience also makes my character appear stronger and more self-assured.  

 3-                  What do you need to do to improve your contribution to this mood?

To improve my contribution to this mood and atmosphere I just need to improve the energy that I put into all of the elements that I have used to build my characterisation. I need to make all of my gestures and movement more self-assured with complete confidence behind everything that I do. I need to ensure that I am keeping focus well throughout the whole routine so that my characterisation never slips which enables me to create a stronger and more believable character. I need to ensure that I keep the audience engaged throughout by maintain eye contact with them whenever possible. When I am stationary in specific sections of the routine, I need to ensure that I maintain this stillness so that I do not lose the power behind my character and if I do lose this stillness, I need to make the movement strong and purposeful. As well as using a large amount of audience interaction as I have previously mentioned, I also need to maintain good levels of eye contact and interaction with other characters. I have previously mentioned that I feel I do this well, but I feel I could find other moments where I could direct lines at and interact with these characters to create comedy. Finally I need to make my movement where I knock the tea cup out of Hopkins’ hand more forceful as I am constantly attempting the emphasise this movement but I am worried about breaking the cup if Joe does not move the cup and saucer away from each other quick enough. To improve this I will rehearse and liaise with Joe personally.

 4-                  What message does the song send to the audience? How do you enhance the message within the dance? What skills do you use to share this message with the audience? What could you do to improve your contribution to this message?

The message that this song sends to the audience is that Tooley is representing all American’s as arrogant self-obsessed individuals who cannot be reasoned and feel that they can treat anyone however they wish and can get away with what they do. However, as well as putting this image into the audience’s head in relation to what Americans are like, the lyrics of the song are also extremely comical which lightens the mood of Tooley’s attitude. I enhance the message of the dance through using all of the skills I have previously mentioned including; facial expressions, strong gestures and movements, character and audience interaction, and strong posture. All of these elements put together helps me to create my strong and intimidating character that is shown to be a force to be reckoned with. To share this message with the audience, the main skill that I utilise is eye contact. I try and create as much eye contact with my audience as possible at the appropriate moments to keep them engaged. By giving them direct eye contact, they also feel that the song is being aimed at them personally which engages them further and makes them feel a bigger part of the show. I also use strong movements, gestures, facial expressions and posture to create high energy levels within how I perform which will also engage the audience. To improve my contribution to this message, as I have already mentioned, I need to increase the energy levels and commitment into how I perform my gestures and some of my movement as I am slightly hesitant in what I am doing sometimes which can cause the energy levels to drop. This will also cause my character to be portrayed as less powerful.

  5-                  Where does the dance take place? Describe how you show this in the dance. Describe how this effects your movement.

This song takes place in the management office at Ford Dagenham where Hopkins, Macer and Hubble are drinking tea in a heightened civilised manner. As an office is meant to be a small space, for short sections of the song I confine myself slightly to the space in which the 3 aforementioned staff are standing to make the song personal to them to try and intimidate them. However, when the song begins to crescendo and more and more dancers enter the stage, I begin to use more of the stage. Doing this helps to ensure that all of the audience have a chance to see my character and the manner in which he acts so that they can form an opinion of hatred towards him. As mentioned, the start of the dance is quite compact with many characters positioned in one small space. This therefore confines my gestures and movements slightly but in other ways allows me to use different gestures I would not be able to use within other sections of the stage such as slapping Hopkins and putting my arm around Hubble. When I am in an open section of the stage, I can be freer with my movements and gestures as I have more space to make them bigger. Putting more energy and emphasis into my gestures and movements makes my performance more engaging and interesting to an audience as well. Even though I use some gestures, a lot of my character's movements focus on posture and involve very little gestures to give my character more strength through the stillness of my character's movements.

  6-                  Describe how your character feels within the scene. How do you show this in your movement? For example how does this affect your facial expressions and dynamics of the movement?

My character is extremely unhappy with the way the Ford management have allowed the female workers at the company to strike which is the reason he has come over so he can personally deal with the issue. Within this anger that Tooley portrays, there are also sub-emotions that he shows throughout the dance. These emotions come out as arrogance, patronisation and sarcasm which are used as intimidation tactics to grind down the Ford Dagenham management until they fear him. I also show how my character feels through facial expressions which match the emotions mentioned as well as trying to have strength and power behind how I perform my gestures, movements and how I hold my posture. This ultimately makes Tooley appear powerful and gives him a high status. As I am trying to put high levels of energy into my performance to keep my audience engaged and to create continuity with in how I perform as my character, everything that I do on stage such as facial expressions and movements become exaggerated. I do however need to improve my exaggeration of movements and gestures in certain parts as the power behind what I do sometimes dips which makes my character lose their sense of power slightly.

    7-                  Describe three points in your dance which are good and explain why they are effective.

Posture: my posture is good within this dance routine as I constantly make my character long strong and powerful by constantly and consistently having a straight back along with a pushed out chest and a slightly raised head. The tall and strong straight back means my character is able to appear taller than the other characters within the scene. The pushed out chest and slightly raised head enables my character to look pompous as well as being able to look down his nose at other characters.

Interaction: My interaction with the audience and other characters in the scene is consistent and happens often which makes the scene look naturalistic whilst still engaging the audience. It is especially essential that we are able to engage our audience in this song and dance routine and keep them entertained as this is the opening number to act 2 and should immediately engage our audience. The interaction with characters on stage also means that they have something to act off which can create nice moments within the piece which can make an embellished product.

Character interpretation: I believe that I interpret my character well and give an accurate portrayal of what my character’s real life counterpart would have been like at this period of time. I am able to represent my character well through the use of appropriate facial expressions and dance and acting techniques as previously discussed which helps to further develop my character and make it interesting to watch. Through using these skills I am also able to tell the story of how my character thinks and feels throughout this dance and song just by the way in which I use dynamics and expressive techniques as I have already discussed.

  8-                  Target three areas of the dance, which need improving. For example timing, facial expressions and dynamics. List and describe the moments you need to work on and film yourself improving these areas.

 Gestures: as mentioned, I am finding that when I perform many of my gestures, I perform them with little confidence which makes it look as if I am performing my gestures half-heartedly. I do not intend to do this, however this is the feedback I have received quite regularly. I have already started to develop and improve upon this issue through taking some of the unnecessary gestures out of the piece. To improve upon this skill further, I need to work on the gestures I have already create by making them stronger, but I also may need to add in more gestures as there is a fair amount of stillness in my routine. To improve upon this element I will rehearse this musical number once a night for a week. For the first night that I rehearse this number I will look through the script and note down any specific sections where I made be able to add gestures or movements in that can be strong and well defined. I will then practice these gestures in front of a mirror so that I am able to visualise what they will look like on stage. After this I will rehearse the whole routine with these newly added gestures. As well as ensuring the newly added gestures will look defined enough for a stage, I will work on the gestures I have already acquired to ensure there is continuity within the way each gesture is performed. I hope to see an improvement within the way I perform my gestures by the following week.  

Energy: Although I always have great energy levels within the way I perform, I need to increase these levels so that my gestures are aided in becoming stronger so that my overall performance has more strength behind it. As it is hard to rehearse at home and put in 100% energy, to work on this skill, I will take what I have developed each night from working on my gestures and input what I have done into the song the following day during rehearsal time at college where I am able to give 100% as there will be other actors to bounce off as well as the backing music and other performers in the scene. I again would like to see this issue targeted and improved by the following week.

Movement: This point again is based around energy and gestures. I need to improve my movements within this routine as I need to have more power and commitment behind how I move across the space because sometimes how I walk and when I walk looks choreographed. I need it to look as if I am walking where I want when I want so I can portrayed the self-assured attitude, that my character possesses, across to the audience so that my character can look strong and powerful overall. This is not a skill I am able to work on and develop at home as there is not enough space. I will build on this skill throughout rehearsals at college by watching myself in the mirror to note where I move and when to see if these are appropriate times for moving or if I am coming in too soon or too late. There is also a recording of this song which is available to me therefore I will review this footage of me performing this routine to again work out when the most appropriate moments are to move that will look naturalist and not choreographed. After working on this skill for a week in lessons, I would again like to see this issue mended by the following week.  

[chriswilliamblackshaw]

Dance Analysis 1 Made in Dagenham-Made in Dagenham.

What mood are you aiming to create? Describe the skills you use to create this mood.

The overall mood that we are aiming to create with the song Made in Dagenham is setting the scene of a rowdy men-filled workshop of a factory in the morning at the very beginning of work. We also need to not only create this atmosphere of men joking around with each other but also being frustrated is a sarcastic and comical way to show how being underpaid is making them feel and also how being made to live in Dagenham itself is making them feel. Towards the end of the song we see a slightly misogynistic atmosphere appear as the girls enter the stage and there is a slight joke like argument taking places between the men and women which ultimately finishes the song.

The skills we use to create this mood are mainly physical gestures, vocals and facial expressions rather than actual choreographed movements apart from the choreographed tyre throwing, punches in the air at the end of the song, and the clapping towards the end of the song. Throughout the rest of the song we keep our physicality throughout quite laid back to show that we are not in a very formal environment and to help add to the relaxed and comical atmosphere, however, when the women enter the stage, I personally make my physicality stronger and bolder to make my character seem overpowering to the women factory workers. At the very start of the piece our facial expressions are fairly relaxed but we are also portraying the mood of happiness in our facial expressions as we are glad to see our friends, glad to be getting paid and we are also enjoying joking around at work by throwing and kicking tyres around. Towards the end of the song when the women enter, the mood of the music changes and becomes slower and more reflective which automatically makes the mood more serious, to reflective this mood in our movements, we stand still on the spot holding our position and gaze with a pensive look whilst the women slowly filter in. However, when we realise that they are complaining that they do not get paid enough either, the men snap out of this stance and use their facial expressions to show their anger at the women as the men believe that the women are not entitled to be complaining as women never get equal pay. To add to these facial expressions the men use their arms and hands as well as their overall physicality to make themselves look bigger and intimidating towards the women to try and belittle them. Throughout each individual solo line where we are jokingly describing working at Ford Dagenham to our audience, we each use individual naturalistic gestures which helps to enhance what we say; for example on my line “that he dumps into the Thames” I point my right thumb over my right shoulder as if to indicate dumping pollution into the Thames. There are a couple of sections within this routine where all the boys are choreographed to move at a specific to for example when we all sing the line “from whom all goodness stems” we all turn our heads to the audience from whatever ever position we are standing in.

Were you successful in creating the atmosphere for this scene?

I believe we were successful in creating the atmosphere we wanted as we kept the scene and movements continuous to make an interesting and believable busy working atmosphere. The contrasting sharp and smooth gestures we used combined with our varied facial expressions also helped us to portray our story to our audience and make our overall movements and performance more believable and realistic, as depending on what emotion we were showing to our audience, they could gauge what our characters were feeling throughout everything they said. The sharp gestures we used also help us to enhance our acting throughout the lyrics of the song that are intended to show a frustrated emotion and the smoother gestures indicate a more relaxed feeling.

The moments when we are choreographed to stand still, especially at the end of the song when the women enter, makes the moments powerful and it holds the audience attention as the stillness makes our characters bold and pensive as though we are thinking about our futures when we are describing how we feel Ford mistreat us by not paying us enough and how we are unhappy with living in Dagenham.

What do you need to do to improve your contribution to this mood?

To improve my contribution to this mood I do not feel that I need to alter or change the moments, gestures and facial expressions I am using, I just need to enhance them and make my overall performance bigger and more exaggerated as although this is a naturalistic piece because it is based on true events, I still need to be exaggerated in my acting as if I use techniques that are too naturalistic, from a stage in a theatre the audience may not be able to see all the gestures and facial expressions.

What message does the song send to the audience? How do you enhance the message within the dance? What skills do you use to share this message with the audience? What could you do to improve your contribution to this message?

The main message in this song is to lead directly on from the song Busy Women and show the audience the mens’ opinions of living and working in Dagenham, it follows directly on from Busy Women as the song Busy Women shows the womens’ opinions on their work and life in Dagenham then we see immediately how the life of the men contrasts to this. The main message of this song informs the audience that all the men working at Ford were born or “made in Dagenham” and this is the only job they have had since a young age but yet they are still “underpaid in Dagenham”. The solo sections of the song show a more light hearted atmosphere when the workers are mocking the company and joking with each other. But when we reach the end of the song where both the men and women are on stage the atmosphere and mood changes into being more serious as all of the workers are holding their position on stage as they powerfully sing about how they are underpaid, how they don’t know why they stayed in Dagenham, and how their tempers are getting frayed in Dagenham.

The message of this dance is enhanced throughout the skills we use such as movements, facial expressions and gestures which I have previously described for example; we move naturalistically throughout the scene as well as acting and gesturing naturalistically to create a busy looking realistic workplace. We are choreographed at specific points to stand stationary to create a bold impact upon our audience especially at the finale of the song as previously described. Our facial expressions vary throughout the piece to help show a contrast of emotions and feelings and the gestures and actions we use, specifically in the solo lines help to enhance what we are saying as mentioned previously.

The skills we use to share our message with our audience are very similar to the skills we use to create the mood within the song. In order to share our message with our audience through our performance we use a large amount of eye contact to make them feel a part of what is being said as the dialogue and certain gestures are being aimed directly at them throughout this whole number. We make our whole audience feel a part of what we are saying through being enthusiastic and believable in what we are doing and saying so that they can relate to what is being acted out. We are also strong with all of the previously mentioned skills and techniques throughout our performance of this number which also helps to keep our audience engaged and interested in what we are saying.

As mentioned already, I believe both myself and the group as a whole within this number are doing everything correctly to send the correct message to our audience, however, to improve portraying the message to our audience, we need to continue to push our performance skills and emotions even further to exaggerate what we are doing so that we engage our audience as much as possible throughout this number, this will also help them to relate to what we are singing about and make them feel empathy towards our characters.

Where does the dance take place? Describe how you show this in the dance. Describe how this effects your movement.

This dance takes place inside the Ford Dagenham workshop where car parts are being made by the male workers at the start of the day. The ways we show this within our dance is that we use costumes such as overalls to Indicate to the audience that we are in a workshop environment, we also use a number of props within this number such as tyres, car parts and workshop tools to make our performance more believable and realistic. The informal overalls that the characters wear make our characters movements become more relaxed which matches the informal language that is used throughout this number. The variety of props we use not only add to helping set the scene but also mean that we can use different ways of moving and performing in the space as well as exploring different levels when handling props. The use of props also enhances the choreography in this number such as the section where some of the workers throw the tyres across the space to make the routine more engaging and exciting to the audience

Describe how your character feels within the scene. How do you show this in your movement? For example how does this affect your facial expressions and dynamics of the movement.

Throughout this scene my character changes his emotions to reflect what he is singing about at different points within the song, for example at the start of this routine my movements and facial expressions are fairly relaxed as my character arrives at work slightly late and rushes his movements upon realisation that he has not “clocked in”. Throughout the majority of the song after this point the lyrics appear to mock working in Dagenham at Ford therefore I make my facial expression slightly sarcastic by raising my eyebrows with a half smile, I exaggerated this expression upon singing my solo line “that he dumps into the Thames” as well as pointing my right thumb over my right shoulder to indicate the pollution that Ford “dumps into the Thames”, during the majority of this piece up until the final section, I make my moments and gestures naturalistic such as holding a relaxed posture with my hands in my pockets, I also react and interact with other characters to make my performance more realistic. At the end of the piece when both the male and female workers appear on stage the music appears to become slightly more reflective as everyone stands still, my character personally feels pensive and reflective and has slight anger inside him which slowly builds up until eventually my character’s facial expression widens and becomes more exaggerated and angered, especially when the men and women are arguing which each other shouting “boys, girls” as if both sexes are trying to prove that they are the best. Also at this point my gestures with my hands and arms become bigger and more intimidating and forceful, these gestures are also aimed at the women to try and intimidate them further. The main arm gesture I use at this point is throwing both of my arms out to the side of my but towards the female workers which adds further to the intimidation.

Describe three points in your dance which are good and explain why they are effective.

1. Naturalism: the naturalistic way I move and gesture within the space means that my performance looks realistic and believable instead of looking staged and choreographed, therefore this song can be relatable to our audience as this may have been a job or work environment some of them were used to, some of the audience members may have even worked in the same era as our play is set. I have also managed to make my naturalistic performance skills work well and correspond with the dance routines through the technique exercises the class has studied with Kerry. A good exercise we worked on for developing our naturalistic acting techniques and understanding of the production was the hot seating exercise where we developed an improvised scene between the male workers at Ford and the female workers about how they would think and feel about each other. The thoughts and feelings developed within this exercise have been inputted into the way my character thinks and feels within this dance routine, especially towards the end of the song when both the men and women are singing with and at each other as this is where I can express these developed feelings to embellish the piece.

2. Character interaction: I always interact with all of the characters on stage during this dance which again adds to the naturalism of the show and makes it contrasting and more interesting for our audience to watch. The way I watch the characters also means that I am able to show how I feel about a certain character, for example my relations towards Barry the apprentice would be slightly sarcastic as the workers tend to mock him. Also, by watching other characters during solo lines, this helps to move the audiences’ focus onto the person who is singing which therefore keeps the audience engaged.

3. Audience interaction: I give plenty of eye contact to the audience at certain points within this routine to make them feel a bigger part of the production as well as engaging them more. Giving eye contact to our audience also makes the performance feel personal to them.

Target three areas of the dance, which need improving. For example timing , facial expressions and dynamics. List and describe the moments you need to work on and film yourself improving these areas.

1. Gestures: although the gestures I use are appropriate and what I feel are naturalistic, the feedback I sometimes receive is that my gestures need to be bigger as it often looks as though I am about to gesture then I do not follow through with the gesture which therefore makes my performance look odd. I also need to work on the dynamics and tension within the way I perform these gestures to give them a contrast. To improve my gestures within this dance I need to rehearse performing this routine in front of a mirror so that I can experiment with a variety of gestures at different points within the routine to see what works best. I will also be able to gauge how exaggerated I need to make my gestures and what dynamic and level of tension I would need to use if I am performing them in front of a mirror. Doing this will help me to enhance my performance as well. I intend to rehearse this way for 4 evenings this week by firstly going over the routine in chunks then going through the routine in full so I can see a noticeable development. I hope for my gestures to be improved by the beginning of the following week.

2. Spatial awareness: I need to improve this element of my performance within the dance routines as there are times within this number when I am either obscured by or I am obscuring people. I also need to be aware of props such as tyres that are flying across the space. I need to improve this skill as it is vital for myself as a performer to have spatial awareness so that I am safe on stage from any dangers. To improve my spatial awareness, I will view back recordings that have been made of this routine throughout the rehearsal process so that I can see from another perspective where would be a good place to position myself and when would be a good time to move between positions. After viewing the recording I will try out different positions over the course of the week to experiment and find out which position works best at which moment. After rehearsing in this way for a week, I would hope to see a development in my spatial awareness.

3. Costume and props: costume and props are frequently used throughout the show and especially in this routine. There are many props on the stage that are accessible to me such as tyres and tools in this number and I need to work out which ones to use and when. At the moment I am using the tyres quite a lot but I feel I need more variety instead of continuously picking up and dropping tyres without any reason to, this would then make my actions varied. I also need to think about how my costume would alter my physicality by looking at how it would make me act, walk and stand. I will again watch the recording of this routine so that I can see what props are spare at what moments and if there are none spare I will have time to look at what props could be added into the dance to make it more realistic. Over the course of a week during rehearsals I will experiment with using different props in different ways to see what I can add to my performance in order to make the scene look more naturalistic and busy. I will also pay close attention to how I move and stand when in costume so by looking in the mirrors in the rehearsal space. I am aiming to create a naturalistic, relaxed and possibly slightly slouched posture which will add to the naturalism of the production and would be more realistic of a workman in overalls. I hope to see an improvement in all the skills I have mentioned in this section by the following week.