In today's session of singing we did a vocal warm up to prepare our voices. This mainly included lip trills and scales. The vocal warm up activity helped to extend our vocal range, it relaxed our muscles, which helped us to let go of any vocal tension and prepare our voice for a safe and healthy singing performance.
After this, our instructor split us into three groups: Soprano, Alto and the chorus, we divided the lyrics of the song “Skid Row” from the musical “Little shop of Horrors”.
I have explored different classical texts and investigated their features and acting demands throughout my second term of Performing Arts. For example, I have studied the Melodramatic style of acting, Greek Theatre, and Shakespeare.
Greek Tragedy:
The first style of acting that I have looked at is Greek Theatre. I have investigated the play “Electra” which is a classic text performed in this style.
The social, cultural and historical context of the text and playwright:
Sophocles was born 497/496 BC in Colonus, Attica and he died 406/405 BC (aged 90 or 91) in Athens. Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. Sophocles wrote 120 plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form. Sophocles influenced the development of the drama by adding a third actor, this reduced the importance of the chorus in the presentation of the plot.
Electra is widely considered to be Sophocles's best character drama due to the thoroughness of its examination of the morals and motives of Electra herself. After Electra's father, King Agamemnon, returns from the Trojan War, his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, murder him. Sophocles's play deals with Electra's intense desire for revenge in the years following her father's murder.
Although the exact date of Sophocles' s Electra is not known, it was probably written and first performed around 409 B.C. (at that year's Dionysia), when the playwright was in his eighties. At this time, the Greek states were battling one another in the Peloponnesian War. The city-state of Athens had established itself as the dominant region m Greece, following its decisive role in the defeat of die Persians in the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C.
After the Persians were expelled from Greece, the city-states banded together to form the Delian League. This alliance ensured the mutual protection of each state and was ostensibly a confederacy of equals. Each city paid an annual tribute to maintain the strength of the alliance. However, Athens gradually became the leader of the Delian League, and Pericles, head of the Athenians, used the surplus tribute to rebuild
The Ancient Greeks used drama to advance their culture, and in doing so, they promoted the morals of their gods/goddesses system and beliefs. For example, in Sophocles’ play Antigone he uses a clash between brothers, a quest for power, and the idea of inescapable fate to advance the moral that humans must obey the gods and their traditions even if it means physical death.
When Greek audiences watched these dramas, they were supposed to take away the moral and apply it to their lives. If there was an invading city or culture that the Greeks were against, then the Greeks were expected to fight to the death in defense of their beliefs or traditions.
Ancient Greeks believed that music would cure people who are distressed and psychologically disturbed. Their resolution would be listening to certain kinds of music and watching certain types of performances. The theatre was believed to be a healthy healing sanctuary where people came from across the empire to cure disabilities and sickness.
The vocal and physical requirements:
In our Greek Tragedy sessions, we studied the play “Electra” by Sophocles. When interpreting this text and developing characters there are several vocal requirements that actors need to be aware of. Firstly, actors must be able to project their voices to a high standard so that large audience members can hear and follow the story. The masks would aid the actor’s vocal performance as the mask altered the acoustic characteristics of their voices. Therefore, both from the listener’s and the actor’s points of view these masks significantly modified the acoustic events and transformed the overall theatrical experience. Skills and techniques such as choral speaking, emotional tone, and pace are all important vocal qualities needed to be successful in Greek theatre.
Modern actors would also need to consider the physical demands required in Greek theatre; chorus members had to react to what was happening on stage in unison and synchronization with other chorus members. Masks would be used to help actors to truly emphasize what their bodies were doing through the use of exaggerated movements as they couldn’t show the audience their emotions through their faces. The skills of exaggerated movement and grand gestures is a key skill used in Greek tragedy because, at the time, audiences were so large that the gestures needed to be exaggerated so that the far away crowds could see the actors. Aristotle said that in his day excessive gestures were used which lead to overacting.
The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation. Greek tragedy had its beginnings in choral performances, in which a group of 50 men danced and sang dithyrambs. The chorus would perform isolated movements, sometimes movements were synchronized and so the timing was key. They would even use slow motion and different paces to create a dramatic effect. Therefore, the performances were physically very straining so Greek performances demanded the actors to be fit and healthy so that they could perform these exaggerated/codified gestures for long periods of time. Not only this, the masks and costumes were extremely detailed to ensure all audience members could see and identify which character was which so the actors had to be physically fit to handle all of this.
Costumes helped indicate the social status, gender, and age of a character. Athenian characters wore more elaborate, decorated versions of everyday clothing, such as a tunic or undergarment, a cloak or over-garment. Costumes for characters that were non-Athenians were more outlandish. Tragic actors wore buskins (raised platform shoes) to symbolize superior status or actors who played tragic roles wore boots called cothurneses that elevated them above other actors. This just shows how exhausting it would have been to carry all this costume on one's body, emphasizing why actors had to physically strong.
Actors would have to perform in a large open-air theatre, like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens. The ancient Greek theatre stage design was very precise and unique. It had what is known as the skene, the orchestra, the parados, the proskein , the Dionysus alter and the theatron. This means that a modern actor must be able to project their voices to a high standard and increase the volume when needed to ensure that the audience can still hear the story even with the surrounding noise.
A modern actor would need to explore and develop their movement/gestures in order to meet the style. They’d need to analyze and pay close attention to the original Greek style of acting by copying original gestures and taking inspiration from them. A modern actor would need to attend classes and workshops along with conducting independent research in order to gain a full understanding of the codes and conventions of Greek theatre. They would need to work with a chorus and practice working as a unison with synchronized movements in order to get timings correct to suit this style.
Shakespearian Classical Text: Romeo and Juliet:
The second classical text that I have investigated would be Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The classical Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career. It was written around 1594–96.The story is about two young, “star-crossed lovers” whose deaths reconcile their feuding families. It was Shakespeare's most popular play during his lifetime and is one of his most frequently performed plays. Along with many of Shakespeare’s play, this classical text requires actors to have strong vocal and physical skills.
The social, cultural and historical context of the text and playwright are important because they have influenced Shakespeare’s work greatly; in particular, they have influenced Romeo and Juliet.
His plays were written in the Elizabethan era, so Queen Elizabeth was ruling England (1558-1603). “Romeo and Juliet” was written in 1597, during this time several historical events happened in the world. For example, England troops went to Amiens, Flemish painter Frederick of Valckenborch became porter of Frankfurt-on-Main and also there were a lot of deaths. For example, a group of early Japanese Christians were killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society, Lucas van Valckenborch, (a famous painter) died at the age of 61 and there were many more deaths which could have influenced Shakespeare’s ideas of so many characters’ in the play to dying. There was also a plague in 1597, which is referenced in “Romeo and Juliet” when Friar John says he couldn’t deliver Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo because he was locked away hiding from the plague. In 1348 the bubonic plague ravaged Europe. In Italy, an estimated one-third of the population died from the disease. The effects of all this are significant factors in the play Romeo and Juliet.Shakespeare was also influenced by the world around him. His works include observations about current political struggles, the fear of diseases, and the popular language of the city's tradesmen and other professionals. He took inspiration from the kings of England and Elizabeth’s ancestor, for example, the Lords and Ladies in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet comes from an Italian writer writing at the same time as Shakespeare. Shakespeare adapted the work of other writers which was very common at the time. Although he borrowed plots, Shakespeare made the details his own and often combined different plots.At 18 Shakespeare married a local girl, Anne Hathaway. They had three children – a daughter called Susanna and twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died in 1596. This is the time when Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet, the death of his son may have influenced the deaths in his play, people have even suggested that both Romeo and Juliet were written to be within the same age range as Hamnet when he died.
In the time when the play was set, Verona was a very lively city. It was culturally rich and commercially successful, it was the wealthiest city-state in Italy. But in Verona, like all other regions of the country, there was violence and war. Battles between Romans, Etruscans, Gauls, Carthaginians, occurred regularly until the Roman Empire took control of Italy. Before this, it split into two distinct halves. The result of the split was a long-standing and savage power struggle that created hatred between sides. By the fourteenth century, the division between supporters of the emperor and supporters of the pope was firmly established. As in other Italian city-states, a fierce rivalry existed in Verona between these two sides. Supporters of the pope, called Guelfs, and partisans of the emperor, they had fights and battles. This moment of history could have been what influenced Shakespeare to create the harsh divide of Capulets and Montagues.
Shakespeare's audience were far more boisterous compared to the theatre goers of today. They were loud and hot-tempered and were interested in what was happening off stage, as well as on. The audience were known to talk during the performances; they’d have fights, they’d “boo” the actors on stage, try to leave in the middle of the performance or even try to join in with the action on stage. Therefore, when developing characters for performance actors gestures must be very grand and over exaggerated, actors had to work really hard to keep the audience focussed and interested which is why their gestures and actions were so exaggerated. (This is where the melodramatic style of theatre came from). Therefore, when interpreting a text, actors must think about how they can use their gestures and movements to indicate their intentions, feelings, and emotions. It takes a lot of energy to perform and so a modern actor would need to be physically fit to be able to perform these exaggerated gestures for long periods of time. Along with this, Shakespearian plays require actors to wear elaborated clothing, for example, corsets. Originally, actors would have worn clothes that reflect their character’s status/class, there were even laws controlling what actors could wear. Costumes were mainly the modern dress of the time; some actors playing smaller roles might have worn their own clothing. The costumes helped the actors as they would help to emphasize their character’s social status. This means that the modern actors must understand and look at how the costume affects their overall movement and performance of gestures. Shakespearian plays require a modern actor to consider if the costume restricts their movement, stance, posture or gait.
As well as physical, there are vocal demands that actors should consider when interpreting the text and developing characters in Shakespeare. A lot of Shakespearian performances are performed outside. The changing weather conditions can surprisingly affect the voice; when you get cold your voice will become dry. The modern actor must consider how their voice is affected since one vocal requirement would be projection so that the audience can hear and follow the entire story. Not only this, Shakespearian performance require actors to speak in verse, the voice must be exaggerated and overemphasized in order to develop a character for performance. Shakespeare can be demanding technically in terms of diction; “some people are better at producing loud vowels but sometimes you can’t hear the consonants very well; others bite out the consonants so powerfully that you can’t actually hear the vowel. It’s not easy but you have to get a balance.” – Says Peter Hall, Royal Shakespeare Company.
Shakespeare requires a modern actor to analyze language deeply. Since Shakespeare is essentially like learning another language, a modern actor must truly read between the lines in order to discover their character’s intention, emotions and given circumstances. They must analyze language and have a strong understanding of the text before performing it. Understanding the language will help to the actor to identify the social economic and cultural factors that are affecting their character.
Melodrama:
I have investigated the melodramatic style of performance in several different plays, for example, “London Assurance” and “Romeo and Juliet”.
Melodrama became popular in the 1780′s when theatres were not allowed to show drama due to Government legislation.
Historical context of the playwright: Dion Boucicault
“Boucicault was an excellent actor, especially in pathetic parts. His uncanny ability to play these low-status roles earned him the nickname "Little Man Dion" in theatrical circles.”
He has adapted many plays which have been extremely popular.
Dion Boucicault, the writer of “London Assurance” was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. After a year in London, Boucicault left to pursue acting in Cheltenham. Soon afterward he began to write plays. His first play, A Legend of the Devil's Dyke, opened in Brighton in 1838. Three years later he found immediate success as a dramatist with London Assurance. Produced at Covent Garden on 4 March 1841, its cast included such well-known actors as Charles Mathews, William Farren, Mrs Nesbitt and Madame Vestris.
In the summer of 1859, Boucicault took over as manager of Burton's New Theatre on Broadway just below Amity Street.There on 5 December 1859, he premiered his new sensation, the anti-slavery potboiler The Octoroon, in which he also starred. This was the first play to treat seriously the Black American population.
On his return to England, he produced at the Adelphi Theatre a dramatic adaptation of Gerald Griffin's novel, The Collegians, entitled The Colleen Bawn. This play, one of the most successful of the times, was performed in almost every city of the United Kingdom and the United States. He adapted many other plays such as Washington Irving's Rip van Winkle.
When developing characters for a melodramatic performance, actors must consider similar vocal and physical demands to those of Greek tragedy and Shakespearean performances. Firstly the use of codified gestures is a key skill needed in order to perform the melodramatic style. When developing characters, actors must consider if they could perform any classic codified gestures within a scene such as the “oh no” pose; in times of distress a character would raise the back of his/her hand to their forehead and lean backward. This is an iconic gesture that the melodramatic style is known for. An audience recognizes codified gestures; comedy can be created among the audience when gestures are grand and exaggerated which is why they are so important. An actor must also consider if their character is a protagonist or antagonist, a hero or a villain as this will help to determine what specific gestures should be portrayed to an audience. Along with exaggerated gestures, melodrama also includes dance routines so a modern actor must be physically fit and healthy in order to perform these elaborate routines. Some melodramatic performances use dramatic tableau to increase emotion which can be performed at different paces; so the modern actor must have skills such as varied movement and pace e.g. slow motion.
The melodramatic style of performance can often require actors to sing, actors must consider the tone of the piece to determine if the song is comic or serious. Like the other styles that I have investigated, a lot of melodrama would be performed to a large audience, possibly outdoor so it's important for the modern actor to have strong projection skills and to be able to show a strong emotional range through their use of vocals. As well as this, lots of melodramatic characters speak quickly and rapidly change the pace of their voice to add comedy which a modern actor must be able to adapt to.
From the very beginning of our production of Romeo and Juliet, I have committed myself to my craft and constantly tried to improve my acting in order to suit the melodramatic style. I first auditioned for the role of Juliet as I independently picked a scene to perform. I considered Juliet’s intentions, goals, relationships, where she was in the scene and who she was talking to. I experimented with my body language, gestures and different ways of saying lines before auditioning for the role. Throughout my rehearsals and performances, I feel that I have been consistently professional. I made sure that I was at the correct location and on time for all rehearsals. I stayed organised by making myself a personal running order so that I didn’t miss any of my scenes and so that I was on time for my cues, entrances and exists. I also stayed organised by ensuring that I always had my script, notepad and pen. I also ensured that I had learned my lines for specific dates so that I wasn’t restricted to my script in rehearsals. I also managed my time well, for example, when I wasn’t performing; I completed my tech role to a high standard. I made sure that all cast members were measured accurately for their costume and in the performance week, I helped cast members change costume quickly. I continued to self-develop my work by considering what I could do to improve my performance after every scene. I feel that I had good communication skills with my cast members; this helped to solve problems such as finding needed props and costumes. I consistently contributed my ideas to the group whilst listened to others and I met my personal goals by sticking to deadlines. Overall, I feel that I have been professional and committed to my work throughout the sessions of Romeo and Juliet. I also presented myself in a professional manner by wearing suitable, movable clothing with my hair tied back.
I mainly focused on my acting and my personal tech role; I didn’t consider other jobs that needed completing. Therefore, to improve my professionalism, looking back I think I could have offered to help others more when I was free. For example, I could have helped set up and put down Juliet’s bed to make the process quicker for the cast. I also could have organized the set by placing all Juliet’s bedding in a specific section so the cast knew where to find it. Also, I could have used my time more efficiently on the performance day by folding Juliet’s bedding or picking up any rubbish that was lying around before the show started instead of simply focussing on my personal tech role. This productive use of time management would have saved people from rushing around before the performance started.
When rehearsing my scenes as previously mentioned I contributed my ideas and tried my best when performing. However, once I had finished a scene that I was in, I didn’t pay much attention to other actor’s scenes. To improve my professionalism I think I could have concentrated on other people’s scenes more when not performing myself. On the day of the performance, one cast member was sick and so couldn’t go on to perform one particular scene. In a situation like this, someone else has to go on stage for the actor who is ill. If I had paid more attention to the other scenes then I could have volunteered to go on stage for that actor. From this, I have learned that all scenes are important and that all actors need to have a good idea of other cast members roles in the event of an emergency. Therefore to improve my professionalism in future projects, I would ensure that I am up to date with all scenes and what is expected from the actors within that those scenes.
If I had more time, to make the overall experience better, I would have taken on the role of marketing our performance. For our first performance, only one audience member turned up to watch which was rather disappointing. I think we could have marketed the performance better through the use of networking. This could have been done by making calls to primary and secondary schools and inviting them to come and see the performance, we could have gone round classes at college informing students of our show or even made posters to put around the college premises in order to attract a wider audience. Although cast members did make a Facebook page to market the performance, we didn't keep it up to date or regularly post information or pictures to remind people of the show. Along with this, to improve the overall experience if I had more time then I think that lighting could have been used to create more of a dramatic effect. For example, in Juliet's bedroom, a red spotlight could have been aimed at Lady Capulet to emphasize her anger and disgust when Juliet refused to marry Paris. This would have created an intense atmosphere and would have enhanced the tension on stage at that particular moment. Also if I had more time, I think cast members should have joined together and identified the purpose of the piece and the target audience as these were things that we never really considered during the rehearsal process. if we did have more time then I think we should have done more full run throughs of the whole performance at Tapton house because occasionally cast members (including myself at one moment) were unsure where they needed to be which caused panic backstage. We could have rehearsed at Tapton house from the beginning of the rehearsal progress to clear up any confusion for all the cast. To make the piece of drama even better, if we had more time then I think the cast would need to work more on their transitions from scene to scene. For example, I noticed that there was a slight pause in Juliet’s bedroom when we were waiting for the Nurse to enter for the following scene which created an awkward silence on stage for a few seconds. Also, I did note that audience members could occasionally see some actors waiting at the side of the performance area before they came on. Since the performance was outside, it was hard for the actors to hear their cues so unfortunately, they did have to be close to the performance area to know what was happening. Therefore, if we had more time, I would suggest hiring microphones so that the actors can hear lines backstage without being seen by the audience.
For my next performance, there are a few things that I would do differently. Firstly, at the start of rehearsals, I would physically go to the theatre and watch a professional production that is performed in the same style that I am studying. For Romeo and Juliet, although I looked online at actors performing the melodramatic style of acting, I think it would have benefited me more if I'd have seen it in person. That way I'd be able to see the style in a lot more detail and take inspiration from professional work. A full, professional performance would have given me more of an insight into the melodramatic style compared to watching short clips online. For the next show, I am going to take inspiration from other actors, not only famous ones but my fellow cast members who are working and developing the same style as me. I also plan to learn my lines a lot quicker, although I did stick to my personal line learning deadlines, Shakespeare was difficult to learn so I now realize I should have given myself more time so that I wasn’t as stressed to learn the lines quickly. From this project, I also learned that it took me longer to learn lines than I first expected so I now know that for the next project, I need to start learning them a lot earlier.
The original target audience for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet consisted of a broad cross-section of Elizabethan citizens. Playgoers at the time consisted of people of all sorts of educational and social levels. Romeo and Juliet, as a Shakespeare play, would normally draw an audience of older, well-educated men and women--probably more women than men. But for our performance of Romeo and Juliet, I would target a younger audience since all the cast members are around the age of 16-18. Our target audience would be a younger crowd, in particular, young people who normally would not be interested in Shakespeare, whilst still holding on to some of the older theatregoers. I chose a younger target audience of both males and females because I want to inspire a love of Shakespeare in people from a young age through performances.
The audience reacted positively to the performance; they enjoyed the performance and got carried away within the story. One audience member came up to me personally and congratulated me for my performance. He told me that my use of stern facial expressions clearly showed Lady Capulet’s ineffectual attitude towards her daughter. He told me that I showed Lady Capulet’s intentions and selfish attitude well as I made him understand that Lady Capulet was eager to see her daughter marry Paris and that she was relying on the Nurse for moral and pragmatic support. Another audience member was impressed that I was able to cry on cue and thought that my grand gestures suited the melodramatic style of acting to a high standard. I also spoke to one of my friends who watched the performance, my friend said that she could hear me clearly throughout all of the performance which I was pleased to hear as I was worried that I wouldn’t be loud enough with the outdoor surrounding noise. Along with this, several audience members said they thought it was interesting how they moved around Tapton house to different performance locations; it was something unusual that they had never done before in the theatre.
Vocal Evaluation:
From reflecting on my overall performance I thought that my use of vocal skills was of a high standard. I was able to project my voice so that the audience could hear me throughout all of my performance. My voice was clear with a strong diction and I was able to give the impression that I was whispering on stage when I said “this is the matter” to Juliet, yet I could still project my voice so that the far away audience could hear me. I did several vocal warm up activities with cast members and our director before performing which helped me maintain a high standard of projection for a long period of time. I found that I was able to project my voice above the surrounding outdoor noise.
Also, I feel that I was able to use different tones in my voice to help show my character’s range of emotions. For example, my emotional range showed Lady Capulet’s excitement of Paris’s proposal and her disapproval in Juliet’s decisions. I could adapt to my character's situation and rapidly change my tone of voice if needed to; for example to show anger, shock, sadness or happiness. In the scene where Juliet explains that she shall not marry Paris, I spoke in a deep, angered tone which was effective as it showed that I was repulsed with Juliet’s decision. It showed how Lady Capulet was lost for words and that she couldn’t believe her daughter's decision.
Another strength used in my vocals would be my use of pace. I could quickly increase or decrease the pace of voice. For example, when saying the lines “What say you? Can you love the gentlemen?” I spoke in fast paced voice to show that I was eager to know Juliet’s answer; that it was the one and only thing on my mind. It also showed that Juliet’s answer was very important to me. The fast pace of my voice created a busy atmosphere on stage which made the audience just as eager to hear Juliet’s answer as her mother was.
To improve my vocals, an area that I could look at would be my use of exaggeration in my voice because I occasionally thought that my lines were said in a natural way. The use of exaggerated vocals is a key skill used in melodrama, on reflection, I think that I could have over emphasized words even more. For example, in Juliet’s death scene when I say “Ow woeful time!” I could have emphasized the word “woeful” by increasing the volume of my voice or pausing for 3 seconds before saying the word to create an exaggerated effect. A pause between lines would have added dramatic tension and would have kept the audience guessing. I could have experimented more by pausing at the start, middle and end of my lines to add dimension and exaggeration to my speeches.
Another area of my vocals that could have been improved would have been my use of rhythm. This could have been done by stressing or distressing syllables. For example, when speaking to Lord Capulet, I could have distressed my syllables to show that Lady Capulet feels she can rely on him in the scene where he changes the wedding date. If my words flowed more through my use of rhythm then this would have shown how Lady Capulet doesn’t want to upset her husband, emphasizing how men had more power and authority in the Georgian period than women did. This was an area that I thought needed improving because I now notice that I have the tendency to stick to same pattern and rhythm in my voice. Similar to my use of rhythm, I could have understood the use of iambic pentameter in more depth as this would have allowed me to add more power and grace to my words. To improve I could have highlighted the use of iambic pentameter within my voice to give a force that would drive my words to the audience even more.
Physical Evaluation:
An area that I was proud of and felt I had adapted throughout the rehearsal progress would be my use of physicality. In particular, my use of codified and exaggerated gestures was an effective skill used in my performance that suited the melodramatic style of acting. In the scene where Juliet refuses to marry Paris, she begs for her mother to not “cast her away”. At this moment, I rapidly flung my arm out, blocking Juliet from touching me. This exaggerated gesture showed that Lady Capulet was isolating herself from her daughter and that she no longer wanted anything to do with her. This was effective as it created an atmosphere on stage where the tension felt palpable. It made the audience lean off their seat and question what Juliet’s mother would do next. My gestures were grand and exaggerated just like the original performances in melodrama. I looked at traditional gestures to see the different ways that actors chose to show emotion.
Another physical skill that was effective was my use of stance and posture which showed my character’s high-class status. I was able to adapt my posture depending on the given situation. For example, when in the public eye during the fight scene, my posture was tense, with my shoulders back and head straight. This showed that Lady Capulet was a Lady of esteem and power.It showed how she thought that appearance was very important and that there was a certain way that ladies were expected to behave. However, I was also able to relax my posture by lowering my shoulders and moving slowly when Lady Capulet felt comfortable in her own surroundings with her husband and daughter by her side.
The last strength within my movement that I thought was particularly effective would be my representation of the Georgian etiquette.In the opening scene, I raised my arm as I rested it on Capulet’s.This automatically gave the impression that I was being led by him, emphasizing the power men had over women. This gesture was commonly used by Lords and Ladies in the Georgian period; it was an effective gesture to use as it showed the audience our character’s status without us even having to say one line. Since this was my first entrance, it created a grand opening for my character so the audience quickly knew she was a powerful lady.
To improve my movements and physicality, I would like to adapt my use of space. On reflection, I can see that in a few scenes I simply stayed in the same place and didn’t really consider moving too far away from other characters.I could have added visual dimension to our performance and made it more exciting for the audience by moving around the space more. For example, when talking to Juliet about Paris’s proposal, I could have begun to wonder around the room to show that I was getting ahead of myself thinking about Juliet’s wedding. Or I could have pondered to the fireplace or began to play with Juliet's hair to give the impression that Lady Capulet was in her own world and oblivious to what was happening around her.
During Tybalt's death scene, I lunged to the floor and performed the gesture of begging towards the Prince when Lady Capulet wanted justice. This use of levels was effective as it showed her desperation and lack of hope. It also created a dramatic visual effect for the audience. To improve other scenes within the performance, I think I could have added more levels; on reflection, I can see that I kept the same, tense stance throughout my performance. I could have added levels such as kneeling next to Juliet at the side of her bed, sitting in the bed more often or even falling to the floor in procession to suggest that I had fainted. If I had used more levels, it would have indicated my character's relationship and status in a lot more depth.
Characterisation Evaluation:
To develop my character, I considered the use of eye contact. Throughout my performance, I made direct eye contact with specific characters. For example, when Lord Capulet was speaking to me, I never let my eyes leave his (even if he had left mine). This showed that Lady Capulet was consistently listening to what he was saying, it even gave the impression that she was slightly nervous of him which emphasized his power. It also showed that Lady Capulet offered complete support for her husband’s plan for their daughter. When speaking to characters whose status was lower than mine, for example, the Nurse I made very little eye contact with her to show that Lady Capulet saw her to be no more than a serving maid and someone who is of less importance. Therefore my use of eye contact emphasized my character's relationships and emotions.
In the middle of my rehearsal process, I looked at different factors that may affect my character, for example, the social, economic and cultural background of my character. This helped my to gain a deeper understanding of her responsibilities and roles. However, from looking back at the early stages of my rehearsal process, to improve my characterisation quicker, I think I could have looked at techniques like hot seating to have helped me to understand my character in more depth earlier. For example, I could have asked myself questions such as how old is Lady Capulet? What are her intentions? What are her hopes/ambitions? Who is she related to and what types of relationships does she have? Answering and understanding these simple questions would have allowed me to understand my characters given circumstances and her reasons for doing what she does in specific scenes.
If I had more time, to improve my performance skills, I would begin by studying a melodramatic performance of Romeo and Juliet in great detail. I would pay close attention to the performers I admire most and determine what it was about their style of performance that I liked the most. For example, I’d think about their movement, vocals, timing, and appearance. I would then try to copy their techniques while still making the acting style my own.I would also do more vocal exercises. This would help my voice to be warmed up and sounding its best throughout all aspects of my performance. I would also ensure that I did cooling down exercises as well to protect my voice.Along with this, if I had more time I would also practice the melodramatic style in different types of performances other than Shakespeare/Romeo and Juliet. This way, I could take inspiration from different skills I have picked up from other performances. I would practice incessantly so that I would be constantly improving my craft.
Overall, my performance of Romeo and Juliet was very pleasing. I worked hard to meet deadlines and enjoyed performing to a live audience. The cast was committed and dedicated to putting on a great performance; we worked together as a company both in rehearsal and independently. I am proud of my performance and will continue to develop and grow as an artist.
Compare and contrast the style of acting used in Romeo and Juliet (with reference to Shakespeare and Melodrama) with the acting style of Commedia dell’arte used in “The Duchess mislaid”.
The melodramatic style of acting that I used when I performed in Romeo and Juliet has both similarities and differences when compared to the style of Commedia dell’arte that I used when I performed in “The Duchess mislaid”. Firstly, both styles require an actor to perform over exaggerated gestures. Commedia dell’arte performances consisted of stock characters that would perform certain exaggerated comic tricks (lazzi) which become trademarks of those characters. For example, Harlequin would pretend to throw cherry stones in Pantalone’s face, or to catch a fly and eat it. Over time, because this lazzi was performed repetitively, it became a trait that the audience could identify a character with. Similar to this, in melodramatic performances, audiences could identify characters through their use of codified gestures. For example, a female character who is leaning backward with the back of her hand on her forehead would indicate a damsel in distress or a character who needs saving. The gestures in both these styles were over emphasised and exaggerated so that the audience could quickly identity who was who on stage.
In Commedia dell’arte, master and servant comedy would be used to create a humorous atmosphere on stage. One example of this in “The Duchess Mislaid” would be when Arlecchino delivers Pantalone’s love letter to the wrong person. Through the use of exaggerated gestures and facial expression, comedy is created on stage when Pantalone beats Arlecchino. Similarly, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, he shows the idea of master and servant through rich and poor characters for example the Lords, Ladies and serving maids. Although Shakespeare doesn’t use this device to create comedy, it does help to highlight to the audience which characters are the protagonist and antagonist which is a common theme throughout melodramatic performances and Commedia dell’arte. Characters such as friends of the hero or heroine provide comic relief and, of course, help out with the singing and dancing.
Another comparison would be how both acting styles use the skill of song and dance. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet ballroom scene, the actors perform elaborate classical dance routines as the main action of Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting goes on. The use of song and dance in melodrama creates an uplifting atmosphere and creates visual dimension on stage. Musical scores are also used to add tension. Similar to this, in Commedia dell’arte actors sing, dance, perform acrobatics and tumbling gestures to add comic qualities to the performance. Physical comedy would be used to create an original experience for the audience; fast-paced action would also help to add comedy in performances. The fast paced action in Commedia would be used to show that time has moved on; similar to how Shakespeare shows a change in time through mentioning the weather and surrounding atmosphere in characters speeches.
In Commedia dell’arte, characters interact with the audience. For example, they may wave, ask the audience questions and sit with the audience. They may even reveal private information about other characters for example, secrets to create even more comedy on stage. In my performance of Commedia, I decided to blow an audience member a kiss since my character was rather flirty and self-centred. Characters may ask the audience for advice on situations for example Arlecchio asked the audience which way Columbina went (similar to pantomime). Therefore, in Commedia there is no fourth wall and the characters are completely aware of the audience’s presence. In melodrama, performers do not interact with the audience. However, asides are used, although asides are not as strong as direct address, they still empower the audience with knowledge that other characters are unaware of which can help to carry the story. For example, in the famous balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s speech is given as an aside when he is only heard by the audience and not Juliet.
Another famous technique that is used in Commedia would be grammlot. This is a foreign but universal language that characters use to create comedy on stage. It is a made up language that is improvised. Improvisation is a key skill within Commedia dell’arte, actor would often improvise scenes. The theory about how much was improvised is that the actors composed already rehearsed and prepared parts in a play with in the frame of the scenario. It was made in a way so that the actor had the freedom to alter the parts he used in a play. So actors would improvise words, movements and gestures for a live audience. Unlike Commedia, there were usually set scripts that actors had to learn in melodrama but this didn’t mean that actors couldn’t add their own interpretations to characters or develop their own style of performance. Certain scenes in melodramas would be perfect to add improvisation this would be done to keep performances fresh with something new every night. Also, plot devices like disguise, abduction, concealed identity and fortunate coincidence are often used just to keep the audience guessing what will come next.
Lastly, in both these famous acting styles, adequate projection is essential. A lot of Comedia dell’arte and Melodramatic performances are performed outdoor so an actor must have control of their vocals. Due to the surrounding noise in outdoor performances, actors must be able to consistently project their voices to a high enough standard so that the audience can hear and follow the story.
Greek Tragedy: This video shows the same chorus work as the previous video with the same greek tragedy skills and techniques such as exaggerated gestures, isolations and pace. However, we have added a 4th member to the chorus.
Greek Tragedy: Experimenting with Greek tragedy techniques such as slow motion, codified gestures, isolations, synchronisation and pace. This short scene shows our interpretation/ examples of chorus work in the scene where Electra’s mother is killed.
In today’s session of Romeo and Juliet, we met at Tapton house in the morning and prepared the set for our performance. For example, we prepared Juliet’s bed and set up the chairs for the audience. We also created a fake body out of a mannequin and placed a white cloth over it with fake blood to represent Tybalt’s body lying in the tomb. We added lanterns and candles to make the tomb look realistic, this created an atmosphere of melancholy for the audience. We were happy with how the set looked as a whole. For the ballroom scene, we added a table with sterling silver teapots, we decorated the table with a white cloth and flowers to give a high class feel to the scene which emphasised the wealth of the Capulet family. Once costumes were organised and all set/props were in the correct places, we began to do a full run through of our performance from beginning to end. In this session, we performed Act 2 twice to ensure that all the cast were confident with the performance as this was the part most people were still slightly unsure about. Overall, we found that the second half of the play ran smoother than the first.
In this session, our director insisted that we were all off script. Personally, I think that this helped to develop our acting technique as the cast’s movement and gestures were no longer restricted. The cast could perform exaggerated gestures with their arms which suited our melodramatic style of performance compared to when our acting was quite naturalistic when performing with the script in hand. Since we were actually outside in this session, we could practise projecting our voice to see how loud we truly were which helped me with my overall performance skill of projection. We also did an intense warm-up activity that included lip drills, stretches and vocal training such as exercising the pitch of our voice, pace and volume. This helped with performance skills such as pace, tone, clarity and diction. It developed our vocal skills and brought our vocal qualities to performance level. I am happy with the progress that I have made throughout our rehearsals; I have developed my vocals, movements and gestures to a high standard that suits the melodramatic style. I now feel that I am ready to perform to an audience. I feel that I have achieved the melodramatic style of performance and have a strong understanding of the skills and techniques that are needed to perform this style. From performing outdoors, I did find that in certain scenes, I still need to be louder and project my voice even more than I am already.
I was excited for this session and keen to see how the full run through at Tapton house would go. I was looking forward to performing in costume, I personally find that costume helps me get into character. I was also looking forward to performing outdoors to see if I was loud enough for the audience to see, hear and follow the story.
I showed my personal management skills in this session by making sure that I was at the correct location and on time. When performing, I followed my running order so that I didn’t miss any of my scenes and so that I was on time for my cues, entrances and exists. I had good communication skills with my cast members which helped to solve problems such as finding needed props and costumes. I also managed my time well, for example, when I wasn’t performing, I completed my tech role by helping cast members change costume quickly. I continued to self-develop my work by considering what I could do to improve my performance after every scene.
In today’s session, I personally didn’t explore the text of my character. I now feel confident that I have a good understanding of the text, characters, themes and issues. I mainly focused on practising the scenes in the performance area. However, I did help Emily to explore her character of Juliet because she was still slightly unsure about Juliet’s intention within one specific scene. I helped her to critically analyse Juliet’s aims, relationships and concerns to help her perform Juliet in a more realistic way. We considered Juliet’s language and how Emily could use her gestures and vocals to portray Juliet’s emotions in a more meaningful way.
This helped Emily to understand the text and overall improved her acting skills because she now had a deeper understanding of how Juliet would truly react to situations. Therefore, she could show more emotions such as anger, sadness, hope and love through her use of exaggerated gestures, facial expressions and movement. Analysing Juliet’s language allowed Emily to think of different ways of performing and it opened her to different interpretations of her character. Therefore, she explored her character’s emotional range in a lot more depth.
Strengths:
One strength of mine would be my understanding of the text and language. Although I have memorised my lines, I also know the material well and understand what I am saying. This means that if I do forget a line on the day of the performance, I will understand the scene and be able to improvise around the issue.
I now know exactly where I am performing and which rooms I need to be in for specific scenes. I know which actors I am entering the rooms with and I know which doors I need to be waiting at before entering the performance space. Overall, I feel confident and ready to perform. I have worked hard to meet my personal deadlines and deadlines set by my director. I am excited about our final performance and look forward to performance to a live audience.
I have completed my tech role of costume. All the cast have costumes that fit them properly along with props to add to the scene. I have helped the cast by making costume adjustments, for example, Olivia's dress needed adjusting to fit her properly so I used safety pins to ensure that her dress wouldn't fall down. In the performance, Juliet has to change costumes. I have arranged to meet her so that I can help her to quickly change costume in time for her scene. Since I had finished my tech role and was confident with the character's costume, I helped to make the set up of Juliet's bed, I also added suitable throws for the bed and pillows. I feel that my tech group worked together as a team, we had good communication skills which helped us to quickly meet deadlines. I am confident that the costumes add believability to our performance and suit the Georgian era.
Areas to develop:
Now that I have performed outside, I realise that in certain scenes I need to be slightly louder so that the audience can hear me. When performing indoors, I thought that my projection was at a high standard but I now realise that it is an area that I must develop even more before Thursday's performance and taken into consideration the surrounding background noise.
When we rehearsed Juliet's death scene, I made the mistake of thinking that Tom had finished his line and accidentally interrupted him as I said mine. Therefore, I must ensure that I don't cut other people's lines and that I am 100% sure of when it is my turn to speak.
I also need to develop my transitions between scenes and ensure that I have all the needed props and costume such as my veil and black lace gloves with me during the scene. When we first performed Juliet's procession at Tapton, I forgot to get my veil and began the scene without it. Also, my transitions need to be faster so that I do not miss my cues, on reflection I can see that my entrance was slightly late for Tybalt's death scene.
Action Plan:
To ensure that I am loud enough for my performance, I will practise performing in my garden with surrounding outdoor noise. This will allow me to judge if my projection is at a high enough standard for Thursday and Friday's performance. I will also ask other cast members to watch me perform outside so they can give me honest feedback on the volume of my voice.
I am going to go through my script again and highlight all the lines before mine, write them out and practise speaking them aloud myself. This will help me to memorise and understand the previous speech so that I do not interrupt other characters when performing.
When rehearsing scenes I will ensure that all my costumes and props are ready and waiting for me at the side of the performance area. I will also speak to the level 2 students who will be helping on the performance day; I will ask them to double check that all needed props are ready and in the correct place. I will continue to practise my scenes and watch the scenes before my mine in order to improve the transitions; this will make them slick and fast for the final performance.
In today’s session of Romeo and Juliet, we began by having a cast discussion about tech roles and how we were developing along with what duties we still need to do before the final performance. The purpose of this was to see how much progress we were making and if we had met our goals/targets. We then decided to run Act 2 and the whole play. We finished the blocking of specific scenes and polished the scenes that needed it. In particular, we focussed on Romeo and Juliet’s death scene. For my tech role, I made sure that all costumes and props were prepared for our rehearsal and that each cast member had the needed props before entering the stage. As usual, we did a warm-up activity that helped us gain our focus and prepared our vocals so that we could project our voices with a clear diction. The warm-up activity also focussed on movement to help develop layers into our characters. The warm-up activity allowed me to develop skills such as projection and exaggerated gestures which I will be incorporating into my performance. At the start of the session, our director showed us an official Romeo and Juliet call sheet from 2005, she explained to us how to tell which actors would be needed that day and what time they’d be needed to rehearse. She also explained specific roles such as stage manager and assistant directors. The purpose of this was to make us understand what a day in the life of professional actors would be like. To develop our acting technique, we worked with one of our directors and explored the Georgian style of theatre. Our director asked me and Emily to perform the scene where Lady Capulet informs Juliet of Paris’s proposal. Whilst we were doing this, our director held up signs to the audience that read phrases such as “Boo!”, “Try to leave.” and “Try to join in with the performance”. I found that our audience made such a loud noise that it was hard to perform and difficult to get there attention. This made my acting become extremely exaggerated and over the top; I rapidly increased the volume of my voice and used more exaggerated gestures without even realizing it because I wanted to gain the audience’s attention. From doing this activity, it made me feel as though I was in competition with Emily, overall making my performance grander. Therefore, I feel that I developed my performance skills and that my acting now suits the melodramatic style, I realize that previously it was too naturalistic. This activity showed me how in the original performance conditions, actors had to work really hard to keep the audience focussed and interested which is why their gestures and actions were so exaggerated. This activity truly emphasized the importance of projection and gestures in the melodramatic style of drama and it showed me why we truly need them in our performance in order to suit that style. I feel that this activity helped me to develop my performance skills and now feel that my acting suits the melodramatic style to a high standard. I feel that I am developing quickly as a performer and look forward to the challenges ahead. I have achieved a great connection with my cast members, we are all able to work together and produce high-quality work through our good use of communication skills and teamwork. Later on in the session, Peak FM visited us and their hosts auditioned for the part of the Friar. We gave them information about our performance and ticket details so that they can promote our show on the radio.
I was excited for this rehearsal and keen to see how the timings and running order would take place since it was the first full run of Act 2. I was looking forward to running the show without any pauses as I wanted to feel in the moment with my acting. I was also extremely excited when I heard that we would be working with Peak FM as I thought it would be a great way to market our performance.
As always, I enjoyed working with the skill of exaggerated gestures and body language. I find that they are interesting and important aspects of performance. An actor's body language plays a crucial part in telling the audience about the character they are playing so I enjoy experimenting with different actions.Gestures and body language are effective as when done correctly, they can create a strong atmosphere on stage, for example, happiness or tension. I also enjoy projecting my vocals to make the audience look at me, as a performer it makes me feel powerful and in control. The purpose of projection is to allow the audience to hear and follow the story. I also enjoy working with different levels, for example, during Tybalt’s death when I drop to the floor this clearly shows my character’s desperation, depression and lack of hope. This is effective as it shows that she is no longer feeling powerful, contrasting to when she is leading with her chest and raising her head forwards.
I showed my personal management skills by bringing in all needed equipment such as costume, props, script, notepad and a pen. I was on time for the sessions and contributed my ideas to the group whilst listened to others. I met my personal goals by sticking to deadlines and making myself a running order so I knew exactly what scenes came next and when I was needed.
To explore the text today, I worked with Emily on the scene where Lady Capulet tells Juliet about her arranged marriage with Paris. We looked at the language of our characters and thought about the themes. We then considered the different ways that we could say our lines, for example, we considered whispering, shouting and even crying on stage. Video of my character work is uploaded to Tumblr. I felt that this independent rehearsal enhanced my acting skills because I was able to see Emily’s interpretation of my character and take inspiration from it for my own work. It allowed me to explore the different sides to Lady Capulet and to develop an even deeper understanding of her.
Throughout the performance, I use props such as a fan, bag, and an umbrella. The props help to show my character's high class and status. Some of the props are even symbolic, for example, my fan is black with red lace and red sequins. Red is a very emotionally intense colour that contrasts well with black. It shows Lady Capulet's power, strength, anger, and even passion. A tense atmosphere is created in the scene where Juliet refuses to marry Paris and when her father is shouting at her repetitively. I use my fan to show that my character is trying to calm herself down and that she is extremely distressed. I rapidly fan myself to show Lady Capulet's sudden panic. Along with this, during the ball scenes, I occasionally and lightly fan myself to show Lady Capulet's peaceful mind as she enjoys the ball. This shows that she is comfortable in her surroundings and that she feels that all is going to plan. Therefore, I feel that my use of props incorporated with my movement is an indication to the audience of how my character is currently thinking and feeling.
Strengths:
One strength of mine would be my movement memory. Each time I rehearse a scene, my movements and gestures don't change. I know exactly where my character needs to be at given moments. I feel that I know my movements and blocking stop a high standard.
From watching my footage back, I can see that my use of vocals has improved dramatically as carries on to do so. During times of distress and horror, for example, Tybalt's death, I rapidly increase the pace of my voice to show my character's shock and nerves. To emphasize my character's high status and class, I raise the pitch of my voice towards the end of my sentence. I can also project my vocals which suits the performance demands since we will be performing outdoors.
Another strength of mine would be my organization regarding my tech role of costume. I have noted down all my needed costume and props along with what scenes they are needed in. I have also labeled all the costumes so that myself and other cast members can quickly and clearly identify which costumes belongs to who.
Areas to develop:
An area that I would like to improve would be my interaction with other characters. At the moment, I rarely touch other characters unless the stage directions say otherwise. I could show my excitement of Paris's love for Juliet by rapidly grabbing Juliet's hands, hugging her or even giving her a kiss. My use of interaction with other characters will demonstrate my emotion clearly to the audience; even if it is something as small as making more eye contact.
In this session, we did our first full run through without scripts. Although I knew all of my lines, I realized that I didn't know my cues or when it was my turn to say a line. This meant that there were unnecessary pauses on stage as I was slightly unsure when to speak. I must ensure that I know all my cues along with other actor's lines in order to be fully prepared for my performance.
When performing the ballroom scene, I occasionally make mistakes and my dance steps are not in time with other cast members. I must make sure that I know all the movements and steps so that my dance performance is elegant and graceful.
Action Plan:
In order to improve my performance, I will rehearse the dance routine with Kennedy to ensure that I know all the timings and steps in the correct order. I will then rehearse with my dance partner as this will also help me to improve. Once I feel confident with my dance, I will record and watch myself back to see how I can improve my overall stance, posture, and movements. The skill of dance is a common technique used in melodrama so I feel it is important for me to know and improve this element of my work in order for me to develop the style.
To improve my characterisation, I am going to experiment more by interacting with other characters on stage. For example, I am going to try holding Lord Capulet back in Act one, scene one to show my character's disapproval for him fighting. I shall also experiment by making more eye contact with cast members and look at how they respond to see if this enhances my performance.
I must make sure that I know all my cues. I am going to record myself saying other characters lines and leave pauses so that when I listen back to the recording I can say my lines. I will repeat this several times a day which will help me to remember exactly when my line is due which will make me feel more confident when performing. Also, knowing my cues will mean that there are no unnecessary pauses on stage.
