Tom Mc Performing Arts adventure @jaffa092 - Tumblr Blog

song analysis 1

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Fremder, Etranger, Stranger, Glücklich zu sehen, Je suis enchanté, Happy to see you, Bleibe, reste, stay. Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, To Cabaret! Meine Damen und Herren- Mes dames et Messieurs- Ladies and Gentlemen, Comment ça va? Do you feel good? Ich bin euer Conférencier! I am you host! Und sage. Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! im Cabaret, Au Cabaret,To Cabaret! Leave your troubles outside. So life is disappointing, forget it! In here life is beautiful. The girls are beautiful. Even the orchestra is beautiful. [The Band plays] And now presenting the cabaret girls! Heidi, Christine, Mouzy, Helga, Betty, Und inged. Each and everyone a virgin-- You don't believe me, Well, do not take my word for it, Go ahead, ask Helga! Ha ha ha! GIRLS: Glücklich zu sehen, Je suis enchanté, Happy to see you-- Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, To Cabaret!

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! M.C.: Fremder, Etranger, Stranger, I love stranger Glücklich zu sehen, Je suis enchanté, Enchanté, Madame!

COMPANY: Happy to see you, Bleibe, reste, stay. Wir sagen Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, To Cabaret!

What is the song about? Describe the scene. What happened before the scene to lead to this moment?

the play is set in 1930s Germnay where the Nazi's where rising to power, the place where this song itself is set is called the kit kat club which it is an entertainment lounge of sorts, this song is exactly what the title means which is welcome or wilkommen(the german version of welcome), it is a song about welcoming people to this club and entertaining thewm with dances with beatiful girls and a funny host.

What is the purpose of this song?

This songs purpose is to welcome everyone to the cabaret as well as show them what a lovely time they are going to have whilst they are here with allof the beatiful girls as well as the comedy and the dacning with which the beatiful girls are involved in, it is mainly to intise people to stay during the show so they watch it all the way through and appease everyone watching it such as the Nazi officers who are watching the show as well.

Where does this song take place? How does this affect your singing and movement?

The song takes place on a stage within a club so this mainly affects my singing as it makes it out that I am signing out to an audience which I am trying to welcome to this club and this effects my movement as parets within this piece I go in to the audience I go in and welcome different members persdonally by shaking there hands, it also affects my movements with

Who are you singing to?

This song I am singing to members of the audience thinking that they are in my kit kat club and I am welcoming to this club and showing them what this club is about, I am also singing to some Nazi officer's which I am also trying to appease because at this time in history the Nazi's are rapidly rising to power.

Who or what are you singing about?

Within this song I am singing about welcoming people to this kit kat club and showing them that within this club life is beatiful and that you leave your troubles outside whilst you are in this club, I am also exbitioning what shall be in our show such as beautiful girls, beautiful dances and a very funny host.

How do you feel during the song?(Plot how the emotions change on your lyrics)

Through out this song I am always excited to meet new members of the audience to introduce to my kit kat club, but I am also a bit nervous as there are some high politicla powers as well.

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! M.C.: Fremder, Etranger, Stranger, I love stranger Glücklich zu sehen, Je suis enchanté, Enchanté, Madame!

COMPANY: Happy to see you, Bleibe, reste, stay. Wir sagen Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, To Cabaret!

What are the inner and outer feelings of the character in the song?

my outer feelings within this song I am always happy and very excitable, this makes me a very fast moving host and I am always looking ways to make something funny and I love to get into sining and dancing, my inner feelings are quite similiar however there is a layer of nervouness is there due to the Nazi officers being within the kit kat club.

What facial expressions will you use to show what your characters thinking or feeling in this song?

through out the song I am always having a very smily large face and this also sometimes changes to as bit of a pout as well as all of my facail expressions my eyes are either really wid open or they are scruntched up this is also seen with my mouth as well when I am singing.

What gestures will you use to show what you character is thinking or feeling in this song?

I feel that the majority of my gestures are very happy and flamboyant as my hands are very wavy like when you are waving to say welcome to someone as well as grabbing motion to the audience which I am doing to try and entice them which is relating back to the point where my character is wanting to convince the audience that the will want to watch this cabaret.

poster for Equity/Bectu/casting directors and agents

Audition for the visit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTbb1FIZ1Zw

tommcmanaman1998

New blog for 2nd year

Character profile sheet-Wong

1.Full name Wong Lee 2.Date and place of birth 1920 in the city of Setzuan 3.Where you grew up I grew up in China town with my mother, in a small flat above the local post office. 4.Education I never went into education due to my character being poor and not being able to afford getting an education. 5.Where do you live now? Place / Building / Village / Town / City / Country I now live in a sewer den on the edge of the city, this is where I organise my water in my buckets and the money I get which is hidden at the back of the den. 6.Information on parents (living / deceased / missing / whereabouts unknown) I did not know much about of my family as they left me at a young age and I was taken in by an 7.Family life in general I was a very social child however when I grew up I learnt to not trust people and I learned how to make money from people through selling water. 8.Brothers / sisters / parents / grandparents / other relations / your children I’ve had to make friends with people in the child home however apart from that I haven't had any family relations. 9.How wealthy are you personally? Wealth of family background. How / Why? From what I have gathered my family where quite poor as they had to leave me behind, for my wealth I am very poor however I try to improve my wealth through selling water to people who might need it. 10.Hobbies and interests / activities / clubs / what do you do in spare time In my spare time I will to find myself in my den working out new ways to sell my water to different people. I will also find myself looking in shops where I can also sell my water inside of them and the last thing I do will look for clean sources of water I can sell to people. 11. What do you look like? I’m medium height and and I would say that I am at a average height for someone. I always wear my raincoat incase it starts to rain whilst I sell my water to people. 12. Any love interests? I have an interest in Shen Te however I do not wish to shroud her vision and ruin the gods plan of having a good person on this planet so I do not pursue her. 13. Bad habits? My worst habit is trying to sell water in places I know I am not meant to... Like Mr Shu Fu's barbers. 14. Most valued possessions and why My water bucket where I keep all the water I sell to people. 15.Employment? I am a water seller. 16.Secrets / problems / challenges / difficulties? I have trouble selling my water at the moment as my hand has been smashed by Mr Shu Fu and it makes it difficult to carry my water to people. 17.What makes you laugh / cry? I cry when people hurt my... Physically... With a hot curling iron, like Mr Shu Fu. I don't laughter at many things properly I mainly fake laugh at things to keep my friendly image around people. 18.What have been the most significant events in your life? Meeting the gods outside the city gates and then them giving me a job for me to find them a place to stay... Even though I failed. 19.Describe your personality I would say I am quite inquisitive as well as an extremely friendly person to most people, however I do know how to manipulate people sometimes as well to get my way to further myself. 20.Hopes / dreams / fears? My dream is to hit it big someday and then finally get a big house as well as making peace with the gods for all the bad things I have done in my life.

#brechtwork

BRECHT CHARACTER’S PHYSICAL PROFILE- Wong

1. How are you playing them?

I am playing this character like the Engineer from Miss Saigon in his movements and the way he respects people depends on what social status they are so an example when he talks to the gods he always does a little nervous bow when he is talking to them whilst when he is talking to the unemployed man he will be a lot more direct when talking and less respectful to him.

2. Discuss what you are doing practically for both roles and why.

for Both of my characters I have looked in to and researched the ways characters move and talk well characters like them however for my character of the boy I just observed my younger brother and copied what he does at home when he is active, for Wong I looked at marketing people who judge someone’s character and treat them different depending from what social status they are from.

3. Describe your physical stance, posture, sitting position etc.

For Wong I always seem to have a little bit of a lowered back and I am always leaning forward to a degree to show my intention and my lust for more money, when I sit down I keep this lowered back posture as well as if to show how I inspect everything I see as I have interest in that.

4. How do you travel across the space? Consider speed, emotion, movement etc You can discuss as many different moments as you wish.

For Wong I travel at quite some pace especially when I thought I had failed the gods, however as the boy I travel on my knees to exaggerate the point of me being a boy and to exaggerate my height as well.

5. Discuss your facial expressions at particular moments – what message do you hope to send to the audience through the use of these?

My facial expressions are the largest when I first meet the gos in the prologue as I am super pleased and honoured to meet them as I have had no great moments in my life due to living in the sewer and being poor. When I come on as the boy for the scene 1 I just look super excited as well as a young person is usually interested in anything.

6. What are you doing with your hands?

For my character as Wong I always use my hands whilst I am talking as I like to explain in detail of what I am doing, an example of this is when I am talking to Shen Te when she is with Yang Sun and I am excited to see her.

7. What gestures are you using and what do these tell the audience?

The main gestures I use for my character of Wong are very forward ones towards the other characters I am speaking to as I curl my hands as well as rubbing them together quite a lot as I think of the money I could make off of characters who are less intelligent than I am.

8. What eye contact do you have with (a) other characters (b) the audience? When and why?

For my character of Wong my eye contact with the audience has a special excitement/glare to it where I am excited to meet these new people and ready to show them these messages throughout this performance. For other characters I am always judging them as I am always double checking they aren’t trying to scam me out of money or are being disrespectful.

9. What emotions are using and how are these portrayed? Do you change emotion at different points?

I use excitement/happiness I show this through my large facial expressions and when I am in pain I use my large expressions as well however I use a little screetch.

10. How is the audience able to ‘feel’ something for the character through what you are doing?

Through the facial expressions and little winks to them I give as my character Wong is like a narrator of the so called “story” I am also using my movements of when I am in pain to gain sympathy from the audience.

11. Think about your line delivery. How are lines delivered? Why are you doing it that way? What variation is there in your line delivery?

They are delivered at different paces depending on how my character feels at the moment in time he delivered his lines, at the beginning I am deliver my lines quite steadily as I am unsure of the audience I am talking to, an example of when I am talking when I have my hand smashed as I am talking with a broken hand.

12. What are the key messages you are trying to get across to the audience?

Throughout the performance I am trying to deliver the message of goodness in the human race as well as questioning what a good person actually is, also my character of Wong is there to show what happens when religious worship is taken too far and leads to ruin.

13. What are the most important aspects of your practical work that will achieve this?

My facial expressions will deliver my emotions to the audience as well as my patterns of speech towards them as well, I am doing this for my overall characterisation to deliver my characters message of going overboard on religious worship.

#brechtwork

Brecht other character info-The boy

The young boy is a small character role and he is related to the family that stay for a night in Shen te’s shop, he is also the one who is willing to go out for the family and steal for them so then he and his family can have something to eat.

Brecht blog 5

1. HOW HAS THE PRACTICAL LESSON IMPACTED ONTHE PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE AS A WHOLE AND YOUR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF CHARACTER?

This week we have been extremely productive on everything like tech work and charactreristion for everyone characters. On Tuesday we did a large group warm up and then we focused on getting through scene 10 because we did not fully blocked it yet so we focused on improvisation for this scene mainly. We then had a full run through of the performance so we knew how long it lasted and how much we would need to cut out of it.

2. Describe the games and exercises used to warm up and why they were used.

This week we did a vocal warm up which was A E I O U and then we did a physical warm up by just warming up our muscles to get blood pumping around our muscles so we do not strain any of our muscles whislt performing. We also did some vocal warm ups so our cords could get warm up so that have plenty of energy for us to project our lines to the audience.

3. Which explorative strategies did you use and did they help to develop your role? e.g. still image, thought tracking, hot seating, conscience alley, role play, Forum theatre, creative writing, acting styles and acting exercises

This week we have been completely focused on our performance as well as making sure that our characters are characterised with the correct stereotypes as this is the way of Brechtian theatre. We have also been working on the style of Epic Theatre with a lot of improvisation in our scenes which we do not know the majority of lines.

4. Describe the scenes you rehearsed? Describe the skills you used? Facial expression, gesture, voice, emotion, reaction.

we went over scene 9 however I am not in that scene much till the end so I did not have much to remember for that scene. We also went over Scene 10 as within scene 10 this is where Shui Ta is being accused of keeping Shen Te captive or killing her, we had to improvise things to shout at Shui Tai in this scene especially as it began when Shui Tai enters the room and especially when he says he wants to confess in private.

5. What Ideas did you have?

my main idea I contributed to scene 10 was the lighting and the musica in the beginning of this scene as the lighting during this scene is a dark red to show the dark atmosphere going around this court room.

6. How did you take risks and experiment today?

We took a risk by improvising our last two scenes because everyone was struggling with their lines and because this was only last minute we were only able to have a couple of run throughs.

7. How did you develop ideas as a group? Who took the lead? Were any of the ideas your own? How did you contribute to the development of the piece? Describe what you tried out in rehearsals.

This week because we were focusing on getting a run through of the performance because we haven’t been through the performance fully yet because we tried on Tuesday however because we’re still on scripts it did not really run smoothly and so we had to stop at scene 7, this is why we had to go over scene 10 properly this week.

8. What drama elements were developed? For example Plot, action, Style- e.g. Naturalism, epic, dramatic tension, Characterisation

The main drama element we have been focusing on in Epic theatre has been our large characterisations as well as breaking the fourth wall and alienation of the audience (also known as the V effect)

9. Describe the final products of the rehearsal. Step by step what did you do? What did you see?

today we finally managed to do a full run through of the performance on the Friday morning ready for the actual performance in afternoon. On Tuesday we went through over a couple of scenes that needed to be polished off before the performance as well as sorting out all of the music, lighting changes and sound effects.

10. How did you rehearse in a safe way today – think about how you used the space/set/props/equipment, as well as your own personal warm up routine (you will be video-ed in rehearsal demonstrating your own warm up routine)

We rehearsed in a very sensible manner however the space we where given before the performance was quite small so we had to be careful so no one hurt themselves. We did our vocal and physical warm ups so we didn't strain anything before the actual performance.

11. Your own strengths and weaknesses need to be described here. Be specific about the skills you used.

I bleieve one of my biggest strenghts at htis moent in time is my physical characterisation of my characters as well as my focus during lessons as well, howevfer my weakness I beleive at this moment I beleive is my vocals still and that they need to be changed before the show.

12.What from today are you going to keep for the performances? Eg an accent you explored or a characteristic for your role. I believe we are keeping everything from our rehearsal seesions as we need to go over the scenes we have blocked as they need to be polished before the actual show on the Friday afternoon.

13.What needs to be changed or rejected from the ideas? Why?

From the main ideas there has ben nothing that has been rejected this week for the performance.

14. Do you need to do any further research to help understand and develop your character? Say what you need to research and why here. Eg do you need to explore different accents or watch and observe a tv programme to get ideas for your characterisation?

No as I have fully gone over my charactirsation of mt characters of Wong and the Boy.

15. What needs to be improved for next week? 3 targets for yourself and a further 3 for the group here. E.g. Line learning, moves, special awareness, Facial expression, Characterisation, use of props, costume, masks, music, sound, practicing cues, responding to others, giving direction, taking direction, timekeeping, practice regime.

Targets For the Group:

line learning- everyone in our group needs to learn there lines.

focus-it will come on the day but because people still have scripts in their hands it’s not as good as it could be.

#brechtwork

Brecht blog 4

1. HOW HAS THE PRACTICAL LESSON IMPACTED ONTHE PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE AS A WHOLE AND YOUR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF CHARACTER?

today as a group we all really focused on getting our performance together with learning lines and sorting out different pieces of set that needed to be created as well as props that are needed to be found for the performance as well. I think this has caused our group to panic a little bit as well. my main focus point this week was on my characterisation especially inb my voice as well for my character of wong.

2. Describe the games and exercises used to warm up and why they were used.

Jacob decided to put together some scenarios in which we had to improvise and our scenario was that a new manager had just arrived however the person showing them round is having to avoid all of the other workers there as they were a little crazy.

This week we didn’t explore specific strategies like we have in the other weeks however we are still going with the style of Epic theatre. We also did an improvisation activity as well, this was to help us with our charactersisation and helped it develop more and make people more confiedent in their roles.

4. Describe the scenes you rehearsed? Describe the skills you used? Facial expression, gesture, voice, emotion, reaction.

Today Jacob decided to try and do a full run through of the scenes we had blocked and we got up to scene 5 and then we had a break. We had people missing so others were having to fill in for the people that were not here. We have mainly been using exageration in our movements as well as our voices and facial expressions which I bleive I need to improve on my exageration in my voice as it just sounds to naturalistic at the moment.

5. What Ideas did you have?

Well because of Jacob wanting to run it all the way through I havent beeen able to make any big contributions to the performance however I did this week as I had the idea of the lighting in a few scenes mirroring the emotions and messages been shown on the stage. 6. How did you take risks and experiment today?

We have experimented with different movments and facial expressions for each character as well as the different messages a character may represent within the play as well, we also worked on breaking down the fourth wall as well.

7. How did you develop ideas as a group? Who took the lead? Were any of the ideas your own? How did you contribute to the development of the piece? Describe what you tried out in rehearsals.

I think we all work well as a team, especially this week because we really wanted to get on with work and get this play done together because it is getting to the point where we really need to get this play fully blocked and lines learnt.

8. What drama elements were developed? For example Plot, action, Style- e.g. Naturalism, epic, dramatic tension, Characterisation

We are looking at Epic theatre at this moment because this performance is a brechtian play and is based all around issues that affect the world at this moment. So we are looking at including different Brecht techniques within the performance like breaking the fourth wall, alienation and exageration.

9. Describe the final products of the rehearsal. Step by step what did you do? What did you see?

I beleive that we worked extremely efffeciently due to people realising how much time we ahve left, the exercise this morning really helped us all with our charactisation whilst we where rehearsing. The transitions between scenes are also working reall well too due to the muscic I am looking for at this moment.

Today we rehearsed in a safe way as we all where in the recital room and none of us where messing around on any of the chairs or bars at the edge of the stage and there was nothing that anyone could really hurt themselves on.

11. Your own strengths and weaknesses need to be described here. Be specific about the skills you used.

I think my strength today was that I was really focussed on trying to pull my christiastion through all of the blocking and line learning. however one of my weaknesses this week was my vocal charicterisation as I felt that the vocals used this week felt to similiar to my own and that they needed to be maybe a little squekyer

12.What from today are you going to keep for the performances? Eg an accent you explored or a characteristic for your role.

We are going to keep the directing from today because we have blocked the rest of the play so it is important that we remember and practice the blocking that has been set because our performance is next week. We don’t have the time to re-block certain scenes until we have done a full run through of the play and then we need to look at what might need to be cut out of the actual performance.

13.What needs to be changed or rejected from the ideas? Why?

nothing needs to be rejected from this week.

No as my character has all the inspiratyions needed for him to be the right stereotype of a water seller as I now have all of the movements for my character and facial expressions.

Myself:

pace of speech- At the moment I am not keeping track of my pace of my vocals so I need to speed up some times to keep the play moving at a good pace.

Line learning-I need to learn my lines because the performance is next week.

Tech - I need to focus on tech a little more and help with the costume, set and music because this still needs sorting out for the performance. Not all of it however some of it still needs doing.

Targets for the Group:

Tech- we need to focus more as a group on our tech work as there is barely any set or props at this moment in time for our performance.

Practicing cues- Some people within our group need to practice learning there entry ques and exits for each scene they are in as they do not know them.

Line learning - This is a big target for our group as we need to as a group learn the majority of our lines for the performance next week.

#brechtwork

jaffa092

Peer review- Jess Stacy

jaffa092

Here it is Jess

#JSperformingarts

Variety evaluation- Thomas Mcmanaman

How do you feel you conducted yourself throughout the project? Did you manage your time well and work effectively independently? I believe that I used my tim effectively when I worked as an individual and when I worked with Adam Potter. The reason I say this is because every time we worked we had achieved our goal for our rehearsal and this might have been a prop or a certain amount of movements we wanted to have completed and polished for that lesson. This allowed us to use spare time on days we had off we could go over these movements and polish them. This also came to learning my jokes and puns for my stand up act as well where I would go over these lines at home. How successful do you feel your act was as entertainment to your audience? I believe that my stand up and puppet act with Adam Potter went very well. The reason I say this for my stand up act was because the reactions I got the audience and I kept them connected to the actual material told as I made that connection through the use of eye contact. For my puppet act I believed this act worked due to the amount of reactions from the audience I believe that this act was also success. Did you find there were any problems technically or within your act content once you took it to the external venue? We didnt perform the Variety in an external venue for other reasons, however all the tech for my puppet act such as the music and the actual puppets themselves worked really well when me and Adam had a practice round with them before the performance. Discuss the successful elements of your act along with those, which worked less well, give reasoning within your choices I think that the props that I used for the practical puns and jokes worked very well due to the comical reaction I got from the audience. For my stand up act the puppets worked extremely well as when we started to use them we immediately got a comical reaction and when we used the guitar as a prop for all about that bass we immediately gained a reaction. Would you change any part of your act if you were to complete this project again? If so, why? I think the only part of my puppet act I would change would be to add in more parts in between the songs as the one we did worked very well and got a large reaction from the audience as well and this made the next song we mouthed to the puppets more comical.

#Varietywork

Variety blog 6- Thomas Mcmanaman

What feedback did you get from your mentor and peers? The feedback I received from my peers for my stand up act is that when I tell some of my jokes I need to face my audience more and control my eye contact with the audience. Looking at my puppet act the feedback I got from that is that the spontaneous comedy of it had faded from it and that it didn't have any comical facial expressions to it as well. Discuss how you feel the performance went. For my stand up I believe that the act it self ran quite smoothly however I forgot the majority of my jokes and I had to go back to my practical jokes I had in my basket. For my puppet act I believe that it ran exactly to plan however some of the jokes we had in it did not work and didn't connect to the audience. Have you completed all tasks that you hoped to? At this point we have the majority of tasks completed other than we need the rest of our props however we don’t have many anyway and we just need to bring them in on Thursday. For my stand up act I have all my physical jokes and puns ready at this time. What is your final costume? Have you needed to change any aspects? Were there any problems in your performance due to costume. My final costume for my stand up act is a pair of jeans, a blue shirt, a grey waist coat and a blue flat cap. For my puppet act I have a white shirt, black jacket and black trousers. I also have a sock pocket with black painted eyes on them. What are your final technical requirements? Have you needed to change any aspects? Were there any problems in your performance due to technical elements. Final tech requirements that are needed for my tech is my lighting for both acts as I have not had the room for the lighting to be effective.

#Varietywork

Good woman of Setzuan textual analysis- Thomas Mcmanaman

1. Where is the play set? The original play is based in an old era of China, however within our version of our performance we are setting it in modern day China. 2. What is significant about the locations used in the play? Within the play we have a few significant locations such as Shen Te's shop, Shui ta's tobacco factory and Wongs sewer. Each of these location are significant more to specific characters as they are the ones who own these places and each of these places show a different side to the city which is the poor, working class and the Rich class working area. How does this affects how I play my character? The main way this effects my character is that he acts differently around people within in different classes an example of this would be when Wong is around the poor people he has no respect around them and when near the high class he is very careful what he says and where he walks near the higher powered people. Any references to time or day: As far as I know there is only one passing of time within the play and that was the growth of Shen Te's baby and her stomach, apart from this there is an occasional mention of the rent being in for next week however that is about it. How much time passes during the play? There is no direct reference or indication that lets the audience know how much time has passed except for the occasional week or two except for the growth of the baby and Shen Te's stomach. What is the economic environment of the characters? How are the characters affected by this? Economy at this point is is within the play is quite bad as there is clear borders between the social classes as the poor, working and rich classes. Examples of this is between Wong and then the barber Shu Fu as they keep there distance as they have a conflict where the rich class wins and it ends with the poor class being beaten. What are the differences in the social environment of characters in your plays? The differences from certain characters to others within the play is where they live within there classes such as Wing being poor and then living within the sewer an opposite to this would be Shiu ta living within his office in his factory also there clothing. Are any of the characters influenced by religious beliefs of by the beliefs of others? How does this have an effect on the way characters behave? It would appear that there are a few religious figures within the play which are represented as the three gods, they influence people within the play such as Wong, Shen Te and the Priest. Are there any references to events prior to the play? The main reference prior to the play is the flooding within the city of Kwan. Do any of the characters carry scars or memories from these events? There are none. Which character is the protagonist? Protagonist within the play would be Shen Te as she leads the main story and tries to keep on the gods good path and she attempts to stick to this and she is always tempted to start from this to make life easier. Who’s the antagonist? The antagonist within the play is the alter ego to Shen Te, which is Shui ta and within this play. Are there any clues to levels of education or background? There are not any clues within the script to characters education. However Yang sun has had training in flying school but they cut him off as they had enough pilots already. Do any of the characters use language to bully or impress? Characters within this performance do not use any language to impress or bully characters they use more physical force. such as Mr Shu Fu as he breaks Wongs hand. How does this affect how you play your character? This affects my character as he is physical attacked by Mr Shu Fu the barber, this then breaks his hand and he then finds it a lot harder to work with only one hand to sell water. What does the structure of a character’s speech show us about the character and their relationships to others? The structure of characters speech depends on where the character was brought up in in which I mean the social class they were brought up in. Does the structure change according to who the character is talking to? Yes as the character such as Wong changes when he talks to characters such as the unemployed man and the old man, where as when he talks to people like Shui Tai and Mr Shu Fu he will use easier and more constructed sentences. As well as the police man offering to write a letter being polite to Mr Shui Tai as he is a owner of shop and has not lived on the streets during his made up life. Characters What are the super objectives of the main characters? The main objective for Shen Te is to help people and to remain a good person for the gods due to the gift she received from them that had changed her life drastically and she does this by offering rooms and giving rice to local people in the city. The Gods are there to find someone who is able to show them how good humanity is and even restore their faith, they believe that Shen Te is the person that they are looking for due to her giving them a room for a whole night and for being truthful to them as well. Wong is there to help the Gods and worship them as best he can, so he helps them find a good person and checks on Shen Te for them and tells them of her good deeds. Yang Sun is there so he is able to become a pilot again. Are there conflicts between what the characters want? The biggest conflict is Shen Te with her self as Shui Ta, she uses Shui Ta to be strong and assertive and stop people from just walking all over Shen Te. She uses Shui Ta to do this so she doesn’t ruin her reputation with the people by being rude and telling them how it is. So both of the characters are sort of against one another even though they are the same person. There is also a conflict between Mr Shu Fu and Wong as this is shown physically when Wongs hand is broken by Mr Shu Fu. Is there any difference between what the characters say and what they actually do? The only difference between what people say and do is also how Shen Te changes into Shui Ta, she does this to be strong and it’s also going against how she will help people and do whatever she can since she is now strong and dominant. This theory changes her and also goes back on what she does as Shen Te. As she doesn't want to be seen as an unjust person and doesn't want to betray the gods as Shen Te but rather than her made up cousin Shui Tai. Are the main characters determined to achieve their objective? They are very determined and that is what lets the plot/play progress forward. The Gods searching for Shen Te pushes them forwards and also Shen Te helping more and more people pushed the plot forwards. The final push of the story is when Shen Te finds out she is pregnant and that she is going to have a baby. How do culture, morality and upbringing shape the characters behaviours? The upbringing of all the character is incredibly important, they have all been brought up in poverty and that means that they have all come to respect each other and help one another out. Especially Shen Te, she helps everyone out and isn’t able to see the bad in other people, which allows people to walk all over her and use her to get what ever they want. There are some people however who have been brought up and turned out bad and greedy for example the husband and wife. Which adjectives best describe your character? Wong Respectful- he always is respectful of the gods as he in his mind is thinking if I can help them I might get a reward, however he does respect there influence they have on people. Opportunistic- Wong will seize any moment to sell and see himself furthered as he wishes two move forward in life. Are there any significant changes or variations in the way that characters behave in different scenes? All the characters in the play are the same throughout with the exception of Shen Te, Shen Te changes her behaviour when she starts dressing up as Shui Ta. She becomes a completely different character when she pretends to be Shui Tai as she pretends to be a business man. What is the main plot of the play and how does it develop? At the beginning there are the three gods who are looking for that one person that will restore all their faith in humanity. Wong takes the Gods to Setzuan where he attempt to find them shelter, each time getting turned away until he goes to Shen Te who agrees to be their host. Shen Te at this point is poor and has no money, however the Gods believe that she is a good person and offer her money so she is able to help more people and continue to be selfless. She uses the money to open up a tobacco shop. Once the shop is open people start taking advantage of her good nature. A carpenter then enters demanding money which she is unable to provide, this is when she creates her cousin Shui Ta who is going to be strong and take care of all the business side of things. She then uses Shui Ta to bully the carpenter and the family that has moved in with her. Shen Te meets a man called Yang Sun who is going to commit suicide, she stops him and the two of them end up dating one another. Yang Sun isn’t interested in Shen Te really, he just wants her money so he is able to become a pilot again. Shen Te keeps making promises to people which end up with her having to sell the shop to pay people. Eventually it comes to the point where she spends more time as Shui at than Shen Te and is suspected of killing Shen te when her clothes are found near Shui Ta’s desk leading her to be taken to court for her murder where the gods question her on her actions and how she has changed as they appear as the judges. What subplots are there and how do they relate to the main plot? I think the subplot in the play is about religion and people giving up on it, but then the Gods set out to find the one person that will be able to restore their faith in humanity. This relates to the main plot because they then find Shen Te and give her the money which then sets the who main plot into motion when she opens up the tobacco shop using the money that she was given and then having to turn in to a different person to commit unjustly acts as Shui Tai so then the gods don't find out about here committing these crimes herself. How can the shape of the play be best described and represented? - As a story? Narrative? As episodes? As a journey? As a diagram or map? I think it’s best described as a narrative as it is has a story however it makes people think more about the issues that are brought up during the performance and it doesn't focus much on the story it self and it focuses on these issues being shown. However within each scene you could call it a lot of episodes as well as each scene has its own sorry to tell with a beginning and an ending. What is the function and purpose of each scene within the overall structure of the play? Which scenes are most important and which are the least? Prologue This scene introduces the play well and sees Wong set the scene for the rest of the play and let the audience know what is happening, he meets the gods and tries to find them a place to stay which at first he has trouble with but after a while he finds Shen te who will take the gods in. The gods see Shen te as the one truly good person they’ve met while in setzuan and decide she deserves a little extra money to help her be a better person. Scene 1 Between the prologue and scene 1 Shen te decides to buy a tobacco shop with the money the gods gave her. This immediately attracts the attention of a family that took her in when she first moved to setzuan who are looking for a place to stay. Shen te let’s her in and is soon visited by a carpenter who is looking for the money for his shelves. Under pressure to pay up Shen te invents her cousin, shui ta, and the carpenter promises to return the next morning. Scene 2 The carpenter returns the following morning to be greeted by shui at however shui ta refuses to pay the price the carpenter is asking for and eventually bullies him into taking a cut price for them because they are no use anywhere else. The wife and husband push their luck with shui ta who invites a policeman in to talk to and catch the boy that they sent out to steal from the bakery, the policeman catches the boy and shui ta asks the policeman to remove the family from the tobacco shop which he does. Scene 3 Shen te meets yang sun who is about to commit suicide, Shen te convinces him not to and the two begin to start talking about how yang sun is an ex pilot. Yang sun reveals that he is in need of a lot of money to become a pilot again and Shen te agrees to fund it. Scene 4 Shu fu attacks Wong with a hot curling iron and there are a few witnesses, Shen te comes along and asks the witnesses to speak for him in court but they all refuse which leads Shen te to offer to do so illegally. Scene 5 Yang sun reveals to shui ta that he is not interested in Shen te romantically not knowing that he is actually talking to Shen te and that he only wants her money so that he can become a pilot again. Despite all of this Shen te still decides to marry yang sun anyway. Scene 7 Shen te realises that she is pregnant. Shu fu enters and knows that she is in trouble financially with all of the promises that she is trying to keep and offers her a blank cheque for her to write any amount of money on that she wants, instead she uses his cabins to shelter the carpenter and his children who are now out on the streets due to shui ta taking the shelves cheap earlier on. Scene 9 Shen te is now really pregnant and is spending more time as shui ta that looks fat. In this scene she finds out from mrs shin that the old couple have lost their carpet shop because Shen te paid the loan she owed them too late. Scene 10 Shui ta is in court and agrees to confess everything to the judges who are in fact the gods if the court room is cleared. The room is cleared and Shen te reveals herself. Shen te then admits to the gods all of the bad deeds that she did What are the themes in the play? Goodness and faith. These are the main things that the play revolves around. The Gods are their simply because they are trying to find somebody who will restore their faith in humanity and they end up finding Shen Te and they help her to be good. Goodness is a main theme because this is all Shen Te is trying to be, however she ends up creating another person and does some bad things, but as Shen Te she is still a good person and only sees the good in other people which allows her to be walked over. Who would your target audience be? I think the target audience would be adults as well as teenagers as they are just learning about the world fully and they might need to know the issues that face the world or connect to the world at this moment.

#Brechtwork

adam-mad-potter

Mine and Tom rehearsal before dress run monday. We will both be wearing suits that match.

Brecht blog 3

How has the practical lesson impacted your progress?

First of all this week we had a making session which gave us the chance to build our god puppets as well as many props that we can make ourselves. In this lesson we managed to design and build two god heads and the frame of the third god. I also managed to make a pair of hands for he first god from the help of Jacob and Lucy Lowe. We then moved on to blocking to move us closer to finishing the blocking and to make sure that we have as little as possible to block after the holidays and made sure we could start polishing.

What games and exercises

did you do?

This week we attempted to focus on improving our characterisation as this was our weakest area for us as a whole group which was last week so we played a game of charades where someone had to exaggerate the movements of one of the characters and having someone guess the character from how they would be stereotyping them.

What scenes did you block this week?

This week we blocked scenes 4 and 5 we also then added in some cuts, although we have decided to keep most of the scenes in so far we have made the decision to keep as many scenes as possible, just cut out what is not needed from each scene for the main plot of the performance and the main messages behind each characters intention. How did you work as a group?

This week we worked together really well as a team to block scenes because the remaining scenes are really important to the main plot and it is better to have input from everyone to make sure the scenes look the best they possibly can as someone might pick up on a bit of feedback that Georgia and Jacob missed.

What drama techniques did you explore?

We have though of the idea of adding in chereographed dance to the piece for creating more over the top and stereotype characters for Wong particually, we also had ideas for audience interaction and breaking down the 4th wall between them whilst we come on and off of stage.

What did you do in the final stages of rehearsal?

Again this week we fed back to the other group what we have been doing this week and throughout the whole project as well as today. We talked about how we have found the project so far and what we have found good and difficult so far within this project.

What were your strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths

I beleive that my main strength this week has been my characterisation due to the amount of focus being put on it and this has allowed me to develop it further than I had before.

Weaknesses

I bleive that my main weakness even though we made a lot of porgress was our focus as I beleive we could have done a lot more if we had focussed more this week.

What worked well this week?

This week I think eveyone progressed very well with the making session and our gods are really starting to look like gods. The scenes that we have blocked have possibly been the strongest scenes that we have done so far because we are really starting to get into the emotional and message driven end of the story. All of the things that we have made look really good but we need to finish them in time to use them as well as polishing them.

What will you do next week?

Next week I hope we have finished blocking and making sure that all of our props and costume are ready for use for a tech run soon as we need them so we have a good idea of cues and what types of ligthing we want in each scene.

#brechtwork

Brecht blog 2

How has the practical lesson impacted on the progress and development of the the performance as a whole and your individual performance of the character?

This week i think that the practical lesson impacted our progress of our performance as we have looked more into the issues and themes from the performance that we wanted to show to the audience and make them think about and what each character was going to represent. I think this has helped me to develop my character from my basic idea as I have more of an idea of a stereotype maybe one of a pick pocket and then one of a street seller and this could differ in different situations.

Describe the games and exercises

used to warm up and why they were used.

Exercises

that we did today included a warm up vocally and physically which was lead by Beth and me so that we were all warmed up and so that we didn’t strain our voices or muscles.

We also did a game called ‘i love you’ and we had to try and make the other person laugh or smile, then the other person has to say ‘i love you too but i just can’t smile’ without laughing or smiling back. This was to help us wiht our focus and help us stay in character.

Which explorative strategies did you use and did they help to develop your role? e.g. still image, thought tracking, hot seating, conscience alley, role play, Forum theatre, creative writing, acting styles and acting exercises

Our main Explorative strategie was that we used within the lesson hot seating for all of our characters so that we got more of an idea of the type of character that we are playing however we had to remember that we couldn’t get emotionally attached to the character that we are playing because they are representing a certain issue or theme that is happening wihtin the play so a good example would be Shen Te as she is a porstitue however she wishes to do good in life and serve the gods.

Describe the scenes you rehearsed? Describe the skills you used? Facial expression, gesture, voice, emotion, reaction.

the scenes that we have rehearsed today where the prologue, scene 1 and scene 2. With the prologue we have made a good amount of cuts that we are keeping for definite and then we also started to block the scene so that we could polish it off as soon as possible. We also thought about the themes and issues we wanted to show through everybodys different characters and how they can each show there issues in the way they act.

What Ideas did you have?

I had the ideas of my movements for my character Wong in the scenes I am in as well as the first scene as well for the boy as I had the idea of being on the floor on my knees to make myself look younger.

How did you take risks and experiment today?

I think I didnt take asw many risks that I could have howefver I did make one with leading one of the games to hlep us not to break out of character which I beleive helped us later in rehearsals.

How did you develop ideas as a group? Who took the lead? Were any of the ideas your own? How did you contribute to the development of the piece? Describe what you tried out in rehearsals.

I think as a group we developed our ideas by talking to each other and we all gave input into the scenes that we had blocked because as some of were blocking the scenes we had some of the others sat in the audience giving us feedback and they gave us information on what they though could be made better within the scene. What drama elements were developed? For example Plot, action, Style- e.g. Naturalism, epic, dramatic tension, Characterisation

I think we are beginning to develop our characterisation with our characters and i think this is because we had to do the hot seating exercise

which means we were able to look more and think more deeper into our character without getting attached to them and looking in to the issues that they are meant to represent within the performance.

Describe the final products of the rehearsal. Step by step what did you do? What did you see?

During the final steps of rehearsal we did a show back to the other group to recieve feedback from what they thought so far of our progress. We then also made our action plan for the next rehearsal that we had and planned out what we needed to get done.

How did you rehearse in a safe way today – think about how you used the space/set/props/equipment, as well as your own personal warm up routine (you will be video-ed in rehearsal demonstrating your own warm up routine)

We rehearsed in a safe way by not messing around in our space and ensuring that we had enough space for our warm ups and rehearsals. We also made sure not to mess around with the set or anything else that we didn’t use and other stuff that we were not using.

Your own strengths and weaknesses need to be described here. Be specific about the skills you used.

strengths:

I think that my characterisation has progresed a lot since last week and that it allows me to think more of what my character would do in certain situtations.

weaknesses:

I do not think my vocals this seesion were not as good as I could have made them as I beleive that theyu did not have any character to them and it also needed to be louder as well so my porjection could have been louder as well.

What from today are you going to keep for the performances? Eg an accent you explored or a characteristic for your role.

I think from this week I am going to keep the movements I was using for Wong as well as the boy I play within the performance. I am also going to keep the ideas of sneaking around maybe a little more as well.

Do you need to do any further research to help understand and develop your character? Say what you need to research and why here. Eg do you need to explore different accents or watch and observe a tv programme to get ideas for your characterisation?

I am going to look in to more characters from musicals that are sneaky an example would be fagin from oliver when he knows he can get his way around people and get the things he wants from them as well.

What needs to be improved for next week? 3 targets for yourself and a further 3 for the group here. E.g. Line learning, moves, special awareness, Facial expression, Characterisation, use of props, costume, masks, music, sound, practicing cues, responding to others, giving direction, taking direction, timekeeping, practice regime.

individual:

line learning

movement testing

voca ideas

group:

vocals for character

tech work

timing for each scene

#brechtwork

Brecht blog 1

How has the practical lesson impacted on the progress and development of the performance as a whole and your individual performance of character?

This week we started our contemporary play which is called the good woman of sezchuan. During the lesson we started off by looking at Brecht style and the the work Brecht did within his plays. We looked at things like epic theatre and the V effect (alienation) and we then had to do a research task within groups. After we had done this we were given the scripts to read through as an entire group and then after that we were split into two groups which we will be working with in this project. We then had to nominate group leaders and we then organised what we were doing. The first thing we did was auditions in our group for the different character roles. I Think it helped me understand what type of character wong is within the performance of the good woman of setzuan.

Describe the games and exercises

used to warm up and why they were used.

The exercise

we did today was that we got in to groups and walked round posts with different stereotypes that we had to portray each of these stereoyypes so then we could portray the extreme acting style of exaggerating a character more than he has to be to then get his stereotype across to the audience. Which explorative strategies did you use and did they help to develop your role? e.g. still image, thought tracking, hot seating, conscience alley, role play, Forum theatre, creative writing, acting styles and acting exercises

we looked into theatre style of epic theatre and how we could make people question things that we want to show them within our ply and if there where any issues brought up that might be still around coming from certain characters like Shen Te and the three Gods.

Describe the scenes you rehearsed? Describe the skills you used? Facial expression, gesture, voice, emotion, reaction.

We haven’t rehearsed any scenes today as it was our first lesson, however we did read through the whole script so we had a good idea of what the story is behind the play and what modern day issues it brings up.

What Ideas did you have?

Well within the lesson i had ideas for the character I was wanting to audition for such as mkaing him like the Engineer from Miss Siagon and make him maybe a bit cheeky and maybe a character who might be quite oppertunistic from other peoples weaknesess.

How did you take risks and experiment today?

Well within our group we had auditions where we would audition for characters such as the character Wong which is who I auditioned for.

How did you develop ideas as a group? Who took the lead? Were any of the ideas your own? How did you contribute to the development of the piece? Describe what you tried out in rehearsals.

Well Jacob and Georgia took the lead of the group because they were chosen as our group leaders and directors and they held the auditions and decided who would be which characters and they gave us a main part and a second part.

What drama elements were developed? For example Plot, action, Style- e.g. Naturalism, epic, dramatic tension, Characterisation

I think that after we had an introduction to Brecht we had more of an idea with reintroducing me to epic theatre and we mainly was looking at the plot of the play and making us look in to the issues brought up by the performance as well asd key characters.

Describe the final products of the rehearsal. Step by step what did you do? What did you see?

In the final products of rehearsal we learned who had got which roles and what tech roles we wanted to do as well so we could then start to work on tech and start creating set and gathering costumes for characters.

Today we made sure that we warmed up physically and vocally so that we didn’t strain anything, we also made sure that we were not messing about in the computer room and that we didnt do anythiong silly around the wires and we didnt have any good or drinks near the computers.

Your own strengths and weaknesses need to be described here. Be specific about the skills you used.

strengths:

Our focus was a very dtrong point of today as we where able to get through all of the auditions and make sure we knew what we where doing for tech, we also didnt have any moments of low confidence either today so it also made it easier for us to go through the audtions quicker. weaknesses:

I feel that my main weakness at the moment is that I need to look in to more bigger stereo types of a water seller as I dont have many inspirations at the moment.

What from today are you going to keep for the performances? Eg an accent you explored or a characteristic for your role.

I think that we have decided to keep the tech roles and character roles that have been cast. I am also going to keep idea of using the engineer as my inspiration for my character.

I think that i mainly will need to research further into my character of wong and how he might have been portrayed before in past performances, as well as looking in to set ideas and lighting ideas.

individual:

Start to learn my lines.

Come to lesson with ideas that i can give for scenes and themes and issues that we will use within the scenes that we choose.

Think of characterisation for my character to make him into someone that isn’t myself.

group:

Start to learn the lines now that we know the characters we are playing.

Start to work together in tech groups as well as working on the scenes together.

Think of the style of theatre and how we are going to show it to the audience in a clear and understanding way.

#brechtwork

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