Pronoun performed by Cornwall College

Welcome to The Cornwall College St Austell Acting Department Tumblr! This blog is to promote and celebrate the work of our Acting Students in the National Theatre Connections competition. We aim to provide students with a quality vocational experience of the Performing Arts, preparing them for the next step of their lives whether that be Higher Education or into the world of work. We want to inspire, create, discover & achieve. For previous updates please look at: http://cornwall-college-acting.tumblr.com

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London!

Hey boo! It’s me again :)

It’s taken over a week for me to write this blog purely because I know there’s so much that I need to write about and I didn’t want to bore you all to tears so I’ve had to think about what I really wanted to include!

Monday.. This day was pretty much us getting to London which was really fun because we were all very hyped up and we had loads of food haha! Even on the train on the way there Liam Edwards found his own little way of making a den under the chairs which was slightly strange but yanno.. I only realised when we’d got to Paddington station that I probably shouldn’t have packed such a big suitcase as I’d completely forgotten about the amount of steps we have to ascend/descend to get to the tube. Let’s just say I’m pretty buff for being able to do it.. This was also some peoples first experience of the tube, ever, so it was interesting to see their reactions to it all! In the evening we went to see Charlie and the chocolate factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and I had Aurora, Belle and Elsa sat in front of me which was amazing! The set for the show was absolutely amazing and the Oompa Loompas were hysterically funny, especially the ones tap dancing on top of the pipes whilst Augustus Gloop’s plump face was seen being sucked through them underneath! I was slightly unimpressed with the glass elevator though as it was very jolty and looked as though there was a possibility of it crashing to the ground at any moment. We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed like good children :3

Tuesday.. This could also be called the day of workshops as we had a voice workshop with Dewi from the Salon Collective in the Cockpit theatre from 10:30 - 13:30 and then the Step by Step workshop with Nina and Steve at Pineapple studios later on. In all honesty I was expecting the voice workshop to be boring but I was completely proved wrong. It was hilarious! We did this one exercise where we had to speak in ‘Outlandish’ a language where vowels don’t exist and have a conversation with someone (we made stupid noises to each other!!) and we then had to create a poem in outlandish for our partner to translate for us. Hilarious! Our step by step workshop wasn’t exactly what I had expected as it was loads different from last year (we didn’t have a brutal warmup this year!!). I don’t think Steve and Nina were expecting us all to be quite so talented as with every exercise we did we seemed to surprise them.. This workshop ended with us learning a dance routine to ‘Juicy!’ From Charlie and the Chocolate factory which was really fun! :) That evening we went to the Fortune Theatre to watch The Woman in Black. I really enjoyed this show as it demonstrated how you don’t need to spend loads of money on set or costume to create atmosphere or to put on a really good show. I can personally say that I was scared most of the way through it and at one point I jumped so hard that I cramped my leg and somehow had to find a way to straighten it out! I would honestly recommend this show to anyone who thinks that they don’t scare easily. Amazing! We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed like good children :3

Wednesday.. We headed back to the Cockpit on this day for a Meisner workshop with Dominic. We started off by learning a bit about this technique and how it works by using your imagination to create emotion. We then were told to shit our eyes and think about someone we loved and to send them a mental message. We we asked to think about what they’d be doing at that very moment and where they’d be. We were then asked if we even knew if they were alive which was horrible as this is something you don’t really contemplate. After this we were told to come back to our happy place which made me feel loads better. We then expanded on this by doing an exercise in which we imagined either a really good or really bad day and what we’d do once we’d got back in to our bedroom. One by one we’d go into the room and do this without speaking. This was a really good exercise as once you’d done yours you could bring yourself back to where you were and be yourself again which was amazing! In the afternoon we traveled all the way under the Thames to London Bridge to participate in the London Bridge experience (which has won the scariest attraction in Britain for the last 4 years running…). We learnt loads about ancient London such as how to prepare a decapitated head for presentation and about Queen Boudicca. Once we’d got into the tombs, that’s when it really got scary. We were split in half and put into what seemed like a really big shed. The doors were shut on us and then they started being banged on and shaken (at this point I didn’t think that the nail marks would ever disappear from my palm). The doors were then re-opened and we were told to get into a single file line and to join each others shoulders and to walk through the tour. My shoulders are still trying to recover and I think Louis may have burst one of my eardrums. They created atmosphere really well but the actors came out of character too quickly which sort of ruined it slightly.. Considering that I still nearly cried. When we were done we went for a walk down the embankment past the globe and the national theatre which was lovely. The evening was Mojo time at the Harold Pinter theatre. I never realised the seating in Theatres could be so raked! Seeing Rupert Grint in action was sososo good although you could tell he wasn’t quite used to performing on stage yet! We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed like good children :3

Thursday.. We started off this day by doing a tour of the London coliseum which is absolutely massive. I learnt loads and was fascinated that they used to hold horse races and cricket matches there! We also got a glimpse of some of the ballerinas warming up which was really cool as they were all obviously so talented and hard working! When we left the theatre we were surprised by Mitch showing up early and jumping on us! We were then given our day of free time to do what we wanted so I hit oxford street with the boys which probably wasn’t the best thing as I wanted to go clothes shopping.. I spent a good long time in the Disney store though which made up for it #lovinglife Our last show of the trip was The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales theatre and I have to say this is the event show I’ve ever seen. At the end I nearly cried because it was finishing. I know that I’m going to have to go back to London because it was just too amazing for words! The lyrics of the songs are so rude and outrageous that it can’t help but be laughed at. I loved it! We got back to the hotel and played some cards in the lobby and then went straight to bed like good children :3

Friday.. Got some extra time in bed because I was clever and packed the night before ;) and then had to leave :’( if I had one negative about the London trip it would be that it’s not long enough.. The train journey back was quite a bit more subdued due to everyone’s tiredness but I still enjoyed it as I was listening to the Book of Mormon soundtrack that I’d downloaded ;) I’m gutted that I won’t get to do this trip again. Sad times indeed.

YOLO 2K13  Strike that. Reverse it. (But don’t actually reverse it. Just strike it)

YOLO 2K14 - ERIN

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Blog post from Erin about our trip to london :)

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Dean ♥ Josh

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Just a few photos of our rehershal process :)

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So yesterday we had an opportunity for an all day rehershal which was amazing! we've produced so much in our limited rehershal time and the play is really starting to take shape and I'm very excited to continue with it on monday :) watching the play go from a script in our hands to staged and alive with all the emotion that our actors are working hard to portray is really exciting, once we have all the props we need for this show I think it's really going to take shape and we're going to see all the scenes become real. Our concept for staging itself is incredible and that is all down to our fantastic director Karen Burdon, and our assistant directors Joe Hole and Ben Lynn :)

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So I'm very excited about this, provided we are allowed to do this. We have found a fantastic song for pronoun. Unfortunately it may have some inappropriate language, but we have asked the head of our department if we're allowed to use the song as it uses the word c**t! Uh oh... Tell me what you think? ☺️ Song in the source :)

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Finally!

Just seen the most amazing news! Facebook is now allowing gender to be chosen from 50 different options! You can decide which pronouns Facebook uses for you and it allows people who are gender fluid, transgender, transsexual, androgynous, bi-gender, intersex AND it allows you to choose from three different pronouns, her, him or them. This is incredible news, but maybe it should have happened a bit earlier? Who knows. I think right now everyone's just glad to have the freedom of choice to identify correctly on a site that's meant to represent you and show friends and family who you really are 😃 [x] UPDATE: not available in the UK yet unfortunately :( but good news for you lot in America! :)

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Senior Management Team

Today I got to work on our lines for the senior management team as we have split the lines up among the chorus members, It was so much fun, I really think that the scenes with the SMT are going to be among the funniest in the play. With Karen directing us and the level of choreography in this scene is amazing, and we are doing the most un natural facial reactions to it which are so amazing especially in terms of how we see the members of the senior management teams in the curriculum of schooling nowadays, "WE CANT OFFEND ANYONE OH DEAR MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS BY THE BOOK OH DEARY ME WE USED AN UNPOLICTICALLY CORRECT TERM OH DEAR PLEASE DONT FIRE ME I PROMISE I'LL BE PERFECT" Seriously. Comedy. Gold.

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Creating our set for pronoun!

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I love our set concept! I think is going to work really well! Work in progress mind!

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Director and playwright feedback!

So we had our national theatre lesson today, Karen was telling us all about her meeting with the directors and with Evan Placey who wrote pronoun! It was really good to hear what their views on the play were as they differed from our initial reactions, but everything said made so much sense! We did another read through as Karen is struggling to cast the play as there is so much incredible talent in our group :) we should be cast by this time next week so watch this space! Rachel x

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Working with the Playwright

OK so we know that Pronoun is a good play! And getting to meet other directors we can also see that there is a real buzz about it. Evan Placed is a humble unassuming young man. He clearly had a vision for the piece but is not precious about it. He understands for it to have full impact with as many young people as possible that we need to own our interpretation. He wrote the play because he’d identified a gap in industry, that male teen trans were just not represented…at all. One message that came across loud and clear from the workshop was as long as we tell the story in the most truthful honest way we can we’ll be successful. The two directors from the national theatre were also very passionate about it. Tell the story, stay true to the story. Understand that its a romantic Comedy, some of it is very much intended to be funny. We need to realise Dean is very certain of himself, this is not a coming out story, Dean is not confused, neither is he perfect, we should not put him on a pedestal. As much it deals with big issues, what they aren’t looking for us to do is preach to our audience that discussions for the audience will come if we play the truth of each moment. Evan talked us through a few aspects of the play which obviously I’ll share when I get back to college. One thing is certain that even if we don’t make it to the National this play is going to be very worth while.

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a blog entry from our director Karen Burdon about working with the playwright!

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Casting!

Sorry it took me song long to update everyone! But we finally have our casting for Pronoun. Dean: Becky Herrington Josh: Chris Martin Kyle: Ryan Plant Mum: George Turner Dad: Robyn Hough Dani: Antalya Washbourne Amy: Jemma Glanvile Laura: Chloe Bruce James Dean - played by four different actors! But we’ll get back to that: Louis Tregonning, Patrick Hooper, Daniel Annear and Rachel Nottle Dr. Bogart: Chris Humphreys Dr: Brando: Liam Harbidge Dr: Monroe: Georgie Keeble All other cast members will be playing the Senior Management Team, a few actors will also be doubling up for this role! Our director for this piece is Karen Burdon Assistant Directors: Joe Hole & Ben Lynn

Why four James Dean’s you ask? Well, we are using our James’ to demonstrate Dean saying goodbye to his old self, Izzy. All of the actors playing James Dean took a gender brain test, to determine whether they had a masculine or feminine brain, as gender is a concept constructed by society, and does not necessarily match your birth given sex, the results were very interesting and I look forward to starting rehearsals! Rachel x

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Hello!

Hello, my name is Rachel and I am blogging on behalf of Cornwall College to promote our play pronoun! It's a fantastic play about a young transgender teen called Dean, who is struggling to afford the surgery to remove his breasts and to keep relationships with loved ones, particually his ex-boyfriend Josh, it's a fantastically funny play which still manages to keep the serious matters real. I love this play as it really is honest to teenage life and relations, particually whilst portraying a person who has recently gone though realising their gender identity, and may or may not include an appearence of James Dean! Who plays as Dean's mentor through the hormone and personal struggles.