4.

Monologues

In the lesson we were asked to write a monologue based on our favourite character from the play that we've worked on so far. For me, I decided to write monologue for the Taxi driver seen in the prologue of the play. Here is what I came up with:

Original:

Drive. All I do is drive. Drive all day. Drive all night. Dont get me wrong, I love it an all. But some days its just such its just such a drag. Wake up, shower, full English, get in the car and of you go. Pick up the newspaper from Madge, 40p change. Come back later. see the misses. Simple. But its not that simple. I am responsible for hundreds of others. They rely upon me. So when I'm  sitting in my car at 4 am in the bloody morning with bags under my eyes and a warm coffee in my hand. I just have to remember. That they rely upon me. That's what keeps me going on those old, rainy mornings and those long dark nights. Not the pay-check at the end of the month. But the people I've helped. That's what keeps me going. And that's why I love my job.

After the lesson I have altered the original to this one as I had some ideas I preferred to the original.

New: 

Drive. All I do is bloody drive. Drive all day don't I. Don't get me wrong, I love it an all. I like picking up the paper in the morning from auntie Madges Corner Shop on Ayers Road for a discounted price of 12p. I like the sounds of the markets in the morning and the way the streets buzz with a sort of energy. Sounds nice and Simple dunnit? But you see its not that simple. I, 'the taxi driver' is responsible for hundreds people a day including 'oneself'. Ay? Oh yeah usually five or six o clock for me on a good day, some of the other lads have it much worse. See them them arrive at the drop of points with bags under there eyes like they've been in a bar fight with bloody West Ham supporters. Well West Ham are shit any ways son. Look at their side. Couldn't hit a donkey arse with a banjo. There a shame on British football. And sport in general. Me? West Ham? your avin a laugh! I Support the greatest team this side of the east end. The Os. The great Leyton FC.  Of course we are in the division one and statistically, we aren't the best team in the world, but in my eyes. My eyes. We could take on Manchester blindfolded. Where was it you wanted again mate? round eer? Upton Park. West Ham football ground. (gulps) What team did you say you supported. Oh right. West Ham. Shit.

We then worked in pairs and gave constructive criticism to each other. We also performed our monologues to each other and we both gave our input in directing both pieces.

- What choices did you make when staging your monologue? Think about how you used your voice and physicality. 

     When staging my monologue, I decided to have my character (the taxi driver) sitting down on a chair to show that he is at his most comfortable when sitting down. This indicates that he feels most at home when behind the wheel of his taxi. I also decided to have my character slouched back in his seat just as he would when driving the car. My voice has a very relaxed and quite tone. This is because my character is contemplating his working life throughout the monologue. 

- How did the monologue task help you to understand the play further?

The monologue task helped me to understand the play further by making me think about not 
just the characters storyline in the script,but what happens outside of the script e.g work, 
family, hobbies. This is effective for an actor as it helps you to understand the meaning behind the script and can help you to perform your scene with realism.

- What monologue performed by a peer worked well and why? What had they written about?

The monologue written and performed by Rory, in which his daughter had been killed, was very effectively written and performed. He had written about how his daughter had been murdered in a sudden turn of events.

- Who performed their monologue successfully and why? 

Rory's, as his staging was relevant to the scene and the environment. His performance was realistic, which helped me to visualise what the character had gone through to lead up to the events occurring in the scene. He had written the scene very creatively with a plot twist. This gave the audience a shock and is what inevitably led to what kept the audience wanting to continue to talk about the scene.

East End research devising task

In the end, we didn't have enough time to go on to this activity of devising scenes using news articles from the east end. But overall, I feel that my work this lesson had been at a high merit. I have created a new long term target for myself which is: To be aware of the performance space and to use the space more creatively.

I thought today I worked at a high merit or a low distinction today as I have shown a developed understanding of the play and have contributed consistently in lesson, which have been used in the performance groups.

3.

In this lesson we began to explore individual characters in the play. We began the lesson with a short exercise in which we all had to multi task by having different orders of saying the classes names but with different movements or gestures. This was very effective as it made the class all focus on each other.

M1 - " I have demonstrated a knowledge of my characters back story and understand the characters emotions. Using the exercises, I have worked from the stimulus to create effective devised scenes."

Later on in the lesson, in groups we were assigned the task of highlighting all the characters mentioned e.g landlord, mother, brother. We had to choose what character we would do a roll-on-the-wall for.

Were were also tasked with coming up with a small improvisation scene based around 'Tale 6' and keeping in mind the characters and what they would be doing in that situation. I was grouped with Jake, Matteo and Will. I chose to play the part of the brother who was in a rush from work to go and see his brother. 

- What scene did you develop?

My group chose to develop the scene in which there was a bar fight and there were onlookers who were regulars at the pub. We chose this scene as it had a lot of diversity in characters and we all felt that we could all show realism in the scene by showing the audience the atmosphere at the time.

- What drama skills did you use to do so?

To develop the scene, I used my use of vocals to portray a very tired and innocent, shy man. This was effective as it showed the audience what previously happened to my character. I also chose to use a slightly slouched body. This showed my age and that my character was tired from racing to the pub.

- Explain what you did as your character. Why did you make these choices? 

My character of the brother was a middle aged man who was in a hurry to reach the pub to meet his brother waiting for him. I made various choices for my character. For example, I physicalised my character very slouched to indicate his tiredness. I made this choice to show the audience the back story behind my character and the previous events leading up to the current scene.

We then shared our work as a group and reflected upon our work.

- What was effective about the characters they had decided to explore?

The characters that they decided to explore were effective because they all had realism and depth to the portrayal of the individual. They all chose brilliant techniques to show the characters personality and views. Because of this, as an audience, we believed every word they said.

2.

Working on the prologue

In todays lesson we explored the prologue in East End Tales. We took on the character of the taxi driver and explored the characterisation of the man in pairs. I paired up with Jed. We both were asked to stage the scene, but not in a generic 'hand on steering wheel' way. We both stood back to back and did not engage each others presence physically, only through the conversational responses of one another. We both decided to block the scene in this way as we thought about the taxi itself and how there is a separation between driver and passenger by glass. This was why we did not engage each others presence.

From this I learnt that sometimes its not all about connecting with each other physically or facially, but its also verbally. This is important as now that I've learnt this, I can react off of one another more realistically and effectively, leading to a better performance.

In our class we both thought that Alex's group was very effective as they were all feeding off of each other and that helped create realism to their performance. They also all reacted to the taxi itself by swaying in sync. This was effective as you could believe that they were sitting in a taxi and reacting to the drivers frantic driving.

Hot-seating

Later on in the lesson, we did a hot-seating exercise. Hot-seating in when you get asked questions about your character and you respond to them as the character using improvisation. Some of the questions we asked were:

- How long is your shift? when do you get back home usually?
- What do your family think of your profession?
- Do you enjoy your job?

We also asked simple questions to understand the character as a person better.
 Hot-seating is a useful technique to use in rehearsal as it helps you develop your characterisation and it assists in adding realism to your performance.

Ensemble Taxi Driving

Tale 8 - Atmosphere

In groups we were asked to underline/highlight anything that indicated location, weather and atmosphere within the text. Here are some examples of what I highlighted:

- It's early 
  Eerie
  Just before sunrise
  And hailstones bombard the darkness

- The hail piles up like icy gravel

- But today, there's an atmosphere
  Tension
  Something about to happen
  Usually it's silent here

- There's a buzz, a static
  A eerie hum

- Sun's coming up
  Away to the east
  Morning light
  Awakens the beast

Once we had gone through the text we created a series of sounds and movement that reflected the text. We created a soundscape to create the weather and used physical theatre to show the atmosphere.

- What was effective about the sounds we had decided to use?

The sounds we had decided to use were effective because they portrayed the emotions of the character in the scene and created a tense atmosphere. The description used in the text was very thought provoking and caused us as a group to explore a wide range of sounds from rain to footsteps and even a static hum.

- What was effective about the movement we had decided to use?

The movement in our scene was effective as we had used a variety of levels. For example, we started of crouched on the ground tapping on a chair creating the sound of rain drops hitting a roof. We then proceeded to move into a group at a higher 'standing' level and then fluidly moved back down into a crouched 'arch' position. The fluidity of the movement created slick transition from each section.

- How did the work make you feel?

The work made me feel the same as the character in the scene. I felt these because our movement and our sounds immersed me in an environment just like the text.

- What could have been developed further?

We could've made our piece longer as our scene lasted around a minute, maybe more. If developed further, the scene could have used more examples from the text and we could've explored more ways of portraying the atmosphere.

- Do the sounds and movement have the same impact as just reading out the lines? Is it a better     way to help tell this story?

The sounds and movement definitely create the same amount of impact as if you would read the lines. Both the sounds and the movements helps the audience visualise the scene more clearly than they would if spoken aloud. Personally, I like to include both an equal amount of spoken word and physicality as both can create the same effect but in different ways and it is interesting exploring both of these together.

NATIONAL THEATRE VIDEOS.

How might the information in these films be useful when rehearsing and creating a role?

The information provided in the first video was very useful as it helped me be able to develop my characters movement. Before I watched this video I found that my character was very stiff and now I'm expressing myself more than before. I also learned about working together in an ensemble and how there are no rights or wrongs in rehearsal stages of a production.

The information provided in the characterisation film was very useful as it helped me as an actor be able to understand how to get into the character as well as creating your character. I found this to be useful for my character of the taxi driver in the prologue and epilogue of the play. I used the advice to help decide my characters back story and characteristics. The results were that my character was more exciting, vibrant and interesting to watch.

RESEARCH POST.

Map of the East End:

My London Video: Although this is very comical at parts, I found that some of the shots were relevant and that his end poem was useful into thinking what people think of the area.

Brick Lane Video: This was interesting, as it showed the creative talents of some of the residents in the east end and the condition in which the street are in.

Murder attempt in the east end, inspired by the tragic murder of Lee Rigby:   http://www.964eagle.co.uk/news/uk-news/1525476/teen-allegedly-planned-to-behead-soldier/

Dark history of the East End:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

News report of the murders.

Through my research about the East Ends past, I have discovered that the famous Jack The Ripper killings took place there. I found this to be very interesting as the link between abuse in the play and the violence seen by 'Jack' against women was very relevant. It shows that even in the past, abuse and violence were still present and that this issue still thrives today in the east end.

1.

NEW UNIT: East End Tales

‘East End Tales is a series of nine stories inspired by photos and new articles from local papers in east London. It was written for the Mulberry School for girls in Tower Hamlets’ Half Moon Young People’s Theatre Scriptworks project. The story was developed by a group of Year 10 Bengali girls throughout weeks. It was created through improvisation and written exercises under supervision of Finn Kennedy. The best work was extended and worked on to get the final piece, which was then written in lyrical style by Kennedy.’

Today we looked at East End Tales by Fin Kennady. The play is inspired on the lives of those who live in the east end of London and features nine different stories inspired by news articles and photos from local papers in east London.

After reading through the text and gaining first impressions on the piece, I have many different views on the text. Personally I found it to be very interestingly written. The layout was unique and the writing was also. The stories told were very diverse which can be great to play around with from an acting perspective. I found that what was depicted in the play was far from what I expected the East End to be. It was not your typical 'EastEnders' storyline, but more sensitive. More intricate. More meaningful. Behind the lines was a deeper message. Because of this, I found the first reading of the more darker scenes to be very disturbing and intense. This was great as it really made the image of the events more vivid.

My favourite tale from the nine was tale two, this was because I enjoyed the writing and the description of the woman. Kennady used interesting lines such as 'at night she dreams of rainclouds' to really portray the woman in her truest fashion. I found the tale be quite unique as many of the other tales were events that happen in the east end whereas this was somebody's perspective of a person. Almost like reading a very in depth, personal passport which leads you into an exiting snapshot of the woman's life.                        

At the start of today's session we were asked what was our impressions of the east end. My group had similar views to each other. We all thought the east end was a place with high crime rate, very bold characters and that everybody was quite lower/middle class. Luckily two members of our group were residents of the east end and quickly corrected us on what the area was actually like. The reality was far from what we had envisioned. The reality was that the east end was actually quite a nice place to live and that they enjoyed living there, although some of our views were true. The majority of the stereotypes were incorrect and they were on some occasions, the polar opposite. For example, we all thought that people in the east end sort of all new each other as we thought it is a very tightly knit community. The truth was that not everybody got on and so there was a lot of conflict between people, one of the reasons for such high crime rate. By the end of the session I had widened my view on the east end and had come out of the lesson with a wider knowledge of the area in which we will be depicting.