Essay 2; DV8 Review

DV8 is a physical theatre company formed by Lloyd Newson in 1986. It focuses on examining the roles and relationships of men and woman in society and interpreting them into physical theatre.

I have found they take a dystopian stance on society and their pieces symbolise this too shock the audience but to also teach the audience that the ideology of 'normalism' in society is not true and they reveal the truth on how society impacts peoples decisions like homosexuality or feminism which are two large political and social events in history.

Enter Achilles

A list of public reviews found here - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109734/ 

A detailed review from - http://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/psychology/enter-achilles-dv8-review-laura-mathis.html

When I watched this, I found that DV8 captured a group of 8 straight men drinking and interacting within the confines of a pub. The football on the tv, pints of beer and general banter between 'lads' all relate to the stereotypical view of men out drinking together. I feel DV8 have shown this stereotype in a great way using dance and vocal sounds like wolf whistling, laughing and cheering. By including these natural 'manly' sounds, it adds to the naturalism of the performance and to the stereotype increasing the crudeness of the motive DV8 wish the audience to understand.

They are joined by another man. This man to me symbolised homosexuality or someone that doesn't fit within the stereotype of the pub dweller. This man joined the pub and when he tried to fit in with the rest of the men but he was pushed away by them and bullied because he was different. Eventually some of the men started to accept him and dance with him but their was still men that didn't want to change or accept who he was. This too me shows how DV8 have captured how people are judged by their stereotypes and how society has made forced people to be 'sheep' and to follow others and not do as they're heart intends.

I feel the 'superman' was the Achilles. I think he was the 'hero of the Trogen war' and symbolised someone who is un affected by the people being sheep and following the Shepperd and is above society and is free to act as he wants, therefore he helps others to escape this stereotypical society and shows them how to be themselves.

The sex doll could have been used to represent sexism and how woman have been treated by men in history. I feel it showed how one mans view on woman is different from another. I thought that the man who was making love to the doll was lustful towards this 'female' and wanted her for sex. Once he makes love the doll is passed on to the large group of men. This made me feel like she was objectified as some one to have sex with and not a real person. I feel when the men were fighting over her they were showing greed. This shows how DV8 has successfully created a show targeting the negative problems in society.

To conclude, I enjoyed watching Enter Achilles as I thought the dance created movements which showed a really powerful meaning behind the negatives of society.

Study Week; Essay 1

Frantic Assembly; 'discuss features and devising methods of FRANTIC ASSEMBLY'

Frantic Assembly; Who they are and what they do

"The vibrant and visceral Frantic Assembly" THE INDEPENDENT

http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/what-is-frantic/  - A link to Frantic Assembly website

 Frantic Assembly is a physical theatre company; influenced by DV8, that creates original theatre productions using their own devising techniques I will be discussing below. They have a young and new workforce and teach; in workshops, their methods which in turn, allows them to create unique physical theatre encompassing music, design, music and text. It is lead by Artistic Director Scot Graham who helped form the company in 1994 and has taken his company touring globally.

Hymns Hands

This is a devising method Frantic Assembly has created to portray emotion and feeling through the use of interaction with your partner and their hands. https://vimeo.com/122106236 ( a link to the video on Hymns Hands)
In our workshop on Frantic Assembly we found a partner and then; without music at first, interacted with each others hands. Placing our hands on them or moving their hands. At the start, we kept this very basic and just kept it at a very steady, medium pace. This allowed me to get used to the natural movements. This allowed us to become smoother flowing, which in turn, began looking more like a performance although did not tell a story just yet. I feel this was because the movements looked professional but their was no expression through our movement and therefore no emotion being expressed. In order to form the expression, we made eye contact but kept the pace the same. This eye contact made me feel like their was something serious and meaningful happening but still no story forming. I feel this was because their was no energy in our movements and it wouldn't be natural to move without energy. To experiment with this I changed the pace, firstly decreasing the pace. By slowing our movements down but keeping eye contact the seriousness grew larger and I felt a powerful meaningful emotion that made me feel an emptiness. This shows how directing the energy into a slow, serious pace, has created an emotion of 'emptiness' that could; with the addition of more techniques, create a story. The addition of music into this technique, in my opinion, really increased the level of impact our movements have and increases the meaning of our expressions and the emotion that is represented. By incorporating fast and powerful music increased the pace and energy of our movements. I feel this was due to me understanding the meaning of the song and then trying to incorporate the songs meaning into our hand movements. To experiment with this, we changed the music so that the meaning of the song was different. I found if we played a 'typical' break up song, the eye contact broke which to the audience would symbolise the partnership ending and therefore shows how this technique can translate the meaning of the music to the audience. The music also changed the heaviness of our hands. by this I mean if the music made me feel wrathful then I felt my hands become heavier and forceful towards my partner. I felt this during our group devising piece where we were given Wrath as one of the 7 sins. I felt when we induced a wrathful song, my feelings became that of the song. This allowed me to direct this wrathfulness through my hands like a power or force. This allowed for the audience to look at my hands and see the same emotion and gain the same impact as if they were looking at my facial expressions. This therefore shows how this technique has been successfully made by Frantic Assembly and how our group can use it in our devising piece.

This image is an example of a Frantic Assembly workshop using Hymns Hands. (http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/resources/)

Four Corners

Four corners is a technique where an individual or group have made it their objective to show emotion and expression through moving to multiple points in  the room.
In our workshop we got into groups and chose our four points in the room. Then we walked as a group, with our only objective being that we had to get to each point staying as a group. This allowed us to work together and get used to moving as one. We then were given the objective to move as though we were about to fall over but not actually falling, as a group. This gave the movement a purpose of trying not to fall. We experimented with this by having a person separate from the group whilst moving and going about the four corners on their own. I feel this had a representation of one persons independence and how the rest of the group is stumbling without them. Because I felt this in class, I feel the technique creates metaphors which the audience can interpret and therefore is a very impactful way of showing telling the story. To increase tis level of impact of four corners, we added music and making eye contact and reacting to other people that had different four corners. By adding music with a meaning of passion or lust, I felt my movements became sharper and my eye contact became fixated on curtain non objectified characters in the room. I felt the passion flowed within my hands arms and legs and the energy was moving my limbs and as I made my way to my corners new people appeared and my story with the previous people ended and a new story began with the new people I encountered until my journey ended at the last corner. I think because I felt this, the story would start to form and therefore the audience would be able to visualise our actions. This shows that this technique
Frantic Assembly has created does successfully tell a story to the audience.

How 'Love Song' have used Chair Duets
http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/productions/lovesong/ - Love song trailer link

Chair Duets is a technique that involves the due to be sat down on chairs or an object and to interact with each others bodies including hands, limbs and head. This technique tells a story through the energy and depth of the movements. In 'Love Song', the characters movements are very complex and expressive. They move together along the table and are very passionate and expressive of love and lust for each other. By using chair duets as a basis they have created a story which the audience can denote their own ideas from.

Our Groups Small Devising Scene

In our group we created a scene containing some techniques form Frantic Assembly in order to express Lust and Wrath. In our scene we had Logan and James. They were the centre of our circle and represented the core of the two sins, lust first and the journey into wrath. They are surrounded by 'Society'. Becca, Georgia, Brad and I. We moved around anti clockwise and attempted to pulse in and out of the Logan and James. In my opinion this could show how Lust and Wrath are problems in society and how people force these emotions away, some people cant control them and therefore they pulse back into society on occasion. For us who formed the circle, we had a chair. The chair was supposed to be a meaningful object for us. To show lust, we took the chair and played with it gently and then with regret, let someone else take it. To show wrath, Logan sits on the chair and then someone peels of from the circle to interact with him using their hands trying to lustfully pull him away whilst the person on the chair wrathfully forces them away but then leaving the seat and the Lustful person becoming wrathful now. I feel the story here is that whoever sits on the seat becomes wrathful as the seat symbolises the fracture in society where the lust and wrathful sins exist. This was just the story I got from performing, but shows that by using these techniques which are from both Frantic Assembly and DV8, can be used to make hit the audience with the role of making their own story up from what they have seen.

The Cherry Orchard Performance Evaluation

Basics

A positive is that I think I said most of my lines correctly and projected well to the audience and was clear. This hopefully allowed the audience to hear my lines and understand the meaning behind the words; the subtext.
Entrances and exits I feel went smoothly for me. I was on time to complete my actions and to deliver my lines. In the part where I walk on however;

'My god Varya'

I feel there was too long of a pause and the energy and pace of that section may have been lost which I fear may have caused the audience to wonder why I just randomly walked across the stage and not understand the awkward tension between Alexander and Varya. This also shows how my timing could have been improved. But my timing with my lines I think went well. I tried to keep my lines flowing and keep the energy up and not leave any unnecessary pauses. This made allowed the play to flow and allowed the audience to understand the atmosphere that any pauses should create and the increase or decrease in pace shows how the different characters talk and react to each other which intern shows realism.

Stylistically

As a team, our play was; I feel, a naturalistic performance because the everyone used the techniques they have learned to create their own natural realistic characters and then used the 'basics' above to deliver their character on stage and to tell a story. I feel it could have been improved by more people using the three natural gestures such as 'scratching your nose' for example. These idiosyncrasies look great on stage but I feel that if everyone naturally targeted their idiosyncrasies and them delivered them realistically, the plays atmosphere would have been lifted to a new realm of naturalism.

Our play was performed successfully as Chekhov intended it to be; as a comedy and not a tragedy. I know this because in parts such as Yasha's line;

'fucking idiot'

...the audience laughed. This is the reaction that was not forced by un naturalistic comedy. It was realistically brought up and acted by Rhys in the play and along with other examples like Simeon being clumsy or Charlotta's line;

'I give you my cheek you'll want my breast. I'll give you my breast and you'll want my badger'

...and was therefore a very successful part of the play and shows how the aims of achieving naturalism was achieved in the outcome.

Actor Skills

I think my characterisation was positively grand. I feel that by using the techniques learnt and practised in rehearsals like the three idiosyncrasies and using Stanislavski's 'System', in the final performance lead to me having a well developed character and one that moves, speaks and self believes in the plot and the setting which in tur meant I achieved the objective of naturalism and realism in play. The weakest part for me, where I feel I may nave lost my characterisation was when I had to read the script. by reading from the script as a 'stand in', meant I had to leave some realism behind for scene two. I had to hold the script with one hand so I lost my idiosyncrasies with that hand and I had to look down at the script which breaks the fourth wall because the script is not a prop; it is something from outside the play, which the audience can see.

Ensemble

I feel some people worked really well together in the performance. For example, me and Chloe Smith made this un planned eye contact whilst on stage and I had feedback from the audience that it showed which meant me and Chloe successfully played our relationship objective. It could have been improved by increasing the energy of people walking around stage and maybe it could have been made more dynamic and the movements could have been planned better to avoid crowding which would make the play more controlled and professional.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think the group achieved the aim of performing Chekhov as a comedy, in a naturalistic, realistic way using the fourth wall and using the techniques learned in class like Stanislavskis 'System'. If this could be improved, then the pace and energy of the play could be lift, maybe by some people increasing their projection and people having the confidence to use what they have learned on stage.  

Character Profile; UTA HAGEN The Six Steps

Who am I?

My character is Alexander. A Russian business man who has made a friendship with landowner Lyubov and members of her family. He represents new Russia and wants to buy the estate in order to both turn a profit and too what he feels like, helping a friend by alleviating her debt whilst understanding that the selling of the cherry orchard is not what she wants.

Alexander's present state of well being is that he cares to help Lyubov in the way he seems fit. He is exited and happy about the purchasing of the estate and wants t make money from knocking down the cherry orchard and building cottages. He is someone that knows exactly what he is doing and; being a business man, find making money a very important thing in life and feels the same way about money as Lyubov does about her cherry orchard. He also may have business connections around Russia meaning he is successful at what he does. I feel he perceives himself as helpful, a good man, may be overly narcissist over his achievements.

I feel he would wear something like this image. A suit and other smart items of class. He is a successful business man and would therefore be wearing high class clothing to show the audience he is very 'salesmen' and wealthy.

My Circumstances

It is May in the early 20th century. As 'old' Russia moves into 'new' Russia. This means that the country is being modernised and westernised and is abolishing the Serfs and ownership of land containing forms of slavery. People such as Alexander are increasing as they are the economy and will be responsible for buying and selling property which will intern, increase the economical value and will drive the wave of improvements to the country.

• It is moving onto spring
• the air is cold but the sky is bright
• the cold could represent the atmosphere between the family and Alexander buying the cherry orchard; 'I did... (the beat drops)'. I feel this as Lyubov is shocked that Alexander who she thought cared about her and her cherry orchard, has bought it and will destroy the cherry orchard and the cold could represent the cold emotion she is feeling at this time.
• Lyubov and the family are arriving from Paris and Alexander goes outside to meet her
• Their are multiple family discussions before Alexander brings up his plan to 'help' Lyubov with her debt by giving her a loan; 'I can get you a loan of 500 thousand straight away'

Relationships

Alexander and Varya have decided to get married but due to the events of the debt arising in Paris and the estate about to be sold off at auction; 'at a public auction for gods sake', things seem to have gotten awkward and the love between them seems to have disappeared due to the uprising of Alexander's 'salesmen' personality. Their is nothing but awkward, painful eye contact that could, to the audience, foreshadow that something is about to end like when the cherry orchard is cut down.

How will these subheadings effect Alexander's Objectives

I feel due to him being a successful business man, after the play ends, he will continue to live his life with the same objectives, buying and selling properties to make money. I believe this because he represents 'new' Russia and this Russia has continued to live to this present day. I feel that after they all leave the house at the end, Varya and Alexander's relationship will cease to exist. I feel this because all the characters in a Chekhov play seems to lose something, I feel that for this to be true then Alexander must have to loose Varya. I feel Chekhov does this because it increases the realism of the play and increases the level of impact the audience feel when they too think about each single characters life and how they exist after the play finishes.

The Cherry Orchard, Blog 3

http://homepage.smc.edu/sawoski_perviz/Stanislavski.pdf - Link too Stanislavski "The System"

This week, in order to improve individually, I used these techniques from Stanislavski "System":

• Motivation
• Imagination

Motivation

This week I used what Stanislavaski quoted about motivation; 

'the actors will should be aroused from either the actors emotions or by the mind' 

Last week I had the problem of not being motivated. 

'I wish I could say something to make all this easier' 

This was just one of the lines I found difficult to have the 'will' to perform. to overcome this, I went through the emotions of which my character would feel. I found that by changing the pace, energy and where I breath/ new thoughts where necessary. By experimenting with this, I went through different emotions like if Alexander was sad, happy or caring when he speaks. I found I felt most motivated when I said it in a caring but excited way as I am about to tell the family my plan of buying the cherry orchard. I feel that this worked and helped me find truth in my characters objectives and make my character more naturalistic and realistic.

Imagination and Subtext

Subtext is the meaning behind the words and one that is interpreted by the actor through imaginative expression of movements and emotions.

“Spectators come to the theatre to hear the subtext. They can read the text at home” (Moore 28).

For example, in scene two where I announce I have bought the cherry orchard, I found the subtext to be that Alexander is feeling empowered and is going to make a lot of money from his investment.

'The estate is mine, Mine!, my friends, the cherry orchard is mine'

To find this subtext I experimented with different levels of energy and eventually I found the most truthful energy that portrayed what I thought was my objective. Therefore I feel that this helped make my character naturalistic also.

Historical Context

I also researched the historical context of the play and my character this week. I found some facts that relate to the play and that I feel helped me develop my character: (http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/cherryorchard/context.html) - Information from this section located here)

• Chekhov's grandfather was a serf
• Serfs were legal property of the landowners who owned the property they resided in
• Serfs were a form of slavery
• His grandfather; Egor, bought freedom for himself and his family for 875 rubles
• Tsar Perter the Great carried out reforms in Russia in the 18th century which lead to the fall of 'old Russia' and the inclination into 'new' Russia
• His intent was to modernise Russia and Westernise
• The name for Alexander's character could have been deprived from Tsar Alexander II who was in power during Chekhov's child hood and was responsible for the waves of reforms

It could be possible that Chekhov created Alexander from the idea of his grandfather being a serf just like  Alexander he has made Alexander the epitomising representation of 'new' Russia who has the same ideas as Tsar Alexander II. By understanding this possibility, I can see how Chekhov hasn't made Alexander the enemy or a bad person, just one that has the idea of this 'new' Russia which; due to the family of landowners epitomising 'old' Russia, clash and create tension in the play. But I feel that Alexander has the caring side from his ideology about the future and the western world. By coming up with these hypotheses' I made up my mind about my characters personality and how I would act for part two;

'I bought it, would you bear with me?'

I feel I knew my character objectives this week and knowing my how Chekhov could have intended my character to be representative of in history has helped me find truth.

The Cherry Orchard

Rehearsal Blog 2

Character Development

In week 2 I had developed my character more but there was still along way too go before I reached my objectives. I was really struggling with the truth behind my character. I understood that he was a business man and his objective was to buy the cherry orchard but I also new that his objective was that he was trying to help Lyubov and that he cared about what was happening. I found it hard during  rehearsals to link these two objectives together to form the character. An example of these two objectives are: "I've got a idea that will mean you can keep... all of it" and "your as precious to me as you always have been". At the time I found it hard to be truthful and express the correct emotions naturalistically. In order to find truth in my characters personality during this weeks rehearsals and to improve on the point above, I used a person from reality such as Peter Jones from Dragons Den, to base my characters objectives on. I chose Peter Jones as an example because he is a successful business man which relates to Alexander. "Can you see this product on the shelves? So can I, and that's where it will stay" This is a quote by Peter Jones that I thought showed the way a business man would speak. By knowing this I feel that I now have the basis on top of which I can build the rest of my characters personality. I feel that by doing this, it made my character objectives stronger and more obvious and allowed the objectives to be naturalistic.

Our class watched Platonov by Chekhov at Chichester Festival Theatre. Platonov has a similar subplot as The Cherry Orchard but is mainly focused around a man called Platonov and his love affairs which brings I'm down a dark path of regret and depression, eventually leading to his death. It was both a comedy and a tragedy so it related to our play because in The Cherry Orchard their are the same aspects. For example; Simeon is a character that adds comedy as he is clumsy; "He drops the bouquet". I feel if this Jack A can naturally and realistically use these actions, the audience will react as Chekhov intended. Also, by watching individual characters in Platonov, I studied the actors stage presence. This helped me figure out where my character would be on set, and how id interact with the set itself and the other characters. The line "time passes" is an example of where I used the stage presence I learned. I walked to the front of the stage, right up to the audience, looking over their to the "Cherry Orchard", whilst keeping the fourth wall. I feel this showed the audience my character had the objective of buying the cherry orchard. https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/platonov - A link to The Chichester Festival Theatre, Platonov.

I feel in this weeks rehearsals there has been more group interaction and characters interacting with each other on set to show the audience the smaller, hidden objectives and how the characters have relationships with each other. Me and Chloe Smith had a creative moment where as she walked on from the line "Two letters have arrived..." where we both made eye contact and looked away. I was taken direction from Karen in order to make a decision of weather Alexander loves Varya or not. I believe this un intentional moment between our two characters on set looked really naturalistic and powerful, therefore making me go with the objective that Alexander likes Varya but in an awkward way. I feel that this showed how I have achieved some growth and development all pushing towards the realms of naturalism and realism.

Anton Chekhov; The Cherry Orchard

Rehearsal Blog 1

In weak 1 I was given the script for The Cherry Orchard. After reading through and getting idea of some of the characters, I was chosen to be Alexander in part 1. At first, it seemed very daunting as the synopsis of this character was "business man" and this part had a few large monologues. But after the read through I gained more of an idea of my character and the plot of the play which allowed me understand the research I need to do to develop my character fully and achieve the unit objectives such as performing Chekhov in a naturalistic way. My research is recorded below.

Finding Character

I was told my character was a business man. With this I had a hard time understanding at first, how I should act this as this was very vague. So in the first rehearsal, I feel this caused me to be unhappy about my character and not want to act. This lead to a poor first rehearsal for me. This lead to Karen as the director to have to lead me in the right direction and work with me on my character. An example of this is the line "this is them". Where my pronunciation of the word "them" was incorrect due to the lack of motivation I had. I managed to improve on my voice thorough the rehearsals and speak in a way my character might. Due to the improvement, my motivation increased for the play and I found that I became my character more and acted in a more naturalistic way.

Another situation like the one above was from the first line; "Thank god, what time is it?". I understood that my character had only just woken up. At first I just said the line without any energy and it was bland and dry. But in this first rehearsal I didn't really experiment with different energies and therefore my acting wasn't good. I feel this means I didn't reach a naturalistic performance and am disappointed in myself for that rehearsal for not using what I have learnt to develop my character; such as: using Stanislavski's "The System" and blocking the scripts and finding new thoughts and also for not being imaginative. So this was a weakness for me in the first rehearsal and to improve I would need to have used these techniques to find truth in my character to achieve the objective of naturalism.

Evaluation; The Wardrobe, Scene 7

Basics
My lines were a strength because I said them all correctly and correspondingly to Katrina which made the scene run smoothly and allowed the correct emotions and expressions to be directed. A line that I was weakest with was; "I saw her admiring it". I found it to be a tong twister for some reason and just generally found the "ing" and "it" hard to say after one another. I feel that I overcame this line by slowing down the pace slightly and articulating clearly. I feel this worked as I was able to keep up the energy whilst being clear and linking back to the objective of being naturalistic and realistic.

Keeping up the pace was a strength because I walked with purpose onto stage in order to achieve my characters goal. I feel the audience saw this and was gaged for the first line. I kept the pace going through the whole scene but found it hard to keep the pace up during the lines "I swear to god I will". This is because this is where Joffrey breaks down and tears up and it was hard to be pacey when I'm sad as my all the emotions were rushing through Joffrey's mind and its painful so everything is slower. In the end I think by slowing the pace here showed this and therefore was actually a strength and links back the objective as it creates naturalistic realism.

Stylistically
The Wardrobe is a naturalistic and realistic play and I feel that we achieved that as a whole group. Our scene; 7, achieved it by successfully having a fourth wall, by not over acting or excessively emphasising words and emotions or actions. As a strength, I feel that our emotions portrayed in the last section "So then, are we agreed?" where we both changed our energy states from defending ourselves from a serious punishment to agreeing that we are in the same situation and are not that different from each other. As a weakness in our scene, I feel that my reaction to being blackmailed in lines "I will not mention what I saw pass between you and Arthur Scott" could have been more realistic. I feel that I could have tapped into "the System" more and released the energy less forced and fake in order to achieve the out come of realistic and naturalistic anger from Winifred's defiance. This also shows how my outcome was achieved.

Actors Skills
Characterisation went well. During the performance I really felt like I was Joffrey. Before I went on stage I just stood their back stage and thought about my objective and how Joffrey is feeling. I was thinking of the emotions that he faces and linked them to my life. I thought what it would be like to be stripped of one of my human rights and I managed to get into the energy state just before waling on so I became Joffrey before entering the wardrobe. Once on stage I felt the connection between Joffrey and the wardrobe and how he is hiding. I feel I reacted to Winifred as a Master would when he sees a slave wearing his coat. And throughout the scene I feel I kept the energy with me and reacted accordingly to Katrina's acting and lines. I believe that the part where I say "how can you call yourself a lady" I portrayed the reality of Joffrey's reaction. I believe that my characterisation was successful in creating Joffrey in the performance and therefore helped create a naturalistic and realistic performance.

"You'd do well to remember your station" This line I feel I was strong because of my movement. I feel I reacted to Winifred's defiance and Joffrey trying to demote her by increasing my posture and lifting my head to stand over Katrina and to show class. A week point was in the line "Return it to be washed again" In this line I don't think I made it clear that it was an order. I used a hand gesture to be directive but I feel I could have been colder and seemed harsher to allow the audience to feel more sorry for Winifred.

The Teamwork
Me and Katrina both had the write level of energy and pace in the scene I think, which lead to our characters reacting to each other and  creating more naturalism in the scene. I think this was because we both got on and were supportive during the performance. Everyone in other scenes did the same and it made the whole play seem harmonised and showed their was chemistry in the performance. This lead to the execution and consistency of the motive of everyone's characters being shown and therefore being a strength.

To conclude I feel that the performance as a whole achieved the objective of naturalistic and realistic story telling and my own performance had many strengths by using material like:http://plays.about.com/od/actingessentials/a/The-Stanislavsky-Method.htm

The Wardrobe, Character Profile for Scene 7

Joffrey

My character is Joffrey. A 16 year old boy. He is a closet homosexual who is in love with a boy called Arthur. He is not allowed to be gay and if anyone were to find out he would be punished. He is a high class citizen and is the son of a Master of the house. Joffrey and his house use slavery freely and without thought. He lives in England during 1805.

Who am I?

First, I learn about Joffrey's background. He is high class. This means he is wealthy, lives in a large household and has a high status in society. His family own slaves such as Winifred. ."Take it off" and "wash it again" show how he has been taught to order slaves and servants. This shows he has no moral issues with slaves and uses them as he sees fit; probably influenced by his family during his upbringing. By knowing this about Joffrey, I now know that my character will have to be direct, order Katrina's character in order to be realistic and I know I will have to perform with a higher class state of mind by objectifying Winifred, and not caring for her, and being shocked when she disobeys me. "I am afraid I cannot do that Master Joffrey." To this line I know that I must react shocked and surprised that this slave has answered back which then adds more realism and naturalism and increases the tension and powerfulness of this reaction; "how dare you!"

I feel that Joffrey's characteristics on the outside are cold, stuck up, miserable and he likes to demote people and finds enjoyment punishing the lower class people. "how can you call yourself a lady" This shows how he is demoting Winifred to make her feel bad and to put her in her place. Also, "do you really believe he would accept your word over mine?" He uses a rhetorical question here and abruptly answers it "my father will never see you as a daughter" purposefully trying to hurt Winifred. This shows how his personality is dark and nasty on the outside. Know I understand this I can perform my character with a lot more dark energy to really feel like I am fighting with Winifred in the scene. Therefore making it a more powerful performance and more naturalistic and realistic. 

Joffrey's inner personality is not the same however. He is homosexual in a time where it is against the law and punished by death. http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/nineteen.htm
Because it is illegal he has been forced to hide and be introvert about his sexuality. I feel that the hidden emotions he feels everyday of his life are made up from pure sadness and hopelessness. I believe by hiding his real emotions and pain inside himself, he has built an layer around himself off anger and a false sense of vile arrogance such as "You are at best a pet" and believing he is above others. I also feel that as soon as Winifred brings up his homosexual activity with Arthur, his pure inner emotional state is released and his true personality is shown to the audience. "If any harm comes to Arthur, I swear I will, I swear to god I will" As I began to understand the way Joffrey feels, my character became more realistic and I new which energy states I needed to use. Overall, this created a more powerful natural performance.

Where am I?

The wardrobe is the object of this play. It is important to Joffrey because he uses it to escape society and to unravel his inner personality in order to cry and release the emotions that have been barricaded away. The wardrobe is an escape and the only place where society and judgement don't exist. "it is clear that Joffrey has been Crying" I tried to think of something in my life that I used to escape and it allowed me to feel the emotions Joffrey feels and allowed me to perform to the naturalistic and realistic goal.

My Goal in the Scene

My goal in this scene is to put Winifred back in her place as a slave and to fail at convincing her to stop blackmailing me.

Why I want this Goal

Joffrey wants no one to find out about his sexuality because he could be sentenced by law to death. "Beat Arthur until his skin breaks" He also doesn't want Arthur to be hurt. This is Joffrey's goal in the play. As Joffrey I must use all I have learnt about the "System", the historical context and who Joffrey is as a person to make it believable to the audience that my character is in deep trouble if he doesn't successfully stop his slave from breaching her rights and blackmailing him, then he will be punished for being gay.

How I will get this Goal

Know I know why I must achieve these goals to tell the story of Joffrey in my scene, I must interact with Winifred in a naturalistic and realistic way. I have to react accordingly to her lines. "Please may I?" I interrupt her with "Go away Winifred". This shows how I will prove my character to the audience and achieve the goal.

My Obstacle

The obstacle for Jaffrey is that in order to win he has too loose. "As does his temper" and "Jaffrey shakes Winifred's hand" show that the tone changes from Jaffrey being angry to him agreeing to Winifred. He has lost in a way because usually he would have ignored anything his servant would have said, but because Winifred brought up such a dangerous subject about his sexuality "What I saw pass between you and Master Arthur Scott" he was forced to agree to her in order to save his own life. I believe that Winifred un peals all of Joffrey's outer personality, and releases the inner core, the pure sadness that he feels from being trapped and then takes the metaphorical bar of tension down to a point where they are both the same. For once they are actually equal. They are both being trapped and condemned by society and for once they both understand each others feeling and pain. And I believe that it took all of Joffrey's anger against Winifred and for Winifred to stand up for her human rights for them both to understand each others pain and emotions. "Handing Winifred the crumpled coat" I feel that the evidence is here in the word "handing" This noun symbolises that everything is calmer and shows their is a new level of understanding and respect for each other. It is not a harsh noun like "crunching" where Joffrey is angry. In my opinion this point I am making is our super objective and if achieved should make our overall performance as a team powerful and meaningful to the audience whilst being a realistic way of portraying my characters emotions naturalistically.

The Wardrobe; Week 1 to Present

The Wardrobe by Sam Holcroft, is a play that follows a wardrobe through time, whilst telling stories about events that have occurred through the years.

Week 1

On week one we were told about The Wardrobe. We were all given a scene and a character. I was chosen to be in scene 9 and to play Hugo. Scene 9 is set in a catholic all boys school in the time of Jack the Ripper. Three boys are listening to the fourth boy read a newspaper article about the murders that occurred in 1888.

Jack the Ripper is the historical event of 1888. Scene 9 focuses on one boy reading the other boys a news article about the murders and the boys should react intrigued, and un intentionally comical whilst retaining disgust. In order to obtain these emotions. I researched Jack the Ripper to get an understanding of the nastiness of such an event enabling me to use that emotion when in character.

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper 

This evidence shows my research into Jack the ripper. To link that. Feeling freaked and weirded out by the murders, whilst being interested, made me able too, in rehearsals, make my character have a more interesting reaction to the newspaper being articulated. In my opinion, I think that this helped develop my character and made it more interesting and it enabled me to perform realistically.

To evaluate my performance in this scene, I could improve the other emotions such as laughing at one of the boys. I could have researched more about the life of boys in a catholic school in 1888 to start to create a personality for Hugo,  making him more developed.

Week 2 to Present

After performing scene 9, I was asked if I enjoyed playing Hugo. I wanted a change, so I asked to play another character. I also though that Hugo was not that interesting of a part. I was given scene 7 and the character Joffrey and to play along side Katrina as Winifred.

Scene 7 is set in a boys room in a high class household. Joffrey is a 17 year old  boy, who is the son of a master of the house. He is pompous, arrogant, and doesn't see slaves as people. Winifred is a slave that serves Master Joffrey. She is objectified and unkindly treated with no respect or humanity. The plot is that Winifred is caught by her master wearing Joffrey's coat. Joffrey wishes to punish her but Winifred blackmails him and they manage to reach terms. Joffrey is secretly gay and Winifred knows and if the truth were to arise, Joffrey's "lover" Arthur will be hurt or killed.

I was given the script and after reading in, I tried to put myself in Joffrey's shoes and tried to find the right emotions I thought Joffrey was feeling. This was before any research so I wrote the emotions next to the corresponding lines. Note: my evidence is on a piece of paper due to technical issues.
I did this so I could learn my lines with some draft emotion as soon as I got the script and too start to get an idea of what Joffrey personality should be like. This links into our first rehearsal where we used these emotions to figure out some movement and actions I could use. I believe that this lead to me being unrealistically over acting and over exaggerating  being angry. I was overly shouting and I think this was because I hadn't learnt about emotional states. This is because after learning how to create these states, I found that I could be angry more naturalistically and realistically which entailed in me shouting less and using more facial and physical expressions like a bunched up face, a cold look, serious eye contact, and focusing on one or two purposeful movements either with my hands or feet. Also, I feel that my lack of character and historical research lead to the same problem of being less naturalistic. To conclude on these points, by researching and using the relevant energy states, I made my character more whole and naturalistic.

Energy States
0 - Unconscious

1. Waking up
2. Stuck to the ground but pushing  to get up
3. toddler
4. business man
5. someone could be watching you
6. Someone is definitely watching you
7. Something is about to happen
8. Bomb is Dropped

These are the energy states that we learned. I used 5,7 and 8 the most. Someone could be watching you I feel made me start to panic slightly and got me tensed up which was useful for the section after Winifred says "I'm afraid I cannot do that, master Joffrey." This is because she is being defiant and I am shocked. I used something is about to happen when Winifred says "you will not mention." This was because after that line she mentions Arthur. That is the Bomb being dropped. As soon as Winifred mentions Arthur, Joffrey goes to strangle her. So by me using these energy states, I am naturally feeling the emotions and can realistically move with purpose and be in the right emotion at the right time.

We also learnt a way too speak the lines by marking where the new thoughts are and by marking where there is weight. Note: evidence for this is on piece of paper. The new thought marks showed me when my characters thoughts and feelings needed to change. The beginning line "Winifred, Why are you wearing my coat" is one thought. "take it off" is a new thought. In rehearsals I practiced my lines by saying all of one thought, looking down, breathing, changing too the right emotion or energy state and then say the next thought. By adding weight to the thoughts; such as verbs and nouns, I was able to know if I needed to move or do an action or; for example, "divert the conversation". I am trying to divert Winifred to avoid the bomb going off. In my opinion, this helped me a lot in rehearsals to learn my lines and it also helped Jeffrey become more human and less of a character and helped to make our scene more naturalistic.

We researched the scenes historical context. Note-in blog no.1. This allowed us to learn about the political, time period, historical event and cultural relevance. This contextual research outlined how serious a slave standing up for herself against her owner and homosexuality were in 1805.

The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Slave Trade Act Facts

• Atlantic slave trade took place from 16th century through to 19th century
• Mostly Western Africans
• Uk was the "New World"
• They would be sent to work on plantations or be servants for household
• The slave trade act in 1807 was a law that made slave trading illegal
• A group called the Quakers who viewed slavery as immoral and Wiliam Wilberforce, passed on the bill to the house of lords where it was successfully lawed
• This still meant that keeping a slave was legal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_180

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter4.shtml

http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1805news.htm

By knowing the historical context and by looking at the evidence provided about homosexuality and slavery, I feel that I have more knowledge on the background of Joffrey and how he would be feeling and how he is hiding his homosexuality with Arthur because he is just not allowed to have the right to be gay without serious punishment. This is the reason why as Winifred mentions Arthur, I must feel the anger, hatred, pain and helplessness that Joffrey is feeling. Therefore this research was imperative to allow me to reach that level of energy in my scene without it being unrealistic and unnatural. I think this because if I don't feel or understand the real emotion then it my performance would be fake. I know that when we first got read the script and did a rehearsal, I didn't feel the anger or sadness or coldness that Joffrey is supposed to feel and only until I researched was I able to perform this naturally.

Aesthetical Research
This scene has a fourth wall where there is no interaction  with the audience. Our stage presence is in the wardrobe not facing the audience directly and everything has been done in a naturalistic way. This means we don't have stay facing an audience and therefore we are free to move around in a naturalistic. It means I can turn around and go to leave the wardrobe or face a wall. Everything with purpose to express a curtain emotion. I believe that having this freedom allows me to have more of an energy as Joffrey and to be more realistic with performing. Evidence for this is "how can you call yourself a lady?" where I turn around, laugh, and face the wall. This shows that I have no sympathy for her and only disgust as she compares herself to a lady. I also made an "ugh" sound before that line which I added in as a natural initial reaction to emphasise the disgusted feeling of Joffrey.

• Stanislavski's System- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski%27s_system

I have researched Stanislavski's System which is a bunch of techniques used to draw believable emotions and feelings into a character. I have tried to use some of these method acting techniques in this scene. In rehearsals I tried the "Magic If" and asked myself; "what if I were in the same situation at Joffrey?" I did this a lot, especially for to think of myself getting angry at that situation and how I would react. It really helped me to reach a believable level of emotion and enabled me to justify myself when acting out line "as does his temper." This line I found hard to find the right emotion but by placing myself into a similar situation mentally, I found that I wouldn't still be angry, I would have come to terms with what Winifred is saying and cooled downs from the metaphorical bomb going off.

Another part if the system is motivation. I needed motivation in  the scenes to get angry and I found it hard to make it believable. The line "how dare you!" was hard for me to really exclamate. But by stimulating the motivation by thinking as Joffrey, to the past and creating a scenario where he has felt that emotion, then taking that emotion and using it for this line. This then should have made it more powerful and believable and naturalistic.

To conclude as a whole, my rehearsals have been comprised of Stanislavski's System, aesthetical research, historical research, creating and adding thoughts and weight to lines, and using energy states. I believe they all have successfully been used evidently for different lines and actions to add believability, naturalism and realism to the scene.

Title Explanation and Analysis

The Wardrobe; Scene 7

Title Explanation and Analysis

Titles:
Body Part: A foot out of line
Genre: Drama
Weather Metaphor: The Winds of Change
Arthur Miler Esque: Joffrey wants to punish Winifred, but Winifred wants to defend for her life.

These titles relate to my scene, 7. They both symbolise an event that has happened. To sum up scene seven, Master Joffrey of a high class household, is meaning to punish his "object", a slave; Winifred. She understands the punishment will be harsh therefore visualising only her death, she fights for her life. Innocently but intelligently, she deligates an agreement using blackmail as her tool of choice, to anger and subdue Joffrey by bringing up his love affair with Arthur. Joffrey knows if anyone were too find out about Arthur, they would both be in grave trouble; this being due to homosexuality not being accepted 1805.

A foot out of line

 This is my first title. It is a metaphor designed around the chosen body part; the foot. I  have used this as my title because I believe it symbolises the fact that a low class slave is fighting for the same rights as a high class person. This slave is answering back, blackmailing, assaulting this higher class boy. In 1805, this behaviour from such a low member under the normal fabric of society would be deemed preposterous. Any slave who were to speak out of line would have been executed. This is because they were not seen as people.
To Joffrey, Winifred is stepping out of line and is being outspoken. He sees only the consequence of her actions and the suitable punishment. I feel this is the main event because it has the most important impact of its time.

The Winds of Change

My second title is a weather metaphor. I have used this title because; too me, it sums up how the events and atmosphere have changed from the beginning to the end. It shows how the Winifred has gone from being an objectified slave to a self promoted, human, standing up for her rights. It also shows how Joffrey has devolved from being a master in a high class household who has had his emotions unravelled, down to a more open minded less arrogant boy.
This is an important historical event as the slave trade act was in forced by the movement of slaves like Winifred (William).

I believe that by creating these titles and analysing each one I have learnt a more in depth background of my character and have understood more about the reality that both these characters would have faced in 1805.

To conclude, my titles symbolise important events in the play and relate to the impact that they have had in reality, in 1805.

The Wardrobe; Scene 7 - Historial Research

Historical Event; 1805 Slave Trade Act

In 1805, House of Commons passed a bill that ruled it against the law for British people to capture and transport slaves from Africa. It was reviewed in the House of Lords who blocked this measure. It was not until 1806; when three opponents of the slave trade, voiced their campaign. Lord Grenville formed the Whig administration with Charles Fox. Along side William Wilberforce, they campaigned against slavery in the House of Lords. They're persuasion was successful and the law was carried out on the 25th March. 1807. It took 2 whole years for William Wilberforce's Slave Trade Act to become law.

This is a letter that William Wilberforce sent to the Free holders and other inhabitants of Yorkshire about the abolishment of slave trading. I have used this to show the historical evidence to back our scenes historical correctness.



Note: The law abolishes slave trade but not slavery.
Why? As the members of society chose to tactically aim on banishing slave trading so they stood a larger chance of succeeding and therefore making a larger impact on the views of slavery itself. If they were to just target slavery it would create a larger backlash and a massive social and political divide.
Culturally, this new law should have had an impact on religious beliefs; Exodus 21:16 "Whoever steals a man and sells him, be put to death. I believe that due to the bible condemning slavery, that Christians would be for the new law. That is just an example of how the culture may have positively been affected. It could negatively been affected by non religious folk who follow their own stance and have their own views and that may have decided that they had the right to slave trade which could cause some political backlash.
Also, the economy was obviously built upon on slave trading and by taking that investment out of the economy would have damaged businesses and the lives of the traders which could then be interpreted as the Government caring more for the slaves than its own people. Therefore a social effect.


Quotes used to persuade against Slave Trade
Lord Grenville; "Contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy"
Lord Grenville; "Not having abolished the trade long ago"
William Wilberforce; "You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know"
William Wilberforce; "If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow- creatures is to be a fanatic, then I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large"

Facts!
They won the vote in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20 votes.
It took a total of 30 years to abolish the slave trade act altogether.

Relating to the Scene
Character: Winifred
Costume: Barely substantial clothing, cheap material, dirty.



Example of African women slave and her clothing.

Character: Jaffrey
Costume: High class, fitted, expensive use of exotic materials and cottons grown by their own slaves.
         
             Example of  a   Master of the house outfit in this era.                                    
Setting: High quality wardrobe, upper class child' bedroom. Only the best items for the Master of the house' son. The only rough, and un fitting object in the room will be the slave (only in Jaffrey's mind)
Music plays in the background; Beethoven symphony, composed between 1804 and 1808, the most recent and relatable to the scene - THE LINK to Beethoven Symphny 5

I think by understanding the scenes historical value and massive importance has allowed me to feel the realistic and naturalistic personality, emotion and movements this character would have used in this era. This will hopefully allow me to create a strong and well developed piece of acting.