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.