Epsom Downs Rehearsal Analysis

Epsom Downs is a heightened  comedy. This means the characters and the dialog; instead of being super naturalistic, have their naturalism and realism relaxed slightly by over exaggerating movements, idiosyncrasies and expressions which makes for very humorous results when rehearsed with a full insight, understanding, imagination and experimentation.

I have five characters in the play:

• Kermit Frog Trader
• Man Down On His Luck
• Grandpa
• Morry Burrows
• Drunk Man

All of these characters are important comedic elements of the play the playwright has created. Some being small and subtle and others being large and obvious. The way I learned this was first by reading the play and each characters dialog and interactions. Man Down On His Luck is a character who fits in the small and subtle category. I think this because of the tiny amount of dialog expelled, the subtlety of the actions the stage directions direct and the lack of overall importance to any other scene in the play;

'He looks up and waves at it angrily'

This is an example of one stage direction that I found during rehearsals that showed me that he never to interacts with any one meaning his actions never impact others, he's basically shouting at a kite because he is angry that he lost his money gambling and only affects his own emotions, a basic and small story that, from the evidence I have found, shows his purpose is the show the audience the funny side of an angry depressed drunk at the races.

'Na. Na'

This is the only dialog said by this character which also shows that he isn't there too interact with anyone else and further proves his purpose of being their to show the audience the funny side to people at the races with his characteristics.

Knowing this has meant that I can experiment with making him heightened realism and coming up with how he moves and talks and all the other acty things.

Carrying on from this, I started finding actions relating to drunks and sad people. I didn't have to look far as a have seen family members like this in the past. I saw a lot of moping around and dull facial expression and stumbling. With this I experimented with walking around normally at a normal energy state. Understanding that everything needs to be heightened, I made a frown with my face like Mr Angry from those children's books as it overly expresses the anger and sadness the characters' feeling to the audience. I think that this felt right and I started to feel a bit mopey and 'down on my luck' myself which is good. I then started to stumble as I was walking around by tripping up over my own feet and scuffing my soles along the ground. I think this worked well at exaggerating the drunkenness of the character and helped me to feel down and drunk at the same time. I believe these actions have given me a comedic and heightened portrayal of somebody who is drunk and down on their luck to the audience.

Another practice and includation of this heightened realism comedic acting style was during Adam's movement workshop for the character Drunk Man. This character is also drunk but in a positive way, he is happy, energetic and having a great time which is oxymoronic to the |Man Down On His Luck. What I had to find with this character in rehearsals was the way he holds himself and walks around. I started off by just doing the simple stumbling around thing and it looked a but naff and felt a bit naff too as it wasn't very heightened nor energetic and exciting. The way I learnt and discovered was through Adam who made me remember the over exaggeration of drunkenness and happiness the character is feeling. He told me to make my facial expressions really big and really stretch open my eyes and become transfixed on things on stage and just stare at them slightly bobbling my head to show the dizziness. He also told me to find a body part and let that body part lead the rest of my body around when moving. I had my hands in my pocket at the time and so I decided to lead with my hands/hips. As my pockets took lead I felt the rest of my body floating behind them making my back and neck to funny things like bend in odd ways. It gave me that visualised version of uncontrollability you get when you're drunk which looks both comical and believable.

During rehearsals I found the language that Morry Burrows uses to be slightly different and interesting. Par exemple;

'Bottle it up Les. Just carry it off bottled up. And we'll get him later in the day.'

I found this to be different from the norm as it misses out certain vocabulary that would usually make a sentence whole. Instead it is very blunt and shortened. I believe from lines like the one produced above that the Playwright has written it in this way as the bluntness and quick pace to the shortened sentences make it comical between the interacting characters. I found it especially funny during my scene with Logan as the characters are both cockney and are very cynical. The interactions are very blunt like I said before and it's like they're miserable until they suddenly crack a joke and then burst into laughter and then snap right out of it again. This is what I think is humorous about the language and what it creates between each character.

Knowing the above I had to rehears the pace and abruptness of each line and dissect which lines are serious and which are jokes. An example of me doing this is with this line;

'The fucking bastards knife, third and fourth rib-'

Morry isn't best pleased at this point to see Louis who had something to do with Morry being stabbed. He says this line very seriously and spitefully and is almost attacking him by being very defensive. To get this spitefulness in my voice I thought about somebody I really hated during school and used their dickish face in place of actually being stabbed which naturally made me say the line with a bit of hatred. I felt I needed to heighten this so when I said this line I curled my lip up and flared my teeth like a predator, fiercely pointed to my injured ribs and stared the bastard in the eye. All really over the top which will hopefully increase the comedy within the language.

Overall, I believe that my rehearsal period allowed me to realise the creative opportunities and imaginative realities of the text. I believe that I have rehearsed with all of these factors in mind and have appreciated the playwrights implementation of comedic effect and language.

Grandpa's Character Study

Grandpa is a senile old man who doesn't really stride away from the past. He is always comparing the world wars that he has lived through to the present events that are happening in front of him;

'Fifty third derby I've seen in my life, 'cept in the last world war, when they ran it at Newmarket, on account of the Zeppelins. Or was that the first world war?'

I believe that he always reminisces about his past because he doesn't really like the present. It seems like he misses the wars and his life before this family he isn't really part of. This tells me he is also quite lonely and sad as he doesn't feel like he is part of anything anymore or has anything in common with his family, instead speaking aloud to himself. It also shows me that he loves the derby as he has seen it 53 times which tells me his hobby is gambling on horses.

He is also always moaning about a conspiracy that the higher class are trying to run against the working class;

'I put it all down to that man on the telly with the hat, he's in on the conspiracy to cheat the working man out of his gambling rights.'

Again, this quote also tells me Grandpa is a fan of gambling on horses and that he dislikes anyone who makes it harder or more expensive for him to do so. He seems like the sort of person to be spiteful when talking about anyone he dislikes. The quote also tells me he is working class. Knowing he is working class, I reckon he speaks rather common and considering the inspiration from 'Only fools and horses' I'd say he speaks with a cockney accent.

Grandpa also enjoys his own humour and jokes and loves a good old laugh at himself and quite directly at others;

'Funny thing about coppers, they hate you calling em copper. Hello copper!'

Grandpa has a good sense of humour from what I've found, he cracks these jokes that he finds funny like the one above aloud to anyone that can hear. It tells me he wants people to find him funny and laugh along with him. Maybe this is due to him being lonely with his lack of family connection or maybe Grandpa was somebody who was the comedic relief within his group of pals during his generation. Maybe he misses those days and is once again reminiscing about them but showing the audience in a different way, through the emotion of laughter instead of actually talking directly about what he is reminiscing about.

Exterior Vision

These are some of the items I can see Grandpa wearing/using. There's a wooden walking stick which has been a staple of old age pensionerism in my family, the large 1970's glasses look comedic and dated, just like grandpa and the slippers or some slipper like shoes which are comfortable on his arthritic toes and dry skinned soles. From what I've seen by people watching I think these will add believability and humour to his character.

The two gentlemen in the picture above are from two classic television series. The right is from 'The last of the summer wine' and the left is the character Grandad from 'Only fools and horses'. They are both humorous, senile and 'old' characters which I believe Grandpa fits into. They wear heavy tweed jackets, button shirts with a slightly scruffy collar, hats, one wears a wool jumper and have a little a little bit of facial hair. White of course.

Object Exercise Grandpa

What is your object?

'Inside ere’ is my late wife’s wedding ring'

Why is it sentimental to you?

'Five years ago my family and I, we went to the picture houses off of the East End of London. We watched something called ‘Darling’ by some old raspberry tart. Nothing but a load of old toff if you ask me hahaa!

After the picture I went for a Mickey Bliss and when I walked outside I saw my Moorine lying on the ground surrounded by a bunch of hat wearing coppers.

After that my son put me in a home. The ring is the only thing I got left of my trouble and strife. '

How long had you been married?

'We got married during the second world war at the Mare Street Registry Office '

How old are you?

'87 '

How old was your wife when she died?

'73 years old'

Epsom Downs Context Research

Epsom Downs is a play set in 1977 England. It takes place in a racecourse situated in within the chalky rolling hills of Epsom. It insights the different classes of beings that attended the races during 1977, showing how the oxymoronic existences of each attendee at the races can vary from the farfetched absurdity of the wealthy to the incomprehensible unpretentiousness of the poor and how these human beings, no matter how different one is from the next, share the same interests in good old fashioned horse racing. The playwright plays each class, having them communicate and interact with each other and also simultaneously carry out similar tasks in completely different ways. It's basically a play about the psychology behind sociology and the playwright has found allowing for the script to have large amounts of naturally aspired comedy, drama and character.

http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/sociology-with-psychology - Link to City University of London's sociology and psychology degree where some of my information is derived

The Queen's Silver Jubilee http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_2562000/2562633.stm - Link to information

The play is set on the day of the Queen's silver jubilee. The Queen is being driven through the Epsom derby crowd whilst the whole cast; the whole country for that matter, watches. It is a massively important event that happened during 1977 in which millions show their patriotic support for their Queen and come together to remember, respect and appreciate their country and all that they have accomplished. It's a moral boosting, exciting rare occurrence that everybody celebrates by closing off roads and throwing parties in the streets, coming together as a nation. It is also a time for the Queen to show her respect for her country and people which I believe humanises her which only increases the trust and respect citizens dignify her with.

This event is shown to be included in the play here;

'...as the Queens car approaches down the course'

I think that the playwright has written this event into their play because they wanted to show the audience how each of the characters in the scene react to the same situation in different ways, establishing the sociology of how everyone is different.

'the figures in the tableau raising their arms and opening their mouths...'

Here we have the part of the stage direction the playwright has left for the director and actors to follow. It is obviously important to the playwrights image of the what the play must mean to the audience for them to have made it a stage direction and not just let the director figure that out for themselves. Even then, the creative freedom of this scene is not impaired. The playwright has lead the director and actors in the right direction by telling us that they want each of the people in the scene to react to the Queen passing by. With this direction, they allow us to find and add our own meaning behind the reaction. Each character will react differently to the Queen passing by in the car as each character would have been personally effected by the Queen in some form of either positive or negative way and they will have their own blames, faults and criticisms, praise, cheer and delight to emit when the Queen comes by. What I think this all means is, as the actors, we are given the direction to react, but have been left to experiment during rehearsals, as to why our characters are reacting, asking ourselves the vital questions and then answering them in order to find truths and reasons in every action we take during this scene making it as truthful as possible. This all then portrays to the audience the humour and drama that each person being different makes to the way they react to the same situation. This is why I think the playwright has included the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

Aga Kahn

The Aga Kahn is one of the biggest racehorse owners and breeders in the world. He has generated; mainly through horseracing, a large income estimated around £800,000,000. On top of horse racing, this French gentleman is a royal. Yet unlike most royals, he does not rule over any geometric land. instead he uses his power and responsibility to lead the world to equality and rid the world of poverty. Something like that any way.

I think the playwright has used his character in the play because he is upper class, has tons of money, is a massive investor and influence in horses and racing them and is absolutely contrasting to other characters like Margaret and Sandy who are lower class and rather poor and are quoted to be amateur gamblers where as Kahn is on the other end of the spectrum as a professional.

'the Aga Kahn and his detective walk away...'

Evidence is shown here how the Aga Kahn is no ordinary being. He has his own detective for security which shows he is a powerful, wealthy man that  is important enough to become a target.

With this knowledge of Kahn and his contrasts with the other characters, this tells me the playwright has included his character to create comedy from each character reacting to one another in the scene. More evidence for this is below;

Blue: 'C'est pour la gloire de la Patrie, votre excellence'
'Blue, pleased with that.'

Blue is the chief of police who doesn't really speak French that well and has to try really hard in order to come off as intelligent and to impress Kahn. The stage direction states tat he is pleased with himself showing that he is a chuffed little man. Any way the point is, by the playwright introducing this real world influence into the play has created funny little reactions by characters of different classes; some that are trying to impress and some that are completely ignorant, which really increases the effect of humour of each character. I believe that the comedy is increased even more as the Aga Kahn is a real person in reality and for anyone to have met or have been influenced by him, may find the version of him in the play to have heightened idiosyncrasies making him a clowned up version of the real Kahn.

Overall, the playwright has included an important historical event; the Queen's silver jubilee, to show the audience how different classes and people react to the same situation but using a heightened sense of expression creating humour and drama within the scenes. They have also turned a real life public figure/royal into a character in the play; the Aga Kahn, keeping him pretty much the same but just heightening his idiosyncrasies and personality to make it comedic for the audience members that are familiar with him and also to create humorous reactions between characters in his scene.

Individual Audio Recording Blog

Human Planet
Link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/humanplanetexplorer/collections/hp_web_exclusives

The Human Planet is a BBC documentary that focuses on human beings that live across planet Earth. It is narrated by Sir John Hurt.

Storytelling Techniques
Documentary narration is not just about reading facts off of a script into a microphone. There are important factors that need to be decided before narration can start such as subject matter and target audience. The subject matter for Human Planet is human beings and how we live, coexist and cease to coexist. Doing this correctly helps Hurt to understand the setting and tone of the narration and also engages the audience by neither under or over indulging them with either too boring or overly complicated information, therefore enhancing the viewers experience and journey through the series. I believe Hurt fully understand his subject matter to an expert level as he is fully engaging to listen to and positively enhanced the programme as an exciting way of learning about the hidden gems of our own species.
Something else that Hurt has done successfully is understand his target audience. Human Planet reaches out to students, adults and educators. It has managed to capture a large demographic and one of the reasons why is due to the choices made with the narration. Firstly, the narrator themselves must suit the style of the documentary. For example; if the narrator was a ten year old child, they would not be suited for the narration of this documentary in my opinion, due to them not having been in education for long enough, nor having much life experience which means that to the target demographic, they are not going to be very trustworthy; and trust is very important when it comes to human beings and education, on has to trust someone before they can believe what that someone is saying. This lack of rapport created by the lack of trust would make the documentary unwatchable and uninteresting. I believe that Sir John Hurt was chosen to be the narrator because he is a very substantial actor with years of experience whether it be life experience, vocal experience or education. He has been on this earth long enough and is widely known as having one of the most amazing sounding voices in the industry all giving him the credibility to be both enjoyable to listen to and a trustworthy educator for the target audience.

http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/storytelling-techniques.html - link to information about documentary storytelling techniques

Audible 'Where are you' Radio Advert
Link - http://www.campaignlive.com/article/top-10-radio-ads-2016/1418495

Advert Recording Do's and Don'ts 
When recording a radio advert such as the one in the link above, the actor is expected by the employer to already know the basics of what to do and what not to do. Below are some of the more basic yet important techniques that voice actors can use:

Do's:

• Staying hydrated by drinking a healthy amount of water will help keep your tubes lubricated and your brain oxygen fuelled. It will help improve concentration and also prevent dry throats which may restrict the voice and inhibit the actor from hitting the right tones and energy damaging the performance and therefore the advert itself.
• Treating any sinus impacting illnesses such as the common cold using the correct medicines and remedies before and during recording should help clear the throat and nose preventing any distortion in the voice. Recording with a blocked nose or a cough would produce unwanted noises and an unappealing sounding voice which would prevent the advert from being listenable or engaging.  
• Staying fit and healthy and maintain a sound cardiovascular system will allow for better breathing which is a major factor when it comes to the voice. Good breath control is important for controlling the pitch or loudness of the voice and also for how long the actor can talk for without having to breath again which could prevent the actor from reaching curtain timings in the dialog or prevent them from talking at speed if the advert is of high pace and energy reducing the impact the advert will have on the radio. Also staying fit will help improve the posture which in turn increases airflow and also betters breathing.

Don'ts:

• When moving the script or turning a page, make sure everything is gentle and silent so the noises of the paper flapping around don't get picked up in the microphone which would make the problem of either having to be re-shot, or edited which could be time consuming, or if left in would show the company is unprofessional as their advert has mistakes in it.
• Remove any clunky jewellery and clothes that could make a noise and also interfere with the acting that is happening. It will have to be edited or risk the audience hearing the mistake and being drawn out from the engagement.

Acting is always a good start too. The voice actor is not just reading the script in front of a microphone, even if the script only has a few words of dialog in it. The actor still has to research what the company is about so they can decide whether they like what the company stands for and is promoting so they can confidently commit to their performance without letting any negative beliefs get in the way and half assing the job, reducing the quality of the acting. The actor also has to understand what the text means, and if there's a character, then delve into the realms of character research, asking questions and rehearsing and answering them to play a truthful performance.

http://directvoices.com/plaza/voice-acting-tips-dos-and-donts/ - Link to information above

I listened to the Audible radio advert and I really enjoyed it. It made a rapport with me because I believe the voice acting followed the basic techniques above as well as the actor using her splendid, soft and easy to listen to and drift away voice. She inflicts the perfect amount of emotion onto every line and is superbly clear and informative. The edit is really nice as well. They have used sound effects to compliment each line of dialog to which set the scene for the listener and paint a vivid picture of each book scenario that she is enticing us to read. An example of the script painting this picture is;

'Are you praying those red eyes in the darkness cant hear you'

This line is obviously enticing someone who is into thrillers and horror books and therefore will probably be successful if that listener also happens to like listening to books.

As far as comparing these two types of solo audio performances goes, the Human Planet takes the audience member on an educational journey with Hurts voice being suitably chosen using similar techniques used in radio adverts such as finding a voice that suits the target audience and someone who is interested in the topic. This I guess, shows their similarities and that voice acting is all about using all of the techniques to their full potential, to achieve an engaging solo performance no matter what the type of audio recording the actor find themselves partaking in.

Audio Ensemble Blogs

The Archers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08q60pm#play - link to BBC I Player 

The archers is a British radio play aired on BBC Radio 4. It's on everyday at 14:00pm and 19:00pm. Each episode is 13 minutes long. The Archers is the worlds longest running radio soap opera and with episodes daily, has had an incredibly long time to experiment with different audio techniques to perfect it's own unique and professional process. 

Foley Artist

An interesting technique that is used to get the sound effects from a scene is using a foley.  For example; when there's a scene of The Archers set in the kitchen, say the actors are sitting around the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea, the FoleyArtist is the person who uses the tap top fill up the kettle, then flicks the switch to boil the kettle and pours the cup of tea. They make all of the sounds that the actors would be making but can't due to the recording space. All sound effects which are recorded and then placed on top of the voice recordings during the edit. The foley is only in charge of creating specific sounds such as the ones exampled above and would not be in charge of creating sounds of explosions or car crashes. These would be created separately as they are larger projects to record requiring more people, money and time to complete.

Link to Foley Artist information - http://www.mediacollege.com/employment/film/foley-artist.html

The Art of Building a Farm Inside a Microphone
I was listening to an episode of The Archers and during the episode one of the characters was driving a tractor on a farm whilst exchanging dialog with another character; or at least that's how the creators of the show expect you to picture it. Inevitably, being a radio play, there is not an actor driving a tractor outside in a farm whilst shouting to another actor who is on foot, whilst a technical crew insert voice recorders here, there and everywhere. Although this may be the case with film acting, there is no need for the 'creatives' to waste time, money and energy recording on an actual farm, in the actual countryside when the only thing being seen by the audience is the mug of steaming coffee laying next to their small, portable radio on the living room table. Instead, the recording is done in a studio of which the actors have their microphones and that's just about it. This means that; to set the scene, the actors have to change and inflict different tones, pitches and energies into their voices in unison with what their characters are doing at the time, which along with all of the sound effects produced by a Foley artist sets; in the imaginations of the listeners, the scene.

Going back to my experience of listening to The Archers and studying the scene containing a farmer and his tractor, I found that the actor; who I now had to picture behind a microphone inside a studio, did a very believable job indeed. The actor has used the microphone technique where they take a few steps back away from the mic and angle their head away from the mic and shout the dialog that is set as they drive their tractor. By moving away from the mic, it makes the shout more distant and less clear which it would be if they were actually driving a tractor and having all of the noise in the way. The dialog is friendly and pleasant so the actor has been tasked with inflicting a positive energy into their voice. I believe they have managed to do this whilst maintain the loudness of having to shout over the noise of the imaginary tractor by making eye contact with the other actors in the room who have interacting dialog. From my research on phycology of eye-contact, I found that by using this technique, the actor felt the positivity of being acknowledged by the other actor in the room; both being in character of course, which can cause the actors to smile at each-other and raise their eyebrows. All of these small by natural expressions that the actors are feeling just by making eye contact have produced a natural and subtle emotion to flow from the actors voice which makes it very believable that their character exchanging dialog whilst driving a tractor.

https://www.psychologistworld.com/body-language/eyes - This is a link to an interesting site which goes into more detail about the everyday uses of eye contact and how it effects peoples emotions, something that I think this voice actor during a scene of The Archers has used to enhance their performance.

Ray Bradbury - Tales of the Bizarre
Link to the Play - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jpx2

Tales of the Bizarre by Ray Bradbury is a series of thriller episodes on BBC Radio 4 that are each 30 minutes long.

Creating the Atmosphere
I came across this on the BBC website linked above and started to listen as I had never heard a thriller radio performance before. This contrasted majorly with The Archers, a soap opera, a rather light hearted drama compared to Bradbury's piece which is very suspenseful and eerie to the ears. The aspect that I found so contrasting to the two radio plays was the soundtrack. The Archers has an opening piece of music is very giddy and up beat. Tales of the Bizarre however, does not start with any music. Instead, we hear a light, chilling breeze and almost instantly hear the chattering voice of an 80 year old man who sounds isolated, fragile and lonely. By this point already, I found myself feeling sorry for this character as his voice sparked some sort of inner guilt as if it was my fault for him being left alone on Mars for 50 years; which we know by reading the introductory paragraph left by the playwright. The fact that I was already starting to become emotionally involved with this character this soon shows how the actor is using the same technique I have discussed when analysing The Archers; the technique of inflicting different tones and energies into the voice to achieve different emotions, although the actor in this play has used this technique to create very contrasting emotions and atmosphere. I believe that this actor is very close to the microphone and is talking very lightly, almost a whisper. This picks up all of his nervous breaths, swallowing and noises the mouth and throat make to add to the atmosphere and show the worry this character is feeling. I think that the actor may have used meditation to find the energy which will produce the inflictions and tones in the voice. I think the actor has used this technique just before recording. The technique goes a little like this:

• Sit down in a comfortable yet supportive chair
• Focus on a point in the room
• Raise the shoulders towards the ear and gently breathe in, holding this position
• Slowly breathe out gently releasing the shoulders and relaxing any tension
• Now focus on the hands, curl them into fists and clench, holding the tension as you take a breathe in
• Slowly release the breath and the tension, relaxing your hands in an open position
• Take a deep breath in and focus on the tensions in the face, neck and jaw, breathe out and release
• Do the same with the lower body, slowly and gently breathing in, holding the breath and holding the tensions, then gently release, letting go of any stress or tension
• Feel your eyelids become heavy and relax them yet still focusing on that point in the room, imagining how nice it would feel to fully close them
• As you blink, extend the time it takes you to open your eyelids
• Extend that time longer and longer
• Let the eyes close fully, keeping them closed and sleepy

This is the meditation device which allows the actor to enter a place where they are so in focused and weary, any non related thoughts to do with the real world are temporarily forgotten allowing for the actor to concentrate only on their character. I believe the actor was in this state, questioning who he is becoming, who he is embodying. Allowing details from his character to fill up the emptied space of his mind fully preparing him for recording.

http://www.innerhealthstudio.com/meditation-for-acting.html - Link to meditation for acting where I found this device and technique

Going back to effects. This play has a waft of chilling breeze in the background almost constantly yet quietly behind the characters dialog. I felt this helped set the scene for me as I quite obviously have never been to Mars and there is no visual image for my mind to process on screen, and yet by listening to this breeze effect, I know that Mars must be a desolate and empty place where the only sound to be heard is a vague wind passing through the character. It also seems like they have put that effect in to symbolize not only the planets desolation but the characters emptiness. He has been left alone for 50 years after all.

From what I have found by comparing these radio pieces, is that they have very contrasting atmospheres, plot and characters and played with my emotions as the audience member in very different yet successful ways; one being a soap opera and the other being a thriller. Although contrasting in this sense, they also do not contrast in another sense. That other sense being that they still use a lot of professional audio techniques and devices such as microphone techniques, music, sound effects and the actors themselves portraying their characters image through a microphone.

Overall, this has been an insightful and interesting experience for me, educating my on different variants of radio genres and ways that the creative and technical ensembles use a numerous amount of audio techniques and devices to make the play believable and engaging whilst only being heard and not seen.
I hope that with this knowledge I will be able to use these new skills during our ensemble piece, working together in a group and to better my own individual characters and interactions with the microphone.

Epsom Downs Action Plan

Step 1
The first step I will be taking as the rehearsal process begins will be to study the script. This study will include reading the whole play; including all stage directions and instructions the playwright has produced to start imagining the playwrights world on our stage. I will also make notes on any hints to historical context the playwright has written in which will allow me to partake in a thorough research of the time period of the play's setting and society of the time. This knowledge will be used to develop character. I will also evaluate the location of each individual character within the play and their dialog; including details of who they interact with, indications of age and appearance and the language in which they speak which will all help my character development and choices I make during the rehearsal period.

Step 2
The next step I will take is to use my notes I have made from reading the script to research the historical context of the play to understand the time period of the setting, the political and social contexts, to learn about the real Epsom Downs and the Queen's jubilee. All this information gathered will allow me to start working on character development as I can start asking questions based on the facts and knowledge I have produced such as;

• What are their names?
• How old are they?
• Where do they live?
• Who are they related too?
• What is their job?
• What do they wear?
• Who do they interact with?
• Why are they interacting with these other characters?
• What caused them to be there at this moment in time?
• How would they walk and talk?

These are some of the questions I will be trying to find answers to during rehearsals.

Step 3

This step will be to put to practice what I have found in research. The physical rehearsals where movement and voice are imaginatively experimented with to start answering them, understanding motives and actions, making decisive choices when discoveries are made. During this time of creation and personalisation of character and interactions, it is imperative that I learn all of my lines, cues, positions, entrances and exits. I will also need to play around with props and costumes to choose what works and what doesn't to prevent last minute decision making and rushing which may lead to negative side effects such as not knowing where I am meant to be, not knowing where I'm meant to go on or off from or not knowing the props I'm supposed to be using for each character and their location.

Step 4

The last step in rehearsal before performance night is to ensure all of my character work has been fully completed to the highest standard I can achieve and that I have practiced and rehearsed multiple times to ensure only a positive outcome when performing. I will also have to make sure my lines are all completely learnt to the point where they become my characters natural dialog and naturally flow; this will be achieved my multiple line runs in and out of character. I will also be making sure all of my props and costume decisions have been made and that each item is easily accessible and in the correct place. Lastly, as an ensemble, use the theatre space too do a dress run of the play to realise any final changes that need to be made before the evening show.

Disclaimer
This is but an 'action plan' produced by myself before the rehearsal period has started. It's purpose is to make the process more efficient and to allow me to keep track of my targets. Due to the being but a 'plan', I expect this to adapt or change in order to better the rehearsal process.

Act II Scene 2 The Rover Rehearsal Period

At the start of the rehearsal process I had to translate the language from classical to contemporary English so I could understand what the characters were talking about and how Willmore would say each line. An example of me translating a line from the scene;

'You are deceived, I came to rail at you, and talk such truths too, as shall let you see the vanity of that pride, which taught you how to set such a price on sin.'

I translated this into;

'Ha! That's not what I'm here for. I came to debate this price and tell you why your not worth the amount your charging.'

As I began to translate the script I began to unravel Willmore. The above translation for example, shows me that Willmore needs to be very confident and have a big enough ego that he can charmingly insult Angelica in order to start a frisky verbal battle which then becomes raunchy and seducing leading to intercourse.

With this insight to Willmore's character I played around with confidence in rehearsals. To find the right confidence level I first stripped any confidence away and acted Willmore as shy and timid. This lead to weird, odd and unnatural interactions with Chloe and I such as awkward touching and made the pace and energy of the scene drag as the language wasn't being used to it's potential. Knowing what the scene would be like without any confidence, I then went to the other extreme and played the scene with a tremendous amount of confidence. Sally allowed me to achieve such a humorous and outrageous level of confidence with an over exaggeration exercise where we had to make our movements and voices bigger and louder. I found that this exercise created an amazing amount of comedy to the scene which is something that was important to capture seeing as the play itself is a comedy. An example of a comedic element that this over confidence exercise added was when I felt myself physicalizing someone who just wants sex and is going to get it instead of what I had been doing before I did my translating and research which was just thinking that I was a person who was going to walk in and try his luck at sleeping with a courtesan for free. When I physicalized this my energy increased, my heart rate rose and my breath increased. I was creating facial expressions that were directly saying to the audience that I was aroused and horny instead of before the exercise where my face was too still and not conveying the message. I also found myself slapping Chloe Smith's bottom in a sudden burst of my characters energy which was directly telling the audience that Willmore wants her and he is so confident he is getting her that he can slap her bottom which would otherwise be perceived as sexual assault if the receiver of the slap were not infatuated with the man in question. Overall, by playing with and increasing Willmore's level of confidence that high using that exercise, gave me a new, in discovered energy which made me totally feel in the moment as a lustful, alpha male.

Understanding how; decreasing the level of Willmore's confidence made the scene drag, being energy-less and unsuccessful in portraying to an audience the true nature and content of Willmore and how increasing his level of confidence turned him into a lustfully infatuated and sexually uncontrollable, energetic and physically alive masculine male that directly shows to the audience
what his true intensions are, has given me the ability to find a comfortable balance of confidence somewhere in between the two extremes that the exercises showed me in rehearsals to allow Willmore to be truthfully confident without being overly expressive and too dramatic or under dramatic and lacking any energy that a charmingly confident cavalier should have making hopefully making my character believable for the audience.

In rehearsals, a problem I had was lacking charm and charisma with my movements. A line in the scene where I particularly struggled is this;

'yes, you shall here how infamous you are -- for which I do not hate thee: but that secures my heart and all the flames it feels are but so many lusts.'

I translated this line into;

'yes, you're very notorious for you're disreputable business. I'm actually sexually attracted to you because of this.'

Willmore is turned on by her being a courtesan and knowing what she has done with other men as he wants that from her. He is trying to get that from Angelica and succeeds because he is charismatic and charming in a very masculine way. To help me reach this part of my character I studied a few TV series such as 'Made In Chelsea' looking at the character Spencer Mathews who is a handsome man that looks very masculine but is able to swoon a girl into getting into bed with him by showering her with 'nice' words that make her flattered and in turn relaxed and enjoying his company enough so she then sleeps with him. Its a form of manipulation using his charm and looks to get what he wants. He is commonly known as a 'Fuck Boy' which is the contemporary name for this kind of behaviour, explained here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuck%20boy

With this research I tried saying the dialog using a more manipulating voice but it ended up sounded creepy and about as flattering for Angelica as a dirty carpet. It gave the scene a weird essence that kind of felt, for me, a bit rapey and non charismatic. To find a balance of this 'Fuck Boy' manipulation and charismatic charm I watched another series called 'Lucifer'. The character Lucifer is very smiley and happy and once again loves to have a good ol' shag. He differs from Spencer Mathews' as he is very energetic and laughs a lot and makes me smile so I can only imagine what he could to do with Angelica. Link to a trailer for Lucifer:https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lucifer&&view=detail&mid=F92FBD85C6930D28B9C1F92FBD85C6930D28B9C1&FORM=VRDGAR

With these two differentiating, yet charming, charismatic and manipulating gentlemen, I practiced performing with a confident smile, making sure when in the dialog there is a compliment that I look Angelica in the eye which seems to form a bond, and when trying to swoon her, changing tactics and using my manipulation card by taking hold of her hand and interacting with her hair and speaking calmly into her ear and then changing tactics again and getting exited when Angelica becomes frisky and retaliates to Willmore's manipulation as seen here;

'it is a barbarous custom which I will scorn to defend in our sex, and do despise in yours'

where he is enjoying her retaliation and is then enticing her into more whilst keeping his objective of having sex with her real. I found that after practice and finding the balance between manipulation and charisma and complimenting charm allowed me to understand how Willmore successfully gets Angelica to do what he wants. Now my performance will be a lot more natural and less creepy and forced which has allowed for more chemistry to form between Chloe and myself and making the scene more truthful and engaging.

To conclude, I found it difficult to understand Willmore and who he was at the start of rehearsals because his personality traits are so different to my own and I have never experienced the amount of confidence or charm that he has before which meant that I had to learn how to act charismatically and how to create his high level of confidence through some exercises that showed me different ends of the spectrum of Willmore, showed me what it was like to lack any confidence and charm at all and then showed me what being over confident and over dramatically charming and lustful feels like which allowed me to make the decision to find the right balance from what I have experienced during each exercise which in turn evolved Willmore into a more truthful and believable character whilst keeping the exaggeration and comedic play the writing and language the scene has to offer.

 

Restoration Research

The Era
https://www.enotes.com/topics/rover 
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/stuart-england/the-english-civil-war/

In the restoration era of the 1600's plays were staged and performed very differently compared with today. The theatre's would be candle lit and would sit many royals and wealthy individuals who would come to see and experience; for the first time, female actors. As mentioned previously in a Shakespearean era blog, females characters used to be played by male actors. However, in 1662, King Charles, concerned over unnatural behaviours such as homosexuality, made it law that women must play female roles. The first female actor being Margaret Hughes.

With females now finally being allowed to perform and act on stage, the performance began to attract a more rowdy audience that were lusting after these women on stage for it was something these men had never experienced. New audiences and new actors meant that playwrights could become more creative and create female characters that would entice more audience members into the theatres. This meant making the female characters lusty and sexually appealing. They would often have a free nipple and be showing a lot of skin which was unheard of in previous era's. With an uprising of female talent on stage and around the theatre, the first of many female playwrights sprung into action.

The Rover is written by Aphra Behn, the first female playwright. This play has been written from the eyes of a women who's new creative freedom has inspired, from what I have read, a rich stew of strong willed and well appreciated attitude and spark in which she has turned the ideology that the female characters have to be raunchy to attract larger audiences and made the male characters as such which has provided Willmore with his sexual desires and lust. I believe that what Behn has done is laid a strong bridge over rough sea's and forged a new path of sexualisation over the oppressive path that men have been dominating for far to long.

'But that secured my heart and all the flames it feels are but so many lusts'

I have used this line from the script to evidence my statements because it shows how Willmore is trying to dominate this courtesan by smothering her with al his lustful words so he can fulfil his hormonal release and feel even more like a man. This to me looks like Behn's way of retaliating. By showing the audience a new type of male character who acts like a twat and wants to shag everything and then have a strong female character who is standing up for herself and using dominating and powerful language herself such as;

'I thought , I shou'd have seen you at my feet imploring it'

where Angelica telling a man to bow to her beauty and pay lots of money too her. That's evidence of a female character who is out smarting and standing up for herself in theatre. It's evidence of how more and more female actors become relevant and inspired by writers such as Behn as the way she writes empowers and realises the potential that woman have on stage for comedy.

Another historical event at the time was the civil war between Kings Charles' Cavaliers and Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians; also known as Round Heads. At the time of the scene, Cromwell had been chosen to be Lord Protector of the newly formed Puritan parliament, one of which hated just about everything including theatre. This new rule forced the Cavaliers; like Willmore, to flee the country and travel to Naples to party free from the strict puritan rule back home. The play was written after Cromwell 's rule ended where people regained their freedom of fun and expression and celebration. I believe Behn is celebrating her freedom of expression within our scene by having the characters be raunchy and extravagant which would not have been allowed during Cromwell's rule.

' Death, how she throws her fire about my soul!'

It's expressive dialog like this that makes me think Behn almost wants Cromwell to be turning in his grave. It's like a big 'fuck you' to everything he stood for which must show how important the civil war and the revolution that followed were to expressive, artistic people of the time.

To conclude my research, I have found a lot of Behn's motivations for writing the scene and how my character is part of Behn's anger of not being able to express. Knowing this information now will allow me to bring to rehearsals, truths and motives of Willmore's mental and physical characteristics which will make my character a more convincing and impactful one on stage, hopefully portraying too the audience how Aphra Behn and many other humans of that period were feeling during both the repercussions of the civil war and women's freedom to perform on stage.

Aphra Behn (https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=aphra+behn&FORM=HDRSC2)

Character Study; Willmore

Willmore is a charismatic, banished cavalier from England who has come to Spain to avoid capture by the benevolent saint that doth not be an accurate description of the late Oliver Cromwell. Willmore is single and sexually fascinated and feels the need to indulge himself in lustful sex wherever he goes. In the case of this scene, he has arrived outside one the finest Courtesan's in the area and is on a mission to get her to shag him free of charge.

My Exterior Vision 

He has just arrived in Spain after a long boat journey so I believe he will be looking rather rough and well worn. I picture a nice brown coat which has been worn in and torn slightly, matching trousers with white socks pulled up to the knee, a white shirt and a white piece of cloth around his neck. This is the traditional outfit of the cavaliers back in this period with  wear and tear that I believe Willmore would have caused by getting himself into scuffs with other men and being a manly man who gets around a lot with very little money to his name. I also think he would have a lot of rough looking facial hair and is hair thick, wavy and dreamy to give him that charismatic organicness.

Willmore has very high self esteem and is very ambitious when expressing his sexual desires. I found this from this line;

'Here, good forewomen of the shop, serve me, and I'll be gone.'

This piece of evidence shows how Willy has just walked straight into Angelica's house and is directly but charismatically telling her that if she has sex with him for free he will leave. In order for someone to say something like that they must have extreme confidence in the words that they are saying and in order to not sound creepy or rapey he must have a sexy resonance to his voice which he is well aware of having in which he uses as his tool of persuasion which in the end becomes successful.

I also believe Willy is very, very masculine. In fact, I believe that he feels the need to have sex with the finest of women and do it only with the power of persuasion so that he is top of the masculinity chain. He also assorts his dominance from the very beginning of the scene by taking the sign off of the wall and waltzing right on in there and saying;

'Rather, how durst you set it up, to tempt poor amorous Mortals with so much Excellence?'

He is basically questioning why she has even put the sign up at such a high price and if it is to make horny men feel the need to pay a lot of money to have sex with someone that isn't actually worth the price they're paying. He has only just walked through the door and yet is assorting his dominance via undermining her, devaluing her and making her feel insecure so that using his charm he can warp her feelings and make her in knowingly and sub consciously become obsessed and lustfully attracted to him. He almost makes her feel like she's being naughty which may be her turn on for him and therefore why he gains successful intercourse with her.