Vocal Development for Restoration

The characteristics of my voice:

• My voice has a breathy quality to it, which proves that I need to have more control over my breath. I also have asthma which shortens my breath when I talk.
• I have good articulation and a good delivery on the lines.
• However, I sometimes mumble – which is called Enunciation.
• As well as having a breathy tone I sometimes go a little bit nasal.
• I put a range of emotions in my voice so it’s not pitch monotonous.

In what ways do these vocal qualities benefit or hinder you as a performer for Restoration?

Advantages:

• Good articulation and delivery makes it easy for the audience to understand what I’m saying, especially for restoration as the writing is pretty hard to understand in the first place.
• A good range of emotions in my voice makes the piece interesting to listen to and helps me with my character work, for Lady Plyant I especially need all the different emotions as she is a very expressive character.
• The breathy tone can come in handy to change the tone and volume of the piece, for example excitement. I used this to my advantage during the scene with Careless when I'm breathless with lust.
• Last time I talked about my diction and how I kept on missing out the letter t. But for Restoration I had very good diction as I had a very overly dramatic posh accent to help me maintain it.

Disadvantages:

• However, a disadvantage of having a breathy tone is that it seems that I’m always running out of breath and for my scenes in Restoration I'm moving a lot, I'm never usually sat down so I needed to make sure I was breathing regularly during each scene.
• The nasal quality also makes my voice go pretty high and squeaky, which could be annoying to listen to and not really Lady Plyant so I had to be extra careful not to go too high.

What vocal exercises might be suitable for building on your strengths for Restoration Performance?

• One of the strengths I have is articulation and the exercises I use are tongue twisters and rotating the tongue around my mouth, because I also am very overdramatic the exercise of chewing toffee is helpful as it really flexes and widens the mouth giving me the opportunity to speak more louder and easier without straining my jaw.
• Because I have a breathy tone to my voice I count my breath to lengthen the breath intake and outtake, giving me the opportunity to speak for longer without having to pause during a sentence, as Lady Plyant's sentences are long winded.
• Changing emotion is one of my strengths and I usually change my pitch and pace. The vocal exercise I use to strengthen that is humming, for example the waterfall one, going low to high or vice versa.

Restoration Rehearsal

The character I play on the Double Dealer is Lady Plyant. Because I'm double cast with Rae my rehearsal time is shared with her.

Week 1/2


Fourth Position in Ballet

For the first couple of weeks we were getting familiar with the script and the techniques used to perform restoration. For example how we walk, talk, bow and act. The women walk with their thighs together (like fourth position in ballet) little and quick steps. Stand straight, with your head held high and chest out. Then we had to learn how to bow and sit. For the women we curtsied, and had to sit down on the chair very slowly, we couldn't look behind us so we had to feel for the chair with the back of our legs and when we did we'd lower our selves gracefully down to sit on the edge of our seats. For the curtsying women had to keep eye contact with the men and send them very sexual hints.

Then we read the whole play to make the show clearer for us. I was drawn to the character Lady Plyant as she was the character I could see myself going all out on. She was loud, full of herself and loves to be the centre of attention. So I had my heart set on her.


Week 3

The next week we watched a film called Stage Beauty. (Which I have talked about in my blog entry Restoration Research). I paid attention mostly to their accents and the way they hold themselves as it was clear to me that I was going to find the body position the hardest, as I tend to slouch when standing and sometimes bending one of my legs.

We also had a chance to look inside the costume wardrobe this week and I found a blue dress which I thought would suit Lady Plyant. I also researched into the type of dresses and jewellery they would wear and this is the research I found:

17th-century jewellery

By the mid-17th century, changes in fashion had introduced new styles of jewellery. While dark fabrics required elaborate gold jewellery, the new softer pastel shades became graceful backdrops for gemstones and pearls. Expanding global trade made gemstones ever more available. Advances in cutting techniques increased the sparkle of gemstones in candlelight.

The most impressive jewels were often large bodice or breast ornaments, which had to be pinned or stitched to stiff dress fabrics. The swirling foliate decoration of the jewels shows new enthusiasm for bow motifs and botanical ornaments.




Breast Ornament

Necklace with Sapphire Pendant, bow about 1660,

chain and pendant probably 18-1900.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/history-jewellery/

(My character study covers clothing)

Week 4

The week after that was our object improvisation. It's where you pick an object you think your character would own and give it a story, and when you're done talking about it the class will ask you questions about it. I chose jewellery, rings to be more precise. I had about five on my fingers and they were all engagement rings. One of them was my favourite and the story behind it was that I was six years old when it was given to me and the boy who gave it to me stole it from his mother (who's wedding ring it actually was) and while she was crying because she lost it I was laughing in a corner because I had it all along, but I never gave it back to her, it was mine now. I think this story really shows how spoilt and nasty my character could be, so it helped me form a character for her. It also helped me on how I should sit and talk like, and how to maintain eye contact.

I watched a cartoon which had Pepe Le pew in it and how he was always chasing the cat (which he thought was a skunk) and I used that for my scene with Mellefont - him trying to escape me and me not letting him. It showed me the comical side of it and how to play it really over the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lsQfTaStcs

This week is when we started blocking the first half of the play and it went really well, but a lot more difficult then I expected. It was hard to keep your posture for so long in a scene (especially while still holding a script) and finding my voice for the character was not easy either but I spent time rehearsing with Zach (who's Sir Paul) and we developed a rhythm together. As it was the first week of blocking I didn't go all out as we were all still getting used to the pace of the scenes and working on developing our own individual characters.

Week 5

The next week I started getting more into the scenes and becoming more bolder, so I started experimenting within the scenes and I found out that me and Zach make a good comic duo. We bounce off each others energy and always go along with the other. Me and Joe's scene is a bit more difficult as it's more hands on and because me and Rae are double cast it's a bit difficult for Joe to get his head around two different blockings.

One page of my annotated script

This is my annotated script for one of my scenes. It shows all my stage directions and movements that I do, which line I do them on and the emotion behind it. For example one of the stage directions is, keep Joe's head on my lap, still angry, it gives me my action and my reaction.

I also wrote down Pepe Le Pew to remind me of how far I have to push the boundaries. Lady Plyant is a very dramatic woman and I can't play her half-heatedly as it just wouldn't work, so Pepe Le Pew is there to keep my mind on that.

I also write down stage entries and exits and why I go into that room, what was my purpose and what attitude I come in with.




During this week we also learnt about the language of the fans and how women use it to communicate with the men.

The fan placed near the heart	“you have won my love”
Resting fan on the heart	“my love for you is breaking my heart”
A closed fan touched to the right eye	“when maybe I be allowed to see you”
Letting the fan rest on your right cheek	Yes
Letting the fan rest on your left cheek	No
Fan held over left ear	I wish to get rid of you
Cover left ear with open fan	Do not portray our secret
Half open fan pressed to the lips	You may kiss me
Putting the fan handle to the lips	Kiss me
Resting the fan on her lips	I don’t trust you
Opening and closing the fan rapidly	You are cruel
Quickly and impetuously closing the fan	I’m jealous
Drawing the fan through her hands	I hate you
Fanning slowly	I am married
Fanning quickly	I’m engaged
Hiding the eyes behind a open fan	I love you
Dropping the  fan	I belong to you
Twirling fan in left hand	We are being watched
Twirling fan in right hand	I love another
Passing the fan from one hand to another	I see that you are looking at another women

(This table I got from Charlotte Kenna's acting blog)

The ones I would use for Lady Plyant is "you have won my heart", "kiss me", "I wish to get rid of you" and "I love another". The first two I would use for Careless, as he is trying to win my affection, but the last two I would use for Sir Paul, as I want him to leave me with Careless and I now believe myself in love with Careless.

Week 6

The next week we blocked the last act. The last couple of scenes for Lady Plyant shows her making up a plan to meet with Careless to have an affair and he gives her a love letter which she, by an unfortunate accident, gave to Sir Paul instead of Sir Paul's accountant letter. The scene after that shows Sir Paul reading the letter and feeling angry, hurt and betrayed. Unknowingly to him Lady Plyant and Careless are hiding, listening to him reading and coming up with another plan. When he finished I walked out and managed to put the blame on him by convincing him that it was his fault why me and Careless were like that, I also blamed him for the letter, "yet to make trial of you, pretended to like that monster of iniquity, Careless, and found out that contrivance to let you
see this letter, which now I find was of your own inditing". And Sir Paul being the fool that he is believed him and went to find me to apologise.

I really enjoyed playing those scenes as I could really bring out my inner sneakiness. My voice helped with this, instead of being high like before I became more lower to sound more intimidating and slowed my pace down as I'm thinking of what I'm saying to Sir Paul, as I'm making the plan up as I go along.

I got feedback from my scenes by the class, one of them was Bradly who told me that he loves the energy I bring into the scenes and my characterisation was great, he could see how much thought I put into it. But just improve my pace a bit more, sometimes I go too fast (usually when I have a big paragraph) and the words are lost. Another person I got feedback from was Rae who told me that the way I hold myself stayed strong and my voice was powerful, but just look at the audience more as most of the time they saw half my face. Another person I got feedback from was Abbi who told me that she loved my interpretation of the character, and that I made her funny without being too overdone. She told me to improve by being more smooth in my transitions from different emotions, for example when I'm furious then go to nice in the next line, just find a way to smoothly do that.

I also realised this week that I couldn't use a fan as I originally planned as it doesn't really fit in with my blocking and I use my hands a lot to get Lady Plyant's point across.

Week 7

One week before show week I found out that I don't have Zach for my evening performance, somebody else was taking his place. This made me work even harder to know the blocking as I would be directing whoever overtakes Zach. When Louis came to rehearsals for the first time he watched me and Zach then copied, it helped me as I did the scenes twice, helping me remember it better, especially walking through it, it really gave me a chance to step back and see my acting and whether or not I could improve a bit more. I realised that on one scene I move a bit too much when talking to Sir Paul and that helped me control my pacing.


Mellefont, Cynthia and Sir Paul

Rehearsing the scene with Sir Paul

Rehearsing the scene with Mellefont

Week 8

Show week has arrived and it was all about getting the lighting right and the set changes perfect, as well as fixing last minute costume failures and perfecting lines. I also used this time to improve my facial expressions and work on my scenes with Louis a bit more.

We then went through a full run but I wasn't on this time it was Rae playing Lady Plyant. This run didn't go to well as there was a lot of pauses on stage and some people were still not fully confident on their lines. Therefore the play was changed into doing workshop scenes instead of a full play.  At first I was a little bit worried about my grade as I knew all my lines and blocking really well but I was assured that it would not effect my grades, but then I realised that this was for the best. Having less lines would be better as I could really focus on fewer scenes and make them even better by playing them to my highest potential. The set changes were fewer too which made more sense to the people doing the changes. Because we had less scenes people's pace had really begun to slow down as before they were rushing for time, as they didn't want to go over.

Overall, I'm feeling confident for my acting as I made positive improvements and am looking forward to preforming my shows.

Character Study

Character Study

The first thing we did was read the whole play through to get a feeling and understanding of the play. I didn't really have a preference on which character I wanted, but I did want a character that goes all out and that character was Lady Plyant, who I got.

Things about my character:

Age: 28 years old.

Year: The play is based in 1963.

Personality: Lady Plyant is a loud, attention grabbing woman. She metaphorically wears the pants in her marriage with Sir Paul. She is very self-centred and believes nearly everything she hears. She pretends to be virtuous and pure to everyone, especially Sir Paul but the truth is that she really has many lovers and just doesn't sleep with Sir Paul.

Relationship with Characters:

Sir Paul Plyant: Sir Paul and Lady Plyant pretend to the world to be the happiest married couple; Lady Plyant pretends to her husband that she is too chaste to grant him her sexual favours, while enthusiastically pursuing intrigues with others.

Cynthia: Cynthia is Lady Plyant's step daughter. In the whole play they have 3 scenes together (one including the end) and they are never alone together, showing that they are not very close. Whenever they are together Sir Paul is nearly always with them. Cynthia becomes angry at her father as he's always doing everything for her step mother and listening to her. On page 42 she says, "That my poor father should be very silly!" in regards to Lady Plyant increasing his allowance, but behind his back she's plotting to have an affair with Mr Careless, which Cynthia can see.

Mellefont: Mellefont is Lady Plyant's nephew by marriage. Lady Touchwood tells Lady Plyant and Sir Paul that Mellefont fancies her and that he wants to sleep with her, causing Lady Plyant to become angry and appalled but secretly loving it.

Careless: Careless starts showing attention to Lady Plyant when Mellefont asks for his help in distracting her from Mellefont. Sir Paul also doesn't help matters by unknowingly pushing Careless to interact with Lady Plyant. Lady Plyant is fluttered by the attention Careless is showing her but she covers it by playing the pure act.

Maskwell: Maskwell is the double dealer of the play. They never have a scene together (apart from the end) but him and Lady Touchwood uses Lady Plyant in their plan to break up Cynthia and Mellefont, showing that he has no care or interest for Lady Plyant, only to use her. Page 17, "You have already been tampering with my Lady Plyant." The my in that sentence makes them seem a lot closer than they actually are but it also shows the power Maskwell has over her.

Lady Touchwood: Lady Touchwood is Sir Paul's sister making her Lady Plyant's sister in law. She has no scenes with her (except for the end) but during the play you hear how she uses Lady Plyant for her plan, for example on page 17, "She is so credulous that way naturally, and likes him so well, that she will believe it faster than I can persuade her." This doesn't show Lady Plyant as a nice woman and now we know that Lady Touchwood does not think highly of her.

Lord Touchwood: The uncle to Mellefont. He is the husband to Lady Touchwood and brother in law to Sir Paul. My character has no scenes with him (except for the ending) but he does talk about her. For example page 26, "I know my Lady Plyant has a large eye, and would centre everything in her own circle; 'tis not the first time she has mistaken respect for love, and made Sir Paul jealous of the civility of an undesigning person..."

Brisk: Lady Plyant and Brisk do not interact at all during the play, but if they did they would both be very polite to each other then call each other names behind the others back, as they are two of the most overdramatic people in the play.

Lady Froth and Lord Froth: Again Lady Plyant does not interact with any of these two characters, but just one small bit in the end scene when Lord Froth says to Cynthia, "Come, my dear, shall we take leave of my lord and lady?" Then he gives Lady Plyant a disgusted look which she scoffs at, she's doing nothing wrong, it's not her fault that man find her charming.

Plot in the Play: Sir Paul and Lady Plyant are the couple who seems very happy in public but behind closed doors they are anything but. In the beginning of the play Sir Paul is seen but not Lady Plyant. He's seen as the tipsy father in law of Cynthia in the first scene, while Lady Plyant is not seen but heard of by Lady Touchwood and Maskwell and their opinion of her is not a very high one. The first scene that Lady Plyant enters on is where Sir Paul and her are furious with Mellefont creating a comical scene. I think as well as being a big part of the plan Sir Paul and Lady Plyant were also used for the comedy value, especially the satire.

Fashion in the 17th Century: Fashion was fast changing as the influence came from other European countries, escpecially France and Portugal. The latest fashion trends were usually set by the Queen at that time, sometimes not intentionally. Charles II's wife Catherine was Portegeuse so her fashion sense would have been different compared to the English, it was said that Catherine displayed a fondness for the recent trend of court ladies wearing men's clothing, which we are told, "showed off her pretty, neat legs and ankles"; and she was even reported to have considered leading the way in wearing shorter dresses, which would show off her feet. Hips became notable fuller in the 17th century and the corsets became tighter, having a lower neckline.

17th century dress

The front of my dress

The back of my dress, it's the same style
as the one on the right but one of the cape
sides is not clipped properly.

17th Century dress

   








































My Costume: Lady Plyant wears a blue coloured dress, and one of the words associated with the colour blue is confidence, which Lady Plyant has plenty of. Some alternations have been made making the dress more comfortable to move around in and a bit more restoration style. For example on the back of the dress Laura added a train (like the dress on the top right side) and a half cape (like the one on the bottom right side). The ruffles on the end of the sleeves shows that she's upper class as it's pretty long.

The more I read over my script the more I picture Lady Plyant as the character Hyacinth from the TV show Keeping Up Appearances.

Hyacinth Bucket is the shows social-climbing snob (who insists that her surname is pronounced 'Bouquet'). Hyacinth's primary aims in life are to impress people, particularly those of the upper classes, and to give the impression that she is of high social standing, despite her fairly average status. Richard Bucket is Hyacinth's long-suffering husband who is at her beck and call. He obeys his domineering wife's orders (presumably because that is easier than listening to her complain and rant).

Although Lady Plyant does not drag her husband into far fetched plans the man does listen to everything she says and follows her everywhere, I think he does this because he has no backbone to stick up to her with and finds life is easier if he agrees with her rather then argue.

Hyacinth is also very dramatic and make situations a lot bigger than they really are. Lady Plyant did this in her first scene with Mellefont. She thought he loves her and while telling him off she's grabbing him and pulling him closer to her as she's secretly flattered and finds him very attractive.

The Double Dealer - Research Blog

Edited and Finished on Friday 22nd May

Characters and Plot

This comedy sees character Mellefont, nephew and prospective heir of Lord Touchwood, about to marry Cynthia, daughter of Sir Paul Plyant. Lady Touchwood, a violent and dissolute woman, is in love with Mellefont, but as he rejects her advances, determines to prevent the match and ruin him in Lord Touchwood's esteem. In this design she finds a confederate in Maskwell, the Double Dealer, who has been her lover, pretends to be Mellefont's friend, and aspires to cheat him of Cynthia and get her for himself. To this end he leads Plyant to suspect an intrigue between Mellefont and Lady Plyant, and Touchwood an intrigue between Mellefont and Lady Touchwood; and contrives that Touchwood shall find Mellefont in the latter's chamber.

Mellefont is disinherited and Cynthia is to be made over to Maskwell. The latter's plot, however, here goes wrong. Lord Touchwood informs Lady Touchwood of Maskwell's intention to marry Cynthia. This awakens her jealousy. She finds Maskwell and rebukes him, and is overheard by Lord Touchwood, who now perceives Maskwell's treachery, and defeats his final attempt to carry off Cynthia.

English Civil War

The English Civil War started in 1642 when Charles I raised his royal standard in Nottingham. The split between Charles and Parliament was such that neither side was willing to back down over the principles that they held and war was inevitable as a way in which all problems could be solved. The country split into those who supported the king and those who supported Parliament – the classic ingredients for a civil war.

As with most wars during the C17th, the English Civil War was not a long continuous war. Armies lacked mobility and the time taken to collect the most basic of equipment meant that there were long periods of time when no fighting was taking place despite England being at war at the time. The weather was also a major determining factor in whether armies could fight or not. Roads were no more than tracks and the winter could cut them up to make them beyond use. Therefore moving any armies around would be very difficult.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/civil_war_england.htm

Life in England under Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell was a Puritan. He was a highly religious man who believed that everybody should lead their lives according to what was written in the Bible. The word "Puritan" means that followers had a pure soul and lived a good life. Cromwell believed that everybody else in England should follow his example.

One of the main beliefs of the Puritans was that if you worked hard, you would get to Heaven. Pointless enjoyment was frowned upon. Cromwell shut many inns and the theatres were all closed down. Most sports were banned. Boys caught playing football on a Sunday could be whipped as a punishment. Swearing was punished by a fine, though those who kept swearing could be sent to prison.

Cromwell believed that women and girls should dress in a proper manner. Make-up was banned. Puritan leaders and soldiers would roam the streets of towns and scrub off any make-up found on unsuspecting women. Too colourful dresses were banned. A Puritan lady wore a long black dress that covered her almost from neck to toes. She wore a white apron and her hair was bunched up behind a white head-dress. Puritan men wore black clothes and short hair.

By the end of his life, both Cromwell and the 11 major-generals who helped to run the country, had become hated people. The population was tired of having strict rules forced onto them. Cromwell died in September 1658. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. This is where kings and queens were buried. His son, Richard, took over leadership of the country. However, Richard was clearly not up to the task and in 1660 he left the job. In that year, 1660, Charles II was asked to return to become king of England. One of Charles’ first orders was that Cromwell’s body should be dug up and put on 'trial' as a traitor and regicide (someone who is responsible for the execution/murder of a king or queen). His body was put on trial, found guilty and symbolically hanged from a gallows at Tyburn (near Hyde Park, London).

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cromwell_england.htm

Charles II and the changes he made to Theatre

In 1660 Charles II returned to England from his exile in France, restoring the monarchy. This period, known as the Restoration, was a time of renewal for British theatre . The flamboyant Charles II was a huge patron of theatre and helped breathe new life into British drama. A patent was even issued for two new theatre companies. Led by William Davenant, the Duke's Men was for younger performers, while older, more experienced actors were in The King's Company, led by Thomas Killigrew . While the two companies created new opportunities theatrically, their monopoly on performances hampered the growth of British theatre.

After the Restoration in 1660, Charles II brought an innovative addition to the English theatre: women were allowed to take the stage as actresses. The novelty of having women on stage created something of a stir, but for the most part the reaction of the public was positive, especially that of the young men who regularly chose their mistresses from the ranks of the new professionals. Many of the new actresses were women who intentionally used their position to achieve liaisons with titled gentlemen and thus increase their meager income. One of the most famous was of course Nell Gwyn, who became the mistress of Charles II.

Despite their popularity, women did not enjoy the same status as men in the theatre. Their pay did not equal that of their male colleagues, and while many male actors became playwrights, very few women made the transition. One of the few who did, Charlotte Charke, wrote a total of three plays.

http://www.lit-arts.net/Behn/theater.htm

Playwright

William Congreve (1670–1729), English poet and playwright of the Restoration period in the 17th and 18th centuries, his comic plays have enjoyed a distinguished place in history, including The Old Batchelor (1693), and Love for Love (1694). It was while writing poetry and working on translations that Congreve made his first entrance into London's literary world, publishing under the pseudonym "Cleophil" Incognita (1692), "an Essay". His influences were many including Plato, Epictetus, Aesop, Cervantes, and Shakespeare.

How The Stage Was Set

The theatres of the 17th and 18th century were very much smaller than the period beforehand. They held around 500 people in total and the performance took place in closed room with artificial lighting like candles. Where we are used to sitting in the dark in theatres today in the restoration period the audience were completely illuminated as was the whole theatre, this was because the people of a higher class were interested in presenting themselves to the public. We also sit during a performance while the majority of people stood back then. There was no curtain in restoration theatres so the changes of scene had to take place in front of an audience. Restoration plays did not aim to create a sense of realism but they created a highly stylised image of scenery, characters and the subject matter because of this however most of the audience could not take the play seriously and would talk loudly through the whole play. For our restoration performance we are using a proscenium stage to provide the best view for our audiences. We also have the flats which on one side is the gallery (the communal area) and Lady Touchwood's chamber. The gallery is yellow with paintings, while Lady Touchwood's is a dark pink, maybe to show her passionate attitude. Just like in the Restoration era we are also changing the scenes in front of the audience, so they'll be able to know which seen is set where.

Famous Actresses

Margaret Hughes

Nell Gwyn

The first woman to appear on the professional stage in England is generally considered to be Margaret Hughes who performed at the Vere Street Theatre in 1660 in a production of Othello. Other notable actresses included Elizabeth Barry who was known as the queen of tragedy. She was trained for the stage by the notorious womaniser, the Earl of Rochester, who was also her lover. However, the most infamous actress of this period was Nell Gwyn, who was the mistress of Charles II and bore him two children. All these women were known as lively, high spirited and quick witted. They broke the norm as Margaret Hughes had a daughter but instead of staying home with her and becoming a "dutiful housewife" she carried on working.

Stage Beauty and How it Links to Gender Roles

For my research blog I watched a movie called "Stage Beauty" which starts off with the actors on stage and the males playing the female rolls, while the actual women were backstage helping out. As the movie progresses you see King Charles II allow women to act (including his mistress Nell Gwynn - an aspiring actress) and that men must play men characters. It's a great storyline as it doesn't just show women finally being allowed to act on stage but it shows men struggling to play men. When the men did play women they were treated like women in real life too. Other men would touch them inappropriately, like they were objects, and talk to them like they were beneath them.

The way the men acted like women was always very beautiful and graceful, even in death. But when women took the stage they showed the audience the reality and how women are, they are not always graceful and beautiful. They make mistakes and are not perfect.

One of the quotes from the movie is the character Maria explaining to a man who played a woman why the death scene never used to work for him. Maria: "Your old tutor did you a great disservice, Mr. Kynaston. He taught you how to speak, and swoon, and toss your head but he never taught you how to suffer like a woman, or love like a woman. He trapped a man in a woman's form and left you there to die! I always hated you as Desdemona. You never fought! You just died, beautifully. No woman would die like that, no matter how much she loved him. A woman would fight!" She's saying that women are strong and not helpless and this links to our play (explained in Themes of Our Play).

Themes of Our Play

Some of the themes that run through the play are;

• Manipulation
• Lust
• Love
• Deceit
• Misinterpretation
• War of the Sexes

Love is a theme that runs through the play strongly. The most obvious seen between Mellefont and Cynthia. They are the innocent, young lovers of the play who are getting married. Lust is another theme that runs through the play. Lady Plyant and Lady Touchwood are both excellent example of this as Lady Plyant lusts after Mr Careless and even Mellefont himself, while Lady Touchwood lusts after Maskwell and Mellefont also. War of the Sexes is a large theme of the play. Women are seen as harmless, innocent, damsel in distresses who need men to save them but in this play all of the women (apart from Cynthia) are having affairs and in Lady Touchwood's case coming up with plans to destroy Mellefont, as he rejected her love and passion. Lady Touchwood puts a wedge between Mellefont and his uncle (who's her husband) Lord Touchwood. Although Lord Touchwood is spectacle at first he believes her later and sticks by her, even though he had no real evidence.

Radio Ensemble Piece

Different Genres and the reason why we chose comedy:

Before the class got into our groups and decided which Radio piece to perform we looked at different Radio genres, for example, Radio Dramas, Comedy Sketches, Interviews and Documentaries. One of the Radio Dramas we listened to was The Abbey Grange (Sherlock Holmes) it created the right atmosphere and was very believable as a radio drama. I think a big part of this is the narrator as the way he tells the story describes everything you need to know, for example, "Her blue eyes were full of terror." He described what the eyes looked like and than he goes on to explain why they were filled with terror, making us picture the woman's eyes in our minds. One comedy sketch we listened to was Party, the way the same actors used their voices to create different characters and make them believable was excellent, as changing characters is always difficult, especially if they're the complete opposite to each other. Comedy sketches are allowed to push the limits more than Dramas are and the audience can hear that by the different music of the piece, the language they use and how outrageous the characters can be. That is what attracted me to comedy the most, being able to push the limit and show my versatility in creating different characters.

Me and my group decided that we want to do comedy sketches, because the piece itself would be lively and fast pace, making us enjoy performing it. We also have a range of versatility to perform from. We didn't have time to make up our own script, so we looked at different radio shows and found That Mitchell and Webb Sound. We picked this show as we knew it would give us a range of characters to choose from. My characters are: a game show contestant, a slug and a woman on her first date.

Research:



That Mitchell and Webb Sound is a comedy sketch show on BBC Radio 4 which started on 28 August 2003. The series became adapted for television as That Mitchell and Webb Look in 2006. The series stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb also write a fair amount of the material. Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, composed of David Mitchell (born 14 July 1974) and Robert Webb (born 29 September 1972). They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show and their award-winning sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look.

The 21st Century is the time that Radio Comedy Shows and Sketches were more risky with their content. For example they talk about sex more freely, occasionally swear and are not afraid to talk about political or social problems. This definitely made me more freer with some of my characters for example my first date character talks about sex as if she's talking about dinner, it was all a breeze and this changed my way of performing it

Character Study - The Game Show Contestant - Claire

Things I know about my character:

The scene starts with the Game Show Host introducing me, "Tonight's contestant is Claire. She's a twenty-nine year old working mum and she's still got a great body!" She has no pets and usually gives short sentences.

Voice I used for my character:

I made Claire very short, direct and forceful. I based my character on Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show. I made my voice a little deeper than hers but kept the attitude and the way she draws the words out, giving off a very comic effect. Because I made her sound common my diction was sometimes off on some places, but those were deliberate choices that I made, for example one of the lines is, "Think so." Instead of saying "Th" I instead pronounce it "F" to make it, "Fink so."



Character Study - Slug

My character is a slug child who is listening to her father telling her a story. My voice is very high to give the effect of childlike innocence and because of the slugs height, seeing as slug's are very small. The slug I found out was the easiest to do consistently but when we spoke together the audience couldn't make out what we were saying, for example on of the things we say as an ensemble is, "Please" before we used to do it really drawn out and stopping at different times but it sounded messy so to solve that problem we thought of putting in beats for how long we say it, so we could all stop saying it at the same time, which made it sound better and the audience could understand what we were saying.



Character Study - Woman on her first date

My character is a woman who is out on a first date with a man, so it has the right touch of awkwardness to make it relatable. I did the most voice work with this character as this was my biggest speaking part. I tried out many different vocal tones and accents. I first tried it very nasal, I think it worked as it brought more comedy to the scene but something was missing, so I tried the scene again but this time with a southern accent. It made the scene sound more sexual and smooth but I don't think it was bringing the humour into it like the first voice I did was. I finally went with a very posh accent which made the scene go smoothly, the audience could understand what I was saying and it brought the humour as there's something funny about a very posh woman talking about sex so freely. "Oh god yeah, I'm an absolute sex-nut!" I go very breathy here to show my character losing her cool and I use many pauses to heighten the tension for example, [GASP, Pause] "I LOVE SEX!" This pause made the sentence following even more funny, as the audience think I gasped because he's offended me, while really it's the opposite.

Overall my characters had great versatility between them, showing my range in voice and character work. My first character, Claire, was very low and harsh sounding, with poor diction, while my slug child was sweet and high, conveying the emotions perfectly, and my last character had a posh accent, giving me a soft tone and brilliant diction.

Radio Solo Pieces

For Radio we do a solo and an Ensemble piece. In this blog I'll be writing about my Solo piece and why I chose each piece.

First Piece:

My first piece is a monologue from the play Flowers in the Desert  by D. M. Larson. The actual monologue itself is called The Not So Perfect Child. The playwright D.M. Larson has been writing plays since high school and acting since junior high. In 1988, his first play "Nicolas Brooks" had instant success by winning the Youth Division at the Spokane Civic Theatre Forum Festival in Washington State. After that he wrote many other plays, to name a couple: A Man and His Plant (1990) and The Redneck (2004). In all his plays most of his characters are very relatable and that's why I picked the monologue of Jamie.

Jamie is a teenage girl who has run away from a conflict at home to stay with her Aunt Betty in order to have some time to think things out. The play opens up with Jamie’s Monologue so you know from the very beginning what’s bothering her character. The conflict at home is her mother loving her sister more than she does her. That's one of the reasons I picked this play, for the fact that she's a relatable character. Another reason is because it's suitable for Radio. The audience doesn't have to know the scenery or what I look like, they just listen to my voice and get the effect of the scene by my emotions.

This is my annotated script for my monologue and the monologue itself has the emotions written on it all ready, but for some of them I didn't do as I didn't feel the emotion would come off correctly, considering I adapted it for radio. For example, near the bottom of the monologue it says, (Cries... Sadness) I didn't want to cry as I think seeing people cry is more powerful than hearing it, so I softened my tone to show my sadness and grew more quieter, so you could tell the change between the emotions. When I was furious my voice got louder, my tone harder and my words pacier.

I used no sound effects for this piece as I think my voice can create the tension the scene needed on its own, and I was worried that the sound effects would take the intention away from the words.

Second Piece:

My second piece is a children's book written in 1955 called The Happy Family by Nicole. Not much is known about the author of the book but at the time the book was written happy families were rare to find. There was a study done on the 22nd of February 2005, it was titled, "Mothers Alone: Poverty and the Fatherless Family, 1955-1966". The book Happy Family completely contradicts to what is happening in society then, which I think made the book even more magical to children.



My voice for this piece became softer, more soothing and gentle, a voice usually used to tell a child a bedtime story. For the characters I changed my voice, for the children I adapted a higher pitch, and a more upbeat pace, for example on the line, "Daddy, Daddy! Hello, Daddy!" I said it as if they were running excitedly up to him, while for the mother I went more softer, with a harder tone to sound strict, for example I did this on the line "Wash your hands, everybody! Dinner is ready!" and with the father I went deeper by doing this I brought my pitch down and slowed the pace.

I used sound effects for this piece to create the environment of a family home, for example some of the noises were a clock chiming, a dog barking, a cat meowing and sink running water.

Third Piece:

My third and final piece is an advert which I wrote myself. I wanted to bring humour to my piece so I made it almost like a mock advert.

Below is my advert:

Are you a stressed out parent who just can’t get your kids to sleep? If that’s the case than The Happy Family is the Audio book for you! It keeps your children entertained, with colourful pictures and funny voices the person does to be the whole family. All of this for just £4.99! Bargain! And if all of the above fails you can always knock your child out with the book! But for that you’ll need the hard copy for only £6.99! More yes, but it’s worth it! (Moves away from the Mic) What do you mean I can’t say that? (Comes back) Just buy the book!

I listened and watched adverts to hear how their voices usually sound and most of them come off as energetic and upbeat, using persuasive language to encourage you to take on what they're selling. My voice was upbeat, loud and pacey for this piece to come off as a stereotypical salesman. I emphasised on the words like, you, just and bargain, as this was my persuasive language.

I had to work on my diction the most for this one, as when I speak fast my words sometimes mumble together and don't make sense. I made my diction clearer by saying tongue twisters twice a day. Some of the tongue twisters I use are, "I want a proper cup of coffee, in a copper coffee pot." and "Which Witch Watched Witch Watch?" By doing this daily I've really improved my diction as my articulation has become more clearer.

I have upbeat music playing in the background for this piece to help create the happy atmosphere my advert needs, it's a catchy tune which will stick in the audiences head, this is another clever persuasive devise used for the audience to come back to the product I am selling, so I had to go through a lot of songs to find the one that was right for my advert and this is the one I picked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4GQ5GW88I4

All together I think all of my pieces show a different contrast between each other and show my versatility in my voice work. My first piece it's my own voice but with emotion in it, my second piece is a much softer, smoother tone, emotionless as I'm the narrator, while my third piece is upbeat and energetic, with enough emotion in my voice to make it sound put on and fake.

TV and Film Rehearsals

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at different techniques in which to use when being in front of a camera for TV acting, we have done this by watching workshops than trying them out with different scenes from different TV shows/films.

Different techniques that we have looked at that will help us on screen;

• When you tell a story as yourself you have life and warmth in your eyes, but when you're acting the light fades. You shut down your character, you give them a limit on how far to take that emotion.
• Many people think of the character as she/he not I and because of this they're looking at the characters lives on the side-lines, not actually living it.
• Picture what you're describing.
• Be specific on who you're taking to and how you feel about them.

　

We also watched a Michael Caine acting master class and some of the things we learnt there were:

• If you are having a conversation with another character focus on one of their eyes, as on the camera looking back and forth between two eyes looks weird and we don't do that in real life - only actors do.
• You need to be a lot more open with your face, really show your facial expressions, as every little tiny movement is picked up, even a glance down or to the side is picked up and can tell a story.

While you're acting you can't lose the spot that you chose to look at when on camera, as you can't look directly in the camera when performing. Although it gives you a perfect eye line, it doesn't look natural to stare at the same spot for your whole scene. I realised this when some of us in the class are afraid that they might lose the spot they picked so they don't move their eyesight for the rest of the scene, making them look very unnatural and still, as they're tense.

The first scene I picked was with Bradly and it was from Friends, I was Phoebe and Bradly was Joey. Phoebe and Joey have a very close friendship and would feel very comfortable being around each other, but when me and Bradly rehearsed our scene the warmth faded from our eyes. The words I was saying had no true meaning behind it because I wasn't thinking of what I was saying and how being with Joey makes me feel. We also found out that doing comedy is harder than drama as with drama you can have so much thoughts going through your head the audience can pick up a few to understand the character better, while most comedy scenes are just meant to make you laugh - no real meaning behind it.

The second scene I picked was with Charlotte and this was a dramatic scene. Lauren and Abi are sisters who are having an argument. I related this to a real life situation, me having an argument with one of my sisters and it brought life to my eyes and gave my character a relatable quality to her as many people argue with their siblings all the time. The one big part of acting is reacting, you must react to what ever the other person is saying to you other whys the scene means nothing. With this scene I had a problem with that, as arguments are so quick and powerful you have to say your lines with such precision, I lost the timing to react to what Charlotte was saying to me. Instead of focusing on the words she was saying and the meaning behind them, I was thinking, "Quick, what's my next line?" Completely losing the feel of the scene.

We did an exercise were our lecturer gave us a scenario, you're home alone and you hear about two or three voices outside. They're talking about breaking into your home and you live away from any other houses so you're on your own. You call the police and they said they'll be there in about twenty minutes, hide and wait. You quietly go up to your attic and wait for something to happen, whether it's the police or the people outside.

The scene starts with you already inside the attic and how you would react to a situation like that. This was probably one of the most difficult things I had to do, as putting yourself in that situation is a horrid thing to do and making it seem believable, while also keeping the audiences interest. We all went up one at a time and did our individual reaction. When it was my turn I decided to take a bold approach and instead of crying I laughed. The disbelieving laugh you give out when you can't believe something is happening, and then that laughter turns to tears, so you're crying and laughing at the same time. After I finished the scene I got a lot of positive feedback, they understood what was going through my head and felt emotional watching me, as seeing a person have a breakdown knowing what's going to happen to them but not being able to do anything to stop it is heart-breaking in itself, but watching a person accept what is going to happen is even worse, as you know they have given up hope. The only thing I would improve on that scene is to show my eyes a bit more, as I was scared to look directly in the camera.

For the fourth week we did a scene from MI5, this scene was more different to the others as I had to use an American accent. Whenever I do American I go southern, but for this scenario it didn't suit it. I spent about fifteen minutes on my own trying to get the accent down and by bringing down my tone to a more lower sound I got the accent I wanted. Now that I got the accent down I needed to put emotion in my voice, this is something I'm usually good at but when I do accents I become monotonous and that's very boring to listen to. However, instead of rehearsing like I normally would do I learnt a couple of my lines and winged it in the actual performance.

Because we had the script in our hand and I was looking down, it seemed like I was reading the script but I was actually trying to portray the characters fear of looking up. The person who was talking to me was threatening to hurt my family and he said family twice. I looked up at him when he said family the second time but I think I should have looked up both times as the effect would have been more powerful.

One of the scenes I loved doing was 'the bad news over the phone'. You're at home, sitting in your living room and waiting for a phone call from your boyfriend/girlfriend but instead of them on the phone it's their cousin telling you that they have died in a car accident, the parents of your boyfriend/girlfriend didn't want to tell you, (because they don't approve of your relationship) you're not invited to the funeral and one of the dogs you own together had died while the other one is missing - so this scene is hit after hit of bad news and the raw emotion behind that is hard to find and do.

Before we started Adam (our lecturer) told us that the acting industry does not like vain actors, and this doesn't mean the people who love themselves too much, it means that they're scared to look ugly on screen and crying makes you ugly. I've never had a problem with ugly crying on screen as I just love throwing myself into the really emotional scenes.

The problem with getting a script that has bad news in it is that you prepare yourself for it before the news is actually told. I saw this with some of my class as they seem tense in the beginning of the scene, like they're waiting for the bad news. It doesn't look natural and it tips the audience from the very beginning that something is wrong, the whole point of this scene is to shock the audience with all that the character is being told.

I didn't get a chance to watch my scene back this time but when I finished the scene I got some positive feedback, they really believed how emotionally distraught I was and they liked how upbeat I was in the beginning when I answered the phone as it made the rest of the scene more believable. I also found out that my trigger for crying is laughing. This is because whenever I cry in real life I laugh at myself for how ridiculous I am for crying. At the end of that exercise I learnt that it's better to throw your all into it as the director will tell you if they like it or not. As when I was crying Adam was saying to me things like, that's great but sob louder, so it encouraged me to take it a step further and push myself to my limits.