17th May - Props

Lesson Objectives:
Plan the final piece for our project,
Arrange Props and work out what set and lighting we need,
Carry out our plans.

During Miss Woffinden's period 4 lesson, Emily and I were discussing the use of props and experimented with the skeleton we are using to try to add more lonely, heartfelt effects. We also set to work on making the frame for the 'mirror' in our performance. We first raided the art cupboards to find some card or thin wood, then we visited Conrad Cookson who helped us out by cutting them to be the same size, then went back to art to use their glue gun to glue the pieces together. Next week we will be gluing gold paper on it and decorating it (which I will let Emily do as she is the most artistic of the two!) Here are some pictures of what we did with the skeleton:



This is our skeleton on the rail that we are using.



We then experimented with a black piece of lace which we though added a sense of loneliness and depression.

Emily and I decided to cover the face to see if it would add an expressionless effect.

And here we thought that if we cover it to its waist then it will emphasise the size of the waist and make it look smaller than it really is.

Emily and I thought it would be a good idea to experiment with props like this to decide what works best and gives our piece more life whilst also making it look darker. Courtney took a back seat on this task whilst doing nothing and Imogen kept constantly saying in a patronising voice "Are you sure this is productive girlie's?" And no matter how many times Emily and I explained it was important and that we were trying to really interact and get into the play by analysing props and seeing what works best for the whole team to make our piece perfect. She then continued to repeat this and refuse to help us as she agreed it was "NOT productive". This really got on my nerves and I agree that we should agree to disagree but as a group Emily and I tried to involve the group in making a group decision affecting the performance and we found this extremely hard but we had to do it on our own anyway. Emily and I feel exactly the same and hope that the next performance will not be the same.

11th May 2011 - Cloudbusting at the West Yorkshire Playhouse!!!

On Wednesday 11th May 2011, the Cloudbusting gang went to The West Yorkshire Playhouse to perform the fantastic play by Helen Blakeman. We got there at 10:45am, to be greeted by the other school Castleford High and Chris from the National Theatre in London. We were told the itinerary for the day and then departed for the rehearsal room in the First Floor building which is where we were going to start the day. Here we spent 2hours rehearsing which was a lot of help as we had changed a tremendous amount since the last productions and speaking for the stage crew, we needed a bit more practice as to what we were doing and when. Obviously we had no props and so we had to improvise, for example using a bench, a bin and 2 chairs for the  4 stairs, a chair for the table etc... This was quite amusing but also a bit annoying as the actors couldn't interact and act as they would have been doing with our proper props.
Once we had finished this, we Had lunch and went to do the lighting and tech rehearsal. This is so the tech guys knew what their cues were and the same for Miss Wallbank and Liam Gibson (our sound and light techs. This was quite laborious as it was stop start all the time but that gave the play a real sense of life. At this point we knew the play was coming to life and happening. Especially when the set went up. This, although stressed and hectic made everybody smile. Seeing our set up in the West Yorkshire Playhouse made us feel special.
After we had dinner, we changed into our costumes and went for the voice call. This is where Chris set us all out on stage and warmed up our voices with us by doing a number of different vocal and confidence building activities. We made silly faces to warm up our muscles in our face and then massaged our face. We also put our thumbs on our belly buttons to feel the muscles relaxing and contracting when we exhaled a letter or digraph. These consisted of p, d, s, c, o, t, g, h and b and digraphs of sh, ch, th and gr. Then we said words with the clusters involved. These were words like cougar etc...
Then Chris split the two schools so that half of the two were in the audience and the other half were on stage. Then we had to shout lines from the two scripts to the other group loud. He would then individually work on our diction and volume. As I don't have a line in the play, I used Megan's line: "Got it, Sparkle the dog, my dog sir!" I was told to make sure I pronounce the D's on both the dogs.
Then at 7:00pm we were up! It was time and there was no turning back (of course none of us wanted to!) and we were all excited and nervous all at the same time. Many people became paranoid about forgetting lines and cues etc... but overall it was a fantastic performance. We made one mistake that I noticed and that was that I was the only member of the crew that remembered to take the stairs off and so Tommy and Seb had to help me. The other set crew should have done it but they forgot and by the time they remembered it, it was too late. This didn't matter though because nobody noticed and the fabulous performance and everybodys excitement overruled this error.
We then had a 10 minute interval, then went to watch Castleford High with their performance of 'Too Fast'. I have to admit that 2 actors and their characters carried the perfromance and if it hadn't been for them, the play would have been extremely dull.
Either way everybody had a great time and we were all buzzing all night. This week we get the results back as to who has won the competition and which school is performing at the National Theatre in London. May the best school win... (I hope that's us!!!)

17th May 2011 - Moving the Performance Date

During Period 3 in Miss Woffindens lesson we discussed why we had changed the dates of our TIE performances. We were planning on performing on 4th May but due to training days, illnesses, exams and simply not being ready we extended our deadline to the 14th June.
As for not being ready, this is because we weren't given enough time in relation to lesson rehearsals and gathering props, sorting lighting etc... Also now we have an extended deadline we can book to perform during a class (our's is Year 8's during period 5) where as before we left it too late too short notice.
I am glad that this has happened as it has taught all of us that some things just don't always go the way they were planned to go and appreciate that although this unit is tough and stressful, you really do ave to be on target and work to the best of your abilities in order for things to go as planned and smoothly.
Now we are rehearsing our socks off so that we will be ready to perform naturally and professionally to our slightly unwilling year 8's!!!

17th May - Unit One Final Marks

Today in Mr Truscott's lesson we were told our grade we had achieved for unit one. To get an A you had to get 36 marks. I was rather annoyed with myself, as I recieved 35 Marks. This means I got a B but one mark off an A. I am yet to decide whether to retake the unit again to achieve an A / A*.

10th May - Bertolt Brecht

10th May - Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was born 10 February 1898 and died 14 August 1956. Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director; An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century.
Brecht believed the stage should be brightly lit at all times; special effects to create mood were not allowed. (Logically, he could have allowed it, if accompanied by some device to draw attention to it - such as a statement from a character.) The sources of light should be plainly visible - just as those over a boxing-ring (Brecht's comparison).
The curtain is to be used for the display of titles, captions or comments. Placards may be placed in the auditorium, bearing instructions, such as “Don't stare so romantically” ( from Drums in the Night). The set behind the curtain is suggestive, not realistic; that is to say, while very authentic props may be used, (as, say, Mother Courage's handcart) there will be no elaborate arrangement of these in a naturalistic stage set.
The music, too, must have a visible source - musicians may even be on the stage. Interruptions for songs are announced or indicated by projection of a title, or flags and trumpets will descend from the flies.
In the Epic theatre the sources of light should be visible at all times, as they are, say, in a boxing ring (Brecht's comparison). Lighting should be uniformly bright; effects of colour and dimming are not to be allowed. This is partly explicable in terms of Brecht's taste for simplicity and austerity, partly in terms of his desire to avoid creating emotional effects.

10th May - Lesson Write up - Contracts

10th May - Contracts

In today's lesson we changed the performance deadline we decided to extend the deadline as our performances are not ready to show yet. Our new performance date is Tuesday 14th June during period 5. We are performing to a year 8 drama group as year 8's are our target audience.

We then discussed contracts for a touring theatre company, what is involved in a contract to make the employer and employee understand exactly what is involved and to please them. We then typed out some questions that we thought might be included in a contract and to develop our understanding of contracts we were set to create our own for homework.
These were the questions:

The size of the performance space - How big is the performance space?
Target Audience (suitability), - What is the target audience for the piece? / How suitable is the piece?
Specify Number of viewers, - How many seats does the performance space have? / How many viewers does it hold?
How long have we got to perform? - How long do we have to perform? / Is there a certain time limit?
How much time needed for set up and workshop? Do you have a specific time for set up and or workshop?
Accessibility, - How easy is the access to the performance space? / Do you have any loading bays for set and or props?
Equipment needed, - Do you have ....... (anything you don't wish to take or don't have yourself) eg CD player?
Are the students used to seeing theatre work? - How familiar are the students with the theatre? / Do they know different theatre conventions? / Are they completely knew to the theatre?
Have they ever viewed our companies work before? - Have you ever used our theatre company before? / Have the students ever seen our work before? / If Yes which pieces?
Itinerary - Which goes first; workshop or performance?
We also read a Contract given to the school by Splendid Productions for a previous piece, which school had to fill out in order for the play to go ahead as they had to tour up from London. This involved the legalities and health and safety information. There was also an "I agree" or an "I have read the terms and accept the requirements" which the teacher or member of staff in charge have to sign.

10th May - Props and Costume

10th May
As a group we discussed set, props and costume needed for our piece; we had to decide what was a realistic idea and what wasn't and wouldn't work.

Definite props that we have are:

The dress - To symbolise her tiny figure (focusing on the waist mainly) and to use during the flashback of her anorexic past.

Lectern - For Imogen as the narrator, so it looks like she is really telling the story especially during the flashback.

Clothes Rail - To use as a clothes rail to hang up some clothes including the dress. Also used as a mirror during the flashback scene.

Props we still need to get:

Some form of sweet / chocolaty food - This will be used in the taunting scene to tease Stacey (played by me).

2 Jumpers - Different sizes - 1 Large jumper for Emily (my reflection) to wear and look baggy, another smaller jumper of the same style to look fitted. These jumpers will then be switched during the performance so Emily ends up warning the fitted one and me the baggy one (trying to cover up the characters deteriorating figure).

An underskirt - In Emily's Possession, just need to be brought into school - To try and focus the in on the wait on the dress to make an illusion that it is a lot smaller that it really is (because it is portraying a size 4 dress).

Props we may be using:

Doll and Dress - For Courtney to use at the beginning of the performance to symbolise my character - We may not be doing this scene, therefore we may not need this prop.

The only problem in our group is using the skeleton. We dont want to make it funny and amusing as it is to be informative and serious. We also dont want to make it creepy and make people feel uncomfortable as they are doing us a favour being an sensible audience. Anorexia is a very serious social issue and we want to adress it in a sensitive mature way. We don't want to hit a nerve for one of the members of the audience and need to be responsible and work out what is the best idea with the audience in mind. When using props we need to consider how the actors work with props and interact with them. If they laugh we can then challenge them to this during the workshop. We need to think about the way we enter the room and adapt to the props in a proffesional way.