Fringe entries

Hello and happy Easter all.
Have you seen the entries for your shows in the Fringe brochure?

Props List

Deep Heat - Back Relief Pad

'Happy New Year' banners, Party hooters, 'Happy Millennium' posters etc

Small pair of girls shoes (preferably with Cinderella on)

Wedding Rings X2

Bed

Pop-up tent (bottom cut out)

Grapes

> Baby Oil - Squeezy Bottle

> Flavoured Lube - Squeezy Bottle

> A sofa/soft raised surface (able to fall on)

> A bed/bed-like

> LED Candles

> CD played

> Polaroid Camera

> Red Lipstick

Bedside Table

Portable CD Player

Lamps

Tins of Soup

Wine Bottle

Candle Holder

Box of Matches

Tent

Hand Tourch

A4 Hand Written Poem

Teddy Bear

Lentils

Phone

Digitgal Camara

Glass of Wine

Loaf of Bread

Costume List

Costume List

Baggage

            Mum- Hostial Gown – Found

            Kevin - Suit, Pink Shirt, Black Smart Shoes

            Graham – Chinos, Dark Shirt no tie Trainers

            Sister- Jeans black and white pumps stripy top

Dark Matter

            Girl – Short Shorts, no shoes short sleeve tank top head band

            Boy- Jeans, T-Shirt, Dark Smart Traineers

Meleniumum

            Girl – Spice Girls type dress no shoes

            Boy- Baggy Jeans Band T-shirt (Oasis) flip flops

            Hawian Shirt Waistcoat Trackies Boots

            Combats Trainers Tshirt Dummy Rave Beads

Every Bit

            Jack Hammer – Silk Dressing Gown and Boxers no shoes

            Tinkle Star – Miniskirt BoobTube Slut Heals silk dressing

            Tracy – Tight Dress Slut Heels silk dressing gown

            Suit Shirt Scarf and Smart Shoes

Cumming Up

            Paul – Suit Shirt Smart Shoes

            Dad - Pink Dressing Gown No Shoes

            Son – Black trousers White Shirt School Tie

Little Prince

            2 Primak Cinderella Dresses Size 8 and Shoe 4  Size 12 Dress Shoes 5

            2 Cinderlla Heals

            2 Tiars  

Feedback from 28 - 3

Baggage

Radley – brought a positive presence to the scene, some attribute as well

R – What do you feel about Graham still living with his mum? Jealous? Annoyed?

R – Lets see more pure anger in your voice when you come back on, having a go at the NHS

Dark Matter

Alex – Try and stop blinking as much, control it. After Paiges “So you are a stalker”, then you say “yes”, realise that double meaning of the word. It’s really great that you have brought back the more stalky and un-normal element of the character. I think you character is really great; i think that it can definitely be developed more though.

Paige – When you are sitting next to Alex and he is talking AT you then, open your body up and show the audience, at the moment you are very closed off and we cannot see your whole face, let-alone body. “Right now...i really can’t be arsed, i want to go to the park”.  When say, “im a pirate”, i think you need to be more taking the piss out of him and the game and “Somalia”. You need to be more ‘weirded’ out by the fact that your boyfriend, a fully-formed adult male is asking you to play a weird game with him. I think that your first thoughts are that its going to be a crazy sex game.

Millennium

Shaun – You brought a fantastic energy to the scene, you need to work on your stamina so that you can keep it up. The “horse fucking” mini-monologue was fantastic; the pause is really brilliant in that!

Antonio – You need to have much more energy in your character, you have taken more than twice the amount of pills as Shaun’s character but yet, you are not even half as energetic.

Every Bit of my Love

Radley – The character and voice are both brilliant, just make sure that when you are speaking quickly, your diction is still clear and precise.

Yiannis and Radley  – Your energy at the beginning of the scene is really fantastic, i know its an extremely demanding peice but to pull it if you need to make sure that you are keeping the energy throughout.

Catia – You need to work on your ‘s’ sounds, work on tongue twister and diction exercises

Y – The kissing of Catias hand is really brilliant and comical

R – I like the fact that when Yiannis is talking about Laticia and ignoring you, the childishness really comes through well, i want to see more of it though, really milk it

Nicole – You have absolutely nailed your character, a really fantastic and bold choice. The times that you play the childish energy is really well done.

Nicole - do not forget to pick up the rucksack on your way to go and get changed

Catia – when you kiss radley the second time, ‘pop’ your leg

Coming Up

Shaun and Antonio – You two need to be more secure with your lines, the scene will flow much better. You need to spend time running through the scene, over and over and over it.

S – i like the fact that you are playing the anxiety to introduce Paul to your son

S – Your character has really come on a lot, your worked on maturing your character, it really shows

A – You need to work on your diction, you also need to work on making your character younger looking, younger sounding and younger acting.

Yiannis – Your character is great. Id like you to camp it up a bit more though, stereotype the campness.

28/3

Hey guys, I'm very sorry for leaving early today and not being able to participate in the run. I'm finding baggage very hard to perform because of recent circumstances. Hopefully after the break I should be able to separate my personal feelings towards the piece and perform to my fullest ability without wanting to cry! Again, I cannot apologise enough. Normally I would try to leave those emotions at the door but I haven't had time to sift through everything that is happening at once to carry on as usual and assign time to deal with those emotions. Please let me know if there is anything that has been added/taken away. I will hopefully be able to attend during the holidays, however, I need to get myself back to normal and start filming for the unit 9 presentation and annotate my script further. If someone could post times of the holiday rehearsal, that would be much appreciated. Have a good rest of the day and I'll be back even better :)

Unit 10 company rules

- punctuality 100%
- give 100% at all times
- use your time wisely
- respect rehearsal space
- respect others
- be respectfully honest
- don't be afraid to try new things
- enjoy yourself
- try to leave personal problems outside the professional area

Signed: all of us

Plan for 28 - 3

Blacks are essential tomorrow guys, please!
Please also BRING any costume, sound or prop ideas, i (and the production team) would really appreciate any and all contributions, no matter how vague or ambitious.
We are in Studio 4 tomorrow and will be there from 10 - 4! Please don't be late or leave early! We have 3 official, full days of rehearsals left before our show, lets try and get a full cast for all of them, all the time.
Thanks very much, see you tomorrow morning!!

Every bit of my love

Through talking to Steve earlier and discussing new ideas I feel that 'every bit...' Is going to have a new lease of energy tomorrow with the new blocking in place, this allows us to progress our comedia del arte stock characters. It's allowed me to find my character more and develop the comedy within the piece.

Feedback 27-3

Baggage

The whole scene has fallen back to how it was previously, no improvement from yesterday

Blade – You need to carry on speaking until Gwen cuts you off

B – You need to work on your lines, you will grow in confidence with the character when you are 100% on top of your lines

Gwen – work on the way that you are saying your lines; try not to be as monotone as you are

G+R – Great pace and speed with the “Paris” section, needs to be like that a lot more

B – When you are giving him the sandwich, try and not act as strong as you are, you are scared of him; will he hit you for getting him Chicken Tikka

B – Bring your voice down to a lower pitch

B – when you are sitting next to Kev, cross your legs and face away

G – when you are running to Kev, you look at your mum when you walk past and open out

R – you fiddle with your jacket when you get emotional, not just sad, but anger too, try and be aware of that

R – At the end, hold mums hand, its about her, not you. Stare into her eyes

All, hold the ending, carry on acting till you get the applause or someone calls stop

Coming Up

Antonio + Shaun – Need to work with tongue twisters, on diction!! Its very important

S – Need to slow down with your lines

A – Need to work on your lines, make sure that you are confident with your lines, hopefully you will be more confident on stage when you know your lines

A – “Is it” need to be less of a question and more of a statement and a longer pause between the first and second “is it”

S – Watch

It is not a very strong scene, the connection between the pair of you needs A LOT of work, but, it is beginning to come together.

Millenium

Frost + Gwen – Need to work on connection between you two. Are you in love? Have you had sex? How long have you been together? Have either of you ever cheated?

Shaun – Need to try some different things with your character, try being tired and slow

Antonio – The line is “Strong aren’t they? I could see....”

A – Need to work on your presence when you come on stage, need to have a lot bigger character and completely own the stage

S – Really need to work on the speed that you are speaking and your diction is extremely important

G – At the end, need to work on the pauses, need to make sure that its extremely powerful and it fulfils its potential for a moment

Every Bit

Yiannis – Can definitely afford to be bigger with your character

Radley – Put the script in your pocket when you are not using it

R – Use fingers and hands to signify The Machines penis

R – need to work on the “Got it” after “selection of vibrators”; its a ridiculous conversation to be having, but for you it is normal talk, thats why its funny!!

Y – Well done with impersonating Radley, its good, its funny now be more confident with it!

Catia – need to work on your diction and the pace that you are speaking, be more clear with your speech and slow it down

C – You have got a lot better when you are having a go at Ian

C – Let George finish line “have you two worked before”

Y – work on the accent, it was better when you did it at the start

Y – “Have you finished with the baby oil” X2 missed

Nicole – Played the part differently this time, i like what you done with it, i want to see more. But bring back the innocence!

Y - When you are saying ‘Hi’ to Twinckle, kiss her all the way up the arm

C – The sexy bit works well, still needs work though and you need to speak up

R+C – When you are hugging at the end, i couldn’t see Radley, Catia needs to open up

N – Lost your enthusiasm and energy at the end

Dark Matter

Its changed quite a bit, its like you both have different motivations, different energys and different emotions

Paige – I need to see much more maturity, age and control over Alex. You need to stay in character throughout the scene, you need to concentrate and give every rehearsal your all. You seem to have lost your character, peeked too early maybe?

Alex – You seem like you are now playing a ‘normal’ and ‘average’ man. The reason that you were cast in this role is because you bring something different to the part, bring it back a little. To ask your girlfriend to play a game, is not a normal thing to ask your girlfriend. Bring back the weirdness, stalkerness

P + A – I think that you two need to play the age more, try looking at/thinking about couples in TV series’/programmes/films that you think compliment your characters. The scene needs a lot more energy and enthusiasm, it has not gone from one of the strongest scenes with some of the best characterisation and strong actors to now boring and dull and i just wanted it to finish as soon as possible. It is not meant to be a funny scene!!

Monologue

Samantha – You need to get the hair out of your face, your facial expressions have come on leaps and bounds.

Sophie – I want to see a more drastic difference between your feelings and emotions, i want to see times when you have moments of uncontrollable emotion, whether it is anger, sad or drastic depression.

S + S – We need to work on this peice and we will spend time, lots of time investigating different ways that we can develop different emotions and characterisations.

S + S – There were some beautiful moments, some fantastic freeze frames, need to work on the pauses more. I will explain the staging to you and then we can work on how we can develop the piece using it. We need moments when you are both doing the same thing with movement but showing totally different facial expression.

Note to all!! Think about the footwear that you are wearing! If you are wearing heels then you should be wearing heels.

feedback on directing

As you are all getting specific acting notes, please contribute to feeding back to steven.

• good note-taking on blog and in my observation supportive of actors and their processes.
• make sure you are watching who is wanting to contribute to discussion.
• even jovially, beware of phrases such as 'shut up'.
• i quite agree that absence needs to influence the process and decisions; negotiate with the group what this might mean practically.
• how do your collegues respond to the feedback? especially when different people feedback and may have contrasting views. when is the time to read the notes, to respond to them and how do they use them or filter them?
• what kind of work do you all want to make? what shared references, shows, reading are you doing as a group to share a particular vision?
• whose working processes inspire you as a group, what are the company rules, ethic and and collaborative models?
• which directors inspire you? you need to share with the group.
• consider how you use the space; at the moment, you are the only one on a chair (and me as observer). Is this the best way to facilitate a discussion? Not saying it is or not, but question it.
• how much work do you want your audience to do? are you giving them enough gaps to fill in? are you leaving enough to their imaginations?
• my main note for steve and for the rest of the group; what is informing your opinions? it may not have been evident this morning but possibly more shared research needs to be done to enrich the sophistication of your interpretations. What are the dramaturgical principles you are using. What is dramaturgy???

Last one: recommend that you all spend some time to discussing collaborative models; 

if you each drew a diagram of how your collaboration looks, would they be very different?

Feedback Unit 10 Run 26/3 morning

Baggage

Blade – Try and lower the tone of your voice
Gwen – Try putting your hair up, we are missing your face
B+G – At the beginning, before Kevs entrance the lines need to run a lot quicker, smoother and fluidly
B – When talking about Ryanair and BA, you need to focus less on that grape and more on your lines
Radley – You brought an air of confidence to the scene
R – Try not to make such noise with the paper
B – When you say “as long as it takes”, what do you mean?
G – “I didn’t think he’d get here so late” what do you mean?
B+R – The bit towards the end when you are having a go at eachother was not strong enough, there needs to be more feeling and emotion it the words
R – the bit at the end when you have been ‘defeated’ and went to sit next to mum was beautiful, i just think that you need to move closer to your mum
B – Hold the ending till you get the applause or the lights go out, do not loose character

Millenium

Frost – Your character has come on leaps and bounds, you’ve got to give that to every run-through from now on
Gwen – Need to be more confident with your lines and then you will be quicker and react quicker to what is being said
F – Need to react to the slap that Joey gave you, it hurt
G+F – Need to see more of a connection
Shaun – I like what you did with the character throughout, but i need to see it more, play with the character, lets see something different, try; Sleepy, Lazy, Extra Hyper, Suicidal etc

Coming Up

Shaun – Characterisation are great, coming on leaps and bounds
Antonio – need to get off script, need to be more confident with your lines and work on your character
S – Would on your diction, its great that you are 100% with your lines, we now need to hear 100% of your lines, you are mumbling a lot
Yiannis – Your presence when you came on stage was brilliant, make sure that you keep that campness there, and keep the characterisations, make sure that it stays strong

Every Bit of my Love

Radley – Lets bring it back to East End of London
R+Y – It was brilliant when it’s just you two, at the beginning, but to make it stronger, you need to make sure that the ENERGY is there throughout, let’s make everything crazy OTT!!!!
Catia – Work on your diction, make sure that we can understand every word of what you are saying
Catia – Lets try the scene in some sexy clothes, i think itll give you something to work with
Radley – The Script is holding you back, roll it up and put it in your pocket
Paige – “Ive been looking forward to working with you” make it obvious that you are talking about his arm
Y - Wear a scalf for your character, it will work!!
Y – The more kisses that you give Twinkle and Laticia, the funnier it will be BUT, be confident giving them, otherwise it looks awkward
C – When you are being sexy, speak louder, walk slower and touch him everywhere
P – You came on wayyyyy too early, the two need to kiss
Y – That’s some beautiful reaction to the fact that those two are in love is great

Monologue

I want to see more of a connection between you two, like the connection goes deeper than blood, friendship, it needs to be an unbreakable bond that you cannot describe or understand.

Samantha - I want to see more evilness in your eyes when you are saying “i didn’t like one of the princesses” don’t open our mouth that with.

Sophie - Bring your head up, as an audience member; i want to see your face. “Andys Crying” Say it monotone as an ‘evil shadow’.

Dark Matter

Alex - I want to see you play the line “limitless” a lot more, its, maybe, the strongest word in the scene. “No, no, you are lost...” you need to put your foot down and take some control back. She has taken control of your game that you wanted to play. When you are looking at Paige in the ‘creepy way’ keep your concentration, look directly into her eyes. The two of you need to practise the slap.

Paige - Be more confident with the lines, we need to bring back the connection that you two have had in the past, i think that we have lost it because you have lost some of your lines at the beginning. So, you are a stalker”, i want to hear the word stalker a lot more, its a funny line, lets play with it much more. Lets work on the ending, i feel like it could be a lot stronger.



Note to all, do not enter or exit the room when a scene is being played out. During a run, you should either be rehearsing your lines individually/in pairs/in groups or you should be in the room, quietly watching or taking constructive notes for our piers.

Feedback from Dan

Guys, some of this feedback may be personal to yourselves as actors while some of it will be directorial issues for Steven: please sift through as appropriate!

Baggage

G - "Nostradamus?" More that you don't understand his relevance, not that you don't know who he is.

G - why ask time with a phone in your hand?

G - "well why don't you TELL him?" not "well why don't YOU tell him?"

B - business with sniffing the grapes? Unsure about the relevance of this.

R - wait for Blade to nearly be out the door before asking for a coffee.

B&R - when discussing going to the bistro without G, have the discussion with B SL of R so that R's lines don't appear directed towards G.

R - let "fucking thing!" sort of cut into B's "how?": this will give you a reason to not answer him.

R - your dismissiveness of your mother is too much at the moment: you're coming across as hating her when in fact the reasoning behind your apparent indifference towards her is that you don't know how to cope with her illness. We need to see this inner conflict otherwise your sudden outburst comes out of nowhere and doesn't make sense.

G - your vocal quality stays more or less the same throughout: we need to see a difference between the way you speak to B, your mother and especially your argument with.

G - "we don't have to, they're letting us stay." This is a big line, a euphemism for the fact that your mother is probably going to die that night.

Millennium

George - "I'm only joking!" let this be a reaction to Gwen's reaction: your character believed in his poem and is genuinely gutted that Gwen doesn't like it. A brief pause before the line will convey this.

S - watch your diction in the 'horse-fucking' bit: the pace is good and energetic but we still need to hear every word.

George - "the deeper they are, the less noise we make..." Don't trail off unsure: your character has the conviction that everything he says is profound.

Gwen - "what?" This line isn't making sense at the moment, I think because your character might in fact agree with George's summation of the situation. Play around with it, try saying it in different ways until it feels right.

Coming Up

S - your initial distress at A's arrival is too obvious: it's not believable that you're trying to hide it nor that he wouldn't see straight through you immediately! Try and show more subtlety in these opening exchanges: perhaps more physical agitation than vocal?

A - more stroppy that S won't lend you £20. "I'm gonna look like a dick!": think Harry Enfield in Kevin & Perry sketches.

S - again, more subtlety is required when convincing A that you and Y work together: your behaviour is far too affected at the moment.

Y - need you sit in so camp a fashion? It's a bit obvious.

S - when A asks where Ben is, we need to see you cack yourself (figuratively speaking): you realise you've been rumbled! More devastation as well when he outs you: this is a huge moment in your life!

Every Bit of my Love

Y - wear a scarf and pretentiously fling it over your shoulder periodically.

R - "and go by my real name [PAUSE FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT] Ian Mead."

Y - "I've never seen anything like it": your phallic gesture is too obvious, just let the audience imagine what you're referring to instead!

R - "tools?" Less concerned, more curious: nothing much can shock your character as he's done it all before!

Y- "until you and the Machine..." Again, let the audience guess what acts you're referring to rather than spell it out with physical gesture.

Y - your accent you put on to say the end line of your script is causing us to lose a lot of the words! Be aware of this.

K - be more blasé with your entrance, it's all just standard for you: you've effectively just been called into work for an extra shift.

Note - Sam is referred to as 'he' but is voiced by Paige! A male voice would be more appropriate.

K - we want to see a clear distinction between Tracy's real personality with R and the affected 'luvvie' who smarms up to Y.

Y - when on phone to Twinkle Star, be speaking in your character's affectedly 'luvvie' voice: you're genuinely excited by her imminent arrival!

P - "is that all you've got?" More faux-dramatic.

K - walk in on the two others and make it clear that you're aware of who P is: that way, the line about her doing your make-up can come across as even more bitchy.

P - the gesture that accompanies "Twinkle Star" doesn't sit well with the shy, retiring character you've created. Maybe cut it?

Monologue

We're not seeing the dark undertones early enough. You've already been caught and are trying to explain what happened: the smiling little girl talking about Cinderella doesn't sit well with what's coming. The levity is okay but needs to come from the girl's nervousness and fear rather than recollection of fond memories. It's a subtle difference but one that is necessary to implement for the piece to work as a whole. You can really play with the language, make the audience feel uncomfortable throughout as they piece together the fact that something rather unsavoury has occurred.

We need a reason for this to be spoken by two people: the difference between Sam and Sophie has been lost a little so you need to rediscover this.

Dark Matter

A - what are you doing while P is on the phone? Maybe you could walk in at the end of her conversation.

A - "I, I, I, I": too many 'I's in the opening exchanges!

P - make a decision as to precisely when you realise that something is seriously up with A: your character may discover the severity of this in stages throughout the piece.

A - "at this point in history..." Don't stand up then sit back down just ten seconds later: it makes the audience think that you as an actor haven't made a clear decision! Let your character's increasing agitation surface in other ways, physically or vocally.

A - longer pause before "should I start?" This will telegraph the fact that you're starting because P struggles with the exercise.

A - "this is stupid!" Where are you walking to and to do what?

P - more playful with lines such as "you should be [a sex offender] because you look like one" and the 'hunter/stalker' exchanges.

A - more hatred I'm your eyes when P pushes back into you.

P - when A says "not strong enough, am I" perhaps you become genuinely scared for the first time?

vanessa notes 23/3

Dark Matter

• where are you? looks like a waiting room
• again, need for real activity?

• WHAT IF, link to all scenes was they were all the hospital?
• alex, a little more convincing of her, you need to seduce her into playing this game perhaps?
• don;t laugh at me; could be a little more significant moment; subtle suggestion of another side. then back to the game.
• paige. how are you feeling about the hammer bit?
• what was the struggle? half joking? it needs to stay light doens't it?
• she had the power all along? so maybe she doesn't leave at the end? 

vanessa notes 23/3/13

monologue

• beginning too emotive; consider not so much emotion to start with so that it an be more powerful.
• where are you and what are you doing?
• consider not playing it childlike; maybe you are grown up women; it might be more effective. or having just few moments of return to childhood.
• effective interaction but a little unsteady movement; needs some stillness and specific movement rather than shuffling
• dad or dan?
• the hand movement a little cliche? maybe a more naturalistic holding hand and walking off. potential for real moment there.
• samanth a more dispassionate confession might be more effective
• again, more switching from description as adults to mum... don't..
• 
  

vanessa notes 23/3

every bit of my love

• yiannis are you parodying the character? then all the acting could be of same style. if not, really mean it that this is art.
• maybe it is a parody to the audience of how good actors you are.
• in that case, radley's ' maybe it is' (your moment ) is another try to pull focus and show audience he is better actor?
• is this a fly on the wall documentary?
• is the acting as big when rehearsing the scenes? some contrast needed perhaps. maybe you are good actors when acting in the film? or the other way round? some sharp change would be interesting and layer the piece.
• meeting between ian and tracy; give it longer if it's such a big shock
• tracy how do you feel about seeing him there? did you know he was there? is this planned to force a decision from him?
• i think it's a bluff by tracy and she never meant to go through with it?
• again when yiannis on the phone, chance to change the acting and suggest another layer to reality.
• Radley what moment made you give it all up? what image put you off the whole thing ? play it a little more.
• 
  

vanessa notes 23/3

Coming Up

• dont' signal too much that you don't want him there.
• what do you do antonio when you come in? tv? games, food.... probably wouldnt just sit there looking at dad.
• funny if shaun was same character too? few years later? conceived that night? with gwen who was wearing the dressing gown?
• do people really look at each other all the time when they are talking? need for real activities overall possibly?
• your name's not paul; careful of the intonation.
• 
  

vanessa notes Millenium

• is gwen the same character in millenium after baggage? worth exploring? same person, different situtation?
• george, don't need to do as much; why so hyper? more seductive perhaps? why are you standing both? where are you, not clear
• have you taken something? what? 
• make the poem more romantic? so more of an anti climax
• look for the tent then, don't just say it.
• games to be played with tent? where is it? is it set up somewhere?
• gwen do you like him at all? 
• good slap! why, give it more of a moment?
• gwen do you like yiannis?
• are you waiting for a kiss from him at countdown?
• yiannis are you still high before you go?
• do you decide to stay with george because yiannis didnt kiss you and left? but then he turns you down too?

Vanessa notes baggage

Baggage

• Blade; why are you sharing the news? what is the objective?
• might be interesting if you never look up from the paper? maybe you never want to look at mum?
• Is there some comedy to be explored with what you are actually doing to mum? We can see taht you are always changing the pillows.
• about the head - are you really arguing about who will have to look after mum?
• is that why mum coughs?
• blade - why are grapes so weird?
• blade - don't lose status so quickly when kevin comes in. maybe you can still be top dog? eating the grapes confidently adn not liking them trumps him.
• games to be played possibly with who takes the paper.
• more things for gwen to do? 
• hold mum's hand?
• is gwen imagining that mum is talking to have something to do?
• more black comedy to explore with the lying down mum?
• when kevin goes, blade you can take over as top dog.
• explore the silences more?
• is gwen making up what mother says again? does she interpret gestures or coughs or do we see mum sitting up doing nothing and gwen thinks she is?
• where does more private come from? who else is there we haven't see anyone. others in scene? just other sounds? audience? sounds of other tv's?
• 
  
• when radley moves to go, ackward pace; either go and they stop you or don't move like you're going.
• should Gwen really lose it when talking about how long she's been there to kevin? she has been so nicey and attentive maybe she's had enough.
• not enough of an outburst for kevin to then feel sorry
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Feedback Unit 10 Run 25/3

Baggage

Radley – Brought an instant flair, confidence and enthusiasm to the part

Gwen – need to make sure that you are cutting him off when needed

R – Lost the enthusiasm within a minute

R  – Reaction to hearing ‘Kevin’ very good!

G – More surprised at Grahams response “she should be glad...

Blade – need to be more confident in the part of Kevin, he is the BIG MAN, absolutely loves himself

R – Good and still trying to keep up beat, even though scared of Kev, very good scared acting!

B – When you came on, you were looking at mum, the line “aren’t you going to look at mum” doesn’t make sense

B – Surprise at “2 years”

R – Don’t forget that we play the line “talk about pissing your money away”

R – You should be thinking “i bought you that sandwich, you ungrateful bastard”

B – We need to see much more aggression in the part of Kevin

R – You have something on him, you know something he doesn’t, your mum is dying

R- Really good at the changing of seats

R – “I fucking am” was brilliant

R – The scared of him was good but it got quite samey after about 10 mins, i wanted to see something, like anxiety, aggression or even pure anger

G – need to see much more of the fact that you are extremely doting on your mum, much more care and anxiety at the fact that she is DYING!!!! VERTUALLY DEAD!!!!!!!!

B – I lost all the confidence in the part of Kevin, you played him quite static. He is a big ball of anger.

R – After the “always been a prick” i wanted you to go to your mum and sit in ‘his’ chair

G – We lost all the anger at the end, very quite monotone, need to work really hard on your line and make sure that you are 100%

R – Very good acting which the other 2 are bickering! Play the “I helped as well” as a joke, lighten the mood

B – “Thats my mum there” is an incredibly powerful line and we lost it

R + B – The “sandwich” lines at the were very good

Overall, it is a poor scene that needs a lot of work! How can i help you? Please give me some honest, constructive ideas and i can create and develop some exercises for it!

Millennium

Frost – I need to see love and lust in your eyes for Joey

F – Your enthusiasm and energy is really good, i want to see it even more

Gwen – Your face when he is squeezing you is very good

Shaun – Your entrance needs to be MUCH bigger, your energy and enthusiasm needs to be 10 times bigger, at the moment Ewan is bigger than you

G – I couldn’t see Joey in the part; it was very much like Gwen. We need to do a lot of character development for you.

F – “River” line, beautiful

G – Slap was brilliant, maybe even bigger

F – Don’t forget your face, it hurts, its not just physical pain, she has broken your heart by slapping you!

Yiannis – Enthusiasm and energy got totally lost, virtually didn’t exist

G – need to be attracted to whoever you kiss later on in the scene, there needs to be some prep work!!

Y – “Shagged your sister” was funny, very well done!!

F – Lost all the work that we done on the “Youve got something on your face line”, it was nowhere near as strong as it should/could be!

Overall, the scene is not even nearly as good as it could be! The text needs to flow quicker, more fluidly and the comedy needs to be played a lot more.

Energy in that scene is extremely important, without it, the scene completely flops.

Dark matter

Radley – Beautiful acting at the start, complete focus, concentration and didn’t drop character at all!

R- You played it without the feebleness, you were a stronger and more powerful character that Amy

Paige – need to take more power and control

P – Do not look at his script, it breaks character and ruins it for a matter of seconds.

R – You played it with strength, i wanted you to grab her, hold onto her and MAKE her listen to you

R – “Deepest darkest fantasy” line, when you looked out, it was great.

R – The slap needs to be harder and bigger

P – Same criticism as the slap

P + R – I missed the touching, you two are a couple, there would be touching, even a little.

P + R – The connection between you two is brilliant, the power struggle between them, the fact that at one point he was very obviously in control of her but a second of two later, the table completely turn

Overall, the scene is strong. The connection between the two of you is very good, strong but not quite strong enough. I like what the both of you done with the changing of power BUT i think that it needs to be much more dramatic.

Energy and characterisations in the scene need a LOT of work.

Every bit

Yiannis – You have lost the accent and the energy!! You have lost the enthusiasm for your film.

Alex – Well done for going for the accent! It is a great idea, i think that an accent will work, not that one though!

A – Your energy was fantastic, as an audience member, i was feeding off of it!

A – There was not enough acting while you were not speaking, your reactions great

Y – I really wanted you to do an Irish Accent when you did the final line at the beginning

A – When it was just you on stage, it was funny but i didn’t see your face once, need to bring your head up

Catia – You need to take more control of Ian, especially when you are having a go at him

Y + C – When it is just the two of you, the scene completely flops, there is no energy

Sophie – I am really disappointed that you were not even willing to give that part a go

Nicole – You need to push yourself with the part more, give it more sexiness and pure sex appeal

A – You need to be a lot more in control of Twinkle Star, using your hands, touching her and controlling her.

C – When you are Tracy/Latisia, id like you to please play Tracy with a Portugese Accent and Latisia as RP

Paige – there was not enough movement, very static except the end of your little sexy mini-monologue

Overall, was not as strong as it has been. The characteristics from all were not up to par, it is a very well-written. Funny and comedic but the comedy timing, enthusiasm and energy were lacking. Each of the characters need to work on characterisations, lines and development.

Coming up

Shaun – Your character has come on leaps and bounds. I like what you have done with the part, i need to see more

S – On the “Look chris” line, go and sit next to him

S – Need to get your hair sorted, make sure that it is out of your face

S – Need to work on your lines loads!!

Yiannis – Your first entrance was good, it stole the scene!

S – Need to come out from behind Ben, completely lost sight of you

Y – Good characterisations need to concentrate though, don’t let your eyes wonder

S – Make sure that you bring out the masculinity towards the end from the line “i wish i was your age”

S – Dont loose character, concentrate on every word, every line and every emotion.

S – What are your emotions? What do you want to achieve?

G – Very good, thank you for filling in, please learn the lines!

Overall, it is a weak scene; Yiannis has the strongest characterisation and the least lines. Shaun, please make sure that you are 100% on your lines.

Monologue

Samantha – I could see all the emotions in your face and voice, really very impressive, I’d like to see you physicalise the words more. I really want to hear your breathe, use the breathe, it could be extremely strong. It’s really fantastic that you know the whole monologue, i would see that you had were thinking about what Nicole was saying, the thought process was really brilliant.

Nicole, you gave us a totally different take on the character, completely opposing what Samantha’s way of doing it, you really complimented what she was doing. I would have liked to have seen your eyes much MUCH more, you need to bring your head up when you read, when you were not talking it was great, the acting off speech was great. You were using your breath and it worked very well.

Example of infographic

http://pinterest.com/pin/524739794052947741/

Every Bit of my Love

As part of character development I today asked all the actors in Every Bit of my Love to look into Commedia Del Arte Stock Characters, try and relate one of the stock characters to their part in the play, then research that particular stock character of their choosing. This will help develop the comedy in the scene while also contrasting again all other elements of the show.
Here is a website that I have found which has a list most of the stock character in Commedia with a little bit of detail on each.

http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa110800b.htm

I would recommend that each of the actors pick and them research the one stock character which best suits their individual part in the play!

what was discussed in the production meeting

Production meeting

· raised staging x3 sparadicaly around the theatre space. As one idea, by next week there will ne a ground plan maybe by monday.

Raised stage to about a foot and a half.

ASk about costumes by next week!

Get some time on the theatre space by next week TBC

Prop list will be sent to the production team. Currently about half of the props we have written down. By the end of tomorow

Thursday and friday shows? Possibly wednesday TBC only three show probably. Thursday evening open doors to public.

Sound we be drafted and sent by the end of the tomorow at the lastest.

Monday morning will be descussing sound when at where we will confirm. first 10am and then 1pm lighting meeting

Programs wil be sent to mary from steven

Second production meeting is on next thursday at 1

Evenings ticketed priced matane not.

Open bar would be nice. TBC

Rehearsal scheduale for easter half term. TBC

Length of My Love suggestion

For the cast of 'Length of My Love', I wondered if 'Flesh Gordon' would be handy for getting some character tips. It is a 1974 porn spoof of Flash Gordon that I accidently came across when I was younger (I bought it thinking it was Flash Gordon comedy).
Seems to be the style is something you're heading towards.
Anyway here's the link to the trailer: Please note this film is X-rated!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQSK16DsF64

There isn't really much acting in the trailer, it just gives you a flavour of the style. Other clips are available to watch on youtube.

REMINDER!!

Hey everyone just a reminder of what Steven asked us to get for tomorrow morning.

• one headshot of yourself black and white and colour
• biography about yourself ( projects you've done,what you wanna do when you leave and what you have enjoyed about the course )

All of this need to be email to him by TOMORROW!

stevenwood93@hotmail.co.uk

MONDAY 25th MARCH - ROOMING

Hi there! Due to an incoming workshop for another pathway, we have released studio 9, and taken up some Ivybrook Space.

This means that on MONDAY 25TH MARCH you can choose from Studio 7 and 8 at Durrington, and the smaller studio at Ivybrook.

Please do let me know by Friday March 22nd what your choices are,

Best wishes,

Lisa.

show this week

Hi all,

Our production of 'a new brain' is on in the theatre this Wednesday and Thursday 230 and 730. It's a one act show of an hour and a half which is both funny and heartwarming! There's only 8 cast members so we would really appreciate the support if you can pass this onto your students please,

Thanks,

Keryie Vickers

well done

Well done all for another successful commission completed. you did well once again. I will pass on any feedback from shoreham as soon as i get it.

Jo Loader suggested that you and your production team consider an in the round staging for unit 10. It would be a new challenge for you and for them.
I will send them the scripts so that they can have a look and come up with ideas too and hopefully visit on Tuesday.

Well done again, have a great weekend

FYI all, we have sent the following to the box office to assist them in early promo work for your show. You will need to follow up with poster and programme stuff in your production meetings.

Unit 10 Blurb

“CONTEMPORARY CUTS”

Final year Acting students tackle new material, freshly premiered at the Soho theatre this February-whose website describes it as

“Critically acclaimed and award-winning, Steven Hevey’s writing is stylish and explosive in its emotional truth and honesty. Described by London Evening Standard as “a talent worth watching”, his plays hit home with dramatic sharpness, dark humour and scorching wit.”

Two even newer pieces are also treated as part of this invite only performance – multiple pieces packed into just one hour – the cutting edge of contemporary! Contact the box-office for your invitation.

Production Meetings

Good Afternoon All,

Due to the short time frame and demands of other productions that the team are in the theater over the next two weeks

The only available times for other to have production meetings are

Wednesday 20th March at 12:00 in the production room.
and the final meeting will be the week after
Thursday 28th March at 12:00 also in the production meeting

Vanessa has been sent a copy of the agenda for the meeting, also if you could send along some representatives it would be much appreciated.

Points of meeting with performers on Monday are as follows-

• 45 minutes - an hour long play.
• Based around the works of Stephen Heviy.
• They are going to perform 6 of his short plays.
• Rehearsals will primarily be Tuesday and Thursday at Ivybrook (To be confirmed by SM).
• Steve as co-director will be representative an Production Meetings.
• Script should be given to us by the end of Wednesday of this week.

Regards

Alec Jordan
PM
07813186949
alec@alecjordan.co.uk

Unit 10 Millenium script

I've been searching for millenium or new year party celebrations and found only one that would be suitable. It is about 13 minutes long but can be looped and mixed etc however the sound probably wouldn't be clear enough for the stage so I think recordings will have to be made of people chatting and laughing etc and then mix that with music. Does the party music have to be composed? Will it be copyright to use chart music? We could ask the music department to make some simple dance tracks and what about Auld Lang Syne? 12am clock chimes are easy to do and I'm happy to mix all these! Opinions?

Feedback from Scratch

Here is the full feedback from each of the cast members and myself from the Scratch night performance at Upstairs at the 3 and 10

Scratch Night

Upstairs at three and ten
- Many thought Peter was a virgin, needs to be made more clear that he isn’t and that he is just naïve and innocent. Peter appeared younger, like a teenager, he needs to seem older, early 20’s, have moments of maturity.
- It was clear that Thursday just wanted to have sex with Peter, but does she have any other aims?
- Antonio needs to slow down on his lines, it’s not a race.
- The characters were clear.
- In the gym scene, Dan needs to appear more out of breath when lifting the weights to make it more naturalistic.
- There was a good balance of naturalistic and non naturalistic within the scenes and monologue. Would have been good to have a breakup of the naturalistic scenes , having the contrasting non naturalistic scenes slotted in between.
- Need a good, strong lighting plan, and light changes needed to be cleaner and smooth. The red lights worked to change the atmosphere.
- Relationships between the characters, relate to skins characters Tony and Sid from series 1 & 2, for Peter and Dan relationship.
- Trust the script, work with the words and characters.
- Work on reactions to speech between characters, relationships and status. Use subtlety to allow to show what’s happening i.e. gesture,  without it being obvious and literal.
- Use all the space. We limited ourselves to a very narrow space on the stage. Try other audience layouts, entrances and exits could be used anywhere in the room. Work harder in terms of projection and diction, if we try other layouts and spaces this will help challenge this and bring it out better.
- The music went well with the scenes instead of creating the contrast you wanted to. Play around with the music and mood of the scenes more.
- Peter has POTENTIAL.
 A:- Yes, however make the power more subtle, play with the power that Thursday has, more flirtatious yet play with his mind. When he puts his hand on Thursday’s knee, enjoy it a little, lead him on, and then push him away, a last minute mind change.
A:- Don’t need to, it can be played off Peter with him giving her more status by being scared, nervous and innocent. Giving Thursday the power; ‘A king doesn’t play a king, the servants make him a king’
A:- Play on Thursdays Jekyll and Hyde side more, subtle yet obvious. Make her mood changes stronger and clearer. Make the audience surprised with her mood change, not just the character she is playing against.
Scratch night
lT � T e 7 ��5 ich was added in was not juxtaposing the scene itself, the music seemed to blend in with what was going on. It would need something completely the other way round in order for it to be juxtaposing. The moments which were meant to be funny were either too late or not brought out by the characters enough and at time it wasn’t funny because we were trying to force it out. There needs to be a balance and allow the words to speak for themselves in order to be funny.  

Our scratch night took place on 28^th February at the venue in which we will be performing at for the Brighton Fringe Festival in May. I think this was a great opportunity to explore the venue in terms of space on the stage, sound system and lighting that was available to us to use. Our get in time was at 1pm which gave us plenty of time to tech our pieces and rehearse in the space. It was also good to check out backstage, such as how much room we had to get on and off the stage, how noisy the floor was, how much room we had to get changed and see what the dressing room was like. The verdict of this was very cramped!

I feel our performance went well, and felt really excited to perform it. I feel we could have practised our quick changes more in the space as it was hard when other people were moving about backstage too. After our performance we sat down in groups to receive feedback from our audience.

OUR FEEDBACK:- From AUDIENCE

- The humour and comedy throughout the piece was good, it was non slapstick and there was a good balance of drama and comedy. Sometimes play against the comedic moments to create contrast.

The questions I put together to be asked at Scratch:-

Q1:- Can you see the status that Peter gives Thursday and how can it be greater?

Q2:- How can I develop my character in terms of a raw, animalistic sex appeal?

Q3:- Thursday has two sides to her, can you notice this, and would you like to see more ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ characteristics, if so, how?

My own feedback on performance:-

I feel the performance went well, but there were moments within where I found certain things should have been tidier and smoother. The entrances and exits on stage need to be worked in so they feel more natural, as I felt I should have had more purpose to enter and leave the stage. However I think this will come easier when we do the full scenes. I personally feel I should slow down my lines more, take time with the pauses. I agree that the gestures, such as the touching motif with Antonio as Peter should be made more subtle, as it would be more natural and noticeable instead of being made obvious the audience may try and ignore it. I feel I need to go deeper into my character to find really strong characteristics that makes my character who she is! I think we all need to pay attention to detail, really focus on making the little things our characters do realistic, so the audience don’t look through it. I think as we go with the scenes we should make a blocking plan and lighting and sound cues for it, as it is important to have the technical side of the play to be prepared and good too, to help whoever will be our techie for the performance. As the music didn’t juxtapose the scenes I think we should experiment with different music and see what it could do to the scenes. I think I need to make my character stronger, and think about her mood changes in her personality, I would love to experiment with this in rehearsals, when doing a scene to just be shouted out different moods or change when director clicks to see how well it could work. I overall feel our scratch night was a success and feel that our feedback is going to help with our development of the piece.  

Phone scene: - the relationship between Peter and Dan were very clear, the audience felt that Peter was looking up to Dan. The space between the characters were too close together it needs to be more of a gap maybe one far across the room and one on stage rather than both on stage. The relationship. It felt more like a little brother looking up at the eldest. Dan was seen as a cocky git, his methods were with good intentions but were perceived as bad. One of the audience members referenced a relationship to Dan and Peter in Skins the Characters Tony and Sid were quite similar, If you thought of it as a brother like relationship. How Dan sees peter as a blank canvas which he wants to mould himself on. He sees peter as Potential to become him, which then refer to the ‘Filling in the older brother shoes’.

The Gym scene:- The squatting worked and was very comical. It wasn’t over the top but showed a sense of normality. However we lost the reaction to Dan when peter squats, the Intensity of the scene was consistent and did have a feeling of two guys working out. Rowing scene however lost the intensity which needs to be kept up. The audience started to identify some traces that Dan is coming on to Peter which got the Audience questioning his Sexuality ‘is he Bi or Gay’ many of the audience started to question that which was the initial intention.

The final Scene:- was a strong scene, the audience liked how gradually over time we see Peter start to change in personality and maybe Identity all because of Thursday and Dan desire to mould him in their world. The intensity of the monologues was spot on however the repeating of words started to lack consistency from both Dan and Thursday. The clothes being taken off were a clear image of the old peter through away to a new image created but the two other characters which was effective. The Red lights behind Dan and Thursday worked it gave a dark side to their roles. It created a 50/50 naturalistic and unaturalistic styled performance which the audience quite enjoyed.  However some did say the Thursday and Dan monologues were addressing to much to the audience and not to peter.

Overall was a strong performance all three showed clear cut characters, for the two Thursday and Dan having unique intentions for Peter. Whilst Peter was like the lightning bolt for the other two to latch onto, The Status however was to clear cut at times. The audience would of likes to want to find out what their intentions were later on or after the show. One audience member said the two strongest were Peter and Thursday maybe for Dan it was the clearest role in the play. The music which was added in was not juxtaposing the scene itself, the music seemed to blend in with what was going on. It would need something completely the other way round in order for it to be juxtaposing. The moments which were meant to be funny were either too late or not brought out by the characters enough and at time it wasn’t funny because we were trying to force it out. There needs to be a balance and allow the words to speak for themselves in order to be funny.    

Feedback from scratch  

First year feedback

The humour was finally balanced, parts of the humour was over the top. Peter mayo was naive, young teenage person who is desperate for the loss of his virginity.

Dan- bisexual moments being replayed this shows his sexuality. 

Characters were clear didn’t confuse audience members.

Antonio- slow down however could see character development since first show in the studio.

B.A. student feedback 

Scene 5- juxepose by using light fluffy music that may bring the dark scene juxeposition will work well. 

The different styles worked well together. 

The red lighting was great but more of a narrow option. 

It was a light/comedic show which later developed into a dark one. 

Break up the styles to which it has more abstract and naturalism together.

Very interesting especially the gym scene and the use of gym equipment.

Peter mayo thunderbird story and the language he uses shows his innocents compared to the other characters. 

The relationship between peter and Thursday brings out her animalistic characters more.

Dan wants to see peter fail on his quest with his sexual journey. 

Dan more selfishness but tries to help Peter Mayo to become a man.

Let the script work rather than doing it for laughs trust in the piece.

Peter and Thursday characters are stronger then Dan. 

Work on the relationship and the status allow the status to shift and change, pull back allow the words to work and the proxemics between a characters. 

Try to utilises the space more, try different staging try transverse for the phone call for example Peter mayo on one side and Dan on the other.

Transverse staging allows the audience members to focus on the phone call more.