Unit 8

Love and Information

This term I did a variety of different scenes with different people, as well as helping others with their scenes. The scenes I did were: Shrink, Wedding Video Part 2, Grass, Quote No.5, Facts, Flashback, Terminal, Fate, Wedding Video Finale.

We decided to change the running order to suit the different ideas we had with each scene. I was the one who did the running order, which is the following:

• Wedding Video Part 1
• Quote 1
• Schizophrenic
• Shrink 
• Message
• Wife
• Mother
• Wedding Video Part 2
• Quote 2
• Rash
• The Child Who Didn't Know Fear
• The Child Who Didn't Know Pain
• The Child Who Didn't Know Sorry
• Wedding Video Part 3
• Quote 3
• Secret
• Lab
• Fan 
• God
• God's Voice
• Wedding Video Part 4
• Quote 4
• Recluse
• Savant
• Stone
• Grass
• Star
• Wedding Video Part 5
• Quote 5
• Dream
• Ex
• Facts
• Flashback
• Wedding Video Part 6
• Quote 6
• Earthquake
• Affair
• Virtual
• Terminal 
• Fate
• Wedding Video Part 7 and Quote 7

First decision we made structurally was splitting the Wedding Video scene into 7 which was Daniella's idea but I did the splitting. We decided to do this mainly because it looked more interesting than doing it as one scene. I chose the number mainly because there were 42 lines so I could choose 6 lines per section, but I chose to do 6 lines in 7 instead of 7 lines in 6 because there are also 7 sections in the order Carol Churchill created so we wanted to still keep some structural features from the original. 

Daniella decided to quotes after the Wedding Video about love to show the love part 'Love and Information' which contrasts with the newspapers covering the stage that represents the information part. I wanted to start off with Schizophrenic because it was the most interesting interpretation we had come up with and it immediately showed the abstract part of the play and how it can be interpreted. I came up with the idea that Schizophrenic was a person talking to themselves in the mirror therefore the actor would have to talk and act in perfect synchronisation, and Kieran and Pedro- who were the actors who did it- I believe would have done it perfectly if they just had a tiny bit more time.

I decided to do Shrink second because it had a similar staging to Schizophrenic and it was an interesting interpretation. Danielle and Pedro decided to do what was clearly a therapy session as a prison visit, which was unique and worked very well. I decided to then do Message, Wife and Mother because they were some of the most serious scenes making this first section an impactful start. Message I decided was better as a monologue therefore it would represent the terrorists who are forced and conflicted about being a terrorist. Wife Daniella and Favour decided to do a husband who has dementia. Mother was interpreted how it should be with a child finding out that their sister is their mum.

Wedding Video 2 I decided to do valley girl accent to make it seem more like a gossip kind of conversation between girls. In Shrink I was a guard and I stood there with a stern expression with upright posture with my hands behind my back. When I go over to him when he starts shouting I give him a dirty look to calm him down.

I decided to Rash and the 'Child Trilogy' together because they are all about children. Rash is about a brother and sister who are talking about a rash their dog has.The Child Who Didn't Know Fear is about a storyteller telling children a story about a child who went into a haunted house to find out what fear is. The Child Who Didn't Know Pain is about a child who is undergoing therapy. The Child Who Didn't Know Sorry is a monologue about a child wanting to say sorry even though he isn't sorry.

I decided that since Secret and Fan were both about relationships I would keep them together and since God and God's Voice are both about god I would have them be one scene. I put Lab in there because it didn't really belong anywhere I just thought fit nicely there. Secret is two friends watching a film after one of them had found that the other had a secret, and the whole scene is her trying to get the secret out of her friend, which she does, however the secret is never revealed, leaving the audience in mystery. Fan is about two obsessed fans who have broken into their celebrity crush's house. God and God's Voice is about someone asking a Christian about God and their praying. Lab was interpreted as a mad scientist with DID -who changes into multiple accents- hiring an assistant for his project on animal testing. 

I decided to do Recluse, Savant, Stone, Grass and Star all together because they all have quite a large vagueness about them. Recluse you know there is someone bothering these two people at the door, but you can't figure out why he is there and what he wants. Savant, is about a person asking what someone did on a certain date. Madelina and Diogo interpreted it as someone dying at war asking those questions on the brink of dying. Stone was interpreted as a geologist looking for stones with his annoying non-geologist friend. Grass is about someone who grassed on someone by making a phone call in Brighton, but you have no idea what or why they grassed. Me and Diogo decided to interpret it as 1920s gangsters.

For Grass I made my character extremely patronising and sarcastic. Therefore the majority of the skills I needed was for my voice. However I had a cigarette looking away from him as if I didn't want to talk to him, and at points I pressed my finger against my forehead which is a known way of getting rid of stress therefore symbolising that Diogo's character was frustrating. After Grass and the Wedding Video Part 5, I say a quote which is "You can love someone so much, but you can never love them as much as you can miss them." I said this in an extremely sad and reminiscing tone.

The next section, me, Roman, Kieran and Jp decided to create a linked story between the scenes. In dream, Kieran and Danielle are talking about,whether or not Kieran should cheat on Jp,while dancing. Ex is when ex-lovers Jp and Kieran reminisce their past relationship which at the end of the scene get back together. Facts, Roman is a quiz host and my boyfriend, and I am the contestant. Kieran wonders in late into the audience and is quite clearly pregnant. Roman throws away the card and asks if I love him while proceeding to sit on my lap, and then after a few more quiz questions and intense staring from Roman, I give in and admit that I do. Then all of a sudden Kieran who had been having contractions through the scene starts going into labour. This is the transition into Flashback. I catch the baby which almost drops on the floor, I give it to Kieran and then Jp runs in to see the baby, and then I run off to be sick.

For facts, for the first half, for some of the questions I seem confident and some of them I have to think. I used a confident tone for some and an unsure tone for others, when Roman came over to sit on my lap, my voice became very uncomfortable. My face was uncomfortable at times, however because the comedic exaggeration that Roman used hadn't been used in rehearsals, he ended up making me laugh as well as the audience. For Flashback I had to with a panicked face and panicked tell Kieran to breath and then catch the baby as it drops to the floor. Then I quickly give it to Kieran. Then I stand there horrified at what I had just seen, and then I act like I'm going to be sick and I rush off stage.

The next section I decided to have Earthquake and Affair together in this last section to balance out the really strong last 3 scenes. However Danielle and Mya made Earthquake into a piece of comedic genius by making it a news story where the two people clearly hate each other and are finding it difficult to pretend to get along. I decided to add when they get up to leave they walk into each other, politely say sorry to each other then when they walked away they both simultaneously called each other a bitch. In Affair Tristan-who is in the audience- tells Deja- who is on stage- that someone is having an affair with her but she has known for three years. Virtual is a friend trying to convince his friend loving a virtual character is weird and not right. I chose this to be third to last since Troy's exaggerated disgust is quite humorous. Terminal I decided to make it about a desperate patient asking a really rubbish doctor how long he has left- 1 month- and the doctor telling him as if it is really good news. However in the second performance I accidentally said 10 years making it a plot twist. I also added in both performances that I would be smoking until Kieran came on when I would throw the cigarette away as if I didn't want him to see it. In fate I decided to make it about a girl who wants to jump off of a building and a guy trying to stop- who is at the bottom. 

In terminal I seem relaxed while smoking then when Kieran I comes in my face lights up with panic and quickly throw the cigarette in the air. I sit with my legs crossed with my hands together resting on my legs as if I'm snobby. My face when speaking to Kieran is smiling and my tone is excited as if I'm delivering good news. I then say when Kieran leaves, "Bye see you in a month" then I realise I had said he probably won't make it and I say "Oops never mind". For Fate I have a continuously worried face and tone. My face widens with shock as she starts to jump, as she lands there is a blackout, everyone backstage including me gasps and I look away in terror. 

Then in Wedding Video Part 7, I decided to bring back the character me, Roman, Kieran and Jp played and continue being a couple. During this scene Jp and Roman flirt in front of their partners, Kieran takes off his wedding ring and I notice Roman flirting with Jp. I have a shocked expression and gasp I get up stand in front of Roman with my back to the audience and call him "A cheating fuck"- "Fucking whore in the second performance"- and I start to raise my arm and bring to his face to slap while in slow motion. I'm doing it in slow motion as Jp is saying his quote and immediately after he finishes I slap Roman in normal speed. What we did was Roman raises his hand next to face open palm, and I slap his hand, then he moves his face as if he got slapped. Then I storm off with a very angry expression. You can't see the hand being slapped because I am in front of him. I decided to have Roman get knocked out by the slap and to lay there while we do the bows, so that after the bows when we go off, Roman wakes up wonders what is goes on, panics and bows.

In my opinion I did incredible during this performance. I created a stern and serious prison officer, a valley girl character in the wedding video, a gangster, a quiz show contestant, a rubbish doctor and a worried friend.

For Shrink I portrayed being stern by giving Pedro a very dirty look when he started shouting, which I think came across well and showed who was in power.

For Wedding Video Part 2 I portrayed the valley girl by changing my accent, speech pattern and pitch and I think it really suited the scene, it made it seem like a girl gossip kind of scene.

For Grass I portrayed my arrogant gangster by smoking a fake cigarette and completely looking down on Diogo's character by a patronising and sarcastic tone as well a clear lack of empathy and sympathy in my character. This made the character really believable and even helped Diogo's character seem more believable.

For Facts and Flashback, I portrayed a nervous contestant of a quiz show and an uncomfortable boyfriend. I portrayed it really in my opinion by a strong choice of facial expressions that really showed my confidence or nervousness with the questions and my discomfort with Roman. I also really portrayed the uselessness of my character when Kieran started giving birth by my advice being to just breath and then going off stage to be sick after.

In Terminal I portrayed a really horrible doctor. It is clear by the juxtaposition of the doctor happily and excitingly delivering the bad news that he does not care for the patient and the last line he says is very insensitive to the patient. Also the cigarette being thrown at the beginning shows how bad of a doctor he really is.

In Fate I portrayed really through my facial expressions and tone of voice seeming worried at first, at times frustrated and at the end a pity tone. Then as she goes to jump my whole face widens which builds up extremely quickly to the blackout cliffhanger. Therefore in my opinion what I did with my character was build up the tension to Madelina jumping which was impactful.

Finally in Wedding Video Part 7, I effectively portray someone who is extremely angry.  When I see Roman and Jp flirting my face widens I gasped, then the line and then the slow motion slap happened. Then as I go off, I had a ridiculously angry facial expression and the way I went off was more of a storming off.

However there things that I would say were needed to be better. In Facts because of the late addition of the comedic exaggarration of Roman's character, I was caught off guard a couple of times and smirked, because it was generally funny and we could have done with rehearsing that beforehand.

Last thing is in Fate which I went back to my old habit, which scrunching up my hand in a claw. I've had this habit since the beginning of when I came to the college and it wasn't until recently that I noticed it. Thankfully I did it very little and it was only in my right hand but it is something to work on.

My target is to try different ways of using my voice to change my character from me, to have a bit of variation in the things I do to make it more enjoyable for me, the people working with me and the people who have to watch me.