Unit 13 contemporay Theatre

Discussing one activity or exercise, explain how this has developed your own skills and understanding as an actor.

The exercise which I have valued the most in the time period of our rehearsals is the one where we had to act extremely over the top, the task was basically to act extremely over the top through out the entire show for one rehearsal, by the end I was exhausted but it was a good learning curb. This exercise opened my eyes to many different way I can interpret my character (The Innkeeper), for example, I now play my character in a creepy way, this has improved my performance in many different levels! The task helped me to figure out how I need to move as my character,  currently my movement is slow and sustained as the Innkeeper keeps himself to himself, this create suspense and makes the audience wonder the Innkeepers next horrific move. I think my character would also move like this to scare Lewis' character(Star). This exercise also helped me to realise that my character is suppose to be a kid not an adult however I cant play too childish or I'll milk the performance and the audience wont find my character funny this will oppose my purpose which is to entertain the audience; which led me to think that I need to change my use of voice as my voice will be a main aspect I the performance which will indicate the audience that I am acting as a seven year old. The main aspects of my voice which I need to concentrate are: Pitch, diction Volume, accent and my articulation, as the Innkeeper has be brought up in a pub he needs to have a Cockney accent, I think he will speak loudly as he lives in a loud environment and his pitch and tone will be very flat as he is trying to act creepy. The impact of this task has helped me improve my characterisation skills and my enthusiasm to be the Innkeeper.

What research have you done?

The research I have partaken in are: research into Jason Statham, he is a stereotypical lad like Innkeepers dad, therefore I researched him speaking on YouTube, this helped my characterisation skills for the Innkeepers dad. I also did some research into my little bother as he reminds me of the Innkeeper, I think I'm still a little bit confused on how to play the Innkeeper until I do more research. I've also read articles online describing the traits that young kids face, for example is that they want to be more independent therefore they will try to do tasks which they think adults will do, this made me understand on how to say a few lines.

What are your recommendations for developing the production further?

• Partake in after school rehearsals, so we have more time to stage the songs as this will boost peoples confidence, for singing their songs
• Bond more as a class as this will improve the chemistry of the group and improve the performance
• Go through every scene and evaluate them to see what scene needs the most work on
• Record us doing some scenes to see how we act and see if we need to change the way we act to get the highest grade possible
• Have dress rehearsals to embody our characters more
• Do as much research as possible to make us understand our characters more