Evaluation

Today we performed our show in front of an audience and overall it was good!

What went well?

• The audience laughed and enjoyed the show so we fulfilled our purpose to entertain the audience!
• In the adult scene their was never an awkward silence so it flowed well
• The whole group stayed focus therefore when mistakes happens we knew what to do and reacted in a right way
• Personally I only made one mistake which wasn't a massive one, I'm proud of this as I didn't mess up
• I did the best performance I could possibly do
• The group as a whole are proud of the performance

What could of been better?

• I think I could of spent more time on characterization at home which would of boosted my performance
• I didn't complete my costume change 
• We missed a couple of small bits in the show and came up with new stuff

What I would do to improve?

• I think we should of had more time rehearsing on the stage as we only did two run through on there
• I wish I got my play house a little bit earlier so I could of played with it and found more funny ways to get out of it
• We could of got sheet music for the performance and added my song into the show

For our first ever performance as a group we did do well and we have also created a good bond between each other, I'm glad I did this play as I don't normally do comedy's because I don't like them but this performance has opened my eyes to different types of theater which I might be interested in. This show has also enhanced my acting kills and have aloud me to work on different characters.This performance has also made me realize the time and effort I need to put into a performance in order to get the grades I want.

Show day!

Today we will be performing our show in front of an live audience!

We started off the day by clearing the stage, this will make it easier of us to put the set up.
The set is:
 A Christmas tree, Space project worksheets, nativity pictures, "who's been good chart", play house, tables and chairs, coloring stuff and for the adults drinks and food!
Now the stage looks like a class room, and now we can refer to the pictures as it part of our script.

The final thing we had to put up was the decking this was to establish that we are in Mrs Horrocks cupboard and that the Innkeepers "base" the home corner is higher than everything which shows power.

After that we did a run through so Miss can establish the lighting and music plan, and so we can get used to the stage with all of set on there! This run through was really good it enabled me to play withe my Home corner and see what we will make the audience laugh, as well it got me into the Christmas spirit for the show as it is set right before Christmas.

Overall I think its ready to be performed in front of an audience but the main problem which might occur are the songs as not everyone is confident with them

In the end we decided to do the songs acapella as we couldn't find suitable backing tracks for the songs and most of the songs had extra verses so the music would of finished earlier.

The rest of the day I have been looking at my lines and I was experimenting different ways I can come out of the play center to create a comic atmosphere.

I cant wait for the show and I'm looking forward to the show and I know I will do well!

First time on Stage

This lesson was the first time we went to the stage and performed this was to get used to the stage and see if we need to change a scene. Today I've brought my costumes in for the Innkeeper: Shirt, trousers,trainers,a tea towel and a school tie, I picked this for the Innkeeper as he doesn't care what he is wearing and as the teacher wants him to look like an Innkeeper she just puts a tea towel on his head; and for Innkeper's dad a whole suit with shoes( I picked this as my character is the mayor but I wont be able to get a mayors chain so instead I'll just wear a suit!

As last rehearsal was a disaster for the adults we decided to polish the scene,the first time we did it it was blunt and boring and it didn't look real therefore the audience wouldn't really care but the next time we did it was the best we have done it, "Sarah's breakdown" was really effective! This was because everyone knew their lines and cues and didn't stop if they made a mistake.

After that we started the play from the beginning, but didn't get to finish the first act! However from then it was really good and I can see the performance shaping. The costumes helped everyone get into their character!

Now all we need to do is to finish the stage and for the other people to bring in the rest of their costumes, tomorrow we will be spending all day rehearsing and sorting out the stage for our performance.

Another run through

In this lesson we did another run through as there is not much to do performance wise. Today everyone was on top of their game, this was because we were all happy and looking forward to the show.The first act was Brilliant and no problems with it, however the second act did lack a little, this was because everyone forget their lines for the adults I think this happen as we have spent a lot of time on the kids and not enough on the adults, this caused irritation in the group and some falling outs , but I think this was partly everyone's thought, everyone will look at their adults lines prior to next rehearsal.

Songs ... again

Today's lesson we focused on songs again. As I didn't learn mine it got cut out of the show, I was disappointed however it is my fault, I will ensure that this wont happen again for a show.

The songs were okay but they lacked confidence as people were worried if they were going to forget a line."O come all ye faithful" is good we also came up with a thing were we crouch down when we go quiet and then we jump up when the song gets louder, this is because we are copying Mrs Horrocks and she is going down to tell us that we need to be quiet.

I think the songs need some individual work on, it'll be improved.

Polishing our play

Today's lesson we did a whole run through. Overall the run through was good and I think that their was a massive improvement with my characterization with Innkeepers Dad, this was because the scenes with Lewis and I flowed smoothly will barely any mistakes.At home I have been trying to find away that will make my character look creepy however needs to make the audience to laugh as our play is a comedy.

This lesson there was some confusion with scene order as Lewis and I skipped a little scene which happens in the play, I think this happend as Lewis and I wasn't entirely sure when we should come in. If this would happen in our real performance we would have to carry on, and somehow go back to the scene without anyone repeating their lines.

Next lesson I will make sure that I know all of my cue's and lines.

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

Songs! part2

This lesson we continued with the songs, everyone sung it with the help of the class, the hardest thing was to get the timing right and top get a good backing track for the song. Miss found some sheet music online so we might hire that.


We also staged silent night and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas is going to be similar to the kids spotlight idea where there is going to be three separate spotlight and as your character you go to the designated spotlight and sing the solo, miss that we got to perform the song as our characters which I found very difficult.

Songs!

 This lesson we worked on our songs, as we cant find the tune for my song we decided that it'll will be a poem instead, as I Had no other songs I helped to practice silent night with Kat and Hope.


When we merged back into a big group we went through silent night. After this we went through the final song "Merry Christmas" everyone has a small solo in it so it spent long time to get the tune of the song.


This lesson was quite productive as everyone knows most of their songs now. All we got to do now is stage all of the songs and our first show together as a group will be ready to show.

Switching our characters

The main focus for this lesson was to see how a different actor view our characters and see how they would play them, therefore we switched characters, my role of the Innkeeper's dad got given to Ollie Kelly and I partook the role of Star's Dad.

I view Star's dad to be more suspicious as I don't think he is an astronaut therefore he won't be as outgoing as Lewis plays him, however he will be braggy and talkative, I also wanted to show that Star's dad had a real passion for Stars and his potential son, so I would add extra emphasis  where talked about him being in NASA, or him talking about Star. I wanted Stars dad to be very smart but have no common sense at all, this would be why he couldn't partake his dreams of becoming an astronaut.

I think Ollie Kelley played a good Innkeeper he was more intimidating then I was which created more of a "lad" effect, I'm going to try to be more intimidating for the role of Innkeeper's dad. However didn't like the way Ollie interacted with the other characters, personally I think that he would be outgoing and never really thinks of his action he would just blurt stuff out. I think Ollie didn't show his relationship very well with Shepherd's mum as he didn't interact with her or ague with her in the scene.

Overall I found this to be a great experience as I know what to do know to improve my characters.

Focus on Movement

This lesson we concentrated on the entirety of act one, but got told to concentrate on our movement. This made me think about how my character would move, run, stomp, etc. I found this difficult at first but it helped to embody into the Innkeeper more.

Developing Sarah's breakdown scene

In this lesson we went through the adult scene of the play and we decided that we need to develop the scene Lorna's adult character: Sarah Bennett needs development. We did this by going through the lines together and to figure out the point of the line and who our characters are aiming it too. This way we will understand other characters and our characters more which will help us to understand what is going on in the scene. Everybody has annotated their script so next time they do the scene we know what to do.

Recaping the slow motion scene

In this lesson our main focus was to go through the final scenes as the kids and the slow mo scene. Everybody sings silent night, this is the first time everybody knows the words as Mrs Horrocks puts on the back projector so everyone can see the words. After this Peter Crouch (the stick insect) is on the projector which scares the kids as it looks like a big monster this results into a slow mo scene where Ollie jumps in Lewis' arms and the Ollie accidentally kicks me in the face I get angry so I push Ollie and continue running in slow motion until I am offstage.

All the scene needs now is a bit of polishing and it'll be ready for the show.

Over the Top

In today's lesson Miss instructed us to go over the top to make the play more funny and to help us with characterization. I was confused with this as I see the Innkeeper as a more serious character, however I was willing to experiment and see if I can interpret a character in many different ways. When I performed over the top it gave the Innkeeper more comic, and I enjoyed performing him this way, I am going to aim to be over the top as the main purpose of the performance is to entertain the audience. My aim for next week will be to improve my blogs and to learn the entirety of Act 1.

Polishing the first scene

Todays lesson we concentrated on the first scene. Miss said that you need to think what Mrs Horrocks is saying as we don't hear her voice, this helped me to understand what I need to do. Understanding Mrs Horrocks voice will help the audience to guess what she is saying, as they will be dependent on our reaction so if we don't react properly they might get a completely different interpretation of the scene which will ruin the performance as most of the performance they will not understand whats going on.


We decided to make my characters movement slow and sustained as the Innkeeper doesn't really care about the other kids impressions of him (besides Jenny Bennett as he has a crush on her). I also looked into the character in depth to realize that the Innkeeper is trying to act creepy to scare the others as he doesn't like them (besides Jenny) but as he knows no better to scare everyone he thinks that its the only way to get people attention hence why Innkeeper scares Jenny when he is trying to impress her.

Bradley's character profile

This is a little modal of Bradley inside the man is his internal felling and outside around the man is the cause of Bradley's felling's.

Name: Bradley Jerems

Age: a couple minutes younger than Zoe

Family: Zoe, Mum, Dad, Big John and Big John's dad

Friends: ....

Girlfriend: Jenny (But don't tell her")

People who I don't like: Marcus, Ryan Gabriel, Poppy, Miss Horrocks and Zoe

Likes: Drawing, intimidating people and pushing bottle skips into people testicles

Dislikes: Stars, Angels, Fake donkey heads, Fish and Teachers who think they are right but there not because I'm right