Applying Physical Theatre

1. How have you used physical theatre skills in ANY performance that you have done this year (use of voice/movement/facial expressions/gestures/interaction with other characters) to explore text for performance?
   The Tempest- In the Tempest I had to act like a snobby, nasty character, plotting to kill the king, with his sister. I had to convince her of the riches and success we could experience after the murder, to show this to the audience I used arm gestures to show that I was imagining myself and her as royalty. I would look at her from the side, showing the audience a sly facial expression whilst keeping eye contact with her to show our connection, and my persuasive energy. When delivering my lines I would put emphasis on words such as ‘suggestion’ and ‘together’, to make my idea sound even better to Bastiana.
   Our House- Another example of where I used my physicality to show character in an exaggerated way, is in Our House, specifically in the song Embarrassment. I played one of the Neighbours, with the line ‘we don’t’, I had to be angry and turn my nose up at the main character Joe Casey in an exaggerated way. To show this I had my arms crossed at all times, and would play with my hair or nails to show that I was girly and didn’t care about him, not paying any attention to him. When we initially approached this, we would have our backs to him, and would deliver our lines over our shoulders. This showed that we dislike him and that we have lost respect for the character.
   Dance Show- In the dance show media piece, one of our main stimuli was secrets and the power they hold, to show this we created motifs based around this, using hand gestures to show that we are whispering in each other’s ears. This, alongside a contrast in sharp fast dynamics to soft and slow, created a sense of controlled chaos, making the audience want to know the secret that us as a cast had, much like how the media may be keeping secrets from the public.
   WWRY- In We Will Rock You, I played one of Killer Queen’s Yuppies when off cast, In songs such as Play The Game, Killer Queen, Another One Bites The Dust and It’s A Kind Of Magic. In these songs I am under the control of Killer Queen, and can’t think for myself. To show this I used my facial expressions, depending on what the song was about. For example in Play The Game I used a fake cheesy smile,  and in Another One Bites The Dust I had minimal movement in my face, but mostly focus or fear, to exaggerate Killer Queen’s power over us.
2. What were your ideas from reading the text or script or lines?
   The Tempest- I have used physical theatre in The Tempest to show a shipwreck. We took lines such as ‘take in the top sail, tend to the master’s whistle, blow, till thou burst thy wind!’, ‘stay in your cabins, you do assist the storm.’ And ‘down with the topmast! Lower, lower!’. These quotes allowed us to create an idea of what it was like to be on the ship as our characters. To create sense of panic, in a non-naturalistic way, we decided to use a drum beat between each line, changing position dramatically, using positions such as cowering in fear, looking up to the sky, pleading with our arms, and trying to shield ourselves from the storm. This allowed us to use exaggerated facial expressions, so show the audience fear, desperation and exhaustion. This then went into using a long rope to create a V shape in the middle of the stage, this was efficient due to the thrust style of staging, allowing all of the audience to see some actors on stage. This V represented the ship, I decided to create some dramatic lifts with Luke, who was next to me in the line of the V, so show some people falling off the boat. We, as a cast, used reaches and flung our limbs dramatically over the edge of the rope, and curving our spines backwards to show how we would be thrown about in a storm on a boat. Finally, to show the shipwreck itself, we all, in pairs or trio’s performed these dramatic lifts, and fell to the floor to show the end of the storm, or that we had reached the shore of the island.
   Our House- In the song Sun And The Rain, in Our House, I played a seller at a market, singing the line ‘such fine offensive t-shirts, rude words obscene designs’. This made me want to appear very rough and British, I hunched my back to show bad posture and was crude with the t-shirt when I came downstage to deliver the line, by putting it up against myself looking directly out to the audience.
3. How did you explore the text/script/lines- did you discuss and try ideas/improvise?
   Dance Show- This post explores and explains how I have used text to create movement. http://emilydagostinoyr14.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/text-stimuli.html
4. What worked well and what didn’t work? WWW/EBI –analysis of any devising lessons and rehearsals.
   Our House- As previously mentioned, I played a Neighbour in Our House, when we first blocked this we decided to be turned away, however when doing dress rehearsals nearer the final performance, we found that it restricted our volume of our lines, which was limited anyway due to the band, and that we only had 4 of us to deliver the line. We then decided to face the front instead, but either in clumps or on our own, directing our lines at the audience and the main character, Joe. This was much more effective as it allowed me to show my gestures and facial expressions much easier.
5. How have you developed your role/character? What were your ideas?
   The Tempest- As my character, Antonia, in The Tempest, I needed to achieve a nasty, bitchy character. I looked at the ‘ugly step sisters’ characters as my inspiration, as I was very much a double act in this with Jaydee, playing Bastiana. In the scenes that we were in, we made sure that if we weren’t the main focus of the scene that we were at the edge being seen whispering to each other in a judgemental way. We developed this by projecting this towards Talia, playing Gonzala, who Bastiana and Antonia did not like. To achieve this we pointed at her and gave her sly looks whilst giggling together. This assisted the narrative, by showing the audience the relationship between the three of us clearly. We made sure to exaggerate these because the modern audience may not have been able to understand some of the Shakespearian language used in the script.
   Our House- As a Neighbour, I needed to be more aggressive towards Joe Casey, to achieve this effectively I suggested that we should lean over the bars of the set, on the top blocks, to show that we were physically and emotionally looking down on him. This worked well with the final line- ‘you’re an embarrassment’ as we could lean way over the edge using one arm to point at Joe as a full collective. I also had an angry look on my face during this line, which made me seem much more aggressive when trying to reach him.
6. How did your ideas help show the meaning of the scene or show?
   The Tempest- In act 3 scene 3 of The Tempest, spirits come onto the stage and manipulate us, with their powers. I choreographed some movement in pairs, using pulling and pushing motions to show how we were under their control. Jaydee and I were together, being manipulated by charlotte, playing one of the spirits. This choice of pairing was to show that we had a close relationship in the show.
7. Evaluate the final performances/s –WWW/EBI

WWRY- My rehearsal process was quite evenly split between ensemble work, and on character as Brit with Talia playing Meat. This allowed me to evenly learn and rehearse choreography, lines and songs for both. I ensured to work out of lesson/rehearsal so that I could be prepared for rehearsals, specifically with Talia as I had all of my scenes and songs with her. When working as an ensemble, I felt we always worked really well as we often had the whole cast available, and therefore could all contribute ideas and rehearse together. I mainly contributed blocking and dance ideas, as I often find myself having discussions with the director or choreographer about pieces. In terms of choreography, Talia and I worked privately on Radio GaGa, creating the movement for the song, to teach to the ensemble. This teaching aspect helped me to remember my work better, and also gave me a leadership role which I am not used to, but it pushed me to develop and work professionally, sometimes on the spot.

I worked heavily on I Want It All, as this song is my opening number as Brit, and is all about what she wants in her life. Talia and I worked with our director and pianist out of rehearsal on this song, as we wanted to add some harmonies and work on timing. I suggested splitting the riffs at the end of the song, making it more even. In terms of rehearsal, we both regularly met up to run lines and songs rigorously to ensure our performance was clean and refined, allowing us to develop movement and have fun with the scenes. It also pulled us together as actors, enhancing the chemistry and believability on stage. Often Talia would lead the singing rehearsals and I would lead the more acting based rehearsals as these are both of our strength, and we worked on blocking/dance together evenly. This was efficient as it used the time wisely.

Another song I worked don was Headlong, including myself, Meat (Talia), Galileo (Megan) and Scaramouche (Amber). This song is quite long, and really needed some choreography. Which, at first, as quite difficult. I came up with a few gestural ideas myself, and developed these with the group when we came together. Using my time like this was really useful as I could take my time and be creative, meaning I could come to rehearsals prepared and able to teach or develop. We found it quite hard to remember lyrics for this song as it is quite repetitive but with slight lyrical changes in each verse/chorus, however this movement helped us a lot to follow the lyrics with specific movements. This song definitely uses our physical verbal and musical skills, in that some characters had minor dialogue in the song, and it showed our characters personality traits clearly. We communicated well through our movements, making gestures towards each other and making eye contact throughout, and when singing, we worked on harmonies and looked heavily into timing in our own time, again creating a disciplined and clean performance.

My line sin this production were quite tricky to learn as they were often simple additions to conversations, or repetitive lines in a scene that have slightly different wording ach time, making it hard to get it perfect. I wrote my lines out and recorded them alone and with Talia, at home and at college. This structured rehearsal time again allowed me to feel progressively confident in rehearsal, and understand my character better.

The main ensemble scene I was involved in was at The Heartbreak Hotel. In this I played Meat and an off cast Bohemian. When being Britt I found it was really useful and encouraging when the cast reacted and interacted well with myself and others on stage. This made me feel more immersed as an actor and added to the level of energy on stage. When offcast I made sure to react loud and clear, with some gestures, as I was able to follow the scene with ease because of my previous knowledge of it. These actions and reactions used our communication skills well, making eye contact with each other and improvising personal movements to enhance the rough and fun feel to the Bohemians as a group.