Workshop Notes

 March 2013
Initial response to the play: 
When i first read through the tempest I was completely unaware of all the characters and the detail of the story itself, I did not enjoy reading through the play on my own, I could  not connect with the story or the characters, and I found it really challenging and a struggle to Picture and Imagine which was very different from the reading we had done in class,and I struggled to follow the story line. After reading The Tempest, I read through a summary of the Play so i would be able to have a better understanding of the play as I didn't gain much from reading it, I found this summary particularly useful and helped me to understand the narrative and the characters and there relationships. I like the concept we have and I find it interesting it has interesting history and is something I would never of originally related to Shakespeare and i am looking forward to seeing how our version of The Tempest will turn out.
> Link to a summary I found particularly helpful  <

Themes of the play

- Being pushed out

- Magic

- Jealousy

- Seeking and submitting to power

Characters

Prospero: The Main Character, The overthrown Duke of Milan. He now lives on an island and has become a "Great Sorcerer. He will be played with his Charecterisation mixed with a real person called John Glover. The character of Prospero is going to be making his "Magic" with drugs, these drugs will be in the form of brightly coloured powders which may be distributed by "The Lost",  the lost will bring the magic for him and also against him, the charecterisation of Prospero will be based on a witch doctor.

Caliban: A villainous island native, son of a witch named Sycorax who ruled the island 
before Prospero arrived. He now works as Prospero's Slave      but despises him. the character of Caliban will be an old broken man who speaks with commanding beauty -                    He will be based upon A person called Reverent Crowther         >Samuel Ajayi Crowther <  

                            

Ariel- A mischievous spirit who does Prospero's bidding and is visible only to him.- He will be representing the indigenous Sierra Leone African, Ariel is a dangerous slave and delicate spirit who is tall and athletic  - This character must be someone who has the ability to switch and fight back.







The Lost -  They are indigenous Sierra Leone Returned African's or International Traders, whose trade is not  successful. They will be creating the magic on stage working for and against Prospero 

The concept that we have followed with our version of the tempest is a comment upon colonialism, as the tempest can be read in a way which follows this idea. 

"The play will be interpreted as a condemnation of colonialism ". The concept is different from  anything I have ever heard before, it is going to be interesting to see how the show will progress and develop, and see the development and transformation of the characters because of this concept. I have been given a the part as a member of "The Lost" , I found the idea of The Lost very interesting and I am also very curious to what being apart of the lost will involve. Our concept is going to change Shakespeare and make it different, it is going to offer us allot more opportunities as it is completely different from our normal lifestyle and living.

Being a member of The Lost I have been told will involve allot of physical movement, during these rehearsals and the development process I am going to have to  work on my physicality and remaining in focus the whole time so there isn't a moment where I drop or loose my physicality, I will have to remain 100% focused during the upcoming rehearsals even though my character does not have any lines  I will have to keep my concentration levels high which will personally be a challenge for myself.

EVERY CHARACTER SHOULD TAKE PRIDE IN THERE SCARS ! 

Today we discussed how every single character has been effected or molded by what has happened in there past, negative or positive  and that when acting you realize these scars with in your character and use them in your performance.

To be good and successful when doing Shakespeare you need to be able to allow yourself to read between the lines and make discoveries. You need to have a poetic mind and know and understand every bit, have an opinion on every word that comes out of your mouth.With in this process everyone is going to have to know there objectives when on stage. Make sure when speaking you speak with Fluidity and make it your own! Your characters words ride on there actions and have appropriate physicality throughout. 

Comments:  I am looking forward to working with this concept and we can branch of into different elements with in it such as African Traditions and culture, the concepts offers us allot to work with, and the Characters of The Lost have an opportunity to explore there physicality throughout this process and perhaps they can have physical moments on stage where lines aren't needed. 

•  I found these photographs online of Theatre Company using a similar concept for there version of The Tempest.

    

       

A review of the performance I found 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/mar/01/theatre-tempest-rsc-baxter-shakespeare

March 2013

How do we make the world come to life?

We can make the world we are creating to life by listening to music, listening to traditional African Music will be beneficial for the Characters living in Africa to listen to, as it would help develop and gain an insight into there characters life, Music and dance is an important part of there culture so having a knowledge of it is going to beneficial to your character development as well as the performance.

We have been given these "Ingredients" to play with on stage;

•  Queen Victoria Shrine
•  Dried/Dead Trees
• Prospero's  Cell 
• Rocky out crop
• Sign to Free Town
• Queen Victoria's Shrine Turns over into a rock

Set Ideas and Planning

 I am really looking forward to seeing the set for the performance and discovering how the Shrine will also turn into a rock, and to see whether it is possible to have everything we need on the stage or that perhaps it will not be possible to have all the set we desire.

- During the rehearsal today we decided that something Magical needs to happen on pages 45- A scene with Ariel and Prospero.

Notes

• We have to find a logical way to move Prospero's cell during the performance
• There is going to be the sun projected into the background which will show the different times of day
• The sun is going to infer heat, which "The Lost" will be used to, but the visitors will not be used to the heat so they will be boiling
• The sun's will also create an atmosphere, Moons could also be used in the same way 

WHATS ON STAGE?

WHYS IT ON STAGE?

WHAT STORY DOES IT TELL ?

During Our rehearsal today we where taught a song/Chant which will be used with in our Show, Ariel will be the leader of the call/ Song, A call and response song in a way            

 The lyrics are ...

Becki jeli Lu Qualuh An Daluwa,

Becki jeli yonkey inda wu, 

Becki jeli Lu Qualuh An Daluwa, 

Nafa La Pou Ionsomla Yalan Daluwa

If we perform the song with allot of energy it could be really effective, From observing in rehearsals I can see that Jordan is really keeping the energy levels up during the song, and is leading the song well, his confidence when doing this section gives all the other members of the group that boost us sing louder than the last time, which is helping the song improve every time.

Tian has a massive challenge, he has so many lines to learn and allot of pressure riding on him, Tian has to summon the magic on stage, and be able to remain in character for incredibly long scenes once his lines are learnt he will able to play around with his character further creating a deeper character because script is limiting what he can do with in the rehearsal. During the session today we read over one of Prospero's Speeches Tian was struggling with we all did it as a group everyone learning the speech and re sighting it to themselves, we had to do the Objective before saying the line. For example Your Objective could be "to love"  now with his being your objective you could possible hug yourself, and as another example  your objective could be to "be Angry " and with his your could clench your first or tighten up your body. With in this exercise we played the objective before we spoke. This exercise was an insight into what Tian has to do through the performance, but we where doing it at a much smaller scale, The exercise allowed everyone to understand how to play there objectives and Tian probably found it useful to see other people re sighting his speech, he could take ideas of how people played the same objective but did it in different ways. 

Do I find the piece successful so far?

I am finding the piece successful so far in points such as using the physical movements and the chanting of the songs, it will create an atmosphere for the  performance, I am finding the idea of The Tempest and colonialism slightly hard to grasp this early on in the process as it took me some time to understand the story of The Tempest with out adding to it and thinking of things in a different way, I believe the performance will be easily to develop as the rehearsals move on, as i am unable to picture how The scenes and how the play are going to be presented to the audience.

30th April 2013

Our groups weaknesses and what we need to do

• We needed to keep our energy levels with in the performance at a constant high
• Keeping the Energy levels with in the longer scenes up 
• Keep working on your lines 
• Make sure you don't repeat the way you say your lines every time, it should be different and you should emotionally connect with the words.
• Make sure If you have lines, that they are learnt!
• Own the lines! make sure you re-hear the lines, Do not let the lines own you
• Let the lines ride on the actions
• If you are a Member of the lost (Which i am) do not loose energy  

Notes from the rehearsal 

• Your Character comes from reaction and the environment 
• Some of the moments with in the scenes get boring and loose energy, and there seems to be no real journey through out of play so far, there isn't allot of character development shown, which needs to be focused on
• Events happen in between scenes whether you are on stage or not, imagine what has happened to your character in between these times and take that on stage with you!
• Your characters needs to Live in the world we have created, to do this you begin being in the space and area you will be on stage 3-4 steps before you enter, this needs to happen from the start of the play The ending of the show needs to be definite, we need to work on this in our upcoming rehearsals  as the opening is so big and full of energy i feel that the play needs to end at a similar high.

The Drug theme which was so prominent and an important part of our play is vanishing through of the play and there needs to be some reintroduction to the drug element somewhere with in the performance.

During the rehearsal today we discussed reacting to the time of day, and how there must always be a relationship to it, because the visitors  are not used to the climate they are going to have a react to the weather in a different way to the Africans, for example during the scenes which are set in " high noon" where the weather is at its hottest the characters will need to act more exhausted than they already should of been, the characters should be easily annoyed as they are exhausted and probably dehydrated, if the actors follow these objects on stage they will add to the scene creating an atmosphere for the scenes.

POSITIVE THINGS THAT WE HAVE DONE AS A GROUP

• We have all been supportive of each other
• we all use each others notes and comments to help ourselves improve
• During rehearsals we have always remained with in the room watching and remaining focused rehearsing scenes that you where not in.
• There have  been many discoveries made whilst on stage from the text
• There is a good sense of belief and courage with the characters
• Making the scenes work with out lines successfully, making the scene live before true words are spoken!
• Giving our own ideas into the performance, offering ideas to the technical theater crew and being create with scenes
• Well all practiced and re sighted Tians Monologue being supportive and trying our best to have a go
• Everyone has inputted a sense of ownership on the piece
• We all actively watch each others performances and scenes, helping each other offering support, constructive criticism.
• Helping Tian learn his lines for Prospero

Tian and Jordan during rehersals, working on a scene between Prospero and Ariel
   

                                                               










During this rehearsal i could see a definite development in Tians choices for Prospero, he new parts of his lines allowing the scene to be experimented allot more than if the lines we're not learnt. During this rehearsal there was allot of focus on building the tension and relationship between Prospero and Ariel talking about there past experiences together and how they would react when being together. Will made me realize during this rehearsal about the pasts that the character had shared together, and how they would greet each other, and bringing those events and feelings on stage, It had never crossed my mind about how the character would approach and greet each other, and the ways we had rehearsed before did not seem to be a problem originally in my mind, but after this rehearsal I realized how wrong  the scene was in previous rehearsals  The focus was really drawn to helping the tension be at a high level and creating an atmosphere in the room, There where moments when Will told Tian and Jordan to actually do what the characters where doing instead of acting it, for example instead of acting like you want Ariel's Stick ( which could be used as a weapon towards you) to be put down, and Jordan reluctantly leaving himself unarmed. There was an instant change in tension with in the scene, when running the scene the scene moved slowly creating tension Jordan and Tian really focusing on there objectives and not thinking of what they had to do next but taking the time to live in the moment of the scene they where doing, this rehearsal improved my feel for the performance immensely as i found myself believing what Prospero and Ariel where doing, I felt drawn in to the scene as the tension and levels of drama where at such a peak, I hope there are similar rehearsals like this where scenes are really targeted pushing everyone else to try harder and making the performance more truthful and engrossing

During one of our rehearsals we we're focusing on Gavin's character Caliban and his physicality, after various different attempts and working on the physicality of Caliban, They way he was walking wasn't true to the character and wasn't believable to watch, so to work on the physically Will placed a banana skin in a plastic bag and made Gavin put his font inside it, having to limp so he would not tread on the skin, this method was really effective in helping Gavin work on his physicality and there was an automatic change in the scene and the way the character came across, you believed that the character had a limp and could not walking with out his stick,. I had never seen a method like this used in a rehearsal and it really made a lot of improvements it was an effective method. It added to the character  of Caliban and improved the scene as a whole, seeing Gavin physicality after doing this you could see improvements in it, he had realized how the character of Caliban would move instead of pretending to move like he would.  

 

  

CRITICISM AND SOLUTION

• Jordan needs to be more confident with his African accent

• Katie is acting to animated, needs to be more natural

• Jonah needs to know his lines

• Tom needs to know his lines so he doesn't move and fidget around on stage as much

• Sarah and Katie physically was grounded in there lines, they need to understand the meaning of the lines

POSITIVE THINGS 

• Everyone worked really hard in the rehearsals

• Gavin developed his characters physicality really well, so did Amaya

• You could hear and understand all the lines

• People did what they where told do to

• Everyone was in character

• Peoples physicality was strong 

WHAT IS EXPECTED OF US DURING THE TECHNICAL REHEARSAL

This is what expected of us actors during the technical run, the technical run is the dress rehearsal for the technical crew, giving them the opportunity to see everything that is going  to happen.

• Being efficient and  on your toes
• You have to remember what your doing on stage
• Treat it as the real performance, do not stop during it if there is a minor mistake, work on fixing the mistakes if there is any so you are prepared for the performance
• Have full cooperation with Will and the Technical crew
• Get used to the stage and playing the space
• Engage with your back , send the sound to the people behind you

Technical rehearsal 

The technical rehearsal started off at really impressive level of energy, everybody knew everything they had to do and everyone was focused, It was our first time running the show in the Theatre, so we where getting used to the space we would be performing in. As the rehearsal went on the energy levels started to drop, People started to loose clarity in there voice and confidence in there lines.As the performance progressed people tried to lift up the energy levels only for them to be brought back down again, towards the last 10 pages of the performance lines where not learnt leaving the whole group to be disheartened and disappointed Running the Technical rehearsal was helpful in highlighting the negative aspects of our performance and what we need to work on, which is incredibly helpful as i was unaware of how rough  and rehearsed the last pages of the performance was..From doing this we have learnt that we need to play two sides of the theatre, not focus on the front but focus on the side and not limit the audience viewing from the left or rights view of the performance. Seeing the lighting and the set all inside the theatre really helped everyone be able to move around and interact with the space in ways they could not before such as Gavin, Sarah and Katie, they really used the set to its full advantage and boosted the energy levels of the performance. The acting cannot be vague on stage, and the voice needs to be projected to the back of the theatre, and elements do need to be over acted so the audience can see and understand all that is going on, as we are not acting on stage so movements need to be slightly bigger than they normally would, but not so much it is unbelievable. We need to take control of the performance, Will mentioned that the performance was running away from us, which i completely agree with, towards the end of the performance people gave up putting in energy and really didn't involve themselves as much as the good in the performance and there characters.