Unit 2 - Professional Practice in Performing Arts (all blogs)

The different job roles in the performing arts industry:

·      Assistant stage manager (ASM) –This job is very important because it makes sure that the show runs to its full potential. The ASM needs to be in the rehearsal room as much as possible in case they need to take over from the deputy stage manager (DSM). Other roles that may apply to the ASM are helping with auditions, setting props, furniture and set dressing. People who have this job role or go into this area of theatre have normally been to drama school or completed a degree in performing arts (or equivalent) at university.

·      Stage manager – This job role organises and makes sure everything backstage runs smoothly. Also ensures that props, scenery and costumes are in the right place, the practical and technical elements run smoothly and ensures that the actors don’t miss their cues. Sometimes the stage manager helps out with the budget and the marketing of the production.

·      Actor/actress – This role involves demonstrating a character to an audience through speech movement and expression. The conditions vary for actors depending on where they are performing. Actors have to research their character, learn their lines from the provided script (if there is one) and attend regular auditions for jobs in the future. Actors sometimes work with marketing team to publicise the performance. People who normally get a job as an actor, have been to drama school for quite a few years. They may have also been involved in other projects before and after their time in school. Some actors also have connections in the industry such as their parents being very successful actors.

·      Box office manager – Responsible for all of the team at the box office. The box office manager is responsible for selling the tickets to the general public for a reasonable price. The manager of the box office also ensures that there are good connections between the theatre and other companies regarding ticket sales. Someone who is working as a box office manager may have been to drama school for a few years but decided that an acting role wasn’t for them. This job role is also suited for actors who have retired or can no longer find work as an actor in a production itself.

·      Front of house manager – This is the role that involves the general management of the theatre. The jobs which are done by a front of house manger include welcoming the audience members to the theatre, making sure the theatre is safe and accessible for all members of the audience and public, ordering merchandise and food to be sold at the production and dealing with any complaints from the general public. This role also works very closely with the box office manager and assistants.

·      Stage lighting technician – Sets up and manages the lighting throughout a performance. They also work closely with the directors and stage managers of the performance, set up and put away the equipment and make sure that all of the equipment is working and if it fails, they fix it. Depending on the production depends on how much experience the lighting stage manager needs.

·      Choreographer – Creates dance routines and movement for the performers which normally has a certain theme to fit in with the performance. The choreographer may work under director’s instructions or may be free to create any content they wish as long as it fits in with the theme of the production. To become a choreographer you must have a very strong background in dance. Many dancers which have retired go into choreography. They need a wide knowledge of dance styles such as ballet, modern jazz, ballroom and Latin.

·      Playwright – This is one of the most important roles in the performing arts industry because the playwright uses creative writing to tell a story to the audience; normally creating an impact of emotion on the audience members. This job role is extremely hard to get into due to the high demands of directors and theatre companies. However, if a playwright starts working for a theatre production company they can become very successful. Many people who become playwrights have been to drama school or done a performing arts degree at university. However, the playwright must have some form of English qualification.

·      Marketing manager – This person is in charge of promoting and advertising the production. This person will use a number of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to publicise the production. This job role normally involves working with other people in the theatre to collect ideas on how to promote the production.

Throughout my time on the performing arts course, I will be looking at many different skills which would help me to find a job in the performing arts industry. For example, we will be looking at devising our own performance (playwright), choreographing our own dance routines (choreographer) and possibly looking at the lighting for a smaller production (stage lighting technician). This course will help me in developing skills which I will be able to use in the future especially as I would like to go on to university and study a degree in primary education. 

Wednesday 12^th October

Today, all of the students at college studying a level 3 course in performing arts travelled up to Manchester for the day for a “Compose your future” fair. The event was hosted by UCAS and took place at the MCCC (Manchester Central Convention Complex). The event was all about looking for the opportunities in further education within the performing arts sector. There were many different universities from all over the UK which we spoke to that told us about the courses that they offer. I spoke to lots of universities and places offering further education such as Northumbria University, University of Sunderland and The Royal Academy of Dance. When I was looking at the courses which the universities were offering, I mostly focused on looking for dance courses as that is my strongest skill within performing arts. However, I did also look at some further education courses specialising in performing arts. From walking around the stands and talking to many lecturers and current students at the universities, I was able to gather lots of information about courses that are available. I came to the conclusion that there are lots and lots of courses that all sound very similar but are in fact completely different to each other. 

Once we had looked around all of the stalls within the main part of the building, we headed upstairs as our lecturer, Cara had booked us in to one of the workshops. In the workshops, the practioners were able to give a speech about an element of the course and then were able to show us some examples with students. Then at the end of the session, they were able to answer any questions from the people in the room. The workshop that we were booked in to was a Shakespeare workshop. At the start of the workshop we were introduced to 2 practioners who were currently rehearsing to be in a Shakespeare play called “A Winter’s Tale”. The practioners that were running the workshop gave us a small insight into what they had been rehearsing recently. They also answered some questions at the end of the session from members of the audience.

Once this workshop had finished, it was time for us to head back to college. Overall, I had a great day at the careers fair in Manchester. I learnt a lot about the courses that are available within universities and further education colleges/ institutions. I have not decided what I would like to do after college but now I have some ideas if I chose to study a performing arts course at university. 

Factors of a freelance working - practitioners and contracts

Magnetic Diaries

On Friday 7^th October, a theatre company called “Reaction Theatre Makers” came into to college to perform their show called “The Magnetic Diaries”. The show was open to the college staff, students and the general public. This was a one woman show and she was present on stage throughout the whole show. I had never seen a one woman show before so I was very excited to see a new type of theatre. The show was about a woman suffering from depression that had traveled to London for treatment and is receiving letters from her husband. Throughout the play, we hear these letters from her husband spoken aloud. We also hear from the woman’s son and doctors. Overall I really enjoyed the show, however at first I did not understand it because the play was all written in poetry. However, as the play went on, more things happened and I started to understand what was going on.

Before the show started we had a questions and answers session with the actor, Vey and the director, Tiffany where we asked them questions about their experiences within the performing arts industry. Whilst talking to them we found out that there were many different factors of working in freelance careers. The first feature that you must have for a freelance worker is that you must be flexible in the work in which you look for. This means that it is very difficult to stick to one specific job role within the performing arts industry. As Tiffany mentioned during the interview, throughout her career she has worked in many different areas of the industry with many different people such as working with children with learning difficulties and directing several different performances. This shows us that as a freelance worker you must take the opportunities that are given to you or that you find yourself. As Tiffany mentioned in the session, there are many different platforms in which jobs can be advertising. Tiffany uses a website called Casting Call Pro which is a website that you are able to advertise jobs within the industry. Here is a link to the website: http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk

Tiffany is able to advertise jobs on the website and then receives applications from many actors. The only problem that Tiffany has is that when she advertises that she has a new job available, she will receive hundreds of applications for the one job. This then leads to the next feature of a freelance worker, that you have to be able to sell yourself well in an application. If you are unable to sell yourself then it will be impossible for you to be able to find work. Your application and profile must stand out from the rest so you are shortlisted and then possibly selected. This means that this is a key feature as it is essential that you have a good application because if you do not, you will not find work and will therefore not be successful.

Another feature that a freelance worker must have is that you must always be looking into the future for jobs and opportunities. Working in freelance in the performing arts industry means that you are unsure of when your next job may appear and it might take you a while to find a job. This means that you could be out of work for a significant amount of time which means you will not have any income. As we heard from Vey in the questions and answers session, to sustain her career she works with her husband building environmentally friendly houses. She works here 2 days a week which then helps her with her income. It especially helps her when she is a lean period (a period of time which she may not be working within the industry) and therefore is gaining no money because she is not found any work within theatre.

Another feature of a freelance worker within the performing arts industry is that you must be highly motivated. As a freelance actor, you may have to attend lots of auditions where you may not necessarily get selected for the job. This means that you have got to have the energy to go to many auditions at which you may only have a very small chance of getting the job. Also, you must be prepared for any sort of audition that you go to. This also links back to keeping your options open to other job roles within the performing arts industry and this shows that this is a major feature within the world of freelance careers.

Another factor of working within the performing arts industry as a freelance worker is that you must be passionate about what you want to do and set yourself achievable targets. Tiffany studied BA honours in drama and theatre arts at Goldsmiths University. Since then, she has always worked within this industry. She is very passionate about the work that she has done in the past and the work that she is doing today. On the other hand, Vey did not study any sort of drama course at university; instead she studied graphic design. She got into acting through an adult acting class at the courtyard theatre in Hereford. She got noticed by the teacher and her career started from there. This tells us that to be a successful actor you do not have to go to drama school. I would like to go to university but I would like to study a course which will hopefully get me into teaching. However, if I change my mind when I am older and want to go into acting, Vey has demonstrated to us that this is definitely achievable. 

Freelance musician

This morning we had a Q&A session with our performing arts teacher Cara Tivey who, before she starting working at the college, was a professional musician.

Did you go to university/ If so, what course did you study?

Cara went to drama school because the courses that she wanted to study were not available to her within universities. She studied at BSSTDA (Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Arts) and although she went down the drama route, she realised that this wasn’t the route for her. This is when she decided that she would be better suited within the music industry. To start off her career as a musician, she played with many different artists around Birmingham. Most of this work was unpaid because the aim of it was to get her name out there. She made it clear that this is a key aspect for a freelancer because you have to be prepared to carry out work even if you don’t get paid for it and hope that your name will then get heard within the industry.

What happened when you stopped freelance?

Towards the end of her career as a freelance musician, Cara was doing a lot of touring and although she enjoyed touring, she had 2 young children and a husband at home and most of the time when she was away, she had to organise supervision for the children. This became progressively harder so she made the decision to start and look for a job within the local area. She came across a job vacancy here at The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC).

What was the first ‘professional’ piece you performed?

After getting her name heard around Birmingham, Cara started to get paid for local gigs in social clubs. In these social clubs she played for a band. This then enabled her to start work with bigger bands for about a year which included touring to other countries.

The first big band that Cara played for was ‘The Fine Young Cannibals’ and this was her first experience of working within television. Cara happened to hear about this job of working with a band through being at the right place at the right time and this was that a band needed a keyboard player. She applied for the audition and was given the job. Cara said that freelancers have to be prepared for an audition and these can be varied. Talking from experience, Cara said that the people running the auditions can ask you to prepare a piece before the audition or memorise a piece within the audition. She made it clear that freelancers must be prepared for any time of audition if they want to get into a job.

Cara told us that she got quite nervous before auditions as she did not know what to expect. She was offered money by the band but didn’t know what to expect as this was her first professional paid job. She earned £100 a day and she was lucky as she didn’t have to negotiate with her band. However, another quality of a freelancer is that you have to be able to do this negotiate with your manager as they may not be paying you an adequate salary.

Something that Cara learnt from her freelance career was how to behave when working with the band. This is a key quality as freelancers need to have an understanding of where they stand with the people that they are working with. Cara learnt that freelancers shouldn’t talk about their personal life when work with a band. The same advice could be applied to an actor who is being employed by a production company. You have to know your place and find out what your boundaries are when working with the company.

Another quality of someone working within freelance is that you have to be flexible as things can change very quickly. For example you can start very early one day and then not start until the afternoon on other days. You also have to be prepared to learn material very quickly and finding what works for you. This is key as a freelancers’ job can change very quickly.

How did you generate work?

There will be periods of time where you will not be working and it’s important that you budget throughout your career. Cara made this clear as it can be tough during the periods of time when you are not working. She said that you need to be able to budget accordingly otherwise there may become a time where you are struggling for money.

Cara mostly looked within a magazine ‘Melody Maker’ which included jobs within the creative industry. The first job that she found that she was interested in was looking for a 3 piece. She decided to apply for the job with her soon to be husband and friend. They then carried out an audition for which they had to learn a song prior to the audition and had to play some of their own music. One strategy of generating work is when you see a job, apply for it, attend the audition and then hopefully get the job. However, Cara also informed us that you could get an agent but these are very hard to come by and there aren’t many pop music agents nowadays. Cara did have an agent for a while but ended up finding her own work.

When playing for a band ‘Everything but the girl’, she got noticed by another singer and gave them her phone number. She wasn’t expecting to hear from the singer but they did get in contact after a while.

When her contract ran out with the band ‘Everything but the girl’, she had 6 months of unemployment. However she did work with smaller bands during this time but nothing really big that was getting her name heard.

When she toured around the world, she had 2 children and got married. Then, once she had finished touring, she decided to take a year out. After her break Cara answered another advert in the magazine and got shortlisted.

Throughout her time Cara has worked a lot with TV but not so much in recording material. However she has toured serval times with different bands to places such as Japan, Europe and the UK.

Running your business - the financial ins and outs

Register with the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) - this is so they know that you are self-employed. Once a year you will have to submit your completed tax return and then the HMRC will calculate how much tax you owe for that year. As a self-employed person you are also responsible for paying your own Class 2 national insurance contribution. If you earn less than £12000 per year you probably won’t pay any tax. It is important that you keep all of your receipts and a record of your outgoings (payments that you make) as these will be offset against your tax.

Using social media to market yourself

There are lots of different social media platforms for performers and artists to use as networking tools. I have carried out research into the following:

LinkedIn – a professional social networking site which enables people to connect with companies with the aim of finding a job. Once your connection request has been accepted your profile becomes visible to your ‘friends’.

Facebook – this social media platform enables people to connect with other people as ‘friends’. It also allows people to like pages that have been set up by companies/businesses and this keeps them up to date with any information sent out by the page that they have liked.

Twitter – this allows people to ‘follow’ others. It is short and snappy as you are only allowed 140 characters per tweet. It also allows you to connect directly with big companies and artists and you know about these because they have a blue tick next to their name meaning ‘verified’.

SoundCloud – this is a website where by musicians and artists can publicise their music. People are able to follow each other and the more followers you have, the more popular you become. You are also able to like and comment directly on the pieces of music to give the artist feedback on what they have produced. Although you are not able to sell your music on SoundCloud, you are able to advertise it so that people can then go out and buy your music. 

Contracts

What contracts have you worked with?

When Reaction Theatre came into college to perform their show ‘The Magnetic Diaries’, we had a Q&A session with them before the show. Within the session, we were informed about the contracts that they have and are using.

The contract which Tiffany (the director) offered to Vey (the actor) was a Heads of Agreement contract. The contract includes many different elements such as a period of employment and company expectations. It also includes the ownership of devised work which means that if the play becomes famous, then the individual is not allowed to claim it as the material belongs to the theatre company and not to you specifically. The contract also includes subsistence which covers food and travel for the days of which you are working with the company.

Tiffany went on to tell us that when she works with an actor, she normally offers them a contract because it is easier and the actor is aware of what they are entitled to. 

What contracts have you worked with?

Cara has worked with 3 types of contracts. These are:

Retaining contract – a contract where you are employed with the band/company all the time even if you’re not with the band all of the time. In this case, you are paid half of what you are paid when working with the band. You are also paid per diem (per day) which is £15 per day which paid for extra expenses. The only band that gave Cara a contract (Everything but the girl) paid her £500 per day when recording in a studio but then was paid nothing when the records were released, Whilst on this contract she got paid £500 a week when on tour.

Licensing contract – issued when working with the BBC or ITV. When you work on a programme such as Top of the Pops or TGIF you are given a contract in which you give your permission for your performance to be played around the world. If there is a link to another record company you would also get paid by them. Cara was paid £150 per day from TV companies.

Publishing contract – signed for 3 years. For this contract the publisher acts on your behalf to exploit your work. 60% of the money earnt goes to the musician and the other 40% goes to the publisher. However, this can change to a 70% to 30% split or even to a 75% to 35% split. When on this contract, Cara was paid a non-returnable advance of £2000 and with that she bought a recording system so she could record her own pieces. A publisher publishes individual pieces by the artist. The publisher will help the artist to promote their material in a number of ways. They may liaise with a record company, they will carry out research to find out if anybody is looking for the type of material that they are publishing - this could be film companies, advertising agencies, TV production companies. In other words they exploit their published material in order to support the artists. 

Dinos Aristidou

We spoke to Dinos Aristidou from UCAN productions a few questions about his career as a freelance theatre maker, education consultant and workshop leader. 

Did you go to university? If so, what course did you study?

I went to York University to study English and Related Literature. At that age I wanted to be an actor but everyone said it was too uncertain and that it was better to get a degree. I just chose the subject I loved best and at University I discovered playwriting and directing.

What made you decide to become a theatremaker and educator?

It was always a passion. Ever since I was a child I liked to live in imaginary worlds in my own head or in books. When I discovered theatre I realised I could make a career of this. I also wanted to share my passion with others and give them the keys and tools that would enable them to also become creators of or citizens of the imaginary- That’s why I was drawn to education; so that others might also have the possibility to cross the threshold into the world of the imagination

What was the first ‘professional’ i.e paid for piece you ever performed/directed?

For my writing it was as writer in residence at The Chester Gateway in 2000 where I was hired to write their millennium production, as a director it was for ‘ Ziggurat’ for the Manchester Commonwealth games. As a performer it was just after I graduated with a Theatre in Education company called Shoestring that toured schools with productions. That inspired to become a teacher which I did for 11 years before going into the professional world of theatre.

Is there a particular genre/style you prefer working in?

I’m interested in collaboration, creating with communities and young people and I used to be drawn to the epic, working with large groups but now I’ve also become interested in immersive and intimate theatre. I’m interested in the themes of memory, identity and our search for home. Also interested in creating theatre based on people’s experience.

What sort of work do you get?

I looked through ‘The Stage’ newspaper that had all the theatre related jobs in it, also ‘The Guardian’. More recently I’m subscribed to organisations and online newsletters that advertise opportunities such as ‘The Writer’s Compass’

Do you network with other directors/actors?

I’m involved with lots of organisations and so have become part of a network of artists and artist educators. I find networking quite challenging even though I enjoy meeting people. It feels different when it’s professional.

How do you generate work?

I work with some organisations regularly and have close relationships with them that I’ve built up over the years. Creating good relationships and being a good collaborator and good to work with is really key in the work I do. I also try to keep my work current so I’m always reading, learning, going to the theatre, trying to keep abreast of new innovations and movements in theatre and in education. I also apply for positions that look interesting.

Would you contact a producer or a director with a script idea?

Yes but these are usually people who I’ve worked with before and who know my work.

How does research help you with your job?

All of my theatre work involves research. I’m always researching, reading, going to the theatre, talking to people. You have to make sure your work is relevant, current and also underpinned by theory. Theory is simply the discoveries other people have made and I’m always appreciative of their insights. Research is a useful way to make sure your work is informed. I’m also very curious and research satisfies some of my curiosity. I’m currently writer-in-residence at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton and my work involves researching the history of the building and the theatre so research is a key skill in my work.

How do you manage during lean periods?

I try to work as far as possible a year in advance- so I’ve been very lucky in that I haven’t really had any lean periods. I’m willing to try my hand at different things and happy to work in a variety of fields so there’s always a lot of work- touch wood!!! Being self- employed is always slightly scary because you do worry about the work drying up. I think its worth having a mixed portfolio rather than depending on one source of income.

What types of contracts do you work with?

Variety of contracts- one day positions, annual positions, project based positions. The majority I would say are project based.

So currently here is my list of jobs from now until June to give you a flavour of the variety of contracts and work that a freelancer may do:

·      Lead artist on RSVP project UCAN

·      Workshop delivery at your college

·      Lead artist on ‘Art of Kindness’ project UCAN

·      Running workshops for teachers on the art of reflection

·      Writer in residence 2017 at Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

·      Running young writer’s programme at Theatre Royal Brighton

·      Curriculum consultant for the International Baccalaureate

·      Running 4 week online teacher training for theatre teachers

·      Artistic Director for a youth theatre festival in Atlanta, USA on civil rights in collaboration with Civil Rights Museum in March

·      Guest artist in residence at Academy in Shanghai, China in April to create a new intimate and immersive piece of theatre

·      Running theatre teacher workshops in Singapore in April 

Action plan for a sustainable freelance career

·      Flexibility – people working in the freelance industry must be flexible because they may need to maintain a few different projects/jobs at one time. Also, it is very hard to continuously look for the same job role. This means that you need to be flexible with the job roles that you look for and apply for. They may also be asked to work different hours for each day of the week which could range from a few hours to a full day’s work.

·      Budgeting – this is very important because there will be periods of time at which the freelancer is not working and is therefore not earning any income. You need to be able to save money during the time at which you have incoming salary so that you will then have money when you are in lean periods.

·      Prepared to work without getting paid – everyone has to start somewhere and for most freelancers within theatre, they have to carry out unpaid work to get their name heard within the industry. Once they have their name out there they can start applying for jobs.

·      Presenting yourself well – as a freelancer you must be able to stand out from the crowd either in the world of work or in auditions. It may be quite difficult for you to find a job because you are not able to present yourself well and stand out from the crowd.

·      Must always be looking ahead – although it is great when a freelance worker finds a job, they don’t know how long it will last for and if they do, it is not going to last forever. This means that the worker always needs to be looking for new jobs in which they can apply for to take on after they have finished their current job.

·      Motivation – there needs to be high levels of motivation to become a successful and to remain as a successful freelancer. There may be quite a few occasions where you will go for an audition and not get the part or even shortlisted. However, you then need to put this aside and attend more auditions.

·      Resilience and self-belief – freelancers have to be thick skinned because they may attend many auditions before they get offered anything.

·      Practicalities and finance – a freelancer must make a regular class 2 national insurance payment. This will provide security for them in the future. You also need to keep your receipts for things like transport, hotels. postage and any other purchases that are business related. If you are a performer, you can claim for cosmetics, toiletries and clothing. Once a year, you need to submit a record of your income and outgoings to the HMRC (tax department). This is called a tax return.

·      CPD – this is continuous professional development. This is about maintaining a professional skill level. You may attend classes, carry out regular voice/movement warmups, research new audition materials and look at relevant sites on the internet. Also, you need to maintain a current CV.

·      Research – keep on top of new employment opportunities by looking at The Stage online and any other online journals where jobs are advertised. 

Factors affecting jobs in the performing arts industry

The following report will highlight and discuss issues surrounding employment and opportunities within the Creative Industries. I have carried out research into gender, politics, class, ethnicity and age related discrimination. I have been shocked by my findings.

Older women are disappearing from TV due to combination of ageism and sexism, warns Harriet Harman

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/older-women-are-disappearing-from-tv-due-to-combination-of-ageism-and-sexism-warns-harriet-harman-8618313.html

In this article written by Catherine Wylie, it tells us how much older women are affected within the performing arts industry due to ageism and sexism. Harriet Harman who is a labour MP, works as part of a committee known as the Older Women's Commission. This committee is run by the labour party and it helps to gain equality for women over the age of 50. It especially tries to working with the women nowadays as the roles and health of older women has grown significantly. Research within this committee has shown that when women who are working within the performing arts industry especially, and reach the age of 50, their “days become numbered”. A study conducted by the committee showed that although the majority of the population in the UK of over 50’s is women at 53.1%, the majority of the TV presented which are aged 50 and over is mostly men at 82%. This leaves only 18% are women. More research saw that only 7% of people involved with working in TV on and off screen, are women. Harriet also said that these figures which have come from many major broadcasters, show that ageism and sexism do not hit men in the same way as they do to women.

Miriam O’Reilly raised some questions about why there aren’t many women in the business over the age of 50. She started to question this after she won an employment tribunal against the BBC. Was this due to people not employing women over 50 or women leaving the business when they get to this age. She had interviews with several broadcasters and from this she said “they are committed to the fair representation of older women” however, this does not match the figures that have been conducted from the research.

James McAvoy: Dominance of Rich-Kid Actors in the U.K. Is "Damaging for Society"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-mcavoy-dominance-rich-kid-772139

In this news story conducted by Hollywood Reporter, it expresses James’ opinion on rich children within the performing arts industry. However, he clearer states that he does not have anything against actors who went to drama school, but he believes that there should be less successful actors coming from drama schools. He thinks this because it does not represent how Britain is today. He is worried that people from all social classes are not getting the same opportunities. Within the performing arts industry it is advertised as if you have to be elite to become a successful actor normally meaning that you must go to drama school however, this is not always the case.

A debate was set up with the British acting circle where Julie Walter who played Mamma Mial in Billy Elliot expressed her opinion about how aspiring actors within the working class sector were not able to afford drama school. This has been proven to the decrease their chance if being able to become a successful actor.

Arts Emergency

http://arts-emergency.org/

Arts emergency is an organisation that helps young people get into university courses within the arts such as drama, music, theatre, politics, humanities, etc. However, due to the high rising costs of university courses and degrees, many young people opt out of university and don’t even consider it purely because they are unable to afford it. This leads them to forcefully apply for a job but because they have no higher education qualifications, they are unable to find a job because the arts community is very competitive. Therefore the organisation’s main aim is to help disadvantaged young people so they can have the same chance at getting into university than anyone else. They believe that although these young people and their families may not be able to afford a university course, there are certainly ways around it and this should not stop the young person having a potential career in the arts industry.

All of the young people that are part of Arts Emergency are aged between 16 and 19 years old all of which are in further education. Arts emergency have several schemes which aim to help disadvantaged young people who are least likely to be able to pay for their education but will benefit from it the most. The main scheme in which the organisation runs is their mentoring scheme. Each individual is given a mentor which they are then able to talk to about their options, research into higher education courses and set reachable targets. The programme only lasts for a year but when they ‘graduate’, they still offer support if they need it. Another scheme that is run by Arts Emergency is networking. This enables young disadvantaged people to connect and talk about their aspirations. The volunteers who run the project have all come from TV, theatre, music, etc. so have a great understanding of what is needed to get into university or higher education courses. These volunteers also visit colleges to give talks and workshops about keeping your options open for higher education in the arts sector. These workshops aim to educate, inspire and inform people that they are able to aim high. The also work with young people and their families to educate them about the opportunities that there are in higher education. Young people that come from a poorer background may have parents who have no experience of the performing arts industry. This means that the parents of the young person may be very against the idea of their child going to university to study a course in the arts when they don’t know what it will entail. Arts Emergency therefore work with the parents, alongside the young person, to educate them that arts courses are extremely beneficial especially for their child who may be disadvantaged.

One of the main factors that effects employment in the performing arts industry is the amount of funding cuts and the high rising prices of university degrees and higher education courses. Arts emergency is an organisation that aims to reduce the effect that the high rising university costs will have on potential young people aspiring to go to university to study a course in the arts. Nowadays, to get into the performing arts industry, it is quite likely that you need a qualification at degree level but if young people are not able to access this, then there is a limited chance that they will be able to pursue a career in drama, music or dance.

Letitia Wright interview

The interview can be found here (11:30): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w5y0l

Letitia’s first main role in a production was in a film called ‘The Urban Hymn’. The film is set in 2011 in the time at which riots broke out in Britain. The film is based around 2 girls and their very strong friendship and support for each other.

She started acting when she was about 15 years old in secondary school. Once she had finished secondary school, she watched a lot of films during the summer holidays. Watching all of these films taught her that she needed to be persistent with her future career. She knew that she definitely wanted to go into the performing arts industry so she produced some basic headshots and sent these to several agents looking for work. Although Letitia was a very talented actor and started to think more seriously about her career, her mum wasn’t sure on the career choices that she was making. This is because Letitia’s mum had come from an educational background and acting wasn’t in her culture. This meant that she had to give her daughter a chance and trust her because at first she did not want her daughter going into the performing arts industry.

When Letitia got her first interest from an agent, she was asked to recite a monologue. Instead of looking for a monologue and learning it, she created a monologue herself and performed it in front of the agent. Both the agent and her mum were gobsmacked and the agent decided to sign her later that day.

When she was 17, she went for an audition where, on the advert it was specified for a young white female actor. However, Letitia made the executive decision to go to the audition even though she was black because she just wanted to show people her talent. The people running the auditions said they wanted to give her a chance of playing the role so gave her the job. Letitia also mentioned about how she believes that there should be more ethnicities and diversity involved in the performing arts industry.

She lastly went on to talk about the many projects that she has been involved with lately including a second serious of a show called ‘Humans’.

In conclusion, Letitia’s journey into the acting industry was not as straight forward as many other individuals. Letitia had many factors in which she had to overcome before going into the performing arts industry. Such factors are that her mum did not want her to go into acting because it’s not in her culture as she had come from a very educational background and she was in an ethnic minority. Another major factor that she had to overcome was that she did not go to drama school meaning that she had no major acting experience. Unlike most aspiring actors who were the same age as Letitia at the time, Letitia had no nepotistic advantages meaning that she had no connections within the industry to give her a leg up.

Andrew Lloyd Webber warns of diversity crisis in British theatre

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/dec/01/andrew-lloyd-webber-warns-diversity-crisis-british-theatre

A report that was conducted by Andrew Lloyd Webber recently expresses his opinion on the topic of black actors within theatre.

The report mainly focuses on how the theatre industry will start to suffer if the amount of black actors does increase soon. In his report he used the term “hideously white” in regards to the amount of white actors that there currently are in the performing arts industry. He made a point of saying that it is not only the lack of black actors, but also the lack of black people who are part of the backstage crew and technical team. Andrew Lloyd Webber went on to say “I passionately believe that the stage needs to reflect the diversity of the UK population or it risks becoming sidelined.” There needs to be more black people involved in the Creative industry.

Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that if there isn’t a change to this situation now, then it can have massive effects on how the industry runs in the future. There will gradually become less and less black actors applying for drama school because they feel like they are in a minority. Less black people enrolling intro drama school means that there will be less appearing within productions. This can also have an effect on the audience. Black people play an important part in the audience numbers and the less people there is in the audience of a production, the less money that is made.

I believe that there needs to be a change within the performing arts industry in regards to the equality for black and white people. Black actors are currently in a minority and white actors are the majority. Directors need to start accepting black actors even if the character has been specified to be played by a white actor. This will then mean that the audiences for performances will remain constant and theatre will carry on as normal.

Theatres under threat from £3.3bn funding cuts

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2015/theatres-threat-3-3bn-funding-cuts/

Local authorities are being forced to cut their funding due to funding cuts from the Government. This has led to an estimated cut of £3.3 billion funding from local theatres. According to the Local Government Association, the funding situation is not going to get much better in years to come either as it will continue to decline. The funding cuts may lead theatres across the UK to be under serious threat as the cuts decrease. Some local authorities across the UK have stopped their funding for the arts already such as Westminster County Council.

There are arguments that funding for the arts should be, in fact increased rather than decreased. A statement from a recent interview with David Brownlee said that there should be at least one theatre company in every local area that is funded by the local authority. The local theatre is a place where the work created by and within the community can be presented and the local people can come and see what has been achieved. If the theatre has cuts and isn’t able to run, the projects created by the local community will be no longer and the local people will not be able to get involved in the arts.

Charlotte Jones who is the chief executive of the Independent Theatre Council stated that local theatres that are supporting by the local authority are helped hugely by the funding. She said that not many people realise how much these theatres are being supported with the funding and if this gets cut, the theatres will begin to suffer.

Darren Henley who is the chief executive of Arts Council England said that a strong connection between the local authority and the theatre is absolutely key.

In conclusion, from the research that I have carried out throughout this term, I have found that there are many different factors that affect employment within the performing arts industry such as ageism, sexism, funding cuts and ethnicity. I am shocked at the research that I have found. I believe that there needs to be more diversity within the creative industry. At the moment, the majority of actors within theatres are male middle-class white actors who are middle-aged. This needs to be minimized so that female actors, older and younger actors and actors from other ethnicities have the same chance as getting a role in theatre as everyone else. There needs to be an equal spread of actors from different backgrounds being selected for jobs in theatre. The funding for local theatres should not be cut as this can have massive effects on a local community as it can cause for the theatre to shut down as the theatre is unable to put on any productions. 

Unit 6 - Performance Workshop (all blogs)

Tuesday 13th September 2016

Every Tuesday afternoon we have a performance workshop which is led by a practitioner from outside of the college. Her name is Alys and she works for an organisation known as UCAN productions. UCAN is an organisation that helps to engage blind and visually impaired young people in performing arts. The organisation if based in Cardiff, Wales but they work all over the UK.

The aim of the performance workshop is to create a performance as a company. These performance workshops will not only help us create a performance and work as a company, but will also help us to develop certain skills which we can then apply to our unit for developing skills in performing arts.

We started the lesson by giving an introduction of ourselves to the rest of the group. In pairs we discussed several facts about ourselves such as our name, where we were from, what makes us happy and our pet hates. However, we had to make sure that we were listening carefully as we then had to feed this information about our partner back to the group. Following on from the introductions, Alys (our lecturer) gave us an overview of what we were going to be doing in these sessions over the next year such as focusing on our teamwork, communication and then the creation and production of a performance as a company.

Next we started the warmup activities. Firstly we started off with simple exercises such as head rolls and a bit of movement to get the blood flowing faster around the body ready for the lesson ahead. Once we had finished these warm up exercises, we then moved onto some fun activities. The first warmup activity that we started was called “bungalow”. For this activity we started by singing as a chorus “bong-a-low, bung bung-a-low”. Once we had sung this through twice, we were chosen one by one and the rest of the group would sing to us. For example they would sing “hey Charlotte, hey Charlotte let me see you bungalow, let me see you bungalow” in which the person would reply with “my hands are high, my feet are low and this is how I bungalow”. At the point whilst singing “my hands are high” we rose our arms up above our head, “my feet are low” we pointed to our feet and “this is how I bungalow” we did a dance move of our choice. We then repeated this moving round the circle till everyone had had a go. The next activity was to pass objects around a circle. This exercise made us use our communications skills because as we passed the object, we had to say what the object was. As the game went on, the speed increased meaning our communication skills had to be grater. The last warmup activity that we took part in was story telling. This exercise encouraged us to use our imagination. We firstly did this exercise by telling the story with each person saying one word which made up the story. However, the second time round, we made it more complicated by making each person say a sentence each.

The majority of the session was then taken up by an activity which was to tell a story of a famous fairy-tale or play in 5 freeze-frames. As a group we chose to act out “Goldilocks and the 3 Bears”. Using our communication skills we discussed our ideas for the 5 images that we needed to create. Once we had decided and practiced the piece, we thought of titles for each freeze-frame and thought about our transitions from one frame to the next. I found this exercise quite difficult because I was working with new people and I haven’t had much experience with freeze-frames in the past.

Tuesday 20^th September

To begin the lecture, we started with a few warmup activities. The first exercise that we carried out was ‘bungalow’. We learnt this exercise the previous week so all of the members of the group knew the exercise quite well. Then we moved onto a memory and rhythm exercise called ‘shoulder, click, clap’. This exercise consisted of making simple memorable sequences with body language. These sequences consisted of tapping, clicking and clapping different parts of the body to make different sounds. As a group we needed to keep in time with each other. This meant the exercise improves our communication skills and our imagination. We found this quite hard as we were all doing the sequences at different speeds which did not fit together once we tried to do an ensemble performance. We then moved onto our last exercise called ‘giants house’. In this exercise our lecturer, Alys told a story about a giant in a house and every time she paused in the story we had to, as a team, make the object that she last said with our bodies. This exercise improves our understanding of physical theatre in performing arts. I found this exercise quite difficult as we were unable to think quick enough of how to make the objects so the next time that we do this exercise we will hopefully be able to do this faster. 

Once we had finished all of the warmup activates, Alys asked us in pairs to come up with what we thought were the literal, technical and physical elements of a performance. In my group we came up with many ideas including the beginning/middle/end of the story, lighting, choreography, costume, makeup, etc. Once we had conferred our answers with the opposite team we moved onto devising our own play which included the elements which we had just thought of. We all eventually agreed on the story of Cinderella, but decided to make it a modern-day version. 

After a short break, we sat in a circle facing a partner. This exercise was that we had to improvise a short speech with the person opposite us whilst walking towards them to swap seats. We were given subjects such as “under cover” and “telling a massive secret”. This exercise would help us in the future if we were asked to do any improvisation in an audition for an acting job. This exercise is also a good way to slowly introduce improvisation into the course. 

Tuesday 27^th September

The aim of today’s lecture was to focus on and start to gather ideas which we could base our performance on. 

To start off the lecture, we started with a physical warmup. Firstly we started by standing in a circle where everyone in the circle held hands. We then had a hula hoop which we all had to get through one by one without letting go of each others hands. At first, we found this quite difficult as a group but when we started to get the hang of it, it became easier and we were able to pick up the speed. Another warmup activity that we carried out was “shoulder, clip, clap”. We have carried this exercise out in the previous weeks but this week, after we had gone over the rhythms that we had learnt in the previous weeks, we created a few new rhythms. Once we had created a few new ones and got the hang of them, we each picked the sequence which we felt we were the most confident with and then we all performed our sequences at the same time. However, we all started the sequences off at different times so we all came in one after another and then finished at different times. 

After the warmup we were split into 2 groups ready for a performance quiz. The questions in the quiz were all to do with the performing arts industry. The questions included lots of useful information such as terminology which will be useful to us throughout the performing arts course. The quiz consisted of lots and lots of questions. Once we had finished the quiz, we marked the other groups answers and handed them back to see how we had done. 

After the quiz, as a group we started to discuss different genres of plays. We came up with a list of all the different genres which included tragedy, comedy, sci-fi and kitchen sink drama. From this, we were then set an improvisation task. We were asked to create a short performance of a well-known story but had to include 5 genres of theatre within the performance. As a group we decided to perform little red riding hood. Throughout the performance I acted as a tree and then took on the role of the grandma. Although we did have some preparation time, this task was more of an improvisation as we didn’t fully plan the scene. We needed this time to plan because we needed to decide how we were going to incorporate the 5 genres into the piece. The 5 genres that we picked were tragedy, panto, comedy, theatre in education and horror. As a group, we found this task quite difficult as it was quite hard to try and include all of these genres into one short performance. 

After a short break, we started looking at something that our lecturer, Alys had seen recently in the news which could be a good idea to base our performance around. The news story was about a lady who had gone missing 50 years ago who had never been found. The 50 year anniversary was of her death. She was last seen blackberry picking in a field. To develop characterisation, our lecturer Alys played the character of the woman as we carried out a hot seating activity. We had to ask Alys several different questions that were related to the news story which she then had to answer as if she was the character. 

Tuesday 4^th October

The aim of the lecture today was to continue looking at different materials that we could base our devised performance around. 

As it was very cold outside and all of us in the session were cold, our lecturer Alys decided to carry out a warmup with lots of physical elements. To make the warmup a bit more fun, she put on some music which we all recognised from our childhood. This made the warmup more fun and exciting. The sorts of movements that we carried out to warmup were star jumps and small dance movements. We went around the circle, all picking a dance move to do and the rest of the class had to also do the movement. However, instead of just physically doing the movement, we had to describe in a lot of detail what we were doing. This helps us develop our communication skills. 

Once we had completed the warm up and everyone in the class was warm, we moved onto the main lesson. The first activity that we carried out was called the “one word story” game. We have played this game in previous sessions. Each member of the group would say one word at a time which then would create a story. Once we had completed this using one word, we moved onto saying a sentence each. This made it harder as you had to be quite imaginative. You also were not allowed to say very long or very short sentences. The extension to this activity was to then perform it to a live audience. As we were focusing on and looking at different theatre companies, we were introduced to this type of performance which is performed by only a few companies around the world. This type of performance is when there are one or several actors at the side of the stage who are narrating the story whilst the other actors, are acting out the story. However, the actors are miming and can only use sound effects. We all took it in turns to play the different roles in this type of production. At first I was an audience member, then I was the actor and then the narrator. I found it hard playing the role of the narrator because we had to say one sentence at a time which fitted in with the context of the story so far and I sometimes struggled to think of a new sentence which would fit with the story line but was also exciting at the same time.

To finish off the lesson, our lecturer showed us a poem which she thought would be suitable for us to use within our performance. From this we created a list of facts that we had been told from the poem. We thought about how we could make a performance from this by thinking of the meaning of the poem and what it represents. We also thought about other aspects to the poem for if this was to made into a stage performance such as target audience, style and genre. We lastly listened to a podcast which we could also base our performance on.

I found this lecture very useful as I learnt about a new type of theatre and gathered some more ideas of which we may be able to use in our production towards the end of the academic year. 

Tuesday 11^th October

In this lecture we were focusing on the beginnings and ends of a performance. 

Our lecturer said to us at the start of this session that from now on and for the next couple of weeks in these sessions, she will pick a person to lead a short warmup. We will be given a week to prepare for the warmup. This will give us the chance to build up our confidence, independence and communication skills. However, for this session, Alys would lead this warmup but if we had any games or activities that we wanted to share then we were able to do so.

We started the warmup by playing the game “splat, bang” which we have played in some previous performing arts sessions. For this game, one person stands in the middle and the rest of the players are stood in a circle around the person in the middle. All of the players in the game have to make a gun gesture with their hands. However, if this game was being played with younger children, then this would be a water pistol gesture. The person in the middle points their hands at one of the people in the circle. To make it clearer who the person was pointing to, the person in the middle said “splat” followed by the name of the person they were pointing to. The person that they are pointing to then ducks down and then the people that were either side of that person have to point at each other and say “bang”.

Another warmup activity which we carried out was called “zip, zap, boing” however there are a few variations to this game. For this specific version of the game, each member of the group who are stood in a circle, pass around the “zip”. As this is passed around the circle, different rules can be added to the game. For example a person could say “boing” and this would then change the direction of the “zip”. Another rule is that someone in the circle can say “zap” followed by the name of the person that they are pointing to and then this person then starts off the “zip” again in either direction around the circle. There are many different rules and variations of this game. 

After we had completed the warmup, we moved onto the main part of the session. The first activity that we were set was to create a beginning of a play. The scene couldn’t be too long but had to be long enough to give the audience some information about what was going on. Me and Angel came up with the idea of a scene with 2 characters, a mum and daughter. The daughter had just been to pick up her GCSE results and when she comes home, her mum is unhappy with the results. We performed this to the rest of the class after a short amount of time and were given feedback. The feedback which we were given was that although we acted it well, it did not seem like the beginning of a play. This is something that we will both need to improve on throughout the course. 

The next task that we were set was one that included chairs. For the first part of the task we were all sat on a chair and our lecturer, Alys called out a word and then we would have to show this emotion. However, we had to be in contact with the chair in every emotion which she called out. Some of the words that she called out where relentless, humble, tired, bored and jealous. Some of these emotions were really difficult to act out as I didn’t know what some of them meant but some of them were easier to act out. From this, we were then asked to come together as a group and create a group performance using 4 emotions and we all had to link with each other. The 4 words which we decided on as a group were friendship, relentless, lonely and depressed. To symbolise ‘friendship’ we arranged the chairs in a circle with all of us holding hands. From there we moved one by one in a canon motion moving around the circle to the next position which was ‘relentless’. For this we all decided to use our own individual ideas so I sat with my legs hanging over the arm of the chair. Then, when we thought that it was appropriate to move to the next emotion, I moved into sitting on the floor with my back against the chair to show ‘loneliness’. For the last emotion, ‘depression’ I lay on the floor with the chair over my head so I was unable to see anything. When we were first given the task, we found it quite difficult as a group to come up with something that was creative. However, after input from all members of the group we successful came up with some great ideas. I suggested that to move from the first emotion to the second, we should move in a canon like action. The feedback that our lecturer gave us at the end of the performance was that this really worked well and looked really visually effective. 

For the next part of the lesson, we looked at some pieces of music. We listened to a few different pieces of music and as we listened, we were asked to think about what the piece was about and how it made us feel. We could then go on to use these pieces within our performance towards the end of the academic year. Once we had listened to all of the pieces, as a group we decided on which piece we liked the most and then we were asked to create a scene from this. The piece that we decided to use made us feel quite emotional and upset. To convey this in a performance, we decided to act out a short scene where all of the group were saying goodbye to Danielle. Danielle was leaving the town by train and we weren’t going to see her for a long time. We chose to do this as it was easy and it did not take much planning time as we were only given a short amount of time to prepare. The feedback that we were given from our lecturer was that the scene worked very well and it was very obvious what was going on within the scene. This meant it was a good thing as the audience members do not become confused.

To finish off the lesson, Alys set us a small research task which was due for the following week’s session. The task was to research and gather some information about a theatre company. The company could be small or large, local or national. This would then help us for when we start to consider making our own theatre company for our performance. 

Tuesday 18^th October

As Alys, our lecturer for this unit, mentioned to us last week, one of us in the class would be leading a few warmup activities to start off the session. This week Danielle was leading the warmup. The first activity that she introduced us to was called character bus. We set the space out like a bus by using a few chairs. To start off, I was the driver of the bus and the rest of the class where stood at the bus stop waiting to enter the bus. The rule of the game was that the person who enters the bus plays a certain character, then everyone on the bus would have to be the same character. We started the scene with me on the bus and everyone else entering one at a time. Once everyone was on the bus, we started the game again but this time we swapped the driver so Danielle was now the driver. I used my existing skills and characters that I had played in the past within this exercise. This exercise aims to build up our confidence and to gently get our brains ready for the lesson. Once we had done this exercise a few times and swapped the driver a few times, we moved onto the next activity which was called ‘model, artist, clay’. For this exercise there are 3 people, a model, a artist and someone acting as clay. The activity started off by the model picking a pose and standing still in that pose. The artist would then have to copy the pose that the model was in by moving the person who was acting as the clay. We did this exercise through a few times so we all got the opportunity to play each part. After we had finished the warmup, Alys selected me to run a few warmup activities next week. This then gave me a week to prepare and think of the activities that I would run with the class.

For the next part of the lesson, we started talking about physical contact within performances and productions. We all stood at the back of the performance studio and Alys asked us if we could find a way to move collectively without giving any instructions. We firstly tried walking in a group but this did not work as we could not move at the same time. We tried linking arms in a circle but this didn’t work either. Alys asked us to think about being able to move together without holding onto each other. As we were stuck for ideas, she asked us to get into partners. We then walked around the room arm by arm. This way we were touching but not holding onto each other. Using this method we were able to sense if the person next to us was slowing down, speeding up, stopping, etc. We then tried this method as a group. We stood in a line at the back of the performance studio and moved as one group down stage. This worked well as we were now able to sense if anyone wanted to stop, go faster, etc.

Last week we were set a research task to find out about a theatre company. This could be any type of theatre. For this task I chose to research the “Royal Shakespeare Company”. During my research I found out lots of information about the company such as that they are based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s hometown, however their work is shared all over the world and they work with over 530000 children and young people every year as part of their education project. I first heard about RSC when I went to see Matilda the musical and this is why I chose to find out some more information about it. 

The last task of the session was to think about characterisation. We sat down and were asked to think about a character. We named the character, gave them an age and an occupation. The, we carried out a hot seating activity which helped us to develop our characters more. From this, we were then set an independent study task which was to write a short monolog that the character would say. This was due for the session after half term. 

Tuesday 1^st November

The aim of this lecture was to look at physical theatre.

To start the lecture, we carried out a warmup. This warmup consisted of us singing the song “bungalow”. This activity helps us to build up our confidence and to have a bit fun at the same time. As I forgot that I was meant to leading the warmup this week, I am leading it next week instead. Instead we played the game “zip, zap, boing”. As we have played this game before, we are becoming better at it meaning that we can pass the “zip” around faster.

Firstly we started to look at prop motifs. For this exercise we were told that everyone in the group was a professor and that we were at a convention. We were given an item and then we had to say what we thought it was and justify this. Alys chose a cupcake holder for the object so then we had to say what we thought it was, however we were not allowed to say that it was a cake stand. I said that it was a water fountain that you have in your garden. The rest of the group could then ask me questions as to why I thought it was this. Others in the group said it was a hair accessary and a spinning top. This exercise helps to develop our imagination and creativity skills.

The second task that we carried out was also to do with prop motifs. For this exercise we were put into pairs and we had to pick a prop that we were going to use to make a performance and base the performance around this. The prop that we chose was a piece of translucent blue material. We then had to use the prop as a motif and use it in different ways. This meant that we had to use it as if it was another object. We had to think of 6 motifs and these were a scarf, a cape, the sea, a blanket, a curtain and a bandage. We came up with these 6 motifs first and then thought about the transitions from the one to the other. When we performed this to the rest of the class and our lecturer, the feedback that they gave us was that although it was a good performance and we had some really good ideas, it didn’t need some of the word prompts to what the objects were. For example, I said “oh Danielle, do you like my scarf?” but in fact I didn’t need to say this as it was obvious what the object was anyway. Once the other group had watched our performance, we watched theirs and we had to guess what their objects were just like they had to guess what ours were.

For the next part of the lesson Callum suggested a good activity that he thought would be appropriate for this lesson. The task was that one person would be sat on a chair, one person would be sat on the floor and another person would be stood up. At all times these positions had to be held so if someone got up from the chair, someone else would have to replace them. We were able to move around the space swapping in and out of the 3 positions. Whilst we were doing this, Alys put some music on in the background which fitted the exercise very well. Once we had got the hang of moving in and out of the 3 set positions, we started to think about the transitions from one position to the next. We also started to add points of contact such as eye contact and parts of physical contact. This then made a big impact on the exercise as it now looked more like a piece that would be performed to an audience. 

The last thing that we did in this session was read over the monologs that we had written over half term. The monolog that I wrote was based on a female aged 26 called Olivia Wright. She is a teacher in a primary school and has only just been given her job. Here is the monolog that I wrote for my character:

“What on earth was I thinking? Why did I do it? I never ever thought that I would do something so unkind and hurtful. I’ve only just got this job and after 5 years of training, I’m here. I’m finally where I wanted to be, but now it looks like I’ve taken a stumble at the first step in my career. In fact, I’ve taken a MASSIVE fall at the first step. I couldn’t help it, I really didn’t mean to do it. But it just slipped out. I didn’t think it was too bad but now it’s dwelling on me. Okay, okay it was just one small punch. It’s not too bad but, but… There’s nothing I can do about it now. What’s done, is done. I suppose I’ll have to see what my boss says. But I guess there’s no hope. All of that work for nothing. And this is because of my head. Why does this have to happen to me? If I lose this job, I lose money. No money, no food and no water. No food and no water… It all comes down to tomorrow. This meeting determines my life and I pray that they keep me, but if not, well… life goes on.”

The feedback that I was given from my lecturer was that this is a really nice monolog and fitted the character really well. Also, she said that it was very mysterious and leaves the audience questioning what will happen next.

Tuesday 8^th November

The aim of the lecture was to look at stimuli and creating pieces of drama from this. We were also looking at an idea and then thinking about its aspects. 

It was my turn to lead the group for the warmup this week. The first activity that I had thought of is called ‘hoedown, ye-ha’. This game is another version of the game that we have played in previous lessons called ‘zip, zap, boing’. Everyone in the group stands in a circle and one person starts off the ‘ye-ha’ which is then passed around the circle. Whilst saying “ye-ha” you have to slap your knee across your body. Another rule to this game is that you can say “hoedown, ye-ha” to change the direction. Another rule is that you can point to someone in the circle and say “get off of my land” followed by their name and then this person would start off the “ye-ha” in any direction. This exercise mainly focuses on building confidence and communication skills. The other exercise that I thought of was an exercise called ‘This is a tick’. Everyone in the group sits in a circle and then someone starts off by saying to the person next to them ”this is a tick”. In reply, the person would say “a what?” and back again to “a tick” and then the person passes it on whilst saying “ah a tick”. This then carries on around the circle but every time someone asks “a what?” this must come back to the original person who then passes the tick back. It is easier to carry out this exercise using an object such as a pen to make it a bit easier to understand. At first the group found this exercise quite difficult as it is quite hard to explain however, after some time they started to pick it up slowly.

As we were looking at stimuli today, our lecturer gave us a scenario of a play about cyber bullying. We were then asked to think about a play that we could create around this topic. However, we weren’t meant to think about the play in too much detail, just things that she had asked us to think about. These elements were things such as the target audience, intentions, style, performance space, performance strategies, cost, cast size, advertising, etc. She asked us to think about these because next term we will be starting to look at creating our performance and these are the sort of things that we will soon need to consider. 

For the next task, Alys gave us a few different scenarios and we had to pick out which one we thought was the best and interested us the most. The scenario that we picked was ‘siblings in war time’. We were then asked quietly to think of a character which we were going to play and what relation we had to everyone else in the group. My character had 3 siblings but I was the youngest at 13 years old. The scene that we came up with was that we were in an air raid shelter in our back garden. The 2 oldest siblings who were being played by Danielle and Callum, had woken up to see that our parents had not returned overnight. An idea that was put forward to the group from Callum was to start the scene off with a siren in the middle of the stage to create a tension for the audience. 

To finish off the lesson we had a group discussion about what we have achieved so far as a group. We all became great friends quickly which means that we all get on well and are able to work with everyone in the group. We would make a great theatre company as we all have good communication skills. 

Tuesday 15^th November

The aim of this lecture was to look at theatre for children.

To start off the lesson we started with the exercise that I introduced to the group last week which was ‘This is a tick’. To start with, the group were a bit slow but after a while we started to pick up the speed as everyone gradually understood it more. When everyone in the group seemed more confident about the game, we added in another object going around the opposite way. We found this very difficult especially when it got to the point when the objects crossed over each other. However, we eventually got the hang of this.

We then moved onto a warmup activity that Angel had prepared. The activity that she introduced us to is called ‘park bench’. For this exercise we set up a few chairs in the middle of the room which acted like a park bench. One person would sit on the bench and when another person enters and sits with them on the bench, the person who has most recently entered, has to try and get the other person to leave. We were not allowed to use the same excuse or situation twice within the game. 

We then moved onto one of the main tasks. We were given a piece of net that we had to create a scene from. We had lots of ideas as a group but then when we tried them out, they didn’t seem to work. With a bit of help from our lecturer Alys, we came up with an idea that worked well. The story was about a fisherman who lived in Cornwall and showed how he got prepared to go out fishing early in the morning. Callum played the role of the fisherman and me, Angel and Danielle played the roles of the story tellers. Because no one in the group was used to performing and creating material suitable for young children, we struggled with this task. However, in the end it turned out to be a good performance and we all stayed in character. 

For the next part of the lesson we were looking at a very well-known poem called ‘The Night Before Christmas’. The task that we were given was to act out the poem. We decided that we would have a storyteller throughout the poem as some of the lines were quite difficult to act out. For the first stanza of the poem, we stood in a semi-circle and spoke the first 2 lines of the poem together. Then, one by one, we spoke 2 lines each. For the second stanza, I played the role of Santa. We used a hula hoop to symbolise the sleigh (prop motif) and a tambourine for the bells on the sleigh (another prop motif). When we got to the second stanza, we swopped roles so I became the storyteller whilst the others acted out the poem. When we got to the third stanza, I swopped roles again to be the dad. Then, to finish off the poem, we used the hula hoop and tambourine again as the sleigh. The feedback that we were given was that it was well performed and certainly would be suitable for children. We worked quickly and effectively as a team to create quite a big amount of material in a short space of time. 

Tuesday 22^nd November

The lesson today was very discussion based rather than practical. The main aim of the lesson was to talk about a theatre company and bring together some ideas for our own theatre company.

Firstly, we talked about what theatre companies are made up of. The types of job roles within a theatre company include stage manager, sound technician, actors, costume designer, choreographer, marketing, etc. We had a brief discussion about what each of these job roles includes. We then thought about which job role we would possibly like to take on when we come to devising our performance, as well as all taking on the role of an actor. I took on the role of the choreographer as I have had quite a lot of dance experience. Others in group picked roles such as marketing, writer and director. From this, we were set a homework task. This task was to research our job role and gain a better understanding for what roles the job includes. We were also asked to consider who we would work with closely within the company. This homework is due for next week’s session and we will use it when we have our first company meeting. 

Lastly, we talked about the theatre company that was created last year and had a discussion about how successful it was. We thought of things that could be improved or taken from the performance which could give us some ideas for our production this year. 

Tuesday 29^th November

Today we were focusing on the job roles within a theatre company. Specifically, we were looking at costume designers/wardrobe department.

The task that we were set was to create a character out of the costumes and props that we had in the props cupboard at college. We were put into pairs and we had to agree on who was going to be the designer and who was going to be the model. Me and Angel were partners, I was the model and she was the designer. We were given a short brief on the character which we were to create using pieces of costume and props. We were asked to create a female pirate from London. For the outfit, Angel dressed me in a shirt with a dress over the top. I had a scarf around my waist and held a parrot in my hand. When we had finished and the outfits were ready, we presented the outfit to the director and the assistant director. We were asked some questions on the outfit and then were given feedback. The aim of this task was to give us an idea of what the job of the costume designer is like. One person in the group may take on the role of the costume designer when we decide on roles for our theatre company.

As everyone in the group was not present this week, we decided to move the production meeting to next week. This meant that we were set homework which was to make sure that we had researched our job role and which other job roles we would work closely with. 

Tuesday 10^th January

To start the lesson we began with a warmup. We stood in a circle and went round one by one and thought of a simple movement that we could describe. Once the first person had done their movement then we moved around the circle but you had to remember the movements that were previous to yours.

For the next part of the lesson our lecturer, Alys talked through with us what would be happening this term in regards to the amount of progress that we should be making. We discussed when ideas for our production should start to come together and how much time we have to start to build up ideas and think about our theatre company. We then started to think and create our own theatre company. As a group we created the company name, slogan and mission statement. The name of our theatre company is going to be ‘3P Theatre Company’ with the tagline ‘Providing passionate performance’. The mission statement that we decided on as a group was ‘To provide passionate and inclusive performance for all’.

We also talked about the material that we will be creating. We discussed the 3 D’s which stand for discard (if we do not like an idea we will get rid of it), develop (if we like an idea we will work with it) and deliver (if we think that the material is ready then we will perform this to an audience). We will take these into account when devising material for the performance. We also thought about comparing and contrasting material - looking for similarities and differences between the content that we create.

For the next part of the lesson we were looking at creating freeze-frames. This could be one technique that we use within our performance. We were asked to create 3 freeze-frames which could be used as an opening for a show. The pictures below show what we came up with as a group.

We were then asked to create 3 freeze-frames which could be used for the end of a show. The pictures below show the content what we came up with as a group.

Next we were asked to create 3 freeze-frames which could be used in the middle of a show. These freeze-frames did not have to link to each other or any of the other freeze-frames that we had already created. The pictures below show the content that we came up with.

Finally we were asked to pick our favourite beginning and end freeze-frames and say one line each. From this we were then able to create a short story and produce possible ideas. We found this quite difficult because we had to pick a beginning and end freeze-frame and had to find a short story which made them link. However, we did manage in the end.

For the last part of the lesson we were put into 2 groups and we were asked “What are your dreams?” and “What are your nightmares?”. We jotted these down on a piece of paper and shared our thoughts. Out of the list which we had created as a group, we picked one nightmare to create a short scene. For this we picked ‘family and friends forgetting about you’ and we created a scene where Danielle was trying to make conversation with everyone else but we did not know who she was.

All of the exercises that have been carried out in today’s lesson have given us some ideas as to what our final performance could contain. We collated the first pieces of information for our theatre company – the name, slogan and mission statement. Throughout the next couple of weeks we will be looking at different techniques and exercises for creating stimuli which we can then use for our performance. 

Thursday 21^st February

Today’s session was being led by Dinos. The aim of the session was to look at characterisation,.

To start off the lesson we carried out a warmup which consisted of many different exercises. The first exercise that we carried out was going through the different types of beans and making a shape with our bodies to symbolise the beans. We included broad, string, kidney, etc. After this we moved onto an exercise which focused on controlled movements. We stood at one side of the room and we had to walk to the other side of the room but had to imagine that we had a bucket of water in each hand, a string pulling us forward, eggs under each arm, a book balanced on the top of our head and our feet had to always be touching the ground. The aim of this was to look at isolated and controlled body movements. The next exercise which we carried out was an exercise which focused on moving as a unit, being conscious of others’ movement and working as a chorus. One of us was chosen to be the leader and we had to lead the group around the room. We all had a go at leading the triangle.

The next exercise was another about moving around the space as one unit. We started by mapping out the area that we were using and then connected with each other by putting one of our hands on the person in fronts shoulder. Music was played and we had to walk in time with it. After a few minutes we started to add new rules such as that you could walk straight across the space but then had to wait for the rest of the group to catch you up.

For the next part of the lesson we were focusing on characterisation. We led on the floor and Dinos counted from 1 to 10 and when he got to 10 we had to be stood up acting as that character. For each character that we were given, we were given a main element to focus on. The character and aspects that we were given were:

·      A middle aged person – posture

·      An elderly person in a park – movement

·      A child witnessing a car accident – face

·      A parent putting their child to bed – voice.

Once we had got ourselves into these characters, we were tapped on the shoulder and had to say a line that we thought the character would say. I found this quite difficult because we had just thought of the character and we didn’t have any background of their life.

After a short break, we started again with a quick game of fortunately, unfortunately and then we carried on with looking at characterisation.

The next task that we carried out which looked at characterisation was passing around a suitcase and we had to improvise a short monologue speaking as if we were the suitcase. The second time around we had to speak as if we were the owner of the suitcase and the third time we had to take someone else story and adapt it.

The last activity which we carried out was we chose a button which we would then use as a symbol of our character. From this, we then had to think of 2 secrets that the character had and had to form a freeze-frame for each of these secrets by using the others in the group. 

Tuesday 28^th February

To start the session we carried out a warmup. This consisted of a few different activities. The first one was thinking of different types of beans and performing an action to go with them. We carried out this activity last week when the session was run by Dinos. We included beans such as broad, string, jelly, French, runner, jumping, chilli, kidney, baked and black eyed. The other warmup activity that we carried out was ‘fortunately, unfortunately’. This is when you alternate around the circle starting the sentence with ‘fortunately’ and ‘unfortunately’ which then forms a story.

After the warmup we had a recap of what we covered in last week’s session with Dinos. To recap, we carried out one of the activities again. This activity was the one where we had to talk from the perspective of the object. Instead of using a suitcase, we used a teddy bear. We started by talking from the perspective of the teddy bear, then from the perspective of the owner and then developing someone else’s story. This activity will help us when we come to developing our characters.

For the next part of the lesson we were looking at the idea that we have come up with for the performance. This is the idea of confinement. We made a list of things that we think of when we hear/see the word confinement. We came up with:

Hospital

Prison

Mental health unit

School

Care home

Slavery/human trafficking

House arrest

Depression

Anxiety

Friendships

Relationships

Death

Birth

Long term illness

Witness protection

Thoughts

Lift

Mental health

Agrophobia

OCD

Once we had created this list of words, we were asked to create a lift scene which included at least 2 of these words. I played a character with OCD and Danielle played a character with claustrophobia. Callum played a character who was going to a job interview and Emily played a character who was heavily pregnant. At first we found this scene hard to do and I was unsure of how to play a character with OCD. However, after some time to think about what characteristics come with OCD, I was able to play the character better.

After a short break we looked at singing some simple chords. Callum played a major chord on the piano and gave me, Emily and Danielle a note each to sing. This then meant that when we sang the 3 notes together it created a harmony. We tried this a few times just to gather some ideas as to what we can include in our performance.

To finish off the session, we did some short improvisation. Our lecturer, Alys mapped out a small space within the performance studio using the 3 blocks and some chairs. For the improvisation we had to think about why we were in the confined space. Alys didn’t specifically tell us what the space was so we just interrupt it ourselves. I interrupted it as a cell in a prison but I was unsure why I was there. When I got into the cell I was mumbling to myself and didn’t let the audience hear what I was saying. I moved around the space slowly and cautiously. 

Tuesday 7^th March

We started the session with a warmup which consisted of a few activities that we have carried out in previous lessons such as the bean game. We also carried out a new activity which we named this the ‘happy slappy game’ and this is when you gently slap different parts of our bodies to make a rhythm. This game explores body percussion and creativity.

For the main part of the lesson we were thinking about characterisation. To start with, we led on the floor for a few minutes just to think about what sort of character we wanted to create an image of. This character that we were creating today isn’t necessarily going to be the character which we play in the performance. We were asked to think of a name, age, fact, rumour and secret for our character but we were not to reveal the secret to anyone. The character that I came up with was Estelle who is 22 and goes to university. She is currently in a lot of debt but is quite relaxed about this. Once we had gathered our thoughts, we sat in a circle and carried out some improvisation. We went around the circle and we had to describe a ‘day in the life’ of our character. This activity is similar to hot seating because it is putting you on the spot to think about your character. We then had to perform short scenes which had to include our facts that we came up with previously. I was in a group with Danielle and Angel and we were in a doctor’s waiting room.

After a short break we then moved onto hot seating. Callum was the first person to be hot seated. The rest of us in the group sat as if we were a panel and asked James questions. This activity was to enable Callum to develop his character a bit more. Once we had finished asking questions, we improvised as someone from James’ life. We then had to stand next to him and the closer we were to him, the stronger the relationship. We then went on to develop scenes from this so using 2 characters (one of which was James). We then carried out this whole hot seating/improvisation task again but with Angel. Angel’s character is called Lily.

To finish off the lesson we went through a list of the scenes which we have already created which could be used within our final performance. These are:

·      Bus stop scene

·      Pet shop scene

·      I am… I am…

·      Stuck in a lift scene

·      Kitchen scene

·      Doctors surgery scene

We have come up with the idea for the performance of an egg timer effect where the 5 different characters in the performance have different stories but then they all come together at a central point and then go their separate ways again. 

Tuesday 14^th March

Today we were carrying on looking at characterisation and developing the characters that we started to develop last week. We also started to look at movement which we could include within our performance.

To start the session, we carried out a warmup. We started the warmup in a circle and someone had to walk across the circle to someone else and say “Hello, my name is …” and the other person would respond with the same. It would then go on to ask how the other person is and then finishing with “Nice to meet you …” and the other person responding with the same. We then had to say this in a different voice for every person that we spoke to. We could do this by changing the tone of voice, accent, volume, etc. After this activity we carried out the exercise ‘Bungalow’. The other 2 activities that we carried out which we were familiar with was ‘this is a pen’ and ‘zip, zap, boing’.

After these activities Callum suggested an activity. It consisted of slapping your hands on your knees for 3 counts and then clapping on the 4^th count. Once we had this rhythm, we were then able to think of other patterns such as slapping for 2 counts and then clapping on the 3^rd count. This meant that every so often, everyone will clap on the same count. This is something that we may be able to include into our performance.

After the warmup, we started to look at some movement. We all walked around the room slowly and once we came into contact with someone we would stop for a moment, and then carry on walking. We were then given a few scenarios and we had to think about what our character that we developed last week would do in this situation.

We then carried out an activity called ‘round, by, through’. This is when you have to create a movement for each of the 3 words. Working with a partner, we created a short sequence of movement each carrying out the ‘round, by, through’.

Next, we moved onto looking into how we could incorporate movement into one of the scenes that we had already created in one of the previous sessions. We chose the lift scene and we were given a piece of music to work to. As I have taken on the role of the choreographer within our theatre company, I choreographed the movement. We were given the first sequence which was to move the head. He looked left, right, up, down and then centre. These movements were quite fast so that they could fit with the beat of the music. We repeated this sequence 4 times then we made up 2 sequences of our own. After these, we then repeated the original sequence twice. After this, there is a change in the music so I felt like there needed to be a different type of movement. For this we all lent outwards in different directions to look like we were coming apart but then we come back in again. We then moved around so we all changed positions and repeated this 5 times.

After a short break we carried on with the hot seating activity which we carried out last week. This week we were asking Danielle questions about her character. At the moment, all of our characters are very similar age and quite similar backgrounds. After the hot seating activity, we had some discussion about what characters we need to have in our performance to make it interesting. Danielle said that she is going to rethink her character and try to think of a new character or change bits of her current character to make the performance more interesting.

To finish off the session we had some discussion about some ideas that we had for the performance. Because we are now starting to bring together some ideas as to what we actually want the performance to be about, we are able to bring some ideas to the group. One idea that we had was to include the slap and clap activity that Callum showed us in the warmup. Also, another idea which we had was to all be sat individually on a chair, the lights go off, something happens and when the lights come up, one of us is in a completely different position to when the lights went down. At the moment we are just listing down ideas because we are still in the early planning stages of the performance. 

Tuesday 28^th March

Today we were focusing on bringing together the material that we have already had ideas for and started creating.

To start the lesson we carried out some warmup activities. For the first game we stood in a line in the middle of the room and if Alys said one word we would run to the right side of the room and if she said a different word then we would run to the left side of the room.  The game gradual became harder as Alys gave us sequences of the words which meant we had to remember them and run to the correct side of the room in the correct order. The other warmup game which we played was ‘zip, zap, boing’. We have played this game a lot in the past so we were all familiar as to how the game is played.

Because I was ill last week and unable to attend the session, the rest of the group discussed with me what they did last week. I am now the only one in the group who has not developed their character. To help me think about my character, the group sat on chairs at the back of the performance studio and gave a character description for their character. To make sure that this performance is interesting, we all need to have different characters so that there is no repetition of characteristics. Listening to the other characters helped me to gain an understanding of what sort of character I could create. Once I had listened to all the character descriptions, I was struggling to think of a new character or how to develop the one that I had before. However, the character that I had before had most of the characteristics that most of the other characters had. As the session went on, I kept thinking about what sort of character I wanted to play.

After we had discussed all of the characters, we had a discussion about what was going to come next and how the scenes were going to flow. We then came up with the idea that each character would have their own separate scene which featured someone else. This means that everyone in the show will have multiple roles to play. We came up a scene for each of the characters which represented them and informs the audience a bit about their background. The scene that I will be in is Danielle’s scene which takes place in a doctors surgery. I will play the doctor and Danielle plays the patient. I, as the doctor, see Danielle on a regular basis as she constantly thinks there is something wrong with her when she is perfectly fine.

It was after this scene when an idea was put forward as to what my character could be. The idea was that my character has split personality disorder and although this would be quite a challenging character to play, it would be really interesting within the performance.

For the rest of the lesson we came up with the rest of the scenes that each different character would have. The other scenes are Callum in the pet shop with Angel, Angel in the library with Emily, Emily in boutique with everyone and my scene is in a butterfly enclosure with Callum. 

Tuesday 4^th April

For today’s lesson, Dinos came in to have a look at how we were progressing with our ideas and to help us in creating our piece further.

To start the session we carried out a warmup. For the first activity we imagined that we had a pebble in our hand and we threw it up into the air and it floated just above our eye line. We then walked around the room pretending that the pebble was balancing there. This activity helps our concentration and focus. We then carried out another activity called ‘here and there’. For this we found a spot in the room which we liked and called it ‘here’. We then found a spot in the room which we didn’t like so much and called it ‘there’. We then thought about the transition between these 2 points.

After the warmup, we sat down in a circle and explained to Dinos what ideas we have had since the last time that he came into college. We thought of a performance description and individually said what we thought the performance was about. After explaining to him the ideas that we have come up with, we showed him all of the scenes that we have come up with so far. As we performed each scene, Dinos gave it a name and then pegged it to a bit of string which acted as a washing line.

For the start of the performance we had an idea that all five of the characters would be sat on a chair in front of the back wall. Each character would have their own section which would have objects on it which would represent their character. For example, my character may have 2 different sets of clothes to represent that my character has split personality disorder. Each section of wall will represent the characters flat within the block. The first scene consists of the clapping rhythms that Callum showed us a few weeks ago. The tension will build and build until it suddenly stops.

The next scene comes from an idea that Dinos gave to us which was the grid. We had the idea of walking around the grid and acting as if these were corridors in the block. This then leads to the lift scene where we do the psychical theatre. After this scene, we then broke off to do the scenes that we created in the last session which were the scenes based around one character but there was someone else in it too. I am in Danielle’s scene as I am playing the doctor and she is the patient. In my scene, I am in a butterfly enclosure on a date with Callum’s character, James.

After a short break we discussed some further ideas that we had for the performance and other material that we could create. One idea that Dinos had was that the slaps and claps at the beginning of the piece act like the sound of the lift going up the building. Another idea that Dinos had was to change the order of the scenes slightly. Instead of starting with the slaps and claps we could start with the grid scene. This is why he used the string as the washing like, so he could take the scenes off and rearrange them. However, these are just ideas and nothing is set in place yet.

The last scene which we practiced was the stuck in the lift scene. For this we thought it would be a lot more interesting if the scene was done in the dark. The scene starts with the lights on but then as the lift breaks down, the lights go off and every so often they come back on. In-between the lights coming on, there is dialogue between the characters and movement which includes different levels.

My target for the next few weeks is to start to think more in depth about my character and do some research into split personality disorder. 

Tuesday 25^th April

Today we were focusing on pulling the material that we had been creating over the past few weeks, together to create more of a performance.

To start the lesson we carried out a warmup with a few warmup activities such as ‘zip, zap, boing’.

After the warmup, we sat down and discussed how we were feeling at this current moment about the material that we have for the performance. We went through the notes that Dinos had made from the last session from before the Easter holidays and discussed the ideas that he gave us and decided which ones we would like to include in the performance. We had written each scene on a different piece of paper so that if we wanted to get rid of a scene, change the position of it or develop it further, we could bin the sheet of paper or make more details on that sheet of paper. This way we can organise the scenes a lot easier and we can change the order of the scenes more easily. We decided, as a group, that we needed to run through all of the material that we had already created so that it is fresh in our heads.

For the main part of the lesson we were focusing on looking at the start of the piece. This scene is going to be a scene of physical theatre. We are each sat at the back of the performance space on a separate chair in front of our own section of wall. Behind us on the wall are going to be items that represent our character. Then, one by one, we get out of our seat and walk around the grid. This was an idea that Dinos gave us. We think this is a good idea to use this because it represents the characters walking along the corridors within the institution. Then, after a while we all end up in the lift. All of this movement is done to a piece of music by Alt-J. It took us a while to get this scene right because we wanted to be in the lift at the time of which the music changes. We then therefore had to try this several times so that we got the timing right. We then had to go back and choreograph all of the movement as this we found that this scene is too complicated to improvise. Once all of the characters have entered the lift, we start the head movement piece which I choreographed a few sessions ago. We established that the movement once in the lift would not work with the music so we decided to ‘discard’ this idea. Instead of this, we all file out of the lift one by one and make our way back to our individual seats.

When we had finished rehearsing this scene, we didn’t have much time so we didn’t rehearse any of the other scenes. Instead our lecturer, Alys had an idea which was to take some photos for the marketing of the performance. We used an app on her phone to take the photos on. Here are photos which we took:

The effect which we used on the phone makes the picture look as if someone has drawn or painted it. This then fits in with the style of the piece as it is quite unusual.

To finish off the session, we had a discussion as to what needed to be done in the next few weeks. We discussed that we don’t have much time from now until the show. Therefore, we need to be doing some work in our own time so that we are ready for the performance date which is the 15^th of June. For next week, we need to write a monologue and a phone conversation for our character. The monologue needs to be able how our character would have their ideal world. My conversation is about a man asking my character out on a date. Also, I have to do some additional research to ensure that I have a solid understanding of the disorder which my character has – dissociative identity disorder.

I feel today's session went well as we were able to look in depth at the beginning of the performance and make sure that this scene was how we wanted it to be before we moved on to work on any of the other scenes. I feel like within the next couple of next, as long as we work as a group well, we will be able to create some very good material ready for the performance. I feel like we work very well together as a group so this will be achievable. 

Tuesday 2^nd May

Previous to the lecture, I met up with Alys as I was struggling to write my monologue and phone conversation which we were asked to write last week ready for this week’s session. I was struggling to write the monologue because I have to take into consideration my character’s disorder. My character has Split Personality Disorder which is now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I was unsure of how to show the change of personalities during the monologue so spoke to my teacher beforehand for some help. She gave me some ideas as to what to include in the monologue so it should now be easier for me to write the monologue.

Today in the lecture we were focusing on creating some new material from ideas that we have had in the past few sessions and also practicing the material that we have already created.

To start with, we carried out a quick warmup so that we had maximum time to spend working on the material for the performance.

The first thing that we focused on in this lecture was creating material from an idea that was proposed by our lecturer, Alys. The idea was to create a daily log of what our characters do. We were all given 4 times of day and then we had to think about what our character would do at that time of day. We started the log at 12:00am (midnight). I was given this character so I had to think of what my character would say at this time. For this time I say “12am – I get into my butterfly embroided pyjamas and crawl into bed”. During this scene, there are times at which all of the characters speak together (choral speech). This adds some suspense to the scene and may make the audience question why we all the characters are doing the same thing at the same time. We managed to script right up to 11:00am. We decided to stop here because we would create a different scene where we would speak what we did in the afternoon.

For the next part of the lesson we ran through all of the scenes that we didn’t have time to run through last week. These are all of the mini scenes which will include our second character (multi-rolling). We then came up with the idea that the daily routine scene could split up the performance. The morning part of the scene would come after we come out of the lift and then would be followed by the smaller scenes. Then, after the smaller scenes, we would carry on with the afternoon routine and then repeat the smaller scenes but from a different angle such as the scene getting worse.

In the next week I need to try and write a monologue and a phone conversation for my character. Last week, I did some research on Dissociative Identity Disorder and made a mind map to help me think about the disorder. Here is a picture of it:

I feel like today’s lesson was very productive as we created a whole new scene and started to plan the order of the scenes. 

Tuesday 9^th May

To start the lesson we talked about how much more work we need to be doing within the next couple of weeks. We don’t have many sessions left until the show and we still have quite a lot to do in such a short space of time. We then all looked at the scripted scenes which Alys had sent us during the week. We read through these together, reading out our own parts.

We then set the stage up and started practicing through the scenes. The main focus this week was to make sure that we all knew what scenes we were in and to work on the scenes which haven’t had much development yet. These scenes include the pet shop scene and the shop lifting scene.

Callum is the main feature within the pet shop scene and Angel is also featured in it as she plays the shop assistant. Therefore, Angel and Callum spent some time working together to practice through and script the pet shop scene. Me, Emily and Danielle were able to watch the scene and suggest possible ideas that we may have had which would help to improve the scene.

We then moved on to look at the shop lifting scene. This scene sees Emily shop lifting from a shop where me, Callum and Angel act as manikins and Danielle as the shop assistant. However, we have recently come up with an idea that the main character which the scene is focused around (for example Emily in the shop lifting scene) has to stay within the lift. The lift will be marked out with masking tape on the floor. This then relates back to our theme of confinement. Therefore, it would make it difficult if me, Callum and Angel were all in the scene. Therefore, we decided that Callum would act as a personal shopper to Emily and Danielle would carry on being the shop assistant.

After a short break, we then spoke about my monologue that I have been struggling to write. Because my character has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), I have to write 2 separate monologues – one for each personality. Then, we can decide if the monologues are going to be combined kept separate. If they are not combined then they will said at different points in the show when I changed personalities. Therefore my target for this week is to write these 2 monologues and send them to Alys before next week’s session.

For the rest of the session we worked on the stuck in the lift scene. We looked for sound effects of a lift breaking down and then this would give us a cue to start the scene. The scene is going to be in the dark and only during certain moments, the lights will come up and we’ll be in different positions. We improvised this scene a few times and thought of a few lines which we then noted down. Alys would then type up these lines and send them to us so we can start to learn them. 

Tuesday 16^th May

Before the session today, I met up with Alys to discuss my character. In this conversation we came to an agreement that we thought that my character was becoming over complicated and that I didn’t have a lot of time to develop my character well and learn more about the disorder due to having to concentrate on my other subjects within college. Therefore we have decided that my new character is going to be very similar to the old one but there is only going to be one personality. The character is however still going to have an intelligent side but when she gets angry, she turns childish.

To start the lesson we carried out a quick warmup so that we had maximum time to practice and rehearse our material.

We started by running through the scenes which we have already got. Some of the scenes such as the pet shop and one of the lift scenes have been scripted so we read through these lines as a cast.

At the end of last week’s session we worked on the lift scene. In this scene, all of the characters become stuck in the lift. However, this week we came up with the idea that there are going to be several lift scenes and as the scenes progress, they will become darker and more intense. Since the last session, Alys has typed up the script which we came up with last week for the first lift scene. We started to think about what could happen within the rest of the scenes. We began to bring some ideas together as a cast. An idea that we had from several weeks ago was for my character, Estelle to start singing whilst in the lift. As the song goes on, it gets scarier. All of these lift scenes happen in darkness and the audience are given a glimpse of the lift for about 5 seconds at the end of every scene. As a cast we managed to come up with ideas for 4 more lift scenes. Alys said that she would type the script up and send it to us within the next week. At first, we weren’t sure about the order of the scenes as we had the idea of splitting the scenes and not having them together. However, after some negotiation, we decided to put all the lift scenes together in order.

At this moment, we are unsure of which order we should put the scenes in. We have tried running the scenes in different orders and they all seem to work nicely. Next week, Dinos who works for UCAN will be coming in again to look at all of our material. We will ask him next week for his opinion on the order that we have currently. 

Tuesday 23^rd May

Today, Dinos who works for UCAN came into the session to look at all of the material that we have for the performance. He also brought along Meg who also works for UCAN. She also helped us throughout the session as she gave us some feedback and suggested some ideas for material which we can use for the performance.

To start with, we carried out a warmup to make sure that we were warm and ready to perform. The warmup today consisted of singing through ‘bungalow’ and playing the bean game.

After the warmup we went straight into running the scenes from the beginning to the end. We asked Dinos to specifically look at the order and the fluidity of the piece as we are currently unsure if this works and flows well. At the moment we are reading most the lines from scripts as we have only had the scripted scenes for a couple of weeks. I have been unable to learn any lines yet as I have had exams in other subjects within college. However, over half term I will be able to spend some time looking over the script and learning my lines so that when we come back to college I am able to work on characterisation more.

We firstly performed the grid scene which comes at the beginning of the show, then moving into ‘Our day (part 1)’, then into the phone calls and them into the smaller scenes. We decided to put one phone call and then one smaller scene and keep changing in between the 2 because this would mix it up a bit, However, we were finding it difficult to remember which scene was next so Dinos suggested that at the end of ‘Our day (part 1)’, we have 5 different sound effects for the character’s phones ringing and then it goes into the phone conversations, one after another. Then once these have finished it will then go into the smaller scenes.

We then performed all of the smaller scenes in the order that we had them before. This order seemed to work well so there were no changes here.

After a short break we carried on performing the material. We ran through the monologues. Another idea that Dinos gave us was to have the word ‘broken’ in everyone’s monologue because this is the title of the performance which would then add some dynamic to the piece.

After the monologues come the lift scenes. We had only been sent these scenes a few days ago so nobody had had time to learn their lines in time for today’s session. Some of us were able to read our lines and follow the script and others were fed their lines as they were unable to read the script.

Overall, Dinos was very impressed with all of the material that we have come up with. Once we have learnt the lines, we will be able to start working more on characterisation and building the performance more.

When we return after half term, we will be working hard to make sure that we are ready for the performance in time. Alys is going to email us the full script in the next few days so that it is easier to learn the lines because at the moment we have all the scripted scenes as different documents and they are not in the correct order. Our target for over half term is to learn our lines so that when we come back to college we are able to start working more on characterisation and pulling the piece together. We will only have 2 more timetabled sessions after half term before the show, however we will be working outside of lecture time to ensure that we are fully prepared and ready to perform on the 15^th of June.