Earthquakes Vocal Challanges

In Earthquakes in London two of my three characters have accents, Mrs Andrews is Scottish and Maryna is Polish. In order to make these characters as realistic as possible I decided to look into how to produce a convincing accent for both parts.

Polish:
To start off with, some of the letters in words are pronounced differently:

• ts in “kits” would sound like "c"
• ee in “meek" would sound like "i"
• y in “you” would sound like "j"
• v in “vet" would sound like "w"
• i in “ink" would sound like "y"

Sometimes when  and vowels are next to each other they have their own combined sound:

• bi – like b in “beg.”

• gi – like g-y in “beg you.”

• ki – like ke-y in “like you.”

• mi – like m-y in “charm you.”

• pi – like p-y in “stop you.”

Scottish:

To start off with, their is a different placement of words in your mouth when doing a Scottish accent:

• Keep your lips out and open your mouth as if to get your lips around each sound and word
• When you speak, pull your tongue back toward your throat. Doing this will help you get the harsher, guttural sounds associated with Scottish accents.
• "u" sounds as "oo" 
• Drop the 'g' sound from words ending in a 'g.' 
• Roll your "r's"
• 
  

Monologue Vocal Analysis

The Table Laid: Galina's Monologue

"Serb. Croat. What is that? What difference have you found? What is your shit problem? Maybe you know? But how can I explain to my son. His grandmother still wore a veil. Had both her arms covered down to her wrists even on the hottest of days. She understood no Russian. In her house there was no water. She brought it from the stream. Day by day. The buckets were heavy. But then the men came. And girls in light blouses. They laughed loudly on the dust track. Shoes stained grey. The men and the girls. They called meetings in the village square. Made speeches. Said. Moscow is ruled by the working class. It is a revolution! But Moscow was distant. My grandmother hadn't even noticed the revolution. Still. Everyone there knew that in dark kitchens. They would bring water and electricity. Women called one girl. Are like men. Have the same rights and same duties. Women can't flee from the new age. No longer shall you wrap in veils to inhibit and bind you. The veils fell into the dust. From now on laughed grandmother. Men must give birth to great pain. Must bleed and be alone. Have their stillborns ripped from their guts."

Behind The Monologue:
the monologue show the story of a Russian refugee who has just had an argument with a man named Vedran. She doesn't support war and so she has made Vedran leave because of her argument. she then goes on to talk by her self about what her old life was like and starts to reflect about her families opinions on the revolution as well. this is only the first chunk of the monologue as it then goes on to talk about what Galina's life is like now she is a refugee. I felt that the first part of the monologue was a good part to use as she changes her emotions quite frequently through out the monologue. she starts of with being angry at Vedran but then she goes to a reflective state about the family and then into a state of pride about the revolution. I therefore feel that using this chunk will allow me to portray a range of different emotions vocally and physically.

Vocal Challenge:
As the character Galina is a Russian refugee it means that the actress playing her would have to use a Russian accent. This would defiantly effect my performance vocally as it means I will need to be able to do a Russian accent and I would also be able to pronounce my words clearly with accent so that the audience will understand what I am saying. when I researched how to do a Russian accent the main vocal tricks I found were:

• All of the W's are usually pronounced as a V sound e.g. weasel would sound like veasal 
• They use a rolled R sound
• They often talk lower, slower and louder then I usually would
• Use a starting word that will get you in the mood of Russian. One of the most commonly used words is Vodka as it already sounds Russian. It will help to get into the accent.

How has Jacques Lecoq influenced Berkoff?

One way in which Jacques Lecoq influenced Steven Berkoff  was through sharing the similar view points on mime. In 1965 Berkoff attended Jacques Lecoq's school in Paris, which meant that he would have had a direct insight to all of what Jacques Lecoq's beliefs were in theatre, especially in mime. Lecoq said in an interview about his mime "it is important to be open and not to copy the style of someone else because you will never be as good as he is. Each is better in his own style." Obviously Jacques Lecoq's teaching was important to Berkoff as he believes that actors should break the traditional conventions of mime and try to adapt their own style of mime.

These beliefs in mime were shown when Berkoff adapted Franz Kafka's novel Metamophosis in 1968. It was first put on at the Round House Theatre in London but in 1987 it was put on to TV which stared Tim Roth. In the adaptation, Berkoff staged the performance to be breaking the forth wall for the opening sequels at which point three of the characters used mime to show glimpses into their character traits. For example Berkoff's character of the father would use a sequence (in a clockwork style) pretend to smoke a cigarette by using his fingers and blowing away from them and drinking a glass of beer by forming a mild of the glass in him hands and raising his hand to his mouth. Berkoff's uses of mime show that he wanted to change the pure form of mime because the movements were clockwork, it made the mime look less realistic but it was still convincing enough to know what he was doing. He therefore put his own original twist to mime just like Jacques Lecoq.

In the same play of Metamophosis, Berkoff also used other theories of Jacques Lecoq than just mime. He also encorporated movement, masks and ensemble. In Jacques Lecoq's school he used physical theatre and movement instead of using words and he even had his own set of masks called Larval masks that were especially designed for his students. Berkoff used ensemble work in the play by using the other performers to create the environment for the play. It shows that Jacques Lecoq's teaching did effect Berkoff as he then went on to put his devices into his own plays.

Berkoff has also gone on to influence new performances such as our own Greek theatre performance of Agamemnon. My performed the section of the script were the chorus tries to convince Oresties to kill his mother for revenge. Our task was to conte lories Greek theatre by using physical theatre and we did so by placing the text into a school setting and making the theme as peer pressure. We used Berkoff as our main influence by using his overexagerated voice. For example we decided to use chavy accents in order to show how the students were menacing and modern compared to the Greek theatre and we over emphasised every word like how Berkoff does in his plays. We felt that this modernised our Greek theatre as Berkoff's techniques have only really been around in the last 100 years and it created distinct different techniques compared to the Greeks and most modern theatre.

Earthquakes - the character Mrs Andrews

Information on Mrs Andrews:
. She is house keeper for the older Robert
. She is Scottish and lives with Robert in Glasglow
. She has a sister
. She stays with her sister when Robert has visitors
. She has a thing Robert
. She cooks, cleans, open doors answers phones for Robert

Mrs Andrews dialoge said about herself:
. "There's my room"
. " when your wife visited, I stayed at my sister's"
. "He'll be back to the house later this afternoon, as will I"
. "You think I was in there listening? I stayed at my sister's"
. "I stay out of his business"

Thing said about Mrs Andrews by others:
. "Mrs andrews keeps me company. She's a blessing. Problem is. She loves me."
. "Those eyes. I tell her., Mrs Andrews, it's not you, it's your age. It's prohibitive."
. "Flirting! Look at her. There isn't a bed, there you have it straight from the horses mouth - no offence Mrs A"
. "We some. You gave her fruit cake"
. "You see, there is a keen brain under all that"

Mrs Andrews actions/behaviours:
. The door is opened by Mrs Andrews
. Mrs Andrews sighs
. She lets him in
. Mrs Andrews clatters in, opens the curtains
. Mrs Andrews looks at him
. Mrs Andrews goes
. Mrs Andrews is sorting through table cloths. Steve talks to her.
. Mrs Andrews takes a towel and begins to unfolding it
. Mrs Andrews shuts the door and gives him the towel on cue
. Robert, Steve and Mrs Andrews are having dinner
. Steve is arguing with Mrs Andrews

My opinion of Mrs Andrews appearance:
I personally feel that she would probably be wearing a long tartan skirt as of her Scottish heritage and her age. Also I thought that she might wear a white shirt as she is older and she is in a formal presentable job to Robert. Perhaps she would wear a small heel but it would be a leather.shoe
And she would have curly hair perhaps put up but defiantly slightly messy due to all the work she does.

Earthquakes - the character Maryna

Information about Maryna:
. She is a polish woman
. She is a cleaner in a hospital
. She says she doesn't understand English but she does say some English things

Maryna's dialoge she says about herself:
. "I don't understand English"
. "I'm just the cleaner, go and talk to a doctor"

There is not anything said about her by any other characters. I think this is because she is a minor background character who is only meant to observe the story and not be apart of it.

Maryna's actions/behaviours:
. Playing 'I am not a robot' on a tiny radio
. Maryna looks Freya in the eyes
. Maryna picks up her mop and watches
. As the receptionist takes Freya into the hospital, Maryna watches then walks away
. Maryna, the polish cleaner from before, sees Freya and starts singing 'I'm not a robot' by Marina and the diamonds
. Freya leaves the hospital with Maryna
. Freya walks down the road into the city with Maryna, and picking up some other commuters behind her. They walk with and sing
. Peter appears, looking for Freya. Everyone starts moving off, going about their normal boring business. Maryna goes home

My opinions of Maryna's appearance:
Obviously I saw her wearing a cleaning blouse with white shoes because of her job as a cleaner and the place that she works. I also imagined her with curly hair that has been swept into a low pony tail mainly to show that she is trying to keep the environment clean. I thought it work be also ordinary to have her wearing bright rubber gloves or even a hair net just to add more to her job criteria.

Earthquakes - the character Casey

Information about Casey:
. She is being made redundant
. She is apart of the ministrative team
. She works for Sarah
. She drinks herbal tea
. She voted for liberal democrats
. She has been working for Sarah for 5 years
. She is British and working in London
. She is annoyed with they way the government is being run
. She regrets voting for lib dem

Casey's dialoge about herself:
. "I've been here five years"
. "I don't like coffee"
. "But I voted lib dem, I voted for you"
. "I'm leaving the country"

Things said about Casey:
. "Casey's been a fantastic as part of the ministrative team" - Sarah
. "Ever since I been here I've noticed that she's so ... Funny" - Sarah
. "We're sorry to be seeing ... Casey ... Go, leave" - Sarah

Casey's actions/behaviour:
. Sarah gives Casey a gift bag and she looks inside
. She looks around at everyone and gives the machine back

My ideas on her appearance:
When I first read that character Casey I thought that she would probably be the outcast of the office as no one noticed that she was there for 5 years or that she drank herbal tea. I therefore imagined her to be quite wacky in her hair and clothing choices. I imagined her with wild curly hair and very bright colourful clothing that probably doesn't match. I felt that this related to the character as she drinks herbal tea so I thought she would be a hippy type character. I defiantly saw her with big glasses that she could use as a character trait by always having to push up her glasses. This could make her look more insecure in the office and make it show that she obviously doesn't belong in the office.

Earthquakes - introduction

Earthquakes in London is a play written by Mike Bartlett which is based around global warming. The story follows a woman called Freya who is in conflict to whether she should keep her child or have an abortion like her father says to save her from contributing to over population or a damaged world. When Freya's mother dies her and her two sisters (Sarah and Jasmine) leave their father to live their own different and separate lives. The story exposes themes like global warming, abortions, over population, death, suicide, regret plus the difference between reality and fantasy.

To get my own interpretation of the play we had to draw an image the reflects the play. I decided to draw a baby with a blind fold on which was inside the mother's tummy. I did this to show how we are ignorant to the things around or the bigger picture and therefore we feel that we are not affected by these things. Around the tummy their was the destruction of fires, alcohol, trees and planes because it sort of showed how the world is being destroyed by thing we do everyday. There was also cracks inside and outside the tummy to symbolise the destruction caused by the earthquakes. I decided to name the image 'we are blind' mainly because it shows the ignorance that we have to global warming and to show how we would rather turn a blind eye to the subject then facing it head on.

Characters:
In this play their are many different character types that are represented through one or more characters.

1. Protagonist - the protagonist is the main character whose story we follow. I feel that Freya would be the protagonist as all of the characters go to her instead of her finding the new characters and she is the one who has the decision whether or not to keep the child. However there are other characters who could possibly be the protagonist like Robert as he has to decide whether or not to stay with his family after his wife dies and his decision effects the rest of the lives of his daughters.

2. Antagonist - the antagonist is the person who causes conflict for the protagonist. I feel that Robert would be the antagonist as he is the one who tells Freya to get rid of her child and therefore causes her conflict in her decision making. There is also a minor antagonist to Jasmine as Sarah is her polar opposite and she confronts everything that Jasmine does. However I feel that Robert would be the main antagonist as he effects the storyline the most.

3. Foils - the foil is the characters that contrast to the main character. I feel that this would probably would be Jasmine and Sarah as each individual sister has separate character trades from the other. However you could also say that Steve is Roberts foil as he completely disagrees with everything that Robert says as he believes that Freya should keep the child. My character Mrs Andrews could also be seen as a foil to Robert as she seems to be a loving caring person compared to Robert who is very reserved and cold.

4: Confidante - the Confidante is some one who forces the protagonist to open up to. I feel that Peter would be Freya's Confidante as she truly expresses her true emotions about not wanting the child to him. However you could say that Steve would also be the Confidante to both Freya and Robert as she opens up to him about her fear of being left alone and Robert shows his true feelings about being a father to Steve.

5: Raisonneur - the Raisonneur is the character which expresses the voice of the author. I feel that this character would be Tom as he is the only considers the effect global warming is having on the people and he has a large passionate rant about the effects of the planes.

6: norm character - the morn character is someone who is completely normal and are relatable to the audience. I feel that this character would be Steve as he is only looking for answers and he is trying to save his family. I think this is why he is my favourite character as he (to me) feels like the only true character who tries to hold everything together.