Christina's World

The Painting

In lesson we looked at a Picture called "Christina's world" which was painted by a man called Andrew Wyeth. The painting is of a woman called Anne Christina Olsen who was the next door neighbour to Andrew's wife. Anne had polio which is a disability where the nerves of the spine are damaged and makes them unable to move particular muscles. In Anne's case she was paralysed from her hips down and so she had to drag herself around her house and her field. she did have the choice to have a wheel chair but she turned it down.

Initial Response

Before we even looked into the background of the painting we had to make notes about our first responses to the picture. Some immediate words that popped into my head was alone or escape as the woman in the painting is the only person in it and she is far away from the house so I presumed she wanted to be isolated. I also notice her pink dress and how it look old so the picture was probably based in the 1940's because of her old dress and hairstyle. I also noticed that her dress was a very distinctive bright pink and it make me see the woman as the brightest part of the painting. I also thought that because she was reaching towards the house that she was remembering the good memories from the house and because she was sitting in a dark patch perhaps she was in a dark place in her life.

Second Response

After looking into her background we realised the painting was based on her disability and how she is struggling with her weakness but she still keeps going. My group therefore it was about strength and determination because she doesn't want to dehumanise herself. We therefore had to create a freeze frame showing Christina's physicality. We did this by having everyone lean on each other in an ascending order to show how even though she hasn't got the ability to walk she can keep going like any normal human. we tried to base it on the position that Christina's position in the painting so we all looked as if we were crawling to our feet. to push this image further we added the sound effect of panting to show her struggle in her everyday life. it also therefore inspired the name of our piece to be called "Heavy Breathing".

Final Response

From doing this activity I have learnt that it is good to look into your stimulus as the meaning behind it  could be different from your original interpretations are. I also have realised that even the smallest of idea or theme can influence the whole piece and can be a good starting piece for any devised piece of drama.

Forced Entertainment - Information

Forced Entertainment

Origins:
They started in 1984 and have been running for over 30 years.

The Company:
The company has 6 core artists who have based themselves in Sheffield. They have been running for 30 years in which the company has been able to show a rare example of their people building, maintaining and developing vocabulary, ways of working and innovating together over long periods of time.  The company is always ready and prepared to take risks in their performance by being able to push themselves to their limits. This also means that the company have control over their performance as they are based on personal needs because they do all the devising for their performances. 

Funding:
The company are funded through the national lottery and Arts Council England which are both from public funding.

Style:
The company's main aim is to challenge people's views of the theatre. They use their 'creative laboratory'  in order to create unexpected and inspiring answers to questions on life and art. For their audience they want to create a state of confusion as it will lead them to question the aspects of their work and the expectations to theatre. They do want to break the norm in the relationship between actors and the audience so they try to make their performances like a conversation between them. It therefore brings the audience deeper into their performance and closer to the art being performed. 

Stimulus:
When the company want to start a new performance, they go back to the rehearsal room in which they discuss ideas, raid costume boxes, play music, focus on specific lines in dialogue or improves a scene until something starts to stick. The stimulus is a very important part in the devising process as it can become the starting point or main component to their artistic projects. Stimulus's could be  anything from an object, dialogue, picture, mood or music piece which could open up their imagination in the creative devising process. The company previous stimulus have varied from ideas when they were drunk to objects that rub against each other in everyday situations but have worked together as it has created tensions and excitement in the companies imagination.


Starting Point:
In order to build some of their ideas they have created lists, played games, been in silence, dressed up, used jokes, got drunk, used improve, spoken in gibberish and experimented with long durations of time (the longest being 24 hours). This also leads the company to look into different and contrasting themes like comedy and serious, for example they created serious scenes that turned out to be funny and vis versa. They also experiment with aspects of the theatre like gallery installations which means their setting would change the audience would move interaction with the art.

Devising Methods:
The company  is mainly devise from their stimulus as it gives them a starting point which they can creatively work around to develop their ideas further. However they also look into different devising methods like the emotional states of the actors. They have an occasion used the actor's mental state like tiredness to add layers to their characters or the scene itself, They have also used accidents in rehearsals into shows to break the expectations of traditional theatre as the audience doesn't expect their to be mistakes. They also use creative blocks to their advantage as it forces the artists to push themselves to get out of the creative block. 

DV8 essay

DV8 Essay

Dv8 is a physical theatre company who have inspired groups such as Frantic Assembly. The company was created in 1986, in which they have produced 19 highly acclaimed dance pieces and four award winning films for television. They are able to get funding from Arts Council England due to the fact that they are an Arts Admine Associate Company. The company have built their huge reputation from their ability to push their own boundaries and constantly examining the role and relationships of men and women in today’s society. It means that all of their pieces are currant and relates to the modern society. DV8 focuses on taking risks, braking boundaries between dance and theatre plus communicating themes and ideas to audiences. They try to be radial yet accessible and stretch their work to as wide an audience as possible. What makes DV8 so different is that they don’t want their work to be based around financial, organisational and touring demands dictate the creation of new works but they was to focuses on artistic inspiration and creative needs. Their work constantly questions the norm of today’s society and key subjects that impude on everyday life.

When devising or creating a new production, DV8 does lengthy research and development periods in order to maintain artistic irregularity. This means that they always try to make their work different and stand out. They mainly focus on themes of questioning social, political views and sometimes taboo subjects in order to make their work have a bigger impact on their audiences. In Lloyd Newson’s piece “psychologist’s playground” they explored themes like exposing human emotions and feeling, and investigating questions of sex, identity and relationships. This piece also make Lloyd Newson to create evoking images, structured movement with a raw in your face portray of extreme behaviour.

They tend to use brutal looking, violent or provocative movements and they will try to avoid pointed feet, complex steps, high extensions, graceful arms, difficult jumps and so on. This is one reason why their work is as different as they don’t stick to the norms of dance techniques even though they are a dance physical theatre company. In another of their performances (called “My sex our dance”) some of their moves consisted of tensely clasping hands, furious tussling, twisting, crashing into walls and raped around each other to break their fall. The company believe that to reveal human emotion they often had to use very extreme movements.

One of their more taboo pieces was called “dead dreams of monochrome men”. It was based on the London serial killer Dennis Nilson. They only used minimal set designs to portray a ‘pick-up’ nightclub and a flat where the killer took his victims. They had surreal images and used body language that carried a deeper probing of homoeroticism. They used its dark sadomasochistic message to create a piece of intense and sometime uncomfortable performance all portrayed by the four male performers. This piece was so effective that in 1989 (one year after its stage release) it was filmed to enable a wider audience to see their creation.  It went on to win the awards Evening Standard Ballet Award — 1989, Time Out Dance Award — 1989, London Dance & Performance Award for choreography — 1988 and Digital Dance Production Award — 1988.

“Enter Achillies” was one of DV8’s pieces in 1995. It looked into straight male bonding in the 90’s as its theme was of a physical manifestation of the ‘new lad’ image which was being promoted in the media at that point in time. It was considered as a striking piece of popular culture as it exposed the crisis of masculinity expectations through movement, sound and design. This piece was so successful nationally and internationally that it was made into a film and it won 7 awards which were:

·    Jury Prize Montreal Festival for Films on Art 1998, Montreal
·         Emmy Award 1997, Performing Arts, New York
·         Golden Spire Performance Special, San Francisco Film Festival 1997
·         Prix du Ministre-Président First Screening Stage Arts Festival 1997, Brussells
·         Prix Italia Special Prize - Television, Music & Arts, 1996
·         Best Stage Performance Reworked for the Camera IMZ Dance Screen 1996
·         Special Prize 6th Golden Antenna Television Festival 1996

I thought that certain aspects of the piece symbolised or represented different area of the lad culture. For example when the first man entered the bar he went over to the karaoke machine and he started to sing a slow and emotional ballad. However when all the other men joined the bar, they made him stop sing by changing to a more lively song. I personally though that this represented the idea that the men weren’t allowed to show their weaker emotions as they are meant to be ‘men’ who are strong and don’t get emotional. I think it was meant to bring light on the stereotype of ‘being a man’ and how it forces men to be something that they aren’t.

Another, more disturbing, symbolism was that not female in the piece but they did have a female sex doll. In the first scene we see a man being gentle and romantic to the doll which could mean that the doll is meant to portray the loneliness of men or that the sex doll was mean to symbolise all women in the eyes of men. Later on in the piece one of the other men steal the doll and the men pretend to have sex with it and burst the doll by piercing it with a beer bottle.  It could mean that men saw woman as object rather than people and that they could do what they like with them. Or it could show how beer could destroy there relationships with women as they are drunk and have no responsibility. I think the doll was meant to question men of that time’s view on women and the way they decide to treat them due to the intoxication of alcohol.

I also noticed that whenever the men were all together they all did the same movement and they used animal and wild images. I felt that this was meant to imply that men are like animals in the way the treat each other and those men naturally copy each other in order to fit in. Therefore I think it shows the true loneliness of men and want of exception as they keep repeating the same type of movements throughout the whole piece. This addresses to the audience the wrong stereotypes of men of the 90’s and the expectations of them because they are ‘men’. 

Frantic Assembly Essay

Frantic Assembly Essay

This essay will inform about some of Frantic Assembly’s devising and technical features that they have used in some of their plays and successful stage show like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Frantic Assembly main aim as a company is to create thrilling, energetic and unforgettable theatre. The company focuses on new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture.  Their unique physical style combines components like movement, design, music and text in all of their performances. Frantic is known as was of the most exciting theatre companies in the country all due to their reputation.  The company pride themselves in believing that theatre is for everyone and therefore promotes diversity and access in all of their performances.  They also believe that opportunities should be given to all that’s why they encourage individuals who are not yet represented in the arts to apply themselves into the company.

One of the most important features in the artistic process is that all the initial ideas come from the company itself. Some of their ideas can take years till it reaches the stage. It doesn’t mean that their ideas take years of development but more that an idea might be put aside because the company are waiting for the right climate (whether it be artistic or social) before they even consider putting the idea in to their production. When devising, frantic find music to be a huge inspiration to their work, which means they included it in all off their rehearsal in order to enhance their creativity. They also believe that design to be very important in their creative process. They want designers to absorb as much of the creative process as possible, comment on movement ideas, observe the potential character work and get a feel for the aims of their projects.

Even though Frantic were inspired by the company DV8, they wanted to find their own moves and techniques in which other people could use to create the same illusion of extraordinary movement. One of their improvised movements was called ‘Hymns Hands’, due to the fact that they used this movement in a devised play called hymns. The movement is entitled of a person placing their hands on their partner’s body. Both people can switch hands but they always must come back to the main part of the body. It focuses on fluidity between the switching hands and the connection to the partners. To extend the exercise further, the partners do the movements in slow motion but they have to follow the hands moving with their eyes. This makes the partners focus on the control of their movements and the effect of the weight of their touch. It makes the hands have different meaning depending on how they are place and at what velocity. For example if they were doing the movements quickly, it might look like the partners are have an argument but if they perform it slowly, it might look more loving and relationships maybe formed between the partners. Therefore this movement can create intimate but effective movement between the actors.

Another of Frantic’s techniques that are used as part of their building block is called ‘Round, By, Through’. This movement involves two people moving around, next to someone and going through each other. It consists of close contact and moving differently near someone. Their moves could be anything from going under each other arms to rolling around their body but it all depends on how the group have choreographed their piece. To develop this movement further the partners could squeeze the area in which they were working in, it means that the have closer contact and the moves become harder as they are having to move with the other person’s body. They also could add small lifts between the partnerships as long as they smoothly transition the lifts into the movements.

This movement makes the company think primarily on the three universes. The three universes consist of the moment before the touch, during and after the touch. This concept creates a lot of tension on stage as none of their movements are thrown away and they create the focuses point between the two actors. In Frantic’s ignition project, they used ‘round, by, through’ with the three universes in a slow motion which created an intimacy between the men and made a dangerous atmosphere as people were anticipating the next movements. It shows how depending what pace or intensity the moves are performed, the mood could change the style of the piece.

The physicality of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was created by the production’s Movement Directors Frantic Assembly. This mostly included their lifts that they have created special techniques to make the movements look more effective on stage.

One of their lifts is called push hands. It consists of the person flying walking up to their rock and the actor’s around him lifts him up. As this happens the person being lifted pushes down on the rock’s shoulders. This simple movement of pushing down on the shoulders immediately gives the illusion that the actor is weightless or a lot lighter than they actually are. And if the bond between the actors are strong enough the person flying can let go and the will be able to move them around the stage swiftly as if they were really flying.  They did use this technique in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Another of their most extraordinary lifts, which was also used in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is called walking the walls.  This move is all in its title; it makes it possible for the actor to walk along a wall with the support of other actors. The move consists of a base person who will take all of their weight onto their shoulder, someone to be lifted and a third man who supports the bell when first being lifted up. Once the actor is up the third man can take themselves out of the piece leaving the two men walking the length of the wall. This move only works because the person lifted pushes into the wall with their feet which creates their own gravity that can support the base man. This piece can look effortless if all the actors commit to the move and they keep creating gravity with every step they take. 

7 'Cherry Orchard' - Evaluation

Evaluation of our Cherry Orchard Performance

Basics:
In our performance I felt that our pace was the most improved aspect as we went from a boring and depressive play to a comedic play all because we sped up our pace. It is frequent in Chekhov plays for the pace to be slow as it focuses on quite depressive subjects and it tries to heighten the naturalistic style of the piece. Therefore actors often perform the plays in a dull pace. However this can make the plays boring to watch as they miss the natural humour to the piece and there is not much of an impact when something bad does happen. 

When we performed the Cherry Orchard we tried to have a fast pace throughout the performance. This was effective as it meant the natural comical moments were highlighted. For example when Firs said 'She came home. Can you believe it? The Mistress came home. We waited so long.'  he became over excited and he started wailing his arms around. His sweet reaction made the audience laugh. Also when a depressive subject came into the scene, we were able to draw the atmosphere down. 

However we weren't able to keep this consistent through out the performance as we had a memorial bell go off during our final act. When the character Boris said 'Some more water Please'  the bell went off during his speech so we all had to be silent for 2 minuets. up to that point the play was running at a very smooth pace but this silence did break up the play a little bit and it broke the atmosphere from the final moments of the play. Luckily the actor who played Boris immediately went back into his speech as soon as the silence was over. It meant that the play was able to carry on as if nothing had happened. I felt this didn't overly effect our performance as it was recovered well but it would have been better if the scene could have flowed straight to the end.

Stylistically:
For this performance we were focusing on portraying Chekhov's play 'The Cherry Orchard' in a naturalistic style. I felt that we did accomplish this aim as we used some of Stanislavsky's  system and skills like emotions. For example, in part 2 of our performance the actor playing Lyuba had to cry as she loses her house to someone she considered as a friend and the orchard is going to be cut down. when she started crying she collapsed to the floor and she made a sort of distorted breathless cry and when I heard the cry in the performance I thought she was actually crying as it sounded so painful. I felt this made her performance natural as she made me worry for her when she was on stage and she didn't over do it. 

Actor's Skills:
I think the best aspect of our play was the use of gestures and small movements as it made the characters come to life even when they weren't talking. For example in the final act when the family are about to leave the home for good, we had the servants in the background of the dialogue taking down the bookcase, antiques and was packing them away into boxes. It meant that the stage was empty when they finally left but it also showed a living working household even though they were on a stage. Also every character had 3 specific gestures that were repeated throughout the play. My gestures were holding my hands together, hugging my self by rapping my arms around my elbows and rubbing the back of my neck. because these 3 gestures were repeated in the performance it showed how we were creatures of habit and therefore made it more natural as it related to human instincts.  

Team Work and Support in Performance:
I felt that we did have great teamwork in the performance as we all reacted to the other actor's on stage and we all learnt our lines in order for the scene to be performed. For example, when Boris said 'To be honest she says all kinds of things' he is meant to fall asleep, snore and then wake himself up again. this moment worked well as all the other actors on stage all reacted to him falling asleep and then when he woke up again. Because everyone reacted it added to the comedic actions of Boris and therefore made it a very amusing moment in the scene. Subsequently this shows that having that type of teamwork between the cast means that they can produce stand out moments to the audience.  

Personal Review:
In my own performance I think that I was good at keeping constant movements that were natural and suited my character. For example, I was given a cup of coffee from Firs which I kept sipping from throughout the performance until I said the line 'my coffee in finished. Now to bed.' I felt that this was a very naturalistic movement as it showed how she could have finished her coffee and it showed a normal human trait and therefore I felt this helped me achieve my aim.

However I don't feel that I used much projection. For example when I enter onto the stage for the first time I spoke up stage towards the nursery and so some of my lines were lost a little. Also I was speaking in a lower tone to characterise Lyuba but this did mean that some of my lines were lost in the lower tone. considering that this was a workshop performance, I would  next like to look into projecting my voice in order to improve the clarity of my lines and mainly focus on the tonality so that I don't lose my words. 

6 'Cherry Orchard' - Answers to Original Questions

My Original Questions that I found whilst I was studying the script were:

• What happened to Lyuba in Paris?
• How long has she been away?
• How long has she been hurting?

After looking into the historical context and having a further analysis of the play, I feel that I have been able to answer some of those original question.

•  I found out that Lyuba had a secret lover whilst she was in Paris who manipulated, stole from her and made her try to commit suicide because of the betrayal. this can be considered as part of her main trauma of her adult life as she realises that her love and friendship are fragile and precious. I was able to find this answer from the second scene that was performed. 

• I found out she has been in Paris for around 6 years as in the script Varya says "I have no idea, Anya. It's been 6 years". It shows that there has been a separation between the family since the death of the husband and son so this could lead to the beginning of Lyuba's trauma.  This is all learnt in the first scene that I was performing in. 

• The final question was a lot harder to answer as there is no clear date but I think that she must have been hurting ever since the Russian Revolution in 1861 as it was the first point of change in her life that led to her chronic debt, the lose of her friends, family, the estate and the cutting down of the cherry orchard. 

5 "Cherry Orchard " - Research and Developments

Historical Context

• After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the tsar (Alexander I) tried to discuss constitutional reforms, and though a few were introduced, no thoroughgoing changes were attempted at this time.

• Serfdom was the dominant form of relation between peasants and  nobility in the 17th century. It only existed in central and southern areas of the Russian Empire.

• The Russian empire was politically, economically and socially backwards. There was little industry and most of the population was peasant farmers working in an agricultural system that had changed little since the middle ages. 

Russia had been changing since the early 18th century when Tsar Peter had the intent of modernizing Russia’s image. He brought in a series of reforms:

• Serfs were allowed to buy their freedom. Chekhov's Granddad brought his freedom in 1841

• A large government bureaucracy was created

• They brought European styles, fashion and art

• They adopted the French language and western cannon.

These reforms brought great controversy. In 1861 there was a second wave of reforms which freed all serfs from bondage. This was the beginning of a free market economy which undermined the power of nobility. 

Beginning of the Play

Before the play has begun, Lyuba has spent the last 6 years in Paris with her secret lover who stole from her. She left for Paris because her husband and her son Grisha both died within one months difference and she was traumatised by her adult life that made her flee.  We know this as Varya says "I have no idea, Anya. It's been 6 years" it shows that there has been a separation between the family since the death of the husband and son so this could lead to the beginning of Lyuba's trauma. 

As an actor, I decided to approach this trauma as if the husband and son were apart of the house rather then them being completely dead. I felt this was an effective decision as it gives reasons for her being slightly uncomfortable in her house and being so haunted by the people in her house. I tried to make Lyuba look awkward in the scene by a series of movements. I kept fiddling with my hands on my lap as I sat in the chair to show a sort of anxiety because of the horror of having to losing the cherry orchard. I also rapped my arms around my self like a self hug to show a sign of comfort and loneliness. I think hugging my self linked to the fact that she hasn't got anyone to call her own as both her daughters are going off to other men (Peter and Alexander) and she has already lost her husband and son. 

Developments

Originally I decided to make Lyuba's character very motherly and caring to show her weak and frail nature toward her friends and family.  However, as the rehearsals progressed, Karen asked me to experiment by playing Lyuba's character 'like a man'.  I was very sceptical about this decision as I had always imaged her to be a very feminine character but I now understand that Karen wanted Lyuba to be a withered soul as she has lived through traumatic events like death and robbery.  I decided to make her more 'like a man' by lowering the voice to show the older nature to Lyuba and I tried to make her slightly less caring and motherly. I did this as mothers notoriously over protect their children were as the father tries to teach the children life lessons. I felt this was more suitable for her to take on both roles in parenthood as she has lost her husband and the children don't need as much protection now that they are older.

I also had played Lyuba as a reserved woman as she was a lot older then most of the characters so she didn't have much physical contact with other people. However Karen also suggested that she could be more touchy with people as she is close with all the characters in the house. I think she decided to do this as Lyuba is stuck in her happy childhood memories so she maybe more childish and playful to keep her memories alive. In order to show this I decided to touch Peter and Leonid's face when I say how old they have become and I gave grand double kisses to my daughters to show the loving joyous experience of coming home. 

4 "Cherry Orchard" - Rehearsal Process

Original Ideas:
When I first took to the character Lyuba, I decided to look at a version of the play with Judi Dench playing the role of Lyuba. I felt that this was an effective way to introducing myself to the play as I could see how other people interpreted my character. It was not the same version as our play but the translation was very similar which meant that it was easy to follow. I also then decided to base my character of Lyuba to judi Dench. I felt she was a loving woman to her children but she had a soft weakness to her. Altogether I made my Lyuba to be a soft mother character. In order to show this in my character I decided to use high tones in my voice to show the sweater feminine nature of Lyuba and I had a slower pace to show the older and fragile side to Lyuba. I felt this was an accurate interpretation of Judi Dench's Lyuba. However I felt that perhaps something was missing as it didn't feel like I took charge of the character fully.

Questions:
Even after I had watched and read the play I still felt like there was some questions that were raised whilst we were going through the play. For example:

• What happened to Lyuba in Paris?
• How long has she been away?
• How long has she been hurting?

I didn't think that I could wander these questions yet as I hadn't done enough research. So I then went to look at the historical events of this time period and the whole play to see if I could find any answers.

3 "The Cherry Orchard" - Platonov

Review of Platonov

When we went to watch Platonov there was a few features that stood out for me that I think relates to our performance of The Cherry Orchard. One of them was the background noises. Throughout Platonov they had recorded sounds of birds chirping which helped set the atmosphere of them living in the countryside and  there was singing and music coming from the house that could be heard when the scene was set outside in the garden. I felt that these constant noises helped create the atmosphere but it also made the play more natural as in life there is always some noises that can be heard. I felt this related to our play because we also use some backstage noises in order to build the atmosphere. In the opening two characters are waiting for the return of the family and as they arrive there are noises off stage of the family getting their bags and preparing to enter the house for the first time in 5 years. I now feel that our backstage noises will make our performance seem more realistic to the audience as it will bring a general hubbub to the scene and it will break up the silence.




Another similarity is through the characters. In Platonov there is a character called Anne who is the owner of a large house that is having to be sold because she is in huge debt. She hides behind a happy demeanour and she is only holding on to false hope but she will not accept her failure. This is also very similar to my character, Lyuba. She is also a landowner who is having to sell her land and orchard due to debt from the huge change in Russia. She starts of by putting on a brave face but she is more court up in her memories that she doesn't want to except her present. She does hold on to false hope but unlike Anne, Lyuba excepts her defeat and ends up maturing because of it. I find it interesting that Chekhov would write 2 strong female characters with such similar stories as it makes me think that he based these characters on some one he might have known and it therefore makes me see my character as more truthful than before.

Probably the most effective part of The performance of Platonov was the supporting characters. At the end of the play Platonov is shot in front of everyone and everyone reacted in there own way. Fro example the one who shot him collapsed to the floor and was crying and the other main characters were reacting with cries or looking away. However what drew my attention was the 3 servant ( who didn't have mainly line throughout the play) who all stood on stage right and were preying for Platonov but we're all frozen. I felt this was really effective as the death was very fast paced and the sudden freeze from the servant broken the structure of the play. It created this cold atmosphere as it was such a change to the rest of the play. There was also a scene where a merchant was cruel to an old man servant in which he push him to the floor. The scene then persisted to carry on but the old man slowly got up and steadied himself on a log. This actor took all the time in the world to finally leave the scene that it made it seem more realistic as he wasn't rushing and he stayed in character the whole time he tried to get up. I therefore feel that responding to the events that happen to the scene (even if they didn't happen to their character) brings an element of truth to the performance as it means people are aware of the surroundings and they are committed to being their character.

2 "The Cherry Orchard" - Naturalism Workshops

Naturalism Workshops
The main style we are looking at in our Chekhov play is naturalism. Chekhov was a Russian play write in the 1800's who focused on the style of naturalism. He based this style on the practitioner Stanislavsky who created the idea of acting realistically on stage. Chekhov is consider as one of the major literary geniuses of his time due to the fact he helped change the style of plays which are still being played in this time period. In order to learn about and use naturalism we did a series of naturalism workshops which allowed us to explore different story areas in naturalism. These included the "system", emotions and the fourth wall. 

One of the workshops that I think relates very well to my character was the emotions. 

In the workshop we focused on the emotions anger, sadness and happiness. We had to stand out side the room and enter the room trying to portray a different emotion. I was given anger and my story was that I was angry that my younger adopted sister was given a car and I never was given one. I think what made my performance believable was because of the actions. When I talked I had to improvise the text therefore it seemed staged but when I just stood there staring at my sister or when I paced a bit it built an awkward tension that meant the audience anticipated the next line. I think the most effect task was having too wait outside as it allowed me to get into the right mind set so when I walked into the room I was hit by the emotions and I forgot who I was.  I felt that this was relevant to my character as Lyuba has been away from her home for 5 years so entering her house for the first time she would feel a rush of emotions. I have therefore decided to use the technique of emotions as soon as I enter the stage to show the whole impact of being away for so long.


Another naturalism technique which we used was taken from Stanislavsky's system. It is when you use objects to help show the back story and character through the interaction between the object. In our workshop we were given a chair and we had to relate the chairs to a memory of our own. I chose my great grandpa's chair that I used to sit behind and try to read his Welsh poetry books. We then had to show our connection by interacting with the chair so I decided to sit behind it and then my head on the back of the chair. I think this was effective as it got me to think about the importance of memories of our characters and also the effect of certain objects as they can inflict different emotions on us.  I felt this related to my character as Lyuba has a deep connection to the cherry orchard and I feel that her emotions are based on the destruction of the orchard as it resembles the destruction of her life and memories.

1 "The Cherry Orchard" - Character Profile

Character profile

Who am I?
Name - Lyubov Ranevsky (also named Lyuba)
Age - a middle aged woman
Statues - a Russian landowner who is also a widow
Children - Anya Ranevsky and Varya Ranevsky
Siblings - Leonid Gaev

Lyuba is a kind and generous character, and we get the feeling that she has suffered from her ideals of 'love' and she doesn't believe 'love' to just be empty words. She is loved by her family as well as her friends which makes her generosity stretch to everyone no matter how cruel they are. Her sympathetic nature gives her loss of the orchard a poignancy as she identifies herself with the tree. She says that she would rather be sold with the tree instead of seeing being lost forever. Her character's circumstances has therefore made some people call the play a tragedy even though Chekhov wrote it as a comedy.

Themes for the character:
Lyuba's character is mainly defined by flight, both physical and emotional. Physically, she is continuously fleeing from location throughout the play. It starts with her flight from Paris, home to Russia, after her suicide attempt which is provoked by her French lover stealing from her. The play also later reveals that she left Russia 5 years ago after the death of her son and her husband. It is clear that she is a very submissive person as she runs away from all of her problems instead of facing them head on

She is a woman besieged by the memories of her tragic adult life and therefore is seeking refuge in her memories of her idyllic childhood. Her visions of her mother walking through the cherry orchard reinforces the picture of a woman suffering from illusions, the illusion that she can recapture the idyll of her childhood and block out the tragic events of the past 5 years from her mind. However she finally realises that she can't hide in her past forever when she sees Peter as he reminds her of the death of her son and tragedy of her adult life. So from this point in the story she starts to stop pretending to be happy.

The cherry orchard symbolises all of Lyuba's past memories and the joy she felt as a child so the destruction of the orchard makes her forget that happiness that she had and it gives her a chance to move beyond those memories. Hopefully she will take the opportunity and she will be able to forget her old life and star a new.

What are my obstacles?
Probably Lyuba's main obstacle is the orchard it self as she has such a deep attachment that she can't let it go. She is already fixated on her childhood memories and the orchard only heightens their existence so she might also see her memories as an obstacle as she is haunted by them in her adult life.

What do I do to overcome the obstacle?
I don't think that she makes herself come over the obstacle but more that she is forced to overcome it. When the orchard is cut down she is released from her childhood memories and the structure of her old life. It therefore sets her free to start a new life. But as there is no indication that she wanted the orchard to be cut down, she may find this experience traumatic as she is losing everything she has ever known that links her to her old life.

Evaluation of "the wardrobe" performance

Basics:
In our performance of the wardrobe, I feel that an especially effective part of the performance was our entrances and exits into each scene. For example at the end of scene 1,  Cecily exited through the right door of the wardrobe. As this was happening the two Jewish boys entered through the left door of the wardrobe in order to start scene 2. I felt this was effective as it kept the play moving with the smooth transition and therefore the pace and energy of the scenes kept at the same level.

However we did have one accident with scene 12's exit. As the narrator exited the wardrobe she accidentally bumped into the pole that was used as a coat rack inside the wardrobe. It caused the pole to break off but she recovered well as she took the pole out of the wardrobe when she exited. This meant that the final scene could carry on as she dealt with the incident backstage. I felt that she was very professional in handling the situation as she didn't panic and the play continued like nothing had happened.

Stylistically:
Our main aim in the performance was to perform in a naturalistic style of a contemporary play. I felt that we achieved being able to act naturally in the play and we able to express our own truth into our characters. For example in scene 6, Dido was talking about thankfulness and she said "today I am grateful that I was not enslaved upon a ship as my mother was". When she said this line she said it through her teeth. When I heard her say this line, I thought she was almost about to cry as her voice was so haunting that I felt the sadness, angry and shame of her character. I believed her so much I went up to her backstage to see if she was alright after her scene.

Actors skills:
One part of the play that I wish I did better with was my vocal delivery of some of my lines as I messed up some words which meant that some of my lines didn't make complete sence. For example one of my lines was meant to be "you will marry a gentleman and have babies" however in our performance I said "you will marry a husband and have babies". I felt that this broke my performance as I was able to say the more complicated words like "ascertainth" correctly but I messed up on the easier lines. Therefore I felt that I needed to work more on learning lines or being more fluid with them as I felt that it effected my ability to perform in a naturalistic style.

Ensemble:
I think one of the most effective elements of the performance was the teamwork. Every cast member supported the performance both on and off the stage by staying quite during the show, playing their parts to the best of their ability and helping the other performers during the show. For example Chloe had to do a quite change from a maid to a lady in between scene 4 to scene 5. She asked me to set up her dress so that as soon as she exited scene 4 we could slip it over her maid costume in order for her to walk in for scene 5. This was effective as the scene had a smooth transition and I was able to support Chloe in order for the performance to carry on.

Week 4 "The Wardrobe" - Essay

In scene 1 there are 4 main components that drive the plot of the scene, the first being the historical context of the scene. The scene is set in 1485, London, The Royal Court. In this time period there   were many limitations for women. For example women had no legal rights and they were seen as property to their husbands and their fathers. From their births, women were taught that they would be inferior to all men and they were not allowed to have jobs so they were seen as burdens to their parents. Their main purpose was to marry wealthy and bare children for their husbands. For Elizabeth and Cecily these limitations were very apparent in their lives as they were both girls and Elizabeth was due to marry the King even though she was the rightful ruler of England. We learn this in the scene when Elizabeth says "If I weren't a woman, Cecily, no one would question my right to rule my country. But because I have a womb and breasts he'll not  share his crown with me, only his bed." I feel that without these limitations there would be no real struggle for Elizabeth as she would be able to do what she wanted as Queen and she wouldn't have to be separated from her sister. I think that Sam Holcroft has used this theme as a way to show the difficulties of women over time and to question why women aren't seen as strong leaders or capable of looking after themselves.

Another key component that drives the story is the pre scene event. Before Elizabeth enters the wardrobe, her uncle, the king, has been killed by the enemy Lancaster and she has received a letter to say that she is to marry the new king. the audience knows this when Elizabeth says "Well tis official: a letter for the King was published in parliament house just this morn. Shall I read it to you?" The letter that she receives is the first key moment that drives the scene as without the letter the sisters wouldn't be be questioning their future and they wouldn't know that the enemy had won the crown. I feel that the letter is a symbol of people's realisation that they have a problem as without the letter the girls would known that they were in trouble. Therefore I think that the pre scene event not only starts the scene buy it also make the girls realise that their lives are never going to be the same again.



A definite key component to the scene is the dramatic event. Probably the biggest change in the scene is when Cecily starts considering to kill her sister due to the fact that she knows her life is going to be terrible and she would rather have Elizabeth's assured life that has been planed for her. We know this because Elizabeth says "Oh yes. he said something else. If I die, he intends to marry you." Cecily looks at the dagger in her hand and then at her sister's exposed back. Not only is this line tempting Cecily but it also drives her want for freedom and control of her own life, it therefore shows her true selfish nature. I feel that this is a very poignant moments as it questions how far people will go to get what they want in order to be happy. it also relates back to the limitations of women as the King will just chuck away his wife if she dies and marry another without thinking about it.



 A final component that drives this scene is the difference between the two characters. both of the girls are sisters so it means that they couldn't chose their relationship which means that they were forced to know each other. I think this becomes a slight obstacle in the scene as they are such different characters. Elizabeth is a dreamer as she thinks about her being the rightful ruler of England and she promises her sister she will have a perfect family even though she won't. On the other hand Cecily is very realistic, she knows she won't marry well and that she will never see her sister again. We know this when Cecily says "But what of her sister, Cecily? Who ever heard of her? I expect she died alone in a convent!" I feel this difference between characters causes a clash in personalities and therefore gives the scene a tense energy because there is this conflict of opinions. I also feel that it shows the two sides of peoples opinions of that time period, one being hopeful for the future and the other being dismissive and regretting their lives. I think that Holcroft has portrayed this in the scene to show how people can chose to have a positive or negative look on life depending on how hard their situation in life.

Week 3 "the wardrobe" - Developed Character Profile

Character profile:




. Elizabeth of York
. Born in 1466, England
. Parents - King Edward the fourth
. Siblings - Cecily of York, Edward the fifth
. Married - King Henry VII in 1486
. Children - 7 (one of which was King Henry VIII)




Who am I?
I believe Elizabeth to be very protective and argumentative character as she says thing like "how tedious! I shan't have that." She is strong willed due to the fact that she was meant to have the crown but was denied it because she was a woman. I also believe her to be very loving towards her sister as throughout the scene she is trying to assure her sister about their future. She is a very private character as she changes her appearance for the public but within the wardrobe she lets loose and is able to laugh with her sister. She almost feels that she is punished for being a woman and that her life has always been controlled for her. In the scene she defies everything that she should be but she realises she has to do them. She therefore is also hiding from her sister as she pretends to defy her duty when she knows she won't.

Where am I?
The scene is set in the bedchamber of Elizabeth, the royal court, London in the afternoon. I believe it to be a sunny afternoon and her room to be filled with lavished and bright objects but the inside of the wardrobe would be dark and plain. I think that Elizabeth and Cecily would feel safe and very connected to the wardrobe due to the fact that it was owned by their brother's and they confide in the wardrobe with all their secrets.

When is it?
27th October 1485 (Tudor England) in the afternoon, it is sunny. The wars of the roses has raged for thirty years between the houses of York and Lancaster. Henry VII has just killed King Richard III (Elizabeth's and Cecily's Uncle). England is now waiting for the coronation of King Henry VII and the news of his new bride.

What do I want?
Elizabeth wants to assure her sister (and herself) that everything will be alright in their future. She doesn't want to marry Henry VII but she knows she must. She also doesn't want to leave her sister but if she marries Henry VII she know she will never see Cecily again.

Why do I want it?
Elizabeth is only 18 at this point so she is still young as she wants to be free from duty as she has never lived without rules before. She wants to be assured due to the fact that she is scared of marriage and life without her sister. She loves her sister and she has never been separated before and she knows when they are separated, they will never see each other again.

How do I get it?
In order to get her assurance she make a blood bond with her sister to promise that they will look out for each other and stay close to each other when they are separated. Elizabeth convinces Cecily to cut her hand and shake on it but it doesn't go quite right as Cecily ends up eating Elizabeth's blood.

Extras:
She might also want to win points in her games in order to recapture the childhood she spent with her sister before she is sent away to marry the King. I think this want brings to the scene the light hearted nature between the girls and therefore brings hope for the girls future. I order to get this she reveals her spoon and encourages her sister to see if she has done any better. it therefore brakes the ice between the sisters and it brings a little joy in what is otherwise a very depressive topic. 

What must I overcome?
My character main obstacle is my sister refusal to accept the fact that we will change to fit into society and that we will never see each other again. Also my fear for the future as it stops my character seeing what I am going to have to do to survive without my sister and the protection of my character's family. 

Extras:
Another obstacle that she must overcome is the wedding to the King. She is apart of the York House which means that her enemies are the Lancaster House. She must marry the Lancaster King which means Elizabeth is going against her family because she is forced by the King. She also hates the fact that he has stolen her rightful crown and now she must watch her new husband rule her country without her.  The audience doesn't know whether or not she will overcome this  but they can see this obstacle as her on going struggle in the scene. 

Week 2 'The Wardrobe' - Titles and Frantic's Devices

Titles for Scene 1:

To extend our understanding of the play, I decided to look at ways of interpreting scene 1 by applying different titles to it. I experimented with two titles.

The first title I chose was 'A taste of blood'. This title is a body part/physical response to the scene, which means that it refers to an action that happens in the scene. In the text, one of the characters (Elizabeth) who has just cut her hand, puts her hand over her sister's mouth to silence her, which forces her sister to eat Elizabeth's blood. The title itself could appear shocking as it could convey clichéd ideas of death and murder but the title is actually very straightforward.  It refers to the literal action of Cecily accidentally eating Elizabeth’s blood. The titles main use is to draw attention to the shock factor of tasting another person’s blood by accident. It means that at a specific moment in the scene it will become apparent to the audience what the title actually means. I chose this title as it focuses on the key event in the scene. I feel that this type of title is effective as it allows the audience to get a ‘taste’ of what happens in the scene but then it follows up with a definitive meaning.

My second title was called “the roses” because it refers to the war of the roses, which is when scene 1 is set. The war of the roses had raged between the houses of York and Lancaster, whose heraldic symbols were the white and red rose. This title therefore immediately tells the audience about the time period and gives them a glimpse into what the scene could be about. The title relates to the part of the text when Cecily calls her sister “the white princess, who married the red king and thus ended the war of the roses.” I think that the colours become very apparent in this scene as a red rose can mean love and a white rose can mean purity, which could infer that their sisterhood is like ‘the roses’ as they are pure and loving. This title therefore has a double meaning as it not only means the houses that fought against each other but also the English rose resembling women. I feel that a single word title is very effective as it doesn't reveal much about the scene but it makes the audience start to question what the scene is about band therefore might make them want to find out the significance of ‘the roses’ in the scene. 

Using Frantic's Devises:
In one of our lessons, we watched some videos from the theatre company, Frantic Assembly. Frantic is a physical theatre company, which means that they focus on the movement and interpretation of the body in a theatrical performance. One of their improvised movements was called hymns hands, due to the fact that they used this movement in a devised play called hymns. The movement is entitled of a partner placing their hands on their partners body. Both people can switch hands but they always must come back to the main part of the body. It focuses on fluidity between the switching hands and the connection to the partners. To extend the exercise further, the partners do the movements in slow motion but they have to follow the hands moving with their eyes. This makes the partners focus on the control of their movements and the effect of the weight of their touch.

 After watching Frantic's videos, we then went to rehearsing our wardrobe scenes. Whilst looking at the script, I realised that we could included some hymns hands into our scene. In the scene Elizabeth says "I promise you this: you will never die alone in a convent, not while I'm alive and we are sisters." At this point in the scene Cecily (Elizabeth's sister) is holding a dagger as she nearly tried to kill Elizabeth. I thought at this point, Elizabeth could place her hand onto Cecily's shoulder as a sign of assurance and when she says "we are sisters", Elizabeth could allow her hand to slide down Cecily's arm to reveal the dagger, which is pointed at Elizabeth. I think that this would be a very effective movement in the scene as it highlights the danger and disconnection between the sisters knowing that they will be separated due to the marriage. It also reminds to the audience that there is still a chance that blood could be shed in the scene. Therefore it brings back the tension after it has been released when Elizabeth is assuring Cecily, which means something could still happen.

Week 1 'The Wardrobe' - Naturalism and Character Profile

Naturalism and Stanislavski

Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski

Born: January 17, 1863, Moscow, Russia

Died: August 7, 1938, Moscow, Russia

In the lesson we were focusing on the Russian Practitioner Stanislavski and his ideas on Naturalism. He believed that performances show be as true to real life as possible. He taught actors to inhabit the role of their character by knowing their lines, the motive of their lines and every detail of that character’s life off-stage as well as on-stage. His key approach to theatre was experimentation.

Before the practice of naturalism, all acting was melodramatic which meant that there was no real truth in what the actors were doing as they were only pretending to be a character. Stanislavski was against this idea. He wanted the theatre to mirror life which enabled him to create “the system”.

“The system” is a process that actors take in order to make their characters naturalistic, this includes the use of emotional memory, the method of physical actions, subtext, given circumstances, “if”, objective and through line.

“No matter how much you act, how many parts you take, you should never allow any exception to the rule of using your own feelings. To break that rule is the equivalent of killing the person you are portraying, because you deprive him of a palpitating, living, human soul, which is the real source of life for a part.” – Stanislavski

In my opinion this means that if there is no emotion from you, there isn't really a character as you are that character. You provide the body for the characters story but without your emotions they cannot really be alive. This type of acting is all formed from the technique of emotional memory. It means that you draw upon your own experiences and borrow that emotion for the character that you are portraying. This related to our lesson as we tried using emotional memory on our characters. When we didn't use emotional memory we had to use our imagination to get an idea of how our character felt, however when we did use emotional memory we were able to sympathise with our character and it gave us a deeper bond with the character as we were in the same place as them. Considering this technique in acting will be helpful as it will give us connection to our character no matter how different they may be to us.

“When an actor is inspired his emotions flow, his actions are real and theatrical, his performance is clear to the audience; short, the actor reincarnates himself as the character.” – ‘Stanislavski Revealed’ by Sonia Moore

To me the reincarnation hints to the idea that an actor must start from scratch with any character they play and draw from the subtext given to them and emotions they have gained from real life. This also relates to our lesson as we were discussing the idea that we leave our real life coats on the hanger outside the acting area and instead we put on our characters coat. However the characters coat doesn't leave the acting area so that you are safe from mixing up the different lives. I feel that this technique is helpful as you are able to full immerse yourself into the character as you are not constricted by your own life. However it is important to remember that you can still draw on your own experiences with emotional memory.

In the lesson however I didn't feel that using an object to extract emotions was helpful to me as I felt false in what I was portraying, perhaps it was because I didn't feel a lot of emotion for the object. Therefore I would like to practice using other objects and different memories to draw from because I feel that this technique would be an easy way to delve into naturalism quickly without having to put too much strain on emotional memory.

"The Wardrobe" Scene 1

Scene 1 is set in Tudor England 1485. At this time the Wars of the Roses between York and Lancaster had finish as the Yorkshire King Richard III had died and the Lancaster heir, King Henry VII took to the throne. The two sisters’ in the scene, Elizabeth at 18 years old and Cecily at 16 years old are the nieces of Richard III. The oldest, Elizabeth is due to marry King Henry VII but she doesn't want to marry him and her sister Cecily doesn't want to be left alone without any future (e.g. not being able to see her sister, having no husband or children).

In this scene I play the character of Elizabeth of York who was born in 1466 and married Henry VII in 1486 (when she was 20). She bore him 7 children; Arthur, Margaret, Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Mary, Edmund and Katherine. Even though she is due to become King Henry VII's Wife, she does seem to be a very youthful and jolly character in this scene, as she says small jokes like "I'll start a new fashion: Barnaby the First". This starts to show a bit more of her private life as she is more open to her sister and the audience in the wardrobe and it shows her trying to bring happiness into what is an awkward moment for the sisters. I think this a key element to the scene as it shows the character's true nature to the audience. It also allows the actor to experiment with the maturity levels of their characters and show how much different they appear to be from their public faces.     

      

In the early 1400’s women wore dresses that could be slipped over their head which were called ‘houppelande’. They often had v-shaped necklines that were broad to show of the undergarments and tubular sleeves. Around 1470’s the bodice had to be done up by lace at the back of the dress and most dresses had trains. Some dresses also added fur to the necklines and sleeves. In all social classes women wore gloves. The wealthy ladies would have worn embroidered gloves that were encrusted with jewels.  The women had many limitations in the way they moved. They would have a very straight back and the dresses would be very hard to manage.

This showed me that my character would be limited in how she sat in the wardrobe and she would not be able to get up quickly.  It would also show that she would be uncomfortable in the wardrobe as she would not be able to slouch. I think it would be important to show how uncomfortable she would be at the audience to show how she hides this un-comfort from her public life. She is also limited by the fact that she is a female. women had many restrictions as they were seen lower than men and they had no legal rights. They were only seen good for marrying wealthy and barring children to further the family line. This therefore makes me consider whether or not her whole life is uncomfortable as she has no control of her life and it has been planned out for her. I think this factor will change the way Elizabeth is played as it shows the bigger differences between her public and private lives.