Greek Chorus - Basic Techniques

In the lesson we looked into Greek chorus in order to explore the different ways to use our voices as an ensemble. in Greek theatre the chorus would usually provide commentary on the actions and events that were taking place on stage. They are very judgemental and can provoke the lead actors to do things because of their beliefs. they often would wear masks and there could be a leader of the chorus in which the rest of them follow.



We firstly thought about how the chorus could say large chunks of speech. one way they  could talk is by all of the chorus saying every word at the same time and tone. We found that this became quite lazy, depressing and church like which could be useful for a gloomy effect but it didn't really engage us as the audience. We then said that each person could say one line each. This flowed better as everyone got a bit to say and we were all individuals in the chorus however it did drag and there wasn't much emotion in the piece. We then made every person read up to the punctuation marks and then the next person would start. I felt that this was the most effective as it wasn't so regimented and everyone was able to have their own individual voice in the chorus. another way to perform this piece could be by splitting into small groups and read the piece, having the leader read the speech but the chorus read the last two words on the line or have the leader read the speech and the other chorus members repeating words that stood out for them.

Chorus reaction:
We also looked into to reactions that the Greek chorus might have to what the lead actors might say or do. For example they could react to the death of a lead character. One way in which we explored reaction was by showing opposite emotions. We were asked to show our reaction to good news and then bad news. I noticed that when we heard good news people's faces brightened up and they were more likely to lean forward to hear the news. However when people hear bad news they shrunk into themselves more. We also looked at fear and empowerment. Most people used the chair as a protector when they were portraying fear but when they showed empowerment, people stood up on the chair and opened up more. We finally looked at forgiveness and punishment. When people portrayed forgiveness they were reaching towards someone on the same level as them but when they showed punishment most people looked down to the person. I think that using opposite emotions it allows the actors to find the extreme differences in the body images and gives them a basis to show emotion as a chorus.

Structuring and Creating 1

Aim:
For our devised performance we decided to use the themes of love, mafia and social acceptance. We felt these themes were a good starting piece for our performance as when we looked back at the scene we had already created we noticed that these three themes were the most common in each of the scenes. We then decided to aim our performance at people aged 16 to 25. This is because I felt that our audience would relate to our age group more is they are around the same age, plus the performance does delve into some taboo subjects which may be inappropriate for other ages. We finally decided to come up with the working title "the cliche of love". We are definitely not going to use this title as it doesn't quite suit the performance but it linked to some of the themes.

Mafia scene:
In today's lesson we decided that we needed a scene that would show the life of the Mafia in a group physical performance. We decided to show 2 gangs having a fight between each other sort of like in west side story. To start with we split into pairs and created a small physical fight that could be repeated in different tempos. I was with Pau and we used movements like pulling away from each other, pulling on each other shirts and mirroring each other's hands whilst following with our eyes. This inspired Pau to think that there was a mirror between both of us (separating our two worlds even though we were the same person). I was representing his dark side and he represented the light. The idea was that I was trying to escape from the mirror so that I could have control over what our body does, where as he was trying to keep me in.

We then decided to use Pau idea by having all of the pairs doing our movement piece to show how all the members of the Mafia were trying to fight against their dark sides. It sort of became a balancing act as there always had to be one person in the pair inside the mirror. I therefor had the idea that at the end of the duets, the light side could become so weak that they drop to there knees. The dark side would then drag them off of the stage  whilst they are trying to hold on to the floor. I thought this would show how the Mafia giving into their dark side and so they committed their crimes which could then have linked into our prison scene at the end of the performance.

We didn't really have time to explore this idea however we did look at another idea based from this scene. We started with our original separate duets which we repeated for 5 times. Then James came up with the idea that we could get two police officers that enter the stage and everyone stops what they are doing and star at the officers. Suddenly the bunny hill theme would come on which would involve the whole cast being involved in a slapstick chase scene. I thought that this was a good take on the scene as the audience are expecting something very violent to happen when the police enter but instead their is a complete contrast that lights up a quite serious topic.

Experimenting with ideas 3

In our lesson, Karen got us to experiment with putting kids games into our performances. We first of all looked at cat and mouse. We added this game into our original bar scene where a black man gets isolated from the Mafia and the ladies. I thought that the game linked to the scene as the mouse becomes isolated from the other players in the game and they are penalised by the cat. We also added a forced entertainment style movement explosion to the bar scene when Chloe swears because she becomes fed up with being chased by the cat. We all then go crazy and start throwing chairs, screaming, running around and jumping off of things in the room. This then leads us into a game of sleeping lions in which Chloe wakes us so that we might get our chairs ready for our murder mystery scene. I feel that this creates a very smooth transition between scenes and it shows a variation in pace and energy.

We then decided to revert back to our cathouse scene. We decided that the scene was based around an affair between Yasmin and James, the cathouse shows how they both were unfaithful to each other and it linked to the sex crazed time period of jazz. Each boy sits in a chair with James in the middle, the five girls then enter and we all perform a 3 movement piece with each guy. In this piece it shows the power of the women in the cathouse and their unloved relationships between the girls and guys. I personally found this scene challenging as I haven't really performed this intimately before, however I do feel that the scene is needed in the piece as it shows the difference couples in relationships.

Development:
To develop our kids games ideas we decided to look into children playing a game of tag. I felt this linked to the original stimulus as it created a joyous energy that we felt when listening to the stimulus.  We started by playing the game of tag normally with James shouting out different styles of movement, for example slow motion, rewind and fast forward. We then decided to add themes like when we performed the cherry orchard in different scenarios like spy's, serious, childish and scared. I think this worked as it changed the mood of the game and it therefore made the performance bearable to watch for a long time.

We also decided to look back at the cathouse idea in order to add more emotion. We made the girls have more of an intense facial expression and the boys have more enjoyment to the scene. James also created a way to remove the chairs off of the stage at the end of the scene by placing their hands onto the chair and flipping around it so that they could carry it off. This looked very effective as all of the guys performed it at the same time and it looked graceful which sort of showed a more intermit side to the guys. I also suggested at the beginning of the piece the men should drag on their chairs into their starting positions of the scene.

Once we had finished going over that scene me, Yasmin and Chloe all thought that our whole performance could be based around love and relationships as that scene is so effective and it links to the partnership in the stimulus. So we then decided to separate our group into pairs so that we could represent 5 aspects of love in the couples. I was paired with Rhys and we decided to look into a relationship that has lost the passion or love. We wanted to explore this in a naturalistic scene where the husband arrives home late and the couple argue which leads to the husband being kicked out of the family. I thought this was effective as it was the only piece of work that our group has done without physical theatre and it therefore showed the realistic manor of the relationship. However when we showed it back to the rest of the group, they saw the piece as a sort of domestic violence piece that could eventually become quite physical.

Experimenting with ideas 2

During the week Karen got us to look back at the stimulus in order to gain fresher ideas that could inspire new material. After looking at the stimulus again some of my opinions change about the music. For example:

1. I started to see the music as more of a celebration rather then the gangster and crime idea. I think when I first listened to it the era of jazz was the only thing on my mind so it made me immediately think of the gangsters but the second time I listened to some of the upbeat music and some of the lyrics which were a lot happier. 
2. This music also made me think about youth and newness. The music was very new it that era and therefore I started to image coming of age for a character or the new change in society of that time. It also could be that someone new enters the town  and it causes a mixed opinions. 

Energy states:

A few months ago Karen showed us psychological energy States  where different stages of tension can be created in the room. However this week we looked at a physical energy States where you us our bodies to create the tension. 

1. Exhaustion - the body is heavy and hard to move around
2. Laid Back
3. Neutral 
4. Alertness
5. Passion
6. Tragedy

We then decided to add these States into one of our devised scene. We decided to create a murder mystery in the style of force entertainment and commedia  d'art. Forced entertainment don't have any boundaries so they will improvise the whole scene if they want which is what we decided to do.  I thought this was A good thing to use as it allowed the audience and the actor to not know where the story would take us. Also they have used a technique where they all sit in a line across the stage facing the audience so we decided to add that to our performance as well.

When I thought about it the performance style felt very panto as the characters were interacting towards the audience and they were very hammed up characters. We also decided to used commedia d'art characters as they are each very individual characters like in panto. I think this was a good idea to experiment with as it was quite easy to put and energy state with each character. 

I played the character of Zanni who I link with the energy stage of alertness. As the character is usually a servant and always wants to please his masters, I thought he would be quite alert as they don't want to do anything wrong. Also the Zanni seems like quite a young character so I presumed him to be more energetic then most of the characters.  To make the character seem alert I decided that he would always look at other people and he would try to listen into other people's conversations.

Even though the idea ended quite well, there was a few improvements that could have been made. For example:

1. When the chairs were dragged behind and people were being killed, it could have been made bigger for the audience. This would have made it funnier for the audience as the characters in front would not react to the bigger sounds of the people dying.
2. Because the scene was improvised, we weren't sure who was to speak next so quite a bit of dialogue was overlapped. So I think we would perhaps need to script some of the dialogue so that the audience is able to hear all of the voices.
3. We also had many people who were being killed of so it took around 5 minuets for the scene to finish and by that time the audience would have lost interest. So we need to speed up the death which would give more pace to the scene and may make it funnier as the people are dying so quickly.

Using the Voice in a Monologue

I decided to do a monologue from the movie "Gravity". The monologue is based around a woman who is trapped in space who is talking to a man about her daughter who is on earth. 

Ryan Stone: "Hey, Matt? Since I had to listen to endless hours of your storytelling this week, I need you to do me a favour. You're gonna see a little girl with brown hair. Very messy, lots of knots. She doesn't like to brush it. But that's okay. Her name is Sarah. Can you please tell her that mama found her red shoe? She was so worried about that shoe, Matt. But it was just right under the bed. Give her a big hug and a big kiss from me and tell her that mama misses her. Tell her that she is my angel. And she makes me so proud. So, so proud. And you tell her that I'm not quitting. I promise. You tell her that I love her, Matt. You tell her that I love her so much. Can you do that for me? Roger that."

Originally I thought that the monologue was about her talking to a man who can't understand what she is saying but when I looked at the movie script I noticed the directions said:

"Ryan opens her eyes, the alarm in the cabin is sounding she turns her head and sees the seat next to her is empty, she realizes that it was a hallucination and she’s still alone, she reactivates the air flow to the cabin and as the oxygen levels rise she begins to recover"

This now make me realise that the monologue is about her loneliness and wanting to be with her child so much more. since it is an hallucination it shows how the character maybe slightly out-with-it. But her main purpose is to convince herself that it is not goodbye and that she should try to fight to get home. After reviewing my voice, I realised that there was some positive aspects to the speech but there was also a few areas of improvements that would make my delivery of the monologue better.

Positive:

1. I was able to convey emotion into the voice depending on the way I said word like I started to make my voice quiver where I was talking about how much I loved my daughter. And therefore it made me seem as if I was really in that characters situation.
2. I used a lower tone in my voice which helped convey a more depressive atmosphere for the monologue. I felt that this was good to use as I usually talk on stage with a high pitch due to nerves and excitement.
3. I have a good rhythm, which allowed the speech to be interesting and not boring

Areas to improve:

1. When I originally went through the monologue, I used the same tones for when I repeated words. So I need to work on variation in my tone of voice so that the monologue doesn't sound as if it's repeating itself.
2. Because the speech was written for a movie, the delivery on lines doesn't have to be as loud on stage so I think I will need to work on projection in order to make it suitable for the stage.
3. I also feel that I didn't have a full enough background to the monologue so I think I want to do a little more research into the character so I know exactly what happens to her and how she feels.
4. I also think I need to annotate my monologue in order to know what my characters purpose is in each line. I feel this will help me understand the character better and I will also help me to learn my lines as I know which emotion I go to next.

Experimenting with ideas 1

Today we decided to focus on two of our original ideas, one being mental health and the other being the Great Depression.

We started with mental health. We went onto a computer to look up some images of mental aisles in America around the 1920's to 1940's. The images seemed to show small dark rooms that had no decoration or comfort to them at all. There was one stand out photo that had a row of beds all place next to each other, there was no windows and there was no space to stand on the floor in the room. This made our group think about the idea of us portraying characters in a mental hospital. James also decided to show us a video from "American Horror Story" where this female mental patient imagined  everyone in the asylum dancing to a jazz record ever though it was all in her head. It made me think about the isolation of people in mental hospitals.

Taking on from this idea, we decided to watch a video from frantic assembly's ignition project, in which many people were interacting on a bed in very physical ways like doing repeat active movements and intertwining with other people. I thought this looked very effective as there was no stand out character but the chorus portrayed the fear as one.

Pau had an idea that we could all be mental patients that believe we are from a different time period or have a different story that they believe is true but actually they are just sitting in a mental hospital. Logan had the idea that each person could have a different mental illness that makes them seem normal when they talk about their back story but when they are back in their reality their mental illness kicks back in. It then made me think that as we follow each persons seperate stories, the extra chorus could the become the scene around them to make it seem more real for the patient and then nurses could drag them back to reality again. I also thought we could use the iratation stage in energy States as I thought it would subtly hint at the mental patient's illnesses.

We then decided to portray this theme of mental asylum in a scene. We all were going to take a mental illness and create one movement that would show of their illness and we could sound effects to our character. I took on the persona of and OCD patient. Since obsessive compulsion disorder means that you become paranoid about germs, I decided to have the motif of rubbing my hand and the bed to show how I was trying to be clean. The sound of the rubbing bed was quite quiet but it was constantly headed in the background like a small inratation. We did our movement whilst the song "let me off uptown" was being played.

 I think this mental asylum theme was a good one to explore as our group was able to create many ideas around the theme and we could link it to some of our other themes if we wanted to explore this theme further. We would need to do more research into mental illnesses but I think it would be very effective for us.

We then decided to look into the theme of the Great Depression. At first we found it a hard theme to use as none of us had any idea where we wanted to take it, so Chloe suggested we use tableaux in order to generate some ideas. We started of with theme of money and we each individually stepped into the image. The image included Logan holding a single coin and everyone else either reaching for the coin or bowing to it as a sign of respect. It was the main object of the image which conveyed how money was the main want in the Great Depression.

Our next tableau was about brutality and violence. In this tableau we based our attention to James who was being abused by Pau and Chloe. It showed the statues divide as James was fully on the floor but Pau and Chloe standing above him. This linked to the segregation in race and class during the Great Depression and ever then successful people who benefitted from the depression.

Our final tableau was based around jazz. We created a piece where we all were having a  happy time. We kind of took on the persona of the band from the song and we all took on the joy of the tableau. At first it seemed as if we were just trying to be the jazz band but when we re-looked at the picture  it sort of looked like we were celebrating the end of the depression or that jazz was the hope in the depression.

After we established some themes we were able explore some of the key classes of the Great Depression. James came up with idea to use four corners in order to show all of our statues. I then split everyone into the corner. We had Rhys and Pau as the lords (who are at the top statues), me and Becca were the ladies, Chloe.H, Chloe.S and James were the working class and at the bottom Logan and Mike portrayed the slaves.

We started of by each group creating the four corner to travel to. Then we had the lords start to walk around and intract with the ladies. As they went passed each group, they would join onto the end of the line so we ended up with a line of statues with it gradually decaying at the end. I felt this was effective as it showed the attitudes of the social classes and the clear difference between them.

We then decided to follow our four corners but as we collided with other social classes we would interact depending on the relationship between the classes. It once again showed the difference between the classes and the statues effect on people.

Finally we decided to group at the end due to the jazz music. We all started dancing in the circle to the music, however Pau and Chloe noticed that it was very physical so I suggested that we could use round/by/through. It meant that the classes were lost and we all came together because of jazz and the end of the Great Depression. We ended by going back into our third tableau. I felt this was effective as it sort of symbolised the end of the Great Depression.

Facts and findings

Facts about our Stimulus

Our stimulus for our devising project was a song called "Let me off uptown" by the Gene Krupa's Orchestra. The song was originally sung by Anita O'Day & Roy Eldridge and it was considered as a song born from the golden era of Jazz. The song was released in 1941 which was just after the Great Depression in America that occurred in the 1930's. Gene Krupa was the drummer of the band and Roy Eldridge was a trumpet player but he also sang on this record wit Anita O'Day who was a famous jazz singer. As part of our research into the stimulus, I decided to look at Gene Krupa's orchestra who originally played with Roy Eldridge and Anita O'Day on the song "Let me off uptown" and prohibition in the 1920's.

Gene Krupa’s Orchestra:

The orchestra was formed in 1938. The Krupa band was an immediate hit with the public. Their main genres were Jazz, swing and Dixieland. In 1941 Gene Krupa hired both trumpet star Roy Eldridge and ultra-hip vocalist Anita O’Day. The two caused a stir with their work on the band’s hit record “Let Me off Uptown”. Record sales were good, and the band played the choicest ballrooms and clubs, from Maine to California.

The band continued to be very popular up until 1943 when Krupa was busted in San Francisco for possession of marijuana. However the band did get back together in 1945 which they enjoyed wide popularity until 1951 when Krupa scaled the size of his bands to match the changing styles of Jazz which had shifted from the big bands to smaller Modern Jazz combos.

Members  of the Gene Krupa's Orchestra:

Bassists:

Al Hall

Biddy Bastien

Bob Strahl

Irv Lang

Trombonists:

Al Jordan

Babe Wagner

Bob Ascher

Clay Hervey

Cutty Cutshall

Dick Taylor

Jack Zimmerman

Jay Kelliher

Moe Schneider

Pat Virgadamo

Tasso Harris

Tommy Pederson

Warren Covington

Ziggy Elmer

Trumpets:

Al Porcino

Don Fagerquist

Ed Badgley

Edward Cornelius

Gordon Boswell

Joe Triscari

John Bello

Norman Murphy

Ray Triscari

Roy Eldridge

Rudy Novak

Shorty Sherock

Tony Russo

Torg Halten

Vocalist:

Anita O'Day

Carolyn Grey

Saxophones:

Bill Hitz

Buddy Wise

Charlie Kennedy

Charlie Ventura

Clint Neagley

Jack Schwartz

Johnny Bothwell

Joe Koch

Larry Patton

Mitch Melnick

Walter Bates

Guitarists:

Bob Lesher

Remo Biondi

Woodwind Players:

Bob Snyder

Pianists:

Buddy Neal

Joe Bushkin

Teddy Napoleon

Tony D'Amore

Clarinettist:

Edmond Hall

Ernie Caceres

Sam Marowitz

Sam Musiker

Drummers:

Gene Krupa

Cornet player:

Wild Bill Davison

Other members:

Ben Seaman,

Bob Munoz

Emil Mazaneo,

Harry Terrill

Jimmy Millazzo

Joe Magro

Mike Triscari

Nick Gaglio

 Ray Biondi

Stan Doughty

Tony Anelli

Vince Hughes

This information was found on: http://www.discogs.com/

Prohibition:

Origins:

In the 1820s and ’30s, a wave of religious revivalism swept the United States, leading to increased calls for temperance (abstinence to alcoholic drinks), as well as other “perfectionist” movements such as the abolition of slavery.

By the turn of the century, temperance societies were a common fixture in communities across the United States. Women played a strong role in the temperance movement, as alcohol was seen as a destructive force in families and marriages.

In 1917, after the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition in order to save grain for producing food. That same year, Congress submitted the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors.

A year after the 18^th amendment was legitimised; no fewer than 33 states had enacted their own prohibition legislation.

The prohibition caused:

• An increase of the illegal production and sale of liquor (known as “bootlegging”),
• The rise in speakeasies (illegal drinking spots)
• The smuggling of alcohol across state lines
• The informal production of liquor (“moonshine” or “bathtub gin”) in private homes.

In addition, the Prohibition era encouraged the rise of criminal activity associated with bootlegging. The most notorious example was the Chicago gangster Al Capone, who earned $60 million annually from bootleg operations and speakeasies.

This also caused a rise in gang violence, like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929, in which several men dressed as policemen (and believed to be have associated with Capone) shot and killed a group of men in an enemy gang.

this information was found on: www.history.com/topics/prohibition

Initial response to stimulus

The stimulus for our devising project is a piece of jazz music called "let me off uptown" by Gene Krupa's Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCbxKVmxGEY

When first hearing the song it provoked a lot of ideas. For example;

1. The music started with an instrumental drum beat that sort of reminded me of murders or crimes. This was because the music sounded thrilling as it repeated the same beats until the tune kicked in.
2. Since the music was very jazzy, it made me think of the 1920's gangster movies in America. I imagined the colours of gold and black mainly because of the glamorous lifestyles but also the ideas of money and crime.
3. This then lead me to think about bootlegging and speakeasies due to the crimes caused by prohibition in the 1920's/30's. I imagined some gangsters breaking the law and the song being played in the background of their own private speakeasy.
4. I also felt that the music was quite sexy due to the fact that the singers were flirting with each other during the song. so this led me to think of more of a flirtatious atmosphere between the men and women at the bar. and it made the whole area dirty.
5. I also noticed that both the singers voices sounded fake when the were talking to each other so it made me think about how the glamour of the 1920's was only hiding the dirt behind the crimes and violence between the gangs.
6. I felt that the movements would be very dance based as the song was very up beat and i could imagine the gangsters and females dancing in the bar.  
7. The music made me think of the smell of smoke and alcohol as I was imagining the bar atmosphere and the disgusting side to the 1920's. 

My Vocal Development Programme - Analysis

Analysing my voice

Characteristics:

My voice is very animated and quite excited. I naturally have a fast paced voice and I have a fairly loud voice. It is very clear and clipped as I try to pronounce every letter in each word. I have quite good articulation but I can sometimes drop the ends off of words if I am not concentrating and I naturally emphasise on certain words. I have a fairly high pitch and because of this, my voice can become quite nasal. My voice is fairly suited to my age because of the vocabulary I use in every day life, however I may sound a little more well spoken then the stereotypes of teenagers. I seem to have a very high pitch when I am acting and I sometimes forget to project whilst I am on stage. 

Benefits to my Voice:

Because I have such an animated voice, due to my varied range, it means I would have an excited voice to an  audience and therefore it shouldn't become boring to the audience. As I am fairly loud, it means that the audience should be able to hear me on the stage. Also I have a clear voice which means the audience should be able to understand everything I say as I articulate. I also can change my voice to convey characters for example I can manipulate it when I do different accents. This means I will be able to portray many different characters.

Disadvantages to my Voice:

When I act, I naturally speak in a higher pitch which could be because of a state of nerves or over excitement. this means my voice doesn't vary and it can become boring or annoying to an audience as it can limit the amount of expression shown in my voice. In the higher pitch my voice can also become quite nasal as I am not using my lower resonators. I also speak quite fast as I sometimes forget to pause. This can become difficult to understand for an audience as they may lose what I am trying to say and I may forget to pronounce the ends of my words.

Exercises for my Voice:

Since I have a problem with controlling my pitch of my voice as I naturally talk higher on stage, I could try humming in a lower pitch in order to open up my chest resonator and therefore it would make my chest voice stronger.on the other hand my higher pitch could be because of excitement or nerves so I could try some relaxation techniques which may make me more relaxed when I am on stage. for example I could try some yoga or massage as it will loosen any tensions in my body that have been built up by stress. 

I also have a problem with pausing in my speech so I could try going through my lines and pausing at every punctuation mark in order to get familiar to pausing. Another solution for pausing could be to try some breathing exercises like holding and exhaling my breath for long periods of time.  This exercises would develop my control of my breathing and overall the rhythm to my voice.