We did a session in class where our class peers would evaluated our strength and weakness of this rehearsal unit so far and they even gave us a predicted grade of where we are at at the moment.
Some of the strengths that we said about me was that I am very punctual for rehearsal and that I am very focused whilst I or other people are on stage. I am always prepared to experiment with characters and I listen and take in the feedback that I am given. I have good variation within each of my characters and I have done a lot of research of my characters that I am able to use to help build my characters. I also give it my all in every performance I do and I respect and support others in their performances.
Some of the weaknesses that was said about me was that I need to keep practicing my dialogue as it some times gets lost within the accents that I am trying to put on. Also I sometime go into a high range when I am acting and I stay there which restricts some of the emotions I can put into my characters. I also have a tendency to get stuck in a giggle loops which can become annoying if people are trying to get on with a scene. I also have a tendency to get into sidetracked conversations with my class when I could be getting on with the work.
In order to fix my weaknesses I will try to learn all of my lines as soon as possible so I will have a better grip on them before I try adding an accent. I will also experiment talking in lower ranges in order to extract different emotions in my voice. I will also take my self out of the room to calm down from a giggle loop and overall take my production more seriously as I am confident that with the right mind set, the production could be a success.
Thursday 23 March 2017
Actioning and Targets
Targets
For each of my characters I believe that they have a specific target in their scene that they are trying to get. For my character Minty I believe her main target is her car battery. She spends most of her time in her scene dragging it to the dealers so I think her main priority is to get ride of it and to get cash in return. However her other target in the Scene is her daughter Primrose. Minty gets distracted from dragging her car battery when she notices Primroae not working and sunbathing. For the rest of her scene she nags Prim about how their work is important and the dangers of being out with men lurking around.
For my character Dorothy I thought her main target is to get noticed, whether that be by her social equals, the news or even the lower classes. She starts of by arriving in a flashy helicopter and for the rest of the time she is laughing, talking outrageously about people and she's incredibly loud, I can only imagine she wants to get noticed as she loves the attention.
For my character Loud Voice I think her target is to make money and serve drinks. She spends most of her time calling out drink orders and she even goes out of her way to shut people up so that people can drink in peace. She even get very flustered and tired by her work which means she cares.
For my character The Course, woman 3 and jockey 6 I think their target is to inform people (including the audience) what is happening in the race. The course explains the actual track that the horses will run on, woman 3 asks questions to specify when the race will begin and the jockey 6 tells people the mood of the races as he say "Mille for Mede" which means "a thousand times shit".
And finally for my character Lunatic 3, I think their target is to clean up the litter. She spends her time picking up the litter whilst the other lunatics are trying to make conversation. She does say one thing which is "lesser Piggott" but that is probably because she heard a lot of people saying "lester Piggot" through out the day and it probably got stuck in her head on a loop.
Actioning
We are doing Actioning in our scripts so that we know the meaning behind every single line that our characters say. For instance one of Dorothy's lines is "roger! Forgive us Charles. We are a bit merry". This line can be split into three different actionings. The first "roger" she points him out, the second "forgive us Charles" she plees with him and the third "we are about merry" she winks at him. The Actioning doesn't nessisarily mean that she would wink at the character Charles but it has the same meaning in the way the words are said if she did actually wink at him.
For each of my characters I believe that they have a specific target in their scene that they are trying to get. For my character Minty I believe her main target is her car battery. She spends most of her time in her scene dragging it to the dealers so I think her main priority is to get ride of it and to get cash in return. However her other target in the Scene is her daughter Primrose. Minty gets distracted from dragging her car battery when she notices Primroae not working and sunbathing. For the rest of her scene she nags Prim about how their work is important and the dangers of being out with men lurking around.
For my character Dorothy I thought her main target is to get noticed, whether that be by her social equals, the news or even the lower classes. She starts of by arriving in a flashy helicopter and for the rest of the time she is laughing, talking outrageously about people and she's incredibly loud, I can only imagine she wants to get noticed as she loves the attention.
For my character Loud Voice I think her target is to make money and serve drinks. She spends most of her time calling out drink orders and she even goes out of her way to shut people up so that people can drink in peace. She even get very flustered and tired by her work which means she cares.
For my character The Course, woman 3 and jockey 6 I think their target is to inform people (including the audience) what is happening in the race. The course explains the actual track that the horses will run on, woman 3 asks questions to specify when the race will begin and the jockey 6 tells people the mood of the races as he say "Mille for Mede" which means "a thousand times shit".
And finally for my character Lunatic 3, I think their target is to clean up the litter. She spends her time picking up the litter whilst the other lunatics are trying to make conversation. She does say one thing which is "lesser Piggott" but that is probably because she heard a lot of people saying "lester Piggot" through out the day and it probably got stuck in her head on a loop.
Actioning
We are doing Actioning in our scripts so that we know the meaning behind every single line that our characters say. For instance one of Dorothy's lines is "roger! Forgive us Charles. We are a bit merry". This line can be split into three different actionings. The first "roger" she points him out, the second "forgive us Charles" she plees with him and the third "we are about merry" she winks at him. The Actioning doesn't nessisarily mean that she would wink at the character Charles but it has the same meaning in the way the words are said if she did actually wink at him.
Blocking and Experimenting
Staging
For our play, we are going to have a hill/mound at the back of the stage that leads to the front of the stage. This will represent the downs itself as the whole floor including the hill will be covered in astro turf. This will put a setting of a country scene and with the back flat as a white sheet that will change colour to resemble the sunny Sumer sky to the late afternoon. Other then that there is no stable set for our play. There is a beer tent that comes on but only for one scene in act 2. To represent the barrier of the racetrack itself there is a pole that the actors hold and can move around with the resemble a different corner of the race track.
Enterances and Exits
For this play there is 6 spaces at which the actor can enter and exit from. At the back of the stage there are two on both the left and right side. They are called SR1 and SL1. Then there are two enterances in the front of the stage on bothe left and right. They are called SR2 and SL2. And finally there are two in the audience that lead onto the stage from both right and left. They are called SR3 and SL3.
For Minty, I enter SR2 and I Exit SL2
For Dorothy, I enter SL3 and I exit SR3
For Loud Voice, I enter SR1 and I exit SL3
For The Course, I enter SR2 and I exit SR2
For Lunatic 3, I enter SL1 and I don't exit as it. Is the end of the play.
Experimenting
I have now started to experiment with some of my characters. Firstly I know that Dorothy Delaune is a very posh, loud and snobbish woman so I thought that I would start to experiment with some of her voices. For one take I tried to take inspiration from the character Janice from friends TV show. I push my voice to a very high, sharp and nasal quality. I thought that this voice was very effective as people seemed to laugh at the voice, which she is meant to be rediculous. However after doing that rehearsal I went home and I imediantly noticed that my throat was hurt. I now know that voice, while it may be effective for the character, it would not be able to be sustained for the whole production as I would have a damaged voice by the first show. Therefore I have had to look at other voice. I have tried a voice that is in the same high pitch however this time it's more snotty then sharp. I feel that this voice is more effective than the first one as it doesn't hurt my voice and it still has a redicoulous quality to it that may even be more grotesque than the first one.
I have also been experimenting with voice for the character Minty. We decided that we should make the gypsy travellers Irish. This is because at this time there was the IRA attacks which meant that many people were scared or looked down on the Irish and in this play both the gypsies (Minty and Primrose) are not overly welcomed by people. So I have been experimenting on a southern Irish accent. I think I have it pretty much nailed however since I did not know my lines, I noticed that every thing I said in the rehearsal was on one tone and it very boring. I think I was trying so hard to focus on the accent that I forgot about tonality. To improve this I had a one to one with one of our teacher who was Irish. She went through each line with me highlighting on some of the tonalities and even pronouciation of words.
I now know:
. Irish people speak very fast and they sometimes slur over their words
. Some of their words join together, for example "lead in you" would become "lednya"
. The letter T sound more like SH. They make this noise be placing their tongue as if the were going to say L but instead they push their breath through whilst the tongue remains up against the hard palet of their mouth.
. Irish people also don't say ING instead they just say N, for example "going to" becomes "gont"
One of the tonalities I do is when I say "won't he give you a wallop". When I say "you" I go up in my voice and then I let my voice descend natural with the rest of the sentence.
For our play, we are going to have a hill/mound at the back of the stage that leads to the front of the stage. This will represent the downs itself as the whole floor including the hill will be covered in astro turf. This will put a setting of a country scene and with the back flat as a white sheet that will change colour to resemble the sunny Sumer sky to the late afternoon. Other then that there is no stable set for our play. There is a beer tent that comes on but only for one scene in act 2. To represent the barrier of the racetrack itself there is a pole that the actors hold and can move around with the resemble a different corner of the race track.
Enterances and Exits
For this play there is 6 spaces at which the actor can enter and exit from. At the back of the stage there are two on both the left and right side. They are called SR1 and SL1. Then there are two enterances in the front of the stage on bothe left and right. They are called SR2 and SL2. And finally there are two in the audience that lead onto the stage from both right and left. They are called SR3 and SL3.
For Minty, I enter SR2 and I Exit SL2
For Dorothy, I enter SL3 and I exit SR3
For Loud Voice, I enter SR1 and I exit SL3
For The Course, I enter SR2 and I exit SR2
For Lunatic 3, I enter SL1 and I don't exit as it. Is the end of the play.
Experimenting
I have now started to experiment with some of my characters. Firstly I know that Dorothy Delaune is a very posh, loud and snobbish woman so I thought that I would start to experiment with some of her voices. For one take I tried to take inspiration from the character Janice from friends TV show. I push my voice to a very high, sharp and nasal quality. I thought that this voice was very effective as people seemed to laugh at the voice, which she is meant to be rediculous. However after doing that rehearsal I went home and I imediantly noticed that my throat was hurt. I now know that voice, while it may be effective for the character, it would not be able to be sustained for the whole production as I would have a damaged voice by the first show. Therefore I have had to look at other voice. I have tried a voice that is in the same high pitch however this time it's more snotty then sharp. I feel that this voice is more effective than the first one as it doesn't hurt my voice and it still has a redicoulous quality to it that may even be more grotesque than the first one.
I have also been experimenting with voice for the character Minty. We decided that we should make the gypsy travellers Irish. This is because at this time there was the IRA attacks which meant that many people were scared or looked down on the Irish and in this play both the gypsies (Minty and Primrose) are not overly welcomed by people. So I have been experimenting on a southern Irish accent. I think I have it pretty much nailed however since I did not know my lines, I noticed that every thing I said in the rehearsal was on one tone and it very boring. I think I was trying so hard to focus on the accent that I forgot about tonality. To improve this I had a one to one with one of our teacher who was Irish. She went through each line with me highlighting on some of the tonalities and even pronouciation of words.
I now know:
. Irish people speak very fast and they sometimes slur over their words
. Some of their words join together, for example "lead in you" would become "lednya"
. The letter T sound more like SH. They make this noise be placing their tongue as if the were going to say L but instead they push their breath through whilst the tongue remains up against the hard palet of their mouth.
. Irish people also don't say ING instead they just say N, for example "going to" becomes "gont"
One of the tonalities I do is when I say "won't he give you a wallop". When I say "you" I go up in my voice and then I let my voice descend natural with the rest of the sentence.
Character Research - Lunatic 3
Name: Betty Hicks
Age: 20
Birthplace: London, Buckingham
Parents: Olivia Hicks, Jeremy Hicks
Relations: the other Lunatics
Occupation: community cleaner
Appearance:
She wears a boiler suit and trainers. She wears her hair either in front of her face or she wears it in a ponytail.
Favourite Song:
"the laughing gnome" by David Bowie in 1967. She likes it as it is very childish like her personality plus she knows David Bowie is popular so she thinks it will make her popular.
Based On:
. Drippy (Juno Temple) from Wild Child
. Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson) from About Time
Age: 20
Birthplace: London, Buckingham
Parents: Olivia Hicks, Jeremy Hicks
Relations: the other Lunatics
Occupation: community cleaner
Appearance:
She wears a boiler suit and trainers. She wears her hair either in front of her face or she wears it in a ponytail.
Favourite Song:
"the laughing gnome" by David Bowie in 1967. She likes it as it is very childish like her personality plus she knows David Bowie is popular so she thinks it will make her popular.
Based On:
. Drippy (Juno Temple) from Wild Child
. Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson) from About Time
Wednesday 22 March 2017
Character Research - The course
Name: the Epsom downs race Course
Age: First recorded race was in 1661
Birthplace: Epsom downs
Occupation: this character is a metaphor the actual course itself" the land is portrayed as a human who does a monologue about the race track course.
Appearance:
This character would be dressed in a suit and tie with a smart shoes and a white shirt. They also would have a walking stick that becomes the racetrack barrier and they would be smoking a cigarette.
Favourite Song:
"Gold finger" by Shirley Bassey in 1964. This is their song as it talks about a very strong and dangerous man just like the course itself. Also they are very swerve and classy like James Bond.
Based On:
. James Bond for his class and seduction
. Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's for the glamour
The character of the Course is also involved in an ensemble piece where she is also portrayed as Woman 3 (Janet) and Jockey 6.
Age: First recorded race was in 1661
Birthplace: Epsom downs
Occupation: this character is a metaphor the actual course itself" the land is portrayed as a human who does a monologue about the race track course.
Appearance:
This character would be dressed in a suit and tie with a smart shoes and a white shirt. They also would have a walking stick that becomes the racetrack barrier and they would be smoking a cigarette.
Favourite Song:
"Gold finger" by Shirley Bassey in 1964. This is their song as it talks about a very strong and dangerous man just like the course itself. Also they are very swerve and classy like James Bond.
Based On:
. James Bond for his class and seduction
. Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's for the glamour
The character of the Course is also involved in an ensemble piece where she is also portrayed as Woman 3 (Janet) and Jockey 6.
- Woman 3 is called Janet and she is a teenager who has gone to the Derby with some friends and is their for a good time. Her favourite song is "She la la la lee" which was written by Small Faces in 1966. The song is about a girl who goes out with a boy to have a fun night out.
- Jockey 6 is called Gérard Dubroeucq and he is a french horse rider in the Derby. his favourite song is "la mer" which was written in 1968 by Charles Trenet. It is his favourite song as he is feeling patriotic as he has had to travel across the sea to be apart of the Epsom Derby.
Character Research - Loud Voice in a tent
Name: Rachel Gidins
Age: 24
Birthplace: Essex
Parents: Connie Gidins, father unknown
Relations: two drunken colleges who she doesn't really like
Occupation: Bartender
Appearance:
I imagine her to have flared blue jeans with a grey v neck top that she tucks into the jeans. She also might have a shirt rapped around her waist and she wears blue trainers. Her hair would be short as she works tierlessly so she doesn't have time to deal with her hair.
Favourite Song:
"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac in 1975. The song relates to her as she has just broken up with her boufriend who drank way too much, that is why she is also shouting at the two drunk men. The song is helping her get through her break up.
Based On:
. Roxy Mitchell from Eastenders
. Sally Hawkins from Happy Go Lucky
. Claire Skinner from Outnumbered
Age: 24
Birthplace: Essex
Parents: Connie Gidins, father unknown
Relations: two drunken colleges who she doesn't really like
Occupation: Bartender
Appearance:
I imagine her to have flared blue jeans with a grey v neck top that she tucks into the jeans. She also might have a shirt rapped around her waist and she wears blue trainers. Her hair would be short as she works tierlessly so she doesn't have time to deal with her hair.
Favourite Song:
"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac in 1975. The song relates to her as she has just broken up with her boufriend who drank way too much, that is why she is also shouting at the two drunk men. The song is helping her get through her break up.
Based On:
. Roxy Mitchell from Eastenders
. Sally Hawkins from Happy Go Lucky
. Claire Skinner from Outnumbered
Character Research - Dorothy
Name: Dorothy Delaune
Age: 52
Birthplace: Westminster, London
Parents: Harrold Delaune, Charlotte (Fairclough) Delaune
Relations: Roger Coyle (rich friend), Charles Pearce (Horse trainer)
Occupation: Derby Horse Owner
Appearance:
She wears a very posh dress to her knee and matching stilettos that always get caught in the grass at Epsom. She also wears a jacket that matches her dress and even a floppy hat. She may also have a small handbag that she make people around her carry like Roger.
Favourite song:
'the Nutcracker suite' written by Tchaikovsky in 1892. The song reminds her of the Christmas ballet that she would see with her mother and father every year.
Based On:
. Janice from 'Friends' for vocals
. Mr Snot from University challenge from 'the young ones' for manirisums
. 'To the manor born' for the social class
Age: 52
Birthplace: Westminster, London
Parents: Harrold Delaune, Charlotte (Fairclough) Delaune
Relations: Roger Coyle (rich friend), Charles Pearce (Horse trainer)
Occupation: Derby Horse Owner
Appearance:
She wears a very posh dress to her knee and matching stilettos that always get caught in the grass at Epsom. She also wears a jacket that matches her dress and even a floppy hat. She may also have a small handbag that she make people around her carry like Roger.
Favourite song:
'the Nutcracker suite' written by Tchaikovsky in 1892. The song reminds her of the Christmas ballet that she would see with her mother and father every year.
Based On:
. Janice from 'Friends' for vocals
. Mr Snot from University challenge from 'the young ones' for manirisums
. 'To the manor born' for the social class
Research for Epsom - TV and Film
To the manor Born:
This programme was originally made in 1979. It is a British sitcom TV series that only had 22 episodes. I think that this programme is very relevant to our play Epsom Downs as it is an extremely British idea of what the upper class were like in the 1970's. since it is based around very upper class characters, it would mainly be relevant the characters Lord Rack, Charles Pierce, Roger Coyle and Dorothy Delaune.
What ever happened to the Likely Lads:
This programme was originally made in 1973/1974. It is also a British sitcom TV series but it was a spin off from the series The Likely Lads. I think this programme is also relevant to our play as it is an accurate representation of British workers and lower class. I think that this TV programme would mainly relate to the characters Jocks, Sandy, Margret, Bobby and Sharon. It also relates to the horse races as in many of the episodes the character Terry often paces bets on the races even though he can't afford it.
Monday 20 March 2017
Research for Epsom - Music
I have picked some songs that I believe would be each of my character's favourite song. Also some of the songs link to their background or the journey their character goes on.
1. Minty
"Let no man steal your thyme" it was originally written in 1903 but was known as "sprig of thyme". The version that I am using was remade in 1963 by Anne Briggs and Pentangle in 1968. The song is a folk ballad which is about warning young girls to stay clear of fake love and horrible unloving men. I have chosen this song for minty as in the play she is warning her daughter primrose not to go near the men and to stop day dreaming. I think this song would resinate with minty as it not only has a folk quality but it also relates to her life as a gypsy and her being put into marriage not of her own choosing.
2. Dorothy Delaune
"Nutcracker suite" it was written in 1892 by Pytor Ilyich Tcheikhovsky for the ballet. It is a very old classical music piece. I have chosen this piece for Dorothy as I believe her rich upbringing would have meant she wouldn't have been into the modern pop music. Instead she would have gone to the ballet as a child and the music would have stuck with her as a fond childhood memory around Christmas.
3. Loud voice in a tent (Rachel)
"Landslide" it was written in 1975 by Fleetwood Mac. There is nothing really said about this character, she doesn't even have a name. So I have decided to call her Rachel. In the play she shout a lot at men who are drunk so I thought that perhaps she had a bad relationship with a man who drunk. I think she was in love with a man but she left him because of his drinking. That's why I have chosen this song as it is about someone who has left their lover and is trying to move on.
4. Woman 3 (Janet)
"Sha la la la lee" it was written in 1966 by small faces. Once again there is not any thing written about this character in the script so I have created her character called Janet. She is a teen who has gone to Epsom for the fun of betting. This song is about a girl who goes out on a Friday night with a boy to have fun. So I think it relates to Janet as she is just there to have a bit of fun at the races.
5. French jockey (6)
"La mer" it was written in 1968 by Charles Trenet. All that I know about this character is that they are a French jockey. So I believe that they would have travelled by sea to get to Epsom downs for the races. I don't think that this song would have always been their favourite but perhaps this was the first time they had been abroad so it felt patriotic for this jockey to listen to a very French travel song.
6. The course
"Gold finger" it was written for the iconic film gold finger in 1964 and it was performed by Shirley Bassey. I have chosen this song for my character as they are meant to be a swerve and dangerous being like James Bond. The course character is a metaphor for the actual race course itself. The character talks about the turns and directions the horses take in the race. Therefore since the character is a metaphor I feel that it wouldn't be stupid to over emphasis the James Bond aspect to the character as they are not a real living object.
7. Lunatic 3
"The laughing gnome" it was written in 1967 by David Bowie. I haven't got much information to this character However I know that they have some form of tarrets. I think this would mean that they wouldn't be spoken to directly by people and they wouldn't be in popular culture. So feel that this song is incredible wacky and probably not popular to most people as it has a weird smurf voice in the background. I also feel this song emphasise the lunatics character as they are very wacky themself.
1. Minty
"Let no man steal your thyme" it was originally written in 1903 but was known as "sprig of thyme". The version that I am using was remade in 1963 by Anne Briggs and Pentangle in 1968. The song is a folk ballad which is about warning young girls to stay clear of fake love and horrible unloving men. I have chosen this song for minty as in the play she is warning her daughter primrose not to go near the men and to stop day dreaming. I think this song would resinate with minty as it not only has a folk quality but it also relates to her life as a gypsy and her being put into marriage not of her own choosing.
2. Dorothy Delaune
"Nutcracker suite" it was written in 1892 by Pytor Ilyich Tcheikhovsky for the ballet. It is a very old classical music piece. I have chosen this piece for Dorothy as I believe her rich upbringing would have meant she wouldn't have been into the modern pop music. Instead she would have gone to the ballet as a child and the music would have stuck with her as a fond childhood memory around Christmas.
3. Loud voice in a tent (Rachel)
"Landslide" it was written in 1975 by Fleetwood Mac. There is nothing really said about this character, she doesn't even have a name. So I have decided to call her Rachel. In the play she shout a lot at men who are drunk so I thought that perhaps she had a bad relationship with a man who drunk. I think she was in love with a man but she left him because of his drinking. That's why I have chosen this song as it is about someone who has left their lover and is trying to move on.
4. Woman 3 (Janet)
"Sha la la la lee" it was written in 1966 by small faces. Once again there is not any thing written about this character in the script so I have created her character called Janet. She is a teen who has gone to Epsom for the fun of betting. This song is about a girl who goes out on a Friday night with a boy to have fun. So I think it relates to Janet as she is just there to have a bit of fun at the races.
5. French jockey (6)
"La mer" it was written in 1968 by Charles Trenet. All that I know about this character is that they are a French jockey. So I believe that they would have travelled by sea to get to Epsom downs for the races. I don't think that this song would have always been their favourite but perhaps this was the first time they had been abroad so it felt patriotic for this jockey to listen to a very French travel song.
6. The course
"Gold finger" it was written for the iconic film gold finger in 1964 and it was performed by Shirley Bassey. I have chosen this song for my character as they are meant to be a swerve and dangerous being like James Bond. The course character is a metaphor for the actual race course itself. The character talks about the turns and directions the horses take in the race. Therefore since the character is a metaphor I feel that it wouldn't be stupid to over emphasis the James Bond aspect to the character as they are not a real living object.
7. Lunatic 3
"The laughing gnome" it was written in 1967 by David Bowie. I haven't got much information to this character However I know that they have some form of tarrets. I think this would mean that they wouldn't be spoken to directly by people and they wouldn't be in popular culture. So feel that this song is incredible wacky and probably not popular to most people as it has a weird smurf voice in the background. I also feel this song emphasise the lunatics character as they are very wacky themself.
Thursday 16 March 2017
First view of the play
Epsom downs
Epsom downs is a play written by Howard Brenton in 1977. The play follows the Derby day in 1977 at Epsom downs at which Lester Piggott won the Derby. The story does not have a main character nor does it follow a certain story, instead there are multiple role of race-goers, horse trainers, jockey, bookie, gypsies and more. There are a few recurring characters such as the cockney family, Charles Pearce a horse trainer, Lord rack an ex politician, blue an officer of the law, primrose a gypsy traveller and jocks a stable boy. However the rest of the characters only appear in a single scene.
I think that this play is very suitable for our class as there are multiple role so everyone has an equal amount of stage time as everyone else. Also each of these characters are completely different from each other so it means us as actors can have the opportunity to express many different abilities to our acting styles whether that be through a sent of emotions. I also really like this play as it gives a very accurate representation of British 70's society for all age, social class and cultures. I think I will defiantly learn a lot of history in this project which I always find very enjoyable. I feel that this play will also be well received by a modern audience as the social classes haven't changed that much since 1977 and some of our audience may have lived through this time period so it will be interesting to see their reactions to the play now.
Epsom downs is a play written by Howard Brenton in 1977. The play follows the Derby day in 1977 at Epsom downs at which Lester Piggott won the Derby. The story does not have a main character nor does it follow a certain story, instead there are multiple role of race-goers, horse trainers, jockey, bookie, gypsies and more. There are a few recurring characters such as the cockney family, Charles Pearce a horse trainer, Lord rack an ex politician, blue an officer of the law, primrose a gypsy traveller and jocks a stable boy. However the rest of the characters only appear in a single scene.
I think that this play is very suitable for our class as there are multiple role so everyone has an equal amount of stage time as everyone else. Also each of these characters are completely different from each other so it means us as actors can have the opportunity to express many different abilities to our acting styles whether that be through a sent of emotions. I also really like this play as it gives a very accurate representation of British 70's society for all age, social class and cultures. I think I will defiantly learn a lot of history in this project which I always find very enjoyable. I feel that this play will also be well received by a modern audience as the social classes haven't changed that much since 1977 and some of our audience may have lived through this time period so it will be interesting to see their reactions to the play now.
Character Research - Minty
What I know about Minty from the Play:
- · Her name is Minty
- · She is a gypsy traveller
- · Her husband is in Lowestoft prison
- · She is the mother to Primrose
- · She feels separate in this world – “the gypsy got no friends in this world”
- · She travels to big events and sells things like lucky heather
What I have decided about my character:
- · Her real name is Arminta O’Donnell. Minty is only her nickname. Arminta is quite a traditional Irish name and it can be a derision to Minty
- · She was born in 1944, so that means that in 1977 (which is when the play is set) she is 33 years old
- · She had her daughter Primrose when she was 18 years old, that means in 1977 Primrose is 15 years old
- · Her family are originally from Glengarriff, Cork, Ireland. As she is a traveller I felt that they would have travelled far from whence they came and I feel that Ireland would be a very traditional place for them to start at.
- · Her husband’s name is Shayne O’Donnell. He is in Lowestoft Prison as he was caught stealing lead off of church roofs. He did this in order to get money her husband would sell the lead to scrap yard
- · Minty’s key object is a Hessian bag.
- · The bag is important to Minty as she is a traveller so she doesn’t have many possessions that she can call her own.
- · Everything she does own (like money, jewellery and clothes) is kept in her Hessian bag.
- · The bag enables her to have something of her own that no one can take away from her in a world where she already has nothing.
- · Minty first got the bag when she was 8. She was at a festival in her home town Glengarriff and her mother told her to fetch her father for lunch. She found her father getting beaten up by a country guy called Sheamus. Sheamus gave her 30p so that she would go away. She went and bought her bag from a stool and it is the last possession she has from her hometown and it is a reminder that she must protect the things that are her’s.
- · Molly Weasley – the mother of the Weasley family from Harry Potter
- · Maggie McCarthy – Irish actress from Leap Year
- · Sorcha Cusack – plays Mum O’Neill from Snatch
- . Ezmarelda - a gypsy woman from Hunchback of Notre Damn
Monday 6 March 2017
1970's Research
1970's Playwrights:
- Howard Brenton - Epsom Downs
- Edward Bond - The Pope's Wedding, Bingo
- Joe Orton - What the Butler saw
- Mike Leigh - Abigail's Party
1970's British TV programmes
- To the Manor Born
- On the Buses
- Faulty Towers
- What ever happened to the Likely Lads
- Last of the Summer Wine
- Love Thy Neighbour
- Are you being served
1970's British Movies
- Monty Python: Holy Grail
- Carry On: At Your Convenience, Matron, Loving, Up the Jungle, Don't Lose Your Head
- James Bond: Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me
1970's Music
- Rod Stewart
- Marvin Gaye
- The Eagles
- ABBA
- David Soul
- Queen
- The Beatles
- The Sex Pistols
- BEE GEES
- Pink Floyd
- Black Sabbath
- The Rolling Stones
- Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
1977 British Events
- Queen Elizabeth II silver jubilee
- first Brit Awards
- Last Natural Smallpox case
- Red Rum wins the national for 3rd time
- Star wars opens
Thursday 2 March 2017
Rehearsal Proposal Plan
Epsom Downs
Performance Dates:
Monday 24th April - Get in and Fitting set
Tuesday 25th April - Tech Rehearsal
Wednesday 26th April - Dress Rehearsal
Thursday 27th April - Matinee + Evening Performance
Friday 28th April - Matinee + Evening Performance + Get out
Starting the text:
In order to start getting into the play, I will need to first look at getting used to the text. The text will be my main source of information that will help me understand the play. It will give me backgrounds to my characters, give me an era and setting that it is set and it gives me more ideas of the mood and emotions with in the play. The rehearsal process will help me in discovering the hidden emotions, characteristics and aims of my characters but the text is going to me the main plot of the play.
I will need to:
Performance Dates:
Monday 24th April - Get in and Fitting set
Tuesday 25th April - Tech Rehearsal
Wednesday 26th April - Dress Rehearsal
Thursday 27th April - Matinee + Evening Performance
Friday 28th April - Matinee + Evening Performance + Get out
Starting the text:
In order to start getting into the play, I will need to first look at getting used to the text. The text will be my main source of information that will help me understand the play. It will give me backgrounds to my characters, give me an era and setting that it is set and it gives me more ideas of the mood and emotions with in the play. The rehearsal process will help me in discovering the hidden emotions, characteristics and aims of my characters but the text is going to me the main plot of the play.
I will need to:
- read through the text, making sure I understand completely what happens within the play
- I should understand every word, this means I may have to look up certain words if I don't understand there meaning or the context they are in. This may require some research in order to full understand some words especially if they are political or key to the plot of the play.
- I need to familiarise myself with the characters I am playing. I would do this by highlighting lines of my characters, making sure I understand what happens to my character and start to learn my lines.
Research for the Play
In order to understand to play, characters and the plot, I must research some key features to the play. Without researching the play, I would only have the script itself to guide me, but I may not know what some of the words mean or what the setting would look like or character's. Therefor I need to do research for things like:
- 1970's British culture, society and history. This could include political views like reds and it could also include race course information
- 1970's social classes which could be anything from upper class horse trainers to bookies to gypsies and slang from this era depending on which social class they are in.
- 1970's style of clothing and hair depending on which social class they are from
- 1970's popular music, technology and media
- 1970's TV programmes and movies that are British
- Certain words that I may not know the definitions or the context they are in.
- 1970's figure head like political leaders and TV personalities
- research other adaptations of the play and the playwright
Character
To better understand my characters I will need to do character studies. It is important to do character studies as it helps find everything out about my character that may not be clearly stated in the script. It also helps to find what our characters look like and even what they like. most of the facts about our characters will be in the script however some of these thing I will have to make up myself as it won't be in the script. With the character study I will have to think about:
- the character's basics i.e. age, date of birth, gender, name, occupation, relationships
- the background of my characters i.e. where my characters live, who are their family, ethnic origin and social class
- the character's morals i.e. what they believe in, whether they are a good or bad person
- the character's style i.e. clothing, hair, favourites and dislikes
- what happens to the character within the play
- what emotions the character feel during the play
- how the characters feel about themselves
- what others think about your characters
- consider what the objective of the character is in the play
Rehearsal
The rehearsal process is the most important part of the production as it is the time when the parts of the play are decided on. they help finalise of the stage setting, blocking, props and it even is the time when characters are found. Without this process there would be no decisions made on the play. In order to use my rehearsal time well I will need to:
- I must be punctual, be on time and ready to work when the director is ready to start
- to take note on blocking and extra information about the character like emotions and opinions
- not talking during peoples scenes, instead take notes, learn lines
- treat each rehearsal like it is the real performance
- be enthusiastic about everything and be not afraid to experiment with my characters
- be prepared to try new things
- note down my rehearsal process and developments in a blog so i can report my progress of my characters
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