Visual, Aural & Spatial: Beautiful Burnout



Staging

I have decided to have my staging in proscenium arch because this allows the audience to see the performance from the same point of view. Another reason why I have decided to stage my version of the play like this is because the audience wouldn't be able to see everything on the stage, as if it was staged any other way you would really struggle to see everything on the stage in terms of props and actors. My boxing ring will be staged on wheels. I got this idea from when we went to see Henry the V at the Unicorn Theatre in London, because the setting of France was shown on a wheeled sandbox.

 

Props

I have decided to have four speakers mounted on tripods in each corner of the boxing ring because this will make the Underworld song loud enough so that all of the audience can hear it. I have also decided to use speakers because they are also equipment that are within a boxing arena which are used for things like music, and also the sound coming from the microphone of a ring announcer. Another prop I will use is a projector, which will be mounted on wheels. I have decided to use a projector for the change in settings within the play, e.g. changing from Cameron's house to the gym. The projector will project backgrounds of each of the settings within in the play.

 

Lighting

The lighting in my version of the play will be low key lighting for the more emotional scenes; and then it will be high key lighting for the scene of the boxing match between Ajay and Cameron, and also the scenes which aren't so emotional.  

 

Sound

The sound in my version of the performance will be the Underworld song 'Beautiful Burnout' playing in the background throughout the performance.  

 

 

 

 

Response to Practitioner - Frantic Assembly: Beautiful Burnout

Exercises
The School Of Fish
We did another exercise during the lesson called 'The School of Fish'. This exercise was where we had to stand close together as a group, and what ever way we were facing, the person nearest the front would be the leader, and every time the group changed direction, then person nearest the front in that part of the shape would be the leader. The leader's responsibility was to lead the rest of the group in the direction they were facing using a movement such as a jump for example, and the group would also have to copy what the leader was doing.

'Three Points on the Stage performance using 'The School of Fish' exercise with Alex, Kitty, and Charley.
Link: http://worthingacademyofperformingarts.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/12/adrian-as-3-points-video.html
We later used the 'School of Fish' exercise again, but this time we would be in smaller groups, and we would have to make a sequence using different movements related to Boxing. I was in a group with Alex Mockler, Kitty Smith and Charley Bennett. We would have a home position which we would start from, and we would also have three other points on the stage of which we would have to go to during our sequence before reaching our home point again. We decided to lay our group out in a particular way, and it was Alex as the leader, then Kitty and Charley would be standing next to each other behind Alex, and finally I would be at the back because it made sense with what movements each of us were doing and also who was leading the group at a particular time. In our performance, we would have to use one jump, one turn, and one down which means we have to fall on the floor.

Our sequence started with us jumping sideways in the stance of a Boxer, and then we would fall on the floor at our first point and spread out like a starfish; our next movement was to use a skipping rope in mime to get to our next point; when we were at point two, we held our hands up in the stance of a boxer and we would then do a 180 degree jump and turn, and we would then stay in this stance and shuffle forwards to our next point; we would then once again stay in the boxing stance and we would do a slow turn towards our next point which was returning back to our home point, we would then wipe sweat off of our face and in mime, throw a towel over our shoulder and walk to our home point. After this, our drama teacher read out a very short extract of Beautiful Burnout to us.

On the first occasion, we would perform it with just the movements. But on the second occasion, we would have to use three bits of dialogue from the extract our teacher read out to us to use in each movement before we reached each point in the sequence. Our first one was 'your jaw is connected to your legs'; our second one was 'hold your guard', because this movement was when we were in the stance of a Boxer holding their guard; and finally the third one was 'relax', because this movement was us wiping the sweat off of our faces and throwing a towel over our shoulder, and after being defeated we needed to be relaxed. I think dialogue which shows  words of encouragement and advice would work well with this approach because quite a lot of the dialogue we were saying in our piece like "hold your guard" would be something a coach would say when they are training with their boxer. The point in this activity was to look at what sort of movements that boxers tend to show during a match, and also what sort of dialogue would best be suited to this approach.

Live Theatre Review of Henry V

Introduction
On Friday 15th November, we went to watch the play of Henry V at the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark, London. The play was written by Ignace Cornellisson and directed by Ellen McDougall. The story goes back to the time where Henry V of England tries to claim that he is heir to the throne of France after the death of Charles the VI of France in 1328.

I thought that the audience for this play was for kids in key stage 2, so kids aged 7-11.  The reason for this is because the producer included several things that would appeal to kids at this age. One of these things was that they used balloons to represent the soldiers, so when the balloons were popped, that would represent the soldiers being killed. This is much more suitable because kids do not want to see violence and blood representing the death of the soldiers, so this is not only more suitable for kids, it also doesn't scare them with all the bloody references and violence. Another one of these things was that they used colours for both of the respective countries, with France being coloured in blue, and England in red. This made it better for kids because kids absolutely love colours. Another thing that they used to make it suitable for kids was that they used a sandbox on wheels to represent France. This made it suitable for kids, because kids absolutely love sand and they like to play and build sandcastles with it.

I thought that the setting of the play was one very effective aspect of the performance, for example the setting of France was presented on a sandbox on top of a snooker table painted blue on wheels. I thought this was very effective because it is not only different from other settings, but it is also very unique and creatively done by both the producer and director. I think the fact that France was staged on a sandbox and England was just on the stage floor made it more shown to the audience that France was the bigger priority and the more important country in the eyes of Henry V, as he was doing all he could to claim the throne of France after the death of Charles the V. During a part of the play, sandcastles are knocked down and then rebuilt again. The sandcastles being built represented the castles in

I thought the way that the actors in Henry V were all interacting with the audience was very effective, especially the narrator as most of the lines he said were all amusing to the audience. I think the fact the interaction from the actors to the audience was included in the play suited the target audience as well, because a large percentage of the audience were kids in key stage 2. I think the facial expressions the narrator was adding to the amusement of the audience. So the facial expressions and dialogue were combined together to create amusement in the audience. I think the interaction also created an emotional connection between the actors and the audience, in particularly the narrator as he was telling the audience most of what was happening in the story. 

Conclusion
I think overall, these parts of the play were very effectively performed and presented. I thought that the interaction between the actors and the audience was very effective because it developed an emotional connection between the actors and the audience. I also thought that the setting was effective because I think that it showed the audience that France was the more important country in the eyes of Henry V. I also thought that the things that were used to show who the target audience was, like the balloons were very effective in showing who the play was aimed at, because children that age absolutely love balloons.

Non verbal communication - Chair Duets, Pedestrian Movement & Exercise-related performances: Beautiful Burnout

In two different lessons, we looked at exercises using non-verbal communication and linked it to the movement of Boxers and how they would move around during a match.

Chair Duet Performance
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTS7LV2utI&feature=youtu.be
On Thursday 7th November 2013, we looked at non-verbal communication using just chairs. We had to devise a short sequence in partners of movements that you would normally see someone do if they were sitting down, and we would have to interlink them together. For this activity, I worked with Georgie Cloke. I think overall, the whole performance worked  very well, I think that when Georgie pushed me off of my chair and pushed my leg off of my knee was very effective because it showed the audience that she had a problem with the way in which I was sitting. I also think that the part when Georgie stood up on her chair after being hit with my chair, and then me standing up on my chair was very effective because I think that it gave the audience a feeling that me and Georgie were about to square up to each other because of the height difference between the two of us. I think this could relate to boxing because it could show a height difference between two boxers that are squaring up to each other before a fight.

Pedestrian Movement Performance
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GjYPlJIzY&feature=youtu.be
In one of our lessons, we looked at something called a pedestrian movement. This was where we had to choose to be someone of a particular profession, and we had to make a sequence of movements in mime which the person of that profession would typically do in their day-to-day to routine. For this activity we had to be in pairs, and I was working with Tom Doughty, and we decided to make our profession window cleaners. Our sequence started with us picking up a bucket with our left hand and running about 10 yards to a ladder; we would then run up the ladder holding the bucket, before place in on the corner of the ladder; we would then wipe the window from left to right three times; we would then throw the bucket of water at the window and then wipe it from left to right three times again; we then came back down the ladder very fast, jogged backwards, before looking up at the window to see what it was like after it had been cleaned. We then had to join another pair and we would have to combine the two pieces together into one sequence. Me and Tom decided to join up with Lucy Parke and Megan Williams, who were both acting as a pair of spies. We then had to use some of our movements and some of Lucy and Megan's movements, and then combine them into one full sequence. I found it quite difficult when we were adapting our movements and Lucy and Megan's movements into one whole sequence, because we had to remember our movements as well as their movements too. I thought that the whole sequence worked very well, I thought that each pair performing their own sequence as a pair first, and then both pairs performing the sequences as one sequence in a one group worked quite well. I found it easy trying things in discussion and physically as well, because I found that some things were easier to discuss where as some things were easier to show physically.

Performance using Boxing techniques with Chandler Goddard
Before we used the 'School of Fish' method for the second time, we did another exercise which meant we had to get into pairs, and we then watched a video of a Boxing trainer showing a man the different punches used in Boxing. He showed the man 'the jab', 'the hook', 'the upper cut', and finally the 'cross'. Once we had looked at how to perform these punches, we had to devise out a little sequence of a boxing match. For this exercise I was with Chandler Goddard.

Beautiful Performance with Charley Bennett, Jamie Campion and Megan Williams
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spffKCFylWw&feature=youtu.be
In our last two lessons of the year we had to choose a scene from the script of Beautiful Burnout and perform it in groups. I was in a group with Megan who played Neil Neil; Charley who played Cameron Burns; Jamie who played Bobby Burgess (the coach); and finally I played Ajay Chopra. We chose to perform scene 4 which is the scene where Bobby is motivating the young boxers in a training session and also introducing Cameron Burns to the others in the gym. Everyone apart from Bobby and Cameron were training and practicing their punches with each other to make them look like more realistic boxers who are training.  

Exercises
Walk Around & Stop
We started off the lesson by doing an exercise which involved walking around the room in a straight line, and if it looked like we were about to collide with someone, we would have to make a sharp turn to avoid it. We did this exercise when we were studying the non-verbal communication of Rudolf Laban during the time we were looking at the play of 'Gotcha' by Barrie Keefe. Our teacher would tell us a number from one to five, one being extremely slow and five is practically speed-walking. This is linked to Laban's 'Seven states of tension' method, which is moving around at a particular pace. The whole class would be spread out around the room, and our teacher would just say a number and we would have to walk at the pace that number was. We would then do it together as a class. Our teacher would get us up to level 5, and we would have to work together as a class using non-verbal communication to get us back down through the levels to zero, which would be standing still, or in the term of the seven states of tension, 'dead'.

The School Of Fish
We did another exercise during the lesson called 'The School of Fish'. This exercise was where we had to stand close together as a group, and what ever way we were facing, the person nearest the front would be the leader, and every time the group changed direction, then person nearest the front in that part of the shape would be the leader. The leader's responsibility was to lead the rest of the group in the direction they were facing using a movement such as a jump for example, and the group would also have to copy what the leader was doing.

Playwright & Context: Beautful Burnout

Storyline
Beautiful Burnout is the story of a coach training up a group of boxers to become professionals. The boxers are Cameron Burns, Ajay Chopra, Neil Neil, and Ainsley Binney. But when Ajay is given his marching orders by Bobby; Neil Neil is hit by a car; and Ainsley isn't good enough in the eyes of Bobby; Cameron steps up to the plate to face Ajay in a fight. His mum goes from really disliking boxing to liking it and becomes more positive about Cameron going into the fight. One of the female boxers who isn't chosen to try and become a professional is Dina, and she feels really mad that this has happened to her. During the fight between Cameron and Ajay, Cameron suffers a blow to head and collapses in the ring. The blow to the head that knocked Cameron out and made him collapse in the ring, caused damage to his brain.

Main Ideas
The idea for 'Beautiful Burnout' came from a 10-minute visit to Gleason's Gym, a world-famous boxing gym in Brooklyn. Frantic also got the title from a song by Underworld from their album, Oblivion with bells, and they immediately looked at it as a potential title for the show.

Beautiful Burnout is in Scotland within the play, and Frantic Assembly spent a lot of time researching  into the boxing in Scottish culture.

Frantic Assembly Other Ideas & Thoughts:
- They approached Bryony Lavery because she knew very little about boxing, and they thought that she would bring "fresh, hungry eyes to a world where every story it can tell has probably been told".
- They gained experience and information from visiting gyms, professional bouts, amateur administrators, doctors and promoters.
- They had two development sessions; one was interviewing people and visiting gyms and tackle the potential physicality of the show, and the other was to look at the possible narratives.
- They brought in some highly physical dancers to spend 3 hours with them in a room trying to find out how far they could stretch the physicality of boxing.
- Frantic Assembly had no intention of shying away from the moral debate surrounding boxing.
- They thought that boxing presents a credible.
- Frantic Assembly struggled to convince people about the merits of Beautiful Burnout.
- They thought that talking about the typical themes of boxing sounds like some clichéd film you have seen before.
- They didn't want a title that sounded too sensational or provocative.
- The supporters that were called by Frantic Assembly referred to boxing as the 'noble art' and the 'sweet science'.
- Frantic Assembly felt inspired of giving the audience the same visceral, thrilling and conflicting experience as if they were watching a real boxing match.
 
Influence
The influence for this play came from the story of former English boxer Michael Watson, whose career was prematurely ended due to a near-fatal injury. On 21st September 1991, a rematch between Watson and Chris Eubank was arranged. In round 11, Watson was ahead on points and also seemed to be on the verge of stoppage victory when he knocked Eubank down with a right hook. Moments later, Eubank was back on his feet and connected with a devastating uppercut which caused Watson to fall back and hit his head against the ropes. Referee Roy Francis stopped the fight after round 12, after which Watson collapsed in the ring. A total of 28 minutes elapsed before Watson received treatment in a hospital neurosurgical unit. He spent 40 days in a coma and had 6 brain operations to remove a blood clot. He slowly recovered after over a year spent in intensive care and six years in a wheelchair, and he slowly regained his ability to speak and write.

So the inspiration for Beautiful Burnout came from the story of Michael Watson's injury in 1991, which he astonishingly recovered from. The story of what happens to Cameron Burns during the play is very similar to Watson's story, starting with a horrendous injury and ending with a slow but absolutely remarkable recovery.

Interpretation & Language - Gotcha

          Interpretation

 Playwright   -   Director   -   Actor   -   Audience

        (Ideas)            (Script)         (Script)    (Performance)

                                                                 Character

                                                                 Director)

 

Interpretation is how someone views an action, event or the meaning of something. For example the order of interpretation of a play goes: the Playwright interprets the ideas of the play; the Director interprets the script; the Actor also interprets the script; and finally the Audience interpret the performance, the character, and the director.

 

Introduction-----> Development-----> Conflict-----> Resolution

                         (Scene 1)                              (Scene 2)                          (Scene 3)

I thought that the Introduction of Gotcha started in Scene One and went on till the start of Scene Two; the Development of the play went all the way through of Scene Two; the Conflict I thought started in the beginning of Scene Two, and ended at the beginning of Scene Three; and finally the Resolution started right at the end of Scene Two and went on till the end of the play.    

 

We had to choose a character from 'Gotcha' and we needed to choose ways that we use to interpret that character. I chose to do the Kid and I interpreted him in the following ways:

 

- Angry, literally about to blow his top.

- Short-tempered, on the verge of going mad at everyone.   

- Frustrated at the teachers, more importantly the school.   
- Depressed because of how school is for him, and also how no one knows his name.

- Sarcastic and arrogant towards all the teachers because of how he's invisible to them.

- Twitching fingers reminding him of the piano.
- Sad because of how his school-life is and also how he is treated by the teachers.
- Jealous because of everyone else achieving and he isn't.


I think that some of these interpretations are shown on page 66  - which is where the Head is talking to Kid about what he is hoping to achieve, which he says with a rather negative attitude.

References:

• "Ah ha. Ha Ha. I've heard that one before." - I think that this could suggest to us that he is showing his frustration towards the Head through the use of sarcasm in his tone of voice.  
• "Here, in this place, everyone's so busy ACHIEVING, everything else is...invisible." - I think this could suggest to us that he is frustrated, depressed, sad, and jealous because everyone is achieving apart from him, and also because he feels like he is invisible.  

I think the some things that are mentioned in other parts of the script also tell us about the context of the Kid.

References:

• When he says about his grandmother, "they locked her up, in a room no bigger than this. This could suggest to us that he is having some personal problems in his life.
• When Lynn says to him, "I feel sad for you...and your loneliness", suggests to us that he is unwanted, invisible, and quite lonely as Lynn is implying that he has no friends and is not wanted by anyone.

 

 





Vocal Awareness - Gotcha

The Six Properties of Voice are:

• Pitch
• Pace
• Volume
• Timbre
• Accent
• Emphasis

In one of our lessons, we had to do an exercise with a partner about directing a monologue from the script of 'Gotcha' by Barrie Keefe, and they had to perform the monologue we chose for them to do. We had to annotate the monologue with instructions for our partner on how to perform it in terms of accent, tone, pace, volume, pitch, and also the words we wanted them to emphasize. I worked with Chandler Goddard, and I chose to direct the monologue where the Kid is talking about when he first arrived at the school. He would speak in a East end accent; with a very harsh and quite sarcastic tone to it; the pace would start off quite fast but then it would slowly drop towards the end of the monologue to show the more emotional part of it; the volume would be loud to start with and would then drop to a more quiet volume to go with the pace of it; the pitch would be quite low because it is like he is mumbling away to himself in sadness; and finally I wanted the words 'lovely', 'great', 'bona fide', and 'first' need to
be emphasized.
Did the actor respond well to your direction?
I think that Chandler responded very well to my direction, he performed the monologue exactly how I wanted it to be done in all the ways.  

What worked when put into practice?
I think that everything worked when it was put into practice, the accent was well spoken and projected; the tone was very good, I think that the sarcastic tone made it sound more effective; I thought that the pace being fast and then dropping to slow worked well; and finally I think that the volume of the monologue worked well and it made the sarcasm work better as well; I think the pitch worked very well being low because it showed us that he was quite down in this part of the story; I think the emphasis on those four words worked very well because it helped show the audience that those words are important. I think all the pauses work very well too because it showed to the audience how he was feeling at those moments.   

What didn't work when put into practice?
I didn't find anything to not work when it was put into practice.  

Is it easy to respond to direction from your peers?
I thought that responding to direction from my peers was quite straight forward as all you need to do is listen to what the director requires you to do and follow their instructions, but then I think as well it can be quite stressful when the director is getting you to do something how they particularly want it to be done, but me and Chandler didn't really have that problem as both directions of each monologue were done successfully.

Non Verbal Communication - Gotcha

Rudolph Laban - System of Efforts 
Seven States of Tension
One of Laban's ideas was the seven states of attention.
1. Dead - You hardly have enough energy to move
2. Californian - You are quite laid back, relaxed and cool.
3. Stage Manager - Neutral, no emotions, moves by changing direction using the whole body to turn.
4. Director - Interested, engaged, questing, searching, on the front foot, the look as if an idea has just occurred.
5. Suspension - On the front foot, excited, eager, searching as if you are looking for something.
6. Passion - You have lots of tension in your body, you are also full of fear and desperation.
7. High-Catatonic - You have complete tension in your body, you literally can't move.

We were introduced to the seven states of tension in one of our lessons and were shown how Laban relates them to performance in drama. We did an exercise where we would all spread out around the room and our teacher would then tell and describe to us what each state was, and we would then have to demonstrate it by walking around the room in that state of tension.

We had to perform a part of the script from 'Gotcha' three times in groups of three.

For the first performance, I was with Jamie Campion and Lucy Parke. We performed from where Ton says "Cigarette burning, up in smoke" to where the Kid says "Ah" to the part where Ton says "bloody fool". I played the Kid, Jamie played Ton, and Lucy played Lynn. I thought that my state of tension was at a level 7 because I didn't really move during this because I was being told off by Ton for most of it, so I was standing still just getting yelled at, so therefore my body would be very tense, nervous and full of fear. In terms of polarities, my timing was sustained because I am quite calm in this scene, so I would be quite sustained when I'm saying my lines; I think that my weight was heavy because I think that I moved quite slowly around the stage; I think that my space was quite indirect as I didn't really know where to go as the Head was just looking over me; I think my flow was quite bound because I didn't really move because I was in a fixed position for most of the performance.

In our second performance, I was with Chandler Goddard and Eilis Coughlan. We performed the part where the Kid and Ton are arguing with each other, and we went from the line where Kid says "You tricking bastards!" to where Ton says "Preaching morality at us...all day". I was Ton, Eilis was Lynn, and Chandler was Kid. I thought that my state of tension was at a level 6 because I think I showed a lot of fear when Kid pushed me onto the floor because he is meant to be really threatening towards me. I think I also had a lot of tension in my body to show my anger towards the Kid, especially when we stood up face to face with each other. In terms of polarities, my timing was quite quick because he was quite fast when he was yelling at the Kid, I thought this was present especially at the point where Kid says to Ton "bastard", and Ton is quick to react by saying back to the Kid "little shit" to show that he isn't going to let the Kid  just insult him and not saying anything back; I think that in terms of my weight, it was quite light as he is always quite quick to react to what the Kid is doing and also what he says; I think that my space was direct, as for most of the time I was always directing my speech towards the Kid; I think that my flow was quite free as Ton didn't seem to be held back by anything to prevent him from moving around freely.

In our third performance I was with Charley Bennett and Connor Thompson. We performed the part where the Head and Lynn are talking to the Kid about how they don't know his name and also how the Kid wants to see the Head hanging from the ceiling. I was the Kid, Connor was the Head, and finally Charley was Lynn. We started from where the Head says to Kid "You won't tell me", which is the point where the Head is trying to get the Kid's name out of him, and we performed till the Head says "ah,ah,ah" . The point in doing this performance was to look at what state of tension we were at in the performance. I thought that my state of tension of the Kid was at a level 5/6 because I thought that I was quite quick on my feet and very alert, but then I also thought that I was quite tense because I am trying to show my extreme anger for both the Head and Lynn. I think in terms of polarities, my timing was quite quick, as he is so mad at the Head and he says it quicker to make it more dramatic and to show his anger; I think that  my weight would be quite light as he is very; I think my space would be quite direct because the Kid is always moving towards the Head and therefore knows where he is going; I think my flow would be quite free as I seemed to move quite easily to where the Kid would be in the script.


The Four Polarities & Effort Qualities
Time: Quick/Sustained
Weight: Heavy/Light
Space: Direct/Indirect
Flow: Bound/Free

                    Time        Weight       Space          Flow
PRESS     Sustained    Heavy       Direct          Bound
PUNCH     Quick        Heavy       Direct          Bound
DAB           Quick        Light         Direct          Free       
FLICK      Quick        Light         Indirect        Free
SLASH      Quick        Heavy       Indirect        Free
WRING   Sustained    Heavy       Indirect        Bound
FLOAT    Sustained    Light         Indirect        Free
GLIDE    Sustained     Light         Direct          Free

On Thursday 3rd October, we were introduced to the eight effort qualities, press, punch, dab, flick, slash, wring, float, and glide. We did an exercise which was doing these eight different movements along to the song 'Physical' by Olivia Newton John. The song was just playing out loud and our teacher would just show us one movement after another and we would do it, and then once we had done all eight of the movements then we would put those into a sequence all together.

We then later got into small groups where we had to improvise a short scene of before Lynn and Ton were in the cupboard. I was in a group with Kitty Smith and Henry Marshall; I played Ton; Kitty played Lynn, and finally Henry was another P.E teacher called Bruce. Our scene was set in the staff room during the lunch break before the incident in the cupboard occurred. Our scene started with Ton and Bruce in the staff room complaining about a student called Gary who irritates them both; then Lynn enters the staff room and tries on several occasions to get a quiet word with Ton but is constantly interrupted by Bruce who continues to talk about the Gary, the irritating student; but Ton finally manages to stop Bruce from talking by asking to make a cup of coffee for them and Lynn as well, but Bruce continues to talk by cracking jokes about Ton, while Lynn and Ton are trying to talk and when they finally get to talk to each other, they discuss about the difficult situation they are in about them seeing each other and they arrange to meet in the science cupboard.

Since our first lesson, we have started more a less every lesson by doing a warm up game called 'Shut it' which is where we stand in a circle and there are three movements from which we can use to send it around the circle. One of the movements is where you do the movement of slapping someone around the face which is called 'Shut it' which just moves it on to the next person. The second movement is where you put both your hands up in the stance as if you are about to be shot, and this sends it the back round the other direction of the circle and this movement was called 'watch it'. The third and final movement we used was where if the 'shut it' movement came towards us we could send it to some across the circle by saying 'bonafide'. If the 'shut it' came to us we could also say 'play time' which then meant we had to dance into another circle formation while constantly singing the lyrics 'Hey Ho, lets go', which are lyrics from the song 'Blitzkrieg Bop' by The Ramones until we were in a new circle formation. Whenever the 'shut it' was sent to us, and we hesitated or said the wrong movement to send it around the circle, then  we would have to go down on one knee, but if we then did the next one right, then we would be redeemed by being able to stand on both feet again.

We linked the four polarities to performance by observing other group's performances and seeing what their time, weight, space, and flow was like. The four polarities are in a way linked to the exercise 'shut it' because it looks at the weight, time, space, and flow of the movements. For example the 'shut it' movement has a light weight, a free flow, the space is direct, and the time of it is quick.

Movement 
Laban said that movement can be described through six categories, body, effort, space, shape, relationship, and phrasing.

Response to practitioner - Konstantin Stanislavski: Gotcha

The Stanislavstree & Stanislavski Techniques

Magic If
'Magic if' is a technique that is used to inspire the actor's creative state. For example, What would you do in this situation?' The key to 'Magic if' is to make the actor think about what to do in a situation or circumstance.
Advantage: It helps the actor think about what they would do if they were in a difficult situation or circumstance.

Imagination (Visualisation)
The Stanislavski term 'Imagination' is the actor's capacity to treat fiction circumstances as if they were real, to visualise the details of the characters life specifically, and also to fantasize about the events of the play. Visualisation is the key to turning what is going on onstage into theatrical reality which links to the term 'realism', but if this doesn't happen then it won't be realistic and it won't be acting. The key to using imagination is to connect to your character and create belief that you are them. Doing this will make your acting look more realistic (realism) and also, naturalistic (naturalism).
Advantage: It helps actors to make their characters more realistic and to connect to their character to create belief that they are them.
Disadvantage: It may not make their performance more realistic.

Given Circumstances
Given Circumstances is an important term of Stanislavski's. The environmental and conditional conditions will influence your performance. For example, if I had just got off a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong then this would affect the way I would speak and move. Stanislavski believes that given circumstances should be soon as we are given a script. There are two forms of given circumstances, physical and mental. An example of a physical circumstance is having an itch on your neck and constantly scratching your neck during your performance to show the audience that a bad cough is your physical given circumstance is. An example of a mental given circumstance would be having a craving and a constant need for a cigarette, so you would need to constantly feel your cigarettes in your pockets to show us that a craving for a cigarette is your mental given circumstance. We used this technique in one of our three performances we did. We had to choose two physical given circumstances and two mental given circumstances to include in our performance, and the others would have to guess what our given circumstances were.
Advantage: It helps the actor to make their character more realistic.

Circle of Attention
The term 'Circle of Attention' is a devised theory of Stanislavski, and it is to help actors feel less tense while on stage. This is comprised of three circles that the actor should concentrate on. The actor should start by focusing on a small circle, then  extend their focus to a medium circle, before finally moving their focus to a large circle. The circle of attention is also used to separate the audience from the actors concentration and allows the actor to connect to the world of their character.
Advantage: It makes the actor feel less tense while on stage.
Disadvantage: It may confuse the actor about where they need to focus their concentration on.

Subtext Motivation
The term 'subtext' is what is underneath the actual meaning, so therefore 'text' is the actual meaning. We did an exercise in class, where Jamie and Bubu performed  some of the script from Gotcha. So Jamie and Bubu had to read the lines and also act how the characters in the script were feeling, and at the end of every full stop we had to say what we thought they were feeling and also thinking.    
Advantage: It allows the audience to look at how they think the character is really feeling in the script and what they're thinking as well.        

Emotional Memory
The term 'emotional memory' means an actor recalling an event that happened in the past and regenerating the feelings that they had at that time. So these feelings that have been regenerated are then used in the current acting situation  in order to play the role with 'human depth and personal involvement'. We did an exercise in class about emotional memory. This involved all of us sitting on a chair with our eyes closed thinking back to an event that happened in the past and how that event made us feel; and we had to choose two of four following feelings that the event made us feel. Those four were: frustrated, sad, cheated or fed up. Another part of the exercise was when we were sitting in our chairs around the room, we had a part of the script with us and our teacher would come round and randomly tap someone on the shoulder and they would have to read part of the script in a voice that showed those two feelings.          
Advantage: It allows the actor to use these regenerated feelings to help them in future performances that.  
Disadvantage: The regenerated emotions may not fit the character they are acting in their current piece.    

 

Visual, Aural & Spatial - Gotcha

Set for Gotcha
The set I have decided to use is the 'Thrust' setting because it allows people to see the play from different points of view.

In terms of props, the motorbike will be centre stage to show the audience that the scene is based around the bike. There will also be a television, a desk, 7 boxes, a chair rack, a door, a window, two sets of shelves, and a broom.

I think in terms of lighting there will be quite a dimmed form of lighting because it is closet, and closets don't usually have a lot of light in it, but there is a window in there which could let quite a big source of light into the room, only during the day of course but this scene is set during the day. I think the lighting should also be based on what emotions are being shown in the scene, so when the argument about the bike is happening, then the lighting should be low, but apart from then, it should be quite bright. But then I think it will be very difficult to cover all parts of the stage to make sure certain props in particularly the motorbike are shown clearly on the stage to the audience. I also think the weather should judge how the lighting is on the stage. For example, if the weather in the stage directions says it is sunny outside during the scene, then the lighting should be quite bright.

The music in 1976 was an era where punk was just starting to become popular but it was acts such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Rod Stewart that were popular in this era of music. Barry Keefe used one of the Rolling Stones songs to use in his Gotcha play. So I think the sound would be songs from acts that were popular at that time playing in the background. I think in terms of sound effects there only needs to be the sound of a knock on a door, and the opening of a door but other than this, no other sound effects are needed.

I think the clothing for the play will be as follows: the head will be wearing a suit, waistcoat, a shirt, a tie, and a pair of black shoes to show that he has authority over everyone else and also to make him look like a head teacher; the kid will be wearing a shirt, tie, black shoes and a blazer to make it look like a school uniform; Ton will be wearing a t-shirt, shorts, trainers and a whistle around his neck to make him look like a P.E teacher, and Lynn will be wearing a skirt (quite short) to make it look suspicious that something is going on between her and Ton, a shirt to go with the shirt, and flat shoes to make her look like a teacher  and also to give her some authority, over the kids in particular.

 



Playwright & Context - Gotcha

The play was written in 1976 by Barry Keefe. Barry Keefe refers to cultural, political, social, and historical context surrounding Gotcha in the year of 1976.

The political context in 1976 refers very much to the resignation of Harold Wilson and the election of James Callaghan. The year was also very much about ‘winter discontent’ as described by Prime Minister James Callaghan; this was due to a year of strikes and raging inflation which was at 17% , and the government was in danger of falling apart. A year prior to when the play was set, unemployment in Britain had climbed to 1 million, which was over 5% of the workforce. 

In terms of the cultural context, 1976 was a very big year for music as this was the year when punk was extremely popular. The song ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ by The Ramones was released in 1976 and the lyrics relate to what happens in the play and also the context of it. Mary Whitehouse claimed that the song sounded like a punk record. The TV adaption of the play was best known, as Mary Whitehouse (successfully) tried to ban a rerun of it. ABBA also made the headlines in music in 1976, as they topped the charts with three songs, 'Fernando', 'Mamma Mia', and 'Dancing Queen'. Bands such as The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, and also solo acts like Rod Stewart were increasing in popularity. These acts had  also respectively  had songs used in the play of Gotcha, The Beatles (Here comes the sun), Rod Stewart (The slow side of his album 'Atlantic Crossing'), The Rolling Stones (19th Nervous Breakdown, Satisfaction, Street Fighting Man, and Get off of my cloud) In television, Starsky and Hutch had just been put on screen, and Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone were also on screen, as Taxi Driver and Rocky were both respectively brought out in cinemas.


In terms of social context, the play focuses on the subject of education, and particularly comprehensive schools which were fairly new at the time and frequently talked about. The schools back then were much different from what they're like now; if children weren't behaving, then they would get the cane, and the children no longer had free milk, as Margaret Thatcher (Secretary of Education) put a stop to it in 1971. The housing in the 70s became easier to get when the Bank of England relaxed its lending rules, which allowed more Britons to get there hands on a property. The year 1976 was also a year of rising crime, growing inequality and destruction of the environment. On the subject of inequality, a year prior to 1976, both the Sex Discrimination act & Equal Pay act came into force in 1975 to tackle the problem of Sexual Discrimination against women and lack of quality in terms of work rights for women.

In terms of historical context, the summer of 1976 was the hottest summer in 350 years with the temperature topping 80F, and this didn't help much with a drought also on and reservoirs were empty. The drought wasn't the only problem, as the prices of food were also through the roof. In history, it was also the year when a space probe landed on mars.