22/11/16-Single

In this lesson we ran from scene 1-4 of Mother Courage. Overall I think that the run through went really well, we was focused, energised and just went for it. It did take 1 hour and a half to do 4 scenes, this was without songs as well so we do need to pick up the pace. Our goal is to get the whole play in under 1 1/2- 2 hours. However we are half way through the play and bit shouldn't take much longer before we finish, and start to complete full run through.


Scene 1

This scene was full of energy and you could really see that everyone was putting in lots of effort. However I do think that Henri needs to add some comedic value to his performance. When Taylor was playing Mother Courage in this scene , you could really see the energy she was putting into her character, her projection has improved a lot since we started this year. Also even though she is putting on a really hard accent her diction is still really clear so she is heard by the audience. I think that Warren needs to work on his breathing technique as I do find that at some points he can become out of breath, this is also partly due to his pace as well. Perhaps this is something he might like to work on. I think for Amy, she needs to work on her facial expressions more, as Kattrin doesn't speak words properly she can't say how she feels, Amy really needs to make sure she can convey Kattrin's emotion through her face. Although she could try and work on the groans Kattrin makes, perhaps different groans for different emotions as well.


Scene 2

In Scene 2, Joe is really good as the role of The Cook, I think he makes this scene as his character is extremely funny. You can really see Joe use of characterisation in this scene. Warren plays his second character The General is this scene, I can't really see a difference in character here as they sound the same. Perhaps he could try and work on an accent to try and distinguish the characters between each other. In this scene, Cameron really starts portray Eilif's arrogance, I think this can be seen through his analysis of Eilif as in Subtext. He has really shown the development of his character since we first saw him at the start of the play.
Scene 3

This is the longest scene of Mother Courage and so much occurs in this scene, I think that this is a reason as to why the run through took so long. I play The Quartermaster in this scene, I still think I need to work on the characterisation of The Quartermaster. I am not properly portraying as a wheeler dealer. I am going to take some inspiration from 'Only fools and horses'. I think Del Trotter is a great representation of The Quartermaster, the kind of character you make dodgy deals with. I think Alice is great at playing the role of Yvette, she uses projection really well, the only thing I would say Alice could work on is maybe adding coughing/hacking to make the disease Yvette has believable not just a said truth. Hugh portrays The Chaplain in this scene, I think he is really good at portraying The Chaplain, his accent suits the character and his projection is excellent. However one thing Hugh could work on is his pace, he does tend to say his words to fast. Will plays the role of Swiss cheese in this scene, I think he does a great job of making Swiss cheese seem young, this is due to the pitch of his voice, he makes Swiss cheese have a really high pitched voice which in turn created Swiss cheese as a young character. However one thing Will could on is his tone of voice, at the moment I think parts of speech are very bland in tone and do not portray the right emotion.

Scene 4

Scene 4 is the scene where I play the role of The Clerk, I think I was really confident when portraying this character as The Clerk is my favourite characters to play. As I was comfortable in this character it really allowed me to immerse in the performance and out lots of energy into it. Again I think I should now start to think about and use tone of voice with my accent so I can convey The Clerk's emotion through this. I think Warren really shines through in this scene, he does a great job at playing a drunk role, however if Warren wants to enhance the effect of his drunkenness. He could perhaps slur more of  his words and use more of the space available to him. Stumbling around the stage could make him seem more drunk. Tyler, who plays an old soldier, is excellent at using a hoarse voice to highlight the old age in the character, when he does it over the top it adds comedic value to the scene as well which is great.

21/11/16-Single

This lesson we started to stage Scene 4. I play The Clerk in this scene, previously I  had read over this scene. From looking into sub text I gathered that I should portray The Clerk as a rough, dodgy character. However after reading over the scene with my teacher. We decided that The Clerk should be portrayed as one of them posh receptionist who is always annoyed and has a bland expression. I think that this was probably the best representation i just interpreted the sub text wrong.

 So far in Mother Courage,  I have been focusing on voice as one of the main skills that I would like to develop. As I am playing 3 different characters, using an accent will help distinguish the characters between each other. I think focusing on accent/dialect will help me in the development of my characters. There have been many struggles, for example at the start of Mother Courage before we was given our roles I would try characterising certain characters with different accents from around the British isles, however the one problem that kept happening was that I would found myself not sticking with one accent, I would end up travelling around the whole of the UK using 4 different accents. Once we was given our roles, I think that I found it difficult finding a voice for each of my characters as I found myself sounding the same. For scene 5 where I am portraying The Clerk, using Accent/Dialect is extremely important. Using a posh accent effectively will mean I can show the clerk is quite snobby and didn't really care about his customers. This something I  really need to focus on as The Clerk only appears in this scene.

I have done some research into accent  and I have come across this YouTube video about posh accents. The video is by someone from america, I thought that if i could use someone form a different region with a different natural accent to mine. I could analyse how they have interpreted the British accent, and I did. Here is the video:

In the video Professor David Ley talks about how posture can affect the sound of an accent. When I am portraying The Clerk I am sat at a table, which will be the receptionist's desk.  I am going to try and sit as upright as I can, hopefully this will aid my diction and the way I speak. He also stated that  people from different regions of the world use their tongue on certain places in their mouth, this creates their accent, moving your tongue downwards will help produce the stereotypical British sound. He suggested putting a hard boiled sweet at the back of your tongue and try to speak without it moving, this will keep the back of it down, this will help you make 'ah' sounds. I am going to try and use this exercise on The Clerk to see if it makes any improvement on my accent. Lastly he stated that Quadrisyllabic words will become triple syllabic words, I will also see if this works as well with some of the words The Clerk uses.

21/11/16-Double

This lesson I worked on 'I'll Cover You' with Lewis and our choreographer, Dan. We had previously worked on this song and choreography in our own time however when we showed the dance to Dan, he said that it doesn't catch the growing love between Collins and Angel, which is the key pivoting point in their relationship. I agree with this as I think the dance wasn't as creative as it could be. Dan is a dancer so he obviously has more experience than me and Lewis in this area. When we performed our own dance to Dan me and Lewis forgot some of the dance which I think made it look sloppy.  I think that this dance routine in 'I'll cover you' has helped me with my physicality, as Angel is a feminine and I am not, so this role has challenged me, hence the development in this skill. Dan added a lift during a dance break into the song, just after the first chorus, however when I jump into Collins arms i find myself pointing my feet outwards. Dan stated that this makes me look masculine so I need to keep working on pointing my toes towards the floor in order to come across as feminine, the more I practice this the more it will come naturally to me.

Vocally, I think that I am now really comfortable with this song so I find no trouble when singing it. I feel as though now because I am more relaxed in this song it reduces tension in the muscles in my throat, this decreases the strain that I am putting on my vocal chords which allows me to sing easier and use my projection more. However, Dan has pointed out that Lewis and I need to work on the harmonies as they are still not right. I think this is because Lewis' singing is in a low octave and I sing in a high octave.

I also worked on singing and choreography of 'Today 4 U'. To start off, I went through just the singing of the number. I was given criticism which was that I need to put more charisma and energy into the song. Personally, I think that my characterisation is lacking here and it needs to be improved. Dan indicated that this number is the first song where they see Angel as the loving person he is even though he is talking about killing a dog for money. When Collins introduces me I enter from the back, I need to strut as if I'm walking down a runway. I found this very difficult as it wasn't coming naturally to me so I felt that the strut was forced and it didn't look right. To help me practice this I am going watch some videos of catwalks and fashion shows to get inspiration and ideas from. Apart from this my only other criticisms as for dancing is that I need more energy in my dance and Also that when I was dancing in my heels I need to make sure I am taking smaller steps and not larger ones as it looks more feminine. These criticisms fall under Physicality, so this skill is something I must carry developing as it is an important skill for the role I am playing who, at parts, is portrayed as the opposite sex to me.

For the improvement of 'I'll cover you' Me and Lewis need to go and see our singing teacher to help us correct the harmonies. I also need to respond to my criticisms of 'Today 4 U', I will go and practice these in my spare time.

15/11/16-Single

In this lesson we ran through scene 3 up to the point where we had stopped to last lesson, this was at a jump in time separation in the scene; 3 days after the attack from the Catholics. The Quartermaster doesn't appear for the rest of scene 3.I think I have improved since last lesson where we first saw Scene 3. I think that my projection and pace has improved as i am now much louder when i'm speaking: i think this is what also makes my character more over the top which is also entertaining for the audience. As for my pace, i now feel that i am not rushing my lines and i am much more clearer when speaking my lines. The performance was also full of energy which gave the performance comedic value. After the rehearsal our teacher then separated us into two groups, They were music ( For songs). costume and staging & props. I wanted to go into costume as I love fashion and this is something I would like to go into if acting doesn't work out, potentially costume designing. As we are setting mother Courage in a post-apocalyptic era and most of the scenes are set in an army camp; so I thought that the mood board for ideas about clothing should be based around camo as it would best suit this era, vest tops with rips would symbolise that mother Courage and her children have physically been through a lot which they have. For example Yvette is the prostitute of the camp so our group thought that she could wear a camo style corset. This still highlights that war is a part of Yvette as it is with all the characters, however it notifies the audience that she still likes to show off her body so she gets customers. The corset will be accompanied by other clothing  of course.

14/11/16-Single

In this lesson we started to go through scene 3 of 'Mother Courage and her children'. I play The Quartermaster in scene 3. This scene is the longest scene throughout the play so we need to make sure we keep the energy throughout the scene. Since I start the scene of I need make sure that i put loads of energy into my first line to engage the audience straight away. As we have only just approached this scene I don't think I was able to create a comedic atmosphere that would entertain the audience. I think was due to the fact that I didn't know where to place the comedy in my lines . This is something  that I need to work on with all three of my characters. I think that I just need to make everything is over the top. This means any reactions The Quartermaster has to other characters and objects need to be exaggerated. My teacher suggested that I should try and portray The Quartermaster as someone who is full of themselves and someone who is sort of a wheeler dealer; like stereotypical dodgy people who sell things from their coat, this is who I imagine The Quartermaster to be. Of course I am not use to this, so I think I am going to practice this in my own time trying different ways to convey my character in this way.

For next lesson If we run through scene 3 again I need to make sure I am confident in portraying The Quartermaster.

14/11/16-Double

This lesson Lewis and I, who plays Collins was sent away to rehearse and stage 'I'll cover you'. I wasn't feeling my greatest today as I had a cold and sore throat so this effected my vocal ability. I didn't want to sing just in case I damaged my voice. However we was still able to stage the song. As the song starts straight after 'Santa Fe', I did find it tough at first as I had to get used to holding hands and cuddling with Collins. However, this is a role that I love and like playing, also as an actor being out of my comfort zone is something I will have to get used to. Staging the song was quite difficult as we had to come up with ideas, we decided that we should take inspiration from the lyrics of song. For example on the lyrics "You'll be my king", I am going to pretend to place a crown on Collins head. We thought this would add a bit of comedy to the song. As this song is the pivotal point in the musical, it starts to highlight that love can blossom from anything. We really wanted to portray this in the song so this number is something we really need to focus on to convey the love between Angel and Collins. As Lewis has more of a deep voice when he sings I found it hard to harmonise with him as i am use to singing in a higher octave. I think i utilise my falsetto on the higher notes in the song. Harmonies are really important in this song so we also need to focus on these as well. Collins and I can focus on this in our own time.

10/11/16-Single

In this scene we started to stage scene 11 of Mother Courage. I play the farmer's son, in this scene he is described through his speech as being panicky and scared. This is where I need to start using sub text to understand how my character is feeling and what they're thinking. I think that The Farmer's son is a complex character to understand as portrays mixed emotions through his speech. For example one of his lines is "There's no path for Catholics" which can come off quite violent, however a few lines after he is saying "What do i do?" to his parents, this conveys that he is scared and doesn't know what to do. This contrast shows how the farmers son changes his attitude when it comes to the idea of his death. To show this change, I need to use my tone of voice, pace, to try and convey how the Farmer's son develops as a character. I think that I  really need to highlight this development as this is the only scene we first see the farmer's son and the last as he dies. I also found this scene hard as it is very sensitive, I still have to be comedic which I find very difficult to do as i'm so used to being emotionally invested in a character. I cannot do this in this play as we are using Brechtian techniques and this is one of them; breaking the fourth wall, making sure the audience remembers that the characters are not real. I think I need to rehearse my lines so I can understand where to apply the comedic value however using sensitivity as well.

9/11/16-Double

In this lesson we staged the number Rent. Mimi and Angel do not appear on stage during this song, so me and Taylor had the easy task of sitting in the wings. However we still had to sing parts of the number. This number contained, mostly, parts sung by Rodger and Mark. However the company joined in on the chorus. Our choreographer decided to add dance during the song to try and make the song more enjoyable for the audience and to make it different to the many representations of the song in productions. I think Warren and Tyler found the dance difficult at first as you could see they were struggling with remembering how the dance went. However after practice they soon got the hang of it. Our director asked that all of us, including Mimi and Angel, sing the first chorus which only Mark and Rodger should only sing. This was so that we could introduce the characters sooner so they could do the dance. I think when it comes to performing the song on stage Angel's and Mimi's voice won't be heard by the audience as we won't have radio microphone either  however it depends where we are placed in the wings to give the loudest effect of our voices. As this is the first number of the musical we want to set a good impression for the audience.

8/11/16-Single

This lesson was based around sub-text. Our first task was to get into pairs. We was then given a conversation we had to act out, we was given 4 minutes to come up with an idea on how to portray this. Me and Alice decided we would pretend that I was being tied up by someone and Alice was rescuing me. The conversation we was given can be seen below. The whole point of this task was to make us think about sub-text and how we interpret what the conversation meant differently. I think this gave a clear understanding as to what sub-text is . All groups approached the conversation with different situation which highlighted that sub-text can be interpreted into whatever way you would like it to be. We then played 'The clapping game', this game is where you clap when you say what your character is thinking in that  aka sub-text of a character. We played this game on Scene 1, as previously said none of my characters I have been cast appears in Scene 1 so I had to clap and say what characters in that scene were thinking. I think that this benefited us all as it allowed us to go into more depth and analyse the character in more detail. To finish of the lesson we was given the task of creating a controversial quote about our character or one of our characters. I chose to create a quote based on The Quartermaster. The quote was as followed 'The Quartermaster is here to protect but somehow suffers from neglect'. I think that The Quartermaster spends all his time getting stuff for people yet he has no one that cares for him or is even there for him. War has had an influence on this as well.

7/11/16-Double

This lesson was mostly focused on harmonies. The harmonies we focused on were 'Seasons of love' and 'Santa Fe'. These numbers are the main numbers that are solely based on harmonies, especially 'Seasons of love'. For the harmonies in Seasons of love, my teacher wanted me to sing the part that the girls sing in the song. I'm not very comfortable with singing in a high octave as I don't have that much confidence however i'm fine when i sing in lower octave similar to what the boys sing. This was very challenging for me and I felt as though I couldn't use projection in my voice as I thought I sounded terrible. So consequently, me not using projection led to my teacher who was sat in the audience's seat could not hear me in the harmonies. I think that i need to have a 1 on 1 session with a vocalist in my school.to try and gain my confidence when singing high notes. I also found the harmonies difficult to learn but i soon got the hang of it after practice. I messed up a couple of times on the start of the song as i am the one that starts it with the lyric 'New York city'. I had previously practiced this in my own time however I think that this mess up was only a one off.

For next lesson I need to make sure I learn the harmonies of both numbers we practiced we in this lesson.

3/11/16-Double

This lesson we decided we would focus on the singing and Choreography in the number 'La vie boheme'. Last time we performed the number it lacked a lot of energy. We decided as a group that we would add a lift to exaggerate the dramatic value of the song. The lift is going to represent the lyric 'We gather here to say our goodbyes'. The lyric suggests that someone has died and they're at a funeral so we decided that we would use a lift and symbolise that we are laying someone to rest in a grave. Taylor (Mimi) was going to be the one who was lifted and laid to the ground. Everyone interacted with one another which made the song enjoyable. We made sure that we utilised the space that was available on the stage. I still found that in my solo when I speak about Collins I am not pronouncing my words correctly. I think this is due to my articulation when I speak. This is something I really need to work on for this song otherwise the audience will not be able understand what I am saying.


I think I used my projection, which is a skill that I am working on this unit, effectively in this number. My physicality as Angel has improved a lot, after taking inspiration from ' Ru Pauls drag race'  I think I have applied this to the character very well.


I think Will, who plays Benny has improved a lot. He has never sung before like me, he is now using his diaphragmatic support from his diaphragm. This has improved his projection as he is now much louder when he is singing. I think this is also due to his increase in confidence, this has influenced his presence on stage as well as it is now much more dominant.


I think that Tyler needs to work on his projection more as you can't really hear him. When we perform the song the backing track will be much louder and Tyler will need to project his voice to almost overpower the backing track otherwise he won't be heard.




Here is a snippet of what we have done this lesson:

For next lesson I need to make sure I work on my articulation for my solo. I also need to keep practicing my projection as this is a key skill for Musical Theatre and it still needs to work.

3/11/16-Single

In this lesson we went through scene 1-3 of Mother Courage. My first character came in in scene 3, this character was The Quartermaster. The Quartermaster, at first, comes off as a panicky character. He is trying to get find money so he can buy more liquor for the colonel as they have drunk themselves dry of alcohol. He discovers a vendor along his travels, this vendor just happens to be mother courage. He tries to sell bullets to Mother courage in return for guilders (currency used in the play). However Mother Courage is skeptical of The Quartermaster. Scene 3 starts of with me persuading mother courage to buy the bullets off of me. I need to make sure in this that I emphasise and exaggerate my lines, this will make it look like my character is in desperate need of mother courage help. I don't think I was able to convey this is when i was rehearsing. However we are only in the rehearsal process, this is the time where I need to develop my physicality of characterisation. I also tried using an accent on The Quartermaster, I think that it was effective as it highlighted that I was able to separate myself from the character.

2/11/16-Double

This lesson we started to stage the big numbers in the musical. We went into the main hall where the stage we are performing on is located. I think that staging our performance on the stage we will be performing on gave us all an insight into what potential is available with the staging. We staged and sung 'Seasons of love' and received criticism, this was that our teacher who was sat where the audience would be sitting said that he couldn't hear us which meant that we all had to project more so the audience will be able to hear us. I did find this hard as I needed use more diaphragmatic support than what I already was using to boost my projection. I thought that I was already using it to my best ability but I obviously wasn't. We then started to stage La Vie Boheme, After this we was given feedback, this was that the song lacked energy. I think this because some people, including me, were too focused on their singing and not actually making the performance energetic. This is something we need to focus on as this is probably one of the most famous numbers in the musical and we want to make sure the audience will enjoy it. We then went onto stage 'Santa Fe', I found the entrance onto the stage as I cant remember when on. I need to listen to the song in my own time to get used to the number of beats before i enter on the lyric 'New York City'. I also found that my pace of singing was too fast for the backing track, this is another thing i need to focus on.

Next lesson I think we need to focus on the number 'La vie boheme' as there needs to be more energy and choreography into the song.

1/11/16-Single

This was the first lesson after half term. This lesson we was given our characters that we are going to be playing. I was given 3 characters they were The Quartermaster, The Clerk and The Farmer's son. I think that having 3 characters is a blessing in disguise as this means that i can portray 3 different characters each using different physicality and voice. I think that this is the best opportunity to show of my skills to my best potential. We started to go over scene 1 of mother courage. None of my characters appear in scene 1 of mother courage so I didn't do any performing. However we decided that the characters who were not in the scene being acted out would sit in a line along each side of the stage. This made sure that the audience would be constantly reminded that the characters are not real so they will not create any emotional attachment to the characters. Thus creating the Brechtian style of 'Mother Courage'. I suggested having all characters sit in a line at the back of the stage as it would be easier for the audience to see them, however this idea was dismissed as people could have been blocked by staging or people. I think that the scene did lack energy however this was our very first lesson of getting to know the play so this was most likely why it lacked energy. However this was a very productive lesson. We also filmed some bits for the promotional video for our performing arts department at school. 

20/10/16- Single

In this lesson we performed scene 11 to the class. I did practice trying to take a comedic approach to scene 11 however i don't think i approached this scene as comedic. As this scene is about death and is very sensitive. I think that I conveyed too much emotion in this scene which restricted me from adding comedy to it. This is something I need to work on a lot as I need to make sure the character I will portray once I have my character I have been cast. I think the other group approached the scene  in comedic value, it contained lots of energy which is what I think our performance lacked. As the scene needed to contain comedic value it also needed to have a chaotic atmosphere. I felt that our approach to the scene lacked a chaotic feeling to it this was partially down to there being a lack of energy and partly due to the acting, i think our acting as a group was very sloppy. All of these problems didn't allow us to create a tense atmosphere which is what is also needed in this scene. I think the other group had the best approach to scene as they created tension by using the drum Kattrin bangs and projection & tone of voice of actors. By using these two things together they created an energetic and comedic performance which was enjoyable to watch.

I think after half term when we start proper rehearsals we need to make sure all of us are putting in lots of energy so we can create an enjoyable performance.

19/10/16-Double

In this lesson we completed our staging for our own numbers in the musical as most of the cast wasn't in. I completed staging design for 'Ill cover you' and 'Today 4 U'. Here is my example for staging for 'Today 4 U', it is only brief as I want to make it easier for people to understand my vision of the staging:

In this picture, what i have in envisioned that Mark, Rodger and Collins should all crowd around the table as Collins introduces Angel to them at the start of the song. Then i would enter from the left wing opposite from where the table is situated. I thought that if  I was to enter the same side as the table I would end up being masked by the three characters and the table, also they would have to turn their heads from the audience so they cant see their reaction when they look at me. I also labelled the left side of the stage as the 'Dance area' as i would like to add some sort of choreography in this area. However I do think it would be just as good if i ventured into the audience and interacted with them as this would allow them to feel fully immersed in the musical and they might actually feel as though they are a part in it.

18/10/16-Single

This lesson we was introduced to Scene 11 of Mother Courage, this scene evolves around the death of Kattrin. I was put into a group with Taylor, Tyler, Warren, Will and Chloe. We all decided that we wanted to take a comedic approach to this scene, even though it's about death, as in my opinion Mother Courage is one big laughing stock to be honest yet has a deeper meaning to it about war. We wanted to make the audience laugh but then feel like they shouldn't be laughing at the same time because it's such a sensitive scene. Firstly we read through the scene so we got a basic understanding of which character would suit each person the best. Also we came across a problem as there was more characters than there was actors in our group. We decided that one actor would take on an extra and that was Will, he would play the first soldier and second soldier. I think the rehearsal went well however I don't think i was able to portray the farmer correctly. As this scene needs to be comedic it think that I was too serious when being portraying my character. This is something I think I need to focus on not just for this scene but for the whole play. therefore practicing this scene in my own time will benefit me.

Next lesson when we perform this scene to the class I need to make sure I can make my character more comedic so they are not as boring for the audience.

17/10/16-Single

This lesson we was introduced to the third scene of Mother Courage. I was put in a group with Alice, Amy and Will. Our group was short of people so we had to improvise with who we had. There were 5 characters to play however we only had 4 people. We decided I would play the amourer, Alice would play Mother Courage, Amy play Swiss cheese and Will would play Kattrin. I think the performance went well however when we was rehearsing, Will did find it difficult to try and play two characters. I think this is something we could have taken a different approach to if we were to perform this again. Also I don't think that there was enough energy in the performance to keep the audience engaged, perhaps this is something we need to focus on more as Mother Courage is all about energy and keeping the audience entertained. In the performance I did use an accent, this is because I want to try and distance myself from the character as much as possible so I don't feel like I'm portraying the character as myself, this will also help make the audience not develop any attachments to the character.
This lesson I learnt that I just need to make sure that I'm putting enough energy into the performance along with my cast.

17/10/16-Double

In this lesson we completed our Character profile. This task was set as unfortunately we were missing most of the cast again. The character profile had to consist of who our character was I.e. personality, past life, what part they play in the musical. My character profile can be seen below

After analysing my character I found that the song 'Ill cover you' and 'Today 4 U' both highlight the different traits of Angel as a character. 'I'll cover you' shows the loving and compassionate side of Angel whereas 'Today 4 U' highlights the fun and energetic side of Angel. Discovering the difference in the songs will allow me to portray Angel in the correct manner. I think I am going to try an convey these emotions using different tone in voice when singing.

This lesson I learnt of the difference between songs in the musical.

13/10/16-Double

In this lesson we sung the main numbers. Everyone was back in class apart from Henri as he was still absent from glandular fever. We sang through 'Seasons of love' and 'La vie Boheme'. I didn't have any problems performing these songs as I feel that I now know them well enough that the vocals come naturally to me. I was also introduced to the song 'Life support'. I immediately fell in love with this song as I know it has a deep emotional meaning. I think that this song will be great for me as I can convey emotion really well however it will be more difficult as I will be singing a song. As an actor you develop new skills all the tike so I think this will be a great skill for me when I'm portraying Angel in other songs. I was also introduced to a number called 'Santa Fe'. Me, Lewis and Cameron are in this song .The beat of this song is very calm and soothing, so I think this will be a nice transition from 'La vie boheme'. I start the number of with the lyric 'New York city', I found the timing of this lyric at the start very hard to remember this caused timing issues when practicing the song. This is something I need to practice at home.  For next lesson I need to make sure I know my timing in the number 'Santa Fe'. This lesson I learnt the skill of singing with emotion.

13/10/16-Single

This lesson we performed our poem to the class, ours was 'Jack and the beanstalk'. I think that the performance went well however it wasn't as slick as I'd liked it to be. But since we was only given two days, the amount we done in the short period of time was a lot. The general feedback from the audience, who were my classmates, was positive. This is because I think I put lots of energy into my accent which was Scottish. I think this made the performance more engaging for the audience and funny aswell. If I was to perform this poem again. I think we could take a different approach to the poem perhaps we could have had the roles gendered so the mother would be Chloe instead of me being the mother. This could perhaps of made it easier for the audience to understand who is who. We could have also used more Brechtian techniques like using Gestus to portray the beanstalk.   This lesson also coincided with Open morning, this meant that parents and children were coming into our lesson to view what we were doing. This was really helpful as it was a new audience rather than my classmates. My group was chosen to perform the first 2 minutes of our performance. As i was performing I was looking at the parents and children's faces, they all seemed to be engaged and enjoying the performance. This is key if I want to perform well in mother courage, I need to make sure I put this much energy into Mother Courage to make my performance engaging. 

This lesson I learnt that if I keep putting lots of energy into a performance it will end up making it engaging for the audience.

12/10/16-Double

This lesson we performed our numbers that we practiced last lesson to the class however this time we received criticism from classmates and teachers. My most common critique was that my last note in 'I'll cover you' needed to have a smoother transition between octaves as i go an octave higher on the last lyric which is 'you'. I think this still needs practice as I haven't been singing for long so my voice is most likely not been trained enough yet. Me and Lewis were both given the criticism that the staging was very awkward between us. I think this is something we need to work on in our time as this will take a lot of time getting use to. The duet is not the only time we interact so we need to make sure that staging is not awkward between us throughout the musical. The only criticism  I was given for 'Today 4 U' was the staging again, the vocals were 'perfect', just the staging I need to figure out what I am going to do when i'm singing. I also sung this song in heels which was quite a challenge itself, however I soon got the hang of it. Henri was still off due to glandular fever which meant that Taylor had to sing 'Light my candle' with an understudy.
This lesson I have learnt what I need to focus on to improve my weaknesses into strengths.

11/10/16-Single

In the first part of this lesson we was introduced to Gestus. Gestus is a Brechtian acting technique which is a combination of physical gestures and attitudes. We was given 10 minutes the titles 'Kind politician' and 'Destructive politician'. I think most of us in our group spent too long thinking of ideas than actually doing anything, this put us behind the other group. when it came to presenting our Gestus, I don't think our Gestus was the best it could of been. We then moved on to story telling. We had to sit in a circle. A person would start a story and going anti clockwise we needed to expand the story. Once completed we then had to complete the story again but this time make what we engaging. I think this came naturally to me as I find it easy to become engaging. For the last part of the lesson we was given a poem by Roald Dahl. I was in a group with Cameron, Chloe and Warren. We was given the poem 'Jack and the beanstalk'. I think there was many things we could have done with this poem to make it engaging. We decided as a group that we would use paper to illustrate to the audience what was really going on. For example Cameron had a piece of paper on him saying 'I'm the giant', this makes the performance cheesy and engaging for the audience.
This lesson i learnt what a Gestus was and how we can apply it to Mother Courage.

10/10/16-Single

In this lesson we went through scene 2 of Mother Courage. I was in a group with Taylor, Warren and Will. In this scene. I was playing Eilif, Taylor was playing Mother Courage, Will was playing the cook and Warren was playing the sergeant. The scene contains the Sergeant and Eilif are eating dinner, Mother Courage and the Cook are preparing their dinner. We thought it would be best if we split the stage in half. One side was the tent where me and warren were going to have dinner. In this scene there was a song sung Eilif, to make it fun we thought it would be a good idea to rap the song instead. To create the beat to the rap we decided that we would use items that each character would have. We decided that Mother Courage would have a pot and spoon and The cook would have a tray and knife and the Sergeant would have a pen. I think that hardest part of the rap was finding a beat to rap to. Warren found himself very out of beat, This was probably because everyone was out of time and it was hard to keep up to the beat. I also found it difficult to rap to as the beat was also of key it just wasn't clicking. After help and practice we soon got the hang of it. The acting in this scene was very straight forward and we didn't have any problems with it. I think overall when we performed the scene to the class it went well, everyone was engaged and found the rap funny which is what we wanted.
When we perform another scene form mother courage we need to make sure we keep this energy up to keep the audience engaged.
I didn't learn anything new this lesson apart from what happens in Scene 2 of Mother Courage.

10/10/16-Double

In today's lesson we practiced our own solo and duet numbers. I practiced 'Ill cover you' with Lewis who plays Collins and i also practiced 'Today 4 U'. When we was practicing today for you I found it hard to hit the notes near the end. I think this was partly due to confidence although i was confident when singing 'La vie boheme' and 'Seasons of love', I was with a group of people  I felt the pressure to perform well was shared. Whereas pressure is on only me and Lewis, I think this idea scared me a little which decreased my confidence. Because of this, it made my singing seem forced and I wasn't confident enough in my voice to push myself and reach the notes at the end of 'Ill cover you'. Where the note was forced it wasn't as smooth as I needed it to be so my teacher said I just need to make sure that the note is softer. I need to practice singing this song to make sure I can train my voice to reach the notes. I can hit every note in 'Today 4 U' so I didn't have any problems practicing this song.
We are performing this to the class next lesson so i need to make sure I practice singing 'Ill cover you'.
This lesson I learnt what my weakness is and that is confidence, I need to build up my confidence in order to turn it into a strenght

06/10/16-Double

In this lesson we ran through the numbers 'La vie boheme'  and 'Seasons of love'. We was missing almost half of the cast so it was really hard to go through the main numbers. Henri had caught glandular fever so he was absent fir this lesson. Also I think everyone was lacking effort as they probably felt it wasn't a proper rehearsal as people were missing. I found the lesson to become very tedious as it went on as I felt I was only putting in the effort when singing. Also I had the feeling that some people were tired, this could of been why they were not putting much effort into singing and staging.
We wasn't introduced into anything new so we didn't learn anything new. I think for next lesson when we have everyone back again we need to make sure we all have lots of energy so we're ready to perform straight away. We could participate in a physical and vocal warm up to help this.

06/10/16-Single

In this lesson we performed scene 1 of 'Mother Courage' to the class. This was in the groups we was placed in when we was first introduced to the play. We was given the task of applying what we had researched about WW2 to the play. I do not think we applied our research correctly as the performance was just the same when we performed it to the class. If we was to perform this scene again I think our group should focus on getting to know our characters better. This would allow us to know how we should portray our characters to make them more understandable to the audience. However at the same we need to make sure the audience do not make emotional connections to the character which is what Brecht wanted his plays to be like. If we want to portray Brechtian style then I think this is something that we need to focus on. I also think that I was not confident enough when portraying Mother Courage. I think this made the performance lack effort and just made it really boring for the audience.
This lesson I have learnt that i need to make sure I understand the character and that i am confident when portraying them, this will allow me to be engaging.

5/10/16-Double

This lesson we practiced staging 'La vie Boheme'. This song is the second major number in the play 'Rent' that contains all cast members. Staging this song was quite difficult as we needed to make sure everyone can be seen on stage and no one is masked by anyone. As the song is set in a restaurant it was decided by the director that we should all be sitting down at tables. Maureen (Alice), Joanne (Lorna) on one table, Mimi (Taylor), Angel (Me) and Collins (Lewis) on another table and finally Rodger (Henri), Mark (Cameron) on another table. Benny (Will) is on his own table at the back. The waiter who is played by Tyler is running around the restaurant to create a busy atmosphere, he needed to do this anyway as he was singing our orders as he takes them.There was also another part of the song I had to character sing, I did find this a little hard as I had to character sing this part and its difficult to remember, however I did set the task to myself that I need to go over the lines of the character singing and practice it at home.
This lesson I didn't learn anything new apart from the staging of the number La vie Boheme.

4/10/16-Single

This lesson was mostly theory as it was based on research. We was set the task of creating a PowerPoint/ word document of a historical war that we could apply to 'Mother Courage'. I was in a group with Alice and Joe. We decided we would apply World War 2 to Mother courage. An image that was of a bombed house in World War 2 made us think that this is why Mother courage could be travelling with her cart, because her house was destroyed and this is why she and her family have been made refugees. Also we came across picture of children being evacuated, this made us think that possibly Mother Courage's children could in fact be evacuees and not her real children. There were many other wars we could have researched and potentially applied to Mother Courage however we felt that World War 2 was a perfect fit for the era and style of play. As this was a Bertolt Brecht play, he could have been portraying what it was like in Nazi Germany using some of his experience when he was fleeing Germany. Even though it wasn't set in 1930's Germany, we know how Brecht set his plays in different eras so he couldn't be caught by the Nazi's for discriminating Hitler's actions
This lesson I didn't really learn anything new as we was just applying the play to a war.

 

3/10/16-Single

This lesson we just repeated what we done last lesson which was Mother Courage. We was shown a video of another We got into our previously assigned group I was playing Mother Courage. I think this was a challenging character as it is the opposite sex. However this is a way to portray Brechtian theatre as he used cross sex rolling. I had to focus on my movement as I had to make sure it was feminine. I'm quite feminine in my actual movement anyway so this was already easy for me. Also the facial expressions and posture soon came quickly to me. When we was rehearsing we decided that we should create levels to make the scene less boring for the audience so we created mother courage's wagon with table and chairs. We had Alice, who was playing Kattrin, on top as we wanted some focus on her even though she doesn't say anything. This way the audience wouldn't get emotionally involved in the characters. We rehearsed this the whole lesson as we needed to make sure that we all knew what we were doing.


This lesson I learnt how I need to portray Mother Courage as a character without the audience becoming too emotionally invested.

03/10/16-Double

This lesson we just practiced 'Seasons of Love' and was introduced to a new number in the musical. We needed to make sure that we all knew where we was situated on the stage as we all come into the song from the wings. Although whilst on the stage we also needed to make sure our vocals were up to musical standards as well. So we decided that we would be our best if we completed a vocal warm up. We completed a physical warm-up as well, this included press-ups and sit ups and stretching. We also completed a lot facial exercises  like moving our jaw a lot to reduce tension when we are singing. This would allow us to sing more freely without feeling a strain on our throats. Then we completed a range of vocal warm-ups, this included "Sally saw" and moving up and down octaves to train our voices. We was also introduced to the number 'La vie Boheme'. This song contained all cast members, it is also a really upbeat and fun song so we need to make sure we put a lot of energy into the song otherwise it will be boring and dull for the audience. The introduction was only brief so we was told we needed to learn our parts in the song at home. Here is the song if you have not heard of it before:

29/09/16-Double

This lesson was mostly performance. We was fully introduced to the first song of the musical (Rent). The song was called 'Seasons of Love'. At first we just sung the song without any movement as we needed to focus on the harmonies of the song first. Once we had completed this our teacher decided that we needed to start staging the song. He decided that we should all enter from the wings of the stage before we start to sing. Then we stand at different angle to try and make some sort of differentiation between every character, basically so the staging doesn't look boring to the audience. Once we had figured out the staging there was still something not right with the harmonies according to the teacher. He decided that I should sing in a higher octave as I could reach the notes some of the girls were hitting. This actually made the harmonies better as there was a balance in the vocals.

This lesson I wasn't really introduced to anything new so I couldn't learn anything new. However I learnt the lyrics to 'Seasons of Love'. Here is the song if you have never heard of it before.

29/09/16-SIngle

Today in this lesson it was again theory based. We presented our presentation to the class, I think we presented our presentation very well as the everyone was engaged. After we presented ours we had to watch other people present theirs. I listened to make sure any I didn't know about i could write down. Once everyone had presented their presentation, our teacher had their own presentation that they showed us. This was full of extra information about Brecht and his past that we did not know about. For example Brecht escaped Nazi Germany when he was young and fled to America. After this we was introduced to a play by Brecht which was 'Mother Courage'. We was put into a group of 5 which was Joe, Alice, Hugh, Callum and me. I was going to play Mother Courage as Brecht was a fan of cross gendering actors. Alice was going to play Kattrin. Hugh was going to play the sergeant with Joe playing the Recruiter. Finally Callum was going to play Eillif. We briefly touched performing our scene we was given as it was the end of the lesson.


This lesson I have learnt that Brecht influenced Epic Theatre. Brecht used his technique to develop his Epic theatre. One of his most famous technique is breaking the fourth wall. This is where they make the audience realise they are still watching a play and they don't create emotional connection with characters.

28/09/16- Double- Character Profile- Angel

Today I found out that I was picked to play the part of Angel in our musical that were doing for our unit, musical theatre.




Angel is one the main characters in the musical and most probably the most memorable. Some characters refer to Angel as He and She. Angels gender is never confirmed in the musical however some believe him/her to be gender fluid and some believe Angel to be transgender . Angel is HIV positive and finds love with Collins after finding him beaten up on the floor. They both attend a group Life support meeting for people with HIV. This is where their relationship develops further. Angel is a very loving and caring throughout the play. Angels role in Rent is tot teach the others about love and how it is the most important thing. Angels and kindness and charity instantly reaches the heart of anyone he reaches.


Towards the end of the lesson we briefly listened to 'Seasons of love' and went over who and how we were going to sing the song all together.


Today I didn't learn anything new apart form getting the character of Angel.

27/09/16- Single

This lesson was again mostly theory based. We was set the task of creating a PowerPoint from our research we had collected between lessons. However we had to get into groups of three, I was in a group with Taylor and Alice. We had find out information about Brecht some of these was his intentions with his plays. For example, His intentions was to try and portray social and political problems that was occurring during the society of his time. It was mostly Anti-War plays he created, one f his most famous anti-war plays is 'Mother Courage'. Other information had to include Brecht's Techniques and some History of his background. We are going to present these presentation on Thursdays lesson.


I didn't really learn anything new form this lesson apart from information from researching  about Brecht. A

Brecht

26/0916-Single

In this lesson we didn't do any performance based activities, it was all theory based. We was put into a group of 4 and we had to come up with skills that every actor needs in every stage of their career. Some of these stages were 'Auditioning', 'Performing' and 'Rehearsals'. Some of the skills we came up with can be seen in the photos below.

 

After we had completed this task we was then ask as groups to put all our ideas together so we would be able to take down any skills we did not currently have. There was some new skills that i took down like 'Ability to take criticism', this is crucial as an actor as you need to understand that not everyone is going to like your acting however you need to be able to improve your acting if it needs work, this is also called Constructive criticism.

Right at the end of the lesson we was given the task of researching some information about Brecht for our next lesson.

This lesson i have learnt all the necessary skills that are needed throughout the stages of an actors career.

26/09/16-Double

This lesson we auditioned for our parts, as previously said I am going for the part of Angel. I think that the audition went really well, vocally I think I hit the right notes at the right time. However I don't think I was portraying Angel correctly. I don't know why, I just didn't feel a connection when I was performing as Angel I think this would be something I should work on if i was to get the part of Angel. I was asked to perform only perform one song so of course i chose to perform 'Today for you' as this is the character i really wanted and the character i could portray the best. I even wore a bra, if that doesn't say commitment to a audition I don't know what does. Before I auditioned I needed help to walk more feminine, so a girl in my class called Lorna helped me do this. We practiced to the song, Today for you. I didn't really learn anything new this lesson as it was only auditions apart from learning how to walk more feminine.

22/09/16-Double

This lesson we rehearsed for our auditions on Monday that was for our unit (Musical Theatre). I was going for the part of Angel. I think I would best suit this character as my vocal range is similar to Angel's vocal range, which is C3-A4, in falsetto and tenor. I think training my voice using vocal warm ups and training will help me fit into this vocal range. When I was rehearsing I felt lyrically in my comfort zone with his character so I think  this made learning the song easier as I was enjoying  myself, However physically and mentally I don't think I am ready to get  into this character as it asks for a lot. Physically, Angel is very feminine in his walk which is something that I need to practice In my own time, I am going to watch YouTube videos to try and aid me.   Mentally, I have to put myself into Angel's shoes which is really difficult as it is a sensitive subject. If I portray Angel in the wrong way I could offend someone which I really don't want to do. Angel is referred to as a drag queen in the script, This means that I could take inspiration from 'Ru Pauls Drag Race', this TV Show is a contest for drag queens to win a drag race. I am going to watch this TV show to take ideas as it will help to improve the development of my characterisation of Angel.   The song I am auditioning with is called 'Today 4 U', this is Angel's solo in the musical. I really like this song as its upbeat and fun to sing- It makes people laugh which is what I want in a character. Here is the solo:

After we rehearsed for 20 minutes, we had to perform them to class. For some reason, I was not nervous to perform in front of all of my classmates. This was probably because I was comfortable around all my classmates and it didn't faze me. After I performed I was told I need to go and learn 'Ill cover you' with a person in my class, Will. We was given 20 minutes to learn the song and perform it to the class. the rehearsal process was tricky as I hadn't quite nailed belting the lyric 'Be my life' however I practiced and finally was able to belt it, obviously it wasn't as good as I'd liked it to be. When it came to performing the song I thought It went really well as I was able to hold the note on the lyric 'Be my life'. I think I still need to work on my projection in this song as I feel I'm lacking this skill here, looking at diaphragmatic  support videos will help me achieve this. Here is the song if you've never heard it before:

In this lesson I learnt that I had an ability to belt however I need to improve this by looking at diaphragmatic support which I did not know about and I am going to start practicing this song at home aswell

Single-22/09/16

This lesson we performed our 6-hour project. The other group performed their piece first which made me a little nervous as their performance was excellent. However this did not decrease my confidence as each performance was two totally different styles. We went for a more aggressive violent turned passive and calm performance whereas the other group went for a more powerful message performance. I think each groups' idea were amazing.. If we had the chance to re-do the 6 hour project I think we should still use this idea however tweak certain parts of the performance to make it a polished performance. I think that if we were to perform this again we should try and make transitions between different moves more smooth and less noticeable. For example at 2.20 you can blatantly see that we are waiting for a certain lyric before Callum launches himself into our arms. Little things like these are parts that we could and should have worked on a lot more in the 6 hours we had. Here is our performance to view:

In the future I hope to work on my physicality as an actor as I think this is a necessary skill for me. There are many other skills I hope to develop many other skills as well however this skill, in my opinion, is the most important for me.

Single-20/09/16

This lesson we carried on with our 6-hour project. All we done this lesson was practicing our performance and tweaking bits we didn't like. We decided to add another movement piece before we went onto the poem. This movement piece would include Taylor pretending to strap a bomb to her chest whilst we (Me and Callum) pretend were unaware of Taylor's actions, this would highlight how the public never see terror attacks coming. This would all occur with a heartbeat in the background to add tension to the scene, the heartbeat became faster just as it got closer to Taylor blowing herself up. Once Taylor pretended to blow herself up there would be a loud high pitched sound just like there is after an explosion. Me and Callum would fall in slow motion to the ground whilst Cameron supported our fall. He would support me first then Callum to make it easier. It worked excellently. After this we completed 3 run throughs  of the whole performance to make sure we had perfected everything, we had. We was ready to perform next lesson.

This lesson i learnt how to support myself when falling in slow motion, This skill could help me in the future with physical theatre.

Single-19/09/16

In this lesson we carried on with our 6 hour project. Last lesson we got up to where Taylor was
trying to escape but we wasn't going to let her. We then decided that Cameron would fake grab her hair to one side of the stage whilst me Callum, Joe would prepare ourselves for a lift on the opposite side. Taylor was going rise up and pretend to explode, simultaneously Callum would violently throw himself back into mine and Joe's arms whilst Cameron supported his shoulders and head. We thought this would work well with  the lyric " I wanna be a celebrity martyr" as we felt that is the impression terrorists leave behind after they produce worldwide media attention. With help from another teacher we produced the idea of praying whilst Taylor breaks free from praying as we wanted to highlight that terrorism does not occur from religion but extremism. We then created a piece where Taylor kills Joe to emphasis the radicalization and brainwash in contrast to the start when she didn't want to kill. This conveyed the message that anyone can be brainwashed no matter their race, Gender, Religion

We then went on to portray the victims, we found a poem called 'Out of the blue'. We thought this poem accurately represented victims of friends and family who have been affected by the death of loved ones from deadly terror attacks. Cameron suggested that he should play his guitar whilst we perform the song, once we practiced the poem with Cameron's background music it really worked well together.

This lesson improved my skill to work better as a team and I think my skill for lifting improved as well.

Double-19/09/16

In today's lesson we didn't do much performance wise it was just presenting our presentations that we were assigned to create over the weekend. It had to be about musical theatre and each element that makes a musical what it is  I thought my presentation went very well. My class listened to me, so I think my presentation was engaging. I was able to elaborate on the notes that I already had on my presentation to provide extra information. Other people in my class presented their presentation and I was able to gain more information that I did not know about. For instance, Alice's presenting was very detailed on the history of genres of musical theatre such as The Golden Age, Jazz and Blues etc.

As this lesson we didn't complete anything based on performance I cant say I learnt a new skill within Musical Theatre. However i did learn new information about Musical Theatre.

Double-15/09/16

This lesson was our second lesson of our first unit, which is Musical Theatre. Today I had to  perform the song JCB by Nizlopi, If you have not heard the song here it is:

This was set the previous lesson, and i had to perform the song to the whole class with 2 others . To my surprise i wasn't very nervous when I had to sing, i think this was due to the fact that i had two people that were singing with me. It gave me more confidence as i thought that if i messed up they would be there to carry on. This is something i need to work on in the future as it will make me a better performer. A good performer always has confidence which gives them good stage presence. This is something i aspire to have. After performing the song, we was then given a whole class exercise which was to learn and perform a musical song of choice in 20 minutes. We picked summer nights from Grease as most people knew the song and if not knew parts of it. There was an imbalance of Girls to boys so I of course joined the girls side. Alice, a girl in my class, is very experienced in Musical Theatre and knew the song of by heart so she directed the song. We all worked well in a team and it paid off as the final result could have been West end worthy. Okay maybe that was a little far fetched  but we was very good considering most of us are new to Musical Theatre.

To finish of the lesson we completed an array of vocal warm ups such as Tai Chi. This method of Tai Chi allowed us to open up our lungs more. Our tutor told us to keep doing these warm-ups in order get our lungs used to taking in more air so we would be able to control our breathing more. Another warm up we completed was facial exercise, these will ensure us that when we sing in future our muscles will be relaxed in order for ease of singing and not tense so we strain our voice  We was also introduced to the two voices in singing head voice and chest voice.

For our next lesson I need to make sure I keep up with the vocal exercises to improve my voice and research the two resonances. Head and Chest.

Single-15/09/16

This lesson we carried on with our 6 project, we had previously created a group chat on Facebook to make the communication of ideas much easier. As in the previous lesson we decided to base the performance in two perspectives. The shooter and the Victims. However, this lesson we decided to focus on the radicalization of the terrorist first as we wanted to highlight how terrorists are brainwashed into thinking that their actions are for the greater good. And also to portray the message that no one is born a terrorist either, they are influenced and pressurized  into one. One of the people in my group thought it would be a good idea to use the song Bang Bang by Green Day. This song is very upbeat and gives an aggressive nature to the performance which is just what we want. Some of the lyrics in the song truly represent what a terrorist is for example one line goes "I've got a fever for the violent behavior" and "Daddy's little physco and mommy's little soldier". These lyrics highlight what we think a terrorist would feel like. We also wanted to highlight how terror attacks give terrorists media attention and one lyric goes "Bang,Bang give me fame". We thought this song was a perfect for our piece.

As a group we decided we would have a girl in our group be the terrorist as we thought that not much attention is paid to women in the media. Most people assume that men are the main focal point of terrorism when in fact that is not the case.

To start our performance we decided we would have Taylor (the girl) sitting in a chair and me an Cameron would be beside her. Meanwhile Joe and Callum would be hostages about to be executed. Cameron and I would control each arm and get her to shoot Joe and Callum (this would hopefully portray how some terrorists are forced to kill against their will). After that we would then circle her and push her to the ground in order to show aggressiveness of radicalization. Then us 4 boys will enter a square formation with Taylor on the floor in the middle, she would then run at each of us trying to escape but we push her back into the middle. This would hopefully convey the isolation and entrapment they through when being brainwashed, That is all we was able to do in this lesson but it gave us a solid ground to work on in the next couple of lessons.

In this lesson I think I contributed a lot when it came to ideas and we all worked as a team which paid off as we completed 1/3 of our performance,