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.