4/01/17-Double

This lesson was the first day back after Christmas, this lesson was spent in the hall. We had the aim of running through the whole show however this was obviously challenging as we only have 1 hour and 40 for each lesson. Unfortunately we could only reach to the end of Act 1, however I feel this was a nice place to stop as we could easily pick up next lesson. Considering that we had 2 weeks off prior to this lesson, I think we done very well. The only thing that occurred as a problem was Transitions, the transitions between each scene was not of a good standard. Certain props were left on stage and some people didn't know what song was next which made it quite difficult. It was brought up by our teacher that we would be working on this the next lesson. However apart from this, there were many positives to this rehearsal. For example, everyone was projecting clearly from stage and could be heard from the audience.


Since the stage is a lot bigger than what we are used to performing on, you would expect us to have really bad special awareness. However this was not the case, everyone was able to adapt to the space available on stage. Although there is one thing we could improve on, that was not performing too far back on the stage. Most of us were behind the proscenium arch on the stage. This distorted the sound of us singing and made us sound even quieter and for those who have projection issues this did not help.

Here are some of the things I need to improve

Rent
I need to make sure I am loud in the wings so i can be heard by the audience. Now we are in a larger space my projection needs to adapt. Everyone else sounds good, although seeing the dance on the stage, it does look really bad. I think there needs to be a decision whether this will be cut.

Today 4 U
Getting used to the staging was very tricky as there is a lot more space to work with compared to what we was using in the gallery theatre. My teacher, Mr Mckay picked up on my physicality during this song. Currently I have little to nothing of choreography/dance during this song and I think i was too busy thinking of what is should do to make the song interesting rather than actually performing in character. I am going to work on some movements in my own time for next lesson.

I'll Cover you
This was probably the worst we have ever sung this song. I dont know what happened but it did not sound great at all. Perhaps it was because we was in a larger space and that meant that we had to project more, I am unsure. Our harmonies were off and we could not be heard through the mics, obviously it had something to do with our projection.  If we perform like this again we need to work on this as it is nearing show night and there is little time left to fix things.

10/01/17-Single

This lesson was spent in the hall today. It was time to start staging the play on the actual stage we are going to perform on. The stage in the hall has a lot more space than the drama room we are currently rehearsing in so this will give us more space to play around with. We built the wagon out of a wooden car and sheets so it looked like the ones you pull along. Loads of tat was placed on it to make it look like Mother Courage had things to sell. We then got blocks out so we could create levels along the bottom of the stage, this is just to break the staging so it doesn't get boring for the audience.

As the staging to quite awhile to set up we was only able to get up to Scene 5.

Scene 3-The Quartermaster

Physicality 
As we was in the hall, I think this gave me sense of realness as to what it will be like on the night of the performance. I think that this made me get into character more, it almost in a sense made me put more effort into my portrayal of my character. The body changes I have given The Quartermaster such as Tension in his muscles and fidgeting all conveys the idea that he is nervous/anxious. This is something I have worked on a lot in my spare time as I want to highlight to the audience that he is nervous. I want to make them question whether my character (as he only appears once in the play) survives the war or not. I would like the audience to have a sense of sympathy for my character as he is living an awful lifestyle, however it is down to how they interpret my character. Some may consider him to be lucky compared to other characters in the play and others may feel for him as he is living in a time of war which no one should go through. As the performance night is only a couple of days away there isn't really enough time to develop anything physicality wise for The Quartermaster. My final target is to make sure I use what I have developed for my character effectively.

Voice
So far I have developed multiple areas of my voice such as projection, articulation, pace and diction. I am really happy with how my character sounds vocally. I have been able to apply an accent that distinguishes him from the rest of the characters and the other 2 characters I also portray  and my projection is loud enough that i can be heard yet still being able to convey a mousy kind of tone to his voice which shows his soft side. I think that The Quartermaster has other intentions rather than just selling bullets for money, perhaps he wanted money for something else. There is just something really odd about him which I find mysterious in some way. Sometimes I do question whether I am portraying him correctly but this is the way I have interpreted him as a character so I am going to stick with it. I have come across many difficulties with The Quartermaster's voice, like for instance when I first started playing this character my tone of voice made the character sound like he was just someone who was looking for a deal not desperately needing money to survive kind of voice.

Sub-text
There has been a lot of sub-text I have delved into for this character. For The Quartermaster, I have mainly focused on his backstory as I feel this has helped me with my characterisation. By looking into his backstory, I was able to gain an idea of his current feelings and thoughts as well as his past thoughts and feelings. I have used the clapping game, in my own time, to try and interpret how The Quartermaster says things in the way he does and what thoughts 'could' be running around in his head. For example. When he says "The colonels been on a two day bender celebrating with his staff". Perhaps there could be a sign of jealousy . Obviously he wasn't allowed to celebrate as he states 'with his staff' this excludes him from the 'bender'. When portraying The Quartermaster I have tried to add a subtle bitterness to this line to show that he is somewhat jealous of the life the colonel lives in time of war. Whether the audience catches onto it I won't know until the night. I think this is something I can work on quickly to make sure the audience will hear it in my voice.

Scene 4-The Clerk

Physicality
As previously stated, I am limited in my physicality as The Clerk as he is sat down for the entirety of the scene. I am limited to the top half of my body. This has been very difficult as I am used to having the whole body to use to immerse myself in a character. Also as this scene is extremely short I have little time to make The Clerk memorable to the audience. I have tried to make The Clerk quite an angry character as if he's one of them receptionists who hates his jobs and customers, I have used body language to highlight this. When Mother Courage is talking to me i am going to get up in her face by leaning over the desk slightly. This creates the sense that he has quite an intimidating demeanour to him. 

Voice
I wanted to give The Clerk a posh accent and make him really snobby. I find the best way to learn and adapt to accents is to watch and listen . I searched YouTube for a good video that can teach me how to speak really posh. I came across this girl who has videos in other accents too and they sound really authentic so i thought i would give it a go. She explained how posh British people enhance every T, so I decided that I would try it. I went over some of my lines exaggerating my T's. Low and behold I sounded like the queen in 5 minutes. I think this accent gives a sense of authority to The Clerk as many posh people are of higher status to people with other British accents. I also delved into projection with this character as he needs to be angry, I always use projection when a character is angry as it shows heightened emotion. I think projection is one of the skills I have improved upon the most in my development.

Sub-text
There isn't really much sub-text to delve into for The Clerk as he has few lines however I have managed to find out and interpret his current thoughts and feelings. During his line 'Be my guest', I think we understand how much The Clerk hates his job, he becomes this ignorant/rude person towards the people who are making complaints. This is where i derived the idea that he should come across as angry because he is miserable in his job. This is the only information I have been able to find out about The Clerk due to his lack of lines in the Scene. However I still think he could react to other people in the scene. I think this is going to be my final target which is to try and see where The Clerk can react to others in the scene.


We also went through transitions and black outs in between certain scenes so we know what is happening to staging and characters. Overall, I think this was a really productive lesson not only as a group but in the personal development of my characters.

9/01/17-Single

This lesson was spent trying to go through a full run through of the play. However, lots of people kept on forgetting their lines which made them really stressed out. Specifically Taylor, where she has so many lines to remember she was getting muddled up and lost with her lines. It was then decided by our teacher that we was going to a full speed run through of each scene. This meant that we would speed up our pace so we can get through the play quicker. As it was a speed run we was allowed our scripts with us. As we was completing the speed run, we found that this gave everything more humour and energy. I found that it made it more enjoyable to perform as everyone was putting effort into it and it didn't feel tedious like most times we are performing the play. The speed run allowed us to keep up the energy in the play, I think this made it engaging and enjoyable to watch for the people who weren't in particular scenes. I think we need to adapt this energy from the pace of the speed run to the pace we perform at normally. This will improve the quality of the play by miles.

Scene 3-Speed run
When portraying The Quartermaster during the speed run I feel as though i was more in character than I have ever been. The pace of the speed run allowed me to be over top in my characterisation which made him more funny to the audience (cast members who weren't in particular scenes). This made it enjoyable to play The Quartermaster as I knew people enjoyed watching the character.

I think where I was being over top in my characterisation my voice went over the top as well. I found that I used more tone of voice during the scene as the pace allowed me to show more emotion to The Quartermaster, even though we went through this part of the scene very quick. My projection was okay however where i was looking at my script i wasn't looking in the Audience's directions so i couldn't be heard at points, but this was only for the speed run.

Scene 4-Speed run 
I think the speed run really benefited me in the portrayal of The Clerk. Where the pace was sped up, the sass that i have been trying to use with the character was noticeable to the audience. This engaged them as they found my character funny. As the audience was laughing it made performing more enjoyable which in turn, I put more effort into my characterisation of The Clerk.

I am really comfortable with the lines The Clerk has so i didn't need to look at the script, this improved my projection as i was projecting my voice outwards to the audience. Also, I was able to create more of an aggressive tone to my voice, I don't know whether this was because the pace was sped up or if it was the spur of the moment. I think where my projection had increased i was able to use it more effectively.

Scene 11-Speed run
As the scene was sped up it gave the scene much more chaos as it became a lot busier than it was before. Interruptions between certain character's lines were executed more precisely. This meant that the scene ran more smoothly and overall was of better quality.

For The Farmer's son, I think that the speed worked really well. The speed at which i was speaking at really enhanced the panicky vibe that I was going for. I think I could try and maybe adapt this pace in my voice to the real performance, in fact I think the whole scene should be done at this pace as it would influence the anxious atmosphere the scene has. However, this is down to whether other cast members would be okay with this.


Brecht Techniques 
When completing this speed run I found that Brecht techniques were much easier to use. Comedy, almost came somewhat naturally to me, I dont know how to explain it but it just felt easier to place the comedy in my lines. I think that I should practice this speed run at home. However, where i place the comedy in the speed run, I need to adapt it to the pace we are originally going for. This is something I am going to work on in my own time and hope to do for next lesson.

5/01/17-Single

This lesson we staged the very first song in the play, there are only 4 in total, however we haven't looked at songs yet. Being so close to the night of our final performance, it is imperative that we start practicing these songs in order. Prior to this lesson Cameron had created a backing track to the first song in the play. I think Cameron has done a great job at composing the backing track, the rocky edge to it gives it the energy we need to start off the play As this is a really rocky song it needs lots of energy otherwise it will not engage the audience. We decided that we should just dance during the part that Mother Courage is singing. I didn't really know what to dance like so I just started to bob my head to the music and then soon got into the rhythm. However I did think that I looked really stupid, my teacher did say the the stupider you look the funnier and more energetic the song will be. After this, we performed the song again and I just went for it. I think what my teacher was true I felt that I did exert more energy into the song which made it enjoyable and I didn't really care what I looked like in the end. As I am actor, I need to get out of this habit which is caring what people think of me. This habit has definitely affected my acting in the past as I worry if i'm doing a good job or I am rubbish. This self doubt & consciousness has always messed up my confidence which I do find i struggle with. I would really like to work on my confidence more over this course. 

After practicing it for a while we decided we would run through scene 1 along with the song as well. I think the scene went really well, the song adds the extra energy to it which it has been lacking recently. One thing i would say is that when we all dance in the song we end up forming a clump in the middle of the stage and the rest of the stage was empty. I think if we was dispersed all over the stage this would make it look more busy so it will engage the audience a lot more. However this is only my thought so it depends if it would  work where the microphones are placed so they can pick up our singing.

19/12/16-Single

This lesson we completed a full run through of Mother Courage

The Quartermaster.

Physicality.
In terms of physicality I think I have come along way for The Quartermaster since the start. I am now portraying The Quartermaster as a nervous character. I think I have used pace effectively, I am not speaking too fast so the audience can't hear me but just the right speed that it shows he is anxious. I'm going to try and not make eye contact with Mother Courage but with the audience. I researched that people who are nervous usually do not make eye contact with what they are nervous about. As for The Quartermaster, he is nervous about whether Mother Courage is going to buy the bullets or not. I think this will also make it easier for the audience to understand how The Quartermaster is feeling.

Voice 
For The Quartermaster, I think I have honed this skill. I am really confident in my voice. I have found an accent that suits this character and I have found it easy to use tone of voice with this accent, which I have found difficult with other accents. I am very confident in my projection of the character as well. I think where I have focused on this character the most compared to my 2 other characters. This is why I am really confident with this skill than the other. The reason I have focused on this character the most is because he is my first character and I would like to make a good impression for the audience.

Sub-text
Over the course of rehearsing Mother Courage I have delved into sub text a lot with The Quartermaster as I was confused as to what the character was about and what he had in connection with Mother Courage. After looking into my lines, I found that although he is nervous he is also very persuasive and eager with what he wants, this is money for the bullets so he can buy alcohol for the colonel. He tries to persuade Mother Courage to buy the bullets. I think this has helped me with my characterization although it is quite challenging. I need to make The Quartermaster nervous yet very eager in his interaction with Mother Courage, kind of like the people who always try and sell you things when you are on Holiday. You could even say he his is a bit like Del boy from 'Only fools and horses'. I think I am going to use Del boy for future inspiration for The Quartermaster as it may help give me more ideas on how portray his eagerness.

The Clerk

Physicality
As The Clerk is sat down for the whole scene there isn't much i can do with physicality apart from using my top half of my body. This, so far, has been challenging as there isn't really much I can do with my top half, only my arms and head. For The Clerk, I think he is quite calm and laid back in his actions as he is one of the receptionists who just doesn't care about what any one is going through, only himself. I also want to give The Clerk some sass to him, I think giving him some sort of sass towards others will create comedy in the character as it could make the audience laugh. I am going to practice this over the Christmas half term.

Voice 
I think this is one of my strongest skills with this character, I am having no problem in not being heard using my projection and I feel as though I am portraying the right kind of tone of voice for the character. I am using quite an obnoxious tone of voice. Like the stereotypical posh people who are usually described as 'stuck up'. I want the audience to create a kind of love/hate relationship towards this character. As I only have one scene to do this, I need to make sure that I make an impact to the audience's relationships with the many characters in the play.

Subtext
There isn't really much subtext to delve into with The Clerk as he has few lines after his interaction with Mother Courage at the start of the scene. However, I was able to analyse the first part of the scene where I analysed his interaction with Mother Courage. This is where I discovered the obnoxious side of The Clerk. One of The Clerks line is as follows, 'Listen to what I am telling you'. This line highlights that The Clerk is quite authoritarian over Mother Courage, it gives the impression that he knows what he talking about which is where i derived the idea that he could be obnoxious. I think subtext so far has helped me develop The Clerk as a character  


The Farmer's son

Physicality
For the farmers son, I think Physicality has been the easiest skill to adapt to this character. As The Farmer's son is in a very sticky situation in Scene 11, I've decided that The Farmer's son is going to have two transitions in term of physicality. At the start of the scene he is very timid in his actions however when he returns after being taken by the soldiers and is handed the axe, I feel as though the axe should highlight the change in confidence The Farmer's son has when he is wielding the axe. He somehow grows up in the space of 10 seconds. I need to show this change in confidence through his physicality as well. For instance, as The Farmer's son is very Timid/shy in his physicality i could portray this by him cowering whenever he is threatened  by a soldier. However as soon as he grabs hold of the act, if he is threatened he will stand up to the soldier instead of backing down. I am going to try these things out over the half term to see if these ideas work out.

Voice
I feel very comfortable with my voice as a whole skill for the Farmer's son however i am still having issues with the couple of lines when he is attacked by the soldier at the very start. The lines are "Don't" and "What do i do?". These lines are meant to show the despair of The Farmer's son however I am still unsure whether I am doing this. I don't think I am using the right tone of voice. This is also down to the accent that I have tried to put with the character, It is restricting me portraying this emotion with the Farmer's son.

Sub-text
The most obvious piece of sub text i found with The Farmer's son is his anger. Towards the end of the scene before Katrrin dies, he tells her to keep on drumming. This line has a "!" at the end of the sentence, which most likely highlights that here he becomes consumed by some sort of anger. I think I need to look more into subtext of The Farmer's son as I dont fully understand him as of yet. I am going to focus on the start of the scene as this is where i am confused with his intentions.

Brecht Techniques
So far I think using Brecht Techniques has been really challenging. I am really used to Naturalistic acting like Stanislavski, so the drastic change at the start of the year really impacted the way I act. Trying to add comedy into my acting has been really hard for me as I'm not sure where to place it. I feel really awkward whenever I try to make my characters funny. I think I am going to work on my comedy with all 3 of my characters  over the Christmas break.

12/12/16-Single

This lesson we presented our presentation that me and Taylor have been working for the last 2 works. Here it is:

6/12/16-Single

Today we completed a workshop by Tom, a teaching assistant in our class,  based on highlighting and space and trying to tell a story from where people are are standing on stage. This was a really strange lesson for as I had no clue what he was on about at first however after him going over it a few times I finally understood what he was saying.

To start of the lesson, Tom decided we would focus on spatial awareness and how to highlight spatial relationships between characters on stage. I had never heard of highlighting space so this was completely new to me. To start the activity Tom picked scene 3, specifically the point Swiss cheese is brought on stage, dead. Everyone who isn't usually on stage was on stage as we was going to tell a story with all of the characters. I decided that I would be The Farmer's son and stand with The Farmer's Wife and The Farmer (my parents in the play). I decided that i would act as if i'm walking to Katrrin but my mum is pulling me away. I felt like this was a great place to place my character as he wants to go and comfort Katrrin because that's the kind of person he is however at the same time my mum is protecting me as she doesn't want me getting mixed up in all of Mother Courage's mess. Me and Chloe, who is playing my mum, wanted to portray the idea that a Mother's love is too strong which is why she won't let go of me. However, it also highlights that Mother Courage's motherly love failed which resulted in Swiss Cheese's death. This part of the workshop really got me thinking about how I can tell a story by where i am standing and who i am interacting with. I am most certainly going to use this with my characters. This would be hard to do as the Clerk as he is sat down the whole scene. However, for The Quartermaster and The Farmer's son I can use this technique to my advantage.

The second part of the workshop was to do with elements. Specifically the four main elements; Water, Earth, Fire and Wind. This part of the workshop really confused me. To start this off. Tom told us to imagine we was someone we know who represented, in our eyes, the element of Fire. We was told to walk around as if we were them. I decided that I would represent Fire as my dad. There was no right or wrong answer. I just felt this element was fitting to my dad as he served in the army when he was younger. He must have had loads of courage to sign up for something like that and I interpreted courage as a representation of fire. Next we had to walk as someone we knew who represented Water. I decided I would walk like my mum. My mum is very laid-back and goes withe flow, she is very calm which is what i interpreted a character who represented water to be like. Next we had to walk like someone who represented Earth. I decided that i would walk like my Nan, with a limp and a crooked back. She keeps our family grounded and secure and is the foundation/building block of the family, just like the earth is the humans who inhabit the world. She is also very wise and strong minded which added to the influence of my choice. This is what i interpreted an earth character to be like. Lastly, wind was our final element, I found finding someone to walk like very challenging as I didn't know who, that I know, represents wind. We didn't have long to pick, like 10 seconds. I didn't have anyone at the end of the 10 seconds so I just decided to walk like my sister. But the more I thought about it when I was walking like her, it suddenly clicked that she was wind. My sister is very strong mentally yet not physically this made me think so are winds. You can get really powerful winds that are very destructive yet all it is is air and air weighs nothing .  I think this why i instinctively chose her as a wind element.

This workshop really helped me in my spatial awareness and characterisation. The highlighting space has made me think where to stand on stage now so I can tell a story with my interactions. And the element workshop has helped me discover what type of elements my characters are. For example, The clerk would most likely be a fire element as he has a feisty nature to him. Where as The Quartermaster would be a water element as goes with what Mother Courage tells him to do.

5/12/16-Single

Today we set the rest of 'Mother Courage'. These were scene 6,7,8,9 and 11. I only appear in scene I decided to work on sub-text within my characters. I think, so far, sub-text has helped me with my characterisation of my characters. Looking into their thoughts and feelings and understanding has really helped me embody them. I think this has also allowed me to move as the character, my movement has improved, especially with the Clerk. Even though he is sat down throughout the whole scene, I have picked up mannerisms and created them from embodying him as a character. The clerks body language is quite laid-back yet somewhat gutsy this contrasts to The Quartermaster who has a sensitive personality. I've only interpreted this based on what is said and how other characters react to what is said.

As the Farmer's son only appears the in one scene i need to make sure I bring him to life and make it seem like he's been here all along. I am going to use physicality for this. At points in scene 11, I feel as though I need to change the physicality of the character. At the start of scene 11 he is very resilient as he snaps back the solider, however straight after he becomes scared that they are going to kill his families cattle. I am going to try and change the physicality of The Farmer's son during this transition. For example, when The Farmers son becomes resilient I could perhaps use a stance to portray to the audience he is trying to protect his family. However as soon as he is attacked by the soldier I am going to change the physicality to him afraid/fearful etc. E.g. whimpering, . The only thing I do find challenging in physicality is the way the Farmer's son changes his physicality again towards the end of the scene. He helps Kattrin and tells her to keep drumming, I think I need to become more aggressive in my physicality towards Katrrin as he is trying to tell her to keep drumming but she is 'dumb girl' so she doesn't understand that well. So this will highlight the kind of language barrier, if you would call it that, between them.

So far I have focused a lot on voice in Mother Courage over all. I've mainly focused on The Farmer's son, this is attempting the somerset accent I set myself as a target a couple lessons back. I dont think the accent is going to work as I keep trying to do it but it either sounds really weird or i end up going back to my actual accent. I think I am going to have to ditch the accent and just use my own accent. None of my other characters have the same accent, so I am still able to make  sure that each character is distinguishable. I think my next skill for The Farmer's son I would like to develop would be projection. He uses A lot of projection in Scene 11 especially towards the end. However I am finding it challenging to get the right use of projection at the start on my line "Alright....Alright, Ill go with you". I am really quiet on this line and it doesn't portray the right emotion. I am suppose to be scared and panicky but at the projection i'm using at the moment just sounds like he's really shy and i dont want him to be shy. I am also going to explore pace, if i use pace effectively with my projection, it may help me portray the scared/agitated character The Farmer's son is.

So far in Mother Courage I am finding Brechtian techniques very challenging. I find it hard to make my characters funny. I think it is easier for the clerk as he has sass and I find it easier to be funny with sass . However my other characters have serious situations go on in their world and I am finding it difficult where to place the comedy in my lines. Like making everything over the top, kind of like pantomime over the top. I find this this is really challenging for me as an actor. 

1/12/16-Single

This lesson we presented our Brecht presentations to the class, This is or final version:

We also decided that we would discuss how war has negatively affected all characters. For example, Yvette had to become a prostitute at a young age in order to survive the war. Mother Courage lost all  of her children to the war. We also highlighted how war has changed peoples personality traits. For example, Mother Courage had become ignorant and arrogant as the war goes on, money and sales become the main priority and her children's safety and well being becomes second most important to her. This highlights that war has actually changed Mother Courage for the worst. 

Henri's group came up with a really interesting question. This was 'Do you feel Brecht intended on leaving the real world outside the theatre when you enter?'. I found this question very intriguing as it made me think. My answer to this question would be that I think  Brecht didn't want you to leave the real world outside the theatre, his plays intended on informing the audience on what was occurring in their time and made them think about current situations they were facing i.e WW2. However, it could be argued that he may have wanted people nowadays who watch his plays to leave the outside world, outside of the theatre as the plays he wrote were about the past so he may have not wanted people to apply it to the present day. These are all of my interpretations of these questions that were used for debate so of course other people are going to have different views.

29/11/16-Single

This lesson we worked setting the rest of the play. We worked on multiple scenes. These were scene 7,8,9 and 11. Scene 10 has been cut due to it having no relevance to the play and also we do not have much time left until our final performance. I do not appear in Scene 7,8 and 9 so I decided that I would work on our Brecht presentation that we will be presenting next lesson the class.

Scene 11
This scene has been run so many times that everyone knows what is going on so this has helped the scene run more smoothly than others. I have learnt all my lines for this so I was able to not use the script. I feel as though this allowed to become my character of The Farmer's son more as I am not focusing on reading in front of me, not reading off my script I think will help me develop on my characterisation as I can now focus on the physicality of my character, I can now use movement and my arms are not restricted by holding a script as well. This lesson I decided that I would also focus on my voice, specifically projection and diction. I really would like to give The Farmer's son an accent (hence im working on diction). This would make him more distinguishable between my 3 characters that i play. However, I do find this challenging as as an accents that I try are never permanent. I end up returning to my English accent. This doesn't make the character feel authentic because of this I think I am going to try and use a somerset accent as this is the stereotypical accent that a farmer inhabits. I am going to practice this using this video:

Although this video has a comedic value to it, it does highlight how to pronounce certain words which has helped me so far I think this will help me develop my diction as a skill that I could use in the future as well. I am going to look for other videos to help me improve this accent.

I decided to work on projection as 1- i want the audience to hear me clearly and 2- I think projection will aid me in portraying different emotions such as Despair and anger, these are the two main emotions that The Farmer's son conveys in this scene.

28/11/16-Single

Today's lesson involved research into Brecht. We was separated into 3 groups and each were given a controversial quote. The controversial quote for my group was 'Even though Brecht's plays were written 80 years ago how are they still relevant in today's world'. Using this quote we was given the task to come up with answers to this quote/question and present them to the class in a few lessons time.

When discussing this quote with my group I realised how much situations in today's world related to the meaning of Brecht's play in his time. Brecht was around as the same time as Hitler was in his prime as the dictator and mass murderer we know him to be today. We can only assume that he had a big influence on some of Brecht's plays. Mother courage is a perfect example where he highlights that war only brings misery and he is trying to highlight that war in general is just a waste of time. He also used to make digs at leaders like Hitler in his time however where he had set them during different time periods he got away without being arrested. We can apply this idea to many famous leaders we know today for example:

• Donald Trump
• Vladimir Putin 
• Kim Jong Un 

All of these world leaders can relate back to Brecht's plays. These world leaders, like Hitler, abuse their own power and become greedy for more. In Brecht's play Mother Courage arrogance can be seen in many characters. For example, Eilif becomes very arrogant as soon as he gains power in the Army, this greed for more unfortunately leads to Eilif's demise. I think Brecht wanted Eilif to represent Hitler as Hitler gained power through the Army and his greed for power led to his demise also. However this is all down to interpretation so this doesn't mean that this is the case. 

We have also come up with some questions to as the audience to get them debating as this is a great way to get them involved and understanding people's different interpretation of Brecht. One of the questions we came up with was 'If Brecht was alive in today's world, do you think he would still use theatre as his main platform to get his point across?'. I think that Brecht would use a different platform to convey his messages to people. Platforms such as social media (Facebook, Instagram etc) and Youtube could have been the ones he used. They offer a wide range of age ranged audiences meaning he could convey his points to a larger audience. However, we have to understand that in Brecht's time theatre was the only way he could convey his messages to the public hence why he wrote plays.

15/12/16 & 19/12/16-Double

This lesson we spent working upon Act 2 of Rent, mainly blocking 'Goodbye love'. This song really highlights the tension in the group of friends and conveys the idea that angel was the glue holding everyone together to the audience,  it is also straight after Angel's funeral so change in emotion from sad to angry is instant which we would like to highlight in our singing. Vocally, I think we are capable of achieving this as everyone is able to portray emotion in their singing. Because of this we decided we would start to stage this number so we can eventually block it. Due to no black out and an immediate transition between 'I'll cover you (Reprise)' and 'Goodbye Love' it will be hard to bring any blocks on stage to use. So we will need to work with what we have got. In my opinion, I don't think we should use any blocks as this will take away from what is happening on stage. Keeping the cast close together and the staging simple will draw the audiences' attention the the fight between everyone and won't distract people.

I think this run through of this number went well, as you can see in the video below. Although one thing I would say everyone could work on would be timing, You can hear that people are out of time so this is something they need to work on. Also I feel that projection. Taylor for example can't be heard at the start however this is only minor as later o in the song she uses her projection effectively and can be heard clearly. For Henri, I think it's just the case of learning his lyrics so he become more confident in the song. I think Cameron should work with Henri in creating more tension during their argument because at the moment it's a little too soft. Rodger and Mark are great friends and Rodger is just leaving without saying goodbye so there needs to some feeling of neglect on Mark's behalf. These are the only criticisms I could find for this run through of this song.

We did perform other big numbers this lesson as well such as:

"One song glory"-2nd number

This number is one of my favourites out of the whole musical This boils down to Henri's amazing vocals in this song. His projection, diction and articulation is all on point and this is just an amazing song itself. 

"Light my candle"-3rd number

This song has come along way since the very start. Both Henri and Taylor are much more confident which can be seen when they sing this song. Although one thing I would say to them is that they need to maintain their projection throughout the whole song as at some points, when sitting right at the back of the audience. They can sometimes not be heard. 

"Tango:Maureen"-6th number

This song is amazing. Vocals are on point and it has been blocked. Again, Cameron needs to watch his feet when he is dancing as he is sometimes clashing with Lorna causing them to lose the timing in the rhythm of their dance. However this is only a minor detail and can be worked upon very easily.

19/12/16

This lesson was mainly focused on making sure that all songs in Act 1 were blocked and vocals were up to scratch. We performed songs that we did not complete yesterday, songs such as "Today 4 U", "Rent" , "I'll cover you" and "Over the moon".

"Rent"- 1st number

I am located in the wings in this number as it is before Today 4 U.

14/12/16-Double

This lesson we carried on with Act 2, we mainly focused on my death. Staging was an important factor of this as we wanted to block the three main numbers that my death occurs in. I think that the rest of our lessons before we break up will be primarily focused upon   These were Without you, I'll cover you reprise and then Goodbye Love.


"Without you"-17th number
Vocally this song was excellent. Taylor's and Henri's voices really shone through in this number. The singing really  underlined what was going on on stage. Particularly highlighting my death, when  Taylor sings "But id die without you". This lyric adds to the, already, emotive atmosphere the song has. Taylor needs to work on her projection at some points she tends to be quiet, also movement in the song is minimal however I think this is a good thing as doesn't take the way of the importance of Angel's death. One thing i would say is that Henri and Taylor needs to work on the last part around the lyric 'lonely blue' as sometimes it does sound off key sometimes, however that is the only criticism for this number.

"I'll Cover you Reprise"-18th number
Lewis's vocals in this are okay although i would say he needs to work on his projection as the backing track does, at points, dominate his voice making him unheard. Another factor as to why he can't be heard is that he looks down at the floor. This means that he is aiming his voice at the floor not at the audience who need to be able to hear him. The harmonies in this song are great. The staging in this song is minimal which is what, i think, adds to the simplicity vibe of the song. Of course, they are at a funeral so we can't really have lots going up. This song has now been officially been blocked. I also sing with Collins, even though we are at my funeral I am standing behind Collins on a block. This creates levels so the audience can see me. I start to sing with Collins on the lyric 'true as this is'. This highlights to the audience that even though Angel is dead, their song still has a lot of meaning and was the pivoting point in their relationship. This isn't how Angel died on the Broadway version of RENT however we wanted to interpret this in our own way. Just so people who may have watched the Broadway version can see something different if they watch ours.  As for my vocals in this song i think that

"Goodbye Love"- 19th number 
This song vocally sounds okay. It's mostly to do with lines. People need to learn their lines and where they come in. Timing is crucial in this song, most lines bounce of each other. If one person forgets one of their lines this may put someone else off, in turn ruining the whole song. The staging is great in this song. The distance between Mimi and Rodger highlights the tension between them and the same goes for Maureen and Joanne. Alice really uses her tone of voice effectively in her voice on her lyric 'who said you have any right in who she says things too at all'. She really creates an aggressive nature towards Benny. Taylor really brings innocence to her character, Mimi, as the realisation that Rodger has left and her symptoms of her disease are showing. Henri's projection is great although I would say he needs to work on his high notes as he does end up straining his voice which won't do him any good in the long term.

Musical Theatre Presentation

12/12/16-Double

This lesson we had to bring in our costume for our characters. I have decided that for the first half of the show I will wear the same costume and the same goes for Act 2. I had to take into consideration things like taking off my wig to put my next costume on. I simply won't have enough time between each song transition as they are extremely short. However, we have a 15 minute interval between Act 1 and Act 2. I think this will provide me with enough time to change costume. For the last Act it is very difficult as I wanted to wear something that is symbolic of death and I thought why not wear all white. However this means that I would need to change in the song "Take me or leave me". This will only give me  around 4 and a half minutes to get change. Of course I need to make sure it will be easy to get on and over my wig as I will definitely not have enough time to take it off and put it back on. I decided that a plain white stretch T-shirt and easy slip on skinny trousers/jeans. This will be easy to put on during the song and quick so I will not miss the transition from Take me or leave me into without you.

8/12/16-Double

This lesson we decided we would re visit Act 1 of Rent. This was to go over some of the weaker songs that still needed to have work done to them. These included Life support, Another Day and Will i?. We decided to go over these songs as timing was the main issue. These songs are done in chronological order so might as well have worked on all 3 to make them better. We also worked on a little bit of transitions between songs.

Life support-7th number
The main problem in this song was timing. Again it is the names at the start of the song that keeps putting everyone of their timing. I know when I say my name to the beat as I have been practicing this at home in my spare time however people keep mucking up their line, this then puts me off as the name before mine hasn't been said so it hasn't triggered me to say my name. Cameron is the other person that needs to work on his timing. When he enters and does his little solo, he finds himself at a too fast pace to the beat this puts him ahead of everyone else. I think for this number timing is the main priority. The staging has stayed the same throughout the song, however there has been a slight change at the end. Everyone walks off stage at the end except Me and Lorna. This will be explained why later on in the analysis of Will i?.

Another Day-8th number
This song was probably the most successful, it was very fluent when we ran it. Both Henri and Taylor knew their lines which made it easier to run through as well. I think the only improvement that could be made this song is a smoother transition between Life support and Another day. At the moment Taylor is running from one side of the stage to the other to get to the part where she enters the apartment to sing Another Day. This is something we may need to figure out when we stage it in the hall.

Will I?- 10th number
There is only now 4 of us on stage in this number. Lorna, Taylor, Henri and I. Our director wanted to make this song more centimental and emotional. He did try the song with Collins however it didn't have a big impact as if Angel was on stage. The lyrics correlate to Angel more (who ends up dying) which makes more sense. The reduction also made the song not so jumbled as before there were different people who came in at different times which put everyone off in their timing. The verses are now numbered along with people. So Lorna sings verse 1 then Henri joins in on verse 2 Lorna still singing. It is explained visually in the video below, this is how the new arrangement of Will I? looks like.

Overall, I think we have made significant improvement in this rehearsal, we all worked well as a company by pitching in ideas. The level of professionalism was good and we need to keep this up.

7/12/16-Double

This lesson we focused on Act 2 again as we need to start staging and blocking the main numbers in this act. However, there has been major changes to the song order. Act 1 now finishes after "Over the moon" and then Act 2 starts with "La vie Boheme" not "Seasons of love". Act 2 now ends with "Seasons of love". Songs such as What you own, Finale B, Voicemail  #5, Your eyes have now been cut. This was due to the lack of time and rehearsals we have left before our final performance. So this was for our benefit in the end. Although it would have been nice to do all of the songs we simply wouldn't have had enough to catch up. This lesson was focused on the songs we have already learnt prior to the changes. So we performed "La vie boheme", "Happy new year B" and did a little bit of staging for "Without you".

"La vie Boheme"-14th number
This number has now been moved to the very start of Act 2. As this number will be the very first song of Act 2 we want to make sure that it is full of energy and make sure the audience is engaged. After going through a full run through of this number, it was noted by our teacher that so sometimes we can perform this number really well and other times it can be very flat and boring. I think that everyone vocally is great however it's interactions and dancing that will enhance the energy of this song. Maybe we should think about if it is possible adding a little more choreography to the song as I do find at some points we are just standing there waiting for a certain part of the song where someone comes in to say something. However overall, this song is looking good so far.

"Happy New Year B"-15th number
This performance was as great as our last one. It was packed full of energy which made it a very smooth and fluent run through again. I used projection this time when trying to hit the high note and I was able to do it. I felt really proud of myself as this is something I have been struggling with for a long time, I can say this has boosted my confidence as well. Everyone else sounded great which produced an excellent run through of the song, they all also remembered the staging which was good as usually this takes some time getting used to, however the staging is very simple so this is probably why.

"Without you"-17th number
As previously decided last lesson this is the number, unfortunately, i will be dying in. This means that we need to make the staging as emotional as possible. We decided that the staging for this number should be plain simple in order the retain the raw emotion of Taylor's solo/duet with Henri also. The staging is as followed: There will be a 'hospital bed' aka a table that Collins will place me on. This will be on the lyric 'The stars gleam'. Then other characters will enter on certain lyrics around my bed saying a final goodbye to me. Alice (Maureen) will then exit once Lorna (Joanne) enters, this is to highlight that they are still not on good terms to the audience. Each person around my bed would leave one by one. Then Benny will enter, he'll say his goodbyes and then I die. Then it goes straight into the Reprise of I'll cover you. This was only a brief description of the staging for this number will be like, we haven't had the opportunity yet to properly stage it. The singing in this song is amazing. Taylor really captures the emotion in her voice when she is singing which I think adds to the raw emotion of the song.

5/12/16-Double

This lesson we had resumed to rehearsing Rent after the two lessons of blogging. It was in someways refreshing to be up on our feet singing again. It was decided by our teacher that we would delve deeper into Act 2 of this musical. We started with Happy new year B then worked on Voice mail #3, and Take me or Leave Me then finally started to listen to Without you.

"Happy New Year B"- 15th number.
The performance of this song this time round was much more energetic compared to the last time we performed this song. I was surprised that everyone had learnt their parts to this song during the short amount of time given. The fact that everyone knew what they was doing made the number run smoothly. This meant that we could move onto more important numbers that we need to block. Staging wise nothing has changed from last lesson and it looks good when we are performing it.
In my own time I worked on practicing the high note at the end of the song, and i feel as though i have made significant progress. I am now much more confident in singing in this octave. However it was noted that I will just need to increase my volume a little more so the mics will pick up my voice.

We ran through this number so we could end up blocking it and we was able to. Now in the future when performing this number we need to make sure it is at this level of energy all the time as this was our best performance if it to date.

"Voicemail #3"- Dialogue
As Warren and Tyler don't have any main parts they have smaller characters who still have the same impact as the mains do. This is one the voicemails both of them are in. Tyler plays Mrs Jefferson (Mark's mother) and Warren plays Alexi darling. In this bit of singing dialogue there really needs to be a sense of bickering to make it seem funny however i am not feeling it from Tyler and Warren, perhaps this is something that they should work together in their spare time a little more.

"Take me or leave me"- 16th number.
This number is one of the best songs out of the musical so far. Alice and Lorna really put so much energy into their performance that you can really see it shine through. Although, they both have experience in musical theatre outside of school so are already trained in this area. They already knew this song before hand so it was more of a walk in the park for the two. Overall projection was on point, along with everything else. Staging wise can't be done as most of it is in the cabaret seating area for the audience and we haven't had the opportunity to experience this as of yet.

"Without you"-17th Number.
This number is mainly Mimi's solo however Rodger joins in at the end of it. It was decided that this song is going to be the number I die in as well. We didn't get to stage my death in this number this lesson, however I hope it is something we focus on in our next lesson and also get to stage some of  "I'll cover you (reprise)" as that is my funeral.

Overall I think we have made significant improvement to our rehearsal process.

30/11/12 & 1/12/12

This lesson was put to completing blogs. Some people's blogs were not up to scratch so we was given two lessons for everyone who wasn't caught up to catch up and those who's were just not up to a good standard to improve theirs. I did appreciate the extra time given to us as I had fallen behind so I put this time to good use and caught up a blog or two. However, although we did sacrifice two days in our rehearsal process, it does highlights that we are at a comfortable point to be able to do this. Half of our cast was missing on the 1st so we wouldn't have been able to complete a full run through of Act 1 anyway so it made sense to complete blogs.

28/11/16-Double

This lesson we started to look at Act 2 of the musical. This lesson we focused on the first number of Act 2, that is Happy new year B. This song is a really upbeat song and needs lots of energy otherwise it will just look sloppy. This song is, in some ways, similar to La Vie Boheme. To start of we just listened to the song so we would get an understanding of how the song goes. In the song I have to hit a really high note at the end of the song. It shocked me at first because I didn't think that was Angel who sung it when in fact it was.

Staging
To start of we decided we would try and stage the song so we could block the song as we're running out time until we needed to perform the show. It was decided that Lorna, Alice and Cameron would stand on a block to create levels. As they start of the song it  made sense that they were on stage before everybody else entered. On the lyric "5,4,3...Open sesame" everyone would enter. Also we needed to make it look like we hadn't seen each other in the a year so we decided we would all greet each other to highlight this. When Benny enters, the rest of the characters are all on one side of the stage. This staging highlights that there is almost a kind of stand off between Benny and the rest of the company. However when my line comes in which is "People is this anyway to start a new year" I am mid stage as it conveys the idea that Angel is the one who is calming the tension between everyone. On the last note that I hit the high note i have to gently push Taylor (Mimi) towards Henri (Rodger) as I try to make them like each other again. There are no props on stage at this point as

Singing

Alice- Alice has had training so is obviously well experienced in Musical Theatre. She sounded excellent as always.

Will- Will's projection has improved so much and he has come so far with his confidence. In this number it really shines through.

Me- I would say that I just need more confidence when hitting the high note. Also I found that when i was singing "People" in an american accent I would make it sound like "Pe-pole", however after little practice I soon was able to say it properly. Overall this song is pretty easy to sing apart from the last note. I am going to practice this part in my spare time.

Henri- In this number, Henri's aggressive portrayal of Rodger is really clear. His emotion is clearly highlighted on his lyric "I'm not her boyfriend, i don't care what she does".

Taylor- I think Taylor is a little like me, we both need to work on our projection to make sure we will be heard by the audience. Apart from that Taylor is excellent.

Tyler- I think Tyler needs to work on his projection as well. He plays the drug dealer at the end of this song, and when he performs his dialogue he can barely be heard over the little speaker. When we are in the hall there will be even larger speakers so he will need to project even more so the mics will pick up his voice.

Next time we perform this we need to make sure that we put lots of energy into the performance. As this is the first time we have touched on this song it is obviously not going to be our best.

24/11/16-Double

This lesson we ran through all the songs that we ran through in yesterdays lesson. We went through all of Act 1 to make sure that everyone knew what the staging was so we could finally block most of the songs. Nothing has changed from staging since yesterday, However I would like to make some changes to staging in my duet with Lewis.

"I'll Cover you"-11th number
When I am performing this duet I feel as though everyone is distracted by the dance in the song. It doesn't capture the love that Angel and Collins have between each other. I also find that the jump that i do into Collins' arms is really tacky. I just think that a simple stripped back dance will help the audience to understand the love between Collins and Angel and won't be as 'in the audience's face' dance. This song has almost been blocked so I doubt that any changes could be made

"Tango Maureen"- 6th number
The tango in this song is getting better although it is Cameron who needs to learn the tango. You can see when sat in the audience that Cameron hasn't practiced enough. If I was Cameron i would set aside some of my spare time after school to try and the learn the dance with Lorna (Plays Joanne). However, the singing in this song is excellent, both Lorna and Cameron sounded pitch perfect so you can tell the song is coming together and is almost at the stage of being blocked.

"Will I?"-9th number.
I feel as though this is this the most emotional number out of them all. This song really captures the worry of characters, wondering if they will live to see another day. Especially my character, Angel, who is diagnosed with HIV who eventually dies. I do find myself getting mixed up when I'm supposed to come in singing with Collins as there are groups of people that come in at different times.  I think I should listen the beats until I come in then start practicing the start of the song.

"Life Support"-7th number
I do find myself getting mixed up with the timing at the start of the song. My line, "Hi i'm Angel", is triggered by the name that is "Sue" but people with other mess up there timing which puts me off. I think we all need to practice this timing in our spare time. The staging of this song has been blocked which is good. I think we should listen to the beats until I say my name, then start practicing with the backing track until we start to remember when to come in.

Overall I think that Act 1 is almost complete, most numbers are of good quality which means we can now start to focus on Act 2 of the musical. I think my main criticism to work on for Act 1 now is timing, I need to make sure my timing is right in order for the songs to sound good.

24/11/16-Single

In this lesson we carried on from where we left of last lesson. This was at the end of scene 4 where there is an interval. We completed scenes 5-11 in this lesson.

Scene 5
I don't appear in Scene 5 however i was still on stage in my situated seat so i was still able to watch what was happening. This scene is also very short so it didn't take long at all to complete. Callum plays the soldier in this scene, I think Callum uses projection really well however i do not get a sense of character whenever he is performing it is just Callum being himself. I think Callum should work on his characteristaion when he is playing The Soldier, perhaps using an accent to disguise himself from the character. Taylor portraying Mother courage is excellent as always, she just needs to learn her lines. Hugh has improved a lot when portraying the Chaplain, his movement and his tone of voice really brings the character alive. We have also blocked staging in this scene.

Scene 6
The same can be said for Callum in scene 6 when he is still portraying the soldier, he is just bland when portraying the character. This is something he seriously needs to work on if he wants to create a believable character. There isn't anything to say about Taylor as she is excellent at portraying Mother Courage, although one thing Taylor could look at is where to use pace at the right time. Sometimes Taylor can say her lines too fast and it doesn't correlate to the emotion she needs to portray. When Kattrin, played by Amy, walks in with bags of heavy goods, Amy doesn't act out as if she is psychically drained and is carrying things that are heavy, instead she walks in pretending to hold a shopping bag. As Kattrin is a mute, Amy has to look at stage directions to get the jist of what Katrrin should be doing on stage. I suggest that Amy reads these directions to get a clearer understanding of what she needs to do. In this scene, Hugh really conveys the creepiness of The Chaplain when he is trying to get close to Mother Courage, his body movements are excellent in highlighting this.

Scene 7
This scene is just a song and we haven't looked at it yet.

Scene 8
In this scene The Cook returns on stage, Joe is the one who is portraying The Cook. I think that Joe has an excellent representation of the Cook, Joe brings humour to the scene which lightens up the mood and engages the audience. Then later on in the scene Yvette also returns, Alice portrays the character Yvette really nicely. The soft american accent that Alice puts on gives Yvette a sense of innocence however we know that Yvette is in no way innocent. So it adds a nice touch to her character. I would say that Alice could work on her pace. At times Alice can find herself speaking to fast. Sometimes it can be hard to capture what emotion she is trying to convey.

Scene 9
In this scene, which is also very short,  we really capture the emotional relationship between Mother Courage. Again, Amy needs to read the stage directions to get and understanding of what she needs to do. I would also suggest Amy to start using facial expressions to convey some of Kattrin's emotion throughout the scene. Especially at the end when Kattrin is packing he things to leave. As for Taylor her use of Tone of voice when comforting Kattrin when she is about to leave is excellent.

Scene 10
We decided to cut this scene as it is only a song and it doesn't really have an importance/relevance to the story line of Mother Courage. This decision was also made as we are kind of running out of time.

Scene 11
This scene is the most anti-climatic out of all the scenes, so of course we need to make sure this scene is the most hecic out of them all. I think that Chloe in this scene is very shy, The Farmer's Wife needs to be over the top in everything she does. The Farmers Wife is only trying to make things better but she makes things worse in the end of it all. At the moment Chloe's projection isn't what it could potentially be, this could be improved by using her diaphragm as support when she's speaking. I suggest she goes and watches some videos on how to use diaphragmatic support. I think the three soldiers portrayed by Hugh, Cameron and Callum are excellent. Cameron is great at portraying the dumb soldier, his motifs like scratching his head and saying 'erm' highlights this. Hugh's use of projections and anger highlights that he is the more aggressive soldier. Callum however still sounds like Callum, he doesn't have an accent to distinguish between the two characters he plays. Henri is great at portraying the Lieutenant who is in charge, his stance when standing still and cockney accent brings the character to life. On thing Henri could work on is his movement on stage as he sometimes ends up having his back to the audience at some points. As for my character, I think I need to work on making sure im more panicky and louder as I need to make sure i'm contributing to the chaos of the scene. One thing i think i am doing well i he use of facial expressions, especially when i have no lines it is crucial that i convey my characters emotion so i stay in character.

23/11/16-Double

In this lesson we ran through all the songs that we have been rehearsing in lesson so far. These are, in chronological order.

"Rent"- 1st Number
Henri's and Cameron's vocals really shone through in the first number, although the vocals were good the choreographed dancing that is placed mid way through the number looks really tacky. Also judging bu the faces they make when they are dancing they don't look like they are enjoying it. This ruins the mood of the song as its fun and energetic so one thing i would say is that they need to smile. This goes for warren and Tyler when they dance as well. Lorna's solo part is perfect. We just need to block this song appropriately to make sure it doesn't look bad.

"One song glory"- 2nd number
This song is Henri's solo. Henri's vocals are on point in this number he hits all the right notes, however he does struggle with one of the very high notes in the song. You can hear and see him straining his voice when he's trying to reach the note. I would suggest that Henri keep practicing the high note to try and open his throat more.

"Light my candle"- 3rd number
This number is the main number for Taylor and second for Henri. The chemistry between the two is excellent. Taylor portrays Mimi really well, her seductive looks towards Henri make highlights the chemistry, whilst Henri's awkwardness brings comedy to the song. This song has been blocked to my knowledge so far.

"Today 4 u"- 4th number
This is my main number other than 'I'll cover you'. I still find my self not feeling as though I am singing to my full potential of projection. My teacher suggested that I work on my projection, he also noted that he thinks I'm holding back my potential and I'm sacred to hit the high notes.I agree with his note taking as i do find myself at times feeling very self-conscious, this is something i need to stop feeling. As an actor you shouldn't care what other people think and just go for it. Next time i perform this song I am going to give it all I've got.

"You'll see"- 5th Number.
This is Will's solo song out of the musical. So far I think Will's vocals have improved immensely, his projection is much louder, his articulation, as well, has improved a lot. Overall Will has made outstanding improvement to his vocals as well as his characteristaion as Benny. I also feature in this song with a couple of lines. There is one line i find very challenging as it is like a tongue twister, 'Life support is a group for people coping with life', I dont know why but this line is just hard for me to say it. Therefore I am going to practice this in my own time.

"Tango: Maureen"- 6th number 
This number contains Cameron and Lorna, so far the vocals are perfect however I do think the dance needs to be worked on. You can see that Cameron does look lost when he is dancing, whether that be because he is struggling to remember the choreography , Hopefully we can block the song soon.

"Life Support"-7th number
This song is blocked and vocals are on point, I don't have criticism to be said about this number apart form Cameron's timing upon his entry. He does need to work on this as he does speed up his singing and ends up not in sync with the music.

"Another Day"-8th number
This number is Taylor's and Henri's second number together. Like 'Light my candle', this song is perfect. The vocals are on point, if Taylor could be a bit louder that would be excellent. apart form that vocals are good. Staging is perfect, it is simple but speaks loudly as to where they are and what they're doing. Henri's raspy voice captures his anger towards Mimi, where as Mimi's soft voice brings innocence to Taylor's characterisation.

"Will I?"- 9th number 
This is one of my favourite numbers out of the musical. It really highlights the impact of HIV, people wondering if they are going to live and wake up tomorrow. It's really emotional and i think we capture that through our vocals. This number has also been blocked and looks great.

"Santa Fe"- 10th number
I also love this number, it's great fun to be in. This song highlights the growing love between Angel and Collins and i think Lewis and I highlight this through our interactions. However one thing that i keep getting wrong is the timing at the start, I can never get the timing right at the start which I need to practice. I have been practicing this but somehow it's not enough, so i will carry on listening to the backing track. This song has also been blocked.

"I'll cover you"-11th number

This is the last number we rehearsed in todays lesson. This number is Lewis' and I's duet. This song is the pivoting point in Collins' and Angel's relationship. I think at the moment we need to look at maybe re-choreographing the number. I think there is so much going on, as in dance, in the number, it takes away the real meaning of the song. Maybe if we were to cut out the part where i jump into Lewis' arms that might make it little bit less dramatic and more sentimental. As for vocals my only notes was that i need to , again, work on my projection as i wouldn't be heard in the hall over the speakers. I did find this video in my own time on YouTube that i have been using recently to try and improve my projection. Here it is below: