~ Beginning of Spring term ~

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First day back


Morning

We briefly went over the definition of circles of attention, which simply means where the actor's attention, or focus, lies on stage. We did an exercise where we focused our circle of attention on small things, such as a water bottle. We then expanded that circle to a bigger area, and then the entire room. This is useful because it can help us make decisions for our characters for how observant they are (if they are unobservant or oblivious, the actor's circle of attention would most likely be smaller), or if they are paranoid the actor's circle of attention would cover a larger area.

We also did two exercises on observational skills:
  1. With a partner, we took turns looking at the other for 30 seconds and trying to remember as much as we could about them. After 30 seconds we closed our eyes and said everything we could remember. 
  2. Half of the class acted as if they were on the tube, they were not allowed to talk or interact with each other. The rest of us observed and said our ideas for who they may be, or how they may be feeling. We then swapped over, and we were told to act as if we were in a Maths exam with 15 minutes left. The others made observations about our characters.
We also looked at the play we will be studying this term, 'the Three Sisters' by Anton Chekhov. Stanislavski is the practitioner we are focusing on for the piece, so we brainstormed some Stanislavski rehearsal techniques. [Below]


{We are making notes on various Stanislavski techniques.}


{We are keeping record of rehearsal and performance techniques to use.}

Afternoon

In pairs, we told each other a story about our holidays. We then chose a different partner told them our old partner's story, and chose one of them to turn into a piece. The piece had to be in the style of either a silent movie or a western. My partner and I chose to do the story where someone's electricity cut out on Christmas day in the style of a silent movie. We started the piece by waking up and excitedly running to the tree to open the presents. Next, we went into the kitchen to cook the dinner and went to turn the light on, to find that it wouldn't work. We used comically large gestures from silent movies to show our problem.

The second play we will be working on this term is 'The York Realist' by Peter Gill. We were shown the following quote: 'I live here. I live here. You can't see that, though. You can't see it. This is where I live. Here.'

We discussed what we thought about this quote as a class. A few people agreed that the way it was written is a child-like way of speaking. One person suggested that it could be an immigrant child talking to a bully, because of the phrase ‘you can’t see that’. I mentioned that the use of short sentences and repetition suggests that the speaker is desperate and/or panicky. We talked about what sort of situation, or conversation it would be said in. We all agreed that it would be said in a conflict. I said that I thought it would be said near the end of an argument because of how exasperated the speaker seems to be.

Next, we picked a partner and devised a short scene that had to include this quote. We thought that the quote could be said in an argument with a landlord, threatening to throw out a tenant who wasn't paying their rent. But we agreed that it sounded too territorial and desperate for this situation. We wanted a scene with a situation that had more tension, where the stakes are higher. I came up with the idea of the speaker being a squatter, so if they were kicked out they would be homeless. We tried to imagine how a squatter could live somewhere without the owner finding out. We eventually came up with the idea that the squatter was staying in a hunting cabin in the woods throughout Winter, thinking it was abandoned. Then, in Spring the owner returns to discover them. 






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