First meeting with supervisor - Jo Scott

Today we met with our supervisor Jo Scott for the first time, which I personally found to be a very positive experience. We spoke in great detail about what we wanted to achieve in terms of this piece, and I think she seemed quite impressed and intrigued. We expressed that we really wanted to focus on this aspect of immersive theatre and draw on Brechtian techniques, such as breaking down the fourth wall, multi rolling and exploring this idea that in epic theatre actors play character believably but still with this element of the audience being clear that the actors have not 'become' the characters. We want to create this aspect that we are actors playing characters not actors becoming a character or another person, we want the audience to be constantly wondering who we may play next. Additionally i think if we have this, audience members will feel and aspect of relatability to these characters, if we play them in a heightened manner. However, we want there to be a part of the audience that feels as though they cannot feel empathy towards the characters we play with onstage, as our piece will be so fast paced they will not have the time, and we will not give them that time during the play, they will leave the theatre and ponder on it later. 

Additionally we highlighted to Jo that we want this play to come across as 'a play within a play', in that we are putting on a play about the cafe as well as there being an inner narrative of actors being controlled and instructed into the different roles within the cafe and the audience being fully informed of this. 

Jo made a few suggestions, that we need to explore this idea of immersive theatre and how we set to achieve this in our final performance. So I suggested that we could perhaps experiment with exploring a few scenes in the university cafeteria and see how people react to us in a very public setting. 

Additionally because we highlighted we are wanting to create some puppets for the old couple scene and Jo highlighted that we really need to consider how we want to achieve this, as it is something that is very stylised and needs to be worked on well or it will not have a good effect on the audience and we risk it looking stupid. Furthermore Jo has instigated that our piece seems quite like the Carryl Churchill play, Love and Information, so it is apparent that we will need to do some research there. 

Week 4 w/c 13th October

WEEK 4 

In our piece there is a strong focus on characterisation, due to the fact that we multi role throughout. So, because I have a strong interest personally of exploring characterisation, so Beth L had me lead a rehearsal where we explored some of the characters in our piece. I find that when exploring a character, it is important to take your time and try out as much as possible no matter how wrong it may feel. 

So to begin the session, I had myself, Beth L and Cat (Beth D did not turn up to the session) all walk around the space as if we were all playing Sally, I had them try to stop in the space as Sally, look out the window as Sally and pretend items around the room were parts of her cafe, such as using the curtain around the room as a door or dusting it to insinuate it was an ornament. I decided to step out and just guide Beth L and Cat, I also decided to play music alongside this exercise to see whether it would inspire them to explore a different way to move or how to experiment with pace. 

 Beginning the session by walking around the room, in a neutral position then introducing the idea of walking like Sally. 

 Cat stopping at the whiteboard as Sally, pretending to perhaps update the cafe menu, and Beth L watching as Sally. I stopped them from speaking, so that there was a focus on their physicality and non verbal communication. 

 I introduced the idea of different music to provoke certain emotions such as :- 

• Happy 
• Sad
• Anger 
• Lust/Seductive
• Mental/Emotional unstable
• Dominating

 In these 4 images, Beth L has stopped playing Sally and Cat has focused her energy as Sally to reflect anger towards Beth, by speaking Sally's monologue with as much anger instilled in her vocals and her body language. I was also playing a piece of rock music in the background to encourage her to delve into Sally's anger. I found that if I told Cat why she was angry that helped, as she could relate to why maybe Sally was angry and use her own anger to reflect this as Sally. 

 Additionally we experimented with the emotion of Lust and seduction, again we had some lustful music playing in the background. I asked Cat to try and seduce Beth whilst she was sat on a chair, whilst speaking Sally's monologue. Cat struggled with this a little, as I think she felt a little embarrassed and self conscious to begin with, but she managed to warm up to it eventually after I swapped her and Beth round so they both had a go at being seductive. I think that this was a useful exercise, as whilst speaking and moving, there seemed to some sort of correlation in between the two. In that when leering towards Beth, Cat changed her vocals to be more wistful and almost whispering in her ear. I think this was useful for Cat to explore as Sally, as I think it will make her think about how she moves across the stage and how she perhaps delivers certain lines to the audience to receive a certain reaction. 

 

 

 I then instructed Cat to think about her status in the piece as Sally, and to think about controlling how Beth moves across the space, with just her eyes and no head or body gestures. Again I played some music that gave Cat the confidence to command the room, and I told her to try and get Beth to move around the room for her and move objects for Cat. Additionally, I put myself into the mix and had Cat sit on a chair and command both myself and Beth to bring her up to standing from sitting in the chair with just her eyes and her arm gestures. As someone who is being guided to do something, you find yourself being more aware of what Cat may or may not be asking us to do. I think this is a good exercise in terms of exploring trust within a company, as well as having the trust to explore improvisation during a performance. Because in this piece Beth D and I are the 'actors' and there is this aspect of Sally controlling us, I think it is important to perhaps consider this exercise, so it is disappointing that Beth D did not turn up today to experience this.

 The space in which we rehearsed today. 

We then went on to explore Mildred and Barry as a couple, unfortunately because Beth D did not turn up we had to ask Beth L to fill in as Barry for me, so I could explore the script and the character of Mildred. I see Mildred to be this very heightened character, who is very bossy and cares very much about what people think about her and most importantly her family. In some ways I would say that Mildred reminds me of a Yorkshire version of Hyacinth Bucket from 'Keeping up appearances. 

 

We improvised with the idea that Mildred had some of her grandchildren round for tea (Beth L and Cat) and they were causing some havoc for Mildred, such as moving furniture, shouting and demanding biscuits. This then gave me some purpose to explore how Mildred would react and act on what Mildred's impulses may be, such as bossing them around and telling them off, and moving around the stage to make sure everything was in its correct place. I see Mildred as a perfectionist, constantly cleaning her home, bossing Barry about to run errands for her. Additionally I think that Mildred is an overly organised person, making sure that she knows exactly what she wants to buy her family for Christmas, I would compare Mildred to Hyacinth Bucket (Played by Patricia Routledge) because they both control their husbands, and both of their husbands very much have a "Yes dear" mentality, for what may seem an easy life. Additionally similarly to Hyacinth, I think Mildred is very much focused on 'Keeping up appearances', in that she wants her neighbours, peers and family, to think that she is an outstanding citizen at everything in which she does, whether it be cooking christmas dinner or buying the best secret Santa gift. Furthermore, I believe that there is nothing more that Mildred would enjoy than gossiping about her neighbors and turning up her noses to some of their decisions etc.

Room Bookings for next week 

Week 3 w/c 6th October

WEEK 3

It seems as though we have had a really positive week this week. We have finally got the piece up on it's feet, which is really exciting. 

Contrasting couples
With this scene, we want to reflect 2 couples that are very much contrasting, in that one is very much in love, whilst the other is on the brink of a break up. We want this scene to be very fast paced jumping from one couple to the next, with us as actors changing character as we run across the stage. We have experimented with both couples, mostly with improvisation.

Couple 1 - Breaking up - Tony and Jessica.
Tony is trying desperately to justify the fact that he has slept with another woman because he was 'drunk', which to him seems an acceptable excuse. 

Couple 2 - Madly in love - Barbara and Fred.
A couple who have not been dating for longer than 2 weeks, and are very much head over heels 'in love' and already see each other as soul mates. 

We found it really hard to establish the 2 differences between the two couples. We found that to make them seem more contrasting we would perhaps need to experiment with melodrama with one of the couples which we found would be better suited to the 'Madly in love' couple. 

We felt as though it came across too literal and predictable having both couples portrayed in a naturalistic fashion. So by having the 'Madly in love' couple portrayed in a melodramatic, there will be a bigger contrast. In terms of vocals and physicality in regards to portraying melodramatic characters, there will need to be a focus on exaggerated body language, such as a gentleman making a large gesture to pull out a chair, followed by a big greeting of kissing a lady on the cheek. In regards to vocals, it will need to remain heightened, loud and exaggerated to give this sense of none naturalism. In regards to accents I see this couple reflecting an RP British Accent, whereas the breaking up couple will reflect a northern accent. 

Opening monologue to the piece. 
Sally, the cafe owner, will open the piece with an introduction into her thoughts and reflection onto people. 

"People are brilliant aren’t they? I mean yeah, they start wars and are purveyors of disasters and shit but in general they are brilliant. The basic humanity of mankind is a touching spectacle. We all have hidden strength inside. The kind of strength that allows a mother to lift a car off her infant child while a towering inferno engulfs a six car pileup on the…what’s that big long motorway… the M1… No the M6 that’s it. Okay bit of a strong example granted. Or, or an old man to suddenly springing from his chair after walking with a Zimmer frame for years just to dance one last time. Ok that was morbid. What’s wrong with you Sally? Or… ooooh this is a good ‘un or a man diving into a river to rescue a puppy. We all like Puppies. If you don’t like puppies get out right now. I’m not even joking. Leave. Seriously Sal what’s wrong with you? Stay if you want just know I’ll hold it against you.
                                                                                (pause)
 Point is I am a great believer in people and I get some great characters in here believe me. Like there was this one time when we had a busy afternoon in the café (enter Debbie and Hannah) (Debbie drops the table or something she is holding) (Sally looks round) Oh don’t mind her. Y’all right Debbie love? Yeah yeah she’s fine. Anyway as I was saying there was this one day when we had a busy one and I saw the best contrast between couples I have ever seen in my life."

With this monologue, I almost see it as stream of consciousness that Sally is revealing to the audience, almost as though she is continuing her cafe duties as she wanders around the cafe revealing her thoughts on people. Also I would argue that this breaks down the fourth wall of Sally speaking to the audience in asking rhetorical and legitimate questions. This week we have experimented with placing tables all around the room in order for Cat to get a feeling as Sally where audience will be seated around the performance space and how she can move around the space and have some sort of purpose when delivering Sally's monologue and inviting the audience to feel included and on the same level. 


Supervisor announcement 
For this project we will be assigned a supervisor who will guide us throughout this project, we have been assigned Jo Scott, who is new to the University this year, but has already been assigned as my personal tutor, luckily for me. I am excited to work with Jo as I feel as though it will be a beneficial experience to work with someone new and I feel as though from what I already know, Jo will have a great deal of valuable advice and guidance for us. 

Props list

Ideas for props.

• Crate/pallet - To possibly paint with blackboard paint and write the cafe menu on.
• Tables - 1 long table, with maybe 4/5 smaller tables. 
• Jars and Bottles to put tea lights in the middle of tables
• Mugs and cups
• Barista/coffee machine
• Puppets - Made out of MDF in a cross shape, with the arms on hinges coming out and across, with a polystyrene head. 
• Metal coffee pot for Sally to walk around the space with, offering people tea and coffee. 
• Possible white screen to create shadow effects with puppets. 
• Table cloths
• Potentially a pram for the young family scene
• Sugar bowls etc 

We had a meeting with Ian Currie, the technical support guy and he confirmed that he would be happy to create a prototype for the puppets. We had a look through the props department and we were able to find a great deal of what we needed, we just found that we may need to purchase some cups and plates to use if we want to provide cake and drinks for the audience. 

In regards to the tables and chairs, we want them to be as miss match as possible, to create this idea of a quirky looking cafe. Also this will highlight how all over the place this piece is in the fact that it does not have a continuing story line. 

Work colleagues - Exploration

Character profile 

Richard (AKA Dick) 

Richard is the office flirt, he would flirt with the photocopier if it had a heartbeat. He is very loud and outspoken, and somewhat reckless, not always thinking before he speaks. He is well known throughout the office as a ladies man and sees himself as a bit of a 'stud'. I would compare Richard to Daniel Cleaver, in terms of his attitudes towards women, mannerisms and the way in which he speaks.

Daniel Cleaver (Played by Hugh Grant) In Bridget Jones' Diary.

For example, in terms of speech I think that Richard would be somewhat well spoken, but also slightly smarmy, in the fact that he says things such as "Do you fancy a muffin? I certainly like your muffin." And then smacking her bottom. 

Week 2 week commencing 29th September

Week 2 

Now that we have somewhat come up with a proposed running order for our piece, we decided to spend some time as a group working on character development and writing certain scenes. 

1. Two young couples - Contrasting - These 2 couples will explore, 1 couple on the brink of a break up and the 1 couple deeply in love. We want to create 2 very melodramatic and over the top scenes, that highlights the extremes of types of "loving" relationships. Additionally, we want this scene to be very fast paced switching from the two couples constantly. 
2. Mildred & Barry (Intro from Sally) - Mildred and Barry are a middle aged couple from Yorkshire, who seem to be constantly arguing. Mildred always keeps Barry in line, they are both very much consumed by the family life with Barry constantly agreeing with Mildred's bold ways in pursuit of a easy life. 
3. Old Couple/New parents - For these 2 couples we plan on using puppets to create the old couple, creating an almost a more engaging element, which will highlight the relationship between an old couple that have been together for a long number of years, with the use of very comforting and supporting movements to highlight their loving relationship. The puppets will be controlled by us actors and we plan to be attached to them from the hips up to our wrists, so we can use our hands. For the young parents, we see this scene just to be complimented by music and movement. 
4. Work Collegues - This scene will delve into that awkward sexual tension after a one night stand at the work Christmas party. Richard AKA "Dick" and Andrea used to be in a long term relationship whilst working in the same office, until Richard got a little too drunk at the work Christmas party and had sex with Sarah, bringing Andrea and Richard's relationship to a dramatic end. This scenes sees Andrea and Richard being forced into working together and taking a lunch meeting in the cafe. 
5. Exes (Sally) - This ending scene gives us an insight into Sally, the barista and the leader of the piece. This scene explores how Sally had been left by an ex to deal with pregnancy and homelessness by herself. The ex makes and unexpected appearance in the cafe a number of years after he abandoned her, which obviously does not go down well.

Exploration of Mildred & Barry 

Cat and Beth L wrote the scene for Mildred and Barry, myself I will play Mildred and Beth D will play Barry. In this scene, Mildred and Barry are in heavy disputes as what to buy their relatives for Christmas and who to send Christmas cards to. 

Mildred comes across very bossy and controlling over Barry, she is quite loud and obnoxious with her opinions and very demanding of Barry's attention. On the other hand she is very kind and loving and comes over as a perfectionist. Barry seems like a 'yes man' and will do his best for a quiet life and keep Mildred happy and restrain her from yelling at him. If I were to compare Mildred and Barry to another couple it would be Judith and Peter from Come fly with me. (See link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRaF9NzzuEQ

I would compare Mildred and Barry to Judith and Peter due to the fact they are both also a very comedic duo who always seem to find themselves in dodgy situations, which I also imagine Mildred and Barry doing also. Also Judith is very dominating over Peter, never letting him have a word in at all, similarly to Barry consistently agreeing with his wife responding "yes dear".


Room Bookings for next week. 

Proposed running order of piece

1. Sally opening monologue
2. Two young couples - Contrasting
3. Mildred & Barry (Intro from Sally)
4. Middle ages couple
5. Old Couple/New parents
6. Sally monologue
7. Work Collegues
8. Happy Young Couple
9. Exes (Sally)
10. Woman Alone

WEEK 1! The proposal for our piece

Week 1! 

So it all begins this week! We have all met up as a group and heavily discussed our ideas, after a year group meeting with our lecturers, it was established that we would need to collaborate as a group and create a proposal form of what we want to achieve/create in this project.  

To begin, as a group we came across our first issue this week, which was the number of members in the group. In this project we aim to multi role throughout, with the constant character of the barista/owner of the coffee shop "Sally". Because Beth is the Director, she would not be able to heavily involved as a actor in this piece, which she would be required to do if there was only 3 of us. So we made a decision as a group to recruit a new member of the group, who happened to be looking for a group to work with in the first place, Beth Dickinson. I believe it will be a lot easier having 4 members of the group, as myself and Beth D can multi role as the different couples/individuals that come into the coffee shop, Cat can remain as Sally throughout, and Beth L can direct with a small role maybe towards the end of this piece. I am excited to work with Beth D, as I have never worked with her before so it will be a positive experience, as well a valuable learning curve for me to work with somebody new.

As a group we discussed at great length what we wanted to achieve in regards to the process and the final product. In my eyes I see the piece to be like a play within a play, so the audience know that they are watching a piece of theatre, and because our piece reflects on relatable elements of witnessing characters and relationships in a cafe, they can find themselves almost feeling somewhat close to the characters. Additionally I think that it may work well if we make it obvious that Beth L is the director, as we could have her at the side of the stage, almost correcting us at certain moments, which I believe will make the audience feel more included. I would want the audience to know that we are actors, so in between scenes I think it would work well if we have Beth D and I changing the set and perhaps having moments of confusion and idiocy, to create laughs and make the audience wonder where we will go next. Additionally we are hoping to explore this idea of highs and lows throughout the piece, so that the audience find themselves on this roller coaster journey experiencing all of these characters. As well as drawing from William Shakespeare idea of creating "Something for everyone" within a play, so having a moment of tragedy but then a couple of scenes before or after there would be an aspect of comedy.

In regards to the practitioners in which we wish to explore, I believe that they will compliment each other well. As Berkoff and Brecht are similar in regards to creating a empathetic reaction from the audience in regards to the characters reflected onstage, with the use of physical movements and the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) to provoke us as Actors to destroy all realms of naturalism by addressing the audience, as well as other conventions such as women playing men. Berkoff uses the alienation effect throughout his plays, for example in East, where the fourth wall is broken down, similarly to how Brecht practiced, and intended for audiences to draw on issues that are arisen in his plays.

I have found whilst doing some research, that in the modern day directors are reflecting this idea that Brecht and Berkoff work well together. As for example in this play (youtube clip down below) the play starts with an introduction that is highly phyicalised to introduce the characters that are soldiers. The director achieves this idea of soldiers through the way in which the soldiers move across the stage, with their body language reflecting a well framed posture and strict and restricted movements, such as marching across the stage. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD26oq_DE8w

Additionally Berkoff is stimulated by Brecht's work in that, he reflects the style in which he dressed the stage. The stage is always bare and minimalistic as a way of "preventing the audience from experiencing a detailed illusion of reality, of some fictional dramatic location." There is always this aspect of the knowledge that you are indeed watching a play, so for Brecht when staging a play, the back wall would often to exposed as was the way lighting was generated so the audience could see the atmosphere directly being created. 

In our piece I feel as though Berkoff's techniques in regards to physical theatre can help us to create certain characters in the end product of our piece. Physical theatre will help in the story telling in our piece as it is important to be able to differientiate between the different characters and their relationships. I believe that physical theatre is a great way to almost narrate the piece as we can use our bodies to reflect character and status through gesture, mime and repetitive movements. 

Beth L has asked me to be stage manager for this piece, which I am more than happy to do. I have never been a stage manager before, so it will be a new and positive experience for me, that I know I will learn a lot from. It will mean that I will be in charge of booking rooms, liaising with lighting and sound and keeping on top of what props we may want to include in the piece. Realistically I need ensure that I support the rest of the group with their technical roles to make sure that the piece remains organised. 

Bibliography 

1. HSC Online - Topic 5: Brecht. 2014. HSC Online - Topic 5: Brecht. [ONLINE] Available at:http://hsc.csu.edu.au/drama/hsc/studies/topics/2758/Brecht.htm. [Accessed 29 October 2014].

BA3 Theatre / Comedy Projects 2013-14

Proposal Form

Submission Deadline – Thursday 26th September, 4.pm. Submissions to be sent electronically to t.l.crossley@salford.ac.uk

Company Name: The Life sized Puppets

Student Names (& pathway):

* Bethany Leitch- Drama and Theatre

* Lorna Jones- Drama and Theatre

* Beth Dickinson –Drama and Theatre

* Catherine Hallas – Contemporary Theatre

Working Title: Café a la Sal

Project Description: An immersive piece of theatre which shows the audience that people can come from anywhere and have anything happening in their lives. This piece will have similar energy to kneehigh’s production of “The umbrellas of Cherbourg”. The practitioners we are following for inspiration are Berkhoff, Brecht, Godber, Meisner. Berkoff and Godber for their work on physicality for example Metamorphosis and Bouncers. Brecht for his multi-role play and Meisner for his work in the moment.

(Ideas/Themes): Relationships bad/good, the butterfly effect, Love, lust, anger, domestic issues, the morning after, alcohol, loneliness

Project Aims:

* Don’t judge a book by its cover

* Audience feeling empathy towards characters

* The uncertainty of meeting a stranger and the impact you will have on their life.

* To create a piece with highs and lows- delving into the sincere emotions of each character and situation

Suggested Performance Location:

* Black box

Technical/Production requirements:

* Projector?

* Camera, mic

* Lighting

* Sound

* Chairs and tables

* A bar?

* Coffee cups

* Coffee bean bag

Initial Bibliography:

* Kneehigh. (2014). Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNRnZptvqjE. Last accessed 26/09/2014.

* Berkoff. (2004). Metamorphoses (2004) Full Play . Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX-uPAFpaJc. Last accessed 26th Sept 2014.

* Godber. (2012). John Godber's Bouncers - National Tour 2012.Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMqZFXfaknA. Last accessed 26th Sept 2014.

* Brecht- Bertolt Brecht The Laramie Project. (2014). Bertolt Brecht The Laramie Project. . Available: http://sites.duke.edu/dukeinlaramie/tag/bertolt-brecht/. . Last accessed 26th Sept 2014.

* Meisner. (2014). What Is The Meisner Technique?. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgje3PtoQXg. . Last accessed 26th Sept 2014.

Burial: Hiders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY0FLh2EIfs&list=RDzY0FLh2EIfs

I really like this piece of music, I feel as though it would work really well amongst our piece. I can see potential to use it as backing for a perhaps physical theatre piece, perhaps a movement piece highlighting numerous relationships. We are planning to reflect an old aged couple, that I think this piece of music would pair with well, as we could really explore the definitive movements of an older adult, through the way they walk and the way they stand. For example an older aged gentleman may walk with their back bent a little over and with jittery legs due to an old age related illness such as arthritis, they may also have a walking stick to hold themselves a little steadier. Because we are all young adults it will be interesting to explore this type of physicality.

Additionally I think this piece of music may be interesting to use maybe at the end of the piece to tie all of the loose ends and in some may highlight that all of the relationships that we have explored have some similarities. Furthermore, I very much like how the piece varies in pace, which I think will highlight and reflect how we explore highs and lows throughout the piece. The piece of music has moments of silence and of voices speaking, which I think will intrigue and push the audience into perhaps reflecting on highs and lows of the piece as well as perhaps their own personal relationships, which will hopefully provoke some sort of emotional and empathetic response.

Lyrics

"There's a kid somewhere..."

you are the sun and lights 
the sun and lights that come

i adore you
i will always protect you
always protect you

you are the sun and lights
the sun, and lights that come
don't give up. don't give up.

you don't have to be alone!

and you are the sun and lights
the sun and lights that come

"come down to us."

The lyrics of this piece talk about supporting on another saying "don't give up, don't give up" which I think supports our piece well, as although characters in this may seem cut throat at times they are always there for each other. 

Pinterest research boards.

These boards mostly explore my ideas of how I see the cafe to potentially look, I have mostly drawn upon a shabby chic sort of look, but remembering the concept of a "greasy spoon" type cafe. We want to achieve a cafe that looks rather stylish in terms of the furniture but with none of it matching. We want to create this sort of vintage feel to it, so that it seems inviting to the audience when they come to watch the play. 

3rd Year- Semester 1 Theatre Project

So, it's drawing close to semester 1 of third year, scary times! During this first semester, we will be required to develop a theatre project, which will involve creating a 30 minute - an 1 hour piece of theatre, with 3-5 group members. Before we broke off for summer at the end of 2nd year, I established that I wanted to work with Beth Leitch and Cat Hallas, and that we all wanted to explore a piece of theatre that looks into the different relationships in which become highlighted in a public setting such as a cafe. I found that I was lucky to establish who I wanted to work with for this project, and what we would want to achieve for this project quite early as it then meant that we could research for the entirety of summer. Beth from the get go highlighted that she would want to put herself forward to be directer due to the fact that she brought forward the concept of the cafe, as she had had experiences before whilst sitting in cafes where she had come across certain people and relationships and wanted to explore this further through a piece of theatre.

I thought that it would be essential to create an area where we can all put forward ideas and suggestions over the summer months. As an individual I find myself inspired by all sorts of aspects of life day to day, so I thought it would be a great to create a Facebook group so we could constantly keep in contact and share ideas.