07.03.2020 - FEST - Final Performance

WORKSHOP

We did a workshop in the morning with Larisa Faber.  She is a successful actress in Germany and Luxembourg.  We started off with getting our bodies moving with a quick game of Stuck in the Mud.  This was quite a good ice breaker with people we hadn't met before as we had to get quite close to them.  We all worked well as a team.  Then we did some stretches and massaged our legs and feet.  This was very soothing and well-needed.  We then started massaging our faces and stretching them out to make our jaws relaxed.  To help relax our jaw, we put our hands in front of our face and shook them with our mouth open.  We got into pairs and I went with Louis.  We then had to do an exercise where one person was the actor and the other was the director.  We had to each hold the other person's right hand with our right hand.  Then the director would move the person around how they wanted the actor to move.  For example, if the director rolled on the floor, the actor would have to roll too. We had to have a lot of trust in our pairs so we could trust that they wouldn't make us do any movement that would hurt us.  I was quite lucky as Louis and I are friends so we have trust in each other whereas some people paired up with people they didn't know.  Then we switched roles.  Then we started saying our monologues within this activity.  Louis used his fragmented monologue with James and Tristan and I used my monologue after the mirrored chair duet.  When the director would move a certain way, the actor had to try respond with their voices as well as their bodies.  For example, if I pulled Louis closer to me, he would whisper because I would be right next to him and he wouldn't need to be so loud.  Then we did the same activity without holding each other's arm.  If the director ran back super fast, the actor would have to run after them attempting to keep the same distance between them.  This was obviously a bit harder to react to as it wasn't as authentic, but when doing a piece of theatre, it won't be authentic like it's happening in real time, but we, as actors will have to portray it like it is authentic.  Larisa was very accepting of everything we did and praised moments when we felt uncomfortable or shy because we could learn off of them.  After that, we discussed what our objective was for our monologue.  It was a bit more difficult for the characters doing direct audience address, but we soon figured out an objective for why everyone was saying what they were saying.  My reason was to try get the audience to sympathise with my character.  With this new objective in mind, Larisa went round all of us and made us try and get our partner to stay interested on what we were saying and not loose interest.  Larisa wanted us to experiment entirely with absolutely everything, even if we didn't plan on using it in our piece.  There were points where we were shouting, singing, dancing and jumping around.  It was a lot of fun and gave us an entirely new perspective on things which were hilarious.

WARM UP

Once we finished the workshop, we went to go have a little break and eat.  Then we started to do our makeup and get into costume.  We then went upstairs to have a small warm up.  First we played Zip, Zap, Boing to make ourselves more energetic.  After that, we stretched our muscles and then did a speed run through.  This was to see if we knew all of our cues and it was so much fun.  Everyone was saying their lines but in double speed so it was super funny to see us all running around. 

PERFORMANCE

The performance went really considering we were all feeling very nervous.  I think the nerves properly kicked in when we were backstage and we could hear the audience coming in.  Once the music was on I think we all just got our head's in the game and went for it.  I'm glad that we had a physical theatre movement at the start as it was a comforting way to begin the play.  We were all very smooth and made sure we had eye contact so a relationship was shown through the characters.  I like that we all really committed and even though we should have thought of it earlier, we added in a few lines when we thought it would make more sense.  For example, I added that Tristan lied to me too so the audience wouldn't get confused that I'm not a bad person after all.  Although I'm very happy with the outcome, a few things could have gone better.  For example, I messed up one of my lines in the fragmented monologue between Amelie and I.  Luckily, she noticed and picked it up quite quickly.  Another thing that went wrong is that the sound cue was slightly off for our mirrored chair duet.  What made it even harder to fix was that Amelie and I had the first move but couldn't see the other person.  Luckily, Tristan and Louis could see what was going on so they made sure that we timed it perfectly.  When I was doing my scene with Tristan, I spilt the "gin" all down my arm and face.  I tried to carry on and just roll with it.  The final thing that didn't go to plan was that because the staging blocks were too far forward, I tripped on them.  Luckily, as I'm the "local drunk", this wasn't too much of a bad situation.  Overall, the audience reacted very well to this piece.  They were laughing a lot at many different things I didn't expect to get such a large reaction out of.  I'm really happy with how everyone did and the energy we kept up throughout.  I'm really proud of us for creating something so fun and amazing.

05.03.2020 - FEST - Mr Lemon

DRESS REHEARSAL 

We did a dress rehearsal in front of a few members of staff and students.  I'm very happy with how this turned out and people seemed to enjoy it.  I hadn't eaten anything all day but I had 2 coffees so my body was shaking a lot.  I'm glad this happened in the dress rehearsal and now I know that I'll eat something before hand.

REHEARSAL

We then did some touching up on some scenes which Mr Lemon's help.  He gave us some raw audience feedback as he hadn't watched the show yet.  Some things we need to work on before our final performance on Saturday are:

• Mirrored Chair Duet 
• This is a little bit out of time so we need to make sure we fix our synchronicity
• Hugo and Amelie train scene
• They needed to look more like family and less awkward
• Louis, Tristan and James fight scene
• They needed greater reactions and slow down some parts to build up tension and make James's character more dominant and controlling
• Enhancing Seth's character

RUN THROUGH

We then did a full run through to see if we could apply these new changes to the performance.  I wasn't in the right mindset and I was muddling everything up.  I think I lost a bit of faith so I needed to just get my head back in the game and think properly.  Overall I think we did quite well.

04.03.2020 - FEST - Mrs Williams

RUN THROUGH

We did a run through once we got into costumes.  As this was the first time putting on the costumes, some didn't fit or were too difficult to move in so some people have to try get some other things to wear.  We didn't do a warm up so we weren't more flexible or energised.
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NOTES 

• Didn't warm up so too tired at beginning
• Like the overlapping lines but need to look at the way they say them
• Need a transition between fragmented monologue to the mirrored chair duet
• Need to include the relationship between Jane and Dave in fragmented monologue and include Dave's jealousy
• Need the boys to react more to Meredith and Jane's monologues
• Need to show that the boys being up all night
• Then need to show the passage of time from 7am to Jane coming into the bar
• Laurent saying 'she doesn't have friends'
• Laurent and Charles need more energy in their voice
• Scene 9 and 10 need help
• Charles hair in eyes
• Could have the Brighton folk in the brother's bar - Marie planning the wedding
• Fred puts the music on because joke didn't make sense
• Need a scene between Dave telling Harry about Meredith cheating to Harry telling Meredith to get up 
• Possibly have yoga with Marie and Meredith planning wedding
• Charles react more to the speech to Marie
• Have music playing after everyone says Happy Engagement - plays - all awkward and silent with "I think I wanna marry you" playing - Fred turns it off
• Jane accents

SCENE 2-3

There isn't enough of an introduction to my character so we've decided to add in a little bit of context into the boys' fragmented monologues.  When they say "boys", Amelie and I come in and hug our significant others and James explains our relationship.  This is a good transition to scene 3.  James also suggested that we start the mirrored chair duets too soon so with this new transition, it works quite well and lets us have the music playing for a little longer.

SCENE 5

We've added in a short monologue for my character before she goes into the bar to see Dave.  This shows the passage of time as the scene before makes it appear that it's very early in the morning but this technique helps to show it's later on in the day.  I felt like my character was too much like myself so I've exaggerated an accent so that the whole characterisation is different.

WARM UP

After lunch we did an actual warm up.  First we did some solo stretching to loosen our bodies and then we got into pairs.  In these pairs, one person had to hold the other person's wrists and try to keep them away from touching their shoulders.  We then switched who was holding and who was trying to hit the shoulders.  Then we did an exercise where we had to hold hands in a circle besides one person.  That person had to try touch a specific person in the circle but everyone in the circle had to keep that person safe.  It was a lot of effort and warmed us up.

SCENE 9 

This scene is a bit lost within the plot so we've attempted to rephrase it and make it more prominent.  Then we did some improvisation with Amelie, Silvana and I to pretend we see each other for the first time in a while.  After completing that scene, it just still seemed a bit too lost so we've scrapped it and now they're going to see each other in the bar.  We had to change a few lines from the previous scene to make it work however, it's not too much.  Now it goes from Seth and Silvana's scene to a split scene of the bar, then James shows the passage of time in audience address and then Seth and Silvana being in the bar planning the party.  There isn't the meeting point now which helps.

RUN THROUGH

We then did some more run throughs to help us some more.  In this run through, we tried altering some scenes as we went along.
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22.02.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

WARM UP

For our warm up we did some sprints from one side of the room to the other.  After a few sprints, we added in a jump in the middle of the room.  We had to run to the middle, jump, run to the end of the room, run back to the middle, jump again and then run back.  After a few times of that, we had to jump up then touch the floor and run.  Finally, after a few times of that, we did a few runs with touching the floor, then jumping, then touching the floor again.  This made us all warm and ready to work.

MIRRORED CHAIR DUET

We first started off by doing the mirrored chair duet between Louis and Amelie, and Tristan and I.  We've already learnt the choreography for this chair duet but I think Tristan and I need to practice this a lot.  We aren't confident enough yet so this really needs to be improved so that Amelie, Louis, Tristan and I are all in sync.

RUN THROUGH

After the mirrored chair duets, we did a run through of everything we had done from start to as far as we got.  This went quite well but we needed to sort out the order of the plot and our fluency from one scene to another.

PLOT CHANGES AND ORDER

We've changed the plot a bit to make the ending make more sense.  Before, we didn't have a complete understanding of what happens to our characters and it was all a bit vague.  This is the new scene order:

• Prologue
• Fred's monologue
• Bar movement involving everyone
• 3 boys fragmented monologue
• Mirrored chair duet
• Jane and Meredith's fragmented monologues
• 3 boys argument
• David and Jane plotting
• Jane planting seeds inside Harry's mind
• Swindon 5 train station 
• Meredith asking Laurent to walk her down the aisle
• Charles explaining why he doesn't want to marry Marie
• Swindon 5 train station
• Laurent, Charles and Marie talk
• Awkward bar scene - David ranting, Laurent there, Fred splits it up
• 3 boys singing Sweet Caroline - David tells Harry that Meredith is cheating
• Harry and Meredith get into fight
• See Charles and Meredith's past relationship as Charles comforts her
• David's reveal of lies about cheating - Jane breaks up with David
• Harry and Meredith happy
• Charles and Marie argue but then propose
• Laurent and Jane happy

ENDING

We finished off our rehearsal with figuring out the ending to our piece.  First, we had a scene in the bar where David needs to get through all of the people he's hurt.  We used physical theatre with round, by, through to show this.  Then once he passes Jane, Meredith and Harry, he gets to Fred at the bar and downs a pint as Jane, Meredith and Harry give him a hateful stare.  He gets another pint and sits at the edge of the stage, centre stage.  Jane, Meredith and Harry walk up to him until he's enclosed and then walk away.  After this, Fred has a monologue describing what all the characters are going through.  Then the prologue we have at the start is done again, but as an epilogue.  We are also with different characters depending on our new relationships with people.  Then, in this physical theatre movement with lifts and round, by, through, we find a good position to freeze in to show the relationship between the characters.  After that, we all come together to do a bow.

15.02.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

WARM UP
For the warm up, we joined with the LAMDA drama group and did a jumping exercise.  We stood in three rows all facing the front.  The first row had to jump 8 times and on the 8th, face the other way. The second row had the then jump 8 times and on the 8th, face the other way.  Then the 3rd row had to do the same but once they jumped to face the other way, they had to jump 6 more times and on the 6th go the other way.  This carries on going down the line from 8 to 6 to 4 to 2 to 1.  It took a lot of concentration as well, so both our bodies and minds were warming up.  The next exercise was called "Should Have Said".  We got into pairs and had to tell the other person about our morning.  Every time the person listening thought it was boring, they would say "should have said" so the first person would have to change the last thing they said to something more exciting until the stories became wacky.

CHAIR DUET
Louis and Amelie decided to use their chair duet but include Tristan and I to show the relationship between us as well.  We thought it would be cool to have the chair duet mirrored.  It was very fun but quite difficult to learn.  We will need to practice quite a lot to remember all of the moves smoothly and also get in time with Louis and Amelie.
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13.02.20 - FEST - Ms Trono

Today's rehearsal was quite short due to the parents evening.  This also meant that there weren't many people available.  I spent this rehearsal helping Silvana and Hugo with their monologues.  For Silvana's, she was talking about how her boyfriend doesn't want to propose to her.  We made it quite comedic with excessive details on her dream dress for example.  Hugo's monologue was about the conflict within himself as he doesn't know if he should tell Amelie that her friends were talking about her behind her back.  We also helped come up with some ideas for Amelie and Louis' break up scene.  I think the easiest way to show the lack of trust would be through a chair duet but we already have quite a lot of those so they decided to try something different like round, by, through.  We all came up with that they both still loved each other but lost that lack of trust, so they attract and then repel.

12.02.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

MOVEMENT SEQUENCE AND CHAIR DUET

We created a movement sequence for the opening bar scene.  We got into pairs which would work the most realistically.  I went with James because even though I start dating Tristan, we hadn't met at this point and that is what happens in this scene.  The other pairs were Louis and Tristan, Amelie and Silvana and Hugo and Seth.  Within the pairs, we had to create a set of movements to a count of 8 so that we could put it in a loop.  For example, with James and I, my counts were, grab the beer glass, take a glug, cheer, slam it down and slide it to James.  James had the same amount of beats as I did but he was being a bar tender so cleaning the glasses and filling them up with beer.  James and I slid the glasses at the same time so the other person caught it.  I also had to play drunk as I drink more and more.  I came into the scene first, then Louis and Tristan, then Amelie and Silvana and finally Hugo and Seth.  Every time the pairs went up to the bar, I had to interact with the partners.  When the boys came, I had to try flirt with them and when the girls came, I tried to dance with them.  After the 3 pairs came up to the bar, Tristan came back up and I did a chair duet with him.  This was to show how we met.  We wanted to make the chair duet look as fresh as possible with a real connection.  One way we showed this was through having our faces extremely close together.  It was quite difficult to make this chair duet as we weren't on staging blocks.
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For this scene, we used the song Friday I'm In Love by The Cure as a stimulus.  We liked the fun atmosphere it brought out of the characters and the scene.
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After this scene it goes straight into a scene between Tristan, Louis and James where they have an argument.

PROLOGUE

We decided that it would be best to change the characters around a bit so Tristan was now playing David instead of Hugo and now Hugo was playing Jeff (now changed to Laurent), Meredith's sister.  The prologue we started with now didn't work with the new story line so we had to change some things round a bit.  I stayed the same but now had to teach Tristan the choreography that Hugo had previously.  After that, we went into the bar scene we created this morning and fragmented monologues between Tristan, Louis and Harry.

SWINDON 5

Then we created a Swindon 5 piece to portray the train station when Laurent goes to see Meredith in London.  It started off very choreographed so everyone was evenly spaced apart and we didn't have specific characters, it was more neutral.  Then after testing the waters we gave ourselves specific characters.  I was an old lady so I also walked very slowly and people overtook me.  We also added the specific places so it didn't look as if we were walking around aimlessly.  We had a cafe downstage left, the departure board downstage right and the platform upstage left.

FULL RUN THROUGH

At the end we had a full run through of the material we had so far and it worked out really well.  We also timed it to see how much content we had and it came to around 15 minutes.  This was a lot better than what we were expecting.  I think we're all a lot more motivated and excited.

06.02.20 - FEST - Own Rehearsal

After school, we did a rehearsal.  We tried to really get some more of the connections between the characters shown through physical theatre.  We worked on the relationship between David, Jane and their siblings.  We started off by having Hugo and I doing a chair duet.  We attempted to show the argument between our characters through this.  For example, in the chair duet, I push Hugo away.  We then proceed to get up and do round, by, through to show the conflict in the character's heads as they want to stay with each other but also don't get along and argue a lot.  Louis had a lot of ideas so he stepped in for Hugo for a bit.
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22.01.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

LOYALTY CHOREOGRAPHY

In this rehearsal, we tried to combine the poems we had from the previous lesson as stimuli to create more for our loyalty choreography.  I think the movement and poem helped give more context but if we were to use it, we'd need more direction because it needed to show some more emotion.

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Louis, James and Tristan.

• I liked their chair duet because it seemed effortless and I liked how fast and smooth it was.
• The movements in their chair duet were good.
• I liked how they intertwined their characters in the piece.

Hugo and Seth

• Their lift was controlled and smooth.

Emma, Silvana and Amelie

• The puppet section was creative and effective.
• The poem worked well within the piece.
• We showed a good storyline.
• We used different frantic assembly methods.

WHAT IF?

What if we intertwined our groups?
What if we had more than one storyline?
What if we include a monologue in the choreography?
What if we used the puppet movement to show Louis and Amelie's controlling relationship?

DEVISING NOTES

We took some inspiration by looking at different pieces of art by Damien Hurst and Tracy Emin, including Bedroom.  The idea of art being totally subjective is a great place to start a piece.  We used the piece Bedroom to create a short piece of theatre which lead up to the bedroom looking like the piece of art.


LOYALTY CHOREOGRAPHY

We spent some more time on our choreography with the poem but wanted to make it fit with our piece and the characters within our piece so we switched Amelie with Silvana and James took Silvana's place.  This shows the dynamics between James and I fighting over Silvana's attention.
After that, we created the potential opening scene with different Frantic Assembly methods.  We were in pairs to show the more dominant relationships between the characters.  The couples are, in order, Seth and Tristan, Silvana and James, Emma and Hugo, Amelie and Louis.  We each went off in our pairs and created a quick movement sequence with only one starting point which was the running into the scene.  I think we progressed very well and it turned out great.  I also like how we each had a line to incorporate in the movement.  I think the overlapping is really cool as well.
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20.01.20 - FEST - Ms Trono

In this lesson, we spent a bit of time going over everything we had previously done.  We then rehearsed the loyalty choreography we made from last lesson and performed it to the group.  After that, we discussed the points of which group we liked.

Seth and Hugo

• They made the storyline very clear
• Their clamp lift was smooth

Louis and James

• Their round, by, through was really smooth and effective
• They incorporated the chair duets and lift well

Amelie, Silvana and Emma

• Our hip lift looked very effortless
• The chair duet showed the theme of loyalty

Chair Duet - Mrs Williams

FRANTIC ASSEMBLY
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We took inspiration and a lot of tips from this video to help us form our chair duets.  There were 9 people in our group so we got into pairs with one group of three.  We each made a chair duet and then found a way to link it all together.  I found this exercise very fun and interesting to find different points of contact and ways to link things together.  I found it difficult at the start to figure out a way to make our movements rapid but smooth however, the video helped with that a lot.

OUR CHAIR DUET
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