27.01.20 - FEST - Ms Trono

MAIN REHEARSAL VIDEO
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WARM UP
For our warm-up we spent some time playing Zip Zap Boing to get our bodies moving and to put us in the right mindset.  This gave us a lot of energy and set the tone for the rest of the rehearsal which was good.

OPENING CHOREOGRAPHY
We continued to practice our opening choreography and refresh our memories.  We then performed it and I think it went quite well.

FIRST MONOLOGUE
We decided as a group that it would be best to have James' character to be the first to speak.  He, as the bar tender, is pretty much the middle of all the action so I think having him open it would be most effective.  We also thought that it would be quite interesting to include some physical theatre around him whilst he is talking, which he could also be involved in.  We got this inspiration from DV8 doing Enter Achilles.
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James was having a hard time doing improvisation for this monologue so we hot seated him to help him think of subjects to talk about.  I think this has helped him, and the rest of us, enough to be able to write a monologue for James' character.
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13.01.20 - FEST - Ms Trono

RELATIONSHIPS

• In-laws
• Bar tender and customer
• Friends
• Husband and wife
• Parents and children
• Siblings

HOT SEATING

Tristan - 30 year old physiotherapist from London.  He played rugby with 1 sister, 1 half-sister (21y/o) and 1 brother.  His dad died and his mum married again. 

• Charles Brown
• 30 years old
• Physiotherapist
• Likes his job - gotten better over the years
• Had a bad rugby injury and wanted to help people with injuries
• Broke shoulder and collar bone
• Watched his dad get pulled from a crashed car
• Dad pushed him into rugby - brought them close
• No one to talk to when his dad died
• 2 siblings (1 boy and 1 girl) 1 half sibling (girl)
• Not bad relationship with siblings but strange relationship with half sister
• Half sister - bit of a hippy

James - Bar tender

• Frederick Normandy
• 35 years old
• Bar tender
• Doesn't like his job
• Bar tending for 5 years
• He needed money and its an easy job
• 6 days a week
• Few consistent customers
• On day off - read, sleep
• Good upbringing
• Liked studying
• No more family 
• Only son left to uni and travelling 
• No siblings
• Parents died
• Doesn't have wife
• Lives by himself

Silvana - Charity Worker for homeless

• Marie Trainer
• 30 years old
• Work at homeless shelter
• Sell paintings for money
• Abstract pieces
• 100 euros per piece usually
• Has a friend that sometimes exhibits in gallery
• 1 old friendly guy - Jeremy - always has smile on face
• Older sister and parents
• Likes helping less fortunate people
• Been privileged and gone travelling and seen people less fortunate so wants to help
• Lives in Chelsea, London

Seth - Opinionated 

• Jeffery Wilkonson
• 42 years old
• Doesn't do anything because he made enough money to retire at young age
• Doesn't want to talk about how he made so much money
• Racing motorbike
• Crashed Harley Davidson and broke arm
• Well off upbringing - 5 bedroom house and private school
• 1 brother - passed away - overdosed
• Only brother on drugs
• He has done drugs - apparently all
• He can control himself 
• Rides motorbike in spare time
• Makes friends everywhere
• Very social
• Passing by London on the way to Scotland to see old friends from school
• Lots of enemies
• Off the radar
• Scared they will find him but has a way to protect himself

Hugo - far right

• David Loth
• 28 years old
• Doesn't work - money from father - real estate
• Plays golf and tennis
• Likes cars - fave - Lamborghini 
• Goes to car shows
• Mum passed away when young
• Older brother but he is in Australia - doesn't see him much
• Brother had bug fight with dad and went off rails
• Far right - wants Brexit and votes for Boris Johnson
• No love interest
• Doesn't date many girls
• Goes to strip clubs
• Quite social and laddish
• Worried girls are after his money

Louis - anxious stationary worker

• Harry Thomas
• Run an office for shipping stationary
• 26 years old
• Well paid job
• Spends a lot of time with fiancée 
• Go on walks, meditates, plays with grass
• Girlfriend introduced meditation
• Wants a stick insect because of positive energy - girlfriend said
• Didn't believe in any of this stuff before girlfriend but trusts her
• Still takes anti-anxiety pills without her knowing
• Had anxiety since he was young
• Started taking pills mid teen years
• Girlfriend says they kill brain cells 
• Girlfriend calls herself spiritual doctor
• She has no qualifications
• Been together 2 and a half years - known for a lot longer
• She is 24 years old
• He believes her theories etc.
• Friends aren't girlfriend biggest fan

Amelie - Homeopathic lady

• Mary Wood - changed to Meredith 
• 24 years old
• Doesn't work - only does activities she enjoys - gets money
• Renowned for herbal remedies
• Everyday grass - lots of benefits - drink like tea - back pains, dislocated knees
• Husband bet life on any remedies
• She needs to tell him what to do 
• Lived with mum - not any more
• Mother doesn't approve of her - narrow minded
• Practice goat yoga daily 
• Makes baskets out of feathers
• Never remembered father - died when 2

Dental nurse - Jane Stephens

• 26 years old
• Enjoys some bits of occupation - likes to talk to people
• Earns good money
• Good and well family - close family
• Has a partner - just dating
• Considers her partners lifestyle as fun
• Likes golf
• Likes her job a lot - long hours
• Had a little girl that almost bit her finger off (worst moment)
• Loves coffee
• "Doesn't need a lot of friends"
• Lost some friends because of boyfriend
• Would like to marry him but isn't going great at the moment
• Boyfriend doesn't believe in marriage

Pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill - Mrs Williams

SCRIPT DETAILS

From what we read, I didn't understand much of the context, being that there is group of so-called 'friends' who go to one of their friends (Sallys) pool.  Sally gets in an accident which results in her getting in a coma.  There are no specific characters so this text is very abstract and could be performed in a vast variety of ways.

WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE TEXT

Our group took the first half of the first page and divided the lines between us to create characters that would make sense.  We had 5 characters, 1 of which we gave lines to to make them appear to be slightly crazy and also very attracted to money.  The character I played took more of a malicious role where they thought that Sally would be better dead so that they could make their fortune off of her. The other 3 characters were more sympathetic and were trying to make the other two understand why killing her would be an awful thing.

WHY DID YOU MAKE THOSE CHOICES

The lines, supported by body language, facial expression and tone of voice, made more sense by splitting the lines in this way in our opinion.  It was very challenging to do so but we persevered.

WHAT WAS THE IMPACT

We made the characters intentions clear to the audience but also still left that mystery and suspense, leaving them guessing what happens next yet giving them just enough context for that half of a page.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT WITH THIS PIECE OF WORK

Hot seating each character would be a good way to portray these roles more effectively.  I would like to expand it a bit more and experiment with choral speaking, setting and proxemics.

SETTING

We set our piece in and by and empty pool with our audience in the round.

The setting we agreed on for our piece