08.02.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

WARM UP

For our warm up, we played Zip Zap Boing to get our brains working and our bodies moving.  We started very early and a lot of us were very tired so this helped.

NEW STORY LINE

James then introduced a new story line which is closer to our original stimulus, the play Art.  He has replaced the plain white canvas with Meredith.  It starts with three friends from university, like Art, and one of the friends doesn't like Meredith and the other is more of a people pleaser but also wants to keep everyone together.

IMPROVISATION

Louis, Tristan and James tried to improvise a fragmented monologue.  It started off strong and effective but I think it started to go downhill as there was no proper aim for what they wanted to.

FRAGMENTED MONOLOGUES

Louis, Tristan and James went to write their fragmented monologue.  They started with writing their own monologues and then finding places where they link so they could fragment it.  It worked so much more after they did this.  They included some choral speaking which was really effective and I also liked the touch of dialogue when James described something that happened in the past and Louis acted it out.

NEW STORY LINE

There were still some aspects of the story line that we thought needed improving so Amelie, Seth, Silvana and I worked on completing it.

London

• 3 friends - Harry, Fred and David - friends from university
• Harry meets Meredith and they fall in love
• David gets mad and thinks that Meredith has taken Harry away from the friend group
• David and Harry almost get in a fight but Fred calms them down
• David then meets Jane
• Everyone is a happy family again
• Harry proposes to Meredith
• She then suggests moving to Hawaii and Harry thinks it's a great idea
• David and Jane act like they're happy
• Behind Harry and Meredith's backs, they plan to split them up

Brighton

• Meredith's brother, Jeff, his roommate, Charles and Charles' girlfriend Marie
• Charles suggests that they all move in together when they go to London
• They all agree
• Jeff goes house hunting 
• Jeff finds a place but they can't move in for a couple weeks / a month
• Jeff calls his sister Meredith and asks if the three of them could live with her and Harry
• Meredith says yes

London

• Marie gets angry because Jeff and Charles are messy
• Jeff overhears Jane and David plotting to split up Meredith and Harry
• Their plan is to tell Harry that Meredith is cheating on him with Fred
• Jeff tells Meredith that they're plotting something and she doesn't believe him
• Jeff tells Charles and Marie
• Marie then tells Jane that she shouldn't do it and she agrees 
• Jane goes to David and says they shouldn't carry on 
• David says they should break up if she doesn't want to carry on
• They break up
• David tells Harry anyway
• Harry believes Jane and David and Meredith gets annoyed that his friends aren't nice so they break up
• Jeff talks to Fred and tells Fred to talk to Harry whilst Jeff talks to Meredith
• Meredith tells Jeff that Harry thinks that she cheated on him with Fred
• Jeff runs to stop the fight between Harry and Fred
• Jeff says that Fred couldn't have gotten with Meredith because he is gay 
• Fred says he isn't gay and Jeff is confused
• Harry and Meredith understand the misunderstanding
• They get back together
• Jane and Marie are best friends
• All is good

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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05.02.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

WARM UP

We did a massive warm up with the another year group.  We started off by doing the game samurai which is about concentration.  The class splits into two groups and there is a leader for each group.  The leader then does a movement which the other team has to reply with another movement that correlates.  If the leader punches, the other team must cross their arms.  If the leader kicks, the other team must jump.  If the leader claps, the other team has to spin.  If the leader moves their arm either way, the other team must move in the direction of his arm.  If the leader puts his hand up, the other team must squat.  We then did another warm up which was to move around the space until the teacher said something and then we did what they said.  When the teacher said to clear the space, we had to run to the closest wall.  If they said opposite, we would have to sprint to the other wall.  If they said shell, we had to curl into a ball on the floor.  If they said sprawl, we had to have 3 points of contact on the floor.  If they said neutral, we had to stand in a neutral position and if they said favourite we had to point to a specific point in the room.  Then the teacher played Bohemian Rhapsody and we had to sing throughout the activities.  It warmed us all up and motivated us.

PLOT POINTS

Louis gave us some more plot points which were very useful and gave us a great place to start from when creating the other story lines.  He created a story for Silvana, Seth, Hugo and my characters.  Some of the points he thought of were that Hugo and I are in a relationship but Hugo spends all of our rent money on clothes etc. and then we get evicted so he tries to get us to live with his brother but my character and his brother don't get along at all so I say that I don't want to live with him.  I then go and live with my sister and then when we're more stable I want to get another apartment with Hugo but he's more interested in the rich life with his brother.  We then break up and then I realise how great life is being single and then Hugo wants me back.  We then both realise that we're better off without each other.

IMPROVISATION

We tried to do an improvisation of the bar scene like our Party Quirks exercise in the improvisation unit.  This was to show us going in a bar and meeting some of the people.  We each had objectives for our characters.  My objective was to somehow portray that I had slept with the barman who was Silvana's ex.  I found it quite difficult to show it without straight up saying it.  We then decided to dissect this scene into two different ones as there were too many conversations going on at once.  One of the scenes was focused on my character and her sister Silvana and the bartender.  Silvana and I already knew our objective but James didn't so we tried to show him through the scene.  I started off quite slow but then figured out ways to portray it in a comedic way.  The second scene was Tristan, Louis and Amelie.  Tristan's objective was to get in between Louis and Amelie.  Yet again it was quite slow to begin with but then they came up with some great ideas.  We then improvised some more scenes related to Louis' ideas about Jane and David.  We improvised the scene between Jane and David (played by Louis today because Hugo wasn't here) about when he tells her that they're getting evicted.  After a couple of tries with different ideas, this turned out quite well.  We then did the scene between Jane and Marie which went well so we decided it would be best to script it, and then the final discussion between David and Jeffery.  We thought that it would be best to keep these scenes quite short as there is no need to waste time just to get an easy message across.

SCRIPT

Jane and Marie discussion

*Jane and Marie sitting down*
Jane - Ugh! David!
Marie - What's he done this time?
Jane - Blown all our money.
Marie - *Gasps* On what?
Jane - Clothes and shoes.
Marie - He's so stupid.
Jane - But guess what's even better?
Marie - What?
Jane - He couldn't pay our rent and now we're evicted.
Marie - I told you he was bad news.  Why do you never listen to me?  Didn't I tell you?  Huh?  I'm always right and you never listen.
*Silence*
Marie - So where are you planning on living then?
Jane - Yours?

WARM UP

For our afternoon warm up, we did something quite similar to this morning with the teacher giving us instructions but this time, when "favourite" was called, we had to point at James and he had to face the audience in neutral.  Then pointing just went to looking at him.  We did this with a few other people as well to see which looked most powerful.  I think that it looked most powerful with James.  We also did a game where we all held hands and one person stood in the middle of this circle and then one person on the outside had to try touch the person on the inside but the people holding hands had to try protect that person.

FREEZE FRAMES

We then did some freeze frames.  The first one was of the bar scene which everyone was involved in.  The other freeze frames didn't involve everyone so the other people just pointed at the scene.  Then we made another set of freeze frames for the second plot line in which the first freeze frame was the same.  We then tried to come up with a third plot line / freeze frames for the barman.

RUN THROUGH

We then did a run through which was difficult for my character as Hugo wasn't here so I did the movements at the start by myself.  The rest of it went well and it was helpful to see where we were at.

IMPROVISATION

We did some improvisation for the scenes involving Frederick, Charles, Meredith and Harry.  The rest of us did some script writing and compiled it all in one word document.

04.02.20 - FEST - Ms Trono

WARM UP

For the warm up we did the same game as yesterday with the numbers and actions in groups.  There were a lot more people in todays lesson so at the end we joined into one big group which made it easier to think about what comes next but the flow isn't as good.  We also did some stretching to get our bodies moving.

MOVEMENT

Our movement at the end of the yoga scene is quite good but we thought it should be a little bit longer.  We decided to add the Swindon 5 by Frantic Assembly at the end.  Once Louis gets into the position to propose to Amelie, the rest of us do a Swindon 5 through them with the objective to not let them hold hands.  We also wanted to add another layer to this, so every time Hugo and I walk past each other, we hold the eye contact to portray the relationship.

IMPROVISATION

Then to come up with more ideas, we improvised the scene where David and Jane meet for the first time at the bar.  We gave each character objectives to portray in the scene.  Silvana's objective was to stick with me because she doesn't like being alone in big crowds, my objective was to speak to Hugo (played by Louis in this scene as Hugo wasn't there) and Hugo's objective was to just dance and have a good time.  There were a few good points in this scene but we think that this was more of a character development instead of an actual scene to use.

03.02.20 - FEST - Ms Trono

WARM UP

We started off the rehearsal with a warm up for our minds.  We were in a group of 2 and 3.  I was in the group of 3 so we had to go round and count up to 4 so each time we would say a different number.  We had to concentrate and try be as quick as possible.  After mastering that, we replaced the numbers with actions.  I became more difficult but very fun.

RUN THROUGH

We tried to do a run through but it was very difficult due to the lack of people.  It didn't really go to plan and we all got frustrated and had a lack of motivation.

IMPROVISATION

We then decided to try improvise some scenes.  These were mainly based on the characters Harry and Charles.  The first objective that Tristan had was to plant seeds of doubt in Louis' mind.  This didn't end up working so they changed the objective.  The new objective was that Tristan would try to get Louis to be like how he used to be and drink beer but Louis' objective was to not drink beer.  They then decided to include drinking a shot which looked quite good.  The part about Tristan planting seeds wasn't really working so Louis decided to quickly play Charles instead of Harry to give Tristan some ideas for the piece.  We then came to the conclusion that Louis and Tristan need to script the scene of them in the bar, Silvana and I to script the yoga scene and Amelie to write a monologue about her doubts.

YOGA SCRIPT

*Doing yoga whilst boys are doing their scene*
Marie - Wow what a great class
Jane - Yeah... so Meredith, how's it going-
Marie - With Harry? It seems pretty serious
Meredith - I guess... I mean it's nothing special
Jane - Oh right...
*Jane and Marie look at each other confused*
Marie - Anyway... Love that ring you've got there
Meredith - Yeah it's 100% vegan and made from reeds of hemp when I was in the Himalayan mountains, truly connecting with myself.
Jane - Wow I'm more of the diamond type but to each their own
Meredith - Diamonds?? So tacky
*Jane and Marie look confused again and long silence*
Marie - Could I try it on?
Meredith - Why?
Marie - Oh I've been meaning to buy myself one of those. Save the environment and all hahahah.  I just don't know what size to get.
Meredith - I made this one myself.
Marie - Oh right...
Jane - Yeah I agree with Marie, but I don't know if hemp is really my colour, do you mind? *clearly looking at ring*
Meredith - Sure... I guess
Jane - Mmmm.. I don't think it suits me.
Meredith - Yeah I knew it wouldn't. See I have a calm blue aura so green compliments it, but you... one minute, let me check.  You have a violent orange aura so it clashes.
Jane - Oh okay never mind.  You're right, okay see you next week.
Marie - *whispers* We're coming next week?!?!?

29.01.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

POINT PLOT / STORY LINE

• Physical Theatre Prologue (feat. Monologue from James)
• Exploring relationships with characters
• Overhears customers
• Louis and Amelie on stage together - they already live together and are planning the wedding
• Harry loves Meredith
• Meredith is a control freak and gets a kick out of controlling
• Charles wants to split Harry and Meredith because he's in love with her
• Charles tells Harry a lie that Meredith has been seen with the bar man
• Fight between Harry and Frederick 

Little things that pick at Harry

• Harry smells Meredith's perfume on Frederick 
• Phone gets left behind and receives message from Frederick
• Harry finds a piece of clothing that isn't his
• Left phone behind when she's gone to yoga, yoga teacher texts asking when she will get there
• Getting a message from a nickname / unisex name
• Leaving phone behind - message from Frederick saying 'you left your bag here' when she was at the bar with Harry
• Meredith goes to bar and bar tender pours drink and says something a bit flirty or personal which Harry doesn't like
• Charles introduced Meredith to Harry and Harry was supposed to be the wingman to Charles but just stole Meredith
• Harry at bar, notification on Frederick's phone of 'M' - Harry thinks it's Meredith but it's Marie

5 Points

• Wedding planning
• The lies
• The fight
• Harry being left alone
• They separate and find their loyalties lie within themselves

More Detail

• All characters introduced
• All relationships introduced
• All relationships shown through the wedding planner (guest list, best man etc.)
• Dinner party announcement of engagement
• Charles tells Harry about little rumour
• Series of lies in physical theatre
• Spying on Meredith
• Gradually gets more and more convinced
• Conflict
• Wedding cancelled
• Harry being left alone

WHAT WE WILL DO NOW

Do point 5 last because it's a result of everything else that happens.

Makes more sense to start with point 1

Split into groups

Louis, Tristan and Amelie (James scribes)

Emma, Silvana, Hugo and Seth come up with scenarios about the conspiracies to do with Meredith cheating

CONSPIRACIES

• I saw her at the bar with Frederick
• Frederick was giving her free drinks
• They looked all over each other
• He took her to his room
• Instead of going to yoga class, she goes to meet her lover
• She can't keep her legs closed
• Frederick keeps winking at her from across the room
• She actually eats meat
• She's slept with everyone in this town

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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