We started the lesson with a physical warm up. The first exercise was called Clear The Space, inspired by Frantic Assembly. How did this exercise help you to warm up?

During our lesson we started off with a warm up called ‘Clear The Space’ which was inspired by Frantic Assembly. This exercise helps us become more alert as we had to pay close attention to the instruction we were given by our teacher, which is a very important skill you need to have as an actor, as when you are on stage you need to be alert, responsive and aware of your surroundings . Also as a group we had to get physically very close with each other, for example we had to rest on the person nearest to you's shoulder. This exercise helps you warm up as an actor because  you have to feel comfortable acting with a person you do not know very well, therefore this exercise is good as it breaks the ice and makes you feel more confident and comfortable acting with the people taking part in the exercise. 

Why do actors need to warm up physically before a rehearsal? 

As an actor it is important to warm up physically before a rehearsal, this is because in your body there is a lot of tension and it is important to let all the tension go before you go on stage. The tension in your body could stop you from really stepping in to your characte'sr shoes, therefore you wouldn’t be thinking and feeling like your character. Doing a physical warm up will help you to  become your character as you would be letting go of everything that could be causing you stress as you are enabling your body to relax. Also physical warm ups help you focus and concentrate, as you will be paying attention to your breathing, and you should not be thinking about anything else, just letting your body relax.

Explain how your body felt after the warm up?

After doing the warm my body felt very relaxed and my muscles felt nice, loose and wasn’t  holding any tension.

  

We explored warming up our voice through a series of exercises. Why is the voice an important tool for actors?

The voice is a very important tool for an actor as it gives them the ability to show an emotion through the way they speak. It can help them with the objective to the scene or the whole show just by using their voice. As well as helping you portray the right emotion when your acting it can also help you be heard. Using your voice for projection when you are speaking is very important for an actor as nobody wants to watch a performance when they cannot hear what the performer is saying.

Explain how your voice felt after the vocal warm up?

After doing the vocal warm up my voice didn’t feel strained and felt very soothed. Also I felt like after the exercise my voice would cope with speaking at a wider range of tones and pitches.

We then explored STATUS. What do we mean by status?

During our lesson we explored status, when using the term ‘status’ we meant who had the high hierarchy. For example who had the most control and authority in the performance or scene.

You explored the 'Hello' scene with a partner focusing on how you could show status. Explain the scene you created with your partner. How did you show status successfully?

The Hello scene we did was a short scripted play that me and my partner had to act out. For the task you need to choose which character had the higher statu,s we chose character A to have the higher status at the beginning of the play but for the status to change to character B not long in to play. Our performance was set in a school, character A came on stage and asked out character B, however character B turned him down which is when the status changed and character B had the higher status.

We showed status successfully as when character A came on stage he was very over confident and projected his voice very well, which created a very good stage presence as it immediately grabbed the audience’s attention, and showed he had the higher status. Then we showed the change of status when character B, who I played said the line ‘No, I don’t think so’ I was facing away from character A and showed facials which told the audience that I didn’t want to engage in conversation with him. This completely changed character A’s stage presence as his voice became quiet and he used very small gestures when he was talking. This made it obvious that the status had now changed and Character B had the higher status.

This is the script we were given, the high lights show who has the higher status and then I wrote some small stage direction.

 How did other pairs show status successfully?

When performing to the class the pairs showed status successfully as everyone could clearly see who had the higher status between the two characters. They showed the status by using their body language, for example the person with the higher status which was generally character B would not look at character A when they are talking which made it look like character A was not very important, and had the lower status. Also they used their voice a lot to show the character’s status, for instance the character with the lower status had a less over powering voice and did not sound as confident when speaking to character B as they had a more quiet tone of voice.

Finally you explored a scene between Callum and Sephy. You had to take it from page to stage using the skills developed in the exercise before. You were asked to focus on status. Which character had the highest status in the scene and why? How did you show this? 

Explain how you played the scene.

You were asked to think about your character's objective (what they wanted/their aim). What was your character's objective? How did knowing this help you to play the character successfully?

When we were creating the scene we had to decide which character had the higher status, once we read through the script we came to the conclusion that the status in the play switched. It started off with Sephy (my character) having the higher status but then it switches to Callum. We thought this because  in the beginning it seems as if Sephy is very annoyed with Callum as she feels that using the term Blankers was not something he should get angry at her for, and from reading the script it seemed she could not be bothered to keep apologising for what she had done. Also in the beginning Callum was very upset and in shock as he couldn’t believe that Sephy would say ‘you’re behaving like animals, even worse blankers’. Then we notice the status changed when Callum suddenly became very angry at her because she was not seeing the impact she had made by saying what she said, which gave him the higher status as he now had the control for the situation when he stood up to Sephy. I think it surprised her because he doesn’t normally get angry at her, which made her feel small and resulted in her having the lower status.  

When we performed the scene we showed who had the higher status as when Sephy had the higher status I projected my voice when I was speaking, and I used my body language to show Sephy had the higher status as I didn’t look at Callum when I was speaking to him. Also I used facial to show I was annoyed at him by rolling my eyes. Then when the status changed and Callum had the higher status we showed this by him speaking down to Sephy and him talking to her slowly as if she was a child with made her feel lower than him, and gave him the higher status.

The character that I played was Sephy, and I think her objective was to get forgiveness from Callum and for him not to be annoyed at her any more. I think this helped me play her successfully as it help me react well to what Callum was saying to me as I knew what my character wanted in this scene. For example when Callum got angry at Sephy, I then became very apologetic towards Callum and didn’t get angry back as I knew my character wanted for Callum to forgive her, and she was worried he wouldn’t.

This is the script from the Callum and Stephy scene, I highlighted which character has the higher status at which point and I wrote down the change in emotion and when it happens.

Throughout the sharing you were asked to write some notes on other pairs work. Type/photograph these notes and put them on your blog.

 Benji and Roseby

I really like this performance as I feel they took a very different approach to the scene compared to other people’s performance. This is because I feel that in the scene Sephy had the higher status as she was raising her voice to Callum and he kept calm throughout performance. This made it seem like she had the higher status because she had control of him and was standing up to him. Another factor which was good about their performance was their use of body language. For example they both used a lot of hand gestures, so when they used a bigger hand gesture I could tell they were annoyed and angry at each other. This made the performance a lot more interesting for me as I could read their emotion in more ways them just with their voice.

However something that I feel could be improved upon is using the space around them. This is because they only used the centre of the stage and if they used more there could have been more depth to the performance. For example if they distanced themself from each other when the lines started to get  more intense to show they were annoyed with each other.

Sarah and Alex

I really enjoyed their performance from the moment it starte,d it really grabbed  my attention and made me want to find out what was going to happen later in the scene. This was because in the beginning of the scene there was a lot of tension as when Sephy walked in she sat down quite a distance away from Callum. This created tension in the scene as you could tell the two characters were annoyed at each other. This made me want to find out why they were annoyed at each other and made the scene a lot more interesting. I also really liked that they used levels, the levels showed me who had the higher status. An example of this is when Callum was standing over Sephy, this made it clear the Callum had the higher status because it look like he was over powering her and had more authority in the situation. 

However the performance could have been improved if they changed their tone of voice, to show more emotion. I feel that would improve the scene because the audience members would of had more of a better understanding of how the characters were feeling and how their emotions were changing throughout the scene.

 Finally, what acting skills have you developed in this session?

 During the session the acting skills I developed was my warm up skills, I now have a better idea of what physical and vocal exercises to do before a theatre lesson, rehearses or show. Also I now have a better understanding of how to use my emotions to let the audience know which character has the higher status and I can now confidently tell who has the higher status by watching a performance or reading a script.