Drama: Week Nineteen

Monday 23rd February 2015

Today we didn't do any rehearsals, but rather spent the day focusing on the context essay. 

I found this very helpful as I feel we've done a lot of practical work and it's good to get more time to work on the written as well. 

We started the day by getting into groups of the characters we're playing. 

We were given a sheet with some questions on it and had to think about what we thought our character was like and why, using the actual text as evidence of course. 

Jerome and I spent quite a while discussing it, and it was nice because both of us had already done a lot of research and put thought into it since we started the Tempest, so we had lots to share. 

We think that Ariel is quite a complex character, not even in the sense that he isn't human but a spirit, but also in terms of his motivations, thought, objectives and behaviour. 

We believe that Ariel most certainly has an obedient side, as he is so correspondent to Prospero's commands, but that there is much more to this obedience than you might think at first glance. His submission is fuelled by a great many things. Firstly, he seems to take quite a lot of personal pleasure from some of the tasks he's sent to do, so this must make it more compelling work for him, but more importantly in my opinion, his actions are driven by his ultimate objective: to have his freedom back. 

He knows that once he has done this work for Prospero he has been promised his release and liberty, and I think this keeps him going throughout the play. He knows what he wants and is willing to put in that effort to get it. I also however find there's a quite complicated relationship  between him and Prospero, and that his obedience is partly due to the debt he feels in to Prospero. He was freed by him, after all, and I think that Ariel surely has that thought kept in his mind. 

This is shown especially in the scene where Prospero reminds Ariel of the situation he freed him from, in which he was trapped by the witch Sycorax. Ariel is, in my opinion, affected by this reminder and knows he owes Prospero. 

We also discussed Ariel' mischievous side. He is a very tricksy spirit, who finds fun in playing around with the control of the other characters, and takes pride in his meddling, as is displayed in Act I scene II. It's not just about doing what he's told, he's a little bit cheeky, and often pokes fun at the characters around him, being amused by the goings on, such as in the "thou liest" scene. 

I think at heart he's quite a free willed spirit who is just as fun and playful as he is "dainty". 

Another aspect of Ariel we discussed in lesser detail is his ability to shapeshift, not only literally when taking the form of a harpy, but also in the way he adapts to his surroundings. He seems very flexible and able to mould himself into any environment, whether it's pretending to be Trinculo, turning invisible, or even becoming savage and rough at the point he summons the other spirits in the form of hounds. 

After a while, all of the class came back together to discuss our characters and we all listened to one another's ideas and thoughts. 

In the afternoon we watched a documentary about Shakespeare's mother, the rest of his family, and the times they were living in. This was as research for our essay also. 

Tuesday 24th February 2015

We spent the entire day rehearsing today, primarily doing Act V, but also working on individual scenes for the different characters.

Wednesday 25th February 2015

Today we had our class with Sharon, just in our seperate groups for the Tempest again. 

Today's lesson was all about working on the vocal aspects of our performance. We used the tableaus we made up in class a few weeks ago, and had to add more text to them.
We were really pushed to project our lines and put loads of energy into them, and it really showed just how important it is to have that energy on stage the whole time. 

The tableau I spoke in was the second one, where Sebastian/Antonio is attempting to commit murder, and I come in at the bidding of Prospero and wake up his company to save them. 

Sharon got me to really project this line, to shout it out so the very back of a huge auditorium would be able to hear it, but not to lose my character's tone and emotions in doing so. This was quite challenging but I enjoyed it. I learnt today even more that it is really important to properly emphasise every word and every line to its fullest potential. 

I also discussed with Sharon how I might improve on my quite big block of lines as Ariel in Act I scene II. She suggested that I make my movements have much more purpose, so if I am being stationary, it's intended, and if I'm making movements with my arms or anything, it's also clearly intentional. 

We also did a bit of rehearsal with Rob this morning, with only a few of us so it meant we could get very specific feedback. 

I did Act I scene II and this is the feedback I recieved was technical, that I should try to be a bit more fluent physically. 

Thursday 26th February 2015 

This morning's class focused entirely on voice work and I found it very helpful for my vocal development plan. 

We started the day by doing a vocal warm up with tongue exercises and then got straight into doing some tongue twisters. 

I honestly find these warm ups and little practice exercises so, so useful. I find as an actor that although I can see I have strengths in having good fiction and articulation, my projection and just how much I actually let my voice get out and be free can be quite inhibited. 

So these classes as well as working on my vocal plan at home are great for me, and it's good to be able to apply the skills I'm developing in these aspects to the rest of my work. 

These are the tongue twisters we all did: 

•Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie. 

•She stood upon the balcony, inimitably mimicking him hiccuping and amicably welcoming him in. 

We also participated in going in front of the class one by one, picking a tongue twister from a list of nine and saying it as loudly, clearly and properly as we could. 

The one I choose was Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 

We discussed our voice assignment a bit more and looked at the workbook we've been doing at home, discussing the different aspects of if. 

This class got me really thinking that as long as I'm vocally warmed up and confident, I can make my lines my own more than I would perhaps be able to if I were having to focus more on the actual pronunciation as I went. I really want to work more on my voice, I think it's important for me not only as an actor but also a person to have well rounded speech and not to feel held back, which I occasionally do.