Research portfolio: Berkoff

In this blog I will be researching the aspects of the practitioner Berkoff. Having going to Jacques le coq theatre school, Berkoff picked up some techniques and made him his own. As Jacques le coq influenced Berkoff, he was inspired by historical physical theatre.

Berkoff is a great practioners who has developed physical theatre and made the style his own. Berkoff used the style of clockwork and mime mostly but he has used other techniques as well.

Berkoff's play metamorphosis his physicality is a lot different to other people the way the he is placed the physical aspect is interesting with his arms crossed over each other and he is down low with he head up. This stance is a lot for interesting to watch instead of him being upright with his posture. The way he moves throughout the whole piece is robotic the way he keeps that postiton the whole time makes it more interesting to watch. His physical style is exaggerated to make the style more interesting. For example if you were eating at the dinner table you would have certain movements that are over the top so the audience can see what they are doing without having props in their hands such a knife and fork and a table. Theses movements are mimed are repeated to make the piece more creepy and grotesque.
Berkoff says it is important to
' to see how I could bring mime together with the spoken word as its opposite partner creating the form and structure of the piece'

Techniques Berkoff uses:

Clockwork: Clockwork is a series of movement which involve miming certain objects. For example a knife and fork. Clockwork looks like robotic movements coming together. When different movement are done at the same time it looks creepy and scary. In Metamorphosis the clockwork routine is in time with the music. Clockwork is a lot of fun to use as you don't normally do it in everyday situations.

Looking at the camera/audience: Berkoff uses the audience a lot of show different meaning and to make it more spooky or for comedy. For example thinking about something else that you don't want to say to the person is said to the audience. Many actor and actress do this now. For example in his play East a female character says a monologue with other actors in the scene but she says the monologue and looks at the audience at times to add humour.

This is a brilliant example of looking at the camera because of the character looks at the audience for humour because it is a monologue aswell but it works in a berkoff style.

Pitch: Berkoff uses a sound in his performance. It is a similar thing to a sound scape but different. For example everyone with a one vowel sound but in different pitch. This makes it usual but effective. Also using vowels sound you can experiment and make it a into a conversation. In the workshop we played around with the feelings of saying the vowel. For example fear,sadness, happiness. Also we did another exercise when we closed our eyes and picked a note to hum. This exercise felt uncomfortable doing this as everyone was doing different pitch were clashes. On the other hand it would work in a performance and a structured way as it matches Berkoff's style.

Mime: I think that mime comes into Berkoff because they use mime to enhance the style more grotesque feel. For example the in metophosis they didn't use chairs they bent their knees to look like they were sat on chairs.

The language that he uses is explores Shakespearian to create a complexity but pairing it with a low cockney slang and swearing. Complex language that an audience has to focus means that they rely on the action to understand the plot. This explains Berkoff physical style as Shakespeare language benefits physical movement as it provides image to work from.

According to Berkoff, to him
'The only purpose for a script is to help  minimalise and physicalise the story'

Commedia de'll arte: Research portfolio

In this blog I will be talking about Commedia de'll arte.

Commedia was created in Italy. It became known in Europe in 15th, 16th and 17th century. Commedia De'll Arte stands for comedy of professional actors of professional artists and actors. which means it needs to stand out and be melodramatic to make the audience laugh. Also commedia doesn't have to speak English. Commedia is often created by improvised storylines and stock characters. All stock character wear half masks to symbolize there character. Using the masks brings more exaggeration to certain body language and delicate facial expressions. Also masks help to be more of the character that you are playing instead of playing yourself more. Commedia mainly relys on the physciality of the characters and less on the words because most of the time the actors speak gibbish to add to the humour.

In this physical style there are stock that all actor become one of the many character that you can choose from. However professional theatre company who take the physical theatre aspect usually stick to one character for there whole career.
Stock characters 

Zanni- Zanni is a servant that always does what the he is told by the master. He always wants to obey the master so he doesn't get into trouble. From his character and personality Zanni has a low status as he is the servant of the master. From this picture you can see that he is light on his feet and not travels quickly. With his status being low Zanni's character is mostly done by bending the knees which backs up the character. I personally love this character as you can play with the Zanni character and making it funny. Zanni is very quick on the feet. Zanni cant keep static for a long time. The picture shows Zanni light on his feet as he shows this in his personality.

Pantalone-.Pantalone is a greedy mechant.  He uses certain phrases like 'I want you' to create his power. Zanni does want he is told. He is friends with the doctor. His body language is mostly with a hunched back. Pantalone is ranked at the top in the status with the other characters. Pantalone means money in Commedia world which means that he is more wealthy and that's why he has servants which he asks people for things. He is usually the father to the one of the lovers which means that he grumpy because most of the time the parents don't agree with the relationship. He is a driven character to keep the lovers apart as he disapproves the relationship.

The image on the left is pantalone. You can see that his stance is slightly hunched as pantalone is protecting his money. He walks with his hips forward allowing to make larger strides. He often falls backwards generally to bad news related some way or another to his financials. When this happens he has a 'turtle like' characterisation.

This is the mask that pantalone wears. In commedia the physicality is all in the body and the stance rather the facial expressions. The masks show the older of the character and how he has wrinkles. The mask can show him when he is tired or grumpy and it will fit with the storyline.





In the workshop we experimented we different characters and how each character would react. For example the young lovers when they met each other they wouldn't touch because they are too much in love and they are scared that it will break the love. Another example would the doctor and pantalone treating a symptom but the doctor doesn't know exactly how to treat it which makes the humour connect to the audience.

Then we moved on to scenarios with different characters meeting. For example the lovers having an argument and zanni is the messager and getting the messages wrong. This scenario was a great scene to play however it was hard so make it funny plus we didn't have enough time to think it though. Another example was that Zanni needed to the wife of the master a message. Zanni got confused and couldn't remember the message because he bumped into fransiquina. This was a great scene to work with as it gave us more inspiration.

Commedia has a style which is very slapstick feel for the audience. From the slapstick humour is then created. For example Zanni is comical as he tries to obey his or her master but Zanni can get confused or side tracked very easily.

The structure of Commedia is improved around the stock characters. The storyline was then rehearsed to add more structure to the performance. In addition the working methods were improvisation to have story to the audience.

The themes that Commedia covers love such as with the lovers will be in love but will never touch each other as they are more interested in themselves rather than each other. For example we did an exercise in class when we were paired up and we had to love our partner without touching the physically. However it was effective to be apart of because it was good way to show love commedia style.

Vocal health poster

Character profile Sophie Nickerson

Character Profile

Name: Shannon

Age: 20

Background and Family Life

Shannon is a middle aged woman who works for the Prime Minster Ruth. She is a cleaner who works full time hovering and making Downing Street presentable for guests such as the Ambassador of the United States. The first time we meet Shannon is when she is asleep and wakes up from a nightmare. She has had these nightmares for quite a while and sees the character John. She finds John interesting to listen to and watches the videos online.  She finds John intriguing to watch because she finds his speeches important to listen to. She enjoys them so much that she decides to come to the real thing instead of virtually after work.

Key Relationships

Shannon likes to spend her social life in the park to get herself a quiet atmosphere after work. She always sits on a bench and reads the local news. She then meets Zia who reads a book on the other side of the bench waiting for John to make his speech. Shannon is single and really likes Zia. The reason why is because of his geeky style which Shannon is interested in because she loves looking at the stars.

Another relationship that Shannon has is with her boss Ruth who gives a tense relationship. Shannon works hard to get Ruth’s house clean and tidy however Ruth gets distracted by the noise of the hoover therefore Shannon can’t do her job. Shannon finds Ruth irritating and being ignored because she doesn’t say her name correctly.

Shannon is John’s number one fan. She tries her very best to come down especially on her lunch break.

Job

Her job is a cleaner at 10 Downing Street. She gets to work by 9:00am and finishes about 7:00pm. She has her lunch for an hour down at the park to catch John in the park. She gets paid enough to afford her own wellbeing such as food, electricity etc. Shannon wears a uniform for work which includes a black shirt with a waist saying ‘cleaner’ sewed on and black trousers. This uniform is practical to work in but a smart approach for working in a posh big house.

Before the play…

Before the play Shannon is still working for the Prime Minster. She is single looking love. She keeps seeing this guy that she likes but they never get the courage to talk to each other. Shannon always sits on the same bench waiting for the next speech to happen. She didn’t vote for Ruth to be Prime Minster as she doesn’t think that Ruth was right for the job. For example the history that’s Ruth has had. She has arrived to a long day of work by walking through the park to see any news on the John’s speech’s.

During the play

These images below are what happens to Shannon in the play.

Picture 1                                                Picture 2

                          



Picture one explains what her job is. She doesn't like her job very much as she is not treated fairly by being called ‘Sharon’ which is not her name. Picture 2 is to show that she has found love with Zia from the park. She has also found love John as a celebrity crush because of his theories. She loves that she has something common with another person which is looking at the stars.

After the play

Shannon and Zia are officially together as they meet for lunch in the park to see John. They sign up for regular news from Holly and in favour with John all the time. The notice that they have the same dream. Shannon is unemployed now as she has quit her job. She is implying for jobs which she feels a lot happier. She comes to John for advice weekly.

I think I have based Shannon on the two assistants from Love actually who works for the Prime Minster.

The two assistants sum up my character. For example the assistant in the background is similar to Shannon regarding to her costume such as she is wearing a waistcoat. On the other hand the other assistant's voice and Shannon's voice is similar to Shannon as she is trying her best to do her job and she is looking out for the Prime Minster such as when she talking about the dreams in Act one scene four. 

Evaluation of 13 by Mike Bartlett

Evaluative report of ‘13’ by Mike Bartlett 

What were our strengths in the play ‘13’?

Overall I thought the whole product was a big success considering that it was our first play with that we had only known for a couple of week. Since the start of putting together ’13 everyone was getting as a group. I think this was a great advantage and our strength because ’13’ is all about linking together people who have the same dream. For example in act one scene two Sarah notices John and pauses because she recognises John from the dream.

Secondly, our professionalism throughout the performance made it more of a performance not a performance from 16-18 years olds. Professionalism such as being quiet backstage was good to see because of the support that it given towards other students. There was commitment in this play when rehearsals were taking place everyone attended which is a positive because then people won’t have to be filled in on what they had missed. Also by having a good attendance means that we could help each other out if a person was struggling etc.

I thought that the characterisation was a great expect to the play. Scenes such as Act four scene seven (Dennis and Sarah) gave a dark side to the play. It gave the play a sense of anger after the comedy expects of the play. I always enjoy watching this scene as it was blocked looking at the audience instead of the naturalistic approach by talking at each other. The way it was blocked was a lot better because the audience can see the facial expressions which can be disturbing. Also the facial expressions are showing contrast. For example Dennis is angry and the murder of his daughter whereas Sarah is begging forgiveness. Also most of the feedback was praise on the American accent from Ruby’s character. She completely wasn’t her normal self and she just changed to a nasty girl who whines her mother up. This is a hard thing to do and was presented so well.

Relationships was a key strength to this performance which was my character (Shannon) and Zia. The relationship was played as two young people trying to find love in a geeky way such as they both have something in common which is looking at the stars. For example in Act three scene four Zia got tried to strike up a conversation by saying ‘thirteen’ to talk to Shannon. The relationship gave the audience a reaction which is a good sign. This reaction was only heard from a younger audience therefore the younger people can relate to this because this is what they are going through which is love.

What were the weakness of the play ‘13’?

I think our weakness was the ensemble parts in the speeches. I think the cast weren’t thinking about what was being said. Instead there were an occasion cheering. I think if were to do those scenes again I think I would put some physical theatre and gradually reveal something in the last speech that is being said.

Our main weakness was pace of the play particularly with the speeches by John and the scenes with Dennis and Ruth. The pace is an important part of the play because the audience can lose concentration. If I did the play again I would work more on the pace and make everyone became aware on what is being said by John.

In conclusion I think that despite our weakness we did a great performance and I really enjoyed playing my characters Alice and Shannon.

Week 6 of 13 by Mike Bartlett

Week 6

 

This week was the last week before production week. The first activity was to come up with three gestures symbolizing my character. I found this hard at first but once I thought about it began to fall in to place. I thought about Shannon and about how she reacts to people such as Ruth and Zia. For example Shannon loves Zia when she first meets him. I think that because she feels awkward she distracts herself by fiddling with her hair and making herself look pretty for when a conversation comes up. I also thought about my other character Alice. When Alice enters Edith’s house Alice feels scared because she was thinking questions such as is she dead? Has something happened to her?  . So I came up with stroke her other hand very slowly as she was imagining that she was going through her files. Then when Edith jumps the gesture is dropped. I think Alice does this gesture to keep her body calm then what going on in her head. Also I think Alice will breathe faster to bring tension to this scene. Alice will keep behind Mark for security and defending herself. I think Mark feels that he should protect Alice because he is the reason why Alice is here because of his work as a lawyer.

The main focus about this week was the pace of all the scenes.  Act three was a great start to the week with clean transition. Fast scene changes make the play quicker and less boring. This was the first time that I have seen that ‘13’ is coming together. This play is always about thinking ahead. I think that everyone has improved in there character. For example Issie who plays Rachael has expressed her emotion of anger in Rachael’s character. She has also connected with Amir which makes it look naturalistic. The chemistry that Amir and Rachael have brings the play more realism.

 

Act four was a lot better that previous times rehearsed but there is still some improvement. For example the scene with Ruth John and Stephen needs to be faster to allow that scene to move forward. If the scene is not faster than the audience will switch off. However the pace has improved after a couple of times. Also making the 12 come to pray position makes it more symbolic and respectful for Ruth because of son Simon. I researched the definition of grief. It says

‘Grief is multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died to which a bond or affection was formed’

From my research I think that Ruth went through this when she lost Simon. When John brings Simon, Ruth tries to change the subject so she doesn’t think about it too much. However she can’t get it off her more because it’s a traumatic experience for a loving mother. If John knows something about Simon then Ruth has a right to know the facts about Simon. I think that Ruth went through a hard time and that she didn’t time off work for it. The reason why I say this is because John says about how they love the person that runs the party not the party itself therefore Ruth has given a hundred per cent into her job. This is why John is right about what he is saying about her political status.

After the rehearsals of act three and four we then moved on to act one and two which needs to bring up the pace again. Once again Act one and two are coming together with the transition. However the pace needs to be faster. With the pace it will give the audience more to look at and no pauses will help it.

Next week’s target is to try my hardest with my performance. In the performance I will be confident with my character and try and not be myself and always my specific character. I was thinking about having headphones in when Shannon enters singing with the hoover to make it more funny for the audience. Then when Ruth looks at me it gives me a signal that something is wrong which makes Shannon say something.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grief published 14th October 2014

Week 5 13 by Mike Bartlett Sophie's Blog

Week 5

In this blog I am going to talk about the lighting process of Act one and starting to block act five.

This week was the start of the lighting which was very exciting because it feels it if the play is coming to life a lot more. The start of the play is very naturalistic because of the light bulb effect feels as I the atmosphere is inside your bedroom which is simple but effective. The sound of the alarm makes the atmosphere more tense. I felt uneasy when I was panting because I can her my heart beat more than normal. Also seeing people getting up the same time as me makes more darker because of the dynamics that is shown. The lighting is a impressive to show the clock and to have it flashing makes the pace more faster. I think that is one of my favourite scene because I can feel other people that are connected to me that have the same dream. In the previous week Nikey came up with the idea of John coming thought the curtain and turning the alarm off with his watch. I think this is a lovely idea because it flows in to the next scene and it give the twelve a queue to exit the stage. However I think John should not do this very cheesy because it spoils the effects. I think should be more naturalistic when he does this not smiling as much when he does this.

Another scene that stood out for me was the clubbing scene when everyone is dancing. I thought that this scene combined with the lighting was a good atmosphere created. the lighting gave something extra to this scene instead of being a normal drama lesson. It made the actors creative with the lighting such as jumping in a club.

We began Act five by putting the twelve in the circle that was the beginning of Act five. However this did not link to the dialogue that was going to be said. Then anther idea came that we would be with someone that is linked to another character such as Zia and Shannon looking at the stars. This is linked when Shannon meets Zia on the park bench listening to John. The idea was to recreate a part of the play that has already been done or is going to happen. For example Ruth and Stephen chatting like they did in Act 1. This idea then became boring to watch because nothing was happening on stage which gave the last act very dry. So then we developed this idea by walking around in the space with the character but then this did not work because it was less structured therefore there was no purpose on that journey. Then we started to use the box as something to create the attention on. Unfortunately didn't work as there is loads of dialogue that is cutting in etc. I thought that this Act 5 was pointless because it doesn't leave the audience with a cliffhanger as much as Act 3 therefore we decided to cut Act 5. To be honest I didn't understand this Act 5. I thought that it was just a excuse to connect the 12 people one last time before the play ends. Also cutting Act 5 gives the play less risk of the audience switching off in the middle of the last Act which summarizes the play. I think that all plays needs to go with powerful ending or beginning so the audience won't forget the performance.


We then moved on to blocking Act 3. The first that we blocked Act 3 Scene 2. This scene has to lead on to a tense scene before this one. The previous scene is

   'We again hear Laurie Anderson-'Someone Else's Dream'
    This time it's cut even shorter. The twelve wake up again as before terrified and breathing'

The song 'Someone Else's Dream' starts with cellos being bowed slowly. I think that Bartlett was trying to create a relaxed atmosphere for the twelve therefore the cellos help the twelve to be calm. However The rest of the song stays on one level of pace which can make the song boring therefore the audience will loose concentration. So we thought that the music should stop halfway though to continue more on the plot. However having the whole song on will build the tension to the audience. On the other hand the audience have scene this scene before as it was Act one scene one.

Anyway I think that Act three scene two needs polishing because the response to each character is slow and not effective therefore the audience will not find it interesting. I am happy with what we have blocked. When I was doing this I was imagining what sort of house Edith stays in. Is it creepy? Smelly?. I thought that it was a messy house because her character is always in a hurry so she rushes about trying to look for things and it ends up in a mess. Having said this I thought of a idea that maybe I should pick things of the floor as I came in to help Edith because of her condition. I also thought that when there is no response from Edith then I reacted as if she was dead. So I walked very slowly just in case there was someone around in the house but entering the house made me less worried as I could see Edith standing staring at something. If Edith's characterisation was better then it would of made the scene more intense. I think she needs to stare at the audience to make the audience look uncomfortable. I think Edith needs to think about what she is staring at. Why is she terrified?. Maybe a photo of her family that she can't remember.



Voice portfolio: Articulation

Articulation

Articulators are parts of the mouth which the actor should experiment such as the energy, precision and quality of action. The articulators are the lips, the tongue, the jaw, the soft palate, the uvula, the pharynx, and the glottis.

The jaw is one of the strongest muscles in the body. It is known as the Masseter. The stability in the jaw is the foundation for speech production. Movements in the jaw are linked to speech clarity.

The tongue is one of the hardest work muscles that a human uses. The tongue is a vital instrument that gives everyone the ability to speak. To get the tongue moving it is always good to practice tongue twisters to open your mouth more and pronounce every word right. Also a great exercise to do is to poke your tongue out like a lion and slowly bring it back in to your mouth. This is show that you are controlling your tongue. As an actor this is an important skill to have because you need to be aware of the tongue in plays etc.

The soft palate is located at the back of the roof of the mouth. There is also a hard palate which is located at the front of the roof of the mouth. You can tell where the soft palate and the hard palate is because the hard palate is more bony and hard compared to the soft palate. The soft palate is made up of muscle that allows to press down as part of swallowing and to rise up creating space for yawns and bright open sounds. The tensor and levator palate muscles form a sling lifting the soft palate up and backwards closing off the entrance of the nasal cavities. A experiment to do for the soft palate is to say “hit” without releasing the final “t” sound. Make the “t” sound but don’t let the tongue release the air. You may feel the air pressure pushing towards the top of the tongue and you may feel a gentle pressure at the back of the roof of your mouth as the air pushes against your closed velum or soft palate.

Resonation

There are three resonators that actors use in daily life.

They are:

The head voice

The nasal voice

The chest voice

The head voice is associated with a high pitch. The nasal voice is at medium pitch. The chest voice is the low/deep pitch of the voice.

Week 4 13 by Mike Bartlett Sophie's blog

Week 4

In this blog I am going to talk about my the background of 13 and learn information about my characters. Also the rehearsal process.

Firstly we presented our prevention on All of aspects of 13. I came up with an idea of making a poster to be different to other presentation. However the poster was too digested with words and was unclear to see. From the feedback there was some uncertainty with the topic but the research was clearly done because of the facts that were written on the poster. Having thought about our presentation I thought I should have rehearsed on saying it to a audience instead of putting notes down on paper with not planning to say something detailed because I didn't go into depth about my topic which Ruth. I think I just made another way of saying the same thing on the poster. Having done this prevention I think that I will improve by rehearsing it more instead of being vague. With the poster idea the audience said how creative it was. To improve this presentation is to not make the poster too congested is to have separate posters on different topics this way everyone can see the writing. I will now take this feedback on board and I have learnt that I shouldn't go outside of the box too much.  

The other presentations have strengths and weakness. For an example most of other presentations had too much information on the powerpoint and they didn't explain in detail. However one presentation stood out for me which was Sophie's . The reason being that this presentation stood out for me was because she used cue cards which helped her about what she was going to see next. Sophie made eye contact with the audience which made the audience connect with her therefore it made it more professional and interesting to learn from. Sophie engaged the audience in what she was talking about. Sophie made a presentation which only had the main facts on the power point. The main points were easy to read because there wasn't too many words on slide. Sophie made a mindmap on the power point the views on the reviewer of 13. I thought this was a great way to express Dan Hultons ideas and views of the play. The bit of criticism I would give is that the mind map was not left on for long so the audience can take notes. It was clear and understandable. From one of the presentations I found out about my character. I found out that Shannon is that the critical part of her life is meeting John. I agree with this because she watches her videos John on social media and she had the courage to say hi to John.

In the Act 2 scene 11 Shannon sees John live for the first time. Her reaction is using her facial expressions such as smiling because Johns biggest fan. Shannon strongly believes in Johns views because she quit to her job because of the what  John said in his speech's such as in act two scene eleven he says "well I want to remove the barriers and believe that this may be the facts on the ground". Having read this I think that Shannon's barrier is her work because she is not enjoying it and it is keeping her away from her dreams.  Also Shannon is one of the twelve therefore she is drawn to John because she is related to the 12 disciples.

The rest of the week was focusing on Act 2 and the swift changes from one scene to the next. When moving from scene to scene it makes the performance look more professional. With '13' the scene change need to be quick because of the jumping from scene to scene with is not related to the previous scene.

Next week is starting to run though Act one and Act two under the lights.

Week 3 of 13 by Mike Bartlett Sophie's blog

Week 3

We started this week by picturing our character by closing our eyes. We were starting to think of questions in our head such as do they have something with them throughout the play? what do they look like.  I picked Shannon to imagine the character. I thought of her wearing a black trousers  and a black blouse to address that she is respectful and professional for work. Shannon's hair scarped back in a bun. The reason why is because that we know that she is working for a formal person. I thought that her shoes need to be practical because she is cleaning around a large area. I think a name badge to show that she is working for a big environment. I thought black pumps so she can feel comfortable whilst cleaning.

We then moved on looking at obstacles and objective. An objective is something to aim towards such as exiting from another side of the room. An obstacle is something that is stopping the objective. We tried this in an exercise. In this exercise there were good examples being shown. For an example two people acted a scene when one person was invited to this party. Although it was funny I could see a scene starting to progress whereas the other people that did the exercise tried to stop them physically. In Act one Scene 5 I think Shannon’s main objective is to get enough money so then she can quit her job but her daily objective is finish her work for the day so then she can go and see John speak in the park and meet her boyfriend Zia. However her obstacle is Ruth because she is stopping Shannon from doing her job. For an example with Ruth says “just switch it off alright”. At this point Shannon finds it irritating that she has stopped her from doing her work therefore she says “I didn’t vote for you” indicating that she doesn’t like Ruth. The verb that summarizes Shannon’s objective is I hear you. This means that Shannon is hearing her and responding to what she is saying. On the other hand Ruth’s interpretation to Shannon is I block you because she is just a ‘civil servant’ therefore she only comes to clean and not to say anything else.  The definition for ‘civil servant’ is a ‘person in the public sector employed for government department or agency’ therefore she is helping the government by cleaning.

In Act three scene four Shannon meets a geek called Zia. This week we blocked this scene. In this scene we blocked it as if it was we were in love with each other. We begin the scene silence. We used the Stanislavski method of solitude in public which made it effect and believable because it began to feel awkward and that made the scene more naturalistic. Whilst the silence was going on Zia and I made eye contact to make as if we were in love. The scene is set on a bench. I was on one side and Zia was on the other. We found that the distance away from each other gave a realistic approach to normal life. Also this is the first time they meet therefore the distance worked. It communicates to the audience to that the silence built the awkwardness.  I think that Shannon’s objective is to encourage Zia to come up with a conversation because she is shy to speak to someone that she loves.  Zia is responding to this objective and thinking that he must involve her in this conversation before she goes. He then start taking about thirteen and Shannon interested because she is watching Johns speech. Then Shannon’s obstacle is Zia because she then asks Shannon out which she stops. Then Shannon’s objective is to assure Zia that she will come out tonight. I thought that this was a beautiful scene to block because there is lots of shyness that builds to love. This also looks like they are in there own bubble because they are constantly having eye contact and looking away. Nothing else matters around them apart from each other. From the blocking and feedback I can play this scene successful because of the chemistry that Zia and Shannon have. For an example when Zia and Shannon both look at each other when the odd "stars" were mentioned. 

In Act one scene 7 we meet Alice who is Mark assistant. I thought that Mark’s objective for this scene was to block Alice because he has a ‘headache’ and wants to get the case finished.This was given in the blocking of the scene. The scene was to be more of a fast pace. This links well because of Mark's objective. Also he is saying a list of things to Alice such as ‘a toothbrush, a new shirt and a double espresso’. I think that Mark walks in all messy and unorganised because he had a late night the night before working. This is why he has a headache. Also his breath is messy to breathe in because he asked for a ‘toothbrush’ therefore he has no time to brush his teeth before work because he woke up late. However Alice’s objective is to remind Mark of the case that he is supporting for. Alice is described in this scene wearing ‘yellow jumpers trainers and leggings’. I thought that was a good outfit to wear for Alice because it says in the text and also Mark comments on her fashion. The words "I block you" work with tho scene because Mark's body language is communicating that he doesn't want to do this case. Also he hasn't put any effort into looking professional to win this case. Also he blocks Alice by giving Alice simple answers to respond to. For an example 'my brother is ill' is a simple answer that he could think at the time. The blocking of this scene helped the situation because we are walking to that specific objective and then is stopped with his obstacle.  

My aims for next week are to learn my lines for Act 2 and read through Act 1 and reminding myself of stage directions. Also next week I should think about my objectives more during the scene.

Portfolio: Larynx and vocal folds

Larynx and vocal folds

The larynx is a voice box which contains the vocal folds. The larynx is a muscle that helps position and shapes the vocal folds. It also releases unnecessary tension in the voice box. An important thing to do for an actor is to look after your larynx because it has three main function such as swallowing, breathing and voice production. These main functions are what keep your voice awake. Sound production happens when the vibration of the mucosa. The mucosa is the inner edge of each vocal cord. Damages such as structural, inflammatory or lesion of the vocal cord can affect the voice production and quality of your voice. The larynx manipulates pitch and volume. The vocal folds are situated just below where the tract of pharynx.

Every so often as an actor it is recommend moving your larynx sideway. It is good to do this because it will relax your voice box and decrease unnecessary tension before you go on stage. It is best to do this exercise before vocal warm up so your voice is prepared for the warm up and is clearer.  You must not do this too often as it may cause damage to the vocal cords.

 

This is an image of the larynx and vocal folds. The vocal are located first in the throat followed by the larynx which is near the back of your tongue. Then the trachea is after the larynx.