Voice-Showreel

This is my show reel blog explaining how I have used my voice in different shows and how I have progressed throughout these performances.

Greek Ensemble piece 

When we were given this piece we first read it though in different ways to give us ideas such:

All saying the text in unison
One person reads it to the punctuation then the next person
One person reads to the full stop then the next person
One person reads the whole passage and the rest of the group repeats a word that they think stands out in the sentence

All saying the text in unison

Reading in unison I felt that the class were a whole chorus and our own individual voices were coming though through others joining. However after a while the tempo of the chorus become out of sync and it looses the effect and breaks the atmosphere.

One person reads to the punctuation 

Personally this exercise gave me a different insight to if you read only to the punctuation it could change the meaning of the extract. Also because there s quite a lot of punctuation there were moments that people were only saying one word or a short sentence. For me this method of reading only to the punctuation gave more suspense and it gave a message to the extract.


Reading to the full stop 

Reading to the full stop felt that different individual voices could be hard on there own which produces different viewpoints. If this was the case maybe the chorus were not collaborating together.

Reading the whole extract

This vocal technique felt that there was leader of the chorus and it didn't feel that they were speaking as one.This technique gave us a chance to work more as a team and hear our voices by following each other which meant we could speak as one.


Our group 

The general idea we came up with we linked to asylum and going mad because it links the mood of our voices that we were going for. For example the chorus is getting the gossip and telling the story of the death of Aegisthus. From the exercises we decided to say each section separately so we can imitate different characters that way our voices could be heard as different parts of the chorus.  We then thought our idea was original as it has been done a lot times so we decided a different idea and felt our breathing whilst saying the lines and that made us sound more alarmed and panicked and getting frustrated. We then played around with the speed of our voices and made us more rushed and panicky in our voice. It also drawed the audience more in.Our piece was named panic at the city partly because of the breathless our voices combined.

The death cry 

We were originally struggling with this part of the section of the story. We didn't want a complete scream as it ruins the back of your throat and isn't unique. However we picked out some of the words that jumped out off the page for us personally. My word was justice which made me want to have a forceful approach which meant my voice went a slightly lower pitch and articulated the 't' sound to make sure I was being understood. We all felt a natural speed and brought this speed faster and faster to create more suspense.

Comments on the performance

Overall I got some positive feedback regarding my voice during the voice. Karen liked the city interpretation which meant anticipation and a great sense of pace which flowed with the theme. She also commented on my articulation and diction. Responding to this comment my vocal programme is improving on my voice as my exercises were to open my mouth more and to say some tongue  twisters. She loved the sung part of the piece. I thought this part of the piece gave some variety in my voice as the singing part gave more of a character therefore I put a voice that suited that character which was a slightly mad person in the chorus. The piece was dynamic and energised. There was clarity of energy coming from me in my voice.


Radio- Atching Tan 

What were the struggles that you had during the process of Atching Tan Radio?

I think firstly I had to get my head around the radio plays were purely on the voice which meant you had to use your imagination towards the action is happening in the play. For example one scene I am talking to Lovvie through a bathroom door which meant I had to slightly shout because I was further away from the microphone which brought my pitch up slightly in my voice. On the whole sight reading is one of my weakness when it comes to radio plays. During the rehearsal I had to repeat some of my lines as it wasn't either clear or I stumbled on my words.I felt frustration to this project because sometimes I pronounced a word wrong. For example 'Adam-ski'.  However when I started to do my warm up exercises which I opened my mouth as wide as possible it allowed me to be more clear in my articulation. Once I had the line said correctly I felt more confident with myself. I think the sight reading lead back to my normal pace which is fast when I am nervous but once I thought about with my breath control my body and voice felt more relaxed and calm. . I have noticed that when I say a line my pace becomes fast which is the reason why I sometime stumble over my words.

What did you discover in working on a radio play? 

I discovered that when rehearsing we were sat down when saying our lines which gave a poor affect of the sound as the focus of the sound was more shown to the floor. However when we stood up our posture came in to place. I noticed that my shoulders role forwards because that how they naturally fall. With standing up it gave a lovely vocal energy within the group and gave a very good performance overall. I noticed that when recording in the studio you didn't have to use projection as such because the microphone could pick up your voice with subtle voices such as there is a scene between me and Lovvie where I am whispering to Lovvie because I am excited about my wedding day. That part was a pure whisper it wasn't a stage whisper where you have to project slightly.

Another part of radio is not using projection and just using your voice normally. In one scenario I had to whisper to Lovvie as we were in bed which meant that I use a soft tone and a quiet sound. This was slightly unfamiliar for me as I didn't need to do a stage whisper but the first time recording it felt natural and believable with my voice.

Solo Performance 

This part of the radio I felt I could be more imaginative by using the voice for different sections. One of my solo pieces were a childrens book which meant that I had to use more softer tones as children like to part of the book. Peace At Last was my book and I loved performing this piece. The story is based all about Mr bear not getting any sleep which meant that my voice should be soft as it is a calm story to tell. Soft effects were great to do as it really brought the story to life such as 'mmmmmmmmmm' went the refrigerator and 'tick tock went the living room clock'. The main character was a male character which that I had top use a deeper pitch. My first few attempts was a booming voice as he was grumpy saying 'oh no'. However my feedback was saying that it was a bit heavy for the voice so I gave Mr Bear a slightly higher pitch to the voice which felt a lot better. Before the recording I woke up all of my resonators to use my chest resonator for Mr Bear's voice. I did this by doing a hmm and tapping my chest.

Scissors by Allan Alberg
My next performance was a poem which had a rhyming scheme to it. At the start of the poem I wanted to make it a little sinister to give a short sharp opening. To do this I used my articulation to allow my dictation to be short and sharp. In the middle section I used a softer tone to allow the narrator to not loose her patience by saying the line ' We really need those scissors thats what makes me mad'. I spoke this line by saying it in a quieter volume to allow the poem to be slightly calmer than the opening. The ending was a a dramatic ending by lifting the volume and giving the articulation to a clear level of understanding.


Much Ado About Nothing performance 

Looking back over my Shakespeare piece I think that this wasn't my strongest piece.The reason is because I had to get use to do getting my tongue around the hard words which I had never heard before which was a challenge. Also I think my pace let me down as I speak fast sometimes which affects the voice. I didn't feel relaxed at times as I didn't have the vocal exercises that I was comfortable with which made the voice lack in confidence. However after weeks and weeks of rehearsing his I felt a lot better as I knew what the words meant and I could put some character into it. Beatrice my character a strong woman to fight with so she is that person who cant take no for a an answer. At times I think nerves got the better of me. However I seem to have felt that my vocal energy was good as I kept the play interesting. Also I feel that my projection was strong once I was more confident with the lines. If I were to do this performance again I would tell myself to slow down and before I go on stage I will take some deep breaths to calm my body down which will able my voice to feel more comfortable to before rather than being tensed and stressed.

Man Of Mode 
Man of Mode was great fun to work with the voice as the pitch of an upper class lady was a high pitch which allowed my head resonator to work more than the others. Playing an upper class character needs to have a clear articulation by pronouncing every vowel and constant. For a 17th century lady posture was very important so I always spoke with my back straight. I felt that my posture gave my more energy in the voice. Compared to Shakespeare I could feel that because of my posture I could hear an improvement in my voice by lengthening my spine. My feedback that I had in rehearsals that my posture was excellent which therefore helped the scene. I noticed that my pace was not effected during this performance as I was confident and in character every performance. I really enjoyed using my voice in this project as it was a challenging part of my voice which was the head resonator. Every warm up I woke up my head and opened my mouth for articulation and my high pitch voice.

Solo Radio- Year 2

Solo Radio Performance 

What research did I carry out whilst doing this assignment? 

Cbeebies bedtime Story 
Five Minutes Peace 

With Cbeebies I listened to different types of TV presenter and celebrities. Most of the actors that were reading the story had a soft tone to their as they are to target the audience of children. I found that listening to the story the pace of the story was at a steady pace putting all of the descriptive words longer. For example a deep long bath sounds as though the sounds need to be elongated. The dialogue that was between the character had all completely different voices for example the baby was in the nasal resonator where as Mrs Large was in a chest resonator. I could tell the contrast between to the young character to the older character. Also I could tell the narrative voice as well by talking in a relaxed voice. As this is a relaxed story and because the purpose of this story is to settle young children to bed the mood was a very calm story by creating a smooth feel to the story. Sound effects were key this type of story too because it gets the audience to step into their shoes and feel what it feels like to soak in a bath. The onomatopoeia that was used was a 'ahhhh' like a sigh of relief and relaxation.  

Was Cbeebies Bedtime Story useful to your book and helpful for your book? 

Cbeebies Bedtime Story was very useful because I have characters who speak in my story and this programme gave me some ideas on which resonator I should use fir which character and how I should say the onomatopoeia because of the volume of the sound effect were interesting as the sigh from Mrs Large was quiet and very natural and realistic. So with things such as Baby Bear pretending to be a aero plane the sound would be very loud because a little character like baby bear could be excited still because of the age of the character. However in sounds such as the living room clock would be a quiet sound because it goes off in the back ground in a living in real life. Also the hedgehogs sound 'snuffle snuffle' is a secretive sound so I created a quick sound to fit the hedge hog sound. In rehearsals I tried using a deep voice for Mr Bear and being slightly grumpy with the noises that happen through the story but my feedback from that was that I didn't fit the mood and the content of the story so I tried a more softer approach to Mr Bear's voice and give it more of a rhythm to the dialogue as it is one of the repeated words that is said throughout the story.



Why did I pick Peace At Last?

For this part of my radio performance I have decided to read a children's book which is Jill Murphy's Peace at Last. The reason why I chose this book in particular because I am very familiar with the story as I listened to it a lot when I was a child and that there are lots of onomatopoeia's  in the story which my voice could be used for. Also they is some dialogue which I can make a character voice for so I can more variety with this book. As this book is aged at 2 to 5 year olds I need to make the pace of the story nice and slow and capture their imagination by reading the story with enthusiasm. It is very important to connect with the children otherwise they will switch off completely.


What research did I carry out for ADR? 

I thought that voices for animation films is similar to ADR to look at videos and looked at how they used the microphone and there action behind the scenes. What I noticed most of was the amount of energy that goes into it. Tom Hanks playing Woody in Toy Story was jumping so the breathing of Woody was realistic. Another video that really fascinated me was the actress whop played Jessie in Toy story. Not only did she show facial expression she was moving physically as well to make it sound natural it was amazing to watch. Another video was of a little girl running in from the other room. This was so clever as it was just a great idea because the sound after was realistic and smooth. Duet scenes such as Woody and Buzz scenes the actors were looking at each other because it was natural to face the person that you were talking to. The layout in Frozen was that the actors were completely on the other sides of the room facing each other.

How did this research help you with your ADR video piece? 

From watching the voice over clips I could see that you can still use your body even though the purpose is the voice. Having this in mind I imagined anger in this video as my character makes a very bold statement saying 'this is ridiculous'. I imagined my brothers and sisters being annoying because personally that's what gets me on my nerves so I used that with this particular piece. Then the word 'truth' is the important word in the next sentence because maybe my character has been lied to so this voice is a little threatening because she wants to find out the truth from 'Macdania'. A little problem that I faced rehearsing was the lip sync the mouth of my character. So to solve this problem  I watched the trailer a couple of times with me talking over the trailer so that I felt comfortable coming to the real recording.







Poetry- Scissors by Allan Alhberg 

I chose this poem in particular because I thought it was a complete contrast to my other solo performances and I thought that I could interpret this piece in a couple of ways. I started a little angry and threatening by going a little faster and emphasizing the word 'nobody'. then towards the end I started to have some light relief with the line of 'Scissors don't melt away or explode' to show some humor by slowing my pace down.Rehearsing the poem I thought a lower volume would help build the tension as it would be older children who would be listening to this. I pictured in my head that I kidnapped someone because it would of made the voice more naturalistic and being dominant over others. I listened to a few recordings of this poem as my research and they started off slow quite near the mic so it was more clear and imagining that the person was behind you in your ear.

Radio Assignment- Ensemble Atching Tan

Atching Tan and The Far side of the Moore -ensemble piece 

Introduction to the radio play -content

Atching Tan 
Atching Tan is about a girl called Lovvie who tries to follow  a dream that has not been discovered before. With help from John the drama teacher Lovvie prepares herself to became a actress. However Lovvie is a gyspy whos sister Norah is getting married and Lovvie is suppose to help her while she is keeping secrets and lieing to her boyfriend Nelius who is persuading her to take her hand in marriage. 

The first week was the casting process. I read the part of Norah which was a challenge for me with the slightly different language slang that they use. From the first time read I thought it was good to get a feel of play and I knew that I have some character work to use. I have never read a radio script before which was a bit different than acting live because it is all about the voice. I think Norah is someone that I can relate to as I have a sister who I speak to a lot. This relates to Norah and Lovvie because they have a close relationship as Norah wants Lovvie there all they way through the process of the wedding such as finding the perfect dress and being a bridesmaid and being there for the wedding dress fitting. Norah's trusts Lovvie but she knew that she is hiding something however when she finds out she gets so angry and annoyed because of what she has been doing instead of preparing her for her wedding. 

Rehearsing Atching Tan 

Researching Romani gypsy the wedding dress are very over the top and have so many layers such as Norah wants 'at least thirty layers'. Romany travellers are quite individual because they have there cultural ways live such as they have made their own traditions.For example storytelling, music and poetry. Gypsy like Lovvie live off in a caravan which explains why the Norah is shouting outside of the bathroom Lovvie and walking past.

Far side of the Moore 

This radio play is based on the life of amateur astronomer Patrick Moore. Patrick Moore wrote the series of 'The sky at night'. This radio play is explaining about how he started his career and what support he had back at home.

With this play I was casted as a radio announcer. When the play was set the voice on the news had to be clipped 1950's which meant that I had to articulate my voice to emphasize the headlines. For this I had to practise constantly opening my mouth and pronouncing every word correctly and put on a news voice. Whilst I was doing this I imagined that I was a newsreader and pictured how they speak on the radio. Researching The Media Show helped me pick up a news voice because of the host announcing the headlines that are coming up in the programme.


What techniques do I have during the ensemble piece of Atching Tan? 

In one scene Lovvie and my character Norah are speaking through a bathroom door. Obviously the sound is going to be slightly blocked so I need to sound far away because I am talking to Lovvie. By doing this I need to stand away from the microphone to allow distance and imagining that I am talking to the door. With the effect happening I think there will be a effect on my voice and Lovvies voice to create more of an effect for the audience and to make the scene more effective. This effect is called the proximity effect. The bass end of the microphone comes out more when you are far away from the microphone.  There will be elements of Foley to create the atmosphere more because the bathroom is separate to where there caravan is located therefore there will be Foley as they are walking past. Foley is a type of sound effect which create a non computerized effect. For this specific scene foley was a sound motif as the sound is by the character such as towel drying or just turning off the shower.


What type of research have you listened to? 
Panel Show-The Media Show- Radio 4 

 The panel show was interesting to listen to as I normally don't often hear panel shows on the radio. I listened to The Media Show on Radio 4. The Media Show started off with a introduction speaking about the highlights of the show and introducing the guests on the show. The host of the show was coming across assertive and serious with the tone of his voice. The reason being is because of his stories which are coming up later in the programme. The show also added some sound effects in. For example one of the issues were that not many female comedians are shown on TV panel shows.There was a short clip being played of the TV show mock the week. Listening closely to the voices of the programme I can hear the presenter breathing quietly compared to the guests such as Sue who was talking about the female comedians story and how her feelings are coming across by the sound of her breathing to. Her opinion sounded very honest because she has researched the point that she is agreeing with. The conversation will go on for about 20 mins but what I noticed the most was that the guests could interrupt other guests to get there point of view across. This was a good thing to hear because it sounded like a flowing conversation no stopping needed or silences in the programme. Another guest who was expressing her views by saying her background to comedy and her experiences in her career. Another technique that I noticed that all of there voices were clear and articulated in the microphone. They weren't too close to the mic because of the clarity of their voice that came across. However if the people on the show felt strongly about their opinion that would speed up the pace and have a angry tone to their voice.

How effective was the radio programme? 

The panel show was a formal piece of radio as the people on the broadcast were articulating there words as they are talking about subjects that effects the audience in particular which makes the audience listen more. The person presenting the show has a soft tone the listener. The pace of the presenter is slow and relaxed because of the mood the subject. However compared to the guest she was much more assertive with her voice because she was getting her point across by debating.

Are sound effects appropriate and do they relate to the piece?

The sound effects they had were a exact from mock the week. I thought that this was effective as it was a way to introduce the subject about the lack of women that have been on the show mock the week. The sound effect was clearly of mock the week because the extract was the introduction by Dara O'Brian 'Hello and welcome to mock the week'.

What time and channel would be appropriate for this material? 

The time of day The Media Show would be live would be in the afternoon on Radio 4 because as it is a debating panel show that people would listen to coming home from work and thinking about their views. Radio 4 is a type of Radio station that adults would listen to because of the subject that was brought up.

Radio Play- Bang Up By Sarah Heir- Radio 4 

First of all this drama was a great example of a interesting play that pulls you in when listening. Things that I have heard was -
- Foley
- Sound effects on the voices
- Different voices and characterisation
- Voice technique

Foley

Foley is a type of realistic sound effect which sounds not computerized to make the radio sound realistic as if you could hear the scene more than just the characters talking.  In this play there were so many different type of foleys. One of the foleys that I noticed first of all was the sound motif that kept repeating throughout  Foley was used a good way by creating the atmosphere of a prison with footsteps to check on the prisoners, closing of heavy doors and talking by some of the other prisoners. Also the song that started of the play flowed fluently in the plot of the story. Also the moment of the piano in the background when Emma is listing her day in her diary. Foley really helped me establish where I was in the radio play because the sound is all I rely on.

Sound effect on the voices 

In this play there is a lot of conversation on the phone with Emma's dad. the sound effect has changed the voice to make it sound like a person on the phone which gave the listeners more imagination to think about. In the script the voice is stage directed as (robotic voice) which means that they want a different voice for a purpose.

Different Voices and Characterisation  
Bang Up had so many minor characters that were based around the prison. From what I could hear you could tell the difference between which character that were talking because of the tone and the slight accent from each of them. Such as the guard had a low tone. I think the low tone of the character the guard worked as in a stereotypical police officer mainly has a low tone. This helped the audience instantly as they could hear the contrast between the voices. Such as the main character Lee was rough character as he spoke short sentences most of the time such as "dunno" and "miss"to his teacher. I think this gave Lee a quiet side to his personality. However when hearing the dialogue to his friends he is completely different.

In the play there are times that Emma is reading her diary to the audience such as 'Friday 4 th November morning: Put rubbish out. Do ironing. Find waterproof spray for shoes'. as a lot different to her natural voice when speaking to voice. The list of things are in a monotone way. The list is also in order of what she is going to do. It is a routine of what she is doing. Her voice contrasts to her natural voice to when she is teaching. Also reading the script the monotone voice that Emma uses is always in short sentences which is the same as Lee when he is around Emma. When she is teaching she uses a understanding voice because she needs to gain Lee's trust.

Emma's Dad Bruce was a great example about characterisation as the use of the pauses that he makes he is frustrated or worried about Emma because the lack of response back to his phone calls. By pausing I could hear that he was trying to calm down because of the relationship between a father and daughter has a friendly relationship instead of a angry tone.

Voice Technique 

I thought the voice was very clear with the play as you can understand the content of the play. The character Emma articulated her words. I could connect to Emma as she sounded like a teacher as she spoke a calm way with Lee. Lee uses his character to show the way he spoke. He had a slight dialect on him like a lower class way about him and uses slang such as 'dunno'. However at the end when he was reading his story he sounded more comfortable and spoke very clear to tie the end of play.

What was good about Bang up and The Media show that you can consider in Atching Tan?

From my research I could see now that Atching Tan is similar to Bang up because there are scenes between Lovvie and John which are intimate scenes because of Lovvie finding her talent whereas in Bang up Emma and Lee are talking about English and how Emma is supporting Lee. Listening to other radio play has helped my character to because I can hear that feeling by pausing or breathing fast or slow to match the mood with the scene. For example when Norah first is seen in the play she is in a bad mood about 'the Markham coming to mi wedding'. This part of the play I am playing Norah annoyed as she grumpy about the Markhams coming. However in more soft scenes such as the bedroom scene when Lovvie and Norah are sleeping Norah is whispering because the scene needs a soft scene as it is night time and quiet.

What have learnt by doing this radio play? 

As this play has Romani gypsy the dialect is different to our normal way we speak. There are words which they speak which we weren't familiar with. Words such as lubnie means prostitute so we had to put the expression and imply to the meaning of the word lubnie to that sentence. Other words such as dordie means 'oh god' means that your expression had to be shocked whilst saying this sentence. In particular one scene Lovvie is stressed when she is with John and shouts 'Oh dordie'. Rokkering means talking which had to be like a casual conversation. At first the getting to grips with the language was really hard as I had no idea how to say some of the dialogue but once I got familiar with the language I made it as if it was my own.

What notes were given to you in the rehearsal process? 

Personally I struggled in the rehearsal as I find sight reading hard which was a disadvantage as it meant I stumbled over my words sometimes so my constant was to slow the pace of my voice down so that my emotion could come out more in the performance. However throughout the process I got more and more confident with my words and felt more comfortable coming to the real recording. Also sometimes the way I would say sometimes a sentence that didn't sound quite right. For example there is a scene when Lovvie can't meet up with my character Norah as she is secretly rehearsing with John and in this scene I said 'what?'. I said this part as if I couldn't hear her whereas I was supposed to be a little annoyed that she cant make it and that she needs a reason.

Horrid Henry Audio Book 

URL  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85CbQqHv8mw

How effective is the radio programme?

I think this is a effective radio programme because in the audio book there are variety of voices that make the audience hear different characters. For example when dad speaks the actor puts on a upper class voice by changing his pitch slightly. The narrator articulates his words very well by announcing certain letters in the words such as ' Henry snitched' the word letter 's' as it is a verb. Another verb such as 'pushed' put focus on the 'p' sound. This part of the book were very short and sharp sentences which gives effect. The audience for this audio book is aimed at children aged 8-13 years old. With this type of audience short sentences helps the audience to use their imagination.

Use of vocal technique   

Other vocal technique are a variation of different voices to show different characters. Such as to show the dad the narrator gives a more upper class voice saying ' what are we going to do about our horrid boy'. The word is more weighted by the 'h' sound. This made the actors voices more cross and higher status to henry and you could hear the disappointed in the mums voice. The mums voice could show the social class she is trying to convey. However the dad was slightly lower compared to the mother.

Changing the voices by the pitch makes it easier to find out what character is speaking. For example when Perfect Peter his character is a sweet and innocent little boy which allows Perfect Peter to have more of a high pitch voice to make him sound younger than the other characters. I thought this was clear as it had a contrast to the parents role that was heard previously.

What age would I recommend this audiobook? 

This audio book is mainly for young children aged 6-10 years as it allows the audience to use their imagination. Also the pace of the voice allows the children to follow in a basic term so the picture can be seen in their head.

Voice for the actor- year 2

My Voice Analysis 

Before the exercises 

Before doing a vocal warm up I find that stumble over my words slightly which causes me to struggle with articulation. For example in Man of Mode Sally mentioned that I am becoming lazy with my 'th' sounds and I need to be aware about this. This is something that I need to be working on this week  to help me with my character and in everyday conversation. I think that I find being round my friends I pick the habits up from them. From my 13 feedback Sarah talked about that I speak on the out breath which is something I will improve on. In road my feedback consisted of projection as in some rehearsals I could not be heard. From hearing myself speak I feel like I speak too fast as I am either nervous or  not as confident on the words therefore I find my voice difficult to use. I think my voice is low voice between the options of high and low. If I am tired my voice is sometimes mumbled and my pace is slowed down. My posture is the worse out of all the characteristics of my voice as my shoulders are always hunched forward and my back is not in alignment with my head. Also I have noticed my neck is always stretched because of my height bending down to talk to people.  

What exercises will help me develop my voice this week? 

The exercises that I am going to do this week are:

Tongue twisters-

Theodore thought it was his birthday but instead he went to the cathedral. 

Repeated five times. 

The 'th' sound is the making between the tongue and the teeth as shown by the picture above. I struggle to make this sound as I can sometimes be lazy and say the 'f' sound instead. By doing the tongue twister regularly it will train me to stop saying the 'f' sound. The difference between 'th' sound and 'f' sound is that it is different part of the lips.







Circle the tongue round the mouth clockwise and anticlockwise
Circling the tongue allows to strengthen the tongue and warms up the mouth.



Opening the mouth as wide as you can such as a silent scream scenario wakes up the lips and mouth muscles. The image on the left shows a example of the big stretch that you can make with the mouth.  

Making the opposite face making the face as small as you can allows your face to be stretched with the lips and the mouth. In some cases the stretch can stretch the jaw and release unnecessary tension in the parts of the face which I find useful as I can get lots of tension in my jaw.






Rubber chicken- Waking up my body 
Although warming up the voice is a key important part of a vocal warm up. Waking up the body allows the body to find your balance and freedom and flexibility. Working with the body releases personal, habitual posture, the actor opens up the possibilities of what they may play both physically and vocally.  Rubber chicken gets the heart rate up and makes the body feel more energized.


Controlling the breath 

Controlling my breath- My diaphragm and ribs are responsible for breathing in. They form the floor and walls of the chest cavity. As my breathe in my diaphragm moves down and my ribs move out. From the diagram you can see clearly how the breath flows in and out and what happens inhaling and exhaling.

Alexander technique
The Alexander technique provides a natural curve in the small of the back so this area will not be flat on the floor. Bending the legs helps to lengthen the lower back and so will avoid any excess arching. You need to put enough books under the head so that your chin is slightly lower than your forehead. This helps the back of the neck to lengthen. By imagining different parts of the body releasing unnecessary tension. For example imagine your toes uncurling and spreading makes you release tension which helps the voice physically. 

Week One Of trying the exercises 

Circling my tongue clockwise and anticlockwise 
Knowing my weakness and wanting to improve I believe that these exercises are working for me can I am freeing up my voice as I am going round my mouth clockwise and anticlockwise. I think the reason why this is working is because I feel that I am opening up my mouth more than I once however it needs to be improved. On the other hand I will keep on doing this exercise as it is working after a week so with another week my articulation will get better as the weeks move on.

Opening my mouth to to make it wider

This is week is all about articulation which means opening the mouth more. I feel that this has made loads of progress with my voice because I opening my mouth wider which makes the pronunciation more clearer. I can hear the sound in my voice the way it is improving because of making that stretch which is helping the mouth open up more.

Rubber chicken
Waking up the body makes me feel energized ready for the day and makes more feel more awaken and warm up the resonators in my voice. For example I start of with a monotone voice just to keep on a simple level then I warm the chest resonators by using a rugby voice. After that a young children to warm up the head resonators.

Controlling my breath 

Controlling the breath helped with my pace and my relaxation. It felt that I was warming the breathe by breathing normally by controlled. This exercise helps stop breathing on the out breathe because I am breathing in a steady pace.

Alexander technique 

Alexander technique was the relaxing part of the whole routine as it releases unnecessary tension and helps your alignment which is improving as when I lie down I am perfect alignment. I also feel so relaxed after the exercise but my body feels free and that I can concentrate. Whilst I was doing it I felt my hips falling to the floor because my hips were holding tension.

Tongue twisters concentrating with the 'Th' sound 

Honestly I haven't noticed many changes to my voice with this exercises. However maybe I need to try out this exercise more than the others as I am not seeing a change as such so this week I need to concentrate more on that exercise.

To conclude this week I think the exercises are helping my voice but I need to repeat these exercises to see a difference.

Week 2 Repeating the same exercises 

This week has been a stressful week which the vocal warm ups have really helped me relax and warm me up ready for the day ahead.

Circling clockwise and anticlockwise 
This exercise is so familiar that that it flows with my vocal warm up. This week I have really noticed the difference because I have felt the stretching of the mouth which is in important for the voice. Also this exercises prepares you mentally as it allows you to think about how many times you are going round in your mouth. I can also feel that my cheeks have widened slightly to allow a stretch which is useful because it allows me to open my mouth more in things such as articulation.

Opening the mouth wide and making it small
This exercise this week has been very useful as I have seen a difference of the opening of the mouth. Opening the mouth is really exercising my jaw as I find a lot of tension in my jaw so this is helping my vocal technique.

Controlling the breath 

Breath and support makes the body at ease. This week I have noticed that my joints are loosening and I can feel that my spine is lengthening and my muscles relaxing more. With all the oxygen being inhaled it allows the body to be waked up and because of this I feel more refreshed. Doing this exercise my frequently I am able to breathe out longer that I did previously as I am using my diaphragm more.

Week 3 

This week I decided to change some of the exercises that I am doing as I thought that some other exercises may help me with my vocal technique. The techniques are:

Hanging with my upper body bent forward

By doing this it helps not just my voice to relax but my body as well. This is very important as I need to wake up the body and make sure that my back doesn't have unnecessary tension.








More tongue twisters

Unique New York 

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry 

By doing these tongue twisters I will make me get into the habit of putting all of my facial muscles to the front of my mouth. Tongue twisters such as Unique New York they really get all the muscles to the front because sounds in the uni in the unique has to make the "u" sound which means making a duck face to get that sound.

Opening the face and making it as small as possible 
I am repeating this exercise this week as this exercise is helping me with my articulation and it is working because in my ADR assessment I felt that I was opening my mouth more and I could hear myself more with my articulation.

What did you feel this week with the new exercises? 

Bending my upper body 
With the new exercises I felt that my body was my body relax as I find bending my lower body comfortable and my breathe sending the oxygen to other parts of my body. I felt that my back was my relaxed as my posture is becoming poor but with this exercise it is not letting the bad posture happening.

Tongue Twisters 

I feel that the tongue twisters are helping me with my articulation and that the 'u' sound is helping me send my facial muscles all to the front of my mouth which is good.

Opening my mouth wide and small 
Repeating this exercise for a few weeks now I have felt not difference about from the previous that I have had which I have noted in previous weeks.

Feedback on my voice after the exercises 

For my Greek project I have really focused on my vocal plan by rolling my tomgue between my teeth clockwise and anticlockwise. Opening the mouth and closing the mouth. Karen noticed that I have had clear diction in my performance. This was because my vocal programme is working and those exercises are comfortable for me which improves my voice. 

Developing Blog

Introduction 

Our first play is a exciting contemporary version of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' which is translates to modern text as overhearing gossip which is true to the context of the play such as Beatrice and Signor Benedick relationship.I am looking forward to working with this play as it has potential on trying out new things and giving risks to add more comedy to the exacts.

To be honest I wasn't familiar of the context of the play which it harder to understand what happening during the film that I was watching. The play itself was a comedy was is one of the difficult parts of acting in the performing arts. I thought that I would struggle with this because of the language behind as well.

The Language 
In this play the language is very particular style. It is written in Old English which is different to our way of speaking in modern day such as in Shakespeare he uses words such as 'thee' and 'thou' which we use as 'you'. For example if you stress a different word such as 'A dear happiness to women' emphasizes the word women it feels unnatural and confusing to saying what you mean. However emphasizing the word dear it brings the sentence to a natural feel. My scene is written in prose which I think it fits with this scene because when I act it I feel free with words and that is what I think Shakespeare felt that Beatrice and Benedick can express the language without sticking to verse (iambic pentameter). The conversation that they have relates to what the other person said previous. For example 'so some gentleman or other shall' scape a predestinate scratched face'. This is a very bold statement by Benedick. Scratching means a quite violent thing to say in a piece of dialogue.In a modern translation Benedick said 
'Well I hope you stay in that frame of mind or some poor man will end up with his face scratched up' which makes me understand what Benedick is saying in the scene so then as Beatrice I can react and say ' Scratching could not make it worse twere such a face as yours were'. At first I found the word twere hard to pronounce as I wasn't use to the word as it is old English. To solve this problem I broke this word into to section and thought of the word 'were' but with at the beginning of the word. I have a general idea about what I am saying but I researched the sentence and it said ' If he had a face like yours, a good scratching couldn't make it look worse' which relates to Benedicks sentence before this line was saying.

The opening lines are played in a rhetorical form (asking a question).  For example 'I pray you is signor mountato returned or no?'. In modern interpretation that means is mountato back yet?. Examples like this makes it easier to translate.

Ideas 
Our main idea to modernise the play is to set it to a festival. I thought that this is a brilliant idea because it fits with the scenario of the play. There are some many features of the festival. I suggested a silent disco. Silent disco would maybe fit into a scene with Beatrice and Benedick so they could block each other out and make it funny. Another idea was a to a scene in a portaloo scenario when Beatrice is overhearing the plan that going on between Ursula and Hero. The portaloo would be a great scene. We recently saw the play of the 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' which was very physical but simple with props and technology. One of the scenes had a loo in a box which was a clever prop to use so we thought we would take that idea that make it stand up in our adaptation of Much Ado. The final idea was to piece a band theme together and make Don John the brother that has quit the band which would been by the audience that he is a solo artist. Leonato would be the event organiser which would make him more in charge of the whole situation.

What have I have watched and noticed in my character?

I have the version of Much Ado About Nothing with Beatrice played by Catherine Tate. Catherine plays Beatrice as a overly confident person. There is advantage playing Beatrice like this. Some of the lines can be funny by slowing them down such as 'loves me' which fits with Benedicks reaction. I tried my version of this interpretation in rehearsal by playing a little over the top and being bold with arm gestures. However it wasn't me playing Beatrice's because some comments were that I was too similar to Catherine Tate. When I playing her I felt like I should tone down the voice because I felt like I wasn't being myself when playing Beatrice.

Another version was Emma Thompson's version of Beatrice. This version a more naturalistic approach which made it more meaningful with the lines and the crowds around her would either support her or disagree.

I thought that both versions were good examples of Beatrice and how play Beatrice in completely different  ways that worked well with the Benedicks in the scene.

Having seen other actors playing Beatrice I have been trying out different interpretations of Beatrice and also to get people to laugh because after all it is a comedy.

Acting in scenes 

My feedback in general at the moment is to break the lines in to units of thoughts. I thought that this would help me to help me learn my lines because I am struggling with the language. My technique to learn my lines is to colour code the sections of thought and repeat the process with the same colours so I can think visually what lines are under each colour. Once I have learnt my lines I think I will find it easier to become my own Beatrice.

The ideas with the set is coming together now I tried actually sitting on the toilet and open the lid and smelling it which got some laughs in the audience. The feedback that we got from the scene is that I needed to spit much more earlier and that the people on the other side of the toilet needed to make sure that audience know that it is a act for Beatrice. From the first time we did with no props and set I couldn't imagine this scene being funny as I understand what was being said between Ursula and Hero. However after watching the modern version of the Much Ado About Nothing Retold I thought that it made more sense and that it could be funny with the friends having a laugh across from me.

Targets 
Become more confident with lines and learn them to add movement such as hands to make the dialogue better especially in Act one scene one.

What interpretations have I seen and how did they help my character to progress? 

My targets have been working well because I am more confident with my lines. Knowing my lines helps me to develop Beatrice a lot more. The first few times I played Act one scene one I recently saw Catherine Tate's version. She plays the character slightly over the top to emphasize the humour with Benedick. I interpreted this version and see if it fitted to my character and how I play Beatrice. The feedback that I got was that I was too similar to Catherine Tate because the way I deliver lines didn't make the audition a comedic reaction. I also found that I speak my lines too quick in my scenes. One of my targets are to slow down when speaking because the quicker I speak the more muddled I get with lines as I find Shakespeare very hard to learn.

What could I improve vocally to this performance? 

Our voice lessons have focused us on stressing the particular words that makes the sentence more clear. Karen told us to emphasize the verbs in particular as it gives the delivery a lot stronger.The particular line that I struggle with which is 'I wonder why you still be talking Signor Benedick nobody marks you'. I naturally put the emphasis on the 'you' rather than the 'marks' makes more sense as the modern interpretation as basically say 'I wonder why Benedick is speaking as no on listens to him'.


What has my process been for Act 3 scene one?

The festival theme is seen throughout the scenes of the play for the this scene we decided that Beatrice should be in a portaloo symbolizing that the experience of a festival environment.

As you can see a portaloo has a very tight space to imagine being inside of and how horrible the conditions are. At first I found this scene difficult as my constant note is always keep listening or imply that I am listening because that's the whole purpose of the scene. One of our tasks was an exercise to think about your objective of the scene. From the target it says
'You can never know what you are doing until you first know what you are doing it to. For the actor,all doing has to be done to something. The actor can do nothing without the target. The target can be real or imaginary, concentrate or abstract, but the unbreakable first rule is that it all times and without a single exception there must be a target'

I found the target helpful as I thought of a verb that I can act doing which has a worked as my target is to listen to the other ladies across from me. On the other side There target are that they are planning an act for Beatrice.

After having it rehearsed a few times I am now getting the idea about how I should play my character in this scene. I have lots of suggestions.

Suggestion number one

Donna was very kind and helped me out in a more realistic approach in this scene. A portaloo normally is quite disgusting so she suggesting putting loo roll around the sides and making it cleaner that it was originally. in my opinion this was a good way of have a naturalistic and acting for people that think the toilets at festival is gross. The way she explained it helped me and I could may get a laugh because it is horrible. However Sally argued that I would look too busy and not tackling the purpose of this scene which is to hear what Hero and Ursula are saying about how in love Beatrice is.

Suggestion number two

I listened to Phoebe and Lewis's feedback about that I was looking too awkward on the toilet and wasn't any energy on one side of the scene. Phoebe's idea was to sit on the toilet with my elbows on my knees and my legs spread slightly and thinking and responding to the Hero and Ursula's conversation. From Phoebe's idea, I got inspired by thinking of how horrible is and shutting the lid straight away. The feedback in some of the lessons was that I still wasn't quite focused on listening to Hero and Ursula.

Suggestion number three

I needed to think more simple and little things that would make the audience giggle. Sally gave me a suggestion to just open the lid straight away and just accept that it is a horrible toilet and that the audience may laugh from that. That way I had more focus on listening. This way of playing Beatrice makes it more realistic and now I am starting to think of reactions such as 'no truly Ursula she is too disdainful'.

At the moment I am trying suggestion three more than the others however the others have been used with ideas along with the bigger idea such as sitting on the toilet as Phoebe thought of.


The Language in Act three scene one

Although I don't speak in very much in the scene I still need to understand what Hero and Ursula are saying about Beatrice. Here is a modern interpretation

'The best part of fishing is watching the fish cut through the water and greedily take the bait. Now we're for Beatrice, who's hiding right now in the honeysuckle arbour. Don't worry, I will my part'.

When I read this modern language of this scene I thought that this makes so much sense because now I know the meaning. Ursula is basically saying that we caught Beatrice like a fish and that we have caught by bait which is Benedick being madly in love with Beatrice.

I keep hearing Hero say the word 'disdainful'. To be honest I didn't really know the meaning of the word. So I researched the word and it means arrogant, mean and superior. I then related this to the role and try to have emotion memory of this scene. Someone that I can picture as this arrogant, mean and superior person. This way it will make me react more naturally.  In context of the sentence Hero says ' No truly Ursula she is too disdainful' which means that I am arrogant.


Act One Scene One progress: feedback and improvement 

At home I have worked really hard on this scene basically with the language and the meaning of it. I recently discovered that my first line ' I pray you is Signor Mountato returned or no?'.Originally I though that the words 'Signor Mountato' was a person but 'Mountato' means thrust. This meant that I had to change the tone of the delivery and I thought of having a hand gesture as well to commuicate to the audience that I mean a sword not a person. 

What additional pieces to fill the gaps in the play? 

As the play is too long for a college performance we are just performinfg certain scenes from the play. However the scenes dont show much of the plot enough so we have created two physical theatre pieces that fill in the gaps. Our first part of the physical section which is everyone is in unison doing different freeze frames. The four freeze frames related to the experience of an festival.

1 Pose- create a still image that ur character would do at a festival.

2 Smoke- lots of smoke around in a festival environment.

3 Drink-Lots of people get drunk at festivals whilst enjoying some great bands that are playing.

4 Selfie- Technology is used all the time now which meant that it was appropriate to apply a selfie in the piece to make it more modern.

The song we picked for this piece was 'Invaders Must Die' by The Prodigy. This song suited the piece well as it is a upbeat music and fitted well to a silent disco scene. In reality songs like the 'The Prodigy' are played either on the main stage or in a separate tent away from the main stage.

The next song was to explain to the audience the context between Hero and Margaret. At first we tried 'smack my bitch up' by The Prodigy which at first made the whole physical theatre process difficult at it is a slow moving song that the beat doesn't kick in until further in the song. So we chose another song because it felt better with the piece because it fitted the theme of the festival as I could imagine seeing this seeing this song live. The song is called 'The Joker and the thief' by Wolf mother. This song works so much better as it kept in time to all of the movements. After the song choice we could feel the music more. Sally had an objective on moving Margaret and Hero from one side to another. For the audiences eye we needed to make it obvious as it is a quick gap and a important of the storyline. Inspired by The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time we thought that putting Margaret and Hero in the air will make this piece unique such as the things that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time was about using physical theatre.   

This video shows loads of lifts that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time used which was directed by Frantic Assembly (A physical theatre company focuses on movement in plays and there own devised plays). This gave us ideas about using our lift as it is visiable approach for the audience to see a swap going on.  It explores techinques such as the walking on the wall lift, the jet pack and flying. The lifts were amazing to watch and that's what we wanted. Frantic Assembly are well known for there lifts which is great for our performance.





Rehearsals in the theatre 

What was different rehearsing in the theatre than rehearsing normally?

Rehearsing in the theatre brought the staging and the whole performance to life.

From this photo you can see that the everyone is in character and see that this particular scene is working with the other people in the scene. This particular scene I found that I was lot more confident with trying a action to support the dialogue on what I was saying such as in this picture I was saying

'He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight, and my uncles fool reading the challenge,subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the bird bolt'.

I was basically telling a story about my how Benedick lost a archery match with Cupid thats why I made an action for a archery pose for this photo. This photo of the performance is roughly in the middle of the Beatrice's part between Hero, Messenger and Leonato. The modern interpretation is

'Benedick once put up a public notice in Messina challenging Cupid to an archery match. My uncle's jester accepted the contest on Cupid's behalf but used toy arrows at the shooting match. But tell me, how many men did he kill and eat in his battle? I promised I would eat anyone he killed'.

This quote made some much sense to me whilst I was acting and I understood how this story was funny because I am saying how dumb Benedick is.

This scene starts with me and Hero and talking as we are listening to Leonato and what he is organising in the festival. In rehearsal we had to imagine a really attractive guy that you would love to see so Donna and I used to whisper to ourselves what our perfect guy would be to come on stage to the festival. The guy that we imagined was Don Pedro one of the band members. With this imagined guy I think we added some energy towards the scene because we were fans of Don Pedro therefore we should be excited and pick up the scene.

Costume

As you can see from the photo I am wearing a flowery dress which is what would be worn at a festival. I thought that this dress suited Beatrice as she is a feisty character and that she would suit a dress because of her presence particularly in this scene she is owning the stage. I thought that in this costume I felt like more of a Beatrice because I could create a 'walk' for her shaking the hips with head held high more which made the performance better for me. The wellies helped me to picture myself in a festival too because wellies are the most common footwear at a festival.

Staging

The staging was really clever as we used the projector as part of the set which I was amazing to have for the audience as it showed who is what character.

Here is a photo of what it looked like before the scene started out. This way of using technology made the character clearer to the audience, made the set minimum and it was clever in the sense that you haven't seen this type of staging before. The whole idea of this screen makes the performance more professional and unique and less complicated when it comes to moving from scene to scene.



How did the audience react to the play?

Overall I think the audience laughed at the funny parts which some of our character act more in the character to get more of a laugh. Sally brought this up in our feedback so we took it on board. The one part which was challenging for me not to laugh was the toilet, After all of the times in rehearsal how everyone didn't laugh at my reactions it certainly was achieved in the real performance. As soon as the knickers were on the audience were creasing up the whole time during this scene. The first couple of times was a bit nervous I had never done it with the knickers but after the a couple more I knew what the audience would react to therefore I could act on that. On the open dress I gave a natural reaction to something that Hero was saying which was dropping the toilet paper and rolling off the stage. That moment was so naturalistic which I didnt know how to react at first and whilst keep listening to the conversation.  Personally that was the best that I have seen myself play that role because of the natrualistic places however it was a success in the main performances too.

What was the process of the monologue at the end of this scene?
Sally gave some acting points about my monologue and mostly said about how I was overacting Beatrice slightly whereas in this monologue she is genuinely shocked about what she has heard about her love life and how she loves Benedick. To improve my monologue I asked the question to myself
'What fire is in mine ears'?
The response to the question completely changed as my tone was more soft instead of loud and open. Since then the monologue became much better. As the monologue progressed I could see that the more i was in love with Benedick the more I opened up to the audience. Especially on the last line which was
'I believe it better than reportingly'
I could see a change in my face and I could actually think I am falling in love which makes me naturally run off.

Character Profile 

Name: Beatrice (niece of Leonato)

Age: 30

Description of character
Beatrice is the niece of Leonato who is a noble man in Messina. She is a feisty character with lots of words to say about certain characters.

What does Beatrice think of the other characters?

'No and if he were I would burn my study'  ( Act One Scene one)

Beatrice is uses some of these insults about Benedick to present to other people how much she detests the guy. She makes harsh remarks and comebacks to Benedick. Beatrice doesn't like Benedick as he more of a bachelor man trying to show off in front of everyone and wants to get all the ladies.

'Id rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man wear he loves me' (Act one scene one)

This is a bold statement coming from Beatrice as she clearly doesn't want anything to do with Benedick. The language shows that Beatrice having a battle with Benedick for her to try and win because she doesn't take no for an answer.

'Taming my wild to thy loving hand
If thou dost love my kindness shall incite thee
To bind us up in a holy band
For others say thou dost deserve for
I believe it better than reportingly' (Beatrice Act 3 scene 1 Beatrice)

However in Act three scene two she expresses her love for Benedick and finally realizes how she feels. She is saying:

'Ill be kind to you from now on, and if you really do love me that kindness will encourage you to seal our love with a wedding band. People say that you deserve my love and I believe it- not just because they've said so'

Interestingly Shakespeare has written this particular monologue in verse to put stress on the certain words to make it sound loving such as 'wild heart and 'thy loving hand'. Previously Beatrice has always spoken in prose to make the harsh sounds stand out.

What do the other characters think of her? 

Benedick 
Benedick is very masculine character towards Beatrice as he tries to win Beatrice over by passing the insults back and fourth with Beatrice.
'Well you are a rare parrot teacher'
The phrase 'rare parrot teacher' means that Beatrice is instructing Benedick like a parrot would is following the insult that Beatrice said previous.

Towards the end of the play we see a different Benedick with Beatrice such as this quote

'I do love nothing in the world so well as you.' (Act 4 scene 11 Benedick)

Benedick is saying that there is nothing in the world that I love as much as you. Benedick has expressed his love for Beatrice which shows that he has changed from act one when he is arrogant to a passionate loving character who has fallen for Beatrice.

'No truly Ursula she is too disdainful'(Act 3 scene 1 Hero)

Although Hero, Ursula and Margaret are putting on a trick, Hero still says this to try and get a react in the 'act'. This quote means

'No truly Ursula she's is too scornful. She is as devious and fierce as the wild hawk on the rocks'

The words 'scornful' (attitude in speech) gives a impression of Beatrice that she is too loud and big for her boots. Also 'devious' (shifty and crooked) explains Hero's opinion on how indecisive Beatrice is.

In conclusion I have really enjoyed researching and playing Beatrice as she is a character which is fun to play and has given confidence. Also this play has made me enjoy learning Shakespeare by learning lines in Old English.

Classical Theatre Assignment 1

The Globe Theatre

Historical 

Picture 1 The Diagram of Globe Theatre 

The famous globe theatre in London was built in 1599. Shakespeare referred this theatre as the 'wooden O' as the theatre was rounded. The Globe could hold 3,000 spectators and had 20 sides for the spectators. Unfortunately the original globe theatre was burnt down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII. However in the same year a reconstruction of the globe was built. As seen from the diagram there were lots of seats to be filled. The seating was more expensive the higher you went.

The Staging 

The staging was set up as a thrust stage which meant it was more intimate and harder to keep all of the audience engaged. The reason why the audience is harder to engage is because the actors had to work out where to face the parts of the audience such as soliloquies were difficult because you had to keep the audiences attention even though you aren't always looking at them. In Much Ado About Nothing Benedick has two soliloquy in Act Two scene 3 expressing thought in his soliloquy.I think the audience can relate to these soliloquy as it is about love. Referring to our modern interpretation Benedick had more of a intimate feel to the audience and offer them rhetorical question that the audience answer in there head. Each solilquy was different in some ways by using a minor difference to tell the audience a story about Benedick and Beatrice love life. This is when the comic side of this piece comes in as the characteristics clash as part of the play which adds laughter and light relief.      The staging would have minimal props because there wasn't many props that were made in the Elizabethan era. The only part of the staging that was on the stage all the time were the pillars that were plotted about the stage. For example in Much Ado About Nothing maybe the pillars were used for Beatrice to not be revealed to Benedick because they have a distant relationship.The pillars were there to show the audience the relationship of Beatrice and Benedick. Above the stage were was the tiring house where the costumes were put. The tiring house had a clock to represent the time of day the play had been set. Now in a modern version of Much Ado About Nothing there would be technology to cover the setting such as dark lighting in a dark play in Macbeth when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill King Duncan the dark lighting would suit that part and the audience. The characters would enter the stage if from either stage left or right if they were a human character such as in Much Ado Leonato would walk on confidently and start Act One Scene one. Compared to Rourkes version of Much Ado the staging was a proscenium stage which I think was more easier on the actors to communicate to the audience.

The Staging -Trapdoor 

The trapdoor was a feature to the globe as it showed what type of character they must be. The actors would enter or exit from the trapdoor if they have died or is reflected as a ghostly character such as in Act 3 scene 4 in Macbeth when Banquo is seen as a ghost whos comes back to show the guilt of Macbeth murdering him. The trapdoor was known as hell which explains why the character would enter or exit though the trapdoor. Under the trapdoor, there was loads of space underneath which meant that the actors could wait for there scene.


The Staging- The Heavens 



Similarly to the trapdoor the heavens is also another part that the actors could enter. For example Titania in A Midsummers Night Dream would enter from the top of the stage because she is a fairy to the play. The artwork in the heavens would be the stars and the sky. Relating to theatre now the heavens are always seen as angel and some beautiful artwork.




The Globe- The Audience 

The audience is relating to the people socially because of where they sat. The audience standing would be more involved with the play. For example because Much Ado is a comical play the audience would laugh at the humour that was in the play. Specifically in Act one scene one on page eight when Beatrice and Benedick have a friendly conversation they bounce of one another like a competition between each other. Personally I thought that the proscenium version works better compared to the original staging because it would of made it easier for the audience to see the actors more rather than loosing the attention. However the thrust stage is set up socially because of class. The cheapest ticket would be standing which costs 2p (£5). As sitting ticket would be 3p and so on. The reason why the standing tickets were the cheapest because of the weather conditions that could happen such as rain. Also the standing tickets can fit many people in so it can get overcrowded. The label named 'upper stage' was seating for the rich people so they can be seen 'above the actor' and so the rest of the audience can see them. They were the royals of the audience. This type of audience would not come necessarily  to watch the visually. It was more to do with hearing the play and the type of voices that were heard.  In Shakespeare's time the audience wasn't as responsive compared to our audience today. The seating would depend on your social class and how much money you would spend to come to the theatre.


Social and Culture relating to Much Ado About Nothing 
Originally all of the actors were played by men. It was against the law for women to act in Shakespearian era which meant that boys aged 13 to 15 would play the romantic females and the older men would have the comical female such as Beatrice. The young boys didn't have a broken voice which meant that they could use a higher pitch in there voice to make it more realistic. The make up was slightly over the top with pink cheeks and eye shadow and a beauty spot. It was a stereotypical women in the Elizabethan era. This picture shows how The women were dressed by wearing a big dress to show the female character. The hair a wig that has been put on. The picture above is what the Elizabethan era would show. The picture shows the hands gesture between the man and the women.

Much Ado has themes that relate to society such as marriage with Claudio and Hero. Marriage was a common the Elizabethan era. The dowry (a contract between the families of the engaged couple of the transferring all the brides belonging to the husband house or their house)would be common in the Elizabethan era as most of the people would be Christian. After marriage in society the next stage was to have a large family which meant children. The amount of pregnant women in the Elizabethan era were very high especially for Queen Elizabeth I being born in a big family. Queen Elizabeth I was the second child of Henry VIII married to Anne Boleyn. Compared to the modern day in Much Ado has as developed in society has followed the dowry system it is optional Rourke version was set in the 1980s. 1980s society there were ideas of same sex marriages at the time when Much Ado about Nothing was performed.

Relationship was a important feature especially between the main characters Beatrice and Benedick. In the contemporary version of Much Ado I understood how the chemistry was just not entirely a love relationship yet. In the 1980s it was mainly about having a good time at the bar. However the original would be similar by saying the conversation in the Act One in a sarcastic way.  There are different types of love because of the love that Hero and Claudio compared to Don Pedro and Don John. The two brothers have a different kind of love as they are family whereas Hero and Claudio show more of affectionate love to one another.

In terms of language in Act One Scene one with Benedick and Beatrice they are written in prose which is interesting because of the sarcastic it makes me understand that the light conversation is free to say anything that fits with the other comeback that has been given previously. For example 'scratched face' was used in both versions of the play. Both versions were funny because of the delivery of the line but however I thought that maybe the original play the audience may have got the jokes because of the language used.

The audience point of view 
Some scenes I could feel how the audience were reacting to some funny moments in the play. For example the portaloo scene I thought that the audience related to that because they have been in a similar experince therefore could imagine what it is like for the character to sit on a portaloo. 

Generally Much Ado shows a whole range of knowing how the audience is following and understand the audience such as the characters Dogberry and Verges are lower class therefore the audience could relate to that similar class as they know what it is like in that class experience. The scenes are I have seen with Dogberry and Verges are set near bins and dark and lower down than the others in the play. 

On the other hand higher in class such as Don Pedro who is one of the royals which means he is more upper class compared to the lower class characters Dogberry and Verges. He is always standing proud and knows what he is doing and has direct decisions. However his niece Beatrice has slight upper class but is a big character that shines Don Pedro by confidence. The audience can relate to this as some members in the globe theatre were upper class therefore they would understand Beatrice and Don Pedro's character as they as similar themselves in class. Today we changed it to a band point of view which the audience would think about as members of a well known band are naturally higher because of the famous aspect they have. Being a fan of band the band would out shine the fans because of the status.    


To conclude I fully understood the play of Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing by exploring the globe historically, in culture and social themes that the play has.