Tia Scarlett

Members of the Broken Hearted Youth Theatre company visited us to run a workshop. In this workshop we focused on bringing out true feelings and emotions during a performance, rather than pretending to feel those feelings and emotions; to do this we participated in a repetition exercise . To carry out the repetition exercise , you stand opposite your partner and say a sentence, the sentence should consist of a simple observation of your partner, for example “You’re wearing a yellow shirt.” Or “Your hair is tied back.”. Your partner should then repeat the sentence back to you “I’m wearing a yellow shirt.” Or “My hair is tied back.”. You and your partner should then continue to repeat the same sentence until one of you notices a change in the others behaviour. When this happens, the sentence should change and become a sentence about their change in behaviour, for example “You’re smiling.” Or “You look bored”. Until another change in behaviour is noticed. This should continue until both ...

Initially I was worried about performing Macbeth because I know Shakespearean language can be hard to understand and that could cause the piece to not be performed as well as it could be. My worry was confirmed after I read over the play and realised there was a lot that didn’t make sense to me. To rectify this situation our teacher directed us to a website called 'No Fear Shakespeare'. This website was extremely helpful in getting through the play, as understanding the lines allowed me to know which emotion to use behind them. AFor our Macbeth performance, I play the role of Lady Macbeth.  Lady Macbeth is one of the main characters in the play, and is essentially the one that pushes Macbeth to commit treason against Duncan in order to become a king. I acknowledge Lady Macbeth to be: Committed - "We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place, and we'll not fail." Ambitious - "Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, greater than both by the all h...

Initial response: I felt excitement at first when we were told we were doing Macbeth because I had seen Macbeth in movies and I visualised us as a class bringing the words to life, just like the actors in the movies. I had also studied this play before. However, I was also worried that the complex language would sometimes inhibit our performances. To combat this we used the website 'No Fear Shakespeare' which gave us translations from Shakespearean language to modern day language. To begin my research into Shakespeare, I watched a YouTube video on iambic pentameter since it was something Shakespeare frequently used in his plays. Iambic pentameter is a metrical speech rhythm that consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. Example: Two house holds, both a like in dig ni ty . Shakespeare used speech rhythms to create an atmosphere, for example, the witches in ‘Macbeth’ spoke in trochees (a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable...

Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian actor and theater director, his methods helped actors to be more natural and realistic in their acting to make it more believable.  The Stanislavski method is a set of techniques used by actors to portray emotions on stage by putting themselves in the place of the characters. He developed this method in the early 1900s. These are: 1. Who am I? 2. Where am I? 3. When is it? (Year, season, occasion, time of day) 4. What do I want? (My characters objective) 5. Why do I want it? 6. How will I get it? 7. What do I need to overcome? (Problems or obstacles the character is going to face) I incorporated Stanislavskis method of natural acting into my group performance of the Cherry Orchard. One of the ways I did this was through the use of nuances.  Nuances are the subtle ways we show who our characters are, the little moments that allude to aspects of the character that aren’t shown outright.

Our first assignment after half term is  to be split in to groups of around ten people, then study and perform a play. The play my group was given is ' The Cherry Orchard '. Background: The Cherry Orchard is a play written by a Russian playwright 'Anton Chekhov' in 1903. It is said to 'dramatise the socio-economic forces in Russia in the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class in the mid 19th century.' And the play does this through a story of a family who, due to financial issues, are forced to sell their large, well known cherry orchard. My character: I play Varya , the adopted daughter of the landowner. Varya manages the estate and keeps everything in order, therefore I should portray my character as responsible and intelligent. Varya also adores her mother and sister, therefore I should also show more compassion and kindness towards those two characters. We were encouraged to write our actions and objectives...

Evaluation of our 'Cherry Orchard' performance: Peer feedback: Harry - "You did a great job! You're a quiet person in general but EVERY word was heard. I liked how you reacted naturally, it worked really well. Teigan - "I loved how you adapted your character, well rehearsed lines, good stage usage, comedy merged well in play, felt realistic and not on script." Mya J - "Confidence was on point, commitment to your character/ role was strong, Range of emotions within the play was clear and accurate, good memory - able to recall lines well, didn't sound like you were reciting from a script." Rob's feedback: - We made the play our own - Good use of Stan's techniques - Good focus - Good listening and reacting with Deja - We took our role into our bodies - Became slightly televisual at times Also, Rob stated that because Deja and I learnt our lines so quickly, we were able to spend the majority of the rehearsals focused ...