Tuesday 26th February 2013

Tuesday 26^th February 2013

In rehearsals today we went over act 3 again, there have been some people absent from rehearsals so we needed to update them on changes and teach them routines and/or blocking so that they were aware of what has been going on. It was really important that they attend rehearsals as Elle has been working really hard to make Act 3 really good, but it is difficult for her to choreograph when people are missing from rehearsals.

Following this, we performed our play to Luna Russell and Luna Keefe who are from the National Theatre. They were there to check on our progress and give some outside feedback to us before we performed in the theatre.


We got feedback and were able to judge ourselves, how todays performance went. The things that I felt went well are:

Lines – The majority of use had learnt all of our lines and where there were those who slipped up or messed up a little, enough of us knew the script well enough to cover, so I think that we did really well. An example of this is where a member of the cast forgot a line, another cast member jumped in a said the line and because the decision was made quickly, the audience would not have been aware of the minor error. This meant that we were still able to keep up the pace, which is really important as the script relies on speedy and snappy responses and delivery. Lines, despite being incredibly important are easy to manipulate when mistakes are made, and unfortunately are one of the most likely things to mess up as nerves and adrenaline can often impact on memory, cause actors to make mistakes. That’s why it’s great working with a cast of people who know the script so well, if one person makes a mistake, someone else could remember and cover up.

Character Development:

I think that I have been able to maintain an obvious character. However, I did not really change much of my personality or voice etc, as I feel that as a teenager, and with knowledge of what it is like to be part of a large friendship group who may at times seem intimidating, I already, kind of, fit the part.

Self Evaluation:

I think that in order to give my best in our next performance, I need to revise my lines and learn my cues with a lot more confidence so that I know exctly what is going on and what to listen out for. I also need to pay close attention to what I am doing whilst I am speaking as it has been pointed out to us that when the gang are moving around the stage, it can be distracting from the people who are speaking at that time.

25th February 2013

25^th February 2013

Today in rehearsals, we again began with Act 3 as it is the part of the show which has had the least focus. We got feedback from Rachel:

She was really impressed with the changes which Elle had made to the clown dance and the adaptions to the animal routines.

We were also told that our line delivery needed work and that some cast members needed to learn the rest of their lines as it affects the pace of the play.

We needed to fix transitions to be much faster and look cleaner so that the audience is not pulled out of the play whilst sitting and waiting for the next act to begin.

Finally, we were told that the chatter whilst the gang are not speaking needs to be minimal and much quieter as it can distract the audience from the scripted dialogue.

13th February 2013

13^th February 2013

In rehearsals today, we began with Act 3 as Rachel had not seen act 3 all the way through yet and wanted to see how it was going.

Elle, Danielle, Dylan and Ben began by performing their clown routine which is a comical mime preformed to Ben playing piano. Rachel Felt that the routine was very ‘Dance Heavy’ and needed more comical content and more of a story. They discussed some options and Elle decided to work out a way to extend the routine and include more mime and more of a narrative.

We then performed the animal routine to her. I think that she enjoyed it over all but said that we needed to have much more energy and that there were some parts we needed to re-visit such as our characterisation of animals.

We needed to be more animal like, maybe by adding animal noises, more animalistic gestures and perhaps a costume or prop that makes it more obvious to the audience that we are animals.

Rachel also decided that she would like Lauren, Maisie, Amber and I to perform the song ‘Clown’ by Emelie Sande, at the beginning of Act 3, as a way of opening the act and changing the pace so that the audience were ready for the change in mood.

Thursday 7th February 2013

Thursday 7^th February:

Today in our singing lesson, we decided to take the time to finish the dances for act 3.

Elle lead the choreography but we all had some input and ideas as to what to do. In the end we managed to create a dance routine that we were very proud of. We took some suggestions from dance routines and circus tricks that we had watched on YouTube, to inspire us to create an interesting routine.

6th February 2013

6^th February 2013

Today, as Rachel was not here to lead our rehearsal, We decided as a class to do a run of what we have so far.

We worked on some blocking that we thought was not quite as up to scratch as other parts:

We decided that act 2 looked a bit messy, so we chose positions for us to all be seated/standing in so that the stage picture was nicer and more comfortable to look at from the audience.

We also did a table read of the entire play, with scripts only used as prompts. We chose to do this as line learning is the most important thing in a play like this one, which relies on everyone being completely on the ball and responsive.

Having a rehearsal without a director was actually really good for us as we proved to ourselves that we can work responsibly, and not waste time when not under supervision.  We got quite a lot done within the time, and were really good at respecting each other, not talking over each other and letting everyone have their input on decisions made. We were also really respectful and tactful when disagreeing with an idea that a fellow cast mate had, which is a really valuable skill. So I was incredibly grateful for this lesson.

Monday 4th January 2013

Monday 4^th January 2013

Today in dance we worked on act 3.

Same began choreographing some of the animal and animal taming routine which we then continued on our own.

The dance begins with Josh M, doing a simple routine, whilst we, the animals, were misbehaving behind him. Eventually, the animals began to join in with this routine to symbolise that we were being tamed. Similar to snake charmers taming snakes with music, we were tamed b dance.

On our own, with the help of Elle, who has a lot of dance experience, we began to choreograph the animal routine. I chose the music for this dance, and selected ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ as I thought that it was a really catchy song and one that will be recognisable and enjoyable for the audience. It is also quite comical in some ways which really suits our play.

We decided that we would have Ben and Josh M doing tricks with hoops in the intro of the song, eventually all of the animals would come on stage doing their tricks and lead into a routine. We then decided that the clowns should come on and disrupt the animals, disrupting them, which would help us lead into the animal taming routine.

I looked on youtube and found a remix of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ which I thought would be really good for when the clowns come on as it shows the disruption and is a more pacey and upbeat version of the song.

The lesson ended before we could finish the dance, so we decided to finish it in a break on another day.

31st January 2013

31^st January 2013

Today in College plus time, we created ties for our costumes for DFTA. We used a material that is able to be painted and then washed and re-used so that we are able to use it again another time and/or for another production.

We made our own ties so that we could make them comically oversized. We chose to do this as some school kids make their ties really short and fat because they think that It looks “cool”.

Doing this was also a cost effective way of making sure that everyone had the same tie, which meant that we all looked like we came from the same school.

Having a realistic looking costume is really important for the audience to believe in our performance and therefore enjoy it more. It also allows us to get into character easier as we will look the part, which, again, makes for a more realistic performance for the audience.

However, My tie cracked after the paint dried, I think that I may have used too much paint. This meant that it looked messy and tacky and not realistic at all. So I had a look on google and amazon to try to find a purple and black tie, and fortunately found one for a low price. This meant that I could buy this tie and then fit in with the other cast members.