Unit 9: Log

Week 1:

We started off the school year with learning that we are doing a joint performance with musical theatre second years. The performance that we would be doing would be 'A Christmas Carol'.  After finding out that we were doing Christmas Carol we then had to watch a version of it all together, so we watched the 1951 rendition of A Christmas Carol. I thought that this version was very entertaining but because it was interesting to see how dramatic they made it in comparison to later versions of it like the Muppet's Christmas Carol or the Jim Carrey animation. They were versions that had a light hearted comedic tone to them. Whereas in the 1951 rendition it was quite dramatic. Although there were certain moments of comedy for example when the charwoman thinks that Scrooge is going crazy because he wished her a merry Christmas. But the dramatic tone outweighs the comedic, light-hearted tone. This doesn't make the production bad, I think it just doesn't make it emotionally available to all groups of ages and people watching the production. Maybe this is because back in those times people in the film industry weren't fully aware of all parts of society and that's why they wouldn't aim their films towards them.

The next day of that week we read through a synopsis of the story just smooth out details in the story that some people might not have known from watching it the previous day. After reading through the synopsis we were split into groups and were given the task to make a mind maps of what we enjoyed about the book if we had read it or what we enjoyed about the movie. We wrote down things like the Christmas carolers in the movie which we were thinking about incorporating into our performance in one way or another. Or the way Tiny Tim was presented in both the book and the movie was amazing and we were hoping to show exactly how important a character he is. Me and my group finished making the mind map of things we liked about the book and movie early so we were given an extra task to make a mind map of all the themes of the story. Some themes we came up with were; Grudges, Poverty and Family. Both of these mind maps help us to understand the story even more and when it comes to the performance we will be able to confidently tell the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

After this we stayed in the same groups and we had to choose a theme or a pair of themes and make them into a still image. We chose poverty vs wealth. The still image we created was of two people who were poor and struggling. They were asking Scrooge for money but he wouldn't be generous enough. Then a spirit was showing Scrooge the error of his own ways. We then had to create an improvised scene based on the still image. This was pretty easy because we basically just had to move and speak how we thought the character we were being in the still image would move and speak. For some it was easier than others as they knew their characters back story because they were Scrooge or a spirit but if we were a beggar then we would have to come up with the reason we were doing what we were doing, which is also fun. Another group had chosen the theme of change and made the the still image remaking Charles Darwin's evolutionary depiction. Straight away I could see that their theme was change as they made it very clear. Then when they added the lines they used lines from the actual script from different points of Scrooge life and his mindset. 

We were then put into groups of 5 or 6 and we had to make a remake of the Christmas Carol story. My group decided that we should modernize it. We decide that we could make the story into a game that's playing out. So we used Dungeons and Dragons because in that game there are choices which is similar to life. We modernized it by putting a game that young people are playing these days. Playing out the events of the story in the form of a game was really interesting and helped us see another angle of performing this. 

Week 2 

The first lesson of this week we worked with musical theatre and dance students that we would be working with for the rest of that term. Our main focus of that lesson was Tableaux. Tableaux is the official name for a still image which we were working on in the previous week. The main point about a tableaux is making a frozen image that tells a story very clearly. So if a member of an audience was looking at it they would understand it. We were put into 3 separate groups. In those groups we were given different places and we had to make a tableaux based on that place and show it to the rest of the class. The point of this was to see how effective our presentation of the place was and how the audience interpreted it. We then stayed in the same group and instead of given places we were told to pick a main theme and make a tableaux based on that theme. My groups theme was self reflection and we made a tableaux where we had Scrooge looking back at himself in the mirror remembering what he had been through and how he was going to change. We then showed it to the class and they had to guess the theme. One person guessed the theme but to help bring the clarity to the whole class people who were confused got the chance to slightly change the tableaux and make it more clear for them. This would help all of us as it shows us what makes tableaux more clear for the audience and what as an audience makes a tableaux interesting and intriguing to look at.  Things like levels, spacial awareness help to make a tableaux interesting to look at. A variety of different levels and particular spacial awareness really makes a difference. 

After that all groups merged tableaux and we made one massive tableaux. Taking on all of the changes from other people and incorporating it 

into the massive tableaux is what made it very special as it was spaced out very well and included a variety of different levels. 

The next exercise we had to do was create tableaux appropriate for the 2 party scenes. We split into 2 groups one group did the Fezziwig party and our group did the Fred's party. Not only did we have to create the tableaux for the party scene but we had to bring it to life and make it move. It was interesting to see what different kind of dances we all came up with what we had and the dances were similar in terms of dances that a group can do but they were different in terms of tempo and the amount of people that were dancing in the two different groups were also different. One group decided that nearly everyone should be dancing whether it's all the same dance or different. The other group only had one pair dancing together so maybe they thought that the less people dancing and the more people acting naturalistic then the tableaux would be more effective and in my opinion it was. 

Again we merged together to make one moving, dancing tableaux. This felt really nice as it filled the space completely as a real party would. I think everyone had the feeling that they actually felt they were in a party whereas previously I don't think they would've felt it as strongly. 

The next day of this week we had auditions for the roles that we wanted in the play. I auditioned for the role of Bob Cratchit. We had to read a small passage from the script as that character. We then had to sing any song that we had prepared. I didn't have a song prepared but I sang the chorus of Merry Christmas. I feel that my Sight reading went very but my singing wasn't great because I'm not confident in my singing ability. 

Week 3 

To start off the week we had to make a timeline of what we were going to be doing for the lead up to the performances we would be doing on the 12th and 13th of December. The timeline helps us to realize where we are and where we need to be at a certain time. We can then set general goals for the class and personal goals for ourselves for when the performance comes around so that when it is time to perform we are 100% ready. Next we had the task of creating an improvisation of the events of each ghost. There were multiple groups and they each got a different ghost whether it was future, past or present. The group that I was in got the past ghost so we had to improvise/ summarise the key events of when the ghost of Christmas past is involved in this story. These kind of improvisation summary exercises are very valuable because it helps all of us to more understand the story characters and also if we were thinking of playing a certain character, by doing these improvisations we get more in touch with characters as we don't have a script telling us what the character is saying but we have to figure out over time what our character is thinking at certain times. We then get feedback from our fellow students and they can help us by telling us what worked and what didn't work to either keep and use for the final performance or change it and adapt it for it to help us. 

On this day we got casted to the roles that we were going to be playing for the final performance. The roles that I was given was the role I auditioned for, Bob Cratchit, and also Old Joe. I am glad to be playing 2 quite different characters as they are different in age, profession and passion. This will help me as an actor playing different characters and increasing my range. We did a sight read of the play with everyone reading the role that they got. This helped us get used embodying our characters vocally. 

On the final day of the week we went through pages 1-15 blocking it and seeing how the scenes look off the page. This session was mostly focused on the nuances and starting to bring it to life with background characters and making the stage come to life. We didn't have the whole cast but we were still able to apply the nuances and make the scene come to life. We would have to make notes for the missing actors so that when they do come back they can slot straight back into the scene and it won't be difficult. 

Week 4

We started off the week by going over the scenes that we blocked on Friday. Today we had the actors that were missing last week so we could properly rehearse our scenes with the people playing the characters that they were actually casted as. This helps everyone as it gets them getting used to working with that person and learning lines. It also helps everyone as an ensemble not have any confusion coming to future days.

We went through the script very fast paced so that we could get used to the entrances and cues. This will help us think ahead and think about where we are next and what scene we were in next. Then when it comes to the final performance it will be easier for us to remember our cues because of how familiar we are with the play in all situations.

This is the choreographed dance that we learnt in the last lesson of the week.

Week 5

This week we started off with character work. We lied on the floor and closed our eyes. When we opened our eyes we had to be our characters and go through a normal day as them. After we finished the day we went round the class explaining what our character was doing. My character Bob Cratchit was mostly focused on his kids making sure they were ready in the morning but apart from that he pretty much worked the whole day. We were asked what our character was wearing, this will help us later when deciding what kind of costume of character will be wearing. We then walked around the room as our character and asked to make our movements bigger and more animated. We had to think of a word to describe our character and I chose Jolly as Bob Cratchit is quite a positive and happy character.  To finish off the lesson we moved on to hot seating. When hot seating we had to be in character and answer the questions from classmates in character. I found this hard at times because when asked sad questions about Tiny Tim's health I decided on a more serious tone but I got feedback that because of how positive and jolly a person I am I should be trying to be positive even though the topic is a saddening one. This will 100% help me in future rehearsals. 

On this day we discussed what we wanted the audience to feel and how we could bring that about. We needed to completely committed in the performance to make sure that the audience fully feels with whatever character they need to feel with. If any scene is not done with full commitment then the audience will feel that and won't fully get the message or feel the emotions of the scene. Also taking them on that journey that Scrooge is taken on is very important so that they understand why Scrooge changes instead of leaving the performance thinking why did he change. We then blocked through the whole script.

Week 6

In our first lesson of the week we did a full casted line run. This line run was useful to us as again it helped us vocally to get used to our character and the way we should be communicating with other characters in the play based on the relationship between them.


On the next day we had our first proper dance rehearsal where we learnt 2 dances. One dance was for the Fezziwig party and the other for Fred's party.

This dance is for Fezziwig's Party and comes right after his introduction. 

This dance is for Fred's party and comes just before his scene.

Performance Evaluation.

We performed 'A Christmas Carol' 3 times. Once to an audience of random students from the college on the 12th December. Twice on the 13th December, once to an audience of acting students from the college and school students and then the matinee performed to parents, careers and friends. 

Rehearsals

During the rehearsal period we were at the start just running through it and blocking it. This helped us get familiar with the script as we hadn't learnt lines yet and also to help us start getting into the character's mind we were on stage doing what we thought the character would be doing. Then as we got further into the rehearsal period we of course went off script and that is when the biggest change is made because once we start off script rehearsal we are confident enough with the lines that we don't have to look at the script and we're not thinking about the lines predominantly but instead thinking about how our character would do certain things and where we should be next if we are coming on. At this stage of  the rehearsal period we can start to also think about entrances, exits and cues. Cues in my opinion were the important aspect of this performance along with actors, actresses and dances passion when performing dances or anything else in the performance. As we got closer to the performance dates it was easier to see what scenes needed work with. For example the Cratchit scenes in the play weren't up to scratch in terms of the other scenes, this is probably because of the fact that not all the actors would be in sometimes for that scene so if the attendance was better then the scene would've been better. 

Performances. 

First Performance (12th December)

In our first performance we performed to random students in the college. I feel like even though all performances should have our utmost passion and dedication this first performance was a way to feel out the audience, see how they would react to certain things in the performance and maybe how we could maybe make the performance more entertaining or eye catching for the rest of the performances. The fact that the audience was quite small kind of helped us actors because we didn't have as much pressure compared to if the audience was bigger. This helped us relax and have a bit more fun with it. To improve on this performance we got feedback that our voices were not projected enough and there were times that the audience couldn't hear us. We had to take that on board and make sure we will implement that feedback onto our next performances. 

Last 2 Performances (13th December)

For our last 2 performances we were performing to acting students and other students of the college in the afternoon and then parents, family and friends in the evening. These performances were definitely better than the other one because we were able to start a new day with our feedback and implement it onto the characters we were playing. The audiences being in bigger attendance also I think gave a little edge to the performances as we were all eager to please and entertain them.