CHARACTERISATION: Run through of the play

Today in class, the whole group ran through Playhouse Creatures with the scenes in order. It is the first time all of us have seen each others scenes properly, so it was a very interesting lesson. We performed to our tutor, who gave us directors note at the end of our performance.
Our main focus is on our characterization and how well we portray our characters. 
The questions we were asked today about our characters in our individual scenes are;

1. Are the characters clear? In my two scenes I am in, I feel I portray MRS MARSHALL very clearly, and you can tell I am playing the same character throughout, as some of my class mates are playing more than one character in the play. I feel my characters personality is very clear, I portay her as a very grounded and strong women, a tiny bit more mature than the other girls, but still quite young as she has an element of youthful attitude, and can be quite boisterous and fiery at times, particularly towards men! I feel she does not really care what anyone thinks of her, and she does things purely for her own advantage. Having said that, I feel she does try to help the characters, particularly MRS FARLEY, but essentially, everything she does has a purpose and I feel she believes in herself and is a very driven and ultimately clever woman. I feel I have portrayed this well in todays performance, and listened to the notes I was given previously, about adding some friction into my first scene with myself and Lucy( MRS FARLEY) when we are discussing what we did the night before. I feel after adding friction, my character developed a lot more in this first scene and the audience can immediately identify that she is a smart and strong woman. 
2. Are Objectives clear? I feel MRS MARSHALLS main objective in this play is to increase her acting ability and to be noticed by higher class people. I feel she is definitely a clever woman and knows that sleeping with people to get to the top is not always the best way. Although, she does have an affair with the Earl of Oxford and asks him to marry her if he wishes to sleep with her, which is quite a silly thing to do as it has put her in a vulnerable position and her attitude towards him ultimately leads to the ending scene, in which the audience will see MRS MARSHALL entering the stage, disgusted and outraged, as two men have thrown human shit from the road side into her hair to teach her " manners" as she has been clearly quite rude and obnoxious to the Earl, and the Earl is obviously a horrible man! Her objectives in the first scene with herself and MRS FARLEY are very clear, as she starts to talk about visiting salons and socialising with intelligentsia, which were back in those days, middle to upper class people with a good social network, who challenged God and started to introduce science and scientific beliefs. This clearly shows that MRS MARSHALLS objective is to become more educated about life and discoveries, and wants to learn about people and wants to teach these people about herself, as she states " they ask me things about me and my life here on stage" so these people are actually interested in her as a person and her lifestyle! Which is pretty incredible, considering how women had such a low status back in the 16th century. I feel I have portrayed her objectives clearly in our performance today, and she certainly has different objectives than all the other women in the scenes. I feel I portrayed her objectives better in the first scene than in the second scene, as MRS MARSHALL's character is much more strong and open in the 2nd than in the 1st. In the first scene I feel her objective is to protect the theater, and to "help" MRS FARLEY with her pregnancy, when I say help, I mean help the theatres reputation, help her career as an actress and to help MRS FARLEY as she knows very well that she will be doing it alone if she does decide to keep the baby and the only way she will be able to provide for her baby is to become a prostitute. MRS MARSHALL is quite hard skinned, but underneath I believe she has a warm heart, she does not wear it on her sleeve, like some of the other girls, particularly NELL AND MRS FARLEY. 
3. Is the story within the scene clear? I feel the story in our first scene when Nell Gwynn first comes on the scene as an actress at the theater, is clear at times and then sometimes it can be a little unclear. Like for example, today we recieved directors notes and it was unclear what was going on and what the relevance was with the scene with Greta and Chloe( DOLL AND MRS BETTERTON) I agree as I do not really understand this scene, and what connection it has to the rest of the play. So as a group we need to discuss this part and think of ways we can improve it and make it more clear for the audience, just because the majority of my group and myself are not in this scene, that does not mean that we have nothing to do with it, as it is in our part of the play and we are all working together so we need to have a group discussion about that particular part in the scene. I feel the story with Nell is very clear, just needs to be a little bit more sharper, our characters all need to portray just how we feel about Nell, coming into our theater without having an interview from the boss! And MRS MARSHALL AND MRS FARLEY's love hate relationship is very clear I feel, as in ways you can tell they have known each other for years and have become very used to one another, and my character laughs warily at a few of her jokes she makes about Nell, but at the same time the audience can sense that MRS MARSHALL feels somewhat disapointed in her stupidity and shallowness towards other people, for example in our first opening scene together, my character is expressing how she loves going to the salons as she meets different interesting people who are well educated and want to actually TALK and FIND OUT THINGS about Mrs Marshall, and don't just want to have sex with her and use her as a bit of "arm candy" which contrasts heavily with Mrs Farley as all she wants to do is sleep with the king and develop a name for herself, she expresses immaturity as she finds it "funny" that Mrs Marshall wants to get to know different people and to educate these people about her life as an actress. In our second scene I feel the story is very clear, the main storyline is that MRS FARLEY is pregnant with the Kings child and the other women are mortified and shocked about this, and MRS FARLEY clearly does not want to loose her career as an actress, but at the same time she does not seem to want to get rid of the baby as much as she would love to and this is portrayed very well. This scene also features a male character! Who is played by Unis. Otway is a struggling playwright who thinks he is amazing at what he does, and is so over the top about everything he says and is very pretentious throughout. I feel myself and the other actresses in this scene portray just how united they were together as a team, in this scene all the females gang up on Otway and complete dismiss his play, and MRS FARLEY even falls asleep when he is reciting his play! The only female who is slightly polite to him is MRS BETTERTON, as she is the boss and is the most mature out of the actresses. We all portray this part of the story really well and I really enjoy this scene as the females are all working together and having banter with each other, poking fun at Otway, who appears to be very nervous and wary throughout this scene! I feel on the whole, our portrayal of the main story line in both scenes as a group are strong and clear.  

3rd February: Rehearsals for both scenes

Rehearsals so far for my two scenes...

SCENE 1

This scene is pretty much completed. We started rehearsing this scene about 3 weeks ago now and we have made very good progress over the time we have spent on this scene, we have still been rehearsing it recently but I am more focused on my second scene now, as I have more lines and much more physical parts as apposed to this 1st scene.

The blocking in this scene is completed and we have used the space very well on the stage. 

This scene shows my character as being the woman all the girls turn to when they need help, although she is not very mature she is one of the oldest, possibly 20 or 21 years of age.

The main points in this scene are my character MRS MARSHALL trying to perform an abortion for MRS FARLEY. This part in the scene is very distressing and we have discussed how we need to portray it in a realistic yet modest way, we do not want the audience to feel uncomfortable during this scene, as it is a sensitive subject, especially for women. So we decided to have MRS FARLEY sitting in a chair with her back to the audience, and MRS MARSHALL kneeling on the floor in between MRS FARLEY'S legs, performing the abortion. In the play it says they use something " long and sharp, a queens broach" so for this scene we need to use a long sharp looking pin, there are quite a few props we need for this scene, a lot more than in my second scene. As a group we put together a list of props we need for this scene..

The props we need for this scene are;

• Pair of gloves
• Long sharp looking pin
• Hand mirrors
• Makeup brushes
• Script for OTWAY
• Petticoat( used from costumes)
• Cloth/teatowel
• Tray with biscuits

I think this scene is very hard hitting and quite brutal at times, I feel it portrays the women to be very strong and dedicated to their passion, acting. And shows just how much they have to do to maintain their positions as actresses and just how hard it is for them. 

SCENE 2

This scene is my favourite out of the two, as I feel my character MRS MARSHALL is portrayed in a better light, and appears to be a much stronger and confident women, than in the 1st scene. 

We have been rehearsing this scene for just over a week now, and have started on our blocking, but just need to sharpen it up in places. We have made good use of the stage, and have set out the tiring room as we all have imagined it to look. We recieved feedback on this scene from our tutors and on the whole it is looking good and we all know our lines pretty well, we just need to clean up the blocking and think more into our characterization, and start to stand and walk like our characters and not just act how they would act. 

I personally feel I am getting more and more into character every time we rehearse this scene as I really like my character and her morals and status. I think in this scene my character does appear to be very hard skinned and tough, I do believe she is a strong, confident and proud women, but part of me feels she is not all that meets the eye, I feel she puts on an act a little bit, she is a sensitive women and wants the love from the Earl of Oxford she knows she deserves, but shes not getting it from him and she experiences a horrendous event, when two men attack her outside the theatre and "rub shit into her hair" as a message from the Earl of Oxford. So she feels very let down and angry that this man has publicly humiliated her in front of the other actresses and maybe even people passing in the street! In this scene I need to portray distress and total disgust, as it is a very disgusting and low thing to do to someone, and I just have to let myself really think that this is real, that there is something disgusting in my hair, as it will appear much more realistic to the audience. It is quite a hard thing to do, but I just need to let my imagination run more wildly! 

I feel my group and I are working very hard in this scene and we are all very dedicated to the roles we are playing, and to each other as fellow actresses.

Rehearsals

Today in rehearsals my group and I were rehearsing our second scene from playhouse creatures. In my group are, Lucy, Sophie, Heta, Michelle and Sav. 

This scene is set before my first scene, when Mrs Farley is just beginning her Affair with the King and Nell has only just joined the theatre company. 

My character is very cold and vindictive towards Nell and does not seem to take to her very well. My character and Mrs Farley are quite friendly together in this scene, and it begins with myself and Lucy on stage tying each other's corset laces up and discussing what they got up to the night before. You learn that my character is having an affair with the earl of Oxford, but it is not very solid and appears to be quite strange. 

I prefer this scene to the first one as the characters have a much better rapport in this scene and the relationships are much more clear and I like how light hearted this scene is, and really shows how the women are when they are not on stage. 

We ran through the scene a few times, and then decided to start blocking and began staging the scene. We have made a vast improvement in today's lesson as I feel very confident about my character and have learned near enough all my lines off by heart. 

I have been getting into character a lot better recently and have put a lot of emotions and passion into my character and her situations she gets herself into. 

At the end of this scene my character hears  rowdy rude men shouting outside the tiring room and confidently goes to "see to them" and comes back and her hair covered in shit and is very upset and shocked, I love this scene as I get so into it and I really empathise with her at this point as she has been having an affair with the earl of Oxford and she goes outside to find that he has sent two me to ruff her up and publicly humiliate her as she has "no manners" as she is a very confident and proud character and never seems to give a damn about what people think about her, so this is like a way of him trying to be little her, and I feel I portray her disdain very well in this scene. 

All the characters are really coming to light in this scene and I am really pleasd with today's rehearsals as we have achieved a lot as a group. 

Mrs Marshall Research

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT MY CHARACTER;

• She was a very loyal employee of the company
• Was given very good parts in plays and was respected as an actress
• Was potentially the " First English actress" to be discovered
• Her name was BECK or ANNE( not too sure as they are sisters and very close in age)
• Played Desdemona in Othello
• Has a strong attitude towards men, in the play she frequently swears and shouts insults at men, and expresses her disgust within men 
• A husband or any children are not mentioned
• She was "apparently" very attractive
• In playhouse creatures she is supposed to be 20 years of age
• She does not like Nell and never had a good relationship with her
• She sees herself as an asset to the company
• She knows she is a good actress
• 
  

Rehearsals

Rehearsals with my group for scenes...
The scene I am in is a very powerful and strong scene. I am in a group with Lucy, Unis, Chloe, Heta and Greta.
It involves a lot of events that shape the characters for who they are.
My character has a very strong aura about her and I feel the other girls, particularly Mrs Farley and Nell, confide in her and look up to her.
In this scene my character has to perform an abortion on Mrs Farley, which is an extremely emotional event for the characters and the audience, and it has to be performed just right in order to portray the realness and seriousness of it.
Mrs Farley asks my character, Mrs Marshall to perform the abortion, she looks directly at her and says " I want you to do it, please" My character is clearly shocked by this, that it is asked of her to do it and not anyone else, but my character keeps very cool and goes through with it. She almost seems heartless at some points, as how could someone take on that responsibility? She could be putting Mrs Farleys life on the line, but she knows that it could end up in the theatre being closed down, which would mean all the women would be out of work, and the one thing they need the most is money, as what else is there at that time?
Mrs Farley cannot go through with the abortion, and she knows that all the while she is pregnant with the Kings child she is not welcome in the theatre and the women almost disown her. My character does not look at her or make eye contact afterwards, I feel she is disappointed in Farley and feels betrayed. I believe she feels that she tried to help Farley but she threw it back in her face by not going through with it, and this has hurt her and she feels maybe embarrassed by the fact that she tried to perform an abortion on her and she dismisses it, this is a very serious event for Mrs Marshall and afterwards she appears very bitter and downtrodden by Farley. My character ends the scene with the line " A petticoat never saved anyone" 
This is after Farley has tried to sell her petticoat, in order to get some money before she leaves the theatre, as she will need every penny she can get if she does have the baby, research does not tell me if she ever did keep the baby or if the King knew about it. My character is trying to spite Farley out of bitterness, by saying a petticoat is not going to save her from this situation, she will be alone and unemployed. I think all the women are mainly thinking about their own well-being within the theatre company and just want Farley away from their empire, as she could jeopardise their careers by being pregnant.

In this scene myself and my group are thoroughly focusing on the character relationships and the movement within the piece. We all have our own individual ways of moving around the stage, and every character definitely has their own personality we have created from research and reading the script, and having group discussions about the play and the characters. I feel that My character and Lucys character; Farley have a bitter-sweet relationship, I feel in a way my character feels sorry for her but will not show it entirely and Farley confides in Marshall, especially in my 2nd scene, which is set BEFORE this scene. Marshall and Farley have a scene together at the beginning and tehy are discussing what they did the night before and what they got up to. This scene portrays two friends gossiping and talking about men, which appears to be friendly and humorous. So the relationship between these two characters is definitely there, but the abortion scene tarnishes their estranged friendship, as Marshall has tried to help her but Farley has shunned it, so I feel this is the end of their friendship.
My character does not really have a relationship with Doll, they never really speak to each other, but Doll keeps herself to herself and she is almost part of the furniture. Mrs Betterton and my character I feel are kind of in sync with each other, Betterton is the boss of the women and holds the higher status, and I feel my character is aspiring to be like her and is next in line, as my research tells me that Marshall was a very respected and loyal employee and was always given great parts in plays and was kept on for a very long time. Therefore the relationship between My character and Betterton is very professional, not neccersarily emotional or friendly, but I feel my character knows she is boss and is always by her side, agreeing with her.
Lastly, my character and Nell. In my second scene, my character is very horrible to Nell and makes her look a fool on stage and expresses how she does not feel Nell " is a natural" on stage and tries to isolate her from the other girls. In this scene, Nell and Marshall do not really talk, but when they do they have a laugh together. I feel in this scene Marshall has accepted her into the group and has gotten used to Nell's comical personality.

So far rehearsals are going well, I feel as a group we have great complicity with each other and we all value each others opinions, we frequently have discussions about how we feel the scene is going we rehearse together whenever we can. 

7/01/14

Our groups thoughts on the objectives and super objectives of the characters individually 

6/1/14: Reading script in our groups & exercises

In today's lesson we participated in a variety of focus, complicity, trust and energy exercises and read through our scripts for the first time in our groups. 
The exercises we did were;

• Getting into pairs and one person guides the other round the room using only their hand as guidance, and the other person has their eyes closed! This exercise took a lot of FOCUS and TRUST in yourself and in the other person who was leading you. I found being led very relaxing as I trusted WILL and felt at ease and did not worry about bumping into anybody else
• Getting into pairs or a three and deciding on a "calling" which could be any word or sound which will be helpful to the pair/three. We stood back to back and closed our eyes. Andy would take us all into different parts of the room and with our eyes still closed we had to call out our unique calling word or sound and find each other in the room! This exercise was really fun and rewarding as it shows you do not just have to see someone visually in order to find someone. You have to use FOCUS and COMPLICITY and in a way TRUST in this exercise.
• Other exercises we did were mainly energy exercises like walking around the room in unison and stopping in unison and running and jumping to get our energy levels up.

ENERGY. FOCUS. COMPLICITY. TRUST

These are all important for actors to use as it allows an actor to develop their skills and become more confident. If an actor does not use energy when performing it will create a very dull and boring energy within an audience and the other actors and could ruin the performance. Energy is important for every day things, but especially for perfomers as if an actor does not have good energy, then their ability to act might be over looked as they will not be noticed.

Focus is again, very important for an actor as if they are not 100 percent focused on the role they are playing, it will be visible to the audience and the audience will loose focus as well. Actors have to focus on themselves, other actors, the audience, the director, their character. This is a lot of things an actor has to be able to focus on and if they do not have good focus, their acting ability will seem weak. They have to have self discipline to allow themselves to focus. 
Trust is important for actors as they have to be able to trust themselves and believe in their ability to become another character, and also they have to trust other actors who they are working alongside with on a project together. For example; if an actor forgets a line or messes up a scene, they should trust the other actors to help them out and not to judge them for it. Actors as well need to be able to trust the audience and the media to respect them as actors and to appreciate what they do. If an actor does not have trust, they will begin to doubt themselves and alter the way they act in a way they believe people will like more than their true self.
Complicity is having complete awareness within performing and to be in sync with themselves and every body else. It is so important for actors to have complicity as they need to be able to understand how to perform not just for themselves but for every body else. Actors need to be in sync with themselves and others or their acting abilities will not be as strong. If an actor does not have complicity with them self they will never feel 100 percent secure in their role as an actor.

READING THROUGH THE SCRIPT IN OUR GROUPS
In the second half of today's class we got into our groups with the people who are in a scene together.
I am playing MRS MARSHALL and I am with Lucy, Unis, Greta, Heta and Chloe. Our scenes are from page 203-213.
We read through the scene together and then discussed how we felt about it and what we thought the given circumstances were.
We created a mind map together;

The main points and circumstances we discussed were;

• Mrs Farely's pregnancy and her attempt at abortion
• How the women do not respect Otway who is the play write and try to change the play he has written
• How corrupt it was that a pregnant lady was not allowed to perform on stage and could have the theater "shut down"

These points are all very important and lead to characterization and shows how different the characters are.

In the first couple of pages it shows Otway, clearly proud of his play he has written, but the women are trying to change it in order to gain more exposure for themselves. It seems apparent that they do not have any respect for Otway as a play write or as a man, and are trying to get him to cut out scenes and lines. They sort of " gang up" on him in a way, but he clearly does not feel threatened and it is all quite lighthearted, but you can tell the women do not really like him that much.

The scene were Mrs Farley comes on stage pregnant is very strong as it shows just how damaging it was for an actresses career back in those days and how no body really cared about someone who was pregnant, not like today.

My character in particular does not really show any emotion when Mrs Farley expresses that she wants to get rid of the baby, the women are all very calm and straight forward about it. Mrs Marshall tells her to bite on a bit of cloth and that it "does not always work" This scene is actually quite disturbing, that these women would actually try to do something like that just to save the theater and her acting career! Mrs Betterton who is married to the lead actor and owner, is appalled that she is showing and says "MR Betterton won't have it, we could be shut down!" This is so heartless and immoral, but it portrays how corrupt it was back in those days.

My initial response to these first scenes I am in is interested and excited. I feel it is a very strong scene, and also I like the fact that my character is performing as " Lady Fanciful" in the ending scenes, so my character is playing another character. This will be interesting for me and also for the audience as well as my character will be acting as somebody else! 

My character I feel is strong and straight forward. In the other scenes I am in 180-190 you see my character a lot more as a very serious actress and strong woman, who is not intimidated by men. In one of my scenes my character has "shit" thrown in her hair from men outside the theater, she goes to " deal with them" and comes back shouting and screaming about how disgusting they are! This will be really fun to act.