Lesson 3
In the lesson today our class focused on physical theatre rather than normal theatre. Through out the lesson we were told that by simply adding body movement to a scene can enhance it in a good way. We put this effect into practice by describing tale 8 from the East End Tales script in an abstract way. This meant that instead of using the normal bases of a scene such as having a conversation, we had to use the environment and different sounds to show the audience what was happening. Furthermore, we were told to try and not use our voices to talk, however, this didn't mean we couldn't make sound effects with them. Some examples of the sounds and environment could be a smack to the ground to indicate lighting or thunder.
After seeing the variety of performances we decided to use the skills we learned and construct a scene from the play using normal theatre. To our my group of five we made an interior and exterior piece to analyse our character, of which was an old women in a pub who accidentally spills her cup of coffee on her "son". Here is a picture of what the picture would have looked like.
As you can see we composed a lot of ideas about the character. Most of them were feelings that we thought the character had on the inside and what people thought they looked like from the outside. Some examples were: Broken, Defeated, Given up and Friendly.
In conclusion, I learned a lot about physical theatre
and how if you use your body in specific feelings such as sadness you can definitely perform at a higher level. Furthermore, if you plan out the character before performing you can create more ideas behind it and get and overall better scene.
Chris Miltiadou JRS
Lesson 2
In this lesson we took what we had learned about the "East End Tales" and used the tales in the play to begin to create our scenes. However, to fully develop our understanding of this production we were introduced to "Physical Theatre". This type of theatre is overall similar to "Miming" with the difference that it does not contain as much direct address and is telling a story rather that an action.
To adjust to this type of production our class was set the task of creating a machine. Our class was split into groups of 5 and we set to work on creating the type of contraption that we would present to the rest of the groups. After some time discussing our ideas we came to the conclusion that we would each be a piece of a "Sandwich Maker". One of us would butter, one would place the contents of the sandwich etc, myself, I was the person who finalized the delicious treat by combining the top and bottom of the sandwich together to create a BLT of absolute glory.
However, during our performance all hell broke loose! Our group had their own ideas about the scene which is okay if you alert everyone before the performance about the change, of which our group did not do. This lead to our scene falling apart because no one had any idea what to do next. However, from failure we learn. I now know that one of the most important things in acting is communication and without it most performances would end in utter defeat.
The next event in the lesson resulted in our entire class obtaining one of the scenes, aka the "Tales" from the play and planning what they are going to do in the scene. We discussed the variety of ways we could set the staging, actions etc. However, more importantly simply just understanding tale 6 from the play. The tale describes two individuals, their names we do not know, and how the two of them resemble each other as a mother and her son. However, the tension builds up as the supposed "mother" spills her drink onto her "son's" shirt and it about to use violence against her. As the audience in the pub hold their breath they create a change, the son lowers his hand from the mother's face and in the end doesn't hit her.
In conclusion, today's lesson has taught me many things about "Physical Theatre" in general and I hope to gain more knowledge about this subject in the future.
Lesson 1 - East End Tales
In our first Thursday lesson to start off the term we were able to obtain the script of "East End Tales". We read through it in the first part of our lesson and immediately I found out that this play was different in a variety of ways. Simply put, the scenes were cut into separate parts called tales, this meant that it didn't have a flowing story like most plays because each tale was set in a different time, with different characters, in different places.
The few characters we knew the names of were described immensely in the prologue of the play. I feel that Fin Kennedy, who is the writer of this play, has purposely used this technique to show that the characters' characteristics are full of detail and have nothing to hide from society. The others are described in little detail but throughout the tale give hints of personal details about their life.
After we read through the tales we decided to split up in groups of 4 and deliver our ideas of the play onto a mind map. Usually these ideas were short but powerful words like "Loss" or "Youth". Collectively, we talked about what the words meant to us and the scenes that included those same words in it. As we concluded our last word we were set the task of improvising a photo frame, using one of our words, to the class. Our frames were very different compared to the rest as everyone had different opinions on the matter which linked with some of the scenes in the play.
5 Facts about The East End
Captain James Cook first met Elizabeth Batts when she was a young child in Wapping; they married in 1762 and lived in Mile End, the East End of London.
One of the first people to sight Australia was Zachariah Hicks and he was from the East End
The largest ox ever sold was reared in the Isle of Dogs and sold at the Leadenhall Market.
Such excellent peppermints were created by a company in the East End, called C & E Mortons that Madagascar used them as a form of money.
Slavery was finally abolished in 1833, around 15,000 people were freed and most of these were found living in the East End.
