Thursday 13th November, Lesson 2

Prologue

When we were asked to look at the prologue I was working with Ella and Alex. We decided to have the taxi driver in the middle and then two passengers either side of the driver  who were having two different conversations with the driver although physically the scenes merged into one. We did this because it was interesting to see how we could play around with the different ways of using the simple lines to create a short scene.

Ensemble Taxi Driving
Another pair- Jamie and Sherene decided to have the taxi driver standing on the floor whilst the passenger was standing on a chair behind them. The physicality made the scene very clear and effective, and so did the characterization because although Sherene was fairly quiet and timid, Jamie was loud and angry which made the scene intriguing due to the contrast between the characters. 

Hot seating

Using hot-seating is very effective to use in a rehearsal as it allows you to think deeper about the characters personality traits and how they would react to certain stimuli. As a taxi driver i decided to make a choice to be male who was middle aged, not married and without kids- somebody who was easily bored and did not lead a particularly interesting life. I spoke in a droning- monotone voice and often let my eyes wonder around. One hand was gripped on the steering wheel however the other hand was left casually on my knee. I chose to act like this as i felt it was fitting towards the character yet also gave me a freedom to play around with his characteristics.
Other people chose to this very differently- such as Benji who decided to be an extremely camp and somewhat feminine taxi driver which was an interesting decision and added an element of comedy to the exercise.

Tale 8

What did your group do when you were asked to explore the tales?

In my group we were given East End tales 8, which is about a woman who is often referred to as "the urban lioness" and John, another character who, by the end of the tale, is found out as a policeman. In my group (me, Nina and Danielle) we were given 10 minutes to divise the piece and stage it by transferring the words of the tale into dialogue between the characters.
In the next lesson I was given the same tale to analyse with Alex, Anya, Ella and Nina. We were told to look at how the piece created atmosphere.

What was effective about the sounds they had decided to use?

The sounds we decided to use were effective because they helped to build tension throughout the scene. At first we started of with one of us making a "drip-drop" noise which was used to set the scene (a dark rainy alleyway) and then as the scene progressed the noise became faster and louder until it gradually stopped, to help create a climax in the scene. 

What was effective about the movement you had decided to use?

We used movement in a way that would help us to (like the sound effects) create the illusion of tension, dramatic irony and foreboding. At first we were all stood very still, very spaced out on stage. Then, we started to slowly move simultaneously. As the background noise started to pick up the pace, so did we. It seemed as if we were all moving like magnets- we moved together as a piece to help build atmosphere.

How did the work make you feel?

I extremely enjoyed divising the piece, and hopefully i can take on board the skills i have developed and use these in future pieces of work. The scene made me feel very intrigued- if i were to have been watching it i would've wanted to know more about the story and more about east end tales!

What could have been developed further?

To develop our work further we could have worked on accuracy- for example we could have made sure we were certain we knew who was saying which line, so that the scene doesn't drop and any atmosphere created is lost.  

Do the sounds and movement have the same impact as just reading out the lines? Is it a better way to help tell this story?

When reading the script i think that each and every single one of us interpret the scene in a very different way- which was interesting to hear when we got into groups, as the members of my group had very different ideas about create atmosphere then i did! This was extremely helpful as we tried to combine all of our ideas into one, rather than just using one persons idea. This was very effective and created a different kind of impact on the scene then it would have if it were just read aloud! I personally think it is a much better way to tell the story as it helps readers and listeners to feel more connected to the piece.