Rehearsal 7 - Key pointers

• Care about what you say - understand the text and the subtext, don't throw away the lines use every word you have to project meaning.

• Be in character prior going on - before entering the stage take the time to find your character, perhaps walk or talk in your character to ensure that you bring energy on stage and can emerge yourself in the life your character is living.

• Don't allow large gaps - bounce of the other characters in the scene, be energised, alert and alive. Allowing gaps of silence kills the scene as the energy dies down, only allow gaps of silence if it is justified in the moment.

•  Visualise surroundings - imagine the scene surrounding you. Visualise the small details like the cracks in walls, creaking of floor boards or the dust. Imagine what it is like to live in that era, in the scene as it helps you not only become your character but live as your character. Have an opinion on your surroundings, do you hate it? love it? long for it? and so on.

• Don't be repetitive - keep changing the scene up, moving into different spaces, use the props around you allowing yourself to make instinctive choices as your character. Repeating the same movements makes the scene boring and stops your from living in the scene, as you think about the movements you have previously done like "oh right, now i have to move here, speak, move" it creates a rigidness that hinders the flow of the piece. 

• Have an opinion - always have an opinion on both what your saying, what others are saying and the other characters in the play. Doing this makes you more aware of your reactions and interactions with the others on stage and creates a more well rounded character for yourself that you understand, this also interlinks with knowing the relationship you have with the other characters.

• Use the space - don't clump together or make every interaction a personal circle of attention, open up the space, use all areas as it visually looks better and more inviting for the audience as they are able to see and hear whats going on, it also is realistic as when you speak to people in a space you are often not really close to one another.

• Don't devoice - don't reduce the sound of your voice at the end of your line, it kills the energy and stops the audience from hearing what you say. It is also un realistic as in real life people will speak an equal level until the end of their sentence. Use the all round power of your stomach voice and project.

• You have something to loose - throughout the piece act like you have something to loose. Every character has something to loose if the cherry orchard is sold and this needs to be expressed, the characters are passionate and desperate.

The magic if

The magic if is one of Stanislavsky's methods of creating a character. You begin by getting into your character and then fabricate a situation in which your character has to deal with, this forces you to react in the way your character would and helps build your character. 

Stanislavsky believed that no actor could truly believe in the truth of events however he believed that you can begin to believe in the possibility of those events. He believed that if you create difficult circumstances for yourself, your effort to solve them automatically leads you to natural internal and external reactions. 

Logical action = Truthful acting

Here is a quote from Stanislavsky himself which i have annotated in order for me to fully understand the full meaning behind his teachings.

Rehearsal 6 - Evaluation

During today's rehearsal i have learnt that i need to be more confident and comfortable in my role and embrace being a male. I will do this by learning my lines inside out so that i am able to fully be confident on stage and be free to explore more without lines constricting me.

I also feel like I am over thinking my actions between lines - my interactions with others and objectives aren't flowing. In order to make my performance better i need to live naturally and freely in the scene. Living and thinking as my character rather than myself.

Overall i believe i could work harder and make more of an effort to be bolder. However i do believe i have been an active member of the cast, staying engaged, making notes and communicating well with my fellow actors. 

One of my favourite moments so far is when Lopakhin explains to Ranyevskya that the cherry orchard can be sold here Joe did really well living in the scene and understanding the context and his objectives. His performance was interesting and enjoyable and can learn from his performance and put that into my own.

Rehearsal 6 - Speaking with meaning

Throughout this weeks rehearsal speaking with meaning was the most prevalent direction given as throughout each scene actors (including myself) where saying their lines with no true feeling and understanding. I have learnt that each word that you say has to be understood and moments of importance highlighted through your body and voice. 

For example on page 303 the scene where Madame Ranevskya talks about her love for the orchard, Chloe began by speaking well but not feeling the passion and burning love that Ranyvskya would be feeling for the orchard. In particular the line "you're young and filled with happiness, and not abandoned by the angels". When performing it looked okay but there was a lack of sensitivity and truth, so when Chloe began to speak with boldness and understood the importance of the lines it made the performance 100x better and you began to understand the connection between the characters and the cherry orchard therefor leading us to understand why the characters are so attached to the orchard and find it hard to not only let go of the orchard itself but the precious memories that come with it. 

I admire Chloe's work in this weeks rehearsal as she took on the feedback she was being given in her stride and worked hard to change and understand her role.

Another useful tip that i have learnt this week is to be in character at least 4 steps before you get on stage. This really helped me because you have a purpose when coming on stage and bring energy straight on. It also allows you the time to think, focus and get into the mindset of your character instead of rushing on and not taking the time to ground yourself.

Key idea from today's rehearsal:

"The more you don't get into patterns, the more your piece will flow."

Rehearsal 5 - Evaluation

In today's rehearsal i believe i worked well with my fellow actors - communicating and discussing our characters objectives and super objectives. I believe i did push my self however i feel i could push my self more.

However i believe i could have taken more time to understand my character Yasha's objectives and the meanings of my lines, as not knowing this really hindered my performance and stopped me from living in the moment because i didn't feel comfortable with what i was saying. Although i felt like i had a good idea of my what my characters super objectives are, i feel like some of my objectives like 'to take the piss' and to 'irritate' i didn't quite understand in line with the context.

Next time i will insure i am fully comfortable and understand my objectives so that i can easily play and explore in rehearsal and be able to understand the meaning behind my characters actions.

I also feel like my group could have discussed  less about what we are going to do or how we are going to do the scene and just allowed the moment to happen naturally. Although we did do this more so towards the end of the rehearsal i felt like if we had done this from the outset we could of had a better understanding of out characters objectives and would have been more free to explore.

As my character is a male, next time i want to in body my character more and work with my physicality, voice and objectives as a whole- allowing the text to ride the action. In order to do this i will research male physicality and look at similar people as Yasha. 

Rehearsal 5 - Pushing actions and objectives

In this weeks rehearsal we looked at pushing our objectives to the full in order to test wether our objective worked and if our objective could be made clear to the audience.

We did this by taking our first objective and acting it out using our whole body and all of our voice. The aim was to make the objective as bold and over the top as possible in order to make it clear the the audience what our objective was. 

My first objective was 'to clean' so i did as much as i possibly could to show that i was cleaning, getting down to scrub the floor, rushing around, moving objects and tiding this was the physical side to my objective. I then used my voice to display 'to clean' as much as possible. I would vary my pitch and strength so if i was scrubbing the floor i was make my voice deeper and slightly warned out and other times would be slightly high pitched. This was using my whole body and voice to display my objective and i was successful in doing so, as my fellow actors in my group agreed that my objective was clear.

There were other moments where my objective felt awkward and couldn't be made clear. Such as my objective to 'take the piss'. When rehearsing i felt like i could easily display this objective and felt like it didn't work when using it in conjunction with the text. Therefor i have learnt that pushing your objectives is a key part to understanding the intention and meaning behind your characters actions and allows you to explore the "best" way or most comfortable objective possible.

In addition  i have also learnt that by taking your actions to an extreme allows you to then pull it back in and create a more realistic moment that still however, is true to the objective. If you don't push your character to it's limits, you will never know the full spectrum of how far your character can go.

Here is a rough version of my script in which i have put 3 objectives. To reassure, to joke and to plead.

Throughout rehearsal i felt uncomfortable with my objective 'to joke' and began to feel like this wasn't coming from a natural instinct but was being forced. I then looked at the script for help and saw that the line after, in the stage directions it says Ranyevsaya is irritated by Yasha's comment. Therefore i decided to change my objective to 'to irritate' which worked much better.

I have learnt that often the answer to your problems is in the text itself, you just have to look.

Rehearsal 5 - Context and objectives

This rehearsal we began by discussing how to identity the given circumstances of our characters and our objectives and how we can use these as a tool to creating a truthful character and interesting piece of theatre.

Given Circumstances:

• Facts and opinions about your character
• Who are you? What are you doing? Why are you doing it?
• What time is it? what's the date? where are you?
• The circumstances your character. Are they struggling with accepting the past? Are they dealing with loss? 
• Where you live
• Who you are related to

In order to find the given circumstances of your character you must go through the script and look at all the evidence in the text. It is key that your given circumstances are only from the text itself and not made up. This takes imagination on order to visualise and live within the given circumstances of your character. I have learnt that without identifying you characters given circumstances you are so unaware of who your character is and what there purpose is throughout the play.

Meisner one said "acting is nothing but the ability to live within the given circumstances" i would agree with this quote as if you were not able to live within your characters surroundings then you cannot truly be/feel and live that character. 

Objectives:

• Super objective - the characters task that spans the whole play. What are they after or need? Are they running away from something? Are they persuading? etc

• Objective -  the character's task in the scene. What are they trying to achieve in that scene

Knowing your characters objectives for each line is key to understanding what your characters intentions are, what the lines mean and unlocking what works for you on stage, wether it feels right or awkward. Its about finding the balance and going with what you believe the intention is behind what your character is saying, using this but continuing to change the scenes up. 

I have discovered that knowing your characters super objective for the whole play helps you understand what your character is feeling beneath the outskirts. In addition to this, bouncing off your fellow actors is also important, because your objectives may change depending on the other characters reaction. For example you may have an idea in your head about the objective behind your line, say it was to comfort but then the other person reacts badly and then you get offered leading your objective to change. 

Circles of attention

Circles of attention are the distance at which your charters attention is based.

=  Public

                                   Private   =                             

= Personal 

We did an exercise where we walked around the room and said a random number to someone In either public, private or personal and the other would have to repose in which ever circle of attention they wanted to. This really helped me see how you can in fact use all 3 circles of attention when on stage and can almost have a negotiation with that person, sharing a moment.

You can also have a private moment with your self. You can be "have solitude in public" as Stanislavsky says that draws your attention to that person. Being aware your circle of attention makes it both easier on stage as you know where you focus is and the closeness between you and the other characters but also and makes it more interesting for the audience to watch as you are drawing them in to the action by having a main focus. 

Main learnings:

• To change the scene up. Don't do the same thing or repeat yet relive the moment as if it had never happened before.
• Small idiosyncrasies for being are a male are chest out, legs spread when sitting, broad walk, heavy feet. 
• To you know your objectives 
• Bounce off one another and live in the moment "show situations as they really are" 
• Every scene is a chase scene, move around the space, once you catch them its over so keep it alive and active, ever changing and evolving.

Rehearsal 4 - The text rides the action

Throughout history theatre has evolved. Changing, improving and growing. Each time advancing in a way that made theatre more powerful, challenging and exiting. 

Melodrama --> Naturalism --> SocialRealsim --> Political --> Experimental --> Combined

With every transition there was a need for more substance and a need to provoke further. The more theatre and the arts began to advance and shape an era of liberation, the more the job of the arts became less to entertain but more to change the world we live in and the minds of the people. This then opened a world of opportunities for average people and gave them a voice they never had before. From the end of the 1900's theatre became a force for change.


From today's lesson i have learnt how to go through my lines and identity in breaths and where you may need to take a deeper breath. Using a slash for a regular breath (/) and a double slash for a larger breath (//) This really helped me when reading lines as i was able to see clearly when to inhale. Sometimes i can forget to take a deep breath before a line and often find i am short of breath and cannot deliver the line. In the future i will use this slash technique on my script in order to guide me.

Useful tip:                            It is natural that when you breathe in you are thinking about what
Inhale = Inspire                   you are going to say next and when you exhale is when the
Exhale = Human action    action  takes place. Knowing this gives you an inspiration and
                                              spark behind what your saying.

When analysing the text and discussing intentions i learnt that theres always an intention and purpose behind what your character is saying. Analysing your text before hand can give you an idea about your characters intentions however, constructing the intentions of your character doesn't allow any room for adjustments and has no real substance when performed, because you have already preempted the moment. When you react and bounce of your fellow actor your intuitions may change as you are connecting to what they are thinking and feeling, this is when the real moment happens and creates an ever changing, interesting piece of theatre. From you actions should then come your text because your feelings and emotions (actions) fuel your speech.

Here Bella Merlin's method of breaking down your script. I like how she sections each part and writes a clear intention for each line. 

I noticed that each intention is in stages for example "alerts, halts, chills" i personally disagree with this way of writing in your intentions because i feel by doing this you have in your head your reactions and acting cant be contrasted from the mind but has to be in the moment. In a real live moment on stage, the reaction you have preempted could change. However i do think this method is good to do in order to have those intentions in the back of your mind but just don't get stuck doing the same thing as acting should be reacting and not constructed. 

Rehearsal 3 - Melodrama & Naturalism

This week we compared the differences between melodrama and naturalism and discussed how/why Stanisvalski introduced a new style of theatre around the 1900's.

We began walking around the space in neutral, this allowed us to free up our body's and minds in order to then be ready to receive instruction. Then every so often an archetype would be called out and we would have to change stop and create a freeze frame. I learnt that the main typical archetypes you would find in melodramatic theatre are:

• Henchman                                
• Villan                           
• Damsel in distress
• Prince 
• Princess
• Protective mother

Doing this exercise helped remind me of the types of characters you would find in a melodrama but also how much you have over emphasise your physicality, for example each time i stopped in a freeze frame i would stand almost half heartedly and then as soon as we were told to push it further, i could see from everyone else free frames that is looked 10x better when you make your physicality bolder because, that is what melodrama is all about - over the top, bold, stereotypical characters.

Following this, we got into small mixed groups and devised a small piece of melodramatic theatre using the archetypes we had just been playing. As a group we discussed wanting to make sure each of our characters were really bold and over the top. We learnt that in order to do this we needed to use large movements and react quickly to one another. For example, i was playing the over protective mother so when i was talking care of my daughter (the damsel in distress) i had to give her large hugs and use exaggerated hands and arms when stroking her hair etc. in order to make it clear to the audience what character i was and to be interesting to watch.

Throughout the 1900's melodrama was the style of theatre that everyone knew and loved. The over the top characters were often laughable and crazy which made it fun for the audience and was therefore there for entertainment purposes as suppose to informing or compelling. I have learnt that Stanislavsky obviously felt that there was something lacking in theatre, something of substance and feeling was missing and thats why he wanted to revolutionise theatre and create something for people that challenged them or provoked emotions that people could relate to. This is when the idea of naturalism and realism came into play and began changing what theatre was all about. 

In the next exercise we created a piece of naturalist theatre. We talked about what we think would be in a piece of naturalistic theatre, was types of characters and stories. The main things are:

• Realistic characters - ordinary people you would see walking down the street or typical types of people that every person could relate to

• Realistic story line - could be every day problems like forgetting your keys or harder problems that many people may face, divorce, loss. It could also be about moments of happiness or laughter, anything that an average person could relate to or have experienced.

• Realistic setting - so opposite to a melodrama where you could be in a fantasy land, a naturalistic piece would be based somewhere real like a london street or existing home etc.

• Realistic costume/makeup - in melodramatic pieces the costume and makeup of the characters would be bold and extreme often using substances like white powder or chalk, burnt cork, paper and pigment powders as makeup. This would create a doll like/unrealistic look. Therefore you wouldn't have a melodramatic makeup in a reasltic piece, natural lifelike makeup would be key alongside realistic clothing for the character and or time period.

Throughout both the melodramatic pieces and the naturalistic pieces i was laughing at the characters and funny situations they were in however i noticed i was laughing in a different way. During the melodramatic pieces i was laughing at them rather than with them, i was laughing at the fact there characters were so ridiculous and un relatable whereas, when i was laughing in the naturalistic pieces i was laughing with them because most often or not what was going on on stage had previously happened in my life or i had experienced. I understood that i actually enjoyed watching the naturalistic pieces more because i felt connected to the characters and the scenario, it created a bond between everyone because we all knew what it was like to be in that situation. It was really interesting to understand first hand why naturalistic theatre was so great and why Stanislavsky wanted something more for theatre.

Review - Note Form

The struggle over memory

• Memory gives a sense of identify and prevents the attainment of happiness.

• The characters struggle to remember and forget parts of their past. The orchard represents both their pasts and happiness

• Conflict, confusion, self doubt, allusion

Modernity vs the old Russia

(a recurrent theme throughout Russian literature of the nineteenth century is the clash between the values of the old Russia)

• The selling of the orchard could also be a metaphor for the hacking and destroying of the old Russia. For many russians the thought of a new modern, westernised Russia was frightening and offensive because to them the old Russia was so deep within there roots, therefor you could say that the orchard represents the old Russia (happiness, togetherness, pure, unselfish) and the cutting down of the orchard was the transition that Russia made.

• Modernity is meant to signify western modernity , its rationalism, secularism and materialism. Russia, had been adopting these values since the early eighteenth century.

• Western values are often represented as false, pretentious and spiritually and morally wrong so for those of old Russia, accepting the changes must have been extremely infuriating.

• Internal and external conflicts, past and present.

Rehearsal 2 - Performance Feedback

In todays lesson we watched each tutor group's devised piece based around a theme from the Cherry Orchard.

The first performcne was from Simon's tutor and there theme was freedom. In this piece each character talked about what made them feel free and how the system they were living in made them feel trapped and confined. For example one character described how spending time with friends made them feel free, others talked about a variety of things from sports and painting. I liked how this made me question what it is that makes me feel free and how i would feel if that was taken away from me.

Near the beginning of the piece each character began to close in on themselves, rubbing theres necks, holding there stomachs in pain. This was a powerful moment, as each character physicalised the pain and trauma in their minds, here i began to identify with the characters and felt a sense compassion. This allowed me to start connecting with the play for the first time.

I particularly liked the use of audience participation at the end of the piece. The actors asked us what made us happy and feel free, I liked this because it made everyone question themselves and think about the people of old Russia who may of had to give up what they loved because of the new Russia that was advancing. 

The second devised piece we watched was from Sarah's tutor, this piece was based around the theme of memories. One particular moment i found most interesting was when the actors used there bodies to create the cherry trees. Weaved in a round the trees were characters expressing moments of happiness such as: two children playing together and a man resting. From this i gathered that the orchard was a symbol of happiness for the characters in the play but also a symbol of memories. 

The cherry orchard was seeping in rich memories of the characters childhood and so when the trees began to unravel and started taunting the man and the children i understood that the characters were afraid of their pasts and were afraid to let go. Page 352 Ranyevskaya says "oh my dear orchard, my sweet and lovely orchard! My life, my youth, my happiness - farewell! farewell!" this proves that Ranyevskaya and other characters see the orchard as precious and are sad to let it go which could also indicate that they cant let go of the past or are afraid to.

Although i was already aware about the characters fear of the past, seeing it acted out physically in front of me really helped me to connect on an emotional level and realise the significance of the cherry orchard.

Rehearsal 1 - Notes write up

Throughout todays session we explored what it takes to be a good actor, learning that acting doesn't come from your mind it comes from your surroundings and your interactions with others on stage. I learnt that being in the natural moment and ignoring the insecurities and judgments on others leads you to feel the emotions naturally, rather than forcing what your supposed to feel.

This was prominent during an eye contact exercise where we had to walk around the room and catch eyes with people as we go. Each person who you shared a moment with was different, one person may be extremely awkward and another might start laughing but it was great to just go with the flow and accept those moments for what they were. I learnt that this was truthful acting because we wernt forcing laughter or awkwardness it came naturally in the moment which wasn't coming from the mind but from our surroundings. This is what Stanislavsky's theory is all about and it was interesting to put it into practice."When we are on stage, we are in the here and now." 

We also looked at finding the perfect neutral in order to be blank canvas. Chin up, chest out and shoulders back were the three key things that we had to do with our bodies. 

Today we also discussed the main themes of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, we did this by getting into small groups, discussing that we thought the main themes are and sharing as a group.

We decided the main themes are:

Cultural Futility 
When you are awarded with so much and don't respect the wealth or opportunities given to you.

Russian modernity vs Old Russia
The clash between two worlds , the ever growing new Russia and the traditional old Russia.

Progress and Social change 
New world order, people becoming equal to one another. Industrial progress

Liberation, Independence and Freedom
The destruction of the feudal system, equal rights.