Week starting 17th November

Week starting 17th November

We started this weeks rehearsals running the whole opening sequence with the music. Then we ran act 1, again in the hall, without scripts. In the next lesson we ran act 2 with all of the added pieces of movement and using scripts less. As this play is rather long and we are always on stage we created a list of all of the significant scenes so we can follow the play. I think running through the play is helping us to get more used to the order of things and it is gradually getting better and smoother. 

This week I decided to do some research on the general characteristics of middle aged women to help me with my character as I am struggling to act like an older woman. I think it is mainly my mannerisms and posture that i need to work on so I watched eastenders to try and pick up simple things like how they stand and their body language. 

This week I think we have really improved the play as a performance and it is getting nearer to where it needs to be. To improve my part I just need to make sure I am completely confident with my lines and try and learn the order of the play so I can complete a run without my script. 

I do not think the play needs anymore development as such, I think we just need to keep rehearsing it and keep everything fresh, so it is ready for next Wednesday when we will be performing it. 

Mrs Shears

To help me with my characters relationship with Christopher I found this video of Mrs Shears from the original cast talking about her character. 

The week starting 10th November

The week starting 10th November

This week we have been working in the hall so we have had the room to perform it as we will, in the space it will be in. We started working on the opening of the show, creating different ideas in smaller groups all using the same music (the same as the west end production). Our idea was to incorporate Christopher's love of maths and the idea that he doesn't fit in or think in the same way as everyone else. Our sequence consisted of us moving in sync into different shapes surrounding Christopher. We all came back together and combined our ideas to create our beginning sequence. In our other lessons we worked on the lifts sequence at the London train station, making them smoother and fitting it to music. As we had music left we added some more group lifts onto the end, using not just Karl. 

I think our opening sequence is now much more professional and fits better with the play. The sleekness of the patterning really sets the tone of the play and prepares the audience for a high standard. Adding music also makes it more interesting for the audience to watch and so they will be attentive from the start. The London train station has been improved a lot with the music and adapting a couple of the lifts that weren't working, also people are more confident with their lines so we can start running it properly. 

At the end of the lesson we watched some videos of the National Theater's production and some different clips about the play. 

Physical theatre clip

Ensemble acting clip

I think we worked well this week as a group, combining all of our ideas to create a really good opening. Also everyone is becoming more confident with their lines and characters which really adds to the performance and makes it seem nearer to being a real show. 

To improve what we have worked on I think people just need to keep working on their lines and becoming completely confident with them, especially the London train station so we can rehearse it how it will be for the performance. It will also allow us to solidify timings now that we have music and so we can see if anything else needs to be added. 

The week starting 3rd November

The week starting 3rd November

This week we started running the show without scripts. We got through act one with not too much prompting needed, I think it is important we start working without scripts so the play starts to flow and we can develop our characters further getting into their mannerisms and personalities.
We also did some work on our characters and how they would walk and stand. Mrs Shears, being a middle aged women, would not be too fit and so I decided would stand with fairly hunched posture. Also as she can not had the happiest life, I thought she would move fairly slowly with not a lot of purpose. I think she is also quite a closed person so would generally have her arms crossed across her body, I also think she would not go out of her way to talk to people, especially not Christopher. After this we looked at the subtext of any scenes we were finding difficult and then identified the objective of that scene. I did Mrs Shears' second scene with Christopher and her scene with Judy. 

Thinking about how my characters would walk and act, I think has helped me to become more like my characters and have more idea about how to act them. Writing out the subtext of what I was saying was really helpful as it made me think more about the meaning of the words so I could make it sound more like the kind of conversation Mrs Shears would be having. The objective also helped me to determine how I should be speaking in each scene, for example in the scene where Christopher knocks on her door, her intention is to get him to leave her alone, therefore her tone is rather unfriendly and becomes more irritated as Christopher continues to pry. 

I really like the first part of this video with the walking patterns and think we should include our own version within the play somewhere. It clearly shows Christopher, confused and lost, in among everyone else which portrays how he feels most of the time. The organised walking is effective and simple to do so I think it would be a good idea with music backing it to add another interesting medium to the play. 

This week I think we have made real progress, giving the play more depth and really getting into our roles. Also as people are becoming more comfortable with their lines and more confident everything starts to flow and we can start running the show as it will be without stopping and falling out of character.

To improve the play I think we need to really work on the pieces of physical theatre, for example London train station, as they are quite slow moving and do not always work which could be dangerous. Also as we have got quite a lot of lifts we really need to work on the transitions otherwise it looses the effectiveness of the lifts and just looks messy. 

In groups we created short improvised pieces that reflect the feelings of our characters towards Christopher. I was in a group with Dan and Dom, the two other neighbors, and we decided we would most likely meet outside our houses, in the street. 

Neighbors video

This is a picture of what I think Mrs Shears would look like, the run down woman on the right. 

This is a picture of what I think "posh woman" would look like.

Week starting 13th October

At the start of this week we worked through the last of the play and added in more physical theatre during the dialogue. This meant getting everyone involved, not just the people speaking. I think this is good as it makes the production feel more like a company production, as well as giving us something to do. I think the San bits of physical theatre also work very well to break up the dialogue and make the play more interesting to watch. Adding in this extra things also increases are physical theatre skills such as lifting and creating scenes and objects with ourselves.

This week we did a lot of character work, thinking about their relationships with Christopher and their personalities. We started working in groups, combining our ideas, to create mind naps of some of the characters. I think this was effective as it got us thinking about how we could play them and bringing fresh ideas to help us create our characters. We also then wrote a monologue from our characters point of view, so I did Mrs shears. I think writing from her perspective helped me to think more about her life and how she would feel and interact with Christopher. Writing everything down made it clearer that actually Mrs shears has been through a lot and as a result would not be very keen about Christopher or his parents.

I have previously read the novel of the curious incident twice before so I am already very familiar with the story. There are some differences between the book and the play, obviously the illustrations cannot be seen like in the book which I think detracts from some of the understanding into Christopher's autism, for example the smiley faces. It also does not talk as much about Christopher himself. I think this is because it relies more on the actors portrayal of Christopher to create his character and personality.

I think the extra physical theatre sections we added into the play were successful because they add extra interest to the performance. Also as a class I think physical theatre is one of our best techniques so it shows of our strengths. At the moment we are still reading from scripts which detracts from the atmosphere and emotions behind the lines which is a weakness. This will obviously improve when our lines are learnt so we can work on the internation and gestures that go with the words.

To improve the production further I think we need to learn and perfect the transitions between different parts of th  play when everyone is involved. An example of this is the London train station scene with all of the lifts and slow motion, which we need to keep practising and make it completely smooth.

The Curious Incident of the dog in the night time

This is the trailer for 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time' being performed at the National Theatre

We have started working on the the opening of our play 'the curious incident of the dog in the night time'. We tried different ways of creating a chaotic atmosphere which reflects in a way what goes on in Christopher's head. We created a sequence that starts with everyone walking around the room in any direction, not bumping into anyone. It then develops into a "pushing away" movement whenever you meet someone. After five of these it changes to putting your hands on your head when you meet someone, all of these movements being something Christopher would do if he was walking through a busy place, much like the one we have created.
We all finish on our knees with our head in our hands, I think this is an effective way of introducing the audience to Christopher's personality and how his asperges affects his behaviour. To finish the opening sequence, starting with Christopher, we each type our phone number onto an imaginary key pad, but with people joining in at different at times.

This video shows their thought process behind the staging of the play as well as how they worked to portray Christopher's autism and thought process. They talk about the use of lots of interactive things and using all the senses and how this is similar to an autistic persons thinking. A teacher from an autistic school described an autistic child's mind "like the water in the bath is always about to spill, because the world is so random to them".

Mrs Shears- I find it very hard to know how to act around Christopher, with all that's gone on of course I feel sorry for him but I find it very hard to talk to him without thinking about his mother which of course leads to my ex husband. Also with his constant questioning I can't help getting frustrated with the boy, especially when he's being nosey about things that do not concern him, like the death of Wellington.