Meeting
Looking at our schedule, we realised that we were unable to block the Lea and Phil scenes due to India's absence, so we thought we should get started with one of those. The one thing we both think is missing from the scenes is the intensity of worry, fear and concern, therefore Alex said he would do some developing work on the rest of the cast until I've blocked one of Lea and Phil's scenes. I told Alex my plan of direction, how it would be simple staging and I will mainly be focusing on Phil's reactions and how Lea conveys herself.
Rehearsal
We felt the cast had a good energy and focus and therefore we felt that if we started a game they may feel liable to get too hyper and less focused. I took Lea and Phil away, as I felt it worked really well with Felix and Freya to explain the context of the scene I decided to do the same with this scene. This meant me telling them how Lea could be seen as the 'moral voice' within the play, showing glimpse of hope within each scene of how they can resolve the situation. The scene concludes on a key moment when Lea asks "If you can change one thing, you can change the world?" Dennis himself felt this moment might well be the heart of the play. I agree as I feel the play deals with the effects a situation has on a group and the consequences it has on the individuals, and although this is just a on a group, we could see the group metaphorically represent a country. I wanted to make Lea understand it's Phil's intelligence and control and how he isolates himself that she finds attractive. They are the balance of each other, where Lea's overriding confidence to talk and display any of her thoughts, Phil is analytic, concise with words and speaks when only he finds necessary.
We then decided to go through a run through of scene 5. I wanted to bare in mind context, the only points of feedback of the group is to understand what their characters are feeling at this point. The situation is growing more and more difficult and the characters are becoming more desperate in finding a way to resolve the situation. I also want to make it clear of Cathy's growing violent streak and the status she is receiving in the group because of this - maybe having some sort of action between Rachel, the previous clique leader, would show this. Showing Cathy as violent makes it a clear choice for Phil to choose her to carry out the violent plan at the end of scene 5 which is not yet blocked.
Meeting
Me and Alex thought we would go over all of the group scenes, finishing the blocking for scene 5. We would decide at the start of the rehearsal if there was a need for a group game at the beginning based on the energy of the cast, and if we feel they need focus we will do a run through of scene 1 in order to regain their focus. We then agreed that if we finished working on the group scenes we should move onto the duologue scenes as it is technically only the end of scene 5 that needs to be blocked.
Rehearsal
At the rehearsal, both our Cathy (Daisy W) and Lea (India) were unavailable, due to this, working on any group scenes seemed an invaluable use of time as the cast would be missing to of the strongest voices within the group scenes, therefore we decided that we would have the cast in groups working on different sections of script. We had Mark (Jake) and Jan (Daisy V) developing there characters, working on the pace of their scenes and going over the blocking of positions. Brian (Zack) would help Adam (Sam) with learning his monologue, suggesting ideas of tone. Alex said he would flit between the two in order to keep watch while I focused on blocking the final scene of the play which includes Rachel (Freya) and Phil (Felix). We let the group have a game of their choice which they could play independently to give myself and Alex time to discuss the plan due to the fact we were unable to do what we wanted.
We agreed on a character development of making Rachel have a thing for Phil, and the end scene, although being a way to communicate to the audience the way nothing seems to have changed (Phil's relunctance to reply) but how everything has changed, the characters development, Rachel's new fondness of Phil & the group no longer being a 'clique'.
I then explained to Freya and Felix my feelings for the last scene, as I feel that if they have an understanding of the context and subtext they will be able to perform it better. I explain how Rachel was attempting to replace Lea with that style of monologue. This meant there was an underlying tone of Rachel wanting Phil in a more romantic way, where as Phil remains reluctant, even more so now Lea has gone. Rachel at the beginning of our half of the script was the 'ring leader' figure, but now the trauma is over, the group no longer exists - this means she no longer has that reputation to keep up and she can follow through on feelings she has for someone who before would've been in a different clique and therefore not an option for
Meeting
Me and Alex discussed how we would handle the progression into working on scenes that only contain a couple of the cast members. Now we have almost completed blocking the scenes that include the entire cast we are able to work on the Jan and Mark duologues as well as the Lea and Phil scenes and the members that are focused within the group can continue to learn and develop their characters and help each other. Knowing that from now I will be attending only the first hour of rehearsal we are splitting our time, I will be leading the majority of the first section of the rehearsal, continuing with the blocking of scene 5 and revisiting scene 1. Me and Alex feel that by going over scene 1 and scene 5 we enable the cast to get in touch with their characters, it also helps to develop the pace as the more they are rehearsing them the easier it will be for them to learn their lines. We also know that to get a whole group to come out of a set study time will be difficult compared to taking out the duologue characters. We then decided that I would take Jan and Mark as their scenes are a lot shorter than Lea's monologue so I would definitely be able to produce something with them, whilst I am doing this, Alex will take over with Lea and Phil developing their characters in their scenes.
Rehearsal
Mr Chipp lead a calming game of following the point. This needed focus and the aim was that whenever you found someone pointing at you, you had to point at someone else and this would continue until the whole group had joined in pointing. This linked to the theme of blame within 'DNA' nicely, as the entire group is keen to place blame on other characters in order to be part of the rest of the group.
We did not have Freya for this rehearsal who is playing Rachel, so whilst we did the run through of scene 1 I stepped in for her. I used this an opportunity to show how quickly the lines should come in after each other. This run through was also needed as since the holiday had passed little details had been forgotten and it was easy enough to remind them. One thing I am thinking of doing is a workshop on tone or actioning. I want the cast to understanding their lines and how they are trying to make the other person feel as I feel this will give the performance a more realistic Stanislavsky style.
We went through scene 5, which again had little mistakes. As we had stopped just before Adam's monologue we continued from that point. As he read through he was showing aspects of tone, but there needs to be more variation in order for the audience not to loose interest. It also occurred to me that the rest of the cast need to develop their reactions. This means I will talk to them in the next session about constantly being involved in the scene. During blocking sessions I understand they may drift off but in the run through's I think it is key they listen to what is going on and develop and characterize themselves to give the scene more energy and life.
I then worked with Daisy and Jake who are playing Jan and Mark. I started by talking to them a little more about their characters. I told them that they were the kind of friends who were inseparable, almost twin like. They are the balance of each other - whilst Jan is flustered and easily worried, Mark has a sense of calm and reassured understanding of situations. We started in chronological order.
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