17|12|14 - Directing Unit - "DNA - Week 10"

Meeting

For this rehearsal no matter who turns up we want to do a full run through, with the rest of the cast watching when they are not in. This means they can see their queues for entrances and how the energy needs to contrast with the end of the scene previous to pick up the pace. We are also saying that it has to be script down, we will allow them to look at scripts when off stage, and we will prompt them. We know that in the future rehearsal we will do a full run where we treat it as if we have an audience, there will be no prompt and we will see how they deal with it. But this will be the first time without scripts, so we feel allowing prompting will be helpful. 

Rehearsal

Again, the only people unable to make it were India and Freya, so again me and Alex stood in for those. We decided to skip past the Lea and Phil scenes as it would be unproductive to continue with those. 

We finished the blocking of scene 5, we wanted to show the end result due to the chaos and question how much it takes to change a person. It is throughout the play that each individual goes through a struggle and become a different person. 

This is shown in Rachel's monologue where she explains what everyone has become. Rachel has changed person, this is due to Phil's presence & since Lea has left, Rachel now feel's he is able to pursue Phil. We see a softer side of her due to this as she attempts to connect with Phil. We see that Phil has truly realised what he had too late when Lea leaves, this is shown through the placement of a starburst on Lea's seat. 

Taking into consideration the transformation from violence to passive within Rachel, we see the opposite take place within Cathy. We previously see her as quite niave, self obsessed, at the end we see her violent streak grow and her become a more authoritative figure. So it was key throughout the end of scene 5 to show Cathy's new status by her directing threats towards Brian, and it is her that now babysits Brian instead of Rachel. 

Brian's character is shown to have finally hit the rock bottom of his mental state, becoming highly dysfunctional is shown through his lines already, we wanted to reflect this in his personality, his mood being able to flip through the simple production of a sweet, and then being returned to a hysterical mess when told he must go into the police station.  

I want scene 5 to really encase the change that has happened to the group due to the chaos. I feel like Phil' character is the only person who notices this, due to his analytical traits, meaning he knows who he can depend on. Lea also hasn't necessarily changed, the thing that happens with Lea, is that she loses hope. The joke of leaving becomes a reality, her morals can be seen as more than her affections towards Phil.

1|10|14   - Week 1 - introduction - quick fire workshop

8|10|14   - Week 2 - workshop - read through - look at script

15|10|14 - Week 3 - work on script sections

20|10|14 - Week 4 - work on script sections

5|11|14   - Week 5 - work on script - fully blocked (group scenes)

12|11|14 - Week 6 - duologue blocking 

26|11|14 - Week 7 - duologue blocking

3|12|14   - Week 8 - develop duologues, revisit group scenes

10|12|14 - Week 9 - script down - develop tone and body language

17|11|14 - Week 10 - script down - tidy

14|1|15 - Week 11 - script down, full run through, dress?
21|1|15 - Week 12 - dress & tech rehearsal, no script/prompt. two run throughs?

10|12|14 - Directing Unit - "DNA - Week 9"

Meeting

Me and Alex were aware that the year 11's were preparing for their mock exams and therefore, Freya, India and Daisy wouldn't be attending the rehearsal. This meant that we knew we couldn't do the Lea and Phil duologues, and we have decided that we will do these out of n2c time in order to have more focus on them. Instead, we want to go over the group scenes and develop the tone and confidence of their placing. 

Rehearsal

We started the rehearsal discussing the closing deadline for the performance, telling them we wanted to do a full run through of the play next week so they could get an idea for the structure and when they are on. We then started to carry on with the rehearsal, fortunately Daisy turned up, this meant that me and Alex could fill in for Lea and Rachel. We went through the scenes multiple times, saving the feedback until the end of the run through so we could start to get a smooth flow. 

Confidence in their lines was the main fault, the lack of confidence in their delivery slowed the pace of the performance. We told them that the best way was to learn their queues so that they could make their line instantaneous, this will help to develop the atmosphere of panic and urgency within the scenes. 

The delivery of the lines is becoming more definite, they are all showing a large improvement with the understanding of the context of the play. As they grasp the purpose and reason for their lines they are able to add more characterisation to it, which gives the scene depth over all. 

The only thing that I feel needs to happen is a full run through with everyone there, this will help link all the scenes together. I also need to hold a rehearsal with just India and Felix to go over Lea's monologues. Doing this separately will ensure that we don't waste time when the whole cast is there. It also allows me to engage with them more, focusing on how the context effects their character and why I am directing them to do the things they way I do. 

3|12|14 - Directing Unit - "DNA - Week 8"

Meeting

Looking over what me and Alex have left to do, it is still only the end of scene 5 and the Lea and Phil scenes that need completing. We also want to work on the thought behind lines, we feel this will help with the expression of the lines including their tone. With the Phil and Lea scenes we want to show the developing corruption of Lea's faith within Phil. This happens in the scene where there is actually no talking. 

Rehearsal

The cast members that play Cathy and Lea were not at rehearsals due to other commitments, this meant it was hard to complete what me and Alex wanted to do as both carry major roles within the parts we still have left to block. We didn't want to do the group scenes and have us stand in for them as they we didn't feel the cast would benefit from this as they are the ones that carry the scene. Instead, we decided to do a workshop revolving around their characters tone. 

We sat in a circle and one by one I asked them to choose five of their lines from various points within the play. This was a great way to see who also felt most confident with their lines. I then sent them to separate parts of the room so they could go over those fives lines. I then told them to remove context from the line, take them a way from the situation that they are actually from and think about how that might change the way they are said. For example, one of Phil's lines is 'do you want to go?' - in context he is referring to where Adam would like to be, it is a serious question that carries a lot of consequence. If we replace this with a different context, such as, asking a girl to come home after a night out, the tone and delivery of the line would be very different.  We then re-grouped, and I told them to go round saying one line at a time, and changing the tone for each one. I then set up a line of chairs, I then gave them numbers and switched so that when they said their lines in the number order or would come from a more interesting pattern then one after the other in a line.
I then videoed this. 

To develop it into something more interesting to watch we added actions to mimic each tone or line, this meant exaggerated the feeling within the delivery. I felt that this was a successful way to get the cast to think about the meaning and motives behind there lines. This will mean that they will be able to get a more realistic delivery. I think this will  help when we go back to running through the scenes as they will be able to take that knowledge and bring it through the rest of their lines.