Acting

22/02/2016

Greek theatre is where theatre started thats why we started off with Medea in the very first term of college. This was a modern speech and was mainly about working as an ensemble and chorus to make the act fill more full as we had no props. I was working in the chorus and had no lines during the first time due to my absence and so I had to move and make actions as a whole with the chorus when lines were being said.

The second thing we looked at was a classical monologue which was Romeos speech about Juliet. This was some fun because we worked in pairs and performed it in front of the class afterwards. I work with Panashe and Tashan, what we came up with was to make it more as a comedic speech and talk to the audience more- like a pantomime in a way. This was the easiest thing to do as we had three people in our group. We split the lines up between each other and took it in turns to change character between Romeo and Juliet. We also did some actions when one of us were talking for example, when Romeo said ''It is East, and Juliet is the sun'' we would be over dramatic and so Tashan would point towards the direction of East and I would make myself some how look like a sun and Juliet at the same time. It was funny to mess around with.

Romeos Speech:

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou her maid art far more fair than she.

Be not her maid, since she is envious.

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.

It is my lady; O, it is my love!

O that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?

Her eye discourses; I will answer it.

I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks.

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!

O that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!

In the second term, we then looked at another modern speech which was from Ann Frank. At first we done some work on it as a whole group reading out a sentence each trying to get the mood and feeling of it and we also read out words that stood out to us.

We first worked on the monologue in a pair and then performed it to the class. This was interesting because everyone came up with different ideas on how to perform it and it was quite cool to watch and see how we all think differently. I worked with Panashe and found that it really flowed well because we adapted to the speech really quickly together. We started moving about a lot and I started to picture and feel the atmosphere of the speech around me which made me get into character more. I was Ann Frank and Panashe was her good friend Peter. Although Peter didn't have any lines, we came over that situation and took it in turns to say sentences that seems like Peter is replying to me. I felt that it worked out really well and we made it as playful and fun as possible. We now have to learn the monologue by heart to perform it for an assessment to see how we have improved since the start of college.

Ann Frank Speech:

Look, Peter, the sky. (she looks up through the skylight) What a lovely, lovely day! Aren't the clouds beautiful? You know what I do when it seems as if I couldn't stand being cooped up for one more minute? I think myself out. I think myself on a walk in the park where I used to go with Pim. Where the jonquils and the crocus and the violets grow down the slopes. You know the most wonderful part about thinking yourself out? You can have it any way you like. You can have roses and violets and chrysanthemums all blooming at the same time? It's funny. I used to take it all for granted. And now I've gone crazy about everything to do with nature. Haven't you? (softly) I wish you had a religion, Peter. Oh, I don't mean you have to be Orthodox, or believe in heaven and hell and purgatory and things. I just mean some religion. It doesn't matter what. Just to believe in something! When I think of all that's out there. The trees. And flowers. And seagulls. When I think of the dearness of you, Peter. And the goodness of people we know, all risking their lives for us every day. When I think of these good things, I'm not afraid any more. I find myself, and God, and I... We're not the only people have had to suffer. There've always been people that've had to. Sometimes one race, sometimes another, and yet...I know it's terrible, trying to have any faith when people are doing such horrible things, but you know what I sometimes think? I think the world may be going through a phase, the way I was with Mother. It'll pass, maybe not for hundreds of years, but someday I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.

The stuff we are now working on is tabloids/ freeze frame. A tabloid is telling a story without words by freezing into an image that explains the place and what is going on. We started of the lesson by doing some exercises that involved the teacher giving us a location and we had to one by one go up and freeze into anything that would relate to the location we was told. We also worked on telling a story but making big gestures at the same time that would relate to the words coming out of your mouth.

The last thing we done was Duologues. A duologue is a speech that has two characters in it.This was one of the things I enjoyed doing most because we was given a script and partner and what we had to do was adapt the script by adding a few more lines at the end to create our own story of what happened next.