Tuesday 6th May
The performance today went fairly well but you could definitely tell we were all nervous as we all messed up a few times however I think we all worked really well as a team to cover each other and carry the play on despite any mistakes. I was a daunting experience to start with knowing that Eva was in the audience as we didn't want to offend him, however I think we soon relaxed and just enjoyed ourselves as we knew we only had two chances left to perform this wonderful play that we had all worked so hard on. this made us all have a very high and bouncy energy on stage which really aided the play as many of the scenes needed that fast pace energy to engage and move the play forward. Unfortunately despite rehearsing it previous to going on stage the 'buzz, click..etc' went wrong which was a bit annoying but I tried to move the scene along with my 'and its not like' when I realised that the 'buzz...click' section wasn't going to be continued.
I know that personally this wasn't my best show and is not my best acting/performing ability because I felt like I was holding back a little on both the acting and dancing purely out of nerves and the newness of being on the stage with the audience sat in a semi-circle around which was different to how we had rehearsed. My volume still was not excellent but the audience apparently could hear what I had said however I know I also struggled a few times with my clarity and diction especially when lying down trying to say the word 'shoulders' just didn't want to happen.
However I really did take on board what Simon had said about dancing like no one is watching you in your bedroom as a crazy 11 year old and I did try and go for it with all my energy which showed off in the feedback I personally received from audience members who critiqued all 11 performers in detail.
I believe that the performance went well and that we should all be proud of our work and our effort as Evan seemed pleased with the way we had been directed and how we had portrayed his characters and his story which was lovely to hear because we were all a little bit worried how he would feel with us playing around with his Play despite knowing that it is such a flexible text you never want to insult the playwright!
Wednesday 7th May
Today's performances seemed to go much better, we were much more confident and the energy was brilliant. We had spent time practicing all of the bits that went wrong or that we messed up on yesterday and they were perfect tonight, the 'buzz, click, pop' was snappy and everyone remembered all of the notes we and Simon had given us on our 1st performance and put them into place. We knew that because this was are final performance of 'Girls Like That' that it needed to be amazing and really show of the Performance work and ability of Community Arts Practice and I believe that we really did show all of our wonderful audience: peers, brit students, parents and friends just how good we are! Personally I believe that because we wanted the show to be good and look fantastic that it actually was because we believed in it.
The transitions between scenes worked well and were improved on yesterday when it still felt a little slow, it was however amazing to see the transition in the performance from the rehearsal as only a week ago the play as a whole was slow, boring and dragged a lot, to see the difference from then to now is fantastic and to know that we all helped each other to get to the level that we achieved today was amazing.
we did have a few problems for this performance like missing props (candle) and messing up a little bit with the lines but we managed to cover ourselves and work through any problems that arose.
I have enjoyed the cast and the play a lot even though we have had many ups and downs it has been an experience I am not likely to ever forget! I am really happy that Simon choose this play as it offered us as performers a very interesting and inclusive experience and it was really nice to have Simon as our director because you could see the passion he had for the play and because he knows Evan he was able to judge what Evan may or may not like which had we had a different play he may not have been able to do.
Simon gave out our lines post the read through, he did say if we wanted a specific part we should speak to him but personally I felt it was better for him to decide who should get each part based on what he thought were our skills and what character fitted our personality. The lines were given out in two classes, first of all we were each given a number from 1-11 and whenever our number was put to a line that was then our line. Simon had obviously thought about the lines to numbers because Louise's character always talks about chickens whereas my character is always quite snobbish because her mother is a local councillor and Rebecca's character is (well her!) very sarcastic and has very strong opinions! This really helps us when building our characters as it means that we all have characters that have a certain personality or way of life.
Facts and Questions:
my group were looking at the facts we already know from looking at the script
questions about the play:
why did Evan Placey write a play about: teenage girls, cyberbullying, bullying, the role of women over the last 100 years, the stereotype of girls and boys?
why did Evan choose those particular songs? and why in that order?
the empowerment of women is shown in all of these songs and the order shows the feelings of each of the scenes before and after the dance for example the taylor swift song reflects the fight and the feelings the girls have towards Scarlett.
why does the play include flashback as monologues?
offers the audience a different way of seeing the history of women and their roles, it also offers a break from the very quick and informative lines that the rest of the play includes.
what do the monologues add to the play?
a different way of telling the story
why are the lines not named? how does this effect each production? is this beneficial to a director?
by having the lines unnamed it means that their can be up to 24 actors and it allows the director to make decisions about the play and the way they want it produced, it also allows the lines to be more snappy and for actors to make their own characters.
why does the play include dance routines?
keeps the audience interested and offers a different type of performance, also allows the play to move on from each scene especially when going into a monologue.
who was it written for?
teenagers, young people, parliament
what does the play allow us as actors to do?
the play allows us as the actors to really play with the characters and the situations
exercises: vocal tennis ball exercise
This exercise wakes up both the voice and the body as the actors have to pretend to throw tennis balls and make the tennis huffs 'ha' and 'hm' building a clear and bold sound. this exercise will help us with clarity and projection on stage. I actually was really aware of my projection and volume during the tech and dress rehearsals and this exercise came in handy to clear the throat and get my volume up whilst waiting in the wings. line wresting
actors have to lean their weight through their palms against another actor and then say their lines in a clear and precise way, this exercise was actually really interesting to do because although it helped us think about doing two things at once (lines and movement) it also made us work on the way we said lines and the meaning/feeling we put into lines- the more tired we were becoming the more aggressive we got therefore it allowed us to see how although we may start to get tired in the play we need to ensure that we are still giving each line the correct feeling and emotion. I have a fairly quite personality so this exercise was really useful to me because it made me think about my volume and personality as well as my emotional acting on stage. walk, jump, squat
We went through the script from the beginning but Simon got us to all walk round while doing so, he then added the rule that when you said your line you had to jump and when someone else said a line you had to squat, this was tiring but it really helped us to concentrate and get into rehearsal mode especially on a Tuesday morning. This exercise really helped me whilst on stage because I was having to act while delivering lines and dances. emotions
This was one of the first exercises Simon used with us, it started out fairly simple with us all walking around the room, Simon then went on to say different types of emotions which we then had to pretend be: annoyed, angry, unhappy, scared, excited, surprised, and confused. By looking at ways of feeling all of these emotions through our acting such as thinking of a time when you have been very sad for 'unhappy' it allowed us to think about how we could use our own experiences to better our acting. We went o to use this method for the beginning section with the one words 'slut, skank, sket, ho...' and how our character may feel about such words. I used this exercise whilst on stage especially in the facebook scene when we are being interviewed my character knows she should be sad but is so excited to be on TV - when you know that you should be sad but actually something good is happening for you. Also in the end of this scene when we think Scarlett is dead in the river and we say our stomachs are aching and we feel sick- when you know you've done something wrong. learning the dances, and how to be dance diva's:
28th January
Today we learnt the Beyoncé routine, it look quite a while for us to master all of the sassy moves that Ben had choreographed but it was a really relaxed lesson because it was a calm atmosphere as Ben allowed us to discuss anything we felt would be better if put a different way and it was really easy to pick up the movement because of this. The moves need to be sharp and precise so this is definitely a routine that we are going to have to work on so we can get it to the best standard POSSIBLE. I really like that we are including dance routines in the play because it allows us to not only use a different type of performance but to also use the dances to change the feeling between scenes and keep the audience engaged in what is quite a confusing play because of all the changes in time setting.
5th February
Today we set positions for the Beyoncé routine and ran over it a few times to ensure that we all remembered it, it is definitely improving in terms of sharpness but we need to work on our acting whilst dancing because we all look rather bored from my observation of watching us in the mirrors. We also learnt the choreography for the little mix dance, this one is definitely my favourite out of the two because it switches really quickly from us being beautiful airy fairy butterflies to being hip hop queens! Wings by little mix is actually quite an interesting song linked to the story of the play because its about their mums telling them to spread their wings and take on the world, not letting what anyone says put them down or stop them from achieving what they want- the empowerment of women from generation to generation.
12th February
Today we went over both of the previous dances and worked on sections within them that needed a little more detailed work. We then learnt the California girls Katy Perry dance which is very fun and an enjoyable dance to do because of the cheekiness and girliness that the other dances don't have so much. The California girls dance is defiantly a stand out one from all of the dances so far because it marks the drama of the girls having received both Scarlett and Russell's naked pictures. We have now filmed all three dances at last once and have put them all on the facebook page so that anyone who was not at the lessons can learn the dances at home in their own time as not to waste time having to go over everything with Ben next week.
27th February
Today we choreographed the last two dances, the Taylor Swift song is quite angry and bold which really fits with the scene it comes after- the fight scene. Ben chose for us to all rush to the back and grab our headphone when Taylor Swift says 'Now go and stand in the corner and think about what you did' the dance itself is also very rigid, bold and angry as we are all in opposition with each other, reflecting how we feel about the scene we have all just witnessed but also how we feel about our own and each others involvement. The Pink song 'Slut like you' is very powerful and strong but unlike Taylor Swifts it is more about women having the power and strength to carry on and being able to do anything to get to where she wants to be. Whilst the song really fits the monologue that comes after it, it is Ben's choreography of the simple strike of one pose for the Pink song and then the slow melt in inner sickness with ourselves after we think we have all been part of Scarlett's disappearance and possible suicide, it is this that fits the scene before and helps the audience see this emotion and feeling without us having to explain it in words.
Simon directed us after watching a full run that we should use two different poses so that the audience is more clear on what we are doing.
Myself and Louise ran through all of the dances with Hannah so that she knew them all before the next and final dance rehearsal with Ben, this also gave me an opportunity to go over the dances again and refresh my memory as it has been a while since I went through the dances slowly perfecting each move.
In our final rehearsal with Ben it was disappointing that we still didn't have a full cast as it meant that spacing still wasn't perfect therefore the dances didn't quite look right however I know that once we do have a full cast it will look fantastic. Today we just ran over all of the dances and ensured that we all had the actual moves rights and worked on the small details within each dances so we could perfect them therefore making it easier for us to act within each dance especially as each dance has a different emotion and story.
Tayor Swift routine: only 50 seconds so we did not film, fairly easy to explain to those who were not in the rehearsal
pink routine: didn't film as we just stand in poses and slowly drift off stage
how to dance like diva's:
Hannah suggested to myself, Amber, Maria and Rebecca to watch Yanis doing sassy dance numbers whilst in heels to give us enthusiasm for our own dances:
here are some of the other videos of Yanis that I found interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk3iAyrQqUI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6UOkTQXCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyT0cXFE7sc
looking into the underlying meaning and feeling of lines/sections: role of women The play as whole tests and discusses with its audience about the roles of women from 1920- now. The flashbacks included in the play to the 1920's, 1940's, 1960's and 1980's all offer the audience an insight into an individual woman's life in each era and the struggles they have to deal with for example in the 1920's flapper girl monologue the characters says 'im sorry..I should have stayed home like a girl should' indicating the role of women and the power of men over women- patriarchal society. However this monologue also has a line about the characters mother 'fighting for their rights' showing how the role of women started to be questioned in the early 1900's. Furthermore, you can see through the monologues how the patriarchal society became less common and women began to gain equality which women are still battling for today the strongest representation of this search for equality is in the final flashback monologue set in 1985 here the character is sexually harassed in the workplace and because she knows that she is due equal rights and that this is not expectable she warns her boss Stanley to 'take his hands off her firmly toned arse!' yet you can still see that women are struggling for total equality especially in the workplace as all of the girls talk about their mothers working and complaining about issues at work that they don't think are expectable such as 'women leaving the office early to pick up their kids from school' 'other women getting a promotion instead of them' 'women in the office having their shirt too short' because all of these issues just are not expectable in their minds because they are going against what women are fighting for.
women vs men:
learning lines:
Simon set us the task of learning our lines for the first four scenes, I had already started to come off book for these scenes but to ensure that I was using the right pace and remembering all of my queues as well as my lines I decided to record the scenes, speaking all four scenes but leaving a long enough pause for my line when it came.
We needed to work on the meaning behind the first section with all of the offensive words 'slut, skank, ho, slapper' etc and decide why our character was saying the word, were we questioning why that word was being said, were we saying it to Scarlett. I decided that as my character thinks she is better than everyone else that I would be saying it to Scarlett because she was lowering people expectations about girls from St Helens and therefore ruining my reputation.
Simon directed the 5 year old scene again and changed our weird chequered square routine of popularity into a primary school registration line that we order ourselves into from being 5 year olds sat playing and interacting like 5 year olds on their first day.
My character thinks she is intensely superior and therefore is the most popular so I place myself at the top of the line with the order as so:
Most Popular: Least Popular:
Obviously while I am always at the top and Maria's character Scarlett is always pushed to the bottom, some of the other actors don't always make it to the same position because actors who have failed to be at the rehearsals when we set this movement try to slot themselves in. However I am sure that after a few more rehearsals this movement will be set in place.
notes from full run 1:
1. scene one needs more detail
We went over the first scene slowly and broke down each section again looking at what each scenes emotions and feeling was. I believe that whilst scene one is probably our most rehearsed scene so far it is because we know this that we are losing some of the feeling within it.
2. we need to participate in the scene more during the five year olds first day
connect to being 5 years old in a new place, without your mother, alone but surrounded by other 5 year olds and loads of different activities
Simon got us to forget about the lines and just role play being 5 year old children going into school on the first day and laying with the toys and reacting to each other, this was actually a really fun task to do because it really got us to think about the characters we are playing within the five year olds scene. From this we could then add our lines to the scene and the scene actually seemed to flow better this way.
3. when we put on our headphones we are transported into our own world, we our in our bedrooms pretending to be popstars, we are alone no one can see us so we really need to go for it and exaggerate This is something that I have tried ever since to really work on especially now that we know the choreography, its really about going extremely over the top like an eight year old thinking they are going to be the next Beyoncé.
4. when we come out of a dance into a scene or monologue it needs to be more decisive It is rather difficult to get the balance between being the girls still listening to their song and being the background fading out especially in the monologues because we don't want to distract from the action going on in front, however I do understand that one the monologue is over and a new section is started that the transition between needs to be more decisive otherwise it looks like we are unsure of what we are going.
5. page 12-13 needs work especially in the corridor, we need to be split of into small groups and make sure we don't become lines. We have now worked out exact pairs and threes in which to stand and where to stand however we need to ensure that those who have missed sorting this out get the note about doing so because otherwise we naturally will just wonder into our safety net of the two lines.
6. scene 7 sit up gradually one by one when we say our lines otherwise it looks rushed. we practiced this transition and looked at the lying down in a circle shape as it looked a bit odd.
7. make fight lines more like a sports commentary - needs to be snappy We went over this and it should be alright once everyone knows their lines and queues as at the moment this is what is slowing us down in this section. I know that I need to work on my clarity within this section as it is so fast pace that I often get muddled.
8. PINK needs two moves to make meaning more clear to audience
9. pg 46-47 need to be more shocked about Scarlett's return
mixed emotions about return, the power has now shifted Scarlett has caught them out
My character has the line 'and then a girls voice says' which gives the impression that the girls are retelling the story but it also shows that my character is quite strong and was/is shocked by Scarlett's return because she is the one who tells the audience that Scarlett has return.
10. when Scarlett is in the centre of the circle delivering monologue, how does my character feel about what is happening? We worked on this however I found it quite hard to fully show my emotion and feeling to the audience about Scarlett's return because I am facing the back. However my character is shocked and scared because she has been caught out but also has a in denial look, pretending she should not be blamed for anything.
11. the last scene needs to mirror the first we are back at primary school
questions to ask self about character in last scene- who am I? what am I doing here?
We worked on the last scene again and put more detail into it, like the first scene we are alone but surrounded, my character is quite proud and happy to compete in the 'I have the worst children' speeches and show off about their younger years when she was the popular one almost as if she is not now.
notes from full run through 2:
1. when in school formation we are in class so don't listen to the other characters talking
2. when photo of Scarlett comes through continue looking at the photo for duration of scene, can also add in small glances to others and at Scarlett
3. take up more space in the dances remember we are crazy 8/11 year olds dancing in our bedroom This hopefully we will happen the more we practice the dances because once we are all totally confident with the dances we can add in ore feeling and acting during the dances.
4. whenever we are on the chairs at the back we are talking to each other
5. whenever in the changing room we exist in the same world but are talking to the audience
6. whenever we are in the classroom we are only talking to the audience
7. in the corridor scene when we all turn around we need to do it in a cannon from the front so that it does look more balletic This is not happening currently because some membes of thecast have missed this direction being added in however I am confident that it will look right nowthat everyone knows that is what we should be doing.
8. I need to go back to my script and ensure that I am saying the lines correctly and accurately I have done so at home and it is getting better, it is mainly just saying 'LIKE' to many times in a line or adding in or missing a word. This is something that I need someone to sit and with me and make sure that I am saying completely correctly as my family let me get away with the odd word.
9. new swimming changing room set up because it currently looks quite messy Simon has given us exact places to stand so that we can be seen but are also quite cramped in the changing room.
10. swimming scene needs work - twenty squealing girls cannonballing into the water Simon went over this with us so that we now have an exact place to stand and are pretending to splash water and bob up and down in the pool.
11.zig zag bellies set up needs work We have now set positions for each person to lie so that we are all connected, although we are suppose to laugh in the scene because of the person lying on us laughing it is actually quite funny as actors doing so because it is a strange feeling having someone laughing whilst lying on your stomach.
12. the feeling of the scene needs to carry from one line to another
13. California girls- go straight from own dancing to choreography as it currently looks like we are all waiting for the choreography
14. boys checking themselves needs to be more subtle like boys actually would be
15. fight scene needs to be snappier and more fast pace
16. 'I paint my nails, I wax my brows...' scene needs to be snappier
17. new scene means new feeling and new energy
18. when watching TV at Tyler's all look forward centre as if watching all same TV
19. Facebook tributes scene stand up on your line
20. after Scarlett's monologue all stand there acknowledging what each other have done, how do we deal with being caught out.
21. VOLUME- IT IS THEATRE
22. look at the boys run past left to right
23. start feeling really awkward in the photo scene
24. don't make the adult scene to cheesy the adult scene needs to mirror the first scene so we need to make sure that it sounds like they are retelling a story apposed to them role playing being 45 years old.
tech run notes
slow down on lines- its all about clarity and diction
always step left in classroom scene
new scene equals new energy
corridor scenes- don't stand in lines- small clumps you can be on your own
turn to see Russell when saying he is muscle, lusty...
on picture taking scene do three different poses for flash, flash, flash, but then...
needs to be louder - tech team cant hear us
dress run notes
in Tyler's house talk to your friends
work harder in party scene because music is louder than ur voices at the moment
Facebook scene- we think she is actually dead so have more emotion
body by river- look down walk to get headphones
more slowly in slut like you
Maria's return- quick look slow reaction
45 years old- socialise more
45- look at building as well
costume and props
Myself, Hannah, Rebecca and Louise took on the task of finding our costume and a few odd props that still needed to be located. Although it took a whole day running around primark for three and a half hours it was really worth it when looking at the final product of the costume (dresses and shirts) and the wonderful headphones as well as props like the flapper girl headband and the flower band. I really enjoyed sourcing these products and it allowed me to think about all of the different aspects that are involved in producing a play which many actors forget about because they don't often get the opportunity to do tasks like this and sadly don't get to experience the joy of buying 11 identical pinafores from primark! it was really nice doing this with Hannah, Rebecca and Louise though because it meant that we could see what styles fitted for each body type.
David Palmers- addicted to love
As a group we listened to this song it relates to the play because of the lyrics, while Palmer is addicted to love the girls are addicted to the feeling of talking about the photos and the how society characterises people. 'they can't sleep or eat' 'they like t think that their immune to it' the songs lyrics can easily be translated to fit the issues addressed in the play.
Although this activity if used for a whole script would take a long time to do it is actually a very useful way of creating character and building up a background of a character or a scene. It was really useful to see the scene acted out at each step and be able to see the development between Imogen and Rosalind reading out the neutral text to the finished product of Honor and Colm's scene where a whole story both told to the audience and behind the lines was conveyed making what had been a neutral written text into a performed and alive scene.
I tried this technique out on a scene in Girls like that to experiment with what the girls are trying to portray in the scene and the meaning and feeling behind the lines.
we used the Laban technique to create different emotions and feelings that we cold use behind lines, we tried out walking around he room in all of the different forces and describing the type of people we thought the walk portrayed and the different ways we felt.
As you can see we all felt different emotions as we walked around using the different forces as stimulus and it was really easy to see how you could create a character out of these feelings based on the way the character walks and stands. Simon explained about how you could use the forces in voice as well as a way of delivering lines in such a way - punch- brisk, assertive and possibly aggressive.
I found this activity really useful in being able to create a character through such simple forces. I tried this out on my script to see if it would help me work on emotion and feeling behind certain lines/scenes.
learning lines in scenes:
I was having trouble learning what lines came where in the script and needed to work on remembering what to do and where I should be in each scene without holding a script.
Therefore I decided to write down all of the scenes and what sections come in each scene:
From these I then wrote each scene onto a post-it note and placed a post it note at the beginning of each scene that listed what happened in that scene. Unfortunately while this helps me when I am rehearsing and practicing lines at home, I believe that I have completed this task too late in the process because I don't use my script onstage or at rehearsals anymore unless instructed to.
Yanis Marshall dance class
Hannah Marns, Rebecca Winkler and I all went to Yanis Marshall's London dance class at Studio 68 in Southwark as a way of completing our research into him and his sassy dancing it was a real shame that this was post the Girls Like That shows however it did allow us to think about the similarities between our sassiness and his! It was a really fun and energetic experience which allowed us to see how useful it was that we watched his videos previously when thinking about our attitude to the Girls Like That dances.
Simon ran a task with us when we had to go from a neutral stance/walk to many different but common emotions, we then had to exaggerate some of these emotions making 'sadness' overly depressed and 'excitement' bordering on 'hyper'.
looking at my lines to see what information I could find about my character:
we worked with Ben on our characters physically and physicalizing each character so that everyone looks and sounds different. This meant that we could really get our characters on their feet and start to see how their personality and language affected how they walk and stand and react with other characters. My character thinks she is better and above all of the rest therefore meaning that she walks very upright, she holds her head high and is not shy in saying what she thinks although she is different from Amber or Tashan's characters who are totally in another world and just blurt out random comments like 'I saw a film once were a girl had a piercing in her fanny' whenever they feel like it.
What makes my character the "posh totty" type:
mum is local councillor
invited to everything
part of the St Helens group
she knows about school rules, wifi and mobile phone networks unlike her fellow friends who are clueless of such intelligence!
By watching these videos I was able to really see how I would play my character if I had to play just the stereotype like the "Posh Totty's" are in St Trinians, although my character is obviously an advanced version of these characters as she has a lot of other personal traits and qualities which will be added into the characterisation of my character it is still interesting to see how the actors in St Trinians play such snobbish characters.
I really enjoyed playing my character and creating her into the snobby head girl prefect type who sometimes spoke before she thought 'its as I imagined...' and I think the following picture sums my character up:
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