Friday, 10 May 2013

Our Performance

Our performance went so well. It was amazing! Everyone knew their lines perfectly, the audience were laughing and it felt amazing. Everyone was congratulating me afterwards and I felt like the whole show was a success. Jack did such a good job directing us and this would no way have happened without him. Our tech team were absolutely incredible and the costume and makeup did such an amazing job. I was so happy with how it went and I am looking forward to doing it again in Brighton.

My family and friends understood the story completely and really enjoyed it. I received some lovely feedback from people and everyone seemed to really like it. Sarah Niven was so lovely to me and told me, "You looked gorgeous on stage." I really appreciated the kind comments and although I am quite embarrassed about what I did to Tim! I feel like we pulled off a great show and everyone did so well.

Final Costume and Makeup

We had our makeup and hair done to look like we were spirits and had it so that the colours matched our costumes. They did big eyes and lips and accentuated our cheeks to make it very other-worldly - which is what Jack wanted.

The costumes looked amazing and they added wings, so that we could use them to do a lot more movements and create more of an atmosphere during our performance. It was a lot easier to keep moving about and feel more graceful with the wings.






Spirits Scene

Jack really went over our spirit scene, which I really appreciated, because I still wasn't too confident with how Jack wanted us to play them. We had the blocking all done, so it was really helpful to do some serious characterisation.

He told us that he wanted it to be a lot more sexual, so we had to make every word that we said sound very dirty. We had such a laugh doing this, but also it really helped us to build our own characters and explore a different way of saying our lines. I really enjoyed doing this and by deciding to make us a lot more sexual, it added some humour into the play, aside from Trinculo and Stephano.

Jack wanted Gus (Ferdinand) to be amazed by Marian (Juno) and Kitty (Miranda) to be amazed by me (Ceres) and Jack (Prospero) to be kissed by Dee (Iris). We all had to kiss each other as Jack wanted it to be really sexual and really convey to the audience that we are all obsessed with ourselves and each other.
We had to think that we were really incredible spirits. It was so much fun to portray all of this and we really hoped it would come across when we were on stage.

Tech Run

Our tech run went quite well considering it was the first time we had run our play in the theatre. There were clearly bits that still needed work, but I think that overall we did well. It was very hectic and nerve-racking to be doing a full run and trying to remember to include everything Jack had told us, as well as Stuart, the head of the technical department. It was amazing to see how the whole play looked with all of the lighting and sound and actually being able to work with our set for the first time.

Our run through was a bit messy and we all really needed to work on our voice and projection and keep the pace of the play up, but we were all really nervous. I feel like it went quite well though.

Monday, 6 May 2013

Given Circumstances

In my scene in "The Tempest" the spirits have changed into Goddesses: Ceres, Isis and Juno, and are at Prospero's command. They are on the island talking to Ferdinand and Miranda when Prospero is confirming that they can get married. They seem to be blessing their marriage and their future together.

They are doing this because it is Prospero's daughter and he wants her to have the best possible future with Ferdinand, as he is very protective of her, which comes across in his character, whenever he talks to Miranda in the play.

The Goddesses seem to be very flirty and sexy and have changed from creatures of the island into having cheeky personalities. They flirt and tease Ferdinand and Miranda because they are trying to impress Prospero and show that they are very regal and magical. It's quite a comical scene because of the flirting, which acts as comic relief for the audience because the play has been very dense so far apart from Trinculo and Stephano. Prospero has been very angry towards all the sailors just before this scene, so the audience need something light to keep them interested.

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Ceres Words


We did a lot more work today on what it was we were actually saying to each other and how we wanted it to come across. I already knew what I was saying because of my earlier research, however today helped me to realise and explore the way I should say it.



CERES
Hail, many-coloured messenger, that ne'er
Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter;
Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers
Diffusest honey drops, refreshing showers;
And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown
My bosky acres and my unshrubbed down,
Rich scarf to my proud earth. Why hath thy queen
Summoned me hither to this short-grassed green?

When Ceres is saying this, I am walking down from the audience. Gently touching their heads, or letting them kiss my hands. Anything to show that I am a higher status character and that they should all worship me. I then make my way down to Iris, where I walk around her and basically just compliment her over and over again. The spirits all seem to be in love with each other and are really close.

CERES
     Tell me, heavenly bow,
If Venus or her son, as thou dost know,
Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot
The means that dusky Dis my daughter got,
Her and her blind boy’s scandaled company
I have forsworn.

When I say these lines, I have to appear very annoyed. Ceres is so angry with Venus, because it is her fault that her daughter, Persephone, was taken away from her. When I say these lines, I have to appear really annoyed and act like I don't really care, but I want to know what they've been up to.

CERES
    Highest queen of state,
Great Juno, comes. I know her by her gait.

I have to switch very suddenly from being very annoyed and upset about Venus and from starting to not listen to Iris, to suddenly seeing Juno and being blown away by her beauty and grace, we have to be in awe of her.

CERES
(sings)
 Earth’s increase, foison plenty,
 Barns and garners never empty,
 Vines and clustering bunches growing,
 Plants with goodly burden bowing—
 Spring come to you at the farthest
 In the very end of harvest.
 Scarcity and want shall shun you.
 Ceres' blessing so is on you.

When I say these lines, I have to appear very flirty and mischievous. I walk around Ferdinand and Miranda and become very sexual with them. This gives me an individual characterisation to work with, which makes characterising Ceres much easier. I have to walk around them and put my fingers through their hair, touch them on the nose, shimmy and stroke their shoulders etc. 

I really enjoy doing this because it gives my character it's own life and allows me to experiment with it a bit. I found rehearsals today interesting and fun because it was easier to connect with my character, now that I know the intention behind her words.

Spirits

We did a lot of work today on our characterisation for the spirits. We ran through our scene and developed a new way to block our scene. We come down from the audience, which allows us to interact with them and develop our characters before we come on stage.

We have decided to make our characters extremely graceful and proud. Ceres is higher than Iris, but still lower than Juno, so I am going to make sure this hierarchy is noticeable. I really enjoy playing Ceres now that I have a deeper insight into her character. She seems to be quite feisty and they all seem to be a little bit in love with each other. Always complimenting each other and wanting to do each other's hair etc.

The route that we have taken to play our characters has become quite humorous and quite sexual. We have been told to tease Ferdinand a little bit more, so we start to be a little more cheeky towards the other characters. I feel like this has really helped me to develop my character for the rest of the play as well. I now have the right mind-set for some of the other scenes, as to, what I should be thinking and what should come across in my actions and my facial expressions.