Wardrobe Week 4

Introduction:
This week we continued to look at improvisation, and learnt more about Stanislavsky. The improvisation exercise we were taught this week was what we called objectives. One person would stand in the corner, and simply instruct the character on what to do. The character was awaiting instruction and the objector was improvising what the character was to do next. I partnered with Alicia, and the objective was that I was on a diet and trying to avoid the chocolate bar that was sitting on the table. A few instructions Alicia stated were "Look at the chocolate bar". "Now look away quickly and shake your head".

Creative Ideas:
This week, on the creative side of things, I have been looking into my character, and asking myself the simple facts of where she comes from, what is her aim in life, along with the facts we are already told.
Things I already know about her:

First Name: Sarah
Age: 16
Occupation: Ladies Maid
Place of work: Barwicke Family Home
Time Period: Around the time as The Great Plague of London is at its peak. 1665
Date of scene: 18th September 1665.
Popularity: Baroque music, King Charles II,
Sarah is the more sarcastic, one of the three ladies maids, the other being Anne and Mary.

Things I have created:
Last name: Morris
D.O.B: 21/3/1649
Ambition: To have the perfect family.
Fears: The Plague, Fire and Bee's.
Favorite things: The morning air when it's at it's freshest. Blue ribbon. Fresh Bread.

Development:

This week we looked at our scene and just performed it from script, pretty much just as we would when we were rehearsing. We were experimenting with different layouts of the scene, using the table, trying different poses and stances of where our characters would be. We also focused on trying out the energy our characters would be feeling during the time of the plague. For example we learnt about the paranoia energy and also the energy where it feels like someone is watching you. These energies, helped us to start to understand the atmosphere in not only the scene, but in that time period. If you were caught with the plague you would be quarantined for forty days in the house with whoever else was in it. The house would be boarded up with the people inside with door would be marked with sheep blood to warn people who passed by. A guard would stand outside to stop them being exposed.

Devising:

New Learning and Self-reflection:

I find it interesting how Stanislavsky asked himself questions. For example

• How can the actor learn to inspire himself?
• What can he do to impel himself toward that necessary yet maddeningly elusive creative mood?

The questions he asked himself, made me think about how I was approaching my character. It made me ask myself if I need to adapt my character more, because I still felt like there is a lot more to be developed. Maybe it is because I am still in my own personal state of mind, and I need to practice feeling different emotions and different energies. So I decided something I need to improve on is being able to learn how to detach myself enough from my own personality to become my character. Although this is something I need to improve on, I am also trying to use techniques from the system. For example, 'The Magic If' and 'Emotional Memory'. These come from your own personal experiences, and/or what you would personally do if you found yourself in the situation. I suppose asking these questions is all about the learning process of becoming a good actor but, what I need to find out is what is the best thing for me to do, to show that I am not myself when I am playing a character. 

This week we also learnt about beats. I thought this was a really creative way to channel the most naturalistic way to say your lines. In everyday speech we often pause to listen, or use the time to think or use filter such as ermm, so, like. Doing this scene, helped me to actually listen to some of the words, and the feeling behind them. It made me think about where I needed to put the emphasis, in order to create just the right atmosphere in the scene. For me, it allowed me to understand how to control the way I say my lines.

Creative Ideas:
I liked the idea of
Energy workshop: We did a energy workshop, where we explored the 9 states of tension, and what it demanded our bodies to do physically in order to create a realistic performance. When we moved our bodies into the physical state they needed to be for the specific energy, the energy and the mood seemed to come with it, it was a challenging yet rewarding task.

States of tension:

State 1 Awakening
State 2 Drunk
State 3 Toddler
State 4 Neutral 
State 5 You think someone is watching you
State 6 You know someone is watching you.
State 7 About to catch a ball.
State 8 There is a bomb in the room.
State 9 That bomb has gone off.

We were introduced to the 9 states of tension that we can take and use to portray a character through our body language. I'd say for our scene, we use a lot of State 5 as the work up to the dramatic event, when we realize Anne has the plague, and then it quickly skips to State 6. Although I feel that some of the energy from State 8, could work really well with our scene as all three of these energy states show some of the fear that we would feel if we realized we were that close to the contagious plague.