Friday 18th September (Rent Character Work/Production Roles)

In this lesson we began by going through our cast list which we had just seen, I have been casted as Mimi, the character I really wanted. We talked about how it might be a vhallenge for me as I have not played a character like this before but I feel confident and prepared enough for the role. After this we looked at a high schools production of Rent to see what ours might be like and point out things we liked or didnt like.

After watching some important parts of this we talked about our production roles, I chose to take part in lighting, set and props. I chose lighting because I feel it is anaspect of theeatre that I lack experience in and i chose set and props becaause I know I am good at this and I feel it is an important aspect of our performance and needs a lot of people to take part in it. I have been chosen to be head of props, this is a lot of responsibility and for this I will go through my script taking notes on what props we need and when. I will then organise who is bring what or whether or not we needto make props and start to set up props tables around the performance spaces. I have also been chosen to be the lighting liason for the first act of the show, meaning I will discuss with Kim what lighting we think we should have before the shows.

After this we started some character work, such as doing a role on the wall sheet to give our characters back stories and more detail, we then filmed each other explaining them:

Role On The Wall Explanation Video

HIV and AIDS

The main difference between HIV and AIDS is that HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that can infect and attack the immune system, making it less efficient and stopping it from defeating the virus. There is no medication to stop HIV yet, but some can help control it. AIDS is the condition that HIV can lead to, but you can have HIV without getting AIDS. AIDS stands for Aquired Immunedeficiency Syndrome and the symptoms for it can vary and change depending on the person. 

Main Causes Of Homelessness

There are many different causes of homelessness that all fit into two categories; personal and structural. Personal reasons include lack of qualifications for a job, lack of social skllls and support, debt, bad mental or physical health, family or relationship breakdown, different types of abuse or crime from a young age, parents wirh alcohol or drug problems, family history with homelessness and having been in care, prison or in the armed forces. Structural causes are more general. such as unemployment, poverty, lack of affordable housing or requirements for benefits. Some of the most common reasons for homelessness are relatives or friends no longer able to accomodate and orovide for them, relationship breakdown and domestic abuse.

'Starving Artist'

A starving artist is someone who gives everything they can to achieve their artistic aspiratrions, usually in film, visual arts or theatre. They are usually on minimum wage and barely get any more, if they do they spend it trying to 'make it' in their industry. 

Friday 18th September (Rent 'La Vie Boheme' Early Choreography Lesson 2 - Dance)

To begin this lesson we recapped some of the things we discussed in last weeks lesson about a dance stimuli. We spoke about what the stages are in devising a piece of dance and came up with this order:

• Choose a stimuli
• Research
• Improvisation/experimental with movement material
• Select and refine
• Add choreographic devices
• Ensure there is a climax
• Ensure there is a clear structure

We then looked at how to refine movement in devising dances what you need to look at to do this;

space, dynamics, levels, timing, relationships.

This linked with what we are devising at the moment for the song 'La Vie Boheme' in Rent which we then worked on. We blocked through our dance with the music a few times before adding some choreography in our partners to it. I was with Luke and because we do not know our characters yet it is okay to just choreograph without worrying about who is singing that part. Luke and I tried to keep the energy high by adding in a lift, we also used fragmentation to add a cha cha cha motif again in a slightly different way. We incorporated some hand gestures and experimented with doing movements in unison in different directions. 

I think this lesson as very successful and next time we will hopefully have our roles and therefore we can adapt what we have done to make it appropriate for what each character is singing and work with different people. For example Mimi and Angel have a small part together that they need to not be dancing in to be able to sing clearly but still need to be the main focus. 

To improve I would like to use more dynamic and levels and use my extension to make the movements more refined and clean. 

Rent And West Side Story Audition

For my audition for Rent and West Side Story I prepared two songs, Somewhere from West Side Story and Out Tonight from Rent. I feel I sang Out Tonight well, I had lots of energy and moved around the performance space with appropriate hand an bodily gestures. I had a clear voice and projected it well throughout the theatre,  I had a straight upright posture to help with my singing and keep professional.I didn't have to sing as much of the song Somewhere as I was expecting to, I only had to sing the first verse. This made me think I wasn't wanted for West Side Story as much. I then was asked to sing Will You Light My Candle from Rent, which caught me off guard because I hadn't prepared this properly, however luckily I do know the song quite well. From this I will now, if there are song options to choose from, Learn and prepare all of them just in case I am asked to sing more. I forgot some of the lyrics from this song so I had to stop and move on to my interview. I wasn't asked as many questions as I expected, I said what character I wanted to play, in this case it was Mimi Marquez from Rent. I explained that I thought her character was afraid to show feminine characteristics because she feels it makes her vulnerable. I feel I can connect with the character in that from my personal experienced and continued to explain that I had never had the chance to show all of my singing abilities and I really want to be able to express my confidence and performance energy that I had developed over my previous year on the course.
Upon reflection, I'm happy with my audition, being asked to sing an extra song that Mimi sings gave me confidence of getting the part I want and compared to my audition last year, I have made huge improvements in my singing, stage presence and general confidence.

Friday 11th September (PAB Audition Study and Preparation/Audition Notes)

To begin this lesson we looked at the important qualities an actor would need in a professional audition and in a show or rehearsal situation, we created a mind map of our ideas.

In preparation for our auditions next week for Rent and West Side Story, we talked about and came up with some possible audition questions that we might be asked:

• What character(s) are you interested in?
• What is your opinion of the play(s)?
• What do you think of the director(s)?
• What do you know about the shows history?
• What past experiences do you have in musical theatre performance?
• What are the themes of the play(s) and what do you think of them?
• What was the last professional performance you went to see?
• Who is your favourite actor and why?
• Who is your favourite theatrical director and why?
• What qualities will you bring to characters?
• What experience do you have in the industry other than performance?

We then, in small groups or partners, took these questions and created an audition interview situation to help practise for next week.

This is was helpful and beneficial to me because I feel I don't have much experience in audition interviews. Having this practise in a comfortable situation where it is okay to make mistakes and get constructive criticism back gave me a lot of confidence and after I felt much more prepared for my upcoming audition.

Thursday 10th September (Audition Notes)

In today's lesson we discussed vital elements of being prepared for auditions, and the difference between castings and auditions. A casting, also known as a 'go see' will not be creative or active, and mostly based on appearances, as apposed to an audition which tests your skills.

Audition Notes

• The audition starts from the moment you walk in the building

This is because the directors will be judging how you are around other people and outside of the audition, therefore you need to be careful of what you say and do.

• Always arrive at least an hour early for normal auditions

This is important as punctuality is something they will look for in people they are auditioning, if you arrive early you can mention your name to someone and you might be seen earlier, making you look better in comparison to others.

• Arrive 2-3 hours early for open auditions

Like before, it is important to be early because with an open audition it is open to anyone and if you get there too late they might not let you in to audition.

• Scan over or read scripts if they are available

Familiarise yourself with the lines and the context of the piece you are auditioning for.

• Be prepared to improvise in any audition with any people

Improvisation may be a part of your audition to test how well you socialise as well as your skills.

• Prepare and research the script, casting director, company and own availability

This allows you to be prepared as possible, and maybe look better than the other people auditioning too. Researching the script will help you understand the way you have to sing or act and also if you are asked to read a section of the script you will know the context and therefore any accent or characteristics.


Why did you choose your audition songs?

The songs I have chosen to sing in my audition are 'Somewhere' from West Side Story, and 'Out Tonight' from Rent. I choose to sing 'Somewhere' because I have not sang a slow sing like this with legato sounds throughout.
I have chosen to sing 'Out Tonight' because it has an upbeat tempo which contrasts to 'Somewhere' as it is a lot slower and calmer. This way I am showing more skills and versatility in a short amount of time. I also picked 'Out Tonight' because one of the parts I would like to play sings it in the show.

Friday 11th September (Rent Street Style Physical Theatre Lesson 2)

In this lesson we improved on our physical theatre street routines in our groups, we did these to the song 'Rent' as it is probably the song that we would use. It is also the first song in the musical and we need to make sure we have lots on energy for it. Doing our routines to a Rent song was really fun and added a lot of energy and enthusiasm as a class. It gave us an idea of how our final performance might look. We just ran through what we did last lesson with the new song at first, and then develpoed our routines by changing them slightly and adding things like facial expressions and expra movements. We then created an order for all of our groups to go in so that they over lap and blend well, making it all flow better.
The first run was succeessful, however my group and I decided we need to improve our timing with the music and the unison of our movements. The things that qent well were the link to the narrative of the play, being chased by police or finding someone for money, we remember the routine well, our facial expressions and we used the rhythm of the music well.
As a class we talked about the important qualities of the film, I thought this includes the levels they use, their exaggeration and the high energy. My ideas for recreating these things in our production are to use the scafolding to create more atmosphere with the levels, also I think we should be in character when the audience comes in but as people on the street rather than our actual characters. I really like the idea of coming out of the scafolding whilst siging songs like 'Rent' as an ensemble and increasing the volume and singing to the audience.

Doing this without our specific characters was really interedting as it allowd us to think about how we would interact with the ensemble when we do get our characters. As we did not have the set it was quite difficult to move around the space not knowing where we could and couldn't move or where the audience would be.

I think we could build on group interaction by combining groups together to create more complex routines, this would make new groups that we can combine ideas in and this will help us to work better as a company. At this stage, my character interactions are quite minimal, there is only one or two other groups on stage when I am and I find myself having to pretend to interact with people that aren't there.
My character interactions with other characters are quite minimal at this point. As we don't have our named characters yet, we are just playing anonymous people on the street. This means we are all equal in status and authority.


After discussing these things we ran it again with the Rent song, this was much better than before. The timing with the music as a class had improved a lot and the timing in my group of our movements were in unison. My character was much better, I had more active facial expressions showing aggression and power. As a company we used the space much better, at first we all gravitated towards the middle but this time we walked around the room in all four corners to make it more even and give all the audience a chance to see us.

To improve, I think we still need to work on our group unison, we are in time but it doesn't look as natural as it could.

Friday 11th September (Rent 'La Vie Boheme' Early Choreography Lesson 1 - Dance)

Today we looked at the song 'La Vie Boheme' from Rent and the type of dance they use in it. We began by discussing some of the influences and themes of the song, such as community, family and living life t the full. We also talked about stimulus, a starting point or something you get ideas from. There are three different types of Stimuli, visual, auditory, text and concepts/themes. Examples of visual stimulus are paintings, films, photos, sculptures, colour, shape or animation. With this type of stimuli you need to consider the way it has been created and the prominent aspects of it. Auditory stimuli would be things like music, rhythm, instruments, voice, percussion, words, poems or noises. In this you need to consider the way the sounds flow and how they blend together. Examples of text stimuli is scripts, poetry, literature or news items. It helps to consider the writer or context of the piece, this will hep to create the right type of movements. Theme or Concept stimuli includes things like war, death, family, emotion and friendship. You need to consider the relation between yourself and the themes when using concepts.

In my previous experience of performance I have used text based stimuli such as scripts to create drama, I did this by taking part of a script, for example Taking part of a script and choreographing physical and dance of a specific character, taking their characteristics and portraying them more physically.

Thursday 10th September (Rent Street Style Physical Theatre Lesson 1)

During this lesson, we discussed 'thug like' movements in the ensemble of Rent, during scenes set on the streets of New York where homeless people or people living in poverty would roam. We talked about the types of movements that they would use and in groups of three, developed small routines using the 'shoal of fish' technique by Frantic Assembly, making sure to walk very closely together as one before adding our street like movements in. We worked on travelling around the room in a way that would create hustle and bustle on stage, but in a random way. We achieved this by making sure not to walk into other groups and spontaneously changing direction, which was difficult at first as we couldn't keep together well, but as we practiced more it was easier to coordinate with each other better. We found it quite easy to do this but as we added our movements it was challenging. My group and I would walk around in threatening way, with our shoulders back, using our facial expressions by squinting at people and turning our noses up slightly. We walked with big confident strides as a company and then broke up in formation as if we were approaching someone, then came back together crossing our arms before dropping to the floor in a crouched position watching others around us intimidatingly. We would then carry o walking in a slightly different formation and repeat this routine with slight changes such as instead of dropping to the floor we would pose in a pose that seems like we are attacking someone on the floor.

This will help us in our final performance because it is giving us an idea of how to play ensemble and smaller background roles, it helps us to keep energy throughout the performance even if we are not the main focus.

Do develop this I think we should try to find a place to fit it into a song and have more than one group on at once, creating more of a busy atmosphere, and make these motifs more natural. We could do this by varying what we do and also blending groups together so that we don't look separate.

Guide to professionalism in auditions

In today's lesson we discussed vital elements of being prepared for auditions, and the difference between castings and auditions. A casting, also known as a 'go see' will not be creative or active, and mostly based on appearances, as apposed to an audition which tests your skills.

Audition Notes

• The audition starts from the moment you walk in the building

This is because the directors will be judging how you are around other people and outside of the audition, therefore you need to be careful of what you say and do.

• Always arrive at least an hour early for normal auditions

This is important as punctuality is something they will look for in people they are auditioning, if you arrive early you can mention your name to someone and you might be seen earlier, making you look better in comparison to others.

• Arrive 2-3 hours early for open auditions

Like before, it is important to be early because with an open audition it is open to anyone and if you get there too late they might not let you in to audition.

• Scan over or read scripts if they are available

Familiarise yourself with the lines and the context of the piece you are auditioning for.

• Be prepared to improvise in any audition with any people

Improvisation may be a part of your audition to test how well you socialise as well as your skills.

• Prepare and research the script, casting director, company and own availability

This allows you to be prepared as possible, and maybe look better than the other people auditioning too. Researching the script will help you understand the way you have to sing or act and also if you are asked to read a section of the script you will know the context and therefore any accent or characteristics.