Rent Audition

Episode 4 - Masks

Before this episode, we have just performed the Eros dance chorus, and in the line 'When Eros plays, we burn.' we all run off into the trenches as Holly, Antigone, enters the stage. We use this time to put our masks on, as we need to respect the rules of mask work by not showing the audience us putting the masks on as much as possible, as this ruins the illusion. We then all face the stage, with the masks on the back of our heads slowly moving and reaching up and down. Having the masks on backwards make sit look as if we are looking directly at the audience. I suggested this idea because I felt we had not enhanced the creepy feel to the play enough yet, considering this is a post apocalyptic concept. This also reflects what Antigone is saying, as she tells the story of 'the goddess Niobe' and how she died.

At the end of the verse that the chorus delivers, we drop down to our knees reaching up, towards the sky. This line- 'you go to death by choice' is repeated throughout the scene at the end of small speeches, therefore focusing on this line gives it more meaning. The reaching implies to the audience that we are dragging her down, either to the cave she later ends her life in or to hell, as below the stage was thought of as a hellish state in the original Greek theatres. 

Later on in the scene we form a cave like shape around Antigone facing away, to show that we are listening, and trapping her. Facing away creates an odd and intimidating visual for the audience. 

At another point in this scene we are spread out across the whole stage, and as Antigone delivers her monologue we all turn away, still with our masks on, but the right way now. This suggests that we don't need to know Antigone without wanting to know her and listen to her problems. It also suggests that we could be part of her imagination in her mind. This contemporary twist will be far more interesting for our modern audience as 

Chorus 6 - Bacchus

We began blocking this chorus with quad jump. We all stand in a triangle formation and turn in cannon, each saying Bacchus with our line then back round to face the front. In the triangle, we all had groups with lines each, but not in the lines. This is more interesting for the audience to watch, and makes us seem more in sync with each other. Whilst the group you are not in is saying their lines, we all turn around to face different directions. This displays the chorus' panic and distress at the time. The meaning behind this part is that the cities people are begging the gods to help them- 'now help us Dionysus, heal us, help us Dionysus' and 'purify us, purify us'. The final lines of the chorus have a lot of repetition of 'Bacchus Dionysus', we decided to increase in volume and frantic movement out to the audience, to show us begging.

Later on in the rehearsal process- 

At this point we are very close to the performance, and when tweaking chorus sections to perfect them we noticed that this chorus brought the energy down, as it was too technical and difficult to pull off successfully. After some discussion of techniques we could use we settled on a more simple but effective movement piece. We start in a huddle in the middle on the stage facing inwards and the first group delivers our line up, whilst walking out to the edge of the circle. As each group does this we create two circles facing out. For the next lines the outer circle walks clockwise and the inner circle walks anti-clockwise. Whilst increasing in volume and a distressed tone of voice. On the line 'now help us Dionysus..' we all drop to our knees yelling, and repeating praying hand gestures, for example displaying our arms to the sky, holding our chests, and our stomachs, Showing our desperation. We then stand and run the trenches, and deliver the last section of repetition right out to the audience. Because the audience seating is raked, it looks as if we are praying to the gods, but the gods are the audience. This is really effective as we can really exaggerate our facial expressions and more our arms and hands as if we are reaching out for them, completely immersing the audience and making us vulnerable, provoking their empathy. 

Chorus 4 - Eros

For this chorus we wanted to use more contemporary dance movement, this way each chorus will have a different feel and look to the, creating more diversity and contrast in the chorus' role. For example this is different to our body percussion in the first chorus, and our rhythmic chorus six, Bacchus later on in the script. This method also allowed us to isolate the dialogue from the movement, by having one person deliver the lines as chorus leader, whilst the movement added a modern twist without straying from the original intentions of the scene.
This dialogue describes the god of love, Eros and how Antigone and Haemon are destined for each other. It reflects on the previous scene, and what Haemon was saying to his father to defend Antigone.

We began by splitting the speech into three, overlapping sections and Rosie, Jaydee and myself all took one to choreograph within our groups-

Because we didn't have a specific stimuli for this section, we found it difficult to come up with choreographic ideas. We thought about a balance between mime, physical theatre and dance, to create a different dynamic in the group.

Looking at the text helped, for example we used a step and arm movement forward to demonstrate the first line- 'Run, try to escape'. Our arms almost resembled us brushing things out of our faces as if we were grasping things out of our faces. we used the line 'The mind tangles with frenzy' and held our wrists together and twirled our hands up to standing, before contracting down again, to show a flourishing love.


Once we had finished devising our pieces in groups we ran the whole chorus and the timing and movements worked surprisingly well. We all worked well together and the different types of choreography around the stage bounced off each other well.

Shoreham Monologue Research/Preparations

The monologue I have chosen to perform for the Shoreham is one of Hermione's speeches from The Winters Tale. In the part of the play that my monologue is from, Hermione is in a court room expressing her feelings about how she will stand up for herself and take what is hers. Previously, her husband has accused her of adultery and many other various things, which would lead them to taking her child away from her. She is appalled by the court for threatening this and builds in confidence throughout the piece. 
I chose this monologue for this performance because I can do a lot with the movement and my voice to grab peoples attention as they walk by. For example to start my monologue I am going to look around the space, just above my natural eyeline, as if I am looking at the jury in the courtroom that the monologue is set in. This establishes my status and also allows me some time to relax and become comfortable before I start my speech. As for my general movement, I plan to stay in the same place for most of the monologue, I have videoed myself performing my monologue as if it it my audition and I have a habit of stepping on the spot without realising or meaning to, this is need to stop. It makes it look as if I am distracted or forgetting my lines, neither or which I want to happen in Shoreham. To improve on this i will rehearse in front of a mirror more, or in front of others so that I, or the person watching can point out to me when I am doing this. 

In terms of vocal skills, I have tried to vary my volume and tone throughout the monologue. For example the last line 'cry fie upon my grave' is a very angry ending line. At this point Hermione has declared that she will not be wronged. I also start my speech with a shaky tone of voice, ending a few sentences in a higher pitch to show that she is anxious about what she is going to say.  I have also tried starting my piece with a proud strong voice, both of these work well with the narrative of the piece and my character, I would like to try both of these out on the performance day if I can and see which is more successful. 

In the original performance circumstances this monologue would have been performed in a melodramatic fashion. This was due to the types of theatres it would have been performed in. The staging would be thrust, meaning the actors would have had to perform to the whole room, not just forwards. The audience at the time would have been quite vocal, meaning they would have had to project over this, also without mics, this would have been much more difficult. Furthermore, because the theatres were open air, the sound would travel more. 

Similarities in these performances and mine are that I will be outside and will have to project my voice as much as possible. I will also have to be aware of audiences all around me, especially if I am going to start my monologue in an unexpected place or scenario. 

Differences between the OPC and my performance will be that my costume will be different. I will be wearing all black to show formality within my company, whereas in the Elizabethan performances they would have worn dresses with lots of layers, and a royal blue/purple colour scheme, but as Hermione was rejected from the royals more she would have worn black or white. But most importantly it would have always been a dress- 

My preparations- 

Because I already knew my monologue from a previous performance, I had minimal preparations to make. Apart from choosing my costume, rehearsal professional blacks, I only had to rehearse. I did this in front of others, to gain pointers to help me. Such as remaining focused, and having a stronger entrance. These helped me as my fellow performers gave me this constructive criticism, therefore I can work on these on the day as well. 

Episode 3 - Bend or Break

This scene is essentially between Creon and his son Haemon, the chorus form a jury, like in a court room and observe their confrontation, whilst giving their response throughout. Initially we as a chorus agree with Creon, and support him as they are used to seeing him as a leader with knowledge and power. However as we listen to Haemon and what he has to say we realise that they both need to listen to each other, hence the line- 'Haemon. learn from your father. Creon, learn from your son. The truth lies inbetween.'
For the earlier parts of dialogue for the chorus in this scene, we as the chorus are seated on the floor watching at the sides as a jury. This demonstrates how the cities people can quietly judge what is going on in the royal family. I feel this is a really effective way to show the chorus' role, this scene is very private and dramatic, but having us at either side closes the scene in, making it more intimate, but also allows our dialogue later on to flow well. This dialogue describes Antigone's actions and reasoning's behind them. We realised that we could split it into two, as if the two halves of chorus were arguing. We added some simple arm gestures to go with this to keep the energy up. I suggested we deliver these lines to each other to increase our interactions and show the audience that we are having conflict as well as the royals due to the crisis.
Our final role in this scene is the 'bend, or break' section, in which we act as Creons inner thoughts, still in conflict with each other. For the first two sequences of this we remain on our sides but rise as we repeat the lines, but on the last one we come together in one group next to Haemon and Creon advising them to learn from each other. This shows a development in the chorus in this one scene, initially we disagreed, but we finally were desperate in advising them to help the city and listen to each other.

My Evaluation Of Classical Theatre Audition

Overall my audition went very well, I delivered my monologue successfully and my characterisation was the best it's ever been with this specific speech. I used my vocal dynamics to demonstrate the different emotions explored throughout the text. For example as Hermione gets more angry i made my voice louder, used a sharper voice and spoke faster. My posture was another strength of this performance, I remained upright and did not slouch the whole time. This added to the court room atmosphere I tried to create and doing this with my body showed Hermione's anxiety effectively.
A weakness of my audition piece was that I adjusted my eyeline too many times, I started looking just above my audience but my eyes wandered as I thought less about what I was saying. I think this is due to over rehearsing on the day of my audition. I repeated it too quickly and too often making myself relax too much. 

The interview section of my audition contained a few questions about how i feel about the play and its context, and my relationship with this type of theatre. I answered these questions professionally however I could have been more formal. I was informative and clear but I feel I relaxed too much into being chatty. This was due to one of my peers, Sophie, being involved in the audition, next time, and in drama school auditions, I will ensure I remain focused by practicing in front of others more. 

My Preparation For Classical Theatre Audition/ Analysis of Chosen Pieces

Analysis-

My audition for Antigone consisted of a classical monologue and a short interview. I chose Hermione's monologue from A Winter's Tale. I really enjoy Elizabethan theatre as a subject and am confident in translations, melodramatic techniques and the general context of these times, from my other studies. Since finding out that my production would be Antigone I heavily researched the characters. I am mostly drawn to Antigone herself, I feel she has a strong independent character, and my work in rent, playing Mimi in my previous show gave me the confidence to take on another role like this. These characteristics of Antigone also link to my choice of my monologue. Hermione in the part of the play that my monologue is from is in a court room. expressing her feelings about how she will stand up for herself and take what is hers. This relates to Antigone in that she too is standing against not only royalty but her family- her uncle, king Creon. 

Two Weeks Before My Audition- 

At this stage I am feeling confident in my audition piece, I know it well and am developing some small gestures to go with certain lines. For example to start my monologue I am going to look around the room, just above my natural eyeline, as if I am looking at the jury in the courtroom that the monologue is set in. This establishes my status and also allows me some time to relax and become comfortable before I start my speech. As for my general movement, I plan to stay in the same place for most of the monologue, I have videoed myself performing my monologue as if it it my audition and I have a habit of stepping on the spot without realising or meaning to, this is need to stop. It makes it look as if I am distracted or forgetting my lines, neither or which I want to happen in my audition. To improve on this i will rehearse in front of a mirror more, or in front of others so that I, or the person watching can point out to me when I am doing this. 

In terms of vocal skills, I have tried to vary my volume and tone throughout the monologue. For example the last line 'cry fie upon my grave' is a very angry ending line. At this point Hermione has declared that she will not be wronged. I also start my speech with a shaky tone of voice, ending a few sentences in a higher pitch to show that she is anxious about what she is going to say. 

Next week I aim to have rehearsed in front of a mirror and others enough that I am wholly confident in the lines and remain fully focused and in character throughout. 

Three Days Before My Audition- 

At this stage in my preparation I am feeling very confident in my monologue. I am comfortable with my lines and movement. I have performed my piece in front of peers multiple times now and I have made a clear improvement on my focus and also my characterisation. 

In terms of my research in preparation for my interview, I have knowledge of all the characters in Antigone, and the context of the piece. I have mainly focused my searches on how gender equality stopped women from playing in performances, making pieces like Antigone, Lysistrata and Electra comedic because of the strong female protagonists. I have also looked at the role of theatre in their society and therefore the types of audience it would attract. ie. The yearly Festival of Dionysus, attracting all types of audience for a celebration. 

My Evaluation Of Rent Audition

My Preparation For Rent Dance Audition

Knowing I had a dance audition coming up for Rent, I wanted to prepare myself as much as possible. Althought there were no physical preparations, I could familiarise myself with the music we may be using in the workshop. Doing this gave me better understanding of the whole script and the context of the show. I specifically listened to the main dance numbers such as La Vie Boheme (A&B), Santa Fe and Rent. All of these songs have different styles of dance in the,, and different characterisation. Assuming these will be ensemble pieces in the show, I have watched others' videos online of them performing these numbers. This has given me some choreography inspiration for if we need to devise in the workshop.