Thursday 9th October 2014

Thursday 9^th October 2014

In class today, we practised our usual voice and body warm ups. We exercised our voices which is very important for an actor as it helps our voices get prepared for our acting. We also warmed up our body so we become more awake and ready for our active lesson. When we exercise our voice it is a great way to help us be aware of other voices in the room and doing body warm ups helps us to use spatial awareness when you move around the room, so you  don’t bump into each other. From being at BRIT, I have learned that in a theatre class you have to be extremely disciplined to be able to work smoothly and for the lesson to be enjoyable. You have to work as a team. When I was studying drama at my old school they never taught us to think like that, and doing these warm ups in our theatre class reminds me of how this is another way of helping our acting.

In the play, I have to communicate my characters objectives through my body language, voice and movements. My characters objective in the play is to create peace, trust and love within her family. In my scene, Meggie is disappointed and angry, she feels betrayed and her objective in this scene is to disown her husband and chuck him out of the house and live with her two children (Calum and Jude) however this backfires on her as Jude decides he wants to go with his dad, so Meggie’s objective is ruined. She does want to be able to trust her husband and son however she has had enough with their lies and comes to the conclusion that they should both leave.

Body language:

·         I turned my back on my husband on the line “I was protecting you Meggie and our sons”- this is to inform the audience I am fuming with my husband that I can’t bear to look at him. Turning your back on someone can also indicate that you want to disown them, which is Meggie’s objective.

·         Another point, in the scene, I keep my children close to me and I make sure Ryan (my husband) is far away. I do this throughout the scene, but especially on the line “I want you out of this house. I want you out by morning.” On this line I grab my son Jude by the arm and pull him closer to me almost as if to protect him which proves that my character wants to protect her children from her husband’s violence ways. This shows Meggie’s objective of wanting Ryan gone.

·         A third point on how my character portrays her objective through body language is where she is hitting Ryan, her husband. On the lines “Ryan, you promised me nothing like this would ever happen”, is where I start my attack. This physical fight my role displays towards her husband shows her frustration, anger and betrayed emotions. Physically hitting someone shows you are angry at them.

Voice:

·         My voice is a key way to reveal my emotions to the audience. Towards beginning of the play I make sure my tone of voice is full of hurt, it is raised however mainly during my first paragraph of lines is where I start to include a more hurt and betrayed tone in my voice. The lines “Ryan you promised me nothing like this would ever happen. You said you’d only be involved in the background. You promised.” In this line I make sure my voice sounds like I’m almost crying. This informs the audience I am hurt by Ryan.

·         Toward the middle of the play my voice changes to anger and my voice raises. Raising your voice is a key indicator for audience to understand Meggie’s feelings. The line “I am not going to let you drag a noose around Jude’s neck!” These lines demonstrate her anger towards Ryan.  Meggie is incredibly annoyed at him for including Jude in this situation and making him do things that are bad for him and the community. She doesn’t want Jude involved in violence, like her husband. This shows the audience Meggie is very angry at Ryan.

·         A third way I present my emotions through my voice is by lowering my dynamics. When I say the line “Well then you can both leave.” In this line my voice goes quiet; it’s almost as if I do not want to say it. My son has just betrayed me as well and has decided to join the world of violence along with my husband. This line shows how I am sad and disappointed in them both. My emotion in this part of the scene is disappointment.

Movement:

·         I reveal my emotions as well through movement. In the scene my character moves a lot. At the beginning where I am hitting Ryan, shows I am hurt by him and I want to hurt him back, that is why I am physically hitting him because he has hurt me so bad it feels like I am scared with the pain he has caused. So therefore me getting close toward Ryan and hitting him is a way to indicate to the audience that I am hurt and want to hurt the other person back. In a way to get revenge, but more betrayed.

·         I keep myself distant from my husband in the scene as well. This shows I want to be as far away from him as possible. I am disgusted by his behaviour and I don’t want to be near him. It is to shows the audience I do not want to be involved or be close to my husband again. Usually people who are married or who are together or in love are usually close and intimate together, this gesture of me staying far away from my husband shows a strong hatred and distance.

·         One more way I demonstrated my emotion through my movement, was how I moved around on the stage. One moment I was close to my husband, the next minute I wanted to be as far away as possible from him. These movements make my emotion visible to the audience, to show I don’t know how I feel and that I am confused but also I have so many different feelings going on inside my head that my character keeps on changing her thoughts and emotion every now and then. In the scene, I include about 5 different emotions in my character. This is to show her confusion, anger and sadness.