RSAMD summer course - Days 5 & 6
Hey all!
I went out to see Mumford and Sons at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh last night, so I didn't get to do my update from day five of the course. I've added it in with today's one instead of doing two posts, it just keeps things tidier. :)
Today was a bit unnerving, as we were doing the mock auditions. I quite wish I'd selected a modern text to perform, but I didn't have anything prepared, so I did my Helena speech from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Overall, it wasn't so good. Still, that's what we do the mock auditions for. I knew when I started that I wasn't in the right place for the speech, so the feedback didn't come as a huge surprise. Ah well, some things I need to work on for next time:
* be less tentative - use the same authority I used for lecturing.
* keep going from the start to the end of the sentence as Shakespear wrote it, don't break it up too much or the meaning can be lost - like phrasing in music.
* use the rhyming couplet to help me end on a strong note.
* my right arm seems to be my self-comforting tick. Try to stop moving it in a swinging way.
* use the entire body to express emotion, don't just use the head!
General comments for everyone to work on:
* expect to always be nervous when you perform, that buzz keeps the performance from lacking feeling.
* when you use objects, know why you are using them - practice with them beforehand.
* if you dry up, stay calm and begin again.
* don't let your voice go 'high' unless it is intended and necessary for the character.
* you must speak from your body, it can't be 'dead' while you speak.
* let the moment end strongly and come out of it naturally before you move on.
* KNOW YOUR PLAY - don't pick a speech from a book of audition pieces, ensure you know the whole play, so you know what your character is reacting to and what your character is like and has been through.
* emotion can sometimes cloud and obscure sense.
* thin about what you are replying to in your speech - it doesn't stand alone, it is part of a whole piece and must be treated as such.
* if you choose from a play which has been made into a film there is the risk that you and also the auditors have been influenced by the film. They don't want you to replicate someone else's work, they want you to show your own interpretation and your own creativity.
* "The vowels hold the emotion, and the consonants hold the sense" - Cathy.
* try to avoid too much 'eye acting' - use the whole body, not just the eyes.
* focus on your speeches key words, don't say them any louder, just be aware of where they are and that they are key, and that sense will come through.
* Go back to your speech on the page after a while and try to read it as if you are reading it for the first time.
* Try the speech without 'the plan' once you have rehearsed, to see how it can change without your preconceived ideas.
So, in a nutshell, do the homework, learn your stuff, sleep on it, go in and act without over analysing it.
We then moved on to the iambic pentameter in the afternoon. I vaguely remember it being mentioned in English classes when we were doing Romeo and Juliet, but I never really got it until now. I don't think they ever went into the feminine endings with the extra beat.
We also found out (or I did as I didn't know previously), that Shakespear wrote without any punctuation. It's a good idea to use at least two, preferably three different versions of a play by Shakespear when you are preparing for a show, as the punctuation added by the editors can differ from version to version.
We worked on a punctuation exercise, where we walked with our monologues, and changed direction whenever a comma/semi-colon/colon was used. Whenever a sentence ended, you also then turned around, walked back to the far wall, and began the next sentence from there. This allows you to become familiar with the punctuation in your text, and where you are going to use this in your speech.
We were also given a brief talk about the Stanislavski methods of acting. I'm sure everyone there who has already done acting at college is familiar with him already, but as a complete newbie it's new to me. :) I've added 'An Actor Prepares' to my Amazon list, so I'll be getting a copy of that soon to go through. We mainly talked about 'uniting' when we spoke of Stanislavski. I'll read more about it when my book arrives, but my initial understanding is that uniting can come from various things: a new character enters the scene, causing the mood to change; change in subject matter in the conversation can change the mood. It can be useful to go through your script and unit it, however be careful of breaking it up to much as this can cause it to become too chaotic.
Ali suggested thinking of units in terms of energy or texture changes, e.g. when Egeus enters the room with Hermia while Theseus and Hippolyta are speaking of their coming wedding day. Another suggested image was to think of the play as a dark pool, and every time something happens, a pebble is thrown into the pool, causing ripples and waves.
The actor needs to be aware of these units so that they can bring them to the audience.
Wow, quite intense today. My group started with Faroque upstairs, working on our texts again. We were to connect as emotionally as we could. It sounds mad, but Faroque had me actually spar with him while doing mine so I could get angry enough. (He's a master in karate and I've done kickboxing for a few years, so we knew what we were doing. ;) All nice and safe). I think I still didn't quiteget there. I think I'm too worried about being tooangry for the text. I really need to let that go and just get it.
We practiced many different ways of working on the text. Some of them sound very un-PC, but they sure do work!
* Speak your text in a heavy, mock-Chinese accent. Mandarin is very staccato and it can help you to find where the emphasis can be in the text, rather than where you think it should be.
* Illustrate your text. Nope, not with pens and pencils, but with your body. Your whole body, not just your arms.
* Sing your text (not operatic, but quite short and bouncy). Add in the illustration to go with the singing. (Faroque thought this was particularly useful for me to loosen up my movements and properly get into the text).
* Speak the text very quietly, so it is almost inaudible. This allows you to feel where in your body the words naturally settle, and helps your understanding of them.
* While biting your thumb, speak each word of your speech as clearly as you can. This will greatly improve your pronunciation of the consonants (which carry the sense of the text), and is particularly used for rehearsing Shakespear.
Some final notes from the work with Faroque this morning - use the mood that you have that day to influence your character. Know their situation, but don't aim for the emotion you think they should feel, or it won't be natural. You can't (and shouldn't) divorce yourself from the character. Your emotions will always influence the character, so go with it, and use them to make your performance more believable. This doesn't mean making a serious speech funny or anything like that, but humour can be used in even serious situations, and can be molded and incorporated into the scene.
Finally, we worked on entrences and exits after lunch. Only a few notes on this, as it is hard to describe. Prepare yourself in whatever way/use whatever exercise you like. Remember, when you come onto the stage, come on with the same energy you have just prepared. Exit with the same energy you used on stae, do not allow this to drop off while you are exiting. Remember, if you prepare yourself and are confident, then become closed off or tentative on stage, this means you are not being true to yourself or the character.
We also worked on cutting the script and on giving out parts for the show. I've got a part as Puck, when he comes across the mechanicals and puts the ass's head on Bottom. ;) As there are thirty of us, different people will be performing in different scenes as the same character (e.g. Nathalia is Puck at the start of the play when he is first called by Oberon). Whenever anyone isn't a main character, they will likely be fairies and performing music for the Oberon/Titania scenes. Fingers crossed I can learn my lines tomorrow! (I need to know them for working with Faroque, although Ali and Cathy don't want us to over practice them, as then we might get into patters that will be very difficult to break).
Phew, I'm confident that that is my longest entry to date! Still, I get to have a lie in tomorrow morning. Woohoo! Zzz.
I went out to see Mumford and Sons at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh last night, so I didn't get to do my update from day five of the course. I've added it in with today's one instead of doing two posts, it just keeps things tidier. :)
Today was a bit unnerving, as we were doing the mock auditions. I quite wish I'd selected a modern text to perform, but I didn't have anything prepared, so I did my Helena speech from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Overall, it wasn't so good. Still, that's what we do the mock auditions for. I knew when I started that I wasn't in the right place for the speech, so the feedback didn't come as a huge surprise. Ah well, some things I need to work on for next time:
* be less tentative - use the same authority I used for lecturing.
* keep going from the start to the end of the sentence as Shakespear wrote it, don't break it up too much or the meaning can be lost - like phrasing in music.
* use the rhyming couplet to help me end on a strong note.
* my right arm seems to be my self-comforting tick. Try to stop moving it in a swinging way.
* use the entire body to express emotion, don't just use the head!
General comments for everyone to work on:
* expect to always be nervous when you perform, that buzz keeps the performance from lacking feeling.
* when you use objects, know why you are using them - practice with them beforehand.
* if you dry up, stay calm and begin again.
* don't let your voice go 'high' unless it is intended and necessary for the character.
* you must speak from your body, it can't be 'dead' while you speak.
* let the moment end strongly and come out of it naturally before you move on.
* KNOW YOUR PLAY - don't pick a speech from a book of audition pieces, ensure you know the whole play, so you know what your character is reacting to and what your character is like and has been through.
* emotion can sometimes cloud and obscure sense.
* thin about what you are replying to in your speech - it doesn't stand alone, it is part of a whole piece and must be treated as such.
* if you choose from a play which has been made into a film there is the risk that you and also the auditors have been influenced by the film. They don't want you to replicate someone else's work, they want you to show your own interpretation and your own creativity.
* "The vowels hold the emotion, and the consonants hold the sense" - Cathy.
* try to avoid too much 'eye acting' - use the whole body, not just the eyes.
* focus on your speeches key words, don't say them any louder, just be aware of where they are and that they are key, and that sense will come through.
* Go back to your speech on the page after a while and try to read it as if you are reading it for the first time.
* Try the speech without 'the plan' once you have rehearsed, to see how it can change without your preconceived ideas.
So, in a nutshell, do the homework, learn your stuff, sleep on it, go in and act without over analysing it.
We then moved on to the iambic pentameter in the afternoon. I vaguely remember it being mentioned in English classes when we were doing Romeo and Juliet, but I never really got it until now. I don't think they ever went into the feminine endings with the extra beat.
We also found out (or I did as I didn't know previously), that Shakespear wrote without any punctuation. It's a good idea to use at least two, preferably three different versions of a play by Shakespear when you are preparing for a show, as the punctuation added by the editors can differ from version to version.
We worked on a punctuation exercise, where we walked with our monologues, and changed direction whenever a comma/semi-colon/colon was used. Whenever a sentence ended, you also then turned around, walked back to the far wall, and began the next sentence from there. This allows you to become familiar with the punctuation in your text, and where you are going to use this in your speech.
We were also given a brief talk about the Stanislavski methods of acting. I'm sure everyone there who has already done acting at college is familiar with him already, but as a complete newbie it's new to me. :) I've added 'An Actor Prepares' to my Amazon list, so I'll be getting a copy of that soon to go through. We mainly talked about 'uniting' when we spoke of Stanislavski. I'll read more about it when my book arrives, but my initial understanding is that uniting can come from various things: a new character enters the scene, causing the mood to change; change in subject matter in the conversation can change the mood. It can be useful to go through your script and unit it, however be careful of breaking it up to much as this can cause it to become too chaotic.
Ali suggested thinking of units in terms of energy or texture changes, e.g. when Egeus enters the room with Hermia while Theseus and Hippolyta are speaking of their coming wedding day. Another suggested image was to think of the play as a dark pool, and every time something happens, a pebble is thrown into the pool, causing ripples and waves.
The actor needs to be aware of these units so that they can bring them to the audience.
Wow, quite intense today. My group started with Faroque upstairs, working on our texts again. We were to connect as emotionally as we could. It sounds mad, but Faroque had me actually spar with him while doing mine so I could get angry enough. (He's a master in karate and I've done kickboxing for a few years, so we knew what we were doing. ;) All nice and safe). I think I still didn't quiteget there. I think I'm too worried about being tooangry for the text. I really need to let that go and just get it.
We practiced many different ways of working on the text. Some of them sound very un-PC, but they sure do work!
* Speak your text in a heavy, mock-Chinese accent. Mandarin is very staccato and it can help you to find where the emphasis can be in the text, rather than where you think it should be.
* Illustrate your text. Nope, not with pens and pencils, but with your body. Your whole body, not just your arms.
* Sing your text (not operatic, but quite short and bouncy). Add in the illustration to go with the singing. (Faroque thought this was particularly useful for me to loosen up my movements and properly get into the text).
* Speak the text very quietly, so it is almost inaudible. This allows you to feel where in your body the words naturally settle, and helps your understanding of them.
* While biting your thumb, speak each word of your speech as clearly as you can. This will greatly improve your pronunciation of the consonants (which carry the sense of the text), and is particularly used for rehearsing Shakespear.
Some final notes from the work with Faroque this morning - use the mood that you have that day to influence your character. Know their situation, but don't aim for the emotion you think they should feel, or it won't be natural. You can't (and shouldn't) divorce yourself from the character. Your emotions will always influence the character, so go with it, and use them to make your performance more believable. This doesn't mean making a serious speech funny or anything like that, but humour can be used in even serious situations, and can be molded and incorporated into the scene.
Finally, we worked on entrences and exits after lunch. Only a few notes on this, as it is hard to describe. Prepare yourself in whatever way/use whatever exercise you like. Remember, when you come onto the stage, come on with the same energy you have just prepared. Exit with the same energy you used on stae, do not allow this to drop off while you are exiting. Remember, if you prepare yourself and are confident, then become closed off or tentative on stage, this means you are not being true to yourself or the character.
We also worked on cutting the script and on giving out parts for the show. I've got a part as Puck, when he comes across the mechanicals and puts the ass's head on Bottom. ;) As there are thirty of us, different people will be performing in different scenes as the same character (e.g. Nathalia is Puck at the start of the play when he is first called by Oberon). Whenever anyone isn't a main character, they will likely be fairies and performing music for the Oberon/Titania scenes. Fingers crossed I can learn my lines tomorrow! (I need to know them for working with Faroque, although Ali and Cathy don't want us to over practice them, as then we might get into patters that will be very difficult to break).
Phew, I'm confident that that is my longest entry to date! Still, I get to have a lie in tomorrow morning. Woohoo! Zzz.