Historical Context - Post 6

RESEARCH: Research your own Shakespeare play: Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost or Titus Andronicus. What is the play about? When was it first performed? Find a contemporary production of the play you can get an idea of and research it in terms of concept, style, design, casting. Give some attention to your own character and their role in the play.

My play this term is Titus Andronicus. 

Titus Andronicus is a hard play to give a short summary for. According to S. Clarke Hulse, there are "14 killings, 9 of them on stage, 6 severed members, 1 rape (or 2 or 3, depending on how you count), 1 live burial, 1 case of insanity and 1 of cannibalism--an average of 5.2 atrocities per act, or one for every 97 lines." 

This is Shakespeare's most violent plays. 

What is it about?

After ten years of war, Titus Andronicus, who is a Roman general, returns with only four out of his twenty-five sons. He has captured the Queen of Goths, Tamora, and he sacrifices her eldest son, leading to a never-ending hatred and 'promise of revenge' from her. The play is about Titus's cycle of revenge with Tamora.

Tamora and Aaron then plan to frame two of Titus's sons for the death of Bassianus, who is Saturninus's, the emperor's, brother. Titus's sons are beheaded. Tamora's sons then rape Lavinia and cut off her hands and tongue so that she can't tell of what happened. Lucius, Titus's only remaining son, is then banished.

Tamora tries to trick Titus so in return Titus kills them and makes them into a pie, which Tamora is then fed. Titus then kills Tamora and Lavina, which then leads to multiple killings. Lucius, Yound Lucius, Marcus, and Aaron are then left. Lucius has Aaron buried alive.

Lucius then becomes the new emperor of Rome.

When was it first performed?

Titus Andronicus was first performed on the 24th January 1594 (First recorded performance). The play was then performed again on the 29th January and the 4th February. The assumption is that it was performed at The Rose (Theatre), which was an Elizabethan theatre - the fourth public theatre to be built (also the first playhouse to have staged any of Shakespeare's plays).

Contemporary Production of Play

In 2013, Titus Andronicus was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Lavinia was played by Rose Reynolds. One of the main differences between a Shakespearean production of this play and a contemporary one is the costume, make up, effects, etc. When Reynolds would go backstage, the makeup team would all be ready to transform her into a tongueless and handless victim. To make it look like she had no tongue, she had to keep chewing black liquorice to give the illusion of a 'black hole'. According to one of the make up artists, 'When Lavinia walked on stage after the rape the audience began fainting. “Up to 10 people went down each night, and some vomited, too,”

This adaptation is quite different to others as it contains a few scenes that have no violence. The rape was not fully shown in this adaptation but instead just showed Lavinia walking back on after the rape. 

There was a lot of fake blood used in this performance. When Lavinia got her tongue cut out, there was a blood ball in her mouth, contained in clingfilm. Also, when Chiron and Demetirius died, big sacks of blood were used to show their bodied being 'drained'. Also, there were stage knives that squirted out blood when used.

The casting of Rose Reynolds in this production was a really good choice in my opinion as her blonde hair and fair skin really captures the character of Lavinia being this young and innocent girl. Although Titus is a man, when watching the trailer and seeing Stephan Boxer (whom apparently was amazing) as Titus was a bit strange for me considering that we had an all-female cast therefore I can only picture girls in this play. 

The main negative comment that I can find about this production is that the blood at point was 'too much', making it seem like a 'parody', which I can completely understand (especially when people have said that when Tamora's throat was cut, the blood squirted six feet into the air).

After researching this production, I do wish I went to go and see it as it does look like it was really good!

Brighton

Today was the day we performed in Brighton Fringe Fest. Since we did two really successful performances last Thursday, we all felt like this performance wasn't going to be very good as we felt as if we had all 'peaked'.

After arriving at the performing space, we all were told what was going to happen before the teachers let us go around Brighton for a while. 

When we came back, we got changed in the public toilets (which was weird because the public were all coming in wondering what was happening) and then we went to Ben who then told us to do side stretch and warm up in front of everyone. Some members of the public were joining in as they didn't know it was a serious thing and most, if not all, people were all watching us and taking pictures. We weren't allowed to wear shoes, which sounded like a good idea before I remembered we were performing on gravel!!

When the performance started, I realised we had a smaller performing space than in the New Theatre so everything was very cramped. When we were running around, my feet were in so much pain that I really felt like I wasn't fully committing to my movements. When I was projecting, it sounded loud to me however everyone thought the same thing about themselves, making me worry that none of us were loud enough (at the end, Ben told us all that we were the best group at projection, which made me feel really good about the performance).

I think the performance went okay (although the audience all said it was very strong) because it wasn't like the ones at school. When I came on as Nurse, I forgot that there was no screaming anymore so I forgot my cue however Shanay really helped me out and went straight into it. When she killed me, because we had little room to perform, I fell forward and hit my head really hard on the staging; I really wanted to break character but then I remembered it was a real performance and if I did, it would make the play worse for everyone and not just me. The blood still got in my eyes so I couldn't see.

Overall I do think it went quite well and I'm happy that we successfully took our performance somewhere other than school that brought in a large and very attentive audience. If I was going to do it again, I would suggest wearing shoes/socks so that my performance doesn't suffer due to my feet being in pain.

Evaluation

Tonight was the night of our two performances. We smashed them!!

Half an hour before the first performance started, Ben left us. This was massive for us since we had no one to relax us or warm up with us apart from each other. I was excited however this excitement soon turned to incredibly nervous!! We were warming up and then I decided to sit in one of the audience's seats so I could see the cast on the stage; this made it all that bit more real for me therefore my heart started beating very fast! Also, wearing costumes made it feel so real as this is one of the first plays I have ever been in where we have had someone else make the costume for the purpose of the show. I went around to my other cast members for assurance but everyone was panicking!

Once we heard that we had five minutes, we all began to get into place in our maggot pile. I was lying in a good position however I had Katie's helmet right next to my side therefore I feared it would get in the way of me getting down from breathing up and sinking. As soon as I could hear the audience coming in, my heart rate began to slow and I began feeling a bit more relaxed. Since Ben had told us to randomly sit up and then sink down but we had not rehearsed it, we were all unsure about how long to wait between each one, which left us doing it one after another at a quick pace. I didn't like how fast this was however we had to keep it consistent so it looked intentional.

The lights then lowered and I could hear the buzzing sound effect, indicating that the play was starting. I was ready. When we went into the Hacca, there was an incredible amount of energy in the room that it was as if we were transferring it to one another, which was really helpful since our play was different to the other two in the way that it was a highly physical play, which used our own style as it was experimental and non-naturalistic. It was clear that the audience were intimidated by it as they didn't laugh like Ben warned us; also, by looking at the expressions on their faces, there was clear shock that an all-female cast would be behaving in this way.

Everyone's projection was amazing (so much that audience members after the show were even coming up to us to tell us). When I was speaking my lines, I felt so confident in them as I now knew them really well (no more slip ups) and I felt like I delivered them in a well-projected manor. Also, as an ensemble, I found that we were all really good at getting around the difficult Shakespearean words. A really good thing about our line delivery was that each of our lines said something and was often also said with physicality therefore everyone understood the play so there was no one unsure about what was going on. Moreover, I think it was also a lot easier for the audience to understand because we all wanted the play to go well so we went even further with our efforts and pushed ourselves to stay committed and have high levels of stamina. There was a clear pull from everyone with high energy levels, working hard, while we were also having fun.

When it got to the 7:30 showing, I was a lot more relaxed and I had little to no worries. Unfortunately, I missed out on the warm-up before the performance, which I really thought would affect my performance, as I had to redo my French braids as they were all covered in blood and they were coming out. When I entered the room, we were all getting into position, which did worry me slightly however I knew that we were going to be fine. Because I knew that my dad and my sister were in the audience, it pushed me even more to want to do my best as I didn't want to disappoint them (or the rest of the audience). Our sitting up and sinking was slightly better this time as they were paced out more evenly. While the audience was coming in, I could hear so many phrases coming out of their mouths like 'Wow!' 'Look at that!', therefore showing their excitement.

Although both of our shows were really good, there was a moment that really stood out for me for a bad reason and that was the second Hacca. I think this really stood out for me as the first Hacca was so energy-filled, with the whole cast giving 110%, but the second Hacca had less people in it, which made it harder to make it more exciting. If I could add more direction into this second Hacca, I would definitely add more exciting moments into it to make it slightly different from the first Hacca and also add moments that the cast can work with more although you could still feel the passion in the room.

My death as Nurse went so well! According to Ben and other audience members, it looked really cool, which makes me wish I could have seen it. The only bad thing about this part was that the blood would go into my eyes so if I tried to open them, it would sting and burn; this made it hard to get up and walk over the mound when I exited as I couldn't see. The rest of the cast were so supportive as Sybil would be in the wings with tissue to wipe my eyes and, while I was offstage, they would each try to help me get the blood off. This really showed me that this cast is a really good cast who care for each other, which I do think is one of the reasons why we worked so well onstage (boys are hard to work with).

In conclusion, I am so proud of how our performances went tonight and I can't wait to perform it again in Brighton next week. We used practitioners, such as Peter Brook and Yoshi Oida, as inspiration, which really helped us to ensure that it was a bold play there were no dead moments. Since we had a balance between lines and physical moments, it made it easier to understand and take in (which is a real achievement since Shakespeare is usually really hard to understand for a lot of people) as well as bringing the play to life. Since we were all so grounded and so good at sharing with the audience, you could feel the passion in the room. Continuing with sharing with the audience, I think it was so good that we made it so clear when multiroling was occurring, with clear and distinct costume pieces, as audience members usually get confused when it happens. Not only was I happy with tonight's performances and the rest of the cast but I am very proud of myself as I would never have thought I would have been able to do that performance when we first recieved our scripts.

Thank you Ben.

Show Day - Final Rehearsals

Today was the day of our show! This meant that we had final rehearsals in order to ensure that our play was going to go well and also to make the final tweaks of our show to perfect it and make it the best it could possibly be.

We started the day at 11am when we met outside the New Theatre to collect our costumes and do our hair/make-up. When we were all in the room, there was an amazing atmosphere filled with energy and excitement. We were each doing French braids onto each other and doing our make up, which was a plain white strip across our eyes.

After getting ready, we went into the New Theatre and were welcomed by the set and lighting, all ready for tonight's performances. I felt as if I was in the zone. I was ready for this performance. We went into side stretching and warming up; when we were doing this, we were dotted around the bottom of the stage. This was not intentionally set up for any reason but because we didn't have enough space however this really taught me how much space I had to work with and where onstage I can/cannot be seen by the audience.

After doing some warm up exercises, we went into a rehearsal. This rehearsal went really well!! This really showed me how ready we are as a cast and how well we all work together! I feel as if being in costume and being surrounded by the world makes me feel as my character and makes the whole play feel that more realistic. While we were running the play, the bit that I really find hard to maintain is when we are Goths surrounding Delainey (Lucius) and we have to maintain a strong and sturdy squat. I find this really difficult to maintain as my legs begin to lose feeling in them or they begin to get tired therefore I really need to work on holding this position (or finding a way to rotate squat positions) so that it looks more professional and I look more intimidating and not shaky.

Ben gave us a few notes after the run where he just told certain people to tweak a few things to perfect their actions. One of the notes that Ben gave me was to practice rolling the blanket into the baby before the show as I am quite slow at this. At lunch, I went to practice with it however I still found it hard therefore I decided to go at a good pace and elongate my 'OH MY LORD''s and 'AARON''s.

I felt really ready for tonight's performances and I couldn't wait to get onstage.

Lesson 19 - 11.05.16

Today's rehearsal started later as Ben gave us a later start. We began by stretching however that was soon interrupted by talk of last night's show,  Love's Labours Lost. We had a discussion about the show, along with the highs and lows of the show.

After this, we went straight into a full run. Before the rehearsal began, we all spoke of how our show is tomorrow yet we have not done a full run of the show without being interrupted by Ben's direction. Before we began, Ben announced that he would not be taking notes and he would not be interrupting us. Hearing this made me feel calmer running the show as Ben was not to be seen with his iPad to take notes therefore I felt as if I had more freedom to act in the way in which I want to without Ben's notes/judgements (although I do understand they are there to help).

This run went amazingly! You could really feel the energy in the room and how happy everyone was that it went well! The two lines, in which I kept tripping up on, came out fluidly, which completely stripped me of my fears of my performing in the play! As I was performing in the play, I used the opportunity of when I wasn't speaking to look around to see Ben's reaction to the piece; as far as I could see, he seemed very happy with how the play was going on!!

For the first time, when we were in the semicircle, everyone was engaging with their hands in a very interesting way therefore making the piece look more interesting. I have learnt so much from this lesson in the way that I can now see the errors in my ways previously in my attitude to the play as it is actually an amazing play and if I learnt my two lines better earlier on, the play would have been able to be more enjoyable for me and it would have flowed better.

Ben had no notes for us today but, in the afternoon, when we were trying on costume, he expressed to us how happy and calm he now feels about the piece and how he now has no worries about the progression of the play (He also pointed out how well I did in 'acing' those two lines, which makes me see that my efforts are not unnoticed).

I am very excited for tomorrow's performances and I know they are going to go really well if they are anything like todays!

Lesson 18 - 10.05.16

Today was not a good day for me in general.

We began the lesson by stretching. After stretching, Ben showed us a mockup of what he had made for an alternative for the blood packs. In a plastic bag, he had an orange sponge drenched in fake blood; he said that the blood would be in a bucket where there would be sponges swimming in them and we would get them out to squeeze onto one another. I think this would look a lot more effective as there would be a lot of blood being held inside of the sponge and also they would be a lot easier for us all to use.

After looking at the sponges, we started doing some vocal warm ups. Izzy led one of the exercises with the toffee in the mouth to exercise your tongue and jaw. Ben led an exercise where we would wave to someone in the distance and call out 'HELL-OOOOOO', speaking the 'HELL' and normal and then dropping the 'OOOOOO' down a tone and then beginning the 'HELL' next time with the lower tone and so on... When we got to the lowest tone in which our voice still felt comfortable with, we would squeeze out palms together and shake them while using the lowest tone to say 'EEEEEEE'. We then repeated it squatting down. I enjoyed this exercise as it taught me which tones felt more comfortable to me and which one was my natural resonant sound.

After some more exercises, like tongue twisters, we did a song all together that was led by Ben. The song was a call and response song where we stomped, clapped and tapped out thighs to create a rhythm. The parts of the songs I remember were 'Vi!' 'Vi Fi!' 'Vi Fi Fo!'. We repeated it in a faster way and in a more 'Hacca-type' way. This was such a crazy song that got me in the mood to create a play while also putting me in a good mood.

We then switched rooms and, using our warmed up voice, walked around the room speaking our lines. As there was a loud environment, I wasn't scared to experiment with my voice and ways to use it. 

Next, we did the first Hacca all together, using a YouTube clip of a Rugby Hacca was inspiration. We all did the Hacca the best we've ever done it! We were going crazy! I feel as if, by warming up in the morning and singing the song, it put us all in more of a mood where we were't scared to experiment.

Running Scenes

Ben said that he was going to be very picky with these scenes to perfect them however when Kate got two words in and he stopped her, it scared me what he was going to say to me when I still didn't know those two lines fluently. 

When it got onto my bit, I planned to go forward to Kit's face and grab it when I was saying some of my lines; because I was going to make a bold decision, which I didn't know when  was going to do it, my feet started moving a lot. Ben came over and held my ankles in place so there was no point at which I could grab her face as I was too far away from her. He then came over to me and started trying to teach me my lines, which I was grateful for but, for some reason I began getting more and more upset with these constant notes from the last few days. He then opened up the conversation to the class and Shanay came up to me saying 'Don't worry about it', which just made me cry and I just ran out of the classroom. As someone who doesn't like to cry in public, this was a big moment for me however Gemma, Yasmin and Nicole came to the toilet and made me understand what I need to do to improve, ensuring me that it wasn't because I was awful at Shakespeare.

After break, we ran scenes people felt they needed more work on. Watching them practice the rape scene really interested me as the moves look really realistic. Although I am just sat at the back in that scene, I feel as if the audience will really enjoy watching that scene as their moves are now are refined and perfected.

I felt really awful that lesson because I think I kept saying 'no' too much. When we were practicing the Nurse scene, Ben suggested that I screamed, as he was scrapping the pig squeals, which I agree would have looked really good however I do not enjoy screaming therefore I just said no. Everyone was trying to get me to screams  I felt really awkward therefore I wasn't comfortable to scream. Ben then decided to change it to me deep inhaling and the ensemble scream. I much prefer this decision although I feel bad for saying no too much.

Tech Day - 09.05.16

Today was the day of our tech run. I went into the lesson with an excited attitude as I was excited to finally do a full run in costume in the space, and finally using the blood packs that we had been miming for weeks.

Unfortunately, the run did not go as I had imagined it to. It went terribly. There was a real lack of energy, which held the piece back a lot and stopping it going well. I don't know why this has happened as we were all ready and confident in our piece at our last rehearsal. When I was performing, I found myself being unhappy with my line delivery and with my attitude that I developed in the lesson.

The blood packs were very hard to use. We were told that we had to squeeze them before slamming them in to each other, which was actually harder than I thought. As I am the first person to kill someone, I was the first person to fail at the blood packs. The blood pack sat in my hand with the corners outside of my palm so when I went to squeeze the pack, the blood squirted sidewards and not directly onto Jamilah. They proved to be hard for most people as there were a few times, Esther killing Sybil is a good example, where the pack didn't burst so they had to improvise while they were trying to get it to burst. Ben said that we would either have TTA show us how to properly do it or he would figure out an alternate way to use the blood (He suggested cutting the blood however no one agreed to this!)

There was a moment that I was particularly disappointed with myself in, which was after Jamilah runs in a panic to each side of the stage and we all begin to do a slow motion hack-type movement. Although this should not be an excuse, I was very tired in this movement so I was not committing to it fully; while doing the movement, I sat down to do it as I had no energy for it (Ben was not happy with me at this point!!!).

I think that this negative and tiresome energy was contagious as, throughout the play, everyone, including myself, were slacking, which angered Ben.

Notes From Ben

After cleaning up and getting changed, Ben went on to give us notes. Due to how badly the tech went, they were mostly negative notes.

He said it was okay to be appalling now so that we can get the bad run out of the way and learn more form it so we can take it on to Thursday and be better! He said that we need to act more and we can be brilliant. We need to commit to a whole new level of committing for this new, large space for performing. Although most of us 'forgot how to act', Amber, Kit, Izzy and Hannah all turned up and made their characters larger as they used the space as an advantage to launch their characters further. I feel as if I need to learn from them how I can do a similar thing so that I can make my characters and my presence in general better. He said that Amber and Kit physically improved a lot. Also, we weren't sharing to the audience well enough as we were mostly acting to ourselves therefore we need to learn to be more open.

He then went on to giving me feedback about my lines. There are two lines that I keep fumbling over that hew said it is like I have now 'learnt the pattern of fumbling on'. Throughout the rehearsal process, I have really noticed this as I keep getting confused over' 'That so the shadows be not unappeased/ nor so we disturbed with prodigies on earth'. I need to learn these two lines desperately since after I get past them, I feel a lot more relaxed with the rest of the play as I feel as if I know my lines for the rest of the play.

The last biggest point that I took from that lesson was that we were all half-doing things. He said 'If you're going to do something, DO IT' don't half-do it. He pointed out that Hannah and Samara, when they hold Delainey back were both not fully committed to it so they didn't look as if there was a sense of urgency. For next time, I need to ensure that my actions are more committed so there is more of a sense of need.

Overall, I am really disappointed in myself this lesson and I need to make sure I am more on it tomorrow for rehearsals.

Practitioners

This term we have been using methods in performing inspired by practitioners, such as Peter Brook and Yoshi Oida. Because of this, I want to delve in further and find out more about these two practitioners. 

Peter Brook

Peter Brook is an English theatre and film director who was born on 21st March 1925. He had won numerous awards (including multiple Tony and Emmy Awards) that he has been called "our greatest living theatre director".

Brook has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company beforehand therefore making me realise why Ben has decided to use him as inspiration this term as he has previous Shakespeare experience. His first production was also a Shakespearean one (Loves Labours Lost), which was performed at Stratford Theatre. 

Relating him to our production of Titus Andronicus, he previously directed Titus Andronicus with prominent actors, including Laurence Olivier, in 1955. When he directed this, he made the bold decision to remove many infamous phrases (such as, 'baked in that pie') - a technique similar to Ben's as he cut bits out to shorten the play therefore it was for a different reason. His production was described to be very 'experimental' as he used a range of very different materials (such as, pots and pencils). He decided to maximise the drama and minimise the gore, which, for me, is really hard to imagine as it is Shakespeare's bloodiest play therefore implying for a lot of gore to be in the play. Lavinia still lost her hands and tongue but it all happened offstage while the heads of Chiron and Demetrius where draped in baskets. This leads me to wonder if this was done effectively or if it held the play back.

A Time's critic said Brook had "created an atmosphere in which the horrors can take hold of us". I do not think our performance is going to be like his where at least three people pass out nightly but I think that by using similar methods - however most of our gore happens onstage - we will have a shocking impact on our audience.

Finally, I think we will be using Peter Brook's idea of 'Immediate Theatre' this term as it is about showing feelings and emotions to the audience so much that the actor is not the complete main focus but that they are a 'medium' for this to happen. Also, Brook believes a lot about showing 'raw emotion' to the audience - not holding back - therefore we, hopefully, will all be showing that on performance night to make our characters more believable. 

Yoshi Oida

Yoshi Oida is an English-speaking Japanese director, actor and writer. He learnt acting from OkuraSan, who is a famous teacher of kyogen and is one of the 'masters' of art. He was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1933. Oida has starred in film, television, and theatre productions, including The Pillow Book and Wasabi.

Later on in his life, he began working with Peter Brook. This is really interesting because our performance was also inspired by Brook meaning that they may both have a similar sort of style. Also, he joined the International Centre of Theatre Research, which was founded by Peter Brook, in 1970.

When researching Yoshi Oida, I came across the clip above. The clip really makes me think of Titus (mostly because of the blood) because he really takes his time with his movement so that the audience can register what is happening and also wondering what he is doing and why. There is purely physical movement that tells a story in itself. I don't understand the words that are spoken in some of his performances but, from his movements, I can completely understand what is going on. Also, there are very sharp and abstract moves near the end that suggest violence, which are so well done it is as if he just got his head cut off. This, mixed together with the sound effects, creates a really amazing and interesting performance to watch and understand.

From this, I can now see why we have taken inspiration from this practitioner as his work really links with our performance.

Plotting

Today was the day of our plot. We entered the New Theatre and were given a quick talk about safety, being quiet, etc.

We were then told to talk quietly or be silent for about 20 minutes while they were doing some of the lighting things. It was really interesting to see the lighting and the set together as it made it feel more real and exciting! We got to see the platform and the new cauldron

for the first time as well! They were testing out different coloured lights and Shanay was asked to stand in the space just so that they could see what it would look like on the actor and what effects it would have.

We were then asked to do the Love Dance in the space while they figured out lighting. Again, we were asked to get in our opening positions, places for the Hacca, and then our positions after the Hacca before being asked to leave. I really wanted to stay to see the lighting happen, as it was new to me, however I did not volunteer, which I do regret.

Here are some pictures of our set with the lighting:

Lesson 17 - 05.05.16

Today, we only had 2 hours for a lesson at the end of the school day. Due to it being the year 13's last day, Ben wasn't in for the first hour as he was saying bye to them therefore leaving us alone to rehearse.

The rehearsal began awfully as the boys from the rehearsal next door kept coming in and interrupting the rehearsal. This began to annoy me as I didn't come in to school to do no work! After about 15 minutes, we all figured out that we could lock one of our doors therefore we locked it to prevent entry for them. I already knew that boys were distracting and girls are the ones who do most of the work but this really proved it to me as we were all fine and focused after they stopped coming in!

After running and refining a few of the scenes Ben wanted us to, we began with a run through. Since it was the end of the day and we didn't have Ben watching and directing us, we were all showing how tired we were. It went well but it didn't go amazingly as we weren't all showing our potential. This was until Ben entered when we were all on the floor doing the tree movements and he pushed us to work through it.

When it came to the Nurse's scene, Ben came up behind me and was repeating 'Disgusting' 'Give him the baby'. As much as I know why he was doing it for,  he was so distracting!!! I kept dropping my lines and forgetting them because I had a voice telling me other stuff! He later explained that it was for me to then push for my objectives in this and to push me as an actor. He said that we think a lot behind the lines we say so he was putting in thoughts and vocalising them to give us more of the character's background.

At the end of the rehearsal, Ben gave us some feedback on what he saw. He said that when he entered, he was happy that we were actually doing a run through but he could see that we were all dead behind the eyes. He cut the lines between a line Shanay says to Jamilah entering as he said it was weird to talk about the messenger coming and then the messengers entrance. Another thing that he cut was the clappy bit in the second Hacca as he said it breaks the rhythm. Be bold and be brave.

To finish off the lesson, he reminded us that the next time we do it will be in the tech so it's going to be like the real thing so everything it will be will happen.

Lesson 16 - 04.06.16

Side Stretch

Today, we started by doing Side Stretch but in two separate groups - one group watching and the other doing the stretch. I was in the first group. At first, I found it quite weird to perform the stretch to my peers as my group was quite small therefore I felt as if I was constantly being watched. When Sybil said the 'HA', it wasn't loud enough therefore we all had a half response, which kinda of took away some of the effectiveness.

The stretch went well and then we got feedback. The group watching said that it looked very effective as this was a new experience for them to watch it as we are all normally doing it together. Katie said that my body throughout was very straight and focused, which then led on to Ben telling me that, naturally, I am very good at standing in neutral and looking engaged in a scene where I am not the focus - he said that this draws good attention to myself and it gives a good base to jump into action at any point.

Watching the other group was also an interesting experience. It was really nice to watch it as a group and see what the other group meant when they said it looked really interesting to watch. At the beginning, there were a few people who were out of time and did not look fully focused however this then led onto synced moments that looked really effective. There was a moment when everyone was getting up from prayer position where Ellie had very strong legs with a good posture, which then looked as if she was a warrior therefore showing signs of Titus characters. There was also another moment where Chloe and Ellie were out of sync with the rest of the group however they had such focus on their face and in their bodies that it drew everyone's attention in a good way as they both looked like they were completely immersed in their movement, which is really engaging to watch.

Comedy Run

After Side Stretch, Ben said that we were going to do a comedy run of Titus Andronicus. He wanted our comedy run to be under 15 minutes, which actually turned out to be 27 minutes, meaning that if we half the speed of this incredibly fast run then we would be on track and on time for the one hour show (instead of having a 2 and a half hour show).

Doing a comedy run was incredibly funny! We were all talking a lot faster and being a lot more sloppy with our actions, at the same time of making fun of our actions, at the same time as running the play in the correct order! Since our run was very fast, we had no time for in-corrections therefore if there was a problem onstage or there were any faults, they had to be quickly corrected therefore making us work harder. 

Run Through Outside

To continue with the lesson, we decided to have a run through outside. This was for several reasons, one of them being that the room was very hot however it was mainly so that we could practice our projection, not just for the theatre but for Brighton. Working outside was really nice as we had passers by, which forced everyone to work harder and not lie around since the passers by were people who went to our school therefore we wanted to represent theatre strand as well as we could.
Taking all of Ben's notes onboard, I feel like I developed my character in more depth and detail. Also, I really used this time to work on my projection and voice quality as there were instruments and singing coming from the primary school next to us therefore we had to compete to be heard.
A really nice bit that stood out for me was when the Much Ado About Nothing cast was outside on break and they could see all of us rehearsing; this was because there was a moment where we performed the second Hacca and straight after we could hear clapping and cheering coming from their direction. This made me really realise, not only that our performance was getting good enough to get an applause but, how supportive the rest of our year group really is therefore it removes some of my worries of if the performance goes badly as I know that the rest of the year will, hopefully, be just as supportive as they were in this moment in our rehearsals.
The run through went really well and we got our running time down to 1 hour and 28 minutes! This was great news as we needed to make the piece shorter so that we would not have to do two showings of it one straight after the other. Ben seemed to be very pleased with the piece's development as well as I was! I am really happy to be part of such a committed and focused cast and I hope that this good work continues.

Notes From Ben

The first thing in which he commented on was our feet in the Hacca - we all keep doing wide stomps however he wants our feet to kick backwards. This is something that I really need to work on because I keep resorting to doing the wrong footwork since I find it more Hacca-like as it looks more wild so I need to make sure that I can do the footwork correctly in future.
He said that at the start we all were laughing at ourselves however, as the rehearsal went on, we all found ourselves realising that we actually can do it and that the performance is actually really good. He said that it is as if we all went on a journey together to find this out and it really showed to Ben. His exact quote was 'You know it. Don't laugh at yourselves. The show is going to be really good. Your voices are really excellent. Don't apologise for being you'. This is making me really believe in our performance even more! I'm getting so excited!
Another comment that he gave us on Nicole's 'O'. Nicole did this amazing 'O' that she elongated and heightened showing her emotion in this scene. I thought that I was the only person who really realised the power and strength in it however Ben and everyone else seemed to see it too! Ben said that she was the first person who really aced the 'O'. I can learn a lot from Nicole as I have two 'O''s in the play therefore I want to take note from her and really begin to find the power in my 'O''s.

Exercise 1

After hearing Ben's notes, we went into an exercise where we were all stood in a circle. In this circle, when anyone felt like it, they would go in the circle and create a moment with someone in the circle, using their lines from the play.
Katie first went in and created this beautiful moment with Sybil where she was gently speaking her lines while stroking Sybil's face and hair, showing how much her character cares for her daughter when speaking. This was amazing to watch as it created a really nice atmosphere where I found myself completely immersed in the scene!
This soon changed when everyone was really scared to go inside of the circle for whatever reason. One of the reasons I found myself not wanting to go inside of the circle was because I was finding it hard to think of any lines that would 'create a moment'. After a few people went inside the circle, I decided to go in and use my 'My Lord, you pass not here' line with Katie to create the moment in which she kills me. It went well although, when Katie went to kill me, there was no one to lift me up or anything so I was unsupported.
I can see why Ben wanted us to perform this exercise however, due to no one wanting to go inside the circle, I cannot say that I learnt a lot from this.

Exercise 2

For the next exercise, we went into 413 where Ben then asked Titus (both but then only one) to sit inside the circle. He then placed Lavinia, Lavinia with no tongue, Titus's dad, and Bassianus around Titus, instructing Titus to ask them questions and if we don't agree with their responses, we can go behind them and speak for them for what they think they should say. We were all very confused so he changed the exercise so that it was just Lavinia there and she was begging him to kill her - we all went to different sides whether we think he should or he shouldn't and then we would all voice our opinions and reasons why. I went on the side that I don't think he should kill her and I kept saying things like 'You're her father' 'If you really love her, you would show her love in existence instead of pain in death'. Hearing other responses really made me think about the decision Titus had to make and how hard it must've been for him since she was his daughter. This then led me to thinking about decisions the characters have to make in the play because it must not have been easy to make any of them.
We then did a similar thing with the two Bassianus' and Tamoras. The two Bassianus's went out of the room and we were told to 'Boo' them each time they tried to speak but cheer for Nicole each time she spoke, and with the Tamoras, they both say in the middle of the circle with four small groups of people around them creating this soundscape of negativity. With these two characters, I think it really helped them in developing their characters but I did not find myself learning as much about my own characters as my characters do not have any scenes with either.

Lesson 15 - 03.05.16

Today was the day where we finally had a full run through!!!!

I went into the lesson with a new attitude; I was a lot more alert and active while also participating in the group discussions a lot more. Looking back at past lessons, I really could see the error of my ways so from today I have decided to continue with this positive attitude for the rest of Shakespeare in order to further develop my part in the play.

We began the session by refining the physical work in the play. I am very grateful that we did this first as it ensured that we would not have to stop the run through or make it look sloppy as we were sure on what we were doing. Also, by not going straight into the run through, it gave me time to get used to the idea that we were about to run Titus and get me in the mindset of doing a Shakespeare play. An area that I'm glad we went over was the Hacca scenes as, every so often, there are moments that we all go out of sync as we are all performing different moves.

The run through was a success! It made me realise how good our play actually is! The only major negative about this run through was that it was over two hours as our play was meant to be around one hour. In fairness, we did stop and start quite a lot therefore making it longer. Ben said that we would have to cut some bits or make them shorter if people weren't on it for their lines or they weren't fully committed. Hopefully this comment will have the same effect it had on me and it will kick people into gear, ensuring that they are constantly on their A-game. Another negative was that after the giving birth scene, energy levels dropped drastically as most people's energy levels went down and their stamina wasn't amazing. Hopefully this will improve in further rehearsals as, if this play continues to be a very long play, we will need the energy to ensure that the telling of the story will not have gaps or become boring.

Notes From Ben

After our first run through Ben gave us each notes and things to work on. The first note in which he gave was for Samara to speak her lines with her head leaning back so that it can enhance the fact that she stands for dead bodies in the war, before returning to a sat up position. I completely agreed with this point as I feel as if it will give her character more of a back story to why she is saying the lines.

Ben then went on to giving me feedback; he said that I had to make my character at the beginning very different from the Nurse. He wanted Mutius to be still and grounded, while also wanting most of my characteristics to be what I am doing in the Hacca as I am playing 'Uber Warrior'; I completely think this will be better however I think I will find it hard to introduce these characteristics while remaining grounded. To improve on this, I need to do some more research on the Hacca and watch more videos of tribal characters to observe their mannerisms, etc.

Notes he had for Chiron and Demetrius was that he wanted them to react more to Jamilah dying when I kill her. This is understandable since it's such a big moment, in reality, if your brother has just been killed so, as an ensemble, we all need to react to deaths more. Later on, Ben showed us a clip of a scene where people are being killed (as he said we all need to die better); in this clip, the lady gets her throat slit however, before she falls backwards, she has a moment of stillness where you can see the body registering that it's life is ending. I feel like we can all really take note from this and die in more realistic ways so that the audience will feel more of an impact to the deaths.

Other notes he had for the ensemble was not to react to if another character looks at you, in the sense that when Shanay looked at Jamilah, Jamilah started laughing therefore Ben said not to break character at any moment as this has happened a few times in rehearsal. Sybil and Chloe started smiling in their scene as, in previous rehearsals, Sybil had been laughing when Chloe was properly trying to have a moment so now she is scared that she will laugh if she does it again so she smiles to prevent it - I see that a lot of characters are having this problem as today was the first proper time where we were all trying to be serious therefore I fear that this problem may reoccur in further rehearsals and maybe in the actual performance. Also there needs to be more interaction between characters in certain scenes to show their relationships - especially in the forest scene - as it is a scene where characters are walking through a scary forest therefore they would be more scared therefore closer together for safety reasons. 

The final notes that were given to me was about the Nurse scene. Shanay was told that every time I say 'Oh my Lord!', she was to twitch as my character really annoys her. He said that my line where I say 'thee' 'thy' thy', I have to push the baby into Shanay to force it into her arms - I can see why this would work really well as it is as if she has no other choice but to take the baby, which is where she first begins to develop this connection with her child. I have to ensure that I make her hate me due to the way I treat her but at the same time I need to fear Aaron. When she gets all up in my face, I need to show that the Nurse is genuinely scared as he is a 'devil-man'. When I say the 'What shall I say unto the empress?', I need to cry as my character is very comedic and over the top while she is also scared of the outcome. I now need to do a little scream when Shanay kills me to cue the cast to do the pig noises - I am so grateful that I now do this as I was unsure about my death since I was not directed to have any reaction to this. 

After giving us the feedback, we were given a chance to work on our lines/scenes outside while Ben worked with people on certain scenes. I was called in to work on the Publius scene, as I had no idea what I was doing when we were running it as Gemma was not in to work with me on it, however, due to running out of time, we did not get to go through it in enough detail however I now roughly know what I am doing in the scene.

Lesson 14 - 29.04.16

Today was the day when we saw our costumes for Shakespeare. I was not sure what to expect however I knew bandages were involved.
When I walked into the room, TTA informed us that the majority of us would just be trying on leggings and leotards while a few of us would have some extra costume to add on however no body was going to be wearing the full costume. The leggings and leotard were body made out of a soft, camel-coloured fabric that looked like bandages. Once I tried it on, I just wanted to start rehearsing Titus with the costume straight away. TTA asked if there were any alterations that needed to be made but mine was perfect, other than one of the sleeves was digging into my shoulder but that was sorted right away! On the other hand, there were quite a few costumes that were not right for some people, especially ones with long torsos, as the body was too short for them.

The additional touches looked really nice as well! Tamora and Bassianus got crowns made out of wire; this gave a dystopian-type feel to the costumes. Bassianus also got a purple sash, which looked very royal and important. My favourite additional piece was Titus's helmet, which looked so royal. The red mohawk-type thing on the top really stood out for me and I think that this will really show how Titus is of a higher status to everyone else.

The last piece of costume that was also very different was Lavinia's dress. It was very long and white, with long sleeves that she can use to hide her hands when they get cut off. The white has connotations of purity and innocence, which is really good to show Lavinia's character. The only issue with this costume is that it is very long therefore it might be hard for her to move around in in some scenes.

Overall, I am very happy with the costume and I am really looking forward to performing in it.