Acting, costumes and making new scenes….

Description: This week we’ve been working on the procedure of our one act play, we also looked at some of the costumes with Sr. Cajas and I went to gamarra to buy some things for our play, we tried to do as much as possible as the play is in 10 days.

Analysis: This week we’ve been working on continuing with the play, and trying to do as much as possible, we worked in all the scenes and we did more scenes. Actually we now know our ending, but  we still need to do more. We’ve been working in the “slapstick” that the doctor and the nurse will be doing with the body, and in my opinion that’s one of the most interesting parts of the play, doing quick movements, along with the background song gives the scene a very interesting atmosphere, of course it’s funny but it is not boring, on the other hand, it is entertaining, as they are fixed and clear movements, which makes the scene “cleaner”. This week, we finally finished with the costume PPP, and we showed Mr, Cajas the costumes that he needed to make. Also We went to Gamarra to buy things such as the doctor, the boy, the grandma and some other props and costumes that we needed. We bought the cloth to cover the table, and the cloth that will cover the body.  We still need to practice

Connection: Regarding the slapstick, which is very entertaining, and well prepared, I thought of “La cocina” that in one part they had this dancing, with very strong and fixed movements, this worked in a certain level, as it was very catchy, but as it was too long, at some times it turned boring, but this little dancing scene in La cocina gave the play, a funnier and different way to see it. Also in “Yerma” they had little dancing with the trolleys, and this gave the play the same effect, or even in this play that we went to see which was just dancing, they had a certain rhythm and it was long so it turned boring but at some parts the speed increased making fixed and quick movements turning the play interesting.

Reflexion: There are lots of plays, with this change of speed, and I know that if you keep the same rhythm through all the play, with the same tone, it turns boring, but in order to be entertaining does it have to have“slapstick” or a quick dance? 

Developing characters

Description: this week we've been focusing a lot on the one act play, but mostly we've been focusing on developing our characters, as this play is for us to develop characters and to improve our acting skills.

Analysis: This week, we've been working on our characters, we've done some exercises that really helped to build our characters, as we basically had nothing. We follow some steps:

1. We started in A position for while, to concentrate in our respiration.
2. After some time we would stand up and find our center, were everything would go from there, every step had to go from the center.
3. then we had to imagine as we were walking but the world was upside down and we were in a building walking towards the floor, so we had to walk really slow, because otherwise you could fall

we spent a whole lesson doing this, just find our center of power, and how to work towards there, but afterwards, we would start walking like our characters, and we had to find a center for our own characters, the part of your body where the energy comes from. So after finding our center, we could move like our characters, and this helped a lot, as we find how our characters would move, and the actions it would do.

Also apart from finding our characters, we spent the week doing our scenes, we did a lot, (in my opinion) as we had a lots of things we improved. Also we find new actions to do while acting and that made the play more interesting to see and more dynamic. I think we are improving a lot our one act play, even though there is still a lot to do

Connections: regarding the dynamic part of the one act play, it reminded me of a play we once read in class, just before we began the one act play, that it is call: "Us and them" that was very dynamic, that had very short dialogues, and just the reading was very interesting, our play is turning like that, with no long boring silence pauses, but still there is a lot to work on, in order to be a good play. On the other hand talking about the characters, and developing it, the exercises we did in class, helped me A LOT, to find my character, I didn't even knew how my character was, I didn't had a vision for my character, which now I do, I know how she moves, talks, and her little movements that makes my character unique.

Reflexion: Even though we cant take too much time in preparing our characters before rehearsing, I think that this is essential in order for us to be mentally and physically prepared to act good, so how can it be another way to prepare but in a short time?, is it just practice?, do I just need to get used to my character so I can act like her more easily?

One act play....

Description: This week we've been working in the one act play, in finding our characters, and focusing in our game and our plot. 

Analysis: The one act play is each time nearest, and this week we've been focusing on this. We already had our game, and the first day after the holidays we focus on the script, this was very complicated, as it was quite boring because it was very repetitive, it was like 4 scenes just delaying the autopsy. Reading the script, it was very challenging for me, as I didn’t looked for a character, I didn’t explore my character and so I didn’t know how to speak, and I am still not sure of  how my characters will be like. Regarding our game, we tried it, we actually acted scene 1 to see how it would look like, and we come up with a problem we were aware of, that because of our game, our character could not speak directly to the ones behind them, as we could not turn around. We thought that we could fix this, but the truth was that it didn’t work, as we couldn’t look at them when the other characters spoke, it seemed like if we didn’t care of what they were speaking of, and “if we do not care, neither will the audience”. So because of this, we change our game completely, and we are starting all over again, Actually I’m glad we did this, because even though it means starting all over again and changing all the script, I think this game and our scrip until now is way better, it is more interesting, more funny, more entertaining, and faster. The production task I am in charge of is Make up, this changed a lot with the switch of games, because first I had plans for a half make up, but now, I was asked to do a more ‘lighter’ make up, so that our game can work, and the change of character can be easier and quicker, but for those character who do not change, such as the lawyer and the doctor, the make-up will remain the same.

Connections:  Regarding to my two characters, which are the good wife and the little boy, I’ve been trying to look for some stimuli. The most difficult one to find was the good wife, she is supposed to be all religious and good, but she is also creepy, the only thing I’ve found is “Dolores Humbridge” from Harry Potter, she is mean, but she is kind of creepy, she laughs of bad things and she smiles in weird situations, still I need to find a better stimuli, as this character is in the one I need to work the most, as I am completely lost. My second character is my favourite one, the little boy, I used as a stimuli is “Brick” from ‘the middle’, he is a really special boy, different from the others and he is always obsessed with something, I found my character very interesting to explore, and is my favourite one. here is a little video to show brick: brick discovers the internet

Reflection: In order to explore, deeper my character, specially the good wife one, I will need to search for a better stimuli, what’s more, I will try to find different stimulus for different aspects of my character,  of course I will also do some physical work, and see how she walks, how she sits, stands, laughs, smiles and all the little things that a character might have, but how can I make this character even more interesting and entertaining to see?, somehow, I feel more comfortable with the-little-boy character, than this one, why is this? How can I make it even more comfortable?