Unit 14 Logbook: Rehearsal Performance Reviews

Group 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3J5W_pY4Kc&feature=youtu.be

Doing a rehearsal performance of the production, we saw how our group's (5:30-12:35) performance looked at its current stage, and the flaws evident as a result. When reviewing our extract, I can see how the attempt was rife in errors and I will review what my issues were and what I need to do to fix them. 

Firstly, with a focus to "I'd Do Anything" a flaw I noticed immediately was my overplaying of the counting money gambit. For most of the song, I am separate from the rest of my group just sighing and moving around imaginary coins. I feel that this is an immediate red flag as it is this overplaying of this technique that makes it a bad inclusion to the movement of I'd Do Anything". Not only that but it is boring and distracting from whoever is singing. Thus, for the real performance, I will get rid of the counting money as it is too distracting and shallow in its movement and I will just sit there with a moody look to allow Rejoice, Matt and Yolanda to have the full attention of the audience during their singing parts. 

Another issue was how early Yolanda was when pulling me out of my seat to join the song. because of bad timing, her persuasion to get me out of my seat was too early in the song, so it just looked awkward and unprofessional in that awkward space between where we were supposed to do the sequence. And so, another note I will take from this is to go through the song with Yolanda to ensure that interaction is clean and perfectly timed. Furthermore, our choreography in the song had issues too, with all of us starting the dance at different times and with Matt forgetting the sequence altogether. The issue resides not in the difficulty of the movement piece, just in practice. And so as another feedback point we will rehearse that sequence repetitively until we learn it off by heart. 

When looking at "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two.", I will argue that this was actually decently performed. I would like to argue that my energy was good and my accent was of acceptable quality. However, one giant flaw that needs fixing is my forgetting the lyric "I recall he started small" in my 3rd verse, and instead I just awkwardly mumbled where the lyric should be. To ensure this does not happen on the night, I will focus on learning that 3rd verse and singing it repeatedly until I have absorbed the material fully. 

Hence, Oliver Twist does have some obvious flaws, but all in all, I will argue there is a strong foundation there and with devoted rehearsals to fixing these highlighted red flags, our group piece will be of great quality in time for the performance. 

Solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NukJOt-_fsI&feature=youtu.be

When reviewing my solo performance (10:03 - 17:44), I will argue that the performance was of a generally good quality with both strong strengths and flaws. I believe for example a strength of mine in this extract was my demonic characterisation of Sweeney. With the previously worked upon movement and facial expressions, combined with an overall feeling of insanity with the song, I felt that my characterisation for Sweeney Todd was of a good standard and did not require much tweaking. 

However, when focusing on my flaws, a flaw we had with "Pretty Women" was how unprepared Matt was. As he had to use hi sphone to check his lyrics, and we would struiggle to harmonsie in the song, the song itself is a flaw for us. Therefore, for "pretty Women" I will either assist Matt in learning the lyrics or find a replacement. Another flaw of mine was my incorrect timing of lyrics when I said "Pretty Women accidentally when I was meant to say "Stay Forever". As I got my lyrics confused, I will be sure to rehearse the song to myself to ensure I know the correct order of the lyrics.  

Aside from that, however, I believe that my singing in both songs was of good quality. It was clear and at a good rhythm. The only thing that I feel I need to work on is projection. At the start of "Pretty Women" when I say "And what may I do for you, sir? A stylish trimming of the hair? A soothing skin massage?" it is hard to hear in the camera which means the audience members at the back of the theatre will not have heard me. So in terms of voice, I will focus on projecting both my songs and dialogue. 

Unit 14 Logbook: 2/4/19

Group

With the date of performance tomorrow, our group spent the massive emphasis of today's rehearsal on running through our achieved material, ensuring it all sounded good. We also rehearsed our dialogue frequently to ensure we knew our lines thoroughly. When performing our songs, we agreed that "I'd do Anything" was almost ready, the only thing we needed to work on (and did) was energy. We focused on using more open body language and connecting with the roles to make the extract more entertaining. For Fagin's verses in "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two", I experimented with smiling broadly and being hyperbolic in my moments to create a more cheery and intriguing demeanour. I believe that this will be an effective, last-minute inclusion into our extract as it will ensure the extract we perform will fascinate the audience, allowing our capability as actors to flourish. 

For tomorrow, we just need to ensure the energy we gave this rehearsal is conveyed to the audience and that my Cockney accent is solid.

Solo

I had to replace Matt as Judge Turpin for my solo performance with Jack, this was because of the difficulty in learning the song and the delay it would cause of learning it tomorrow. With Jack, we were successful in immediately learning the song together and as a result, we could attempt staging out the song "Pretty Women", which will be a table and chair in the centre of the stage. When working on our use of voice in "Pretty Women", we harmonised on a low tener octave throughout the majority of the song, ending the song with a harmony where Jack sang a high note whilst I sang a tener. When listening to our singing of "Pretty Women", I will argue the duo voices worked extremely well and the subtle movements I had worked on 2 weeks prior worked very well with the song. 

In regards to "Epiphany", it still sounded and looked well made and with frequent practise today, I was confident that song was ready for next. One thing I did try today that I thought was effective was I sang the lyric "I want you bleeders" in the song in a completely different pitch, singing it in a strong baritone growl. I felt this was extremely effective as it was a very unsettling lyric as a result and would be effective in scaring the audience. Last final notes for my rehearsal process before tomorrow is to make sure my singing voice is not hindered by the shouting and growling I do to some of my lyrics. 

Unit 14 Logbook: 18-22nd March

Group

Progression on "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two"  was the focus of this week's rehearsals, learning the song confidently and forming a basis of choreography. When performing the song, the previous difficulty I had of upkeeping a Cockney accent whilst singing arose once again, so to combat this the class assisted me in coaching me through a Cockney accent and gave feedback on pitches, length of syllables and attitude to words to help not only give me a genuine Cockney accent but to make sure it sounded good as well. We planned a brief choreography with a simplistic element of acting our certain words. For example, for the line "Robin Hood, what a crook!", I will make an action similar to pulling a bow which is a reference to the charitable thief. I feel that whilst it wasn't too explorative in its choreography, it was an effective movement with a clear reference and was easy to learn considering the approaching performance. 

"I'd Do Anything" rehearsals were also extremely useful this week as we were successful in implementing some choreography into the song. This is implemented between the break between Oliver's lyrics to Fagin's, and consist of a synchronised clap, followed by a patting of our left leg on both angles, a waltz movement where we briefly engage in a dance and then moving around in a circular movement with locking arms. I really feel this particular use of choreography was extremely effective as not only was it simple to learn, it was a fun and explorative example of a movement which would assist in the pragmatics of family Nancy and Fagin do their best to promote. It was sounding good too, with the improvement in my Cockney accent assisting in the candour of my lines with my role. 

For next week, I need further work on my Fagin accent to solidify my familiarity with it, and we will focus more on making the two songs more entertaining to the audience. 

Solo

This week's rehearsals had another emphasis on "Pretty Women", regarding how in my opinion, that is my weak point. The song was still difficult for Matt to obtain, so I decided to focus more on the characterisation and subtle techniques we could use to let the audience understand the danger Judge Turpin is in and how tense the situation is in the song. I am going to make the situation more tense by using the unknowing Judge to my advantage, as whilst I am shaving the Judge I will make longing, creepy stares at him and frequently stop to look at my blade whilst singing. This is essential as the audience need to view Sweeney as a dangerous character, and this creepy manner of shaving will make the audience view Sweeney as demented and psychotic. I have also focused on timing my shaving strokes so that they occur in a rhythm, hence I will argue they are a subtle use of choreography and movement I have embedded into "Pretty Women."

Next week I will need to desperately ensure the lines to "Pretty Women" are learned by Matt so we can progress with developing the piece, and if this is not achievable, then find another last minute Judge who can fill in for the role. 

Unit 14 Logbook: 11-15th March 2019

Group

Our group decided this week that to fill the required 10 minutes of content for our group performance, alongside "I'd Do Anything", we would also perform the songs "You've Got To Pick A Pocket or Two" and "As Long As He Needs Me", a solo song sung by Nancy played by Rejoice.  We chose these two additional songs due to how "You've Got To Pick A Pocket" is sung by two of the characters we are playing (Fagin and Dodger) and so it would allow Yolanda and I to further explore our singing and have more chance to perform, and Rejoice's "As Long As He Needs Me" to also allow her to have more stage time and a better chunk of stage time. Not only this but "You've Got To Pick A Pocket or Two" we agreed would be a great song to embed some choreography in for movement marks and a great song to challenge me in my preparation for the 3rd April. 

However, the majority of the week revolved around "I'd Do Anything", as we attempted to finalise preparation for this song. When performing the songs, we would focus on primary characterisation, seeing how characters interact and how it flowed. As I interpret Fagin to have a moody, greedy personality I acted in an uncaring manner for the majority of the song, achieved by sighs, looks of boredom and crossing of arms. At the end of the song I smile and say my lines with a happy look of seriousness. I felt that this choice of attitude assisted in Fagin's characterisation as it established Fagin as an untrustworthy who had a sweet, caring side to him, which I think described Fagin's character perfectly. The song was sounding good, and after we establish a form of choreography to it, it will be ready to present to the public. 

Hence, my targets for next week's rehearsals are to brainstorm potential choreography ideas for "I'd Do Anything" and learn the lyrics to "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two" to begin staging and choreography next week.

Solo

My rehearsals this week revolved around both "Epiphany" and "Pretty Women", with today's focus on the characterisation and movement in both songs. Regarding "Epiphany", when singing it today I tried performing it with choreographical aspects, and I experimented with demonic curtseys and broadening of arms frequently when singing the song. The sideways curtsey I believe was extremely effective, as that combined with the previously worked on creepy facial expressions conveyed strong insanity and characterisation points for Sweeney Todd and created a psychotic aesthetic. The arms were good also I Thought, and I think they will  be extremely effective during the part of "Epiphany" where Sweeney invited members of the audience onto the stage to have their throats slashed as it creates a truly horrible welcome, which only adds to the themes of murder, loss and mental instability conveyed through Sweeney's character.

"Pretty Women" however was slower in progression, as the challenge arose of not only teaching Matt (who will play Judge Turpin) the song, but we realised singing "Pretty Women" together was going to be difficult as the duet between Judge Turpin and Sweeney Todd was extremely difficult and required many attempts. This week we were unsuccessful in creating a harmony to the song, so before we consider staging and choreography aspects in "Pretty Women", we must first work on achieving perfect harmony in the song.

And so, my targets for next week's rehearsals are focused primarily on "Pretty Women", finalising the song and ensuring the voice is superb and then later focus on the staging and movement. 

Unit 14: Weekly Logbook 4-8th March

Group

Regarding our group project for Unit 14, we have decided collectively as a group to change our group performance from Shrek: The Musical to Oliver Twist. The reason for this is because, after careful evaluation, we realised that the performance would be to difficult to pull off regarding costumes, and not only that the group argued how they weren't connecting to the script and our acting experience would not equip us effectively for the role. Oliver Twist was chosen as our group performance due to how it was one we could research extensively, had a huge list of previous performances to draw insight from, and had songs and choreography to provide a challenge but an attainable one. 

We decided that we would play the characters of Nancy, Fagin and Dodger (I would play the role of Fagin) and we would have a volunteer from the class play Oliver. The reason I chose not to play Oliver was because of his high tenor singing voice and childish characterisation, and as my skills reside in baritone singing, I decided the role of Fagin would be better suited to me. When deciding what songs we would choose to perform, we decided to focus on the one song "I'd Do Anything" for now and decide the others later. This song we chose due to its primary singing being done by the three characters we were playing, and we felt it was a good song to learn some characterisation and harmony too. 

We focused this week on learning the lyrics and rhythm of the song, and a personal challenge for me was not only to learn the songs but the accent of Fagin when he sings the song. His accent is Cockney, and after receptive attempts to try Cockney this week, I was unsuccessful. For future rehearsals regarding Oliver Twist, my primary target is to learn the Cockney accent to effectively convey the role of Fagin and to find additional extracts to perform for our group extract piece.  

Solo

This week, rehearsals for Sweeney Todd focused primarily on establishing a choreography for the role regarding "Epiphany". The choreography was going to to be a challenge for my solo performance as Sweeney Todd was extremely minimal in its choreography, and so to incorporate movement I would have to use strong movements associated with insanity with my character. This week I practised singing the song and focusing on my facial expressions. As Sweeney as a character is wounded so much he is now homicidal and insane, my choice of facial expressions is beady, wide eyes, a devilish broad grin and sudden head jerks. After frequent retrying, I decided that the facial expressions were good as they conveyed deep rooted insanity which would assist in the violence rife in "Epiphany".

When singing the song, a few issues regarding voice were raised. Key examples include my voice would shift in terms of accent, occasionally singing a lyric in an American accent accidentally, plus the ending high note Sweeney sings in his last lyric "And I'm full of joy" is one that is for the moment, unattainable for me as my voice squeaks at this. Therefore, for future rehearsals for Sweeney Todd, I will practise on broadening my pitches and work more on the choreography for Sweeny Todd and the physicalisation of the character.

Unit 14: Solo Performance Research

Chosen Musical: Sweeney Todd

Origin of the Play 

The musical of Sweeney Todd has stemmed from a long source of previous works of fiction based around the main character's story (more information about those later). The musical itself, however, was first performed in Broadway in 1979, and had over 500 performances in its one year and 3 months of being open to the public, and did very well after winning 8 Tony Awards. Since then, it has been performed numerous times in West End, Broadway and even further to locations like South Africa (2015).

However, when looking at the real origin of Sweeney Todd, the tale of the murderous barber first originated from a fictional "penny dreadful" serial called The String of Pearls. The plot of The String of Pearls revolves around the character Sweeney Todd, with strong differences to the adaptation I will be performing. In it, Sweeney Todd is similar to the modern adaptation as he is a barber who kills his clients and uses a specially designed barbers chair that allows him to effortlessly transport the corpses through a series of chutes to the bottom of St. Dunstan's church, where his friend, Mrs Lovett turns them into meat pies for her shop. What is different however is the penny dreadful series revolves primarily around a Lieutenant Thornhill, who is labelled disappearing after entering Todd's shop, causing a giant investigation that begins Todd's and Lovett's downfall.

Key Context To Infer From This

Penny Dreadful - It is vital to comment on the fact that the serial series Sweeney Todd is first introduced to an audience fits into the literary genre of Penny Dreadfuls. Contextually, Penny Dreadfuls were cheap yet popular literature, typically printed on inexpensive wood pulp paper and would often be released one chapter at a time, most often weekly. They were exclusive to the Victorian Era and were popular amongst young working-class men as the chapters were sold only for a penny. Additionally, Penny Dreadfuls like The String of Pearls as a genre were frequently gothic as a genre and were not afraid to explore distressing themes like murder, gore, and revenge.

How This Will Be Used In Developing My Role

The context of Penny Dreadfuls can be transferred in the genuinity of my role, in regards to how the genre is commonly stereotyped as being gory and murderous. Hence, the fact that The String of Pearls is enforcing this stereotype can help me as it allows me to understand the violent, unapologetic nature of Sweeney Todd as Penny Dreadfuls are unapologetically Gothic, and knowing that the character's intended literary purpose is to shock and thrill can help me in my presentation of Sweeney Todd as a character as he is meant to scare the audience deliberately and so I will use a deliberately disturbing aesthetic with his characterisation, being unapologetic about his taboo nature, as the original author intended. 

Setting 

Sweeney Todd is set in Victorian London, in particular, the year 1846. In addition, the play is primarily set on Fleet Street in London, where both Todd's barber shop and Lovett's pie shop is based. 

Key Context To Infer From This

Victorian London - A society that is recognised by the vast majority, and has been explored and represented in various works of literature from the era to help us understand the society.

Examples include:

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Hard Times - Charles Dickens

The Victorian society itself was a complex one with many layers, but generally, when people think of the Victorian society, they think of the corruption, poverty and strongly classist ideologies. The classism that would result in loads of working-class members living on streets and having a high death rate, alongside the power aristocratic Victorians possessed, are two juxtaposing issues that Sweeney Todd explores.

The aforementioned point is explored in Sweeney Todd's song "Epiphany", with the lyrics "Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief. For the rest of us, death will be a relief.". Here, he is talking about his desire to kill is validated by how the aristocratic were famous for being cruel towards the working class, and would often lie and commit crimes to upkeep their wealth and reputation, and how the working class should die also as they are so miserable with the state of their lives, that killing them will be him relieving them of their pain.

How This Will Be Used in Developing My Role

Todd's awareness of the corruption and cruelty of the society he lives in is essential in my performance of him in my extract, as he uses said corruption to justify his murderous behaviours. The fact that he argues this is verification to Mrs Lovett's raises the issue of Todd addressing the real villain: Victorian society. It was the power the evil Judge Turpin had as a result of him belonging to the aristocratic class that caused him to lose his family, and so in my performance, I must demonstrate to the audience that while Todd is evil, he is not the villain. I must also make the audience understand the horrors of Victorian London, so they view Todd as a character to empathise with, rather than despise, which is essential as his taboo habits stem from pain, not anger. 

Unit 14 Logbook - 5/2/19

With all members of my group present in today's lesson for our group musical showcase performance, the focus of today's lesson was deciding our group performance, and the extract from said musical. We decided as a group to ignore all our previous group ideas and go for a new idea, and we decided on Shrek: The Musical as our chosen play, where I will play the role of Shrek. The reasons we chose this play are listed below:

• The play was easy to pull out scenes from regarding how the musical follows primarily 3 main characters (Shrek, Fiona and Donkey) and there are 3 members in our group. This broadens our options of extracts to perform and makes the issue of being able to perform giant musical numbers that involve loads of backup dancers/singers, which others will face, moot. 
• The plays 3 primary characters each had distinguishable characteristic traits that work with each of our individual strengths as actors (For example, the character of Shrek is one who most people recognise as someone who has been prejudiced against by others his whole life and as a result has put on a tough farce to hide this pain, which is a similar idea I have explored in the development of Peter Pan and so allows previous skills to be transferable to said role)
• Shrek: The Musical is a relatively easy musical to uncover information about, with performance videos on the internet, alongside movie adaptations of Shrek to use as research around the role. 

Having decided the group performance, we then watched various clips of a professional production of Shrek: The Musical and have agreed to first explore the scene where Shrek rescues Fiona and the trio escape the dragon's castle and hike to Lord Farquaad's castle. Exploration and experimentation of this scene and other scenes will commence in future rehearsals. 

Further details regarding my character will be found on a separate document.