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.