Final Evaluation

Evaluation 

This term in theatre, we have been studying the diverse play, East end tales.We have used Physical theatre to express the lines and show the atmosphere and scenery, i have learned a lot about the East End and its background history also the faults and the secrets it hides. Using Physical theatre has been hard as we are taught that our voices are our instrument but here we have had to explore with our bodies and use of movement. It is also difficult to become comfortable with peers in a physical way because were used to talking and using dialogue to connect although here we've had to explore with more than our voices . This style of show is my favourite as i have learnt more about movement in theatre i have grown to love how it shows emotions. It also gives the audience a lot more to see and they have to watch to understand the detail and the story. East End tales was performed on the 5th of February, the staging was simple as the audience were sat on one side of the room so proscenium staging. Although we often spread around the room in different ways such as between each scene we all came together in a V shape and performed a small scene using simple movements that would be used in a taxi such as checking the mirror and changing gears.  We performed it in one of the larger theatre rooms. 

When the ensemble piece came together it was really effective and it ran smoothly. I believe using the sound scape made us work harder and more as a company of actors. Also by using multiple roles we had to work harder t make it clear for the audience to understand the change, each time we changed into a different role we made it obvious by using facial expression and fast movement. Having different roles can be confusing at times but also interesting as we aren't committed to one role therefore we have to think about how we present ourselves at all times i did this by changing levels of importance also adjusting character features such as the way i walked, stood and moved and changing the tone of my voice. At times i stayed in neutral therefore the audience understand and can focus on the performance rather than what each actor is doing. 

Using the scripts we had to think outside the box so we could make the scenes effective. Throughout the play we had to tell each story as a whole using movement and sound i like the idea of telling a story as it is like a book being performed i think we could of narrowed the text though. Using minimal set or props is interesting because it means using your imagination a lot i don't find that hard as growing up I've always used my imagination to play games so i prefer this. 

Changes of location is enjoyable and exciting as it means a change of body language and emotion which makes it fun as we have to be on edge and ready for change and pace. We developed our ideas by getting into our tale groups and reading through the tales and putting some ideas for how to perform it and who says what together we then built it up gradually verse after verse. For the scenes we are all in Miss Lee gave us an outline of what to do and we tried different things we also used exercises to add to the piece.    

Strengths 

The moments that worked best were when we got an idea in our tales and tried it and it worked as we felt that we were working our best when we did thing well and fast it also made us feel like we were achieving and moving somewhere. 

My favourite moment was when we all wrote our monologues and performed them. I think this because i felt we had all tried so hard to make something of our own and as we were allowed to pick what character we focused on made it enjoyable as the play has a lot of characters in it. I enjoyed listening to everyones as it gave me ideas for my scene and the play. I also liked sharing my own as i tried hard to put myself in the characters shoes and understand the world they live in. 
My favourite moment in the performance was the final part of the my scene as we were all together, we made it effective and sharp, we did this by using the sounds we produced with the bond of silent movement. These two effects helped give our piece the shock we needed and the anxious emotion to the audience. Furthermore using physical theatre we created a higher level and more complex piece rather than a simple literal piece.

The weakness of the play were gaps and parts that were hesitated also music changes sometimes paused the scenes and we weren't sure when the music was going to come on. As Poppy didn't come in two boys in the scene before us had to learn her lines and they forgot them a few times. 

I have developed my use of projection and articulation also the use of movement and how to physicalise words has been developed i believe i have learnt to create scenery and background by using my body and body language. I have learnt that acting isn't al about dialogue and it is effective to show emotions through movement. I think this term i have learnt a lot about learning lines and how to stick certain things in your head also how to keep time and that rehearsing is key. 

By Antonia Bogidi 

Research&History

The Play 

                                                               
         

Websites i used to research -

http://www.visitbricklane.org/#/brick-lane-market/4537676886

http://topyaps.com/top-10-interesting-facts-about-jack-the-ripper

http://www.timeout.com/london/shopping/londons-ten-best-thrift-stores

http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/465370-v-and-a-museum-of-childhood

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=12670

Throughout the unit we have been learning more about the East end which is interesting as we have to understand the background and scenery in which we are meant to be performing in. At the start of the play we got assigned to do some research about the East end above are some photos of what i did. I learned quite a lot about the East end and also realised i have visited a few places there such as the thrift shop which brings a lot of youth and urban culture to the East end. Brick lane Market also ties in with our play as i found out  it is a busy crowded, bubbly and excited area, this is what i believe comes across in the play and  the characters. 

East End Tales is a series of nine stories inspired by photos and news articles from local papers in east London.It was written as part of a Half Moon Young People’s Theatre Scriptworks project for Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets, London. The story ideas were developed by a group of Year 10 Bengali girls over a number of weeks through a mixture of improvisation and written exercises, under the guidance of co-tutors Julia voce and Fin Kennedy. Fin Kennedy then selected the best material, expanded it and wrote it up into a lyrical style. It was first performed on Saturday 15th May 2005 at half moon young peoples Theatre. Throughout the play We can see a variety of harsh stories ranging from drug abuse to domestic violence, loneliness and East End slang. By doing this research i have understood my character and tale much more as i get to know how to talk with more of a cockney accent and to act tough and bold as this is what is what East London comes across as. 

Text from the Play

 Extracts

Here are some extracts from Tale 6 which my group did. 

Photo 1- 
Here is a paragraph that included everyone, we used rhythm and repetition here. Me, Amaia and Logan sat down and Amaia started the beat of with the drums and the words 'I'm thinking, hoping, pleading praying' then logan joined followed by me. In centre stage was Gloria and Chris in our scene they played the two characters. They choreographed movement and taught it to 

the whole class. We did this to show the audience the busyness and loud sounds and movement in a bar we also wanted to show the relationship between the two main characters. 

Photo 2-
here is the start of the tale here we separated and joined the group at various points to outline the bar and the two characters. The start of our tale was me and Amaia on the floor we used movement and physical theatre to change the setting and show the bar. We used the space around a lot in these scenes we did this to change     

                    the atmosphere.


Photo 3- Here is where we finished our piece this is one of my favourite scenes as we all come together and use simple movement to express the lines which Amaia spoke. We also used the space here in a simple but effective way as we were all in a line.
The whole pub held there breath- we all looked up with our hands at our chests with a face of shock 
Pints frozen in mid air- Amaia pushed a drink forward to show a drink in mid air, the rest of us followed the movement of the drink. 
fag smoke hanging- We all wavered our arms much like smoke being blown around 
Pulses banging- here we imitated the movement of a heart beat as amaia hit her chest 

The next part we all came together in a huddle to show one big creature and made roaring sounds much like a tiger or lion we all turned to face the audience and began laughing we then used canon to go into the next line ' she looks like your fucking mum'. Even though this scene wasn't overly complicated i enjoyed it because it felt like a team effort and we all came together to make it work. 

Blog 7

Taxi group work- 

The work we have decided to do for the taxi scene really reflects east end tales and it rounds it up in a variety of sounds and movement. I work with louis, jake, Amaia, gloria and Ellis as a group i think we work well as we work together to make the peice flow and it looks effective as we are in time. Having each group run after each other shows the constant moving in the East end and shows our co operation and team work skills.

Tale 3 - 

This scene is us separated into small groups that each have there own jobs on a building site this is to portray the work in the east end and how gossip and news spreads this has taken a while to get together as it is quite packed but it now looks interesting and we move as a whole. This will be effective for the audience as they will get a real glance of the working parts of the east end. 

The play has come together nicely and we are now working as a whole to make the performance shine. 

Not present 5th feb

was not present for lat lesson so hw 6 can not be completed

Blog 6

On Monday we started of in room 415 with everyone so we could register and talk about the upcoming plays, in the common ground season . I am going to see blue skies which is a physical play about mental health in young teenagers I'm also going to see spring awakening. 

Next we found out we were going to start doing exercises as a whole group. We started of with breathing skills to help with projection and how to control our speech and how fast we can say things or slow. We started with inhaling for 4 seconds then exhaling, this helps us become calm and tranquil so we can concentrate easily. 
Then we walked around in neutral and began going faster, slowly we changed how we moved and used sharp movements and turns to get around without bumping into each other or stopping this is related to East end tales because in the east end in rush hours everyone is moving at a fast pace trying to get places. After doing this we had to make a connection with someone through eye contact then we moved onto using our bodies for example- i made eye contact with daniel then we touch hands and changed our level by going to the ground. Once we had done this we moved to the walls and there was a square in the middle of the room which we used as our space. One by one someone had to move into the square using an action related to East end tales we then formed a whole square of different movement and characters, i chose to incorporate my scene by imagining i was in a pub with a glass in my hand falling over. After individually working on our action we had to make contact with someone else using speech or movement. We then used 1 sound to add onto it. 

After this exercise we split up again into separate rooms. The next task was to create the prologue so miss Lee got 4 people up to make a diamond shape. The person at the front was told to walk forward once they had done this they turned and a new leader began walking. They then added movement of there choice. Once they had done this twice round 4 more people added on and we kept adding until the hold class was in the diamond. We then changed the movement with things that a taxi driver would do because this is the prologue scene. After working as a whole class we split into mini groups of 5 and got a verse each to work on. This is how we are going to start the play. 

Next we got our target sheets for what we wanted to achieve by the end of working on our tales. i put 
- To of gotten through a big chunk of the tale as we have lots to do we will do this by moving at a fast pace and not repeating what we've done. 
- We will share all our ideas and put them together, we will do this by working as a group and not saying NO! 
- We will understand our physical side of the tale and make sure all the movement looks clear and neat, we will do this by learning our lines so we are able to work on movement 

When we finished this we started developing our tales, my group had a few difficulties but we got a lot done.

homework 5

Girls - what decisions did you make when staging Tale 2? 
We made the decision to become what we were doing such as when we say 'a man maybe younger' we get a drink go to drink it and chuck it away this is interesting because it shows a different perspective in an unusual way. We also decide to be talking at the start almost like a sleepover so the audience can see the contrast 


what is working well?  Needs Improving?
WW- we make snappy ideas and try them out, we don't block each others and we try to put them all together, we also work well together and our formations looks good 
NI- some people don't contribute, whether thats because there are strong voices or because they don't want to everyone needs to say there opinion. We also need to make it go smoothly and in time 
When working on your group tale - what section did you focus on next?
We focused on the characters description next, what they looked liked and how to present the two characters without over physicalising it


How are you communicating it in Physical Theatre style?
We are communicating it by picking out key ideas and in places we can use them we do, we also use emotions and the mind to physicalise it e.g- when we need to describe a character we use our body to instead of just saying it 


How are you delivering the lines?
we are delivering the lines in chunks or separate lines at different points and scenes 


What ideas do you have for staging the rest of your tale?
My ideas are to have someone narrating it really clearly showing the picture in the head and someone acting it out in certain ways with no speech just physically