Pros and cons of higher education Pros
By going into higher education you develop and enhance your skills as you do as you go through education. One of the key skills that you should come out with when you leave Higher Education is Time Management; especially if you are balancing a personal life, HE life and part-time work. Time Management is key and these skills should have developed from secondary school all the way to Higher Education.While getting your degree you will put these skills into practice and after graduating you can use these skills in further employment. Time management is slightly different between university and drama school but it is still the same principals.For example knowing how to set a timetable, meet deadlines as well as staying healthy.
Another Pro of attending Higher education is that it increases your earning potential as you may get some workplaces which won't accept your application if you don’t have a degree. I had a brief interview with Michelle Duberry who previously worked at Google headquarters. She mentioned that “You won't be able to get a job at Google unless you have a degree, your degree could be in fashion and you could get hired to be an engineer manager as long as you have one you past the first stage.” But I dont believe this is the case anymore as after researching I came across the glass-door website where they mentioned on August 14th 2018 that workplaces such as Google and Bank Of America “ do not require a college diploma for some of their top jobs.” This makes me question people who dream to work in these type of business won’t bother to go to higher education to get a degree because now it is no longer a necessity.
One major factor to going to higher education is to network; meet new friends especially people who want to work in the same field as you. There are a few stories about actors who went to drama school or even university together. For example, Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke who both starred in Black Panther, they both attending Yale drama university together. In fact, Lupita Nyong’o showed Winston Duke around the Yale campus and both watched a Marvel film together, not knowing they would star in the next one together. Another example of this is Taraji P. Henson and Anthony Anderson both attended Howard University together even though they have only been in one film together which was hustle and flow in 2005 they are quite familiar with each other work. Even if you might not be the next Hollywood stars together in a marvel. Working with each other for 3-4 years you begin to understand each other weaknesses and strengths even though you have to work with each other professionally you may begin to make true friendships with people who you would like to work with in the future this might be creating your own work such as film and theatre scripts or creating a drama company together.
One of the vital experiences by going to higher education is gaining experience by living by yourself. If you didn't go to any kind of boarding school attending higher education might be the first actual experience with living by yourself. This may be very daunting at first but this will become handy when you leave higher education as now you will have key skills when moving out on your own. This links in with time management after you going to your lecture your responsible to do your work in your own time. On the other hand drama schools in London are not residential so you would have to live at home or if you live really far from the drama school you attend to then you would have to find accommodation for yourself. Which means you might consider getting a job to pay for where your living.
Lastly, a pro to going to higher education is getting a degree at the end of it. This is quite obvious but this is a major achievement in life especially knowing that all that hard work has not gone to waste and you have finally graduated. Only accredited drama schools such as Mountview and Italia Conti you will get a degree but then it’s up to your personal opinion whether you would like to get a degree out of the end of your training or you only want to attend drama school for the learning.
On the other hand of the argument higher education is very expensive with Britain being number nine in the ranking of “The 11 most expensive countries for a university education” On an average tuition is £9,000 per year, this could be higher or lower depending on what course you do and what institution you go to. But this debt can be very off-putting to some people as they may not want to attend higher education because of this. Yes, there are finicial aid’s and scholarships to help people to not be discouraged but like many things, there is a huge amount of requirements. For example, “open door” which is a “ non-profit organisation that helps talented young people who do not have the financial support or resources to gain a place at one of the UK’s leading drama schools.” One of there requirements is that you have to be 18-25. This seems a bit odd as you generally you apply to drama school when you are 17 turning 18; unless you took a gap year or stayed an extra year at college or sixth form. So I would not be able to get to apply to open door because of this. Other financial aids and scholarships are not accessible with people whose parents earn above a certain salary even though higher education tuition is still a lot.
A large number of actors did not attend any type of higher education and still became successful. According to IMDB famous actors such as Tom Cruise who is known for films such as mission impossible and rain didn't attend drama school his first appearance was a bit part in the 1981 film Endless Love. This was then followed by a major supporting role in the film taps. 15 years later he starred in the film mission imposssible which he produced. Cameron Diaz is another actor known for charlie’s angels and Shrek, did not go to a drama school. in fact Cameron Diaz did start her career in the same field as Diaz signed a modelling contract with Elite Model Management at age 16 and appeared in advertisements for Calvin Klein and Levi's. When she was 21 Diaz auditioned for the jazz singer but got the lead role instead after being cast she started to take acting classes immediately. Some people do believe quite strongly that attending drama school is a waste of time for example Paul Roseby told a “told a conference that most actors wouldn't benefit from three years of vocational training and would be better served with more focus on how to sell themselves in the industry.” He recommends that you train every once in a while and three years training is pointless. He goes on by saying “You don't need to learn how to act, you need to learn how to sell yourself. You can either act or you can't." This was quite hard-hitting for people as they believe that acting just like riding a bike can be taught, with practice you can get better and if you dont practice it you will lose the skill.
To conclude I do believe drama school is essential to receive the fundamentals skills to become a great actor. You can imagine it in a way as if your acting career is a wall that needs painting and drama school is a toolbox of different brushes after the 3-4 years you can decide with brushes you need and dont need. But you would have never known the right ones for you if you dont attend drama school. As there is only so much you can learn on set.
What is the future of theatre within the context of new technologies?
Technology affects everything films, music and books but what if the aspects of theatre where you sit down and watch a play, only using your eyes to visualise and interpret the story drastically change.
Virtual Reality
Elements of virtual reality have been around since the 1860s (,"How did virtual reality begin?". Virtual Reality Society.) but only recently it has become extremely popular. Practitioners such as Brecht never wanted people to just “attend” the theatre watch a play and leave, he despised the idea of naturalistic theatre, which greatly ties in with virtual reality. I have had the privilege of incorporating virtual reality and live theatre, which at the start we told the audience to watch a clip through their phones which was used virtual reality after this we performed our live theatre. I think they really enjoyed this new aspect of theatre, especially how it’s nothing they have seen before. They began to ask us how the process was for us because the normal procedure for theatre work is auditions, rehearsals, tech and then performance. But ours was slightly different as it was rehearsals for the virtual reality performance than performance. Rehearsals for the live performance than performance again. What if virtual reality was included in all performances,? What if people sat down and watched a whole theatre performance with virtual reality goggles on. I believe this can have a positive and negative aspect. The positive side may include that people who are not able to fully experience reality, could explore the Virtual World and still experience a full life. Another positivity may be that virtual reality gives a chance to experience things that are impossible in real life as if you were actually there, for example, fighting zombies or standing in a war field. On the other hand, a negative factor could be that the price of watching a theatre show could increase because of the new use of virtual reality, which means that some people will no longer be able to attend the theatre. In addition to this the fast-paced development of Virtual Reality, there is a lack of laws regarding these worlds. People can say and do things in these worlds that are illegal in reality. Lastly many people may become over-addicted to living in these virtual worlds, and as a result, forget or neglect their responsibilities in real life. (Brown, January 4th 2019) In conclusion, I do think that virtual reality would be a great way to move theatre into the future even though the negative aspects could be drastic. I still think that this is a great way to put together technology and theatre.
Traditionally mobile phones have been an absolute no-no in the world of theatre. People see the theatre as a place where you step out of reality and be in the world of the play. But what will happen if mobile phones could be added to enhance performances? I have watched a performance which was called the believers are but brothers at the Bush theatre (Alipoor, 13th January 2019) where we were all added to a WhatsApp group chat and we were told to put our notifications on loud in which we were able to text and the actor on the stage was telling us 3 stories and parts of the story he himself wrote in the group. This also has positive and negative factors. The positivity may be that we are connecting what we use in our everyday life with something that can be seen as a luxury to some people. In addition to this because of people concentration span is getting less this may help with how people can watch a show without getting bored and frustrated with unable to stay focus. On the other hand a negative side could be that people lose the spark of a theatre performance they will no longer be focusing on enjoying the show they will be looking at their phones instead, because they told us to turn our notifications on people who get a large number of notifications their phone will be making a large amount of noise which may be irritating to the other audience member and could also put off the actor when he is telling the story. Lastly, a negative aspect that you have to consider when putting together mobile phones and theatre, is that what if some of the audience members don’t have a mobile phone that is not compatible with WhatsApp or an app that you are trying to connect them with or they don’t have a mobile phone at all. This means that they will not be able to be involved and they might feel that they are not enjoying the performance and much as they could be. So how does the production team make the show so that people who can’t or don’t want to use their phones can still feel that they are involved? In conclusion, mobile phones should not be used in the theatre only because I think it takes away from the joy of sitting back watching a performance and not worrying about anything for roughly an hour. If all performances suddenly started using mobile phones then it wouldn’t be surprising if the actors found that they had to start fighting to get the audience’s attention this could lose the flavour of a good performance.
3. Alipoor, J. ‘The believers are but brothers,” Bush theatre,2017, Retrieved 13th January 2019.
The purpose of headphone is to concentrate a quiet and private sound in the ear of the listener. A lot of people associate headphones with having alone time and being isolated, which is a total contrast to why people go to the theatre, people generally go to the theatre to enjoy entertainment while spending time with people even though silence is necessary when watching a play except for pantomimes and musicals. But what if every time you sat down in the theatre they were headphones in which you listened to the actors. In 2016 I watched a show in the Barbican called the encounter (Barbican, 13 January 2019) whereas we sat “down there were headphones provided in which we watch a one-man show where he talked about a travel story to the rainforest. The binaural technology was extremely effective especially when an aeroplane goes overhead. You can hear the roar moves across the space above you, and when the actor whispered into the microphone on stage it sounded, as he was only 2cm away from you. This binaural technology does have positives and negatives as well as anything else. The positive factors include sound quality of headphones, when going to the theatre the back seats are usually not as good as the front seats but with using headphones during performances everyone sound quality will be the exactly the same. Another positive element would be that there will be no distractions from other audience members while you're in the theatre as the headphones will make you feel like your by yourself listening to this story. On the other hand, negative factors may include that this new technology will hinder people with hearing impairments, for example, people with hearing aids or deaf. This is not practical for the near future because if all theatres started having binaural technology this means that they will no longer be able to go to the theatre. Another negativity will be health and safety of using headphones, depending on the headphones that will be used the ones that are directly inserted into your ear canal could increase your chances of hearing the loss in addition to this, apart from the fact that the theatre should be changing the headphones after each show. There might be an increase of bacterial infections from people sharing headphones especially inner ear. Another positive aspect is the Language barrier, a wide range people with a wide range of languages can enjoy the same piece of theatre without being annoyed that they can’t join it as much because they don’t know the language. This does have a negative side effect because they would need to get a wide range of language stored into the database but what a person comes to the theatre but they don’t have their language stored. Lastly how many languages will be stored? And how much will this cost? In conclusion, I don’t think binaural technology will be effective in the future because after my research it seems that there are more disadvantages that advantage of dealing with headphones and theatre.
Holography goes back all the way to 1947 when a British (native of Hungary) scientist Dennis Gabor. A hologram is a physical structure that refracts light into an image. A holographic image can be seen by looking into an illuminated holographic print or by shining a laser through a hologram and projecting the image onto a screen. I haven’t seen a hologram personally but I did read an article in which in 2012 at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival the deceased rapper Tupac Shakur performed through a holographic form. 2 years later at the Billboard music awards, Michael Jackson performed through Hologram. Holograms are mainly used to test different materials used in constructions but If this is possible just from a music festival then how can holograms enhance the world of theatre. As always there will be pros and cons. One pro is that is will be cost effective you will no need a full cast of actors that you will need to pay from each show instead you can replay the same hologram clip which will be one price in addition to this you won’t need to worry about people not being able to make the show as the hologram is much more reliable. Another pro is that there is greater control, with Holograms if you wanted your set to look a certain way and you want to see how it will look in a more precise way you can really visualise it other than a cardboard and wood version. You can also change things without making a whole new copy. The cons of using holograms in theatre are that it requires expensive technology which means to make up for the cost the prices for theatre tickets which may disappoint some people as they will no longer be able to afford. Lastly, another con is that Holograms can only reflect properly of certain lighting so if there is something else going on in the scene where there is a huge amount of lighting then the Hologram won’t be as effect. This means that you won’t be able to watch a full length show that was just Holograms unless you only had one lighting. (Wakim, 13th January 2019)
To conclude the future of technology and theatre is changing, but I do believe the changes in theatre are slower compared to technology changes in other fields.
Emotion Memory-
Linking real life events to the events that your "playing" in the scene. I found emotion memory useful throughout my performance and it helps me live in my characters, for example when I am acting in An Christmas Carol playing the chairwoman scene even though I can't link to that character especially I think about a certain aspect of the Chairwoman that I can to link to my life and run with that so I think about a time I was looking through people things or being selfish. After getting this emotion memory I will use this to portray these feeling into this scene. (1)
Vocal Projection-
Speaking not shouting, to the character as well as the audience. But do it in a way that the back of the audience ( the cheap seats) can hear you clearly, without thinking your shouting at them. As I am near the end of the play, I need to grab their attention straight away by using my voice as a microphone to grab their audience. To increase my loudness I start to control my diaphragm, intensively. For this, I use a good diaphragmatic breathing technique throughout.
Understanding Character-
When working on a piece of drama, you have to ask the question to yourself to really know your character and become one with your character. These questions can include...
1. Who am I?
2. Where am I?
3. When is it?
4. Where have I just come from?
5. What do I want?
6. Why do I want it?
7. Why do I want it now?
8. What will happen if I don't get it now?
9. How will I get what I want by doing what?
10. What must I overcome?
Even though I play 2 characters, I still need to know who I am really am in depth. So my first character I play is the Chairwomen who is a maid and cook who lives with Scrooge. Thinking about my character I feel like I have just come from Scrooges' house trying to scrape up any last extra things I can get some money for, I made a backstory for myself in which I use to be homeless and Scrooge, when he was kinder, decided to take me in and work for him. Over the years he has gotten meaner and because I dont have anywhere to go I just stayed.
1. My name is Katherine but everyone calls me Kate of just Chairwomen
2. I live in the dirty rough side of east London locally known as Whitechapel
3. The year is 1843
4. I have just come from my late boss Scrooge's home which I hope would be mine soon
5. I want to make a large sum of money whatever means necessary. Dont care how I make it I just want to make it.
6. I have always been poor, treated badly, so I do believe I should receive some justice in my life
7. All my life I have been known as the poor child, There was a lot of children in my family we were all sick a lot of the time. I just wanted something better for myself, for my family.
8. I will be out of the street again which is what I dont.
9. Since Scrooge is dead, I cleaned his house for 20 years + and I know he had a fortune God knows he did. So instead of him be buried with all this money and jewels, I thought it would be a better idea if I took it to Old Joe
10. Even though I have worked with him for 20+years I dont actually know how much all of this is worthed, everyone says he has money but how much money does he actually have. Because the average bear has more money than me.
My other character is the solicitor, so for me to understand the character more and not just read lines of a page, I need to ask myself questions as if I am hot-seating myself to get a deeper insight about who I am.
1. My name is Cornelius Richardson
2. I am in the hear of Camden
3. It is the year 1843
4. I have just come from the Taylor's family who have given me a large donation
5. I just want to go home spend the rest of Christmas day with my family
6. It's Christmas day, I don't usually work on the holidays but I love meeting people who want to give me donations
7. I dont get to see my family much even though I love spending time with them so today shall and will be extra special.
8. I will be incredibly angry, I should be used to it but it still hurts me that I dont get to see my family that much.
9. If I say merry christmas that I see I do believe that my journey home will be quicker and more joyful
10. I dont want to see Mr Scrooge I try every year to ask him for money and every year he tells me "NO" and because I dont want my mood spoiled I rather not see him
Stage presence-
Being able to create a certain charisma and charm, that I, an actor possess which also draws in the audience and commands their full attention. The audience are generally fully attended during the start and remember the end the most. As I am near the end of the play, I need to make sure I keep the audience attentive all the time when I am speaking. I can use a few techniques to do this such as, raise in my voice, taking a pregnant pause, emphasising on certain words.
Engagement with audience - Engaging with the audience is crucial throughout the performance, just to feel a certain connection with the audience thinking about my character when I am in the scene and not talking I could mime or use actual props to look at the items that I have brought to Old Joe. When Old Joe is talking to the laundress about the money he is giving her I could try to take some of her money or look through her bundle and see the clothes that she had. The reaction I would like from the audience is Laughter.
Stage awareness-
Being aware of the stage around me and using the stage space wisely. I have came up with a tip in which whenever I change the space when I am re-hearsing my voice stays the same. So if i am in the theatre or the drama studio my voice can still be heard from the back of the room. I do this for 2 reasons. 1. It is easier for me to make my voice quieter than louder. 2. The louder people speak the more confident they sound, usually when people whisper it shows alack of confidence. So sub-consciencely I am speaking confidently just by speaking louder. We have decided to remove the theatre seats and have normal chairs. As this is a musical so we have dancers and singers this gives the dancers more space to move and also this gives us a chance to walk through the audience, for example, Marley character who is known to be very spooky of every adaptation of Christmas Carol. As a group, we decided that he should come from the audience to scare the audience members.
Articulation-
Articulating my words so that my words do not just sound like one big mumble and the audience can connect with the words. When we talk with our friends we dont over articulate per word. But to act a character that is not ourselves we need to over articulate, so the whole audience can hear and understand my words clearly. Warm-ups to help with my articulation is doing tongue twisters such as "Unique- New York" really over pronouncing the U'S, N'S and Y'S another tongue twister is " sea, sells, sea shells on the sea shore" again really over pronouncing the S's and making sure I am saying the correct words and make sure I'm not making up words such as seahells. Longer tongue twisters work as I am saying a paragraph, so I should get use to being able to articulate for a longer amount of time
Characters Actions-
A quick activity we did in class to get to know our characters was to pick 3 motions our characters by ourselves and repeat them. My 3 actions were
1. Sneaking through corridors
2. picking up money from the floor
3. counting my pennies and grinning
These 3 actions told me about my character that I am a very sneaking and nosey person. If I was compared to an animal I think I would be compared to a Zebra, because I blend in with society but when time to run and escape I will and leave everyone behind. (2) I'm not ashamed to pick up money from the floor as long as it will help me to be richer in the long run. (3) Every little penny I earn makes me a bit richer even if I have to do dirty work such as stealing and lying
We watched the 1951 black and white of An Christmas Carol. It was very different as I have only seen An Christmas Carol portrayed through cartoon and animation to entertain a younger crowd. Comparing the three versions that I have watched I do believe that there now watched I do believe that there was more humour in the animated version of maybe there was just humour that I understood since the adaptations were written from my era. In addition to this, there were characters that I have not seen mentioned before, for example, the undertaker which was actually a humorous character as he was waiting for people to die and call it "waiting for business". After watching the film we made a synopsis to help us understand the film better, this was important as got to see how much we remembered as well as what we thought was the most important scenes of the story.
Timeline
We made a timeline so we can stick to a structure. This also helps so when we are stuck in what to do on a day we can look at the timetable and see where we are and where we need to be. This also helps us to get organised.
September
- casting is done
-start learning lines and songs
October
-Looking at creating choreography
-Ideally off book (+ songs)
-Rehearsing
-Choreography mainly learnt
-Off book by end of Oct - Latest
November
-Choreography learnt
-Costumes
-Practice Choreography with costumes
-Rehearsing
-Lighting
December
-Tech + dress rehearsals
13th + 14th December = Performance
Tableau
Once we discussed the film we made a Tableau that summed up the main themes of the story. My group believed that redemption was a big factor in the story so we decided to show redemption. We did it in the same way of March of progress.
showing Scrooge from the start of the story from when he is greedy and we believed that is the lowest point of his life than the three figures in the middle represent the three ghosts visiting him throughout the night and the last figure represents how Scrooge is at the end of the story. After this we made a 5 minute summary of the story, we decided to make a musical using songs and short choreography to show the story of An Christmas Carol.
We started the musical with Christmas caroler singing (Chris Brown -This Christmas) this was disrupted when Scrooge says "Bah Humbug". The next scene was Scrooge sitting in his room where Marley comes to visit and tells him to change we showed this scene by the song (Micheal Jackson - Man In The Mirror), The scene moved on swiftly to the scene of Fezziwig where Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his old workplace where they are having a party for this scene we used the song (Drake and Blockboy- Look Alive). The scene froze to where Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge the Cratchit family through the song of (Annie- It's a hard knock life). The last Ghost is now shown through movement and music using very abstract movements to portray the children ignorance and want through the song (). We wanted to show a scene that we thought was comedic so we decided to show the scene where they were selling off Scrooges clothes and bed curtains after he had died we believed the song (-Santa Baby) really fit into this scene. Lastly, the last incorporated the Tableau that we made earlier that day to show how Scrooge has changed throughout the story and jolly and giddy he is now
We decided to start the show with a tableau to show the events that happen throughout Scrooge's a somewhat flashback before the show. The whole cast is involved in the tableu showing variety scenes through picture around the stage. I think its really powerful that Scrooge is dead at the front and all his life experience are behind him. This reminds of the idea that your life flashes before your eyes when you die. So it's like we tell the story of Scrooge through a whole flashback.
We added another tableau at the start of a party scene of the Fezziwig scene. We decided to do victorian style dance to emphasise that this is in the past. Also, we wanted to stick to the victorian style.
THEMES
In class, we wrote down what were the obvious themes of Christmas Carol and came up with this.
After writing the themes down I decided to develop the themes further and see what I could find out more about the characters and how this could help with portraying these characters in the musical.
Compassion and forgiveness
In A Christmas Carol, compassion is the main source of kindness and generosity. Scrooge gets contrasted a lot between those people who are willing to feel pity towards him for example (his ex-fiancée, his nephew, his clerk). By the end, Scrooge then reaches deep inside himself and finds a whole bunch of empathy that's he's been repressing, and he's flooded with nothing but good vibes toward those around him. After that, he transforms into a person who can put himself into the shoes of others, and even forgive them for their misdeeds. In other words, he's now one of the people who are emotionally best equipped to live life.
I believe Cratchit feels pity for Scrooge because he sees the good in him. Even though Cratchit has never seen Scrooge as a good person like the way Fezziwig and Belle saw him. But Cratchit believes that it is good for everyone and he is determined to bring out the best in Scrooge. Cratchit never even disrespected Scrooge even when everyone else for example when the Cratchit's was having Christmas dinner he thanked Scrooge for the meal and everyone was dismissive of his comment. But Cratchit doesn't take no mind to their comments.
I believe Fred feels pity for Scrooge because he knows why Scrooge despises him. I believe he knows that Scrooge's mother died during childbirth and that's the reason why Scrooge father wasn't keen on Scrooge and sent him away to a boarding school. Because Fred's mother died in the same way subconsciously Scrooge is treating Fred the same way he was treated maybe because Scrooge looks at Fred and he looks like Fann so much which makes him miss his sister even more. This could also mean that Scrooge looked like his mother so much that Scrooge's father had to send him away in addition to this that he may have had anger issues, because of this I think Scrooge does hold a grudge towards Fred which is later gone by the end of the play.
Forgiveness and compassion are pretty important aspects of Christian belief. If the novella took a religious approach I do believe the three ghosts would have said someone along the lines that if Scrooge did not change then he would not go to heaven. But instead, the ghost's were letting Scrooge know that he should change because it's the right thing to do. There is a small religious aspect when the ghost takes Scrooge to go see and Scrooge watched Bob Cratchit talk about how he took Tiny Tim to church. I wondered why the other family members didn't attend church I started to think maybe it was because they were not really religious and Bob Cratchit took Tiny Tim because he is crippled and doesn't have left long to live.
Another factor I thought about was what if Scrooge didn't come around what if he decided that he could never change and his too old to do so. Because Marley warned Scrooge about changing and that if he did not then he would be like him and walk the earth with chains. So I think if Scrooge did not change then he would have died the way ghost of Christmas yet to come showed and Tiny Tim would have died also.
Isolation
Scrooge purposely neglects the feelings and needs of others. His isolation is not only physical but a mental state. Scrooge's isolation is shown straight from the start of the novella while everyone is setting the scene of happiness and enjoying the Christmas time. Scrooge enters with a negative vibe which makes the other people unease and frightened of his presence. I believe when Scrooge and Marley both idolised money they both became the misfits of the town. Dickens makes it very clear to us that Scrooge cares only about making money and doesn’t have any friends. Scrooge was the only person directly affected by Marley’s death but hasn’t let this upset him at all.
I think Dickens gives Scrooge a family member to show him that there is someone in his family that does care about him and that is also living. In addition to this it emphasis Scrooge's lack of inhumanity towards others as its one thing to dislike other people but it's another thing to not like your own family. If Fred was not in the story you wouldn't see the contrast of how he treats his family before and after and we also wouldn't realize that his actions reflected his fathers.
It's weird to see that Scrooge chooses books at work rather than people for company during the lonely Christmas time. This resembles Scrooge's childhood where he spent times by himself not engaging with the other boys as much as you would think. This changes my perception of him as now I feel sorrow for Scrooge because he has always been alone even as a little boy, he didn't have much family that loved him so I not surprised he pushes Fred away the way he does and also at the start he doesn't feel compassion for the Cratchit family because he doesn't understand the love of a family and just enjoying their company. Only until the end, he understands the love of family when he decided to go to Fred's house on Christmas day.
Context GHOST
In the 19th century, Christmas eve was the time to tell scary ghostly stories. In the victorian era ghost genre was mainly fiction, stage and photographys. Charles Dickens produced his own hisghly successful ghost story ( A Christmas Carol) in serial form just before christmas 1843. This was the same year the first commercial produced christmas card . The popularity of ghost stories was strongly related to economic changes. The industrail revolution had people migrating from rural villages into towns and cities (new middle class) They moved into houses that ofte had servants . when it became late at night in a completly strange house people started to see things everywhere, jumping out every creak. In addition to this servants being around the house 24/7, they were only allowed to be seen not heard, sometimes not ever seen. This means taht could get quite creepy to the people living in the house during the time as they will hear things but not seeing anyone doing the actions.
Poor Law
The poor law was an act for the relief of the poor in 1601. The poor law has two name The Elizabethan poor law and the old poor law. The act was passed in 1601 and it created a poor law system for English and Wales. it provided relief for the aged, sick and infant poor as well as work for the able-bodied in workhouses.
Areas
During the Victorian era, they was a huge divide in the wealthier and poorer houses. I noticed that some areas was were only upper class and richer people lived which is the same to how it is now but I began to question whether some of the areas where rich people lived back in the Victorian era is now full with poorer people in the 21st century. While researching I found out that a large majority of poor people lived in the east end, during the victorian era the poorer areas was called slums and the bigger slums were in places such as Whitechapel, Bethnal green, spitafields and Old Nichol (which is in between shoreditch and Hackney). Knowing that Whitechapel use to be a slum really suprised me as it is now a quite expensive place to live. Slums in London was often called "darkest london" and Whitechapel was the hub of Victorian East end, in the mid 18th century some of the area began to deteriorate and by the late 18th century it became extremely overcrowded and crime infested. Taking this information I can use this to enhance my character as I would have lived in a place that was quite similar to Whitechapel if not Whitechapel itself so I began to think how could I use this to enhance the way my character walks and talks. As well as any gestures that I may have. I believe that I may walk very sneakily with my back hunched over and my tempo or speed might changed every now from slow to fast. The way I talk would have a lot of slang in the dialect as If I grew up in these slum places education was not much of an option so I would have had to learn everything from people around me who would also not have had a choice to go to school. Then I also thought that I work for Mr Scrooge so the way I carry myself and interact with my family must be totally different to the way I interact with Mr Scrooge.
Acting Techniques
Hot Seating
Today we decided to do a bit of Hot seating to help us to get to know our characters more. Firstly we started off moving like our characters, how they move and any gestures. Then we started building our gestures from 1-10. This helps so when we get on stage we can walk on stage like our characters instead of walking like ourselves saying our lines and then walking off. Being an actor this is not good actor etiquette which should be broken, so by doing these walking exercise, it will break these habits. After this, we thought about a word that sums up and characters along with a gesture and put these two together. Lastly, we did Hot seating where everyone took turns and we asked the question in their characters. We did this for two reasons, one to find out more about characters and two so they can find out more about their characters.
Fred
- Feels neutral about Scrooge, he's a good man
- Past-times - Playing golf with children b
-Children:2 (Lenny and George)
-Occupation- Museum
-Past Occupation- Work Houses
-Education: Oxford
- He was 6/7 when mother died
-Wish he didn't drink alcohol as much
-Regrets his marriage
-Mid 20's when married
-Met his wife at Scrooge's wedding
Bob Cratchit
- Past-times: Work and with family
-Feels guilty for Tiny-Tim's
-Attends church quite regularly
-Doesn't feel guilty for the number of children he has
-Does believe Scrooge has the potential to change
-If you could go back in time what would you change? Nothing
-Argues a lot with his wife about Scrooge
Favourite colour: blue
Favourite meal: Steak and potatoes
Christianity: faithfulness is not as strict, not a committed as he wants to be
Favourite part about Christmas: seeing children open gifts
What type of gifts:? If not anything, play games "They Christmas spirit is their Christmas gift"
"Christmas is the best time to be holy"
Fezzwig
-Relationship status: Married 10 years
-Do you believe in God: NO
-Occupation: Manager (20 years) - use to be an apprentice
-Guilty pleasure: Drink, likes to get rowdy with wife
-Likes Christmas just to be happy and throws a party
-Have you ever hit rock bottom: Had a rough patch with wife
Favourite meal: Roast beef
Children?: No, see's apprentice's as children
Money is important to happiness
Young Scrooge
-Age-23
-How do you feel about Fezzwig- Good chap, very good to me
-Religious- Not religious, a man of science
-Going through things with belle but will get through things
-Guilty pleasure: If I like the food I will put it in a container
-Takes pride in appearance
-Favourite food- seafood, steak
-Health or Money? - Wealth
William Smith (Mr Lucky)
Religious - God/Heaven
How did you get the name Mr Lucky- I use to work with the poor children and I had the slogan "it's your lucky day"
Did you have a rough childhood? - I had a quite fortunate childhood, father was a working man
Interest in storytelling- Yes, it made me feel good
"Not always about working hard"
guilty pleasures- custard creams, shoes
favourite dessert- apple crumble
Fann
"Father usually treats me very well, except for when he is drinking"
- writes to brother every week, used to be every day
- no longer studies
- enjoys sewing
- Favourite colour is blue
- Does not have a partner
-Age 19
-Mother died giving birth to my brother
- Age distance few years
- Do you see yourself as a mother to Scrooge - Helps him out but not in a motherly role
After class, I decided to do a biography of my own character so that I can be immersive in my character to give a better performance.
Name: Mrs Dilber (Chairwoman)
Occupation: Cleaning lady for Mr Scrooge
Age:29
How long have you worked for Scrooge: I started working for Scrooge from the age of 19, I have been a loyal worker and yes he still pays me 2 shillings a week
What were your first impressions of Mr Scrooge: At first I really appreciated him for letting me have a job and after a few years I thought maybe I will get an increase in payment but that never happens. Since there was hardly any jobs, I just stayed.
Did you have a rough childhood: My life has always been rough, I use to clean chimneys and I believed that if I started working for Scrooge then my life will start changing because he is quite a wealthy man, but nothing changed.
What is your favourite food: I don't have many luxury choices but I do enjoy bread and cheese
Religious: I dont believe in God, I use to but I don't think he has done much for my life
With this knowledge, I am going to use this to the way I move and speak as my character
Accent and Language
Because I am one of the poorer characters in the play, After doing research I noticed they spoke different compared to the upper class for example Scrooge and Fred. So I decided to watch some videos on how to do a cockney accent. This will help me enhance my character more and make it more believable to the audience. Doing an accent which is not my own can be very damaging to voice so I have to take precautions before and after the show. I will do the normal vocal warm-ups that I do.
1. Warming up the jaw by rubbing hands together and pulling the jaw down
2. rolling the tongue aroung my mouth. 8 to the right. 8 to the left. 4 to the right. 4 to the left. 2 to the right. 2 to the left. 1 to the right. 1 to the left.
3. start to chew (imagine i'm eating a large peice of gum)
4. stretch your tongue out as far as possible
5. interlock my hands together infront of me and shake my hards making my mouth shake
Articulation
1. start with tongue twisters such as unique, new york then take it up a notch and stay unique, new york, new york unique
2. Being able to practice my voiced and unvoiced I do
Unvoiced
Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pah
Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Paw
Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Poo
Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pee
Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pa Ta Ka Pay
Voiced
Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Bah
Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Baw
Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Boo
Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Bee
Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Ba Da Ga Bay
Director notes
In the future, I want to be an Actor, writer and Director. I have a lot of acting experience and I want to expand on my writing and directing skills. I asked to have a minor role in the play so I could help with the directing team. But being an assistant director I have learn you should never have a narrow mind when watching actors perform as well as you should always be open in trying new ways to act certain scenes out. Being an assistant director I always need to be on cue with a few things. Such as jumping in if someone is not in class to say there lines. Prompt people if there lines need to be read as they can not remember then and lastly as it is a muscle I need to be aware of cue lines so I can be ready with the music. For example today we went through the whole play and I stood in for characters such as Fann, Peter and Belinda. This was a small challenge as I had to get straight into character while prompting the person I was in the scene with if they needed help with their lines. I was also on cue with the music and to help me with this prior before the class started I highlighted the cue before each song as well as saying what song it was then I made a playlist on spotify with the songs in order so I can press play when the song is needed. The only trouble I had with this is that some of the songs that was needed was not on spotify or not the version that the actor needed for example. "Once upon a December" the one on spotify doesn't replicate the one in the film so I had to switch between the two as well as this Dylan stops and starts singing the songs later in the scene but he skips a bit and goes straight to the chorus so I have to make the right judgement with trial and error where to move the song to and also whether I should fade the song out or stop it abruptly. Using skills such as trial and error, forward-thinking and pro-activeness help me to be a better assistant director. Another factor of being an assistant director is helping cast members with their context about their characters. I found out that Tiny Tim real name is Timmy, the cast was aware that Tiny Tim was ill but didn't know what condition he had so I did some research and found out that Tiny Tim has rickets and kidney failure. The kidney failure explains why he is so poorly and why the family worries about his death and the rickets explains why he needs a crutch to walk.
Rehearsal notes
When the cast rehearse, I write down notes of the order of that the play will go in
-Tableaux
-Dancers (3/4) - Music cue: Walts of the flowers ACT 1, Scene 1 - Narration
-Narrators enters - left door
-Chorus enters (back left/right) greeting each other- Line cue: "but the wisdom"
-Scrooge enters - Line cue: "by the event"
-Chorus sings God rest ye mary gentleman - Line cue: and for good reason
-Scrooge "Bah humbug" - chorus stops -SCENE 2 - Solicitor
-1st solicitor enter
- sfx "old fashion doorbell
-1st solicitor exit
-sfx "old fashion doorbell
-a tableau of hungry/starving people -SCENE 3 - Fred
-Narrator "call upon his uncle"
-Fred enters upstage right
-Scrooge "live in a world of fools"
-Scrooge looks upon the hungry/starving people
- Fred "there are many things"
-Kamal gives food to the hungry/starving people
-Recording of god rest ye merry gentleman
-Fred exits upstage right
-SFX six bells (28sec)
-Cratchit exits upstage left
-Poor hungry people interact with Cratchit
-Scrooge follows Cratchit
-Poor hungry people run off stage -SCENE 4 - Marley
-SFX Marley laugh -Narrator - Line Cue: to his chamber
-Scrooge sits down
-SFX- Marley face appears
-SFX- Building bells (36sec)
-Marley enters
-Marley "Business, Mankind"
-SFX - an echo of business
-Marley exit -SCENE 5 - Christmas past
-SFX wailing
-SFX got rest ye mary gentleman
-Ghost of Christmas past enters
-SFX dong
Technical theatre trip
I had the privilege of joining the technical theatre students on their trip to Disneyland Paris, in which we looked at productions on a higher scale Including rides and firework performances. Each night we went to a firework show in a different park, so were we able to compare them and see what we could take from each and replicate into Christmas carol.
1st firework show
When we arrived at Paris we checked into the hotel then took a bus to the Disneyland park to get something to eat and watch the show because we arrived late we didn't have the best view but I still manage to capture the fireworks. I liked when the fireworks were being fired off into the water. As there was a hot air balloon right next to firework show I would have like to see that get released at the hot air balloon at the end of the show. 2nd firework show
This was in the main park that we spent the day in, during the day we visited the princess's palace and during the evening, the firework show was projected onto the castle with a few short videos from Disney films such as lion king and frozen while there were fireworks going off in the background. I particularly liked how the fireworks matched the scenes on the castle. It made me wonder how they timed the fireworks so that it sync's with the footage. I did some research and found out that "
"You need a computer. A complex display can use 1500 cues for a 10-minute show. A single cue may start more than one device (simultaneously or in sequence) and many single devices fire multiple times. The timing between these events is crucial and requires an understanding of the pyrotechnic chemistry at work."
3rd firework show
The last firework show was my favourite it was projected on top of this building
And instead of using footage from Disney films it told a story few Disney characters such a Mickey and Minnie Mouse, who were worried about finding present for their friends. At one point of the performance, they projected glitter above our heads which I thought was amazing because if you looked slightly up you will see glitter that appears to be falling down. I also liked how the colours were brighter and really grabbed the attention of the audience. I wanted to use bright colours in Christmas carol to grab the audiences attention as duller colours such as grey and brown dont really attract your attention the way red and yellow will.
Set design
As we're walking around I noticed this water fountain that was filled with small Christmas tree's which was sprayed in fake snow and glitter balls, I had an idea that maybe we could have a few small trees's dotted around the set of Christmas carol which was spray painted in snow this will give the audience a real impression that they were in a town around Christmas time.
As it began to get darker I noticed large fairy lights above my head which lit different colours, I started to think that this will look really good above the actors on the set, the only problem that if we did we might have to face is that we wouldn't be able to change this when the scenes changed, but I dont think this is a big problem as fairy lights are usually linked to Christmas so no matter what part of the performance Scrooge is in these fairy lights will still be relevant. Because we have a budget for this performance and a limited amount of time we were unable to do these set designs that I suggested, but if we were to do it again with unlimited money and unlimited time then I think it would really bring the set to life.
Costumes and props When it came to picking costumes we asked the ensemble to draw or describe what kind of costumes they were looking for. once they had done this I went into the costume and tried to find as much Victorian-era attire as I could possibly find. There was a lack of top hats in the costume room so we ended up hiring a few as well as cloaks from the national theatre.
For example, Abe is wearing a blue blazer that was found in the costume room, black trousers that he had brought from home and black plimsolls. The top hat was hired from the national theatre and we made the tie out of a piece of yellow fabric. Abe plays Fred in a Christmas carol and his blazer and his top hat show his high status in the play compared to other characters such as the Cratchit family who wore elder and tatted clothes to show that they had less wealth.
In the picture ally is shown wearing her Fred wife costume, we got this dress from the costume room. This sophisticated dress shows her status and it is in pretty good condition with a lot of detail added to the dress. This is a total contrast to what ally wears for Mrs Cratchit which didn't look as well put together as this one.
We performed three times, two afternoons and an evening. The Wednesday afternoon was to the college, the Thursday afternoon was to a secondary school who was studying Christmas carol for GCSE'S and the Thursday evening was to our family and friends.
First performance
During the preparation for Christmas carol we have never had a full ensemble so, everyone was quite nervous about the first performance, we did a tech and costume run in the morning and then we performed in the afternoon. I believe that we did quite well in our first performance we worked as an ensemble an picked up ques really well which we were having trouble with in rehearsals. I thought it was excellent how everyone embodied there characters, for example, Georgina who played Scrooge, she used an upper class "accent" and manor to portray the character of Scrooge. In addition to this, I played the charwomen who are lower class but used to work for Scrooge when he was alive. I put on an accent which seemed to be how people of my wealth supposedly spoke. The feedback that we received was that as an ensemble we need to talk louder as the directors were sitting in different parts of the audience and they could not hear us. This is a big critique because if the audience can not hear us then they won't be able to understand the story. The feedback that I received was that Molly and I who played the laundress should swap sides, as we were both standing beside Abdul who played old joe and I was blocking her light. Another piece of feedback that I got was that when me and old joe walked across the stage (a bit of adlib to cover the dancers getting dressed for the next scene) as some of the other actors did not walk on stage so the director suggested that we take our time maybe have an argument of some sort so that when we come off stage we the dancers are ready to appear. One thing that I disagreed with what that Scrooge had a song which was "I am changing" by Jennifer Hudson from the musical Dreamgirls and during rehearsals Scrooge sang the whole song but just before the performance the director mentioned to Scrooge that her song was too long and needed to be cut personal I dont think this was professional but Scrooge adapted to the drastic change and cut it down. What would have gone better on the first performance if we all spoke louder, and also embodying out characters before we got on stage so even if we are not talking we were still are characters. Second Performance
The second performance is the link that is shown above because I was backstage for a large amount of the show I didn't get to see a lot of the play. So from watching the video, I can see what when well and what could have improved. The start of the play was immaculate the tableau was very still and it told a story through all of our eyes. We were in this still image as the audience came in and as they were all seated the music started playing. After 50 seconds into the music, the narrator opened a big book and blew glitter out of it, this was to show that the story has now begun. This was also a signal for us to walk off the stage and for the dancers to begin their dance.
I particularly liked when Scrooge told the poor people to "scram" and the ran off stage this was quite humorous for me as this was an ad-lib but fitted the character very well. while the narrator was talking the scene changed and the backdrop turned into a fireplace which I thought was quite smart and even though the narrator was setting the scene the lighting helped with the imagery. One thing that was supposed to happen was an image of Marley on the back wall and scrooge was turn to the audience and be frightened this did not happen but I dont think the audience noticed as much but it would of made scene more eerie
Third Performance
I personally think the last performance was my best, I picked up the ques as much as possible, put a twang on my accent even more and did small gestures in the scene so it didn't look like I was waiting for my line. For example, when Old Joe and Laundress were having a conversation I was looking through my bundles checking what I bought for Old Joe was in good condition. Then when it was my turn to talk I turned my head not giving them to most attention and said my line. The notes that I got from the first performance I carried them forward to the last performance to make my character constant and believable as possible. When I came on for the solicitor I whistled as I came on to show that I am minding my business, I got this idea from when we did an exercise in class where we had to pick three actions to describe our character I picked this one as in my head this show that I am quite proud yet reserved, it's Christmas day so I am extremely jolly and can't wait to go and see my family. As soon as I saw Scrooge in my vision I stopped whistling immediately to show how frightened I was of him because of our last conversation prior to this scene. When Scrooge starts to talk to me I lean backwards, as I am surprised that he is even holding a conversation with me. When he whispers in my eye my eyes light up so the audience knows that what I had just heard is good news. I so excited that I can barely keep still and rush off stage saying "Merry Christmas Mr Scrooge!." I return on stage for the last dance in which I gave it loads of energy and cheering every once in a while. One thing that happened that was out of anyone's contol was that the lights went out which meant that the show could not continue until this issue was resolved. I believe the actors recovered from this exceptionally well especially the ones that were already one stage.
WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO
Harvard Referencing Research about Articulation
Andrew Harle (2012) Articulation Exercises https://www.stagemilk.com/articulation-exercises/
BBC Bitesize (unknown) Using your voice https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/z3c2yrd/revision/3
Research about Acting
Ivana, C (2004) The Power of the Actor: The Chubbuck Technique. Los Angeles, Penguin Random House
Research about Ghost
Cochrane.K (2013) Ghost stories: why the Victorians were so spookily good at them, The Guardian, 23rd Dec. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/23/ghost-stories-victorians-spookily-good
Miara P (2017) An Actors' Guide to Surviving Panto https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/tips-and-advice/an-actors-guide-to-surviving-panto/ Research about fireworks
