Illness,saturday,monday and performance! and my EVALUATION

It has been a hettic week (crazily so)


i couldnt make monday or wednesday rehersals last week as i was struck down with as terrible cold, however i was well enough to make the saurday 3 hour reharsals, this was the final big 3 hour rehersal before the show on wednesday.


I started by warming up the kids and doing a focusing exercise |(known as select and delete which i gained from a frantic assembely workshop) we then got straight to work,working on finalising the transtions between the scerns and then running it to see if it fits the 30 minutes we were given, after a few people forgetting there lines (not filling me with the greatest confidence) and with the newly transitioned scenes the shw was running at 48 minutes which was 18 minutes over.

this left me and Miss the very difficult job of cutting certian lines to make sure we do not go over our time, after a lot of thought we removed several lines here and there and were ready to try and perform it all the way through AGAIN on monday.

outside of this, i had to finally prepare the music and send it off ready for the Georgian Theatre Royal's technical people to add it to the system. after converting the songs into MP3 (which seemed to take for ages) as well as making a pyschical copy for practicing on monday.


MONDAY

Monday rehersals went well,with me working on the music and finalising where it would go, we timed it again and with people still forgetting there lines (which made me fear for Wednesday even more!) it ran at 32 minutes and we couldnt do anymore.

WEDNESDAY

After having an early lunch and loading the various props into the bus we were off to the theatre, when we arrived me and Miss worked on seeing how the lighting came into play on the actual stage, and after quite a few tweaks we were runnign behind time, we then had a dress rehersal, and there were still a FEW forgotten lines but all in all it ran quite well, we gained an audience from a primary school performing for this rehersal,which meant the cast could get a feel for the laughs they would get.

because thechildren were young they didnt get as many laughs as they expected which left some of the cast dejected however at dinner i made sure everyone was aware that int he actual performance, the adults would get a lot more of the refrences, which reassured them.

THE PERFORMANCE

After months of  rehersals, and directing and music, and food and laughs as well as sweat and tears!
we finally arrived at the performance AND it went perfectly! all faults were dealt with (such as a hat falling off when it shouldnt) brilliently they even fused it into the show, and each laugh they got they worked harder on the next joke to get a bigger one.

All in all i am incredibly proud of all of them, and it has been an amazing journey co'directing.


EVALUATION
It has been a long, fun and at times arduous proces, which has tested skills i already had as much as teaching me new ones, i would firstly like to thank Miss Eastwood and everyone at The Royal Shakespeare company for all their help.without them it would not of been half as interesting as it was. I of course would secondly like to thank all the students who (although at times hyper)  showed me respect and took my ideas on board.

Sadly as you could of seen circumstances made it impossible for me to JUST do light and tech however, this process has helped me learn a lot more about them than i did when i first begun. for example i know have more in depth knowledge about the various fazers and well as technical programs used for preparing and Queing music for performances, and the timing and precise detail which is needed to get soudn effects and music spot on ina performance. I have also learnt a lot about set and how the use of exits and entrances can create dramatic effect and timing, not only for the audience but effective for helping the actors. without this skill i would still be lsot how shows can be so fluid and pacy.

My Directing skills where also tested, and i have learnt how to not only correctly warm up, teach and  control a large group of exited children but i have better understanding how the director has to work with every minor detial fromt he costume to where the props are set on stage as well as kept. Because of this my organisation skills whyere put tot he test as i had to keep a large amount of lists on me to check that all props were where they were meant to be. I also learnt how showing through movements rather than jsut "raise your arm more dramatically" can really clarify what you want from an actor.

I really think i gained the new skills of, learning how to properly direct a large group which as i have mentioned a few times before is chalanging but yet very rewarding. As you get see the full proccess of worried actors forgetting their lines to fully polished and brilliently entertaining actors! I also think the skills i have gained are how to make a comedic scene as well as how to direct the actors to build on certian moments to get more laughter out of the  audience. this is an incredibally useful skill as i get to see how scenes are developed and worked on, and how once you know a scene like the back fo your hand you have that wiggle room to improvise slightly and get more laughter out of your audience.

If i was to do it again, I would practice learning more director terminology as I had to have lots of conversations with many different,actors,light techs as well as those from the RSC and I think I could of better got over my overview to them if i know more specialised terminology and I wouldnt of been thrown in, in the deep end and had to quickly pick up quite a few terms. However this challenge i thought although difficult was all part of my journey.

so to SUMMARISE, an amazing production well done to all, and thanks for these new skills!



HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS ALSO!

Monday 21/10/2013 Rehersals

We are getting very close now to the big show!, which means we are running through scenes very quickly, scenes themselves are already blocked however we still need ideas for the scene transitions.


After workshoping a few ideas which me and Miss Eastwood had come up with, this encouraged the children to come up with some great ideas (one of my favourite being brook who lassoos himself offstage) the rehersals are 2 hours long now which means i have to be escpecially vigilant on keeping the kids active and interested in the rehersal. However so far they have been doing very well at concentrating.


Injecting comedy into the scenes is another element i have been concentrating on, such as a "fight" scene with swords, after experimenting with a few ideas the children and us came up with the idea of the sowrd being thrown and a character in the background being effected by it ( which left me and Miss in fits of laughter, which is always a good sign) one more rehersals before holiday and after that its scripts down and trying to run it fully!

Wednesday and Monday rehersals

IT HAS HAPPENED!

We have offically blocked all scenes and now we are running it, i came up with a brillient and funny way to end the show on wednesday which we workshoped and it worked perfectly, the script says how the character is burnt with hot tapers, and i thought it would be very funny if they "burnt" him into doing a jig, after trying this out we found out it worked BRILLIENTLY.


On Monday i started with a very NOISY and rowdy crew a warm up and most of all CONCENTRATION exercise which helped them to focus before we moved on to running scenes togethor, they went through scenes 13 through to 16 with only a few hicups but after we explained to them that there is only "7 REHERSALS LEFT" they ran it again and it was perfect, the power of attitude ey?


also towards the end of Monday rehersal we finalised the look of each character (finally deciding on a modern countryside look) as me and Miss said it "7 REHERSALS LEFT" it sunk in for me to, we are getting very close and rehersals are now 2 hours long instead of 1, WOW exiting times.

Royal Shakespeare!

ive lost internet recenly -_- upside is last monday we too the cast to where we will be putting on the show at the lovely richmond theatre!


The royal Shakespeare company performed a workshop where they took the children through exercises which helped them to develop their voices and also how to speak shakespearian. While they did this i helped to finialsie the details as well as work out how themusic would be uploaded so it will be ready for the big night. i then returned to see how the workshop was doing, the way they motivated and encouraged the kids while also helping them gget to grips with the shakesperian language was great, and i took insparation from that to use when i next run a warm up. also the games they did to help them use their voices in difference ways also influenced me.

its getting closer now!

wednesday to wednesday

Wednesday the 11th went really well and things are begining to really shape up, one group worked on the big scenes while i took a smaller group and worked on there specific lines pulling out funny things as well as helping them to understand shakespeare a bit more.


i started to do this by a few improv games where they had to use shakespeare words in response to the other character, this seemed to work really well.


Sadly i was ill on monday and couldnt make it :( (dam my cold) BUT i was well and rearing to go on Wednesday.


this Wednesday we worked on a few of the smaller scenes i warmed everyone up with a few warm up games and then a few concentration games to get everyone focused. the accents of a lot of the characters are coming on well and we have had a few role changes (so fingers crossed they will learn their new lines in time)

But all in all everything is ticking along nicely 10 more rehersals to go till the tech rehersals though!

Monday Rehersals

Monday rehersals went well and the scenes are shaping up really well,


I started by doing a warm up exercise to get the children focused, it used walking in sync as well as a new game one of the kids suggested (which i enjoyed so much ive remebered it for next time)

i helped to direct one of the opening scenes and one of my points about the three characters realising the other character is at the other side of the stage would be more funny if they all turned one by one, seened to work really well and we are now using.


On review,i also think we should try replacing the wine with perhaps a drink like umbongo, but i will bring this up next time we do the scene.


All in all its getting there!

Holidays over!

The summer holidays are over and so are the big rehersals,


me and Miss eastwood have done a lot of work on the big end scene, and i have coreographed a large section of it, we started with warm up exercises which got the children to work in teams and then we used the game grandmothers footsteps to find interesting and funny ways for the kids to stand as they approach the front of the stage.


my other job of finding music has come along well, the first rehersal in the holiday, saw me try songs such as the Maryln Manson cover of "sweet dreams" to jux oppose the funny events that are taking place. this idea of jux opose worked well however, that particular song was a little to dark for what we are trying to achieve. we then tried it the other way round with the kids bhaving them do more violent moves while there was silly music on but this created too much of an eerie effect.


at the second rehersal we tried a few songs and we have finally found it, it is Omen by the badn Prodegy and can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSGUcwNNu5g



Another activity we tried, was breaking down the shakespearian words so that the kdis understand what they are actually saying, this was achieved by saying the shakespearian word and then asking the kdis tot hink of a modern day way of saying it. this worked really well and helped the kids to really get an understanding of what the words mean. i decided to try and make a short scene with this and make it funny by having the kids talking through text and text speak. this was very funny, but also worked incrediabally well so much so that we have decided to use mobiles in the production.

we are doubling up rehersalsd now, on Mondays and Wednesdays so full steam ahead!
also we have the exiting workshop with the royal shakespeare company coming up soon as well!

rehersal34

Rehersals are on the way, me and Miss Eastwood have decided apon doing a variety of games which is based roughly apon the script before showing the children the big shakespearian lines as to not intimidate them.


we first started with warm up exercises such as torpedos, we did this to help create a team atmosphere then after that we began to work practically. we got everyone to stand in a circle and we started to create some "eerie" woodland soundscapes which helps to buidl the tentsion towards the end of the play. we were expecting some good feedback but not as good as we received. oen of the best suggestions being the idea of one person saying something and then the next person repeating it until the noises gets louder and louder and LOUDER. this created a great effect!



towards the end of the rehersals me and Miss Eastwood had a short meeting and decided to make our adaptation of the Merry wives of Windsor 1950s style!

meeting+ sad and good news

Descrive and evaluate neural mechanisms of aggresssion

Seratonin is thought to reduce aggression by inbatiting the firing of the amigilya to emotional stimuli that might be otherwise lead to aggression. Low levels of aggression have been linked to increased suspectability of impulsive behavoirs. Some drugs are thought to alter seraton levels and increase aggression. A study by Mann et al have 35 healthy subjects serotonin reduces using a questionnaire to assess hostility and aggression levels, he found that increased aggression and holsitiltiy scores but only in men.

The advantage of this study is that it provides evidence for further study, however the evidence was gained from questionaires meaning it was self reported which means there is a possibility of demand characteristics, such as social despirablility. As this may be a variable of why the results were found to only work on men as females are more likely to want to be seen as a relaxed passive person compared to the men who like the idea that they are strong and aggressive men. another problem with this study is that it is reductionist, as it dosent take into account other variables for example life changes or daily hasstles, it is also reductionist because it only takes into account biological factors when other studies have provided more evidence that t isn’t purely biological. Another disadvsntage is he used a small sample size, it is also gender bias as the results were only found to work on men this shows that Seratonin must effect men differently to women meaning the gender bias msut lay in human studies of this area.

Today i had a meeting with Miss Eastwood,sadly this performance has very minimal set and lighting, meaning it would be difficult to jsut concentrate on that this is the downside. HOWEVER, the good news is I have the opportunity to be Co-director instead this means i can still explore the sound, set and lgihting aspect as well as many others too. with this in mind some of my new goals are to: better my communication skills between the actors and myself,how to go from ideas and build a clear vision of the show,(and as we are performing a classic shakespeare comedy) learn to draw out the comedy of the play as well as getting to grips with  classci text.

because i am now co-directing ihave looked at a few directors for infleunce, Gregory Doran artistic director of the RSC "Gregory was officially appointed as the RSC's Artistic Director on 14 September 2012, and took up the reins properly in January 2013. He programmed his first season from September 2013.

In 2014, Greg directs Henry IV Parts 1 & 2with Antony Sher as Falstaff, Jasper Britton as Henry IV, and Alex Hassell as Hal. Both productions open in the Royal Shakespeare Theater in April 2014, and will play in Stratford-upon-Avon through the summer before travelling to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in October 2014. After a short UK tour in October and November 2014, the productions will transfer to the Barbican to play over Christmas 2014."

and Michael Boyd "Boyd trained as a director at the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre in Moscow, and in 1979 took up his first post as a trainee director at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, graduating to Assistant Director a year later. In 1982 he joined the Sheffield Crucible as an Associate Director, and three years later became founding Artistic Director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, where he staged a production of Macbeth starring Iain Glen, an adaptation of Janice Galloway’s The Trick is to Keep Breathing and Michel Tremblay’s Quebec plays,The Real World? and The Guid Sisters.

Boyd joined the RSC in 1996 as an Associate Director, staging the three parts of Henry VI together with Richard III at the Young Vic in London in April 2002, as part of the This England: Histories Cycle.

During this time he was also Drama Director of the New Beginnings Festival of Soviet Arts in Glasgow in 1999, and directed Miss Julie in the Frank McGuinness version at theTheatre Royal Haymarket in February 2000.

Taking over from Adrian Noble in 2003, Boyd assumed control of the RSC, burdened with a deficit of £2.8m, with a remit to turn its fortunes around. He ran a year-long Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival (begun in April 2006 and involving other companies as well as the RSC) and a London season at the Novello Theatre.

In 2007, he launched the long-awaited redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. This included construction of the temporary Courtyard Theatre to provide a Stratford venue while work was in progress. It was designed to house The Histories cycle, before its transfer to the Roundhouse in London in 2008."

After looking at these directors i would like to achieve as a director myself, To learn how to properly direct and control a large group of actors as well as making moments of comedy and seeing how to define and refine comedic moments.

Now to the meeting as i said before Miss and I were discussing  and we have decided that msuic will be a great way to create comedy in the play but also need some darker songs to contrast the ending and as co director she has given ME the role of finding the music!

As i jsut left the meeting i had a brainstorm and come up with the rather clever idea of using the song "sweet dreams (are made of these)" as the original can be highly funny escpecially when the actors are prancing about the stage, also i have foudn a Marylin Manson cover of the song which is rather dark and eerie but yet with the same lyrics which means it will have the contrasts he is looking for!

will bring up my idea in the next meeting.....