Prior to the training I had received by taking this two-year
UAL performing arts course, I had a very simplistic understanding of the skills
and techniques that a good performer required. When I was introduced to
Naturalism and the Stanislavski system it helped me gain a better understanding
of how to develop a character you are portraying in an authentic,
three-dimensional way. I used this technique in a duologue to implement
motivation for my character and in return react accordingly. This technique
highly influenced my career path as I have always idolised how some dynamic
actors and actresses separate themselves from a character and fully embody a
role. By practising this technique, I have been able to critically analysis
films and performances I watch. For Unit 8, exploring the form of theatre my
monologue uses, I used in-yer-face theatre. This technique presents to the
audience confrontational and aggressive language, designed to intentionally
make the audience feel uncomfortable by touching on real life situations
usually in relation to psychological and extreme emotions such as sexual abuse.
My monologue for example was a long-overdue explosive argument between a
religious complicit mother and her eldest daughter regarding her paedophilic
father. In Unit 10 we executed the Brechtian technique, applying physical
theatre to tell a fairy-tale-like story with a subliminal darker message.
Brecht focuses on political and social issue-based theatre in aim to awaken the
audience in an abstract style to problems in modern society which may be
overlooked. This type of theatre is created to educate the audience and
resonate with them so when they leave, they think about what they’ve just seen
and form an opinion. Musical Theatre has taught me that there are three tiers to
a performance and how all three disciplines are needed to successfully perform
a song and create depth. In Unit 8, I performed a song in an in-class
examination called ‘Go Back Home’. The song originates from a musical called
‘The Scottsboro Boys’ based on a real-life story. Learning the historical
context of the musical helps give a clearer understanding of the character you
are playing. It creates colour and informs you on what type of emotion you
should be delivering to the audience for them to have a direct connection to
your character. These skills will be implemented into the production HAIR
because the piece is performed in a stylised and abstract way. A few scenes are
performed using the Brechtian technique and there will be a lot of opportunities
to implement techniques we’ve learnt such as method acting and physical theatre.
The idea of ‘Hair’ is a group of politically active hippies living
a bohemian life in New York and fighting against conscription into the war. Living
in a conservative America, Hair became a product of the hippie counterculture and
sexual revolution of the late 1960s and several of its songs became
anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement.
The concept is encouraging ‘The Age of Aquarius’, a new age for love, harmony
and peace. The form in which I will present my final realisation of HAIR will
be Brechtian and stylised. The research and ideas that will support the
productions development, will be the dialogue; using our creative minds we have
the chance to make an acting choice and present that with how we interpret the dialogue.
I will also be using research I find from various sources online and I have already
watched some documentaries such as ‘America In Colour’, I anticipate that this research
will help create depth to my character.
I intend to record my decision making by creating weekly
reflective blogs. Reflective blogs are online journal entries, where I can critically
reflect and analysis my progress throughout my training and the process of the
production – my findings, what I find difficult or successful, how I incorporated
my own ideas and my understanding of the text and how I intend to put theory
work into practise, which will help to structure and further develop the piece.
When working collaboratively as an ensemble, the possible adverse ways this
could impact our progress is punctuality and attendance. Every individual
amongst the group needs to ensure they come to every scheduled rehearsal
session on time, in order to make sure it doesn’t disrupt the progress of the
production. Also, a conflict of ideas, could cause animosity and waste time, to
avoid this we need to listen to each other and remain professional. Conversely more
positive attributions to the class such as sharing and exploring various ideas,
mutual effort and cohesively working as a unit, will minimise disruption to our
progress, resulting in a successful outcome for our performance.
