Evaluation

I felt like, overall these performances went very well. We were able to bounce off the energy of the large audience and the special effects such as sound, lighting and the set allowed us to visualise the world we were living in. At the 4:30 performance, the majority of the audience was our peers and fellow BRIT School students, which created a relaxed atmosphere due to their positive reactions to the play and we were able to bounce off their laughs and positive reactions and enthusiasm which made us feel as if we were delivering a very good performance. However we couldn’t rely on this as a truthful reception as they were our peers and most likely saw us as ourselves not as actors or characters. This meant that we lost the truth and honesty being our performances as we played up to the audience and some actors played for laughs. I think it is very important to not let the audience distract us as this takes us out of the world of the play, hence stopping us from fully committing to our character. I felt like my excitement and adrenaline threw me off slightly. I definitely was effected by this in the first performance which meant I lost the truthfulness behind my performances, hence making it less believable to the audience. This hindered my performance as I would lose characterisation and have to re-immerse myself while making sure I was saying the right line. This made it difficult to connect to other characters in key moments of the play. After the dress rehearsals and watching the other common ground shows, I realised how important it was to project my voice in order to be heard by everyone in the audience. They are positioned on 3 sides of the stage, therefore it was crucial to work even harder to be loud and clear at all times. I feel like I managed to successfully do this during the shows as I spoke with more breath, therefore more vocal support, this meant that I achieved a louder volume without straining or damaging my throat. However, there were also many successful aspects of my performance. My voice was loud enough to be heard due to my good projection and clear diction with a strong RP accent. This meant the audience could hear exactly what I was saying and could engage with my character and follow his story line. I was also able to use my positioning in the space well so that everyone could see me, I made sure I would focus my performance to everyone rather than just one block from the audience. I had strong physicality with good posture which gave my character status and authority on stage. I also showed the pompous and obnoxious attitude of my character very clearly throughout the show as well as bringing a sense of maturity to the role. I feel like my character work in lessons and research of my character and the historical context really help me to build upon my characterisation and get into the mind frame of the character on stage. My dialogue was sharp and harsh in order to show my anger and power in my character. I was rude and patronising towards others in order to humiliate or belittle them. 
The evening performances were filled with an older and more mature audience. I thought this would make it difficult as they may be less encouraging or supportive as they want to see an excellent show rather than just see their friends performing.  However, this ended up improving my performance. I felt more relaxed in myself as a performer and my character. This meant I could take my time and truly think about the motivation and emotion being my action and dialogue on stage. This created an honest performance which allowed the audience to see my character's journey throughout the play. The relationships between me and the other characters were very clear throughout the play and it was apparent what my character through of the other characters in each scene. I had individual reactions to each character depending on who they were and the circumstances of the scene. We all actively listened to each other and reacted accordingly making the relationships feel real and authentic. I reminded myself of the one main objective I had for each scene as this would drive my characterisation and motivation. In conclusion, I was very happy with my performance and really enjoyed the show.

Response to direction

Throughout the process, I was given various notes and suggestions on how to improve what I was doing. This constructive criticism helped push me to think into what I was doing in greater detail and to discover what was most appropriate for each moment of the play. I used these notes in order to think how my character would react to everything and what he was thinking as well as showing in each scene. I'll talk about a few of my most useful notes and how I used these to improve what I was doing on stage.

One note I had was to be more challenging towards Mr Banks and have more tension in the scene. Originally, I made my monologue passive aggressive and tried to contain how I was feeling. However, this wasn't very successful in getting my point across and didn't show as much contrast after the significant beat change in the scene. I tried it again in the next run and made my speech sharper, ruder and very patronizing. This was successful as it emphasized the difficulty of what Banks wanted to achieve and made my decision to belittle him bolder and clearer. This set the tone for the later scenes and made the play more interesting. 

Another note was that I was being too casual on stage. This took away from the status of my character as well as being less historically accurate. After this, I decided to do more character research and to research how men acted in the Victorian era in order to work on my posture and physicality on stage. I improved this my having better posture by being more upright and being more grounded. This made my character come across as being more formal, hence heightening the atmosphere of the scene and having an impact on the relationship between the characters. This was successful as it pushed the awkward tension in the scene and showed my high status and power. 

Finally, a crucial note was to keep my acting interior and subtle. This meant that I wouldn’t reveal too much in the scene. Furthermore, this prevented me from doing too much and making a moment less naturalistic or believable. This noted was for when I was telling Tess that she had failed her exams. It was important to not appear too happy as this would be very unsuitable considering the circumstances and would get the character in trouble. Moreover, this would make the character come across as a villain rather than someone who was trying to do what he thought was best. I decided to keep the happiness of them failing as this is how my character would genuinely feel, however I made it more subtle by changing my mannerisms and the firmness or my handshake in order to show this. I pretended to be sad towards the characters while subtly smiling after I had done this. 

Character research

Who am I??

The character I'm playing in Blue Stockings in Proffesor Radleigh. He comes across as an intelligent, snobby and stubborn character who looks down upon women and considers them to be inferior to men. He is narrow minded and believes he is doing what is best, disregarding what others may think about his viewpoint on the situation. He has a high status and is quite powerful, he abuses this slightly as he is vain and patronizing towards women. He comes across as pompous and very serious. However, he has a kinder side to him too. He is charming and highly intellectual as well as having a close relationship with his family. This shows that on the inside he is caring and only wants what is best for society, despite having a pompous and blunt exterior.

Where am I??

The play is set in Cambridge university at Trinity college. It's very large and the buildings are old, grand and huge. It's the largest college in any of the Oxbridge universities. It had enormous history and its alumni include various prime ministers and Isaac Newton. It was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. Cambridge is an upper class area which means that my character will constantly  be looking smart and civilized to other people. This would have an affect on the way he behaves as well. The atmosphere is very formal, yet relaxed. Their are old books all around Radleigh's office with a large wooden table in the middle of the room. The buildings are old and histroic which constantly mind the characters of the significance and sentimental value of their university.

What time is it??

The play is set in September 1896. This was a time when society was very much controlled by men who were seen as superior to women. The prevailing opinion of men at the time was that women's education was pointless and useless. The majority of men believed that women were incapable of handling an education as they thought that a women's brain was smaller than a mans brain. If a women was to study, it was believed that they were incapable of being able to look after children. The play is set in the Victorian era and my character is middle/upper class. Therefore, he would have good manners and would speak in an RP accent. People feared to challenge what was commonly believed in order to avoid humiliation or confrontation. Therefore, it made it difficult for scientific progress to happen.

What do I want? (Objective)

Ultimately, Radleigh is very traditional and wants to keep the traditions as it is the only thing he knows. He fears change and is worried this may be unsuitable or non beneficial for society. He wants to make sure women can't get the vote. He also low key doesn't want women to receive a higher education either as he believes this is unnecessary and they are incapable of having this privilege. He does this by challenging the girls past their expected ability in order to find weaknesses or faults in their knowledge. He is also not afraid to speak his mind and expresses bold views about the women's right to vote and will belittle anyone who opposes him in order to make them think they are wrong. Another less important objective is to make himself appear as knowledgeable and powerful as possible. He does this by quoting scientists and telling other people facts and statistics in order to make himself appear very intelligent. He will shut down anyone who tries to disprove him or tell him he's wrong. His motivation for this is that he believes they're either trying to undermine him or appear more clever than him.

What is in my way? (Obstacle)

The girls in the play are strong willed and determined. They are wiling to fight for what they believe in. This means they are Raleigh's main obstacle towards achieving his objective. They are highly intelligent and confident, therefore they are willing to prove him wrong when he challenges them. This shows Raleigh's weaknesses as he becomes confused or frustrated, thus taking away from his status. This means that he must patronize them and demean them in order to assert authority over them. 

Beat changes

There are various beat changes throughout the play. One of the most crucial beat changes occurs just after Mr Banks tells him he wants the vote to go in favour of the women. This makes the mood of the scene switch dramatically and makes the relationship between the two characters very sour. Radleigh turns from disliking Mr Banks and thinking he is inferior to despising him and looking down on him. Mr Banks acknowledges this and knows he has blown it and what he said had not gone down well. There is a sour taste and a strong sense of tension between the two in the scene just before Radleigh gives a monologue about why Mr Banks is wrong. This is relevant to the overall plot as it demonstrated the superior attitude of men in Victorian society. 

Another important beat change is when Radleigh asks Tess a question in the exam and she freezes. This is the moment where Radleigh realises that she hasn't revised this subject and hasn't worked as hard as she should have done. This means that he starts to abuse his power and keeps asking her about this in detail in order to belittle her and make her seem stupid. This is useful for him as it emphasizes his point of how women are incapable of receiving a higher education. This is where we see his smugness and cruelty kick in as he subtly mocks her and makes her feel stupid in order to prove a point. This is relevant to the plot as it shocks the audience who were expecting her to succeed. This shows the hardship and difficulty for women getting rights and showed hos society and the odds were against them. 

Annotated text

This is the scene where the professors are offering Mr Banks a fellowship and Mr Banks is naive if what this would mean for him. This section is just after Mr Banks has suggested tat he could have both jobs. This undermines my character (Radleigh) as he think he is undermining him or mocking him. He is also frustrated at Anderson for suggesting that Mr Banks would be suitable for the position in the first place. These annotation show my attitude towards Banks and show how his obnoxiousness and anger builds up as the scene progresses. He starts become rude and mocking towards Mr Banks in this page and these annotation shows why this happens and his reactions to what the others are saying. I found this useful as I could analyse in detail my thought process throughout the scene and how this changes based on the circumstances of the scene. This allowed me to get into character and the mind frame of Radleigh.

This is the following page which shows my monologue and the thought process throughout this and the bold decisions I made on stage. Mr Banks is suggesting that women should get the vote, this goes against everything Radleigh believes in. he takes it very personally and is insulted that Mr Banks would even suggest this. His techniques to persuade Mr Banks to change his mind range from being patronising to being intimidating. This shows the beat changes and show when his methods of persuasion change. I have shows when I emphasise key words in order to show the impact this should have and to show the power behind what he is saying.

Warm up games

Tongue twisters

In the Victorian era, people who were wealthy or privileged were usually very posh and spoke with a clear RP accent. Therefore, it is very important to have clear articulation and diction. Tongue twisters are very beneficial for strengthening and stretching the muscles involved in speech and noticing habitual speech patterns. For example, I find it difficult to deviate between a 'th' sound and a 'f' sound. Therefore, I found these tongue twisters very useful as I could practice this sound to make it clearer and more pronounced. This also helped me to open my mouth more which means I can used more expression in a performance. Overall, this exercise was very useful as it helped me improve my posh accent and made what I was saying much clearer on stage.

Songs

We sang two songs called 'Heart and soul' and 'Red.' We started off by singing these together and then in cannon in order to help us to focus and be aware of our surroundings. We also experimented with different ways of singing these e.g. soft/quiet and then loud/confident. This was useful as it allowed us to use different intentions behind the words and see which was is most appropriate/suitable. This can easily be transferred into our acting as we must try and find the best way to say a line considering the given circumstances of the spoken dialogue. When you are speaking and projecting your voice, you use the vocal cords (soft tissue) and the inner muscles of the larynx (the muscles that control the closing of your cords). Warming these muscles up by singing loosens those muscles, helps to remove excess mucous and reduces the risk of injury or strain on our voice. Singing also helps us control our breath by sustaining a note and increasing in volume. If we control our breathing, we will be more relaxed on stage and will be able to convey more power in our characterisation. Singing in a warm up can give an understanding of proper vocal cord closure, optimum speaking pitch, and allows us to deal with difficult vocal situations. It is also beneficial for handling emotional dialogue and sounds, such as shouting or screaming, without damaging the voice.

Physical

We started off on the floor, lying in semi supine and worked on our breathing. We began with short breaths and our breathing slowly got deeper and slower. It is important to control our breathing as I explained earlier. We started to hum in order to warm up our vocal chords, the hums then turned into creating a loud vowel sound such as 'Ah' or 'Ooh.' This allowed our jaw to soften and relax and we were able to control and experiment the volume and pitch in our voice. Again, we could easily transfer this into a scene in order to show emotion and how this affects our vocal choices on stage.  After this, we went on to all fours and controlled our abdominal muscles by widening and lengthening our backs as we breathed. We were also in prayer position in order to create a greater sensation of the ribs opening across the back. We slowly rolled up into standing. When we stood up, we felt taller and had great posture. Furthermore, we felt very focused and relaxed. This helped me get into the zone and feel much more comfortable on stage. We then created the physicality of our character and walked around the room repeating one of our lines from the play. This exercise allowed me to concentrate a lot more and get rid of any distractions. This meant I could get into the mind frame of the character and could think as them which helped improve my characterisation, Therefore, it was highly beneficial for the performance.

Word glossary

We were given a page of words and were told to look up what they meant and research them in order to help us understand what our characters were talking about so that we could easily step into their shoes. Furthermore, this developed our understanding of the context of the play as well as the subjects of conversation in the scene. This really helped me as one of my scenes is based around intellectual/academic conversation, therefore it was crucial that I knew exactly what my character as talking about in order to make me character seem more confident, authoritative and intelligent. This made me feel more relaxed and comfortable during the second scene. 

Here are some of the words we had to look up and their definitions:

Hysteria: Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement. (Hysteria has two definitions but this is the one that is used in the context or Maudsley's scene)

Biostratigraphy: The branch of stratigraphy concerned with fossils and their use in dating rock formations.

Perilous: Full of danger or risk.

Tenure: The conditions under which land or buildings are held or occupied.

Physiological: Relating to the way in which a living organism or bodily part functions.

Diogenes: Greek philosopher. The most famous of the Cynics, he lived ascetically in Athens. He emphasized self-sufficiency and the need for natural, uninhibited behaviour, regardless of social conventions.

Succinct: Briefly and clearly expressed.

Cripes: Euphemism for Christ.

Esquire: A polite title appended to a man's name when no other title is used, typically in the address of a letter or other documents.

Cuvier: French naturalist: pioneer in the fields of paleontology and comparative anatomy.

Breath work

In our workshop with Bethan, our fight choreographer, we learned how our breathing would affect our emotion in a scene. If we were breathing quickly and using deep breaths, this would clearly demonstrate our anger in a scene. This heightened our emotion and we also tensed our bodies to let the emotion be shown throughout our whole bodies. We used this for the fight scene at the end of the show and it was very effective as it allowed us to get into the appropriate mind-frame before entering the scene. This gave us energy  and set a clear atmosphere for the scene. Furthermore, this accurately showed the relationship between the boys and the girls and how some of the boys despised them and were outraged by what they were doing. I doing this very useful as I can easily transfer this into another character or scene. This is very simple, yet very effective. I can experiment with it to see the level of anger my character has and how this will be shown though my breathing.