Librarians opening:
- Need to be aware of spacing in lights, half of it was in shadow
- Good pace, it was clear and concise so the audience get the right understanding for the concept of the show, engages them on the off
- Decide on what the physicality is, are they exaggerated with many gestures, direct and placed, or less so? Need to match each other
- Changes of pace kept the scene active and engaging
Diaries:
- Show physicality of old people as soon as the masks are taken away to establish their age before anything else, reminds the audience that they are still old
- Librarians trying to open the diary worked really well, timed it so when it opened suddenly it was really clear to the audience, the emphasis meant it wasn't missed in the background
- Perhaps need some indication from Alfie that they are at home, familiarity with routine and reaction to set so that it takes on the persona of their home
First Encounters Part 1:
-Acknowledging and commenting on the younger selves was really clear, added light-hearted atmosphere
- With clicks, stop moving so focus is sent to your hand and exaggerate the click, just cleans them up and its obvious that the librarians can stop and start time
- Pace was a lot better!
Rhythm:
- We need that sudden change of energy when the music comes in, everyone could pick a line they say when they enter, or a greeting just so that energy really boosts
- Everyone MUST stop when the 12 clicks stop, even if you haven't got to your place STOP WHERE YOU ARE, or the effect doesn't work, then just go to your place
- Must look at spacing
- With the fast step sequence in pairs, everyone must straighten their arms! It looks slightly strange
- With improvisation, the oral accompaniment needs to pick up, whether its cheering, comments, anything, as the music cannot and won't fill the whole space, so it needs to be helped with dialogue or the energy almost drops as that is quite a long section, again takes it out of being just a routine
First Encounters Part 2/Crazy:
- Everyone was listening and reacting which brings the scene much more exciting
- Loved Karl's reaction to 'nice bottom' makes it funny
- Need an awkward moment between Alfie and Evie being indecisive before 'youth is wasted on the young' as librarians are having to force an intervention, otherwise it doesn't make sense
- Don't be looking at Nick until the third snap, then both clock each other at the same time
- Change stance, don't like my chin being down to my chest, gives me a hunched back which just looks a bit awkward, if my character is early twenties, that stance doesn't fit for that age, need to bring everything upwards
- Hold pina lift longer, first time they properly look at each other when they dance, nice moment
- Vocal dialogue for when Rose and Norman enter again to break up the dance, as the music comes to a halt so we need something to pick it up again
- Character relationships as the friends is a lot better and genuine
Walk home/tree lovin'
- Sort out pathway to bookcase so we don't clash with the librarians, make it smooth
- Don't drop the vocals! Mine got lost, and keep the varying of intonation, he is complimenting you! Perhaps slightly heighten the 'you think so!' no one has ever complimented you like that before! It's exciting, not as cool and relaxed as it's all completely new, not experienced in this area!
- Watch spacing with lighting, I was in shadow for part of it
- Don't fully take off the jacket
- Keep chatting under the tree during Liv talking, keeps that notion of time passing and getting to know each other
- Again keep vocals up! Again playful with the creation of their story, finding it funny, thinking back to that evening
- Need to add 'close your eyes' bit to the necklace section
Lovesong:
- Placing Becs and Chloe behind Liv is a really pretty image
- The hug needs more tension, bigger impact, like holding on to not letting go, heartfelt
- Take frustration into body when about to rip the letter, increase of breath, need to show that to the audience
- Need to build up anger more, the moves more direct and weight behind them, really push against Nick towards the end so the hug is more desperate otherwise its impact is slightly lost
- Only push past him once, then just push against him otherwise too much moving around
- Have a moment of composure before walking up the book steps as Nick is exchanging jackets, so the book steps seemed to be lost in it all, if the focus of Evie walking up the steps is there, then the audience get to see the image of the steps which can be lost
- Need to go over and detail this movement section as personally there is something energy wise missing from it
Love letters:
- Felt more comfortable with the monologues
- Moving around saying them makes it far less static and less monotone, keep playing with the words
- Explosion needs to be worked on as a whole
Hospital:
- Duet went quite wrong! Must practice in dress!
- Slow it down but smooth it out, it needs to flow
- Go over moment with Old Evie coming in, give that moment a chance to be seen otherwise she walks up and then sits again, an image again that can lose impact
Married life:
- Reactions from the sides lifts the scene a lot more!
- Anniversary, again EVERYONE STOP AFTER THE CLICKS
- After the first sequence before going to pairs, the moving stops and everyone ages, no one should dance again as it doesn't fit with their age, need to go over that
- The switching between young and old isn't very obvious, I think everyone needs to stop after the sequence, watch the young couple disappear through the old, so its clear to the audience of the change over, and there you do see the progression of time
Duet:
- Still a bit shapeless
- Need to give ourselves a setting, motives to why we are moving and a reason to each move otherwise it is just a dance
- Can add layering without having to add sentimental moves, I think it can be done in a more subtle and clever way than that, its through how you perform the moves you already have, the faces you pull and the reason you give to moving that can bring it together rather than having to add moves that slap the audience with 'we are in love' again
- Still not entirely convinced on the music, personally it is too dramatic for me, and doesn't capture the essence behind what it's about
- If it is performed as if Alfie wants it to be a secret it may change the dynamic of it. Like when no one is around, he takes the time to think back to young Evie, he gets a small chance to take himself out of reality back to when he was most happy. It's performed as if they don't want anyone to see, because if someone were to walk in, then the illusion would shatter that wouldn't be able to be brought back.
- Add some more movement based content, perhaps improvise around Frantic's duet 'place' exercise
Ending:
- When two couples meet in the centre, keep focus on the other before all four are centre, then all face the front
Sunday, 18 January 2015
drafting the second half
Due to our limited time frame, we had to make some choices on what was going to be involved in our second half of the show, we had so much material that it would run over the time limit for the piece.
We had to consider keeping a young audience engaged for a substantial period of time, not giving them a moment to zone out. Plus the get in for the students to be settled and the get out for their next lessons, this is to ensure that there were no upsets from their other teachers.
From this we managed to cut down the material for the second half. Something I learnt from this was not to take hold of what you have created. The re-drafting scene that I had written got cut, even though it took me quite a while to write it, it was a good experience of happily letting go of what I had created for the benefit of the whole piece. Along with that and the prisoner of war section, as well as reordering the other scenes, we managed to cut down the second half considerably.
The second half has taken a very different turn that the first, after the hospital scene, instead of the story continuing, it goes into split images of the couple's life, giving glimpses to the audience that they really did have this extraordinary life.
Unfortunately I got ill when this scene was being devised, but I know that it's creation came about by the librarians deciding what life events would be part of this scene. 'Photo shots' of each event were then made where a book was used in each one, incorporating the set that we wanted to include more of than the first half.
Life events:
Engagement
Marriage
First House
First baby
Reading a story to their child
Day at the beach
Moving house again
Child's birthday
Child's graduation
Anniversary 25th 30th 40th 50th
Jonathan then came in and we worked on the transitions through each event, this scene had the potential to be very slow moving and lose pace quickly if there weren't easy transitions that everyone needed to be fully aware of. Small snippets of dialogue were added to layer the scene and again inform the audience of exactly what was happening so there was no room for confusion, you don't want to lose your audience halfway through the show! The thought of having pictures appearing inside the books, like a child's face, baby scan, sandcastle, graduation form etc was made which is a task from the librarians to have in place over the next rehearsals. Practicing finding the right pages at quick speed is something that needs to be heavily rehearsed.
Everyone was particularly focused in these rehearsals, and everyone pitching in ideas got this scene to be something really beautiful, again communication of book tracking is crucial for all cast members to be aware of so that this scene is successful.
We had to consider keeping a young audience engaged for a substantial period of time, not giving them a moment to zone out. Plus the get in for the students to be settled and the get out for their next lessons, this is to ensure that there were no upsets from their other teachers.
From this we managed to cut down the material for the second half. Something I learnt from this was not to take hold of what you have created. The re-drafting scene that I had written got cut, even though it took me quite a while to write it, it was a good experience of happily letting go of what I had created for the benefit of the whole piece. Along with that and the prisoner of war section, as well as reordering the other scenes, we managed to cut down the second half considerably.
The second half has taken a very different turn that the first, after the hospital scene, instead of the story continuing, it goes into split images of the couple's life, giving glimpses to the audience that they really did have this extraordinary life.
Unfortunately I got ill when this scene was being devised, but I know that it's creation came about by the librarians deciding what life events would be part of this scene. 'Photo shots' of each event were then made where a book was used in each one, incorporating the set that we wanted to include more of than the first half.
Life events:
Engagement
Marriage
First House
First baby
Reading a story to their child
Day at the beach
Moving house again
Child's birthday
Child's graduation
Anniversary 25th 30th 40th 50th
Jonathan then came in and we worked on the transitions through each event, this scene had the potential to be very slow moving and lose pace quickly if there weren't easy transitions that everyone needed to be fully aware of. Small snippets of dialogue were added to layer the scene and again inform the audience of exactly what was happening so there was no room for confusion, you don't want to lose your audience halfway through the show! The thought of having pictures appearing inside the books, like a child's face, baby scan, sandcastle, graduation form etc was made which is a task from the librarians to have in place over the next rehearsals. Practicing finding the right pages at quick speed is something that needs to be heavily rehearsed.
Everyone was particularly focused in these rehearsals, and everyone pitching in ideas got this scene to be something really beautiful, again communication of book tracking is crucial for all cast members to be aware of so that this scene is successful.
Run for AGE UK Cast B
Having chosen what scenes we would perform to Age UK, beginning up to the end of love letters, we did a run of Cast B who were performing that day.
This run was a chance to see what we had devised as a mini show, or the first act of the whole play. Transitions to link the scenes together had been created to keep it flowing and the audience engaged, stopping and starting between scenes can make it look clumsy, and provides the audience with a chance to switch off. If you have worked hard to transport them into a world in front of them, so much so that they forget they are watching a play, then those stops in the performance can remind them of their surroundings, that it's a performance, and instead of continuing the journey for the audience, you have to spend time regaining their full attention into believing the world in front of them.
The notes I wrote down when watching the show were:
Librarians:
- Hold pause looking at Alfie and Evie 'These two' switches focus, lets the audience familiarise themselves with the two characters
- Both look at the middle bookcase before walking towards it, again guiding audience focus
- Asking questions to audience, with each question look at a different member, almost walking doing it, makes the scene less static and can add gestures to words, bringing in physicality
Tree Lovin'
- Make bigger thing of guiding
- When Alfie and Evie are chatting and flirting, librarians acknowledge and react 'plan is working!'
- Blow idea of asking Evie out tonight from the book into Harry's face, gives him reason to turn round, moment of panic that he is walking away
- Put the necklace on Mandi before the lines are spoken, nice image to see
- Say the lines in hold and then hold the hug for longer when hearing of conscription to war
Lovesong
- Put the letter all the way down Mandi's arm to her hand and lean back further, using movement to full potential, finishing each move before going to the next
- Whole thing can be slower, slightly more exaggerated just so it is seen by the whole audience, again fulfilling the movements
- Keep wrapped hug held for longer, not wanting to let go, the tension then in the body reflects feeling
- When Mandi is lying on Harry's lap, share a look before you both get up
- Give kit bag stage right before walking round, makes the transition less clunky and allows for that last moment between Alfie and Evie, shouldn't be rushed! You would want your last goodbye to be something special, not wasted
Love Letters
- Perhaps some dialogue for the transition to love letters, again there is a potential moment for the audience to lose concentration
- Harry appear to be huddled round a fire, picture the scene that would be in front of you
- Lee's reactions to the explosion were great, really effective!
- Need to think of a way to pass the letters that is less time consuming
- Get the pace picked up enough so that when Harry tells of his friend passing the pause is effective and significant
- With explosion, PAUSE before Harry jumps backwards, that image is great to see with all different heights, don't rush it or it gets messy.
This run was a chance to see what we had devised as a mini show, or the first act of the whole play. Transitions to link the scenes together had been created to keep it flowing and the audience engaged, stopping and starting between scenes can make it look clumsy, and provides the audience with a chance to switch off. If you have worked hard to transport them into a world in front of them, so much so that they forget they are watching a play, then those stops in the performance can remind them of their surroundings, that it's a performance, and instead of continuing the journey for the audience, you have to spend time regaining their full attention into believing the world in front of them.
The notes I wrote down when watching the show were:
Librarians:
- Hold pause looking at Alfie and Evie 'These two' switches focus, lets the audience familiarise themselves with the two characters
- Both look at the middle bookcase before walking towards it, again guiding audience focus
- Asking questions to audience, with each question look at a different member, almost walking doing it, makes the scene less static and can add gestures to words, bringing in physicality
Tree Lovin'
- Make bigger thing of guiding
- When Alfie and Evie are chatting and flirting, librarians acknowledge and react 'plan is working!'
- Blow idea of asking Evie out tonight from the book into Harry's face, gives him reason to turn round, moment of panic that he is walking away
- Put the necklace on Mandi before the lines are spoken, nice image to see
- Say the lines in hold and then hold the hug for longer when hearing of conscription to war
Lovesong
- Put the letter all the way down Mandi's arm to her hand and lean back further, using movement to full potential, finishing each move before going to the next
- Whole thing can be slower, slightly more exaggerated just so it is seen by the whole audience, again fulfilling the movements
- Keep wrapped hug held for longer, not wanting to let go, the tension then in the body reflects feeling
- When Mandi is lying on Harry's lap, share a look before you both get up
- Give kit bag stage right before walking round, makes the transition less clunky and allows for that last moment between Alfie and Evie, shouldn't be rushed! You would want your last goodbye to be something special, not wasted
Love Letters
- Perhaps some dialogue for the transition to love letters, again there is a potential moment for the audience to lose concentration
- Harry appear to be huddled round a fire, picture the scene that would be in front of you
- Lee's reactions to the explosion were great, really effective!
- Need to think of a way to pass the letters that is less time consuming
- Get the pace picked up enough so that when Harry tells of his friend passing the pause is effective and significant
- With explosion, PAUSE before Harry jumps backwards, that image is great to see with all different heights, don't rush it or it gets messy.
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