16th September 2011
In this lesson i led the warm up, because the previous lesson, led by Kate, had been used to practice the physical aspect of the character, i instead took this lesson to work on vocals, not just for the rest of the class, but for myself too.
I had each person read a line that their character says, first in their natural voice, then in their character voices, i did this because i think it would help to show the contrast, and i find that it also helps to add characterisation characterization because it makes you think about how you want your character to come across, and then we decided to play the game where you have to sit in a circle, and look at another person, get up, and walk to them, they then have to get out of their chair, find someone else, and do the same thing. Usually the game is a focus activity, and uses no vocal skills at all, as it is silent, but in this one, we said our lines and acted as our character as we did so, going forward to other people, meaning we were constantly moving and talking as our character would.
I tried to make my character speak very clearly, but i, myself, naturally talk very fast, so it involves me attempting to slow down my speech, to make it a lot more obvious what i am saying, though i know that sometimes, words can become lost if i talk too quickly, meaning it is hard to understand me.
I try to make sure my character talks with an extremely posh accent, sometimes rolling R's or emphasising them to make a purring sound, however, he is still very well spoken, and speaks reasonably slowly (at the very least compared to how i talk regularly) he also talks with an extreme air of arrogance, and makes sure everybody knows how highly he thinks of himself, often talking in a sarcastic, patronizing or insulting manner, even to his friend The Red Queen, who is often too ditsy to even notice it.
In the two lessons we had, we blocked scene 5, ran through a few times and then attempted to run through the whole thing, however, we didn't quite make it to the very end, as we ran out of time, and act one is considerably long once put together, meaning that it's hard to fit it all in sometimes.
I got some notes as feedback at the end of the lesson, i was told that during my second line, wherein Cheshire introduces himself, i am told to more clearly word what i am saying, this is down to the fact that this line has been written for this character to speed through it, giving the audience a runthrough that is just too fast to understand, or to take in properly, so that when he gets to the end of the line "Any questions? No? Okay! Moving on!" he is almost cutting the audience short, not giving them time to fully understand it, however, i am debating reading this line slowly, because as funny as it would be to read it extremely fast, i am worried people watching may just assume, what with my natural nature to talk fast, that i am simply nervous, and therefore talking even faster than usual, and the joke may just be lost. I also think that slowing it down will give me time to breathe, and spread out the monologue as i descend the stairs, through the audience and onto the stage. So i agree with the feedback that this bit must be clearer, especially as it is the characters first appearance and the first time the audience ever meet him, i think the first impression has to be understandable and fully audible.
My strengths in these lessons were:
-I was on task for the entirety of both of these lessons, contributing ideas, and discussing how my vision as writer, with the vision of the director, to try to create some sort of equal vision for it.
-My physicality as the character remained constant throughout performance, and i ensured that i reacted, not just acted, so that even when i had no lines, or wasn't doing anything, i was still clearly in character.
My weaknesses were:
-My vocal clarity, as well as constancy and projection still need work. While i know the sort of voice i want my character to have, i still find myself worrying that it will sound too similar to my own voice, and it won't come across the way i want it to, i think i have to work on this in my own time, away from the rest of the class, which can also be a good time to practice learning my lines so that i don't have to worry about that, as i strongly believe that may be holding me back vocally, and obviously physically, if i am carrying around a script. It is much harder to fully be the character, if you are holding the script and having to check back and read it every three seconds, so once i have fully learnt my lines, it will become far easier to embody the character, physically, vocally and mentally.
No comments:
Post a Comment