On the day of the show we had four hours to perfect the show before it was performed at half one. In the lesson that we had with Jill we focused on the stage set, on how we were going to have the set up where different bits and pieces were going to go.
We decided to to the bulk of it in centre stage and have little section of it stage left and stage right for example we did the the part were Helena is pouring tea on a stage block on stage right, you could still see her but you could tell that Alison and Helena weren't in the same room.
We also thought about each characters main goal in the piece what they want to achieve by the end of the performance. As I was playing the role of Helena, my goal in the performance was to leave the flat and get away from it all. Helena's character believes in good and evil and as she says in the piece 'after ever wanted or had she has been doing wrong and evil' Alison's goal is to make Jimmy see what she has become and what she turned into, show him that she has hit rock bottom and cant get any lower that she actually, in her opinion there was no way that she could rise from that. Jimmy's goal was to be noticed and see that he isn't a horrible person all the time he is just misunderstood and all he wants from Helena and Alison is for them to understand how he is feeling and what he is thinking.
Friday 20 June 2014
Evaluation
Evaluation
We did the performance of Look Back in Anger by John Osborne.
We took a section of the script and brought it to life. When doing the scene, Helena was talking to Alison, imagined i was just talking to a friend that it wasn't on the stage so that i could give the most natural performance possible, this made it easier was I wasn't necessarily trying to act I was just talking as if I was just talking as a normal person. When leaving Jimmy i used emotional memory i just imagine back to when my parent got divorced and we had to leave, thinking of this memory in the piece help show that Helena really did love Jimmy and didn't want to go but she knew what was right and the right thing to do was to go. This really help in the piece because it wasn't just one emotion thought out the piece it was showing that Helena as confused, upset, anger and vulnerable all in one just like I was when my mum and dad divorced.
I believe we gave a pretty natural performance. Slight things changed in the performance to what was actually rehearsed for example when Jimmy entered and was making Alison feel bad in rehearsals i shouted at Jimmy but when it came to to the actual performance i was more set make and quiet and just said it i slightly louder tone just not shouting.I think this would be more effective as I was told by one on my class mates said that it seemed like Helena had more authority over Jimmy which didn't seem right.So we changed it and in the performance i was told that it looked better when i was quiet rather than shouting at Jimmy.
In rehearsals i thought that i moved way too much so in the actual performance i found it more natural to stay sat down because it didn't feel right moving all the time, instead I twiddled with a tea cup, or moved my hair instead which seemed more natural rather that constantly moving.
We did the performance of Look Back in Anger by John Osborne.
We took a section of the script and brought it to life. When doing the scene, Helena was talking to Alison, imagined i was just talking to a friend that it wasn't on the stage so that i could give the most natural performance possible, this made it easier was I wasn't necessarily trying to act I was just talking as if I was just talking as a normal person. When leaving Jimmy i used emotional memory i just imagine back to when my parent got divorced and we had to leave, thinking of this memory in the piece help show that Helena really did love Jimmy and didn't want to go but she knew what was right and the right thing to do was to go. This really help in the piece because it wasn't just one emotion thought out the piece it was showing that Helena as confused, upset, anger and vulnerable all in one just like I was when my mum and dad divorced.
I believe we gave a pretty natural performance. Slight things changed in the performance to what was actually rehearsed for example when Jimmy entered and was making Alison feel bad in rehearsals i shouted at Jimmy but when it came to to the actual performance i was more set make and quiet and just said it i slightly louder tone just not shouting.I think this would be more effective as I was told by one on my class mates said that it seemed like Helena had more authority over Jimmy which didn't seem right.So we changed it and in the performance i was told that it looked better when i was quiet rather than shouting at Jimmy.
In rehearsals i thought that i moved way too much so in the actual performance i found it more natural to stay sat down because it didn't feel right moving all the time, instead I twiddled with a tea cup, or moved my hair instead which seemed more natural rather that constantly moving.
Emotional memory
In one of our Stanilowiskis workshops we did Emotion Memory. The idea of this is to be able to think of a memory that links the emotion that you are trying to poetry an put across, eg: Sad emotion=Sad Memory, Happy emotion=Happy Memory. You do this technique to be able to give really raw emotion instead of just putting it on.
We all sat in a circle and all said a memory, most of the memories that were said were quiet sad.
I really didn't like this method at all. It was physically tiring. If you had to do this everyday for 2 weeks for a touring show you would been emotionally and physically tired after it all and it could mentally effect you as you are revisiting a memory that might not be a nice memory to think of. It would be a good method if you where only doing the show say twice then you not getting as much impact as you would if you were doing it for 2 weeks.
Jill also gave us another task. When telling our story when we had finished we had to tell a normal story but convey the same emotion into it, for example my story was the idea that I had lost my shoes, which in itself doesn't sound very sad because it isn't. I made out that I had made a promise to my mum to look after then and that I had broken that promise by losing them and I was getting more upset about the fact that I had broken my promise as that is something that I don't do. I found this lesson really really hard. If I were to do the lesson again I would have thought of a happy memory instead of sad as it wouldn't have been as emotionally hard or tiring
Wikipedia
We all sat in a circle and all said a memory, most of the memories that were said were quiet sad.
I really didn't like this method at all. It was physically tiring. If you had to do this everyday for 2 weeks for a touring show you would been emotionally and physically tired after it all and it could mentally effect you as you are revisiting a memory that might not be a nice memory to think of. It would be a good method if you where only doing the show say twice then you not getting as much impact as you would if you were doing it for 2 weeks.
Jill also gave us another task. When telling our story when we had finished we had to tell a normal story but convey the same emotion into it, for example my story was the idea that I had lost my shoes, which in itself doesn't sound very sad because it isn't. I made out that I had made a promise to my mum to look after then and that I had broken that promise by losing them and I was getting more upset about the fact that I had broken my promise as that is something that I don't do. I found this lesson really really hard. If I were to do the lesson again I would have thought of a happy memory instead of sad as it wouldn't have been as emotionally hard or tiring
Wikipedia
'Affective memory was an early element of Stanislavski's 'system' and a central part of Method Acting, (two related approaches to acting). Affective memory requires actors to call on the memory of details from a similar situation (or more recently a situation with similar emotional import) to those of their characters. Stanislavski believed actors needed to take emotion and personality to the stage and call upon it when playing their character. He also explored the use of objectives, actioning, and empathizing with the character.
Thursday 5 June 2014
Jimmy.
Jimmy
Jimmy is Alison's husband.
When he is spoken about in the play he is described as being very futile and short temped but why is this? Has is got something to do with his childhood?
Jimmy is in the upper working class category in the working class system. When it comes to Jimmy's childhood he talks alot about how much his friend Hugh's mother was so important to him, she was mother of a mother than his own. She gave his a great start to life by setting him up with a sweet stall so that he is earning money. When the new of Hugh's mothers death comes about it hits Jimmy like a tonne of bricks, the women that ment so much to him and did everything for him is now gone and there is nothing that he can do about it, it is destroying him.
Jimmy has alot of bottled up anger and he takes most of it out on Alison in a verbal manner, most would say that he is just being abusive but maybe it is more than that, what if Jimmy is taking it out on Alison because like he saying in the pay there is never a bead of sweat on her forehead or a hair out of place and he may think that she can make the pain go away because she has stuck around for this long.
As the play goes and gets to the end of the performance he starts to become weaker and more vunriable. It feels like he is reverting back to child like state as he just wants everyone in the play especially Alison to understand he and realize that he is just a very anger person and he cant help the way that he is, he tries so hard to bottle it all in as much as he can so that he doesn't cause harm to the people around him and people that mean alot to him. He does have a good side this is shown when he and Cliff are messing around and playing and they both fall into Alison and she burns her arm on the iron, he tries his best to apologize and show some compassion to the fact that he has done something wrong and really hurt her, Alison shouts at him and flips out and leaves the room.
Jimmy is Alison's husband.
When he is spoken about in the play he is described as being very futile and short temped but why is this? Has is got something to do with his childhood?
Jimmy is in the upper working class category in the working class system. When it comes to Jimmy's childhood he talks alot about how much his friend Hugh's mother was so important to him, she was mother of a mother than his own. She gave his a great start to life by setting him up with a sweet stall so that he is earning money. When the new of Hugh's mothers death comes about it hits Jimmy like a tonne of bricks, the women that ment so much to him and did everything for him is now gone and there is nothing that he can do about it, it is destroying him.
Jimmy has alot of bottled up anger and he takes most of it out on Alison in a verbal manner, most would say that he is just being abusive but maybe it is more than that, what if Jimmy is taking it out on Alison because like he saying in the pay there is never a bead of sweat on her forehead or a hair out of place and he may think that she can make the pain go away because she has stuck around for this long.
As the play goes and gets to the end of the performance he starts to become weaker and more vunriable. It feels like he is reverting back to child like state as he just wants everyone in the play especially Alison to understand he and realize that he is just a very anger person and he cant help the way that he is, he tries so hard to bottle it all in as much as he can so that he doesn't cause harm to the people around him and people that mean alot to him. He does have a good side this is shown when he and Cliff are messing around and playing and they both fall into Alison and she burns her arm on the iron, he tries his best to apologize and show some compassion to the fact that he has done something wrong and really hurt her, Alison shouts at him and flips out and leaves the room.
Thursday 22 May 2014
Rehearsal 3
22/05/2014
In our third rehearsal today we delved into the script and tore it apart and though about the emotions of each of that characters and why they would feel the way that they do and what would have been the thing to influence that.
We thought about what Jimmy would have been feeling during Helena's speech. We thought that Jimmy would have been trying to repress all of his anger trying his best to hold it all back as though not to hurt either Helena or Alison. He has this fairy tale relationship with Helena, everything is perfect not a thing out of place and when Alison come back and makes and appearance at the flat Jimmy just hates her, her loathes the fact that she has come back and he thinks that she has come back to ruin everything that him and Helena had created in the months that she had been there. We thought about how all of this would have made Alison feel as she is the one who is stuck in the middle of all of this. She has been taking Jimmy hurting her and making her feel awful for years and years and she gets to a point in the play were she cant take it any more and she blows her top. Jimmy has been telling her for year to get some feelings and show how she actually feel and at the point in the play when she flips she finally does what Jimmy wants and he didn't think that she had it in her to do so.
We also thought about what would have happened after the end of the play. Would everything go back to normal or would everything be forgiven and be forgotten about? We considered both option and thought about each in detail. If everything was forgiven Jimmy and Alison would be a normal everyday couple who would have their little tiffs and moans but wouldn't be violent towards each other. Jimmy might have gone to Anger management to make sure that he never hurt Alison again. They might have been able to raise a family in a normal and safe environment and live happily or it could have gone back to normal but ten times worse Alison could get alot more hurt than she did in the past, she could develop serious mental problem due to the way that Jimmy is treating her which could cause another serious upset which could end worse than the previous time.
Helena seems like the type of character who is there for people but can be easily lead astray. I want to play he as a strong and confident person as when i read the sections that she is in that's how she comes across to me. She fights for what she believes in and what she thinks is right. If she has an opinion she feels as though she owes it to the person to be honest with them.
Scenes
I thought about how Helena would have felt with Alison made a reappearance at the flat. She mentions in the script that she has never been able to forget the fact that she has done wrong toward Alison. She felt so terrible about the fact that she has taken her best friends husband away from her and tried to create a life with him. It all dawned upon her that everything she has done was wrong and it was a shock to her that Alison wasn't outraged with her. She was fairly calm and barely rose her voice at Helena.
When she is talking to Jimmy about leaving she is trying her best to fight back the tears and the upset of what is going on as her whole world is crumbling around them. For this scene i will be using Sanilowiskis method of Emotion memory to be able to get a raw emotion as I have been though the same thing. I have had to leave someone as I was causing so much upset that it was getting too much for me by using this memory i am able to convey a true emotion and it doesn't look like it is faked.
In our third rehearsal today we delved into the script and tore it apart and though about the emotions of each of that characters and why they would feel the way that they do and what would have been the thing to influence that.
We thought about what Jimmy would have been feeling during Helena's speech. We thought that Jimmy would have been trying to repress all of his anger trying his best to hold it all back as though not to hurt either Helena or Alison. He has this fairy tale relationship with Helena, everything is perfect not a thing out of place and when Alison come back and makes and appearance at the flat Jimmy just hates her, her loathes the fact that she has come back and he thinks that she has come back to ruin everything that him and Helena had created in the months that she had been there. We thought about how all of this would have made Alison feel as she is the one who is stuck in the middle of all of this. She has been taking Jimmy hurting her and making her feel awful for years and years and she gets to a point in the play were she cant take it any more and she blows her top. Jimmy has been telling her for year to get some feelings and show how she actually feel and at the point in the play when she flips she finally does what Jimmy wants and he didn't think that she had it in her to do so.
We also thought about what would have happened after the end of the play. Would everything go back to normal or would everything be forgiven and be forgotten about? We considered both option and thought about each in detail. If everything was forgiven Jimmy and Alison would be a normal everyday couple who would have their little tiffs and moans but wouldn't be violent towards each other. Jimmy might have gone to Anger management to make sure that he never hurt Alison again. They might have been able to raise a family in a normal and safe environment and live happily or it could have gone back to normal but ten times worse Alison could get alot more hurt than she did in the past, she could develop serious mental problem due to the way that Jimmy is treating her which could cause another serious upset which could end worse than the previous time.
Helena seems like the type of character who is there for people but can be easily lead astray. I want to play he as a strong and confident person as when i read the sections that she is in that's how she comes across to me. She fights for what she believes in and what she thinks is right. If she has an opinion she feels as though she owes it to the person to be honest with them.
Scenes
I thought about how Helena would have felt with Alison made a reappearance at the flat. She mentions in the script that she has never been able to forget the fact that she has done wrong toward Alison. She felt so terrible about the fact that she has taken her best friends husband away from her and tried to create a life with him. It all dawned upon her that everything she has done was wrong and it was a shock to her that Alison wasn't outraged with her. She was fairly calm and barely rose her voice at Helena.
When she is talking to Jimmy about leaving she is trying her best to fight back the tears and the upset of what is going on as her whole world is crumbling around them. For this scene i will be using Sanilowiskis method of Emotion memory to be able to get a raw emotion as I have been though the same thing. I have had to leave someone as I was causing so much upset that it was getting too much for me by using this memory i am able to convey a true emotion and it doesn't look like it is faked.
Wednesday 21 May 2014
Research into the Play
Research in to the Play
First Look At the Cast of Characters
Jimmy Porter- Bastard, Horrible
> Married to Alison Porter
> Friends with Cliff Lewis
> Can be sensitive at times but will lose his temper quit quickly
> Upper working class
Cliff Lewis- Kind and sweet hearted
> Friends with Jimmy Porter
> Trying to keep Jimmy and Alison together
> Lives with Alison and Jimmy
> Loves Alison
Alison Porter- Genuinely a nice person
> Married to Jimmy Porter
> On the verge of breaking point
> Is pregnant
> Friends with Helena Charles
Helena Charles- Has guts to stand up for herself
> Friends with Alison
> Hates the idea that Alison and Jimmy are together and thinks what it is unsafe
> Passive aggressive
> An actress
The Play
Play write- John Osborne
First Performance-May 8th 1956
Look Back in Anger was the third play to be put on at the Royal Court Theatre as it was deemed 'safe' for the stage.
Themes of the scene we are doing:
The magic if is if you were in your characters position what would you do?
So when Helena is talking about when Alison had lost the baby.
Life in the 1950's
Money
As you can see by the picture above so much has changed in the past 60 years. Back in the 1950's people struggled alot for money as the weekly income was so low compared to the way that it is today. In the 1950's people were grateful for what they got and what they could afford, they were still in post world war 2 conditions and did whatever they could when they could, unlike the people of today who blow money left right and center on things that they don't actually need.
Angry Young Men Movement
"The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis. The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John Osborne's 1956play Look Back in Anger. It is thought to be derived from the autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the Woodcraft Folk, whose Angry Young Man was published in 1951. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label was later applied by British media to describe young British writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional English society. The term, always imprecise, began to have less meaning over the years as the writers to whom it was originally applied became more divergent, and many of them dismissed the label as useless." Wikipedia explanation.
Kitchen Sink Realism
First Look At the Cast of Characters
Jimmy Porter- Bastard, Horrible
> Married to Alison Porter
> Friends with Cliff Lewis
> Can be sensitive at times but will lose his temper quit quickly
> Upper working class
Cliff Lewis- Kind and sweet hearted
> Friends with Jimmy Porter
> Trying to keep Jimmy and Alison together
> Lives with Alison and Jimmy
> Loves Alison
Alison Porter- Genuinely a nice person
> Married to Jimmy Porter
> On the verge of breaking point
> Is pregnant
> Friends with Helena Charles
Helena Charles- Has guts to stand up for herself
> Friends with Alison
> Hates the idea that Alison and Jimmy are together and thinks what it is unsafe
> Passive aggressive
> An actress
The Play
Play write- John Osborne
First Performance-May 8th 1956
Look Back in Anger was the third play to be put on at the Royal Court Theatre as it was deemed 'safe' for the stage.
Themes of the scene we are doing:
- Regret- Helena is really regretting what has done as for the months that she has lived with Jimmy she has never ever been able to forget the fact that she has done that to her best friend. She has made her best friend feel so horrible and it is all her fault.
- Anger-Jimmy would be angry about what Helena is doing to him, she is trying to leave and is trying to move on and he doesn't want her to do that.
- Hurt- Alison is feeling hurt as she is coming back to the man that used to hurt her and made her feel so low about herself for years and years and now she is finally feeling the full blow of it all.
- Remorse- Helena would have been feeling remorse because she has taken away her best friends husband and when she least expected it she found out that Alison had lost her first baby. She thought about how that would have effected Alison and what it would have done to her.
The magic if is if you were in your characters position what would you do?
So when Helena is talking about when Alison had lost the baby.
Life in the 1950's
Money
As you can see by the picture above so much has changed in the past 60 years. Back in the 1950's people struggled alot for money as the weekly income was so low compared to the way that it is today. In the 1950's people were grateful for what they got and what they could afford, they were still in post world war 2 conditions and did whatever they could when they could, unlike the people of today who blow money left right and center on things that they don't actually need.
Angry Young Men Movement
"The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis. The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John Osborne's 1956play Look Back in Anger. It is thought to be derived from the autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the Woodcraft Folk, whose Angry Young Man was published in 1951. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label was later applied by British media to describe young British writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional English society. The term, always imprecise, began to have less meaning over the years as the writers to whom it was originally applied became more divergent, and many of them dismissed the label as useless." Wikipedia explanation.
Kitchen Sink Realism
'Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a term coined to describe a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre,art, novels, film and television plays, whose 'heroes' usually could be described as angry young men. It used a style of social realism, which often depicted the domestic situations of working-class Britons living in cramped rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore social issues and political controversies.
The films, plays and novels employing this style are set frequently in poorer industrial areas in the North of England, and use the rough-hewn speaking accents andslang heard in those regions. The film It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) is a precursor of the genre, and the John Osborne play Look Back in Anger (1956) is thought of as the first of the idiom.
The gritty love-triangle of Look Back in Anger, for example, takes place in a cramped, one-room flat in the English Midlands.' Wikipedia explaination
Characters
Character List
Alison-Zoe
Jimmy-Andrew
Helena- Megan
Helena
I have been given the character of Helena in our performance of look back in anger.
"Helena Charles is Alison's best friend. She lives with them in their apartment while visiting for work. Helena is from an upper class family. She is responsible for getting Alison to leave Jimmy. She and Jimmy then begin an affair. Her sense of morality leads her to leave. She can be considered the play's moral compass" (Gradesaver)
In our performance it is the scene when Alison comes back to Helena's and Jimmy's flat. At the start of our scene Alison is sat in an armchair and Helena is pouring tea in the kitchen. Alison finds Jimmy's pipe and picks it up. Alison looks very ill and fatigued. She is very sullen. Helena brings her in a cup of tea in a very polite and kindly.
Helena is a sitting stage left of the table and Alison say 'You make a good cup of tea', Helena replies with 'Something Jimmy taught me' At this point me as and actress is picking up my cup filled with tea and the is a pause after i say 'me' as i have realized who i am talking to and know what it is making her feel like because it would have been something Jimmy would have taught her too when they where both living together. Alison covers her face and say 'Oh, why am i here! You all must wish me a thousand miles away!' Helena then becomes very considerate and comforting towards her as she is supposed to be her best friend and that is her job as her friend.
Alison-Zoe
Jimmy-Andrew
Helena- Megan
Helena
I have been given the character of Helena in our performance of look back in anger.
"Helena Charles is Alison's best friend. She lives with them in their apartment while visiting for work. Helena is from an upper class family. She is responsible for getting Alison to leave Jimmy. She and Jimmy then begin an affair. Her sense of morality leads her to leave. She can be considered the play's moral compass" (Gradesaver)
In our performance it is the scene when Alison comes back to Helena's and Jimmy's flat. At the start of our scene Alison is sat in an armchair and Helena is pouring tea in the kitchen. Alison finds Jimmy's pipe and picks it up. Alison looks very ill and fatigued. She is very sullen. Helena brings her in a cup of tea in a very polite and kindly.
Helena is a sitting stage left of the table and Alison say 'You make a good cup of tea', Helena replies with 'Something Jimmy taught me' At this point me as and actress is picking up my cup filled with tea and the is a pause after i say 'me' as i have realized who i am talking to and know what it is making her feel like because it would have been something Jimmy would have taught her too when they where both living together. Alison covers her face and say 'Oh, why am i here! You all must wish me a thousand miles away!' Helena then becomes very considerate and comforting towards her as she is supposed to be her best friend and that is her job as her friend.
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