Log Book for School Tours

In the last week, we have changed the topic of our performance. We kept the same title which is Two Ways One Destination but the main characters are not Katy and Sam any more. We struggled creating the story line and finally we ended up with me being the main character with a desire to be a mathematician, whilst my mum forces me to do sports. However, I wasn`t able to take the main characters role as my work could not promise to give me some time off work so it would be not enough time for rehearsing. I suggested that Carlos could take my part and Toya could play Katy`s part and thankfully all group agreed with that.

Our story is about two teenagers struggling with their own problems, and no one notices that. We came up with this idea because a lot of teenagers nowadays suffers from problems in family, bullying etc and any one even tries to understand them. Marko struggles at home as his mum forces him to do athletics, even though his dream is to earn money from profession that involves maths. Toya is an artist and her mum doesn`t take it seriously she hates the idea that her child wants to be a creative soul and forces her to clean the house everyday, and blaming her she doesn`t help her enough. 

Marko and Chyna meets up, and tries to solve the problem together. We thought if idea that there is no such thing as model student. Every one of us has different abilities and dreams that we should follow instead of listening what other people say.

As we getting closer to the performance day we all get frustrated and little bit nervous. We still haven`t finished the scripts, nevertheless we were working on the script writing in Sharon`s class on Tuesday morning. I think it was really good team work as all of us written the bit of scripts bearing our own ideas. I came up with idea that main Characters Toya (Chyna) and Carlos (Marko) meets up in the classroom and starts arguing over the maths as Chyna insists Marko wasn`t right when solving the maths task in a classroom before.  It ends up, that they become friends and fights against problem together. 

Sharon`s feedback was that we need to tidy up the scenes to make it clearer to understand what`s going on and pick up the cues. We talked about this and agreed that firstable we need to print off the scripts and then we can continue working on the next scenes. Also she mentioned that we have very slow energy, comparing to other groups. But that is because our scenes are quite messy and we werent sure what we were doing so it was more like improv of ideas we had. As a positive side, she said that split scene is very good, and the chosen style is strong. We use split scene in order to show the audience the similarity of two students who faces the same problems and that they are not the only ones. 

Public and Private Funding

What is public funding? 

Public funds is money devoted from the government for creative, voluntary, or community organizations that does not have enough money in order to proceed their project. The government itself received this money from taxes we pay every month including . For example, it is money received from everyone by one or another way. The main public body is Arts Council but it may be a lottery that holds an event in order to collect money for a new theatre performance.

What is private funding? 

Private funding is money received from rich people or companies that has no connection or support from the government. It might be a particular person who`s got a few companies and in return he wants his companies to be advertised on the leaflets or be mentioned at the beginning or in the end of performance.

Three companies who receive public funding

1. Almeida Theatre funded by Arts Council England
2. The National Theatre funded by Arts Council England
3. Little Angel Theatre funded by Arts Council England 

Three Companies/productions that receive private funding

1. Globe Theatre funded by Deutsche Bank 
2. Waterloo East Theatre funded by Donors
3. Royal Shakespeare Company funded by the Anson Charitable Trust 

Pros and Cons of public and private funding 

Both types of funding provides money for organizations to be able to afford what they want to do. 

Pros of public funding is :

They offer more money. 

In case the project is unsuccessful they are not going to ask pay back the money. That means if it fails it fails and the money is wasted. 

The money is much easier to get you just need to apply online and fill up the forms. 

They offer money from one performance to 5 years running shows.

Easy to find information about funds. Normally, they publish the information on the internet. 

Cons of public funding is:

Ask for a clear report where the money is used. They want to see all accounts where the money is gone. 

Usually it takes long hours of filling up the application forms and describing the project you want to get the money for. 

Sometimes they may easy reject the idea that is not stabilized properly and seems to be beneficial for community uses. 

In case of political changes the availability of public funding may change a lot. 

Pros of private funding is:

Don`t have so many papers to fill up. 

Mostly private funders want to support the bigger projects where they see the possibility to advertise themselves.

Sometimes they might support by providing particular assistance. For example, if Nutella company do not want to offer money they might offer  free snack instead to sell in a theatre. 

There are lots of private funders whereas public funders only a few so they receive less applications that means there is a higher chance to receive a support. 

Cons of public funding is: 

Offer smaller amounts of money comparing to amounts the government may offer. 

Might have a special requirements and needs. For example, a private funder might offer £15,000 but in return he wants his son to be in a show. 

Try to avoid private sponsors who`s got bad reputation such as Amazon, Starbucks, Coca-Cola. Let`s say Coca-Cola funds the performance and in return they want that the only drink to be sold in a venue is Coca-Cola. This may make the visitors not happy as some of them might want Fanta or Sprite. 

They keep the right to reject the applications without the actual explanation. 

Funding Royal Shakespeare Company / Theatre

Who are they funded by? 

Royal Shakespeare Company are funded by many public sponsors, trusts, councils and private funders that helps theatre to achieve their mission great art and culture for everyone.

Public Funding is also known as funding received by government. The main public body is Arts Council.

Recently Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) was funded £2.8 millions by Heritage Lottery Fund. This money was donated due to restoration of the lovely Grade II* listed Swan Wing and they are going to open up incomparable Collection and Archive that has been collected for over 130 years. They are giving an opportunity for people to see behind the scenes of world famous Globe Theatre. They are now trying really hard to open it up in 2016 in memory of Shakespeare`s death.

RSC has been getting funded by National Lottery that gave them a hand on several projects. The biggest funding National Lottery made was worth £58 million in order to redevelop the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford on Avon in 2004. It took almost four years of hard work refurbishing it but the results are amazing. Now this theatre can offer a brand-new, 1,000 seats auditorium, bigger space for drinks and eat and modern exhibition spaces. Furthermore, National Lottery was a main sponsor for The World Shakespeare Festival that was celebrated in London in 2012. Thanks to National Lottery, this festival was the biggest and greatest celebration of Shakespeare ever staged.

Another very strong source of funders are Arts Council England. Total investment received from Arts Council England is £10,845,430.

RSC are gratefully funded by US Advisory Council including Daniel and Melissa Berger, Victor and Tara Menezes, Parag and Usha Saxena.

Creative Learning partners are The Ohio State University and HM University.

Trusts and Foundations

Rich families that once had lots of money decided to establish their trust or foundation in order to maintain their memory and good heart. It gives a chance for people to donate money for trusts and foundations where later on this money are divided into theatres, clubs and companies related with theatre and arts that develops education and gives opportunity to learn skills.

They get funding by trusts and foundations including: The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Backstage Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS CHK Charities Limited The Clore Duffield Foundation The Constance Travis Charitable Trust DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund Drue Heinz Trust Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Gatsby Charitable Foundation The Grimmitt Trust h.Club Foundation.

Private Sponsorships or Donations

When private sponsors support the event, club or theatre usually you can see their logo which is a good opportunity for sponsor to be advertised and they might find a potential customer for the future.

They have a long list of private sponsors that decided to donate some money. Private Sponsorship are divided into companies and rich people. Rich people are divided into Gold and Silver patrons depending on the amount of money they have funded to RSC. Obviously, Gold Patrons are the ones who donated bigger amounts. Their names are as following: The Anson Charitable Trust Jane and Howard Epstein* Susan Hewitt Jeanie and Philip Holland Simon Keswick John Medveckis* Mr Stephen Oxley Patricia Rigby Jane Williams. Silver Patrons are the ones who were kind enough to help arts spread the world and gave some amount of money. Some of their names are: David and Elizabeth Acland Charles Alexander and Clare Mumby Sir Eric and Lady Anderson Margarita Maria Anthoine* Jeffrey and Mary Archer Richard Armitage Mr and Mrs Lawrence Banks Scott Barasch* Mrs Jacqui Beecroft Captain Peter Barnett and Mrs Sandra Billinge Matthew Bowcock Martin Bowley QC H & J Brave Dr and Mrs Douglas Bridgewater Sir Dominic Cadbury Roger and Lesley Cadbury The Cielinski Family Liz Crosoer Celia and Andrew Curran and many more.

Companies that funded RSC are corporate partners including SAMSUNG, Interbrand (Official Brand Partner) and BP Petrol. As well as corporate members including: Avon Boating Ltd Baker Tilly The Bell, Alderminster Berendsen Plc Birmingham Airport Bloomberg LP Bravissimo Bruntwood Fernox - Alent plc Foot Anstey LLP George Pragnell Honeywell Control Systems Limited Innotech Advisers Limited Lansons like minds Listers Group Lloyds Bank Urban&Civic Wright Hassall.

What kind of work do they show/do?

Royal Shakespeare Company stages performances of Shakespeare, his contemporaries and discovered new writers, making every play a memorable event for everyone.

They have trained generations of theatre makers and talented actors since they were founded in 1961 and they continue growing and expanding their talents in future.

They work starts at Stratford Upon Avon workshops and theatres and proceeds into performances seen by audience around the world through: touring and residencies, cinema broadcast, education programmes, online activity.

What facilities do they provide?

Royal Shakespeare Theatre provides many facilities for guests with access needs. These are as following:

• 12 wheelchair spaces in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre auditorium, comparing with only 4 in the old theatre. 
• Lift access to all floors and levels of Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Swan Theatre auditoria. 
• Lift access to 32m high Tower viewing platform. 
• Toilets on all floors of the building. 
• There is the accessible riverside walk and runs around the side of the theatre, rom Bancroft Gardens to Holy Trinity Church. 
• Loop systems for those who have hearing problems.
• Box office, cloakroom, stage doors, fire alarm, and shop counters. 
• Step free access. 
• Parking
• They offer captioned and audio described performances along with Touch Tour. 
• There are seats at front available at every performance for people who are partially sighted or hard of hearing. 
• Nursery. They offer a nursery facilities which is really amazing. It is located only a mile away from Stratford-upon-Thames city centre. The nursery cares for children from the local community and RSC workers. They provide excellent children caring since 1963. 
• Safeguarding. Offer safeguard to the children, young people and professionals working at RSC. It helps to maintain professionalism and high standards of practise. 
• Rehearsal space.  
• Workshops

Who uses them? 

They target is to make the performance memorable for all kind of audience. They offer cheaper tickets for students and children. There are accessible facilities for disabled people and people in need. For those adults who drove down Royal Shakespeare Theatre there is a possibility to leave their car in a parking slot. Plus no time restrictions that allows people to relax an enjoy their performance. Also the nursery is designed for small children from 0 to 5 years of age.

What services do they provide for the public/their target audience? 

They provide more services than you can think of. First to my notice came commercial hire which gives people an opportunity to hire a venue in an amazing Shakespeare`s home town in a beautiful countryside Stratford-upon-Thames, Warwickshire. They offer rooms for meeting and event, wedding, parties and community events. Their spaces can be hired for film or photography shoots, Arden Hotel and other recommended suppliers for flowers, food and drinks.

They not only hiring venues but costume hire is quite popular as well. They offer more than 30,000 costumes available to hire that was made special for Royal Shakespeare Company`s productions. In case people want to hire a costume but not sure about the size or look they are more than welcome pop in and try it on as RSC offers a holding service to ensure your selection is available, fitting rooms, fast, reliable and cost effective courier. They also offer a discount rate which is 50% off for a second week, and then 25% from weeks 3 to 12, and then 10% after that. So the prices can be accessible for public people and huge companies. It is open for everyone from amateurs to professionals.

What is the public benefit of these? 

The public benefit of this is that customers are welcome to look around and get inspired for their own productions. Costume and venue hire services offer quite relevant and affordable prices for schools, colleges and other organizations. In that case, young generations have a chance to be involved in a creative side of life and can develop their skills further more by being inspired by RSC. Moreover, it is very entertaining and fun.

RSC organized workshops, events and exhibitions are very informative for all ages people. Usually, the exhibitions are closely connected with the life of Shakespeare which is important to know if you live and walk on the land of legendary plays and poems.

They also offer spaces for hire which can be used for rehearsals, performances, workshops or meetings. Keep in mind, that one space can hold from 20 up to 100 people. RSC also offers a workshops for students and teachers to get involved with Shakespeare`s plays and life which is very informative. RSC let visitors feel like they would be real actors and directors.

Royal Shakespeare Company is also a registered charity that provides money to create performances / programmes and seek the widest audience in the world that is suitable for everyone.

Do you think the venue justifies its public subsidy?

I would say yes and no. At the moment there shows about King & Country season. Ticket prices : £55, £45, £35, £25, £10, plus premium seats also available. As my research shows the price for upcoming play Midsummers`s Night Dream which will be shown at Royal Shakespeare`s Theatre in London price starts from £10 per ticket with a restricted view and can be up to £55 for seats in stalls (section A). However, they offer a discount for elderly people who is 60 and over where price starts at £8 for a same seat with restricted view and may reach the price of £44 in stall section A. There is also a Family Rate (under 18s) that offer nearly half cheaper tickets. The price for the same seats starts at as less as £5 and raises up to £27.50. So those middle age people has to pay more and I would say not everyone can afford it. Theatre is a very important thing for people to stay creative in their mind. Even though they don`t understand how important this is, people should afford to go to a theatre at least once a month. Just try imagine people doing same routine day by day (sleep, work, eat, repeat) it would kill them. Theatre is a food for our brain and we need it as much as we need eggs, bread, milk, meat in order to stay alive. Of course, there are plenty of other theatres that offer cheaper theatre tickets but you cant compare the quality with the Royal Shakespeare`s Theatre. Nevertheless, I stand by their side as they do huge discounts for elderly and young people, that are obviously are not able to work in full force as most of young people are students and elderly people are not able to work many hours. In that case, money from the government are really helpful. It gives an opportunity to enjoy the life of theatre for everyone.

There a day time seats available for a fare of £10 stalls which has to be purchased on the same day as a performance and collected only from a box office. It is valid for all performances.

There is an offer for adult groups of ten and more people to get tickets for £35. Offer is valid only Monday to Thursday for the whole November and December excluding the week commencing 28 Dec 2015. This is a great way to celebrate a Christmas party with your colleagues.

RSC offers cheaper tickets for disabled visitors and their companion. The price for a ticket is £16 per person. However, this offer is only applicable for performances in Stratford-upon-Avon. For London performances you have to call Box Office and ask for further information.

 Probably everyone has heard of £5 theatre tickets at RSC. This concession if for young adults age 16-25. All you have to do is sign up for the RSC Key. By joining RSC Key you will be informed about upcoming performances and events near you. They offer £5 tickets for all their productions. Normally, there are 40 tickets per evening performance that has to be booked in advance and collected only from the box office. There are two ways to book this concession tickets either calling the Ticket Hotline or booking online and using a promotion code which is 1625. This is a good way for students, especially for those studying performing arts, to see and be up to date with most recent productions. Mostly, all students cannot afford going to watch West End shows but RSC productions are as good as West End shows.

Getting Ready for School Tours Part 2

So the lesson on Thursday was little bit tricky as it was only me and Carlos from the whole group. Divina and Sam arrived exactly the same time when we were about to go on and show what we did in the lesson. Carlos and I described the scenes, the beginning, middle and end as our performances involves all the people in our group so we couldn`t perform without them.

This lesson our task was to find out who`s got what kind of skills and we came up with a list of skills each person on our group has:

• Katy. Dance, act, sing, play a piano. 
• Carlos. Act, dance, speak Portuguese, very good comedian. 
• Divina. Sing, dance, act, intimate as she and Sam are going out in real life so maybe we can use it in our performance, also speak Portuguese. 
• Matthew. Act, he is good at physical theatre as well as lifts and weighting as he is very tall and strong. 
• Toya. Sing, act, African dance, speak Dutch.
• Sam. Act, dance, intimate with Divina. 
• Amber (me). Act, dance, karate (kick-boxing), speak Lithuanian. 

So that`s the main skills mentioned above that we may us in our performance.

Another task was to create at least one scene and time it. Carlos and I wrote down all movements and actions from the beginning to the end. The scene starts with to main characters on stage (split scene), and shows their morning. Everything is going in a fast mode just shows the basic of their lives. It repeats for 2 times and then it slows down to a normal tempo. Katy and Sam wakes up at the same time and then Sam freezes and Katy is getting ready for college, when leaves the house she freezes and then Sam starts getting ready. It is important to mention, that Katy is doing A-levels whilst Sam is taking BTEC. They both are going to separate colleges. One college stands for A-levels, this is the one where Katy, Toyo and Carlos are going and the college where everyone is taking BTEC, that is the one where Sam, Divina, and I are going. As Matthew was not in college for sometime we decided that the best role for him would be a teacher, just in case he will be not in the performance day. I also came up with an idea to make the performance more interesting to give each other a particular subject. Lets say Sam is doing BTEC drama, Divina singing and I sports, while Katy is taking A-levels in music and drama, Toya is taking dance and Carlos is learning languages. Basically, it just shows how Sam and Katy travels through different classes and how Sam is good at everything and Katy is failing. Our idea is to show that if you do A-levels you are not any better than those who are taking BTEC. During the performance we will show how they face and deal with difficulties in family, with friends etc. and how it affects main characters` lives. In the end they will apply for university and Sam gets in whilst Katy is really struggling getting in, so she might just drop out or not get into university due to huge pressure in life.

5 drama schools. Why? Where? When?

So as it is just time to start applying to chosen drama schools here is my 5 choices. I have chosen them as I believe education is very important but the quality of education is more important. Going to top, recognizable around the world drama school is very important as it means a lot on actor`s resume.


Here is a list of my chosen options for drama schools:

• Guildhall. That was the first of my choice because of legendary actors who went were came out very successful in their career path. For example, one of my favourite actors, Orlando Bloom, studied there for two years until he broke his arm and dropped out. However, the education he gained there helped him to accomplish his dream and become well known, talented actor. Also, 1 year ago, in the end of summer, I attended 1 week acting workshop there, where we had a chance to speak with acting tutors and experience everyday life in drama school. In the end we created a 5 minutes performance based on news from news paper about terror attacks in countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, etc. I really enjoyed that week and made my decision back then that this is where I want to study. In addition, its just 15 minutes away from my house.
• RADA. Obviously, it`s understandable that everyone wan to get into RADA as it is considered one of the best drama schools in the whole world!!! As my research shows they prefer taking older actors` rather than freshers, graduates after college. They are looking for people who already carry an experience in professional acting. Rada is located in central London so it won`t take long hours of travelling as it is very exhausted. In addition, the successful graduates such as Anthony Hopkins, convinced me that this school provides very good and useful. 
• Drama Centre. First of all, they offered me a free audition in order to attending acting techniques workshop and I really appreciate that as the auditions for drama schools cost the fortune. Each audition for each drama school cost around £70. Also I like that they are open-minded for young talents different than RADA which is focusing on people with experience. However, one of my Lithuanian friend auditioned for Drama Centre and during the auditioned he was told because of his incapability to do an English accent he can`t get into the course because they want everyone to be equal. In that case, I started going to private accent classes once a week that actually improved on my understand it and speaking. 
• East 15. The location is not the best as it is located in zone 6 so it takes some time to get there from central London. Yet I like the course is based on Stanislavski`s technique. Also this school provides very good training for both theatre and film acting. Not mentioning, that it is marked as 5th of the best UK drama schools. 
• LAMDA. I have heard people talking about LAMDA since I moved in London. It is known as one of the best drama schools is the UK and many graduates won plenty of world famous awards which shows the positive achievements in show business. Studying acting and drama is fun and I really enjoy it that is the main reason why I have chosen this path. 
• Also as an extra option I have chosen National Youth Theatre as I was not sure if it counts as a professional training or not. I kept this theatre in mind when I met on the street one graduate, Ed Westwick, that has a pretty good acting on screen experience, and had a chat with him. He told me that he really enjoyed his years spend there and it really helped him. There are countless of world famous performers who attended courses at National Youth Theatre including Ed Sheeran, Orlando Bloom, Helen Mirren, Daniel Craig and many more. They inspired me bacause they are actually looking for young talents as they accept applicants only between the age of 14-25. 

Budget

Every show requires time and money to spend. For our assessment we have to do a careful research about the budget for two weeks performance `The Tempest`. That means we have to look up how much we will spend and earn and the profit or loss we get. As the show is going to happen in Westminster Kingsway College it won`t cost the fortune but let`s say how much we would realistic spend on a real two weeks show. So the final result is the most important either we get a profit or loss. In order to earn a profit we have calculate each thing very carefully and think of the best way to save money. However, many chances are that we can get a loss because it is going to be a premier and people still don`t know about it so probably it won`t be a ticket sell-out.

Here is a list, showing mostly possible costs:

Expenditure:

• Actors.  There are total 11 roles in The Tempest. According to sheet Sharon gave us the cost of 1 actor minimum weekly salary is £440. The tour is two weeks long so each actor will be paid £880. To sum up, the total amount spend on actors will be as much as £9,680.
• Director. In order to get the actors managed we will need to hire a director to help us out with building up and managing the show. The cost of director is £1,439 per week for a full length play. The amount we will pay the director for two weeks is £2,878
• Venue hire. Hiring a venue will cost a lot. The price for full name is £1,200 and half day is £750. Knowing that we will held two evening shows we will need to hire a venue for only a half day. For two evening show performances and a technical rehearsal we will spend £750 * 3 = £4,500 on a venue hire.
• Rehearsals space. In my opinion we have to use the time we have so I would have 6 hours rehearsal 4 days first week and 5 days second week. The rehearsals will run Monday to Friday as the performance is on Saturday evenings. Sunday is day off for everyone. The drama studio costs £87.50 p/h  so the price for a day costs £87.50 * 6 = £525. The amount we will spend first week for 4 days rehearsals is £2,100. The price for second week 5 days rehearsal cost £2,625. The total amount that will be spend on rehearsal spaces is £4,725.
• Technician. In order to have a smooth performance we will need a technician responsible for lighting, music and special effects. The price is £30/h. The show is 2 hours long. We will need a technician for both evening shows plus technical rehearsal. The amount we will pay him is £180.
• Costume. Let`s say we will need to hire a costume for each actor. If we will rent a costume from Angel Costume hire shop located in central London we will spend £80 per costume per week with a special offer that we have to rent 11 costumes. The price for week is £880 and for two weeks is £1,760.
• Props. Minimum prop spend is £250 plus £75 delivery plus £75 collection on Event Prop Hire. In order tu built the right atmosphere of The Tempest we will spend around £800 per week. It is based on a 3 days hire + VAT so we can also use it for technical rehearsal. The total amount for two weeks including delivery is £2,000. http://www.eventprophire.com/pricing
• The lighting is very important in order to see the performance and make it more interesting. Live Systems (livesystems.co.uk) provides lighting kit ( School Lighting Kit - comprising 8 500W Fresnel Lanterns, 4 500W Profile Spots, 4 stands, 4 T-bars, 2 Dimmer Packs, a Dual-Preset Control Desk, filter pack and all cabling. Designed to run off two 13amp sockets) - copied from the website.
  The price is £120 per week, so the total would be £240. 

There are all expenditures listed above excluding marketing. The total price for all of it is  £25,963 plus 10% contingency ( which is 2,596.5) so the total amount is £28,559.3 However to get the profit we would need to higher ticket prices but not too much so people can afford it and that is the only way we could get our money back spend on performance equipment. We could also sell drinks and snacks but it is not allowed in the venue. 

Sources of income:

• Tickets. The price is £7 per person per performance that will be charged on the door. There are total 180 seats in a theatre and 80 people are coming to watch our performance for first evening and show and 70 for second evening show which is total 150 people per both shows. In that case, the income will be £1,050 for tickets. 

Profit or Loss? 

Income - expenditure =profit/loss
£1,050 - £28,559.3 = -£27,509.3 that mean loss 

In order to receive a profit we should have charged more for tickets at least £15 also we should have spend some time and money on marketing and spread the word about this `new, exciting performance!` Also if we would have run the performance for at least 3 or 5 months we would be able to get a discount for lighting, costumes, props etc. 

However, knowing that we are students at Westminster Kingsway College we won`t need to pay for venue hire, rehearsal space, costumes, lights, technicians and props. The only expenses may be on actors and director (which is total of £12,558). However, if Rob would be our director and Level 3 first year or Level 2 students would be the actors we wouldn`t need to pay for anything as long as we are students here. So we would only earn a profit for tickets we sell on the door. 

Getting ready for School Tour

This Thursday the 5th was the first day when we were working in groups, getting ready for own own performance in secondary schools. I was in the same group with Katie, Divina, Toya, Carlos, Sam, Matthew. We are responsible for the whole performance, writing schools and asking if we could lead a small workshop including games and 20 mins performance. The performance theme is about `model student`. We thought a lot what could be a model student in nowadays and came up with an idea of comparing A-levels and BTEC student as most people think


that BTEC is nothing comparing to hard workers A-levels but it is not true. We ended up with this idea because secondary school students` will soon has to choose what to study and we want to give them an opinion on both fields. Katie have done A-levels so she will be the main character as an A-level student and Sam will represent BTEC student. What`s waiting for them next, after college? Is it possible that they both get into university? Do they have equal knowledge? We are trying to answer these question by further developing our performance and improvising.

To create a performance is quite a big responsibility so we allocated each other a section to be responsible for:

• Scripts. We decided that the performance will be about 20 mins long and the games will be for about extra 15-20 mins. So it is too much work for one person to write the whole book of scripts. We all agreed that we will come up with particular script section whilst improvising and then each one of us will write a section of scripts giving the performance different attitude as every person has its own writing style. 
• Costume and Sound. I will be responsible for organizing costumes and sound. 
• Administrator.  Carlos 

We have decided we will go to Toyo`s and Divina`s school as they went to the same school and Carlos school in Islington. Besides, we made an `event line` by then things has to be done. For example, by the next week, there has to be some framework of scripts and one devised scene. 

Bertolt Brecht and Mother Courage

Early life 

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was born in the very end of 19th century, 1989, in Augsburg, Germany, died 1956, just after the World War 2, and is known as a talented theatre practitioner, director and poet. He started to write when he was very young and the main subject he was writing about was political and social issues. His writing was affected by the terrible period of WW1 and WW2. Then, he belonged to anti-war group of people and he got expelled from school for writing anti-war poems, moreover when Nazis came to power in Germany he gave up on his native German citizenship and was not recognised as a citizen of any country. He had enough of serving as medical orderly in the WW1 and seeing the cruelty of the war and started his career in theatre back in Berlin.


Brecht couldn`t stay any longer in the country full of sorrows and moved to America, and after some time was announced as an American citizen. However, home will always stay home, in 1947, he returned to Europe and established  Berliner Ensemble. Theatre meant a lot to him. It was a place where he had an opportunity to express his political views and opinion about society at that time.

He died in 1956, at age 54. Interesting fact: he requested to be buried with a stiletto heel in his heart.

Theories and Epic Theatre

Inquisitive Brecht was interested in many different things. Mainly his beliefs was based on Karl Marx`s theories about socialism and Chinese theatre. Marx`s theories were all about social justice. Although he never joined the Party, he was not against the communism.  Literally, it was about who`s got the power and money,and who does not, and why is that happening. How does industrialisation affects people, their lives and jobs, and the way they label themselves who is who. Obviously, who`s got a higher position is better than the ones who does all the poor work. But better job does not make a better person. This is just all the consequences of the war. It is like a survival between animals. Stays alive only those who can adapt themselves in the environment. In that case, most of his poems and plays are called theatre of war.

Brecht was not afraid just go for it and fail. Basically his theories started from `this might
work this might not` but this is how you find what you are looking for by rejecting things and theories that wasn`t working for you. That`s how he designed his own theories and is known as one of the greatest practitioners ever.

Epic Theatre was founded by Brecht during the years when realism, naturalism and melodrama were global favoured theatre forms. Naturalism is all about convincing the audience to believe that what happens on stage is real. It is more like recreating a real life on stage referring to what was actually happening in real life during this time. Using realism and naturalism forms of theatre he engaged people and tried to send them a message. Brecht wanted the audience to forget, escape from their minds, just stop thinking for a moment. Basically, Bertolt Brecht didn`t want people to enjoy his theatre he wanted them to think about it and question them so they could start thinking about really important things, why is there a war, is it necessary, what people fight for, He wanted to open the spectators eyes and realize how cruel war actually is as some people seem not to understand that.

Brecht believed that each scene in a play has to have its story and even though it is the same play the scenes should be worked on separately as it was a different story in each scene. In that case, every scene becomes interesting itself and after watching couples of scenes the audience don`t know what to expect next. It also leads to alienation effect.

So how did he woo the audience to his side? Brecht used the alienation effects (Verfremdungseeffekt). The alienation effect was used to distract the audience to something new. To do something what spectators would not expect to happen. When the natural rhythm of the story is interrupted and it does not follow the regular criteria what people are willing to see or have been predicting what`s going to happen. In that case, it makes them start thinking and questioning. Make them use their brains. It is like ice bucket challenge. It wakes people up and spreads around. The idea of alienation effects was to remind the audience that they were in a theatre, watching a play, and that people on stage are actors, not real people, playing their characters, communicating ideas to us the audience. However, the effects typically include:

• In order to audience member to be aware of each other house lights were on during the plays.
• All actors performed in black instead of fancy costumes. 
• Very often scenes were sung. 
• Posters were used to display the information for the audience. 

According to Brecht actors should not approach their character psychologically and mentally. he did not require to play the character realistically, which is completely opposite to Stanislavski`s technique. Brecht techniques were unrealistic and not believable.

The following are his techniques for actors:

• Exchange roles with other actors. 
• Breaking the fourth wall. Perform directly to the audience. 
• Use mismatched emotions, for instance play sad in a comedy scene. 
• Robotic, dreamlike movements. 
• Speak as like quoting someone else rather than speaking yourself. 
• Not matching voice and movement. 
• Keep physically and emotionally detached from the other actors. 
• Gestus. Presentation of an emotion through gesture. 
• Didacticism. Teaching of a moral lesson

We should all thank him as he made a big revolutions in theatre and `turned it into a tool for looking at the big issues that affects us all.` He achieved what he wanted, he made it possible to happen and changed the history of theatre forever.

Mother Courage

The play Mother Courage and Her Children is a narrative story about how war destructed many families and changed people lives forever. The main character is Anna Fierling that was a real protagonist through a play, although everyone calls her `Mother Courage`. She is a brave and valiant woman, despite the fact she loves her children one by one. She plays a `tragic figure` in a play. That means she causes sad, pitiful feeling to the readers and audience through her suffering. She is a victim due to social state of affairs, faced the cruelty of war and lost the most important people in her life and according to the government it was her fault. The audience likes her because she tries to stay strong and shows her endurance through out the play. However `Mother Courage` has two sides positive and negative which is called `a heroic anti-hero`. In one part of the play she is even compared to a hyena the animal. Despite the death of her 3 children she stays around the same battle field. The audience should criticize her for not caring too much about her children but at the same time it makes them think why would she do that, if I was her what would I do, would I stay. And this is what Brecht wished to achieve in a theatre. People thinking about what`s going around and not just watching. Brecht tried to send a message to a people about what problems the war causes to people through Mother Courage`s character. The war harms not only beauty of the earth but also the beauty of human beings.

From left to right: Eilif, Kattrin, Mother Courage, Swiss Cheese

Mother Courage and Her Children known as theatre of war play and was performed in USA starring Meryl Streep, knowing as one of the best american actress and in London, National Theatre starring Fiona which showed a spectacular performance and left everyone speechless. Mother Courage has moments that was not expected to happen and that makes it shocking and exiting at the same time.

Differences between Stanislavski and Brecht Techniques 

They both are world wide known theatre practitioners but their techniques are completely different. According to Stanislavski actor should be acting realistic so the audience should be involved in the story and think of it as it is real. He used methods such as `Magic If`, Objectives, Actions which they are all give psychological approach to the character. The actor needs to believe that everything whats happening is real and be drowned in the life of the role. One of his most known method is `memory recall`. The actor sits down on the chair totally relaxed and uses memories to recall feelings. For example, if the character in a play just made a delicious dinner, the actors needs to remember a time when he/she ate something really nice and tasty, recall the smell, taste, was it hot or cold and how he/she felt about it, and use these feelings to get under the character`s skin.

Brecht theories are completely opposite comparing to Stannislavski. His theories are more about the audience not enjoying the show but thinking and questioning about it. His theories doesn`t require to be realistic, although it should be more dramatic, dreamlike. As mentioned above Brecht wanted to wake the audience up and send a message to the world by using theatre, plays and actors than Stanislavski aimed to make the play more believable.

My character Kattrin

I got to be a dumb daughter of mother courage who is not able to speak. She is considered as the most affected character by war. She is not able to save both her brothers, Eilif and Swiss Cheese, because of her disabilities. She`s been pitying throughout the whole play. Mother Courage keeps highlighting that Kattrin is a whore and is afraid that one day she may be raped and never get married.

Evaluation of Performance

Today`s performance went very well. Everyone prove their ability to act under Brecht`s technique. That means: exaggerated movements, involving audience and making them be a part of the performance even though the audience was quite rude and wasn`t listening. That might be because they are not used to that kind of theatre style and knowing that the audience members were mostly teenagers, felt the situation that they had been asked, they started chatting. I really liked how Klaudian involved the audience by making pauses between sentences and facing the audience members which gave the opinion that he`s waiting for their answer. It is important to mention that everyone on stage were relaxed as the performance wasn`t supposed to be believable. I think that the most shocking thing was that we were allowed to use scripts on stage, it supposed to be weird for audience as they are not used to it.


http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/mothercourage/

http://www.shmoop.com/mother-courage-and-her-children/kattrin.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0l7Yb49x7A

http://www.slideshare.net/Crooked49/bertolt-brecht-epic-theatre

Acting Auditions

Classical Monologue

It was such hard decision to choose the right monologue. I had been thinking a lot about it and after long hours of research I was 100% sure I will go for Shakespeare as there is a saying `if the actor can act Shakespeare he/she can act anything`. And I totally agree with it after experiencing performming Caliban from The Tempest which was a huge challenge for me. It`s not that I did not understand what I was reading at first, the character itself has got completely different manners than all other characters I performed before. So my classic monologue is from Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare. Since last year I had an eye on this play. It is very romantic as well as challenging. I have chosen Portia as she was the best typo that I was looking for. Pleasant, inspiring, lovely Portia. A young princess looking for a husband. But everything is not as simple as it looks like. Her dead father made an order for his daughter to marry the man who will be smart enough to answer the question hiding in three different baskets. And after a long, unsuccessful search for the one here he comes, stunning Basanio, ready to conquer Portia`s heart. Portia fells in love with him at first sight. She wishes he will answer all question and they could live happily ever after.

PORTIA

(to BASSANIO) I pray you, tarry. Pause a day or two

Before you hazard, for in choosing wrong

I lose your company. Therefore forbear awhile.

There’s something tells me—but it is not love—

I would not lose you, and you know yourself

Hate counsels not in such a quality.

But lest you should not understand me well—

And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought—

I would detain you here some month or two

Before you venture for me. I could teach you

How to choose right, but I am then forsworn.

So will I never be. So may you miss me.

But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin,

That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,

They have o'erlooked me and divided me.

One half of me is yours, the other half yours—

Mine own, I would say. But if mine, then yours,

And so all yours. Oh, these naughty times

Put bars between the owners and their rights!

And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so.

Let Fortune go to hell for it, not I.

The look of innocent Portia.  

I speak too long, but ’tis to peize the time,

To eke it and to draw it out in length,

To stay you from election.

It was really hard to understand the meaning of nearly every line so I googled it and ended up analysing it at NoFearShakespeare.sparknotes.co.uk which was very helpful. Basically, it is translated to a modern language which makes it easy to understand to nowadays people. For instance, no one says `I pray you tarry, pause a day or two,` in modern language it sounds as simple as `Please wait a bit` or `don`t rush`. Nevertheless, Shakespeare is Shakespeare and you cannot change anything about it. He is just fabulous as well as makes you sweat really hard for it which is not a bad thing. I believe, if it challenges it makes you go forward.

Contemporary Monologue 

I admit, I struggled with that one even more than with the classical one. It was really hard to choose the right monologue that I really like. I had started looking for modern monologue since early summer. I orderer a few modern plays from amazon and wasn`t really happy with them. One is called Bunny another Chapel Street. Actually, I expected something slightly different because both stories and main characters are similar. The story type is very narrative and reminds of a girl`s diary where she explain how everything happened not giving the right clue if it`s happening right now or it already happened in the past. That is because past and present simple is mixed together. However, I decided to go for a Chapel Street one. According the language they use the action takes place in Liverpool. The play is about an English teenage girl name Kirsty and the problems she faces. Kirsty is an opposite version of Portia. She is ignorant, rude, impolite, floozy girls. But at the same time she`s quite lost in her feeling and thoughts as a normal teenage girl. Furthermore, Kirsty has indecent fantasies of her best friend Gemma`s dad which is 30 years older. She feels he is mature enough for her compare to these street boys who act like 3 year olds in kinder garden.

Kirsty and her friend are going out and need to get some drinks. So they walk over the one of these small shops near her friend`s house. They don`t have ID on them as they are only 16 so they decide that Kirsty has to go inside because she looks older and so she does.

So Gemma hides behind the corner and I`m gettin sweaty as I walk inside
The shelves all seem really high and the guy behind the counter looks at me.
He`s a little Pakistani Or Uzbekistani or something astani boy
With beady eyes and dirty hair. I freeze.
I don`t know what the fuck to do after about 5 seconds of freezing
So I give him a quick, awkward smile and slink off behind the shelves.
Fuck, I`m nervous. The list on the palm on my hand was blurred. My sweat
Was like blurring my writing. I shit one and just grab a six-pack of Carling
and a half bottle of Jack Daniels. I walked over the counter all-slow,
like proper slow and confident like Deborah Meaden on Dragons` Don
and I put it all on the table. I don`t want to look at him. Fuck it. I think
I`ve got to be confident or I`ll give it away so I look him right in the eye
and he`s not even looking at me he`s just staring. Just staring right

The look of wild Kirsty. 

at my tits.
`How much?` I ask him and I like use a little wink to make him think I`m game,
so it`s more like `How much?` (with an over-exaggerated wink) Yano? He`s just like
`£12.55, anything else?` And I`m like `No.` And we`are away into the ninght with
six-pack of Carling and half a bottle of Jack Daniels!



I researched about Deborah Meaden because I ha dno clue who she is. Deborah is famous as she runs multimillion family holiday company as well as embodies the dragon in the Dragons` Den which is shown on BBC TWO TV program. It is important to note that she is the only female dragon on the show which makes her look even more fascinating. Peter Jones, Theo Pahitis and Meaden are the biggest business investors on the show.

Drama Schools, Pros and cons of university/drama school

PROS

Location

University life can be tough as well as adventurous, however it is definitely a life experience. Many factors of going university may affect your life during the years of studying. One of them is location. It is very important to choose the right location. For example London is very crowded, multi cultural and expensive city to live and study in. The travel in here is very expensive, comparing to other cities. It`s a good thing that being a student you are entitled to get 30% off the normal travelling price, which is a fortune when you are a student as travelling in London is extremely expensive. But it is important not to forget that there are way more opportunities than in other cities in the UK. On the other hand choosing to live in smaller city, such as Brighton, Bristol, Bournemouth, you won`t pay millions for your travel and especially rent. For example, new, or refurnished 1 bed room flats in Bournemouth costs as much as double room in London zones 1-3. And the price reaches around £650-700 per month. For student it is huge money to pay if you are on a part time job.

Discounts

There are special apps where you can apply and get discounts in lots of shops including Top Shop, Curries PC World, Apple an many more. I researched that using UniDays app a student can get even £300 off a new Apple MacBook and up to 40% off any new computer. And it would be a shame not to mention night life and clubs in London. Most students are young people and love going out but going out costs million, especially if you choose to go to the best clubs in London, the entry price normally swings between £15 to £20, however if you show your student card on the door there is a chance to get into the club for as low as £5 or £10. If you like to go out every weekend it saves you from bankrupt. Of course there is always a way to get a discount if you are not a student but most places ask for a membership card which costs even more money than a discount you can get.

More Job Opportunities

According to a resent scientific research of finding a job with and without a university degree, there are more possibilities to find a well paid job with a degree. However, not all the time. It actually depends on gained experience and ambitions. How disposed you are about your desires and dreams. Degree is only a paper that shows you have finished three years of sitting in lectures and listening to professionals but it may be equal to three years of looking for a job in the industry, meeting people, doing workshops or apprenticeships and intern-ships. To sum up, it depends on person`s personality and character, in which environment he/she can learn more.

Unforgettable Life Experience 

Probably that is one of the best reasons to go university. Making friends, meeting new people, campus parties, games, helping each other, libraries full of books, sleepless nights and just being all together with your friends for 3 or 4 years makes it an absolutely amazing memory of your life.

Exchange Program 

There is a chance to travel to any of the world country for free. Sounds likeable, isn`t it? At the beginning of second year in university you can choose whether you want go abroad or not. It is important to look up for universities that offers the same course as yours. For example, if you do drama-acting you can search for universities in Los Angeles, USA and live there for 6 months. The university should cover all studying and living costs but you have to earn money for food and other facilities which may be little bit difficult. But there is nothing impossible.

CONS

Huge Debt 

Normally, a price of studies are very expensive. In the UK it costs £9,000 a year. So the total amount after three years is £27,000. Plus the government released a new law that students who used to get non refundable £4,000 now has to repay everything back to a single penny. Good thing is, that you can start repaying back after graduation and just when you earn more than £21,000. But hey, you went to university to get a well paid job so expect to get a job that salary is even bigger than that.

Long Distance 

If you originated from a small town you are tend to move to a bigger city and study there. That may cause homesickness, feeling lonely, missing family and old friends. However, don`t forget that a lot of people feel the same way so the best option is to gather together and stay strong,

3 Years of Unemployment

Of course some places offer a part time job but mostly it`s just a typical bar, cafe or restaurant job. It is just a way to earn some extra money. However, it is less chance that you will be spotted by casting director or agency during these year as studies require a lot of time and commitment. But not forgetting that actors agencies come to watch the final major project after 3 years of studying and it might be that you will be lucky enough and they will spot you.