Working process and evaluation on Trestle Masks

About Trestle masks and working process 

The Trestle masks were founded in 1981 in Middlesex university by a group of students: Sally Cook, Alan Riley, Toby Wilsher and their tutor John Wright. All of them established a creative way to represent the trestle mask, using physical theatre, puppets and music. It is more important, that the words are not used throughout the performance, just the miming and presentation of the Trestle mask emotion. The Company soon found it`s way to the stars and took over the Britain`s stage. Moreover, in 2002 the company moved to Trestle Arts Base in St Albans.

The whole new era started when the Toby Wilsher, last remaining member of the founders, left the company and passed it to Emily Gray who aimed to make the physical storytelling, using Trestle masks.

Between 2007-2009 the company collaborated with 3 different companies to share their techniques:

• Little India. The whole attention was concentrated on the rhythm techniques, Mudras(gestures), Vedic Chant (the oral tradition of the Vedas, being composed of Pathas. (Pathas is the perfect memorization of the text, using the Vedic pitch accent.) and teh Raga (melodic modes used in traditional South Asian music).
• Lola. The Spanish dance company, focusing on flamenco dance skills of the famous 19th centuri dancer Lola Montez. 
• The Glass Mountain. The Polish theatre company, exploring the physical and vocal techniques, particularly the singing-storytelling technique. 

They had a partnership with the following:

• York Theatre Royal. A 250 years building, outputting house in their two auditoriums. 
• Small Nose Productions. A theatre company, specialising on clown and mask performances. 
• VIDEOfeet. Film, graphic designs illustrations, sound and web design

The idea of performing with Trestle mask on, is that the face emotion (happy, sad, confused) should be introduced to the audience through the body language. So again, the hardest part goes to teh actors, learning what would that emotion act like. Let`s is the Trestle mask is happy, the actor more likely will be jumping in the air, dancing, exploring everything around, whilst is the mask portrays the evil emotion, the actor should keep his arms crossed, doing villain, creepy movements in order to match the emotion. Also throughout the performance the masks shouldn`t be touched throughout the performance. Once the actor puts the mask on she/he becomes that mask.

Today everyone was writing an evaluation about yesterday`s performance with masks. I didn`t have a chance to perform yesterday as I wasn`t ready for it because of my absence in college due to championship and illness(sinusitis). However, today, me, Ria and Matthew discussed what we could do for our performance with masks, as they neither didn`t perform yesterday.

We wrote down a long list what we should include in our performance. 

• Sound effects
• Lifts/weight taking
• Very physical 
• Put on/off mask facing the wall, not the audience!!! 
• Do not touch the mask
• Slow motion 
• Props (fan, maybe torch, necklace, chairs)
• Different levels 
• The use of projector for images

I came up with an idea of us creating a time machine and travelling through times. So we are all students sitting in the classroom. Ria`s character comes in late and sits down all messy. She`s very bored so she stands up and goes behind us. She starts to create a time machine. Her movements are over exaggerated so the audience can have an idea she creates something really dangerous. At the same time she puts 3 chairs in a row and the huge clock in the middle. We all sit down, put hands on the clock and start shaking. Once we stop there is a note on the wall (going from projector) `Welcome to roaring 1920s`. We decided that we can use the music from that time and do some dancing or partying as 20s was the times of cakes and ale. We go back to time machine and we are in 40s. We got in full swing of second World War. After firefight we go back to time machine and travel to 80s where bright colours and rock`n`roll took over the world. After some fun time in 80s we are on our way to the future where robots controlling the world. We haven`t decided how we going to finish it but thought of going back to nowadays and just freeze. 

Ria came up with idea of using a giant clock as the symbol of time machine. She also suggested using props that symbolizes different times. For example, tutu skirts symbolizes 80s, fans were used in roaring 20s. 

Matthew suggested that we could use the music as background of each  years.

Evaluation 

On Tuesday 17th May we have finally finished with Trestle Masks performance. We started working on it since early February on our free time and I came up with idea of using the time machine to travel through times. As it was only 3 of us : Matthew, Ria and I, Ria came up with idea that everything should start from the classroom. Then, she suggested, that we could use totally opposite characters: such as sad and happy, or evil and angel. Matthew suggested that he could be a teacher and Ria can play the evil character as she really wanted to get play the evil movements and body language as she researched a lot about it and I could play the `dump` one, who always flops and creates the difficult situations out of no where.

As we started working on it, I suggested that we could use only two different times: World War 1 and future as that would be more than enough to fit into 5 minutes piece as we rehearsed before with 3 times. including 80`s, our piece was about 9 minutes long, which is way too long.

On our last rehearsals we started thinking about props, costumes and set. Costumes and set was quite easy, as for me and Ria - secondary school student we would be using a white shirt and black trousers, whilst Matthew as a teacher will be wearing all black (smart) clothes. Set struggled little bit with set as we did not know how to portray the time machine for audience to understand it clearly. We tried to put 3 chairs and then sitting down on them and shaking like during the earthquake but that didn`t work as it was too messy. In that case, I came up with idea using the posters with titles on it. For example, as we went to the museum, Matthew picked up the poster, on which was written "WELCOME TO THE MUSEUM", whilst me and Ria moved the chairs away from the stage after the first scene, which was classroom. We didn`t want to make the stage look crowded with the `museum objects` so we decided to mime it, which worked wonders as we had enough space to move and did not need to worry about flipping on something.

Props was the hardest part as we didn`t know how to portray different times without changing too many clothes and props. For example, how clearly transfer the scene from World War 1 to the future. Then Ria and Matthew suggested using the sound effects for each scene, which was taken from YouTube and Carlos helped us out, controlling it. Carlos did a great job, just played some of the sound effects too early which made a bit mess in science but we tried to not to show that. So for the first classroom scene we used the school bell to show the audience that the lesson has started, then  for the second scene in museum we used the original sound track from the movie Night At The Museum, followed up by the shutting gun and war sound effect for the WW1 scene and futuristic/robot sound effects for the future scene. I believe, that we could have used more of the sound effects for the end bit, where the time machine explodes and me and Ria (students) try to run away.

What worked? 

• Physical theater. I noticed that our body language was quite strong, knowing that we did not use any words. That developed our physical theater skills. 
• Miming. We used quite a lot of miming skills in order to make the piece funnier and clearer.
• Levels. We were thinking what else we could use writing the list of physical theater skills that doesn`t include talking and levels was a good idea to insert in our performance. For most of the times we were standing up but there were moments where we were sitting on the chair or lying on the floor as in the WW1 scene which counts as using different levels. 
• We couldn`t include lifting or weighting because Matthew got problems with his back and I have problems with my knee and  me and Ria couldn`t lift each other even though we wanted to. We wanted to include that as we enter the time machine. 
• Stylized movement. Ria`s body language was evil as she played the emotion which was on the masks, my body language was like the person who iss always lost and doesn`t know what`s going on around, messy and weird movements, Matthew used a smart, strong and suprosed body language in order to impart his character.  

What could have been better? 

I noticed that I my mask/face wasn`t facing the audience all the time, as it supposed to be that is a tiny mistake because we don`t use the words so audience needs to see the mask emotion all the time in order to understand what`s going on.

Clearer transactions between the scenes. For example, when we are going back to machine from WW1 maybe we should have used freeze frames instead of going back to time machine out of nowhere, same with the robots scene.

As I mentioned above we could have included lifts and weighting but we were not able because of health problems. At least we tried.


What have you learnt working with mask? And how will this work help me as an actress?

As an actress I learnt how important the body language is in the theater. I noticed that before when I got to play Caliban in the Shakespeare`s play The Tempest but then I had also lines to say. It is a completely different thing when the mask covers all of the face, and you can see through the tiny holes - eyes. Moreover, it is very hard to breath as the mask is very close to the face and all the air seems to be circulating in the same space. For me it was really disturbing because I was not get used to wearing something on my face, especially when performing. Also, it was always going down and hampering my eyelashes so I had to displace my jaw in front in order to make the mask stay a bit further from my face.

Another important thing I learnt when performing with Trestle masks is that once you put the mask on you not supposed to touch it until the end of the performance, when you turn around, count to 3 and take the mask off. it also should not be wore on the top of the forehead.

The final thing would be different physical theater skills. Especially, when playing different emotion. I did not notice before how important is to thing about the emotion of the playing character. Because it affects the way character moves and uses it`s body language. For instance, if the character is happy, is more likely to be jumping around or energetically spreading the energy around the stage and audience, whilst a sad one will hold it`s hands down, will be moving slowly, angry or evil will have hands crossed on chest, rubbing palms as planning something bad, etc.

 To sum up, next time I will be preparing to get under the skin of my character I will analyze what emotion it`s feeling, thinking about the character`s background and how it affected it`s mood. Then trying to apply the right body language skills to match the playing emotion.

Evaluation on FMP

All preparation  and performance has past as fast as wind. In total, we had around 7 weeks to get ready and show what we have got which was more than enough time to smash our performance. However, as always there was some difficulties we had to overcome in order to achieve our best.

I really enjoyed the last show as it seemed different from other shows. This was our last show and it meant we all had to get on with it. In my opinion, we got to perform a bit tougher play than other half of a class. Love and information was Brechtian style play which meant it has to be performed in Brecht`s style but with Stanislavski`s characters. There were no exact roles and lines who has to say what. In this case, that gave us a whole ocean of opportunities to interpret the piece by ourselves and with a help from Sharon and Rob. A huge involvement was seen from everyone. The ideas was just suggested one after another so that was the hardest part to try the ideas and reject the ones that is not suitable, without making feel any one outcast.  

To make the performance easier we all designate ourselves a job, which was done during the Easter Holiday on a group chat. That means that everyone can researched their specifically given areas and come back to college prepared. Toya and I were responsible for props. First Tuesday after we came back to college after holidays we sat down together discussing each scene what ideas we have for props as well as communicating with actors and asking their own opinion as we might have missed something. In the end, everyone did their homework and we avoided unnecessary mess and arguments as everyone cooperated together.  

As we all decided the actors (us) remained on the stage throughout the whole play which was the first experience for me to perform the whole play being on the stage and judged by audience with no rest. At first, I thought it is going to be very hard to deal with as I tend to get breaks through different scenes, remembering Shakespeare`s play The Tempest. And this time it was a whole new thing. Moreover, we had different characters to play, switching from one to another in a matter of seconds. I have to say that during the rehearsals I was shaking because both the excitement and nervousness but when the actual performance came I was calm as Buddhist. To mention that during the God`s voice scene I was actually meditating on the stage that I have never done before. And it really helped me to calm down and focus on the next scenes.

We used physical theater skill such as slow motion (scene Stone), levels (Fan!), miming (Star),  assemble work (Throughout the play), assemble shout (Facts, The Child Who Didn`t Know Sorry) etc. Also the music played in between in the end of each sections worked very well as we had to freeze for 10 seconds. The lighting team did a good job, catching up the cues and putting the right lighting on the spots where it was needed.

The scenes I performed in:

• FAN! Everyone is pretending that Ryan is a superstar and all of us are his fans. Everyone seems very excited talking about him. Also we had some lines that was said by everyone at the same time. For example `wait!` and then everyone change the direction, stand up or down the chair. 
• Lab. Jerome and I were high school students, trying to learn about the chicken and their beads in the laboratory, while Sam (crazy scientist) and Melody ( all-knowing scientist) are the scientist explaining about how chicken learn to bead and what they bead. 
• Star. Matthew and I are looking at the endless sky, full of stars. We are good friends.  My character`s grandpa told the facts about how far the stars are and I passing that information on to my friend. The starry sky in the background gives the audience more understanding about what we are talking about. 
• Wedding video. All of us a friends or relatives watching an old wedding video of mum and dad. To mention that, the whole section is related to memories and past. 
• Savant. Me and Elvina are at the bar. Two old friends met up and had a chat in the bar. I questioning her in order to make sure she remembers the day when we met. 
• Wife. Jerome sits in front of the chairs and Melody, Toyo and I stand behind him. The meaning of it is that it is a nightmare for Jerome as he and his wife got into car accident in which his wife died and now he is hallucinating her. At first he is very calm as we can notice it experiences it not for the first time but as the hallucinations get stronger he explodes and drowns in his own thoughts, all frightened and depressed.
• Facts. It is like a TV show where are two teams on each side, where all the all-knowing people gather in two teams and wins the one team who answer the question first. In the end all of us shout Sea Anemone and freeze. The lights fade out, the end. 

Despite the arguments we had a week before the performance everything went smooth and me and Matthew smashed the Star scene. I believe, everything happens and as we are actors we have to get on with it very quickly it was very unfair from my and Matthews side that others started deciding and changing last minute without asking us if we feel comfortable in that way. But everything ended up great and that is the most important thing. Also he really did well doing the American accent in God`s scene where Rob asked him to give it a try. 

As I have watched the video of the filmed performance I noticed that some of us didn`t speak with the same projections. That means if someone in the scene used more projection and articulation, making other seem quieter but that is the problem we would need to work as an assemble, working together on our voices. 

To sum up, everyone did a great job and put a lot of effort in it. The role allocation helped to solve different areas such as costumes, props, set, rehearsal time and saved some time which was used wisely for rehearsals. Our group even came during the Easter Holidays to make sure everyone is on board, not forgetting their lines and just to work on the bits which needs to be improved. During the preparation time the time just flew and the performance approached very quickly. I know for sure I will remember these 3 years spent in college for the rest in my life. 

FMP Last Rehearsals Log Book Part 4

The last weeks have gone as wind. We had the technical rehearsal last week which went little bit messy. Also there was another thing which disturbed me a lot as because of some people didn`t learn their lines they started changing everything, including my scene, around without asking me. Everything happened on Thursday afternoon when Ria was told to do the God`s Voice and that came out that she wasn`t be able to do the Star where Matthew swopped with Ria. I did not feel comfortable about it at all as this is too short of notice to change everything, I believe the best option was to cut the God`s Voice scene without making such a big mess. However, as I said my opinion that I don`t feel comfortable changing that last minute, some people had a go on me that my scene is going to be cut off, which is totally not fare. In the end of the day, Matthew was ok to learn the lines very quickly and will do the star scene.

The main notes from Sharon and Rob was:

• to articulate more and project as much as we can, especially for me in the Star.
• Schizophrenic. Try to get around the lights that adds more energy to it.   
• Savant. There should be a background chat in the end to make it more alive as the action takes place in the bar. 
• Wife. What is the meaning of that scene? As we all discussed he man is in coma and his wife is just the illusion. It`s like a bad dream. 
• Stone. Wait for the spotlight to come up on Ryan. 
• God`s Voice. Pray in different ways. For instance, as Buddhist, Christians, Muslims etc. 
• And the main note for everyone is projection!

So as Today is the last day of rehearsals we really need to work on small bits which needs to be polished. 

Working on FMP Log Book Part 3

Only a week left until we break up for Easter Holiday so until then we have to polish every single aspect. LAst week we ran trough the whole play, working on the bits which needs to be worked on. After each rehearsal time Sharon and Rob gave us plenty of notes on what we should improve:

• Mark sections. (There are 7 sections in total, which should be separated one from another) It can be done by using freeze frames, title, changing seats. Everyone really liked the idea of changing seats and using the freeze frames. 
• Set up the scenes. Even in the imaginary way. For example, for God`s scene we decided that it should be a supermarket but it is not clear for the audience. So this morning we were working on it. We came up with idea walking around in circles and then standing in 2 queues and buying products. Meanwhile, Matthew pretends he is speaking with everyone but every body tries to ignore him, finally he reaches the end of the queue and start talking with Toya. 
• Take our time. We are too quick with the scripts and the audience need time to understand what`s happening next. 
• Fan scene is very good but Sharon suggested maybe we could mime something while standing on the chairs. For instance, we could pretend to be the statue of Freedom in New York, or eating something, etc. 
• All the scenes have the same pace. God`s voice seems too slow and doesn`t stand out from the other scenes. We though that we could all be praying in different ways: like a Christian, Buddhist, Muslin, etc. 
• For the scene Child Who Didn`t Know pain Divina suggested using Trestle masks instead of miming the emotions and then play the particular emotion. 
• In the Wedding Video people who has got on couple of lines should be miming eating popcorn in slow motion. We also changed some people lines just to make in in the right order. 
• Learn the words you don`t know. I wasn`t too sure about the word Savant, which is the name of the scene in which I am in. So as I researched that means a learned person, especially distinguished scientist. 
• Mainly, we need to work on sections 5 and 6 as the energy drops to a low level as this is the longest part in the middle. 
• Wife scene location wasn`t clear enough. As I suggested Jerome should be in the hospital, waking up and his wife (in this case wives: me, Toya and Melody) standing behind him and looking at him. As he stands up and walks around we follow him with our eyes. There might be a doctor who comes to check his pulse or drip at the beginning. 

Me and Ria rehearsing The Star

This week we started working on the scene running order to be smooth. People had to stay the first line and the last line of their scene and then the action moves to another scene. Sharon was watching us and reminding about 10 seconds freeze between the sections which we decided to do last week on Thursday when rehearsing in the theatre. I think that works really well because firstly, it looks very Brechtian and secondly, it is much clearer in between the sections, and just to remember what scenes follows next. 

Caryl Churchill

About the Author

Caryl Churchill born 3 September 1938. She was born in London, England, later on her family emigrated to Canada She is a British playwright known for her non-naturalistic plays, highlighting the themes of sexual politics and feminism. She is a follower of Bertolt Brecht techniques of Epic theatre, exploring issues of gender and sexuality.  She attented a girl school in Montreal, as her parents moved to MOntreal, Canada when she was 10. And later on she returned to England and graduated Women University of Oxford. After the explosion of A Mouthful of Birds she began experimenting with dance-theatre, including the teachniques taken from `Theatre of Cruelty` by Antonin Artraud. 

                                                                                             About LOVE AND INFORMATION

It is a freshly baked play which was released at the Royal Court House, London in September, 2012. It has 7 sections, which makes total of 57 scenes with as much as 100 characters throughout the play. It portrays everyday situations that people face in real life. However, it may only require 2 actors to act but the best option would be 12-15 actors. Impressive that some of the scenes takes no longer than 25 seconds. Moreover, the scenes are not related one with another but has the same meaning behind them. Basically, it is a play about modern society, the love, overdose of virtual life and connection between each other.


The main themes 

• Virtual communication/information. The author portrays that very well, especially in the Virtual, where a man falls in love with the computer and believes that it is a true love. It shows how the society has changed and fallen for the technology. But does that really affect us in a good way? It seems the technology starts taking over our lives and even commanding how to live. People became less confident in talking to each over and more attractive to corporeal things. There are just too much of information given to us.
• Love. We forgot how to communicate and appreciate things that actually breaths and exists. Everyone seems focused on their own stuff, forgetting that the love is most beautiful thing in the world and that makes people happy.
• Memory. There is the whole section which focuses on the memories. Section 5 includes the scenes such as Memory House, Wedding Video, Flash Back, etc. All our experiences shape who are we now, depending on what we had to go trough. It reminds that every single one of us survives the times that could hardly be survived and when we happy we have to share it with everyone. 

Final Major Project Love and Information Log Book 2

The last few weeks on working on final major project were great. You can see how everyone is working hard and doing they best. This week we improved a lot on analysing our characters and trying to run over the whole play.

After a week of absence I was little bit confused about the Fan scene as everyone are in it and Isabella gave a short notes of what to do and we performed in front of the other half of the class. Each of us were paired in two with those who playing in blue room. I was in pair with Shaday.

In her notes she mentioned I would need to improve on:

• Energy levels because it has been little bit low so far.
• characterisation just be clearer about my playing characters because now its just line reading 
• make sure to stay in character even though I dont have any lines. For example, when other people are in the scene and I`m just sitting on a chair in the background make sure my legs are down and I`m focused. 
• Be more faster with my lines. I believe that will come when I learn my lines and will be off bok by the next week. 
• projection. I have setted a target to do work on OO - OH - OR every morning. 

In Rob`s class we did a quick warm up before we kicked on rehearsing. In the afternoon we split in two groups: Blue Room and Love and Information. Blue Room went rehearsing first, we followed after. Mainly we focused on the last acts: 5, 6, 7 and scenes which are in it, including the last one. I appreciate how everyone is throwing ideas and giving it a try. For the last scene, we thought of making like a TV show with two presenters: Katie and Ryan. There will be two groups, each competing whose answer the question first. It`s more like a smart question game "Who`s going to win a million?". As the last question comes up everyone shouts out at the same time, Ryan and Katie hugs and everyone freezes, black out.

Sharon helped us to transform from one character to another very quickly which is very helpful as in love and information we have multiple characters. For instance, I have 5 different characters. Moreover, all the time we are on stage so there is no time to relax. The focus has to be kept all the time because even a tiny mistake can make a huge difference.

At first we were walking around in circles, changing direction. Then, Sharon gave us a task to draw a circle around ourselves, starting from the ground and slowly going up. Once, we are back in our normal position, back straight, we have to become the character from the play. I have chosen a school girl from the Lab scene, which is very curious about everything. When Sharon raised her hands up the character had to be exaggerated up to maximum, when she slowly lowered her hands the character is very close to neutral position but the energy has to be kept the same.

Following task, required to get into pairs and interview each other. But interview a character, asking questions such as, who are you, what is your favourite colour, do you have any siblings, where do you live, etc. Personally, that helped to create the actual life for my character and believe that she truly exists which was hard to understand beforehand.

The setting is quite an usual as well as simple. It is very close to Brechtian theatre style as we don`t use much of furniture neither decorations. Just chair, setted like they are mirroring each other. It is really important to mark on the script where and when we change seating just to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

On Thursday morning in Sharon`s class it was only me, Jerome, Isabella and Ria. The theatre was free of use so we used the opportunity to run over the scenes in a theatre. Mostly, we worked on the scenes in which at least one of us are. However, working in a theatre was very useful, just to get used to bigger space than we used to rehearse in small drama studio which I believe affects on our projection as we tend to speak quieter.

As we had more time, I had a chance to annotate my scripts. I marked and crossed all the scenes we are in and sticked a paper tape with a name of the scene and number. It took a while but it is very helpful in rehearsal, especially in s play like Love and Information when it is so easy to get lost.

In the afternoon, was the first time we ran over the whole play twice. Tired and exhausted, we felt we done really great this week and worked very hard. Of course, it worked well because all the group members were in so we did not need to read in for anyone. Hopefully, for the next week we can be off book and ran over the play as many times as possible.

Working on Final Major Project Love and Information Log book 1

So we finished off with Noises Off and moving on to the next stage final major project. We looked at both plays : love and information and the blue room. Myself I would prefer playing in the blue room because I found it more changeling as we are not used to perform sexuality on stage and I think that would be a great experience. On the other hand, love and information is a very `free` play which means we can play it as we like it. We can interpret how do we think it should be. Also there no specific characters so we can have as many characters as we want in scenes. Let`s the scene can be played by 2 or 5 actors and it is going to be completely different.

As I found out I am in love and information I was that upset even though the play is not the greatest one we have to give it a try and as I could say we are nailing it. All of us giving a lot of suggestions about the setting, transactions, scenes and characters. Yet some people are really not happy about the play everyone is doing they best and trying to be a part of it. Moreover, we have only 5 weeks to go until the actual performance and technical rehearsals so really need to get on with it.

To be honest, the more I read this play the more I like it. That`s why because we put ourselves into it and start devising it. At first, we have chosen the scenes we like. Important to mention we are going to do all the scenes people wanted to do. Also we all the people who wanted to do a particular scene are going to do it, no matter if it`s 2 or 6 people. In order to make the scenes more Brecht and interesting we double up voices. Let`s say 3 people including me, Jerome and Isabella wanted to play Schizophrenic so me and Jerome reading the same lines at the same time while Isabella reads alone.

The play itself is more like Brecht style which involves a lot of actions which is not likely to happen in real world. For example, in a first scene when Divina tells the secret to Toya we all stretch our ears and go `pshpshpsh`.

As probably everyone noticed the play has 7 acts with 7 scenes in each act which makes total of 49 scenes. We thought we could somehow highlight the title of each scene. For instance, Dream, someone can stand up, shout out DREAM! and everyone else can repeat it or we go straight into the scene.

Evaluation of Noises Off

We had our last performances of Noises Off on Thursday 28th January. In total there were 4 performances Act 1 followed up by Act 2 and after that we repeated Act 2 and Act 2 just with different cast. So I was playing Belinda in both Act 1. Even though we performed it twice but each time it was different. And I believe this is nor al thing because it it would be the same cast, it looked the same but with different people in it comes different staging and acting. I believe, that all of us could improved on learning the lines quicker, catching cues and just bringing more energy into it. However, we all were nervous as we knew rehearsal time is finished and this is an actual performance on which we are getting graded, also Level 2s and first years were watching us which gave more anxious. That`s why some people forgot their lines or didn`t catch the cue because all attention was on thoughts how not to mess up and not forget the lines. I think if we would play some games before our performance we would be more relaxed as games always helps me to relax and gives me some confident credits.

When we played Act 1 second time Katy had scripts in her hands which means she didn`t know all her lines. However, it did not look bad because this is a play-within-play and that looks that this has to be like that. I believe, we would need more time to rehearse with second cast and everything would be better. I know for myself the more I rehearse the better I feel about my lines, catching cues and movements. It just becomes automatic. For example, the more you hear same words, the more likely you will remember it.

I learnt that playing farce is actually like a game with each other and the audience. As I observed, audience love to laugh from funny, absurd situation, which is even more exaggerated than in real life.

Noises Off What is Farce?

What is farce in drama? 

Farce is a comic play that uses very exaggerated situations, actors has stereotyped characters, and the whole play is a big mess. The plot always involves absurd and highly improbable situations, that are not likely to be true or to happen. It is important to follow up the plot due to it`s random twists and unexpected events that may change the plot upside down. However, it is still linked with the previous plot story. Farce includes both a verbal and a physical humour. In fact, all the hard work goes to the actor as he/she has to represent the farce not only through the mouth but also through the body. What`s more exaggerated movements performed by the actor makes it more farcical and funny.

Origins of farce are found in ancient Greek and Roman comedies of Aristophanes, Shakespearean plays and the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. The word itself born from French word `stuffing`. It was used to describe clowning, acrobatics and caricature and linked with entertainment show. French farce spread quickly around the world, bringing farce to top forms of comedy.

Farce is usually used in theatre plays and sometimes in movies but some people critically comment on farce, they say it is too much of exaggeration for the screen. However, there are couple of good examples of farce used in film industry. One of the best are Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Cops and the Marx Brothers who impressed the whole world with their unbelievable, farcical performance. Farce took over the television in 1970`s series Monty Python`s Flying Circus as well as brilliant, short episodes of Faulty Towers. In addition, British actor John Cleese is known as a gifted actor who could carry out farce better that any one else. I would also say that my two favourite actors, Johnny Depp and Jim Carey play excellent farce on-screen. Jim Carey shows his ability to demonstrate farce in nearly all of his movies, whilst Johnny Depp revealed his talent in The Pirates of the Caribbean. All these talented comics made farce one of the best physical forms of comedy.

How do I play farce?

It is important to note that Noises Off has quite quick rhythm, which means timing is very important. Actors job is to pick up cues quickly. Moreover, don`t over over exaggerate it because the characters has to be truthful and believable.

Our group rehearsing Act 2

Where should I improve?

This week we rehearsed couple of times in a theatre. It went well because everyone already knows their lines so now we are tidying up our movements and actions on stage. To be honest, once I learnt my lines and not holding the scripts any more, I found Belinda`s character very confusing. She has something that no one else does and to play that confident inside of her is really hard. As Rob said Belinda is like a glue holding everyone up together. She knows everything what`s going on between all the characters and tries not to draw attention to that. Moreover, she is very sarcastic but in a good way because no one takes it seriously. Belinda is like a perfect companion to everyone. Somehow, she knows how to adapt to make everyone happy and that is really hard because you can`t make everyone happy. And that`s where I should improve. Your body is what happens in your head and if I try to get inside Belinda`s head my body language will be more similar to hers. 

Rob`s feedback to us all was that we have to speak louder, otherwise people sitting in the back of the chairs won`t hear a word. I believe, that is because we get used to perform in a smaller space, such as drama studio, and our voices need some time to get used to a new environment. 

Also it is important to play the moment, don`t just switch off when I don`t have any lines, try to find a way to do something on stage even though it is a small mute chat with Freddie or smile exchanges with Dotty. For the first time I rehearsed with a bag on stage which gave more physical moves, picking up the bag and holding it in my hand.  It is important to react to what other people say so let`s say I need to react to Lloyd`s line `Ok, from Belinda`s and Freddies exit` so I get up, take my bag and go towards the door then Poopy comes in and stops me and Freddie from exiting. It is important to be aware of what other characters are saying and react to it. That`s what makes the play alive.  

Work Experience Log Book 3 Evaluation

Finally, after 2 long months we finished with a school tour and work experience. In yesterday`s class we evaluated our work and discussed what could have been better and what we did well. Here is a video of our presentation. We listed 3 good and bad things we have done during this period.

Good things are: 

• We improved on our transactions
• Good characterization
•  good contributions

Bad things:

• Attendance. Our group`s attendance was really poor and not because of me and Matthew. Even though we were in people were sitting and playing on their phones. That is also affected our performance. 
• The performance wasn`t linked to the performance. The message of model student wasn`t clear enough. 
• Our performance was a basic style. There was a lack of physicality and too much of naturalistic style. 
• Vocal weren`t loud enough. I think that was  because we get used to rehearse in a small space such as drama studio 222 or 226 and the actual space was much bigger. 

What did I learn from work experience?

I learnt that without a really really strong team work there are no expectations to get a good result. Our group wasn`t working together and communication was very weak. Of course, once again poor attendance and punctuality has affected negatively our group`s performance. No one was actually dedicated to it as other groups` people. 

Work Experience Log Book 2 The Workshop at College

I believe, we did very well during the workshop with Level 3 first years and then performed our piece in front of them and our class. First years gave us some feedback about our workshop and said it was very entertaining and fun. They guessed from the first time that it was related with a model student which means we achieved one of the criteria. Also they said that the name game at the beginning broke the ice and everyone became more confident about themselves. The performance bit made them think of what the model student is, and learn at the same time.

Feedback we got for our performance bit was really good ideas on which should we work on. Elvina said that we kept very strong energy throughout the whole piece. Ryan suggested that we should use real props such as oyster cards in a bus scene just to make it clearer. Brandon mentioned that we should work on our transactions between the scenes and if we forget to take the chairs don`t whisper about it because the audience can hear it. Everyone agreed that we should take out role sexuality and swearing because this is not appropriate. Also somebody said that we should focus on people at one point at a time, especially in a scene where Sam is playing a teacher, Katy and Divina bad students, whilst Carlos and Toyo are flirting with each other. They said the attention goes to everyone, while we all should be focusing on Carlos and Toyo as they are the main characters.

Work Experience Log Book 1 Workshop Games and Classroom Work

Next week we are leading the drama workshop, in which we will have a group of 8 people and will play some games and exercises. It should be around 20 minutes long so enough time to play at least 3-4 games and create a short performance.

Some games I found that can be played in a workshop.

Our group talking about the games

•  Name Game. I think that at the beginning we should play some name games in order to get to know each other. The one I found is very simple and all of us have played it before. So gather everyone in a nice round circle. Then have them say their name and do a gesture starting with the first letter of name. For example "My name is Sarah and I like swimming" and then show the gestures of swimming in the air. Person standing on the right repeats Sarah`s name and her gestures, then says his/her name and does the gesture. That goes around and stops by the person who started it. Then the host can offer if someone wants to shows their good memory skills and do the round again. The game leaders was Sam and Carlos.
  
• Splat. We all stand in a circle. Then Divina and Katy explain how to play that game. Divina stands in a circle and then points and shouts at one of the students in a circle. The one who`d been shout at has to bend down and people who stand from his left and right says splat, the one who says it quicker stays in the game and the other one sits down and watches the others. When it`s only two people left in a game they face each others backs. Then Divina explains that they have to make a step each time she says any word except the one she mentioned at the beginning. For example, she said when I say orange, you have to turn around as quickly as possible and shout splat! The one who does it first wins.
  
• Eastenders game. Katy leads this game. We all stand in a circle. You have to clap your hands and say Oi! when the circle goes to the right and Get out of my pub! When circle goes to the left. If its your turn, you can change the direction by saying one of these frazes and sending it to opposite direction. Also, you can shout Rickyyyy! And then everyone shouts back Ricky!! Then walks around the room and changes the place,
  
• Me and Toyo are leaders of the short workshop where we put people into 5 groups and then I give a paper to each group on which is written either `bad student` or `model student`. Then they have to create a short 2-4 minutes piece related with theme ( which is written on a paper). We decided 5 minutes of preparing should be enough. In case they won`t be ready yet we will give 2 extra minutes. Then after each group performance other groups has to guess what student was it and explain why they think like that. Matthew gives a hand to each group, if needed.
  
• After all we summarize what we did and ask them what was the theme of the whole workshop, ask if they could give us any feedback and if they learned anything. 

Noises Off by Michael Frayn

We are back with a new comedy play Noises Off by Michael Frayn. It was premièred in Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London in 1982. It was very successful and it got transferred to Savoy Theatre, West End and was running until 1987. Moreover, it won Evening Standard Award, Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for the Best Comedy. 1992, Peter Bogdanowich decided to adapt it to the screen. However, it wasn`t that successful and the reviewers said it was the worst film ever seen because it was too much theatrical.

Picture from Noises Off performance

Picture from the performance of Noises Off

Noises Off is funny because it is a play within a play. It is a group of people that have been put in a play Nothing On which leads to disaster. Our group got to play Act One, the first part where audience gets to know the characters. There are 9 characters, each of them having their own principles and life twists. My playing character is Belinda Blair - Flavia Brent. Basically, Belinda Blair is a real person and Flavia Brent is a character played by Belinda. In a play, Flavia is married to Philip Brent, a character played by Frederick Fellowes. It is slightly confusing because there are 18 characters in total and only 9 actors. My playing character is a charming Belinda`s (Flavia) role. She is a good companion to everybody and can`t live without sarcasm. She`s got a cheerful and charismatic personality and is a reliable actress. She is secretly sympathising to Freddy, also her husband in a play Nothing On. It is important to note, that Belinda and other actors are Americans but playing English roles.

Belinda Blair 

First rehearsals went slightly confusing. It was more like reading the lines and watching other actors actions, then thinking of what you could apply and how you could use your body language to express the character`s thoughts. As always I used Stanislavski`s technique, actions and objectives, I wrote down next to each line my actions. This helps me to understand my characters thought process, and I believe this should be the first step in learning your lines. Rob`s feedback and notes that we have to be off book by the week starting 12th January. Also once the lines are learned we have to work on picking up the cues quickly, that`s what we are going to do the following week. In addition, I watched plenty of YouTube videos in order to get more information and understanding about Belinda`s character but it is not much written on the internet. I picked up some of her actions, movements, tried to pay attention to the way she walks, talks, flirts with Freddy and portrays herself. Those videos gave me the idea of Belinda and how other actresses represents her.


Nearly every play has some political views in it, so is the Noises off considered as a political theatre play. The power of political theatre usually tells the story of a system`s effects on people.

Maybe Michael Frayn wanted to show the real life of show business and how well played play is being born. He wants to show the people that theatre is not always gold and fame but it also takes a lot of misunderstands, confusions and effort to make it good. Also the playwriter impart typical people`s (our) life in his play. Especially, he emphasizes it with Lloyd`s line "That`s what it`s all about. Doors and sardines. Getting on - getting off. Getting the sardines on - getting the sardines off. That`s farce. That`s the theatre. That`s life." I would say the actual meaning of this line is about us, human`s being, that it`s all bout money and work. About how we get up every morning go to work, come back, and even though we are not happy, we don`t change anything.