~ Unit 12 Project Proposal ~
Section 1
Since the beginning of the course, I've performed a few plays in a range of genres, styles, and themes. We started our first year with Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' performed at the Shaw theatre, working closely with the rather difficult Early Modern English. Our next production, Peter Gill's 'The York Realist', contrasted Shakespeare with modern language and the fact that we created our own piece that was inspired by the play, rather than working with the script itself. 'Three Sisters' by Anton Chekov was made easier to work with after experiencing the language with Shakespeare, and 'Fugee' by Abi Morgan was unique by putting characters that are child refugees on stage. The most recent production, 'A Christmas Carol', was another unique experience as it is the only play that we incorporated music and live singing. These productions, along with the work on our monologues, helped me to develop the foundation skills I had entered the course with. This course has allowed me to develop more confidence in performances and my abilities as an actor, as well as refining my skills to a higher standard. For example, increasing my problem-solving abilities so I can quickly solve issues both in rehearsals and onstage, as well as my understanding of the script and its contexts.
We looked at a few plays together as a class, including 'Torn' by Nathaniel Martello-White (about a family broken by lies and denial), and 'Our Country's Good' by Timberlake Wertenbaker (set in the 1780s following the first ship of British convicts sent to Australia). However, after some discussion, we decided that we all would like to perform in smaller groups as a big cast requires every actor to be present for every rehearsal which has proven to be an issue with previous productions. So I started to look for a play with a smaller cast through online searches on Dramaonline, in my college library and in bookstores. However, I could not find a play I found interesting so I tried looking for monologues instead. After looking in a bookstore in the monologues section I found 'The Vagina Monologues' by Eve Ensler. These are a series of monologues and I liked the idea of doing a monologue as after having already done multi-rolling, I wanted to focus on a singular character arc. Although after working on the monologues I found that because the monologues are about five minutes each and unrelated, I struggled to make a character or story out of them. However, I was anxious about looking for another play as I had found it difficult until this point. Then, my friend told me about a play she had seen a year ago called 'Girls and Boys' by Dennis Kelley.
'Girls and Boys' is a play intended to be performed by one woman and the full script performed is around ninety minutes. It follows her narrative of her relationship with her husband, and how it takes a dark, unexpected turn. I bought a copy of the play as I was very intrigued by the storyline, and once I had read the play in full I was excited to perform and work on it. I had never worked on a play where I was the only actor before, and it was very different and felt that it would be helpful to fine-tune my confidence as an actor. This is especially considering that I will need to hold the attention of the audience for a long time by myself. I also felt that through what I have done so far I have developed the stage presence and characterisation to do a show like this.
With this project, I hope to have an effect on the audience. I would like to deliver a performance that holds their attention and leaves them with something to think about. I do not want to just give a comedic performance with no meaning, I would like to tackle a difficult subject and raise awareness for it. With this piece that would be the reality of family annihilation and male violence. To achieve this, I will need to research and further educate myself on male violence and family annihilation itself. I am, of course, going to research the play and its playwright, Dennis Kelley. I will try to look at a range of sources, from online and in the library. I will also write up the results of my research on a post in my blog and I hope my research will come across in my characterisation onstage.
As this is a solo piece, I will be taking peer and tutorial feedback gratefully and wherever possible. It will be difficult to work on blocking and technical aspects as I will have no one to bounce ideas off of who knows the play as well as I do. But the tutorial and peer feedback will be very helpful as they are looking at the play with fresh eyes, and can help me identify what is successful and what is not, as well as give responses close to audience feedback. Because I am working by myself on this project, there will be a lot of independent study in the rehearsals and research I will do, but I will be using peer feedback to help make choices within the production.
We looked at a few plays together as a class, including 'Torn' by Nathaniel Martello-White (about a family broken by lies and denial), and 'Our Country's Good' by Timberlake Wertenbaker (set in the 1780s following the first ship of British convicts sent to Australia). However, after some discussion, we decided that we all would like to perform in smaller groups as a big cast requires every actor to be present for every rehearsal which has proven to be an issue with previous productions. So I started to look for a play with a smaller cast through online searches on Dramaonline, in my college library and in bookstores. However, I could not find a play I found interesting so I tried looking for monologues instead. After looking in a bookstore in the monologues section I found 'The Vagina Monologues' by Eve Ensler. These are a series of monologues and I liked the idea of doing a monologue as after having already done multi-rolling, I wanted to focus on a singular character arc. Although after working on the monologues I found that because the monologues are about five minutes each and unrelated, I struggled to make a character or story out of them. However, I was anxious about looking for another play as I had found it difficult until this point. Then, my friend told me about a play she had seen a year ago called 'Girls and Boys' by Dennis Kelley.
'Girls and Boys' is a play intended to be performed by one woman and the full script performed is around ninety minutes. It follows her narrative of her relationship with her husband, and how it takes a dark, unexpected turn. I bought a copy of the play as I was very intrigued by the storyline, and once I had read the play in full I was excited to perform and work on it. I had never worked on a play where I was the only actor before, and it was very different and felt that it would be helpful to fine-tune my confidence as an actor. This is especially considering that I will need to hold the attention of the audience for a long time by myself. I also felt that through what I have done so far I have developed the stage presence and characterisation to do a show like this.
Section 2
With this project, I hope to have an effect on the audience. I would like to deliver a performance that holds their attention and leaves them with something to think about. I do not want to just give a comedic performance with no meaning, I would like to tackle a difficult subject and raise awareness for it. With this piece that would be the reality of family annihilation and male violence. To achieve this, I will need to research and further educate myself on male violence and family annihilation itself. I am, of course, going to research the play and its playwright, Dennis Kelley. I will try to look at a range of sources, from online and in the library. I will also write up the results of my research on a post in my blog and I hope my research will come across in my characterisation onstage.
As this is a solo piece, I will be taking peer and tutorial feedback gratefully and wherever possible. It will be difficult to work on blocking and technical aspects as I will have no one to bounce ideas off of who knows the play as well as I do. But the tutorial and peer feedback will be very helpful as they are looking at the play with fresh eyes, and can help me identify what is successful and what is not, as well as give responses close to audience feedback. Because I am working by myself on this project, there will be a lot of independent study in the rehearsals and research I will do, but I will be using peer feedback to help make choices within the production.
Section 3
As previously stated, I want to leave the audience with something to think about and tackle a difficult subject. In order to reflect on and evaluate how well I accomplished this, I will document the peer and tutorial feedback in my rehearsal diary, as well as audience feedback in my evaluation at the end of my project. All changes, decisions, or developments will also be documented in my rehearsal diary. I will not really get to work collaboratively with others in this solo piece, but I will be using peer and tutorial feedback to help with developing my piece. When I do work collaboratively with my classmates, however, this will reflect positively on me as I will get to hear what an audience member will see and can help me make decisions to my production to potentially make certain aspects clearer. This could reflect negatively, however, if rather than give constructive criticism I am given uneducated or unnecessary and unhelpful feedback. Or if I receive contradicting or confusing feedback, that would potentially set me back in terms of progress. To minimise this, I will encourage constructive criticisms, and ignore any unhelpful or confusing feedback, in favour of the ones which were helpful and my own judgement.Bibliography
Gardner, L. (2018) Dennis Kelley on Girls and Boys: 'I was shocked Carey Mulligan did it' [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/feb/22/dennis-kelly-interview-girls-and-boys-carey-mulligan-royal-court [Accessed 18 March 2019]
ScienceDaily (2013) 'Characteristics of family killers revealed: the male-dominated crime most common in August' [online] Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130815084404.htm [Accessed 30 March 2019]
YouTube (2018) 'Girls & Boys Dennis Kelley in conversation' [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygXJr3Yfyaw [Accessed 18 March 2019]
Holmes, G (2017) 'The anatomy of family murder - the patterns and warning signs' [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/anatomy-of-family-murder-killing-spree-home-invasion-a7639966.html [Accessed 30 March]
Szalavitz, M (2013) 'Q&A: Criminologist Adrian Rine on The Biology of Violence' [online] Available at: http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/23/qa-criminologist-adrian-raine-on-the-marathon-bombs-the-biology-of-violence/ [Accessed 5 April]
American Psychological Association (unknown) 'Resolution On Male Violence Against Women' [online] Available at: https://www.apa.org/about/policy/male-violence [Accessed 5 April]
Project action plan
In order to make this project successful, I will have to ensure I have a good understanding of the script, its contents and its themes. To achieve this, I will have to conduct appropriate research on the playwright, and the themes of male violence and family annihilation. this will also help with better understanding, and therefore portraying, my character's situation and her reaction to it. I would like to do a lot of research over a variety of sources, but I know that realistically I may not have time for this. I would like to do the research early on in the process, as what I learn will influence decisions in both acting style and technical aspects of the piece. Therefore, I would like to try to do research alongside, and after learning my lines. This is because learning lines is, of course, the first thing I should do so that once I know the piece, I can move on to developing my character and begin brainstorming ideas for the blocking of scenes, and later on, ideas for technical aspects. As this a solo piece lasting approximately thirty minutes, I expect line learning may be a long process. Still, I expect to have fully learnt my lines within four weeks.To make sure I am on track with this project and not running behind, I will have keep track of how far I have gotten with research, blocking and rehearsals in my rehearsal diary on this blog. For example, as previously stated, I would like to have learnt my lines, and preferably started to research one of my chosen topics within the first four weeks. As I learn my lines I find it useful to root the piece by rehearsing in a space as if I'm performing. I may want to use this as an opportunity to start exploring different forms of blocking.
After I have finished learning my lines I should have around nine weeks left before my performance. I will most likely split my piece into three sections of roughly ten minutes each (of what will be roughly ten minutes in the final performance). With this, I would like to take two weeks to block each section, taking up six weeks in total. I will have been conducting research throughout this process as well, which should take up a week's worth of work spread over the same time frame. After I have done my research, and the blocking is complete, I will fill the last two weeks of rehearsal with choosing the lighting and any other effects I may want, and going over the piece to iron out any rough patches. As well as this, I will look at the costume, I may want to look into what was worn in the production at the Royal Court Theatre as inspiration. I will then have to set the cues I need with the technical theatre students, and hopefully do a few tech and dress rehearsals before the final show.
Comments
Post a Comment