Road: Week 5

So the first week back from easter.....

... and unfortunately we were delayed in our 'Road' process due to watching the first years Musical Theatre acting project performance of the play Tusk Tusk by Penny Stenham. The play is one I knew quite a bit about before hand because of my sister being in the Musical Theatre class and the occasions I've helped her with her lines for it etc. The performances were really good, but in the politest sense, some of them lacked confidence which made their acting really weak, so it was beneficial for me to see this in action as I know that this is something I 'suffer' from. I could see those whom were less confident in acting, compared to their talents in singing and dancing which I have previously seen, and because it was so obvious I can now totally understand this is something I really have to work on to conquer, which I am and will be still in the process of. So watching their performance wasnt all bad despite having delayed us a fraction.
I think a lot of my confidence issues comes from the atmosphere and reactions I get from my peers that surround me. I know, and I can be honest in saying this that when it comes to messing around etc I portray myself as a very sarcastic person, and yes that is my type of humour. But this reflects badly when it comes to showing back pieces we've done; such as when Louise spills her drink, which is still something we need to work on because every time I do it, I do it wrong and it comes across really awkward- supposedly making it humourus for the audience members. From the 'To The Actor' book I read:

"You will help yourself immeasurably by ignoring all shortcomings or unsympathetic features of the members of the group... To avoid unnecessary embarrassment and artificiality, do not overdo it with prolonged actions" 

This fits to me remarkably well! To interpret-ate, its telling me that for one it will hugely help me if I for one, ignore what's happening in the audience pit, so to ignore the laughing or comments. And to avoid this I need to not make what I do come across awkward, so like when I drop the glass, if we come to it tomorrow and we've not managed to properly rehearse I 'drop' it, with sincerity if you like, and try hard to keep the scene going immediately afterwards to destroy any humourus elements to it. I can see that it doesn't help with how I am outside of Louise, due to me being quite sarcastic and humourus but I feel if I really follow the book quote, we can push these comments and laughs away which should hopefully boost my confidence more and more.


With that said, Wednesday was set with a better start and a daunting tone: We only have a few more weeks before we perform...
But today we dived straight into the pre-show, with Deborah's idea of showing all the characters in a freeze frame from their scene. Similar to how we ended our previous contemporary play, '13' by Mike Barlett, all characters will be on stage as their character, so for example Louise on Eddie's lap. Brenda getting drunk on Scullery's wall, SkinLad still meditating.The link here is to our recording of '13', skip to (about) 1:54 onwards... http://sdcstream.southdowns.ac.uk/view.aspx?id=8957~4D~fNFnj3IR .

Pre-show staging

I am a big fan of this structure, having all characters on stage as themselves as it opens the play with some really good foreshadowing moments; as immedietly you can see that four characters out of the cast are in love with one another due to the fact Louise and Helen are sat on two of the men's laps, this leads the audience into already assuming they are thing, but later on proves that neither of them are, particulaly. The bed sheets being brought up on Joey, hints that he might be dead but it could also hint that Scullery is some sort of carer for him... But the way our play is opened, leaves the audience guessing, and I know if I were to see a play, I would be fond of this opening structure because I like to think about the play in a deeper way and see if I can uncover any hidden messages etc etc, so to summarise I never just simply watch a play!
During this lesson I roughly sketched the staging layout (above) labelling where each character is situated on stage and what they are doing there for example Bisto with his dj table, Joey and Clare dying in bed, Brenda getting drunk on the wall. From the sketch, you can see that the layout is very well planned and evenly situated around the stage, making the stage busy for the audience and aesthetically makes it look really really intriguing (hopefully!)
      As briefly mentioned on my sketch above, the Professor and Scullery go to each character, almost like introducing them or in the profs. case interviewing them. I think these two characters are perfect for the job, as do I think both actors playing the two roles are confident enough to do this as well as approach the audience members to interview them also. This is giving Road a slight abstract to approach to theatre which I love also, the immersive theatre really interests me and I love the mind set in which Deborah is in for creating this as contemporary and unusual as possible.

After setting this, and running through how everyone exits etc, we began a quick run of the scene order but noting down all entrances and exits from either stage left or right. Beginning with the opening scene, naturally, which is between Louise and her brother. And secondly for me was the scene I feature in with Carol and Brenda, and then finally the scene we list pub names. I noted down all my various entrances and exits and then that was me done, practical wise today. I took it upon me, to continue making notes on the process of plotting other entrances and exits.
But before doing so me and Jake had the opportunity to run through our lines for this first scene as Louise and brother, this was more for Jake's benefit as I am feeling really confident on my lines, but it was really useful to go over this scene as it's one of me least focussed on scene. I got Jake trying it out with the accent, but like me at the beginning he doesn't have the confidence in the accent he's currently producing. I can hugely relate to him, as this was me three to four weeks ago. However I think his accent is strong, and the more he practises it when learning his lines more he will soon learn the lines in the accent, so will end up using muscle memory of his mouth when it comes to performing it. Hannah and Phoebe were running through their scene at the same (this was just casually done in our break) but when it came to my entrance they both, synchronised said "pissing hell Louise there's always something with you" and I pointed out that they should definitely say this at the same time, it represents a good bond between the two of them, and as soon as that line is said they return back to their moods with each other. To me this element of relationship is so relevant, its like whenever your in an argument and someone makes you laugh or snap out of that argumentative head space, but then as quick as you came out of the bad mood your back in it, willing to win the argument... No doubt we have all had this, which means that when Brenda and Carol do it, it becomes quite comedic and highlights their relationship even more so.

Wednesday's blog notes

So it was originally set that we would talk to the professor who approaches the four of us on the sofa, but it was decided that we are all probably too drunk to talk. This drunkiness is showed when we walk off stage, all stumbling on our step. I also think it would be good if myself as Louise stumbled off with her arm around Eddie's neck, seeing as she's too drunk to care but sober enough to know what she's doing.

Another interesting thought made to me today, when watching the rest of the play being plotted, was how when we first meet Eddie he is in his home with his dad; so he's still living at home with his dad. This brings me back to the point I made in my 'Road: Easter week blog' post, with what Margaret Thatcher imposed, with the "3 million people unemployed" which can only show that Eddie and his dad are or have been affected by this unemployment, as the character of Eddie would've wanted to have moved out into his own place, a place he can continue to 'pull all the ladies'. However, when we properly meet Eddie in the final scene, his dad is nowhere to be seen. I asked Frank where he thinks Eddie's dad is at the time, and he said "that he is still at home, but has taken some strong pills either to help him sleep or to put him to sleep." I think this idea is good, however I feel like it's purely just a means and an excuse to say where the dad was, as I feel there's more to it. Perhaps, he has a wife or a lover of some sort, there is never any mention of a woman in the family through the likes of Eddie, which could explain the solidarity in which his dad lives in. But I think it's weird that Cartwright has written this mysterious character into a scene, just to sit facing away from the audience; and I can't think why... Perhaps there is a mourning process, of him just loosing his wife but then you'd expect Eddie to be reacting to this also. Or was this father figure featured, so lonely, into this scene to properly show that loneliness is such a strong, running theme in Road. Nearly all the characters have times where they seem lonely, either physically or in their thoughts i.e. Louise. So did Cartwright believe that loneliness was such a big thing then, loneliness because these people could do nothing about the leader of the country, at the time being Thatcher, a widely hated Prime Minister.

Again this is all really intriguing to me as all the deeper meanings of Road and the different characters begin to come to life.
but I had an inclining to perhaps he isn't fond of his son and his ways with girls and the new way of pubbing etc, because we well know he later tells us how 'he cant believe how things were back then'.

Closer to home to me as Louise, was when we spoke about Jakes character as the brother: Annoyingly I cant find a full image, but back in October, I played a female war engineer. She was incredibly manly, and this was apparent in my costume. I wore big work boots (scruffy versions of the tan Timberland look) I wore a big boiler suit as trousers with the arms tied around my waist, with a really oily white (ish) mens shirt, and oil all over my face and hands. And it only occurred to me that I was pretty much dressed as Louise's brother, as this is how I pictured him and also what we came up with today. So Ele Wainwright, the WW1 character I played, is exactly how the brother should look like, description above, but just the male version. It will make a good contrast with my chosen costume design, as I will be wearing a much more punk look, dressing up and going out sort of look and the brother will be the complete opposite.

Moving onto, now to Mr Bauld and Dor trying to find the key, which has a bottle opener on, which I think is what is more important to them. On surface, this scene could be quite comedic because its silly, two people crawling around the floor looking for a bottle opener. But when you look into it much more, its quite deep and dark. Bauld goes to all the effort to just find a bottle opener, and so it really highlights the lives people were living in, in this era (80's). Drink is so important to Bauld. Maybe because drink is the only thing that can make him forget the life he is living in and all the world and changes around him, such as the likes of Thatcher and Mr Bauld becoming unemployed because of her decisions.
      Everything that occurs in Road has a deeper meaning, and it really interests me when I find these deeper meanings to characters and what they say and do such as Brink never being seen to get ready, unlike Carol, Eddie and Louise all being seen; which I came to conclude that he was living alone, but in secrecy or that he had an abusive dad.

And finally to finish on the brief plotting of our scene between myself, Brink, Eddie and Carol.We are all to enter stage left, which is the opposite to what we've been practising but it makes more sense doing it this way, and whenever characters leave the 'room', this is done again on stage left. When it comes to our scene there will only be a chair center stage, and the sofa in the same position as it was in the pre-show, set diagonally to the audience, stage right. As we all enter, Eddie's job is to stack up the wine bottles etc, and it's Brink's job to pull the sofa round, to center stage, so as we enter, we are setting the stage to our scene. I think this is a really interesting way to set the scene, literally, as from my past acting experiences I have only known it to be done in a blackout, making it as discreet as possible, but it works so effectively, especially when we do it all in character so Louise and Carol enter, still looking disgusted at the state of the house, they can perhaps knock over a few wine bottles to add to the mess in which the scene is meant to look like. Meanwhile Eddie is bringing in and taking off wine bottles, glasses, taking dirty plates off etc. And Brink is pulling the sofa round, perhaps knocking off the dirty t-shirt which was sat there. By the time Louise and Carol are requested to sit, the stage is set for our scene to really begin.
This reminds me of a physical theatre show I went to see, done by Frantic Assembly 'Othello'. They highly modernised and set it in a pub, but each slight scene change was done on stage, in full view, but physicalised. So for example, if it were 'Othello's job (as an actor) to move the pool table to a vertical in order to kill Desdemona, he would do so by gracefully leaping on top of the table and do some short physical theatre sequence in order to move it to where it needed to be. It made the scene change a lot more interesting and its almost like what we are doing with Road, although we aren't doing it in the physical theatre style of acting, we do do it in our characters, still relying heavily on the characteristic's in which we have built up for ourselves in order to react to the scene change.
To end the scene we push the sofa back to its starting position, and re-turn to our exact positions in which we were in the pre-show, so Louise sat on Eddie's lap with her arm swung around his shoulder. Carol to the left of us, looking still quite stubborn with her back facing us more than her front. And Brink sat to the right of us, looking quite content in his own company, as usual. Whilst were doing this, we are doing this others are coming back on stage, to sit in their original positions, but this hasn't been practised yet.
To me, its like we are statues coming to life. We are frozen in our set positions, as is a statue, and then once we get the opportunity to come to life and tell our side of the story of ours lives and relationships and friendships throughout it. As this begins to run low, we return back to our frozen positions. This style, if it has a name, has a really slight hint that as characters we know we are performing, a very abstract approach to play writing and creating, but like in the recreation of EAST by Anton Chekhov that as a class we saw today, there was some mention in which they were aware, as the characters they were playing, that they were in a play and had an audience. So converting this to Road, its like we know that we are only going to be playing, moving/speaking for a certain amount of time, until we are told to stop, to evidently end the show.

To finish off this successful practical session, Deborah gave us new pub names to list off [page 12] for me and Phoebe, as Louise and Carol. We were originally going to find our own ones, but honestly didn't get round to doing so: However my new pub names, that I know need to learn are

• The One Eyed Dog
• Little Johnny Russels
• Porters
• Fat Fox
• Fleet and Furkin
• Molokos

Carol's new pub names are:

• The Centurion
• The Jolly Sailor
• Churchillian
• The Marmion
• Hong Kong Charlies
• Drift
• Spoons

I've never heard of any of them, and I already know that I have to have a really strong accent to say these as I wouldn't want the audience hearing the wrong thing!! But line learning in general is pretty much complete, its just practise, practise, practise and obviously to learn the new pub names to list. 

This week was our first week with Sarah in focussing on accent, in our voice classes. I knew that this would be really useful for me, as its just extra practise for me, and it also gives me another method of hearing the accent, as I found the more ways I try it, the better I become at it. We went straight into running through short sections of random scenes, and we started with Brandon and Frankie, as Joey and Clare. This scene is our least worked on, due to Brandon not being in on the days in which they go to practise it, so it was nice to finally see this scene in action, despite that we didn't do any blocking or movements we just focussed on our voices, as you would expect in a voice class. 

As the first half of the lesson wasn't for me specifically (aimed for Frankie and Brandon) I made notes on firstly what I thought they could improve on and what I pointed out, and combined this with what Sarah said afterwards. 

Voice, accent notes

For Frankie, I noted that she needs to slow down what she says a lot, which will lead to us being able to hear her words clearer that are produced in the accent.

Brandon, I suggested to them both that if they write down all the phonetics of their words, such as
"I aamm, sooo lone/lay. I aamm lie'in 'ere four days no/aw." This was the way I learnt both my lines and accent, as it will make him learn his lines in the accent, allowing him to use muscle memory when performing.

Here is what Sarah had to say about me, Milo, Lewis and Phoebe as I couldn't make any individual notes:
Milo, to drop more 't' and 'th' sounds

Lewis, girls to gg-eugh-ls, make your sounds harsher and more nasally- watch Corrination Street

Phoebe, to make your sounds more glottal (I looked into what glottal means, and they gave me the example of 'uh-oh' some places it is said as one consonant, but us Southerners, say it as two. That is a glottal stop (correct me if I am wrong!) Also waiter to wait-eugh

And finally me, and I am quite pleased because all she recommended was for me to make my sounds more nasally, so again to watch Corrie. (This little feedback must mean its definitely better than when I started!!)
Talking about accent work, I furthered mine outside of college. I did this using the CD that the Robert Blumenfeld 'Accents, A Manual for Actors' book provided me.

Below are the notes I made whilst listening to the audio, under the subheadings of British Provincial accent: Midlands, Yorkshire, Manchester and Northern. He began teaching sounds that feature the glottal stop/sound: these words were such of 'bottle' and 'forty two' which I phonetically wrote down (to help me) as 'bot/ale', the / being a slight pause in speech, and 'fort/ay two'.
The open sound of 'a', turns 'cat' in 'caah/at' 'mat' to 'mah/at' and 'hat' to 'hah/at'. Remembering a slight emphasis on the 'at' sounds that feature at the end of each word.

A practise sentence he gave was "I cant draw the bath until I've finished my bottle of water" and again to help me I wrote it down to how I can hear the words which turns it to: "Aye, ca/nt draw/er the bath [no 'r' sound] til aye've finished ma bot/ale of war/ter."  These all being words and sounds that I have heard before in the accent, and also words I know I can say in the accent, this section was simple but it was a nice way to get into the accent to lead me onto the next sounds.

Now we were instructed to concentrate on the 'ugh' and 'uh' sounds, such as 'book' 'look' 'above' and 'rough'. These turned into: 'book' and 'look' having a slight extenditure on the ''o' sounds, 'ah/bove' being like 'dove', and 'rough' being 'roh/ff'? But this last one I struggled with, as I knew exactly how it should sound in the accent, as its one that features in Road so I've heard it before, but I couldn't see it written down to how it sounded.

Now another practise text [image no.2] ; "now look here, thats not what I told you to do now, is it?" I changed this into: "Nah/ow (like ow, pain ow) loook ere (no 'h' sounds), that's knot wot aye told ya to do no/ow is it?" I believe that I must be both a a visual learner, as I like seeing what I am being told, for example if someone is asking me how to spell something, I have to see it written down. But also because I like to make tonnes of notes, little thoughts and ideas on what I am being told about (basically a 'read, write learner'. With a hint of 'an auditory learner' so someone who is both a good and natural listener. So to conclude I'm pretty much all the different learners!! But I've previously come to this conclusion because as said earlier, the more ways I do something such as the accent work I've used books, the internet, phone apps, audio stuff, making constant notes in and out of class, recording and observing Matt (sorry Matt!) and then actually talking in the accent, has all got me to develop my accent, hopefully considerably.

The guy on the CD, read out my favourite practise text, the 'cloud passing over head' one, that I have mentioned before now. But when he spoke this in the accent, it was completely different to how I've been saying it, and also really different to how we have been taught the words in the text itself. I can only think that this is because he's american, so his natural sound production is different to say Sarah's, Laura's and Matt's (all people whom have helped me learn) because they aren't american.
But to honestly conclude my work done today, on my accent, I don't feel that this CD audio helped me, surprisingly it went too quickly, and didn't give me a chance to actually recite after him the words said, which meant it didn't sink in enough for me. However the notes I've made are really useful purely because they are written to exactly how I hear the words, and I think it would be beneficial for me to start writing all my lines down like so when I practise my lines at home, because of me being a visual learner this will add to my practise and confidence.

Accent work: Book CD

Accent work: Book CD

Thursday proved as an 'individual workday'. But it started with us receiving the new and fully typed script including all the cuts we've made, with this printed ready for todays session later I have had a chance to flick through it and bring it up to speed with all my notes for entrance and exit cues, as well as cues in which I move on stage etc.
To start our actual lesson, we began from the beginning of the show, which is Louise and her brother, and I am really pleased because this past week we've (myself and Jake) have had many opportunities to go through this scene as this was my only main worry for Road. So after doing this scene we got feedback from the class and Kirsty which consisted of: 

: For me to enter in more of a 'flap' to give the sense of rushing to get ready 

: To pick up the pace as it reaches the last page of lines, as it begins to drag a bit

: Again, to act more appalled and shocked when brother says "shagging" - it is an appalling thought!!

: Jake to not rush his lines, slow it down!!

: Jake don't walk too slowly when you walk back towards Louise, it drags out too much

: Jake pull Louise into you when you say "let's dance" 

: And me to begin building the anger as soon as he rubs the oil on my face and not to leave it just til "you piggin' bastard!" 

These are all the notes that (put together me and Jake got) and we both tried to take these on board as quick as we could when we went over it again straight after, and when I, sorry when Louise, reacted to the "Shagging" line I had a really good reaction of laughs and giggles! But it was an improvement to people laughing at me, they were laughing because the line delivery was comedic, so I felt rather pleased of myself!!! 

To contradict myself, I was annoyed with myself that I messed up on the lines a few times, I know this is only because we kept stopping and starting, changing the way perhaps Jake stands or the way I react, which put me off my lines, but knocking myself and myself only I was frustrated that I did mess up.
Below is an attached video of me and Jake running our scene in our break, the video is just of the "lets dance" line because I think this has become a really strong point in our scene, as it is a lot more tense and serious than when we first tried it back in blog post 1 and 2. Camera credits to Sophie as she really really likes this part of our scene, it was also her idea for Jake to pull me in on "lets dance" as though he's about to dance with me, see video.

        After running through this scene we moved onto Joe and Donna's scene together as Professor and Dor. I did'nt get round to making many notes as I was still writing about my scene and the feedback, however I did write down for Joe to be less like him, slightly awkward and become more like the professor! His voice was good, which made the obvious change of personality, but like Nyakeh suggested he could change the way he stands, perhaps grounding himself to a more sturdy hold of his body, instead of swaying as Joe.
For Donna, all I got was to sloooooowwwww dowwwwwwnnnnn!!! She spoke incredibly fast which is probably nerves, but I think she needs to become more confident on her lines, then on her accent which will all lead to her having more confidence which will allow her to slow down a lot more. For both of them, I think they just need the confidence of just going for the accent, because the quicker they try the quicker us (others) can step in at times and adjust their pronunciation of words. 

After running through these two scenes, we were set off to work individually on scenes, lines, characters etc. To begin myself and Jake ran through our lines for our first scene. This was really helpful as we ended up doing it about three times until we didn't get it wrong. We then tried it a few times, practically running through it. This again was helpful because of the changes we had made earlier today, we could put into proper practise, in privacy, so when we got it wrong we could simply try it again.
I then went on to make more notes of the scenes we'd just watched including mine and Jakes scene, ready to include here on my blogs. After this I refreshed myself on my monologue, writing it down from memory and then rehearsing it practically by myself. And finally I ran through all my lines in my first scene with Hannah, Hannah reading in as brother, and then I did the same reading as Carol. Me, Phoebe and Hannah ran through the scene in which we all feature in together, "hiyah Louise", and then all practised our ending scene with Hannah reading as Eddie and Brink. It was nice to have a relaxed lesson to just run through whatever we felt we needed too, and I felt that I did this, so I can say now that I feel a lot more confident on the scene with Louise and brother. And it was also useful for me to run through all my lines, however it would've been nice to have practically done our last scene because although we've worked on it a lot, we've not touched on it now that we're back from Easter.

Briefly I ran through props needed for Road and those in which I can supply:

A tape for the Professor
Plenty of empty wine bottles for any scenes in need, i.e. Ours at the end, Helen's, Brenda's house, Valerie?
A funky/old fashioned looking tie for perhaps Jerry as he's the older generation
Spare punk/ rock accessories for other female characters i.e. Carol?
Can maybe borrow a boiler suit for brother, and oily rags, oil can etc
Some sort of make up for me to put on in the mirror as Louise
Yogic/Buddist books... If SkinLad is ever seen with these sort of belongings
Stereo with a tape player included (whether it works or not is a different matter!)[UPDATE the tape and the stereo works, I just didn't know how to play it, its what happens if you were born in '98] for Prof
Glasses, also for Prof
Vinyl and records including cases as decoration of Bisto's dj table?

As Louise I don't need to many different props but above are things that might be needed and if so I can provide some of them, at a push, for other characters if needed. 

So now, to begin to conclude I got round to recapping all the feedback I've ever been given for Road and I wanted to see which I have completed, and those things I still need to work on:

• To be more confident, and start expressing the ideas in which I include into my blogs. I feel that I have started to do this more, but the more I do so the more confident I get with expressing my ideas however abstract they turn out to be (for example Valerie talking about alcohol not a real life husband!)
• To ensure I include book quotations from those in which I have loaned etc, which I have now since done on subjects such as accent and practical work
• Gain more confidence on my accent... Which I know I have definitely done, and am still working on
• Pick up the energy in the final scene; and this is something I think we could still improve on but it has been worked on briefly
• To make my character bigger!!! (It's getting there)
• Try not to loose my words in the accent
• Make my accent more nasally (watch Corrie!) 
• Stay in character, is now much more improved and is consistent as Louise now
• Show your vulnerability when intimidated by brother, could do with more work which will come with more practise of the scene
• React to "shagging" REACT! This has come up twice now Issie!
• Start character study... ooops!

All the bullet points above is my known recorder feedback advice, with a mixture of character work, accent work, blogs or practical. Majority of them I know I have definetly targetted and hopefully have improved on and some I am still working on, but now with the refresh and a clear list of what I have been asked to do from both my peers and lecturers, I can go away and revise these along with a practical element at home rehearsing etc. 

Assignment brief To Do list:

The images are of the highlighted Distinction criteria for Road that I am aiming to meet, I recapped them today (friday) as we get nearer and nearer our deadlines of performance and written work. 

Road: Assignment brief 2

Road Assignment brief 1

I was also lucky enough to have a copy of the grading criteria in which my two lecturers will grade me through: 

Unit 13 - Criteria 1 - Distinction Level = 'Research contemporary texts, selecting detailed features for their interpretation' 

How can Issie achieve this? There will be full understanding of the social and/or political purpose embedded in the themes of the plays, ideas for interpretation will cover all aspects of the aesthetics of the work in great detail. I have made a good start on this specifically in Blog post 1 in which we spoke a lot about of the historical context of Road, and there has been short mentions of political themes in my blogs such as the mention of Margaret Thatcher. 

Unit 19 - Criteria 2 - Distinction Level =  'Develop material for performance through confident and imaginative use of research, rehearsal and characterisation' 

How can Issie achieve this? Learner will approach work in effective and positive manner. Learner will approach research creatively, in disciplined manner. I am thoroughly enjoying Road so I would like to say that all work I am thrown at linked to Road I complete to my best standard with an 'positive manner' and my imagination has sort of gone wild when talking about characters and themes in Road, but I could extend this to specify just about Louise in my character study.

Unit 7 - Criteria 2 - Distinction Level =  'Present an interpretation of the role showing energy, commitment, making a significant impression on the overall performance'

How can Issie achieve this? Learners wil perform with energy and focus, showing a complete commitment to and absorption of their role/character.. the performance will stand out and have particular meaning, whilst not setting out to deliberately 'hog the limelight.' I cant speak about the performance just yet, but it is my absolute aim to perform with 'energy, focus, commitment' and its not really in me to 'hog the limelight' so I aim not to do so.

The writing in bold (excluding the 'how can Issie achieve this) is my words of how I think I am going to do this or how I have done so, this is really helping me to focus on the things I need to do in order to reach the distinction grade level. 

And finally I looked back over my '13' grading criteria and the things that I didn't do so well on: 

• D3 N : You performed demonstrating good control of vocal and movement skills, however you did not perform in an imaginative manner to physically embody character or interpret text with clarity and intelligence. Performance: To embody Louise, you are not Issie!
• D1 N : You showed considered responses to resource material, exploring its more creative possibilities as performance material with insight and attention to detail however, you did not show a range of detailed responses to source material, in which the possibilities as performance material are explored in a perceptive and comprehensive manner. Blogs: Looking at the grade I got for my Devising project for blogs, I feel this is something I am already on top of
• D3 N : Your performed with a level of skill that shows a degree of control in the handling of the chosen medium however, you did not show confidence, flair and assured control of the chosen medium. Performance: CONFIDENCE!
• D4 N : You evaluated the potential of the work in artistic, professional and vocational terms, with considered judgements about what worked well and/or less well however you did not always clearly identify strengths and weaknesses and make judgements fully justified and thoughtfully expressed. Evaluation: Again looking at the devising grade I feel I have overcome this. 

To fully conclude, this week was a big success and it's nice to be back and working on Road once again. I have clear work to work on after looking at previous grades and feedback, which I will endeavour to work on. My next big task is to crack on my character study, which I am feeling confident for, but I will have Karen's (previous lecturer) comments on my character profile for '13' to hand to ensure I reach the distinction grade in which I am aiming for. 

Road: +2 Weeks

Happy Easter!
This is my extra (two week) blog post, with extra thoughts and ideas I have come up with over the Easter break including everything and anything I have done towards Road in general: It is a very mixed blog post, including a lot of Road influences via films and programmes that I have linked to our Road:

I was watching Pride, a new out film: "Based on an extraordinary true story, Pride tells how a group of London-based gay and lesbian activists raised money to support the families of miners during the strike of 1984. Identifying a mining village in Wales, they set off to make their donation in person, and in doing so inspired "the best British" film in years." The film was absolutely amazing, it was so interesting to see how life was then and how gays and lesbians were discriminated immensely. The film has a few familiar faces such as Andrew Scott, who played Moriarty in Sherlock. George MacKay who played in the film version of Sunshine on Leith the musical, Bill Nighy and Imedla Staunton. It's a must watch...

As said above the film is all about gay and lesbians. Which gave me the idea, SkinLad is gay. It is clear in Pride that being gay in the 80's and before was tough, people treated them as though they were not normal. A bit like how they treat SkinLad in Road, he is classed as the 'nutter' because he is so different. So I came to a conclusion that he is gay. So he set off with his fighting, in an attempt to prove to himself that he wasn't gay and he was manly like all the others. Or that his fighting was a means of self defence so he knew how to protect himself, as like in Pride the gays were beaten up for being gay! So SkinLad turned to Buddism. This was a means of something telling him he was straight or a reassurance to himself that he was normal by following their rules, like many others did. Him being gay could be the very good reason 'he passed on the pornography at work' but made it his excuse that the Dharma taught him not to look at it, and not the fact that naked women wouldn't attract his attention.
In Pride, Joe comes out but not by telling his parents they discover it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8jXlqlORR4 "It's such a terrible life" is the mums description of the life gays lead. People were being brought up thinking being gay is so wrong, so there was no chance that the next generation would come out of this vicious circle of believing it's ok to be gay or lesbian or bi. She says it's 'lonely' which links me back to Road and SkinLad, I've previously mentioned that SkinLad is a lonely character and him being gay could be the reason behind this, because even if gays back then found a partner, they couldn't be seen together as it would cause more trouble for them. We know little about SkinLad apart from the fact that he is Buddist, but I can clearly see how him being gay would fit with his character. He is content in his own company and has been for many years, so perhaps his family abandoned him when he told them he was gay? But he is still overcoming this, because he continues to be the religious Buddist whom lives by these new rules, perhaps as a distraction to what he really feels and what he really 'is'.

Pride: Costume ideas

Pride continued to help me, this time with costume ideas. Despite the fact I have chosen my costume for Louise, it still gave me some ideas. Such as I need to wear light coloured, baggy jeans like in the picture as this is what they wore in the 80's. To me the 80's is an era of being different, people were quite bold with what they wore including colours, non-matching items etc. So with Louise I have got her wearing all blacks and whites, then bright red shoes to show this quirky look. Majority of the men, again wore light jeans, and like the character in the front, a smart and casual look (such as a white tee and a jacket.)
The character (third from the right) is very typically the 80's look with her shaved sides hair, and the colour of it also. I am not quite dedicated enough to shave and dye my hair for Road, but I felt that Louise would have her hair like this as it was 'the look' as is the males 'ice gem' nowadays and the 'full fringes' etc etc. Louise is one of those people who is cool, but is always trying to stay cool, socially. So having her hair like this would assist her in keeping her coolness up, and it would also help her fit in; as I can only imagine that Carol was constantly changing her look, but most definitely not following the trend of others, so Louise does similarly.

Pride: Hairstyles

Pride gave me some ideas for music, also for Road. These song suggestions would be played in Bisto's nightclub, and I feel if we play the very typical 80's song we will be targetting our audience and their past more than perhaps some less well known ones that Cartwright has suggested in the script itself. A favourite of mine being 'Love and Pride' by King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlXtrnh-Ejo This song is up-beat and fast all the way through which means it matches Bisto's character. When listening to the song, after seeing the film, I could picture Bisto (and Luke for that matter) dancing and singing along to the song. It's one of those songs that once you hear it, you'll be singing it all day (apologises!) but that strikes me as this is something Bisto intends to do. He'll play a really catchy song to get his audience up and dancing and the sense of pride will shine through as his audience go away humming a song that he played. Its almost very child-like, but I think this would happen because he's lonely. As said before, he begins to reminisce about a past lover, "you know who you are, you bitch!" but this doesn't only imply that he had a past lover it also implies that one he is lonely and two because he's still in love with her. Another song suggestion, West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVkN0VhOuZ0&index=7&list=PLPskAFoPlyRX_XzvRb44dTdFudIZY-cnC This song could be played in mine and Jakes begining scene as Louise and her brother. He was originally going to be fixing an engine, which would make playing music more suitable for this scene. But now it is decided that he will be watching tv, but I had a thought that if the music was playing as well as the sound of the tv, it would get irritating. But it would be like he was doing it purposefully to annoy Louise. This will show a hint of a normal brother and sister relationship, but it would also show how Louise has learnt to put up with it, due to her not mentioning it. This idea was sparked by once, my brother playing a shooting game on his Xbox with the volume up full: purely just to annoy me and my sister in the other room! Getting Louise's brother to do this will also show a child-like and immature approach to his character, which could give us a hint to which Louise is the older sister, which is contrasting to what I had originally said, as I still believe that he is the older brother in the relationship.

Pride gave me some further information and knowledge into the working class loosing many of their jobs such as the closure of the mines. Margaret Thatcher is in power in the time of the play, and from already known knowledge she wasn't a very well-liked Prime Minister. Being the first female Prime Minister she should've become an inspirational woman instead she made a lot of decisions that a lot of the population didn't agree or like. Such as, her empowerment and decisions lead to 3 million people unemployed in the UK. So at the time of the play, it was a huge struggle for them, and Road is told as one of the very much deprived and effected areas of Thatchers decisions. As Joey well puts, 'I'm sick of it all' people were honestly 'sick' and fed up with living the way that Thatcher had forced them into, hence all the strikes such as the very well-known and well-remembered mine striking. Pride is following the mine strike over the year or two it lasted. A fair few characters give us the insight into how unhappy they are with their lives and the chances of this being because of Thatchers changes are very very high due to the year in which the play is set in. For example Valerie tells us "why do I stay?" in the context in which she talks to us (about her husband) it is easy to leave it there, but digging deeper it could easily mean 'why does she stay, in the life she is living'? Or 'why does she stay in this country, under the rules of Thatcher'? It could mean a lot more than just 'why do I stay with my husband' which is fairly boring and cliche'. Curt describes his home (Road) as "where all the crap comes but doesn't drop off" this is good use of imagery writing as I can picture it, in a way, that shows me how Road is a very negative place to live. The Professor is also in on this as he mentions "before I was made redundant' and again on the surface this could be for any other reason but it could also be because of the work of Margaret Thatcher and how she made "3 million people unemployed." Louise also, saying how "she wants magic and miracles... and a Jesus to come along and change things again... and everything's been made ordinary in our eyes" she's telling us all about how she wants what she did know, in the past, to return, to perhaps return to when Thatcher wasn't in power...?
Jerry also, and he is an interesting one to mention, for me, because he is the older generation, unlike all the other characters (excluding Brenda, whom is still trying hard to fit into that younger generation) he tells us how ' he would quite like things to return to how they used to be', with 'the girls waiting in the dance room while we all went into the bar, waiting for us to return', and I think it's interesting that he (or that Cartwright) has portrayed him as against the changes in government because it is almost too relevant. But at the same time he breifly tells us how "I cant get over the past, how it was..." which slightly implies that he is pleased it has changed.
        As you know parliament are in the 'election war' again, and at this time I find it interesting watching my grandad as this all comes and goes etc. He is very political but in my eyes always goes for the wrong party (in my opinion) so Jerry fits very well with my grandads personality as I know both would quite like to return to 'how things were' when 'the girls waited for us, in the dance hall' etc, and they are both against what Thatcher inforced. But Jerry starts the monologue as though he is surprised at how he used to live before Thatcher, and like my grandad was either publicy or secretivly pleased with what she did. Its a everlasting circle when looking into Jerry as I find it hard to identify if he was pleased or not or a bit of both... I will have to discuss this with Frank...

On the subject of songs, a song gave me some influences towards Louise: the song being 'I need' by Maverick Sabre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PmIARlm9EY To start, the lyrics saying "i need blue skies" I linked to Louise wanting 'gold and jewles, and all the light out on the pavements' they are both requesting or wishing for something aesthetically pleasing such as the perfect blue sky, or the pleasing look of pure gold. Its like they are both trying to see their world in different eyes and in different perspectives in order to live a better and happier life. Sabre goes on to say he 'needs them old times' and similarly Louise speaks of 'reminds you off them feelings you keep forgetting...once you wrap em' up and put em' away' They are both speaking of past memories or feelings that have since long gone, and they are both wishing upon their return in order to continue living the good life they previously had. The songs tempo and pace picks up a bit when it reaches the chorus again as though 'he' (the writer of the song) is trying to portray how many of us hide our feelings from the public i.e. family and friends, and those who put on a brave face. Like Louise, who acts as though nothing has happened, when she re-appears after her and her brothers scene which becomes quite tense and intimidating; as though she is putting on a brave face. "Was like the rain I used to see pouring down" This closely links to as though Sabre is finishing off the song on a more positive note (not literally) but the use of the word 'used' clearly implies that it was in the past, which means that he is now seeing, hopefully, 'blue skies' and not the 'rain' he 'used to see'. And this is something Louise is looking for in life, she tells us that she is fed up of life, "its all boring... everything's so dulled...everything's been made ordinary" she is bored of the life she is living and she knows what she really wants in life which is the life she lived once upon a time, perhaps when her brother wasnt born or to how things were before things changed, she really wants 'a Jesus to come along and change things...magic and miracles...gold and jewels, and light out on the pavements'. This tells me she is quite ambitious, in this monologue only however, but this monologue specifically makes her portray herself as determined to make these things really happen. But she revolts back into her normal persona of being that 'quiet person' who, the majority of the time, keeps quiet and just observes. She "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand" Steven Chbosky~ The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. The definition of a 'wallflower' fits Louise's character quite well and my own personality also, which works due to the fact I am playing Louise; but Louise is a quiet character, partially because Carol being so loud and partially because of having to live with her brother which we have all met by now. She knows very early on that Carol fancies the boys, "you fancied em' when you saw em'" but keeps quiet about it, even when the opportunity comes up in which she could say. And she also understands why Carol doesn't let on to the boys, that she quite likes them, as she knows Carol has to have the feeling of dominance over all of the male kind, as that is simply her personality. Louise and I have something in common, which makes it easier for me to play her; but I have got to be Louise and not Issie!!!!

Educating Rita

A second big influence that I found for Road and Louise, was the film version of 'Educating Rita' by Willy Russell, which is another film I watched over these two weeks off. Educating Rita, a well-known and fantastic play in film form, is all about the downfall of the main character Rita, due to overworking herself and letting her work slowly ruin her life. I have linked Rita to Louise, and hear me out because if you know the play you'll also know that Rita is such a loud, fun, bubbly character and quite possibly the complete opposite to Louise. However Rita is trying to better herself through the likes of literature and written drama work, and it's quite a big thing due to the fact Rita couldn't be any more 'common' which again, is the opposite to all the 'posh, well-off' students that attend the school. However Rita has hints of Carol, with her quick and witty humour and her 'nosy' attitude. She is also very comedic, as is Carol. The accent used by the wonderful actress that is Julie Walters is a very strong Manchester one, which I will no doubt be taking tips from, although not too much as I, at times, found it hard to understand what Walters was saying, which is not a good habitat to inherit due to the fact I have a much weaker accent than hers anyway.
(Due to the fact I was enjoying the film too much, I didn't make many more notes on the play itself nor did I link it more thoroughly to Road, but the little bits I have mentioned, are still useful me as an actor playing the role of Louise.)

[Poldark: a now very popular tv drama. Ross Poldark (played by a very attractive male actor: Aiden Turner) is a British Army officer who returns home to Cornwall to find his fiance is marrying another man, his cousin. To re-build himself in the area, he opens a mine on the cliff side and marries Demelza, a 'scullery' maid. Which leads me to why I mentioned Poldark in the first place, due to the fact that Demelza (played by Eleanor Tomlinson) is said to be a 'scullery' maid, which made the obvious connection to Road itself, due to us having our own Scullery. So after looking into a dictionary, the definition of a scullery is:

scullery ~ a small room where washing up and other kitchen work is done

And because 'scullery maid' wasn't in the dictionary; the internet definition was:

a female domestic servant responsible for washing dishes and other menial household chores

However I still cant fathom to why Cartwright has named him Scullery, perhaps he was born in a scullery room although I feel that's a little on the sentimental side of Road, which as discovered the characters weren't really like so.]

i give it a year: is a fun, comedic 'chick-flick' film, another film watched over the holidays. But on an educational term, a scene that features in the film reminded me of the scene between myself as Louise, Carol, Eddie and Brink. The scene is set around a pool table on a meal out and it consists of a double date as such. A husband and wife, the wife's boss (who she is having an affair with) and the husbands friend (who he is 'seeing'). The scene reminded me of ours in Road because of the relationships present as well as the tension that was at height. The relationships, as just explained, made the scene really awkward due to the fact that both the husband and wife wanted the other male or female in the scene, but they had to keep up a false front like they are in love and in a good married relationship, despite the opposite was occurring. Similarly, our scene holds a lot of relationships one being that Carol quite clearly likes both of the boys but even more so Brink because when Louise and him kiss, 'Brink reaches out and takes Louise's hand. He leads her over towards him, he stands and kisses her,' and at this point Carol leaves the room, perhaps in jealousy which is an emotion I personally didnt expect from Carol- she being the loud, dominant and confident one who could click her fingers and expect boys to bow to her. Brink likes Carol seeing as he goes straight in for the kiss, but Carol pushes him away as she can't stand to be controlled by a male character. But Brink likes Louise just as much or, Louise is just an excuse for him to make Carol jeloaus because even though he is the 'quiet type' he probably understands and observes relationships and people more, hence how he knows that Carol secretly likes him. Eddie likes Louise, and this is made quite clear and it is clear in ways such as he doesn't try with Carol it is purely just Louise he wants. A bit like the characters from 'I give it a year' all four of them make it clear that they all like the guy/girl they didn't come with. And although it is clear that the relationships and the context of the scene are completely different to those that feature in Road, the loose link is there which is how I came to the conclusion of it being fairly similar to how we have and Cartwright have portrayed the characters in this final scene.

Pretty Woman: Julia Roberts is playing a prostitute who is offered a week job of being the girlfriend/lover of a very rich man. The twist being they do actually fall in love... A quick summary of the scene I am talking about and linking to Louise and the scene with her brother is when one of the rich friends discovers she's a prostitute, and evidently 'tries it on with her'. This rich guy in which Julia Roberts is now acting as the girlfriend role has changed her, and she no longer wants to give her body away like she did as a prostitute which is why she tries to push this horrid guy off her (pushing away the rich guys friend who is trying to take advantage of the 'local' prostitute) This very section of the scene [the guy tries to 'make-out' with the prostitute and the prostitute is trying hard to escape by pushing the guy off] but it is very similar to how Louise acts when her brother wipes oil down her face, but in a very, very different context. With Louise and her brother, the relationship is a lot more familiar to us as the audience more than in Pretty Woman however they are both as uncomfortable watch. The Pretty Woman scene gets you feeling tense and frustrated and leads to hating the guy in doing what he is because as an audience we have been brought along the journey of how the prostitute has changed. With Louise and her brother it is just as uncomfortable for us, and I wanted to mimic Roberts reaction to this happening to her as it is the eqvilant of a male being extremely intimidating towards a fairly innocent female character. Again this is another scene that I can't get hold of the clip for you, but if you know the films well, I hope you will also be able to see these links and all of the influences I have spoken to you about, from films and tv programmes all go towards my development as an actor for Road.

Accent app

After finding a lot of links between Road and many different contemporary televised formats I continued a lot of work on my accent as this is one main thing that has been a challenge and worry for me in this project so far. I am still relying heavily on the app that I downloaded on my phone. The image below is a screenshot of the app that I've been using: This section of the app is the 'practise text' where they encourage you to read the dialogue along side the audio woman speaking it in the accent. You can record yourself speaking this text in the accent and listen back on it, and even compare it to the computerised women with the accent. Now nearly learnt, I can recite the text in the accent and almost matching the audio, which I am pleased about. There are times that I slip out of the accent and lose where I am in the text, but apart from that I think it's getting better with the much help from the app. There is also a 'free speech' section which allows you to purely listen to the accent in a story form context. This has also been really helpful because I noted that I am very good at learning and remembering song lyrics, and that's through both practise (cliche') but also listening to the song over and over again. So listening to both of these audio's in the accent has helped me to begin to produce sounds like so.

This leads me onto a new form of line learning that my sister taught me over easter: It is to record myself speaking all my cue lines, in the accent to help me make it more consistent. Pausing as though another character is speaking their line i.e. Louise (me). So when I come to play it back, I can recite my lines as though someone is reading in cue lines for me. So it is basically an independent form of me learning my lines alone. Like the song lyric learning this is the same form of memory usage but for lines which happen to actually be of use to me!! This new form of line learning has so far been really really useful to me, and I can now say that all my lines are learnt. There's just the monologue I muddle up now because I learnt the original so when it came to us cutting it, I already knew it so I keep going back to that version, but it's only a few lines in the monologue so I am pleased with my process.

Returning to accent work, the book I currently have [Accents A Manual for Actors, revised and expanded edition] has been helping me a lot on the improvements to my accent work. Under the heading of 'Yorkshire' it lists all the important sounds and consonants in order to get the Yorkshire/Northern accent: "There is a tendency to shift voiced consonants to voiceless before a voiceless consonant beginning another word or syllable, as in the practise example; cloud passing becomes "Kloaud pah-sing""  "The 'h' is regularly dropped in the accent," so an example for me would be 'it's like walking through meat in high heels' would turn into 'igh eels'.
Under the 'vowels and dipthong' section Robert Blumenfeld (writer of the book) tells me "vowels are generally longer than in the Southern English accent" a example for this comment would be our pronunciation of 'task' features an 'r' sound in- 'tarsk' making it longer. However in the Northern accent they pronounce it how it should be when written down, so excluding the extra 'r' sound and a slight emphasis on the 'ask' sound instead. Throughout the northern section of the book there are little practise phrases which really helped me as I could take in the written information and then put it into practise; and my favourite practise phrase is: "But as I say, do you see that cloud passing over head? That means rain, that does before the afternoon is out. No, its not over yet, this rainy season."
So I wrote it down, in a very individual way, to how I think the sounds of each word should be written, phonetically: "bot, as aye wos sayin', doh ya cee that clouad pass'in ov'r ed? That means raain that dos, be-fouurr the after'noon is ouat. Noo, its not ov'r yet, this raainy season.' The exaggerration on some of the letters such as 'noo' and 'fouurr'  help me to remember to extend the sounds on these words so like dragging out the, what we know as a short word 'no' 'noo' but making sure that I raise my voice (pitch) at the very end.

So far this book has been a huge, huge help to me! And it will continue to do so, as I feel that slowly my accent is developing and I have also discovered the more ways I teach myself it, using the book, the app, watching actors in programmes with the accent such as in Ordinary Lies, Jason Manford, the likes of Paddy McGuiness also, the better my accent becomes.

Onto character work, I fully designed my characters look i.e costume. The sketch here is how I want Louise to look. As said previously the light, denim coloured jeans were 'the look' and so were high waisted jeans, so Louise will be wearing denim coloured high waisted jeans. I am stuck between a patterned tshirt, like in the picture of me, or just a plain white one like in the Madonna picture [see blog post 4] Although I do think the patterned/image tshirt I've got on in the picture below suits the outfit well, due to it being a square type fit. The red converse shoes, I think, look really good also and they fit the look and the whole outfit, it also adds a nice bit of colour. Finally I've dug out a load of punk/rock'n'roll bracelets, necklaces, rings and fish net gloves that I used in a previous show. And to me they top off the outfit making it look like a recreation of the Madonna look which is what I aimed for. As awkward as I look in the image on the left, I think the outfit looks really good and it fits the character of Louise. It is also something I am happy wearing which is always a plus! I've also managed to fit it as closely to how I drew out my ideas out before.

Costume design

Real life Louise costume

To conclude this extra week blog, I am pleased with all the research I have taken up over the holiday and I know that it has furthered my knowledge and understanding of Road. My individual character is coming along nicely and Im also pleased with the costume plan, as am the accent work that seems to be helping. So it is all coming together well at the moment...

Road: Week 4

 Four weeks in and Road is really starting to take shape. Today we finished blocking all the scenes!!

Mondays session began with Kirsty, and we continued work on our final scene with Eddie, Brink, myself and Carol. The final part of this scene were the monologues and the 'somehow a somehow a somehow' section; so these are both fully blocked.
In chronological order, Lewis did his monologue first. He is to be standing when he presents his monologue and has lines that direct him to moving around the stage, or to stand on top of the chair etc. Lewis' characterisation is coming along really nicely, Eddie is definitely coming across as the lad of the two, he knows what to do with the ladies and how to keep them, so this slight cockiness to his character is being portrayed nicely by Lewis.
Milo's monologue is presented sat (slumped, drunkingly) in his chair, which perfectly shows him being drunk, as are we all! Milo's accent is getting much stronger now that he's sticking with the Northern accent instead of the Scottish one. This makes it much easier for me to listen to everything the others say, and use the sounds made for my accent and lines: so him doing a northern accent helps me a lot more with my consistency of the accent as well as my confidence with it. I still feel uncomfortable doing the accent because I'm used to hearing the others around me (Phoebe mainly) doing such a strong accent, but there is still plenty of time for me to work on it which is what I shall be doing.
Phoebe's monologue is perfect! She presents just as Carol would, loud, boisterous but with the obvious hint of being drunk and making no sense whatsoever. As said above Phoebe's accent is near perfect as is her characterisation as Carol; so she is acting as my role model for this project, for me to live up to her standard. And finally my monologue. To start I was very pleased to have been able to do this whole scene and monologue without a script (or as much as I could) but I noticed that I wasn't confident in myself that I often looked at my lines despite the fact that I knew them, so it is obvious that my confidence is holding me back. But I was still pleased to have done all the scenes done today with little use of scripts. I stand for my monologue, and I like the forward effect: being closer to the audience as though directly talking to them. Lewis slumped on his chair as is Milo and Phoebe laying on the sofa meant that I was the only one standing; and I felt that the levels used in this bit were not consistent, seeing as I was the only one standing and the others all sat/laying down. But the stage balance, where we were all situated across the stage looked good. When we begin to say 'somehow a somehow' we all start to walk towards the audience, and the plan is that when we are saying this other characters appear on stage, in a spotlight, representing their character. Similar to what we did for '13', so SkinLad might be jogging on the spot, Louise and Eddie cuddling, Joey and Clare dead on the bed etc etc. This will prove a nice way to finish the play, however this section hasn't been blocked yet, so we shall have to wait and see how effective it will look.
We were also briefly introduced to the plans for the staging. The staging will be traverse, with the audience both sides of the stage, set out in a landscape plan. Entrances and exits will be scattered around in the audience and the set will remain the same but the play just travels up the 'road' stage so Joeys bedroom could be at one end of the stage and Eddie and Brinks place could be the other side, but both sets remain on stage the entire performance.
       After blocking the end of our final scene, we went back to the beginning of the play and began running it. This started with Louise and her brother (myself and Jake.) We haven't run this scene since its been blocked which is something me and Jake need to ensure doesn't happen again, because it was really messy! And the characters weren't being portrayed with the right emotions or the right level of intimidation etc etc. Which lead to the class finding it funny (or laughing at us, either or), and stupidly this knocked my confidence because I was struggling with bringing this scene to a good standard when we were performing it to the class, and due to us not really knowing what we were
doing due to not touching it since we started Road, it was an incredibly weak scene. Things like this situation are probably good for me as it makes me determined to avoid this happening again, due to it being so very embarrassing. Although annoyingly we have a two week Easter break so this will prevent us refreshing and rehearsing this scene, but it might be confirmed that we work on this scene Thursday morning or if we get a chance to split off, I will request working with Jake instead of the other three that I am usually working with. We need to make this scene really smooth, so set movements will really help the two of us, especially Jake as there are certain stage directions that he has to stand and approach me etc.
I also have a better understanding to why this scene was so weakly done, it is entirely my job to react to the brother as he is sat, quiet silently throughout the scene and its Louise leading the scene, which is a nice contrast to what happens with Louise in her last scene, which is completely conducted by Carol. But this means that it is all up to me to present Louise's emotions well for the audience to grasp the relationship that's being shown to them in this scene. So I went through this scene and did an exercise that I was taught a school, its called the 'I'm' task and you go through all the scenes you are in, and look to see if you can determine the emotion your character is feeling for that line or scene. So as you can see in the image, in blue pen, I have completed this task; noting what emotions or reactions Louise is feeling at the time or when she says each line. So for example, in the image on the left I have written 'persistent' as she continues to question him even though she most probably knows that he is going to retaliate. She would know this due to the fact that he is her brother and like many sibling relationships they pester each other for the fun of winding them up; which is what Louise is doing. So with that said, I will speak these lines with a young-childish tone to it, subtle but that annoying tone to it, such as saying "why do you not go out you?" much slower and each word slightly more drawn out so you get the sense she is on purposefully provoking him, but the reason for doing this is still unknown to me.
"You cant dance with your brother" - I'm intimidated but at the same time still trying to be brave. So I will speak these lines with a slight shake in my voice but to be sure to make my voice stronger to show Louise being brave and trying to stand up for herself etc. She knows if she fails at being strong then her brother will only force her into dancing or doing something she doesn't want to do, so she has learnt to stand her ground despite the fact that she is really, really frightened.
This exercise has really helped me, and it will help me when I begin my own rehearsing (at home) as I now have a clear understanding of how I need to portray Louise at these times throughout this scene, which will make her much more realistic. I know if I continue to work on these specific emotions that Louise is going  through, this will assist me on making this scene a lot more believable which will prevent it from being awkward and even comedic.

Script notes

Script notes

With Deborah we continued more work on our final scene with the four of us. She got us thinking about different parts of the scene and why we do what we do in this scene. To start we showed her the scene up until the monologues and she gave us some notes to improve on. The first and main one being ENERGY! The scene is lacking energy, and although it is quick paced, it is lacking real motivation and the quick relationship understanding moments and the 'flirty' glances etc etc. All the small gestures and movements will add to this scene so I, again, went through my scene labelling what I should do (in terms of movement) for various lines. So as you can see in the image, this is just one page of the dialogue I put movements or actions too, but the little things such as 'raising my eyebrows' to show Louise being of disapproval towards Carol, who could lose Louise's chance with Eddie. 'Friendly nudge' when Carol and Louise are having their 'friendly-banter' conversation which shows their level of friendship etc.
The little examples I have given you are just some of which I have marked into my script but the point of this exercise was so I know what little gestures/actions/movements I can do which will help me significantly build on my character and it will also help with both the energy of the scene and the dynamics also.

Script notes

Deborah went on to pick out certain parts in the scene that needed work such as the movement we choreographed for the kiss between Louise and Eddie. Last Thursday when we worked on it, it was really smooth and worked so so well, but today it was really awkward as we ended up getting in each others way. Described as 'clunky', this short bit of movement definitely needs work as me and Lewis have to be confident with it to make it look smooth but not too rehearsed at the same time. I like the bit of movement we have for this scene so no changes need to be made, we just have to make it look less awkward.
I think this whole scene is coming along nicely but it still has a long way to go; I know I personally need to get into the full character of Louise, so move, talk and react as she would. I also need to build my confidence when playing her and that I think is partly because of the accent, which is much better than it was but I'm still finding it hard to be this character when the accent is still weak. But I know, I now have two full weeks to focus on Louise as a character and really build on my accent and have my lines learnt to perfection etc etc and all this will naturally build my confidence.

I went home and worked on my ideas for Louise's costume: I firstly decided I wanted it all to be dull colours as I get the impression that Louise is trying the classy look because Carol does... But I was thinking red converses would add some colour to the outfit, perhaps one rolled down and the other up: bit of an odd but funky look//unique? I found a picture of Madonna which gave me all my influences for Louise's costume, below left. She is wearing a big, plain white t-shirt with thick trouser braces and then plenty of black//gothic styled bracelets and one large cross earring.

Madonna: Louise's costume influence

I want Louise to wear pretty much this outfit, one because it is very typically the 80's style and two because it is fairly simple and according to my mum, everyday people wore this type of clothing. (Not many people wore the florescent, all-in-one tracksuits everyday etc!)

I found a 'frankie goes to hollywood' and 'wham' tshirt design which I thought was quite fun, and people did wear these as you see people in their One Direction merchandise t-shirts now etc, however Louise leaves in a poor area and is poor so it is unlikely that she would own one of these but the plain white t-shirt is a good alternative: they are used to making good of what they have and can afford.

Dull red

High waisted jeans were popular then but not dark colours that we are all so used to now, it was mainly denim coloured ones, so that will add some more colour to Louise's outfit. I only want colour because she strikes me as one of the more different characters on Road, as she mentions how "nothings interesting" "everything's so dull" "everything's been made ordinary in our eyes" She's telling us what she thinks of Road and her life, and she tells us a few times that its dull. This is a short but powerful way of describing it, it is also allows our imagination go wild: I can only picture Road in black and white and the houses with dulled down colours such as red being a dull, rusty colour (above, right.) Louise also tells us how she wants 'a Jesus to come along and change things again" the use of the word again implies that she believes that Jesus help change the world once and she is very much hoping that he will do it again, but she says 'a' Jesus' which makes me think that she isn't hoping for 'The'Jesus' but perhaps is so desperate she just wants someone to do what Jesus did, and she probably doesnt mind who as long as they do a good job at giving her 'magic and miracles, and all the light out on the pavements' etc.

Sorry, it won't rotate: But my costume design for Louise.

Black trousers braces are actually a style I would happily wear now, and I want Louise in them because it will give a nice contrast into what Carol will be wearing: perhaps a short skirt and low cut tshirt to show her confidence and her feminism, where as little Louise will be in a tshirt and trouser braces. I own a pair of braces so it will be worth me trying out this outfit for one of our Road sessions to get a feel for the costume and to see if it actually works practically and if it works alongside the other characters.

Louise's accsessories

And finally plenty of bracelets and necklaces and perhaps laced gloves also. This will show that Louise is trying to make an effort but at the same time trying to look not too dressed up and look casual instead. Similar to how we (girls, well and boys) would if we were aware that we would meet someone at the pub on a night out etc, you want to attract peoples attention but not too much, and this is what Louise is doing.

We Will Rock You!!

Due to taking part in the musical We Will Rock You at school, I own a lot of rock'n'roll gear such as the bracelets, necklaces, fish net gloves and tights and florescent sweat bands (below, left is what I would wear as Louise). WWRY is set in the future, but at the same time in the era of the famous rock band Queen, which so happens to be the 80's which is when Road is set.
To the left is my costume for this show: Red braces, black tshirt, fish net glove and tights, shorts, red converses, sweat band around my thigh, four different necklaces and plenty of bracelets. The outfit is very typically rock style, but not far off of the 80's style in which I have decided for Louise in Road. For the shows my hair was bat-combed which could be an idea for Louise. But The WWRY outfit just gave me some inspiration and ideas to what and how I wanted Louise to look in Road.




Wednesday started with practical! We were put into groups, Lewis, Phoebe, Milo and Hannah whom acted as our director. It was our task to run through a part of this scene and work on improving 5 things: such as dynamics, pace etc? The first time we showed Hannah this scene, today, she gave us feedback:

• Lewis: "My names Eddie" like he's fed up because she should know his name
• 'Nice wine int'it" changing the subject, needs to be a pause before so it is clearer she's changing the subject// it needs to be awkward also
• 'tut' Louise is fed up with Carol at times, as she could well be ruining Louise's chances with the boys. Louise secretively likes these boys: and this needs to show between Carol and Louise. 
• Louise is relaxed in this setting unlike Carol!

Hannah's points of focus were simple to work on; we went over the scene a few more times to ensure we had taken on board these points. This relaxed run-through gave me time to properly work on the part when Louise spills her drink, as the past times I've done this it's been so awkward and looks incredibly fake! After faffing around with different methods, admittedly trying methods that meant we were just messing around with it, we settled with: 

Carol: No you two are slow

Louise nudges Carol, in disapproval to the fact that Carol is probably making the boys like the girls less and less

Carol nudges Louise back, a lot harder than poor Louise expected, leading her to knock her drink out of her hand.

When doing this scene it came across quite comedic which really worked because if, in a fantasy situation:

If me and Phoebe were messing around and then she gets me back with a much harder push which knocks my drink out of my hand, we would be in hysterics and it would probably stick, being an inside joke we would constantly remind each other and laugh about! We need this sort of friendship between Carol and Louise, so I think a friendly laugh would fit well just after I spill the drink because me and Phoebe would naturally find this funny if it happened out of character, so this needs to be portrayed as Carol and Louise! So messing around with this made it much more natural looking and we still found it funny so the laughing was natural. But when we got to presenting back what we had worked on Phoebe forgot to nudge me, so the spilling of the drink returned to being as awkward as before but again this is something that will come with practise and the more times we get it wrong the funnier it will become which is sort of what we want as it will be a genuine insight into our friendship as Carol and Louise. 

After working on our scene it was mine, Lewis' and Milo's time to direct Phoebe and Hannah in their scene as Brenda and Carol (mum and daughter.) Me and Lewis worked together on the directing, coming up with points such as: 

• 'From that to that' make this much slower as though reminiscing
• Carol: rush//frantic//organised? A good contrast to how Louise gets ready...
• Brenda: look her up and down//disapprovingly? 
• Brenda: approach Carol less intimidatingly when you say 'let's have something then'
• When I enter, I choose what Carol should wear then say my first line//friendship//close friends etc
• 'what's up with you?' I need to react as though I am confused because it should be me asking her due to the tension between her mum.

This scene is of such high standard, the two girls really go for it! And their characters are portrayed so well as well as their accents being very good too. So there wasn't much for us to point out for them to improve but the things we did, did really work and helped vary the scene at times so it wasn't quick all the way through. 

Everyone had been grouped and told to work on bits of dialogue, so it was really nice to have a chance to watch what everyone else had done and to see how much these sections of Road had massively improved to when we first saw them being blocked:

I made notes on each character we saw: These are straight out of my book...

SkinLad: "Cracking your knuckles and neck was really good//preparation as SkinLad and not Nathan. I noted that he sounded like a tv presenter: the way he begins to tell us the story, which made me think that SkinLad is a lonely character and that his only way of good entertainment and company is telling stories to himself about his life and how it has changed. It's also very clear that he is proud of how his life has changed for the better. He is classed as the 'nutter' because he is so different, Nathan embellish this! You are a lucky character in Road and also very brave but at the same time how did SkinLad get over being classed as this 'nutter' as you can only imagine how other characters on Road would treat you...?"

Curt: "The actions before your first line are really effective, they give us a clear insight into your character immediately. The laugh you did when you said 'I'm not suppose to drink with what I'm on' was interesting. It still leaves the impression that you've been on it along time which has led you to not care anymore. Nyakeh, what drugs do you think they are? Anti-depressant? Why do you laugh when you say it? Do you really not care? Or is it because you are on purposefully rebelling against what you are being told to do? Are you an ex-forces/army/navy man and was your childhood hard/abusive/single child so all your life you've had to live by other peoples rules so because this doctor can't make you take the medicine or not drink when on it, you purposefully rebel against this?"

Bisto: "Luke you were made to play Bisto. It is highly comedic which works so so well in the play itself. Good audience interaction but make more of this, why not when you can? Try not to keep on alternating your weight on your feet: nerves? Think: Bisto wouldn't do this! Tone down parts when you are waiting for the audience to react, as though you are genuinely waiting for someone to enjoy your company and the jokes you are making, you are lonely. Is he desperately trying to find a friend or girlfriend? 'you'll get used to me, you better' softer? You really do want someone to have as a friend, quite sad how lonely you are."

Scullery and Blowpipe: "Jake be careful, you are closely playing your Ode To Billy Joe character. Matt look for Blowpipe haha! Jake if you are extending the character of 'Louise's brother' you've completely lost the intimidating persona which is a shame. But it still works, is it because as soon as he is away from his sister he is a different person? But you played him too dopey and quiet as I couldn't imagine him turning that soft? Find the middle. Have a different personality but not so stark different. Scullery don't call 'Blowpipe' if he is going to be my brother, do we need to find him a new name? Scullery believes that Blowpipe/Brother could do something serious when he storms off stage so Jake you still have to have that intimidating and angry attitude. "

We then presented our piece (the four of us, not Brenda and Carol's scene) And: Deborah really liked the friendly nudges that we included as it well portrayed the friendship and banter between the two of us. Nathan liked the facial expressions and the portrayal of the different relationships such as me and Eddie etc. But the class liked my character, but she just needs to be a lot bigger but it's getting there so I'm pleased. It was mentioned again to tone Carol's voice down at times which will add good variation to the scene; such as light and shade times as Carol's journey continues through the scene. And Nyakeh pointed out that my accent was a lot better which boosted my confidence, just at times I lose lines when I'm focussing too much on the accent so I just need to be aware of this when practising lines etc and the diction of the lines in the accent is sometimes dropped so lines were harder to understand. All things I know I can easily work on.
But overall I'm pleased with how it went today, I felt that we got an awful lot done and it was also nice to be able to work with an extra class member (Hannah) because the four of us have worked closely alongside each other for a while now, so Hannah broke this up a bit for us. It was also really nice to see what the others had done in this session and the improvements made were of a really high standard.

Today concluded with us being given the cuts made to each of our monologues for the final scene, which will help make the scene shorter etc etc. I have already learnt the monologue so theoretically it should be easy to learn the new version. My monologue is now:

It's all gambling this, in't it? Gambling with gabble to see what come out. Why's the world so tough. It's like walking through meat in high heels. Nothings shared out right, money or love. I'm a quiet person me. People think I'm deaf and dumb. I wanna say things but it hard. I've got big wishes you know? I want my life all shined up. Its so dull, everything's so dull. I want magic and miracles and I want a Jesus to come along and change things again. And not keep forgetting everything. I want the surface up and off and all the light and gold out on the pavements. Anyway I never spoke such a speech in my life and I'm glad I have cos if I keep shouting, somehow a somehow I might escape. 

Quite a bit has been cut out of the monologue, but I feel it's all the right bits that had no obvious impact to Louise herself or the scene. I'm also pleased with the sections kept in, and it should be easy for me to learn this version due to it being shorter etc.


Out of Road lessons I was listening to some 80's music whilst doing coursework and discovered Dexy's Midnight Runners Come on Eileen, and when listening to it, I thought this song would fit perfectly into Bisto's disco scene. It is a well known 80's song, upbeat, and it is the type of song you could expect to hear in Bisto's disco because it fits his personality well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC1vtG3oyqg I feel that if we choose a song more well known to us for this scene, the more relaxed and messing around side of us all will appear more compared to a song that none of us knew nor could hum along to etc.

Thursday was structured by simply going through the play with an audience (the rest of the class) and it was our task (the audience) to write feedback sheets for at least one other person that we saw performing their scene/monologue etc. So today challenged us all to really watch and take in the scenes and then to be able to put this into writing to help another actor, both developing our skills and theirs at the same time.

So starting from the beginning of the play, it was opened with my first scene featuring Louise and her brother.
We ran through this scene with Kirsty alongside us, making minor changes which in the end will  improve the smoothness of the piece. We closely worked on the 'face rub' which is where Louise's brother wipes his oily hands down Louise's face. I think this part could be extremely uncomfortable for audience as well as it should be for Louise; although it didn't pan out this way. It was more Jake than Louise's brother and me not Louise- which meant the scene  had no energy, emotion or characterisation.
To lead us up to the face rub we blocked that Jake would stand when he says "Lets dance" and then from then on he is standing. The silence as he is making his way over to rub his hands on my face is quite painful and you can tell he's going to do something. We then have Jake rubbing right hand diagonally down my face, over my eye, cheek, nose and chin. With one hand Jake will do this, which gave of the impression that he knew exactly what he wanted to do to his sister and he also knew the consequences in that she will have to go and do her make-up again.
There is also a part in the scene in which the stage directions instruct us that 'Louise's brother throws engine at her' which for a college show like ours is a bit out of our zone. So it was decided that he'd flick a lit cigarette at me, in the aim that it burns me on the way down to the floor. I prefer this to the engine because if you were to throw an engine at someone you would blatantly know that it would do some harm, whereas a cigarette is a lot more subtle. It will burn and always leave a scar, it also proves a bit more psychotic as though the cigarettes he smokes are his permanent weapon?
These minor changes really worked in  the scene, it allowed me and Jake to have a better understanding of the scene and the movements in which we had to react to etc etc. So to conclude, I feel a lot more confident with this scene now due to having blocked it further. And it also coming along well, it just needs a lot of work done by me and Jake individually on our characters as I feel this is what is letting me down and maybe Jake also.

As the run through continued and we reached my second entrance in Brenda and Louise's scene: we decided that when Louise and Carol leave, like on the televised version of Road, we go off stage mimicking Brenda saying "generous, generosity, generous, get summit down you" so just repeating random lines that Brenda says, so in a way this is Carol getting back at her mum knowing what she's doing as she leaves will hurt her mum. This even more so highlights their relationship as mother and daughter and it is more and more obvious that Brenda is jelaous of Carol's young pubbing age and getting all the lads which is why we later see Brenda trying to 'get back in' with Scullery.
As we saw more scenes I began writing notes and feedback sheets for selected people in the group. I'll start with the notes in which I made; I firstly noted that it's really important that we play some loud music in Eddie and Brinks first scene as the dialogue revolves around them not being able to hear each other. A song suggestion could be Frankie Goes To Hollywood Relax. It's got a good beat to it and a feel good feel when listening to it. It could also link well to how Lewis has interpretated Eddie, about him being quite nervous and trying to make himself as presentable as possible when getting ready in this scene 'he ties the tie, re-does it straighter this time'. The music video is all lads at some sort of club so it fits well with the lads of Road (Eddie and Brink) and it fits to them getting ready for some ladies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN2tHv8gPm8 (Relax, Frankie Goes To Hollywood.) And I also think it's important that Lewis and Milo have a fair few rehearsals with a song playing so they know in which bits of the song do they speak/move/'bang the wall', and all this will help improve the scene in general.

Thursday book notes: 

        I also think that Milo looks very awkward in this scene, due to it being Eddies time to get ready and he takes front stage. But, from what I imagine Eddie and Brink are close friends and have been for a while, which means Brink should be quite relaxed in his house; as we would be if we were familiar with our friends house etc. So it would be much more informal and relaxed if Milo sparked up a cigarette and sat on the arm of a chair while Eddie's getting ready. Eddie could even take a drag from the cigarette and continue with getting ready? This will help add to the 'strong silent type' Brink character and it will allow Milo to read more off of this action into his friendship with Eddie and how it clearly lasted a long time due to him being so relaxed.

Onto Lane and Dor, my two favourite characters as they remind me loosely of twins i.e. me and my sister. No we are not 'slutty' but: Lane and Dor and always on the look out for men, and they strike me as girls whom out shopping would constantly be pointing out good looking guys, which admittedly is what me and my sister do. They are also quite content in stopping life and enjoying each others company which me and Sophie (my sister!) do, we are happy to sit and talk about everything from college, people we like (or don't in some cases!) and some days politics and the more intellectual stuff. Dor and Lane do this a bit when sat eating their fish and chips and it proves a nice break from their busy characters which we meet first with Scullery. I feel, if they properly came across SkinLad they would treat him just as they do any other man on Road, unlike some of the other characters whom would treat him like he really is the 'outsider' and the 'nutter'; and I would like to think me and Sophie would do the same. Dor and Lane have quick personalities, 'what a view' 'ooooh I thought you meant me gusset!' they are two funny characters when together, due to them being witty, quick and almost like a double act who bounce off of each other- on good days, like me and my sister.
I perhaps get the impression that they remind me loosley of mine and my sisters close relationship (friendship) because Dor and Lane are shown as such close friends, which is basically what me and sister are. Dor and Lane will always be looking out for the other and other times they are so quick with their jokes to the other 'captain fucking pugwash' but only saying it knowing the other would find it funny. And I think Kennedy and Donna fit this criteria well because outside Road and their characters they are close friends, who are repeatedly having witty conversations and back and forth 'banter' about each other; as any friends do. Which leads me to when, in today's session, Matt missed a line and Kennedy and Donna both laughed. These sort of 'happy accidents' that were not meant to happen lead them to laughing, and this laugh was genuine and quite in sync with one another, and it really portrayed their friendship as Kennedy and Donna. So I want to suggest the more natural times in the scene that you are Matt, Kennedy and Donna will really assist them to work as their characters. And I can say from the work we've done between me, Phoebe, Lewis and Milo, these moments when we are messing around or include 'inside' jokes such as 'Christmas Carol' and other moments that have made us laugh previously all help to loosen the scene up, so I think this needs to happen in this scene to one relax Kennedy and Donna more and secondly to make the scene more relaxed.
I think this will naturally happen when Donna and Kennedy start using the accent, and hear me out on this one as I don't mean to come across rude, but I know when I started with the accent there were a lot of times we had a laugh at my accent when I came across a word I could'nt do in the accent so I'd either try and fail or just slip back into my southern accent. And this was funny and we were all able to laugh, but this only happened in the small group which consisted of me, Phoebe, Lewis and Milo so I was comfortable laughing along. So there will be moments when Kennedy and Donna try the accent a have a laugh about the accent as they begin to learn it, and this will naturally the relax as Dor and Lane and hopefully allow them to grab the 'Kennedy and Donna mannerisms' and insert these into the wonderful characters of Dor and Lane.

Above were all the notes I made about the scenes themselves, but I went on to write feedback sheets for various characters. I wrote for Joe, Frankie, Lewis, Phoebe, Nathan, Donna and Hannah.
(Due to me not taking pictures of each feedback sheet I gave out, I can't remember what I put for each, although you should hopefully be able to see these in their blog posts, but roughly I put for each: )
Joe's, I wrote how he should try with the accent more, and how perhaps he's playing Joe more than he is the professor. His personality or humour is quite awkward and this is rubbing off on the professor and at times Joe mannerisms override the professors character, so this is something he needs to watch.
Frankie's, was stuff to work on because she hasn't had a chance to do any practical work on Clare due to her partner not being in. So this was a help sheet as such for her, for example programmes to watch to help her on the accent and I also gave her points that I have noticed about Clare such as the already made one about her being 16 and hearing her mum cry and another to get her thinking why she joins Joey in the 'starvation protest'?
Nathans, included little helpers such as the pronunciation of 'dharma' and the meaning. And some notes of what I had made about SkinLad.
Below is an example of the feedback I gave everyone, and this is Donna's feedback sheet. They were all quite randomly written so it targeted lots of little parts of each character such as accent work and pronunciation. I personally like things when they are random and talk about lots of different things as it fits well with my way of thinking and my 'brain'. For example, I'll be thinking about a character and have a really abstract idea about them and my brain will create a story for this etc, similar to how I came up with the idea of Valerie and her alcohol being her 'husband' [see blog post 3.] Some people prefer a clear, and well written piece of feedback that they can watch their improvements off of, but like how I've written all the feedback I gave out today, they are random but still are in depth ideas about each character.
The feedback sheet idea itself, has really helped me! It provided me with an easier option of expressing my opinions and ideas about each characters such as Valerie and Clare (mentioned above) It proved an almost anonymous way of doing this and it got me out of having to express these ideas out loud as there has been times where I'll say an idea and because they are often quite abstract and unnaturilistic people find it funny. But this could be because my humour is quite sarcastic, so perhaps people aren't taking my serious ideas 'seriously.' So writing it down, allowed me to put my way of thinking and ideas and thoughts down on paper and to give it straight to the person who needed to know it, instead of me having to express these out loud infront of the class. So this method proved a really, really good method for me and in the future I can perhaps make my own handout feedback sheets with just my notebook notes and give these out.

Donna's feedback sheet: This is what most of those I wrote today included and read like. 

Nyakeh's feedback

As well as giving out feedback, I received some from Nyakeh and Phoebe:
Nyakeh said that I firstly had a good understanding of Louise and I knew what I wanted to do with her in ways of how I wanted to portray her etc. I feel that I understand Louise as a person and I also have a good understanding of where she sits in terms of socially which will help with my final scene. I had good use of space and the movements done in this scene (mine and Jakes scene) were really good. This includes the new movements we added today such as the cigarette flick, but I still need to work a lot on Louise and her emotions and reactions in this scene as I feel this is by far my weakest scene. And to my surprise the 'Northern accent is brilliant, and has improved a lot' which I was really grateful for Nyakeh to mention as it has boosted my confidence with it and I will continue pushing it until I am pleased with it.I am still working hard on it, using the app to listen to the text that is read out, and also repeating the text alongside the recording to hear if I hit the right sounds for each word. Also the pacing in which I say my lines works well with the scene, and the change of tone from being confident to being scared, which I would disagree with as I feel I need to work on this specifically a lot more on. Things to work on: Play on being frustrated and scared more, which is something I was aware of needing to do. Make sure to stay in character, keeping the scene consistent but this comes with practise, practise and practise and I know this is when Jake rubs the oil on my face, but I don't feel awkward doing this I think it's because Jake is feeling really awkward, that it rubs off on the scene. And finally to show Louise's vulnerability a lot more, when being intimidated by her brother.
All the feedback Nyakeh has given me is stuff that I can really work on over the easter break and come back improved as it's all stuff for me, and me only, to work on. I was really grateful for his comment on the accent as it boosted my confidence, and it was nice to hear someone who could see the improvement on it, its also made me more determined to improve it as I'm still aiming for the level Phoebe has reached, but a bit of competition has always helped me so this is a good way of thinking for me.

Phoebe's feedback

Phoebe's feedback:

Phoebe mentioned that my accent is getting much better. And the pottering round the stage in this scene really worked as it showed that Louise was trying to get ready, but it was still a good contrast to how Carol gets ready.

(A sudden idea: it's interesting that we don't see Brink get ready, we see Louise, Carol and Eddie all getting ready but not Brink. Perhaps he leads a very different life to the other three? He could be struggling with money and so his house is derelict and dishevelled, so we don't see him getting ready? Or is he poor enough to steal the clothes he's wearing, however he can afford the drinks he buys. I think that he could be hiding something, in his monologue he says about 'mummy left'. And this is something that affects anyone despite the age. My dad left my mum when I was four, and she was left with no job, no house and had to look after two four years olds and a six year old. And I believe that this had a huge affect on me and my upbringing and how I am now, as it would anyone. Iam nowhere near as fond of my dad as I am my mum due to him leaving us, so I can imagine that Brink is the same but with his mum, unless she left them on different circumstances to what happened in my situation? For example she left because the husband was abusive, but you can only imagine Brink would hate her for leaving him with the abusive dad? Has the dad left Brink also? So Brink was left to fend for himself? So this is why we don't see or know much about Brink, he is a quite character because he's lived alone? Or has learnt to keep quiet to satisfy his dad who he still lives with? These are all interesting thoughts and I will make sure to look into this more, but I shall carry on talking about Phoebe's feedback for now)

Things to improve on is to 'be more disgusted when saying the line 'where's mom and dad?' 'shagging' 'is they?'  And she's got a good point, most people would be really put out if they heard this, I know I would in the different circumstances. But it's important that I react a lot more to this, and by doing so this line could be seen as comedic which will be a nice relief to the heavy scene in which we have created. Although short, the feedback Phoebe has given me has given me one main point to improve on because it is important that I show the right emotion to 'my parents shagging' as this is something we would all react well to whether it be annoyed or disgusted etc.
       It was really beneficial for me to get feedback individually to me on paper as it has given me something physically, to work on in order to improve Louise and my acting.

This week was, again, really successful! Road is really coming together and I'am loving watching the other scenes progress. The set work we had, the feedback sheets, were really beneficially as it gave me lots of points to work on for Louise and it also allowed me to express all my thoughts, ideas and opinions of the characters I chose to write for; and I really enjoyed giving each character their feedback knowing that my ideas should help them as actors/actresses. It provided me a easy way to tell them everything I felt about their characters and it was interesting to see how much these scenes I saw on Wednesday and Thursday have improved from the first time I saw them a few weeks back.