Shakespeare Week 5

The piece is now really starting to come together!!

So this week began with a quick run of our scene. I feel like this scene in particular is improving as we've managed to higher the level of energy throughout it, but I still feel there is a lot more we can do to it to really make it a success. I am still very aware that my energy levels have got to be the thing that keeps the scene rolling. We ran this scene, now in front of the class and Sally our director and got some brief feedback notes to go with it:

• Bigger reactions: This was mainly whenever Donna had a line, which gave me something to react off of. For example a line being "sure, sure, such carping is commendable" [Act 3, Scene 1.] said by Ursula. This line translated means that Beatrice's choosy personality is something of low desirability. Because I know the meaning of this line, I can really react to it; which will allow me to take this specific feedback note on board. My reaction, to this line specifically, will be as though I am trying to quieten Ursula, as well as to jump straight in with my line to kind of hide the awkwardness myself (as Hero) and Frankie, as Margaret experience. We acknowledge the fact that Ursula says something a bit 'over the line' but it helps me as it gives me something large to react to.
• Movement on stage: A lot, apparently, of our movement on stage is just kept to the right of the stage that we have access to (as Beatrice has hold of SL.) We've been rehearsing this scene in a smaller room which has probably restricted us a lot, however I do understand how myself, Donna and Frankie have kept all our movement to the minimum. Our feedback to do with movement was to 'move near and around the toilet more.' This will help the audiences eye imagination, in understanding the fact that Beatrice is in the toilet and how us three are aware that she is in the toilet. Doing this, adding movement I mean, will drastically help add to the energy of scene, compared to just standing and talking.
• Pace: I am aware that I am almost fully in charge of the pace in which the scene should be rolling in, which meant that this feedback note was aimed mainly at me, it read 'too slow at the beginning.' I think this is because Im busy trying to work up my energy, when really I should be diving into it at a lot higher pace and then maintaining this throughout the scene. And I think that this can only properly come when I've got all my lines learnt to a 't' and when we've rehearsed it over and over; especially in front of an audience as this will give us the knowledge to what they find comedic so we then know what bits to over emphasise or keep the same etc. 
• Emphasis on words: This has been something that has been a reoccurring note for me! I often manage to loose the meanings behind my lines where I don't emphasise the important lines. For this particular run, Sally pointed out my most obvious fault in emphasis was "Beatrice is sick in love with Benedick." Relating back to the iamic pentameter; the emphasis needs to be placed on Beatrice, sick, in love, Benedick. Even here, reading the full sentence with the emphasis on the four lines above, makes it sound a lot more dramatised. As well as that, it makes the line more of a reaction point for Sophie, playing Beatrice, which is the main focus of the scene because, as Hero speaks of "the false sweet bait that we lay for it." ('it' being Beatrice.)  Another big line I need to add a lot of emphasis to would be "No, truly,Ursula..."  which marks the beginning of the 'game' in which myself, Ursula and Margaret set out to play. This has to catch both the audiences attention to let them be aware of the game as well as Beatrice's attention as she hears her name. After this session, I worked hard at home picking out all the emphasised words. Below you can see all my script notes that show the work I did in order to get the correct emphasis. Alongside noting this down on paper, I also ran through my lines a lot to get a feel for the tone in which I have to deliver my lines in. So this also helped my a lot in learning my lines. 

With all the feedback given today, it made it more prominent that I really need to pin my lines down. I know them, and I know that I know them but it happens every time I rehearse in front of the class that I seem to mess up my lines. I have to admit this is something I tackle for every show which I think is due to lack of confidence. I think I just find it hard when I know I know them, but I simply can't prove that to Sally or the other class members. So when I do mess up and forget my lines during a run of the scene, my confidence is hugely knocked; and if I got a choice I'd probably not continue ha! I think this is the hardest thing I try to tackle because I simply cannot prove myself, which will leave me with possibly a bad performance and final grade. I can also recite my lines word perfect if I'm just sat in another room with Frankie etc. But I think this still really pushes me to improve! I have been using the line learner app (linelearnerlite) which has been incredibly useful. The app simply records you and allows you to play this back to you. So I've found myself sat on the bus to college etc listening to my lines over and over again. I've actually found this to be the most effective method for me because in the past I have noticed how easily I can learn lyrics to a song. I am very music orientated and can't tackle a day without having listened to music (preferably of my own choice). I listen to my headphones everyday, which means I learn the lyrics of the songs quickly. So in terms of lines, I have tried to transfer the hours of music with listening to my line recordings. So my lines have started becoming a song, and I have a rhythm to them now which helps me hugely when on stage running them.
    Although, it still isn't helping me to the point I don't embarrass myself on stage. I've run through my lines with my sister every night to help also. I will get them right on stage however!! 

But despite that, I think I've finally pinpointed how I want to play Hero. I want her to be the leader of the pack, but not a bossy figure in the group. She is well liked which is obvious throughout the piece. 

Even just in this image, she looks like a very happy being, as do the people around; which backs up my point of her being well-liked. She is also friendly, and although she does get a bit carried away with negatives about Beatrice, she is aware when Ursula takes it too far, "sure sure such carping is commendable," and she stops Ursula from saying anything more. As well as all this, she is very young at heart. It takes her very little time to fall in love with Claudio, which gives her the more young/child act to her. She is also great fun, this scene is basically her having fun! She messing with Beatrice, her cousin and good friend, with help from Margaret and Ursula-banter. Which now leads me to say, she is more like me than I had first expected. Excluding the 'love' bit, I'd like to think I'm good fun. I know I like to joke around and have a laugh. I'm fairly quiet but not an introvert. I'd also like to believe I am friendly and well-liked. So just focussing on these minor characteristics of Hero, we are quite similar. So with that said, I've tried experimenting with the banter-full moments, as myself and as if I am just with a good friend of mine etc. This way it reminds me of the little things I forget to do, such as move around the stage and the toilet. As I know if this was a real life situation, I'd probably be quite excited so movement would be a high priority. Bringing this into the scene will make the pace quicken and the excitement from us three characters carry into the audience, creating a more heightened atmosphere which will lead them nicely into the physical theatre section that we have roughly devised. 

I researched more into how to play Hero today. The Kate Beckinsale version is probably my favourite, however I found an American dramatics group who performed Much Ado. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx5IDWpyXOs To begin with, I could straight away see that they've kept the setting the same, Messina - "I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of Arragon, comes this night to Messina" - The summer trelace and ivy gives a warm summer atmosphere, so it proves a good guess. After watching more into the video, I could see that Ursula plays a much stronger role as to how we are. She is definitely the more comedic one of the two, which works well I guess as it gives Hero a bit more of an excuse as to why she takes the lead more in the scene. Hero, in this, has perfected the comedy in what she has to say however. For example, 'I never yet saw a man, how wise, young, noble, how rarely featured'. Each new word, she stops, turns on her feet to face the direction in which Beatrice is hiding in, tilts her head in slight empathy and then she goes onto the next word. Each time she does this, she is proving to both the audience and Beatrice that that she knows Beatrice is there, but the way she does it smooth and comedic that erupts the audience per time. From this, I am going to try and take the pauses in between each adjective and perhaps use my beer bottle as a signifier of this; instead of turning like the girl in the video does. She has a lot of moments in which she directs what she says out to the audience, and admittedly I don't like it when that happens in a show but she does it well. It's not overly done nor hugely obvious like pantomimes. I wanted to try out this a little bit, purely because it looked really effective, our piece isn't stylised but I hope to just try to aim my words to everyone and everything, and not just Ursula and Margaret, otherwise the scene could become too inclosed and therefore boring for the audience.
     I experimented with this at home, picking out sections of my dialogue that could be told out to the audience instead of just to the other two characters or just in the direction of the portaloo: "No truly Ursula she is too disdainful...but who dare tell her so, if I should speak (etc) ... one doth not know how much an ill word may impoison a liking...indeed he hath an excellent good name."  I picked out these mainly because they have no main reciever. They are not directed mainly at Ursula nor Beatrice so therefore I felt I could play around with saying this out to the audience, similarly to how the girl in the video does.