Today we began looking at the physical theatre section Sally wanted to include. Where we are doing just scenes of Much Ado About Nothing, we don't want bits to be missing of the story line. Avery large chunk of the piece, actually has been left out and that's the section in which Don John plans to use Margaret as 'Hero', to trick Claudio into thinking Hero had sex the night before their marriage. This, in all the other versions of the play that I have seen, is and can only be done through a more movement type scene. It is not a scripted part of the play, but is the most important part, I think.
As we are making our piece our own, contemporising it etc, we've decided to make this section of the story into a physical theatre piece that ultimately will tell this entire section.
To begin with, we discussed who we wanted to play the main few characters in this physical piece, and settled on whoever last played that character so that it won't be misleading for the audience. So that meant I would play the role of Hero, Frankie would play Margaret, Joe would play Claudio, Phoebe would play Beatrice and Matt as Benedick. We were aware not to completely outcast the others whom played these roles, so we've tried to keep little moments between Lewis and Sophie would play Benedick and Beatrice in the beginning scene etc.
We wanted to make the beginning of this physical section clear that I was Hero and Frankie was Margaret and also how it was Margaret having sex with Don John. In words, its hard to show this to an audience who will know little about the play itself however we took it as a challenge today. Sally knew she wanted some sort of 'crowd surfing' involved because it's a festival scenario, which then resulted in myself and Frankie being lifted onto some of the boys shoulders and creating a short Berkhovian-styled dancing-styled sequence. The others, all stood center stage, have created a short movement piece...which if I am being honest, I have no idea about as at the time I'm on Matt and Lewis' shoulders so tend not to pay much attention to the ground below me, ha!
We then wanted the 'crowd' (by the way this is all meant to be at a concert in the festival!) to turn around so its as though the audience are also the audience of the 'concert.' They all timed a four-beat turn around, to let them finish with their backs to the audience.
Throughout our whole play, we use large black boxes which act as our everything-prop boxes, set etc, so we wanted an excuse to use them. Matt and Lewis carry me, and the two other boys carry Frankie, over and on top of the black boxes already set out on stage to represent that we are still at the concert, but perhaps have found a good high up spot to view the concert from.
That was all we devised today, and although written down it sounds like a lot, physically its not. However, it does look really cool and I can see where Sally wants to take it, as such. It also fits perfectly with the story in which we are trying to tell, which is a relief as I wasn't really sure how well we could tell it without actually narrating it or something.
With it being a concert-type scene, it couldn't be done without music!! I was originally hoping to have included some Mumford and Sons, but its lately turned into a cool, pop and heavy kind of music festival, which admittedly works so much better than Mumford and Sons probably would.
We knew we wanted something with a bit of 'bass' so Brandon suggested 'Smack My Bitch Up', Prodigy. It's probably the worse kind of music that I have ever listened to...however it really, really works the physical elements to our show. As well as really fitting with the whole modern concert-type thing we are aiming for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VKqAmJICV4 Here is the YouTube link for the song. From the very beginning you can hear the bass that we really wanted, and it comes in on the first beat very striking to grab the audiences attention. After the first 8 beats or so, in leads straight into just bass which keeps up the up tempo physical piece that we created. As the song continues, more and more layers of music and beats get added in until it reaches the lyrics. Luckily we stop it when it reaches the lyrics...ha! But as much as I dislike it, it is really very effective and really lives the piece and gives a good change for the audience from scene after scene.
| Voice notes |
When we got a chance to ourselves, myself, Donna, Frankie and Sophie (who are all in this scene) walked through our scene and focussed our discussion point around lines that need an action or reaction to keep our scene entertaining.
- "Now begin." Here is Frankie's entrance line and we suggested for her to arrive in a much more excitable manner. This will give off a lot more personality to Margaret from as soon as she enters, which will make it easier for Frankie to liven up as the scene goes on. Also on this line, we will 'cheers' our drinks as an act of beginning the 'game' we play to trick Beatrice.
- "But are you sure Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely?" This is Sophie's main reaction point, and here she spits out her drink in disbelief. So we decided it would be comedic if us three were to react to hearing Beatrice react.
- 'Go to push the portaloo when I know Sophie is leaning against the other side', we thought this would add to the comedy, however after trying this it didn't work!
I also paid a lot of attention to learning my lines, so whenever I had the opportunity to I've either been listening to my recording on the line learner app or constantly re-writing my lines. And I think this is paying off as well as the success of the piece itself really improving. I am now feeling excited for the performance as I know now that we've really managed to target the young generation whom dislike Shakespeare and the era its been overplayed in.
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| White: Kate Beckinsale and Emma Thompson as Hero and Beatrice |
The simpleness of the dress, shows off her true beauty. Hero here is beautiful, and it fits well as to why Claudio falls for her instantly. Beckinsale, at the time was young, which again proves her innocence as young people tend to be of a more innocent nature.
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| Festival costume ideas. |
I want to have my version of Hero in some item of clothing that is white, to sort of keep up the tradition and also to have the meaning behind the colour there too. I have a flowy white top, that looks very festival-like but is also white and simple. So it should work perfectly as to how I want Hero to look. I will probably give her denim shorts to match the colours and analysis I did earlier on with the men's navy uniforms (in the Kate Beckinsale version of Much Ado.) I came to the conclusion that the blue showed the good characters, hence why Don John is wearing black in the image (see blog post 1.) The shorts, admittedly are quite short which some might say ruins her innocence, but in this era (21st century) it is the trend to wear short shorts. To finish off this outfit, she will be wearing bright purple wellies!! The colour has no real relevance's to Hero but its a nice bright colour which could relate to her bubbly personality.
The two images below (and the one to the right) gave me ideas as to how I want to dress Hero. The image on the left, to me looks less festival-like but has the shirt tied around her waist, which is something my Hero will have to do when it comes to tricking Claudio etc. The image on the right, however is the exact look I want to be aiming for. The top is flowing so it gives it the festival look and the denim shorts look good. Shes wearing sunglasses in the image which is another accessory that I want to use for my Hero.
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| Similar look with a tied checkered shirt |
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| White blouse and denim shorts |
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