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.

Road: Week 3

Today was a continuation of the blocking for Road, as we had blocked some scenes with Kirsty the previous week; we showed these to Deborah so she is aware of the blocking for the scenes she missed etc.

However, today we had a Greek Theatre (Context lesson: with Kirsty) In this lesson we are covering the three theban plays:Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Today we purely focussed on Antigone; the story of Antigone (main character-protagonist). Her two brothers are fighting for the throne, they both die. Antigone's uncle Creon (to be King) wants one brother buried with a full funeral/ceremony and the other to not: to purely just rot onland. Anitgone, being brought up with love and kindeness, goes against Creon demanding that both her brothers require a proper burial. The fight continues, Ismene (Antigone's sister) takes her side. Antigone is sent to a cave to die. A blind prophet comes along and again, demands to Creon that Antigone should be released and the brother to have a proper burial. But it is too late, Creon goes to release her but she, and her husband-Haemon, have both killed themselves. 
The moral of the story is that Antigone set out to do well but due to the flaws in the other characters such as Creon it lead to her demise.
But whilst talking about all the characters in Antigone I briefly linked them to some in Road. (Bearing in mind that this is all very loosely done) Carol as Antigone. Carol plays a very dominant women and does not let the boys (Eddie and Brink) walk all over her nor does she let the boys think that she is 'easy'- "For a minute then I thought I was at the Ritz"- she is also very sarcastic and rude. Antigone, for the era, was seen as almost a 'wonder-women' having a female as a protagonist back then was a big deal and very rare- due to womens rights etc. Carol plays the leading female protagonist in the final scene with the four of us. She doe'nt necessarily do all her actions in order to make things right like Antigone does but she is definitely flowing closely in the footsteps of being a leading women, who has her own opinion and will do and say what she wants and what she believes in. As I said, it is loosely linked but I thought this was a good link to Road at the same time.
Ismene could be linked with Louise. Ismene is Antigone's sister (both Oedipus' daughters). Ismene states that she would die in order to help her sister. They are very close. So I've linked Ismene and Antigone for Carol and Louise. Ismene; perhaps the tag along to her sisters bold actions in her demands to Creon, but still she supports these actions as does Louise. Louise is fond and close to Carol and acts as very much the tag along to her with all the 'Louise laughs' 'Louise splutters' etc. Ismene is scared of Creon, a very dominant male character in the play. Just as Louise is scared of her brother- the only dominant male in her life that we are introduced to in the play, Louise is intimidated by her brother and I also get the impression that Ismene is of Creon. However Creon doesn't scare Antigone nor would Louise' brother scare Carol, if they ever did meet.
So perhaps Creon could be linked with Louises brother- someone who always believes that they are right and will fight for this perhaps...
Which leads me onto this particular relationship (Antigone and Creon.) In a short National Theatre clip watched in class( I annoyingly can find the link for this. I will keep searching), it is to be said that this uncle and niece relationship is not like any 'normal' family relationship, as you might expect- something like love and kindness shared between the two. However, this relationship is far from this. "He treats her like a criminal" ~Jodie Whittaker whom played Antigone in a contemporary version. Similarly to how the brother treats Louise, not quite like a criminal but he certainly doesn't treat her nicely or even like a normal brother would- with bickering and petty arguments.

These links to the theban plays we are covering in a different lesson; I think, are very interesting. It proves that 2000 years on these classic tragedy plays are still having a huge (but an unconscience) effect on plays being written in this 21st century! Which is brilliant and it just shows how much we owe this pleasure of a college course and industry to the Greeks themselves!

So in our actual dedicated Road lesson we did: scenes that I had already taken notes for; so tried to look deeper for more thoughts about the characters and scenes: In Dor and Lanes scene (Act 2 page 47) they both mention how they 'are not going home to him'. Him is written in italics to show emphasis needed here. Which made me think that they are both married which naturally knocks up their age range to about 30 onwards. Although saying this, I had imagined Dor and Lane to be young and in their twenties enjoying the pub and club life of a young adult. So perhaps their 'him's' are boyfriends or even brothers or fathers. As if Louise were to be saying these lines she would most definitely be referring them back to not wanting to go back to her horrid brother. Their age can be decided on this very argument (whether its their husbands or boyfriends etc?)

Valeries monologue, this was the first time we got to see this monologue as we went off and did our accent work when Sophie (whom plays Valerie) blocked this scene. The first introduction to Road, a couple of weeks ago, I was chosen to present my interpretation of this monologue: so to play the character of Valerie. I tried to incorporate some movement into mine such as when she mentions how "dry her hair is" I tentatively looked at my hair as though reminiscing to how she used to look and how her hair used to be. This will show how she feels about herself which will also gives us a bit more of an insight into her character; seeing as this monologue is her only scene!

Script notes

She goes on to tell us how she "feeds every baby in the house" and "'does' everything else I can" etc which made me think that she is bored of her life. It's repetitive and dull, and Valerie isn't the only one to think this as Louise mentions this also. 

Valerie is so poor she begs for money off of the same people and her only thanks she can give them is to say 'thank you, thank you' 'til it makes you sick.' When I heard this line in Sophie's version, it made me believe that she wasn't apologetic that she has to beg for money, it sounded more like disgrace to herself and that saying thank you every time made her sick with hatred towards herself and her life?

She then goes on to talk about drink/alcohol. "Drinks a bastard" this is a massive contrast to what everyone else on Road thinks about alcohol. Others use it as a method to forget the world in which they are living in. Whereas Valerie talks about how it has ruined her life. I

I picked out an interesting thought: that when she mentions "him" "he" "not his fault" that she is referring to the alcohol as "him". On the surface it is to be seen as though she is talking about her husband (whole we never actually meet) which can only lead me to the conclusion that perhaps the drink is her life; as would a husband be if she did have one. However saying this she does mention "his fat hard hands in bed" which is almost certainly a reference to a human male but it, again, could be seen as though the "fat hard hands" are the feeling that alcohol has left her-hung over and a negative attitude to life in general? "He's so big and hunched and ugly" tells us that she is scared of this husband or the alcohol as it has changed her life considerably as she goes on to talk about how she "hates him now, and I don't want to". She's asking herself more than the audience what changed in her life . 

This entire monologue has more meaning to it now. As I can see it in the context of the play. Valerie is weak and alone, and she only has the husband or alcohol. Cartwright has written a few characters whom appear to be lonely. I think this is because he writes the theme of sex as such a casual thing and that love in that sense wasn't a big deal then; it was more casual and it didn't seem to matter if you had sex with someone you didn't like let alone love. Making the characters lonely in their family or relationships that are mentioned, gives us a clear insight into what life was like on Road-"dull" lonely, "slag heap" and "where things all come but don't drop off."

I will, again, be passing on my notes to Sophie so she can improve on the things mentioned, this way I am both helping myself, as an actor, develop and am helping others too.

Talking to you on Wednesday evening of this week: I can now say that I expressed my feelings to Sophie, about how I felt that Valerie is talking about 'him' as alcohol instead of the top layer of it being that she is simply talking about her husband. Matter of factly, I feel that Sophie didn't take this suggestion openly mindedly as her immediate reaction was too far abstract it was. This halted my idea completely so I felt that I didn't get a full opportunity to explain my suggestion. I can fully understand why she blocked off this suggestion as I clearly see how far out the idea is from the naturalistic play of Road that we are to be performing. However I am pleased I expressed my point to her as I will continue to do so to both improve my skills as an actor as well as assisting others.

This led us to my scene with Eddie, Brink and Carol (Lewis, Milo and Carol.) This scene was blocked on our previous Thursdays lesson so we just presented this back to Deborah. During this, I noted that I need to work on 1. My accent. Milo and Phoebe have mastered the accent really well, and because Phoebe is playing a dominant and loud character, I, and my character, are represented as very little and quiet! Which is said to be as though I am playing someone too much like myself, which is something that I desperately do not want to do. And 2. That although Louise is the tag along of the group she also has her moments of sticking up for herself such as when she repeatedly says "Carol" in a motherly sort of tone as though to be telling Carol off; only because Louise really likes these boys and probably wouldn't mind the sexual tension that begins to rise. 

Speaking with honesty, I feel as though my level of acting is being held back in this scene because I have found myself apprehensive of the two kisses. Which sounds daft coming from an actress but the surrounds I imbed myself in (other teenagers, friends, peers etc), it is quite hard to explain that the two kisses are only for acting purposes and mean nothing more. This being one naff excuse and the second being that I have been holding back with the thought of having to block this scene in front of the class, as we have been doing so for other scenes. 

So with all this beared in mind, I personally feel that I am holding myself back from this scene and that the energy I have been giving this scene has been low due to the false lead up's of blocking this section and then not blocking it. With all that said, I am now more determined to jump this acting career hurdle, as I know, silly as it may sound, that I will be pleased with myself to overcome this 'apprehensiveness.' I also feel it best that I am honest with myself and my thoughts about my acting in the early stages of Road and I feel as though I am pulling back more than I should. With that said, again, I'm even more determined to take this scene away this weekend and learn the lines so by Monday Iam at least off script for this scene, this way I can begin to really become Louise and focus on the characterisations of her which will remove p, hopefully, aspects of my own personality so when it comes to the kisses, I am Louise kissing Brink and Eddie, two boys who have chatted me up etc etc. 

Going through this scene again was really helpful as it refreshed us with the new blocking that had been set and it also meant that the rest of the class could see it, with that said I asked what the others thought of this scene and the relationships that are in the midst... I did this because I wanted some feedback to improve on in these early stages of Road so I can have something to go on for the next couple of weeks: 

So I asked firstly, Joe. I asked Joe because he seems quite observant, he takes in a lot and notices how people are around others which is a great skill. Joe's feedback (via message) was: 

Joe: I thought it was very good with what you have so far. The only thing I feel though which is just Phoebe being herself, which means that she takes away the lime light away from you as she performs to an extent in which blocks you. I know that's her character but I'd really like to see you at every availability when speaking or an action to put yourself out there even more"

Joe's comment is very detailed and extremely useful. My main points noted from what Joe has said is to make Louise that much bigger, not to overpower Phoebe, but to reach nearer that level of performance status. This is feedback that I will be sure to take on board for the next couple of weeks!!

I then asked Kennedy, the same question of her opinions on the final scene. I asked Kennedy mainly because we never seem to work along side each other so this way  I was able to be made aware of how she responds to what she sees on stage etc: 

Kennedy: I only saw you begin learning lines but I just think once you get confident in your lines it will be great! You just need to make the awkward bits funnier so they're not awkward in a sense of being real-life awkward." 

By this she meant the kissing section specifically as we have been sharing our thoughts on both mine and her scene (in which she has to kiss Nyakeh!) But her main message was that as soon as I get confident with the lines I can begin to imbody the character of Louise. Again this is another really beneficial bit of feedback for me. 

I thirdly asked Sophie. Sophie is good fun to be around and she gives some really detailed feedback and honest opinions which is what you need in this industry: 

Sophie: Overall its a working progress. The first time I saw it, it was a bit bossy from Carols behalf. But then Deborah said how she was too shouty and to bring it down a notch. So Phoebe varied her voice which made it better. I also liked the eye contact moments that you made with Lewis. And also the dynamics of the relationship between Brink and Carol. On the whole the piece is looking good. 

Sophie's feedback was again very detailed. She points out that now Phoebe has toned down her characters voice there is now more limelight on the other characters; similar to what Joe said. The eye contact moments with Lewis were, obviously, noticeable and they helped to lead us up to the physical contact made later on in the scene. So I will keep up the eye contact moments with Eddie however I need to also do this to Milo's character also, as the scene leads to me kissing him as well. These eye contact moments need to represent the thoughts of Louise such as when you can simply look at your friend and know what they are thinking. The eye contact needs to show the audience that Louise likes them.

I have found this feedback to be extremely useful. They are all giving me constructive criticism as well as the parts there were good. I will endeavour to take all of this feedback on board in the next couple of weeks of Road, and I look forward in showing them how I have improved on these points etc.
To finish of Mondays session, Deborah spoke to me about all the little aspects of Road/Louise. She firstly mentioned my accent and that how I am being overpowered by Phoebe's very good northern accent; and so this was suggested by her to work on the accent more to bring my voice up to Phoebe's level. She also spoke to me about how comfortable I felt in kissing Milo and Lewis. I expressed my opinions to her honestly. Talking to Deborah about all of my apprehensive feelings cleared things up a bit for me and it also gave me more motivation to beat Phoebe's level of the accent-which I know will be a very tough challenge for me but I am willing to put my best into it all.

Wednesday' session was a jumbled scene rehearsal. We were all put into pairs or groups in my case and were instructed to go an work on a scene which we were both in (the pairs: such as Clare and Joey, to rehearse their scene together) I was in a group with Lewis, Phoebe and Milo and we worked on our final scene together. We firstly went through all four characters, listing ideas and thoughts that we have made over the past couple of weeks in playing them.

We began with Eddie (played by Lewis.) Lewis said that he felt as though Eddie wasn't this 'swarve, lad' sort of guy like Deborah had suggested but he was a guy trying to be polite and to make the best impression to these girls. He got this idea from his first scene in which he is desperately trying to make himself look presentable when tying and re-tying his tie etc.
Carol: Carol has set out to make a point about her dominance and she is a feminist, Phoebe suggested no more about Carol but it is clear that she wouldn't let any man trample over her nor would she allow them to do this to Louise- "Give it here, sap. Top her up."
Brink: COCKY! He is very much the big headed, swarve and cocky guy you get in year 11 at school who thinks they are the best and that he just has to stand there and all the girls come swarming over! He's not particularly bright either. But amazingly, Carol manages to knock his ego a bit but he soon regains this when he manages to get Louise.
Louise: Louise is Carols tag-along, and at times encourages Carol . But I get the slight impression that she may be a year younger than Carol because this as well as the fact that she is quieter. But also the fact that perhaps Louise is very insecure, so she sticks with this loud, bossy person as a friend as a safety net of always having someone there to stand up for her...?
I individually noted down that each time the boys leave the room, which they do alot, they are secretively talking about us, just like we do to them. This proves an interesting thought and it would be something I would've liked have seen in the actual script by Cartwright because this would give us a clearer understanding of what the boys actually thought of Carol and Louise- but delving deeper than the fact that they might have a chance of having sex with them. So hearing what they actually think of the two girls personalities would've been very interesting and I can imagine that Eddie would keep as polite as he could, but be the one to like Carol, And for Brink to dislike Carol and really like Louise.

Still in the same groups we began reading through this scene but this time only focussing on our accent work. I am still finding the accent difficult but working alongside Phoebe's strong northern accent helps me to hear what it should sound like and I can take this and put it straight into my own dialogue. Milo is currently still using his strong Scottish accent; which throws me off of my attempt of a northern accent as I begin a slight Scottish accent when I respond to his lines, not that I can do the Scottish accent either but I inherit some of the sounds when I say my lines. Which makes my attempt of the accent inconsistent which isn't good! Lewis is getting there with his accent and it is definitely stronger than mine. With my weak accent in mind, that evening I found an accent app on my phone. The app doesn't specifically say Northern accent but instead I brought the Yorkshire-Sheffield accent. The app is really useful, there is a audio story read in the accent which I can listen to. There are also repeat-after-me sentences and a microphone device so I can speak my lines into the app and hear them back. The app will definitely be something that I listen to and experiment with a lot, as all this goes towards more practise in the accent which will resolve in me hopefully performing a decent northern accent in the performance.

We went over this scene with Deborah and she gave us some helpful tips into what our characters meant by the things they were saying such as Louise, whom repeatedly says "Carol" all with slightly different meanings. Such as one on page 69, the tone in which I plan to say this line is drawn out in a slight motherly tone as though getting her point across that she would quite like Carol to be quiet because she really likes these boys. This is made even more apparent when Carol wants to leave but Brink manages to change her mind and it is I, that moves first to put down my bag to stay a bit longer. Deborah suggested for Carol to be less aggressive and to bring down the character a notch. So she continues being a dominant character but just a bit less than before. Having done the scene after changing this, it felt as though the scene was evenly distributed between the four characters and the moments and dialogue Louise, Brink and Eddie have began to have more of a say in the scene.
Deborah also suggested that Louise was a lot more giggly, she really likes these guys so she is trying her best for them to like her with a flirty, ditsy and giggly attitude. This gives us a huge contrast between Louise and Carol as Carol sticks to her firm, and dominant attitude and doesn't let on that 'she might've liked the boys in the pub.' Making Louise more of a flirty characters suits this scene a lot better to how I had first interpreted her- like a shy and reserved character, and even though I represent her as quiet and polite she still knows how to get boys that she likes etc.

After finishing the practical side of our scene we were then instructed to cut out unimportant sections of each of our monologues, because the scene needs to be cut; even though it is quick paced it drags on to much! It was hard to get rid of parts of the monologue because it was written to make sense but I kept in mind that Louise was incredibly intoxicated with alcohol so even if it didn't make a lot sense after cutting it down it wouldn't matter much. The parts I have decided to cut out are not set in stone as we will be running past these ideas with Deborah on Monday however:

"Its all gambling this, in'it. Gambling with gabble to see what come out. That record its so about pure things it make you wanna cry. Why's the world so tough? Its like walking through meat in high heels. Nothings shared out right, money or love. Im a quiet person me. People think I'm deaf and dumb. I wanna say things but it hard. I've got big wishes y'know. I want my life all shined up. Its so dull. Every things so dull. When  that man on the record sings, you put the flags up. Cos he reminds you of them feelings you keep forgetting. The important ones. Once you wrap em' up and put em' away thats it, theres nothing left but profit and loss and who shot who? But its so hard, life. So hard. Nothings interesting. Every things been made ordinary in our eyes. I want magic and miracles and a Jesus to come and change things again and show the invisible. And not let us keep forgetting, forge-netting everything, kickin. everyone. I want the surface up and off and all the gold and jewels out and all the light out on the pavements. Anyway I never spoke such a speech in my life an' I'm glad I have. If I keep shouting somehow and somehow might escape." 

Louise ending monologue above and the highlighted bits are the sections I picked out to get rid of. At the moment its not much but I'm waiting to put this into practical action so we can hear what it sounds like in the scene. Event the little bits I've cut out of my monologue will contribute to the cutting down of the whole scene, especially if the others cut down sections of their monologue too. 

After doing this in lesson, I set out to work on my accent on my own. I focussed the accent work on my monologue as it is the biggest section of text Louise has. I began by highlighting certain words that I knew would have an obvious accent added to them. (Accent words are highlighted in blue, above.) Doing this meant that I could the recite my lines and focussed on adding the accent on these words first and then once this is done I can go onto work on the rest of the speech. Words such as 'come' and 'tough' I emphasise the 'o' sound, my mouth forming a slight pout structure. And words beginning with an 'h' I would turn into 'ad' from 'had' and 'igh eels' instead of 'high heels.' 

I then went through the whole monologue, the bits without book that I have learnt already, and put the accent on these words above (in blue). This was really helpful as it helped me learn my lines in the accent which means that whenever I recite the lines I will remember them if I do it in the same accent.

My line learning is also coming on with improvements as I have now learnt my entire beginning scene with Louise's brother in. Which means when we come to this scene I can now play that intimidated character who is probably trying to get out of the house as quick as she can. Doing this scene without my script in hand will also mean that I can use my entire body to react to the brother and include those looks at him and reactions. Overall I'am beginning to feel more and more confident in the role of Louise especially now some of my lines are learnt, and the accent is 'getting there but still has a long way to go.' 

Outside of college research:

I took out three drama/acting/accent and voice related books to assist me through this assignment and other assignments for other lessons. I issued an accent book 'Accents, A Manual For Actors'. Acting in general book, 'To The Actor.' A voice book, 'Voice And The Young Actor' and I also brought The Three Theban plays by Sophocles in Waterstones and the 'To the Actor' book, this weekend. 

The accent book focusses on tonnes of different accents, the only important one for me being the Yorkshire, Manchester, Northern section. The book, written by Robert Blumenfeld, teaches you the 'important sounds' of the accent, the vowels pronounced in the accent and it gives you practise texts and the sounds of the sentence that you should be producing. These specific sentences challenge the very words that the accent is heard the most such as 'but as I say, do you see that cloud passing overhead? That means rain, that does, before the afternoon is out. No it's not over yet, this rainy season.' For me, this sentence challenges some obvious words that the accent shines through on such as 'passing' saying it without the 'r' sound that us Southerners add into it. 'Overhead' getting rid of the 'h' sound on 'head'. 'Rain' and 'does', and also 'afternoon' turning into 'after/noon' with a slight pause.
The book also taught me how to see the Northern accent pronunciations written down such as: 'taught me' turns into 'tawLt mee' The 'l' sound isn't obvious but I tried to  focus on how I was saying it, and I could hear the 'l' sound. And 'me' is drawn out more than how we naturally say it  and I have found that I say it like 'meh' but again making it a bit longer. [See future blog posts for quotations from the books mentioned above] 

The Young Actors book, has a range of different subheadings in it that focus on specific subjects in the world of acting, such as Character and characterisation, gesture and movement, and the atmosphere and individual feelings. I flicked through this book briefly and I fell in love with it. It is pretty much the best actors guideline to everything we do, as actors, in our 'occupation'. I loved it so much that I actually brought this book for myself, so I can now highlight key things in it and fold over pages etc, so it acts as a sort of notebook for me. I haven't yet had the chance to really look into it and take things from it yet, but that is my task for this weekend and the Easter holiday.
         The Voice book is less relevant to Road but there are still good vocal warm-ups and exercises that I can take on board when learning lines or rehearsing at home and in class time which I will endeavour to experiment with and put into action.

When learning my lines today (Friday afternoon) is highlighted words that I struggle with in the accent. The mains ones being 'hello.' This should be easy to say but when I try and say it, it comes out too Scottish. For me, the northern accent for 'hello' would be written as 'ellow' in terms of pronunciation however when I say it like this it still sounds Scottish with a hint of Irish and Northern. The possibility of changing this to something like 'aye up' is there, if I still can't hack saying 'hello' in the accent. I will be making it my job to ask Matt, Phoebe and Sarah, my voice teacher, how to do this and hopefully by asking that many I can cotton onto how they pronounce it. (I' am asking Matt, because he is northern. Phoebe because she has the accent sussed, and Sarah as she is providing us help in the run up to Road with the accents.)
Another weak line for me is, when Louise says "very different". Every time I say it, I turn straight back into the well-spoken Southern accent I have. Or when I try really hard to get into the accent on this line I tend to roll my 'r's' which again sounds more Scottish than Northern.
"Well I like 'Hot Chocolate" is another that often doesn't sound very Northern when I say it. As well as 'miracles'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGZPaUknRA&list=PLYZAE0tEtmh274WMmmrF9mq7RVQBJgjjo&index=1- Series1/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IiaiDOcd1k&list=PLYZAE0tEtmh274WMmmrF9mq7RVQBJgjjo&index=4- Series 4/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rUV_brvkiU&list=PLYZAE0tEtmh274WMmmrF9mq7RVQBJgjjo&index=5-Series 5/5

 I went onto research the tv series of Road that I found on YouTube. The last link is the ending scene in which Louise has her monologue.
But I originally set out to watch the series in a quest to find how Jane Horrocks, who plays Louise in this version, says the words that I' am having trouble with. She says it in a deep tone, 'ell/ow' She pauses slightly between the two sounds, and the 'o' sound is drawn out.
Annoyingly. in this series, they have cut out the section where Carol and Louise talk about what they think of the boys (page 68) which is where Louise says 'very different'. I am thinking; that the best way I can pronounce it, until I get a better understanding of the accent, to raise the pitch of my voice at the end of the word 'different'. This will add a slight ring of a Northern accent until I get round to asking Matt, Phoebe or Sarah in the week.
'Miracles' is said like 'miricles' so the 'ie' sound is a bit more dominant than how we would say it normally.

Later (or earlier) on I go onto mention a quote from The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, and how I've linked it to Louise. The quote is about being a 'wallflower' which is someone who is quiet, hears and understands things, observes all of this but keeps quiet about it all. But I know want to link Louise with Charlie, the main character of the book/film. Charlie is played by a very good looking actor by the name of Logan Lerman. He is the wallflower. The story is all about him, and as the story unfolds it becomes more about his childhood and the things that he has kept from everyone in his life until he reaches his teens and he mental health gets worse and the truth is told. By no means is it a happy, feel good film with hot actors in but I highly recommend watching it.
Charlie has had a really hard childhood, he was really close to his aunt but it tragically is revealed that she raped him- maybe on one or more occasions. But Charlie loved her, as an aunty but she dies in a car crash. This ruins him, mentally. The story is told from his first day of high school in a diary form so you really do begin to be him. But linking this back to Louise I feel that she has secretly had a really tough upbringing. In no ways do I mean as tragic as Charlie's but I've come to the conclusion that her dad is or was abusive to her brother. Depending on how much the mum cares for her children this would ruin her as a parent but she stays married to him because it was almost looked down on to be single. And some people would still look down on it nowadays. This abusiveness has rubbed off on the brother which leads to him to it to her when the parents aren't around.
Like Charlie, Louise keeps this all to herself and comes strutting into her next scene with her head held as high as she normally holds it when she comes in contact with Brenda and Carol. Charlie struggles to find some good friends and he doesn't even confine in his parents for support that much, he is an introvert as such. Louise, I can imagine was very similar when starting school. It wasn't until she found Carol that she was really lonely, and would've had noone to talk to at home- like Charlie. Charlie sees a lot and observes people- not in a creepy way but he just see's things but will always keep quiet about them. Louise does the exact same, for example she knows full well that Carol secretly likes Eddie or Brink, or both for that matter as she puts this across as soon as they leave the stage: "Eh? But you fancied em' when you saw em'!?" Carol easily brushes this off, most probably because she knows Louise would never dream of saying it out right to the boys when they re-enter. Charlie does something similar when he walks in on his to-be friend 'making out' with another guy; he doesn't say a word.
Charlie has a huge downfall nearing the end of the book/film where the secret of him being raped is revealed and I think that one day Louise can tell someone about her abusive brother but that will only be when she escapes Road, because it is only revealed when Charlie gets some really great friends.



I was thoroughly looking forward to Thursdays session as I knew we were working on accents! We began with some basic vocal warm up exercises lead by us, seeing as we had just worked on this subject in our voice lessons. We did tongue twisters and humming also. We also did some physical warm ups such as star jumps and the plank. And also a mental warm up, the name game. All of this prepared us for everything; vocally, physically and mentally.

Accent helpsheet, including notes

As a class we then did a repeat-after-me accent workshop. Blogger, unfortunately, won't allow me to insert the audio recording I made of this lesson; I recorded it so I could listen back to the sentences and words we worked on in the accent- as a method of repetition of the accent. I even went to the extent of listening to this recording on the bus home, so I could listen carefully to the exact pronunciation of the words covered today. We were also given a sheet that matches the practical side of the accent done today so this will act as my guideline to learning the accent, as well as plenty of other research. Above is the worksheet we were given, and on it my notes that I made after class to assist me on how I pronounce these words in the accent. My main point of focus for the accent is the pronunciation: All use of 'the' and 'to' is replaced with 't', which is pronounced by replacing the vowel sound with a half-audible 'uh' noise, the kind you would make if you were lifting something unexpectedly heavy. EG: "I'm going in'uh woods". This is something that I have to really think about before saying because to me it feels so unnatural, this is my main point of focus for the accent in the next couple of weeks (over Easter!) 

Using everything we'd just learnt we then had to learn a section of our text (preferably monologues) in the accent and then present this to the class in the time limit of 10 minutes. I worked with Phoebe (seeing as she plays alongside me as Carol) Phoebe had began learning her monologue (on page 74) 

so this exercise was fairly easy for her, and her accent doesn't need much improvement on at all.

However for me, I had very much familiarised myself with my monologue but I had, admittedly, not looked at it much this week due to in class us working on the scene that led up to it and not actually the monologue. So this exercise was difficult for me, but I had learnt a good three quarters of it. But as soon as I had to present this to the class after the 10 minutes I managed to mess up the very first sentence which threw me off completely; making a right idiot of myself! This really frustrated me because I knew the monologue, but I still feel really un-confident with the accent so I think in the context in which we had to present these pieces of text, with no script, in the accent, and out of the normality of the scenes- and my nerves threw me off... 

In the 10 minute break we had straight after this I was determined to learn the monologue, and to prove that I could do it, without script and in the best accent I could; this was like me proving to my self-confidence. I did it, too. But this whole situation has made me really push myself to set the target of learning my lines for Monday: SCRIPT DOWN! I' am still on the mission of proving to myself that I can do it and not embarrass myself again like I did today! 

So talking to you, Friday afternoon, I have learnt my entire beginning scene with the brother, and also my entire monologue at the end! I will continue with this aim, for Monday, and prove to myself, and myself only, that I can do it. Also, the quicker my script is dropped the better I can act in the scenes I am in, as I can be Louise, the, at first, intimidated character, and become this more confident, flirty character to the incredibly drunk character right at the end. 

        I need to closely work on playing drunk which means I will need to look into other actors in films etc doing this as this is something that I have personally never experienced. 

To finish off our lesson, the rest of the class were instructed to begin work on their character studies; looking into their characters costumes and props etc. Whilst me, Lewis, Phoebe and Milo were held back to finish the rest of our scene, covering the section that I have been apprehensive about...

We started where we had left off, on top of page 72. Louise is still sat, with Eddie close to her left and Brink on the sofa arm. We decided that when Carol leaves 'to go to the toilet' there is to be an awkward silence to prove that Carol was definitely the talker of the group. Brink then goes on to say 'what is it?' which picks the pace up again between me and Brink. Brink then leaves, which leaves Louise and Eddie sat closely together on the sofa. 'In one single movement, Eddie takes Louise and sits her on his knee' following this stage direction in the script we knew we wanted Eddie to sit Louise on his knee for the kiss but weren't, at first, sure how to do this. Lewis was sat to my right, and in the stage directions it says 'Eddie stands' so we choreographed that Lewis would stand, pull me up to standing and go to kiss me. But instead bring us both back to sitting, to the left side of the sofa, me on his knee. He then pulls me in with enough force so when we sit we are close enough to kiss. This whole movement sequence is done quite slowly which I feel is a nice way to contrast how Eddie comes across; as a 'cocky' with the ladies, (which means we will have to make this scene run smoothly to represent that Eddie has done this many a times before!) but because it was slowly done, it was represented as a lot more love-felt than how I would've gotten Eddie to do, but it worked and flowed well. 

    Then as soon as Carol comes charging in, ruining the moment for poor Louise who was probably enjoying herself, and the light is switched on, I move away from Eddie which clearly shows Louise's personality of being shy- similarly to how I would act in the same situation, so there are perhaps some minor similarities between the two of us. But there is a nice moment that Eddie goes to bring Louise back into him but due to Louise being confronted by two other characters she snappily moves away from him. This little moment is quite sad, because it is so apparent that Louise really does like Eddie but Carol has come in and ruined it for her. This isnt something Carol would on purposefully do but it highlights their friendship more. For example, if Carol was a really good friend to Louise, she would perhaps leave the room again and let Louise and Eddie regain whatever they had etc etc. But because Carol is such a dominant character, affecting Louise's confidence with Eddie doesn't faze Carol. 

Eddie does try and regain what him and Louise had with 'anyway' but the confidence is dropped by Louise because of her confident friend barging in. Louise quickly returns back to Carol's little tag-along friend:

Louise: Carol.

[Carol stops]

Carol: Come on the Louise [she gets her bag]

[Louise gets hers, they start leaving.]

Louise does what she told to do, despite the obvious fact that she would much rather stay because she really likes Eddie. And it is also obvious that she would rather do this because as soon as Brink persuades them to stay, Louise is already sat down, 'looking mystified' but most definitely a lot happier to be staying that Carol is. This is also, seen when they are 'downing' their drinks as Louise asks no questions and simply does it; purely because she wants to. Whereas Carol questions the action with 'what are you doing?' 

This where we reached on this scene today, the rest of the scene will be blocked on Mondays session. But overall, I am really pleased with this scene and all the work done this week on Road. The dynamics of the relationships the four characters have are really starting to build and the entire scene is beginning to be filled with the right reactions and emotions by each and everyone of us. By Monday, continuing with the target I set myself yesterday, I will have my lines learnt for this scene so when it comes to, probably, showing back what blocking notes we created to Deborah I can be off script, and really become Louise; which will help me overcome the re-occurring nerves of the physical contact that I will have to perform in front of the class.