Week 4

When is the chorus/ensemble most useful?

The ensemble is most useful at moments where the pace and energy is needed to be kept constant, for example during scenes where there is high intensity of emotion or tension in the room. For example, in Scene 6 when Madame arrives, the ensemble is vital to illustrate the overriding feeling of curiosity and alienation which emerges very intensely in the general atmosphere and therefore the ensemble help amplify and communicate the main themes and emotions of particular moments in scenes throughout the play towards the audience. In some ways, I think the ensemble can also give a multi dimensional depth towards the themes and questions being asked in the plays, as different ensemble individuals can alter their physicality or  body language to respond to different things occurring in the play, or can literally embody/personify themes and therefore will portray a multi dimensional and non stereotypical version to the audience. Different audience members will take different aspects from the mood created by the ensemble as a whole.

When the ensemble don't work together primarily to support and amplify the main action, for example by being in a different mindset to the rest of the ensemble or not keeping up, they are indirectly going to direct attention to themselves and they will stand out, therefore the ensemble's purpose would not have been carried out effectively in these instances. Furthermore, in this case, ensemble members can often upstage the main action or actors if they are not wary.

Internal monologue ideas for a Pre-show

As part of a pre show before the play, I devised a 'nightmare' internal monologue for my character Madame. As part of the process of this, I thought about the Madames as a character and what fears they would have, what makes them vulnerable or what worries them beneath their superficial layer of dissociation from society. I based this primarily on their feelings towards 'The Generallismo' and how they relies on their infatuation and lust towards him, for example when she first enters in the play, they speak to eachother about him: "he likes to see me / i'm much prettier than the wife" but I didn't incorporate her deeper general thoughts about the war and the state of Illyria as I think that this vulnerability of Madame comes as a realisation much later in the play, and the significance of Madame's feelings towards Generallismo and how they change throughout the play is almost a metaphor for her feelings towards the country's state - I think that this is something the audience need to discover as the play unfolds and not in the preshow.

he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me, he loves me not
he loves me not (gradually gets louder)
he loves me not
he loves me not
he loves me not

 he loves me not

he loves me not
he loves me not

he loves me not

i'm beautiful (reassurance)

i'm prettier

i'm stunning

i'm beautiful

i'm pretty

i'm madame

i'm madame the generallismo's beautiful mistress and

they came here

to see me

he loves me!

he loves me!

he loves me not

Week 3

Rehearsal Six 

In rehearsal six on Monday, we discussed casting and what parts we could easily get/what parts would be challenging.

I personally believed that I could easily be cast as either Maria or one of the maids. This is partly due to my inner qualities. As I am quite a gentle person, this is often reflected in the characters I am cast as, and I believe these characters would often try to achieve their objectives in a more subtle way, whereas 'stronger' and more complex characters like the soldiers, Madame or Lapin are more higher status characters and especially in this play would try to achieve their objectives in a more direct manner. Nevertheless, having said this, I concluded that I would like to be cast with a challenging role against what I usually play and experiment more with stronger and higher status characters. Initially, my monologue from the previous term explored  a character who was very strong willed, grounded and explored her objectives more abrupt and directly. I enjoyed playing this character and  I believe that I could experiment more with archetypal characters like that in this project. 

What do you have to find in yourself to play your character?

I was cast as Madame in the play who plays the Mistress of the Generallismo. My initial interpretation of Madame is that she is very self absorbed and dissociated from the world around her, almost like she has become numb to the pain and destruction of her surrondings or she is simply playing a facade to act like she is not effected by the war around her. However, to play Madame, I definitely think I need to carry out more detailed research into women associated with dictatorships and develop a more detailed back story into Madame, as I think this will give me more of an emotional connection to her and will help playing her engage my emotions, which will make my performance overall have more clarity. I need to somehow identify with the situation that Madame is in: a woman who is detached from society. I think that my research into the play The Cagebirds from the previous term for my individual showcase gives me a unique insight into this idea, as the play was about hostages who are dissociated from their surrondings and are so self absorbed to the point where they have lost the capacity to feel emotion.

Once I am engaged with my character and understand their emotional story and their objectives for the future, I find it a lot easier to relax and play the character and their objectives, as if it comes more naturally. 

Furthermore, as I mentioned previously, with this play I really want to improve my confidence as Madame is a very extravagant and confident character. If I improve my confidence, I will be able to completely commit to portraying Madame as the complex individual she is to the audience.

How is your character different to you?

Madame is different to me in many ways. She is a woman associated in a patriarchal relationship with someone who controls a whole war torn country. Her values are mainly associated through her shoes and materialistic items, which are almost like her coping mechanism and she often comes across as self absorbed, ignorant and sterile to her situation. I am very different in this way to Madame as I am extremely affected by my surroundings and absorb the emotion of my environment around me very quickly, moreover I also don't display my emotion like Madame does, as she usually conveys it through her love of shoes and vocal, insistent demands towards the maids and Maria. Her 'confident' nature is very different to mine, however I am still excited to play my character as I believe it is such a complex and intriguing role whose attitude and stance in the play is unique to the other characters also in her environment. 

What made Thursday's rehearsal effective?

In Monday's rehearsal, after casting we also began to work on the actual devising of the scenes 1/2.  Our style of the piece is evidently very ensemble led and it was proven in this rehearsal that maximum effort is required by all of the ensemble for the show to work. To summarise, our piece up to the end of Scene 2 has so far been completely ensemble led and begins with a heaped mass of the entire ensemble who then rise and create the images that Magda describes to Maria. We also create the atmosphere of when Maria first arrives at Illyria and finally when Magda gets shot in the car.

Thursday's rehearsal was particularly effective as everyone was involved and I think this gave everyone in the cast determination and drive to commit fully to the physical movements of the play and the ensemble run pieces. I personally thought my rehearsal performance was effective as I attempted to let go of any emotions holding me back from committing, for example the scene where we are lifted and dragged by soldiers, eventually ending up in piles on top of eachother was at first quite uncomfortable however I personally believe that I used this as an opportunity to immerse myself in the play as this quite uncomfortable and unnerving scene is used to suggest to the audience a hidden and disturbing message about the world of Illyria. Everyone's commitment to the play will make these statements the play makes more distinct and profound, and the piece will be more effective.

I also think that as a cast we were all very mature in this and were respectful when other people were working centre stage. This is vital to spreading positive energy to our cast to ensure that people are comfortable to experiment and find their characters in the process, and this atmosphere was created especially on Thursday's rehearsal.