Noughts & Crosses Evaluation

On October 16th, 2014, our theatre class performed the play 'Noughts & Crosses' to our parents and theatre teachers at Settling In Evening. Overall, I think that the performance went very well and I enjoyed being a part of it.
I think that I have learnt a lot and developed my acting skills since I started at the BRIT school. 
 I feel that we worked on our scene a lot and it turned out well in the end. We staged our scene to show the different status' and objectives of the characters. For example, I was seated away from the rest of the family to show that I was very distant to them. Also, I used a strong posture and different body movements throughout the scene to show that I was an upper class 'cross'. An example of a body movement was pointing my finger at Jasmine to show that I was angry at her. I also gestured my hand towards Sephy as if to prompt her to speak. Throughout the term, I learnt to develop my vocal skills, project my voice, use pauses for dramatic effect and change the tone of my voice to suit the character. By using my voice, I was able to show that I was in control and show that I had power. In my performance, I did this through using a bold voice with a low pitch to sound forceful. I took the comments from my peer assessment on board and raised my voice to show anger, focused more and stayed in role, even though there were minor distractions.
I think that we could have improved our scene by having more eye contact with the audience and better transitions due to some struggle with taking off the chairs and finding a place to put them. I could have improved in my scene by feeling more comfortable on stage. As I was feeling slightly nervous, I found that occasionally I rushed some of my lines. I should work more on my confidence and slowing down my lines.
I applied most of the skills I learnt in lessons to my performance and I have enjoyed my time studying Theatre at The BRIT School. I am excited to see what the next term brings.

Final Dress Rehearsal - 16/10/14

Today, we began the lesson with a few warm ups and quickly ran through the transitions of each scene. Then went straight into performing our play to the other theatre class. This was done in preparation for our evening performance. The play went well and there were very few interruptions. However, there were a few things our class needed to improve on.  For example, we needed to know all of our cues (for the bomb scene and the sex scene) so that the play could run faster. Personally, I think that the play as a whole went very well when we performed it to the other class. After we had performed our adaptation of the play, we watched the other class perform theirs. When their play had finished, each of the classes gave each other feedback. I really enjoyed watching their play as it was interesting to compare the classes and see what they had done differently. I thought that their interpretative dance at the end was very good as it made you think about what you had seen in the play and it made you remember the main parts of the play. The dance showed the point of view from each character. I also thought that their bomb scene was brilliant and the transitions were great as they happened really quickly.

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Communicating Objectives

You can communicate a characters objective through different acting techniques and skills, including body language, movement and voice. In the play 'Noughts & Crosses', I portray the character 'Kamal Hadley'. His objective is to keep his daughter safe and away from the McGregor family. He wants Sephy to go to boaring school. However, she doesn't want to go and leave Callum McGregor. When I play Kamal, I raise my voice to show that I am angry and to show that I am serious about Sephy going to boarding school. I also change the tone of my voice to go low to make myself sound very forceful. I am not close with Jasmine anymore, as we are divorced so when I say 'Aren't we, Jasmine?', I make my voice bolder and deeper. I do this as if I am forcing her to agree with me. 
To communicate my objective, I use different movements and body language. For example, I show that I am very distant to the family by facing and talking in the opposite direction of them. I also point my finger to show Sephy that I am in control. When I say 'Thats the end of it', I swipe my hands across each other too show that the conversation is over and I have nothing else left to say. I feel that I have developed my character well and shown his objective whilst performing.

Peer Assessment By Robyn Harriot

Scenarios - 09/10/14

In this lesson with Ms Lee, we started with our warm up's and played an activity with many different scenarios. The teacher would read out a scenario and we had to find a partner to create the scenario with. It was interesting because each pair chose a different way to perform the scenario. Some of the scenarios included a football player yelling at a referee, an argument with the dentist and two lovers saying goodbye at an airport. However, in this activity we were only allowed to use movements and sounds, but no full words. This was difficult but also very enjoyable and it helped to work on our acting skills. It improved the way we worked with our bodies during a performance. It also helped us with improvisation and knowing how to react quickly if something unexpected happens during a performance. After this activity, we ran through our scenes again, trying to make them as good as they could possibly be. We were also put into groups of two, where we had to write a peer assessment sheet for another actor in a different scene. This helped us to see what other people thought of our performance and to find ways of improving it. When the teacher watched my scene, she told me that my posture and body movements were great as they suited the character. However, she said that I could improve by using more anger and disgust in my tone of voice.
In the lesson after this (13th October 2014), our class completed a full rehearsal of the play from start to finish, with Mr Crowther helping us to perfect it.

Practicing & Polishing - 02/06 /10/14

In both of these Theatre sessions, our aim was to start perfecting each of our scenes in the play and to rehearse it all the way through without any interruptions. In Ms Lee's session, we read through the script, went through many of the scenes and wrote up targets for ourselves. In Mr Crowther's, we rehearsed our scenes, gave feedback to one another and devised another scene to begin the play with. Half of the class are all together standing tightly in the middle of the room. We create a different action for each side we turn to. The first is a look of disgust, the second is a punch in the air, the third is crossing our arms and the last position is reaching out using our arms. Then, the other half of the class walk into the room and the 'pack' separates. We start chanting things like 'Blankers Out' and 'No Blankers in our school'. After this, Amaia screams 'Stop - You're all behaving like animals'. At this point, the rest of the class sit down at either side of the traverse stage. I think this is great as an opening scene as there is a lot of tension created and it shows what the play is based around, with the look of a protest going on and a large divide between two groups. It also intrigues the audience to want to know more about what is going on.

Staging In Slow Motion - 29/09/14

During this lesson, we completed our usual warm ups and started an activity to help us project our voice to a certain person. You had to point at someone and speak a line from your play to show who you were addressing. This helped to show us who was in command and how to address different people. After this, we got straight into rehearsals for "Noughts & Crosses". The teacher watched our performances and gave us some advice to make our scenes better. He helped me to develop my character using different gestures and body movement. For example, I point my finger at "Jasmine" to show that I am in command and that I am angry at her. After this, we rehearsed the intimate scene between "Callum" and "Sephy" again. This time, we added movement with our line. For example, you would walk onto the stage and address one person, then they would address the next person. We also began to direct the Dundale shopping centre bomb scene. We all have to run onstage and say "Sephy, you have to get out of here. Right now". We all surround Francesca (Sephy) until Ellis, who plays Callum, runs onto the stage. At this point we all kneel down on the floor. When the bomb explodes, we all have to fall back onto the floor in slow motion. At first, this looked very over the top, but the teacher showed us how to make it look dramatic and effective. I like this scene as it uses different theatrical techniques.

Technical Terms: Voice

Voice can be used in so many different ways to portray a character. In the play "Noughts & Crosses", I will be portraying the character "Kamal" using both body language and different tone of voice. Some examples are listed below:

"I worry sometimes that Heathcroft doesn't quite stretch you enough." 
I use a pause between 'quite' and 'stretch' to show that he isn't sure what word to use and doesn't fully understand his daughters situation.

"So, how's school going, princess?" 
At the end of this line, my pitch goes up to show that I am asking a question. If you do not do this, it will seem as though you are giving a statement.

"Your mother and I are in complete agreement on this. Aren't we Jasmine?" 
I use a very slow pace when reading this line to show that my character is quite bitter and spiteful to his ex - Jasmine. My tone of voice deepens and I emphasise my characters voice to show that I am being a very forceful and a slightly aggressive character.

"It'll all work out, princess. Trust me." 
My volume lessens in this line to show that I am more calm and relaxed than I was before. My voice also sounds softer when I read this line, as I am trying to make another character feel relaxed.

The Haka - 25/09/14

To begin the lesson, we completed our vocal and body warm ups, pronouncing vowels, using breath control, stretching and loosening up our bodies. To boost our confidence and help to use different gestures for different emotions, our class was put into groups to create a Haka - A war dance involving chanting which is performed by rugby teams. Our group chose to portray anger, by using loud, forceful noises and strong, stern body language. To degrade and humiliate the opponent team, we stuck our tongues. We also clenched our fists to show that we were angry and not going down without a fight. I feel that this helped to make me less shy and boost my confidence. After this, we rehearsed our scenes from the play "Noughts & Crosses". I now know all of my lines off by heart and can start concentrating on portraying my character using more emotion and body movement and gestures. Ms Lee was very pleased with our group's performance.