Playhouse Creatures 15 - Evaluation

Looking back on the performance I was suddenly struck with how far my groups had come. We started out with basic shells of characters, as one does when one picks up a script for the first time. It's much like meeting someone for the first time where you having nothing more than a name and a conversation. However over the last few weeks I have discovered so much about Liz and also about myself. Before this play I had never even contemplated motherhood or having to lose everything the way she did. Discovering that part of myself was incredible. I connected so much with Liz, realising the mother inside myself and discovering how deeply it affected me was incredibly eye opening, which was probably what made me so passionate about the role. I think that's something I'm truly proud of and think I did well in the performance, enjoying the role and becoming her. I feel like when I was on stage performing, I realised that I have an Elizabeth Farley within myself; childish, full of laughter and charisma however also proud and ambitious. She is ambitious, and that does lead to her downfall. I think the abortion scene was so effective, and it took so much work. Multiple ideas were tried out. Some were discarded, some evolved to be the final product. I think that the time we took on making that scene work and the direction we received from Andy and Jerry-Lee was what made it work so much. At first it was so basic and full on, however we tried turning the chair around so the audience would only see the back of me which turned out to be an incredibly effective move. Whereas before we'd been spaced out, leaving me more isolated, which on one level worked symbolically, however it didn't have the same dramatic effect and when the other girls were directed to stand close together, huddling around my chair, I think it led to a realisation within our group about the characters. Whilst their friendships may be antagonistic, particularly between Mrs Marshall and Mrs Farley, they tried their utmost to stand together.

That's another thing that I think worked well, was the dynamics between the women. This is shown so beautifully in the relationship between Mrs Marshall and Liz, when they're tying each others corset laces and you can see in an almost sisterly dynamic. Liz babbling on, giggling and laughing and winding up Rebecca, with the other woman rolling her eyes and allowing Liz to get to her, much like a older sister would. We were running the scene on the week of our production in full costume and Sophia decided to improvise really yanking on my corsets when I say the line "Well what do they want you there for?", and I couldn't help letting out a small squeak of surprise, and it ended up working really well. Sophia and I would often exchange looks and eye rolls whilst drama was happening, and there was also a lovely moment between Nell and Liz when Mrs Marshall's telling Otway about her idea for a play, where Heta and I argue over whether Monimia should live a lie or tell him. It was moments like that that defined the performance for me and made it so enjoyable to perform. These moments and dynamics came not so much from the rehearsing our lines but from the improv games we played and time we took to discover our own and each other's characters. Taking that bit of extra time to develop those friendships between the girls was such a good idea and led to some wonderful acting.

There were also parts that didn't go as well as I had hoped, particularly in the moment of the performance. For example, whilst running the abortion scene backstage we got to such a fantastic point of emotion, where I was crying and begging the girls to help me, actually reaching out for Mrs Marshall and everyone watching said it was so effective. However, on the night, for some reason it just didn't happen the same way. I didn't quite reach the point of emotion whereby I was so in the moment that I felt able to cry, and I think that's because I was thrown by the last minute changes in dynamic. Were it possible for me to go back and redo it, I'd take more time in rehearsals to play around with that abortion scene and get comfortable with the ideas I now wish I'd had the confidence to just go with on the night of the performance, despite the lack of preparation. I think that's something I should try to do a little more in the next unit, is play around with ideas and absolutely exhaust every possible scenario and idea before finally settling on the best. 

Moreover, however, I was really happy with the performance we gave. I worked so unbelievably hard on the acting, costume and generally everything in this production, and I've very pleased with how well it worked out. The dynamics between all the actors were excellent and I think that keeping in mind the super objective and being so passionate about the themes of feminism made it so much easier to convey them. Perhaps my next target would be to achieve that level of hard work and commitment on something I'm not so naturally passionate about.

Playhouse Creatures 14

The Restoration Period

The play is set in the second half of the 1600’s during the Restoration Period. The Restoration Period came about after the end of the English Civil War, or the Wars Of the Three Kingdoms, which was waged between the English, Scottish and the Irish and started when King Charles the 2^nd came to power. Along with the Restoration of the monarchy came the end of the Puritan regime which had been upheld by Oliver Cromwell, this regime had previously been discrediting and even dismantling a lot of the theatres. When the Restoration period started all of these theatres were reopened and the King invested in the development of the theatre, with the two leading companies – The Kings Men and The Duke’s Men, beginning to experiment with staging, lighting and writing of new plays. With this came the first female actresses, an idea that King Charles the 2^nd brought over from his exile in France.

Actresses at that Time

Whilst King Charles the 2^nd was exiled in France during the British Civil War, he was introduced to the concept of female actresses which had already come about in France. Before he instated the female actresses in England all female roles had been played by boys, usually before they had hit puberty and had their voices dropped, and the new wave of female actresses changed the form of theatre. Now, men came to see the women, who were often given roles involving them baring their breasts, and the sexualisation of women was one of the primary uses of the theatre. This was for another reason, which was that actresses got paid very little, only just enough to live on and not enough to support them once they left the theatre. What actresses would have to do would be to become the mistress of a wealthy man who would become her Protector. At first actresses were thought of as little more than prostitutes and many men would treat them as such. However, Actresses And Whores suggests that “The success of the actress/whore also suggests that ‘whoreishness’ was not always already negative during the Restoration...whore implies that her audience might also have recognised her as a challenging and transgressive woman” (page 25, Actresses and Whores: On Stage and in Society, Kirsten Pullen, 2005)

Your Character

Although I did not find a huge amount of information on Mrs Farley, what I did find was incredibly interesting. Elizabeth Weaver, maiden name Farley had a very interesting life. For starter, she was apparently never married to James Weaver of Grays Inn, as she claimed, in fact the same James Weaver sued the poor woman for £30. It was later discovered that she was pregnant with his supposed child. She was subsequently sued no less than 5 times by Miles Lovett (3rd March 1663), Robert Kerby (13th June 1663), David Little (March 1664), George Langford and Henry Rooke (1665) and Francis Poyntz and Anne Hame (1665). She did, however, continue to act.

References

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TGgS9VxWJ0oC&pg=PA305&lpg=PA305&dq=elizabeth+farley+restoration+actress&source=bl&ots=MO-ue9OXvK&sig=1_0bhdqZmrKroTDN78i7j5HgWaA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8mITU9iHEsyk7QawyIGQDA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=elizabeth%20farley%20restoration%20actress&f=false

http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/p/5558/playhouse-creatures

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_(England)

http://www.cwu.edu/~robinsos/ppages/resources/Theatre_History/Theahis_10.html

Actresses and Whores: On Stage and in Society, by Kirsten Pullen http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9eu_n-etYpUC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=female+actresses+restoration&source=bl&ots=wdzBwuxxHT&sig=Q2rH6fQRzv4sQ6fRZrrT3qWU6eQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CMvTUsvBB8iVhQfz14HwCQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=female%20actresses%20restoration&f=false

Playhouse Creatures 13

Super Objective

A super objective of a play is the main theme or message that the story is working towards conveying. In Playhouse Creatures the most predominant is feminism. Of course the play is hugely feminist, it's an almost entirely female cast about the first actresses in Great Britain. It's really interesting to see how April De Angelis does this, for example the fact that all of the women are incredibly strong characters, another is that there aren't actually any men in the play who aren't being stood up to. Rochester is played by Mrs Barry, Otway is teased and manipulated by all the actresses. It's very clever and wonderfully fun to play around with. As a strong feminist I have been constantly been keeping the idea of feminism in mind with all my acting.

However I think that De Angelis is doing more than saying how sexist society was back then, I think that if you look at the amount of anachronisms in the play, for example Rochester's acting lesson with Mrs Barry is about 300 years before it's own time, and Doll being an eternal, timeless character who never seems to age, then you can see that the play write is actually holding a mirror up to the audience. She is raising the question about whether the characters in the play are really so different from women today. It's very clever, and it works. I think that whilst our society is far more advanced in the areas of sexism there is still a long way to go and that we can learn a lot from these messages in the play. I have kept this in mind whilst developing Mrs Farley's character and performing as her. 

Playhouse Creatures 12

Whilst doing my research and exploration of the character of Mrs Farley, I realised that she's just quite a young woman, she's not stupid or bitchy, she's just young. I take a lot from Jenna Malone's portrayal of Lydia Bennett in Pride and Prejudice in terms of her character. She's always bouncing everywhere she goes, with a flirtatious smile on her lips and a song in her voice. I enjoy doing this because I can use a huge contrast in my physicality between the very beginning of the performance and her final moments. She's happy and positive, she just wants a man to protect her and the nice things in life. The thing that gets in her way is her vanity and pride. She adores attention and she hates being bettered, especially by Nell who she knows is far more talented than her, she recognizes her as a threat however she allows herself to become fond of Nell. 

In one of our rehearsal sessions Sophia, Heta and I played an improvisation game to help us discover our characters:

The game is simply us sat in a circle completely in character. One by one we come up with questions like "What's the most trouble you got into as a child" then take it in turns to answer the question, improvising stories for our characters and creating histories for them. I learnt a lot from this game. One of the questions was "How did you lose your virginity?" When I answered this question I discovered that Elizabeth was solicited for sex at the age of 13 and being incredibly poor, to the point that she hadn't eaten for 3 days, she complied.

I just remember the feeling in my stomach, at first I thought it was fear but then I realised it was hunger. I hadn't eaten for 3 days and I imagined going home that night and not eating again. I was so hungry you have no idea. It was either one or the other and I was so desperate. Afterwards I vowed never to be that hungry or poor again, I would never be someone who was so low and desperate for food that she would do that. I'm no whore.

 Reflecting on this story I find it so interesting. It shows that all she has known from men other than her father is sex. She knows she is beautiful and that men will want things from her. She knows how to use her sexuality to get what she wants in life and she enjoys the attention, she enjoys flirting. However it is also interesting on a second level as she has vowed never to become a whore however she has. She is the king's whore. She sleeps with him and gets paid in petticoats and trips to the palace. 

Secondly I learnt something about Liz that came up in the question "What's the most traumatic thing that's every happened to you?" I learnt more about her childhood and her father.

I remember when I was at my poorest. My father was dying and I knew that, so I sent him to the poor house. That's how bad it was, the poor house was better than what I could give him. He used to work there and every day I'd visit him. Well...one day I was walking to the poor house and I could hear this sound. It was like nothing I'd heard before, like a low rumbling that got louder the nearer I got. When I finally got to the poor house, I saw the two foreman outside lying on the ground. I don't know whether or not they were...well, I opened the door and looked inside. I don't know what had happened...the men there must have started rioting. And...well, once they had got the foremen, they must have turned on each other. It was chaos. But I knew my father was in there so I went in. Finally I found him. I don't know whether or not he was dead by the time I got there but...I turned around and I ran out of that poor house. I ran so fast and I didn't stop running until I found myself here.

 I think this tells me so, so much about Liz. Why she's so terrified of being poor and alone. The fact that she's not just a silly, naive girl, she's seen some horrific things and she's realised that the world can be a cruel place and that she has to use whatever skills she can to get by. There's something about knowing this that makes me feel so much more connected to her than I did before, which is the beauty of the game that we played. 

Playhouse Creatures 11

Izzy, Sav, Harry, Liam and Sophie:

Sophie seemed to be rocking from side to side during her monologue, and paddling a little bit, it made her character seem a little less certain and distracted me as part of the audience. If this was a creative choice by her then it was very effective, however I do know how distracting paddling can be, I should always be making sure I don't slip into this habit myself. I noticed that there was a really good relationship between Sav [Nell] and Sophie [Doll]. It made a really good sense of comradeship and I think that that representation of friendship and dynamic is completely essential in our piece. It's something our group has been working on extensively to acquire, and I took notes on what it was that made that relationship on stage. It was things like the way they joined in on jokes, they patted each other on the back and seemed really comfortable in each other's company. One thing that I noticed was that Liam kept on losing character on stage. I'm not sure why it was, but there were several points where it just looked like Liam-drinking-at-a-pub, instead of the-Earl-of-Rochester-drinking-at-a-pub. The only thing you can really do to stop this happening is just keep constant and unwavering focus on stage. This doesn't have to be huge and obvious, you don't have to be tensed or serious, you just have to be completely focus and in the moment. Generally in this group the volume was just a little bit too low, it is very difficult in a piece with little physical action to keep your volume up, since it can often feel lie your shouting and like it doesn't "fit", however you just have to keep your voice clear and loud otherwise the audience simply won't hear you.

Greta, Jenny, Chloe and Izzy:

The only notes I took for this group was that they had an excellent "vibe" of a Tiring Room onstage. This is something I'm noticing in all the groups because it's something that I want to capture most in my own group. I think it's just the relaxed atmosphere, the chatter and business that defines it. It's the sense of home and comfort there that makes it seem so real.

Liam and Bella:

Bella has excellent characterisation in this scene. Her forte is comedy, something she naturally excels at, and she pulled off the funny parts of the scene with great finesse, however she also had wonderful characterisation in the more serious parts of the scene which was good to see. Liam still needs to get posher, he's an Earl which is only one step down from royalty and an Earl would definitely see himself as good as royalty. Liam still seemed a little too 21st century teenage boy. Some of the lines hadn't been properly learnt which just took a little bit of the edge off of the acting, and the scene was just a touch too quiet.

Jazz, Jade and Mitch:

In Jazz's monologue she occasionally ended up paddling around the stage, however this may have just been part of her characterisation. Also, she just didn't seem in character whilst performing. She seemed like Jazz saying Nell's lines, in her own tone, pitch, pace and even using her won mannerisms! Perhaps all that was needed was for her to take a little more time with the monologue. Jade had excellent posture and characterisation, living up to the personality of Mrs Betterton that had already been set by Greta and Sophie respectively in earlier scenes. However, there were a few moments when it was clear that the lines just hadn't been learnt well enough and the group messed up. This isn't a problem in it's self, it just shows that you need to take a bit more time to sit down and go over your lines, the problem was that when someone messed up the entire group lost focus and slipped out of character. Of course, once this had happened they found it very difficult to pick themselves back up again. In our group I think that this can sometimes be a problem. There are a few moments when something funny will happen in the scene and one or two people will find it too funny and drop focus. Fixing this will just take a lot of will power, however I think that the gorup won't have this problem when we're on stage in front of an audience performing it. 

Playhouse Creatures 10

Costume

Sophie and I are kind of heads of costume for this piece, due to the fact that we have a lot of experience and passion in the area. First we focused on character ideas, we want each character to have a set colour that will be recurring and will be matched with their personality, objectives or status. This will also help to link the different actresses playing each character. 

• Mrs Marshall - dark blue, for the pessimism and coolness in her, it's a strong colour. 
• Mrs Farley - Red, passionate and volatile, not entirely trustable?
• Nell - yellow, it's natural and only connected with nature, grounded but sunny and happy
• Doll - Brown, dark colours, she is poor and almost never washes. Her clothes would be dirty. Simple.
• Mrs Betterton - Purple, the colour of royalty and magnificence

We also had additional requirements for some of the characters:

• Mrs Farley has two costumes, both a tatty, drab outfit for before she is an actress, as well as an easily removed petticoat which is a gift from the king. 
• Mrs Barry must also have a tatty dress
• Nell will need a tatty, drab dress to have in early scenes as well as shoes since her feet will be visible in her jig

The boys also need to be thought about, they will both need proper shoes since they don't have long skirts to cover flats.

• Otway - poor, he will be in brown colours however we will have a sense of a bohemian look about him with layers and accessories etc
• Rochester - fine clothing, colours of gold/purple

Boys scene:

• Phillips - Highest ranking, he is a governor, dressed in shooting gear.
• Collins - 2nd highest rank, judge, shooting gear
• Tench - 3rd ranking, he's a captain, he'll be in shooting gear and me and Sophie are playing around with the idea of battle scars
• Harry - military, is a helping hand, he'll be in navy colours

For the movement pieces, which we obviously can't wear our long dresses for, however we're thinking of having black underneath which we can whip our dresses off of and be ready to go. 

Finally, we had to work out how many actresses were playing each character, if there'd be enough time for a costume change and subsequently how many costumes we'd need:

• 1 drab Mrs Barry costume
• 1 fancy Mrs Barry costume/fancy coat to cover up drab costume
• 2 Mrs Betterton costumes
• 3 Doll costumes
• 1 drab Nell costume
• 2 fancy Nell costumes
• 1 drab Mrs Farley costume
• 2 Fancy Mrs Farley costumes
• 2 Mrs Marshal costumes
• 1 Rochester costume
• 1 Otway costume (we need to check Harry and Yunusa's measurements however)
• 1 Harry costume
• 1 Phillips costume
• 1 Tench costume
• 1 Collins costume

Plus various accessories:

• 1 petticoat for Mrs Farley
• 3 angel wings for the muses
• shoes for Nell
• pregnancy bump

Playhouse Creatures 9

Are the characters clear?

In both of my scenes I feel like almost all of the characters are clear. Sophia and I have worked very closely, very hard on Mrs Farley and Mrs Marshall, this means that we both have very strong characterisation and sense of our belief in our characters. This means that the alliance of sorts between the two characters is also strong. Greta and Sophia both have very strong, however very different Mrs Bettertons. However, They have both captured the sense of authority that is required and it is very clear how much they command respect. Both of the Nells have done spectacularly on the job of capturing her free spirit whilst keeping her grounded and sure. I think that the Dolls still need a little work, whilst Jade and Mitch have her personality down I still think they could improve her physicality and create more of a wizened, old woman on stage. Chloe has it almost I think, but we should definitely take some time in rehearsals to help them nail the characterisation of Doll, since she may be the hardest character of all to get the physicality for. 

Are the objectives clear?

For Mrs Farley I think that her objectives change a lot throughout both of the scenes. In the first - from now on I will label my scenes chronologically for simplicity's sake, so my second scene is now my first and visa versa - her objectives are to get security. She doesn't quite understand how men treat women, she hopes she will have the beauty and charm to keep him. Before in her life men have always wanted her more than any other women and she hopes the king will be the same. All she wants is enough clothes and finery to pass for a fine lady, she doesn't need the king for long, just long enough to get another rich man afterwards, she is hoping. Then as she discovers she is pregnant and the king loses interest, she panics. She hopes she will miscarry and will be able to get away with it without the other company members noticing for as long as she can. Finally they confront her about it. She panics, she realises she is finished, however she is grasping at straws. Despite every primal instinct in her body screaming at her to protect her child, she attempts an abortion. In my opinion she could have actually succeeded, but she could not bear to lose the one thing that would never leave her. All she has is this child. This baby is the one thing she has not lost or ruined, she cannot lose it. Perhaps this is the first time since losing her father she has felt truly connected to something, part of something.

Is the story in the scene[s] clear?

I think that the story is incredibly clear throughout my scenes, partially because I've got some of the strongest scenes, with the definite exception of Bella and Max's final scene. Mrs Farley's personal story is so much fun to play, her fall from grace. I'm loving using my physicality to show that, starting off so proud and tall, dancing everywhere. By Mrs Farley's final moments, she is reduced to nothing. Broken and destroyed, I love showing how truly crippling being a poor woman was in that world. Our scene ties in incredibly closely with Jazz and Bella's scenes, since I am the cautionary tale. When they talk of their fear of being discarded, the audience will remember what happened to Mrs Farley and I love having that role in the whole performance. 

Playhouse Creatures 8

We went through our second scene for the first time, I am once again with Sophia making our total time in the performance together about half an hour, all continuous from the beginning of our second scene to the end of the abortion section of our first scene. Sav and Heta play Nell, with a switch over halfway through, same as Mitch and Jade who play Doll. Mrs Betterton is played by Sophie. We went through the scene, reading through it and focusing on the key points of drama. Unlike mine and Sophia's first scene, there is no huge point of drama. Nell is introduced to the company however freezes onstage. She turns it around dances a jig, winning over the audience. we started blocking, focusing on building and enjoying the atmosphere of friends backstage as Sophia and I have been unable to do in our first scene due to focusing more on the drama.

UPDATE:

Notes

Having performed our second scene for the first time in front of Andy, we received these notes on what we have done so far.

• Check your blocking
• whilst we have worked a fair bit on blocking, in that we know where we'll be standing at each point in the scene, it is still a bit awkward. Andy told us to make sure we're not standing in front of anyone or with our back to the audience. Also, we need to use the space more effecting and avoid clumping. This is true. In the Muses bit Jade, Sophie and I all tend to clump in a huddle, stand in front of each other and leave large parts of the stage empty. I think we need to add more structure to it and bear that advice in mind with the rest of the scene.
• Make more of a sense of "backstage"
• be busy, we'd be preparing for our next scene, applying makeup, anything. I think there definitely needs to be a sense of busyness to give life to the scene. This is more of a home to us than our actual home, we spend all of our time there. We would be relaxed and comfortable there, we'd be chattering and getting ready. I think that's something to work on, the atmosphere of the piece.
• More detail in characterisation
• Andy pointed out that the conversation between Mrs. Farley and Mrs Marshall is very significant. Mrs Marshall has been to a salon, Mrs Farley has been in the bed of a king. An actress to a king is entertainment, barely better than the poor woman who was forced to sing in front of him. She thinks herself something because she's been to the palace, however Mrs Marshall knows through experience what rich men are like towards actresses, and how easily the girls are cast aside by them. Marshall, on the other hand, has been to a salon and been asked questions. A salon was seen as being somewhere where the intelligent and forward thinking go to ask questions and find things out. They don't see an actress as a puppet for their entertainment, they see her as something interesting, to be studied. This would cause some friction between the two, with Mrs Marshall considering Mrs Farley silly and naive. 
• Also, the conversation between Nell and Mrs Farley has to be more private. As it is, all the other actresses would be able to hear what they are saying which doesn't make sense. For this reason, getting the busyness and bustle onstage at this point is key.
• Finally, the shit in Mrs Marshall's hair needs more imagination and conviction. As it is the reactions just aren't believable.

Playhouse Creatures 7

Tempo - Rhythm

The tempo-rhythm technique is one of Stanislavski's theories that explains how your character's personality and objectives affect their tempo and rhythm. As humans we all have our own tempo and speed, this affects everything from how we talk to how we walk. It even affects our core tension, our Chi right in the heart of our belly. This is the same with our characters, and it's something we need to take into account.

What is your character's tempo rhythm?

Mrs Farley is a very free spirited woman. She is young and with few cares in the world. I think of her being like a bird, flitting from place to place, with neither her being or her interest staying long. She has a high tempo and an unsteady rhythm. She walks with a skip, she moves her head constantly like a dear trying to sense a predator. I think this comes partly from her youth and childishness, however I don't think this should be mistaken for naivety. Yesterday my group - myself, Heta, Jade and Sophia - played an improvisation game which involved asking questions to one another, such as "What's your most traumatic memory?" and "What was the most trouble you were in as a child?" etc and one by one we answered in character. It helped us get to know our characters and get into them by drawing up a history and Through Line Of Action. My improvisations revealed that Elizabeth in one of the darker, poorer parts of her memory, was solicited into having sex with a man to get enough money to feed her and her father. Later on, her father was killed in a brawl and she found him, although she didn't know if he was dead or alive by that point so she ran until she found the playhouse. Mrs. Farley has not had an entirely happy or easy life, she's got darkness inside of her, however she chooses to mask it. She pretends so hard to be happy that she actually convinces herself that she is. She chooses to find joy and excitement in life because that's what gets her through. However she will never forget what it is like to have nothing and what she has learnt from being hungry and not being able to get food, so this is what fuels her obsession for material good, power and wealth, so that she never has to be hungry again. This is what gives her the high tempo, she is often vulnerable and weak and does not have the intelligence or power to make it in the world, much like a dear or a rabbit, however she has her beauty, youth and charm and she must use this to her advantage, as she does. 

Playhouse Creatures 6

We worked through our first scene bit by bit, perfecting and fine tuning it. We decided that when the actresses are teasing Otway in the tit-after-tit bit that we were too cramped. We decided to place Doll (Chloe) further away from Otway (Yunusa), facing the audience and laughing, sharing the joke with the audience. Mrs Marshal (Sophia) would be reciting from Otway's script, again facing away from Otway and sharing with the audience. Heta and I decided that we would have fun with the bit, we tried circling Otway thinking it would bring more tempo and movement to the joke, and avoid "clumping", however it felt a bit jarred and awkward. Instead we simply went full on with the joking, making it very sexual and embarrassing for Otway. Then, as we were running through it, I blew on the back of Yunusa's neck as part of the scene, sort of joking around and trying to distract him, then Yunusa looked round and Heta tapped him on the shoulder. This developed into a really funny bit between us, teasing and joking with Yunusa, it became incredibly funny.

Next, we worked on the abortion scene and made some big decisions. With Yunusa out of that part of the scene, he stood and observed and gave some input. He said that the pace of the scene just dropped and became slightly stagnant which meant that we lost half of the drama there, so we found the point where Mrs Marshall says "Sit down. Doll, get a cloth" and decided that that would be a good point to pick up the pace. So that's when the tension gets hiked up and it made the scene so much more interesting. Next, we focused on the actual abortion moment, which Sophia and I felt was too short. I wanted to lengthen it out a bit and really enjoy and make the most of the moment and the drama. We made it at least 15-20 seconds long and Yunusa mentioned that due to the positioning of it, the only faces you can see are Sophia, Greta and Chloe's. Their reaction is what you take from the moment, and Yunusa felt like he wasn't seeing that. So, we sat down and had a conversation about how our characters would feel, we felt that these actresses spent and had spent the almost all of their time with each other for the last few years. It would be like a sisterhood, they would feel the pain and fear that Mrs Farley would be feeling. They would also be knowing that if she kept the baby, their company would surely be shut down. If she kept it and left, they'd lose a sister and she would probably die. If she succeeded she may be able to get away with it, however she may die anyway. Whilst they would desperately want Mrs Marshal to stop the "procedure" she desperately would, however they would also be dreading what they may see if she continued. It's a horrible moment and once we'd properly worked it out, our scene completely transformed.

Notes

We performed our scene to Jerry Lee and she gave us some very helpful notes:

• Good emotional work, really got into it, good portrayal of the drama
• Heta's olive branch, buying the petticoat, is an act of kindness. Mrs Farley has had a very tragic life, no one has been that kind to her without expecting something back (men are nice to her when she gives them sex, as such this is the only way she knows)
• the live a lie/tell him moment made a brilliant connection, the scene needs more moments like this. Build up real lives and real people
• Try getting more into characters, realistic dynamics and connections will follow

Playhouse Creatures 5

Today we did some work on blocking. We decided where we'd be standing and moving to during the piece. This also included some pretty big decisions about staging. As it stands, we only have simple staging to give a feel of the different spaces. We have the Tiring Room and the Rehearsal/Stage area,where all the performances are held. To give the sense of a backstage area we just have chairs, which the actresses lounge about on and spend the majority of the performance. Whilst we have basic props to help show this most of the work will be done by us to differentiate between the spaces. We decided to do this in small ways, like our stature. Whilst backstage we are relatively well held in our bodies, as women would have been trained to be in the 17th Century, whilst on the On Stage area, we will hold ourselves differently, with more poise and stature. This reflects the acting of the time, slightly pompous and VERY overdone.

Above is a diagram of the stage and the journey around the stage of my character - Mrs Farley. We chose to have the attempted abortion scene on a chair facing away from the audience. I will sit with my back to the audience with all of the other actresses gathered around me facing the audience watching. This makes a rather graphic and intense scene a little more interesting to watch and a little less difficult to stage, r.e. making it look realistic and being historically/biologically accurate. Also, Greta made the rather true comment that it would be far more effective for the audience to see the responses in the other actresses' faces than to see me screaming for 20 seconds. I think that now days people have become quite accustomed to gore and people screaming their heads off, it's quite difficult to actually find an emotional response to something like that since we've been made immune to it. However, as a group we felt that the reactions of the other actresses told a far more important story and gave more insight to their characters and the dynamics. 

Then, afterwards, I stand at the front of the stage and direct my words towards the audience, however not in a way that breaks the fourth wall. Sort of in a way that if it were a film/TV show there'd be cut scenes between a shot of my face and one of the other actresses. It isolates me from the group, shows that I'm no longer one of them and I may as well be talking to a brick wall. It highlights both the unity of the actresses but also how volatile their relationships are and how easy it is to slip through the net.

Playhouse Creatures 4

Definitions

Objective [described using verbs]

What are your character's aims? What do they want to gain from the situation? What motivates their actions?
+ units [sections of the text to which to which the objective applies]
You could map out your scene with the changing objectives.
Your character's objectives will change as their personality and situation changes, so objectives will alter throughout the play.

Super Objective

What the play is about and what we as actors wish to communicate. This helps the actors influence their own character's objectives. To effectively perform the play and convey a clear message an actor and the company must have an understanding of the superior objective of the play.

Through Line Of Action

The Through Line Of Action is essentially the characters own timeline, starting at birth and ending at death. An actor must  be completely sure of every relevant part of their character's Through Line Of Action. Any event in the character's life could influence their emotions, objectives and way of thinking.

Homework

1) From our mind maps

Objectives

Doll: has a lot of information on the actresses from listening to their gossip, being someone to rant to and a shoulder to cry on for them all. She is actually very powerful. I think she considers the actresses to be entertainment, she watches them come and go and make silly failings and triumphs. She kind of represents the audience in the play, coming in to make small jips however watching the most important moments. She is eternal, the only one who lasts through all of the changes. Even when Nell - who seemingly got everything - is dying from syphilis, Doll is still alive and going.

Mrs. Marshall: a feminist, trying to overpower Otway, wants to get more plays with female leads. She is one of the most strong women of the group. Having been jaded by men she has kind of grown, she doesn't flirt and sleep around and try to win her keep through lovers and men of power, instead she tried to make her won way and play the best leads and create more strong images for women.

Otway: wants to impress, trying to make his ways in the world, looking for opportunities. 

Mrs Betterton: trying to keep her career alive. She is seeing lots of young, talented, beautiful women who can all do her job just as well which must be very scary for her. The only hold she has now is the fact she is married to the director, which gives her some sway. I think she is less worried about the problems of the other actresses and more worried about her own issues.

Mrs Farley: trying to keep her job, wants to get an abortion and win the king back. A lot of her actions up until this scene have been influenced by pride and ambition. She wants to be on top and live a luxurious life and she sees the king as a way to get that. Having fallen from grace and have had everyone witness is must be the hardest thing for her and her defiance and shame motivates a lot of her final actions.

Overall Objectives

Otways play:he wants to get more exposure, Otway wants his play read, actresses are sick of listening to 4 hour long plays about men

Readthrough: sucking up, reflects their own lives of having to sweet talk rich men so they can make a living

Abortion: Mrs. Farley wants an abortion, she's desperate, others try to warn her and help her however it's only halfhearted

3) For Mrs Farley my first ideas for objectives are ambition, pride and the desire for a good life. She is an ambitious woman who believes she deserves the best in life and I don't think this is a necessarily bad trait. Everyone wants to live a comfortable life and everyone believes they deserve something. She will do anything to get what she wants and she plays with quite high stakes. A lot of people looking at first glance at what she does in the play, such as deceiving Nell in the first scene and sleeping around with the King, would judge her, however I think that when you look at it and realise why she does these things it becomes a little less strange and a little more like human nature - to strive and to aim to succeed. 

I feel like I am very similar to her in some ways, I too am a very proud person and when I fail often it's not the failing that's a problem. I will pick myself up, dust myself off and carry on trying. Often what's harder is having other people see that I've failed, I hate that. When I was reading through the scene and asking myself "What if that happened to me?" I felt like having other people seeing my failure, and worse feeling sorry for me, that was worse and I would probably act defensively with coldness and irritation. 

4) For me the play is mostly about feminism, partly because I am such a strong feminist myself. I feel like these women are fighting so hard to be equals and to be treated as such, just getting a salary at all - let alone a decent one - is a huge thing to them. I think that whilst we have come a long way since when the piece was set, these themes are still relevant today. I think that April de Angelis felt this too and that's why she put in the lesson that Lord of Rochester gives Mrs Barry near the end of the play, which is a very modern lesson with very modern forms of acting being taught which where very modern and didn't actually come about until after the events of the play. 

Playhouse Creatures 3

Given Circumstances

Today we got into our groups for the first time. We first read through our script and started to work our the relationships and dynamics between the different characters. Then we started a mindmap of all of the Given Circumstances in the scene, including things like relationships and situations of the characters.

Characters:

Otway: struggling playwright, the girls think low of him and have little respect for him. He's artistic and thinks very highly of himself, he is a man trying to take charge in a room full of strong and confident women. 

Mrs. Betterton: a mature woman, married to the director of the company, strong however she is aging, a fading flower of sorts. 

Mrs Farley has been discarded by the King and Nell is his new lover. This must create a lot of jealousy and broken pride in Mrs Farley, what is interesting is that Nell is in fact the one who buys the petticoat and helps Mrs Farley out at the very end of the scene.

Playhouse Creatures 2

Having found out the name of our piece and read through the script, we have been given our characters. I will play Mrs. Farley from pages 180 to 190 and pages 203 to 213. Although not character I would have automatically pegged for myself I am really pleased. In the first scene I am a silly girl, so vain and proud of herself for bedding the King, showing off my fancy petticoats and bragging about my adventures. However by page 203 I am reduced to a scared wreck. Mrs. Farley has become pregnant with the Kings child and been cast off by her lover. Due to laws on adultery and sex before marriage, she is kicked out of the company and realises that her only real options from this point are either prostitution or death. I love the contrast, and the fall from grace. She is incredibly different from me and will be quite a stretch for me to act, however I share several qualities with her: my pride and my ambition for one thing, however I go slightly different ways about getting to the top than her!

What I love about Playhouse creatures is that all of the characters are based upon real women and events. Elizabeth Farley was a real actress who worked with Nell Gwyn. In real life her name was "Mrs Weaver" on cast lists, however she never married anyone by that name. She was ousted form the theatre company and sued multiple times, however remained an actress. I like that I can play such a tragic role, and yet there is still a glimmer of hope on the horizon even though it is unwritten in the play, and the character herself doesn't realise it yet.

http://prezi.com/ayv-ymh_yzha/mrs-elizabeth-weaver-nee-farley/

Playhouse Creatures 1

Naturalism

We looked a bit at Naturalism in the theatre and at Stanislavski, a Russian actor and practitioner. Before Stanislvski's time, acting was very one dimensional. Actors used "Stock" acting - very simplistic, over-the-top movements and expressions - to portray their work. Acting is not thought to have shown very real or truthful emotions or messages. Towards the end of the 19th century Stanislavski, an actor at the time, began to question why the theatre that he was watching entertained him but didn't make him feel anything. He developed his own style of acting, Naturalism, and also introduced the concept of method acting and emotional memory. He considered acting to be a highly stylised craft and was constantly subjecting himself to self reflection and analysis. The only problem with his new concept was the fact that non of the actors of the time knew how to act like that, so by the begining of the 1900's Stanislavski had set up the Moscow Art Theatre, in which he trained new actors in the form of Naturalism.

Naturalistic acting intends to portray a perfect illusion of reality, using three-dimensional sets and normal speech instead of prose, which was what had been used in theatre up until that time. The plays focus on every day, ordinary lives of working and middle class people, instead of upper class characters, royalty and other people of note that theatre had fixated on previously (such as Antony and Cleopatra [royalty], Romeo and Juliet [upper class] etc.). 

Exercises

In the first exercise we did, I had to pretend I had lost my earrings. I started out quietly, however soon Andy had stopped the entire class and got everyone looking for them. Andy and I were the only ones who knew the truth, and the class was looking for a good 5 minutes before Andy finally told the rest of the group what happened. He then had us all try and repeat the exercise and act and work in exactly the same was we had before. The first time we did the exercise people instantly started to help me and actively looked for the earrings, due to the fact that they were genuinely concerned. Some people tried to stay out of the way and others were logical and started to clear the room and open the curtains to make looking easier. The second time the class was looking, after Andy had told everyone the truth, I was interested to see how things changed. Some people threw themselves into the exercise and tried to mimic exactly what they had done the first time, some people I noticed tried to be more helpful than previously, perhaps because they were acting how they would have liked others to act if they had lost their possessions, and others - having learnt that it was all a stitch up - simply cracked jokes and acted less helpful than when they had first thought I genuinely lost my earrings. It was interesting doing the exercise from my point of view, being the person who knew that it was an exercise and not real life, since I was more of an observer. Both times I was pretending, so I didn't change too much. I enjoyed observing how people changed and reacted, and I'll admit that it was quite fun being the only person who knew that I hadn't really lost my earrings!

Next, we did an exercise about Given Circumstances. We were all, one by one, given a situation for ourselves, someone waiting for a phone call, a girl waiting for a pregancy test etc. We all had to go and sit in the middle of the room in front of the class and act it. I was given a girl waiting at the doctors to hear the results of a pregnancy test. At first I enjoyed the exercise, I simply tried to feel the emotions of someone in that situation and forget the audience. I felt like the more I got into the emotions and forgot about everything else, the more real it got. However towards the end I got distracted or pulled out of the state by something and I lost it. I started to "Show" the situation instead of just feeling it and lost the truth. I feel like that's a recurring problem of mine when I'm onstage, sometimes I can start to over think my acting. I don't immerse myself in it and concentrate only on feeling the emotions of my character and suddenly my acting becomes far more wooden and much less effective. I really want to work on training myself not to over think. It's good to analyse my work at times and to have thought through it, however I need to be able to just feel and be the character.