Vocal Awareness

Vocal Awareness is something evey actor has to spend a great deal of time considering. It moulds a whole character. It comes down to several different factors; Pitch, Pace (and Pause), Accent, Tumbre, Volume/Projection and Tone.

Interpretation

Definition: how you decide to creatively decipher text or ideas.

PLAYWRIGHT -----> DIRECTOR -----> ACTOR -----> AUDIENCE

        (ideas)                    (script)                    (script,             (performance)

                                                                       characters,

                                                                       directors)

                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                (PAGE TO STAGE)

INTRO ---------- DEVELOPMENT ---------- CONFLICT ---------- RESOLUTION
(SCENE ONE)                             (SCENE TWO)          (SCENE THREE)


My interpretation example of Lynne: Niave, 'kinder' but tries to wind Ton up. Childish, doesn't understand severity of information. Reacts immaturely, simply cries rather than facing the issue like an adult. Resentful of Ton. SOUR.
Soft accent, clumsy/dainty/light/teasing movements and gestures. Maybe plays with her hair? (feminine and kid-like) Shifting, playful eyes. Constant 'giggle' to all the kids words.

Scene examples: (Pg 50) Kid and Lynne joke about 'farty' lynne is laughing and egging the kid on to get at Ton.
                         : (Pg 57) Kid grabs Lynne, holds her hair over the petrol tank, and gropes her to exert his power. He cruelly teases her in a very sinister way. Lynne reacts but crying and whining, feeling sorry for herself even though she had previously contributed to the escalating situation.

Non-verbal Communication

To introduce the states of tension and systems of effort we did two different warm ups in order to understand the physical movement and action of each technique.

(Warm Up 1: 'Get Physical') 

This involved a constant jogging action to keep the group at a permanent active energy level. Then we were asked to do several different actions with different paces, force and flow, such as a flick, punch or wring. These actions signify how we alter our movement according to Time, Space, Flow and Weight thus becoming Laban's system of effort.  

The idea of the effort systems is to add understanding to how a character moves; a aggressive character like a boxer would be fast paced, bound flow, direct actions and a heavy weight. Where as a ballet dancer would have light indirect actions with a free flowing space and slow, calm pace.

(Warm Up 2: 'Shut it')

In this warm up we applied the 7 Stages of Tension to typical lines from the play 'Gotcha'; 'shut it', 'watch it' and 'bonified'.

The 7 states of Tension

1.            Dead:  hardly enough energy to hold yourself upright.

2.            Californian:  laid-back, relaxed, easy, on the back foot, chest leads before head. Cool. Swagger.

3.            Stage manager.  Neutral, no attitude to anything emotional sponge.  Moving by changing direction using the whole body to turn.

4.            Director.  As above but with an attitude.  Interested, engaged, questing, searching.  Front-foot, head lead. An idea has just occurred.

5.            Suspension: Optimist, Looking for a bomb.  Faster than ‘alert’ as if searching for something.  On the front-foot, head lead, excited, eager.

6.            Passion:  Pessimist, Lots of tension can be heavy or light. Much more tension, fear, passion, desperation.  There is a bomb!

7.              High-catatonic:  Rigor mortis! The bomb has exploded.  You pay out so much, you can’t move! Total shock of tension through the body – you are immobilised.

This exercise helped us to understand and develop the best suited mannerisms for each character in the play. It also gave us an idea of each characters action and reactions if different situation, for example the head master would usually operate at the energy level 4, business like and very direct. But after being stuck in the store room and threatened for hours he would possible switch to a 3, where he seems unperceptive to emotion or circumstances. Worn out and broken self esteem.

We created several difference (apposing) tableaux using the performance characteristics provide by Laban's system of efforts. Our tableaux ranged from ballet dancers and business men to boxers and abstract painters. The idea of the effort systems is to add understanding to how a character moves; a aggressive character like a boxer would be fast paced, bound flow, direct actions and a heavy weight.  I showed this by moving in directional straight lines and never remaining still; a constant "buzzing" movement throughout everything. Where as a ballet dancer would have light indirect actions with a free flowing space and slow, calm pace. So I moved around in circular or random directions with light 'breezy' moments. Another mannerism I added for the ballet dancer was to always have my head held high to portray a calm and controlled character. 

We can use Laban's system of efforts and the stages of tension in application to Gotcha to decide the body language, voice and mannerisms of the character. For example, in Ton would be almost energy level six, as he is constantly wound up an explodes with rage. We could show this by using direct, bound but large movements. As he is a jumpy, on edge character, he may have mannerisms such as running his hands through and pulling at his hair of holding his neck to indicate stress. The state of tension would call for a loud, harsh tone of voice coupled with sour, contort facial expressions.

Stanislavski and "Gotcha"

Stanislavaski's methods are effective to use in "Gotcha" as the play is written with realistic characters and its plot is built around a actual educational/political issue in 1976. So by using techniques like emotion memory or creating subtext, actors can build a believable and an easy to relate to character.

To learn each idea we did a range of different activities. Firstly, we studied 'subtext'. To do this three members of the class performed a scene from Gotcha in the round an after each line we took it in turns to add our own 'subtext' of what we thought the characters were thinking at the time. This added to our actors performance as they took on board this extra information, if we decided to make them resent the other characters they would replicate this in their body language or facial expression by turning away or sneering. This have us a good understanding of how crucial subtext can supply us with key information when we are deciding on how to play a character.

Next we learnt about 'Circle of Attention' by simply acting out parts of the play and using lights to iluminate different characters circle of attention.

Emotion memory was tricky as some people could not find a memory to directl relate but instead they found a moment in time where they felt very strong emotions. We all sat facing in different directions and relived our memory in our heads. Then as a chorus started to read one on the kid's monologues from Gotcha, using our situation and memories to affect the way in which we delivered the monologue. I chose to deliver the monolouge in a hurt, slow, methodic way. This convered a feeling of resigned depression.

Visual/Spatial/Aural choices for the staging of 'Gotcha'

I chose to stage 'Gotcha' in the round. The whole play is set in a store room so I wanted the space to feel cramped, so by seating the audience the entire way around it gives the illusion of a small space because the actors and set are blocked in. Another advantage of staging 'Gotcha' in the round is being able to control the way the audience see's the 'action', by having the door frame and window in front of the audience, it offers an outsiders perspective (they are looking in on the actors). Also each side of the audience will interact and connect with a different character. Lastly, as the audience controls the space the actors can move in, it allows them to be more involved in the action; the audience are theatrically part of the set.

My idea for lighting was to keep it realistic, relative to time of day/season/weather/place. I would preferably use a diffuser to spread the light angled from the window to give the impression sunlight is pouring through the window, as the majority of the play is set in daylight and it is the end of the Spring Term. As the play went on and time passed I would begin to use a coloured gel to simulate sunset and finally dim faded light for the evening.

For the costumes in the play I researched the fashion in the mid 70's. Mainly bold, bright colours are used in flared trousers and shirts with huge collars. Along with calf length flared skirts and blouses. So I would dress Lynne is a half calf length colourful skirt and a long sleeved blouse with a large collar, also colourful to indicate she is young and naive. Then Ton would be dressed in sporting attire; flared zip up tracksuit bottoms, classical white trainers and a very conventional polo designed t-shirt.The headmaster and the kid on the other hand would have a slightly different style. I would dress the headmaster in a normal grey suit, perhaps a bit tight around his stomach to give the illusion of a stuffy ageing man. Finally the kid would not have enough money to keep in style or to have a neat school uniform, I would use black flared trousers which are too big for him (hand-me-downs) and a scruffy white shirt with the top button undone and a lower one missing. Also have a fat tie loosely around his neck.

Context of 'Gotcha' by Barrie Keeffe

The context of 'Gotcha' was to give the working class a voice they never had on stage before. Set in 1976, during a huge political change over; labour was coming into power. The play is written to highlight the flaws of the new comprehensive education.

'Gotcha' was not written to be a timeless message, the idea of children 'lost in the system' was hoped to be long gone thirty years later. The Kid in 'Gotcha' is an example of an anonymous child who was over looked through out his entire education, in a podcast which interviews Barrie Keeffe himself, he describes his education as: 'if you weren't academically elite or a sporting achiever you were invisible'. Furthermore after he see's a recent production of his own 'Gotcha' he reveals that he finds it 'deeply saddening that this play still has relevance in today's culture'. One thing which seems to continually frustrate the Kid is that not one of three teachers can even tell him his name yet they are quick to write him off e.g. 'You don't even know me do you, I've been here for five years, sat in front of you every single day and you never even noticed. Tell me now how you can write what you did about me when you can't even say my name.' This portrays the 'lost souls' in the comprehensive system that Barrie Keeffe was desperate to unearth. Other people taking part in the interview can relate to this statement by remembering a similar child that was forever being ignored even though the were 'quite smart' and caused 'no real trouble', they were treated like a non-entity.

I think Barrie Keeffe has chosen to express the ideas of the play in this context to provoke a reaction within the minds of the audience. The play is designed to be realistic and emotive, so by using the very accurate description of the political changes occurring in the country, the audience's attention was drawn to the faults and discrimination in the comprehensive education system.