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.