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Hello and Welcome to my educational, creative, and development process blog. Combined with the journey of the Modern adaptation of the Greek Tragedy ‘Medea’, Working within Naturalistic acting and also the movement and vocal progression through out this project. These logs and the written essays have been documented in ‘Word’ over this process and recently been uploaded. To see more of the early stages of research and discoveries (psychiatric hospital, mental illness, Naturalism, Character Biog, Rachael Cusk, Charles Darwin and also script discoveries) are in my folder where you will also find my script with analysis. I also have my thorough daily Vocal Training warm up which I can provide via email.

Gemma Vilanou.

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Evaluation of my Naturalistic performance.

Task 5- Evaluation of my Naturalistic Theatre Performance Throughout this evaluation I will be discussing key elements of achievement’s and weaknesses within a naturalistic performance. At the beginning of the process when we found out we were going to be learning and working within a naturalistic style, I was really excited as I have always been fascinated and intrigued to really delve into such a rich, high-stake emotional environment. I knew it was going to be challenging and it was going to test us emotionally, mentally and physically but it was this mature production of ‘Medea’ that was really going to enhance our professional skills as actors. The Set on stage The Naturalistic set, furniture and props had an extensive influence on our naturalistic behaviour as human being’s on stage. As an actor I’m not normally used to performing on stage with my feet up on the sofa, drinking a cup of tea and feeling comfortable, but this really accompanied the atmosphere not just for the audience but for us on stage. The realistic set had a major positive effect on my performance, as I know it did for all the cast members, as it helped to reinforce our naturalistic behaviour as our characters within this naturalistic world that was created. As the performance progressed the set became less naturalistic as pieces of furniture were gradually taken off stage while being replaced with boxes. Towards the end of the play it was a vast landscape with just Medea’s writing desk left and massive boulders within the space, for me this was a sagacious creative way of representing Medea’s deteriorating mind and a demonstration of everything in her life slowly being taken away from her or falling apart. Throughout the performance all the props were real, for example the real knife that Medea picks up at the end of scene 7 while performing her monologue sets an uneasy ambience to the scene as the audience are unsure of her next reaction. One of the trickiest part’s about a real naturalistic set is when we had to take them off stage, for example the real sofa which was the biggest transition and also the most difficult as it was really heavy and made lots of noise. I think transitions are a big part of a production as they can be clean and sharp or either really messy which can interrupt the flow of the production. My performance as the ‘Nurse’ In the first performance of Medea I was playing the character of ‘Nurse’ and it’s the first scene that opens the show and as it was the first time we were performing to an audience everyone was really nervous including me, we weren’t quite sure how things were going to run with everyone under pressure. In this first scene I feel my character was quite strong and the audience warmed to my character as it was recognisable and relatable being set in modern London. The Nurse was a typical old school Londoner ranting to her husband who pays no attention to what she is saying which also added humour to the scene and to the character’s considering it’s such a dark play. In this performance my scene partner Raz had a main part to play with emphasising and establishing our relationship on stage, I felt a natural connection with he’s character that helped me bounce off of. This typical married couple felt believable and really natural between us. I feel I created a natural environment within our scene by walking around the space and feeling comfortable within it and reacted naturally to my surroundings and environment just like I would at home. I also used certain props, for example pouring myself a cup of tea. I noticed in this scene one thing that did throw me off was there was no water or liquid to pour or to drink which made me feel quite self-conscious as I felt the audience was watching to see how I would ‘act drinking a pretend cup of tea’ simple things like demonstrating how fast or slow to swallow the drink. Also in this scene one of my weaknesses was my voice, it sounded strained and forced, the reason for this was because I’m very aware how soft and quiet my voice can be and I wanted to make sure I was projecting enough for the audience. I felt I had to work extra hard in order to be heard which for me effected the naturalistic approach to my character. In the next scene (scene 8) as the ‘Nurse’ was one of the worst I performed that scene. One of my first word’s ‘Charlotte’ was pronounced really distortedly which resulted in throwing me off the rest of my monologue, thankfully I was really familiar with the speech so I recovered well. When I came off stage I was kicking myself as I think it was quite noticeable. As this character was only in two scenes I felt I didn’t perform it to the best of my ability especially because I know how well I have performed it before. Looking back the reason for this miss pronunciation it can only be because I didn’t practice enough articulation exercises before the show. The second performance as ‘Nurse’ I think was definitely the best I had ever performed it, I learnt from all my mistakes from the first show, for example I made sure there was water in the tea pot for me to pour and actually drink, which helped me with my naturalistic reactions on stage therefore I felt more comfortable. I also noticed I wasn’t as nervous because I felt more familiar with not only my character and my surroundings but I was more confident with the whole production itself. I was aware of the things I needed to fix and change from the mistakes I made in the first show, I ensured I practiced articulation warm up’s. Overall I was more relaxed on stage and that allowed me to enjoy the performance more which enabled me to really be in the moment. As actors even though we know the script, within naturalism, it’s about keeping it organic and as if you’ve heard it for the first time. I felt within the second performance this is one of the main thing’s I picked up on. One of the developments from show one was my voice, I realised I am louder then I think, the audience can hear me and because I was more comfortable and relaxed that had a major influence on my voice, it was much more natural, it wasn’t strained or forced but it was still clear. There is always improvement’s to make in every show, for me the weaknesses within my second performance was the relationship I had with my second scene partner Taguma, as I didn’t develop a relationship with Taguma in the rehearsal process as I did with Raz, I felt I couldn’t quite connect and establish the married couple relationship as well. Franceska as Medea and Taguma both messed up their cues and lines which could of easily threw me off, thankfully I was very comfortable and relaxed with my own lines and character that day, so I recovered well and it didn’t distract me or throw me off my performance.

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Birth Of Naturalism

Birth of Naturalism ‘Naturalism’ – noun ‘The philosophical belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes’. There were significant events in the world that had the influence of ‘change’ within society leading up to the transformation of theatre. From 1789 until 1799 there was the French Revolution, it’s a period in time of pervasive social and political up-roar in France. The revolution was a movement that eradicated the monarchy. This was an essential event that influenced society fighting for a liberal democracy. This movement did not only change within France but globally. This major event encouraged and triggered us human beings to have freedom of speech, share our thoughts and opinions and naturally evolve into a modern society. Another major event that had a significant influence on society was the evolution of Charles Darwin (1809-1882). The progression within science over this period of time was really developing. The trouble within this period of time, primarily religion, was still heavily encircling within society and Darwin’s theories were profoundly controversial to those beliefs. Darwin’s theories suggested that scientifically the planet was created and has evolved through natural habitations and evolution of life which challenged religious beliefs of that time. In the same time frame as Darwin’s theory Konstantin Stanislavski was born (1863). In 1887 Stanislavski decided to take up acting as a profession. Before Naturalism arose within theatre, theatre was very one dimensional and very much like pantomime, the actors would have no relationship or intimacy with their fellow actors or scene partners on stage, and they would perform out to the audience, they wouldn’t have any deeper emotional connection to their characters. Also the same Prop’s and set were used in every performance, props were used on stage for the sake of it, for example, a door would just be used on stage just so an actor can walk through a door. It was mainly a form of entertainment without any real message or meaning behind the performance. New actor’s would watch the experienced actors and copy their tricks to get a laugh from the audience. In 1897 Stanislavski meets Anton Chekhov and Nemirovich-Danchenko (who is also a leader of the drama department at the Philharmonic school). They had a 24 hour meeting discussing their similar aspirations on how they desperately wanted to change theatre and how they could achieve this. On the 22nd June Stanislavski and Nemirovich agree to form an Art Theatre. The first season includes ‘Tsar Fiodor’, ‘The Merchant of Venice’,’Antigone’,’Hannale’, and Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’. The theatre is renamed the Moscow Arts theatre and the symbol is a seagull representing their first successful production ‘The Seagull’. The Moscow Arts Theatre became the centre for the growth of naturalistic acting, but it wasn’t easily achieved as they tried to train the old established actors in this new naturalistic style of acting but it was difficult as those actors were still stuck in this un-naturalistic form of entertainment, so they needed a new type of actor to experiment with and teach this ‘slice of life’ style of acting to. In 1912 Stanislavski established the first acting studio where he recruited actors from inside and outside the company to train, teach and experiment with. Within the studio was the discovery and creation of ‘the system’. By 1914/15 the studio was established, well-known and successful. It included members: - Richard Boleslavski, Vaktangov, Michael Chekhov (the playwright’s nephew) and Maria Ouspenskaia. This was an ongoing experiment with numbers of trial and error, there are various edited versions of Stanislavski’s ‘system’ in which he created to guide and accompany the actor to approach a character in a truthful and natural way. The play’s brought awareness and raised controversial issues within society, within this period of time in Russia it was like playing with fire, and risked offending higher powered people/government as it was a reserved, religious strict country and could cause up-roar and conflict in this time. The Aims of Naturalistic acting. The aims of naturalistic acting is One; for the actor to truly delve into and commit to a character’s real life situation or feeling, it’s ‘putting yourself in the character’s shoes’ embodying the character. Everything the character say’s has a justification and is driven by a real emotion, it is performing real life every day scenario’s, situation’s and issue’s. It is not sugar-coated nor over dramatic, it is simply the truth. Two; for the audience to emotionally relate to every-day life issue’s that they can coheirs and connect with, and also commit emotionally to what they are watching on stage. “There are two aspects to the technique of the ‘system’; one inner, where the mind and imagination create the thoughts and feelings of the character; the other outer, where the body expresses and communicates what is going on inside. It is no good me carrying imaginative and subtle thoughts and feelings inside me if they are not reflected in the minutest detail in my body” Benedetti [p.13] The inner aspect of the system is about creating this emotion for the character that already exists within you, every emotion stimulates from a truthful substance that you may not sometimes even realise was there. As human’s we are pruned to be strong and suppress all our emotions so we may not recognise or know how to deal with some of our emotions that arise, so it’s about awakening that inner truth. The outer aspect is about relaying natural subtle, gestures or body language to reflect on what the characters true thoughts and feelings are. “The process of defining and carrying out precise physical actions with the thoughts and images that accompany them automatically produces feelings and emotions, but they may not be deep enough or full enough for what the scene requires. We then need consciously to draw on our own life experiences. The ability, the skill to recall past experiences, physical and mental, Emotion Memory, is one of our richest sources of material” Benedetti [p.63] This is the most truthful way to approach a character, to develop a character and to truly connect with your character. It’s the richest form of naturalistic acting. The aim of Emotion memory is to help the actor truly embody and amalgamate with their character and perform with genuine true emotion, without having to ‘force’ or ‘pretend’ or ‘demonstrate’ the emotion or feeling because it’s already truthfully there. The difference between Naturalism and Realism? Naturalism is natural things that happen to everyone in life that everyone can relate to, e.g. Death, happiness, and sadness. Experiences that effect everyone. Realism is real life issues within humanitarian nature that exists within society, e.g. the alcoholic man, the prostitute, the homeless man. It’s the harsh reality of humankind. Bibliography • Oxford school of dictionary; ‘Naturalism’ – noun ‘The philosophical belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes’ • Dates ‘1789-1799’ of ‘French Revolution’[Online] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution • Dates ‘1809-1882’ for Charles Darwin ‘Darwinism’[Online] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwinism • Konstantin Sergeievich Alexeiev (Stanislavski)(1863-1938) Booklet[P.227-231]

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Voice and speech- Physiological formation of sound. The importance of relaxation and posture in voice work. In Voice work it is essential your body is relaxed as that has an extensive influences not only on the muscles surrounding your vocal cords, but all major muscle groups that help support the body to create sound. If certain body parts, (mainly the neck and shoulders) are tense this can cause damage or strains within tender muscle areas. Posture within voice work is a primary aspect on creating sound through voice. Depending on your posture this will result in the outcome of how the voice is produced; if you’re slouching and in uncomfortable position while trying to create sound through voice, this can effect or even damage your vocal cords; the sound will be limited, strained and unclear. Whereas if you’re sitting or standing upright with an aligned spine and strong posture this will allow the space of sound to travel further as the support from the muscles in your diaphragm are engaged; this will allow the voice to have a clear strong vocal sound. How respiration is controlled and it’s function in the formation of sound. “When we decide to make a sound the brain sends a message to the vocal folds telling them to come together to form a light closure across the larynx. The breath, flowing up from the lungs, builds up underneath the lightly closed vocal folds until the pressure is great enough to cause the vocal folds to open. As the breath flows through the opening the pressure reduces and, so, the folds come together again. This closing and opening of the vocal folds happens very rapidly and, as a result of this rapid opening and closing, the vocal folds are set in vibration. The vibrating folds, in turn, set the breath, escaping through them, in vibration and sound is produced as a result.” - Finding your voice Barbara Houseman [P.97] Breathing is a fundamental process with the formation of sound, it is the support system behind everything sound create with our vocal cords. Respiration control’s how little or extravagant the sound we produce. For example Opera singer’s main function room in their bodies is the amount of controlled capacity of breath. The functions of the organs of articulation in the voice. “a) The soft palate: velum (flexible muscular structure that hangs from the hard palate), and uvula, which is the tip of the velum. b) The hard palate: “roof of the mouth, floor of the nose”. Made of the premaxilla, incisors, palatine process, and alveolar process. c) The jaw or “mandible” (anatomic name for the jaw). Floor of the mouth, and home of the lower teeth. It also includes the alveolar arch (home of the upper teeth) and the temporomandibular joint. d) The teeth. The tongue is in contact with the upper side teeth for many speech sounds. Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth are called “dental”. e) The tongue: tip, blade, dorsum and root. It is a major articulator. It can stop and release airflow in a plosive manner (thus creating the “t”, “k”, “d”, and “g” sounds). It can also reduce the airflow, thus producing friction sounds such as “z” and “s”, or completely stop the air passage, before releasing it with a fricative sound such as “ch” (as in “children”) and “j” (as in “job”)” -Stephanie Morer [2014, online] The different organs are essential in shaping and creating words, if we didn’t have these quintessential organs of articulation, there’d be no words that exist and we would all just be making a bundle of unshaped noises. How and where the different vocal sounds are formed “The lung (the pump) must produce adequate airflow and air pressure to vibrate vocal folds (this air pressure is the fuel of the voice). The vocal folds (vocal cords) are a vibrating valve that chops up the airflow from the lungs into audible pulses that form the laryngeal sound source.” –[Wikipedia Online, 2017] The main parts of voice production: • The Power Source: Your Lungs • The Vibrator: Your Voice Box • The Resonator: Your Throat, Nose, Mouth, and Sinuses Bibliography • Barbra Housemen, Finding your voice [p.97] • 1.3 Recognise the functions of the organs of articulation. (Voice; Tutor: Risa Duff) November 17, 2014 / Stéphanie Morer [Online] https://arden805761.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/1-3-recognise-the-functions-of-the-organs-of-articulation-voice-tutor-risa-duff/ • Human Voice -Wikipedia, [16th June, 2017, Online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_voice

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“Some roles seem at first to be especially difficult to access, because the character’s ‘point of view’ appears to be heavily influenced, not just by the life she has led and the experiences she has had over a long period of time, but by one or more heightened moments of trauma in the past. These were so intense and so specific to the particular circumstances in which they occurred, that it is very hard for you, as the actor, to reproduce them, or to understand how it might feel to experience them.” Nick Moseley -MEISNER in Practice; A Guide for Actors, Directors and Teachers

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“We can work on developing Emotion memory in three phases, by studying:
1. Sensory memory (the memory of our five senses)
2. Memory of past experiences 
3. Triggers, or ways of gently jogging our memory, without trying to force what is hidden out into the open.” Jean Benedetti - STANISLAVSKI AND THE ACTOR

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A Strong Woman Poem I wrote at home During the process of Medea; As the play is a very female dominated production, I felt inspired.

I’m a strong girl. I’m a very strong woman. I have a strong mind, strong opinions and an even stronger presence. I am strong by choice and not by choice?. Because I choose to not choose that it’s not by choice, I choose to not use the reasons as the reasons that I have to be strong. Strong because I want to be strong, I choose to not be weak. I am powerful on the outside but question the power on the inside.. Sometimes. Because I try to convince myself I am so ever strong, powerful and unbreakable. But every strong woman is allowed to have strong emotions and feelings that are vulnerable but the power of the pain is so strong. But it’s okay because it’s the pain that makes us strong. I’m so strong I am Powerful I am beautiful I am Emotional I am talented I am intelligent I have flaws But they are wonderful I am me There’s only ONE ME And I embrace every element, of who I was, of what broke me and what makes me and what defines me and of who I AM TODAY. I am confident in who I am, I admit when I need to admit, I am honest when need to be honest and I lie when I need to lie, I cry when I need to cry, I swear when I want to swear, and scream and shout when I want to, I laugh when I want to laugh, and I’ll do what I want to do all with confidence because I know who I am, and I am a very strong woman. -GEMMA VILANOU

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What does naturalism mean to you?

At the begging of this lesson Tim gave us a post it note and told us to bullet point what naturalism means to us. Naturalism means to me the emotional An mental truth that lies within us all. It's a natural reaction with out having to think about it. It's not forced or fake. It's working from the inside out.

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Craft or comfort? Craft. Spirit or material? Spirit. Content or glamour? Glamour. Joking! Content of course!

As an actor it's always about substance, the deeper meaning and thinking; it's not about fame and glamour; we have to work hard as actors challenged our self and constantly pushing past put limits; it's about spirituality connecting with yourself and knowing yourself to enable to create another character from yourself within you.

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Women Once again making Medea feel insecure and miserable about herself! The women of today’s society love to drag each other down rather then lift and support eachother -For more information on the women scene through rehearsal read my previous log with Caroline.

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Rehearsal process in G41 This lesson we were experimenting with the women being Medea's voices in her head. This was intense, as you can see in the picture we're standing over her. In this exercise we were really putting Medea down and saying really nasty things to her from Women to Woman. It worked, she cried👍well done Fran, Tough rehearsal!

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Mindfulness I often sit down, light a candle and stare at the flame it sometimes flickers or sometimes it's really still, which I think is a sign of how my mind is feeling, for half an hour -40 minutes, sounds weird I know, but this for me is a clearing of the mind and cleansing of the soul. As actors we are constantly thinking, imagining, developing and creating we often can lose our selves in the process and the knowledge we have gained, also mentally and emotionally it gives me a sense of peace an escape from all the chaos. I tend to do this mainly in the evening and after I've been working on a particular character or a few. It leaves me with my thoughts and helps settle them down for the evening and helps me remind my self of Gemma again.

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Yoga, Pilates, Alexander Technique. These three movement methodologies are different in many ways but also complement each other. One of the primary similarities that these three movement methodologies share is breathing. Breathing is essential in all three techniques, it is the most important part of Yoga, Pilates and Alexander technique they do however use breath differently. Breathing during Yoga is focussed on breathing in slowly through the nose and out through the nose at a slow relaxing pace. Whereas Pilates is in through the nose and out through the mouth but the pace and rhythm of the breath is more controlled by the movement of the body and has a much faster rhythm so in return the breathing becomes shallow and thoracic. Breathing during Alexander technique has the same pace as Yoga breathing, in the sense it’s at the same pace, it’s slow and deep from the diaphragm but instead of out through the nose like yoga, it’s out through the mouth like Pilates technique. Alexander technique is very much full capacity breathing, low into the lungs. Healthy Mind, Healthy Body This mainly relates to the Yoga methodology being a form of a healing process. Yoga is psychological rehabilitation as well as a physical rehabilitation. In Yoga Mind and body connect and influence one another. Stretching in Yoga also incorporates holding postures to strengthen certain muscle groups. It emphasizes balance and meditation, it is also strongly spiritually influenced and it’s used as mental rehabilitation as well as a physical rehabilitation. Whereas Pilates is more dynamic stretching using controlled movement to stretch muscles, it’s working on specific joints and muscles that are particularly stiff or weak; it’s about trying to release the tension by stretching out that particular area. “Assistive movement with the use of springs can allow for a decrease of unwanted muscle activity or guarding often associated with pain or weakness” (Brent D. Anderson, 2005, p.3) Pilates focusses on aligning the spine and strengthening the core. “Joseph Pilates described the ‘core’ as the powerhouse. He believed that control of the core was the essence of all human movement” (Anna Owsley, 2005, p.5) Alexander technique is focussed on head, neck and shoulders and realising where you hold tension. As an actor, most of our tension is held in our head as we’re using our facial expressions to ‘express emotion’ our neck is tense for many reasons for examples the way we project our voice on stage, if we’re shouting, angry or crying we tend to feel and see a lot of tension is held around the neck area. The shoulders are a main point of. We often carry our stress and nerves on our shoulders. Alexander technique focusses on trying to develop our awareness on relaxing mainly the neck, head and the shoulders as they are soft, sensitive areas of our body. Alexander technique is about realising and becoming aware of, our points of tension and bad habits that we’ve created in our bodies and trying to gently fix our poor patterns. Through gradual training we aim to teach our mind and our body to, ‘Allow the neck to be free and the head balance up right, spine to lengthen, shoulders relaxed, torso to widen and no compression on the back.’ “The Alexander Technique teaches the skilful “use of the self”, but essentially focuses on the head, neck and shoulders and how that affects the rest of the body and mind.” (Lydsey.H, 2009, The posture people) All of these movement methodologies are really useful and influential into bringing awareness and poise into everything we do, for me they each have something different to offer e.g. Yoga the spiritual side, Pilates the releasing and stretching of certain muscle groups including the core and Alexander Technique, remaining relaxed and breaking old harmful habits. I know I can benefit from them all.

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Movement Training Program

This is my Movement training program that I have been updating each week through word document on a table. - Movement Training Program WEEK 1 As it’s been my first week on experimenting with different types of movement methodologies at home, I decided to start off with simple movement and not to complex: I first stretched, from the bottom up, ankles, carves, thighs, I do this rotation near the ribs, then stretch to the left then right, rotate the shoulders, for me my neck and shoulder area is very tense and I get a lot of headaches which I think has something to do with the tightness around that area so I really focussed on stretching out the neck and releasing tension and also with the shoulder rolls, I start off gently, as I don’t want to pull anything as the neck is very delicate. Now that I warmed up my muscle’s I always think it’s good to sweat a little, I use to exercise every day, but since this course has started I have put on so much weight as there is hardly time for hard core workout’s so this MTP I think is a really good idea as it’s part of the criteria you make time in your day. So I start off with 15 star jumps, as i haven’t exercised in a while I can already feel that I’m short of breath. The reason I think it’s relevant to do cardio work is of course it’s about keeping fit as a person but as an actor stamina is vital, performing on stage is exhausting as it is, you never know what you may have to do in a scene on stage which might require strong stamina, you don’t want to be half way through a speech and be out of breath. I then move on to do a 20 second plank which I know doesn’t sound long but I knew I would struggle with the plank, the plank exercise is quite essential as actors because it’s all about strengthening the core which all actors need when performing on stage, but I noticed every time I do the plank I hold my breath which I know is wrong, you must always breath, so I done the plank again for 15 seconds and tried to breathe through it which I found really difficult! Lastly I then 30 donkey kicks on each leg. The reason why I chose to do a leg focussed exercise is because I think having strong sturdy legs as a performer is key, most injuries in performers, are ankles, carves and around the leg area and as a performer it’s our legs that give us our presence on stage and as we know as a performer we could be asked to do anything on stage so I think it’s so important to strengthen and build muscle in the leg area. To finish off I rest in child’s pose and regulate back to my natural breathing. I proceeded on with these exercises from Monday to Saturday. I noticed throughout this week I had this reoccurring pattern that throughout my exercise I would hold my breath but halfway through I would realise I was doing it, so for the other half of the exercise breathing was my main focus. As my body hadn’t worked like this in a long time each day my muscles would ache so I’d take a hot/warm bath to relax my muscles and it really helped. WEEK 2 This week I thought I would experiment more with movement/exercise through dance, especially now our dance/movement classes with Ellen are becoming more intense but I really enjoy this type of exercise because I found even though it’s fun and I’m enjoying myself I noticed I always sweat the most during this type of exercise so I decided this week at home to put on some music and do a movement exercise type of dance for 20 minutes. I would first warm up exactly how I did last week, stretch all the muscles, then I would go into the box step dance we learnt from Caroline in physical theatre which not only helps with breaking out a sweat but also improves your coordination, when Caroline first taught me this step I was all over the place now I can do it without thinking, I gradually speed it up. Next I went on to Ellen’s quick ‘step swirl step’ movement which I really enjoy doing, this movement can be done to any song, I then gradually picked up the pace, which by this point I was out of breath but I remembered to breathe throughout the movement. Lastly I’d put on an RnB song or a song I could really move my hips to and free styled to the music, for me this is where I felt i really put the work in and I sweated the most. Throughout the week I noticed my body started to tolerate the movement’s for longer. I think my weakness throughout this week was finding the motivation to get up and actually start and I know two sessions the one of the Wednesday and Friday I cut short and I didn’t put the amount of energy that needed I think it’s because I was quite tired from college and it’s been getting hot my motivation was weak. WEEK 3 PILATES As we are developing in our Pilates class at college I decided to try Pilates at home for this week as part of my Movement training program. I’ve really grown to enjoy Pilates and I think is very different to the other movement exercises but also it’s not what I initially expected. Pilates is much more calming and relaxed then I thought, which isn’t a bad thing for me it’s better than my expectation of Pilates. All the Pilates movement’s I experimented with this week was all from Jess’s Pilates lesson. I started off with laying on the floor with my hands on my pelvis while gently rocking it back and forth and as the same rhythm of the movement I would inhale and exhale so as my pelvis would move towards the ceiling I would inhale as it would move away I would exhale. I would then have my hands straight up in the air as I would exhale I would move it up above my head and as I did this I noticed I heard/felt little click in my shoulder which was really satisfying I then done the same thing but in sync with my leg, as you bring the leg and arm up together you can feel this gentle pulling in each side of your stomach. Lastly I went on to all fours and slightly took my left arm and right leg whilst balancing on the right arm and left leg then swapped around. first time doing this exercise I did it wrong in Jess’s class I was lifting up the same leg and arm which made it impossible to balance and I was confused as to why I couldn’t balance, which made me realise I need to work on my coordination. Pilates is not for everyone but I really I enjoy it, one of my biggest weaknesses is breathing through movement and Pilates really reminds me to breathe, it also gives me a relaxed calming sensation which I feel helps focusses my mind all whilst stretching your muscles and working on your coordination skills. WEEK 4 YOGA This week I decided to try out yoga at home, I’ve never been a hundred percent sure on how I feel about yoga, I’ve tried it a few times and each time I’ve felt different. As there is so many types of Yoga’s out there I think I know what ones I prefer which is depending on what you’re looking to get out of it. We had a Yoga teacher Iva come in and teach us this week, This yoga lesson I felt was more advanced then to what I have tried before, I am more familiar with the calming type of yoga, the gentle poses.(Hatha) Eva said she was teaching basic Yoga (Vinyasa) but for me we were constantly moving and holding poses that were quite challenging, I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience it but I think it reinforced my preferences of different types of Yoga, I don’t think I enjoyed it, especially downward dog, I hate that position, I find it hurts my wrists and I don’t find it relaxing at all, I couldn’t bring myself to fully commit and enjoy the experience. This week at home I decided to experiment with a more calming gentle yoga like Sivananda. This is more simple breathing and a focussing meditation yoga, I started off just calmly breathing then I would position myself in warrior pose and hold then switch directions and hold. I then would go into downward dog (hated it) but I pushed myself to attempt to hold it for a short time. Lastly I would breathe into child’s pose, this position is stretching your muscles while resting although spending too much time in this position can begin to hurt my knees. Each day I felt myself become more invested and committed into the yoga movement. I found that Yoga helps me more on the mental side more than the physical, I feel I enjoyed Pilates more and think I benefited from Pilates on the breathing and physical side, where as Yoga helped me focus and helped clear my mind. WEEK 5 Naffi’S Workout/warm up Part of our keep fit movement with Ellen is we each create our own work out and lead it before each class. This week we had Naffi’s workout and I really enjoyed it but also I think it was just the right amount of exercise. So I decided part of my movement training program for this week was going to be Naffi’s warm up. First off I started with my stretching that I do before anything, I then jogged around the room for 2minutes and I was already feeling out of breath, I then done her dance moves which is simple ‘step step side clap’ repeated that to the music, for me I love dancing within exercise as it breaks it up to trick your mind your having a break but your still active at the same time and of course it brings an element of fun into it. Next it squat time! Again this exercise works on strengthening your legs which is key for us performance, for me I like doing squats as it’s not so difficult to do but it still really works your muscles. Then we went into star jumps which is cardio making us sweat and working on our stamina at the same time. For me I did this each day for 15 minutes and the time would fly by and I noticed I really slept well this week from those workouts and felt really tired at night. WEEK 6 Alexander Technique The week before the show I decided I want to try out a few simple alexander techniques, I don’t know much about this movement technique but we had one or two lessons with Tim as an introduction to Alexander technique and I really enjoyed it. The steps to how I proceeded on with this technique during the week, I would first lay down on the ground with my knees up my arms relaxed down, palms facing upwards and a small cushion under my head to support the neck, make sure everything is relaxed and soft, I would then focus on my breathing, breathe right down into the diaphragm slowly in through the nose out through the mouth and just let any thoughts float away and I would rest there for a few minutes. I’d then sit on a chair and recognise how I would stand up and sit down onto and from the chair, I noticed the way I normally stand up it takes a lot of effort, I then watched a you tube video on Alexander technique on sitting and standing up from a chair, it’s about keeping the neck relaxed and keeping the head forward, letting your knees lead whilst keeping strong sturdy back, I practiced this a couple of times and noticed where I was going wrong id always crunch my head back while going to stand up, but actually it’s about keeping your chin down and I practiced sitting on a chair without slouching and standing up and sitting down from a chair, I really felt a difference in my back, there was an aching feeling for the first 2 to 3 day’s but then the ache started to wear off i felt I was aware when slipping back into my old habits and would try to correct them. For me I purposely left the Alexander technique movement to the week before the show more for the psychological side of things rather the physical, I think the week before the show is so important to have a clear focussed mind set and me Alexander technique is quite simple but really effective.

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This helped me understand and gain more knowledge on Alexander technique look at my movement training program to see how I experimented with using Alexander technique and my thoughts of the outcome!

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Caroline directing and experimenting with idea's for Scene 3-Women scene. In this rehearsal the major discovery was with the babies. we decided the particular weird careless ways we held our babies added to the abstract feel of the piece and brought dynamic within each woman. It also contradicted the way the women was trying to be perceived within society.

Video

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Multi Rolling - Woman 2 and Nurse

Women 2 and Nurse During the rehearsal process majority of the class had to characters to work on, including me. Preferably I always like to focus and commit to one character to really delve and indulge into every detail of a character, I always said “I’d rather be a master at one thing then a jack of all trades” but I’ve realised that’s not always the case, especially within acting, my two characters are both opposite spectrums of the scale. Personality wise woman 2 is a posh, modern snobby quite well off Woman who tends to her husband needs, whereas my Nurse character is very working class, speaks her mind, wears the trousers in her marriage, very strong independent woman, so for me as an actor to play two completely different characters doesn’t limit me at all if anything it stretches my skills to really work on making the two characters completely different. Throughout the rehearsal process so far I felt I was more connected with my Nurse character, I had played and experimented with her personality more but also created a solid background story for her. Tim gave us an exercise to do when we were rehearsed in the dance studio, he said find a space in the room as he put on some relaxing slow music and said choose a moment (as any character) and start to think, imagine and create a memory as your character, a past memory, something that’s happening in the present or create something that could happen in the future, and your character is by themselves, in their room, kitchen anywhere. This exercise I chose to be character Woman 2 ‘Tara’ as I felt I needed to try and connect with her and build on. I sat near the window as Tara, staring outside, at first I wasn’t sure exactly what my memory or moment was going to be straight away but then I felt a sense of familiarity within myself and that moment, a sadness, It triggered a memory for me, I’d always have this thing where when I’m sad or feeling down I’d stare outside the window for hours, it started a few years back when my first love of two years ended, I’d look at the window for hours like I was waiting for something to happen, but the view always gave me a sense of calmness and sort of an escape. This exercise set off the same feeling inside. I used this natural feeling and emotion and used it to connect with a moment in ‘Tara’s’ life, she was waiting all night for her boyfriend who eventually became her Husband to come visit her after he’d been to party, it was the early stages of love and ‘Tara’ didn’t yet feel secure in the relationship and had this guy feeling that ‘Nigel’ wasn’t being faithful, she understood they are both young in this very moment and he’s going to enjoy himself, she had to let him go out, she couldn’t say no but she hated it and had a hate for him also. The main questions that was running through her mind was ‘But why does he want to go?’ ‘What is the reason?’ and these thoughts were all too familiar. This Lesson I felt a genuine connection with my character and a genuine emotion from a place of truth. It’s always been a debate about confusing your own emotion and projecting it on to your character that your creating, but in this moment my emotion wasn’t forced it was a natural triggered emotion that I let take me somewhere to a place of truth, where I then used it as a foundation to create a side of this character the audience don’t get to see but helps me to connect with the character. Each character you create will always have an element within yourself especially with naturalism. It goes to show, before I done this exercise I was quite narrow minded about my character ‘Tara’ (woman 2) and didn’t really think outside the box, essentially judged a book by its cover and made assumptions by the writing and didn’t think why is she like that? There’s always a back story and a reason to why. Every character has different sides and faces, like a cube.