Shakespeare & His works.
William Shakespeare ( Born 26 April 1564-23 April 1616) was known for plays and poetry and also English language which he played a good influence on. Shakespeares playwrights explored 3 different main themes which consisted of History ( about popular/ well known figures of that century) , Comedies ( which have a good ending)and Tragedies which opposes the them of comedies which tragedies end in death) An example of each are Hamlet ( equally seen as comedy & tragic) , Romeo & Juliet (tragedy) and Macbeth ( historical and tragic).
As you like it
Summary of play – As you like it is a romantic comedic play based on a young woman named Rosalind who escapes to the forest of Arden (with her cousin Cecilia) from the french court for safety which eventually also turns into love.
Just Before Rosalind’s Mono Summary (Act 3 scene 5) – A young man named Silvius declares his love for Phoebe, but Phoebe thinking that Silvius is way out of her league and that she deserves better rejects him and laughs at his wounds inflicted by her love and treats him like trash. Rosalind disgusted in how poorly Phoebe is treating this shepherdess cannot resist watching this behaviour that she (disguised as Ganymede) watching intervenes and tells Phoebe off. Going into this scene “Ganymede”is talking to Phoebe telling her off but it doesn’t change as she is adamant to tell off Phoebe of her wrong in harshly rejecting Silvius.
Act 3 Scene 5 In Act 3 Scene 5 is that Rosalind’s uncle had enough that he banishes her from his place and has a few days to flee to the Forest Of Arden where her father is. Rosalind expresses how much she loves Orlando to her cousin that it convinces her cousin to flee with her. Being a long and risky trip to Arden, Celia convinces Touchstone ( Duke Fredrick fool) to come along the journey which also Celia eventually falls in love for. Rosalind and Celia both go under disguise as they are two wealthy young women who are about to commence a long dangerous journey. Celia goes as “Aliena” a farm girl/ “Ganymede” sister. Rosalind goes under the name “Ganymede” a shepherd.
Facts Set (time) – 16th century Set (place) – Begins in France at The French Royal Court and ends in the Forest Of Arden. Tonality of play – Mainly romantic but also comedic.
Rosalind’s family tree ( in the play):
Character bio – Rosalind is a young wealthy woman who is very intelligent , beautiful and smart which has a stressful journey ahead of her. Rosalind’s stereotype is a she is opinionated and and defies the 16th century supposition that women have no voice of there own and that they are useless. But Rosalind disguised as “Ganymede” helps her brake that stereotype of women as she is now able to explore what woman are shouldn’t be known as “socially unacceptable for women”.
Father – Duke senior is seen as a really nice charitable person who is very generous. Even though he had been banished from his kingdom by his brother he still remains respectful and righteous.
Uncle – Duke Fredrick , he is scene as cruel and evil when he banishes his niece from his palace which he illegally took from his brother changes throughout the play and shows that people can change and become good samaritans.
Cousin – Celia , She is just like her cousin young smart and beautiful who is so generous that she decides to leave her dads palace and follow Rosalind to the Forest of Arden, where she finds love later on.
Rosalind’s husband – Orlando , handsome, kind noble gentlemen that is loved by everyone for his brave and smart character. Even though his brother Oliver back stabbed him and betrayed him he ends up saving Oliver when he is in trouble portraying Orlando as a hero.
Rosalind Monologue annotations :
Stanislavski 6 Steps Character Questions :
Who? Rosalind is a strong minded, independent , clever beautiful young woman daughter of Duke senior who uses her trip to the Forest of Arden as a way to be able to explore identity as woman in the 16th century woman were restricted of doing certain things as it wasn’t classified as lady like (woman in the 16th century were seen as silent and submissive).Which in this case Rosalind/Ganymead wasn’t. Here having the opportunity of playing a boy helped her love with her future husband Orlando, as she serves as his tutor and talked to him about how to treat a woman in this case Rosalind.
What? Shakespeare explores many themes in the play some that stud up to me that Rosalind particularly focuses on in her monologue is justice/fairness and equality. Rosalind/Gaynmead goes through a adventure. She faces injustice from her uncle (Duke senior) banishing her leading to her playing a role of a male (Ganymead) for her safety in her risky , dangerous journey to the Forest of Arden that reunites her to her father (Duke senior) and her love (Orlando). Rosalind fights equality in two main ways she fights it when talking to Phoebe about how foul she spoke to poor Silvius and when she is disguised as a man as she is then able to stand up for woman rights. In Act 3 Scene 5 Rosalind has just watched Phoebe take the mick out of Silvius for declaring his love for her , Rosalind is so angry that she stomps in and tells Phoebe how unpleasant looking she is that she should be lucky that a man falls for her. Rosalind tells Phoebe to ” thank heaven, fasting, for a good man’s love” she then turns around to Silvius that he is ” a proper times a man Than she a woman.” Silvius gets a pull of ear by Ganymead for letting Phoebe talk to him like that.
When? The historical period in which the play is set in is the 16th century the settings of the play is in France (Forest of Arden)
Where? France located in the Forest of Arden.
How? How I intend to do this is by telling Phoebe that she should be with Silvius as she won’t ever find such a gentlemen like him. I will also sweet talk her into being with him
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story written by William Shakespeare of the death of Romeo and Juliet that bring there conflicting families together.
Review – Being a person who knows not a lot about musicals I would say that I really loved the play and I enjoyed watching it. I really liked how in touch some of the characters where with each other but I wished there was more of a connection between Romeo and Juliet , but overall I really enjoyed it but wished to see more of a spark between the main characters as I saw my self zoning out and watching other characters rather the main. I will give it a 4/5 stars as there could of been more of a spark. I felt most of the actors portrayed there characters well except for Romeo and Juliet I was watching it but didn’t feel any chemistry between them which was upsetting to see and my focus wasn’t on them much. However Romeo himself did very well portray his character well and it lightened up the mood of them not having chemistry that they should have. My favourite Character I would say was the nurse she did play her character quite well and it was really pleasant watching her as well as hearing her beautiful voice. I would say that I didn’t connect with any part of the story everything was good but could have been better if the main characters had proper real chemistry as it would of kept the audience more engaged rather than bored and feeling as though they wasted time and money.
Stanislavski – A Russian practitioner, ideas are focused on naturalistic acting which is very influential. He believes in naturalistic & realistic acting and the main things he focuses on is the approach that the actors should really inhabit and know how to embody the character that are playing . Some key points are that the actor should understand there lines and the intentions behind those lines , but also every detail of that characters life offstage. (a mini backstory).
Here are some of Stanislavski strategies Stanislavski’s method (known as the 5w’s- Who,When,Where,Why,What; are the set of techniques used by actors to portray emotion by putting themselves in the characters shoes.)
Who – is your character/(There personal/made up history) Creating a back story for your character is very important as it gives the actor a good insight of the type of persona they/the character is supposed to play.
When – does it take place(Time of the day, season or historical period). A time of day or season should be added as it portrays more of whats happening to the audience and it will help them to try understand the theme of the play and also its more interesting for everyone, characters and audiences).
Where? – (Place, location). A location to the scene helps the audience get a better insight of whats taking place if a place was not thought about and not shown the audience probably wouldn’t get a good understanding of what happening in the play.
What – does take place? (Conflict) Shaping the conflict helps discover the inner conflict, this makes the scene come to life more and grabs the audiences attention so that they are interested no conflict equals no drama which means it won’t be as interesting which then we will lose our audience and that is not what we want.
Why? – (Motivation) When acting we must convince the audience of the motivation behind all of our actions. Without the motivation the play will not make sense. A writer must also consider the characters goal. In order for a reader or spectator to believe the story they must get to know the characters in the narrative and this is done by using Stanislavski’s method.
(By using the 5 W’s we are developing our characters biography).
In Lucys imprecise movement lesson we were told to in our spare time watch someones movements. I decided to watch kids at the park. An precise movement that comes naturally to them is to run and scream of joy to the swings or to there friends. An imprecise movement is them being rude to another child and to hurt them as they had to think about doing it rather than it coming naturally to them.
Scratch night project :
The project that I have been chosen to participate in for scratch night is Chicken shop by Anna Jordan. The chicken shop is based around a young teenager named Hendrix (16 years old) who has a continuous battle with bullies in his school who pick on him about his sexuality. His mum being a lesbian kids at his school think that he is too which is wrong he’s not he’s straight. Being sick and tired of being picked on he finds himself in a brothel at the top of a chicken shop. Who he later on in the play falls for. Also having a troubled relationship with both his mum and his girlfriend 24 year old girlfriend Katie leads him to finding love with Luminita the woman in the brothel.
Character bio : Hilary – Mother to 16 year old Hendrix , Hilary is currently 47. Hendrix – Son of Hilary 16 year old currently in education. Katie – Hendrix’s girlfriend 27 year old Australian woman who turns out to be a bully also besides the kids at Hendrix secondary school. Luminita – 24 year old Moldovan Prostitute. Leko – 38 year old Albanian who is a sex trafficker and a thug.
Some themes that are explored in this play as a whole is abuse .. In learning more about the play I’ve come to a realisation that a lot of Stanislavsky’s techniques that I have previously learned can be applied in this play as this play explores naturalistic and realistic acting which is what Stanislavsky teaches.
Jitney by Angus Wilson (Monologue)
Above is some annotations that I made about different emotions that I felt would compliment this monologue. Some conclusions that I made with this monologue is that Rena (one of the main characters in the play , also known as Youngbloods girlfriend is quite sensitive at this moment in time as she has a lot on her plate. Being a young mother she had a lot of growing up to do in such a short period of time. She is also feeling annoyed and uneasy and Youngblood (her boyfriend) has went behind her back and bought a house putting them in debt.
Stanislavski method
Uta Hagan Concept – Representation (e.g Fredy Mercurys Bohemian Rhapsody mimics that character to the core making it an representation of the person.) Whereas Presentational is showing your on take to something so my play Jitney when I play the character of Rena I am mimicking their behaviour but adding a twist of emotion meaning I can play around with the emotions that she’s feeling to adapt to the play this is a good way of engaging the audience more as if they had watched the play before you could change the emotion and say the monologue in a different perspective making the audience wanting to know more. Which I think that concept is pretty fascinating.
Identity – ( The descriptive image of what we are.) I identify myself as a strong empowered woman who is an extrovert but can be an introvert in certain occasions. I am … honest, funny, beautiful, strong, caring , independent, creative , fun, playful, a lot to handle and a bucket full of surprises. Whereas Rena my character she has similar characteristics , Rena can be seen as a rubies cube she has lots of sides to her personalities but some to describe her in couple of words is bold , loud , outspoken , independant , confident , smooth but can rough & spicy.
Substitutions – ‘A technique in which one replaces fictional events from the script with personal events from one’s life to create an authentic reaction.’ (reference from backstage.com) In my monologue Rena is quite upset and angry to the fact that her boyfriend Youngblood went behind her back and betrayed her faith and trust in him she’s already annoyed to the fact that life isn’t treating her right and is struggling to make a living for her family. A time I have felt quite annoyed, betrayed and angry is when a Friend went behind my back and did things with a boy I liked. I will use this emotions when she’s says and I quote ‘Naw you bought a den for Darnell … thats what you did.’ That is how I intend to cooperate this technique to my monologue I think this will really impact the audience and show them the pain behind my eyes and make them feel sympathetic towards my character.
Sense memory / 5 senses –
Thinking – intentions behind our lines and acting in the moment. My intentions of saying my lines as a whole is to get the truth out of Darnell known as Youngblood. At this point in the play I’m mad at the fact that Youngblood has been acting really weird lately and hasn’t been coming home and rumours have been running around that he has been cheating on me with my sister ‘Peaches’. Looking back to Garys lesson we looked at beat points a few weeks ago and we was to analyse the lines in our monologues and write down some of the emotions that come to mind. As every line we say has an intention behind it. The opening line ‘A house? A house, Darnell? You bought a house without me!’ At this point Darell just made everything worse life is not going as they planned and they barely have money and now Darnell breaks the news that now he has bought a house she is just trying to figure out if this is a joke or what. Emotions that can come under this sector of this opening line is surprised and shocked in the lack of maturity of Youngblood and annoyed of how stupid he could be in putting them in ‘debt’.
I invigen Rena’s tone is a sarcastic normal tone and then she realises its not a joke and it shifts mood when she states ‘You bought a house without me’ there you see a shift of mood to a more serious tone. Another shift in the mood is when she says and I quote ‘At one time I would have. But I’m not 17 no more ‘ She’s now a bit more calm and is trying too make him understand what he’s done. Another shift is where she says ‘ Thats not whats important to me. And you supposed to know,’ here she is really annoyed she now currently on a level 7 as he’s not been around and now he doesn’t even know whats important to her.
Walking and talking – Looking at stage directions as hints and not actual directions , this way the way you intend to walk or talk will have more meaning and have more of a connection to the audience because it won’t looked forced but natural and this is a key point as it keeps audiences engaged and wanting to keep on watching as spoken previously in Lucys lesson it takes 10 seconds for the audience to know whether what they are watching is believable and real or fake which if its fake the show has just been ruined as they are not gonna be engaged or focused and they would give a bad review and that’s not good. So it is important that even I there is a stage direction you do it but in your on time and to help don’t look at it as a stage direction but yes a a hint to do. My monologue not having stage directions doesn’t mean I can’t add them if I do even better as i am giving my self a chance to improvise my craft and make it better. As well as understanding the importance of adding directions which emphasises in whats happening or about to happen and gives it a bit of suspense moment. an example is someone holding hands. person a is upset and person b is comforting character a to show that bond that they have and b comforting a they would hold hands which would have more of a warmth to it and no meaning behind the holding of hands rather than if there was to be no stage directions and they are holding hands the audience won’t understand and doesn’t have a meaning for why the are holding hands which won’t have an impact they would just be holding hands for the sake of it. the shift of mood when holding hands with emotion is that the mood shifted from nothing to caring and supportive.
Reality – In drama it is hard to show reality but a rather simple way of showing reality is through clothing. Sound is the best way to create a sense of reality as well as clothing. In my monologue I have just called Darnell, so to represent a sense of reality in my monologue I would have a sound of a phone ringing to show that I’m making a call to Darnell. This will make the scene come more to life and seem more real to the audience. Me being a mother I would have to dress a bit more mature and appropriate depending on how I want to be portrayed to the audience. I come from a neighbourhood that is quite ghetto so to represent that I could do that through clothing eg. big round hoop earrings.
10 Character Questions (taken from Dee Canon). 1. Who am i? I am Rena Armani Jackson aged 22 (female) currently a full time mum currently living off benefits and what my boyfriend earns from his job (Cab driver). My birthday is February 3 1977. 2. What time is it? It is currently a Thursday evening in early autumn (time is) 18:32pm. 3. Where am I? I am at my mothers house situated on the same road I’m located in America , situated in Pittsburg ,Pennsylvania on Amity street. 4. What surrounds me? (inanimate/animate) I am at home and surrounding me is a princess telephones which is cream on top of a shiny wooden desktop with a small black tv and a super comfortable long sofa I also have my son (Jessie) that is currently sleeping in the next room and my ginger cat named Sunny. 5. What are the given circumstances (by Stanislavski)? My boyfriend is apparently cheating on me with ‘Peaches’ my sister and I don’t know whether or not I believe these allegations or not even though I should as he’s been acting very suspicious lately and hasn’t been home for a couple days now. 6. What is my relationship? I’m in my house within my kitchen I feel very comfortable in the kitchen its my favourite place to be especially when I’m annoyed. Its also the room that has most sound proof so not much noise can be heard as I can be very loud and I do not want to disturb my neighbours. I don’t really spend much time in my bedroom as it just brings a sense of uncomfortableness and emptiness as Youngblood is not around the way I would like him to be. I enjoy being in my front room also as well as I like pacing around it and I enjoy talking to myself bizarrely. I do spend a lot of the time in my bathroom talking to myself in front of my big mirror gives me a sense of dominance as when I’m feeling down I go in there and put on some makeup and make my self feel more cheerful and empowered as being a young mother is hard especially when you don’t have a high income. 7. What do I want? I want to find out the truth and have a stable healthy relationship as I have a lot on my back and I’m at my breaking point. I really want and need for Youngblood to start coming home and stepping up to his role as a father. He needs to start treating me like the Queen I am. Overall I just want to be happy and not lied to. 8. What is in my way? Rumours are a obstacle in my way as I don’t know the truth unless there is evidence of Darnell cheating on me but him acting really weird lately and not being home adds more tension to these rumours making them believable. Finances are also a problem as maybe if we had enough money I wouldn’t be angry at him for buying a new house and maybe these rumours wouldn’t have accord but its still a mystery whether or not the rumours are false or not. Also lack of trust between me and my partner just makes the whole situation worse. Him being out and not being home recently and going back to his old ways rather than stepping up to the plate is what scares me as well as I’m not trying to be a single mum. I can do it by myself but having that extra support is much appreciated and needed. 9. What do i do to get it? To get to the root of the problem and get a solution I will call Darnell and question him about him deciding to buy a new house without me knowing as well as confronting him with the unexpected rumours. 11. The basic object exercise – what does my character do when she is alone? My character cleans as thats how she expresses her feeling and thats where she feels most comfortable. She loves a clean environment and can’t stand dirt so she would listen to music whilst cleaning her home moving things around making it feel cosy for her family. She would cook Darnells favourite foods and go for a walk thinking about her future plans and her dreams; talking into existence. 12. (a) What did I just do? I have just came from a stroll and I’m now in my house and I bumped into some of the people from the cab station that alerted me on whats going on with Darnell apparently sleeping with my sister and this new house he has just brought. (b) What I am doing now? I’m wondering whether on not I should confront Darnell personally so me going to his workplace and confronting him about all this shananigans or should I speak him over the phone as I don’t want to make a big scene at his work place and I don’t want to embrace either one of us as these rumours could be false. (c) Whats the first thing I want? The truth and honesty is what I want and for Darnell to just come to me and consult me before he does anything major that will affect our relationship as I’m not a child I’m a Woman who would like a man and not a child. 13. Immediacy – My character is constantly looking for truthfulness as that to her is very important in any relationship/friendship. She wants the people around her to be honest with her no matter how bad the situation is. She being such an understandable person she doesn’t expect much from others except truthfulness and realness. 14. Fourth Wall – The barrier between you and the audience 15. Endowment – doing real life things even though they are not real. 16. Talking to yourself. 17. Outdoors – thinking about relationship with the outside or with an object in a room. for example my costume. My relationship with my phone is that I’m not really on it as I have ‘responsibilities’ such as caring for my son and getting my house sorted and cosy so that when Darnell eventually comes back from work its all clean. 18. Conditioning forces – What they need to feel for example my character feels Sad , upset adrenaline rush as she’s also angry and doesn’t know how to feel except really angry. 19. History (Social/Political/Historical events.
Katie Mitchells 1-4 Character questions. 1.Fact & Question – Fact – ‘Darnell’, Cab worker who has to for for his life every day as where he works is very dangerous and the needs to make sure he has enough funds to support his poor family. Hi family consist of His young son Jessie and his girlfriend Rena. Coming from such a hard life and background and the only one that brings the money home he has a lot in his back. Q? Who is he? ‘Darnell’ is also known as Youngblood he is Rena’s boyfriend and the father of her one year old son. Darnell is caring, loving and kind person but cab be very stupid and do things without thinking as he just wants to please his Misses Rena. How old is he? He is 24 years old. Being 24 his wages isn’t a lot especially working in this jitney cab station he not just dent make a lot in an income but has to see and hear about deaths in his local station area. What is he doing ? He is currently at the cab station down the road on the phone to me. He is happy as he has Brought us a new house but stressed at the same time as I’m having a go at him for these rumours that I’m hearing about him sleeping around with my sister Peaches.
2. Research – NYU Langone Hospital where Rena was born.
Cab Station –
Historical/Social context on the cab station – In the 1910 the jitney can station started to become recognised as well as becoming more dangerous. During this time period these jitney cab stations have become very dangerous as murders would happen so often it would become a norm and workers don’t have much to say but to be careful. This links to my character Rena being a full time mum whilst Darnell is at work means she’s got so much on her plate already and on top of that she’s worrying everyday about her boyfriend constantly thinking about if he’s safe or not. This links to also why Rena is so upset in the play and has a go at her boyfriend for buying a new house. As all she wants is to say up as much as she cab so that her, Darnell and her son can move to a better area for a better life with less stress of wondering if her boyfriend is hurt or not.
3. Character Biography 0-6 yrs – Rena Armani Jackson (currently 22) was born February 3 1977, in the NYU Langone Hospital based in Brooklyn. She lived with her six siblings , Mother and Step Dad. At 3 months old Rena’s dad had passed away due to alcohol abuse. At the age of six Rena’s family decided to move to a better area Pittsburg ,Pennsylvania on Amity street for a better life. 6 – 12 yrs – Rena and her family had settled and found an elementary school for her to start going to. Rena had a bit of a hard time settling down as she was a little bit of a trouble maker so it was hard to find the right school, which would conker her needs and necessities. 12-18 yrs – Rena not doing so well in her years at school she didn’t end up with the right grades to carry on with her education. 18 – 22 yrs – Rena had previously moved out of her mums house and moved in with her boyfriend Youngblood and one year old son jessie. She is currently mentally and physically exhausted and is just focused on saving as much money as she can for a better future. 4. Place (Current Location) – This monologue is based in Rena’s mums house Pittsburg , Pennsylvania in the front room where she is currently on the phone to Youngblood and they are discussing all these rumours that have been running around.
Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Marian Grotowski (Born August 11 1933 – January 14 1999) was a Polish theatre director who was greatly influenced by Stanislavski and other practitioners. His technique is influenced by Physical and mental approaches that are all about .. Jerzy is also known for his poor theatre which juxtaposes Stanislavski’s type of theatre. Poor theatre is using limited props and minimal things top create a pieces. Poor theatre concentrates on the actor and them as a whole rather than all the equipments and lavish costumes and stuff. Which is very interesting as to many theatre consist of stuff costing money and being expensive and looking perfect rather than on the actual Actor and what he can make out of a bare simple space. I Applied his technique in my works by focusing on myself rather than the props around me. I looked at different ways I could express different emotions and looked at some of Grotowski’s teachings an implemented it into my works I saw a big difference in my work when implementing his techniques.
scratch night 