'13' - Week 1 Reflective

'13' Initial Thoughts

When first told what play we would be doing, I was excited for a new challenge. As a class, we were told that we would be doing the play '13', by Mike Bartlett, as I first heard this I was enthralled, as I had never heard of this play, or the playwright. I was ambitious to learn about this new play and its style. I thought the play could be about how '13' is an unlucky number and how a story of tragedies and bad things happen. I also have the idea the play could be about 13 different things or thirteen different people.

First Thoughts with the Script

As a class we started this new project by reading Act 1 of the script. My first impressions of the script, was that the play was quite modern, I got this impression as there is current technology, this is justified by "an alarm clock flashing. 7:13 am".(BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 4th October 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000008 ). This gave me the impression that '13' was set in the late 2000s, and how it could be in a busy environment, as people are getting woken up early for work. After reading the script for a while I met a character I was fond of in Act 1, Scene 6. A man called Stephen Crossley, my first impressions told me that he had very strong beliefs on the presence of god. I assumed this because Stephen is a lecturer and seems to have superiority as he has his own speech. "I want to talk about God". (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 19th 4th October 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000008 ). This quote shows how Stephen is using his power to talk "I want".  After being asked to read the lines of Stephen, I quickly fell in love with this character, because Stephen is so different to the other characters in this play, and is well known. I felt this role would suit me as I feel I have a lot in common with Stephen, in that we both strive to be unique.

Character Developing

I was asked which character I would like to play, the first that sprung to mind was Stephen. Fortunately, I was given this part and would go on to develop this character. My first thoughts on Stephen was that he was superior and well spoken. Because of this, I printed off the scenes that Stephen was in, and started to underline the words, that would need emphasis in different lines, or a speech.  I did this for a speech, as it can help to develop naturalism. I also used a forward slash when a new topic had begun, this helped me to recognize where to take a pause to make Stephen seem well spoken. For example "I have here a box. Inside is the Lord Almighty himself. / You have a choice". (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 4th October 2014
from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000013 )  I put a forward slash here as Stephen has gone from talking about the box to addressing the chorus directly. 

First Practical 

In my first practical exercise, I rehearsed Stephen's speech in Act 1 Scene 6. I encountered a problem, I tried to make Stephen sound angry when delivering my first line, "At least some of you have bothered to turn up". (BartlettM.2011.'13'.  I thought this would work with Stephen as I saw him as an arrogant man. However, when delivering the line I didn't feel engaged. So I looked for a solution to this, I tried saying the line slower but that didn't work. After trying many different methods, I found by putting the emphasis on "turn", instead of "bothered" made the line sound softer, and I believe will give a good first impression to the audience. From this practical, I learned about how Naturalism can make Stephens character seem more superior and more believable. At the start of the practical I was trying too hard to be superior, but when I was natural, it came across more believable because of elements like the dialogue. 

Research on Context

After being excited about this new production I decided to research context, I found out how '13' is set in 2010-2011 in London. I researched what was happening at that time and  learned about the general elections and how David Cameron was appointed the new Prime Minister. This was helpful to '13' as it gives me a brief background and will help me to understand my characters beliefs on politics. I also research about the economy of the time and how Britain was in a recession. 

Reflection and Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe I have made the right decision asking to be Stephen, as I feel it suits me, but at the same time will give me a challenge. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks working on my character development, for example things like costume and status. I'm also excited to work with others to achieve good scenes, including the Prime Minister, Ruth in Act 1 scene 17. For next week, I hope to learn Act 1 of '13', and learn the context of the play.