'13' - Week 3

Introduction to Week 3

We started the week off by developing our characters, I found this to be very useful as I had not developed Stephen much at this stage. We also looked at positions our characters would be in, for a public pose, and private pose. Both movements gave me a better understanding of the character, and how he may be when addressed by other characters in '13'.

Character Development

Harrison Ford who I interpret Stephen
to look like.

We first looked at character development. I see Stephen with glasses, as I find him intellectual yet, he only needs his glasses for reading. In my interpretation Stephen looks like Harrison Ford. I also think he is quite a tall man and is 54 years old, however he looks older because he is dying of lung cancer. I did some home research and found the symptoms to lung cancer, for example coughing and persistent breathlessness. This is very helpful towards my development as I can use this in scenes to show how Stephen is dying. I also found out the death rates in lung cancer to give Stephen another level of emotion to use in scenes. In 2012 near when '13' was set, lung cancer was the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, this may worry the character of Stephen because he knows this will probably kill him.

Objectives and Obstacles & 'I......... You'

We talked about different characters, and how they have objectives in a scene and how some obstacles can get in the way of that ambition. I volunteered to do a practical where my objective was to leave the room, however Hannah was my obstacle trying to get me to stay. This exercise I found worthwhile to do, as it gave me an insight as to Stephens goals before he dies, and the obstacles he may have to face. I think Stephens main objective in '13' is to persuade people about how god isn't real, one of my obstacles is that he is dying and he only has a short time to persuade people. Another thing I did was called the 'I........You'. In this I think of a word to fill the gap that works with my motive in different scene. For example In act 4 scene 8 I support Ruth, as I tell John how 'She's doing her best'. (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved October 14th 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000057) This quote shows how Stephen's objective is to show John how Ruth is trying to sort things out, but it is a struggle. However John is my obstacle as he is oblivious to Ruth's efforts. I also learnt in this exercise how an actor should never go straight for the end result, for example in act 1 scene 6, my objective is to persuade people that there is no god. However. I won't go straight for the final objective. as there are different steps I need to take. in order to get to my objective. Stanislavski describes these steps as units, I can relate this to Stephen's speech because before I can try and persuade people about my beliefs I will have to get their attention. This is what Stanislavski describes as a unit or bit.

Contextual Presentations 

A slide from mine and Joe's presentation.

In context we were assigned to pairs, and looked at different elements in the context of '13'. I was paired with Joe and we decided to present economic struggle of the time '13' was set. I did research at home and put it into a powerpoint. I found the things I researched interesting for example the links with '13' and how Cameron much like Ruth found it difficult to cope. To find it easier to understand the context, others from our group presented what they had found out about the context of '13'. I found Donna and Phoebe's context findings good. As they talked about Iran's nuclear weaponry and linked it to '13' with Ruth's dilemma.

End of Act 1 Run Through

To finish the week off we as a class ran through the last couple of scenes in Act 1, starting with the Alpha group, for this, I volunteered to be a member of the chorus, this helped me to gain a greater understanding of the play, and also how I can react in more of a naturalistic way. In this scene I showed disgust to Donna's character Holly, this is because what she was saying was controversial to the groups beliefs. I also joined the scene where John has a speech. I acted as a member of public watching John speak. This helped develop this scene as it showed how John was gaining an audience from protesting in the park.

Next Week aims and Conclusion

This week, I think my work on context and character development was good, as it was my aim from last week. I believe I am at a good stage with Stephen as I know a good amount about this characters illness, beliefs, status and more. For next week I hope to have developed my character and also start to look at scenes with other members of the class in different acts. I also hope to learn my lines for Act 2, so I can be ready for when the performance starts.