'13' - Week 4

Introduction to Week 4

In Week 4 of '13' we started looking at the rest of the contextual presentations. I also looked at line learning and off script explorations, and we also ran act 2 as a class and blocked the scenes in this act.

Finishing Context Presentations

After listening to half of the presentations a week before, I was excited to listen to the others in our group and the topics they have studied.Firstly, I enjoyed Issie, Sophie and Hannah's presentation because they helped me to understand more about Mike Bartlett. Their presentation showed me how the riots in London at the time relates to the protests in '13'. I also learned a brief history of Bartlett and how he studied English and Theatre at the University of Leeds. This showed me how Bartlett is knowledgeable about writing and the way its produced in the theatre. I also enjoyed watching Frank and Nathan's presentation. The research that they did for this presentation was impressive and gave a good relevance to contemporary society. The insights I got about the '12' were good, and gave me another level of character development, as I can react to different characters in different ways if I feel necessary. For example how Ruth is the voice of struggle, as Stephen this helps me to notice how I need to support Ruth because not only is she a friend but she wants the best for the country. 'I like hard work. Every minute. Every hour. To make this country great again.' (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 18th October 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000020 ). This quote shows how Ruth is dedicated, and is very influential to the society at the time. 

Line Learning and Explorations

Stagecraft Triangle John, Holly and
Stephen.

In this week I also started learning my lines for Act 2, I tried to learn these lines quickly so I could start looking at how my character would say them and his objective and obstacles. I started by learning my lines for Scene 11. I found these lines quite easy to learn, as I felt what Stephen was saying I believed. This didn't just help me with my lines but also made me feel naturalistic in this scene. After I had learnt the lines to this scene, I started looking at my characters objectives and obstacles, an exercise we did last week. I found that in Act 2 scene 11 my objective is to find out where John went, and why. The obstacles in this scene are different people interrupting mine and Johns conversation, like Shannon and Holly. John himself is also an obstacle as he tries to change the subject many times. 'Do you think it's going to rain?' (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 18th October 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000037 ). This quote shows how John doesn't want to talk about where he went and wants things back to how they used to be. Also In this scene when Stephen says 'reminding me of the political rallies of my youth'. (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 18th October 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000037 ) I, as Stephen look away from John and squint my eyes slightly. This shows how Stephen is trying to recollect the past and how those days were so good and how he didn't have the burden of lung cancer. In this scene Holly comes in to interrupt John and I. While doing this I am introduced to Holly, I thought it would be a good idea to be diagonally away from John and opposite Holly creating a triangle as shown by the image, as it links with Stagecraft and also gives the audience a view of each 3 characters. When John introduces Holly as a prostitute, I subtly scowl this shows how Stephen thinks prostitutes are below him without coming off to arrogant. I also started to learn my lines for the scene after this Act 2 Scene 12. In this scene Stephen's objective is to tell Ruth that John is back. I don't think Stephen has many obstacles in this scene, apart from how Ruth is in a rush. In this scene I tried rushing my words as I thought it would seem more naturalistic as when people have a lot to say they say it quickly. However, I delivered it this way and it didn't work as at points it was difficult to hear what I said. I quickly resolved this by saying my lines in a slower way and this helped my articulation and pronunciation greatly.

Running of Act 2

On Thursday, we finished Act 2, in this I watched many scenes and also rehearsed in a different room. From the scenes I saw, I got a greater understanding of '13', and the ways characters felt and their objectives in a certain scene. For example, in Act 2 Scene 13 Sarah is chopping vegetables while Ruby pesters her, in this scene where Hannah excellently plays Sarah I see a sadistic side to the character, A side that might not have been seen by just reading the script. I also enjoyed showing my scene with Kennedy to Karen. In this scene I tell Ruth that her dead son's best friend is back from a departure described as an 'extended gap year'. (BartlettM.2011.'13'.Retrieved 18th October 2014 from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/13-iid-18480/do-9781408175187-div-00000057 ). This quote used in a later scene describes how John took an easy way out and to Stephen had gone off on a holiday while others feared the worst. While running through this scene with Kennedy, I lost my words, this at the time was bad but gave the scene a chance to breath as there was a pause, the pause was so tense and worked really well in the scene to show Ruth's and Stephens shared emotion of shock that we kept it in.

Conclusion  

In this week, I have progress on my lines for '13' and out of class exploration by finding new ways to deliver my lines, and also Stephen's views on other characters. I also learnt more about the context of the play, and the playwright. Next week I hope to look through Act 3 next week and learn my lines and do some more exploration on Stephen's views and how things are at the time.