Devising - Week 6

Class Feedback

To start week 6 off we did performed our piece to the other groups. This was good because it meant that we could get another perspective on our work. Our group was given this feedback: Refine Physical Theatre Movement, Great Tense scene between the boys, need to work on the movement technique, Don't come out of character, add some music and have more Berkovian style scenes. This constructive criticism was really helpful to our group as it meant we could work on things that have been noticed to have not been as good as other scenes. 

We also got feedback from Deborah, she said how the boys fight scene between Lewis, Joe and I needs to be more slick and at a better pace. We took this advice into consideration and took out the back rolls that Lewis and I were doing, we knew that there had to be a moment between mine and Lewis' character which showed a connection and partnership against Billie Joe. We tried a variety of movements out that would show this while also getting Lewis in a position to start his fight with Joe. I had the idea to catapult Lewis into near where Joe was standing. However this wasn't enough by itself and looked quite lacklustre. We showed this back to Deborah and she agreed that it wasn't enough, she gave us the idea that after Father has broken up the fight between Billie and Brother Taylor that both Lewis and I run at each other and stop and link arms, after this we both lean back holding each others weight and use the momentum to swing, we the did this again to get Lewis to near where Joe was standing, this idea was great as it showed the connection, got Lewis in position and wasn't too challenging to do. We also were told that it needed to be at a better pace, for this me and Joe rehearsed this scene many times to try and find moments to slow it down. We came to the part where Joe has jumped into my arms, for this we were told to slow it down, this was great because it gave the scene more intensity and also showed the opposite style to the fast movement of before. The slow part also shows a moment of peace between the two characters. This juxtaposition creates a lasting impact on the audience. 

Deborah also helped me recognize how  my emotions weren't being portrayed in this scene, I was annoyed at myself because I wanted to be believable in my portrayal. After this I decided to identify and write down the emotions I will be feeling in this scene. I did this as I feel I am a Method Actor, Method acting was a device taught by Constantin Stanislavski which in summary the actor recalls emotions from his own life to put into the scene. I identified that I first feel hatred towards Billie when seeing him with Donna.  To feel this emotion I thought of someone I dislike very much from the past and imagined this was Joe. This I felt worked as I expressed how I truly felt. 

I also got advice on my scene after the fight with Lewis when I question who Billie is. In this scene I'm meant to be superior to the father because of my money and reputation. However I wasn't showing this. Deborah and people in my group gave me constructive criticism. I was told to be more horrible towards Lewis' character. I took this into consideration and thought about making a short script for me to say when doing this scene. This will make me more confident when performing it and will also help me to find moments of pause to show tension. The script reads as follows:

"Who is he? Why is he with your daughter? Does he have money like I do? Does he have a reputation like I do? She's disrespecting you. She's disobeying your orders. are you the man of the house or are you just a coward? Are you going to look at me when I talk to you? Look at me. Look at me. LOOK AT ME."

For this I wanted to make it obvious to the audience my status and so I mention things like reputation and money while also showing how Billie has a very low status. I also play on the mind of Lewis' character by asking whether he is the man of the house. I show my superiority in this line by calling him a coward and suggesting that he is inferior to his daughter. For the last bit of this speech I say 'Look at me' three different times. I get louder with each 'Look at me', to show how by each one I am getting more angry because I'm being ignored. I finally push Father to his limits and he glares at me, at this point I look scared as if I'm about to be hit yet Lewis' character stops himself as he thinks about what Brother Taylor can bring to his family if he marries his daughter. 

Joe's Monologue

On Wednesday we decided that Joe needed a scene so the audience would understand how Billie was feeling after the break up. We thought we wouldn't make it kind of like an interrogation and as if he was being asked questions. We asked him such questions as where did you meet?, how long have you been seeing her?, do you love her? All these questions were good but they weren't telling us anything new about this character. We made up new questions more deeper question to understand more about Billie, we decided to make it quite abstract and do the monologue after he died and ask him such questions like 'why did you jump off the bridge?' these questions got greater answers from Billie and made the audience question what had happened. After this we decided that we wouldn't ask the questions and so the audience would just hear the answers making it more enthralling.

I thought we progressed well this week, next week is performance week and I think with some refinement we are ready to show.