'Road' - Evaluation

When first presented with the Road script by Jim Cartwright I was excited for the new challenge, however after reading the text it didn't completely appeal to me, I didn't like the way it was written as it was just monologues, and I like the idea of being on stage for most of the show. Even though I wasn't too fond of the script one character stuck out to me who I'd like to be. His name was Bisto a loud mouthed DJ who is sexually driven, I seemed to levitate to this character because in some ways he resembles me. I felt that even though Bisto wasn't a big part I could really make him the star of the show. I felt I really understood how this character was the comic relief of the play and this was one of the main reasons I wanted to play him because he is very light hearted with his witty jokes and remarks which I felt once again resembled me. The first time Bisto is seen, he is very forward with the audience and is quite confident, by approaching the audience 'How you doing?', to me this line shows how he wants to be the centre of attention. This was my favourite scene to read, because it was so easy to relate to, Bisto really fits the stereotypical mould of a loud mouthed DJ.

Throughout the rehearsal process I was very disciplined. I tried to stay in character as much as I could. I also spent a lot of my spare time going over Bisto's lines, and I felt this showed good time management as I was one of the first people to have known there lines. I also looked at the 80's and before, luckily for me I love this era of music and it was great fun to research the music. Over the rehearsal process I had a great relationship with my fellow peers and also lecturers, I got mostly good feedback, and I felt I grew my character. I felt I always kept a good response to feedback I was getting, I was pleased to get feedback as it helped me grow and develop a better understanding for my character and deliver a greater performance. For example, I was given feedback to stay in character in the week before our performances. After this I did disciplinary exercises to help me stay focused.

From the beginning of Road to the end I felt my character had really grew. I felt I took a big risk in picking this character because when reading the script Bisto isn't one of the main characters who I always prefer to play. I feel like to really get the potential out of Bisto, he needs to be played by a character actor. The type of actor I feel I am. I felt I also took a massive risk as at one point  I strip, I found the stripping difficult to do as I'm not comfortable with my body, but I know my character Bisto would be comfortable so I had to forget who I was and be Bisto. My interpretation of my character changed tremendously I first saw Bisto as an egotistical DJ who only wanted sex, but I felt at the end of the process Bisto was a lot more modest than the lines entail. 

After performing the first performance I wasn't overly joyed as I would have liked to be, I messed up my lines. The reason I think I forgot my lines was because I was so focused on my acting, that my lines had gone, even though my lines weren't right I stayed in character and on topic and most of the audience members didn't notice that I had slipped up.  The second performance was much better, I felt I really stole the show in the second performance, mostly due to my second scene, my dance moves were very much that of a 43 year old man, and my energy was consistently high, I knew I had done well as I was the only member of the cast to receive an ovation. This gave me a great high and I felt even more confident going out to perform the end of the show.

I had many strengths in this project. From the start of rehearsal process, I was blessed with feedback like 'you were born to play this role' and other great feedback, this really made me happy and I wanted to develop my character even further to deliver a brilliant performance, I felt throughout the rehearsals I was very in touch with my character and I would find myself delving into my character and looking at things like costume, personality and the subtext of my scenes. Another strength of mine was my confidence. I felt to portray Bisto to his best ability you have to be confident with what you're doing on stage and everything needs to be 100% committed.

There were also some weaknesses, there were points when performing the second scene I would break character due to the laughs of my fellow peers, unfortunately I wasn't disciplined enough to stay in character and develop my scene, I acted on this and did disciplinary exercises. I think I also lost my accent at points in my scenes, for example I didn't drop my H's on some of the words, however overall my accent was very good. 

For my next performance I will bring the same level of confidence as I did to the character of Bisto. I will do more work on my character for the next project as I felt I lacked in this area. Since the beginning of Road I feel I have really grown, at the start Bisto was just a character on the page and by the end he was a larger than life character. 

I really enjoyed this project and I'm proud of the development of my character and growth as an Actor.

Character Profile

Bisto

Name:

(James Connelly Jr) Bisto. He has a nickname called Bisto, as of an incident in which gravy was spilled all over him at Christmas time. He loves the name, and hardly anyone knows his real name.

Age:

 43

Gender:

 Male

Status:

 In the road, Bisto is a guy of high status as he is fun to be around and also knows a lot about music and alcohol which other characters are interested in. Outside of the road he is an outcast like the rest of the people of Road.

Parents:

 Bisto's father is James Connelly Sr, he was a failed actor who moved to Road, because it was the only thing he can afford, this is where Bisto gets his high energy from. His mother Deidre Connelly was a cleaner who didn't earn a lot of money. She was always annoyed and had constant fights with her spouse James.

Friends:

 Bisto's best friend was a boy called Derek Cutter, who he met in Primary School, they both wanted to be DJ's from a young age but Derek went on to achieve great things DJing all over the world while Bisto stayed in Road. They still keep in touch but aren't as close as they once were. Bisto is also a friend with Scullery, they both love food alcohol and music and are around the same sort of age.

Occupation and Monetary Status:

 Bisto is a DJ who, works at the Millstone Pub 5 nights a week, Tuesday through to Saturday but not Sunday or Monday. He earns about £50 per night which works out to be about £13000 per year. This is quite a lot of money compared to the people on Road.

Religion:

 Bisto is an atheist, in the past he has often clung to God but God never answered his prayers, this is why he is often seen as quite fierce when talking about sex, alcohol and other things that would be looked on as a sin by some religions.

Ethnicity:

 Bisto is a white male. Both his parents and grandparents were English, Welsh and Dutch.

Social Skills:

 In public Bisto is easily approachable, he's easy to talk to but still will come off as arrogant, if he sees a girl he likes he will go up to them and introduce himself but will often be rejected.

Education:

 Never went past secondary School, he studied at the local school and got poor grades, he only got 1 O level in Music.

Where they live:

Bisto lives in a small house, that's quite modern, he is very frugal and would hardly even use heating or lighting, and is one of the reasons is short term girlfriend left him.

Past experiences:

Bisto has always had a passion for music but was told by his father not to pursue it as he despised the world of entertainment after never finding success in Acting. Bisto didn't listen to him and went into DJing and fell out with his quite conservative father. The job of being a successful DJ didn't work out but still kept doing it as he loved it.

In Secondary School, at Christmas time the school had a free Christmas Lunch, Bisto sat with his friend Derek and others and they all had a great time. However, at the time Bisto wasn't extremely popular, gravy was thrown all over him and everybody started to laugh, and went 'ahh Bisto', this was one of the first times Bisto got attention even though it wasn't for the right reason and he started to crave it, and is one of the many reasons he's so flamboyant. It's also the reason he kept the nickname Bisto.

Bisto, for a small time joined the Army but was quickly kicked out because he wasn't disciplined enough. He joined with some of his friends, who lasted in the army a lot longer, but unfortunately most of them he doesn't know or are dead. Except Curt, who came back from the war alive but was emotionally scared as shown in the script.

Personality and Appearance

John Travolta on the left, Grease (1978).

As I found out what character I was, I started to do research about him and make artistic decisions surrounding the character. I started off by looking into his appearance and thinking about his personality, I envisioned my look to be much like John Travolta's out of Grease, Grease came out in 1978 and Travolta would of been a popular icon for people to follow back in the 80s.  After researching into Travolta's trademark the leather jacket, I found that they were quite expensive. I thought about Bisto again and even though he isn't frugal he certainly couldn't afford one. I think that instead Bisto could wear something very colourful, like a Hawaiian shirt, I will also wear black skinny Jeans as y that time Flares were out of fashion, I will also think about wearing a colourful jacket to boost the poignant and arrogant DJ, I think that Bisto is also quite fat, he enjoys his food and will often eat a burger and chips before going out to DJ. He also drinks a lot of beers and sweet Ciders which are very calorific. I then went on to look at Bisto's personality. I first thought of James Buckley's character from The Inbetweeners, in this his character Jay Cartwright is a foul mouthed, low status character, who is very sexually driven. This is much like my character Bisto who has the same traits as Buckley's character. I feel that this personality was good but wasn't completely the same as Jay Cartwright's considering he is quite a lot younger and isn't into the music Bisto is into. I also thought about the scenes I was in. The first scene I am in is on page 31, I looked into this scene and asked questions about my character in this scene.

James Buckley, The Inbetweeners.

Bisto's first scene

In this scene the stage directions are as so: 'Bisto, the pub DJ, enters with a pack of leaflets. (On them is something like 'Bisto and his Beatoven Disco. Tonight at the Millstone Pub'.) He throws these out to the audience as he speaks. He wears a hat with two stuffed fingers on top in the V-sign. I was told that this now wouldn't be set outside but in the pub, for this I had to change one of the lines. The line was along the lines of 'later why not come down to the Millstone Pub and move up and down with Bisto.' Now that I'm in the pub and disco already in changing the line to 'later why not move up and down with Bisto and his Beatoven Disco. ' This shows how I'm in the pub for this scene and won't confuse the audience.

Who is Present?

The only people present in this scene is myself and the audience. Scullery may also be present but I don't interact with him in this scene.

When is it Happening?

I think Road is set over a night, with the first scene of Road starting at about 5:30 pm and the last scene going on till about 2 am in the morning. I think my first scene is set at about 6:30 pm, I think its earlier in the night as he is trying to attract people to his Disco.

Placement of Scene

The scene before this one is Joey and Clare's scene where we first see these characters, we find out that these two characters are severely ill, this is quite sad scene for the audience to see, after this I need to completely change the mood and make the play happier. I feel like my scene is the comic relief to the play. After my scene it goes back to Clare and Joey, I hope that this first scene of mine will be very happy and bouncy to really contrast the scene before and after. 

Other Questions

Set in Public or Private: Public place know as the Millstone Pub.

Outdoors or Indoors: Indoors in Pub.

Physical Characteristics: I would say Bisto is very claustrophobic in this scene, I think he is also very persuasive and reminds me of a con artist or scam lawyer as he seems to be quite a slimy character, I will do this by showing my physical characteristics as quite laid back and quite egotistical.

I don't think my character has any boundaries in this scene as he will approach any audience member and may even flirt with them.

Subtext

Under the words is where we find subtext the meaning behind the lines, I feel Ihave many lines with great meaningful subtext, for example Bisto's famous line "you'll get used to me, you'd better" has a great meaning to it, Bisto craves for attention with this line and is almost forcing people to like him, I feel in this earlier scene Bisto wants to hook the audience in coming to his Beatoven Disco later, even though he may be scaring them away as he is quite aggressive he believes he is quite persuasive and this is one of the many reasons he is quite egotistical. I also feel like the line 'I hopey so' can also be said in two different ways I feel like it can be said quite sarcastically if I don't get a response off the audience or it can be said in a jolly way in which I'm trying to entice the audience into coming to the Beatoven disco, I think I will say it in the jolly way as the character would want people to come to his disco. 

Bisto's Second Scene

Bisto's second and last scene is set in the Millstone Pub and its the start of the Beatoven disco. This is my main scene and the scene in which I want to make the most memorable.

Who is Present?

in this scene its just me and the audience and also maybe Scullery. In this scene I will interact with the audience a lot more, and even Scullery at certain points.

When is it Happening?

As expressed before I think road takes place over one night with the first scene being at 6:30, I think this scene is set at 8pm when the Beatoven Disco starts.

Placement of the Scene

 This scene is after Joey's and Clare's scene where Joey has just died, I need to make sure my scene is better than the one before so I can lift the emotions of the audience and make them happy and laughing. This will be difficult but I'm ready for a challenge. This scene is one again comic relief. After my scene, it goes into Scullery, Manfred Dor and Lane. This scene is quite funny in the way that Nyakeh who plays Manfred has interpreted it, I think this is good because nearer the ending of my second scene the mood drops a bit when Bisto is talking about how he loves the audience as its very sentimental and very contrasting to the rest of the scene. I feel like at this point the audiences spirits need to be lifted again and this is done expertly by Nyakeh.

Other Questions

Set in Public or Private: Public place, Millstone Pub. 

Outdoors or Indoors: Indoors in Pub. 

Physical Characteristics: Like the other scene Bisto is very bouncy in the scene trying to get the audience up on there feet and dancing however there are also parts where he's aggressive, 'dance you buggers!' I will use a pointing gesture at this point to make Bisto seem even that bit more aggressive.

My character again has no boundaries in this scene and will wink at any member of the audience as he believes everyone loves him. 

Subtext

For my last scene Bisto's catchphrase, "you'll get used to me, you'd better", I started to make the saying more sentimental because I wanted to add variety but also because I believe as it gets later on into the night he has more to drink and becomes less aggressive and develops more of a loving attitude. Also when I say 'this next one's dedicated to you, well you know who you are darling', Bisto thinks about a girl at this point, I'll use Stanislavski's system to vision someone from my real life to make the subtext more invigorating. 

Reference:

Books:

Road by Jim Cartwright

Websites:

http://www.newrockbristol.co.uk/collections/leather-jackets (Leather Jackets)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=John+Travolta+Grease&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=geEiVYrrGOrG7AaI74CoDg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgdii=_&imgrc=1ykxcqxxW3AQWM%253A%3BjzW9NuERPJ7ujM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.eonline.com%252Feol_images%252FEntire_Site%252F2011418%252F300.grease.cm.51811.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.eonline.com%252Fnews%252F316992%252Fjohn-travolta-s-attorney-slams-allegation-star-groped-grease-cohort-jeff-conaway%3B300%3B300 (John Travolta Grease Photo)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Jay+Cartwright&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=huIiVdWrFI6S7AbFuICwBg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#imgdii=_&imgrc=wPw-TlY3Xt_3WM%253A%3BkrWfoP1MgHpxIM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fstatic.televisionando.it%252Ftelevisionando%252Ffotogallery%252F625X0%252F36059%252Fjay-cartwright.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.televisionando.it%252Ffoto%252Fthe-inbetweeners-serie-di-culto-gb-in-onda-su-mtv_3365_10.html%3B450%3B337 (James Buckley Inbetweeners Photo)

'Road' - Week 7

Quick Run Through

On Wednesday, we ran through Road, to see what props where needed for each scene. I also started to learn my cues for when I come on stage. For my first scene I didn't need any props as I am just talking to the audience. However this was helpful as I found my cue to come on was when Clare says "I'd rather get in bed". This is the cue for my first scene, and I knew that I had to come on stage very upbeat and high energy to quickly change the mood of the piece from the sad scene with Joey and Clare. For my second scene I come on when the song Don't know much about History by Sam Cooke comes on, I like this cue as its easy to listen out for as sometimes I may not hear my cue line but if its a song it will be much easier. For this scene I will need headphones, to give the impression I'm a DJ however, I don't need them for my first scene as I don't play any records. I may also need some records in the second scene.

Proper Run Through

John Travolta Point

After this we did a proper run through, I did my second scene in which I do many different dance moves, I felt my dance moves were all really good and this was my best run to date. The first song I dance to is Let's Dance, I felt like I should add a movement to start the song, I felt like moving my arm slowly from side to side to show that I want every audience member to get up and dance. The second song I dance to is the Bee Gee's Saturday Night Fever, for this I'm going to do some different spins, as they work with the rhythm of the music, I will then do the John Travolta point, as its quite iconic to this song. The next song I dance to is Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire, for this song I do the twist dance move, this was an iconic dance move back in the 50s, and even has a song named after it called Let's Twist Again which came out in the same era. The next song is Barry White's Can't Get Enough of Your Love, in which I pretend to kiss an imaginary girl, I think this is great because it shows how Bisto is thinking about a certain girl which works with the text 'well you know who you are, darling'. I then for the first time this week started to strip, I think that this was brilliant as it was very memorable, I think it propels my scene to another level of Comedy and it describes Bisto perfectly. Luckily for me we decided that as soon as my shirt gets to the lowest button to stop the music, and I get a bit flustered. this is the last song that I properly dance to so I wanted to make it as memorable as I could and I felt I did. The last song was Je' taime which I don't fully dance to but leave to, I didn't know what to do for this, I was recommended to close my eyes and walk out with my DJ set. I felt this was good as it was the last we see of Bisto and is quite symbolic and shows how he loves what he does because he is fully embracing it by closing his eyes. I feel by reading the script and Bisto's character people take Bisto as this aggressive DJ who only loves sex and alcohol, my objective through Road was to change peoples view on Bisto, I felt in order to make sure his scenes were the comic relief of the play he had to connect with the audience and I felt I did this in the last bit of the second scene where I'm telling the people how much I love them and then walk out slowly to Je' taime. 

I felt in this run through I was stuttering a bit, I know that was because I still wasn't 100% confident with my lines so I will go away going through all my lines before performance week. I got some other feedback over my scene, I was told to stay in character as there was a point where I came out of character and laughed as myself. This was because this was the first time I got really good reactions for my scene, and I didn't know how to control myself and stay in character, this annoyed me as I thought I was a better actor than this and it won't happen again. There were also parts where I was quite rushed with my lines, I felt this was because I was so energetic that I wanted to rush the lines. I got good feedback though as I was confident and I had great dance moves. 

Next week is performance week so I will be focusing on my role for the character. I'm confident going into next week I just need to go over my lines. 

'Road' - Week 6

In this week we looked back over the whole performance and looked at if anything could be changed and how well everyone was progressing.

Blocking and Feedback

We started blocking, I watched many scenes but what stood out to me was Frank's scene, I felt his accent was coming along really well from where it was at, I think he still has work to do before the show but its a lot better than it was. Frank had also stated to move around a lot more, he wasn't just stationary in his chair, I liked this a lot as it kept me enthralled and showed his status throughout different moments in the scene. Frank's character Jerry is very nostalgic, he seems to have a good memory of the olden days and he gives strong hints that he was in the war. Frank shows this very well and I believe uses emotional memory to recreate Jerry's nostalgic moments, emotional memory is a part of Stanislavski's System which makes the actor think back to a time much like the script to make a more real looking emotion. I thought this of Frank because I truly believed he was Jerry and not himself. I also feel that Frank's use of pause was superb, with pauses it is very easy to lose the audiences attention, but Frank I felt got them timed perfectly. 

I then watched Sophie's monologue, Sophie plays Valerie, I felt Sophie did a good job with the accent and the ending, I always believed that to deliver a good monologue the beginning and ending have to be the best parts as this is what's going to be remembered. I felt at points she was over acting, the piece is very sad and at points very low key, I felt that at points Sophie was adding movements to parts that didn't need it, this made the piece at points seem fake and not believable. I suggest that she make its more naturalistic and looked into Stanislavski's system like Nathan has.

After this I evaluated Nyakeh, I knew before watching this that it would be good, Nyakeh is a fantastic actor in my opinion and he didn't disappoint in this scene, he didn't move around a lot but I was still enthralled, this was because he was so believable as his character that I couldn't keep my eyes off him. I felt as if I forgot who Nyakeh was and I was watching his character. I feel he still has work to do with his accent but its definitely coming along, I think if he can nail the accent this will be one of the best scenes in the show. 

I then did my scene and got relatively good feedback, overall the my scene was good with only one slip up in my lines, I got once again good feedback but I also got some constructive criticism, for example when I was thinking about my next line I would look down, for my confident character it was shown how when thinking about the next line to keep my head up so I still seem like a confident and arrogant DJ. I also was told how I didn't really have an objective of what my next movement was, this I felt myself when performing but didn't know how to change it mid-scene, for the future I'm going to work on my scenes and make sure every movement has a purpose as it will make my character more believable as a cheesy outcast. I was also told to slow down ever more at the end, I find this part difficult to do as I have to go from quick movement and voice to slow movement and voice, I'm dedicated to getting this ending right as it will be the last time the audience see Bisto talking. 

Music With Joe

In this week I also worked with Joe on getting the music right for my piece, I went through my scene and he would play the songs according to the script, last week (week 5) I talked about changing the music, I'm happy to say that most of what I proposed was accepted, however instead of Boogie Wonderland, I will now be using Let's Dance by David Bowie, which in retrospect is better, as it works with the final lines before this song plays which are 'Lets Dance'. This song fades into the Bee Gees song, however both of these songs are very different and merging them will sound weird, both me and Joe thought the same, and I suggested that a sound effect be added in between the sounds, like a cheesy 'woopie doopie dooo!', Joe liked the idea and told me he would see what he could do.

War in 1980s

A British War Crematorium, showing
those who have fallen fighting for
their country.

As Road has progressed I have noticed that many characters have been involved in the army, for example Curt, Jerry and some more. I decided to research the Falklands War as this is the war that's being referenced to, considering the time period and place. The war went on for ten weeks, and was between the UK and Argentina, the fight was over land, in the south Atlantic ocean. The war was mostly fought in the air and on sea. Many soldiers including the ones in Road miss the war, because it gave them something to do and they were with their friends while doing it. I feel that many of the people on Road don't have many qualifications and went to war as they had nothing else, they were accepted by the army as they were just another number. As seen by Curt's character the war had deeply affected him, and uses alcohol as an anti depressant to what he saw over seas and to hid the sadness of some of his best friends dieing fighting for their country. I think that in some ways Curt wishes he did die in the war because he now has nothing. 

Overall I felt I made good progress in this week with getting the music right and helping people with there scenes, by next week I hope to have made progress on the feedback I was given. 

'Road' - Week 5

In this week we worked more on the pre show, and I talked to Deborah about my lines, I also ran through my scene on Thursday and got great feedback.

Pre Show

On Wednesday, we worked on the pre show, I now have a set place for the pre show, for the pre show everyone is on stage while the professor and Scullery ask each member about life on 'Road'. Each character does one of their lines, for example Dor and Bald ask Professor, if he's seen any keys because Dor has lost her keys on a drunken night out. Professor then comes up to me, and asks me to do a tape recording on 'Road', after the professor repeatedly says my name and I don't hear him, the audience see how Bisto is so focused on his Music and how he is always in the moment. After a while the professor pushes me slightly, I notice him and then say my catchphrase ' You'll get used to me, you'd better', I say this in a way so it is as if I'm joking around with him, at this time I am staying in character and will be spinning discs to represent my character and give the audience an insight into my musically based role after this I leave upstage, the same way that I came on. The idea for my character at the moment is that I'll be on a podium like stage that is for Bisto.

Artistic Changes

 After the time we had off for Easter, I learnt my lines and looked at Music that could be used for each of Bisto's parts in an effort to get the audience on their feet. The Beatoven Disco is first seen when Bisto opens this scene, 'Welcome to the Millstone Pub, I'm Bisto and this is the Beatoven Disco. You'll get used to me... You'd better. By my calculators we've only got fifteen minutes left till last orders, so let's dance!' After this Madonna is supposed to come on. After doing my own research and by already having a love for older music, I felt Boogie Wonderland by Earth Wind and Fire was a better choice song, this is because its a song that you can't help move to, the song is very catchy and I feel describes Bisto's bubbly nature of always being high energy.

Some time after this Bisto changes the mood, 'This next one is one of me personal favourites, and I dedicate it to you... well you know who you are, ya bitch!'. After this has been said Can't Get Used to Losing You by Andy Williams plays.

After listening to the song, I didn't recognize it, and I felt considering Bisto is the comic relief of the play it wasn't right to change the mood, I suggested this to Deborah and asked to change the lines to 'This next one is one of me personal favourites, and I dedicate it to you... well you know who you are darling'. I then suggested to have the song,  Can't get enough of your love by Barry White. I think this is better than the Andy Williams song, as people know the Barry White song better and I feel I can really get into character when this song is playing by dancing with an invisible women. This I prefer to the firs option where Bisto is angry, I feel that Bisto isn't like this, because even though he has grown up in a tough area, he isn't very angry as I believe he uses music to calm himself down. I also feel that the mood of anger has already been shown before in Road, and that it would start to become repetitive to the audience.

This week I felt was successful, I hope Deborah will accept what I've proposed as I feel it will help me with my character.