Voice and The Actor - Blog Entry 1

Vocal Development Programme

In this week I focused mostly upon Radio as it is coming up soon and I feel I need to devote a good amount of time to it, in order to portray Patrick Moore's character to great ability.

I shall reflect upon different things that may affect my voice:

Posture - I feel overall, posture is a weakness for me as I have a tendency to slouch and this takes affect on my voice as when slouched, vocal organs get constricted and don't work to the best of their ability, also when in a bad posture, it can affect your voice psychologically as you start to take a more laid back approach. This is mentioned by a wonderful voice coach named Patsy Rodenburg who talks about the second circle.

Semi Supine position used for Alexander Technique.

Tension points - I find that I often have tension in certain places in my body, I often see myself having my shoulders in a raised position and not relaxed. This may also be due to that I am often wearing a back pack on my shoulders so I have gotten into a bad habit. Having tension is bad as it can affect your posture and your voice. A good exercise to do is called Alexander Technique, which many actors do to relive tension, actors like Hugh Jackman have talked about this wonderful technique made by Fredrick Alexander in the 1890s. The technique is in the semi supine position showed by the image and by thinking about tension being relieved it helps release areas with high tension.

I feel that these exercises will help me with my vocal weaknesses and I will be using them throughout the next few weeks leading up to my radio play in order to portray Patrick Moore to the best of my ability.

Rehearsal Plan for Man of Mode

Introduction

I have decided to start a rehearsal plan for Man of Mode, our final major project. I want to find out who my character is so I can portray him to the best level.

The character I am playing is Sir Fopling Flutter and also the character of Mr Smirk.

There are some things I need to do in order of achieving my objective of portraying these characters to the best of my ability.

Working the Script

I will need to look at the script and read it many times so I can understand what my characters objectives are throughout each scene and to get a better understanding of their history and what they stand for. Working the script will also help me to learn my lines.

I need to:

Read the Script at least 10 times to learn what my character is trying to achieve, and where he wants to be.

Learn the translation in the script to understand the language.

Reading the script to understand different relationships between characters and status. 

Background Research

Considering Man of Mode is set in the 17th century I will research this time period to get a better understanding of it as I never experienced this time which is likely not the case for a more contemporary play.

Research Charles II's reign on the throne and the impact he had on theatre and time period.

Watch films that are based around that time to get a greater understanding of the context. For example The Libertine, Stage Beauty, The Duchess etc.

Research social, cultural, economic, political and historical themes in the 17th Century to understand my character and the other characters around him. 

Research Clothing as my character, Sir Fopling Flutter is very much into clothing and the garments worn in this time period were very eccentric. 

Character Study

A character study is very important as you need to know the character as well and be the character as if he was you. Otherwise you can not portray the truth and you won't be doing the script or the character justice. 

Look at the script and try to understand what my character wants and what his goals are.

Understand basic information about my character, like D.O.B, hair colour, status etc.

Think about how they would react around other characters and their vocal changes with different people and different environments. 

Rehearsal Process

Rehearsals are what makes the show without rehearsal, a show would be impossible to stage, in order to achieve a good play, rehearsals have to be enthused with energy, commitment and punctuality.

Be at rehearsals on time in an energised manner and able to be fully confident in my ability.

When observing other scenes, make notes on how this affects my character and also things you would change if given a directorial view.

To be open to ideas and to try them out as it may enrich my performance.

Learning Lines

Learning lines is a key component to the final product as it helps to understand the characters objective and learning the lines to a great level will mean you have a better grasp on the character.

Learn all lines to help understand my character.

Look at the lines and learn translations so I can understand what my character means.