30/01/19

For today we started off with learning about one of the most well known practitioners called Bertolt Brecht as he’s known for doing something rather contrasting to what Stanislavsky used for techniques; as Brecht had a whole idea to display the character more over then becoming the character as soon as a piece of garment which then already explained who was the character at the current time.

This was known to be in relation to Epic Theatre (Form).

Brecht’s perspective for the audience was for them to easily understand as well remember that they’re watching a play instead of getting fully immersed into avoiding them to drift onto some sort of fantasy state of enjoyment; as the idea of this was to encourage them to be able to identify the message that was getting conveyed across at the current time.

It was closely related to social and political views instead of allowing the audience to go in a dreamlike state such as “I don’t want the audience to hang their brains up with their coats on the way in “.

The end goal that he wanted to achieve was that he was hoping that by the end of the play that the people would take away the idea of social political views by and apply them to the current lifestyle that they’re living instead of just casting it off like a fun show.

Information about Brecht

“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht” “09/04/2019”, “13:11”

Born: 10 February 1898, Died: 14 August 1956

27/02/19

We started off with doing more warm ups which then we begun to get into a circle for which then we read over several short scenes from Fear and Misery of the Third Reich as we checked over a couple of scenes such as Farm feeds his sow and the Two Bakers, we all was allowed to take it in turns reading in for several different parts; I found them to be a lot easier then The Crucible as well Knot of the Heart yet I did prefer them over these.

I was assigned to work with Frankie with the Farm Scene for which then we got together to do a short practice with the time we had left over with the scene as I found it slightly more relaxing since it wasn’t repeated sentences after checking over the lines and it was just two paragraphs and several simple sentences allowing it to be far much more easier for me to rehearse.

As soon as I found out I was working on the farmer scene, I headed off home and once I got back I started practising my farm accent, so I decided to put on several farmer videos by repeating the line “Don’t you let my chickens out though” as this helped me remember how certain words was pronounced at the current time when talking as a farmer.

06/03/19

In today’s lesson we continued with more bodily warm ups as well coordinating exercises such as passing the bean bags as well certain limbs such as tilting the head side to side which helped with easing our necks to avoid any tightening or constrictions on when moving; as me and Frankie then got into our pairs beginning to rehearse our scene as I started to use my farmer accent which I was practising at home during the scene allowing me to get a better feel of the words whilst displaying the character.

In today’s lesson we also had to result back to what we previously learnt which was using ‘Gest’, as this was to help explain the characters motives and primary, secondary directives keep it as close as possible to the character instead of making a mockery of the character.

I found this rather tricky as at the time I couldn’t break down the full motives and intentions of the character through the context of certain parts such as the “Heil Hitler”, as this made me think he was afraid of the government.

I’d like to improve on having a better understanding of the story more clearly by my next session.

13/03/19

In today’s session we started off with some warming up activities like the usual basis; however we was able to have ago at something rather more interesting which was based on Fear and Misery The Third Reich, for which we all was in a circle whilst having ago reading over several different various scenes for example The Bakers, A farmers Sow and some others.

This was very interesting since we had to take a whole new perspective on giving it a shot as I would usually learn the lines and then rehearse prior to understanding the context of the lines for which then I would plan to develop the character on top of that, however this time It was more different since I tried learning it as I go feeling the difference of prior practice and then letting it come more naturally in attempt to explore the context as well sub context of the characters.

We then begun doing an exercise for which is where we select a motive or a intentional word such as complaining, instructive which; as I found this quite helpful since it helped me experiment with the characters motives during the scene yet I didn’t find it to be an enjoyable method since It also made it harder for me to carry on with my lines during the scene.

I didn’t this method to be exact directly to my rehearsals, however I did use it for my responses towards other lines but not for my starting lines.

Whilst I was at home I also went over the script more trying to identify the backstory as well context more clearly which helped by breaking it down with the method giving before which was to do with to do with action as well ‘Gest’

20/03/19

In today’s lesson, I was hoping to improve on my confidence from last week so me and Frankie jumped straight into doing more rehearsals, as she kept telling me to take my time as well that everything would be alright; as we kept working on the scene staging such as the placement with the kids for when I walk back whilst feeding the “Lena”.

I found the support from my peers great since they’re always supporting one another throughout the whole performance, as for today I was able to enhance my staging placement skills since certain parts my response for certain lines would be out of place or delayed as I was thinking to heavily on what I was gonna say at what time.

I’d like to improve my memory strength as well timing response for delivering my lines when needed so that the performance doesn’t look staged or purposely placed.

27/03/19

Today was our final lesson for a full run through so I decided to spend my time whilst being on the side to rehearse the rest of my lines as I had a discomforting feeling that I wasn’t completely solid on my lines, as I done a duo rehearsal with Frankie for which then I messed up once on them as I was thinking to heavily on the lines instead of feeling more freely making it difficult on myself, so we did one more final rehearsal practice before we got called back in for the run through.

I was quite confident that I knew them as we started the full run through; as I kept telling myself that I knew my lines which then It came up to my part after the other scenes went on through I was able to successfully perform it during the full run through which a couple of people laughed with enjoyment giving me confidence.

I found it very relieving to be able to perform it, however hard as I was still thinking on the lines partially therefore knowing that I didn’t dedicate enough time so in future to improve on this I will be spending any of the free time I get to run over my lines more clearly.

03/04/19

Today was the day of doing our performance as we started off with watching another class do the performance for which then we had to go on stage preparing for our performance as I had my hat placed underneath the chair which then one of my peers asked me to also have the phone ready to lean forwards on the day to help them out with the scene they was doing.

I was happy to do this if it meant helping with the scene and as the performance was going on I still couldn’t help to overthink my lines and how it would look or what happened If I messed anything up which caused me to forget one of my words during my line and this led to me overthinking that making it harder for me till I stood up for mine trying to convince myself everything was good.

As I stood up; I was able to remember the starting point for which I was able to deliver and kept it going till I blanked my overthinking as my peer quickly delivered the next line to make it look natural so I continued my lines knowing that I forgot a word so I skipped over it completing the sentence and line still fully knowing that I missed a bit out; as going back to what I learned during my improvisation sessions helped me recover from that point.

We had a moment to sit down to evaluate how we thought the performance went as I decided to reckon that it was alright, however that incidents like this happens to everyone usually once so not everything is perfect.

As for my future goal I’d like to be able to do another duo log but without messing up on any line off script.