WEEK FIVE

14/02/2022

To start the week, we worked on Scene 7 and blocked 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with the whole cast. The aim of the rehearsal was to set the scene of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' so that we could differentiate it from having the same tone as 'A Matter of Life and Death'. The group as a whole had a lot of budding energy that we weren't able to settle with a warm-up, so it spilled into the rehearsal and made everyone quite talkative. However, with that being said, we were still able to work on the scene and block the majority of the action. Individually, I think I did pretty well in following the directions given to us and balanced the fun aspects of the rehearsal when we did the scene. I think that it was harder than usual to block because we don't have the props of the beds to help us with the scene, however, we tackled this by making sure we marked where the props would be in the room by using chairs to stand on in the room. I think our time was used well because we were able to block the positions for everyone in the scene and I was able to contribute by volunteering to be one of the faeries in the scene when there wasn't any. As for what we accomplished today, I think I achieved my goal as I wanted to stay present in the scene and focus on what was happening on stage (even if I was speaking or moving around that much in general).

Reflecting back on Week 3, I found it difficult to accomplish my Character Study because I realised there weren't enough facts or opinions about my character in the play or film that I could work on, so I decided to create a backstory for the Judge that I could use for Scene 19.

15/02/2022

Contrary to all my previous rehearsals, the cast goal for today was to block all of the remaining scenes of the play, that being Scene 8 to Scene 19. In blocking all the following scenes quickly, the experience of this rehearsal was mixed between being difficult to approach and the reassurance that came with having all the base work completed. The aim of this rehearsal was to make sure that we have a clear overview of what the end product should be in its barest form. And now that we have the skeleton for the show, we now know what we have to work on to bring the scenes to life. Overall, I believe it was successful for the full cast because we were able to block those scenes as we initially set out to do. However, from my perspective of my own work, I don't think I was able to get all that I needed from this experience.

Generally speaking, I think this rehearsal was quite tasking for the whole cast because it required a lot of attention from us as a collective, and when one faltered, the group would fall through as well. For example, when a closed scene that needed only a handful of actors on stage, the expectations would be that those who are not needed for it would be quiet and get on with other work. However, the opportunities for distractions arose and many a time this would cause friction between the Director and the cast. I think we could have improved as a group by keeping in mind the values that we agreed to follow in our Company's Ethos and respecting each other and those that are speaking in the scene. Contrary to this, I think a new obstacle that arose for everyone was having to remember the new changes that we made along the way and having to adjust to them. Although we did well to adapt and accept the changes, there were many instances where we couldn't help but disrupt the flow of the rehearsal because of not remembering the new changes. A way we could avoid this later is by making sure to note down the changes and not get frustrated when mishaps occur. Individually, I think I did well in terms of being focused on the scenes that are being blocked and supporting those on stage. However, when we arrived at Scene 19, I was not confident about my work as the lines felt new in my mouth and I didn't necessarily feel supported in the moment. Knowing this, I think I could improve this is making sure that I revise the script in my own time and work on my articulation when I can so that my muscularity can improve. I believe that this has been an ongoing area of improvement that I have been looking at since before these rehearsals, so I want to make sure that my voice is clear and full when the performance comes. And, it has been collectively agreed that Scene 19 is extremely difficult and requires a lot of attention since there are so many units which makes it busy on stage. Also, it was hard overall for the cast as we were working without any props and we have not learned our lines yet. For myself, I think it was strange to block Scene 19 because the blocking for my character adds to my concerns of not having enough time to experiment as much as I would initially aim for - with that, I realise that need to start learning my lines and continue my research relating to my character development.

No matter the errors that came with this rehearsal, I must reiterate that I'm pleased to see that the show has been completely blocked and we don't have to leave it to the imagination as to what these scenes could possibly look like. Then, the Director discussed with me to research the list of wars from my line and discover why they keep repeating. So, in response to this, I looked at the recent events that are going on now: such as the situation between Ukraine vs Russia, research on the Iraqi war, and how they aren't worth so many innocent lives being lost alongside the conflict.

16/02/2022

During this rehearsal, the Director worked with those of us who have a speaking role in Scene 1 and had an open discussion about our characters. From our ensemble discussion, I was part of the conversation because I play one of the Operators, and I found this useful to the development of my character study as I was able to hear different perspectives and share my opinion with those in my scene - giving me a fuller understanding of the Opening. These are the notes that I took away from our discussion, and below them are extra thoughts that I had for them:

1. The Boy is in Limbo/Purgatory

Ideas branched into the Boy possibly being the woman's son that survived in Scene 19. I also believe that even if he is not the woman's son, he could potentially be an adaptation of God or Death, (definitely linking to the Supernatural in my opinion).

2. The Woman is dead

When she looks to the planes, is it because of longing for her husband or does she find comfort in them in regards to her husband being in the Navy?

3. The given circumstance that June is American

We can gather that this is the case because of Propaganda at the time and trying to build Alliances between the United States and Great Britain. We also realised that this was most likely done to heighten the development of their love story - given that the two of them shouldn't and haven't met each other until later in the play.

4. Why is Peter in the RAF?

The two actors playing him thought that other than having to enlist in some part of the military, it may be that he is honouring his father by joining the RAF - and that he was most likely involved in military training before being a part of the RAF. Also, they developed their impressions of the script and the given circumstances by suggesting that Peter being a pilot may be a result of having a hero complex. This was supported by his choice to jump out of the plane mirrors his choosing to live with June on Earth.

5. Being an Operator

   • Think of what the room looks like and how much space we have. I suggested that we should start with placing ourselves in cubicles so that we can add to the intimacy of Peter and June's conversation.

   • Research the place of the room and Leewood House (in my Context and Research document).

   • Also, we thought about how the radio operators work the machines and radio and our opposing perspectives on it. For example, at the time, people would have thought that this technology is revolutionary from its functions, but now we look at it as something that is archaic and inconvenient to use.

   • The Director asked us to think about whether the operators would be close to each other and if they talk to each other. At first, I thought that they may not consider doing that because of how confidential the setting is. But for the layering of the Opening Scene and the need for the melodrama to occur, we decided that it would be better that we do interact with each other and I think it works well to show our take on sisterhood.

   • We then looked at how large the squad of operators is and how it would impact our characters. From both choices, I think if the unit was only as large as we are, then clearly the dynamic between us would change as we could potentially talk more freely and be opinionated. On the other hand, if there were more girls in our unit, then our secretive nature would be more emphasised because of the 'wacky' conversation that June has with Peter.

   • Moving on, we thought of how long we have worked at our jobs, and we decided that we all have been a part of the team for 3-4 years - which is enough time for us to know how everything operates and be familiar with each other. I also decided to bring up what level of clearance we have because there are many moments where June reveals vital information about the location which puts them all in jeopardy, and we agreed that our clearance is high enough to know that we have an opinion of what is going on around us.

   • Lastly, in response to the previous, the Director reminded us to think about how many times have we heard pilots confess to us or ask us to write their last letters to their loved ones. Does this make us feel? Does this make us emotional, or frustrated or are we resilient to it because we've heard it so many times before? And what makes this last call from Peter any different from the others for June? Something tells me that this story comes into fruition because Peter asks questions about June personally and doesn't completely focus on his imminent death which stumps June out of her work persona.

The aim of this exercise was to be able to develop what we have created in Scene One and make decisions for our characters so that we can find the truth in their actions. I think the group altogether did very well because we were able to listen to each other's ideas and provide different pieces of knowledge that we know to help guide our final decisions. I think I also did well because I was able to support my peers with different viewpoints on each topic and I was able to ask questions relating to the context so that we could decide unanimously whether we wanted to incorporate these ideas or not. Aside from that, I listened to my peers and added to their points rather than not getting involved in the conversation or shutting down their ideas. I think this exercise was very successful because I was able to learn about different topics relating to the context of the play that I want to research and I contributed to the overall development of Scene One.

Thinking back to the points made when we were looking at the WAAF Operators, I want to do some research linking to Leewood House and what the Operators would do at the time in my 'Context and Research' Document so that my actions are clearer in Scene 1.