WEEK SIX

This is the model of the set for 'A Matter of Life and Death'.

Key for Contents

  • Planning & Production

  • Problem Solving

  • Evaluation

  • Targets

21/02/2022

This week began with us working on the routine of Jive dance and seeing to it that we worked on the different elements that are involved. As the Director has mentioned prior to our dance rehearsals, he wants the dance to be a bombardment of things happening on stage, energising the audience whilst also bringing the show to a crescendo before the switch of actors for Peter and June. The aim of this rehearsal was to support the Director's creativity in the development of the Jive dance break. Although the experience was quite tasking for me, I enjoyed the process of being able to work on part of the dance that is shown in the video below. I think it was successful because we were able to stick with the building blocks of our choreography and now everyone has an idea of what we are trying to create. However, it's been slightly strenuous to sort out because there are so many voices trying to give suggestions and it tends to take up more time than us actually doing the routine instead.

So, in this rehearsal, we showed the Director what we had created from last week's session and gave him an idea of what we were trying to achieve with each of the steps that we had. After long moments of consideration, the Director commented that we will spend today working towards making the dance scene more lively, so he divided the dance into smaller sections so that we could work on each of them in detail. With our piece now being put into smaller sections, we worked on the first part - including the four jiving couples.

Unlike last week, my role wasn't heavily based on assisting the choreographers, but rather on doing my best to follow steps and dance when we need to see the current state of the sections and whether any changes need to be made if things aren't working. Since this rehearsal was more so about practicing the dances that we already had, there weren't many instances where I needed to make suggestions about the dance, so I contributed by staying focused on the task and not letting myself get distracted by those around me. Also, I made sure to volunteer to help with the dance by suggesting that I partner up with Ellie-rose since I am not doing any activity beforehand. Looking carefully at the beginning section, we have now added a part where the four pairs in the middle will have the partner spin away from them and a new partner will run in after to create a new pair.

I think the group was trying to adapt to us focusing on dancing rather than looking at the script, and that took a toll on behaviour in a general sense. Since we repeatedly looked at the first section with four pairs, many performers were left without having a task to do, which resulted in a few being fidgety and lacking focus. One of the few ways that we tried to handle this was by reminding each other of how important getting this task done will help us to move on to the next part of the dance or task. Sometimes this would work, other times it would be to no avail. Admittedly, I found it difficult to stay focused because my partner and I were struggling to sync with each other as we danced, and there were many moments of distractions around me that made me lose concentration. However, even with the feeling of tiredness settling in, I'm happy that I was able to get the idea of what is happening in this section and I am confident that it will improve as we practiced the dance a bit more.

As for what was left unachieved, the amount of choreography that we have created is disproportionate to the remaining music that we still have to make. As we progress through rehearsals, another note to myself would be that I practice the new moves and watch the rehearsals fully so that I can understand the order of the routine for the dance.

Snapchat-277929963.mp4

A Video Clip that shows a small section of the dance we worked on today.

Shown in the clip beside this is a snippet of the transition between each of the partners with the four dancers in the Jive. As the clip shows, many of us were exhausted from dancing because of how demanding it is, so you can find those sitting on the side until they are needed or somewhere else. Additionally, we tend to rotate our rehearsal rooms quite a lot so it affects how much room we have and the level of noise in the room.


I'm happy that even though I wasn't too sure about the timing of the dance with the music, I trusted those that knew what they were doing and followed the counts. However, at the end of the video, it had already been decided that the outside partner will spin, but since the steps were new, my partner forgot to spin at the end.

22/02/2022

A long-awaited experience arrived today as we had our first official (well second) meeting with the Tech and Costume Team. The aim of this meeting was to ensure that we understood the direction of what the visual aspects will be going towards in this show. I believe that it was needed because it gave everyone a sincere reminder that things are developing around us as we rehearse, and that we should persevere to keep working so that the material that we use is only there to enhance our work.

I think everyone was collectively focused and thoughtful towards the Production Arts Team and what they have worked on. Although we have heard what the Director wants the show to look like, seeing the Team's presentation and stimuli gives us an idea of what to expect for our characters and the potential characterisation that we could use for our development. I was definitely invested in this briefing because it gave me an idea of what The Judge would be like if she embodied an outfit. Additionally, It was really interesting to see all the different elements explained and added together so that I can see the full image together of the set and costume. I was very impressed with the inspiration of the design and I thought it was appropriate to make the designs as they were for the scenes.

They began with a briefing on the set and costumes for all of the characters. On one hand, from what I gathered from the description, they have decided that those who are living will wear earthy, natural colours to compliment Earth. On the other hand, those that reside in Heaven will be colourful and flamboyant whilst representing different periods in time. Below are the two slides that the Team made detailing the style of clothing those on Earth and in Heaven:

Slide One of the Costume Team's Presentations that shows references, colour palette, and the reason why they have been picked.

Slide Two of the Costume Team's Presentations that shows references, colour palette, and the reason why they have been picked.

Costume for WW2

Amongst the collection of costumes, I took pictures of all the relevant designs that I found my outfits in. In the first picture, it's clear to see the soil-like colours and the coordination of those that complement each other. Since I play a WAAF Radio Operator in the Opening Scene, I noticed immediately how formal it was by the shape of the outfit and overall colour. I think the dark purple colour works well to show that all of us (including June) are one unit. We have also been told that the props that we will use in this scene are headphones so that we will look like we are at the station where they work.

A slide showing the designs of costumes for those in World War Two. The costume that is mine is the first model - showing a WAAF Radio Operator.

Contrasting this, the presentation then moved on to the ensemble costumes that many of us will be wearing. In the second picture, the first and second designs display the costumes of wounded soldiers and the nurses that take care of them. After the first scene, I change from being a radio operator to one of the nurses. Although the design is simple, I think the stereotypical style of the dress works really well with the classic feeling of sensationalised war films. Moreover, even though the nurses are alive, the blue and white combination is quite bright, and I think this choice may link to how the nurses can be found in Heaven in the play and how they are viewed as angels during the war. Additionally, from Peter's perspective, they are part of the illusion that is happening in his mind - which parallels the idea of illusions being brighter than reality. Aside from that, the costumes also look very practical for the cyclists and when we are dancing.

A slide showing the designs of costumes for those in World War Two. The costume that is mine is the second model - showing a usual Nurse's outfit.

Costume for the Judge

As we moved on to the characters in Heaven, the last slide showed those that work in the court. As I play the Judge, I made sure to take note of what it looked like and what the Production Team were explaining.

I notice that the outfit is all white, so it doesn't seem colourful at first. But, I think the contrast between my prior outfits and the costumes of those on Earth is very clear. I also think that the white/beige colour may symbolise that the Judge is impartial and not influenced by others, hence the absence of colours.

Moreover, going off of what the designers have alluded to before, I thought the costume

  • Going off of what the designers alluded to before, I thought the costume would be a dress, but now I realise that it would be more functional for the play if I was wearing a suit - since there is not a lot of space on the platform to wear it on stage.

  • I quite like the suit because it appears very professional at first sight, but the fitting of the suit gives a little bit of personality and flair.

  • From the drawing, I also believe that the wig is inspired by the Georgian Era. I also find that the wig reminds me of those in 'Bridgerton' like the Queen.

  • I was also told that the wig would have pink and blue ribbons with pearls to adorn it, which I think gives it a heavenly feel to it whilst my character will contrast it.

My Costume

Stimuli for the Costume (Wig)

Ruby Rhod played by Chris Tucker in 'Fifth Element'

What the costume reminded me of:

As of late, I have found difficulty with developing my character and having rehearsal to make clear character choices.

  • After a while of pondering, my brother helped

Lil Nas X in the 'Call Me By Your Name (Montero)' Music Video

Did the full jive number

  • explain the changes with the video clips

  • state the suggestions that I made with the three hospital moves in the dance with the mooch

  • added the candy dance to it, I really enjoyed it :)

  • talk about the cast's focus limits us from being able to learn the dance.


  • Your role in the process is as an actor – you must write about this.

  • What do you offer to the rehearsal process?

  • What do you need to do better?

  • Set yourself targets – what do you want to achieve in each rehearsal? What might you need to do between rehearsals to prepare? What has your director asked of you?

  • Analyse your contribution to each session and why you are successful/unsuccessful?

  • Take photos in the rehearsal process, include these in the work, annotate them to explain what you have been doing.

  • Film parts of the process and evaluate/analyse your work – edit this together to track part of your process.


What was the aim of the exercise/experiment/ rehearsal? What was successful?

How did the group get on? How could we have improved as a group?

How did you do individually? How could you have improved personally?

Is there anything left unachieved?

23/02/2022

Worked on scene 7 and 8

We looked at the danced number to get the timing right with the music.

Worked on scene 7 to lead into the jive.

4 couples, then I switch in as a partner, the planes, then swap partners, the hand jive, then dancing pairs in the horseshoe, then handstand and jump, then dance pairs with lift then candy?

Others worked on multiple other scenes and showed them to the cast.

Problem-solving with the songs.


  • Your role in the process is as an actor – you must write about this.

  • What do you offer to the rehearsal process?

  • What do you need to do better?

  • Set yourself targets – what do you want to achieve in each rehearsal? What might you need to do between rehearsals to prepare? What has your director asked of you?

  • Analyse your contribution to each session and why you are successful/unsuccessful?

  • Take photos in the rehearsal process, include these in the work, annotate them to explain what you have been doing.

  • Film parts of the process and evaluate/analyse your work – edit this together to track part of your process.


What was the aim of the exercise/experiment/ rehearsal? What was successful?

How did the group get on? How could we have improved as a group?

How did you do individually? How could you have improved personally?

Is there anything left unachieved?

25/02/2022

Kim directed us.

Scene 19


  • Your role in the process is as an actor – you must write about this.

  • What do you offer to the rehearsal process?

  • What do you need to do better?

  • Set yourself targets – what do you want to achieve in each rehearsal? What might you need to do between rehearsals to prepare? What has your director asked of you?

  • Analyse your contribution to each session and why you are successful/unsuccessful?

  • Take photos in the rehearsal process, include these in the work, annotate them to explain what you have been doing.

  • Film parts of the process and evaluate/analyse your work – edit this together to track part of your process.


What was the aim of the exercise/experiment/ rehearsal? What was successful?

How did the group get on? How could we have improved as a group?

How did you do individually? How could you have improved personally?

Is there anything left unachieved?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Queen Charlotte's Picture

Hearstapps.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/bridgerton-108-unit-02383r-1621272071.jpg

  • Chris Tucker's Picture

Spotern.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://medias.spotern.com/spots/w640/105/105554-1532336916.jpg

  • Lil Nas X's Picture

Digitaloceanspaces.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://watermarkonline.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lil-Nas-X_MONTERO-video.jpg