We told the rest of the class today what roles we were going for on wednesday. I am going for the role of Joshua (as my first choice) and then Walter and Robert respectively.
We explored today with activities to do with our characters and the town of Eldritch. I think I underestimated the power of Josh in respect to his misoginist attitude and his ever so entangled mind (I think that’s what attracted me to him in the beginning).
One person can have such a great affect on others and Josh does this to quite a large extent. Although he is not a major character he is both manipulative and mishievious, but i think there is SOME good in him and I would love to explore that more.
That’s all I have to say,
cheers
Ben
we had auditions today…
I went for josh, walter and Robert.
i enjoyed the scene with Josh especially today, as I was paired up for the Josh/Lena scene with Belinda and i have never really worked with her before even though we’re good friends.
I loved every second of it and can’t wait to bring a character to life regardless of what character that may be. Our imminent fate rests in the hands of Kate and Bernadette, and that we shall find out tomorrow on this or on the call board.
Scared but excited..what’s that emotion called??
yeah that’s all
cheers,
Ben
Lately I have been really quite slack with blogging. Yeah sorry about that.
I have been learning Josh’s lines (hey oh yeah i got Josh by the way….it’s been that long) and have been discovering some interesting stuff. We did this exercise with Bernadette just on Monday where we had to have some sort of a motto or throughline of thought for the scene. I wasn’t entirely sure what my line was so Bernadette gave me ‘Look at me.’ It worked quite effectively as we started the scene when Bernadette thought we were all ready. I found that every time Josh gained attention from Mavis and Peck or Patsy, he was somewhat accomplished in his objective.
Kate had Belinda and myself for Lena and Josh scenes on Wednesday, which was to tell the truth really the first proper time we had rehearsed the scene, as Bel has been sick and had Cabaret rehearsal. I find that Bel and I worked quite well together, although there is still a lot of room for improvement with my character.
I will be back to write something more substantial next time, but for now I am exhausted and can’t really be asked to elaborate.
Cheers
Ben
Hi Ben. I’d like you to focus on the idea of performance energy next week. You’re working within the ‘first circle’ at present, i.e., the intimate area of energy that radiates out from the actor. We’re in a larger room, and your awareness of the space that surrounds you needs some conscious attention i.e., adjustment of breath and physical energy as well as the desire to reach out and engage all within the space surrounding you. We’ll talk a bit more about this, but I’d like you to deal with this during your warmup next week.
thanks for that above kate, i will definitely do that.
So anyway, today we did an exercise with the very minute scene with Josh, ‘boy’ and Skelly. Before walking into the rehearsal space I wasn’t entirely aware of how brutal this scene actually was. We started the rehaearsal by discussing our characters. Josh in my opinion is actually a decent person at heart, his flaw comes when he compares himself to driver, thus resulting in his evil and manipulative nature that arises a lot more within the second act. I mentioned to Bernadette that Josh reallly just wants times to be the same as they were when driver was alive (just like the rest of the town) I think though, that within my process, i really need to concentrate on some of the grief that Josh suffered when his best friend died three years ago. Quite likely it is event that made Josh the bastard that he is today. Back to the rehearsal, when Josh is taunting Skelly, Josh and his friend are obviously bored and want some action so decide to have some fun with him. Bernadette asked us if there was a ’skelly’ figure anywhere within our lives that we could relate this scenario to. I related this scene to a girl who was new to school iun year 10, we teased her ( a group of us) and made her cry on her first day of school (horrible i know :D). I could really use this pack mentality to try and get to skelly and after 10 minutes or so of just going through some scare tactics and actual real life taunting, we slipped into the scene and it felt quite real, and not liek we were acting. I actually was having fun ‘baaaaaa’-ing at Skelly, and pushing him around. I’m sure I will make some more discoveries, and have already made some more, but from the top of my head, I can’t think of much.
As for the energy within the space I will definitely work on it, I work too much from a film aesthetic and need to get out of that habit.
Cheers
Ben
So turns out the play has been moved back by two days…thank god (we needed it).
So hmmm news with Josh eh.
I had a great realisation with Josh yesterday whilst working the family scene in act 1. I found that Josh is niggling at Patsy very overtly throughout the whole scene, until he mentions the name ‘warren peabody.’ I never realised it before but this moment for both emma and myself allowed Josh and Patsy to have a brother-sister moment in which they could share the humour of warren being hit in the head with a rock. Before we found this we were both playing it very seriously to some extent and now with the new objectives and actions it can take on (in certain places) the humour that the scene is supposed to portray.
Kate told me to go and buy a denim jacket for Josh so this morning i went and di just that.
I hope it’s alright. I need to learn how to wear it like Josh would and how he would use it. I walked in Josh’s shoes yesterday at the start of the first act (and before whilst warming up) and I found that Josh’s dialogue began to slow down a whole lot, which i liked. Now I need to find a common ground with Josh’s dialogue and articulate a whole lot more, whilst also staying outside of a film aesthetic. I still feel i need to discover some more with Josh, but only working on the floor will bring that out.
This acting acting stuff….who ever said it was easy?? :d
cheers,
Ben
oh yeah and one more thing for now. I had a conversation with Belinda last night about page 22 when Lena is talking about dead Blackie. I was convinced that this after all of the other scenes between Josh and Lena and that Lena knew that Josh killed her dog. Bel however was (and still is) convinced that Lena is in fact referring to Skelly. I know afterwards wilma says ‘wickedest man, creeping thorugh town…’ but I just always thought it was Josh who was being referred to, thus resulting in an unseen break-up and the scene with Trucker talking about having his old’s out.
Correct me if i’m wrong but it’s just what i thought all along.
Thanks
Ben
Sooooo..weekly wrap up eh?
Well I thought my character came some way in terms of objectives and stakes this week. I think it’s funny having two directors because one could really like the work you’re doing, and the other could really not like what you’re doing at all. I was slightly confused by this at times this week, because both Kate and Bernadette would give different notes to enhance characterisation or energy, but both would be quite different. Thus, this week I have been trying to find a common ground with notes throughout both acts, but still trying to maintain a consistent character and having half the stage time (due to double cast) to really discover Josh in a ‘performance’ situation.
Not sure that you could infer either of us didn’t ‘like’ what you did. I believe notes from the director are about assisting with another interpretation. Aren’t you lucky to have two experienced professional artists and teachers assisting! Try getting conflicting notes from the one director and that can really mess with your head. Either way, notes are to assist the actor to work not to do the work for him. You take the note, you mull, you respond. Best ever you can do.
I thought yesterday was the best run I have done so far as Josh is concerned, I tried to reinvent the ‘Blackie’ scene, as did I TRY to invent the ‘had the old’s out’ scene as well (the latter not being as effective as the first :D). Kate said Josh and Lena scene worked yesterday at about 80% which i would presume is the best we have done yet, so that was good, Bel and I just need to really get our choreography snapping into a nice routine.
Yes that’s it. Confidence will breed a good run.
I really am enjoying playing Josh as of Tuesday when our full costumes were confirmed. I also changed my boots to a pair that Isaac lent to me, and now I think my walk is a lot better than it was before in my flatter brown boots. I think my characterisation might get a little bit over the top if I add more to Josh now though. I have a feeling that as soon as these scenes go up in energy and craft, that Josh will see the light a lot clearer.
Kate said something that I thought was hilarious- and Kate you can answer this if you want to… Kate said to do things that your character woudl do at home, like make a cup of tea, make your bed etc. I haven’t tried this while Bel is at home because we live togetehr and if the worst came to worst I might just find myself trying to have sex with Bel when she least expected it…yeah that’d be awkward to explain I think.
No comment Mr Rigby. Remember it’s art not real life!
Now with the play we are focusing on a lot more small details especially after yesterday’s rehearsal. One note that surprised me came from Bernadette. She said that I creep upstage when doing scenes with Isaac. See i had no idea about this so cheers Bernadette, i’ll remember not to do that.
I will be back on tomorrow morning so this is incomplete right now-but there is a sequel to the weekly wrap up, coming soon to ben’s page :d
wow…you can totally edit my blog.. that’s awesome. I didn’t know that.
So here I am back today, hahah i liked the ‘no comment’ comment the best kate. I thought you might have that reaction.
So anyway Today we have two dress rehearsals. Things I really need to work on, are really nailing my blocking as ‘boy’ or ‘Tom Withers’ I should say (he is ‘Jennifer Withers’ nephew and carer, so it makes it slightly awkward having a life with Josh that Jennifer does not know about…you know the taunting of Skelly, getting drunk, preying on adolescents etc) as I really don’t want to draw as much focus as I may have been as an unimportant character in the play. I neeed to work on not creeping backstage whenever I have scenes with Trucker (as Josh) and A general note, to project more, especially louder than we should be today as there will be bodies within the space.
I really am enjoying playing Josh as it gives a certain relief to the everyday (mostly) ‘nice guy’ that Ben normally is. It’s a breath of fresh air and thsi is what I love about acting, you get to be someone else temporarily, thus resulting in understanding the psychie of different cahracters, (in this case-Josh). I have been watching various american movies from all different eras, and I think I wouldn’t go astray even slowing Josh down a little bit more in his tempo rhythms to really get that seedy, greaser feel. Don’t worry Kate…i’m not going to try anything too radical but I think it might help to slow him down slightly to match his personality. The more I think about tempo rhythms, the more I am confused. Mayeb Josh and Patsy have different rhythms due to a different generation, or maybe they take after their parents with much slower rhythms. hmmm rhythms….what a strange word. Anyhow …we have a call right about now so I shall take my leave of you Mr. Blog and be back after today’s rehearsal…which would be….tomorrow.
Cheers.
Ben
Hi Ben
gone back to the comments pane. It’s easier.
I thought your work last night on Josh was another step up. Let’s give it 90% now eh? Only because you drop your energy a little from time to time … I think you need to keep engaged with the idea that Josh needs to say what he has to say. Don’t be defensive or underpowered. Play his intention/action strongly and vocally find the right breath energy and muscular engagement of the articulators for the room.
We told the rest of the class today what roles we were going for on wednesday. I am going for the role of Joshua (as my first choice) and then Walter and Robert respectively.
We explored today with activities to do with our characters and the town of Eldritch. I think I underestimated the power of Josh in respect to his misoginist attitude and his ever so entangled mind (I think that’s what attracted me to him in the beginning).
One person can have such a great affect on others and Josh does this to quite a large extent. Although he is not a major character he is both manipulative and mishievious, but i think there is SOME good in him and I would love to explore that more.
That’s all I have to say,
cheers
Ben
we had auditions today…
I went for josh, walter and Robert.
i enjoyed the scene with Josh especially today, as I was paired up for the Josh/Lena scene with Belinda and i have never really worked with her before even though we’re good friends.
I loved every second of it and can’t wait to bring a character to life regardless of what character that may be. Our imminent fate rests in the hands of Kate and Bernadette, and that we shall find out tomorrow on this or on the call board.
Scared but excited..what’s that emotion called??
yeah that’s all
cheers,
Ben
Lately I have been really quite slack with blogging. Yeah sorry about that.
I have been learning Josh’s lines (hey oh yeah i got Josh by the way….it’s been that long) and have been discovering some interesting stuff. We did this exercise with Bernadette just on Monday where we had to have some sort of a motto or throughline of thought for the scene. I wasn’t entirely sure what my line was so Bernadette gave me ‘Look at me.’ It worked quite effectively as we started the scene when Bernadette thought we were all ready. I found that every time Josh gained attention from Mavis and Peck or Patsy, he was somewhat accomplished in his objective.
Kate had Belinda and myself for Lena and Josh scenes on Wednesday, which was to tell the truth really the first proper time we had rehearsed the scene, as Bel has been sick and had Cabaret rehearsal. I find that Bel and I worked quite well together, although there is still a lot of room for improvement with my character.
I will be back to write something more substantial next time, but for now I am exhausted and can’t really be asked to elaborate.
Cheers
Ben
Hi Ben. I’d like you to focus on the idea of performance energy next week. You’re working within the ‘first circle’ at present, i.e., the intimate area of energy that radiates out from the actor. We’re in a larger room, and your awareness of the space that surrounds you needs some conscious attention i.e., adjustment of breath and physical energy as well as the desire to reach out and engage all within the space surrounding you. We’ll talk a bit more about this, but I’d like you to deal with this during your warmup next week.
thanks for that above kate, i will definitely do that.
So anyway, today we did an exercise with the very minute scene with Josh, ‘boy’ and Skelly. Before walking into the rehearsal space I wasn’t entirely aware of how brutal this scene actually was. We started the rehaearsal by discussing our characters. Josh in my opinion is actually a decent person at heart, his flaw comes when he compares himself to driver, thus resulting in his evil and manipulative nature that arises a lot more within the second act. I mentioned to Bernadette that Josh reallly just wants times to be the same as they were when driver was alive (just like the rest of the town) I think though, that within my process, i really need to concentrate on some of the grief that Josh suffered when his best friend died three years ago. Quite likely it is event that made Josh the bastard that he is today. Back to the rehearsal, when Josh is taunting Skelly, Josh and his friend are obviously bored and want some action so decide to have some fun with him. Bernadette asked us if there was a ’skelly’ figure anywhere within our lives that we could relate this scenario to. I related this scene to a girl who was new to school iun year 10, we teased her ( a group of us) and made her cry on her first day of school (horrible i know :D). I could really use this pack mentality to try and get to skelly and after 10 minutes or so of just going through some scare tactics and actual real life taunting, we slipped into the scene and it felt quite real, and not liek we were acting. I actually was having fun ‘baaaaaa’-ing at Skelly, and pushing him around. I’m sure I will make some more discoveries, and have already made some more, but from the top of my head, I can’t think of much.
As for the energy within the space I will definitely work on it, I work too much from a film aesthetic and need to get out of that habit.
Cheers
Ben
So turns out the play has been moved back by two days…thank god (we needed it).
So hmmm news with Josh eh.
I had a great realisation with Josh yesterday whilst working the family scene in act 1. I found that Josh is niggling at Patsy very overtly throughout the whole scene, until he mentions the name ‘warren peabody.’ I never realised it before but this moment for both emma and myself allowed Josh and Patsy to have a brother-sister moment in which they could share the humour of warren being hit in the head with a rock. Before we found this we were both playing it very seriously to some extent and now with the new objectives and actions it can take on (in certain places) the humour that the scene is supposed to portray.
Kate told me to go and buy a denim jacket for Josh so this morning i went and di just that.
I hope it’s alright. I need to learn how to wear it like Josh would and how he would use it. I walked in Josh’s shoes yesterday at the start of the first act (and before whilst warming up) and I found that Josh’s dialogue began to slow down a whole lot, which i liked. Now I need to find a common ground with Josh’s dialogue and articulate a whole lot more, whilst also staying outside of a film aesthetic. I still feel i need to discover some more with Josh, but only working on the floor will bring that out.
This acting acting stuff….who ever said it was easy?? :d
cheers,
Ben
oh yeah and one more thing for now. I had a conversation with Belinda last night about page 22 when Lena is talking about dead Blackie. I was convinced that this after all of the other scenes between Josh and Lena and that Lena knew that Josh killed her dog. Bel however was (and still is) convinced that Lena is in fact referring to Skelly. I know afterwards wilma says ‘wickedest man, creeping thorugh town…’ but I just always thought it was Josh who was being referred to, thus resulting in an unseen break-up and the scene with Trucker talking about having his old’s out.
Correct me if i’m wrong but it’s just what i thought all along.
Thanks
Ben
Nope. Lena is referring to Skelly in this case.
Sooooo..weekly wrap up eh?
Well I thought my character came some way in terms of objectives and stakes this week. I think it’s funny having two directors because one could really like the work you’re doing, and the other could really not like what you’re doing at all. I was slightly confused by this at times this week, because both Kate and Bernadette would give different notes to enhance characterisation or energy, but both would be quite different. Thus, this week I have been trying to find a common ground with notes throughout both acts, but still trying to maintain a consistent character and having half the stage time (due to double cast) to really discover Josh in a ‘performance’ situation.
I thought yesterday was the best run I have done so far as Josh is concerned, I tried to reinvent the ‘Blackie’ scene, as did I TRY to invent the ‘had the old’s out’ scene as well (the latter not being as effective as the first :D). Kate said Josh and Lena scene worked yesterday at about 80% which i would presume is the best we have done yet, so that was good, Bel and I just need to really get our choreography snapping into a nice routine.
I really am enjoying playing Josh as of Tuesday when our full costumes were confirmed. I also changed my boots to a pair that Isaac lent to me, and now I think my walk is a lot better than it was before in my flatter brown boots. I think my characterisation might get a little bit over the top if I add more to Josh now though. I have a feeling that as soon as these scenes go up in energy and craft, that Josh will see the light a lot clearer.
Kate said something that I thought was hilarious- and Kate you can answer this if you want to… Kate said to do things that your character woudl do at home, like make a cup of tea, make your bed etc. I haven’t tried this while Bel is at home because we live togetehr and if the worst came to worst I might just find myself trying to have sex with Bel when she least expected it…yeah that’d be awkward to explain I think.
Now with the play we are focusing on a lot more small details especially after yesterday’s rehearsal. One note that surprised me came from Bernadette. She said that I creep upstage when doing scenes with Isaac. See i had no idea about this so cheers Bernadette, i’ll remember not to do that.
I will be back on tomorrow morning so this is incomplete right now-but there is a sequel to the weekly wrap up, coming soon to ben’s page :d
cheers
bye (for now)
Ben
See above. Embedded comments.
wow…you can totally edit my blog.. that’s awesome. I didn’t know that.
So here I am back today, hahah i liked the ‘no comment’ comment the best kate. I thought you might have that reaction.
So anyway Today we have two dress rehearsals. Things I really need to work on, are really nailing my blocking as ‘boy’ or ‘Tom Withers’ I should say (he is ‘Jennifer Withers’ nephew and carer, so it makes it slightly awkward having a life with Josh that Jennifer does not know about…you know the taunting of Skelly, getting drunk, preying on adolescents etc) as I really don’t want to draw as much focus as I may have been as an unimportant character in the play. I neeed to work on not creeping backstage whenever I have scenes with Trucker (as Josh) and A general note, to project more, especially louder than we should be today as there will be bodies within the space.
I really am enjoying playing Josh as it gives a certain relief to the everyday (mostly) ‘nice guy’ that Ben normally is. It’s a breath of fresh air and thsi is what I love about acting, you get to be someone else temporarily, thus resulting in understanding the psychie of different cahracters, (in this case-Josh). I have been watching various american movies from all different eras, and I think I wouldn’t go astray even slowing Josh down a little bit more in his tempo rhythms to really get that seedy, greaser feel. Don’t worry Kate…i’m not going to try anything too radical but I think it might help to slow him down slightly to match his personality. The more I think about tempo rhythms, the more I am confused. Mayeb Josh and Patsy have different rhythms due to a different generation, or maybe they take after their parents with much slower rhythms. hmmm rhythms….what a strange word. Anyhow …we have a call right about now so I shall take my leave of you Mr. Blog and be back after today’s rehearsal…which would be….tomorrow.
Cheers.
Ben
Hi Ben
gone back to the comments pane. It’s easier.
I thought your work last night on Josh was another step up. Let’s give it 90% now eh? Only because you drop your energy a little from time to time … I think you need to keep engaged with the idea that Josh needs to say what he has to say. Don’t be defensive or underpowered. Play his intention/action strongly and vocally find the right breath energy and muscular engagement of the articulators for the room.