Reacting at the audience during inactive moments-- like The Office, more subtle than being direct
SPEAK TO EACH OTHER- have REAL communication!
Comedy has a foundation in human truth-- it's funny because the characters are serious in their world.
Human truth will be relevant no matter what era the play is from-- we cannot make a judgement of the character in the moment, that allows us to be superficial.
How does history of theatre influence how I play the scene?
The tensions you associate with feelings/actions in real life do not usually apply to the character!
"Emotion is not tension" - tension can be habit, fear, insecurity-- or misuse!
Wednesday 27 January 2016
Tuesday 26 January 2016
advice from rob
"When you can get it without effort, tick it, suck it up and do it. Sometimes it can be easy."
Monday 25 January 2016
voice breakthrough
I can't put my finger exactly on what just changed for me in Francoise's class just now, but it was enough to make me feel rather emotional in the moment and inspired to jot down some thoughts before they fly away.
It's a layered feeling, I guess, stemming from a real inspiration from MR. FOOTE'S OTHER LEG the other night, which I found entirely lovely and inspired, from my seat in the upper dress circle. I was quite amazed and curious by how the actors' voices carried-- it's of course an aspect to the theatre which I've had much more appreciation for since I began my own real study of voice work, but for some reason that particular performance really "clicked" for me and I found myself lapping up every vocal nuance, particularly from Dervla Kirwan. Her voice was quite low in pitch, for the most part-- not a female baritone, but a lovely and rich alto that really only ever grew into a kind of mezzo at it's highest. And such wonderful amplification!!
Today I think I got as close to a similar sound in my own voice as I've ever come.
I've been looking forward to my voice classes this term with real excitement, far more than I had last term. By December I could feel myself starting to put the pieces together, and just anxious for the exercises and tools to really let it rip. We moved quickly through a lot of warm-up exercises we're familiar with and then into focusing on various lip, teeth and face resonance.
I struggled with "waking up" my nasal cavity and sinuses, in part I think because I've been focusing in singing and in voice class last term on not sending sound into the wrong places (big, low pitches resonate in the chest, middle sounds resonate in/on the mouth, without using the nose). My nose felt very lothe to engage. I did feel the resonance bouncing on my cheeks but to get to the nose, it was almost going around to the back of my head and up over to my nasal cavities, which I expect is a start. When things started to clear up and become more direct, I found the buzzing was a lot more delicate than I expected it to be, and when we released a very nasal "MMMMI MMMMI MMMMAY MMMMAY" into a more neutral "Mah!" it was like the clouds parted.
I'm finding so much FREEDOM in my voice! The "Mah!" was meant to be on the high end of a mid-range pitch and it really felt so easy and a lot lower than I expected-- not that the pitch itself was low, but that the energy it took to make the sound was so minimal.
THIS is the kind of sound Alex is after, and that Francoise and Simon have been complimentary of!
It sounds like my mother, in a lot of ways... But of course it should, because I'm coming into the age that my mother was when she had me. I've been hearing her voice all my life!
My voice is reflective of my age and experience, which is so much deeper than I've EVER given myself credit for. I've spent a lot of my life feeling rather smug about being much younger than most people think I am-- being actually 19 though thought 25 or more, etc. And while I think some amount of youth is a good thing to retain, I'm suddenly very happy to embrace my age and let it reflect in my voice, which has taken some time to catch up to the mindset. To "sound 29" does not mean to sound "old" or "mature" or even "early middle age"-- it simply means to sound like me, exactly as I am right now, with all my life experience and training and emotion and ambition and shortcomings that I have right now.
My voice can, and increasingly does, reflect the person that I am, not the person that I was or the person that I think I need to be.
And additionally, I discovered that I, as myself, a 29-year old woman, can sound "youthful" and "innocent" without sounding "young" or by resorting to a high, petulant style of voice. It's not a thing I have to put on, which ends up sounding false and shallow because it isn't latched to anything real or deep. A "youthful" voice can AND SHOULD be rooted-- not a shallow vocal trick. There's a time and place for a cartoon-y voice, but it's never been a challenge for me to find those. My challenge is in rooting the voice to successfully find color, age, range, variance, etc. AND TODAY I STARTED TO DO THAT!!!
I feel positively unstoppable and endlessly curious to see how I can apply it all in my work.
Now THERE'S a penny drop!
It's a layered feeling, I guess, stemming from a real inspiration from MR. FOOTE'S OTHER LEG the other night, which I found entirely lovely and inspired, from my seat in the upper dress circle. I was quite amazed and curious by how the actors' voices carried-- it's of course an aspect to the theatre which I've had much more appreciation for since I began my own real study of voice work, but for some reason that particular performance really "clicked" for me and I found myself lapping up every vocal nuance, particularly from Dervla Kirwan. Her voice was quite low in pitch, for the most part-- not a female baritone, but a lovely and rich alto that really only ever grew into a kind of mezzo at it's highest. And such wonderful amplification!!
Today I think I got as close to a similar sound in my own voice as I've ever come.
I've been looking forward to my voice classes this term with real excitement, far more than I had last term. By December I could feel myself starting to put the pieces together, and just anxious for the exercises and tools to really let it rip. We moved quickly through a lot of warm-up exercises we're familiar with and then into focusing on various lip, teeth and face resonance.
I struggled with "waking up" my nasal cavity and sinuses, in part I think because I've been focusing in singing and in voice class last term on not sending sound into the wrong places (big, low pitches resonate in the chest, middle sounds resonate in/on the mouth, without using the nose). My nose felt very lothe to engage. I did feel the resonance bouncing on my cheeks but to get to the nose, it was almost going around to the back of my head and up over to my nasal cavities, which I expect is a start. When things started to clear up and become more direct, I found the buzzing was a lot more delicate than I expected it to be, and when we released a very nasal "MMMMI MMMMI MMMMAY MMMMAY" into a more neutral "Mah!" it was like the clouds parted.
I'm finding so much FREEDOM in my voice! The "Mah!" was meant to be on the high end of a mid-range pitch and it really felt so easy and a lot lower than I expected-- not that the pitch itself was low, but that the energy it took to make the sound was so minimal.
THIS is the kind of sound Alex is after, and that Francoise and Simon have been complimentary of!
It sounds like my mother, in a lot of ways... But of course it should, because I'm coming into the age that my mother was when she had me. I've been hearing her voice all my life!
My voice is reflective of my age and experience, which is so much deeper than I've EVER given myself credit for. I've spent a lot of my life feeling rather smug about being much younger than most people think I am-- being actually 19 though thought 25 or more, etc. And while I think some amount of youth is a good thing to retain, I'm suddenly very happy to embrace my age and let it reflect in my voice, which has taken some time to catch up to the mindset. To "sound 29" does not mean to sound "old" or "mature" or even "early middle age"-- it simply means to sound like me, exactly as I am right now, with all my life experience and training and emotion and ambition and shortcomings that I have right now.
My voice can, and increasingly does, reflect the person that I am, not the person that I was or the person that I think I need to be.
And additionally, I discovered that I, as myself, a 29-year old woman, can sound "youthful" and "innocent" without sounding "young" or by resorting to a high, petulant style of voice. It's not a thing I have to put on, which ends up sounding false and shallow because it isn't latched to anything real or deep. A "youthful" voice can AND SHOULD be rooted-- not a shallow vocal trick. There's a time and place for a cartoon-y voice, but it's never been a challenge for me to find those. My challenge is in rooting the voice to successfully find color, age, range, variance, etc. AND TODAY I STARTED TO DO THAT!!!
I feel positively unstoppable and endlessly curious to see how I can apply it all in my work.
Now THERE'S a penny drop!
Monday 18 January 2016
workbook thoughts
Part of reason for being in training is learning what is your responsibility as an actor-- find ways of being 3D, regardless of direction given
"How do you act?" - September's question at it's core
Readiness and industry begets greatness onstage -- it's not possible for me yet because I still have work to do. Toolbox and technique allows an actor to draw on skill in the exact moment it's needed.
Discipline is required-- must be able to deliver
Actors need to act-- not by default or anything, but dedication and passion and drive, single-mindedness. Not talent, not lack of options.
Failure is a requirement-- part of the process. It is necessary.
"Teach us to care and not to care." - TS Eliot
Know what your limits are-- know when it's enough-- as long as it IS enough, as long as the WORK has been done, as long as it's measured correctly.
"How do you act?" - September's question at it's core
Readiness and industry begets greatness onstage -- it's not possible for me yet because I still have work to do. Toolbox and technique allows an actor to draw on skill in the exact moment it's needed.
Discipline is required-- must be able to deliver
Actors need to act-- not by default or anything, but dedication and passion and drive, single-mindedness. Not talent, not lack of options.
Failure is a requirement-- part of the process. It is necessary.
"Teach us to care and not to care." - TS Eliot
Know what your limits are-- know when it's enough-- as long as it IS enough, as long as the WORK has been done, as long as it's measured correctly.
Wednesday 13 January 2016
Restoration & 18th Century - workshop presentation notes
Presentation based on:
- other topics assigned to cohort
- maybe filling in some blanks
Civil War Summary
- Series of 3 wars between 1642-1651
- Uprise of Puritans & anti-Royalist support in Parliament
- Charles I wasted a lot of money, Absolute Monarch, potentially pro-Catholic, anti-Parliament
- Beheaded for treason - 30 January 1649 - only monarch in UK history to be killed by subjects
- Establishment of Commonwealth of England and Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell
- Lord Protector (offered title "King")
- House of Lords reinstated in 1660
Restoration
- Entire realm at war - estimated casualties (battle & disease)
- England - 190,000/5 million - 3.7%
- Scotland - 60,000/1 million - 6%
- Ireland - 616,000/1.5 million - 41%
- Ireland was Catholic and posed bitter threat - also many Royalists
- Richard Cromwell removed - Parliament "reset"
- "As if nothing had changed since 1642"
- Charles II declared King 14 May 1660 - coronated 23 April 1661
- Oliver Cromwell exhumed, hung and beheaded
- Civil Wars effectively set course for Parliamentary Monarchy
- Theatre reopened - revival of traditional holidays and festivities (Christmas)
- Reestablishment of Church of England as national church
- Stuarts had Catholic sympathies till 1689, Charles II converted to Roman Catholicism on deathbed
- Great Fire of London 1666 - Great Plague
- Impactful on huge urban population boom
- Advances in architecture - St. Paul's Hampton Court, etc.
- Science and exploration - literacy of middle and lower classes - Isaac Newton
- 1663 - published history of all animals in Bible
- Century following Galileo - astronomy, navigation
- Habeas Corpus Act (unlawful imprisonment) - 1679
- Literacy accomplishments - rise of "decorum" and taste/affluence
- Women widely published
- Act of Union - 1701 - Union of England, Scotland and Wales to Great Britain
Ideas
- Rights to pursue pleasure and libertinism (upper class)
- Women onstage
- Empiricism and industrialism take foot
- Rise of slavery, especially in 18th century
18th Century
- Act of Settlement - 1701 after Queen Anne's heir died
- Succession passes to Hanovers to avoid Catholic succession by passing 50 more immediate claimants and ended Stuart line - German
- 1708 - St. Paul's Cathedral finished in London
- 1709 - Copywright Act - to protect ideas and discoveries
- Music and opera - Handel comes to Britain
- Advocacy for education of women
People and Monarchs
- Charles II & Catherine - no legitimate heir - 13 children
- Prince William will be first monarch descendent of Charles II
- James II & Anne - his brother, overthrown because he was Catholic
- William III & Mary II - his daughter and nephew, Anglican
- William of Orange - Glorious/Bloodless Revolution
- Anne & Prince George - her sister
- Major advances in trade
- George I & Sophia - her cousin
- Robert Walpole holds parliamentary seat for 41 years - "prime minister"
- George II & Caroline - his son, not seen as a good monarch
- George III & Charlotte - his son, of American Revolution
- Isaac Newton - mathematician and physicist - 1642-1726
- Christopher Wren - architect, mathematician, physicist, 52 churches in London - 1632-1723
- John Dryden - first poet laureate
- Jonathan Swift - Irish satirist and essayist - "Modest Proposal"
- Samuel Johnson - published "first" dictionary, conversationalist, cat lover
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