ACTING CLASS - 28 Nov 18

On today's Acting Class, we had a special educationally theatrical Infinity War event, where all the drama teachers come together in this day. We were with R-Alex, S-McK and also two very special guests: Two members of the BROKEN HEART YOUTH THEATRE!!! We had a workshop with them and they taught us the differences of acting, how to write a monologue, which I completely failed at doing and we learnt more about synchronisation, concentration and enhancing our listening skills. How to revive our energy. They tested our reflexes to see how quick we react to their commands. Boy, if only I had superhuman senses. They were teaching us how to behave in the industry, to perfect our theatrical etiquette. They taught us the tactical power of manipulation. We played a game of cartooning where we make animated versions of anyone in our lives. They taught us that acting is just a job, it's not for everyone. It was a wonderful lesson. I'm still thinking about which company I could because since they taught us everything about drama school, it's a bit intense. There might be teachers that are so strict, they just don't care that I have a mental disorder, I wouldn't get by really far like everyone else would or could. Depends. So right now, I'm still thinking about which company I could work with. I have BHYM and PapaTango on my mind right now. Well, until next time. Which is tomorrow.

ACTING CLASS - 27 Nov 18

TWO DAYS TO GO!!!! On today's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex to spend all of our context classes continuing for a twelfth time to rehearse our Stanislavski/Chekhov pieces that will be premiering here in the college this Thursday. We finally have the official set put up in the theatre. Rob said that he will provide props in tomorrow's Acting Class. We all watched each other's performances.

Then we were with S-McK to rehearse our Stanislavski/Chekhov pieces for the thirteenth time but individually as a group in theatrical form.

ACTING CLASS - 6 Nov 18 / HAMILTON - REVIEW / HAMILTON - COMIC-CON PANEL 2018

WHAT A HAMIL-TASTIC BLAST!

Tuesday's Acting Class was a special class. We went on a trip to the Victoria Palace in the West End to see a musical called Hamilton which tells the story of one of the greatest well-known pioneers of all time: Alexander Hamilton.

We had a "COMIC-CON PANEL" style Q&A discussion with the cast. Here's the questions we've asked and the answers they answered.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE PERFORMING TO THE SAME HIGH STANDARD EVERY SINGLE DAY?

"In terms of keeping up...maintaining the level of work, we all happen to do that. What keeps me going is the company, they always keep up a high level of performance and when you got your brothers and sisters doing their best, you got to do your best, you got to follow the lead that you all set. But also, as an actor, it's about being responsible for your well-being, staying healthy and keeping fit. Hence, this water, I have to drink a lot of water to sing because our voices are muscles and we have to keep them hydrated in order to use them. Any performer of sports has to keep up with looking after themselves. Physically, emotionally, psychologically and so on and that's what I've been doing." - Jamael Westman (Alexander Hamilton)

WHAT WAS THE FIRST STEP IN THE REHEARSAL PROCESS FOR YOU AND HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT BUILDING YOUR CHARACTER?

"Well, first of all, we had to get on Spotify to familiarise ourselves with the material itself and in terms of building your character and looking at the songs you're doing and the songs that other people are doing; how your character interacts with other people. It's not just your stuff, it's how you meet other people on stage and looking at sisterhood....so you're starting to look at ways you relate to your character...and take your time, ask questions, when you're in the rehearsal space, you got great directors and actors that are amazing and you start to talk about what doesn't make sense, playing things off each other and that's what builds the character and it all comes from truth, you want to play it, enjoy playing it and finding different things. So, it's kinda how it works and obviously it's a much longer process but that's how it starts: it starts from truth and showing your enthusiasm and prepping yourself and then we run for each other and that's how we get better and better at it." - Rachel John (Angelica Schuyler)

"We understand who we are and how everyone else is. We recognise who we are as performers. We are working together to create and that's what we've done throughout this rehearsal process and that's what they've provided us with." -  Jamael Westman (Alexander Hamilton)

IS THERE ANY SONG THAT IS PARTICULARLY EMOTIONAL TO PERFORM?

"Well, first things first, I die twice on the show. Basically, Laurens' death, the first death you see, it's an emotional thing because you hear about it but the second death (Philip Hamilton) you have to watch as an audience, so for me to perform that, it's not actually easy because everyone obviously...and with me and with that scene, I have get myself to a place that puts me on the edge, that actually makes me feel the emotion that I'm going through. So, what you saw in front of you on stage is not me trying to fake being upset or trying to fake being hurt, I am generally feeling that...somedays I go beyond that line that I don't wanna cross and these lot (the cast) have seen me do that and I am a mess, I'm crying so much, I can't get words out. Other days, I manage to maintain that but I think, in terms of that, that is one of the hardest songs for me and the most emotional song for me to perform every night." - Cleve September (John Laurens/Philip Hamilton)

"I would have to say...for me, this is one of my favourite numbers in the show Because of Forgiveness, I think it's such a powerful word and I think everybody in this room would have to forgive at one point. I know, personally, I had to forgive. I know other people had to forgive me and I think it's really a powerful word and something to take really seriously, so for me and I think for a lot of people in this company, it means a lot" - Obioma Ugoala (George Washington)

WHO YOU THINK ON MODERN-DAY HAMILTON IS AND IS THERE ANYONE IN THE MODERN ERA THAT ECHOES HAMILTON'S SUCCESS?

"On modern-day Hamilton, I think many of you possess the ability to be a modern-day...that's the point of the story, isn't it? He came from nowhere, he was the ultimate beginner, immigrant; whatever you wanna call him and he took it and he rode with it and he became this guy who shaped this country, that's over the other side of the Atlantic to what it is today and I think that's pretty inspirational. So, I think anybody's (which I think that's what this show is about) got it in them, so go for it." - Michael Jibson (King George)

"I would say is if it's personified...or Obama or people that you see yourself in, people that are making a difference, working hard and choosing to say I made a decision to be who I am and be honest and to work really hard to achieve goals and to stand firm...people around me. I think people like that are the modern-day Hamiltons and I believe...if we look up to those people and we make those decisions to stand for the things that we believe in, I think we can all be modern-day Hamiltons like Obama...like the people that we see in our day today." - Sharon Rose (standby)

WHO IS THE MOST SIMILAR TO HIS/HER OWN CHARACTER?

"He's dirty, he's boisterous, he's really boisterous, he's got a lot of bad, I'm here for it and he's got a lot of energy and I'm also obviously here for it. I love playing him, I love just getting involved, I love that every time he just got...he's a hype man and I see myself as a hype man, so everything about him, I just love playing him every single night." - Tarinn Callender (Hercules Mulligan/James Madison)

We previously were reviewing Hamilton, there were both positive and negative responses. We just went all critic-box office budget-rotten tomato style on this. Basically, we thought there was too much singing and rapping in this play, making everything go off balance or off genre. Although, the play was almost 3 hours, it still felt rushed but the rest was great. We praised the play with its determination, dynamics, casting, actors, actors' performances, explosiveness, use of colours, effectiveness, musical numbers, synchronisation, compound styles, modernised reboot, discipline, morality, concentration, self-explanation, connection of the ensemble, representation of women, comedy, research and its production. It was very energetic, uplifting, it kept us up, we didn't sleep at all, it wasn't boring like all of those quiet period dramas. I think Act 1 was better than Act 2. Act 2 was more serious and intense. The play showed what forgiveness truly is. I like that there were actors that play more than one character (dual characters) and the music was on point.

77%🍅

8/10

If you don't know what a Comic-Con Panel looks like. Here's an example:

We have to get Tom Hardy to visit our college since him and Rob are best buddies😁

ACTING CLASS - 26 Nov 18

Yesterday's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex. We continued for an eleventh time to rehearse for our Stanislavski/Chekhov pieces. We now have two days to go for our final performance/assessment.

ACTING CLASS - 22 Nov 18

On Thursday's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex, we continued for a tenth time to rehearse our Stanislavski/Chekhov pieces. We did some hot-seating which is a pretty intense exercise where we tell the entire class how much we know our characters. After that, we had a tutorial speed skills session. We write down what skills we developed over the past seven weeks, then we spend time asking our classmates what they have observed about each other's work.

The skills that I think I have developed over the past seven weeks.

• Awareness
• Physically engaged
• Do my homework (obviously)
• I can be vocally clear
• I have good behaviour
• I'm disciplined
• I'm confident
• I listen to my fellow actors that I collaborate with and the director I follow.
• Good improvisation

This the feedback I got from others:

"You have good personality on stage; enthusiastic. You're very confident. You have good vocal projection. You have good articulation. You learn lines effectively." - Pedro Small

"You're good at learning your cues and lines. Your physical engagement is getting there. Your behaviour is on point." - Danielle Bonsu

"You're physically engaged. You always know how to link to your subtext. You are vocally clear. You are confident. You have good communication skills and good leadership." - Lucky Asare

"You are always on time. You are really good at displaying the subtext of the piece. You are vocally clear. You are grounded to the stage space. You are good at multi-tasking. You do some good research on your character." - Mya Howlett

ACTING CLASS - 21 Nov 18

On Wednesday's Acting Class, we were with S-McK. We continued for a ninth time to rehearse our pieces then we were learning how to understand and fully know our characters. Who they are, where they're from, why they do what they do etc. We were trying to learn how to understand Stanislavski through practising his method by working on our roles: The 6 Ws

WHO
WHAT
WHEN
WHERE
WHY
HOW?

WHO AM I? - Yermolai Alexeieyitch Lopakhin

WHEN AM I? - 1904/1800s

WHERE AM I? - Russia

WHY AM I HERE? - To take care of the Cherry Orchard

WHAT DO I WANT? - To be bigger in business

WHAT WILL I DO TO ACHIEVE MY WANT? - To betray Madame Lubov Ranyevsky by buying and cutting down the Cherry Orchard

Then we played a game of a Stanislavski/Chekhov version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, an improvisation exercise.

ACTING CLASS - 20 Nov 18

On Tuesday's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex, we continued for a eighth time to rehearse our pieces of Anton Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and The Seagulls. Then we went into rooms individually as a group to go through our pieces in theatrical form.

ACTING CLASS - 19 Nov 18

Yesterday's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex, we continued for a seventh time to rehearse our pieces that are based of Stanislavski & Chekhov. New week - RECAP: I'm in a play called The Cherry Orchard and I play Yermolai Alexeieyitch Lopakhin. Check out the official cast announcement for the rest. Then for a second time, we rehearsed all of our pieces in theatrical form, individually as a group.

UNIT 3 - INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

There are many roles that you would/will find in the world of Performing Arts.

• Actor
• Advertising media buyer
• Animator
• Arts administrator
• Audio-visual technician
• Broadcast engineer
• Broadcast journalist
• Choreographer
• Cinema projectionist
• Circus performer
• Classical musician
• Computer games developer
• Computer games tester
• Costume designer
• Dance teacher
• Dancer
• Director of photography
• DJ
• Entertainer
• Entertainment agent
• Fashion model
• Lighting technician
• Live sound engineer
• Make-up artist
• Media researcher
• Music promotions manager
• Music teacher
• Music therapist
• Photographer
• Photographic stylist
• Photographic technician
• Pop musician
• Prop maker
• Radio broadcast assistant
• Roadie
• Screenwriter
• Set designer
• Singing teacher
• Social media manager
• Sports commentator
• Stage manager
• Stagehand
• Studio sound engineer
• Stunt performer
• TV/Film assistant director
• TV/Film camera operator
• TV/Film director
• TV/Film producer
• TV/Film production assistant
• TV/Film production manager
• TV/Film production runner
• TV/Film sound technician
• TV presenter
• Video editor
• Wardrobe assistant
• Web content manager
• Web designer
• Web developer
• Web editor

In order to work as an actor, my chosen career path would be acting because when you have a deep, serious passion acting, why not? Just go for it.

Your voice is the most important part of your body. Take care of it.

DOS:

1. Drink frequent sips of water to keep the vocal tract well hydrated. It is recommended that you drink at least 1.5 to 2 litres of water daily.
2. Balance your voice use throughout the day. If you have a vocally demanding day ahead, avoid talking when it is not necessary. When you are ill or tired, rest your voice, along with your body.
3. Pay attention to how your voice is feeling. Rest your voice if your throat feels tired, dry or sore.
4. Sing only in a comfortable pitch and loudness range for your voice. Do not sing in positions that can cause tension in your neck and head, for example throwing your head back, or jerking your neck forward.
5. Keep your jaw open and relaxed, instead of clenching your teeth or tensing the jaw when you speak or sing.
6. Avoid foods and drinks that can promote acid reflux and increase mucus secretions in the throat. Common problem foods include fried, oily and spicy food, full-cream dairy products, chocolates and nuts. Caffeinated and carbonated beverages should also be avoided.
7. Be aware of the effect emotions can have on you. Stress and anxiety can contribute to physical tension in sites like the throat, neck, chest and shoulders. These areas should be relaxed to produce an easy voice. Consider undertaking relaxation activities (e.g. exercise) if you experience high stress levels.

DON'TS

1. Whisper –‘underusing’ your voice can cause strain and muscle tension in your voice box.
2. Try to sing or talk extensively when you have a respiratory tract infection, for example the cold or flu. Rest your voice until you have recovered from the infection.
3. Cough or clear your throat habitually, which can contribute to vocal cord injury. Swallow your saliva and take sips of water instead.
4. Squeeze or push your voice out in a tense or hard way – this uses excessive force in the throat.
5. Talk or shout above high noise levels, or across large spaces. Instead, move nearer and face the person you are talking to. Use non-verbal means such as gestures to gain attention and convey some of your messages. If needed, use a microphone to speak to a large audience.
6. Try to speak beyond a breath cycle, or squeeze out the last few words from your remaining breath. Pause at natural speaking boundaries to replace your breath before continuing.
7. Expose your voice to dusty, polluted and dry environments. This includes keeping away from smokers or smoky places.
8. Ignore prolonged hoarseness or throat discomfort. Consult your doctor if you experience these symptoms for more than two weeks.

EXAMPLES OF WARM-UPS

• Keep good posture
• Breathe deep and hiss
• Release your jaw
• Drink warm liquids
• Do scales
• Work on lip and tongue trills
• Add in sirens and kazoos
• Hum
• Do tongue twisters

If that's not enough for you, then check my VOCAL EXERCISES videos in my blog.

I've been working on expanding my range because I'm a singer and I drink water.

ACTING CLASS - 15 Nov 18

On today's Acting Class, we did a quiz about theatrical history and popular culture. Our group won. Then, we continued for a sixth time to rehearse our pieces. Our group is doing two scenes in two of the acts in a famous play called The Cherry Orchard. The other groups are each doing plays: Three Sisters and The Seagulls. Finally, we played a game called Whose Line Is It Anyway? There were many genres that we had to act out on: sci-fi, horror, rom-com, action, superhero etc.

ACTING CLASS - 14 Nov 18

PAPA-TANGO HAS RETURNED!!!! We finally have our scripts published. We are also with R-Alex and what we are doing is we are rehearsing with three professional actors to bring the characters in each of our plays to life and we have a final performance later on.

ACTING CLASS - 13 Nov 18 - OFFICIAL CAST ANNOUNCEMENT

Yesterday, we were with R-Alex, we continued for a fifth time to rehearse our pieces. I'm in the play called The Cherry Orchard. We did character rotations to build contrast in our characters, just to play around with them and have fun and rehearse at the same time.

CAST:

Troy Wilson/Philemon Ameyaw - Yermolai Alexeievitch Lopakhin
Danielle Bonsu/Rosely L - Dunyasha
Sebastian Weislo/Ben Taylor - Yepikhodov
Deja Lee - Anya
Tia Scarlett - Varya
Chloe Hawthorne/Rosely L - Madame Lyubov Andreievna Ranyevskaya
Kieron Smith-Helder/Ben Taylor - Leonid Andreieveitch Gayev
Kieron Smith Helder - Peter Trofimov

STANISLAVSKI

When was he working?

Konstantin Stanislavski started working the theater, when he was a teen, moving up to become an acclaimed thespian and director of stage productions. So, probably in the mid-1870s to the early 1880s.


What was occurring socially at this time?

The First World War to the October Revolution
Revolutions of 1917 to the Civil War years

Why did he develop the system?

His system of acting developed out of his persistent efforts to remove the blocks that he encountered in his performances, beginning with a major crisis in 1906.

Who were his contemporaries?

• Anton Chekhov
• Maxim Gorky
• Andre Antoine
• Henrik Ibsen
• Ludwig Chronegk
• Leopold Sulerzhitsky
• Fyodor Kommisarzhevsky
• Alexander Pushkin
• Nikolai Gogol
• Mikhail Shchepkin
• Gilkeriya Fedotova
• Ernesto Rossi
• Tommaso Salvini

Why/How did he survive the Russian Revolution?

Up until the Russian Revolution in 1917, Stanislavski often used his inherited wealth to fund his experiments in acting and directing. His family's discouragement meant that he appeared only as an amateur until he was thirty three. Stanislavski welcomed the February Revolution of 1917 and its overthrow of the absolute monarchy as a "miraculous liberation of Russia". With the October Revolution later in the year, the MAT closed for a few weeks and the First Studio was occupied by revolutionaries. Stanislavski thought that the social upheavals presented an opportunity to realise his long-standing ambitions to establish a Russian popular theatre that would provide.

THEATRICALLY HISTORICAL ICONS

Thespis of Icaria - 6th century BC in Dionysos, ancient Greece - THE FIRST ACTOR
Florence Nightingale

ACTING CLASS - 12 Nov 18 - PART 2

On yesterday's second part of Acting Class, we were with R-Alex, we went upstairs to room 222 to rehearse our pieces in theatrical form.

ACTING CLASS - 12 Nov 18 - PART 1

On today's first part of Acting Class, we were with R-Alex, we continued for a fourth time to rehearse our pieces. I play Yermolai Alexeseich Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard. We rehearse our pieces while Rob rehearses with the other groups each time. We also a couple of things we need to focus on as actors.

• Playing the objective - when you're playing the objective, you're acting
• Be familiar with the LCR - Learn Concentrate React.
• Being "other directed" - all your attention is geared to others not you - cooperation
• Create, create, create.

ACTING CLASS - 8 Nov 18

Last Thursday, we were with R-Alex, we continued for a third time to work on our pieces, I play Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard. We practised then we performed one of our pieces in front of everyone else, we didn't perform both because one of the cast members wasn't present. Anyway, we got some feedback from the other colleagues and the teacher himself.

• Good energy - provide more to the audience
• Discipline on backstage
• Vocal projection
• Play with your character
• "Oh, b******s" - sudden change of thought
• Too much anger - D.I.D
• Concentration
• Work on improvisation

WILSON WEDNESDAYS - PART 7

Here we are again in the seventh instalment on Wilson Wednesdays. This is still me back in 2011 practising for Britain's Got Talent. I was 10 years old. I auditioned twice. Sadly, I never went through. I guess it was too early for me to see the world yet. Anyway, enjoy!

SONGS:

Take That - Greatest Day
Whitney Houston - The Greatest Love of All

ACTING CLASS - 7 Nov 18

On today's Acting Class, we were with S-McK. We were going for a second rehearsal of our pieces and then we had a discussion/recap on what objectives/super-objectives are. We continued to annotate our scripts practically and analyse our lines then we individually shared them and say what we think about because almost everyone is playing the same character in each play in each piece in our scripts/plays.

ACTING CLASS - 5 Nov 18

On Monday's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex, we had our first rehearsal with our official roles. We were ordered to learn our lines and annotate our scripts and analyse our lines and the objective/super-objective/psychological meaning of our characters.

ACTING CLASS - 1 Nov 18 - PART 2 / THE CHERRY ORCHARD - OFFICIAL FIRST LOOK

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

PROMOTIONAL POSTER

CHRISTMAS 2018

We have finally been cast into our roles. I play Yermolai Alexeievitch Lopakhin. He's a merchant. Lopakhin is by far the wealthiest character in the play, but comes from the lowest social class. This contrast defines his character: he enjoys living the high life, but at the same time is uncomfortably conscious of his low beginnings and obsession with business. He is often portrayed on stage as an unpleasant character because of his greedy tendencies and ultimate betrayal of the Gayev family, but there is nothing in the play to suggest this: he works strenuously to help the Gayevs, but to no avail. Lopakhin represents the new middle class in Russia, one of many threats to the old aristocratic way of doing things.

We learnt more about objectives/actions but what are they? Basically, it is what your character needs to achieve in a scene and how, ACTIONS, they go about achieving these. An objective is both psychological and physical. An action carries with it emotive scenarios that we cannot and indeed shouldn't ignore. Remember "Acting is behaving truthfully under imagined circumstances", so the objectives/actions give us a foundation to achieve this. The action MUST be a verb (doing word).

The objectives WILL ALWAYS meet a counter objective, usually other characters' objectives etc., so it becomes a truthful emotive "game" of working together in order to determine what these objectives are and to work as a group in order to tell the story of the play, especially when it comes down to just us actors. We also learnt about SUPER OBJECTIVES. It's what your character wants/needs overall in the play. Simple! We are performing two scenes.

The first scene we do is at pages 3-12 in Act 1

The businessman Lopakhin and young maid Dunyasha are in the nursery at Lubov Ranevskaya's house. They were waiting anxiously for Lubov to arrive from the train, but Lopakhin has fallen asleep. When he wakes up, he reminisces about Lubov showing him kindness as a little boy, though he was just a peasant. He's a rich man now. The clerk Epikhodov enters and gives a weather report: frost, though the cherry trees are in bloom. When he leaves, Dunyasha confesses to Lopakhin that the clerk has proposed to her. But he's accident-prone and has squeaky boots, so she's not sure she's into it. Anya asks Varya a question that will be repeated throughout the play: has Lopakhin proposed? No, says Varya, and she doubts he will. She wishes people would stop pushing it. Anya asks Varya a question that will be repeated throughout the play: has Lopakhin proposed? No, says Varya, and she doubts he will. She wishes people would stop pushing it.

The second scene we do is at pages 42-48 in Act 2

Anya and Varya enter with Trofimov. Lopakhin teases him for always being with the ladies. And still being a student. Trofimov has heard it before, but still gets riled. They make fun of him, but they enjoy hearing Trofimov's opinions. He believes in work and progress. He loathes the intellectuals who still treat their servants like animals. Lopakhin picks up on the thread, reflecting on how small and petty people are, when they should really be giants.

IRONY AND BLINDNESS - The opposite circumstances of Lopakhin, Firs, and Dunyasha point out the irony in the now supposedly free-moving class system; characters talk about and praise a system of economic mobility. Still, they cannot see the contradiction in the situations of those around them that have no opportunity to improve their standing or are criticized for attempting to do so.

ACTING CLASS - 1 Nov 18 - PART 1

On the first part of today's Acting Class, we were with R-Alex. We done a practical demonstration/simulation. We were split into pairs and we were ordered to organise a scene where a shop is about to close in 5 mins but we have one last encounter with a customer. We performed them in front of each other. Rob then taught us how to react as if something is good news or bad news.

In scenes, there are objectives to characters, the characters who physically do things have sub-textual meanings. When you're playing a character that's trying to be helpful, don't overdo it, don't be overtly polite. Remember, D.I.D. Objectives in characters sometimes involves breaking the fourth wall in many ways. There are also actions or tiny moments in scenes and they are called tactics. Tactics build on the objective.

Acting is behaving truthfully in imagined circumstances.

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