ACTING CLASS - 28 Mar 19

On today's Acting Class, we were with S-Came. I have been chosen to reprise my role as Macduff in a workshop that will be happening in a school in Pimlico next week Monday alongside:

Ben Mills
Kadiatu Smith
Tia Scarlett
Danielle Bonsu
Harry Kelly
Chloe Hawthorn
Favour Dantes

In the beginning, we will introduce ourselves and then Ben will give the class a brief summary of Macbeth. After that, we will a couple of scenes that involve these characters:

The Witches
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Macduff
Captain
Ross
Angus
Lennox
Banquo

Then, we'll play some games and do some warm-ups and then we perform one more scene before the end and that's the final fight - Macbeth (Mills) vs. Macduff (Wilson). Then we thank them for being involved in this workshop, tell them that we hope they are fully inspired and motivated and we go home.

BLACK GROUP - MACBETH: OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE - EVALUATION - 21 Mar 19

BLACK

CAST

Ben Mills - Macbeth
Tia Scarlett - Lady Macbeth
Sebastian Weislo - Ross/Angus/Lennox
Troy Wilson - Macduff
Pedro Small - Duncan/Caithness
Danielle Bonsu - Witch 1/Porter/Lady Macduff/Murderer 1
Diamontea Burton - Witch 2/Servant/Doctor/Murderer 2/Donalbain
Rosely Litityo - Witch 3/Murderer 3/Attendant
Philemon Ameyaw - Banquo
Teigan Kalekezi - Malcolm
Harry Kelly - Captain

They performed this piece in Westminster Kingsway College in the theatre at 2pm on 21st March. There are hundreds of students who are fans of Shakespeare.

They have praised Mills', Bonsu's, Wilson's, Burton's and Litityo's performances as Macbeth, the Porter, Macduff and the Witches. They liked how we stayed and kept in character. I thought the show went really well. I loved Mills' performance. There was a slight problem with the props but it was quickly resolved. The entire cast provided good energy from their roles. They expressed their emotions strongly.

The college praised Wilson's performance because of his outstanding vocal projection, spatial awareness and stage presence. Mills' performance was amazing because of his insane amount of knowledge of lines and he brought humour to the audience by pulling Ameyaw's body offstage.

The cast was completely focused and some of their acting was quite over-exaggerated. The shouting lines was powerful because it was signifying the ensuing showdown of Macbeth and Macduff. They have good teamwork.

The dress rehearsal involved a lot of hard work from the cast and the tech team.

• Knowing our cues
• The music
• The lighting
• Which side of the stage to come in from

I did manage to jot down some notes that occurred from S-Came's perspective:

• Harry Kelly as Captain - staggers on stage
• Tia Scarlett as Lady Macbeth - look up and engage with the audience more and vocal projection
• The birdsong was too loud - SFX
• Diamontea Burton and Teigan Kalekezi - less knowledge of lines
• Rosely Litityo to Sebastian Weislo - prompt
• Diamontea Burton - don't read from the script
• Troy Wilson as Macduff - stutter when Lady Macbeth (Scarlett) orders him to speak

ACTING CLASS - 20 Mar 19

Last Wednesday, we were with M-Camp, for the Black group to rehearse for Macbeth for the last time. We performed the next day.

PINK GROUP - MACBETH: OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE - 19 Mar 19 - MY BIRTHDAY!!!! 1️⃣8️⃣🎂

PINK

CAST

Roman Norman - Macbeth

Mya Jarret - Lady Macbeth

Lucky Asare - Malcolm

Anakin Fox - Lennox/Ross/Angus

Elena Chiriac - Captain/Witch 1/Seyton/Porter

Deja Lee - Macduff

Diogo Cabral - Banquo

Ben Taylor - Duncan/Caithness

Favour Dantes - Witch 2/Doctor/Servant/Murderer

Danielle Bonsu - Witch 3/Lady Macduff/Nurse

Katie Miller and Maya George were replaced by Danielle Bonsu to portray Witch 3 and Lady Macduff for health reasons.

The show was exquisitely outstanding but there was only one problem: the actors didn't fully know their lines but they were inconsistent.

I praise Norman and Chiriac's performance as Macbeth and the Porter. The music was off but the lighting was simple and clever but confusing when it comes to Cabral's performance as Banquo. His performance was poor due to focusing his acting into one single emotion e.g. if Banquo is angry, he will stay that way throughout the entire play. Fox's performance was extremely poor due to low vocal projection and less knowledge of lines. The rest of the cast was AMAZING. I like how they just show off their own raw ability to act. Asare was showing some real good energy throughout the rehearsal process and the rehearsals in the theatre.

Norman's Macbeth was really expressing the emotions of his character within the themes of the play. Guilt and remorse is one of them. In the scene where Macbeth was starting see Banquo's ghost after he was killed, it wasn't just those two emotions, there was a third and obvious emotion that he would feel: FEAR. Which leads me to another theme: Salvation and Damnation. It was then Macbeth killed Duncan and he became King of Scotland and everything was perfect until he started seeing ghosts and visions. His Salvation: Becoming King of Scotland. His Damnation: His death. The art of karma. The irony.

I love Mya Jarret's performance as Lady Macbeth because she was really trying to become the "real" Lady Macbeth and emitting ambition and temptation. They both play a key factor in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's decision to kill Duncan. Macbeth possesses enough self-awareness to realize the dangers of overzealous ambition. And yet, the temptation to carry out the witches' prophecy is ultimately too strong for Macbeth to curb his ambition. In Lady Macbeth’s lexicon, incidentally, “hope” is also another word for “ambition” and perhaps “temptation.” Macbeth expressed his doubts about killing Duncan. Ironically, Lady Macbeth must herself rely on intoxicants to “make her bold” before executing her ambitious and murderous plans. Once the intoxication wears off, Lady Macbeth finds that she is unable to cope with the consequences of her own "hope." Ultimately, ambition and temptation prove fatal for both the Macbeths.

BLUE GROUP - MACBETH: OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE - 18 Mar 19

BLUE

CAST

JP Caiceda - Macbeth

Chloe Hawthorn - Lady Macbeth

Madalina Bejat - Malcolm

Kadiatu Sumah - Lennox/Angus/Ross

Mya Howlett - Witch 1/Seyton/Lady Macduff

Daniella Obomanu - Macduff

Michael Appiah - Duncan/Caithness

Harry Kelly - Captain/Witch 2/Witch 3/Nurse/Murderer/Doctor/Servant/Porter

Kieran Smith - Banquo

Tristan Fernandez dropped out of Macbeth due to scheduling conflicts

I thought some parts of the structure of the play was good but the rest was a bit off and you couldn't tell the difference about whether their performance was modern or traditional. Throughout the entire rehearsal process, they've been trying to modernise the play but what they don't know is that when Shakespeare makes his play, he keeps it traditional, which means that all of Shakespeare's plays are in no condition to be modernised. On the other hand, Kieran used a special mask to make him "stand out" as Banquo's ghost and I found it really clever.

I praise Caiceda, Hawthorn and Kelly's performances as Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the Porter but Caiceda's lines were missed out due to chunks of it being cut due to less knowledge of them. Overall on average, the performance wasn't strong enough.

ACTING CLASS - 13 Mar 19

Last Wednesday, we were with Monique and it was just us for rehearsal on Macbeth and it served as quite a satisfactory benefit for us.

ACTING CLASS - 12 Mar 19

Last Tuesday, we took matters into our own hands and started rehearsing on our own for Macbeth. S-Cam was working with the Blue group and Monique was working both Pink and Black group. She kept switching back and forth to help us. There's only one of her. Poor thing.

ACTING CLASS - 11 Mar 19

Last Monday, we were with S-Cam. We were rehearsing for Macbeth. That time, she was focused on the Pink group and the Black group were just observing and awaiting for fill-ins. Monique was working with the Blue group.

ACTING CLASS - 14 Mar 19

Last Thursday, we were with S-Cam in the theatre. We were having a technical and costume rehearsal and we were speed running it through and we were making sure we know which side of the stage are we coming from and our cues.

ACTING CLASS - 7 Mar 19

On Thursday's Acting Class, the week before, it was the opposite of the previous Acting Class. We were with S-Cam and Monique to rehearse for Macbeth. This time they were more focused on the Black group. Throughout the entire week, we made sure that we ran through the entire play in one go.

ACTING CLASS - 5 Mar 19

On Tuesday's Acting Class, the week before, we were with S-Cam. We were split into groups and rehearsed for Macbeth.

ACTING CLASS - 6 Mar 19

On Wednesday's Acting Class, the week before, we were rehearsing for Macbeth, we were with S-Cam and Monique and they were focusing on the Pink group while the Black group, which is my group, were just observing, staying for fill-ins.

ACTING CLASS - 4 Mar 19

Yesterday, we were with S-Cam and the WKC production team to go through our first costume fitting. For Macduff, I've decided to wear a nice red jacket and go all black for the rest and for the second time, we practised our sword-fight/fist-fight scenes for Macbeth

ACTING CLASS - 28 Feb 19

Last Thursday, we were with S-Cam, who invited an instructor to choreograph the fight/sword-fight scenes of Macbeth.