Performance Workshop 16/09/14

In todays lesson, we focused on all the skills we have learnt over the past few workshops to apply them to our performance of 'The Cherry Orchard'. To start off with our lesson, we began to explore Laban efforts. We started with a worksheet on the Laban Movement Analysis.
 

 

Each movement enabled whether it would be direct, indirect, heavy or light. This enabled me to understand the characteristics about the way a movement is done. We did this exercise to develop a clear understanding of characterisation.The attention to the strength of the movement, the control of the movement and the timing of the movement are very all very different.
Once we had picked an effort, we had to travel around the room deciding our walks and hand gestures in order to create a certain character. This helped me to understand how different movements can create such different characters. We then found a pair and created a mini scene were we both used a movement, For example; I chose to become float, therefore I would lightly pounce around the room using my arms beside me to make it look like I was floating. Lauren chose dab, and acted out as a teacher to create a character. Laban helped me to create a whole personality just out of one movement which I found really interesting because I had never thought that such tiny movements could effect a character and their mannerisms. In my opinion I think for me this was a really exciting part of the workshop, as it educated me a whole new method on how to develop my acting skills further. Creating a character just by using efforts, times and directions in space helped me to really explore different aspects of my character that I chose to be. I think the Laban exercises have truly inspired me for my character development.

Video of Laban efforts which I found useful.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ArKgQUPPas
  Once we had finished our exercises on Laban, we moved on to be casted for 'The Cherry Orchard' which we will be performing in week 8. I was casted into Group 2 and Group 6.

Group 2

Anya - Sophie

Ranyevskaya – Willa

Varya – Imogen

Gayev – Michael

Dunyasha  - Maria

Group 6

Yasha – Billy

Firs – Beau

Ranyevskaya – Robin

Anya – Sophie

Varya – Sachelle

Dunyasha – Andrea

Yepikhodov - Felix

 

Due to the fact I was casted into two groups, I had to use my initiative to even out my contribution to both. I play the part of Anya, a young, warm-hearted girl who has a very close relationship with her mother. The family arrive home with Ravenskaya. They first enter into the nursery where Ravenskaya meets Dunyasha after five years. The scene is extremely positive and emotional. When Ravenskaya, Varya and Gayev leave, Anya and Dunyasha share a close scene where they are gossiping and laughing whilst Dunyasha does Anya's hair. I particularly like this scene because you can see the close relationship between them both, and I am also able to really explore my character and her personality towards people she likes. Half way through the scene, Varya, Anya's sister enters and gives Dunyasha instructions, almost spitefully. She takes over Dunyasha and starts talking about Paris with her sister. In this section, you can see the contrast between the sisters relationship with Dunyasha. Anya is very close with Dunyasha and treats her like a friend, however, Varya treats Dunyasha to be nothing but a maid and could even be slightly jealous of her sisters relationship with her.

My part as Anya

Scene in bullet points

• Family arrive home
• Exploration of the nursery
• Dunyasha and Anya share a moment
• Varya enters, Dunyasha exits

I also feature as Anya in Group 6. In this scene, everybody is dancing. This scene is also very positive,until Anya breaks the news about the Orchard being sold. I find this scene very interesting because I think that it portrays the social change in Russia during the 20th century. The family are gutted and Ravenskaya breaks down into a state.

Scene in bullet points

• Everybody is dancing
• Anya breaks the news about the Orchard being sold
• Ravenskaya is devastated and the dancing stops

In both of my scenes, I feel that I have a major opportunity to develop my character further. Since acting out the part of Anya, I feel that I have a much deeper understanding of her personality and her objective in the play. We got into our character groups. My group consisted of myself and Tia in which we discussed our character, Anya's personality and objective. Firstly, we both did some research on her character on the Internet. We found out that Anya is a loved character in the play, who is wise and enjoys reading to pass her time. She also is very flirty towards Trovimov, who she may be having a romantic affair with. Myself and Tia decided to use the Laban effort in our character. Taking into consideration that Anya is young and flirty, we decided for her to walk with 'float' which represents her innocence. We discussed how we thought Anya's objective is to care for her mother and develop intelligence throughout the play.
Together we discussed the way we would portray Anya. I found this interesting as myself and Tia both had a different opinion and personal interpretation of how she would be played. Tia decided that she thought Anya was quite flirty and innocent, whereas I thought that Anya would be more calm and content. We both agreed that Anya had feelings for Trofimov and was an intelligent and confident character. Analysing this character helped me to progress as I was able to see how I can develop my characterisation skills and understand how others may perceive a character.

DEFINITION OF SUPER OBJECTIVE: The overall OBJECTIVE that carries the character through the whole play.
We then looked at three key questions on which we had to use to help us develop our character. I found this really interesting because I was able to develop my character from all different aspects and understand how others perceive her as well as myself.

What other people say Anya?

What does Anya say about others?

What does Anya say about herself?

 

We worked on creating a short opening, introducing each character to a piece of music. We begun with Firs entering alone at the beginning of the performance, then individually, each character would enter. We decided as a whole group on any improvements that needed to be made and how we could create the performance to be truthful. 

Once we had completed the beginning of our performance, Sarah helped us to block our groups scene. The first scene we blocked was the arrival of the family, in which I lead the family into the nursery. This helped me to understand how Anya would feel when she arrives. I learnt how she is a very happy character who is excited for the arrival home. In the scene between myself and Maria (who plays Dunyasha) I started to develop a relationship with her and how our characters are together on stage. In the scene they are very close which enabled me to develop my characterisation skills further and helped me as an actress for my understanding of onstage relationship. Blocking our scenes gave myself and the group a better understand of our characters, therefore without Sarah's help we wouldn't of understood how to interpret them properly. Taking on Sarah's advice really helped us as a group, and also helped to create a truthful performance. In our scene, I feel that Anya's objective is to welcome home her mother and to excite the family. In my opinion, I think due to the fact that Anya is very much family orientated, I feel that her motivation is her mother, she seems extremely excited for the homecoming. Blocking the scene and being the character made it a lot easier for me. I feel that this performance workshop has really benefitted me as an actress as my knowledge and development towards my character has really improved. I also really benefitted from learning the Laban efforts. I took them into consideration when rehearsing The Cherry Orchard scenes.