Iambic pentameter is a meter in poetry, consisting of an unrhymed line with five iambs. It was very commonly used by Shakespeare.
It follows a beat that sounds very much like a human heartbeat:
da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum
It also consists of an unstressed syllable and a stressed syllable, marked by (-) for unstressed and (/) for stressed.
Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter to give actors an indication to which words are stressed, and which words are more important than the other. This allows us to enunciate these words by voicing and over exaggerating the vowels in the stressed words.
Here is an example from Egeus' speech in Midsummer Night's Dream:
- / - / - / - / - /
Full of vexation, come I, with complaint
- / - / - / - / - /
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
- / - / - / - / - /
Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
- / - / - / - / - /
This man hath my consent to marry her,
- / - / - / - / - /
Stand forth, Lysander. And my gracious duke,
- / - / - / - / - / - /
This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child. -
- / - / - / - / - / -
With cunning hast thou filched my daughter's heart,
Performing unit two will no lines allowed me to play with the environment more, to attain my objectives without necessarily having to worry about lines.
When we first started performing the scene as a group, some of our feedback was that we all squashed together, which didn't look visually pleasing or realistic. Therefore, it was more effective to open up the space by using all of it and it aided projection too.
I learnt that to help you play your environment, you should know your relationships with other characters and know your lines.
During rehearsal, you shouldn't 'repeat' you should 'rehear' and play tactics differently each time to allow vulnerability.
One way to learn lines is to just say vowels for emotion and then repeat the lines with only consonants to get the extra information. All of this helps you get the common sound of the lines and helps you memorise them better.
Learn your lines monotone.
Highlight words you don't know and find out the meaning of them. Knowing what your lines mean is obviously quite necessary.
Read your lines constantly, for example at the beginning of the day and before you go to sleep, when information sinks in best.
Learn them early on because it helps you ride the lines off the action while playing with the environment.
In total, Shakespeare wrote a total of 38 plays that survived but 18 of them were printed in this lifetime, including a Midsummer Night's Dream. Many of his plays were very successful and of course, made it to the famous Globe Theatre where they were performed. The types of plays he wrote varied from Tragedies to Comedies to Histories, as well as poems (sonnets). Some tragedies he wrote were Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear; some comedies are MSND, As You Like It and The Merry Wives of Windsor; his best known poems are The Sonnets which were first published in 1609.
Shakespeare's plays first became published around 1594, with his tragedy Titus Andronicus. It appeared as a cheap, small pamphlet known as a quarto because of the way in which it was printed. Because none of Shakespeare's manuscripts survived, the printed texts are the only source of what he wrote and are the texts closest to Shakespeare's time. Some are thought to preserve either his working drafts (his foul papers) or his fair copies. Others are thought to record versions remembered by actors who performed the plays, providing information about staging practices in Shakespeare’s day.
I think Shakespeare is still very relevant today considering the prominent themes in his plays. For example, Romeo and Juliet features themes of gang culture, forced marriage, conflict, teen suicide etc whereas a Midsummer Nights Dream could be linked to gender inequality as well as forced marriage too.
Initial Research on how Hippolyta is portrayed in the original play:
In the play, Hippolyta is preparing to marry the Duke of Athens, Theseus. They are high status and very noble people. Shakespeare based these from another play The Knight's Tale by Chaucer (one of the sources Shakespeare added to and adapted for MSND). In that story, Chaucer shows how Theseus conquests the Amazons and captures their queen, Ypolita, taking her as his wife. There are some themes of forced marriaged here (this is not how me and Ruby chose to play their relationship in our modern day interpretation).
Hippolyta is an interesting character because she represents a female matriach in a patriarchal society who is then captured and dominated by men under the norms of patriarchy. She has a small number of lines in the play, which could show her insignificance even though she is a former strong female queen. This could be Shakespeare trying to criticise the patriarchal norms of the society he lived in.
This picture gives evidence of my character development. On this sheet I established iambic pentameter, relationships with characters, objectives and I defined some terms I didn't understand the meaning of, like pomp and nuptial. Doing this helped me understand my character further.
In this lesson, myself, Ruby and Max rehearsed our scene, Unit 1 for the first time.
I play Hippolyta and Ruby plays Theseus, my soon to be wife. The scene depicts when Theseus and Hippolyta see their wedding room for the first time. The atmosphere is excitable. Philostrate (Max) is also in the room organising for the wedding the next day and then exits, leaving an intimate atmosphere for Theseus and Hippolyta.
We used a variety of skills to accomplish this scene and offer ourselves as actors:
To let objectives flow off each other: for example, my objective of 'to reassure' came very quickly and flowed off Ruby's objective, 'to excite'.
To use vowels to show emotion: (See Vowels and Consonants post). During this lesson, I understood further that vowels carry emotion. They are open and wide. Therefore, exaggerating vowels in Shakespeare is very important. For example, the French language is seen as a romantic language because it has a large amount of vowels, which open up the word. However, German is seen as a more straight and less romantic and flowing language because it doesn't have as many vowels. Especially because this scene is romantic and emotional, that further enforces why we should exaggerate vowels. Vowels carry the emotion, consonants carry information.
To practise the scene different ways each time: during this rehearsal, we practised the scene many times, however each time we used different tactics and choices to get to our objective. This helps us practise the idea of vulnerability and making bold choices each time to offer ourselves as actors. (See how to offer yourself as an actor post)
By offering oneself: committing fully to everything
Being open and responsive to other people
Be completely vulnerable and allow vulnerability. A bi product of vulnerability is great stage presence.
Having the ability to act on your instincts. A bi product of acting on instincts is to work to the limit of our physical and emotional capacity, allowing physical and emotional pain.
On Tuesday the 2nd of February, I watched The Devils, directed by Mr Rennison. This was the second Common Ground show I saw and I was most impressed with this show compared to the others. I felt that I got the most out of this play in terms of statements asked and how affected I was as an audience member.
Personally, my interpretation from this play was that it is hugely about corruption in society and it asks if as a society, we are naive. Grandier, a well respected priest in the area (not by everyone though) secretly has affairs with young girls, which heavily juxtaposes his reputation of being a priest who doesn't commit sins. This asked me personally if as a society we are naive to what is happening right in front of us.
I was also really impressed with how the actor's offered themselves during the play. Firstly, I think that people that had to appear on the stage with only underwear on demonstrated great acting because this would have taken a great deal of bravery. It exposed them and made them vulnerable on stage but nevertheless, they turned off their inner emotions and pulled of a very impressive performance. I also thought that the head nun was amazing to watch during the course of the play because I believe she really committed to her objective in every way, even if it meant that she had to yell really loudly or do abnormal actions to get to her objective. In my opinion, the surgeon and the chemist were excellent too because I knew they had developed their characters. Their physical presence and postures reflected non stereotypical versions of their characters and they were enjoyable to watch.
Furthermore, I thought that the minimalistic set of white stairs were great because they helped me focus on the action and weren't too excessive or unnecessary. Therefore, actors could experiment more within the space they were given. The idea of having black curtains was effective too because it ensured smooth transitions and the set of black and white coordinated with the nuns' costumes. The hanging person from the ceiling also added to the mood and minimalism of the set and it gave me something to think about when I first sat down in my seat, before the play had even begun. I also enjoyed the lighting and music because I felt that it reflected the mood of the piece at different points as they changed. For example, at the end of the play, there was red lighting which I felt represented the tense and anguished atmosphere as Grandier was killed and his flesh was ripped apart. Having music also added a mood too. I particularly liked the eerie and suspense like noises that played during some scenes and also the music that played during the interval.
In Mr Stephens' lesson, we looked at vowels and consonants.
Vowel: The letters a, e, i, o, u which shape words.
Consonant: Every other letter.
We did an exercise where we had an argument using vowel and consonants only.
The first time, with only using vowels it felt quite hard to have an argument. This is because they are quite open and rounded. You can also make them longer and you can drag them on for ages which is difficult in an argument. This contrasted a lot to the consonants argument, which were shorter, sharper sounds and resulted in a harsher sounding argument. Therefore, we can conclude that vowels are more open and consonants are quicker and sharper.
In comparison, we did the same but had a different objective: to woo and flirt with our partner. Working with Zafra, I quickly observed that it was a lot easier to get to our objective of flirting with wider, more longer vowel sounds than shorter consonants.
Finally, we were given the first scene of a MSND between Theseus and Hippolyta, where we were asked to pick out the vowels and only say these. Again, we also did the same with the consonants. This exercise was challenging because there was a strong urge not to voice vowels/consonants as that's part of our everyday routine when we read words. However, from my observations, I learnt that vowels were a lot easier to understand the general mood and atmosphere. This further proved my earlier observations: that vowels essentially open up and shape words.
Overall, I think these exercises were beneficial because having a better understanding of vowels/consonants/words really helped me practice articulation. Also, this method of practicing a piece of text first meant that later on I was able to recite the lines of Hippolyta later on, therefore this could be an effective learning lines technique for the future. I also believe it helped me pronounce certain words better.
When performing Shakespeare, it is vital to over exaggerate the vowels because the tone and emotion of Shakespeare's language in his plays is very exaggerated and depends on the vowels and this helps us as actors get that across.
An objective is what a character wants during a scene. To get to their objective, they have to use tactics. The best objectives are the ones that can be played with actions. For example, playing 'to observe' would be a good objective however playing 'to persuade' would not be a good objective because you can't play it just with actions.
In Mr Rennison's lesson, we used a scene from a Midsummer Night's Dream: this would help us practise the technique of playing objectives using tactics -
ENTER DEMETRIUS, HELENA FOLLOWING HIM
Demetrius: I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Hence, get thee gone and follow me no more.
Helena: You draw me, you hard hearted adamant.
Demetrius: Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? Or rather do I no in plainest truth tell you I do not nor I cannot love you?
Helena: And even for that do I love thee the more.
Demetrius: Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit: for I am sick when I do look on thee.
Helena: And I am sick when I look not on you.
EXIT DEMETRIUS
I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell. To die upon the hand I love so well.
- Demetrius:
Demetrius' objective in this scene is 'to reject'.
Some of the tactics used to get Demetrius to his objective were to be cold, to escape, to restrain, to reject, to keep away from.
Helena:
Helena's objective in this scene is 'to seduce'.
Some of the tactics she used to get to her objective were to follow, to restrain, to touch, to compliment.
This exercise was important because it helped me practise the method of identifying tactics and objectives.
It also helped me understand that you can't really perform an objective unless you fully commit and feel convinced yourself that you want this objective.
As learnt in Term 1 acting skills, it proved the fact that the text rides on the action. When performing as Demetrius, I knew that performing the tactic of 'to escape' involved having to literally escape. However, at some points, this delayed the text and although the action is more important than the text, the text was still included by the playwright for a specific reason.
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In Mr Stephen's class, we looked at the same piece of text and again highlighted the objectives and tactics of Demetrius and Helena.
I understood from repeating this exercise that as an actor, it is very useful to know your objective and the tactics you will use to get to the aim. This is because it was a lot clear to people watching what your objective was and what was going on if you knew what you were doing and understood the character's tactics whereas if you were just improvising and losing the objective.
We also did an exercise involving the words No/Yes.
The first round we did it, we had to try and persuade our partner to get to our way of thinking naturally but only with the words No and Yes. (Person A said Yes and Person B said No) Often, most of us used gestures such as ushering or following the person around.
The second round we did it, we could only use our dialogue. This was difficult because our movement was restricted so we had to use tone of voice to communicate our point instead but the meaning of the words usually got lost. This emphasises how important actions are and how the text rides on the action at all times.
The last round we did it, we only used action. From observing other people's performances, I realised that action is a lot more clearer when communicating with no dialogue than only communicating with dialogue. This is because your facial expressions and body language are stronger and more definitive than words, which could have different interpreted meanings.
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Mr Rennison gave us a diagram to work from when identifying the objectives and tactics of a character in the future:
I used Oberon as an example. Unit 7 is his first scene therefore at Unit 7 I have labelled his objective: to get the boy and underneath I have labelled the tactics used to get to the objective. Overhead, there is a blue line to symbolise how his super objective (his objective for the whole play) is mostly displayed in the play. The blue line will contrast for different characters.
Here are some transitive verbs that I am going to use to help me understand and label objectives and tactics for the future.
After the read through of the text, I feel excited to do the play because I think the skill needed to over exaggerate when performing Shakespeare is new and different to me. I didn't find it too hard to understand the general plot of the play but some of the words/language used were quite difficult. However, when performing it, I think that it doesn't matter what the words are to get the message across to the audience because the line rides on the action therefore if our actions are elaborate and exaggerated, we can communicate the message clearly. The play is also quite fast paced therefore our transitions need to be smooth and quick when we work on the play. A summary of the play:
The play begins with the two sovereigns of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, in their palace. They are due to wed and are very excited. Egeus enters, a high status man of Athens along with his daughter Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus is angry because Hermia will not marry Demetrius, the man of his choice for her. Instead, she wants to marry Lysander. Demetrius is interested in Hermia and quarrels with Lysander over who she loves. Themes of conflict begin to emerge very early on in this scene and the idea of forced marriage stems onto further themes of patriarchy, a huge factor of the play. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away into the forest, but before they do, we encounter Helena, Hermia's best friend. Throughout the play, Helena is portrayed as an insecure and jealous character who vies for the attention of Demetrius. Hermia's rejection of Demetrius angers her deeply therefore she tells Demetrius of Hermia and Lysander's plans, making them follow Hermia and Lysander into the forest. This portrays themes of jealously and how it can influence us.
Meanwhile, the Mechanicals are having a meeting in the forest, a group of men casting a play due to play at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Quince is the leader of the Mechanicals and the director of the play. Bottom is an arrogant man who wants to play every character and who sees himself as more superior than he actually is. Next, we meet the fairy spirits. Oberon, the leader of the fairies and Titania, the queen of the fairies who are having an argument over who wins the possession of an Indian boy. Puck, a trickster like character who goes on henchman like tasks for Oberon, including putting a spell on Bottom (from the Mechanicals) to grow a donkey's head and for Titania to fall in love with him. He does this using special 'juice' from a flower.
Helena chases after Demetrius resulting with him rejecting and insulting her. Oberon over hears this. Hermia and Lysander sleep in the forest and Puck the fairy puts a spell on all of the Athenians, except Helena, which confuses who they love. Instead of loving Hermia, Lysander loves Helena. Demetrius now loves Helena too. Hermia still loves Lysander and this leaves Helena confused, thinking it's all a trick. One of the final scenes of the play is a massive argument between everyone and this represents conflict in society, the idea of illusions and what is and isn't real.
After the spell is reversed, a massive wedding takes place, ending with the play by the Mechanicals.
-See Play Research post for any other information on the play-
3) The main themes:
Magic
Love
Transformation
Trickery
Chaos
Nature
Journeys
Dreams
Reality
Order
4) Collecting data from the text:
Characters
Locations
Time of day
Atmosphere
Props or set
Do we need any SFX/LFX? (sound/lighting effects)
5) What questions does the play ask?
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play of questions. It is about love, conflict, reality and control. Here are some of the questions the play asks and what the play is about:
Who has control over you?
How do you see yourself versus how others see you?
How does living in a patriarchal society to living in a matriarchal society change you?
How can jealousy be impacted by love and hate?
What is the difference between love and lust?
Who has hierarchy in society?
What is real and what is not real?
6) Test various concepts on the play.
What does it mean when a director imposes a concept on a text?
This is when a director puts their own spin/interpretation on a text which gives the whole play an overall theme.
The concept may evince ideas from the text.
A director will put a concept on a text dependent on it's relevance to the events happening at the time. It asks relevant questions to an audience today about society and makes an audience think.
A play is a vehicle to promote change in the world.
This is called Brechtian: we use theatre to change society.
How to create a test concept:
Location
Can relate to a real event
Transpose characters (e.g Puck: drug dealer)
Make sure that you can use the concept on the entire play. Have a piece of sample text to test this with.
Test Concept 1: 'Tube'
The location would be on a tube. When you go on the tube, you see people from all walks of life. You can find businessmen, school children, artists etc. Everytime a new character enters and exits, the tube could come to 'the next stop' and characters would enter the tube or leave the tube. We could also play with the idea of sound scape to show that the tube doors are opening and closing. This really works with the text because there are many transitions.
My inspiration for this idea was the themes of Reality and Chaos portrayed in the play. Often on a tube, people have their heads buried in newspapers or are completely unaware of their surroundings as they sit playing games on their phone or listen to music with headphones. Just like characters in the play, you can sometimes wonder whether they are really in tune with reality and what is going on around them.
In terms of transposed characters, there is many options. As mentioned before, on a tube you see people from various backgrounds.
Having this on the tube can relate to our audience more and therefore make them think more because for some audience members, tubes might be a common method of transport that they take.
However, there are some restrictions with this idea because it might not be easy to set up.
Test Concept 2: 'America 1920s'
The next concept was an idea that was created by Zafra.
From 1920-1933, America was put in Prohibition where supplying alcohol was banned (but drinking alcohol wasn't). Gangsters like Al Capone set up illegal bars called speakeasies and supplied alcohol. Flappers would often attend speakeasies. Also, people illegally supplied substances such as moonshine which were feared by the government to be very harmful. These may have made people have hallucinations and see things that weren't real under the influence of drugs and alcohol. This applies to the context of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Theseus and Hippolyta are the high status figures that own the bar.
Puck could be an undercover agent (the government hired agents such as Isadore Einstein to investigate the speakeasies and arrest people)
The fairies could be flappers.
I really like this idea because I think it's creative and it works with our play very well. It is a legible idea at this point because it's rather straightforward to set up a bar/pub.
Test Concept 3: 'Prison'
Another idea is that there could be a prison where people are given drugs that make them see things that aren't real.
High status figures like Egeus could be guards because they're the ones in control.
This concept works as in America they have decided to cut fundings for many mental institutions. Therefore, many mentally ill people roam the streets, commit crimes and are immediately sent to prison, which is meant to be their help. It also works with the concept of the play because they may see things that aren't real.
However, I think that this concept is unlikely to be used in the process because as a group, we've already used the concept of being in a mental institution in 'A Vampire Story' therefore this concept would deem quite similar.
However, Mia came up with the similar concept of it revolving around women who have left prison. They are released into the 'real world' and cannot cope with the overwhelming, new feelings of being in love, jealous, hating something etc. However, this wouldn't work with our cast because we have males as well as females.
Test Concept 4: 'LGBT'
Laila incorporated the idea that the concept of sexuality and LGBT can be included in our piece. Today, this is a really key issue and therefore this is definitely a feasible option that we should include to question our audience. It can definitely be tied into other people's concepts too.
For example, Oberon and Titania could be two women. Puck/Bottom could be transgender etc.
Test Concept 5: 'Action Figures'
An idea I really liked was from Max. Similar to Toy Story, the action figures are being used to tell a story by two children. We can use lighting, objects and a projection of kids playing with the toys to help bring this to work. This highlights the ideas of who is in control of you and what is real/not real too. Although set wise it could be challenging, I think that this idea is so creative that it'd be really interesting to explore during this unit. Final concept: Pub Concept The concept our class has decided to go with is the idea of a 'Pub'/'Gay Bar'. These were my initial ideas on the layout of a pub:
Frantic Assembly, a theatre company, did a production of Othello set in a pub. This could help inspire our piece.
From the pictures and trailer, we can tell that they set this piece in modern day England and I like this because it questions the audience because it can be more relatable to them. I also particularly like how they used furniture to do physical theatre, which is interesting and different.
Here are some of my ideas/some brainstormed class ideas for our gay wedding concept:
Final Map of The Space
Opportunities and Restrictions of this plan:
If the toilet is put on the left side of the stage, the audience's cite line could potentially be obscured. However, having the toilet in this area opens up an opportunity of having an actual toilet that the audience can see, instead of not having a toilet. We can use this for many scenes.
Kailash also mentioned during our discussion that we can use physical theatre to move large scenery items, for example the toilet, to other areas of the stage so different audience members can see things at all times, instead of having their cite line obscured for the whole play.
We also discussed the legibility of striking Audience 2 out of the right side of the stage and giving Audience 2 an immersive experience by putting them on tables with actors. This would be great for the audience 2 because they're involved however Audience 1 might be excluded. However, different audience members have different experiences and interpretations of plays so this idea further enforces that.
Furthermore, Amelia said that because most of the action happens on the left side of the stage (with most of the important props there such as the sofa, toilet and bar), there will be a lot of dead space on the right side of the stage. This is also shown on the diagram of the floor plan.
Another idea is that the audience could be on higher platforms so they can see better but there are safety concerns.
Warmup Skill 1: Sirening with a Hum
Siren through your vocal range on a gentle hum. This exercise is very beneficial because it doesn't strain or damage your vocal chords but allows you to practise the whole range of your vocals.
Warmup Skill 2: 1 minute plank
Hold a plank keeping your body straight for one minute. Release tension in your mind and body. This helps you control your body and maintain personal stamina, like an actor would need to do to fit the requirements of certain roles, such as staying in uncomfortable positions for long periods of time.
Warmup Skill 3: Closed eyed balance
Close your eyes and try and balance on one foot, alternating the direction you look in. This is a good exercise for an actor because it helps you work your feet muscles and find a sense of balance without having to have your eyes open.
Warmup Skill 4: Equilateral triangle
Travel around the room, constantly changing directions, moving in the similar pace to everyone else in the room. Always have a point you are aiming for and look for space in the room. Pick two people, Person A and Person B. While still moving and changing directions, try and become aware of the positions of Person A and Person B and form an equilateral triangle with them.
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