Wednesday 16th January 2013

What is circus? Is it still entertaining?

People Risking there lives to make others laugh and  it keeps people on the edge of there seats.  But Circuses have now so steroid typical that they are not as popular as they used to be. There are many arguments for and against circuses

Cultural backgrounds

Only one circus because of money, seen it all before, 

Only one show so when it does finally come to your area you can only see it once

What is the difference between traditional and new circus's?

The Animals not as popular

Bigger- more seating, bigger company 

Circus's are now a lot more choreographed

History of circus

With side show events- different trailers with smaller acts, dwarf in lions cage ect.

Freak shows 

Barnum and bailey  

Modern circus's are very theatre like with acting and monologs, dance, special effects- costumes/lighting

Clown conventions- look into it and research stock clowning characters. 

Staging Act 1

When we started to block the scene we thought about the set. We thought about having a projected set. This is a good idea because then is there is any changes in scenery we can do it quickly and we can have what ever we want at a low cost.

In the script there are some stage directions but not enough to completely fill out all the dialog so we added in hand movements and gestures to make it more interesting.

My character only has a small part so I helped stage the rest of the act. I had to play the part of Dizzy as a student hadn't attended rehearsal. Next lesson I will go through the movements and where she is meant to be on the stage to save time for everyone so they don't have to teach her.  Also I will be working on my characters accent as I haven't managed to achieve it to the best of my ability. I'm going to do this by looking on YouTube at clips of Russian people speaking about the accent and teaching the viewer how to speak English with an accent. For next lesson I would have looked at YouTube clips so that I'm ready to perform my part, I will also learn my lines so its easier to get into character and then I could use hand movements with appropriate pauses.

Wednesday 9th January 2013

Don't feed the animals - Blog project proposal

1. Skills audit 

- Dancing

- Acting

- Singing

I think that my skills are in that order because of experience. I do lots of Dance outside college, stage work, shows and competitions so I am stronger in Dance than I am in Singing where I have less experience. I have only just preformed a solo for the first time in front of an audience. I have never had a singing lesson before I started this course. I don't have a strong voice but I am working on it every week doing a practise routine to help with my voice and also my confidence. I have been doing acting for about 5 years, I'm best at impro as I fine that  learning lines Is really hard and it does take me a long to get them right. Also I do add in words and stutter a bit when I'm script reading , but with practise I will be okay.

2. Early reactions to casting, script and character

I thought that was going to be a challenge, mainly because of my characters accent, I'm going to be doing research on YouTube and listening to the Russian accent to pick it up so it sounds decent. I'm really excited about my character I have never done anything like her. She has some really good lines in it and I can see lots of places for really nice movements. I wish that she could be in the play a bit more than she is but I don't mind being in the background and in e circus movement.

Wednesday 9th January 2013

First Rehearsal

We did a speed run picking out key points in the play and a king them out so we could get a better view on the play

Scan read your characters lines

What your character says about other characters??

"Fugging typical" - after pozzo died 

"Why should I? Thanks to pozzo, this circus is a laughing stock,"

"You saw! He puke all over ringside seats, then he piss himself. Who wants to pay good money for that? People get same for free on high street every Saturday night."

What your character says about themselves??

" ... Hits me in the fugging tits!"

What others say about your character?

"Keep your hair on"

" don't exaggerate"

What stage directions does your character have?

Tinkerbell comes out through the curtains. A small woman dressed as a fairy. She has a voice woven from Benson and Hedges and Cherry Brandy.

Tinkerbell bursts out and cartwheels across the stage - the grand finale

She curtseys.