Punk Rock is a play by the BritishplaywrightSimon Stephens which premiered at the Royal Exchange in 2009and transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith directed by Sarah Frankcom. The play concerns a group of private schoolsixth formers during their A Level mocks exams. The short pieces of loud distorted music are used to indicate scene changes, and it works, but Sonic Youth and The White Stripes aren’t punk.
About Simon Stephens:
-Originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, Stephens studied and graduated from the University of York.
-He was a member of Scottish art punk band Country Teasers.
-He lives in London with his wife and three children.
The whole class joined together to take part in a physical warm up to wake us up. It helps us to be ready for any activities or instructions we have to follow. Most of it involves stretching our body by rolling our spinal cord down on an out breath and coming back up on an intake. After doing it a few times you introduce breath and sound so that our breath can warm up for more vocal work.We used sounds like: 'sss' and 'mm'.
Voice Warm-up : Head, Heart, Guts and Groin
We started off by walking in neutral. Firstly it was important to think of a line , meet eye contact with someone and stop infront of them. The 'Head' part is saying your line without intention: there is little tone involved and the voice is calm. Saying your line from the 'Heart' is meaningful and comes from the soul. Whispering can help you find that listening voice- it's open and sensitive.
The 'Guts' voice is an intense, harsh sound that comes from the deeper part of your body. It's the voice you would use to get someones attention or the projection you would use to summon up many men to a battle. To get a lot of force out from your body we pressed into the wall with all strength coming from our arms to our hands, into the wall. I felt the pressure move down to anchor into the ground beneath my feet. Lastly, the 'Groin' is the inner flirtatious melody or the sexual tone you use when you wind and grind your hips into the wall. It's a seductive voice that might be used to get what you want from someone.
With Tanya..
From hot seating I've learnt that it's an easier way of getting into the mind of my character. By hearing what other characters have to say about Tanya and what she thinks of them helps me to understand her personal life instead of her in school. From the questions that I got given i've included it in my post. For example- what's most important to her and hopefully you'll be able to see from the diary entries etc..
This helped me think about Tanya herself but what helped me think about what she thought or the way she acted was this other exercise..
Improvising The Scene
For me: An actors work only begins from the moment they put their script down.
As a class we took time to sit down and analyse the thoughts behind the things we said in our scene. It's mainly made up of thought, feeling and action. A lot of us didn't yet know our lines so from the thought process of the script we tried our best to use it to prompt us in the recreation of our scene (but without our script). And to be honest it really helped me to find out how i was going to react to something or to say a line.
As actors performing we're always wanting to be ourselves when sitting comfortably on a chair. But how do you know that your character sits the same way? One person maybe used to sitting cross legged on a chair to show how relaxed and comfortable they are talking to someone. You might not want to use it as a chair or you might not even want to sit down. Think about : Are you leaning? Are your legs wide apart? Is one leg on the other? Are you sitting on the resting part of the chair? Have you flipped it over so that you can gaze better into someones eyes. As you can see, every prop can be used differently depending on how your character feels or what they might want in the scene.
For example: if you are an intimidating character you might not sit on the chair like everyone else but sit on the corner of the table starring at someone ; you could be leaning back with one leg on your thigh.
Use every bit of an object to explore your character in more depth.
Analysed Examples:
- 1st picture: Upright posture when sitting could identify your status as an important person like a nurse or doctor; it shows you're professional.
-Sitting on the corner of the chair angled (as shown on the first picture) gives of a sign you're not concentrating on what's around you, that you're in your own little world. And if you're hand are placed rubbing your forehead as well it shows frustration or anxiety. Different elements combined together( facial expression and position of body) makes what you're trying to portray clear.
- 3rd picture: Due to him sitting with his leg on the other makes me interpret that the person is confident. With him leaning back on the chair it makes him look superior. He could be a boss of his own company or just an intimidating man.
Status of character we looked at:
1.Extremely nervous, quiet and inhibited
2.Very nervous, quiet and inhibited
3.Nervous, quiet and inhibited
4.A little nervous, quiet and inhibited
5.Neither timid nor bold
6.Rather outgoing and confident
7.Bold and confident
8.Commanding and rather imposing
9.Very commanding, intimidating and bold
10.Extremely commanding, imperious and untouchable
On the scale of status I think that Tanya is a strong 6. This is mainly due to the fact she hangs out with Cissy a lot which means she has to have some confidence to hang around with 'the lead girl' of the group. She's the average teenage girl which likes to gossip and bitch about things and that has to come with poise. She manages to stand up to Bennett at one point which shows me she has the inner courage to speak out if she needs to- she won't do it unless she thinks it's needed.
As an actor it's important that we are physically able to take on any characters and that includes their posture, body language, pace etc.. But to do that your body should already be as natural as it can be , so that we don't have a habit of performing a movement that our character wouldn't do. And the simplest way to be natural and to not give out any interpretation of character is to relax any body tension. When standing, your feet should be shoulder-width apart, in line and ready to handle anything. When walking, look straight out onto an imaginary horizon without showing any facial expression. Keep your concentration when relaxing and move so that you realise you're in control of your body.
Sometimes an actor/actress is physically required to be fit for a role. It's good if our bodies are ready to do that by exercising or stretching. So even in the future it can help you to take on any physical challenge. Be prepared.
An example of an actress who had to physically prepare herself for a role.
Natalie Portman had to train extremely hard to get where she needed to be for the role of Nina Sayers in 'The Black Swan".The exercises we do in school might not prepare us to play a role like Natalie Portman did but it helps us to find new ways of using our bodies for character building. In addition its good to be fit for any role- maybe not to the extremes of loosing weight for a character that is possessively obsessed with dedicating her life to hard core ballet.
Breathing and sound exercises:
'The feather'
The feather: Imagine that a small feather is on your lips and you want to blow just a small bit for it to move. After doing it a couple times, pretend you want to move it even further for it to reach different levels of the room. But when your blowing, use the power of your breath for the feather to not touch your lips. You'll realise it starts of faster and quieter and gets louder and slower as the feather travels higher. There should be a feeling in your stomach of a steady pulse.
The moped: Again, imagine you're getting on a motorbike and the engine are your lips vibrating. The quicker your pace of walking the higher your pitch will be. Next include kisses to people and after 'ciao bella/bello'. All of the shapes made by your lips will warm it up .
Tongue Twisters:
These help you to string together difficult sounds- over all it helps you with your diction and pronunciation when you're talking quickly.
A list of them:
1)Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
2)She sells seashells on the seashore
3)The tip of the teeth, the tongue and the lips
Physicality
Stretching: To loosen up it's useful to stretch any tensed muscles or body parts. To stretch your head you can spell your name with big letters by rolling your head.
Legs and feet : Stand on one leg to roll your foot clock-wise ; then lift your leg higher and move from the knee below in a circle ; finally use your whole leg and thigh to make a big circle by stretching as much as you can. Do the same anti-clockwise and after swap legs.
Reflection: Focus on an imaginary bowl in front of you that is filled up with cold water. Begin to look at it to see your reflection and scoop your hands into the water for you to quickly clean your face. See it ripple and change your image.
Concentration
Walk freely in a circle without moving in the same direction. A person should call out stop, go, jump and walk to which you listen and respond to fast. Make it trickier by calling out an action and make someone do the opposite, for example, if the teacher calls out jump you clap and they call out stop you go. This exercise is done best with a large group of people so that you find it harder to concentrate which will eventually make you more used to it. Hopefully this will help your ears to respond to any action on stage or any line that is being directed to you.
Directing lines: In a group of people, stand in a circle and start off with someone holding a ball. It's their moment to look at someone else in that circle, hold eye contact, and throw it for them to catch. In the end use a line from a monologue or script you're practising from and direct it to someone when throwing the ball. It's better to worry more about your reaction to someones line to you than you trying to remember what your line is. Listening and reacting to other actors (on stage and off) is very important if you want to look truthful.
More exercises:
Funky chicken - shake it out for 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 and shake out the whole body for funky chicken.
Scrunch up your face as small as you can into a raisin face , it might look like your sucking on a lemon (lips and cheeks sucked in and eyes squinted). Then release it into a wide pumpkin face (eyes and mouth open big).
Press your tongue in every corner of your mouth, against your teeth and all around clock-wise. Then swap into anti clock-wise. Your tongue should hurt and get tired.
I believe that good acting is performed when a character’s feelings,
thoughts and movement are made believable. The audience should be able to
forget that they are watching a performance and feel the same emotions that are
being portrayed on stage. Someone’s character should react truthfully to an
imagined set of given circumstances. To build up every element of a role you
need to know every detail about them, which includes a lot of research. For
example where they live?; what’s their family background?; what relationships
do they have with other characters?
When an actor comes on to a stage there should be a sense of
presence. Whether or not your character has a big or small part you should use
all your energy to fell every moment. When an actor is full of passion they
usually get lost in their performance and concentrate in who they’re playing.
Acting is a world full of rejection and so an experienced actor shows
perseverance by not backing down and showing there determination to get a role.
It’s driven by passion.
You don’t act a character; you have to be that character.
The best actors are capable of achieving the right ‘emotional temperature’
without making an emotion to obvious or over reacting. An actors work has to be
real, deep and profound. It’s important to take valuable directions from others
and listen to the things you need to develop.
Why I chose this picture: As you can see it's a picture of the actor , Heath Ledger, who is known as the well-known character, 'The Joker' from Batman. He is an example of a good actor because he's able to transform an imaginary character into a realistic person. The picture shows himself and half of The Joker which is a symbol to me that as an actor you don't act a character- you BE the character. The subtlety of his creation makes it more believable for the audience and it's the actors interpretation that makes it so unique.
From watching this short clip you can see how incredibly hard this actor had to have worked to develop those gestures and movement to bring the aspect of his character to life. I fitted this into my post because it relates to every section of what to include when making your character.
·Physicality: Gestures, Body language, movement, energy,
·Objectives: Your character will always have an aim
or want for something in a scene
What makes a bad actor?
If your not listening to another character then you’re not
responding, which means you can’t be reacting. How do you know what your
suppose to feel or how you’re suppose to portray yourself if you’re not
reacting to something. Unsuccessful actors tend to be more worried about not
forgetting their lines then not acting. That’s something you can automatically
hear. Don’t just say your line because you know you should or that’s what the
script says, feel it. The advice I can offer is be in the moment, because for
me, time slows down and I feel that I am able to play a character with a
meaning to it (or flow).
Remember that you’re not the only one in the room and the
audience want to be affected by your feelings. But if you’re standing tensely,
face to face with someone and hiding your face then it will seem so fake and
very irritating for the audience. It’s good to create a bond between a
character and the audience when performing.
Think to your self would I do this action in real life?
Would my character react that way? Etc..
