Variety Performance Report

Historical Context of Variety

American Vaudeville-
Vaudeville

18/11/2014

In todays lesson, as we had finished developing the scenes, we began work on some of the bits that needed more attension. such as scene 2 and the start of 3, we did our first rehearsal outside in the performance area. This took more time, as some of the entrances and exits had to be swapped to make it fit in the area. Such as where my character first entered the woods, and spots LRRH and the Wolf. As when we blocked this in the studio i entered and hid behind as tree, however in our new area there is nothing to use, so i had to change my que line to a later time, and just walk in and merge from the trees/bushes

I felt that by entering at a later date and using the scenary such as the trees, i could really creap in on them and be able to catch LRRH by suprise.

We also did a technical run after college, this involved putting up the seating rig and working out where different parts of the set were going, once we had put up the seating rig, we noticed that we had a lot more space at the front of the stage, we took advantage of this in the scene for It Takes Two, as we now come alot closer to the audience as i sweap bryleah down and around the stage. I  was also given the take of building the rapunzel tower, this is made up from staging blocks stacked then going down at the back in a stair like fashion.

11/11/14 Developing scene four and open evening rehearsals.

We began to do more in detail work on scene 4 today, I feel that this scene is very significant to the show, as this is where it all comes together, The Baker and his wife get a new cow and the slipper and give all of the objects to the Witch so that the curse can be lifted.

in the first unit of scene 4 my characters objective is to move on and start searching for a new cow, my character seems very controlling by ordering the Bakers Wife into going to find another cow and gives her a bean and tells her to "Tell them its magic". I delivered these lines with enthusiasm as my character knows that there is not much time left to get the items, My character then turns very cold, when it is suggested that he goes to find a new cow as he feels that the roles have been reversed and that he doesn't have much of the control in the relationship any more. This is where the it becomes clear to an audience that the Baker cares so much for his family and having a happy life, that he would even turn on his wife, and say something that is very personal to her. By doing extra work on these lines, I tried to say the line " Then resign yourself to a childless life". In lots of different way, by changing the pace and volume, I felt that I worked best saying it fast and loud as if my character didn't mean to say to his wife, and that I just slipped out at the spur of the moment. As I didn't feel it right to say it slow and quiet in a dark and mean way, as my character is mean he just wants a family and what is best for his wife, not to hurt or push her away.

After this scene my character is in the dance in the background of Stay With Me. In this dance we have to keep our movements slow and flowing, as we want to look mesmerising and not draw attention away from the Witch and Rapunzel. However still keeping our characterisation from the other scenes, where we are scared of the woods and what may lay ahead.

Homework

Assignment Brief

It Take Two duet with Kim

When we first rehearsed this song we just sang it to get used to the lyrics, the first few lines I did I say fairly low, which I felt comfort with, then to push me even further, Kim pushed me to sing it higher like the man in the soundtrack.

There is one part in the song where the two parts harmonise on the line "and once were past, lets hope the changes last". I found it difficult to get the notes right, so to understand where to go up and down Kim got me to draw in arrows next to the words where to change note. I could then follow this when singing. However I still had difficulties with the harmonising so it was suggested that we switch the parts round so that I felt more comfortable with it. With some more rehearsal I will hopefully get to know the part and then look into adding some characterisation.

It Takes Two Dance with Kat

For this song we got a lot of inspiration from the rumba, which is a Latin dance which is linked to romance and love.

In the bit where of the song where Bryleah (Bakers Wife) is singing we mainly stick to the basic rumba foot steps in a generic hold. This gives it a slow, loving feel and looks very sweet. When doing this I have a lot of focus on my arms and have extension which reaching my arms over. When I start to sing I have Bryleah in a hold and then slide down onto one knee. During my singing it is very slow and ends with us walking around the area. We are to use facial expression to show our love between each other.

My main goal to improve this dance is to get the story between the two characters right, I feel that Bryleah has the right level of tension and love between the couple, and she really shows this through her face and her eye contact. I will go through the song and pin point parts where I will have strong eye contact with her to raise the tension and then break it off and then come back to it. I think that this performance skill will help to tell the story of the two characters and why they care so much about each other. In one weeks time I will be showing this dance to the rest of the class, and by then I hope to get the right feeling in the dance and show the passion between the couple through my use of facial exspression.

17th October 2014 Opening song dance

In todays lesson with Kat we were taught the opening dance. We were taught the main marching sequence which is revolved around marching in a box, and then we had to devise our own 8 beat sequence to add into it. We then put this all together to the music and worked out all of the transitions. For the marching sequence we have to have strong extension and sharp punchy moves to fit with the fast beats of the music.

There is one bit with in the song where the Baker and Cinderella have a line together "There's something in the glade there". We had originally choreographed to have a lift on this line yet it was said that it didn't really fit in with our characterisation of two scared characters.

For the 8 beats I had chosen to do a fast piece with different levels, however during the song I have a solo line when it is this part so I had to change it to something different so that I am in the right position to sing my lines.

My target for my opening song is to work on my musicality with the song, I think by making my movements in time with the song will give me the chance to bring my character to life. I think that this will help bring my character fear of the woods to life. I will go over the dance at  home in my own time and go over the dance and add little trait to show my characters fear. I hope to have this complete before the next run of the opening scene, so I can use the other characters in the scene to bump up my characterisation.