Monday 12th February:
During this lesson we focused on the proxemics/blocking of Scene 6 and Scene 7.
Scene 6 is where Anna and Jamie meet to get coffee so that Anna can look at the film which doesn't happen. When Jamie (Bruce) walks on stage, I, as Anna, can feel his presence and so I turn around whilst smoking (breathing in at this point) which cues Bruce to say "Radiant" which means that it's clear from the start that Jamie didn't know what to say when he sees Anna. After Jamie has said this line, I exhale and blow out the smoke which shows how funny it is for someone to say something like that - it also adds in a comedic element. It transpired that I was saying the line "My aunt used to say radiant". I said it as though I was simply pointing out that Emma used to say radiant rather than making fun of Jamie. When I say the line "I haven't been here in ages" I was told to gesture to where 'here' actually is, potentially with large arm movement or looking around with my head. This will allow for the audience to understand where the scene is set and let them know that this is the first time in a while that Anna has come back to the city where she grew up. Anna kept away from this place because of the memories that are contained here - growing up, her mother dying, and potentially her own downfall into drugs. As Jamie begins to confess his 'love' for Anna, Anna becomes to get gradually more angry, and so looks away from him, probably beginning to smoke again to show that she's really annoyed with him - it is found out in Scene 9 that Jamie doesn't like people who smoke, so Anna continuing to smoke here would potentially annoy Jamie himself slightly. Jamie's "Anna" after he has said "I can't stop thinking about you" is therefore to get her attention - it certainly will get the audience's attention because Jamie and Carol say this line simultaneously. As Anna begins to speak after Jamie has confessed this, her words should be less fluid, allowing her some thinking time about what she's going to say hence why there are phrases such as "It is not Unpainful" and "that is not not difficult" to indicate that she's messing her words up slightly. This shows that she is romantically invested in Jamie because even when she was high in Scene 2 and dealing with an emotionally compromised John in Scene 4 with words such as "Veracity" and "facetious" being said - she can't string words together and is using less complicated words as she herself may be slightly emotionally compromised because of Jamie during this scene due to her attraction and due to her overwhelming anger.
In Scene 7 Jamie and Anna have just moved into the family house together. There were few things that needed to be directed in Anna's section of this scene because of the little amount that Anna actually does - for the majority of the scene she is painting. When Jamie and Anna hug there was an issue of where I should put my face without it being stuffed into Bruce's chest. When Anna says her line "I'm not. That's not what I" she should turn her head out to the audience - this also means that the line isn't muffled into Bruce's chest. Additionally, I was told to put both arms around Bruce (before, I had thought that my right arm would stay dangling down so that I could get paint on his leg) so that the paint roller and paint now go on his back, rather than on his leg - this makes the hug more realistic and shows that Anna is reciprocating it. When Anna goes into her spiel that starts with "She's just quite a bit closer than she's been. She's just" I pause after "She's just" in order to draw attention to the kiss between Laura and Carol that's happening on Carol's side of the stage which has repercussions seemingly with Bonnie's own sexuality.
During this lesson we focused on the proxemics/blocking of Scene 6 and Scene 7.
Scene 6 is where Anna and Jamie meet to get coffee so that Anna can look at the film which doesn't happen. When Jamie (Bruce) walks on stage, I, as Anna, can feel his presence and so I turn around whilst smoking (breathing in at this point) which cues Bruce to say "Radiant" which means that it's clear from the start that Jamie didn't know what to say when he sees Anna. After Jamie has said this line, I exhale and blow out the smoke which shows how funny it is for someone to say something like that - it also adds in a comedic element. It transpired that I was saying the line "My aunt used to say radiant". I said it as though I was simply pointing out that Emma used to say radiant rather than making fun of Jamie. When I say the line "I haven't been here in ages" I was told to gesture to where 'here' actually is, potentially with large arm movement or looking around with my head. This will allow for the audience to understand where the scene is set and let them know that this is the first time in a while that Anna has come back to the city where she grew up. Anna kept away from this place because of the memories that are contained here - growing up, her mother dying, and potentially her own downfall into drugs. As Jamie begins to confess his 'love' for Anna, Anna becomes to get gradually more angry, and so looks away from him, probably beginning to smoke again to show that she's really annoyed with him - it is found out in Scene 9 that Jamie doesn't like people who smoke, so Anna continuing to smoke here would potentially annoy Jamie himself slightly. Jamie's "Anna" after he has said "I can't stop thinking about you" is therefore to get her attention - it certainly will get the audience's attention because Jamie and Carol say this line simultaneously. As Anna begins to speak after Jamie has confessed this, her words should be less fluid, allowing her some thinking time about what she's going to say hence why there are phrases such as "It is not Unpainful" and "that is not not difficult" to indicate that she's messing her words up slightly. This shows that she is romantically invested in Jamie because even when she was high in Scene 2 and dealing with an emotionally compromised John in Scene 4 with words such as "Veracity" and "facetious" being said - she can't string words together and is using less complicated words as she herself may be slightly emotionally compromised because of Jamie during this scene due to her attraction and due to her overwhelming anger.
In Scene 7 Jamie and Anna have just moved into the family house together. There were few things that needed to be directed in Anna's section of this scene because of the little amount that Anna actually does - for the majority of the scene she is painting. When Jamie and Anna hug there was an issue of where I should put my face without it being stuffed into Bruce's chest. When Anna says her line "I'm not. That's not what I" she should turn her head out to the audience - this also means that the line isn't muffled into Bruce's chest. Additionally, I was told to put both arms around Bruce (before, I had thought that my right arm would stay dangling down so that I could get paint on his leg) so that the paint roller and paint now go on his back, rather than on his leg - this makes the hug more realistic and shows that Anna is reciprocating it. When Anna goes into her spiel that starts with "She's just quite a bit closer than she's been. She's just" I pause after "She's just" in order to draw attention to the kiss between Laura and Carol that's happening on Carol's side of the stage which has repercussions seemingly with Bonnie's own sexuality.
N2C, 14th February 2018:
At this weeks N2C we focused on Scene 5's proxemics and cuing. In Scene 5 Jamie interviews Anna about how she got to the refuge and contains Anna's largest monologue. At the beginning of the scene, Jamie is setting up his camera whilst Anna is watching on until Jamie says "Hello". The assembly of the camera suggests to the audience that Jamie and Anna are going to make a porn film, especially as the audience have seen Anna get high and have heard that she's raped a 15 year old boy - they wouldn't put it past her to engage in this sort of activity. Jamie sits Anna down by assembling a light box next to her and aligning her face up to the camera at the same time as Anna is offering him a drink. When Anna says that she'll go and make the drinks she stands up. After she's done this, Jamie replies with a "No, no. I'll go." Here, Anna should have a massive reaction to what he's said because it's very weird that he would suggest he do that when it's not his house as Anna does point out a couple of lines later. When Anna calls out to him "Good luck. God speed" these should be louder as though she is shouting through a large house which immediately contrasts with her next lines which are quieter. During the quiet moments in Anna's scene when Jamie is gone from the stage, she should be nervous by looking around, showing that she is interested in him. At one point she gets up from her seat and looks at her reflection in the mirror, sorting out her hair and face. Both of these things may again suggest that Jamie and Anna are going to make a porn film. Another couple of things that we added in which further suggest the making of a porn film are that when Jamie says the line "Let me just check we're all set" he should take off the jacket that he's been wearing in the scene. Additionally, when Jamie asks if Anna has "done anything like this before" Anna's response of "What?" is punctuated with Anna uncrossing her legs. These subtle hints will suggest the making of the porn film but when Jamie begins to ask Anna about her journey and especially when Anna begins her monologue, these thoughts are interrupted - the audience may berate themselves for believing the worst in Anna but this is acceptable because of what the audience have already seen - the monologue gives more depth to Anna's character that the audience haven't yet seen.
Thursday 15th February 2018:
During this lesson we applied some of Stanislavski's methods to the play. We used Objectives, Super-Objectives, and touched upon Tempo and Rhythm.
Super Objective: The final goal that the character wants to achieve.
Objectives: What a character wants to achieve in a scene or an action.
Tempo: The speed of an action.
Rhythm: The intensity or depth of the experience.
The super objective that Bella and I chose for Anna was to understand Carol's reasons for leaving her and causing her this much pain. Anna is massively affected by Carol's death so the super objective can be seen throughout her life from when she is 16 and has just been told about Carol's death. One of the reasons why Anna began to take drugs was because of Carol's death - Anna may feel as though she is a cause of Carol's death which is somewhat true. In Scene 7, Anna says that she hasn't felt as close to her mother as she is feeling at that moment in years - this could show that although Anna doesn't fully understand the reason for Carol's death, she is beginning to accept her death which allows her to think about the good times that the two of them shared.
We also chose 3 smaller objectives that are present at certain times within the piece. These were:
1) To stop being dependent on drugs - this applies to the beginning of the play and is achieved by Scene 4 when Anna is shown in rehab.
2) To have steadiness - she doesn't actively seek steadiness as she says in her Scene 5 monologue, but we thought that she wants some semblance of steadiness that was akin to her childhood hence why she decides to go to the commune and moves into the family house. This links to the super objective because both of these places are able to reconnect Anna to Carol and therefore help her understand why Carol committed suicide. Anna achieves steadiness by Scene 7 with Jamie but this is brutally ripped from her in Scene 11 after the birth of Bonnie.
3) To be a good mother - Anna first shows this objective in Scene 9 when she lets Daisy know of her pregnancy as Anna says "I think I might be good at it, being a mother, I think I might be okay". However, Anna never gets to complete this objective as she becomes severely depressed after Bonnie is born and commits suicide before Bonnie has a chance to know her.
In order to show the super objective and various objectives myself and Bella made a movement piece. We added in quotes from the play that showed these objectives and also linked/pointed to her super objective of understanding carol. The quotes that we picked are as follows:
1) "She wouldn't have expected" - from Scene 4. This scene shows the first time in which Anna mentions her mother but this is not explicitly clear to the audience. At this point in the movement piece I grabbed Bella's arm to signify Anna's drug use - this shows that Carol didn't expect Anna to get addicted to drugs. In the play, Anna says this line to explain to John that he didn't have to keep the house but with the manipulation of the line, it takes on a whole new meaning.
2) "If my mother couldn't, then I must be an almighty piece of shit" - from the Scene 5 monologue. This is the first step into Anna trying to understand why Carol decided to commit suicide showing that she blames herself. We used this line to show that Anna has lost the steadiness that she had when she lived with Carol.
3) "She's just right here in a way she hasn't been since" - from Scene 7. This shows the super objective of Anna finally becoming close to Carol, accepting why she did what she did, and to some extent understanding why she had to leave.
4) "Line's gone. Hook's gone. Down." - from Scene 15. It is in this scene that Anna commits suicide and shows that she has failed her objective of becoming a good mother. It also shows the link to Carol who said in Scene 9 that Anna was "a fish hook pulling me up when I want to be under" suggesting that Anna finally understand what Carol was going through in order for her to commit suicide. At this point in the movement piece, Bella lowered me down gently showing that Anna wanted to be a good mother but due to her suicide in this scene failed in her objective.
We only touched on tempo-rhythm slightly by exaggerating a section of movement that we have blocked in the play so far. Despite it being abstract, the exaggeration of Anna shooting up meant that I was able to think about why Carol had decided to commit suicide slightly which would have a large impact on Anna in this scene.
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