Thursday 28 June 2018

Berkoff - Greek - Fortune Teller Part 2

In this section, Dad is telling Eddy about the second time they went to see the fortune teller. The fortune teller repeats what his father had said about Eddy and how he'll kill his father and have sex with his mother.


The first line follows on from the previous blog about the fortune teller - "Course we took no notice. Forgot about it like" which shows that Dad is being casual and that he forgot but doesn't really care about what the fortune teller said because it doesn't affect his own life. The next section of movement is shown at "fair is back in town" where me and Kathryn make the tent like she did with Marlon earlier in the scene. This is easier for the two of us to do because we're in the middle and frees up Marlon and Izzy to do their next series of movement where they stop her from speaking. An interpretation that I took from this was that we are in her mind and we're saying what her character wants to say. I'm not too sure about this though.

I do a quick movement in the next section where I turn into the mother again. I will need to show a greater variation in facial expression to show the change in character. This gives me the perfect opportunity for further externalisation and the range of facial expressions I can create which will be enhanced by the make up that we use.

The movement and sound at "pack of dirty lies" was done to show that we think that the fortune teller was disgusting for insinuating his prophecy. The following movement after "So off we went" allows for further staccato and definition. Total theatre can be seen after "but we waited our turn" when our hands became the clock behind Marlon. This obviously shows the passage of time but by doing this movement in multiple directions indicates that there is more than one time stream at work as shown by the prophecy.

At "it was the same name" we all pop out and gasp to show that we're shocked that its the same name as before - perhaps Mum and Dad weren't expecting it to be the same name. At this point, I think me and Kathryn should lunge out a little further than we did in this video so that our facial expressions can be seen much easier. The next line of "Have your future read Fantoni's magical crystal gazer" I suggested be shouted like newsboys calling out the headline as this is what it would have said outside the tent. In this video we definitely need more definition in this line and in other lines as they tend to get muddled up and confused otherwise the audience ins't going to know what we're saying. Even though we are speaking in a Cockney accent where movements are more vital than words, it is vital that the lines are pronounced correctly especially ts.

At "In we marched" I attempted to do a strut but the lack of spacing made this difficult in the room that we were in. I will have to make sure that my steps are exaggerated but not so much that we lose space on stage. The lifting of arms in front of us shows the tent and gives a nice visual of us moving into the tent and the tent moving over us.

The "same old shmutter on the table" uses Total Theatre as we use actors to be the table and the mess that is on the table. Mine and Maya's movement draws attention to this movement in the middle. "The beads we walked through" gives a nice point for us to walk to where we need to be in the next sequence. These points have limited big movement which allows for a defined moment where there is limited movement compared with the larger movement earlier in the scene.

The creativity to have Maya speaking for Marlon but have Marlon be in front of her is outstanding. Marlon should definitely be in front of Maya so the illusion of Maya being Marlon's voice is hidden. Moreover, this emphasises that Marlon is the real Dad and that Maya is the body that we're using to present this part in the story. This illusion is better seen when Kathryn speaks for Izzy - Izzy comes to the front of the stage and this allows her to be the centre of attention without having to speak. I think the following section after Izzy goes onto Marlon's back is particularly messy because the moves aren't defined and we don't do the movements simultaneously. Certainly, the choral singing after Izzy died is unnecessary as it takes away from the piece rather than adding to it.

The imbuing of the fortune teller's vision is a big deal hence why we made the transfer of power a large movement. Despite Dad still being sceptical about the vision, the fortune teller is telling the truth and by passing on his vision the prophecy can still come true. Just like in the previous payment of the fortune teller we do another 'ching ching' which allows a theme to run through the piece which I think is quite effective even though we don't do it every single time money is mentioned.

The sentence of "So Ed, your mum and I sat down just like before" is done incorrectly in this video as it shouldn't be split up it should be one fluid sentence. Despite the gestures that are made this sentence's movement should be removed so that the grammar becomes correct again. The movement to the back of the stage after this suggests the use of more Total Theatre as we use more of the stage than we had done before. When we run back to the front of the stage we're still cramped up - it could be more effective if we spread out when we run forwards and then come together when Marlon says that the tent was small. The hurtled back shows clear definition between a slower section and faster section.

"The whiff of stale grass" should be a louder, longer sniff instead of putting our faces on the floor. The trap line always results in us getting out of time with the claps that we do - the inspiration behind this was a Venus-fly-trap.

No comments:

Post a Comment

TIE - Part 19

This Thursday we had our second performance of the TIE piece. Overall, this performance went better than the previous performance - I think ...