Heart's Desire Part 4

After the discussion in the previous lesson, we all believed that we had a great grasp on character and therefore a grasp on the piece as a whole. For this rehearsal, it was suggested that we learn the majority of our lines and I take pride in that I managed this task before anyone else. Although I was still shaky with some lines, this allowed me to act without script in hand and explore the section we are doing much better. The video below shows our piece from this lesson: 

The next video is my analysis and explanation for the above video (unfortunately the audio from the above video in this version has been cut out): 

We performed the above version for Chipp which resulted in a conversation concerning the message of the play - or rather, the message that we understood from the play. From Chipp's understanding, due to the changing of roles (which was initially just a way to incorporate everyone into the play) it resembled different families with different backgrounds - it appeared we were commenting on class alongside family tensions which we weren't initially trying to portray. He also commented on the layering of props - the jackets and books - and suggested if we were going to layer these items it might be best to layer other items, such as the cups, in order to show that this was a constant thing rather than it being for technical reasons. In this conversation, we discussed how we could include the idea of social class into the piece which would give the political/social class more meaning rather than having the other broad term of family tensions. This focus allows for characterisation to be more effective and gives the piece an overall purpose.

It was found that the Brecht style of the piece is made by the constant rotation of character and introduction of extras - such as the section where children run onto the stage, or the family are killed by assassins - applies spass to the piece, as does Maisie, which allows a contrast with the overarching emotional situation. We can't have the same message of Churchill - of which we had yet to discover - because of how we designed our version over the script text.

The major changes to be made is to apply the play to different classes (working, middle, and upper) which the choice of costume/props, a change in accents, and to play with levels of emotion. This is something that will be talked about in further blogs from rehearsals. I will dedicate a later blog to Churchill's aims.