After the show, we talked a little about what we were proud of our performance and what we had wished to improve or change. I personally was very proud of the songs, since I was very nervous performing them. I am not very experienced singer, nor ukulele player, so performing 4-5 songs and songs in between the scenes was a challenge for me. I have only been playing the ukulele for a year, and done a performance with it once, and I have little experience in singing before this. I was also given the responsibility to lead some of the music rehearsals with the first years. Now, I can say was very proud of all of the musicians for their hard work and I feel we did pretty well during the performance. 

   What I would have wanted to improve was the relationships between Feste and the other characters, especially with Malvolio. I was so focused on getting the character of Sir Topas in the scene 4.2., that me and Michael didn't really have a play around what our characters could have done to interact with each other physically, perhaps creating a more comedic atmosphere and show Feste's resentment towards him. I would have also wanted to show the relationship with between Viola and Feste during the last scene, since they have had some banter earlier in the play, but I found it hard to do that with Sophia, since she wasn't really giving me anything back during the scene, so I gave up on this quite early on in the development.  

  I think something to work on for me would have also been diction, clarity and fluency of my lines. I can remember messing up on some of my lines, nothing major, but it could have affected the way the audience understood it. 

Music - Transitions between scenes

   On Monday 23rd, we were told that we would be having to play in between the individual scenes.  This came as a surprise, since most people didn't have their instruments with them that day and we were under a week away from the actual show. So, we started by looking at the each scene, what sort of scene they were and then tried to fit our already existing pieces of music from the play into those scenes to work on ones more people had their instruments with them. We decided to use already existing pieces of music was simply because we didn't have too much time to work on this, and so it would be easier to modify some music everyone already knows rather than try to come up with new music.
   On Wednesday we continued to work on these pieces of music and also recorded them(link). The constant worry was with so many songs, was that everyone had to learn them and memorize them in just couple of days AND fit each instrument together. So, on Thursday afternoon Helen came out to help us and cut the songs down to five different songs we would be playing on repeat.

1. Happy-Sing-Along
2. Drinking with us (instrumental version of Wind & The Rain)
3. Heta's Lullaby (ukulele and humming version of Come Away Death)
4. (a capella O mistress mine, no lyrics)
5. Hey Robin Jazz

   Of course there was a couple of times when we switched the order of these songs according to the scene before them, just to make them fit a little better, and one of the transitions was when I sang the song 'I am gone sir' at the end of act 4 scene 2. Having only these five songs to work on really made it easier for us all to make them sound good as a group, but also a lot simpler and clearer for the audience to not have a scramble of half-finished tunes. Everyone of the musician already knew four of the songs, and the fifth one(Happy-Sing-Along) was very simple to learn and only required the ukulele and some of the singer, it made it faster for us to learn all of the songs. On Friday we were just thrown into the run troughs and do the songs half-rehearsed. I think this really helped us to just get our focus in and learn the songs on the spot, and by the second run trough we had pretty much perfected the transitions between scenes.  We were also allowed to have music sheets with us during the performance to helps us remember the cues for the songs. 

   I have to say, I am very proud of all of the musicians. Creating the transitions came as such a surprise, but everyone took it so professionally and worked hard to make it happen. I also think this was a very good representation of what could happen in real life. Things come up and things have to be changed, cut or created last minute in theatre and we need to learn how to think on our feet or at least make the best of the situation and work with what we got. 

26th & 27th

   The day before and the show day were pretty much running and fine tuning scenes. On Thursday we had our technical rehearsals were we went over each scene and the light cues. We didn't have a run through that day. Still, me and Michael were able to show our scene to Siou and get some feedback on it before the show day. Since we finally were able to do it in the space, we decided not to use the canes for the prison, but have Michael stand below the stairs, since it had a sinister look and gave me the possibility to play above the stairs. These were notes we received from Siou:

• Slow down sir Topas
• be more like sir Topas, Less like Feste
• Fastness and running around makes my diction bad, find moments of stillness
• Talking too fast makes the audience miss the joke

   The next day I tried to make sure I found moments for sir Topas to just stand still and show more of the character to the audience. This did lose some of the hectic pace of the scene, but also gave me time to breathe and focus on what I was saying, rather than where I needed to be next. I also made sir Topas a little bit more calm in his talking to create a bigger contrast between him and Feste. This ended up working a lot better and I felt during the performance that I was able to relax during the scene, even if I still had to do some running around and keep the energy up. 

   Another scene we worked a lot during the Thursday was the last scene. A lot of it was to do with positioning on the new stage and bringing more of the lines to the audience. This is something I've been trying to work on especially, since Feste is a character that can break the 4th wall and even interact with the audience, more so than any of the other characters can. Siou also edited the part where Feste starts to read Malvolio's letter  as  a madman. So far, I have gone way over the top with this absolutely ridiculous voice, but Siou pointed it out to me, that I should bring it down a little bit, to give the audience the change to take on the joke and actually laugh at it. Even though what I was doing was funny, it could have been overwhelming in Shakespeare's language to the audience. I really got this on Friday after running the scene a couple of times. For me, being comedic and funny on purpose is a challenge and so I have tried to go a bit over on purpose, just so that I wouldn't be under performing. Sious notes have really taught me that it is important to look at the jokes and the funniness from the audience's point of view and give them time to understand it, but also bring balance to funniness and clearness(diction). 

6.2.

   Today we really tackled on the last scene to work on the notes Andy gave us on Wednesday. The main problems were the blocking and reactions to other characters. We decided to focus on the blocking first, having Sophie as our main director, since she doesn't really do much in the scene. I helped with this too when I wasn't on stage. It was good having Sophie there to help, especially when everyone else was on stage she was able to move us and tell us what looked good and what needs to be changed.
   We started by running the scene, and every time there needed to be something changed, someone would stop us and suggest another solutions. Mainly this spaced us out a bit more, balancing the stage, but also giving people the chance to move more. The scene is 15-20 minutes long, so having the blocking work is extremely important and I feel that we really did massively improve it.
    Sophia and Yunusa especially worked on their placings, since they were often blocking each other or simply not giving space for each other. We changed it so, that Orsino should be more comfortable and controlling of the environment, since he is a high status man, a duke. Especially after Olivia blows the bomb that she and Cesario have married each other, we wanted Orsino to have a strong reaction. So, at the end of his speech after the line " to spite a ravens heart within a dove" we thought that it would be effective to have Orsino actually throwing Cesario towards Olivia, to show his anger and frustration. He feels betrayed by Cesario and of course sad about losing Olivia and this way it also gives Sophia more room to run after Yunusa.
   Towards the end of the scene, when Sebastian and Viola have their moments between each other, we also wanted to bring more focus to it. We decided to have all the other characters more on the sides of the stage, to leave the middle front for Viola and Sebastian slowly walk towards each other and meet in the middle to embrace each other. Helen also suggested that perhaps they should fall on the ground from the overwhelming of seeing each other again, but also bring more levels to the stage.
   We still need keep running the scene to get it to run smoothly, especially when people finally are memorized. My personal goal is to be memorized next time we do the scene, so that I can work on the physicality of Feste in this scene more in detail.


   I went of from working on the end scene at one point to work on my scene with Michael for a little bit, when I wasn't needed in my other scenes. We hadn't had the chance to work on the scene together yet, so today was very important when deciding what we want from the scene. We really want it to have a devilish feeling when in comes to Feste and Malvolio, since Feste is putting his revenge on Malvolio. It still needs to be funny and lighthearted as well and we need to sort out the cage, but this time we didn't necessarily need it to do our scene.
    Honestly, I didn't feel like we got too much done in this scene, partially because I was more focused on the end scene, but also because I found it hard to get feedback from Michael. Right now, I am running around the stage, trying to hide from Malvolio and trying  different ways to do it, for example crawling on the ground, hiding like a child behind my hands(block my face, doesn't work), being behind the imaginative cage etc. but I think that Michael could do more to draw the attention to him. Malvolio is a very big part of this scene and so he should have a fair share of the focus, but right now Michael isn't doing much with his character. We need to figure out something for Malvolio to do physically so that perhaps I will get a chance to catch a breath, but also focus on the sir Topas characters clarity, since diction is still a problem for me with the voice I chose to do for him.  Of course I could still change the character of Sir Topas, but I feel that it works as a contrast to Feste, who is fast paced and unlinear, where as Sir Topas is slower and more grounded.

4.2.15

   It was extremely important to continue working on our last scene this day, since it is a big scene with a lot of people in it and so our blocking needs to impeccable.
   One thing that came up in conversation today was, does Maria need to be present in the scene? She isn't written in the scene, but in some adaptations she is present or works as the attendant. We felt that it would be unnecessary to have the character there, since it would mean we would have to work on her emotions and other characters reactions to the reveal about Malvolio and her writing the letter. Since we are already short in time, this would have taken focus off of the things that are more important in the scene, and rather let the audience decide how Maria ends up after being revealed. We also couldn't find a place for her naturally in the scene, but rather have Sophie as the attendant, since this way we could focus on the action happening with Olivia, Viola, Orsino, Sebastian, Antonio and Malvolio more.
   Later in the day we showed the scene to Andy, that ended up being a bit of a disaster. These were notes we got from Andy(minus peoples individual notes)

• People need to find out what the lines mean. Too much talking and the emotional responses do not fit
• Blocking is off as well, people are returning to the semi circle all the time, also too close to each other BALANCE THE STAGE
• Make room for Malvolio to come in, he needs the stage and attention for his long monologue
• Work on when sir Toby comes in
• Work on when people go in out of the centre, you want movement on the stage, but not too hectic  or disorganized. FIND YOUR REASONS TO DO IT
• When Sebastian comes in, Viola and Orsino more amazed
• Reactions of characters to different situations! Do not stop acting once you stop talking

   I absolutely agree with Andy's notes and I feel a lot of is because people are still focusing too much on their lines and reading from the script rather than being memorized and being able to focus on the blocking and their characters. In class on Friday, we all need to put our focus on this scene and go trough the blocking carefully to fix all the problems, but also remember our places. I am still working on memorizing, but I felt that I was getting the emotions and the funniness well, because I have worked on the my lines and scene on my own at home and really thinking what we could do with it. I think there is still a lot of potential to bring strong emotions in to the scene. 

3.2.

   We started the lesson with an exercises that worker on our diction and speech. In the exercise we had two people leading, walking around the room and moving in different ways and paces. and the rest of the remaining people would follow which ever leader they wanted to. Siou would assign someone to start saying a longer bit of a line from your speech, and while you were saying it, you still had to continue following the leaders. The others still had to follow the leaders as well and also listen to the person talking. This was a Enrique Pardo technique 'Bringing meaning to text from' Pan Theatre, and it definitely worked. Not only did it bring meaning to the, finding different ways, emotions, paces and energies to present it, it also required full-on concentration to diction and articulation.   The lines were asked to perform not in character, to give the full concentration to the speech and what you were doing, rather than what you were doing as a character. This is the speech I chose for this exercise:
"Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal. I would have men of such constancy put to sea, that their business might be everything and their intent everywhere, for that’s it that always makes a good voyage of nothing. Farewell."
   This exercises helped me to see a little more the physical humour that is possible in this speech, since for now I've let the words speak for themselves. But since not everyone in our audience is comfortable with Shakespearean language, and so it would be good for me to tell the joke with my body as well. Since that speech of Feste is all about making fun of Orsino's mood and his and Cesario's moment together, I can use some rude movements towards Orsino or Cesario to show what Feste is talking about; questioning Orsino's feelings towards Olivia and basically telling him that Feste knows what is going on with him and Cesario.

   Then we started working on the last scene with all the 2nd years in it. We begun by looking at each character, what their feelings were and how perhaps they will end up after the play ends. Also, what do we want for them to happen. Do they all end up happy? Do we show how they end up after last scene? Is it a comical ending? Do we want to show the victims of unrequited love? These we're all questions that we discussed.
   In my opinion, especially Viola and Orsino end up happy, since they are the ones that get love at the end, especially Viola who reunites with her brother. Olivia is someone I'd like to think about with the others more, since her end could be questionable; does she live a happy life with Sebastian, or is she still in love with Cesario/Viola and so left in a more difficult situation. Both Orsino and Olivia have the power to choose their fate and what they want to do, since they have the high status to do it. Where as characters like Maria and Malvolio, who do not come from an background of such status, might have it worse after this scene. Does Malvolio get another job? Does he get over his madness? And Maria, is she punished for her actions? Does she marry Sir Toby and if she does, is it for love or for money? These were just some of the questions we asked about the different characters and need to think about whilst we are putting the scene together.
   For Feste this scene really shows a darker side of him, which also helped me to work on Feste's actions in 4.2.. He shows his grudge against Malvolio, revealing that he isn't just an observer but also someone who wants revenge. But rather feeling remorse like Fabian does, Feste continues to make fun of Malvolio. Earlier I've talked about how Feste is sort of a character that is in a way above these humanly emotions that all the other characters are going trough, jealousy and love especially, but this scene really shows that he is a human and he can be a bad person as well. I do not agree with Feste in this last scene at all, even if Malvolio has been insulting towards him before, they did ruin someone life and Feste doesn't seem to care at all. I really want to explore this, and even after Malvolio leaves in the scene Feste could possibly continue making fun of him, where as everyone else seems more taken back.

Things to work on:
 I still need to memorize for this scene, and I feel so does everyone else as well. Personally I also want to explore ways for Feste to bring a bit more lightness and fun into the scene by perhaps using the 'bringing meaning to text' exercise on some of my lines in this scene.  I want to start blocking the scene as soon as possible, so that we can get our lines into action.

2.2.15 ACTING ON CAMERA

"Good acting is easy acting, and then you will have all the time in world"

In class, we filmed the last scene with Chloe and Liam in it and then continued to watch our scenes. During filming we especially focused on the acting rather than technicalities, since we have done them quite many times before already. Andy pointed out very important things during filming about acting;

•  Voice was a very big topic in today's class. We have been trained to project our voices, but as we later saw on the film, almost everyone was talking much too loudly, making our voices seem unreasonably loud, rainy and interfered with the sound recording.  With Liam and Chloe Andy made sure that they were talking at the right volume, which was surprisingly quiet.
• Being sure which side of the camera you are looking is very important when trying to show are including or excluding someone from the conversation. If you look at the side of the camera that is on your counter actors side, you are still including them in your thoughts, but if you look the other side, you are excluding them and can even show in your facial expressions how you feel of the other character, without them knowing about it. This is accepted with film, since it will seem that the other person won't see you. 
• Walking in from the direction of the camera looks better, rather from the side
• "Good acting is easy acting --> You will have all the time in the world" 
• We talked a lot about preparation and I feel that this sentence truly internalizes the benefits of it. If you prepare on time and do your work, the acting will come easily and naturally. Since you won't be thinking about your lines, you will be able to focus on the emotions and becoming the character. 
• Also, being relaxed when acting is extremely important. Watching back on the tape, automatically people who were more relaxed seemed more in character and more natural than those who were stiff. For me, I felt I wasn't relaxed at all and it didn't look like I was relaxed on camera either. This really shows how much the camera picks up and shows.
• During a scene with Yunusa, Sav, Harry and Jade, it was interesting how Jade, who took Sophia's place on the scene and so didn't have so much time to learnt he lines and marks, actually seemed the most relaxed. This was probably because she wasn't thinking so much about what she had to do, but rather just let herself come up with the emotions naturally. 
• During Chloe's and Liam's performance Andy talked about internal thoughts, and how what the character is thinking becomes extremely important when there is subtext. During the scene, Chloe's character is supposed to be very professional, but inside feel conflicted. This should be shown to the audience by the way she holds her body and reacts to Liam's character.
• Later, when watching the scenes, it often notable when people didn't actually know their lines, and you could see when people were thinking, even if it might have not been seen before.   
• We also learned the technical term 'rushes' or raw footage, which is basically unedited footage.
• I also operated to boom this time. I found out that it is actually very tiring to hold the microphone up for the entire scene(which was maybe 3-5 minutes).  It did get easier when I centered my body and found a better balance. 

It was interesting to see yourself and everyone else on camera and how we actually acted. It was very cringie at first, but after you set aside how you looked and started to focus on how did your voice sound like, how was your acting, it became more educational and critical, rather than just bashing yourself for what you looked like. I tried really hard to get over the way I looked and focus on the important to be able to grow and learn from it. There was some things I did notice in my acting, some I already mentioned, but for example I noticed how my English sounded strange. My accent is getting better, but I felt the pressure in my sentences was unnatural. It might have been because I was trying tot slow down my lines but perhaps I wasn't as memorized with my lines as I thought I was.