Julia Curry

Emile – The street killer.

Julia Curry

This is a reflection of my experience playing Emile in ‘130,000’. My idea of this teenager has changed drastically since March (see previous post). Emile is a street gangster whose search for respect resulted in the death of young Kwame. The course of the play for Emile is about his journey to gain this respect from his fellow gang members, especially Dwayne. There is a depth to Emile that I could have never touched on at the start of the process. Now, 130, 000 is more about the deterioration of Emile’s guilty conscious and his realization that he will never gain this sought respect; as opposed to him being a vicious young male with no purpose but to cause upset.

Now, in the final scenes of the show, I see him as a broken young man. A teenager who committed a horrific crime who now can’t bear the guilt. In Emile’s final scene, the play takes one final breath when he confirms to the audience that he is in fact guilty,  re-confirming that characters such as Dwayne lead Emile to this heartless attack on Kwame.

‘I ain’t takin any more of this shit from no-one.. you want me Dwayne? I’m ready come get me!.. It was me that killed Kwame not them, their jealous… You don’t wake up every night seeing his face!’ (WAKEUP 2013, p. 56).

 By the end of the play, Emile has lost respect for himself and for others. He deteriorates to the point of helplessness. For me I had little pity for Emile at the start of this process, but now over the course of three months, I began to grow a sense of sympathy towards him. This pity changed the vocal, emotional and physical delivery of those few last lines for me. I was no longer a sadistic gangster who held no conscience. I was a teenage boy crying for help, wanting to receive the respect he sought.

 

Work Cited:

WAKEUP Theatre (2013) 130,000 an adaptation of Fallout by Roy Williams,Lincoln: Lincoln School of Performing Arts.

 

 

 

Post-show.

Julia Curry

The Arts Council England states that ‘for arts organisations to produce the best work that they can and have the greatest possible impact, they need to be clear and confident about their mission, engage effectively with the world around them and be objective about their development needs’ (ACE 2013, online). WAKEUP is this art organisation. Stated clearly in their manifesto, 130, 000 provides audience members with information about the fatalities of knife crime in South East London.

As mentioned in a previous post, John Hester notes that ‘one of the most important truths about acting is that an actor is only ever as good.. as the other actors on stage’ (2004, p.33). WAKEUP’s final performance of 130,000 went extremely well, and this is because every member of the company united as a collective group.

On Monday 20th May (show day), WAKEUP arrived outside the LPAC theatre at 9am that morning, ready to help with any of the technical requirements and prepare for a dress run. The extra rehearsal time that we spent working on the café scenes that very morning paid off, resulting in a very successful comical sketch between Clinton and Perry. When first using the space, each member of WAKEUP had to get used to the vast distance between the box on stage right and the café stage left. Once this was overcome, transitions needed to be rehearsed to ensure they ran smoothly for the final performance. Once cue to cue’s and a dress run were completed with a few final notes added WAKEUP were ready to perform their production to a strong 112 person audience.

The final performance of 130,000 was one that I feel both the company I can be proud of. The lights, sound and script united together so perfectly and I believe this was only further reflected in myself and other actor’s performances. I couldn’t be happier to have been part of WAKEUP theatre company!

 

Work Cited

Hester, John (2004) Stage Acting Techniques: A Practical Guide, The Crowood Press Ltd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mad Blud – A London story.

Julia Curry

130,000 by WAKEUP Theatre is an incredibly challenging play to perform. It is a play which deals with the serious issue of knife crime and gang culture in East London society. At the beginning of our rehearsals I felt that it would be a good idea to research past productions which have dealt with knife crime and discover how other theatre companies have tackled this serious issue.

I came across a production named: Mad Blud: A London Story which was created and directed by Philip Osment and performed at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. On the Theatre Royal website they state that ‘MAD BLUD seeks to get to the heart of the escalation in knife crime amongst young people and to tell the authentic stories behind the headlines’ (Theatre Royal, 2011). It was the notion that they told authentic stories that compelled me to look further into this particular production.

Whilst exploring their work I came across this short extract of text:

‘Mad Blud explores the effects of knife culture. Using words taken from interviews with victims, families, police, perpetrators, teachers and people on the street. The actors are fed their scripts through an MP3 player earpiece; they hear the real voices that have been recorded, telling their stories with an unblinking and non-judgmental immediacy’ (London Theatre, 2011).

What is interesting about this performance is that they have explored the notion of knife crime through verbatim theatre, which is exactly what 130, ooo explores. Osment has opted for his actors to use an earpiece throughout the course of their production. Because of this, the actors will be able to carry a more authentic vocal tone when delivering the verbatim as they are able to hear the way in which the text should be delivered; something which WAKEUP aren’t provided with.

Here is a link to a video on VIMEO where cast, creative and directors discuss the process and performance in detail:

http://vimeo.com/28052855

 

Character Engagement: Doreen Lawrence and Emile

Julia Curry

From the beginning, I have found WAKE UP Theatre’s adaptation of Fallout by Roy Williams to be incredibly challenging for myself as an actor. Personally, I have never taken part in a production which is so fast paced and has required me to multi role so efficiently. WAKE UP Theatre’s adaptation of Fallout requires scene changes and quick character transformations. Creating and developing characters which require an accent which no actor in the company possess demands physical and mental attribution. In his seminal work, John Hester notes that ‘one of the most important truths about acting is that an actor is only ever as good.. as the other actors on stage’ (2004, p.33) therefore, our company will be undertaking vocal training to ensure Fallout is not an unsuccessful production because of weak accent portrayal and poor vocal ability.

The first role which I play is that of Doreen Lawrence. The audience first see this figure delivering a verbatim extract from the Stephen Laurence inquiry; presenting a heartbroken, confused mother who has lost her son to a street crime. Performing verbatim is challenging for an actor as you aren’t able to perform. These words which I will deliver are real. Real words, real worlds. In order for me to portray Doreen, I will need to incorporate the use of emotion memory to create a realistic, sad presence. In The Scene Study Book, Bruce Miller notes that ‘Drama is primarily about action, not emotion’ (1995, p. 1).  When performing verbatim, you are able to present a realistic perception through verbally embodying the text, where by you encourage the audience to accept a given situation as it’s presented. Action does not need to be present.

The second role which I play could not be more diverse. When I first enter the stage as Emile, a sadistic gangster who committed the fatal crime, I am required to banish all feministic qualities and become a vicious male with a London accent. After repeatedly watching Channel 4’s adaptation of Fallout, I am beginning to understand my characters personality and position within the London gang who all took part in the killing of Kwame. Having just read through the final script, I am concerned as to how I will play such a powerful and poignant male character when I carry such feministic qualities. On the surface it is difficult to find any other emotion apart from anger which Emile does possess. He seems like a young man who is stuck in a rut which consists of taunt, trouble and a guilty conscience. Emile seems to be a grown teenager who does not succeed in his quest, ‘you still can’t respect me, can you?’ (WAKEUP Theatre 2013, p. 36). Emile does not receive the respect he is searching for and on first readings I think this is why the play happens. Emile does not find this respect and in his attempt to find it, Kwame is stabbed to death.

It is easy to slap an emotion on to my lines, but in order to have a fully formed intention and character I have to almost breath every word and take in every intention. By banishing all feministic qualities and forming male mannerisms I will begin to develop an understanding and meaning of the lines and Emile as a whole.

 

Work Cited 

Hester, John (2004) Stage Acting Techniques: A Practical Guide, The Crowood Press Ltd.

Wake up Theatre (2013) 130,000 an adaptation of Fallout by Roy Williams, Lincoln: Lincoln School of Performing Arts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing is believing. Believing is seeing.

Julia Curry

WAKEUP Theatre wants our audience to ‘wake up to the world that we live in’, and like all theatre companies we needed to create an attractive, illustrative demonstration that portrays our powerful manifesto.

Ideas began to emerge once we had settled on our company name. We needed to create pictures specifically for our Facebook and Twitter accounts, something that would catch people’s eyes and optimise what our company stands for.

Here are the first few ideas which were generated once we had our company name finalised:

3.4.5.6.1.2.

These preliminary ideas were simple yet bold; they advertised our company name and the eye and speech bubbles were an effective metaphor for ‘WAKE UP’. We thought that the eye acted as a strong metaphor or representation of our message, however these feelings were not shared in our focus group, so we felt it necessary to play with some more ideas.

Our next generation of logos were more colourful than before, but we still felt that they were not visually strong enough to represent our company so we enlisted the help of a design student hoping that some expertise would bring something new to the table.

As ideas for the production became more clear, so did the logos. Once we agreed we were going to produce ‘Fallout’ by Roy Williams (focusing solely on knife crime which would involve us working with statistics and numbers) the idea that an alarm clock would take centre stage in all our illustrative advertisements became a strong metaphor for our catchphrase and theatre company name – WAKE UP. A few more ideas were produced and we eventually decided on a final two which we would use on our Facebook, blog and Twitter page to promote our company.

 

7.8.

 

Here are our final two designs which will advertise our company on our social networking sights:

Profile Photo:

12.

We decided that this would be the final logo for our profile photos and advertisement purposes because of the effective simplicity. As said previously, the alarm clock is a clear strong metaphor for our catchphrase and the black on white design provides racial tendencies which are a reoccurring theme throughout our production.

 

Cover Photo:

13.

Using this as our cover photo on Facebook, Twitter and for advertisement purposes is again, effective because of the strong metaphor and effective simplicity. The digital writing, which also portrays the design of a digital alarm clock will be present throughout our production, providing knife crime statistics.