Day of performance: Schedule and dress rehearsal

Charlotte Meek

I created a tight schedule for the day of the performance so that time would be used wisely and the actors would be able to get the most out of the day.

  • 9.am get in
  • Tech first thing – cast in studio 1 doing a line run and going over any scenes
  • 12.pm lunch
  • 1.pm cue to cue run with lights and sound 
  • 4.pm dress rehearsal 
  • 5.30pm Break for dinner
  • 6.30pm all cast in costume for warm up on stage
  • 7.pm cast talk, last preparations
  • 7.20pm all cast members on stage for audience entering
  • 7.30pm show time.

During the dress rehearsal i sat as an audience member and made notes on any last minute technical requirements and positioning and volume issues. It was also important that these notes noticed the successful performances from the actors.

DRESS REHEARSAL NOTES:

  • Lovely first speech Jessica Dyer
  • Jess Crosby you were not in the spotlight (stand on marked spot)
  • Julia first verbatim – great
  • Volume in general could be a bit louder
  • Nice enterence police
  • Phone sound for Jess Crosby needs to come in sooner
  • Nice speech Leanne
  • Commit to take over the speech with Rob, Leanne you are in charge
  • Wait until you sit down to speak Rob, you are going back to the previous scene
  • Get rid of the throw on the sofa, it is too slow to put on
  • Julia you could get up earlier to make sure you build enough tension to throw the chair
  • Jess Crosby where are your earphones?
  • Nice monologue Jess Clubbe
  • Make sure everyone’s head is up for the verbatim – get eye contact with the audience
  • Leanne good voice
  • Chelsey much better in the gang scenes and with Shanice
  • Really nice stood verbatim Jess Dyer
  • Leanne please wait before coming on – let Rob read the paper for a while
  • Have the fight lights been moved? they could do with panning out even more
  • Really nice in the fight Julia
  • Quieter to walk on in blackouts everyone
  • ‘Divvy up’ scene is great
  • Nice interrogation Jess Dyer
  • Rob you are not in the light when you say ‘shit’
  • Rebecca’s last verbatim very good

At this stage of the process, as expected, most of the notes are positive and notes to work on are just positioning and volume.

At 6.30 i conducted a cast warm-up, this was important to get the energy and concentration levels up for the performance. This warm up was planned in advance to ensure the warm- up was concise and timed correctly.

Firstly i told the actors to walk around the space, think about their breathing and what they were going to be doing on stage. I told the actors to think about a line that they say in the play, they started off by saying the line in their head, they then whispered the line getting louder and louder filling the space with noise. The actors then stood on opposite ends of the room and recited the lines from a scene. This made them project their voices to the actor they were addressing as they were on other sides of the theatre. Both of these activities made the actors think about the volume needed in the performance.

The cast then formed a circle, i decided that we would play a fun game to get the energy levels up. Wink murder is a game which can be played with all age ranges and is a fun way to get the actors heart rate up.

To make sure that the concentration levels of the actors were addressed i decided to play a quick rhythm number game.

Finally each member of the cast found their own space around the stage, they closed their eyes. I spoke about remembering personal props, about the meaning of our performance to an audience. I felt that this ensured that the actors were well prepared for the performance ahead, which turned out to be a great success..

Sound

Josie Mae Lockwood

Much like the lighting, the sound was to be simple and only played when necessary, for instance, the television show theme music was used to represent someone flicking through the channels of the television. The main sounds for 130,000 were two recorded verbatim extracts, added effects were made to the recordings, using the programme Audacity, to represent a televised and radio interview.

Below is the television theme music before the recording and effects were added:

Tv channel

Below is the final audio for the televsion theme music with added effects and recording:

Tv channel 2

Below is the recording for the radio verbatim with added effects:

Rob Radio Speech

Other sounds were used to determine where characters were, for instance, Ronnie’s witness to the stabbing outside was illustrated by a traffic sound effect, along with a Jay-Z song, as this is mentioned later on in the play.

 

 

Lighting

Josie Mae Lockwood

The role of the lighting designer is a modern role within theatre, ‘in British theatre the term was largely unknown until the 1960s, when lighting was still controlled by the Stage Manager or Director’ (Palmer, S., 2010, p. 98). However, with the development of sophisticated lanterns and control systems it was realised that lighting had an important role within a performance, hence the need for a lighting designer.  Much like the stage management team, the lighting team differs depending on the size of the company and venue. A typical theatre company would include: a chief electrician (Chief LX), a deputy electrician (Deputy LX), two assistant electricians (Assistant LX) and a six or more casual staff (Palmer, S., 2010 p. 98). The lighting designer must produce a lighting plan, specify the types of lantern required and their direction, focus, intensity and colour.

WAKEUP Theatre transforms the same space into different spaces therefore, lighting is integral to that process. In 130,000 it was decided that all lights were to be simple and effective therefore, no colour was to be used so as not to distract the audience from the dialogue. The only exception to this was the sofa scene. To represent the characters watching the television a blue and white chase was originally used however, during the technical run this was found to be ineffective. It was then decided to use four colour gels and for each colour coordinate to the different sound effects. All the verbatim extracts were to be in spotlights and snap off to the next lighting state, this is because they needed to be distinguished from the fictional text. All other lighting states were simple washes firstly, to illustrate where the characters were and secondly, our chosen stage area meant limited rigging space within the venue.

Works Cited

Palmer, S. (2010) Essential guide to Stage Management, Lighting and Sound, Oxon: Hoddereducation

Role of the director – rehearsal notes

Charlotte Meek

The role of the director is a very important one, the director is responsible for the vision of the play and putting together the play as a whole. In WAKEUP theatre i was given the role of the director which meant that i had the responsibility to work closely with the team to decide the type of play we wanted to put on, how we were going to stage it and portray my vision for the piece onto the stage.

‘Typical activities include:

  • programming and budgeting;
  • working with writers through workshops or script development schemes;
  • adapting a script and, if the play is newly written, working with the writer or collaborating with playwrights;
  • breaking down a script, analyzing and exploring the content and conducting relevant research;
  • translating and interpreting a script or musical score;
  • conducting auditions for productions, selecting and hiring designers, musicians, etc.;
  • managing time and organizing people and space;
  • attending production meetings with set designers;
  • conducting rehearsals;
  • communicating and liaising with all parties involved, including actors, the creative team, the production team and producers;
  • attending preview performances and preparing detailed notes for the cast and creative and production teams;
  • helping to publicise the production by giving interviews and leading discussions.’ (AGCAS 2011)

 

I felt that as the company director i must come to every rehearsal with dated notes and an agenda to ensure that rehearsal time was used efficiently, an example of these notes are as follows:

130,000 – 10/5/13

– Yesterday was great to see scenes really come together
– Well done on lines, the majority were much better
– Please keep going over lines
– Marketing, do we have flyers out yet? Ticket sales are at 27, what could we do to boost sales?
– Today i want to go over all group scenes, make them much bigger.
– I want to work on transitions, moving set (who will move what)
– We will go over each scene as follows: Line run, then action, notes, repeat
– Performance is in 10 days!! Commitment and energy is key!

Before every rehearsal notes were given about what we were going to do and address any issues that may have come to the surface before rehearsals begin.

 

Works Cited:

AGCAS 2011, Online: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/theatre_director_job_description.htm, Accessed: 20/05/2013.

 

Characterisation of the character Dwayne.

Chelsey Loveday

Within the play Fallout by Roy Williams there is a gang of young boys who murder another boy called Kwame. In WAKE UP theatres rendition of the script 130,000 I play a character named Dwayne. He is a member of this gang who killed Kwame and is represented as the leader of this gang. Through reading WAKE UP’s version of the script in depth it can be seen why he is the leader, throughout he is the alpha of the group who seems to boss all the others around. This is supported when the script states “Oi! I’ll slap you both if you don’t stop it, pussies” (WAKEUP Theatre Company, 2013, p.53). The script gives the impression that they are all scared of Dwayne and as most of the other members of the gang back down when he speaks. This is supported within the script when it states that “Dwayne – Don’t do this yeah? Get it. Emile – Alright mate, chill. Dwayne – You chill! Emile – I’m cool. Keep the money. Dwayne – There’s no more fucking money! Emile – Alright mate, whatever, I made a mistake, innit” (WAKEUP Theatre Company, 2013, p.54).

When working on the development of my character I watched channels 4’s TV drama version of Fallout which can be found at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/fallout/4od. It was important for me to understand the play fully and understand why the characters do what they do to Kwame. By watching the TV version of the script I was able to really understand my character and both sympathise and dislike him at the same time. Although Dwayne does some really bad things such as encouraging other’s to kill someone, beat people up, kiss other peoples girlfriends and treats his friends badly at times, I sympathise with the character at times as I fell as though he is misunderstood by others. He does care about his friends and others, this can be seen when we find out that Dwayne doesn’t kill Emile like he has planned. Within the last couple of pages of 130,000 it reads “Dwayne – You think I would’ve shot Emile” (WAKEUP Theatre Company, 2013, p.66). If he was such a bad person he would have killed Emile as planned when he got a gun to do so. This is also supported by the way Dwayne acts with the character of the Shanice, although in parts he treats her badly you can see that he really does care for her even love her. This is supported within an interview which Aml Ameen who plays the character of Dwayne within channel 4’s drama Fallout participated in with FLAVOURMAG it was stated that “a wide grin materializes on his face as he eagerly talks about his role. ‘I play Dwayne, he’s the general. He’s the villain of the piece – which is nice because I’ve never played the villain before. I’ve always had some sense of morality with my character. He tries to keep everyone together and everything on a low. Then a rivalry begins between him and his best friend because his best friend has a girlfriend who Dwayne’s in love with’” (http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/aml-ameen-the-kidulthood-star-talks-to-flavour/, 2008).

It is also important to remember that the character of Dwayne is a black boy; I had to portray this on stage and make it believable to the audience that I was a boy. For more stimuli on my character I also watched films such as Kidulthood, Adulthood and TV programmes such as The Youngers. I did this so that I could listen to the language used by the people within these films and programmes. The more I listened to the language been used the more I was able to convey a true character on stage whilst playing Dwayne. Not only did all these stimuli help with language but also with movement, facial expressions and gesture, I was able to watch how the characters move and act. This was the most difficult thing for me as I am a female having to portray a male on stage. Although we do not show the background of the characters within 130,000 it was important for me to remember that Dwayne has had a very difficult childhood with no guidance from his parents. You see this within Fallout when Dwayne’s father is an a alcoholic who is always asking him for money to fund his addictions. The characters also live within a very complex and difficult community were gang culture is very common. Through the use of very intense rehearsals and constant notes from all involved I was able to develop the character of Dwayne, to make him a character which I loved to play.

There were certain scenes within the play which I found very difficult to approach at the beginning of the process. Within the fight scene between Dwayne and Emile both boys are winding each other up until eventually Emile snaps and pulls a knife out on Dwayne. You can see this relationship within the script when it states that “Dwayne-Cheer the fuck up what’s wrong with you. Emile-Don’t leave me like that again, yeah. Dwayne-What you gunna’ do. Emile-You’ll find out. Dwayne-Go on then” (WAKEUP Theatre Company, 2013, p.39).The first obstacle with this scene was how to stage it, we wanted different levels throughout and we wanted to transform the stage into another area for the scene to run within. We did this by transforming the one of the café tables and chairs into a park bench; this was done with a slight movement of the props and a lighting change. Both me and Julia who plays Emile within WAKEUP’s rendition played around with levels, I begin sat on the back of a chair, then sit on the chair correctly and eventually as the tension builds within the scene we both stood up from our chairs and were leaning across the table to each other.

Then there was the matter of the flow of the conversation between the two of them, parts of the script had to be cut and changed to make it feel more real and personal to both performers. The rhythm of the scene is very up and down with very intense moments throughout. We made a decision that when the knife is pulled on Dwayne there would be a silence which we held for a very long time of around 8-10 seconds. This silence after such a big build-up of both characters screaming and swearing at each other created so much tension on stage for the performance and the audience. Both boys have a very strange relationship with each throughout the play, to begin you get the impression they are best friends but as the story progresses you learn that Dwayne is in love with Emile’s girlfriend Shanice. This relationship changes and differs greatly throughout the play, they begin as friends then end up hating each other towards the end and threatening to kill each other, Emile gets a knife to kill Dwayne and then Dwayne gets a gun to shoot Emile as payback. We wanted to show the development of the boy’s relationship throughout.

Another relationship which we found difficult to begin with was the relationship between Dwayne and Shanice. Dwayne is in love with Shanice even though her boyfriend is Emile. Although Shanice is going out with Emile at the beginning of the play I think it can be seen that she also has feelings for Dwayne. We wanted the audience to see this relationship even if it was just by a look that the characters give each other. Within scene 14 between Dwayne and Shanice, Dwayne becomes very wound up and ends up shouting at Shanice. As soon as he does though he goes to apologise but when she doesn’t accept the apology he gets angry again and storms out of the café.

 

Works Cited

Channel 4 FALLOUT (2013) Available at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/fallout/4od (Accessed date: 24/04/2013).

FLAVOURMAG (2008) Available at: http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/aml-ameen-the-kidulthood-star-talks-to-flavour/ (Accessed date: 23/05/2013).

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