My performing journey Year 1 Term 1

 Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself 

My Performance journey- Production Diaries 

Monday 11th September - Improvisation

Today we began learning about the importance of improvisation, we did this in preparation for our ghost light tour at The Globe. We started off doing improv tasks, we stood in a circle and each took it in turns to choose the part we were playing in the whole improvisation, we worked together as a whole group to create an improv piece. We then played games, the importance of the games was to learn acceptance, so when  we do our piece at the globe we can accept how people are reacting to us, and interact with them. Then in the afternoon we worked in smaller groups to create rules and expectations, at show time and other times throughout the two years. 

Tuesday 12th September- introduction to singing 

Today we began learning warm up techniques for singing, we then started working on the songs from Peter Pan, We worked on breathing techniques and we discussed as a group what things we should and shouldn't do before shows and singing, we discussed how we should have a healthy lifestyle to prepare ourselves for singing and dancing on a stage and pursuing a life in acting. 

Wednesday 13th September- research begins

Today we started research on different events in history, my group researched Jack the ripper, we completed research so we knew more about the events and people so that we could include them in our characters in the Ghost light tours, we used our own knowledge as well as googling and going to the LRC to find books. 

Thursday 14th September- more research

Today we continued researching the events in history, we built on our knowledge of the events, and then we started to think about how we could bring the characters to life, we thought about key things about some of the characters and the things that would be easy to bring to makeup and costume. We thought about the scale of the injuries of Jack the Rippers victims and how we could portray them with the materials we have. 

  Monday 18th September- Tug of war

Today we spent the morning doing games and exercises including an acting task on an imaginary tug of war competition. This was to help us practice staying in character and bringing our own people to life. We then spent the afternoon continuing researching and working out events in history that could be important for our ghost light tours, my group researched the victims and possible suspects of Jack the Ripper, then we talked through our costume and makeup ideas.

 Tuesday 19th September- singing and dancing 

Today we did dancing and rehearsal learning a piece of movement to a piece of music from shrek the musical. This was to improve our character and dancing skills. After that, we did singing rehearsal, we worked on songs for Peter Pan the musical. We worked through practising harmonies. And learning some of the auditions songs for the characters.

Wednesday 20th September- Bringing it to life 

Today we started with games, such as wink murder and mafia boss, the aim of these games was to practice our creative deaths, to prepare for the Ghost Light Tours. we then played a murder mystery game where one person was the victim and one person was the detective and the other people in the group had to put together a story line and short piece on the death and the detective had to ask questions where we stayed in character, this again was to help us with becoming the characters and staying in character when the audience ask us questions in the Ghost Light Tours. We then talked to the makeup artists about out makeup and costume ideas for the tours. 

Thursday 21st September- devising

Today we started by playing some games, the aim of these again was to help us with our character, one of the games we played was the bus game, this was important because the aim of the game is to feed off everyone's reactions, which helps us prepare for acting with each other on stage. Then we went back off into groups and came up with a solid plan of our ideas and what we wanted to get up on it's feet so we had a physical piece of performance. we then presented our ideas to Josh from the globe so he knew what we were planning to do with the space. 

Monday 25th September- Gibberish

Today we started by playing a game of cat and mouse, then we did a gibberish exercise, we had to communicate with our partner in gibberish so that we can get used to communicating with people even if we cant hear them or we don't know what they are saying. we then worked in different pairs, to bring a script to life. We chose the duologue we wanted to bring to life in our pairs, we then read through and got it up on its feet. We then discussed emotions, and stress and how it can make us feel. 

Tuesday 26th September- "Let your freak flag fly"

Today we started by learning the vocals to 'Freak Flag' from shrek the Musical, then after we finished learning the choreography to freak flag. So that we could put the two things together to create the full piece of performance. Then we finished learning what songs were for the auditions of which characters, and we worked on different harmonies for them. 

Wednesday 27th September- Duologues

Today we continued with our duologues. We really focused on getting a physical piece up on its feet, we then performed them in front of the group, we gave and received feedback on the pieces, so that we could improve our technique and how we create pieces. We then finished with a discussion about how we should think about the way we wanted to bring our characters for the ghost light tours to life. 

Thursday 28th September- The Stockton Globe

Today we went for a tour of The Stockton Globe, we went so we could get an idea in our head of the spaces we could use and how we could perform in the spaces, we started in the upper circle, and we got a talk with loads of facts about the theatre, we then went to the bar spaces, and then the stage, we finished by going to the dressing room. In our group we came up with an idea of how we could maximise our use of the spaces we had, we thought either the downstairs bar or the stage and auditorium area. 

Monday 2nd October- Dictation

Today we started by doing exercises to help with our dictation, so that when we perform, we can speak more clearly so people understand us on stage, because this is a very important part of being an actor. after that, we spent the afternoon sorting out ideas that we would want to do for our enrichment.

Tuesday 3rd October- Fight Club

Today we did a class on stage combat, Tom taught us how to throw a punch, uppercut somebody and how to foot stamp and a hair pull, we worked in partners to use the moves we had learned to create a sequence, which we then showed to the class and received feedback on, after that we worked with Tom to choreograph a fight scene, from Peter Pan, we used the things he had taught us such as the punch, upper cut foot stamp and hair pull to create a realistic piece of fighting,  we had three groups, the Pirates, the Lost Boys and the Brave Girls, we created a piece and other people from the group sat and watched it.

Wednesday 4th October- "What have I done?"

Today we started with an exercise where we were given a line that would start our piece, then we worked as a group for 10 minutes to put together a performance, and whatever we didn't finish in rehearsal, we did as improvisation, the sentence our group was given was, 'someone walks in holding a knife saying "What have I done? What have i done?"  after that we worked on writing a solid plan for our monologues and pieces, in a group the 8 Victims of Jack the Ripper worked together to figure out how we could use the performance space of the stage and auditorium, we then went off and did our own individual and group research of the character of which victim we chose to be, we did this so that we could get a better idea of how we wanted to portray the victims. We then figured out based on the character of our victims where they would be and what they would be doing in the space we had, and what we would be doing together as a group, then Abbie set us a task of creating a line or a few lines, for our character for the poem we had as a group.

Thursday 5th October- The first auditions

Today we finished our pieces for our horror at the globe auditions, people either worked on their own or in groups to create a piece or write a monologue for us to audition with for the characters we chose, we then took it in turns to audition in front of Kelly, as i chose a victim of Jack the Ripper i did not need to complete my audition. But i used my time to create a couple of lines to add to our Jack the Ripper poem that Abbie asked us to complete for next week. When it wasn't our turn to audition, as a group we played different improvisation games, this was to help us practice for the improvisation we will have to do at The Globe. 

Monday 9th October- Lonely Hearts Club

Today, we started with just the first years, we sat in a circle and Kelly gave us different characters from a lonely hearts column that people had actually written we had to introduce our-self to everyone, then we walked around the room and tried to notice at-least one thing in the room we had never noticed before, we then chose a partner and answered questions in our pair that Kelly gave us, we did this to give our people a character rather than them just being a name on a piece of paper with a description about them. After that, the second years joined us, and Kelly asked some people to show the whole class their audition for the Globe pieces, we then had to judge the auditions for Mary Ann Cotton, and she asked us to vote for two people who we thought had the best audition because she could not choose herself because they were all so amazing. 

Tuesday 10th October- Composing music 

Today we started off with a warm up, we were joined by the Level 2s and Abbie led us in a warm up. After that, Tom showed us how to write a simple song, he showed us how to create the simple beat, and then how to build up the music, either from the lyrics or from the mood of the music, Tom helped our group figure out our song for jack the Ripper's victims. After that, we were joined by year 2 and we all went through the songs for Peter Pan and we sang through them all together. 

Wednesday 11th October-

Today, we started with warm ups, then Kelly told everyone the roles they had for the Globe Ghost Light Tours, we worked as our small group with Abbie to choreograph a piece for our Jack the Ripper victims piece, that fit with our song we created, we all had our own line to say along with a movement, we also had the three Jack the rippers involved, guiding us to our deaths. 

Thursday 12th October- 

Today we started our proper rehearsals as a whole group of our pieces for the Globe, we all found seperate rooms and we rehearsed, our group decided to go to the LRC and do some research for our costumes, we then went back up to the dance studio and rehearsed our piece. 

Monday 16th October

Today we started with some warm ups, then we did our lonely hearts column, my character is called Lynne,

she is a 28 year old and she owns her own Gym, after we finished that, we rehearsed our ending for the

shows all together, the ending is an execution, where The three Jack the rippers, mary Anne Cotton and Guy

Fawks are all sentenced to death, but in the end, Guy Fawks' Gang rebel and kill people.

Tuesday 17th October

Today, we started with physical warm ups led by Abbie, and then we did vocal warm ups with Tom, joined

by the level 2s, the level 2 went back to their class, we then practised singing the songs from Peter Pan the

musical, we then showed Tom what we had created for the globe and he gave us his feedback, and we

talked to him about how our piece didn't really need music in it. 

Wednesday 18th October

Today, we rehearsed our own pieces as our groups, and then we ran the final piece again, we made changes,

we all stayed behind in the afternoon to run the full piece all the way through in the theatre, we got a full look

at the piece and how it takes to run, we also got to see the work everybody else put into the pieces and how well the piece was going.  

Thursday 19th October

Today, we were rehearsing and trying to figure out costumes, we all sat in the dance studio and ran the piece as a whole, we discussed as a group that we were going to sing the song slightly differently, so that it sounds more eerie and fits the whole piece.