In this lesson the class was split into pre-determined pairs and was filmed as we performed a scene from 'A Doll's House'.
My partner Anton, and I performed the scene in which Nora is first being blackmailed by Krogstad and it is the first instance the audience hears of her dishonesty. The characters Nora and Krogstad have a strong dislike of another so to show that in another way than the dialogue, we chose to position the characters at the opposite sides of the stage- the distance representing the distance in their relationship, I, Nora, was positioned upstage to show the contrast in class between us- as Nora has a higher status than Krogstad she is stood further forward .
A problem I faced in this scene is trying to maintain her moral high ground whilst also giving in to Krogstad's blackmail. In order to remedy this issue I tried to stay strong with my voice and words and direct them forwards instead of to Krogstad to show his initial lack of influence. Gradually as it becomes clear that he is blackmailing Nora, I delivered my lines facing him and walking closer, decreasing the distance between us to show that Nora has lost her power over him and given into him
George and Maria's performance as there was a good amount of energy between then which transcended the appropriate tension and spark between the characters. However in this performance George adopted a Scottish accent. Although it is perfectly feasible that Krogstad has a Scottish accent as it was not consistent it made the audience confused and disengaged from the performance. If the accent was executed successfully I think I could add a sense of mystery behind the character of Krogstad, which would boost the intrigue from the audience making him more engaging.
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Lesson 19/10/2015
For this lesson the main focus was on breathing. The lesson objective was to control our breathing and to learn how to breathe correctly and effectively.
For the first part of this activity when had to breathe in through our nose and hold it in for 5 seconds and then release it and fold our bodies over loosely in half.
The objective was to let our lungs breathe out instead of up.
The second part of the lesson was focused on how the character walks and to understand why they walk they way they do. Sam and Lily were good particularly good at this task.
To make Lily's walk more like Mrs Linde's, she walked with a quicker pace to represent Christine's business and need to be working. She also walked with her shoulders slightly hunched over to show her opinion of herself and also how she feels she is placed in society, in a low position.
To make Sam's walk like Torvald's he led with his chin to show that Torvald is of a high status and therefore above the other characters. His steps were also wide and slow, another indication of power as he is showing the audience the stability in his life. Showing that he is well off and therefore no need to rush.
To improve my walk for Nora I would have led with the top of my head. This would align my spine and given the posture of amore confident, possibly higher class, woman. I would also have made my pace slower fore the same reasons aforementioned however I would like to keep Nora's pace faster than Torvald's, as she is more highly strung than he is, so that would should a contrast in their characters.
For the first part of this activity when had to breathe in through our nose and hold it in for 5 seconds and then release it and fold our bodies over loosely in half.
The objective was to let our lungs breathe out instead of up.
The second part of the lesson was focused on how the character walks and to understand why they walk they way they do. Sam and Lily were good particularly good at this task.
To make Lily's walk more like Mrs Linde's, she walked with a quicker pace to represent Christine's business and need to be working. She also walked with her shoulders slightly hunched over to show her opinion of herself and also how she feels she is placed in society, in a low position.
To make Sam's walk like Torvald's he led with his chin to show that Torvald is of a high status and therefore above the other characters. His steps were also wide and slow, another indication of power as he is showing the audience the stability in his life. Showing that he is well off and therefore no need to rush.
To improve my walk for Nora I would have led with the top of my head. This would align my spine and given the posture of amore confident, possibly higher class, woman. I would also have made my pace slower fore the same reasons aforementioned however I would like to keep Nora's pace faster than Torvald's, as she is more highly strung than he is, so that would should a contrast in their characters.
Lesson 12/10/2015
The homework for this lesson was to draw an 'emotional graph' for our characters. The points on the graph were different lines the character says in the play, and the points should correlate with the intensity of their emotions.
I chose 4 lines said by my character, Nora:
'How do you do Mrs Linde. You don't recognise me I suppose.'
- I chose this line because it has a relatively low emotional intensity, Nora doesn't feel particularly strong about Christine, but they are friends so she greets her welcomingly whilst also using relaxed, informal speech by saying 'don't' instead of 'do not'.
'You are just like all of the others. They think that I am incapable of doing anything really serious...that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.'
- I chose this line because it has high emotional intensity. It is during this point in the play where it is revealed to the audience that Nora has committed this indiscretion and her deliverance of the news shows the audience how much Nora loves her independence. This line is the first instance of Nora not conforming to her womanly expectations, challenging the opinion others have on her.
'You are going to work I suppose'
- This is another low intensity line. I chose this to show contrast to Nora's more emotional lines. For the majority of the play when Nora is with Torvald, she is more subdued and becomes the recessive character in the scene, this line signifies that. This shows the growth of her character throughout the play.
'Yes indeed I can. It was tonight, when those wonderful things didn't happen; I saw that you were not the man I thought you were'
-This is a high intensity line at the end of the play, when Nora is about to leave Torvald. There are a lot of clauses in this line, which provide lots of breaks to form short sentences. This shows that Nora wants Torvald to understand what she is saying. Also in the last pat the language becomes more formal saying 'were not' instead of 'weren't' shows the separation between the characters, that Nora no longer feels comfortable around Torvald and see's him as a stranger so she talks to him as if he is one.
After this the task was the perform each line one after another, how they were meant to be delivered at their point in the play. For this activity I only chose 2 of the lines as there was a short time limit and I chose quality over quality.
I chose both of the high intensity lines because although they both convey lots of emotion, they are from different emotional strengths from the character i.e one is before she realises she is capable of so much more and the other is once she has come to terms with herself.
This first line I chose was 'You are just like all of the others. They think that I am incapable of doing anything really serious...that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.' To deliver this I stood with my back facing away from where Mrs Linde would be standing to show the audience my frustration towards her and also creating space between us to show the building tension between our characters. The pause in this line also allowed me to build tension and show Nora's inner conflict, that she knows she shouldn't rebel against her duties but does anyway.
The second line I chose was 'Yes indeed I can. It was tonight, when those wonderful things didn't happen; I saw that you were not the man I thought you were' To deliver this line I was sat down and sat down, to show that Nora meant what she was saying, that she was serious. I displayed a concerned emotion in my face but did not express this so much in my body language to show the audience that any feelings Nora had for Torvald didn't transcend through her whole body, they weren't real.]
I think Anton's interpretation of this task was effective as his lines were read in order of their emotional intensity, and with each line Anton took a step forward. Anton spoke all 5 of his lines and by stepping forward as an audience we could appreciate the growth and change of the character.
I chose 4 lines said by my character, Nora:
'How do you do Mrs Linde. You don't recognise me I suppose.'
- I chose this line because it has a relatively low emotional intensity, Nora doesn't feel particularly strong about Christine, but they are friends so she greets her welcomingly whilst also using relaxed, informal speech by saying 'don't' instead of 'do not'.
'You are just like all of the others. They think that I am incapable of doing anything really serious...that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.'
- I chose this line because it has high emotional intensity. It is during this point in the play where it is revealed to the audience that Nora has committed this indiscretion and her deliverance of the news shows the audience how much Nora loves her independence. This line is the first instance of Nora not conforming to her womanly expectations, challenging the opinion others have on her.
'You are going to work I suppose'
- This is another low intensity line. I chose this to show contrast to Nora's more emotional lines. For the majority of the play when Nora is with Torvald, she is more subdued and becomes the recessive character in the scene, this line signifies that. This shows the growth of her character throughout the play.
'Yes indeed I can. It was tonight, when those wonderful things didn't happen; I saw that you were not the man I thought you were'
-This is a high intensity line at the end of the play, when Nora is about to leave Torvald. There are a lot of clauses in this line, which provide lots of breaks to form short sentences. This shows that Nora wants Torvald to understand what she is saying. Also in the last pat the language becomes more formal saying 'were not' instead of 'weren't' shows the separation between the characters, that Nora no longer feels comfortable around Torvald and see's him as a stranger so she talks to him as if he is one.
After this the task was the perform each line one after another, how they were meant to be delivered at their point in the play. For this activity I only chose 2 of the lines as there was a short time limit and I chose quality over quality.
I chose both of the high intensity lines because although they both convey lots of emotion, they are from different emotional strengths from the character i.e one is before she realises she is capable of so much more and the other is once she has come to terms with herself.
This first line I chose was 'You are just like all of the others. They think that I am incapable of doing anything really serious...that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.' To deliver this I stood with my back facing away from where Mrs Linde would be standing to show the audience my frustration towards her and also creating space between us to show the building tension between our characters. The pause in this line also allowed me to build tension and show Nora's inner conflict, that she knows she shouldn't rebel against her duties but does anyway.
The second line I chose was 'Yes indeed I can. It was tonight, when those wonderful things didn't happen; I saw that you were not the man I thought you were' To deliver this line I was sat down and sat down, to show that Nora meant what she was saying, that she was serious. I displayed a concerned emotion in my face but did not express this so much in my body language to show the audience that any feelings Nora had for Torvald didn't transcend through her whole body, they weren't real.]
I think Anton's interpretation of this task was effective as his lines were read in order of their emotional intensity, and with each line Anton took a step forward. Anton spoke all 5 of his lines and by stepping forward as an audience we could appreciate the growth and change of the character.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Lesson Summary 07/10/2015
In Today's lesson we explored characterisation.
The first task was to pick 4 stages of our characters lives, 3 before the play, 1 afterwards. The stages of Nora's life I chose were her as a child, her being introduced to Torvald, being given her first child to hold, and Nora buying a train ticket once she has left Torvald.
I chose Nora as a child to show that she is inquisitive, and bright - features that set her apart from her fellow characters. I did this by sitting in a straddle position on the floor, trying to seem as un-ladylike as possible to emphasise the change from her childhood to when she is older. I also chose for Nora to interact with a butterfly to highlight her interest in her surroundings and to show the audience that she is a bright child.
I then chose to show Nora being introduced to Torvald as it would be a big turning point in her life, also the fact that she is being introduced to him shows her lack of control over her own life which then foreshadows the twist later on in the play when she takes control and leaves Torvald.
The third stage in Nora's life I chose was when is first handed her son, Bob. I chose this because it would have been the first time Nora had any real responsibility. As a woman to a man with a respectable career there would have been little that she was expected to do, but once she had a child - despite having a maid and a nanny- she would have been given something that depends on her. Furthermore, Nora's achievement in the play is that she is headstrong and responsible with money so yet again the short scene foreshadows what is to come later on in the play.
Finally, I chose to show Nora getting a one way ticket on a train because it was a way of showing her independence without addressing it directly. Also as Nora is not set in any scenes outside of her building it shows her growth as she is finally able to leave the constraints of her home and her old life.
In the next activity our task was to write a monologue from any point in the characters life. I chose to write my monologue as if I was writing a letter to Nora's mother about her upcoming marriage to Torvald. By writing a letter Nora is able to voice her real opinions whilst trying to put them into words, which shows the audience her internal conflict. If I were to do this activity again I think I would slow down the pace of speech and perhaps move around more about the stage. This would mean when I come to the final conclusion that I will marry Torvald the audience would be able to see the turmoil in my head.
Anton's devised monologue was good because he moved around the stage to mimic the confusion and panic in his mind. He also had a good use of props, as although he was reading the letter (with his monologue on it) he interacted with it and the chair to make his speech more engaging. He also showed a god contrast in Krogstad's emotions. Although he is seen as the antagonist in the play, he is also quite a desperate character which I think Anton showcased well by jumping from anger to fear and worry.
The first task was to pick 4 stages of our characters lives, 3 before the play, 1 afterwards. The stages of Nora's life I chose were her as a child, her being introduced to Torvald, being given her first child to hold, and Nora buying a train ticket once she has left Torvald.
I chose Nora as a child to show that she is inquisitive, and bright - features that set her apart from her fellow characters. I did this by sitting in a straddle position on the floor, trying to seem as un-ladylike as possible to emphasise the change from her childhood to when she is older. I also chose for Nora to interact with a butterfly to highlight her interest in her surroundings and to show the audience that she is a bright child.
I then chose to show Nora being introduced to Torvald as it would be a big turning point in her life, also the fact that she is being introduced to him shows her lack of control over her own life which then foreshadows the twist later on in the play when she takes control and leaves Torvald.
The third stage in Nora's life I chose was when is first handed her son, Bob. I chose this because it would have been the first time Nora had any real responsibility. As a woman to a man with a respectable career there would have been little that she was expected to do, but once she had a child - despite having a maid and a nanny- she would have been given something that depends on her. Furthermore, Nora's achievement in the play is that she is headstrong and responsible with money so yet again the short scene foreshadows what is to come later on in the play.
Finally, I chose to show Nora getting a one way ticket on a train because it was a way of showing her independence without addressing it directly. Also as Nora is not set in any scenes outside of her building it shows her growth as she is finally able to leave the constraints of her home and her old life.
In the next activity our task was to write a monologue from any point in the characters life. I chose to write my monologue as if I was writing a letter to Nora's mother about her upcoming marriage to Torvald. By writing a letter Nora is able to voice her real opinions whilst trying to put them into words, which shows the audience her internal conflict. If I were to do this activity again I think I would slow down the pace of speech and perhaps move around more about the stage. This would mean when I come to the final conclusion that I will marry Torvald the audience would be able to see the turmoil in my head.
Anton's devised monologue was good because he moved around the stage to mimic the confusion and panic in his mind. He also had a good use of props, as although he was reading the letter (with his monologue on it) he interacted with it and the chair to make his speech more engaging. He also showed a god contrast in Krogstad's emotions. Although he is seen as the antagonist in the play, he is also quite a desperate character which I think Anton showcased well by jumping from anger to fear and worry.
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