This contains another ensemble section that involves the entire cast. When Mau says the line "Stop that right now old man, I have a plan" everyone shouts "No!" and we enter from behind the audience and begin chanting "Beer Beer Beer Beer". We will use stylistic tribal movements as we enter the space getting low. We then create two circles with men in the middle and women on the outer one. We have designated Tobi to count how many cycles we go through (8) until we move into the next section. The men then begin to embody the element of water and the women become fire. This stimulus helped us to create in depth movements instead of just saying wave your arms in a floppy formation. We then mime spitting into a bowl and move back to accommodate space for the women until we've swapped positions. We then transition into men embodying earth and women air. We then create one big circle whilst squatting and go into our individual group tribe rituals;
*This section of the lesson we focused on creating our own tribal rituals be working around a piece of text we were allocated.
"Never Return son, never return
Travel and never come home
Father, I wandered, now I am old
Travelled so far I am home."My group decided to go with a repetitive shoulder and leg movement that sort of worships the earth to symbolize the travelling of the son. We use big hand gestures while Courtney and Tobi say the first 2 lines. We then encircle each other so that the three boys are standing behind me, we then go into a shoulder stand like the one demonstrated on the right:
If possible we would like to purchase some coloured powder or even flour so that when we are at the top of our performance we can blow it of our hands like flour to give an extra dimension to our performance.
After our individual sections we then squat in a circle in silence while Milo goes to test the beer at centre stage. The silence is really effective as after the big cacophony of sounds it ups the tension and lets the audience absorb what they have just witnessed. When Milo says: "The beer is ready" we let out an ululating cry of excitement then straight away go off to create the scenery for the next scene. Some people create trees in twisted positions however I become a pig. I pair with Kit and we create this position with 4 other couples to simulate a giant sow with piglets. Kit and I are the head of the pig so we have to use our elbows to show the pig drinking the beer. On the line "That's it. Come on." we the transition from the pig to hungry islanders at the back of the stage and come forward on the line "Worms! Help!" I must make sure my starving islander character is just as strong my main character. When invited we then integrate into the space. We have yet to figure out a transition into the next scene but from here we exit the space.
*The next section is notes from our session working with the Year 12's and how they directed and devised a part of our play:
Scene 12
This is when I first start playing Mau thus my entrance must be strong and I must come in showing similar character traits to my fellow actor. The directors said I should enter from the balcony as if I've been watching over the previous scene and this also gives me a very high status. I must be very aware of my spacing and movement onto the balcony as I still need to be visible to the audience without falling over the stage. The year 12's told me I need to be less assured in my speech as I am coming across to confident i.e. on the line "then we must build stronger huts" I need to deliver it as if I'm just trying to coming with a solution to a problem instead of just a statement. At the end of the scene I exit through the cafe door to prepare for the next scene.
Scene 13
I enter with Pilu, Milo and Ataba and climb onto chairs or blocks that haven't been positioned in the centre of the stage. The directors told us that it was like we were playing a game of "the floor is lava" and my objective is to not fall off the chair or else I die. We keep switching chairs and reaching into the water until we've found the "God anchors". When it comes to the dialogue we have to keep it sharp and punchy in order to keep the tension of the scene high. After the line "old man" I have a slow motion fight with Ataba in the water then hoist him back up on to the chair. Moving onto the next bit was quite confusing as the sixth formers didn't know how to choreograph the shark however at some point I end up on a chair doing the backstroke while the 4 Locaha's encircle me. Then after I die they carry me off ready for the next scene.
Scene 14
For the entirety of this scene I am dead. This is easier said then done so I did some research and I found a good article on playing dead;
http://www.quora.com/Acting/How-do-you-play-dead
Scene 15
On the cue line "This will not happen" I wake up in this world of the dead and immediately grab Daphne and run. I need to think about exercises about waking up for the first time in the world we did all the way back in term 2 of year 10. I need to make sure I really look around my surroundings and use my imagination to express the multiple emotions I would be going through. The ensemble then become dream fish and Daphne and I have to swim through them constantly switching sides and directions. The ensemble then create this lost civilisation that can't see me. I have to go around discovering these people. They then invent the telescope and start dancing in jubilation and I join in. I am still unclear as to motives behind this but I have made a choice to go with in a trance. When I wake up from said trance I run around warning the inhabitants of their certain doom and then on my line "It's coming, the great-" I then start running from the balcony towards the stage and the rest of the ensemble follow running and screaming until we are all in one section of the space; I then emerge with Daphne and we run for the main entrance doors but are stopped when Marisgala says "not yet". A funeral cortege then appears on stage and I am captured and held in place by Locaha. Even though I am not too involved with this scene I must still be active by squirming and trying to get free and deliver my lines with vocal energy.
Evaluation of rehearsal:
Working with the upper year was rewarding and difficult. They all had ideas but they found it slightly hard to communicate them to us. Right off the bat we did a read through and only a few people were offering interesting vocal choices. If I was in their position I would have started with a vocal and physical warm-up to bring the correct energy into the room. It was good how there were multiple people to get feedback from and figure out how to solve staging problems. I feel like if they had known the text beforehand it would have made the devising process even easier however because of the short notice I don't think they would have had time to read it. I took direction well as when I was giving a note I would immediately rectify whatever problem they identified.
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