Today we had Rob and in the morning we ran through the scripts we had gotten last week, Rob called people up to read parts of the scripts assigning parts.
As I wasn't in last week, I had received the script today but had been fortunate to skim through Elliotts' script and was told that people have to read through the scripts and inform Rob of which parts they really like. From what I had read, Anna and Marya have a interesting relationship for a mother and daughter. It's a rivalrous relationship and while both characters are interesting, I leaned more towards Marya but Anna also has peaked my interests and I feel it would be interesting and fun bringing the characters out of my creativity and interpretation through the text. It'd be very adventurous and fun to explore the character and bring them to life.
As Rob noted that although we can tell him what parts we are interested in, we have to be warned that attendance and punctuality will have an effect on the parts assigned to us. This made me feel less confident about getting the role I would like as my attendance has been affected by oyster card issues and being poorly, but I have to look at the silver linings. I will be having auditions and will have to focus on learning my lines etc and I don't want to put too much on my plate. Regardless of what role I have, I have already made up my mind to commit 100% to it and enjoy the character I play and that I am growing and developing myself as an actress and professionally.
As we had the benefit to read through parts of the script today, I was able to explore more characters who I felt I would enjoy playing. Overall I am not fussed with what part as I like the play and the more different characters I play, the more I can challenge my development as an actress.
Rob explained what we had to do when we log our rehearsals and reminded us to expand and explain trying to relay our progress and development by correlating it to the play-writer, and the acting/technical techniques used to help with that development.
To help with our logs, Rob gave us a sheet explaining:
For the "blog/log" of your work on The Government Inspector :
You should, have made notes on the background to the play and notes on Nikolai Gogol.
Look at his background and other works of his as well as influences.
To consider:
- What are the themes of the play and how relevant are they to an audience in
2015?
-What discussions have we had in the rehearsal room and how does this debate shape our and indeed your own approach to the work?
- What are the challenges to yourself that the play presents, both as an actor and as a member of society in 2015.
- What are the technical requirements for you as an actor ?
- What wider reading does it encourage you to carry out and what has influenced you in this?
Remember, if you merely list what we do and leave it at that you are potentially failing the unit, I need to see detailed rehearsal logs that go beyond the listing and seek to engage the reader into a deeper comprehension of the world surrounding this play.
Changes to the play will that it will be modernised as the main focus is the corruption of a small town so the time period and having to find clothes for that period won't be any trouble. The language used is modernised also which helps Robs vision of the play being more modernised. We will be using Brecht techniques which we've been focusing on from our previous units and the scripts has 'aside' stage directions which is directed to the audience thus breaking the fourth wall.
