Class Activities and Warm Ups

To develop your knowledge of the play you need to work off script, working in depth and detail to achieve confidence on stage.

In Act 1 Scene 1 we are all drowning sailors on a ship. The majority of the ensemble in the main space have no lines and can only convey the emotions and chaos of the sailors through their actions. Therefore we needed strong physical actions to make this clear to the audience without using words and supporting not hindering the performance on the balcony. We were asked to come up with 5 actions that a sailor would perform and do these in a sequence, experimenting with speed and levels. My 5 actions were:

• Putting on my boots
• Scrubbing the deck
• Being seasick 
• Climbing the rigging
• Turning the wheel

I chose these because they have varied heights and energy levels. Putting on my boots is in a sitting position and I chose to do it slowly (though it is also effective fast) contrasting to climbing the rigging which is reaching up with my hands and climbing fast. These actions complement each other whilst still contrasting, making the sequence interesting to watch. It will give the audience a lot to look at and create a hectic atmosphere. By experimenting in this way I have ideas and choice that I can make decisions on from failing and succeeding in rehearsals and apply the successful ideas to the final piece.

Voice 

Voice is one of the actors most important tools. It can covey and support the emotion shown through your body and the thoughts and feelings intended from the writing of the script. It is important, like any muscle to train it through warm ups and exercises. We did some of these in lessons to help with our vocal work. Some of these activities were:

Voiced and voiceless fricatives- the voiced fricatives are the v and z sound and the voiceless fricatives are the f and s sound. These help us with introducing partial sound to breath stamina and help us develop an understanding of what is required to create sounds clearly with your voice.

Tongue Twisters- an example of a tongue twister would be:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers 

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked 

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked

This helps with diction as you have to pronunciate the p sound clearly so the words are individually clarified and you don't stumble over the similar words.

Breath

Breath is key as it will help you maintain a speech without having to interrupt to pause for breath unnecessarily. Doing breath control exercises helps improve you breath stamina and control. An example of an exercise we did is:

Invisible feather- You imagine you have an imaginary feather on your lips. You then blow the feather according to the height you want it to reach. If you want to rise and fall, you do short breaths and if you want to maintain it at a height you have to do a softer, prolonged breath. This exercise leaves you in control of your breath and fully concentrates you on the extent of your breath.