BTEC Drama

Today we did the all day rehearsal that often takes place the weekend before a final performance. We started the day with a piece that we struggled to run all the way through, and a piece at that which was not very defined. However, by the end of the practice, I felt confident that the piece would be ready in time for the performance. This rehearsal was about tidying up transitions and adding in small details such as vocalisation to actions, experimenting with vocalisation in the lines, making sure all movements felt defined and the piece ran smoothly. In the opening sequence, we tried to delve deeper into the meaning of the lines. When Gregor talks about his daily life and going to work, the underlying idea that despite the cheerful attitude that Gregor tries to put on he is in fact deeply unsatisfied with his life. We therefore tried to express this, replacing the sound of the train with lines that held the same rhythm. Through experimentation, we chose to keep some of the train ...

Today we explored blocking a second section in the extract, this being the scene where the family collect together old scraps for Gregors meal.We had this idea of creating a sequence with tthis conveyer belt movement, so that the sequence had a focus/aim which was to add more food too the pile. Setting restrictions or rules can be extremely useful when creating physical theatre as it makes sure the movements centre on the purpose of the piece, rather than wandering away from our intentions. This is especially useful when working with extracts such as this, where the idea remains the same for a long period of time- in this it is adding food to the pile and the lines act as a list of food items. The opening section I think has a good juxtaposition between the staccato movements which create the tilt of our bodies to opposite sides and the fluidity of my transition onto James' shoulders. I think this could easily be made more defined by seein each persons tilt as  separate beat...

For our version of Metamorphosis, we have chosen to have two Gregors in order to try and express the duality of the character in the play. Throughout, the human side of Gregor struggles with that of the bug and we get this sense that the bug is slowly taking over. At the start of the play, we wanted to show this waring between the two halves but also the ways in which they were connected through the use of contact and close fitting movements. At times, when the two Gregors are separated it is in a scene where Gregor is still human, and there the second Gregor acts of a mirror of the first within the family scene. In order to try and create the movement for the insect side of Gregor we did some research into different types of theatre. One which particularly helped us create the movement was Push Theatre, a physical theatre group. We experimented with its style of movement, the angular shapes it created and the ways in which we could connect ourselves together to form a larg...

In this revision we are beginning to clean up some of the messy transition and add in the vocalisation of Berkoff. We decided that the opening section was somewhat confusing and decided that it would be easier to express the sense of struggle Gregor was feeling by having this shift of positions throughout the introduction section. In order for this to work, we wanted to create this sense that Gregor was losing control, and that is family were becoming too much. By increasing the pace of the lines of the family members, we were able to begin building this cacophony of sound that we needed. We also introduced this new staccato sequence much more in keeping with the Berkoff style which prevented this overload of demands as the pace reached the point where each family member only time for a single word. We have also introduced this idea of using hand held lights in this opening section, which would make this mass of moving shadows during the physical sequences and emphasise the sinist...