Friday 13th November Dance Park Bench evaluation

Today our stimuli was a poem called Park Bench . We had to work in groups to create a piece that echoed the lyrics of our poem. Park Bench was about one man and his lift that revolved around this park bench . We focus on the relationships he had within the poem and the story within it . Myself and Luke represented the man and his relationships when hew was young while bryleah and max represented them when they where old. We did this by having to benched next to each other to show the past and present.  Myself and Luke focused on certain stanzas to portray the young couple.  A creative idea  that I brought to the piece was that Bryleah and Max walk off stage together looking old and weak and myself and Luke would walk off stage and slowly become old by hunching my back and curling low into myself. To represent what we interpreted as his wife or lovers death after we where decreasing in height and posture I curled up into a ball on the floor in the  fetal position as Luke walked off .


In our performance I think myself and Luke's chair duet to represent relationships was successful and looked neat and well executed . Also I think we portrayed the emotions in the poem to a passionate standard by keeping a strong extension and a focused eye line .


To improve and develop the dance I think we could interact with Bryleah and Max and maybe we could do a chair duet phrase in unison. We could even swap partners so I could work
with  Max  and Luke could work with bryeah to add diversity to the piece .

Here is our piece.

Calling theatres

Here's my self made script when calling theatres to ask questions and quotes;

Hello there my name is Isabel King ,

 I'm a musical theatre student from Worthing college , currently working on a performing arts business course on how to run a small scale theatre company and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind answering some theoretical research questions?

I would like to know how many seats The Theatre  holds?

Is it possible to use your lighting and sound facilities? 

If that would come with any short of deposit?

Would you take a percentage from our profit? 

And would you be able to give us any dates to run our production? 

Thank you for your time in this matter , your quotes will be use as research. 

Chichester Festival theatre - gave me an email to contact sain.dewied@cst.org.uk

Connaught Worthing theatres - I got through to admin 01903 231 799 who said they where too busy to answer any questions and gave me and email to contact ; theatres@audr/worthing.gov.uk here's the information they sent me ; 

• "The Connaught Theatre holds 520 seats, this includes boxes and Wheelchair and escort spaces. 
• It is possible to use the facilities, we have technical staff to do this or help to do this. If you were putting a show on you may have to hire the technicians at an extra charge, depending on what you require. 
• To hire the venue there is a deposit of £200 to secure the venue on the date you require. 
• There are 2 ways to put on a show at our venues. One is to hire the venue for a set fee and extra costs that may include include staffing and equipment etc. If you sell tickets through us the charges come out of the box office takings after the show through a settlement, or we invoice for the charges if we don't sell your tickets. The other way is called a split where we take a percentage of your box office takings after the show through a different type of settlement. The percentage is discussed at contract stage. 
• We hold a diary in the administration Department and we consult that at the time of enquiry, pencil in dates until all is confirmed, either by deposit or contract signing, then it is confirmed as a booking. If you have any dates in mind we don't mind checking the diary."

I didn't find my phone calls that successful because I only received emails and other numbers to call  to enquire. Therefore I wasn't that impressed with the information I got . 

I learnt from my first call that you don't always get forwarded to the right to person so you must be patient and take down suggestions they make to help you .

My small scale company shall adapt to possibly have an admin manager who will contact all the relevant people to find out the answers to our questions . This will consist of emailing every theatre we want to run or production at , this will then save time.

PAB 13th november Budgets

Top ten budgeting rules  

• Be realistic with budgets.
• Overestimate your expenditure. 
• Prioritise necessities.
• Research expenditure costs.
• Negotiate business.
• Save any money that isn't needed to be spent.
• Only do business with reliable people. 
• Focus on key areas.
• Try to research into sponsors.
• try and get a publicity deal.

$8.95 Acting addition script x 3 

$17.95 Large print script x 1

$12.00 Paper back script x 1

$19.95 Stage manger script x 1 

$75 per performance 

(convert into English notes) 

6th November unit 1 act 1 sing through

In the rehearsal we decide as a class that we would like to work with kim and do a whole run through of act 1 songs . Personally I thought it was uselful because I learnt what songs I have really picked up and know well . Also I leant what songs really need practise ! I came up with some notes on what I need to practise in act 1 

• We'll see - I need to go over the key of how I'm singing this song as I feel I'm singing in too much of a high key . I need to find a comfortable range . We also need to rehears the last part of the song where it just involves myself , angel , roger and Mark . 
• Life support - I meed to listen to this song and get an understanding of the timing. 
• Another day- I think I could benefit from a rehearsal with Mark , mimi and angel for the last few verses of this song . 
• Christmas bells - the tune and timing needs to be looked at , a rehearal with Ashely may help me with this song as we can work togther and collaborate .
• La vie bohem- I have some lines with Maureen that we both need to visit togther as we need to dance while singing which can be a challenge .

12th November unit 1

In today's rehearls we worked on the song 'Happy new year" which is the second song in act 2 scene 1. I think this is a cheery song that is meant to bring the audiences attention and excitement back up after an interval . Also it is important because it shows how time is passed . In a musical or play time sift often happens in the second half of the play to relate to the audiences absence from sitting and spectating . I feel as though the vibe in this song is hopeful and prosperous . Everyone is excited about the new year starting and is hoping that this will be a good year for them , when new relationships are found and ended . It is a chance to move forward . I feel as though Collins is very comfortable with angel and is happy involving her in his and has excepted love into his life . Also I feel though she has a massively positive role in his life , she picks him up and they bounce off eachothers personas well, because they are both about living in the present . 

In the first half of the rehearsal we worked on timing in the song with Kim. The song is challenging because everyone has a certain beat to fit their lyrics in . For example Collins has 4 beats to count that is instrumental before he comes in with the line "Bond. James Bond." This line is also meant to be comical as he is dressed in a suit like 007 ! My target for this song is to listen to the music and it's rhythm . Hopefully then I will have a clear understanding of the beats , tune and timing for my lines . 

For 'happy new year' Collins is dressed as James Bond . For this scene I think I will try to get a white shirt , black blazer and a clip on bow tie . Maybe for trousers I can just wear black Jeans or leggings as I will have to make a quick costume change . Also I think I should the shoes very casual . I might wear my vans or some trainers as I would like to keep that 'common' , ' casual' side of Collins showing . It brings out his personality and adds some playful comedy to an ironic smart James bond which is the complete opposite of Collins charter . 
   

In the second half we blocked for happy new year . We have decide that Mark , roger , Mimi , murine and Joann will be gathered around the door to the apartment waiting for myself and max to arrive . We arrive in the middle of the stage on my line 'bond James bond' everyone one then rushes over , loving our costumes . Angel then walks over to the door breaks the bolts and we all walk into the apartment to find it empty . Meanwhile there is activity happening around us on the streets . Groups of drug dealers walking around and homeless hanging around .

Drama unit 1 23rd October BLOCKING benny scene

My Target after todays blocking session - To have a strong direct travel sequence for I'll cover you and you'll see .
Today myself ,Luke, Max , James and Rachel talked about what should be happening in the flat when benny arrives as we want the joyful and energetic mood to be dropped by Bennys arrival .


We have set ourselves some stage directions in our scripts . For example I came up with the idea that we should be eating some takeaway food - to show how a group of friends are hanging out and being social . I also want to show how this is how they live in these times . They can afford plates or cutlery so they have to eat out of the boxes with plastic forks and spoons .


Mark: "you broke your word - this is absurd " - (attention to betty/ benny level 5)
Benny/ betty : " there is one way you wont have to pay " - (6)
Roger  :"Knew it!"-(7)
Benny/Betty:"Nextdoor the home of cyberarts you see.." - ( continue eating takeaway on coach with disappointed expression)


we also discussed how the lighting with be set up around the 'apartment' .
PHOTO UPLOADING SOON .

Drama 5th November unit 1 self review

Act one self review notes

• I feel confident with the opening song Rent.
• You ok honey ? - Feel confident with lyrics , however I think we need to be more specially aware and devise some key movements. 
• Santa Fe  I really enjoy singing but we need to improve the movement on the train and choreograph some solid dance movement that we can link with key lyrics .
• Today for you - timing needs to be improved and become because more confident with lyrics .
• I'll cover you- I feel confident with we just need to become confident with blocking and travelling across the stage and I need to work on the reprise with Kim .

Songs we need to learn next as a class

• I should tell you
• over the moon
• La vie boheme

In the second part of the lesson we learnt the song Christmas bells and sung it to the piano with Kim . I found the timing quite hard and all over the place . Its quite fast in some places however I find the timing really challenging in my lines " you don't have to do this" and " I do not deserve you, Angel Give-Give- All you do/ is give  Give me some way to show How much you've touched me so". To improve I need to listen to the timing of the music and maybe mark on my script where I need to break , speed up or slow down.
Also once we are confident on the timing and the lyrics we need to devise some blocking as in this song it is a busy street scene. I think groups should travel and sing together . For example the 'junkies' , 'homeless' and the 'cops' should stick together and rotate the stage back to back . I think this could look quite effect as the people they are reacting to or singing to circle them in an outer rotation to give an imposing , territorial tone to match the lyrics.