Its all about

12th 16th January 2015

Games and

This week we have done monologue preparation with

Audition Prep

12th 16th January 2015

On Wednesday we had Innes all day and worked on character songs. Harriet and I did
a slot as a pair. We started off doing breathing exercises. Laying on the floor means
you get a higher level of relaxation and get all your muscles engaged. We breathed
normally first and then we worked on releasing all tension when you exhale. This
really helped me to clock areas of tension. We then took deeper breaths filling the
entire lung capacity. This helped me to fully engage my intercostal muscles and feel
freer and more supported.

We then did some warm up exercises by going up and down the scales. We did it on
Ma we also did it on yeah focusing on the American character twang.
Innes spoke about using an ng sound making it easier to go up and down scales. I
found it easier in a sense but still struggled to bridge the gap between my chest and
head voice. However, I think it is just practice and will work on this for future. I want
to be more confident in scales and not be afraid to go for it! Developing my range is
something I want to work on.

We then did work on our individual character songs. Harriet did Just you wait Henry
eiggins. After Innes gave character feedback it was a completely different song!
Harriet was so good at the character and the anger was believable but also quite
comical as well!

I then did my song If my friends could see me
now by Sweet Charity.
At first I was really nervous and was so much
more worried about the notes than portraying
the character. However, Innes gave me a
scenario and I tried to hone in on the bubbling
excitement she had which helped a lot. He
also spoke about a technique called shaking
the ketchup bottles. This helps you to hit high
notes and really engage the diaphragm. Innes
also asked me to do it in an American accent.
This felt unnatural but if actually helped me to
forget about myself and just put the character
into it. I felt like I embodied the character better too.

2

Audition Prep

12th 16th January 2015

This afternoon we did some games with Innes, which was great fun!
We did:
- 21 Buffalo
- Magic Letter
- Samarui

We then did a workshop and the first part was based around Greek Chorus and
ensemble.

We did an exercise where we waked around the room and had a scale from 0-7. 0 is
standing still and 7 is running as fast as you can around the room. We then had to
move up and down the scale establishing the pace of each number. Once the speed
was established for each one it enabled us to have a shared understanding and move
as an ensemble. Innes then changed the leaders and without counting we would
move up and down the scale. This meant you had to be really alert and aware of the
company around you and respond and sometimes preempt the change of pace. We
then turned this into isolation where a group was in the middle and Alex and I were
left sprinting around them. In the theatre this would mean the audience have a focal
point but still have other action going on around it!
We moved on next to character songs again. We all focused in on the character we
had for the song. The following are prominent traits of my character:

- Excited
- Overjoyed
- Proud
- Smiley

Something Innes got us to do was to treat the song as if it were a monologue. This
helped a lot because it meant I started to really clock and understand more the
intensions behind the words. Repetition was also a big part of this because it really
cemented the most poignant features of the characters mentality.
We moved around the space as our characters and then one by one we would be
given a scenario. We were all in character throughout everyones songs.
My scenario was that they were all my fans and I was telling them about my success.
It was really fun because I felt myself loosen up and really focus on the character
rather than worrying about how it sounded!

Audition Prep

12th 16th January 2015

I really enjoyed seeing everyone elses songs when we were in charter too. It was fun
because you could react to different scenarios and just play around. It didnt feel
pressured at all and everyone was totally going for the character!

What Drama School?

What Style?
What Monologues?
In groups we spoke about the type of actor we think each other are and where we
believe they would be best suited. I was with Levi and Julia.

Below are the points that were discussed!

Levi -
Physical, Circus, Quirky ,Eccentric , Look is unique ,Striking ,Mesmerizing, Physically
skilled.

Julia -
T.i. E, Versatile, Quickly ,Guildhall ,Royal Scottish ,somewhere that offers it all. Can
play unusual roles. Always different.

Me -Warm performer, Vocally clear ,Good voice ,Capable of comedy ,Essence of
humor but you don't play the comedy ,working with children, Arts Ed aspects TV
,Rosebruford ,Masters ,University academic ,Teacher qualifications, Work experience
with children ,Little stars leader ,Secondary school teacher Don't always stick to
what your comfortable with, risks in your comfort zone.

It was nice to hear what other people see you doing and interesting to see what
matched up to what you want to do!

Audition Prep

12th 16th January 2015

Plan of Action!
We also had meeting with Carleigh as to where we are. I personally am struggling
with finding a contemporary monologue so this is going to be my aim for the short
term. By Tuesday, I want to have found another contemporary monologue and learnt
it. I will then be able to evaluate more effectively the potential material I have and
work out what is best suited to me. I also received my application form from East 15,
which I need to fill out and send back to them. In addition, I am going to make sure I
continue delving into more Shakespeare options. I want to gather as much material
as possible so that I have a choice and can play around with different ideas.

This week I feel I have moved on a lot with my character song too and want to
continue the progress in this area making firm decisions about what I want to do.

(Credited: Google Images)