Costume and Party Scene

We decided as we were performing as multiple Ranyevskaya's to convert it into what we believe it to be as how she would appear as a modern character. So dark black pencil skirts, white blouses, black high heels, tights and a fur coat/ scarf really echoed how we felt a modern Ranyevskaya would appear to look like as well as the ideas of wealth that are associated with those who dress like that.

In the party scene we all dance cheerily to a Of Monsters and Men song Little Talks, which can be found in this link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwh0fCaYs_4

I really enjoyed performing this scene as I felt it really captured a party atmosphere of modern times without it deterring from a Chekhovian play immensely, the solemn and sad lyrics really juxtapose with its catchiy and upbeat music and really gives off an immense air of community gathering as we all join in with the "Heys!". We all performed as our characters would so any move that we made we did so with our characters in mind thinking of our mental state and how we truly would feel in that moment knowing that the orchard could be sold any minute, giving off an underlying feeling of bitterness. Overall I find this scene increasingly effective as it really shows how a positive moment can turn sour so easily.

Evaluation of Final Cherry Orchard Performance

I believe the strengths of my performance was my energy given to the role on the night, the fact that we had rehearsed thoroughly meant that I was comfortable in what I wanted to display as Ranyevskaya. I believe that I had worked on my objectives thoroughly so that I was able to find the intention behind my lines and what I wanted to impose upon the other character. This was enabled through my thorough research on "Want Do Feel" and I believe that I was able to pursue what I wanted giving the nature of my character and the emotional roller coaster that I was aware of due to the fact that I knew what I wanted and how it would make me feel.

If I could I would've liked to explore my given circumstances much more thoroughly that even though I did explore I would like to introduce bolder decisions into my piece, such as really working on the idea of me being much more tipsy and therefore heightened in my characteristics due to the fact that I had just been out to a restaurant. I would like to see what effect that that would have on the scene and whether it would change the dynamic and atmosphere of the piece. 

I have learnt that although naturalism is about finding the truth there needs to be an element of performance and individuality between the characters without making it archetypal. I also found investigating and using Stanislavsky's system really increased my knowledge of performance and how to execute a character in an interesting and deep way in order for your character to be believable and really bring it to life.I also found that explore the units of the scene through the Stanislavsky system helped to ensure that I fully understood what was happening on a deeper and more analytic level, as I felt fully prepared and confident in my character, enough to just think about my purpose and objectives so much so that it shone through when I spoke my lines. I believe that I conveyed myself well to the audience as my objectives where made clear through my tone, pace and body language which thoroughly resonated a sense of ignorance and disregard for anyone but myself (Ranyevskaya). 

I found Romy's performance mesmerizing as I believed that she fully captured Ranyevskaya's personality and objectives, you could tell that each sentence had a purpose and was inflicted upon Trofimov to draw a specific thing from him. I believe that she commanded the space well even though she sat still the whole time she gave off a feeling of ignorance and almost belief that nothing could possibly become any worse, her short monologues exposed her character and I believe that she handled it very well. 

Evaluation of The Cherry Orchard Performance

I believe the strengths of my performance was my energy given to the role on the night, the fact that we had rehearsed thoroughly meant that I was comfortable in what I wanted to display as Ranyevskaya. I believe that I had worked on my objectives thoroughly so that I was able to find the intention behind my lines and what I wanted to impose upon the other character. This was enabled through my thorough research on "Want Do Feel" and I believe that I was able to pursue what I wanted giving the nature of my character and the emotional roller coaster that I was aware of due to the fact that I knew what I wanted and how it would make me feel.

If I could I would've liked to explore my given circumstances much more thoroughly that even though I did explore I would like to introduce bolder decisions into my piece, such as really working on the idea of me being much more tipsy and therefore heightened in my characteristics due to the fact that I had just been out to a restaurant. I would like to see what effect that that would have on the scene and whether it would change the dynamic and atmosphere of the piece. 

I have learnt that although naturalism is about finding the truth there needs to be an element of performance and individuality between the characters without making it archetypal. I also found investigating and using Stanislavsky's system really increased my knowledge of performance and how to execute a character in an interesting and deep way in order for your character to be believable and really bring it to life.I also found that explore the units of the scene through the Stanislavsky system helped to ensure that I fully understood what was happening on a deeper and more analytic level, as I felt fully prepared and confident in my character, enough to just think about my purpose and objectives so much so that it shone through when I spoke my lines. I believe that I conveyed myself well to the audience as my objectives where made clear through my tone, pace and body language which thoroughly resonated a sense of ignorance and disregard for anyone but myself (Ranyevskaya). 

I found Romy's performance mesmerizing as I believed that she fully captured Ranyevskaya's personality and objectives, you could tell that each sentence had a purpose and was inflicted upon Trofimov to draw a specific thing from him. I believe that she commanded the space well even though she sat still the whole time she gave off a feeling of ignorance and almost belief that nothing could possibly become any worse, her short monologues exposed her character and I believe that she handled it very well. 

Rehearsals for Ranyevskaya

Today we introduced the idea of given circumstance more and discussed where my character had just come in from. She had previously been out having lunch squandering her money and probably drinking, so therefore she may have been slightly tipsy and so her characteristics may be heightened, and more flirty. This is due to the fact that she had men throughout the previous part of her life, and at that moment no man was present and that probably gave the impression that she was in desperate need for masculine affection and attention. So Sarah directed me to perform in that way more, and so I have thought even more thoroughly about how my character may be in that particular scene and how I can present that with how I know where they have been previously. We also decided the lay out of the scene and blocked it, so that we collectively bring on chairs and lower them simultaneously, taking the place of the people who were previously performing as our character so that it will be clearer for the audience, this is called a motif, as it will run throughout the play.

In today's rehearsal we went through the entire play and wrote down any constructive feedback to our fellow peers. 

Themes, Stanislavsky, Place

28th August 2014

On the first lesson we initially discussed the general themes that surround the play in order to get a refresher and brainstorm various elements of the play. We discovered several themes such as wealth, love, hardship, moving on, memory, status and class. We developed it further by explaining why these themes were so vital and obvious. I enjoyed discussing the theme of hardship, as all characters experience it but Chekhov displays how people deal with hardship, as Lopakhin uses his serf ancestry to motivate him to escape his previous slavery and role reversal of Ranevsky. However, Ranevsky avoids her hardship travelling to and fro in order to escape the horrific economic reality that she is faced with.

Then our teacher asked us to stand in a neutral position, whilst closing your eyes and mentally paint a picture of your Cherry Orchard and how you view it, using Stanislavsky's technique. Deciding whether or not the trees were rugged, whether the roots were protruding, whether the orchard was ordered and neat, what were the smells, tastes and sounds. This aided our imagination and helped develop our own personal connection with the Cherry Orchard, creating a past and imagining specific details immerses yourself into the scene and performance. As an actor I started to base the Orchard around memories that I had had already, so I would merge different forests that I had previously visited and create my own image of the Orchard myself. 

We were then asked to individually imagine our own "most beautiful place in the world", so that we could relate to Ranevsky's perspective on the Cherry Orchard whilst also further exploring the theme "memory", and how specific people may recall information differently, whether it be positive or negative. Selecting a Brazilian beach as my most beautiful place, I "painted" the image with my hands whilst my eyes remained closed recalling all the information I possibly could and additionally sketching in tastes and smells so that I felt completely within that place and although my memory blurred I still felt an immense connection and wanted to avoid the thought that I couldn't recall some information, this caused me to feel empathy towards Lubov as I could understand why she wouldn't want to let go of the physical aspect of the orchard, as it may negatively affect the memories of the estate. 

Archetypes, Naturalism, Realism

2nd September 2014

Today we discussed the previous idea of archetypes that occurred in the 1800's, the idea that there is a predetermined set of characters that all appear in theatre. These characters, have specific traits and most actors would perform as the same roles due to their own genetic characteristics and physiques. The hero would always prevail, the damsel would be frail and feeble, the villain possibly deformed to represent the evil of the unknown, the henchman possibly slightly less intelligent than the rest. Overall theatre became the main source of predictable entertainment as the audience would come recognising the characters and their apparent endings. 

Walking around in the space and being asked to physically embody an archetype caused us to ramp up our acting, making us multiply how extreme our characters were. The "Hero" archetype may clench his fists, representing his fighting ability, his chest would puff out exposing his sturdiness and strength, his eyes gazed upward displaying his almost glorious and gracious mindset and actions. Damsels may have their hands on their heart presenting their almost obvious vulnerability for a love interest or affair, or possibly an undecided quality to whom they shall "give their heart to", their legs would be soft and bent highlighting their weakness or need to be swept off of their feet, their mouth may slightly depart to cause them to be ditsy and seductive as lips parted oozes stereotypical femininity. 

We also deliberated the genre of melodrama, and reached a conclusion that melodrama is a form of acting that is exaggerated and over performed, usually resulting in extreme circumstances such as life or death, leaving very little to the imagination and offering up no room for the audience to question, ponder or interpret. We also developed our own short melodramatic stories involving every archetype character mentioned. We discovered that melodramatic performances left nothing for the audience decide, the fourth wall was constantly broken, not allowing the reality of the dramatic piece to remain on stage. Melodramatic performances spoon fed the audience, only providing entertainment rather than the educational or thought provoking performances you can witness today. You are almost able to understand why audiences enjoyed this form of theatre as becoming the character or exploring the thoughts and feelings was previously unheard of, they enjoyed it because they believed that was as good as performances could possibly get, as it just appeared to be light-hearted and easy to follow entertainment. 

Stanislavsky grew aggravated with this form of acting and wanted to get down to an authentic form of acting that incorporated honesty, rather than playing a character you would become the character, you would realise motives and explore characters mindset and objectives, recalling similar feelings that the character had through emotional memory as well as cutting ninety per cent. Our teachers then incorporated the polar opposite of melodrama which is Naturalism into our lesson, which we became to understand as pure and truthful acting, we had to devise a basic and short scene that involved this style of acting. We decided to use the natural situation of boarding a lift, we all decided an order but your physical decisions were open to your own personal thoughts and feelings. I decided that I would fix my hair at some point and started to grow an idea of what others may do in a lift. Our simplistic acting style and scene led to us feeling the need to over compensate as we started to complicate what could happen in the search for a dramatic climate, that in retrospect wasn't needed. We decided to stick to our own initial interpretation of the brief. Additionally we had to perform as if it was in real time, so I would stand in the lift for as long as a usual lift would usually last for, with the expectation of appearing as naturalistic as possible. 

Our teacher then asked us to meet in the middle and cut out some of the unnecessary aspects of your scene to make it as succinct as possible, this style of acting became known as Realism, which kept the natural elements whilst still producing a stimulating form of theatre. We kept the main plot, cutting out the excess, such as too much time spent waiting in the lift, for example. We left it poignant and succinct and whilst we shortened it, I lost the previous mentality of  "what others would do in a lift" and instead explored my own experience of riding in a lift, how I usually act, I created a mindset and as a group we fully envisaged the lift in full Stanislavskian style in order to believe and become the character, creating a realistic experience for not only the audience but for myself personally as well. 

Character Profile: Ranyevskaya

Ranyevskaya

This is a song that I believe echos her character:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJoVlnmdFQ

Who am I:

I am a compassionate, frivolous 50 year old woman. I perceive myself as a sinner that begs God not to continuously punish me, I spend money mindlessly but I just can't stop, its all I have ever known. I have a mixture of self loathing and arrogance within myself, that I just can't shift. I have been brought up into an extremely wealthy family, money has never concerned me, up until now but I still quickly forget and give to those who need it, when actually I am incredibly in need of it. Many experiences have caused me to live in my childhood, everything seemed so perfect then, but what if what I'm remembering isn't as perfect as it seems, and that I'm just viewing it with rose-tinted glasses... No, I still believe that there was a time that was greater than this, a time when I didn't have to worry about money or pray for the deceased, a time when there was plenty of money to spare and a time when I had a son to call my own. I had a great education and a great family, now everyone around me is ageing and developing whereas I seem to be the only person going downward, Lopakhin has more money than me! He can't even string together a few measly coherent sentences...But I do enjoy his company all the same, he was here before everything went wrong and he needs to be there now.  

Where Am I: I am in the motherland; Russia, that is where I have wanted to be for some time now. However, to be more precise I am sat by a hollow tree in the orchard. The beautiful cherry trees are blossoming and decorating the clear canvas sky with swirls of peachy petals and the outreaching arms of the branches. The old breeze surrounding me wafts history and intoxicates me with memories, I can't let this place go, Russia wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't be the same. This small patch of earth brings me sanity, it feeds me the love of the past. The undergrowth is firmly planted, never moving always present. It is the only thing I am certain of. 

When Is It:

It is spring time as of present, and it is around midday, everyone is running their errands, and I just need to escape from it all, especially the her-ranging of Lopakhin. 

Where have I come from: 

I have just returned from Paris, escaping someone who I thought loved me, but only cheated me for my money the trip back was absolutely horrendous but I'm just glad to be back.

What do I need:

I need to be loved, money isn't a concern at the moment, what's more important is to love and be loved.