Within today's lesson we began to improvise around the movement in the bingo scene (bargaining) when searching through suitable music for this scene we found Stevie wonders 'superstition'. Although this music contrasts against the atmosphere' originally dark setting ( I had imagined this scene to be dark, scary, unexpected as Claudio discovers Hero's dead body) the comedy in the music works in the way of creating dark humour - the dark and surrealistic nature of this scene is made more prominent through this choice of juxtaposing music. Taking this idea, we also put forwards suggestions for other scenes e.g. Claudio's suicide could be 'that's life'. The audience will be caught up in the humour however his sudden death with shock/ be unexpected and hopefully have a greater impact due to its unpredictability.
Initially we had wanted to work in a comedic style however due to the story line we chose, this was more dark and would therefore suit a darker/ more serious style. Now that we have discovered how to create this dark comedic effect, the dance and music created is also beginning to match this style. For example, we were able to create a dance (using the bingo dauber motif), using a 'show girl' characters, including big feathers, costumes and over dramatic/ melodramatic personalities.
Once we had created this dance, we found a second piece of music which reflected and developed the first section. This is relevant to the mediums within our play with references to 'the cards' which could be the cards with Hero's letters. Here we also experimented with different uses of staging, moving Claudio downstage and performing to a theatre in the round. When performing in the hub, our audience format will be 'theatre in the round' therefore we will be considering this within our dance- how can we involve the audience ( can they be apart of the bingo, set out in tables- so that we are sat among the audience?)
2 ) What led to those discoveries?
As mentioned above, these discoveries were made from the music choice. Because the music choice was contrasting to the atmosphere of the scene, our movement also reflected this style- becoming sexy, 'show girl' and flirtatious. Here we were also able to create further comedy with the characters of the two mediums, Maggie and Ursula. From trying new ideas and being open to any choice (whether it seems right or not) can lead to good decisions and things that work -that we might not have considered before!
3 ) Towards where do those discoveries lead?
Now that we have this idea (and have discovered our style of dark comedy) we can develop and continue working on this scene. As Jonathan said, once we have 'set' a scene or finished devising within that rehearsal, the performance is not set in stone. That's just one possibility or version of the piece, there is much more that we could experiment within it or change - we can't only try out one idea and call it finished! Therefore next lesson we could try working on this again, maybe looking at the staging or playing around with characters.
4 ) Consider questions No. 1-3 except focus on important roadblocks/dead ends.
As mentioned above in question three, there is much more that we can still experiment with within this dance and scene- we don't want to finish it first! As a group we have created a 'car park' where we 'park' all of our ideas, through doing this, any idea we have is stored there temporarily which we could use in future rehearsals and go back to at any time e.g. Parts of the dance we made today could be used in other scenes or we could take the motif and repeat it in a later or previous scene etc.
5 ) Reflect on dramatic action and conflict. How’s it going? What actions does this suggest?
This scene particularly is the turning point, one of the climax points within the play. Up until now the audience believe that Claudio is fairly sane, although they may have their suspicions about Hero, they don't realise she is a ghost! Hero's appearance will be dramatic- the audience only notice her once Claudio notices her. Her dead body (lying across the grid with blood dripping down) is a complete shock - contrast to the fun, bubbly characters shown in the bingo dance. The mood is light hearted and flirtatious, differentiating to the shock Claudio is about to portray in response to Hero's return.
8 ) What is the most important thing that happened (or didn’t happen) in your recent rehearsal? Unpack its importance.
I feel that a lot of new discoveries were made during today's rehearsal, music, style, possible dances etc. now that we are physically starting to devise and rehearse, more discoveries are being made. This is progress from previous lessons where we have been discussing and talking about what we could and should do. Now that we are putting our thoughts into action, we are realising what will work/ won't work and alternative ideas. Our journey has become physical- we are starting to piece together the scenes and structure of our piece.
9 ) What is the most important thing that could happen in your next rehearsal? How will you shape the rehearsal in order to increase the odds of that “thing” happening?
The most important thing that could happen in our next rehearsal includes two things. Firstly, we need to share our feedback done within the Easter break- each returning with more knowledge about the play and how we can use this to further our progress of devising. Secondly we should continue devising the two scenes we have already 'parked' in the 'car park', the bedroom scene and the bingo scene. There is still more known potential and ideas that we have, it would be better to exhaust these ideas first before moving on to other scenes (otherwise we will have a collection of loose ends that will leave our play in confusing fragments!).
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