BLOOD BROTHERS FINAL PROJECT

 Task one:

A- When producing a collaborative piece of work you have to consider how you work with others both off stage and on. The key to being able to work as a group is through communication, with both your classmates and teacher . I am an ensemble of this show, so communication has been one of the biggest things we have had to use. In every scene I am in, the rest of the ensemble is also in. We have had to talk as a group to ensure we all know when we are going one/off, where we have to go/stand, and also all the costumes that we need. We are making a time sheet to print and put behind the curtain so that everyone knows what scene is next, as it's a little tricky to remember what is next. Doing small things like this can really help to build our team work and make it stronger. Another thing we did was make a teams group chat with all the ensemble in it. In this we talk about what scenes people would like to go over, what costumes we need, the order in what scene is next, and just overall talking about everything we would like to do and ideas that we have. 

B- For my audition for Blood Brothers I'm going for the role of Linda. As soon as i went to watch the show, I knew that I wanted to be her. She is such a dynamic character who I know will help to increase my acting levels if I get to play her. I am determined to get her. To be able to get the role of Linda I first have to understand her more in depth. Here is something quick to sum up why I want Linda and what research I have done to get her.

Reasons I selected this role:

-Linda has a Scouse accent, which I find really difficult

-She also presents a lot of emotions, she's happy, flirty and at the end very stressed and unhappy.

-All these things are challenges which I'd like to add to my portfolio.

Tell me a little about the character you are portraying:

-Linda is a character who in some way holds the friendship group of Mickey and Eddie.

-She adds a lot of characterisation

-Linda is a hard working girl, who just wants the best for everyone

What research we did for the role:

-I researched about the 1970's as the scene I'm doing for the audition she is 25 in the 1970's.

-In the 1970's people aren't treated equally, the rich are treated well and looked up to highly whereas the poor are treated horribly and as if there animals. 

-Equality was probably the biggest thing people were fighting for in the 1970's, woman were still treated as if men were better and jobs were hard for woman to get and if they had one they would get paid poorly

Further research I',m going to do for this role:

-I want to research about the place Linda grew up in, I know that where she grew up was scruffy,but I want to find out more as it will allow me to connect to Linda more

(I have uploaded a post called, 'Blood brothers context research: location time period and accent'. In this post I talk about the year 1970 and also Liverpool which is where Linda grew up. This was all the research I wanted to do for Linda, I have just added more, so that I don't only understand Linda more but also the whole show. )

The evaluation of the audition:

Part one-It's an audition day! I had my audition at 2:35. Everyone was saying how well they were doing so I'm so proud of them but it also made me really nervous. Before the audition I practised a lot and made sure I knew my lines. I looked at the mirror and made sure that all the right emotions were presented at that moment in time. I was happy that I was able to make myself tear up, when it got really stressful. Before every audition I'm always super nervous, and I don't feel confident at all. Now how I think the audition went. I personally am not happy with how it went. I think that it could have gone so much better. I just didn't feel connected, and I felt like I could have shown so much more emotions. I also felt super stiff and that I just looked awkward. I don't really know what else to say I just didn't feel like it went well, which is so annoying because I really want to challenge myself and get the part of Linda. Something I think that went well was my Scouse accent. I'm proud that It went well especially since I was absolutely terrible at it. If i get called back for the chemistry test, I know that, it will go so much better since there will be someone to actually talk to instead of the wall.

Part two-It's the last audition day! today was super scary, mostly because this audition means so much to me because of how much I want the role of Linda. Out of all the auditions I've done this ones the most important as the character of Linda is perfect to help improve and stretch my ability as an actress. Also because of how much I love the character, and all the scenes she is in. We had the first hour rehearsing with all of our partners. I rehearsed with my Mickey and Eddie first for the kid scene (Henry and Ethan), I then practised my Eddie scene (Ethan) and then my Mickey scene (Henry). I just went over them a few times until it was time to start the auditions. Let me just start off with how amazing everyone was, I'm so lucky to be in a class with such talented people. Honestly it kinda feels like I'm in a room with already famous actors and actresses. The first audition I did was the kid scene. I was so nervous that I ended up forgetting a line, which was honestly sooo embarrassing and at the end of it I felt like I was gonna cry, but I didn't as that would have been even more embarrassing. I think that if we forget that fact I forgot a line I overall did alright. I think that my accent was pretty good and that I used the same characteristics as a 7 year old. I also put my hair in pig-tails to help capture that haha. Something I would slightly improve on was to be slightly more energetic and to be a little more "flirty" with Mickey even though she's only 7 she is already obsessed with him. The next one was the Eddie scene. This scene was, the one I was a little worried about as she's quite flirty at the beginning. The reason I was nervous is a little silly but I'm 4'10ft, so very short, and i was paired up with an Eddie who is around 6ft, so I just think it looked quite silly haha, but I still did it of course and I tried my best to not make it look strange. Something I would improve on was probably the first dialogue where she is being flirty as I wasn't sure what movement to do. I walked up from behind but I think I could have done a little more. After that was the Pill scene with Mickey. I have already done this for my first audition, and I have already said how I didn't think it had gone well. I felt like today was gonna go much better as I actually had someone to talk too and in a way share my emotions with. I believe I was right. I may be the only one to think I did way better but my emotions just seemed so much stronger, and I just felt so much more connected to the moment. Something I wish I had for this audition was a bag. I just think that It would have helped to fill it out a bit more, as a bag is mentioned in the dialogue. After that i felt happier with myself but, everyone was so good that I didn't feel confident and ever since last Thursday I had a massive feeling that I wasn't going to get the role. 

C- My production diaries are all uploaded on here. They are labelled as weeks. In week eighteen is when I start to mention Blood Brothers. Although I'll be talking a lot about my last show remote in them, that's when we start to find out more about Blood Brothers. In my daily blogging I like to talk about many things, so a lot of the stuff I have put on here is from my daily blogging. I just thought it would be easier to have everything on one page.

Task Two: 

A-Character research- I have been lucky enough to get two small roles in Blood Brothers. Even though I may have not gotten the role I wanted, I am still part of the show, and I have lines! In order to fully express this character, and be able to capture people, and make them think, "Wow she was so good at playing a kid" or "Gosh she played the police woman so so well!". Even though I may not have a main role, I can turn my character to be bigger. I feel like that is something you should always do. Sometimes it can be more challenging to make a small character to a bigger one! and that is what I am going to try and do. Here is something I did which says a little about my character-The police woman:

For the police woman I wanted to make it kind of comedic. My Mickey and Eddie are much much larger than me, height wise. I'm only 4'10, so when I'm telling them off I look extra small. I think that that is already really funny, but if I enthuse it even more by being super rough and like I'm way bigger than him it'll make it 10x funnier. The police woman catches Mickey and Eddie about to throw rocks through a window, I catch them and Mickey tries to run away, but i grab him from the shirt pull him down and then grab his ear and go knock on Mrs Johnston door being really horrible and understanding about the situation she is in. and then with Eddie she doesn't dare touch him, and she is super understanding with Mrs Lyons, saying how it was just a prank. She treats the two so differently because of their status (Money). 

Here is the same sheet but about Kid three:

Kid three has one line, which is, "Hey mother, I'm starvin, there's nothing in". Even though I have one line I'm on the stage as kid three for three scenes which is super fun. I want to make the most out of this character just by completely being a kid. Running around the stage looking fascinated about everything. Kid three I have made to be the good kid, who loves her mum and siblings and just wants the best for everyone. 

I have a post called 'Blood brothers context research: location time period and accent'. This post includes where they grew up and what time they grew up in. 

B- To fully understand theatre you should try to help with the production. The last show that we did was Remote and I helped with marketing. Nearly everyone is doing marketing for Blood brothers so I've decided to go for set and design. This means I need to think about the set and all the props on set. Here are a couple of photos of the set:

In act one of the show they are still living in the slum part of Liverpool. To represent this we have added a bin with graffiti on it, a wash line with washing on it and the Johnston's house is a boring front door. For the Lyons you can see inside there house, its super luxurious and pretty. 

The second act of the show both the Johnston's and the Lyons move to the countryside. To show this we came up with an idea that there will be moving men moving all the stage around in the interval. We have added a few boxes with vines on top to make it look like a field. We put nice plants in front of Johnston's house to make it look a little prettier and then we swapped a few things out of the Lyons house. We put little details such as wine as she's going a little crazy and we also swapped the table out for the sofa. I also want to put phtos of Eddie and Mrs Lyons together. 

I want to add a few more things such as a different number on the Johnston's door but I'm not sure if we can as the number already on it may be stuck on. 

In the first scene back after the interval is the part where they first move to the country side, so I got a pram and filled it up with loads of Johnston things. 

Task Three:

To ensure that my final performance is outstanding I will take part in all rehearsals and the shows. I first have to understand the script. I have read through the script a couple of times with the rest of the ensemble. This has allowed us to fully understand when we need to be on stage. Knowing what happens throughout the whole script is crucial. It's very easy to miss something that could be very important. The next thing is to know your lines. When doing rehearsals they are always so so soooo much better when the scripts are gone. I learnt my lines the week we got given the roles as I didn't have many, but also because it now allows me to concentrate on my facial expression, body movement, staging and the tone of my voice. All these things can really change when being on and off script. I learnt my lines by reading a sentence out to myself.  As soon as I've got the sentence down I would add a new one on, and say the whole thing again with the new sentence that has just been added on. I find that this really helps. Sometimes if I am finding something really hard I would write it down over and over again until I don't need to look back at the script. After knowing all my lines and doing research to understand my character better, I brought it to the stage. This is where the blocking comes in. I had a look at the space and worked around it. I had a door that I would use for the kid three, and then I had the door again for the policewoman but also Mrs Lyons house. I gathered up the other people playing these roles and we all helped each other out. Talking to another person to get another type of view from it is really helpful. Being a part of this show has taught me how important it is to do your research, and how much teamwork is needed to create something big. It has allowed me to better understand the world of acting for the stage. With doing all this research I will be able to bring it all on stage and create an amazing performance. 

Task Four:

Tuesday 14th of June, show 1- This cast was absolutely amazing today! Our first performance of Blood Brothers today was for a school. They came and watched the show which turned out brilliant in my opinion. I'm always super proud of my classmates because I always think that they have done a 'smashing' job! some people didn't feel like they had done the best, but this then made them do even better in the final show tonight ;) The one thing I was stressing out over was the costume changes. We have never had a costume run through before, so I was super scared that we wouldn't actually have enough time to get changed. Some of us hardly even made it to our next scene. I think the scenes which were most stressful were the first three, as they were really quick changes. I was also really stressed out in the morning today. There is one scene which was the Marilyn Monroe song. In this scene we are supposed to wear a nice dress. I didn't think I was in it, as every time I rehearsed it, I was asked to cover for someone else. This obviously made me think that I’m just standing in and not actually being in it. So I didn't bring in a nice dress for this scene, but I was then told that I need to be in it. I just wish communication was used a little better for that. I luckily had a dress that I brought in for the stags and hens (The show we did yesterday for the showcase), which was super ugly but it still worked out. One thing that I believe went really well today as the whole show and not just me was the actual connection that the actors of Mickey and Eddie showed through the whole show. You can really see that they have a real connection. One thing I think that went well for me was the costume changes and being able to make it on stage in time. One thing I wish could have gone better was the Marilyn Monroe scene and the funfair scene. I just think that we could have filled it out a bit more, maybe with more noise. As in celebrating the Marilyn Monroe song with cheers!

Show 2- This show went so so so so so soooo well that it made the other cast worry. It was absolutely outstanding and I can't believe I go to the same college as my classmates! They are incredibly talented and deserve the best congratulations! As an ensemble I think that we also did well! I’m not going to lie, I felt quite sad after the shows today. I think it's because everyone was congratulating each other for doing so well, but I just felt like I didn't deserve it. I felt like I haven't done anything good and that I didn't challenge myself enough. Overall I just was so proud of my friends, but sad that I felt useless. The only thing I felt proud of myself was the fact that I can get changed that quick haha. The only speaking role I had today was kid three saying, “Hey Mother, I'm starvin, there's nothing in!”, I also do think that this went well! I like how we poke our heads out the door, I just think that it added a little fun to it, even if it’s a tiny role. Overall I do think that I do well as an ensemble. I make sure to show all emotions and I move with purpose. Tonight's show went so so so well mostly because of the audience I think. The first show that we did was a school which no one knew, however the audience for tonight were loads of people who the actors actually care about, so it made them want to show off even more! The audience was also such a good bunch. They had great reactions. If the audience is lively, they are bound to make the actors react to it and want to do even better to get an even larger reaction! Having a good audience always helps! 
In conclusion I think that tonight's show went better than the morning one. All emotions were shown and our reaction times were incredible. I hope that tomorrow's cast is just as good, and I’m sure  they will as they are also so amazing. I was also in charge of set and design for today. During the interval I would go out on stage and tell everyone where it needed to go and where I wanted it to be. I have put up photos in task two of what it looks like before and after. Wednesday 15th of June, Show 1- Today I had a little more fun as I got to play the role of a policewoman. I felt like I was actually part of the show today. Maybe it was because I spoke more than one sentence. Today we had an open show at 1:30. No one came in only the people who were not in the show and some people from the film and TV course. I personally didn't mind that much, as I'm not a main character and I was also super scared as I have only ever rehearsed the policewoman once. I was so super proud of myself for this show. I felt like I did really well as the policewoman. I wanted to try and make her funny so I also added some large black sunglasses. I wanted to make her different to the other two actors playing her. For yesterdays show the actress who played the policewoman played her seriously and intimidating. whereas I played her in a comedic way. I had my big black sunny's and I played her like she was super scary and big but really she is tiny and could easily get pushed over by them haha. I really liked the black sunglasses that I added on as I would be spinning them around whilst walking away from Mrs Johnston, as if I just showed her who was boss. I also made sure to be super rude and aggressive to Mrs Johnston and then super sweet and maybe a little scared to Mrs Lyons. I really liked how I played out the character in the first show we did today. After the show we got some feedback which was super helpful. I was told that they really loved the sunglasses and that it was super funny, which made me so so soooo happy! The one thing that I needed to try and do better was to slow down, which I completely understand and thought I needed to do.

Show 2- Wow this cast did such an amazing job again! I can't believe how they are able to smash it and do it on point just as well. Once again they were able to show their emotions so well. They played the characters perfectly and they were able to show the child, teenage and adult version of the character amazingly. I was a little sad on how I did for my policewoman. I feel like i did better in the first show we did, and there wasn't anyone there to see it haha. One thing I do think I did better was how I grabbed Mickey's hair, instead of his ear. When I grab his ear my fingers always slip off because of how sweaty he is, but I grabbed his hair instead and it looked better as it didn't look like he was just following me. Once again I think that the ensemble also did good, we got on the stage when we needed too and had our right consumes on.

Thursday 16th of June, Show 1- Today I played the same roles as Tuesday, so I felt the same. I just felt like I was useless, however once again wow. They were absolutely amazing! It's crazy to think that they are college students. They are so incredibly talented and deserve such a bright future! I would say that today went the same as Tuesday's. The first show some people didn't really feel like they did the best. I also feel like this was because of the audience, there were a very Small amount of people to come and watch as it was an open show, and most people are either in lesson or have already finished college. It was still a bigger crowd than yesterday's 1:30 show tho. Today's show I feel like is the most different. I think that Mickey, Eddie and Linda are played the most different in this. I personally think that the child versions of them are shown so well in this cast it's incredible! today I brought in a nice dress for the wedding scene so it also made it look a lot better! (I wasn't in it yesterday as I was a policewoman and wouldn't have enough time to change into three different costumes in the space of 5 mins).

Show 2- Wow, just wow. It was such a good way to end the year(It was our last day today, and we all had to say goodbye to the year two's and it was super emotional because we all have such a good bond, I really don't want them to leave at all!). Our class is so amazing, and did outstanding this whole year, but this show was just exceptional. It pushed some people, and got the best out of them! All I can say is that there was nothing else anyone could do to make it any better! Emotions were on point, characterisation was shown and everyone put in as much effort as they could.