My Production Journey - Production Diaries (Year 2, Term 2)

 Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.

REHEARSAL'S START

Monday 11th November 

This morning we were in the Theatre and it was our first official lesson with our new characters. I got Pinocchio! I was so happy when i found out as this is the role i auditioned for and i believe i will be able to do a great deal with it and it will stretch my abilities in all aspects - especially physicality. I look forward to working closely with my cast and bringing this character to life. We started the day as we always do with a few warm-up games including Ninja, Lockers and the Bus Game, as all of these games help us with our imagination and concentration.

Introduction to working as an ensemble

We then got started on the project. We started by focusing on some ensemble work, as ensemble is a key part of this play - the ensemble is what pulls the story together through the environment it creates around the main characters. In particular, we started by focusing on the perfect children in the story. We had to walk around the space with the mindset of who we were as a child, thinking in depth about who we were, what we were called, how old we were, etc. This was helpful because it allowed us to get properly in the mindset of the characters we were creating, as if they were real. From here, we had to start greeting each other in character, bringing interaction into it to see how we would use these characteristics to bring the character to life. After we learnt about our characters and other peoples, we got into groups of 6 and made a small scene with these characters, which was so fun as it gave us creative freedom to imagine we were in the story living our own lives. My group created a fake wedding on a playground and then went to get sweets from the sweet shop. It was so much fun!

We then moved on to the afternoon where we focused more on the school children in the story, in particular Pinocchio's fight scene. We split the class into 3 groups each with a Pinocchio in and thought about how the characters would fight. Obviously they are children and it is a musical, so it had to be over the top, dramatic and fun. In my group, i fought Lola and we thought it would be funny if i jumped on her back. This was so much fun as it gave me a first look into the character of Pinocchio and it was helpful to know and understand how he would interact with other characters at this point in the play.

Tuesday 12th November 

I started the morning by going to the LRC for independent study. I had some work from the previous term that i needed to just finish up before moving on to looking into starting my production role. This term i have decided to take on the task of doing the programme for the show. Eventhough the college has a certain look for the programme, i still want to put my own artistic twist onto it, making it seem bold and exciting for people off all ages to want to come watch. I started looking into initial ideas, thinking of key things from Pinocchio as well as taking reference from the poster the college had made. This was just the start of the production role and i'm looking forward to finishing it!

Duologues

We then moved on to our session with Kelly in the dance studio where we continued to delve into more naturalistic and focused pieces of theatre our duologue work from "Dear Evan Hansen." We originally started to look at this last term for awhile but today we were finalising what we had done - making sure we felt ready for filming (as our pieces were being filmed by our film and tv students for a show reel and screen experience) and that it was the best of our abilities. Me and Charlie were confident with our piece at this point and didn't want to over do it, therefore we spent the rest of the session going over some of the written work towards this piece so that we were on the same page about what we both thought our characters were dealing with emotionally.

To end my day, i went back down to the LRC and finished off my UCAS application and sent it off to my drama schools! This was great because it meant i got it done early and i feel way more prepared. I also sent off my application to the Pathway Programme for LAMDA, which was amazing. I feel a lot less pressure now that my applications have been sent off, its just about getting the self tapes done now!

Thursday 14th November - Looked and showed Tom  Toys, Started Satisfaction Guaranteed Dance, as well as individual work with Marionettes - getting a grasp of the characters

Ensemble Work

Individual Work

Alongside this ensemble work, me and the other Pinocchio's and Stromboli's went into the other dance studio to individually work on our Marionette scenes. This was a particular problem for me specifically as i have been a bit stressed about the marionettes as they require so much detail that could go unseen - such as being in sync, constant facial expressions that don't drop, certain physicality. These aspects are easier to work out when you are with the group of people who are doing and working with you in these scenes.

Monday 18th November - Wrote areas of concern on board for pinocchio - marionettes - Went to black box to go over scene "heelloo there",  Rollercoaster in groups, Miami wave for pleasure island.

As we started the day today, one of the first things Kelly asked us to do was to write about any areas of concern we have for Pinocchio on the whiteboard to be tackled. This was a great idea because it meant that we could understand where everyone's head space was at this point in the rehearsal process and we can target what needs to be looked at specifically for everyone. Me and the other Pinocchio's as well as the Stromboli's felt that the marionette scenes needed to be looked at in detail, as we only really have looked into them yesterday so far through the process. It was great that we were all on the same page, as it meant we could all focus on it together which is really helpful as we could all input our ideas to ensure it is the best it can be. After everyone had written their areas of concern, Kelly gave us time to go off and work on them. Me and the others went to the black box room and we really in detail focused on the scene where Stromboli is first introduced to us and the audience with his marionettes, talking to both Gepetto and the Blue Fairy. This was extremely helpful as it allowed me to feel more in sync.

Thursday 21st November, Tuesday 26th November & Tuesday 3nd December 

These days in particular were very similar, we spent a lot of time doing full run throughs for every cast. This was extremely helpful as it allowed me to feel more confident with every role i played, especially Pinocchio. Being able to do a full run through with both my red and green cast made me feel more confident and able to go on stage knowing exactly what i am meant to be doing and what is going on around me. These days also allowed me to identify any weaknesses i think i had, allowing me to go over them in my own time/ with other people after the run throughs. In particular, i went over the dances as marionettes in i got no strings, as i wanted to ensure i was doing it to the best of my ability. I think that the run through's went well, and it was great to be able to receive notes from Kelly to understand what she thinks needs work on, this was particularly helpful for my ensemble role, as it meant everyone was pushing towards the same improvements.

Thursday 5th December, Friday 6th December

Moving into the space

To end this week, it was the first time that we moved into the Arc! This year we were not straight in the theatre as they had another production going on when we entered the building so we were in the upstairs dance studio for the rest of this week. We spent a lot of the time getting a grasp of the space and moving all of our set, props and costumes into the building and ensuring we had everything ready to go for show week. This was vital as we needed to make sure we felt ready and prepared for the show instead of running around last minute, it also makes teching easier when we have all set and props available when needed.

Rehearsing

Alongside this, we spent the days going over our ensemble dances and songs, ensuring everyone knew exactly what they were doing. They spent a lot of time Thursday morning going over the animal scene in particular, so whilst this was happening me and my Gepetto were running lines and scenes in the coridoors. As well as this, we did a full run through of every cast and ensured every Pinocchio got to do the ending with their Gepetto at least once, which helped me feel very prepared. These days we were all about ensuring we were keeping ourselves busy to make sure we are 100% ready for show week!

  PRODUCTION

During this entire process, i spent time working on a production role - doing the Pinocchio Programme.