Electra Performance Videos

Tuesday Evening Electra Performance Part 1


Tuesday Evening Electra Performance Part 2


Wednesday Evening Electra Performance Part 1


Wednesday Evening Electra Performance Part 2


Here are the videos of my performances within Electra, these performances link with the evaluation on a later post in my blog.

Check list

Niamh Kenny

Costume

1. Upload pictures of each page in your costume portfolio, you should have;
   1. Character and text analysis
   2. Costume research – Period and social status
   3. Costume plot for THREE characters
   4. Written work about how no. 1 has contributed to no. 2
   5. Colours, fabric swatches and measurements
   6. Initial designs - Based on established period and social status
   7. Established designs with written work about practicalities, character portrayal, portrayal of mood/emotion

Drama

1. Look at each show of Electra and how well you are doing identify strengths/ weaknesses and what you could do to improve for the next one.
2. Include a review of Electra Performance at Old Vic

My Budget For A Production

For my performance I decided to use the show Electra. This play I have a lot of knowledge about as i have researched it thoroughly and i would know exactly how i would conduct it.

For starters I chose the Sealight Theatre as my choice of theatre, this meant that i would get it at a discounted rate. All the actors and Actresses within this production of Electra would be performed by college students so it would be funding inkind.

After then laying out what i would need to set up a production i did research into each one about how much it would all cost and where would be the cheapest place to go.
For the ticket sales I wanted to make them realistic prices but also the capacity of our theatre is 90 seats so i needed to take that into account and how many people would turn up, as i cant assume that it will be 100% ticket sales.I worked out this price by logically thinking about how much a college play would sell their tickets at.

I looked at the Worthing Tavana which is a greek restaurant in Worthing and for a half page sponsor advert in our programme i settled a price with them for £30, they said this is about right for this type of advertising and they said if this were a real production this is what they would do.

I didn't want to just have programmes for sale as i know that in house merchandise and drink stalls make good money.
So i decided that you could buy drinks and crisps before the show or in the interval this would cost £5 for 1 bottle of white wine and you can get 5 glasses out of 1 bottle so assuming that 10 people bought a glass of wine costing at £2 i would make a profit of £10. All this i believe adds to having an entrepreneur mindset in wanting to achieve good profit margins.
For the Orange Juice i decided to make them good and affordable especially for children. I made it 40p a glass as this would still allow you to make profit. Each carton of juice costs 75p and i did the same you could get 5 glasses out of this so if i sold 25 glasses of orange juice which is what i would expect as 35 students and children were estimated to attend making a total of £5.75.
Crisps i could buy in at 60p each which meant we would only be making a 10p profit per bag we sold, assuming i sell 20 packets i only make £2.

For the programme i have good photoshop skills so would create them myself and by doing this it meant i could get them with a professional look at get 50 printed at a cost of £16.99, this was an excellent price and i got this off of Vista Print.

This allowed me to make a total of £817 this is without the expenditure of the food and drinks. The Net total for my income is £762.75.

My discounted rate venue hire would only cost £100 and this is where i saved the most money within the whole production.
As i decided to do the production Electra this meant i could get an online copy for free as the playwright has no copyright issues.

My publicity total was £19.49, i spent this on posters and flyers. The posters would cost £11.40 this would have cost £32.40 if i got them done online and professionally, but with my photoshop skills i would design the poster myself however the £11.40 would cover my printing ink and poster paper costs. Which just goes to show if you can and have the skills to do it yourself it can cost more than half the price.
The other percentage of money that got spent in publicity was on flyers. For 25 flyers it cost £8.09 this figure i also got on VistaPrint.

The sets and props would be made on site with college resources that was all funding inkind. However, in Electra the only staging that was needed is a staging that is provided with the theatre and the only prop used is a door frame which could be found for free off GumTree or Freecycle, that is if the sealight theatre didn't have one, luckily however they do.

The lights usually would also come with the Sealight Theatre, however i made room for error so i also looked up how much it would cost to hire the lighting from somewhere else. I found off West Sussex Lighting And Party Hire, that i could hire 10 main lights with colour filters at a renting cost for £40 this is for 2 days, which would last us the 2 performances. However, this is included with the cost of the Sealight Theatre so that £40 wouldn't necessarily be needed.

Costumes will mainly be provided by actors as it is a basic costume, however i left £25 as 4 sets of black wings were purchased off of eBay at the price of £4 each this comes to a total of £16 for the wings leaving us £9 for other bits and bobs if needed. The make-up would be provided by actors and put on by actors.

The programme printing i got off vistapint this was for 25 of them which was fine as we estimated to only sell 20, this cost £16.99 which i believed to be reasonable. I left £50 emergency money in case not all went to plan and i needed to invest more money in certain areas.

However, this left me with a total profit of £751.27 after all my costs were added up.

5 Production Companies

How do these 5 companies work together?

I looked at Spotlight, most casting directors will look at this website to find actors for specific productions. It is a big main website used across the UK and as many as 60,000 people use Spotlight. It's a good way for actors to find work as they can also find job adverts on their which may interest them and the skills they have. Clients will range from BBC, Itv and other production companies.

Equity negotiate with the casting directors to assure that the terms and conditions are correct so no actor is going into a job unsure about what they will expect to turn up too, as acting can be a dangerous business where terms and conditions may be slipped past actors and not actually realise they are going into a dodgy production, such as pornography. Equity and makes sure that actors are getting paid and treated correctly. It protects actors rights and makes sure that they are working in correct health and safety conditions
They offer legal advice and financial advice this includes, staff development and copyright. Equity provide a service to help all actors and the equality in the performing arts.

The BETCU is a service to help protect the technical team and side of the performance. The tech crew have a union for staging and lighting this makes sure that they also have their terms and conditions protected. They also make sure they are working in regulated health and safety conditions as this can be dangerous within rigging stages.

Arts council England help funding from literature, singers, dancers and all round performances and they give out an estimate of £1.2 billion to the arts within England. This would be the place to go if you were putting on a production of your own this would be the place you would first go to get funding. When applying for funding from the Arts council it is best to have some possible funding already under your belt they don't want you to fully rely on just 1 place of funding as this is not practical for a production.


BECTU is the last company I will be looking it at. It is the UK's media and entertainment trade union; sectors covered include broadcasting, film, independent production, theatre and the arts, leisure and digital media.

BECTU provides a wide range of services to its circa 25,000 members, including:

• Negotiating pay, conditions and contracts with employers
• Personal advice and representation for individual members
• Advice and representation on health and safety
• Benefits and services for BECTU members
• Training support and courses
• Networking events and career development opportunities
• Union journal, Stage Screen and Radio, published six times a year.
• Website designed to improve access to the union's advice and support.

The union is financed entirely by individual subscriptions from members.
The key aims of the union are to:
- protect jobs
- increase membership
- win new recognition agreements
- improve pay and conditions of service, including pensions.


ITC which stands for Independent Theatre Council. The ITC exists to enable the creation of high quality professional performing arts by supporting, representing and developing those who manage and produce it.
As an ITC member they recognise:

• That the performing arts have the power and potential to change lives and should be available to the many not the few.
• That the performing arts thrive when people are put before profit.
• The value of belonging to a community of performing arts professionals sharing and learning together.

They also aim to:

• Bring high quality, imaginative art to the widest possible audience.
• Provide the best possible working conditions and pay.
• Promote inclusion, equal opportunities and diversity.
• Share knowledge and experience with peers.
• Actively engage with ITC and make good use of the services.

Cat Dance Audition Rehearsal

In dance today, we did an energetic warm up by jogging round the room whilst changing directions, we then did starjump side steps. We did this for a good 5-10 minutes so it got our heart going and warmed us all up. After that we looked at the board which had key movements this allowed us to think a bit more about the indidiviual movements in our dance. It also meant with people who didnt know how to start this gave them some simple ideas, you could take 3 movements off the board and then if you conduct it in the style motif that cats the musical has you have a starting point. In the background we had dances from Cats on so we could pick like a few movements from there.

We were told we had to focus a lot on characterisation, and as i didn't know any of the characters from Cats i had to do some research to see which character i would actually like to be so i could conduct my dance in the style of that specific character.

These descriptions, in alphabetical order, are based on more recent versions of the show, although there are minor variations from production to production.

• Asparagus / Gus – The theatre cat. One of the oldest tribe members. He was once an actor, and is one of two cats who is only seen during his song.
• Bombalurina – A red female. She is not the subject of a song herself, but plays a leading part in introducing several of the cats, and also sings of Macavity.
• Bustopher Jones – A fat cat, a "twenty-five pounder." Dresses in a snappy tuxedo and spats. Respected by all, as the upper class "St. James's Street Cat". In most productions, the actor playing Gus also plays Bustopher, perhaps because both are only seen during their song, though in early productions the part was handled by the actor playing Old Deuteronomy.
• Demeter – A very skittish female cat. She is not the subject of a song, but plays a lead role in several.
• Grizabella – The former Glamour Cat who has lost her sparkle and now only wants to be accepted. Grizabella left the tribe when she was younger to see the world for herself; she has experienced the harshness of the world and is a pariah in the cats' society.
• Griddlebone – A fluffy white Persian female cat. Growltiger's lover in Growltiger's Last Stand, where she sings The Ballad of Billy M'Caw or the mock Italian aria In Una Tepida Notte (depending on production) with Growltiger. Almost always played by the actress playing Jellylorum. In some productions the role is played by the actress playing Jennyanydots. "Growltiger's Last Stand" was a play in which Gus, the Theatre Cat, acted, and a scene from it is used as a dream sequence, but it is omitted from some productions. Whether she is the same Griddlebone who is one of MacAvity's agents is not known.
• Growltiger – A theatrical character Gus recalls playing in his youth, and who appears in Gus' memory of the production of Growltiger's Last Stand. In some productions he is portrayed as a vicious pirate; in others, he is more comical.
• Jellylorum – A female who watches out for the kittens, along with Jennyanydots. She is Gus' mate. Named after T. S. Eliot's own cat. The actress who plays Jellylorum usually also plays Griddlebone in Growltiger's Last Stand.
• Jemima – A kitten interchangeable with Sillabub, though Jemima is used in most international productions. She is the kitten who sings the Memory refrain in The Moments of Happiness for Old Deuteronomy. Jemima sings the happier parts of Memory, while Grizabella sings the sadder parts. She is the first cat/kitten to accept Grizabella by singing with her and not judge her.
• Jennyanydots – The old Gumbie cat. She sits all day and rules the mice and cockroaches at night, forcing them to undertake helpful functions and creative projects, to curb their naturally destructive habits.
• Macavity – the show's only real villain, who only appears briefly and has no dialogue. The character is a literary allusion to the Sherlock Holmes character Professor Moriarty. Usually played by the same actor as Plato or Admetus.
• Mr. Mistoffelees – A young black tom (with some white) who has magical powers which he doesn't fully control. His signature dance move is "The Conjuring Turn", twenty-four fouettés en tournant. In the UK production, Mistoffelees has an alter-ego named Quaxo, who appears as a general chorus cat throughout the show, and is dressed slightly differently.
• Mungojerrie – Male half of a pair of notorious cat-burglars, with Rumpleteazer. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are most commonly remembered for their featured dance number where at the end, they do a "double windmill" across the stage.
• Munkustrap – The show's main narrator. A tabby tomcat who is storyteller and protector of the Jellicle tribe. He is Old Deuteronomy's second-in-command.
• Old Deuteronomy – The lovable patriarch of the Jellicle Tribe. He is very old and dignified.
• Rumpleteazer – Female half of a pair of notorious cat-burglars, with Mungojerrie.
• The Rum Tum Tugger – A flashy tomcat. His temperament ranges from clownish to serious. He is Munkustrap's brother, though they differ in temperament.
• Skimbleshanks – The railway cat. An active orange tabby cat, who lives on the trains and acts as an unofficial chaperone to such an extent he is considered rather indispensable to the train and station employees.
• Victoria – A pure white kitten gifted in dancing. The "official" Jellicle Ball begins with her solo dance. She also does a Pas de Deux with Plato during the Jellicle Ball. She is also the first to touch Grizzabella.
• Alonzo – A black and white tom cat in most productions; in the Broadway and early European productions, he was depicted as being a black and gold tabby. Sometimes considered the third in command after Munkustrap as he also fights Macavity. However, he is not the subject of any song, and has no dialogue.

I got this information from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_(musical)#Characters

I felt that this information was useful but not as useful as i would have liked as i wanted to know more about their personalities not who they were as such. I wanted to find out if there was an evil cat in the musical. Before i knew about the characters i wanted to portray an evil cat as i found this would be an interesting character and would excite me.

However after my research i didnt like the sound of the villian in cats, the villain was called Macativy. I liked the sound of the character Grizella she's a glamous cat but has lot her sparkle. I felt i could relate to this character as shes had a rough past. This can be hard to portray these emotions sometimes as a way to react in certain circumstances may be incorrect to someone who had been through that, but baring in mind everyone reacts differently. I feel like i could connect to this character and would love to gain the personalitiy of this character. This means i may have to alter certain motifs and movements i have already devised, but this is mainly emotion and facial expressions which can easily be changed.

Steve Carell Audition Tape - Anchorman

I chose this audition tape as comedy is supposedly  the hardest quality and genre to portray within an audition, this is because auditions have a serious atmosphere about them and then trying to break this down with humour can either go one way or the other. However, Steve Carell did really well in this audition leading him on to become the character in Anchorman. He gets into character instantly which you may think he is awkward at the beginning and not fluent with comedy but soon you can see that this is a quality of his character which he then opens up and becomes.

Even if this video was muted you can see his careful miming skills, and how he goes for it so much that his face colour changes red. This is when his character Brick would laugh and having the correct laugh is even a fine detail in comedy as this could transform the character.

Most auditions will expect to involve movement which i thought i would have felt lacked in this audition but after watching it fully the script and the character spoke for itself and you didn't need any movement because the audiences focus was so directed it could have been diverted if movement was then added in.

His body language fits the criteria needed for the character for Brick however, Steve Carell has also made that character his own this has occured through such things as his laugh and how Steve has adapted that to fit the character his movements and thought process as well how he ate that sandwich so convincingly and how his thought process thought it was okay to eat it.

Steve Carell must have studied the script in depth to understand the character Brick as much as he did, this is vital when auditioning.

Electra Blocking Act 3

At the very beginning of act 3 there is a song that is played which will be sung by the chorus. Whilst they continue to sing they wander round the space of the stage. They also do movements such as the shoal of fish exercise which we ran through in the Electra workshop.
After this the music continues whilst electra has a conversation, during this the chorus form a circle on the floor and link arms and sway sideways. We wanted a movement that wouldn't distract from the acting but would be effective on how to portray to Electra's mind.
The act goes on and the next main blocking point was when Electra hugged her brother when she realises he is alive and not dead in ash form. He is alive so Electra was told to dramatically pause when hugging him, electra was then directed to smell him, as this is a realistic movement that would occur when being reunited with somebody.
I am directed to be carried in the old mans arms after i have died down the stage which acts as a stage. My body flops either side of the old mans arms making my death look realistic

In todays lesson we also fully established how our staging was going to be set out. Below is a picture of how we have designed our stage. In the middle blocks centre up stage is where the door will be to Electra's house. This door will fully function. I feel like the staging is quite far back which may be hard to connect to the audience, but i'm sure as rehearsals continue that this challenge can be conquered.

Electra Blocking Part 1

The chorus will start the show by roaming through the audience, singing 'Lamb's Glory Box' directly to faces of the audience. We discussed this is lesson and we had further thoughts by maybe not singing it as it might sound odd against the sound track so we have decided that it may be whispered.

'Just...Give me a reason to love youGive me a reason to be a womanI just wanna be a woman'The lyrics of the song show Electra's desire to be a woman, which is significant because nor her or her sister can have children, due to their stepfather. This song basically tells the audience there is a female character who desperately wants freedom from the life she is living.
At the end of song, Electra approaches the chorus who are centre downstage. The chorus bring Electra down to the floor with them, this suggests the chorus being close with her and give her sympathy. Together, they sit in a semi-circle.The action is performed as if it's in slow motion; we whisper and joke.

In the opening dialogue between Old Man and Orestes, the chorus acts as protectors for Electra - distracting her from what is going on behind her. Electra shouts 'Woe for my hapless lot!' - this leads the chorus to taming her, such as placing a comforting hand on the shoulder and instructing her to quiet down. This comes across as effective to the audience as they show their affection. In Electra's first speech, starting 'O purest light', the chorus will be doing a shoal of fish, which we all previously had engaged in the Electra workshop, this means that the chorus had a small understanding on how to be a chorus. The shoal of fish needs to be in rhythm with the dialogue, which Electra will join and re-join throughout. After this speech comes to an end, we flood around Electra. They comfort Electra further, performing it again in a shoal of fish, which ends on the line 'To this land with happy omen brought?'
The reason i look so much at the chorus is because in rehearsals i wasn't acting as the chorus but that will be my role when i'm not playing Electra's mother this meant i didn't have much rehearsal time of the chorus so i was determined to take notes so i would thoroughly know what to do.


After that, the 'Friends' circle Electra, the chorus deliver their lines individually whilst doing so. This breaks up them saying the lines as a chorus and shows diversity to the audience to keep them on edge.

Electra and the Friends remain sat down together for a while, until Electra becomes angry, and aims certain lines at each one of the chorus This leads her to standing above the chorus and watch her intensely.
Chrysothemis enters, and the four Friends hide away in separate corners of the stage. The next time the chorus talk is in a loud whisper in unison, kneeling up to Electra and hiding again afterwards, this highlights the fact that the chorus aren't real people and only a spirit. We come out of our corners, running up and between Electra and the Sisters, acting as a metaphorical wall. The chorus spy on me Clytemnestra, and get the attention of the other friends by clapping and miming. During Electra's and my conversation of being the mother. I have to grow in anger but attempt to dismiss my anger from the audience in a way as i want them to be on my side Electra verbally abuses her Mother, which shows the audience what sort of person Electra can actually be.

Rapunzel Costume Design - Into The Woods

Rapunzel is shy but as she grows older she stands up more to the witch that locked her in the tower. For her costume i think she should have long blonde hair made by string or a synthetic hair wig. My original idea was to have her in a beautiful dress in possible royal colours like purple. Purple is also the contrasting colour of blonde so will fit in with the colour spectrum. This was the traditional costume colour from rapunzel. However, i wanted to wade away from tradition and make it our own. I looked for inspiration on the internet and only found 1 costume interpretation which was in green. The green dress was a flowing fit and had a green lighter tee shirt underneath which was an off the shoulder shirt. It would also be long sleeved.  Over this would be an emerald green dress similar to the ones in Medea but of a different material i suggested cotton or polyester.

But i thought a rapunzel wig instead of string however more expensive will be much more effective.

Her make up would be beautiful and natural but slightly over the top.

Even though her witch mother was rich and made sure her daughter was kept beautiful also there was resent between their relationships and i felt that rupunzel could express this through her slightly rebelious style.

I looked online for synthetic hair wigs as i felt this would look for relatistic and would look so much more effective than string. As i knew this was a more expensive route to go down i decided to do some research on the wigs and found 3 wigs.

http://www.wondercostumes.com/rapunzel-wig-adult-wig-ptarwdu.html

This wig is a more paler blonde that i wanted and come plaited this is the cheapest wig i found at £13. But would fit the costume well.

http://www.costumes.net/adult-rapunzel-wig.html

This wig isnt styled so could then be cut later on if blonde wigs are needed in future productions. It is a long golden blonde wig but would have to be styled into plaits but this means it can be something she does on stage as a movement this can add to the production and means she can have different styles in different scenes whether thats a down hair style or in a side plait. This wig is £16.50. This wig is ankle length.

http://www.costumeexpress.com/p/34552/rapunzel-adult-wig

This wig is quite a luxury wig and is designed with extra small plaiting intwining in her main plait topped off with red ribbon. However this comes at a price of £19

Choreography Starter Task

What is a stimulus?

A stimulus is the original idea for a piece of choreography.

Write down what these 5 different types of stimulus mean?

Visual- a type of visual stimuli could be a photograph or video.

Tactile - a type of tactile stimuli would be something you can feel, something like a hedgehog or a cloud.

Auditory- a type of auditory stimuli would be a sound or piece of music.

Ideational- a type of ideational stimuli would be a theme and idea.

Kinaesthetic- a type of kinaesthetic stimuli would be a stimuli based on movement.

What is motif?

A series of repeated movements that represent stimulus.

What is a climax in a dance choreography?

The climax in a piece of dance is the highlight of the piece, the memorable part which stands out from the rest.

Write down as many ways as you can remember to develop a motif/choreographic devices and explain what they mean?

1) Variety with dynamics

2) Fragmentation

3)Embellishment

4)Repetition

5)Canon

6)Retro

7)Instrumentation

8)Tempo

9)Size

10)Levels

Compositional structures: this is a way of forming art and giving a dance piece structure.

The AB structure- binary (two part) is one of the more simplistic structures, like a verse and chorus of a song. A and B need a transition or a link.

Chance movements are chosen at random or randomly structured to create a movement sequence or a dance.

Narrative/Episodic structures is a choreographic structure that follows a specific story line. The structure helps the story unfold and each section is a further exposure of the idea of the story. The choreographer must consider the linking/transitions of each section.

ABACADAE - structure - Rondo is a further extension of AB. The idea that A keeps returning.

ABA structure - ternary (three part) so the beginning and end are same with a contrast in the middle. Like chorus verse chorus.

Theme and variation - A1, A2, A3, A4 varying a motif, not developing into something totally new and unseen before but instead varying/ changing the dynamics, mood, space, style of A.