The end of week three- the truth!

Hello my little blog readers,

So, I write to you on Monday evening of the fourth week! That means that at the end of this week, I am half way through the course! Ah! It is going so fast! And I'm glad it's going so fast, because that means I am learning and doing a lot!

So, I say 'week 3- the truth!' Because I have been having a lot of "coming to terms" with things moments. Not in a hugely pro founding, going to change my life moments, but close to it! All the experience of learning more about myself, and as a performer and an artist, and asking myself 'Indeed... what is all this stuff I have been learning, doing to me?"

I am feeling changes, physically in my body as one only feels if going through full time study, because your minnd and body are in complete training and there is such focus on your technique, rather than searching for the next gig, which can often pre occupy an actor.
Over this eight weeks- I am completely engulfed in Shakespeare, so it's all I am thinking, seeing and doing! And once again, like when I was studying it at University, I feel just how much Shakespeare and his words, plots and phrases of speech are seeped into modern society, so much most people don't know they are speaking Shakespeare when they do.
This past week I have really appreciated our two amazing Alexander teachers- I did go over Alexander while at university and learn the basic principles, and I think I have known what it is about and what the aim and it's importance for the actor, definitely.. but it's far harder to  know how to put it in to practice. I mean, when in class you do exercises and you try things and we are having one on one  tutorials in both voice and Alexander and really getting to know my spine more- but when you're actually up on the spot, performing your monologue or doing a scene, your concentrating on so many different things that these others things you have learnt in class can be forgotten. Ok, not s much forgotten, but when you're nervous and tense, those habitual responses arise again.,
Katya is an amazing teacher who has been teaching Alexander for about ..oh..twenty years! :o Did I mention my music teacher has been teaching at RADA for thirty years? That's more than my whole life!
But, but to Katya. She really is a special teacher- I have found many of us have connected with her. She is very personal and really does treat every person as a individual and her touch is glorious! It seems like she is actually doing that much, but she will just put her hand on your spine or your collar bone and suddenly you're standing differently, you're feeling different, and as I found out in my tutorial,when I did some lines of my monologue, I sounded so resonate and present in my words.
Something that Dowie, our other Alexander teacher said was probably the highlight for the week for me for these classes. One guy in our class, Ryan, asked Dowie " How do I know when my head is in the right place?"
I understand this question- you often feel like what you have is not "right" or you need to remember when to put your head to be in the "right alignment" but Dowie's response was a great one. He basically said, there is no right position. It is just what it is, and one can only really go by a feeling and when they notice they are present with their body because every day, every situation, every moment of your life is different. So, there isn't going to be a 'right" and wrong" position for you- because every day that is different.
It's hard to get around this concept, because I think as a performer, you're constantly told to be aware of your alignment, your knees, your spine, and Yes, you have to be-especially for stage, and most certainly for Shakespeare. If your body is not free, how can you express all those little bubbles of excitement and emotion and guts going on in side you?
Of course, I write this now, after we did our Sonnet presentation ( our very first presentation) today in front of all the other students and RADA staff. And can I say I thought I did an amazing job and blew everyone away? No. Haha, but I can say it was definitely a very good exercise for where we are in the course right now.
As many of the teachers said after in our feedback, they thought presenting a sonnet as actually one of the hardest and most enjoyable, but hardest) tasks an actor can do. It's so short- you have 14 lines to say everything you need, and then it's over! As one teacher said, if you're performing a large part in a  play, in one sense, at lest you have the whole play to rectify yourself, or to find more moments, explore the character. When you're playing the small part and you get that one chance to come on stage and say a very small amount of lines- that's it, that's all you've got, and you've got to make the most of it!
An important note about sonnets is Nona, the head of the course, said it's almost like you have to imagine you've written the sonnet yourself- it's words that need to be spoken by you, have had to write to express something and you NEED to say those words. There's no other words you can say. You Need to express them, you need to relate those thoughts, that are happening in that very moment,like they've never happened before.
I can't say I think I got everything, but I feel I did get a certain level of clarity that I was proud of and I did enjoy myself. I speak of Alexander work, and habitual tension, and that's exactly what happened to me. I think because I was also most so conscious of all this amazing work we've been doing for three weeks, that's all I was thinking about when I was up (ok, not all I was thinking of, but it was very present in my head), and so it added a certain tension (particularly to my shoulders) and then that meant my thoughts were reduced in some way.
It was great seeing everyone get up and do their pieces. Some people, I don't have in any of classes, so it was the first time I'd seen their work. Everyone had the same moments like I did - either clarity was a problem, or taking too many beats between words and not enough flow, not using the end of the line, physically tension and habitual habits when nervous, like smiling etc So, I was not along in this, I will say.
Although I have been performing for quite a while now, seven years, I tell ya what, you never stop learning! Never!
It sounds all a bit negatie or fulll on, but really it wasn't. It was a fun experience, being together in a room adn reciting sonnets. And as Nona said- it's probably best to perform sonnets after a beer or two- not that that's encouraged haha but that when you're with a  group of people, having a  good time and relaxed, most people would probably perform them in a manner unlike today- they would be more free because they would not be self conscious of all we have learnt and trying to apply it all. That is impossible. And so what I am challenging here is my ability to put things back into simple terms for myself- just simple questions and answers like" What do I want?, why do I need to say this right now, how do I want to affect the other person?" Simple questions and be aware but not on edge of technicalities.

Anyway, I must go to bed, but we have another big week coming up. Tomorrow we begin to seriously work on our sonnets and Stage combat, both of which we present in week six. We also begin dance classes this week!
Outside the course, I am trying to see what opportunities I can get to meet people in London theatre ( with some contacts as before leaving home) and what my plans are after the course. Trying to see as much theatre as possible. Next week I see a show at the Old Vic ( Richard III with  Kevin Spacey :P), The Royal Court and Soho Theatre. I've already done the Haymarket, Vaudville, Wyndhams, RADA shows and more. Trying to squeeze it all in and get the most out of it!

Til next time!
Claire :) 

Much Ado about Shakespeare...

Hello dear friends,

Well, it's my second week in and that means my second blog,...yippee!

I will say straight up, that I am writing this at 11pm on a Sunday night after a very big weekend, so my thoughts are a little rattely, but it's ok!

So, what's been happening? I must say, this week gone by has gone very fast indeed!

We have been starting all days this week with Shakespeare workshops with one of my tutors, Nick Hutchinson. Nick started as an actor with the RSC and now mostly directs. He has a lot of knowledge and he's one of those teachers that gets you up to do something, proves his point and then talks like as in a lecture for the next 20 minutes, says many interesting things and then gets you up to do something else.He is very ope to questions and is incredbly funny!

What was great for me this week was Nick talking about the Church scene in Much Ado About Nothing. He loves the play and has directed it at least twice I think, so he knows the scenes and the characters very well. In the end it's his opinion, and Nick makes that very clear, but none the less, very interesting opinions!

As Nick has been saying, it doesn't matter what you want to do, but what an actor needs to do is ask the Right questions and you will find what you need from Shakespeare writing about what you can do and where you can go with the text.

So, back to Much Ado About nothing.

Do you know the play? Well, if you don't..in a nutshell, there's this guy called Benedick who's a bit of a larrikin, and there's this chick called Beatrice who's a tad harsh on men. Both constantly tell others around them that they will never marry. They have a bit of wit though between them and it seems there's some attraction going on...in fact, Beatrice has the line “I know you of old” which can tell the reader that her and Benedick have actually  possibly shared some intimate moment before but for whatever reason, Beatrice has been hurt and has blocked all men out of her heart, and most definitely has blocked out Benedick.

The comedy of the piece is that both Benedick and Beatrice's mutual friends decide they will make them fall in love with each other, by letting them both overhear that the other loves the other. Does that make sense? Benedick hears that Beatrice loves him, and then he realises he loves her! She hears the same and realises that she loves him! A happy ending! Not yet...Shakespeare knows how to make much more drama than that!

So, her cousin, Hero, falls in love with this other solider which happens to be Benedick's mate, Claudio and a wedding happens. With a whole lot of plot in between that I can't write all here, Hero is shamed at her wedding by Claduio as Claudio is led to believe that she has cheated on him.She hasn't of course, but he's pretty cetain and leaved her for dead! Ok, she isn't dead, but um..sorry, that's another plot line.

So, Beatrice is left in tears after the wedding. For the first time in the whole play, after all the other guests have left, Benedick and Beatrice are alone.

Nick went through with us what as a director, he thinks the audience want, and what the characters want.

The funny thing, is that I then saw Much Ado About nothing last night, starring Catherine Tate and David Tenant playing the leads at the West End. So what was great, was that after the class I had, I was watching this scene with particular joy!

What does the audience want? We know they love each other. We want a LOVE SCENE!

What does Beatrice want?

Her first opening lines are...blunt. She is telling him to go away! WAIT? Where is our love scene?

Benedick: Surely I do believe your fair cousin is wronged.

Beatrice: Ah, how much might that man deserve of me that would right her!

Benedicl: Is there any way to show such friendship?

Beatrice: A very even way, but no such friend.

Here Benedick has a choice. He loves her. She has told him that he can't help her and really, to leave her alone. Either he can go, or he can prove his love.

Benedick then lets out one of the most famous Shakespeare lines

“I do love nothing in the world so much as I love you, is not that strange?”

And yet...we still don't have a love scene. Although Benedick has confessed his love,he just seems to makes thigns harder for himself. By ending the phrase with “ Is not that strange?” in some way, holds back his total commitment of his love. It's not because he doesn't feel it, it's because, Shakespeare has written this in the most human way....He is scared!!

Beatrice then it seems does not know how to respond.

“As strange as the thing I know not. It were possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you, but believe me not, yet I lie not. I confess nothing nor deny nothing. I am sorry for my cousin”

Benedick still wants a love scene and here, she has really still told him to leave her alone. Although she is tangling her words with the fact that she may love him, after what's happened, it really isn't the time!

Then, he continues. He tells her he knows she loves him, but he still doesn't get it! He needs to say the words clearly for Beatrice will take no less.

“Will you not eat your word?” Swearing your love is not enough!

Then finally.

Benedick: I protest I love thee.

And we have a love scene!

This was so enjoyable to watch last night. Catherine Tate and David Tenant just made the changes so clear and the feelings so strong. They made the stakes high. And Shakespeare knows how to make them go higher!

After Beatrice decalres her love back, we are all happy. The characters are happy, the audience are happy.

 Benedick says he will do anything for her. Then,...

She asks him to kill Claudio for shaming her cousin!

Ouch.

Not such a love scene anymore. Oh Shakey, how you tricked us!

I could keep going on...but I think this scene, amongst many others of Shakespeare's love scenes, Shakespeare has many, may of his leading men, needing to prove their love before the woman accepts it. They need to come up to the woman's emotional intelligence level. His women are so uinbelievably funny and smart women. Smarter than you or I! The men, well...are, well, a little behind. Benedick, Orlando, Orsino, and many more, all have to prove their ability to be with a woman who is usually yards beyond them.

Anyway, by the end of this scene, although Benedick tries to explain to Beatrice there is no way he could kill his best friend for her “We'll be friends first!”

he knows that this is what he must do. Because she has asked, that is enough. And with this, they both know, that really, him going to a dual with Claudio is almost near certain death.

But he does.

Of course, he doesn't die-it's a comedy thank goodness! And in the end, everyone gets married and is happy.

There's a lot more that can be said, but, I think it's enough just looking at that ONE scene and the many levels it has in it, yet again, proves that Shakespeare truly is a master!!

And now for something not so interesting! My daily schedule!

Thought I would write out what on average one of my days are here so you have an idea!

7:10 exactly- Wakeup

7:20- Yoga,and getting ready, packing books, especially the Complete works!

8:00- Eat Breakfast!

8:20- Leave for RADA

8:30- Sign on on Cheines st RADA office

8:45- Stretch and warm up in class room before teacher arrives, go over lines learning

9:00- Class starts punctually with Shakespeare Workshop

1055- Language and Style

1300- Lunch

1345- Character in text

1500-Alexander class

1645- Stage Fighting

1800- Finish class

Some days we have then onwards.

18800-2030- Monologue work

up unitl 2100- Tutorials with one on one work with teachers in Alexander and Voice

2100- Eaten dinner somewhere in this time, read homework, learn lines

2300- Bed!

We also have classes in Sonnets, Physical performance, Voice into text, last scenes, singing and soon, Elizabethan dance.

Latest news this week- For my Monologue I will be doing a piece from King Lear- Goneril. A character I doubt I would ever be cast as, so I am going to enjoy working on her.

Then, we have found out our major show, our 1.5 hr Shakespeare production will be Loves Labours Lost! I have never worked on that script before, so once again, it means a big learning curve for me, discovering another play.

In the end, I realise this blog was all about one scene, but it really was the moment for me this week that encapsulated everything I'm learning and seeing it done well in practice!

More news soon...I now have some more reliable internet access, so I might try and do some more frequent and shorter blogs to get more information out that I am learning! Might be easier for you to read aswell..

hehe

Thanks for reading, hear from me soon!

xxClaire

Arrival, the first week

Hello, hello, hello,

Firstly, I must say sorry it has taken me so long to write the first blog from London...I know, you must all just be dying to hear the news! : p

So...where do I begin? I beginning I suppose.

Arrived here last Thrusday and was warmly welcomed by relatives...who gave me a bed, food and much needed attention after 28 hrs of flying...the weather was beautiful and I really could not of asked for a better start here.
Since Monday I have begun my lodging at the Univeristy College of London. Thanks to the Ian Potter foundation, I could afford this incredibly central room to stay in, right next to RADA and all of the city!

And so on Monday, the first day began. We started by doing a our monologues in front of the whole group ( there is 30 of us) and infront of all the RADA staff that will be looking after us for the next 8 weeks. Quite scary in some ways as most of us were still tired from jetlag and disorientated. Like all first days, it was a day of information and one gets so overwhlemed, you eventaully give up pretending you know it all and just shake your head to go with the next load of information. In the past, I would worry I didn't know everything straight away, but I am slowly learning that you only need to know what you need to know when you need it, so there is no need to panic. No need, I say!
And so the week has progressed, with having taken a class for each subject.
The subjects are of course on Shakesopeare and his text, but also technique classes, as you would get at any acting school-voice, body, movement. Our subjects go from Language and style, Voice into text, Laban, Alexander, Stage Combat, Elizabethan dance (later in the program hehe), and now we begin work on sonnets, scenes and monologues. We present all of these from week 4 to week 6. In the final two weeks of the course, we work on a smaller version of a full shakespeare production. I'm exicted!!
And so the work begins. This I am grateful for. I just want to work on a script again! I want to be involved in this course deeply, as to  get the most I can from it. I have been exposed to acting school before- I've been through this before...the long days, the cheap food, the tiredness- you go home and you read your lines and then you go to bed. So, really, the oddest sensation for the past week has been living in central London and not seeing any of London yet!
Biggest things I've remembered from lessons this week? The importance of the breath, the voice and body in all of our work as actors. especially for the stage. It's easy to seperate these things into their technical elements- but in the end, whether it be stage combat, or Alexander technique, we always have to bring it back to acting. From the breath, to the thought,to  the intention,to the words, to the end of the line, the end of the speech, the end of the act and to  the end of the play.
But then- we can also not be too hard on ourselves. As one teacher said, everyone has 'things'about their body or voice they feel they need to fix. Everyone has their own personal demons. But even if at acting school, or receving any form of training, you cannot think that these things about yourself are 'wrong' or 'bad' -They just are what they are, and as actors, you need to be aware of them and do your best, but do not punish yourself.
Other thgouths... we cannot be general in our thoughts or intentions, we cannot judge our characters. This is not just for Shakespeare, but for any actor playing any part. If we decide how a character will be, if we decide to use words to judge them, deciding what they are....then discovery cannot be possible!Yes, it sounds a tad farty, but it is true I think. It's our job as actors to come into the rehearsal room with offers...be an open actor!
And of course- the words..the words, the words, the words...Oh Shakey! Your talented bastard!
As actors- when we come to Shakespeare- we don't need to add a layer to the text- you don't need to make up for anything. As actors, we often feel we need to show something, prove we have understood the text, show an audience 'I'm an actor!' Yes, we know! Shakespeare knew too though...he knew exactly what the actor needed (because he was one!). He gives Everything  in the words..the direction, the thoughts, the layers, the emotiona- fear, love, anxiety..it goes on and on....
But, an actor cannot treat these words as though it is yet another piece of any old text. It can't be 'a cop out' (as pasty rodenberg says) nor a 'bluff'...an actor can't treat the text as though reading from a newspaper, but once cannot talk in a RSC voice with a leg up in the air, belting out formal poetry...it is poetry, but it is heightened realism...you need to respect the text and it's structure. Within the structure is an unbelievable amount of freedom Shakespeare is giving you!
One more thing...if we look at how shalespeare wrote- each actor only got thir part a few days before to learn, and they only received the line before it, and they would have rehearsed the play, only once through before having an audience. And in that , maybe 3 hrs they had to rehearse, did they get time to maybe rehearse soe of the fights and dances. Then they were on. When you look at the text, Shakespeare is gving instruction in all of it...the actors have no choice but to listen, because they are alwasy, at the very least, waiting for their cue line, they are listening to where they should be on the stage...its actually quite incredible!
And, another point a tutor made, whiched I loved- we also look at art and think, art is a noble thing- made for the passion, the love, and to teach the world what it  can...infact if you look at one of my above blogs, I went on and on a bit like this. These things are true- but really, most of the time, it can still caome back to entertainment- and that means business and money. Shakespeare wasn't just writing these plays to show us what we are as humans- he was doing it to put dinner on the table! He was making some good money! The investors behind the tehatrees- wanted new plays each day so that the same paying crowd would come each day! Money! Entertainment and money! Alot fo the time, most things in the writing are not from an arty place as such0 it's more rfom what was practical at the time, and what was cheapest or easiest! ha!

And so, anyway,  to finish my week I have had an amazing weekend finally exploring a bit of London...hell, I saw the Royal family on Saturday! I also  saw the big ben, westminster abbey,visited the Tower of London, all that jazz.
 The fist major scene I work on  is between Lady Percy and Hotspur from King Hnery IV...I must admit, I'm pretty ...ah, weak...with my knowledge of the histories ( although I did perform last year in Richard III with the Queensland Shakespeare ensemble, which helped me alot) and being there, in the Tower of London, where so many deaths and prisioners occured, where a chracter I [layed last year ( one of the princes in the woer) was, where the very kings and queens that appear in Shakespeare's plays were once, it is an experience!
So, another week to come. I am slowly getting to know everyone in my course, it is a big group with many different background and skills. Some younger and some older than me, some people experienced, some not so much, but I can tell everyone is learning so much already...
I shall write again next Sunday or some time close too. And.....If you want to know, I'm learning sonnet 76.....hehe
xxClaire