KEY

Historical Context- BLACK WRITING

Character Research- BLUE WRITING

CHARACTER RESEARCH- Evaluation of our performance (Brighton)

I felt much more relaxed going into our performance in Brighton than I did going into the one at the new theatre. This was probably due to the fact that we had done 2 performances now, which we were able to learn a lot from. Our biggest challenge this time round would not be nerves, it would be our change in venue. We would be competing with a cafe and a park full of people, walkers by, other street performers, cars, the elements, everything would be battling to be heard- we just had the job of fighting the hardest. 

When people try and tell you that you will need to project louder than you ever have before because of the noise you are competing with, your reaction is 'I'm sure it's not that bad,' Oh how wrong we were. We arrived to a park that was filling slowly but surely up for lunchtime, an opera singer on the road just beyond, a rock band and about every other noise you can think of that would appear in the soundscape for a park/high street/road/cafe. Needless to say, when I say I projected, it felt like shouting. Although I hope I wasn't shouting, it felt that way. All those times I've been told to speak from my stomach and use your diaphragm came flooding back as I battled with an opera singer already winning half the battle due to her luxury of a microphone. The new theatre seemed a fond memory of the times when the surrounding area in the theatre was silent. It felt like a power struggle to be heard. It was mad. This has taught me so much and is a valuable lesson before we go to Stratford. Without volume there is no words, without words there is no story, without a story there is no play and no play means no audience. To keep bums in seats we have to be heard, a lesson learnt quickly when in Brighton. 

Apart from the looming problem of projection, Brighton was one my best performances. The response from the cast at Brighton was really mixed, with some hating, some loving, some falling in between. I didn't expect it to feel as it did. I think because we didn't feel the pressure of a traditional theatre space, we relaxed, meaning we delivered a more confident well rounded performance. I wasn't nervous to be bold and brave which is something I've struggled with before. Aside from the fact that I'm not sure if the audience could hear what was on stage, I felt at home on the stage, using the props, the set and playing off my fellow actors. It was like a comfortable pair of boots instead of a comfortable, yet shaky pair of stilettos (for want of a better simile.) 

The one thing I would like to improve isn't something drastic, but a finishing touch that would polish the piece perfectly. At the very end when Benedick and Beatrice embrace, myself and Jack were unsure whether to spin, hug, do a dance or what and I think if we agree on a few things to do in that time frame it will put us in much better stead, completing the performance in a confident manner. 

Overall I am very pleased with my performance at Brighton because I finally felt like I was having fun. I felt like the words and the actions on stage weren't being recited but lived, which freed up a whole new dimension in which I was free to play. And on top of all of that, a wonderful surprise that on the whole, we kept bums in seats. 

CHARACTER RESEARCH- Evaluation of our performance (New Theatre)

After nearly 10 weeks of rehearsal, show day had come around. This was the first and last time some audience members might see it, so it was these 2 performances that had to count. Throughout the day we had our 4:30 performance and our 7:00 show, which I will be evaluating individually, noticing their different successes and improvements. 

Round 1- 4:30
One of the first things to note about this show was our audience. Reflecting on the 2 performances now, it is quite clear that our first audience were more vocal when it came to laughing and cheering. Why? Quite simple- we had a lot of friends in the crowds meaning we could take one step onto stage and people enjoyed it because they saw their friends at first, not our characters. I think having an audience like this first time round had its pros and cons. It gave us a wonderful start, filling us with momentum and confidence that we could deliver a strong piece that the audience were clearly enjoying. I think it was helpful in carrying away a lot of opening night nerves because we could tell even when performing that the response was positive. However looking at it now, I think the different audience to come at the 7:00, didn't react in the same way meaning our first performance got our hopes up. The whole cast was questioning themselves; why didn't they laugh? They laughed last time? I think our first audience gave us exactly what we wanted first time round, but by 7:00 perhaps the bar had been set too high. 

As I was in the second half of the show, I think evaluating the performance of the first half is very important and very well deserved. Call it nerves, adrenaline or divine intervention, but each and every person bought something to the stage that we hadn't seen before. Fuelled by the audiences reaction and the want to do just as well as the other 2 casts, the first half definitely set the show up. It was a moment of pride, realising that you have worked with these people for over 9 weeks and overcome a lot of barriers with them- this cast was a unit. We win together, lose together and it was wonderful to see the first half win. They had presence, timing and comradeship as a group that lifted the piece. 

When it came for the turn of the second half, we knew we had to meet, if not exceed the energy of the first half because it would take that much to carry it through. One thing that I believe went well in the 4:30 was that I was able to still play on stage within the world of the play. Every time you perform, in a different theatre, with a different prop, you can discover new things that help you deliver a fresh, vibrant performance. I think this, mixed with nerves, allowed us to carry a playful energy through the piece, which I hope did the playful  nature of the play justice. 

Something that needed to be improved from the first show to the second was my apprehension on stage. After doing a piece so many times, you know exactly what is coming; it is our job to know. However the trick is not letting the audience know and to keep living, breathing and speaking for the first time. When I came out the feedback I got was directed at my kiss with Benedick and it was a knock; you don't want any negative feedback. When people said that they wanted more, I felt slightly disheartened. After working with Jack to get our relationship as Beatrice and Benedick to reach a point in which we could access those deep rooted emotions meant hearing that it didn't necessarily translate to an audience, was hard to hear. However I realised that perhaps it wasn't the acting or the chemistry, it was the technicalities. We knew we had our peers watching and we all knew it was coming so you become nervous and apprehensive which causes you to lose the spark. We now had to make a concerted effort to piece together our intentions and our actions and I hoped to do so for the 7:00 show. 

Overall this show had the energy, but perhaps now needed a little refinement. We needed to push the energy still, but find a control with it and instead of getting caught in the playfulness on stage, be able to control and manipulate it, playing off each other in a supportive manner, both to one and other and the text. 

Round 2- 7:00
The hardest part of the second show was the transition. The effort it took to pick yourself up from that dip in energy and raise it high enough to pack a punch on stage was hard. It was almost like dragging a dead weight. It was a case of starting a fresh and not getting comfortable or complacent. If we did we would have failed before we even took a step out onto the stage. None of us are used to doing 2 shows and although that is how it may be in the professional world, I expect it is still difficult. I think what carried us through was the fact that both as a cast and personally, I felt I had something left to prove. 

In my evaluation of the first performance I referred to the difference in our audience the second time round. The difference was this; although there were still friends in the audience, they hadn't come in their numbers. Instead it was our parents and in general an older audience. This definitely had an impact on the response. Whereas we had laughs and cheers the first time, we had a quieter, reserved audience. I think this was due to the fact that people in the audience may not know the play as well as our other classmates and our parents are used to seeing us perform at this point, so the hilarity of just walking on stage is not as present. This dampened our moods a little, but it made us even more determined to go out and give everything we had. There was a mutual feeling of now or never. 

I think it is important for me to note my response to the 4:30 criticism about my relationship with Benedick. In the break between the shows, I sat down with Jack and discussed what it was we thought we were lacking on stage. Knowing each others response to that question can answer some of our own and we were able to work out different ways in which we could change our performance, pinpointing moments to push and moments to relax. I think in terms of the performance the response was better and I was able to contact Beatrice's emotions on stage, especially in my scenes with Benedick, which is something I lacked previously. I think our connection was more tender and understated than it was anything else so we had to heighten this so as to portray it to our second audience. 

One thing I want to take forward to Brighton and Stratford based on this performance is to embrace the slip ups. When we were on stage there were minor technicalities that would sometimes throw me. For example, during a quiet scene I stepped back onto one of the plastic cups which really shook me. I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that said 'I've just ruined the whole play.' When I had got past the dramatics of the whole thing, I realised that it wasn't very important and when I pointed it out to audience members it hadn't resonated as a play destroying moment. However, although afterwards I was reassured, in that moment I stopped living as Beatrice and let my fear as Olivia take over which I can't afford to do. I need to put my faith in the play, the audience and myself and know that stepping on a cup isn't the end of the world. 

Final round- Overall reflection
I am very happy and very proud of the whole cast for our first 2 performances. I believe that we discovered, whether last minute or not, that when we work together, trusting not only our own instincts, but those of the others on stage, we can deliver a high energy, highly entertaining performance that we as a cast can be proud of. Going forward I can learn a lot from these shows: I can learn from Sam's stage presence, Michael's comedic timing and Kai's deep rooted character work. I can learn from my own mistakes, looking at why I messed up and assuring that my Brighton and Stratford audience never see them again. 

CHARACTER RESEARCH- Notes

These are the notes I got from Jack this week and how I intend to use them in the following rehearsals.

Find the colour- in the scene after Hero is disgraced Beatrice's emotions have hit the roof- she is all over the place. Up until now I have been interpreting this as anger- perhaps because I felt comfortable in this state because when you are this emotional this is normally your natural emotional state. However this scene, although powerful, is delicate. I need to focus on the words she is saying and the truthful vulnerable intentions you can often find behind them. When I am ranting it doesn't always have to be on an angry tone, it can be helplessness, desperation, fear, worry. Finding this colour will give the character more depth and allow the scene to come of the page. 

Inward and outward intentions- in the same scene Beatrice says a lot of things that portray her inward and outward intentions and emotions all in one sentence. When she confesses her love she does it in such a way that she drops her walls then puts them back up. Finding the moments and the intonations in the language to highlight this will help me get to grips with my character intentions. 

Be bold, be brave- we are now well and truly into our rehearsal process so this is the time to start making bold decisions, being braver than I was in previous weeks. This requires me to get over the problems Olivia has and focus on the problems Beatrice has. I need to get a grip on the fact that it's not Olivia and Jack, it's Beatrice and Benedick. There is no reason for me now not to invest fully in the play and that's what I intend to do. 

CHARACTER RESEARCH- the 90s influence

Setting our play in the 90s means I have to have an understanding of 90s culture and the influence it has on the setting, characters and story of the play.

Fashion
Beatrice's costume is very similar to the attached picture: a tied and cropped white top, long ripped denim shorts, fishnet tights, black doctor martins and a leather jacket. Her hair is half up half down and backcombed and her make-up is made up of red lipstick and black eyeliner. This outfit falls into the 90s category of grunge. 

Grunge coincided with the Seattle grunge music movement. It was all about rebelling against the 80s aesthetic of the previous decade. It was anti-conformity, going against the American norm of consumerism, buying from thrift stores, investing in durable clothing rather than flimsy, flash outfits. It's parallel with music is said to be rooted with Nirvana's front man Kurt Cobain with music journalist Charles R. Cross saying he was 'too lazy to shampoo.' The moral of grunge was that the less you spent on clothing, the more cool you were. 

Beatrice's outfit is a blatant comment on her character. In a strict Muslim society, recently westernised by the arrival of American and British troops, Beatrice expresses her feisty, rebellious self in the way she dresses. With Hero adopting the fashion from the 1995 film 'Clueless' Beatrice's costume sets her apart from her cousin showing the blatant difference in their values and spirits. This costume allows Beatrice to have a voice and presence in a room without opening her mouth. 

Music
Complimenting the style of Beatrice in the play, throughout the whole piece, grunge music from bands like Nirvana provide the accompanying soundtrack. When you type into google 1990s music, out of all the suggestions of tracks, Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is the first to come up. Like the clothing, this style of music represented a rebellion from the previous decade. Even in the video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' you can see a weird clash of preppy American high school cheerleaders and grunge teenagers moshing around them. It was a decade in which the pattern of most decades before them appeared- the clear parallel between music and fashion.   

Setting the play to soundtracks such as the one above gives the mix of culture- a beautiful traditional house being taken by loud music and young people throwing themselves around holding red beer cups. It fits perfectly with the crazy structure of the play and really gives the character a new territory to play within. 

HISTORICAL CONTEXT- Research your own play 'Much Ado About Nothing.'

When performing any play you must have an understanding of the writer, your character, the plot and how it can be interpreted. With Shakespeare, you have the task of understanding how he himself wrote it and how it was performed to an audience in his lifetime and how that performance style differs now.

Then
'Much Ado About Nothing' was written at the very end of the 16th century first published in 1600 and then again in 1623. The first recorded performance was in 1613 for Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, for her marriage to Fredrick V. Shakespeare had many inspirations for his play one of them being from the poet Lodovico Ariosto with this section creating a basis for the marriage of Claudio and Hero and Don Johns plot to ruin it:

Credited as one of Shakespeare's best comedies, a perfect mix of comedy and tragedy with a heart warming resolution to end. The plot is as follows: after the war Don Pedro arrives to Messina and comes to Leonato's house, bringing with him Signor Benedick, Count Claudio, his traitor brother Don John and Dogberry and his watchmen.  Greeting the returning soldiers are Hero Leonato's daughter and Beatrice Leonato's niece. Beatrice and Benedick are in a long feud, the cause of which is hinted to be a love gone sour. Contrasting their spite is Hero and Claudio are have fallen deeply in love. In a bid to win Hero for Claudio, Don Pedro disguises himself at a masked dance and woos Hero in Claudio's name. Their marriage is announced soon after. In the meantime Don Pedro is determined to match Beatrice and Benedick and all the characters come together to help him carry out this plan. Whilst Beatrice and Benedick are being brought together, Don John has plans of his own; to disgrace Hero at the alter and split her and Claudio up. He does so by getting his right hand man Borachio to trick Hero's lady in waiting Margaret into meeting him at Hero's chamber window the night before the intended marriage. Upon seeing this, Claudio believes it to be Hero and vows to disgrace her at the alter. When she is jilted at the alter Hero's family decide to pretend she is dead so as to cover her shame and bring to light the true going ons of this whole family drama. It is soon discovered that Don John authored the whole plan and he flees. He is bought back to face trial but not before Claudio and Hero are reunited and married and Benedick proposes to Beatrice. All trickery is brought to light and justice and peace is restored.

Even writing this proves to me how complicated the play is and therefore would have made a great story for an audience to watch- indeed it still does. Full of twists and turns, trickery and tragedy it makes for a very entertaining play.

Now
There have been many contemporary productions of 'Much Ado About Nothing' and yet one the I believe is good to look at, especially looked at it alongside our own production is that of Josie Rourke staring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Set in the 1980s in Gibraltar after the Falklands war it mirrors our setting- the 1990s in Kuwait after the Gulf war. This play gives a new contemporary setting, but still allows itself to play within this. This allowed the play to discover new potential in the text like Hero's hen party before her wedding. There was a new humour created from the old.

Setting the stage with beer cans and cigarettes, navy uniforms for the men and baggy jeans and tops for the women, the play seemed all too familiar. By the choice of setting and prop, the piece was already breaking the mould of the classical text.

Focussing particularly on Tate's portrayal of Beatrice gave me food for thought when trying to make Beatrice my own. Tate to me already had comedic timing and presence as a women on stage, so for me it was about seeing how she used her unique personality to break the confines I sometimes feel within a classical piece. How she did this- she didn't act Beatrice well, she was Beatrice well. She was so natural and spontaneous I couldn't tell whether what I was seeing on stage was rehearsed or improvised. The nature of Beatrice's sharp comebacks have to seem like they are naturally rolling off the tongue and Tate did that perfectly. A better suited actress to Beatrice may be hard to find now.

I think you can learn things from both the original portrayal of the play and the contemporary versions. I think many people revere Shakespeare too much, considering the text a sacred artefact that can not be changed. There is no problem with respecting the language, but when you start loosing creativity because of it, you start having a problem. Watching Rourke's production has really shown me what it is to find that balance and fun within such an old text.

 

CHARACTER RESEARCH- Interrogating My Relationships

BEATRICE

Family:

Leonato- my uncle and father figure. My parents are unknown and so Leonato has bought me up with as much care as his own daughter and for that I greatly love and respect him. 

Hero- my cousin, my sister, my friend. In the same way Leonato is my father figure, Hero is practically my sister and I care, love and protect her accordingly. 

Antonio- my uncle. I love him because family is important to me. 

Friends: 

Hero- as stated, Hero is my closest friend, in the same way that she is the closest thing I have to a sister. 

Ursula and Margaret- as my maids, they are a large part of my life and know many aspects of it, both private and personal and therefore I would consider them friends, even if by circumstance only.

Acquaintances: 

Don Pedro- I do not know him well enough for him to be called a friend (although his marriage proposal may tell a different story) yet I have respect for him as a gentlemen and a good man. 

Claudio- I know him first and foremost as my cousins lover and also as Benedick's dear friend. Like my maids, we are acquainted by circumstance, so I would not go so far as to call him a friend- especially when he hurts my cousin, in which case he falls into the below category. 

Enemies: 

Benedick- my conflict with Benedick makes him first and foremost my enemy. I profess to hate him publicly (whether or not that is true in private is another matter.)

Claudio- I declare Claudio my enemy very publicly, to the extent that I ask his best friend to kill him; there is no quicker way to become my enemy than to become the enemy of someone I love.

Who do I openly like?

Hero- my closest friend and cousin, I will openly love and defend my cousin and do the opposite to anyone who does not.

Who do I openly dislike?

Benedick- I spend most of time openly disliking Benedick- whether that is because of the betrayal from our improvisation or another reason, there is no one else I take that much enjoyment out of disliking.

Who do I secretly like?

Benedick- my open dislike for Benedick is a mask for a feeling that I've buried, but not killed. I never let go of the feelings I had for him although sometimes I wish I did. 

Who do I secretly dislike? 

Margaret- basing this relationship off our improvisation, my relationship with Margaret represents the phrase 'forgive but never forget.' After she betrayed me, to get by, I forgave her so I could move on, but I will never forget what she did to me. 

It is always important to know your character's relationships, but 'Much Ado About Nothing' is a play based on complicated relationships and how they change and interlink so I couldn't play my character if I didn't know the subtleties of some relationships and the blatant presence of others. Beatrice is a character who bases her actions and opinions on her relationships with others. Some of her relationships can be interpreted by individual actors and they have helped me cement the kind of Beatrice I want to be. 'Much Ado About Nothing' relies on my understanding of the above relationships. 

This photo represents the hierarchy within my relationships of the play. At the bottom are the maids Margaret and Ursula because socially their position in the household is the lowest. Next comes Hero; her position is debatable because she is Leonato's daughter and his only heir, meaning she technically has a higher position than Beatrice. However her weaker characteristics mean she came just below Beatrice. Next is Beatrice; although she is the same position as Hero, her parents are not around meaning her guardian, although her uncle, would not guarantee any inheritance. However her strong spirit put her above Hero on our hierarchy. On the same level is Friar or Imam. Although there is a power in nobility, there is a power in spirituality which wouldn't top Leonato, but definitely second Beatrice. At the top is Leonato, household leader and everyone else's host. If he said get out, they would.