Project Proposal

Diploma in Performing & Production Arts

Unit 8 Project Proposal

Section 1: Review

So far in my course I feel have become a better actor and are now more confident than I was in my abilities as an actor. I've worked on Chekhov and his idea of Psychological Gesture when I had to switch between my 2 characters in 'The Three Sisters' meaning that I had to instantly get into role. I have used actions in both of my productions and worked more on units of action which worked very well in our production of 'The York Realist'.  I have also worked with the Donmar Warehouse, a theatre company in the industry and have learnt carious skills such as physical theatre and acting tactics to draw the focus to myself when needed. Physical theatre is helpful to me as it will allow me convey emotion and meaning in movement not just in the lines I am saying. The acting tactics will help me to draw the attention of the audience when I want to show that what has happened has strong meaning or importance to the plot of the story, this makes the character's objective and emotion more clearly to the audience. I have also learned that physical theatre is an important tool in the acting industry as it can be used to show not only set but props as well but also includes actors that would otherwise be off stage. I feel as now I know more about the theatre industry I have an even larger interest in becoming a part of it.

Section 2: Project Concept

For our production this term we are doing "Fugee" by Abi Morgan. The production focuses on the life of Kojo a past child soldier now living in asylum in the UK, the story follows him from when he was younger and what has happened in his life to lead up to the climax of him killing someone in the play. At the beginning of the play we see the climax, Kojo stabbing the man and the reactions of all the characters around him, this is also where we learn the characters names as they break the fourth wall and talk about how they as characters are being played by actors who are not them. The play is a long story about the protagonist Kojo which often has anecdotes that act as scenes for the past events in his life, characters often break the fourth wall making it hard to feel immersed in a story which is always stopping and the characters always just telling you that they are actors. This production allows us to use all of the skills that we have been either learning or making better throughout the year such as actions, tactics and objectives. It also allows us to be creative in our ability to stage it, where we spoke about how we would stage the flashbacks that occur momentarily in some of the small scenes. The script is very basic and does not allow much room for interpretation having all the lines said in certain way in order to get the right response from the other character to progress the story. I feel the themes are also quite basic so will not require much research but rather more time put in during lessons to stage it better and use movement to make it more original.

Section 3: Evaluation

For this units evaluation I plan to document the work I have been doing from the use of my blog and note taking in class. In each session I will take pictures and make notes of things that we are changing throughout the production process and what we end up doing for each scene. I will also speak to the people in my class about what they think of my acting in the scenes and how they think I could improve on myself, then apply this to the next time I do that scene. I feel like a good way of evaluating my progress is through videos recording what we are doing in class in various scenes, this will allow me to see for myself exactly what I was doing and how I can improve on it. The camera will be placed in the audience so I can get a better feeling of how it all looks for them and work around it.

Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography

My research for this production  will include looking at different productions and rehearsal processes of 'Fugee' and how other actors have displayed certain roles through sources such as YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e62pEep2zOk I am also going to use different adaptations of the script such as David Workman's ideas on the script when he put on a show at the South Wark Playhouse in April 14th 2015 to help me with my scenes which will show me how other writers direct the lines to show the meaning, this will allow me to give the most meaning and context in my lines to make the audience as engaged and interested as possible. I have also been looking at the review for this and what their audience thought of how they demonstrated the script, this would allow me to us the best parts in my own production. Review: https://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-fugee-southwark-playhouse/

Project Action Plan and Timetable
Week	Date Week Beginning	Activity / What you are intending to do - including independent study	Resources / What you will need to do it - including access to workshops
1	17th  April 2018	Receive the script and think about our first impressions of it.	I will need to have the script.
2	23rd April 2018	Begin to look at other productions and have more discussions, look at the scenes in chronological order.	We will need the script, a full class and YouTube to look at certain clips.
3	30th April 2018	Reach the end of the script with some generally basic ideas about lighting and sound discussed in class.	We will still need our scripts, a full class and successful research for lighting techniques and sound clips.
4	7th May 2018	Start to fine-tune our ideas from the production process and work through our scenes in a chronological order making sure we all have our lines learnt.	We will need a full class, certain scenes recorded and feedback from teachers and peers.
5	14th May 2018	Mainly focus on the scenes that are not as strong as the others working more on them to make it better.	We will need a full group and scripts even though this is when we should start to no longer require it.
6	21st May 2018	Run through the production as many times as possible without the actors having a script in hand.	We will need a full group and someone to prompt actors who get stuck and feedback to see what scenes need work.
7	28th May 2018	Finalise our ideas and have our first technical run-through then after leading into us performing our production	We will need the WHOLE class, technical crew to work lighting and sound and the theatre space to rehearse and perform.
8	4th June 2018	Watch back the footage from our performance and note down both the negative and positive aspects of the production.	A video of our performance in order for us to make notes and have material to work from.
9	11th June 2018	Evaluate our performance and our production process.	The video of our performance will be needed still, some notes after watching and peer feedback for our full evaluation.