UAL Level 3 Performing Arts Acting

The Three Sisters The script that we have been given has been adapted and translated for modern use by Benedict Andrews. We began looking at the play 'The Three Sisters' by Anton Chekhov. We sat in a group and read through the first couple pages of the script and were given characters to speak as so we could get a feeling of the characters right from the beginning. This is useful as it allows us to adapt to the new roles as soon as possible. Our teacher then began explaining the events of the story and the main characters. The three sisters, Olga being the eldest at 28, Masha the middle sister at 23 and the youngest Irina at 20. As a class we spoke about what we thought were some of the main themes in the play, we decided them to be: Family Conflict Relationships Politics Dissatisfaction  Class After this we the read the first scene a couple of times and discussed the potential blocking that may occur in the scene. We decided the best way to see how it will wor...

If I was going to design the York Realist I would set it in London in the 60's as there was a lot of controversy towards gay people in that time, this would be good as it would show the comparison to it being in York where there were fewer gay people. This contrast is strong as there would've been more attempt to hide the fact that George and John were gay, for example they would use Polari more often than speaking normal English to hide their homosexuality.  Instead of making George a farmer I would make him a police officer which would further show the conflict of being a gay police officer. I would still keep John's role as a theatre director as it would work well with him being in London as the main set. I would still keep Doreen but this time she is already with George which further explores how far he has gone to keep his sexuality a secret.   As far as lighting and sound I would still use different levels of light to show a change in time and music to cre...

We completed the setting up of our blogs and looked at the different ways we could structure it or lay it out. After this we discussed our own knowledge of the plot to Romeo and Juliet in as much detail as we possibly could. Leading on from this we were then split up into groups of 4 to create what we thought as a group were the most important scenes, my group decided this to be where Romeo first meets Juliet, their marriage and when Juliet finds Romeo dead of poison. Today we learnt some improvisation techniques which helped us as a group to focus and to think of things on the spot to keep acting scenes moving fluidly. This is a useful technique as it allows us to adapt if anything goes wrong during the performance and make it seem as if nothing has gone wrong until it is able to get back to what it should be. We began the lesson with a vocal warm up to relax our vocal muscles and to improve not only our pronunciation of certain words, but the articulation of diff...

Health and Safety Risks of Romeo and Juliet Production. One of the most obvious health and safety risks comes down to spacial awareness, for example when you are acting and are fully immersed in the role, you may become forgetful of your surroundings, this could lead to knocking into people, props or even falling of the stage. To avoid this you could always make sure you always have have the audience in front of you or casually glance around you but make it seems as if it is part of the scene, this makes it look more real and less out of place. The ensemble scene when everyone is on the stage is a time to be most cautious as there are loads of people around you which could lead to the injury of them or yourself. Another risk is pulling a muscle on stage which could be due to not warming up which is one of the most important thins before a show. Warming up not only decreases the risk of injury, it also helps you to perform better as an actor by making your bo...

Fog Everywhere, is a played devised by the Level 3 Performing Arts Acting students who worked alongside the Lung Biology group to give an insight to the dangers of modern pollution, they also included a look back at the smog filled Victorian London era which is believed to be the root of our pollution problems. The play also gives you an insight to how the world will be in the future due to pollution constantly being an increasing problem making the air worse which is showed by thick smoke drifting across the stage. The show begins with 8 actors coming on stage starting to have a competition to see who can blow the balloon the biggest in a single breath, the actors who manage to blow the largest balloons are appraised and a hierarchy is then formed with them at the top of it. As an audience we then become aware of our own lungs and start to concentrate on our own breathing and consider how big we would be able to blow the balloon. On top of that it also make...

Show Evaluation The performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Shaw theatre was more of a success than a failure. The careful planning and rehearsals that went into the show truly helped to make it the best as possible. At the start of the show I felt it was a bit weak as this may have been due to the nerves of actors not being used to performing on a big stage in front of a large audience. It definitely picked up as we moved through the scenes of the play, the audience appeared as if they were enjoying it as their engagement was definitely noticed. They responded by clapping and laughing along during the scene playing out. One of their biggest reactions came from the kiss between Romeo and Juliet, they probably did not expect the actors to actually kiss but their professionalism definitely helped to make the play more enjoyable and engaging to be a part of. I still felt as if the start of the party scene lacked concentration despite it bei...

Themes are relevancy of Shakespeare in 2017. Many people still believe that Shakespeare is relevant today as  they believe his influence on the English language is something that should not be overlooked. He has created certain sayings and words that are still used in today time and will probably be continued to be used in the future.  Shakespeare invented around three thousand words, which were added to the English language. Some examples of these words are bedroom, hint, swag, uncomfortable and assassination. If Shakespeare had never been alive the English language would not be as it is today and we might be using very different words in our everyday life. His work is seen as universal and enduring and the characters that he created link in very well with that idea. The concepts that he came up with such as  Hamlet’s anguish, Ophelia’s distress, the enduring love between Romeo and Juliet could be seen as recur...