Section 2
This week, we had another member of the cast missing and so one of us had to step in to read the lines and also when we started experimenting with lifts, one of us had to step in again. This set us back slightly as we wanted to get as much of the script blocked in the first 4 weeks of rehearsal so that we could maximize the time perfecting it but we had to slightly adjust our plan. We then decided to experiment with frantic assembly lifts instead so that we could decide which ones worked better and which ones were easier and were easier to get into.
We decided that this week would be my week to be the central director and Alexis would be reading in the lines whilst I explained the lifts. She would also make notes throughout the process and then we would discuss the changes in a small director's meeting after the rehearsal. I also asked Alexis to be an extra spotter on each of the first times doing the lifts so that we were very aware of the safety of the person being lifted.
We kept to our original plan slightly in that we ran through section 1 to check that everyone had remembered where we put the movements in and we made sure that we reiterated the fact that we didn’t want any other movements to happen apart from the choreographed ones. This is something that the cast was struggling with both this week and last so next week I think we need to incorporate an activity into the warm-up that will allow them to get into the nature of the play and re-emphasise the need for no movements.
We then did a read through of section 2, which is the shortest section of the play, and asked the same question to the cast: when do you think the audience's attention will falter? We all established that we think it would be when the subject moves onto quite scientific statistics and ideas and so we all agreed that there needed to be a big movement at this point so that the audience would stay connected and interested through the lines that they might not understand.
This is where we brought in the idea of a frantic assembly lift as we have had previous experience of learning how to do them and we've also got videos that we can look back on to help remind us. Before this, me and Alexis went through the videos that we took at the workshop we did with frantic assembly and made sure that we knew all of the safety features that need to be established before we lifted anyone in the air. We started off the process in our cast, by establishing and giving each person a specific part in the lift for example, "the rock," "the sides" etc. And we made sure that everyone knew what their role was in the lift and we highlighted the danger aspects of the lift and made sure that everyone was focused on the person that we were lifting instead of anything else that was going on. Despite me having to step in, we still carried on with doing the lifts instead of postponing it to next week because we knew we wanted the frantic lift to go into section 2 so if the majority of the cast know where it is, we could still do a run through of section 1 and section 2 together and we can just say the lines. Also we have had a chat to the year 12 who was missing and they understand the concept of the lift and what they need to do, we just need to do the full lift with everyone involved.
We started off with a plank lift which required everybody and I think that the cast adapted well to the corrections that we gave them, which included the placement of their hands and altering the way that they stood in order for them to have the most balance. Here is the first frantic lift we did: https://youtu.be/1ao29wgUEIU
After we had had a couple of tries at it, I made sure to ask the cast something that they found easy about the lift, something that they found hard and then something that they thought could be added if needed. Majority of the comments were that the coming down from the lift was very easy for everyone and everyone found it very easy to get to their next position. The hard comments were mainly about the going up of the lift as we established that Leah, who was being lifted, needed to lift a leg in order for her to push off the floor and also to get her weight onto "the rock." I then decided to step in and establish an idea that we could do for an improvement which was to add a turn in to the lift. So when Leah was stable in the air, we would then rotate her so that she went from her stomach to her back and then was placed down onto both feet. I thought that this small change could be added in as this would be the first big movement that the audience will have seen and so we wanted it to look as interesting as possible. The cast agreed and we had a try. For this lift, we made sure that there was an extra spotter which was our teacher just in case we had a fall. https://youtu.be/ZGS2W0MmdzE
This was the full lift sequence that we want to incorporate into the piece. https://youtu.be/9e23XyvZ-ZU
After we established the full sequence we then did a run through of the whole of section 2 with the lift. https://youtu.be/ZfGvDtLMLyU We think that we need more fluidity between the lines and also we established that everyone is speaking in the same tone and so we need to highlight that they can still talk as themselves instead of having a dead tone of voice and not using their voice to juxtapose everyone from each other.
We decided that this week would be my week to be the central director and Alexis would be reading in the lines whilst I explained the lifts. She would also make notes throughout the process and then we would discuss the changes in a small director's meeting after the rehearsal. I also asked Alexis to be an extra spotter on each of the first times doing the lifts so that we were very aware of the safety of the person being lifted.
We kept to our original plan slightly in that we ran through section 1 to check that everyone had remembered where we put the movements in and we made sure that we reiterated the fact that we didn’t want any other movements to happen apart from the choreographed ones. This is something that the cast was struggling with both this week and last so next week I think we need to incorporate an activity into the warm-up that will allow them to get into the nature of the play and re-emphasise the need for no movements.
We then did a read through of section 2, which is the shortest section of the play, and asked the same question to the cast: when do you think the audience's attention will falter? We all established that we think it would be when the subject moves onto quite scientific statistics and ideas and so we all agreed that there needed to be a big movement at this point so that the audience would stay connected and interested through the lines that they might not understand.
This is where we brought in the idea of a frantic assembly lift as we have had previous experience of learning how to do them and we've also got videos that we can look back on to help remind us. Before this, me and Alexis went through the videos that we took at the workshop we did with frantic assembly and made sure that we knew all of the safety features that need to be established before we lifted anyone in the air. We started off the process in our cast, by establishing and giving each person a specific part in the lift for example, "the rock," "the sides" etc. And we made sure that everyone knew what their role was in the lift and we highlighted the danger aspects of the lift and made sure that everyone was focused on the person that we were lifting instead of anything else that was going on. Despite me having to step in, we still carried on with doing the lifts instead of postponing it to next week because we knew we wanted the frantic lift to go into section 2 so if the majority of the cast know where it is, we could still do a run through of section 1 and section 2 together and we can just say the lines. Also we have had a chat to the year 12 who was missing and they understand the concept of the lift and what they need to do, we just need to do the full lift with everyone involved.
We started off with a plank lift which required everybody and I think that the cast adapted well to the corrections that we gave them, which included the placement of their hands and altering the way that they stood in order for them to have the most balance. Here is the first frantic lift we did: https://youtu.be/1ao29wgUEIU
After we had had a couple of tries at it, I made sure to ask the cast something that they found easy about the lift, something that they found hard and then something that they thought could be added if needed. Majority of the comments were that the coming down from the lift was very easy for everyone and everyone found it very easy to get to their next position. The hard comments were mainly about the going up of the lift as we established that Leah, who was being lifted, needed to lift a leg in order for her to push off the floor and also to get her weight onto "the rock." I then decided to step in and establish an idea that we could do for an improvement which was to add a turn in to the lift. So when Leah was stable in the air, we would then rotate her so that she went from her stomach to her back and then was placed down onto both feet. I thought that this small change could be added in as this would be the first big movement that the audience will have seen and so we wanted it to look as interesting as possible. The cast agreed and we had a try. For this lift, we made sure that there was an extra spotter which was our teacher just in case we had a fall. https://youtu.be/ZGS2W0MmdzE
This was the full lift sequence that we want to incorporate into the piece. https://youtu.be/9e23XyvZ-ZU
After we established the full sequence we then did a run through of the whole of section 2 with the lift. https://youtu.be/ZfGvDtLMLyU We think that we need more fluidity between the lines and also we established that everyone is speaking in the same tone and so we need to highlight that they can still talk as themselves instead of having a dead tone of voice and not using their voice to juxtapose everyone from each other.
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