Improvisation with Maya

Today we did duet improvisations with characters in the play who are influential to our own. I was paired with Maya who plays Mrs Bergmann, Wendla's mother. We decided to focus our scene around the breakfast table just before Wendla goes off to school. The improvisation lasted for about ten minuets and within that time we uncovered some really useful background knowledge about these two characters. 

The scene started with Wendla and her mother discussing a book Wendla was reading. This then changed into Wendla asking her mother about romance and babies. This was a really interesting topic because in the play Wendla doesn't stop until she finds out everything about reproduction. It developed into a convocation about what happens why the stalk comes. In the play I have a line 'A boy! That's why she had the flu for so long!' Maya and I discovered from this improvisation that Wendla's mother told her that when someone is expecting a baby boy from the stalk, they get a terrible flu for nine months, with regular vomiting and a bloated stomach and when someone is expecting a baby girl they get a really bad stomach bug, hence the vomiting, bloated stomach and slight weight gain. This was really interesting to experience as it gave purpose to that line which I have been struggling with slightly. We then moved onto Wendla's dad. Her mother doesn't like talking about it but Wendla becomes more curious and as the improvisation went on. We developed what we discovered in the hot seating. Although Mrs Bergmann never caved in, it was still very useful for character development to see each of the characters different reactions.

The improvisation helped develop our characters connection and relationship, but also helped Maya and I set up that Mother and Daughter dynamic. I found the tales which Wendla's mother told her about reproduction very interesting and it explained one of my lines in the play. Discussing the dad was also very informative because both of us saw each others reactions concerning the situation. The fact that Maya is a young mum came up, making us think that possibly she was in a similar situation as Wendla was. All of this is helping me to become this character and plan out her life. I feel as if I now have a comfortable bubble of Wendla's life around me and I can access that whenever I need it. I always find improvisations handy as they allow the actor freedom to make decisions about their character. The past few improvisations have been extremely helpful for me and I now feel completely immersed in Wendla's world and connected with Devan.

Improvisation with Animals

As part of today's aim was developing our character, we spent time focusing on our physicality, vocals and our characters existence outside of the play. Before we did the classroom improvisation, we explored our physicality using animals and breath. We laid down on the floor in semi-supine and steadied our breathing, going through several breathing exercises to control our breathe and work on our breath quality at the same time.These helped us become relaxed and ready to embody our character on a more physical scale. This is always useful to me as it grounds me in the room and opens my mind up to receiving new experiences and choices. 

Once we were relaxed and prepared, we were told to think of an animal that has similar characteristics and physical traits as our character in Spring Awakening, like a spirit animal. I knew the animal had to be inquisitive and bold but shy and sweet looking, At first I chose a Meerkat, thinking it would suit Wendla, but I changed it to a Kitten fairly quickly as I felt they are sweet and innocent looking but can be vicious and are very curious with wanting to try new things. (After the exercise Devan and I spoke, discovering she had chosen a cat. This worked brilliantly at showing Wendla at different stages within her life that Devan and I represent, I the more playful and niaeve and Deven being the more experienced but quieter). Kittens have a lot of energy and have a confidence for trying anything, even if it'd hurt them. 

Next we had to slowly embody our animal and start bringing them to life in the room. I started exploring and sniffing the chairs and walls, trying to climb onto things and looking into empty boxes and bags. I moved with haste and purpose around the room, immediately copying someone else if what they were doing looked interesting or exciting. After a few minuets of exploring the room to some music, we were then told to start interacting with the other animals in the room and respond to what was given to us. We also had to recgonise the human director in the room and react to him being there. I found the room very exciting and thrilling, being a small but excitable kitten. I would go up to the other animals, exploring them and then backing down if they frightened me or were too intense. After a while a rested for a bit, attempting to intimidate certain animals but backing off at the last minuet. 

The next part of the exercise involved a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being 100% animal and 1 being 100% human. As we went through the scale, some animal traits were clearly left behind, for example walking on all fours or the animal noise we were making, although some stayed. For example I noticed Saskia's character's animal was a fly and she kept the buzziness nature and skittishness of a fly alive, but more internal. I noticed I clung onto the curious nature of a kitten and continued to lead with my head slightly. My pace became slower but I still observed the teachers and other students until they either ran off or disciplined me. We kept going down the scale until we reached 2 where were we stopped changing and stayed there for the rest of the rehearsal. This is because it is helpful to still have a bit of the animal quality within us, still have that playfulness and jitterness associated with our specific animal. 

We continued moving around the room in out character. Different music was introduced with a more human quality than the track before. We responded according to the track, so altering our pace, mood etc. Now our characters were as they would be in the play, we started exploring the space. I noticed Jackie have very bold character choices which made her stand out from the rest. She had managed to incorporate her animal within her, creating an unique Headmistress. We were then allowed to interact with the other characters and I found myself instantly drawn to my friends, but my attention seemed to be pulling towards Melchior and seeing what he was doing. I started to copy him, only slightly and stand near him until he moved closer. Props were then added in, backpacks for the girls, over the shoulder bags for the boys (both genders having headphones too) and the teachers a notepad and pen. While most carried their backpacks on their backs, I swung mine around and played with it a lot more, not caring too much about it. This exercise helped me phsycialise Wendla, as that was one of my blocks. That kitten like nature which Wendla has will help with certain scene in the woodland.

Improvisation

Today we spent the whole lesson on character development. We did many improvisations, solo and collectively to help us explore our character's lives outside of the play.The settings and situations were form the world of Spring Awakening but not in the play itself. The first was a classroom setting. We placed the chairs in a lecture/classroom layout and all the students entered the class in character. Instantly the scene came to life, the teachers watching over us and correcting the students on sloppy appearances or bad behavior or for just the smallest offence. I went straight to the front, sitting almost immediately in front of the classics teacher Logospasm. As soon as she tried to teach, the rowdy school atmosphere instantly came to life and felt extremely real. The back row were messing around with Hans getting a few detention slips and Melchior being asked to leave at one point for talking back. The teachers all stood behind us and would call out discipline whenever someone disobyed the rules of the classroom. I found myself answering all of the Latin questions and ending up with a detention slip because I correct the teacher at one point (Latin is Wendla's favouirte and best lesson) The improvisation then moved onto lunch time, with the boys and girls on separate tables. I was really interested in seeing how the other girls would treat each other and how they would respond to the boys table being just opposite them. It became apparent that Wendla was the natural leader of the girls group as she spoke the most. Thea and I found ourselves giving some of our food to Martha for later as we knew she wouldn't get fed properly at home. Lizzie, Humera and I thought we might explore this later on in our woodland scene, playing with the dynamic of Martha's cruel home life and how we look after her in that sense. 

Once school had finished, the girls all clustered together in the court yard and watch the boys who were grouped together on the other side. The teachers again were watching us all making sure that once we have left we got blessed by the Priest and hadn't taken anything suspicious home with us. Music was introduced which seemed to amp up the after school vibe of feeling free. It gave the boys some confidence and Hans, Melchior and Morietz trailing behind all came over to the girls. I noticed Wendla was the first to speak to them and instantly found Melchior, Thea quickly followed and then the rest. The teachers then hurried us away and we all left school. 

The whole improv was extremely fun and freeing, for myself and the rest of the cast. It gave us an opportunity to all exist at once in three different settings which never happens in the play. It was great to see how the girls all reacted around each other and how being taught in such a suppressed school affected my character. It was interesting to see the different genders all looking at each other across the courtyard and seeing who would make the first move. As Latin is Wendla's favourite class I found it really useful to see how she would exist in that. Again this has been useful to get a rounded look at Wendla within the world of Spring Awakening and see what life would be like if I were really her.

Hot Seating

Today in rehearsal we looked at the acting game Hot Seating. This is a very good exercise for learning new things about your character, such as their life, history, personal interests and thoughts towards other characters. The contextual setting for the hot seating was that our character, so Wendla, had been invited to The BRIT School to be interviewed by the fellow students. All information would be classified. This would happen around the start of the play, therefore affecting out answers, responses and questions, so they wouldn't be affected by the action of the play. I was also very keen in discovering more about Wendla's past, as well as the other characters. 

Our group decided to set  a few questions that we would ask each character and then ask a few free questions leading on from their response. I decided to go first. Seth filmed my answers and I typed them up below:

• What's your favourite colour and why?Blue. Like the sky, because I always feel like the sky is really open and free and I like the feeling of being free. Oh and Blue really suits my eyes as they are blue too.
• What's your first memory? Going up to the apple orchid with my sister Ina and us picking apples and then making fresh apple juice in the afternoon. I don't know why I remember it. I think it was the first time I've ever been outside properly because we have a garden, a small garden, but we have a small forest by us but because I was only like five at the time I wasn't allowed to go in it by myself, and it was the first time I'd ever been in there. 
• What's your relationship like with your family?Um, I've got a very close relationship with my mother and my sister, um, not so much with my father because he left when I was just seven and then he died a year later. I don't know what he died of and I don't want to, don't feel the need to know, I'm fine not knowing really. 
• What's are your hobbies?I like reading, and um walking. I visit the poor which I really enjoy, that's a really fun hobby. I read historical things often there's a male in it and a female and they often fall in love and I like stories like that. Like romance although mother says I'm too young and aren't aware of it.
• What's your favourite item of clothing?Probably my ...see I would say my fairy dress, but it's not really my favourite. I think my favourite is this coat my mum got for me when I was about six. It's quite short and it's got lots of buttons and flowers over it and it just reminds me of being outside. It's blue and it's wool, so it's like a winter coat. That's why I liked it, it was like Spring in Winter
• What's your guilty pleasure?Chocolate. Mother only allows it on my birthday and Christmas.
• What's your favourite way to wear your hair?Loose and flowing down my back. Sometimes I like it when mother plates the front of my hair back and ties it with ribbon. 
• What causes you the most stress?Probably seeing mother upset because I know it's probably something that I've done and that doesn't make me feel comfortable. 
• Who was your first love?My Mother.
• What's your favourite song?It's, it's like this jazzy number by James Sherman and his Orchestra. It's really sort of...I don't know, it's not really suitable for my age I don't think but I always remember my parents putting it on and dancing around the sitting room to it. It always makes me feel something, even though I don't like dancing because I feel really exposed which I don;t mind but I'm not very good at it and I don't like doing things that I'm not good at and I don't like not understanding why I'm not good at things.
• What's your favourite subject at school? Probably Latin. Because it's so old and I love how its survived you know since like the Romans and it seems so romantic and it's like a lost language but we're still speaking it and I just think there's something really enchanting and magistic about that and I really like it. And I'm good at it as well.

Through hot seating I also discovered a fair amount about Wendla's past. For example her father isn't mentioned in the text, and Devan, Maya and I had discussed before that he had died, but it wasn't until hot seating that the story of him leaving mysteriously one day and then dying a year later only came up through hot seating. Afterwards I spoke to Devan and Maya about it and they said it sounded realistic. I found it interesting that her favourite lesson was Latin because she found it romantic and mysterious. Later on we did a whole cast improvisation where all the kids were in a Latin class, so that was extremely handy to see how Wendla would be in that circumstance. I found this process extremely useful and a great imagination exercise. I have always loved hot seating because I enjoy putting my own ''spin'' on a character and finding their past by myself. It is now more obvious to me who Wendla is and what she believes in. She has had a very cushioned and loving family life but has had enough and wants to explore her world for herself. 

When taking on the role of the interviewer, I was very interested in all the characters pasts and understanding their family and background. We started off using the questions as templates, but I soon found myself leading off them and asking more personal and specific questions for each character and spurring off their responses to the set questions we devised. For example, when interviewing the mysterious masked man we focused a lot on his past and how he came about doing the job he does. It turns out he does what he does due to personal experiences. He was beaten and abused as a child and came close to suicide himself before thinking that he could help others. He is younger than I expected and keeps his family close to his heart. This sparked questions such as 'Where is your mother now?' and 'How do you keep doing to job you are doing?' Besides these heavy questions we asked slightly lighter ones to try and figure out his personality. We got the impression that he was trying to do good in the world and stop young adults from doing something they might regret, as he almost did. It was also interesting to see his opinion on the suppressed society, as he spoke about how he thought this was the main reason for him having to do this job in the first place.

I found listening to everyone else as they were being hot seated very engaging as it brought out some answers that I didn't expect and lots of specific and thoughtful answers. I found out more about each character which helped my understanding of the play. It was interesting to see Ashleigh as the Headmistress without Jackie, as we could really question her about why she need oxygen and her background. It helped me as Wendla to understand her friends and teachers a little more. It was a lovely inclusive exercise as we were all watching each other delve deeper into our characters mind set and therefore develop the play character wise all together.

A still from Wendla's Hot Seating session.

The Mirror

As Devan and I share the role of Wendla, Tim wanted a clear way of showing to the audience that we are the same person at different points in her life. From the beginning we were told that there would be a mirror in Wendla's bedroom which would be a two way mirror, meaning that when the light shone on it the audience would be able to see through it, thus revealing either Devan or myself. During rehearsals Devan and I practiced mirroring each other, especially in the opening scene when we have to be as one, trying on the sackcloth and talking to our mother. At first we found this tricky to do but after practicing we managed to figure out a routine of trying on the dress and looking at ourselves in the mirror (this is done over My Body Is A Cage). We didn't get to try the mirror until the tech run, so we were all unsure as to whether it would look effective. During the run we played around with the lighting to make sure that when either Devan or I were behind it, the audience could see us. The image above is from the dress rehearsal and I think it looks extremely effect and atmospheric. It becomes a crucial part in the journey of Wendla, as it is how the older or younger Wendla communicates with the other. It's quite ghost like in it's appearance which contributes to the haunting atmosphere this play has.

Declan Donnellan Applied

Another practitioner which we have been studying this year is the director and theatre practitioner Declan Donnellan. He is a contemporary director and is joint director of the Theatre Company 'Cheeky by Jowl' who prodominatley produce classical theatre but make the plot and general overall idea more modern but still keeping a lot of the set and costume the same as when the play was written. This is similar to our production of Spring Awakening. We all felt that is would be wise and important to look at a practitioner whose idea's focused on character building and overcoming obstacles in rehearsals rooms and on stage. 

The first idea we looked at was Donnellan's ideology of Blocks. Blocks are things and situations which get in the way of you feeling comfortable and relaxed on stage. They can be physical or emotional. First we were asked to list all the things that we thought were our blocks and what we were struggling with when it came to rehearsals or existing on stage as our characters during a performance. Here are some examples:

• Over thinking the lines and being stuck in the same way of saying the line, so having the fear of it sounding boring or monotone
• Being too aware of the audience and causing nerves, thus affecting the performance
• Vocals not being strong enough
• Unsure of the blocking for some scenes and feeling restricted and awkward by that
• Not sure how to say the lines
• Lack of connection between two characters/actors on stage
• Not knowing how to feel all the time
• Fear of looking too robotic and not feeling free to explore the stage, being controlled by fear
• Not feeling comfortable in costume and feeling weird and subconscious when wearing it
• Not having the right character choice and not seeing where one can go with it
• Not liking or understanding the character which results again in thinking too much 

I've highlighted the ones which I feel quite a lot and ones in which I need to get over. After a short discussion, we discovered that the above blocks seem to be the main issues people deal with and can be fitted into the categories laid out by Donnellan in his book entitled 'The Actor and the Target'. The categories are:

• I don't know what I'm doing
• I don't know what I want
• I don't know who I am
• I don't know where I am
• I don't know how I should feel
• I don't know how I should move
• I don't know what I'm saying
• I don't know what I'm playing

Declan Donnellan teaches that the real Block we all experience is that we don't always understand how, as actors, we should feel about the problems we are facing. He states that the real problem with all the blocks listed above is the idea of the block being their in the first place. He says we need to stop over thinking about ourselves and think through the eyes of our character.  If we are focused on how we as ourselves are existing as our characters in their world and imagine ourselves saying their lines then we can never truly know what to do within the play; we can never be truthful. He teaches that we shouldn't always know how we are feeling, as it is that uncertainty which makes us human and therefore realistic in our characters. Donnellan says there is too much emphases on wanting to know everything about our character which takes the existence of our character away, he says we should just be alive in the moment. 

One theory he has to help overcome Blocks is the Target. A Target is something to focus on during a moment in a scene, similar to actions or objectives, wants or points of concentration. The principle is that whenever you are on stage, you always have a target to think about and sometimes look at.Your target should always be in your characters mind even if it isn't needed in the room or on stage. For example when I am talking to Melchior about Martha's beatings, my target is Martha even though she isn't in the scene. Donnellan produced six rules of the Target. They are as follows;

1. There is always a target
2. The target exists at a measurable distance
3. The target always exists before you need it
4. The target is always specific 
5. The target is always transforming (changed and determined by the target) 
6. The target is always active and in helping you pursue an action 

As well as Targets and Blocks, Donnellan focused on high stakes in a scene and how they effect the character's choices. Similar to Stanislavsky's actions and units, this is where an actor notices their characters highest stakes within the play and note them down; clearly stating the want and potential form the scene and then the loss and gain from that want and sight. As well as noting all these things down, you give the stake a sensible title which sums up the scene and then an imaginative, silly one to ease the tension. Devan and I worked on these together and here are Wendla's highest stakes:

The Wanted Beating/the kinky foreboding switch 

seeing: to experience new things and emotions 

gain: access to herself and the world Martha lives in

loss:she's stuck, she could go insane with the want and her curiosity could get her into sever danger

Reproduction Discovery/the truth about the stalk

seeing: to find out where babies come from, about her beginning and why she is in the world, understanding herself

gain: the understanding of herself and humans, understanding her primal self

loss: find out how they are made somewhere else which could be dangerous or not being able to access the adult world so she can never mature, stuck in a child-like frame of mind

The Hayloft/scary realization for Wendla

seeing: she needs to escape from Melchior, it's outside social order, she sees herself as an outsider

gain: she has gained new experiences and got away safely 

loss: her innocence and respect from her mother

The gain is something which your character gets out of from doing the high stake and the loss is something which your character could lose if they didn't do it or if they did. These exercises helped me immensely with getting over my personal blocks and again just developing my character along with Devan.  

 

Michael Chekhov Applied

Michael Chekhov was a firm believer in the actor using his/her imagination to create their character and make it personal to them. We studied Chekhov in depth during acting technique but Tim did this exercise with us to deepen our character work. This exercise marked the first of many acting and character developments we did in order to strengthen our  choices on stage. After a few vocal and character warm ups, Tim took us through this exercise:

We had to close our eyes and imagine our character standing in front of us. We pictured what they looked like and noted it down. I pictured Wendla as wearing a light pink satin fairy dress with a frayed hem as it had been unpicked so many times with rough light brown shoes and white long stockings which had been rolled down. She had thick long auburn hair which curled at the end, pale skin with a few freckles over her nose, large hazel eyes and a slim figure. Her chest had just started to develop and was made obvious by the ill fitting fairy dress. She was medium height and had a sweet and innocent look to her. She used her eyes a lot and secretly enjoyed being the centre of attention.  
After we had a clear image of what our character looked like, we then had to breathe them in on our in breath and slowly over a count of eight we would be come the character we had pictured in front of us. We then took on our characters physicality and pictured them doing an activity but being distracted b something else (linking this in with Stanislavsky's circle of attention exercise) I pictured Wendla eating breakfast but not being interested in it as her chest was hurting and she couldn't understand why. We then took on this action and started doing it.

After a while of living in the action, Tim got us to shake off the first presentation of our character and close our eyes. We had to see our character again, this time looking completely different.  This time a taller and more developed Wendla was standing in front of me. She has curly black hair which had been plated at the front but allowed to run free down her back. Her eyes were brown with long lashes and she had slightly fuller lips and cheeks. Again she was in a fairy dress but this time it was longer and less ''fancy''. It had a rip near the hem and was a washed out grey with lots of peeling off lace around the collar line and sleeves. Her boots were jet black and neatly laced. She had a brown leather backpack on one shoulder and mud on her knees from climbing the tree. 
Once we had this new character in our minds, we then had to see them doing another action, this time breathing that in over a count of ten. When we had merged into our new character's action, again being distracted by something, Tim added on another factor; seeing how our character would respond to being either hot or cold. My second action was sorting out food and clothes for the poor family I visit but I couldn't stop thinking about my body, my feelings towards Melchior or how reproduction works. I started to get hot, fanning myself with the clothes and putting the cool jars against my face. I noticed afterwards that Wendla likes the sun but hates being hot, so when she got warm, she tried everything to cool herself down. Just after I had cooled myself down, I began to feel cold which I welcomed. I noticed that feeling cool wasn't a problem for Wendla, it just made her work harder as a means of warming herself up. 

Succeeding this exercise we then all feedback about how our two characters looked and what it was like to perform two actions of theirs not stated specifically in the play. I discovered that Wendla didn't like the heat as it slowed her down and she is quite a fast paced character. I also realised that she thought a lot about Melchior as to her he has all the answers to her questions. This exercise was extremely useful for me because up until now I had struggled slightly with picturing Wendla outside of Spring Awakening, so through doing this I have no gained a new knowledge of my character. I spoke to Devan afterwards and one of her actions was sorting out food and clothes for the poor too. We hadn't planned this so it felt really good to see that we had done the same action, as I now feel that we have a good connection and shared understanding when it comes to Wendla.