Evaluation

Our final performance in the new theatre went extremely well and was definitely our best run of the piece. Considering how chaotic our dress rehearsal was previously, I think the entire class was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. I feel the entire group picked up in both energy and focus than previous, this is evident as the play ran a lot smoother in the final thing than in any other rehearsals.

One of the strongest aspects of my won performance is how well I knew my lines. During the process of learning them, I made sure I knew everything I was saying to ensure that it sounded as natural as possible. I put in deliberate effort to make sure I was speaking clearly and with clarity to ensure that I would be understood and I feel like I did that effectively. The three of us playing chorus members had the really hard task of carrying the different acts and helping the audience understand the different scene changes, I attempted to combat this by putting as much energy as I could into my lines to ensure that they were entertaining and engaging for the audience. Being engaging was particularly important as not only is it Shakespeare - something that people find hard to follow, but also we were performing for three sides so we needed to ensure that everyone got an equally entertaining performance. By being confident in my lines, I was able to pay more focus on my performance and delivering the lines, rather than worrying about what I had to say next.

I really liked the contrast between the three different Shakespeare productions, though they're all different types; a history, a tragedy and a comedy, they were all starkly different. An aspect of Coriolanus I really liked was the energy of the cast, everyone was working at a 10 without a single person dropping in animation or passion. Each performer was extremely dedicated to the work, obviously working with their character's instincts to remain truthful, which worked extremely effectively. The extreme contrast between the tragedy and the comedy was extremely interesting, Comedy Of Errors was light-hearted, extremely funny and very, very enjoyable. An aspect I really enjoyed was how distinctive and definite the characters were, each actor had obviously put a lot of effort into their character work and it definitely paid off as they were all interesting and intriguing  and very entertaining to watch. Both pieces worked extremely well off the text and their context and settings worked really well at telling the story, neither of them felt out of place and all three productions tied together in a well executed Shakespeare season.

One of the weaker aspects of the performance I feel was during the transition in prologue 4 with creating the English's camp. I think the sound effects were too loud as well as the noise movement of the set, this made it harder to be heard whilst saying my lines. So not only did i feel this weakened the show purely because we were being drowned out by the noise, but it also meant that it was a lot more challenging for us as actors as we had to work extra hard to be heard over the movement. However, by the end of the prologue, it was a lot more effective as the movement had stopped and we were able to explore the scene with more freedom due to not having to work over the noise. However, I also believe that the movement of set in other parts of the play, for example; the setting up of the battle, worked a lot better than it did in rehearsals. we were able to move the props to the correct places in order for the battle scene to run smoothly whilst also not drowning out the lines being spoken on stage. This was particularly successful as we often struggled in rehearsals with getting the transitions done smoothly and quietly, without causing too much chaos - however, in the actual show, we managed to do it right.

Two of the strongest performances overall I believe was Leanne and Maria play8ing Bardolph and Nym. Both actors took real creative initiative and developed their roles into two really unique character's and personalities. Maria was comical and dramatic with her delivery, giving Nym real character - causing her vocals and physicality to be extremely engaging. Leanne portrayed Bardolph boldly and confidently against Pistol, however gave real insight to Bardolph's true personality with his reaction to nell putting her hand on his leg - giving a true comedic moment in an otherwise quite serious play. Both performances were refreshing and intriguing to watch, especially the way they interacted with one another, leaving myself wishing they had more scenes to play with. Furthermore another particularly strong performance was that of Jasmine's. Jasmine has an extremely strong voice as well as lots of stage presence which enabled her to portray a really captivating and demanding King, she was extremely believable. Her delivery of the "Once more onto the breech..." speech is one of the strongest moments in the entire show, she has very good clarity in her voice which with her good production causes her to demand to be listened to - a very effective quality for someone to have when playing a powerful leader.

One of my personal weaker moments was when I forgot my line mid-prologue. Though I managed to play it off and didn't make it obvious, it was extremely irritating as it hadn't happened in rehearsals and it completely threw me off. Though the rest of the prologue went perfectly fine and it was just a minor roadblock, it was the only thing that went wrong personally for me during the show which I could've done with not happening - especially with how much effort I put into my lines. However, this meant that when I went off stage I made sure I was completely prepared for the next prologue in order to make sure I did not forget another line - this was effective as that was the only mishap for me that performance.

Throughout our development process, for the most part, I think we were extremely successful working together as a group. Though we did have some moments of disruption, we did manage to get a lot of work done. The most effective and successful part of her rehearsal process I believe was our physical development lessons with Rachel Lincoln, not only did these enable us to push ourselves with our physicality when acting as men, but they also helped us create a really effective and unconventional battle sequence. Everything I learnt in those lessons about the male physicality I kept in mind whilst I was on stage, making sure I stayed in the mindset of a man both physically and mentally. Furthermore, our battle sequence in the final performance worked really successfully with everyone on beat and in character, with no one falling flat and causing the entire moment to it's loose effect.

Looking at Shakespeare this term has not only deepened my appreciation for his works, but it also has helped me gain further understanding in how to explore and present his work. I believe that all three final productions were all extremely entertaining whether they were tragic, comedic or historic and that each worked very hard to produce the highly successful work. I have thoroughly enjoyed this term, studying both Henry V and Shakespeare himself. I have learnt lots of new skills and gained new knowledge that I will definitely use in the future when exploring other Shakespeare plays, and I am extremely looking forward to putting on our final performance in Stratford Upon Avon.

ACT 5 PROLOGUE

"Now we bare the king towards Calais, grant him there, there seen. Heave him away your winged thoughts athwart the sea." Now we bring the king towards Calais and once we've seen him there, heave him back away towards England. "So swift a pace hath thought that even now, you may imagine him upon Blackheath, where that his lords desire him to have born, his bruised helmet and his bended sword, before him through the city he forbids it. Being free from vainness and self glorious pride, giving full trophy signal and ostent, quite from himself to God." You may imagine him on Blackheath where that his lords say he should go on procession carrying his helmet and sword. But he forbids it, as he is free from vanity and gives all his credit to God. "The emperors coming on behalf of France to order peace between them, and omit, all the occurrences whatever chanced. Till Harry's back return again to France." Imagine an emperor coming working on behalf of France. He wants to bring peace between the two countries, skip over everything between then, until Harry's back and returned in France.

I personally find this prologue the hardest as a I feel it's extremely wordy and there's a lot of different thoughts that I don't feel flow as naturally as the others do. I feel I have to pay the most attention to this one to ensure that each line of dialogue I say is exactly as the text states rather than paraphrasing. There is also the added challenge of making sure that we're being heard over the noise of the set being moved to be set up for the final act. This means that I have to work hard at both making my lines flow as naturally as possible as well as projecting loud enough to be heard perfectly.

ACT 4 PROLOGUE

"Now entertain conjecture of a time, when creeping murmur and the pouring dark, fills the wide vessel of the universe." Now use your imagination to conjure up murmurs and darkness that engulfs the wide universe. "From camp to camp, through the foul womb of the night, the hum of either army stilly sounds, that the fixed sentinels almost receive, the secret whispers of each others watch."  From camp to camp in the darkness of the night, the armies are so quite that those left standing believe they can almost hear the other camp's whispers. "Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames, each battle sees the other's umbered face" Fires are lit on each side, and through their flames, each army thinks they can see the face of the other. "Steed threatens steed in high and boastful neighs, piercing the night's dull ear." The horses of each army answers the other's loud and boastful neighs, interrupting the silence of the night. "The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, and the third hour of drowsy morning named." It's a drowsy morning at 3am. "Proud of their numbers and secure in soul, the confident and overlusty French do the low rated English play at dice."  The confident and proud French play dice, betting on how many English they would capture. "Chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, who like a foul and ugly witch doth limp so tediously away." They scold the slowly moving night, taking so long to pass. "Upon his royal face there is no note, how dread an army hath en rounded him, nor doth he dedicate one jut of colour unto the weary and all watched night. But freshly looks overbears attaint with cheerful semblance and sweet majesty that every wretch pining and pale before, beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks. A largeless universal like sun." There is no evidence of the mighty army he is surrounded by in his expression, nor has the night robbed any colour from his looks. His face is fresh and cheerful, that every sad wretch takes comfort when they see him. "Where - O - for pity, we shall much disgrace, with four or five most vile and ragged foils right ill disposed in brawl ridiculous. The name of Agincourt."  To the battle we must go where we will represent with four or five of our most worn out fencing foils, a travesty of a battle that disgraces the name of Agincourt.

I really like how descriptive this prologue is, it really visually sets the scene rather than just narrate what's happening, like previous prologues. It conjures up really powerful images that I like playing with vocally to ensure that they're presented in a way that the audience can also imagine them through our words. However, we have to put extra effort into projection as the set is being moved around us and we have sound effects on top of us that added together can be quite loud and it's extremely important that we're heard.

Contrasting Classical Role - Portia, Julius Caesar.

Shakespeare's historical dramatisation of Porica Catonis, Portia, is the second wife to Marcus Junius Brutus, known as Brutus. She is the daughter of a Roman who took the side against Caesar. She grew so comfortable with being Brutus's confidante that she is extremely upset when she finds him troubled and he won't speak her mind. She kills herself by swallowing hot coals out of grief after Anthony and Octavius became so powerful. Though Portia has very little stage time, she's extremely interesting when looking at the play's dynamics in reference to gender. For example, she calls Brutus out; "Within the bond of marriage, tell me Brutus. Is it excepted that I should know no secret that appertain to you?" - that he's been keeping things from her and that because they're married there should be no secrets between them. She gets so fed up with him excluding her that she says by keeping her out of things, he's treating her more like a prostitute than a wife, "If it be no more, Portia is Brutus' harlot, and not his wife." This is an extremely bold thing for a women to say to her husband, to call him out on his neglect and poor behavior, something that would've been uncommon in both Julius Caesar's and Shakespeare's time - this is something that initially drew me to her character.

My monologue, taken from Act 2 Scene 1, in which Portia has found Brutus out of bed with obvious something is bothering him. One of the hardest things about my monologue is that if I personally was directing it in a scene, it would involve contact between Brutus and Portia, however as I am doing the monologue by myself - this will prove a challenge. I'm going to have to work hard at portraying everything that Portia feels towards her husband hiding things from her without having another actor on stage with me to make that connection physically real rather than just through the words I am speaking.

The Battle Sequence

I personally really liked how the battle scene has panned out as we have been able to take an artistic and creative approach to something that would usually be handled quite messily. Battle scenes on stage have the tendency to end up looking like awfully choreographed play fighting and I feel we managed to incorporate WW1 battle techniques - fighting from afar - in a way that wasn't so glaringly obvious. It's also useful to remember that in actuality, these are women in a factory, they're not going to be to stage a fully fledged battle sequence in the middle of their work space - they can however, have a pretty good artistic alternative.

By using the different levels of the wooden tables and steel-deck, we are able to explore not only the different levels that would look physically and creatively engaging, but also link back to the reality of WW1. By using different levels and having the cast come up and over the set, we're able to create a piece that's more intriguing than a boring battle sequence. The different levels also link back to the army's use of trenches back in the Great War and how they would fight using guns from afar rather than coming into contact; the way they would've fought in the Battle Of Agincourt.

As I've never held a gun before nor played a character that is both a man and in the army. It's interesting from an acting point of view to explore the different physical decisions needed to play the role effectively and creatively. It was also challenging in the sense that we had to remember to carry the male physicality whilst carrying out the sequence, because by dropping the physicality, the whole sequences loses the intended affect. The entire scene drops. The physicality needs to be held throughout the entire thing for it to be effective. So not only do we have to time the movements and walking perfectly to make it look effective, we also have to carry the male physicality throughout the entire thing - whilst holding the gun. Not only will this be a challenge for myself, as I have the tendency to forget about other things when I'm trying to focus on something certain, I feel it will be a huge challenge on the group as a whole as throughout the entire battle we have to rely on one another. We have to rely on one another to all keep the energy up, to keep with the timings and to keep the physicality up. Not only does this challenge everyone physically and creatively, but also individually because we all have to play our own part whilst trusting the entire group to make it work.

ACT 3 PROLOGUE

"Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies, in motion with no less celerity, than that of thought." On imagination's wing do we move quickly onto the next scene. "Suppose that you have seen the well appointed king at Hampton peir embark on his royalty, and his brave fleet with silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning." Imagine that you see the well equipped king at Dover with his entire fleet. The fleet fan the sun with their banners. "Play with your fancies and in them behold, upon the hempen tackle, ship boys climbing." Let your thoughts run wild and imagine the ship boys climbing up the ship's rigging. "Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give to sounds confused." Imagine you hear the whistle, giving out orders across the ship. "Behold the threaden sails, borne with th'invisible and creeping wind, draw the huge bottoms through the furrowed sea, breasting the lofty surge." Picture the linen sails being driven by the strong wind as they sail through the high and harsh waves. "Oh, do but think you stand upon the rivage and behold a city on th'inconstant billows dancing, for so appears this fleet majestical holding due course to Harfleur." Imagine you're standing on the shore, watching a city float on the sea, you'll have an idea of what this majestical fleet looks like on it's course to Harfleur. "And leave your England, as dead midnight still, guarded with grandsires, babies and old women, either past nor not arrived to pith and puissance. For who is he whose chin is but enriched with one appearing hair that with not follow these culled and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?" Leave England, silent as midnight, guarded by grandfathers, babies and old women. For what male who is old enough to have a single hair on his chin would not want to follow the fleet into France? "Work, work your thoughts and therein see a siege." Think long and hard, work your thoughts, and imagine you see a siege. "Behold the ordnance on their carriages, with fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur." Imagine the large canons with their huge mouths aiming for Harfleur. "Suppose th'Ambassador from the French comes back, tells Harry that the king doth offer him, Katherine his daughter and with her, to dowry, some petty and unprofitable dukedomes." Imagine the French ambassador returning to Henry to inform him that the king offers his daughter Katherine along with some unprofitable dukedomes. "The offer likes not, and the nimble gunner with linstock now, the devlish cannon touches." Henry doesn't like the offer and the nimble gunner gets ready to light the cannons. "And down goes all before them." And down goes all in it's path. "Still be kind and eke out our performance with your mind." Still remain kind to us and indulge in our performance with your imagination.

WOMEN AT WORK

This is an extremely interesting watch and listen; the memoirs of a munitions factory worker during WW1. Mrs Hall's words really show how hard these women worked every single day, 10 hours straight, just to help contribute to the war. It was really interesting to hear how Mrs Hall had been working with women who's husbands had all died at sea, this just shows how common death was in their lives and how they literally just had to move on - something that we're trying to incorporate and explore in the setting of our piece. The fact that the conditions in the factories were poor and extremely - the explosive powder everywhere - its hard to even imagine how someone may have navigated their way through and worked everyday. That sense of the danger and risk of factory work is something I feel we could place emphasis on in our opening as it truly was a dangerous place to be! It'll not only add some colour to our opening piece, but it'll also give it some true depth.

Listening to actual accounts of people's experiences as a munition factory worker is really interesting as it allows me to draw ideas and information from real life stories that I can incorporate into my female character. It gives me the ability to give myself a realistic back-story to work from and a mindset to work with, i'm able to back up my story and ideas with actual evidence and fact taken from another person's account of their life. It enables work to be more truthful and authentic as you are able to draw conclusions and ideas from actual truth, rather than a fictionalised idea of what you may have thought the truth was. By doing actual, historical research, an actor can only positively develop from it when created and developing a role as you are able to make connects and draw from authenticity. I will definitely use this video and the information I've taken from it to further my development of my female character.

ACT 2 PROLOGUE

"Now all the youth of England are on fire, and silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies."  Now all the young English men are inspired and want to fight. All their non-army/party clothes are in the wardrobe stored away. "Now thrive the armorers, and honour's thought reigns solely in the breast of every man."  The armorers are thriving and every man in honoured to be fighting. "They sell the pasture now to buy the horse, following the mirror of all Christian kings with winged heels, as English Mercury" Men are selling their cows for horses so that they can follow the king into battle as if they had winged heels like Mercury. "For now sits expectation in the air, and hides a sword, from hilts unto the point, with crowns imperial, crowns and coronets, promised to Harry and his followers." There's a sense of anticipation in the air - everyone's ready to fight. The images of the glory they'll win eclipse the actual thought of fighting. "The French, advised by good intelligence of this most dreadful preparation, shake in their fear, with pale policy, seek to diver the English purposes." The French have been forewarned and are quaking with fear. They seek to divert the English plans with tricks. "O England, model to thy inward greatness. Like little body with a mighty heart." Oh England, you may be small physically, but your inward greatness outshines everything. You're like a little body with a huge and mighty heart. "What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, were all thy children kind and natural!" There's nothing you couldn't do if all your people were loyal. "But see thy fault, The French hath in thee found out, a nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills with treacherous crowns and three corrupted men."  But France have found your weak spot, 3 corrupted men whom have been bought with gold. "Have for the gilt of France - O guilt indeed!, confirmed conspiracy with fearful France and by their hands this grace of kings must die." They have agreed to conspire with France in exchange for money. "If hell and treason hold their promises, ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton." They will kill him before he even sets foot in France - if hell and treason allow. "Linger your patience on, and we'll digest, th'abuse of distance, force a play." Stay with us audience, we'll create a play that conquerors space and time. "The sum is paid, traitors are agreed." The traitors have been paid and agree to the act. "The king is set from London, and the scene is now transported, gentles to Southampton." The king travels from London to Southampton. "There is the playhouse now, there must you sir, and thence to France we convey you safe and bring you back, charming the narrow seas, to give you gentle pass."  You must imagine that is where the theatre is and that is where you must sit. We will take you to France and back again, giving you a gentle voyage. "For, if we may. We'll not offend one stomach with our play." We don't want to make anyone sick with our play. "But, till the king come forth, and not till then, unto Southampton do we shift our scene." The scene won't shift straight to Southampton until Henry appears. 

Physicality

When inhabiting a generic male walk, not only do you have to think about the obvious physical differences but also how they may impact and contribute to the way in which a typical man may walk. I focused on how they would hold themselves first and foremost; particularly placing empathsis on the fact men broader shoulders and smaller waist, in comparison to women, and how that may impact on physical stance and walk. It was also really important to think about how they may distribute their weight and swing their arms when travelling from one place to another. I found looking at all these different attributes extremely interesting and helpful as in previously roles when I may have been playing a male, I never put a large amount of thought into their physicality as physicality is something I find generally quite challenging. However, by breaking down the different parts - like first looking at the fact they larger feet, inhabiting those feet and how they may feel, before moving onto other body parts before putting them together really enabled me to achieve a successful physicality for a male character. By looking at each generic aspect of male physicality allowed me to explore that singular characteristic in greater detail than what I might do usually, this not only allowed me to develop the physicality even further, but also enable me to look at physicality in a way I hadn't necessarily explored in great depth before.

It was really useful to think about the male physicality in general and developing our individual physicality before adding the characteristics and role of an army soldier on top as it allowed us to really refine our movements and build layers before developing it into a character. As many of our character's are going to be in an army scene at some point, it was useful to look at how the male physicality may change when put in that position of a member of an army. Simply by looking at how the solider may walk and distribute their weight opened up a world of physical character choices that I hadn't thought about. It will definitely be useful in further rehearsals when we begin to develop the scenes and characters in greater depth, as I will be able to think about to this workshop and the different aspects that helped me develop a physicality I was confident in.

It was really interesting to simply walk or run around the room inhabiting that male physicality. I found that I held chest out to almost emphasise the broadness of the shoulders, I walked with my legs further apart to accompany the male anatomy, I found I swung my arms out whilst walking more than I usually - amongst other things. By comparing the way I walked as a male and the way I naturally walk as a female, it was compelling to see the stark differences that were so blatantly obvious by physicality. For example, during my natural walk, I generally distribute my weight quite lightly, whereas when I was walking as a male, I found myself walking quite heavily. The differences between a generic male walk and my natural female walk are going to be really intriguing to look at further and cooperate into my role as a munitions factory worker playing a male part. Looking at the differences of how men simply hold themselves when they're resting in comparison to women was also engaging to explore as they're generally extremely different. Women tend to cross their legs when sitting down, almost trying to take up as little space as possible - whereas men are the complete opposite - sitting with their legs apart, generally not thinking about the amount of space their taking up. When I was travelling home after this lesson, it was comical to see how truthful those two stereotypes genuinely are as all 3 men sitting around me sat with their legs unnecessarily wide, one even with one of his legs stretched so far it was out in the aisle. By observing men in real life as they walk and sit, I am able to develop a physicality that not only looks realistic, but also remains truthful and authentic.

SCENE SYNOPSIS

ACT 1
PROLOGUE: Introducing the story. Setting the scene and introducing the audience to the concept of the play in a theatre.
SCENE 1: Archbishop and Ely are discussing the fact that Henry wasn't taking royalty seriously but recently he'd become more mature. They explain about his right to the French throne.
SCENE 2: They tell Henry that he has his right to France. Dauphin has sent a crate full of tennis balls to make a mockery of Henry. Henry decides to take France.

ACT 2
PROLOGUE: Explains to the audience that we are changing setting and scene. They have decided to go to war. Introducing Cambridge, Scroop and Grey.
SCENE 1: Pistol and Nym are arguing over a bet and money. Enter Nell and Boy. They are informed that Faltsaff is dying and that they must go to him.
SCENE 2: Cambridge, Scroop and Grey are called in to talk to the king. They're tricked into deciding their own fate and are arrested.
SCENE 3: Falstaff is dead. Pistol, Bardolph and Nym all decide to go to war. Boy goes with him.
SCENE 4: The French King and the Dauphin discuss how close and powerful the English - he's worried, the Dauphin is not. Exeter brings a message from the English monarch explaining that King Henry wants the French King to step aside from his throne peacefully - as he's legally entitled to it - otherwise he'll take it by force.

ACT 3
PROLOGUE: Explaining how Henry has left Dover and is on his way to Harfleur. The audience should imagine that they're travelling with him on the ship. The French King has refused Henry's offer.
SCENE 1: Henry delivers a passionate speech to rouse the English army and get them ready to fight.
SCENE 2: Bardolph, Nym and Pistol stay behind to avoid the fray. Boy explains how he wishes he was back in London and in the alehouse. Fluellen attempts to urge the men to start fighting again. Boy explains how Bardolph, Nym and Pistol are thieves and how he refuses to get involved.
SCENE 3: Henry delivers a speech to the Governor demanding that he opens the gates and that he'll have no control over what his men do if they do not let them in. Henry and his men rest until they push for Calais.
SCENE 5: The French King, Constable and Dauphin discuss how Henry is practically just walking through France completely unchecked. The King orders the army to completely take down the English.
SCENE 6: Pistol begs Fluellen to use his influence to spare Bardolph who's been sentenced to death for stealing. Henry tells Montjoy that the although the English army are exhuasted, they won't be backing down.
SCENE 7: Messenger arrives stating that the English are only 15,000 paces away. Orleans and Constable discuss how they're going to completely take down the English.

ACT 4
PROLOGUE: The chorus explains how the English are resting and are worried about the coming fight but the French are almost cocky. Henry walks around the camp consoling his soldiers.
SCENE 1: Henry is in disguise and talks to Pistol, Gower and Fluellen - to see how they are feeling about the whole ordeal. Bates, Court and Williams discuss how they're doubting the King and wish to be back in England. Williams and Henry argue over Henry's actions, they can't come to an agreement and exchange gloves (so that they can recognise the other and argue later). Henry prays to God to make his men brave and for him to forgive him for his father's sins.
SCENE 2: The French are over confident that they're going to be able to beat the English in battle. 
SCENE 3: The English are badly outnumbered. Montjoy brings a message giving Henry a chance to give up. He refuses.
SCENE 4: The battle.
SCENE 6: The English are victors. The Earl of Suffolk and the Duke of York have been killed in battle. Henry orders the English to kill all French prisoners.
SCENE 7: The French have attacked and killed all the young boys who weren't fighting but helping guard and carrying equipment. The French ask for permission to sort out their dead, Henry makes Montjoy agree that they have won. Henry gives Fluellen his glove and tells him if anyone questions him about it, they're an enemy - this is to play a joke on Williams.
SCENE 8: William returns, notices the glove and he and Fluellen fight. Henry admits it was him all along. Herald enters and we learn about the causalities. Henry orders the army through the village and anyone who doesn't thank God the English won, shall be punished.

ACT 5: 
PROLOGUE: The audience are told about Henry's return back to London but that now he is back in France. They're asking the audience to image the physical journey as the theatre couldn't possible possess it.
SCENE 2: Henry and the French King meet to organise a peace treaty. King of France gives Henry and Katherine his blessing.

EPILOGUE: The Chorus explain that Henry and Kathrine have a son, Henry VI but that he lead them to a bloody war and lost France.

ACT 1 PROLOGUE

This opening monologue is simply to introduce and open to play the audience and set the scene. "O, for a muse of fire that would ascend, The brightest heaven of invention! A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!" The chorus are saying that if they had a stage as big as a kingdom, a wild imagination and monarchs to fill the scene - then it would be as truly as it was at the time. However as they don't, they're asking the audience to use their imagination to develop and conjure the scene as they only have the stage and the written words to aid them. "Can this cockpit hold the vastly fields of France?" Can this theatre hold the fields of France? Definitely not physically, but if the audience work with the text, then it can hold whatever it needs to. "Or may we cram, within this wooden O the very casques, that did affright the air at Agincourt?" Can the theatre - this wooden O - hold all the helmets that were so frighting in Agincourt? "O pardon!" Nope. It can't but, please work with us and imagine that it can. "Suppose within the girdle of these walls, are now confined two mighty monarchies, whose high uprearèd and abutting fronts, the perilous narrow ocean parts asunder." Imagine that in these walls, there are two mighty kingdoms, England and France, who are divided by a dangerous and risky ocean - the channel. "Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts." We're not perfect, use your imagination to make us perfect. "Into a thousand parts divide one man, and make imaginary puissance. Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them, printing their proud hoofs i' th' receiving earth, for ’tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings." Divide one actor into a thousand men and you shall have yourself an army, imaging the horses that we takl of and their hooves pounding into the ground, your imagination and thoughts will decorate and dress up our kings. "Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times, Turning th' accomplishment of many years, into an hour-glass; for the which supply." Let your mind jump between different times and take years of accomplishment and events and fit them into one hour. "Admit me chorus to this history; who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, gently to hear, kindly to judge our play." As the chorus who reads prologue, I (we) ask you to hear and kindly judge our play.

I really like this opening prologue as I feel it definitely not only sets up the story - two mighty monarchies - but also allows the audience to transport themselves from being in a theatre - wooden O - to the fields of France. It directly asks the audience to use their imagination to create the story, that although they may be in an Elizabethan theatre, their minds can help create the journey. It's a brilliant opening to the production which really helps to kick start the slow of the show.

By understanding what I'm truly saying and the purpose behind my lines means I am able to perform the lines to the best of my ability and speak the lines with the energy Shakespeare intended for them to have. It also mean's learning the lines is easier as I am visualise what they're presenting allowing me to easily memorise them. It gives me a lot more to work on in the actual scenes once I understand what I'm saying as I have his lines and the intention behind them to work off.

Staging

Though it's hard for everyone to 100% grasp what they're doing involving the set as we are currently working with stand in props rather than the actual pieces of set we're going to be using in our production.

This means that everyone in the cast has to be extremely focused and know their blocking so they know what pieces of set they need to use and more to ensure that the scenes run smoothly. It would also be worth it that everyone in each scene pay attention to each other's blocking and their use of set so that if someone forgets in the middle of the actual show, someone else would be able to take over and allow the scene's flow to keep moving.

My character is using a lot of the different pieces of set, in the actual show I will be standing on a steel table and grates but currently in rehearsals we have to substitute with what we have, for example; the raised stage and the blocks. It will be really interesting to see how our pieces pans out and how the actual set fits into the piece and how that may or may not add to the effect and impact. 

Our set, so far, is really interesting as all the different pieces of props from the war factory are being turned into something that has it's place in King Henry's world. The steel tables that are our main workstation in the factory are doubled up as our main stage. The crates are stacked into steps and the thrown for the king. The guns we make in he factory are doubled as the swords used in our battle scenes. I think that the woman's use of everything they find in their factory is really effective and special because it truly shows how much these women want to understand what's going on in the world - they'll go to the extent of finding everything in the room and turning into Shakespeare's vision and world.  

LABAN EFFORTS

Having previously explored the Laban efforts in the naturalistic term, though I may have forgotten the details over time, my basic knowledge was there. I find using Laban efforts extremely useful when developing roles as it enables you as an actor to simply begin to look at the small details of your character's physicality. I found that as soon as I applied a Laban effort to my World War One character, I began to think about other aspects of her life, personality and physicality. By looking at Laban, I am able to simply explore and colour different characteristics of my character from the very beginning of the development process, it gives me a really powerful starting point to continue building on.

Though some of the movements - like flick and dab - may seem similar,  the strength, timing and control you carry them out at allows them to develop into distinct and unique actions. By looking at each effort individual and breaking them down into each component, really allowed me to get to grips  with of each different movement and how  they may combine to and add an effect to different characters I may develop in the future.

I feel that the chorus would possibly operate mainly with a combination of glide and dab. This is because the chorus' role is to tell the story to the audience and to bring them up to date, so they sort of glide into the story at the beginning of every scene yet deliver the information and lines with such dab like likeness. I developed the physicality into moving quite lightly and sustained, then moving quickly onto the tips of my toes to raise my level, and then begin moving again. This was to show how the chorus insert themselves at the beginning of every act to perform the prologue, deliver it in a way that is quick and sharp in comparison to the rest of the show, then they leave until the next prologue.

I began to explore my World War One character by looking at slash and sudden. From those efforts I began to develop my character into a woman who really found her place in the factory, she enjoyed coming out of her shell and getting "down and dirty" doing - what was traditionally - a man's job. I used the efforts and those first initial thoughts to start to shape her character and it was really interesting to see how many different details and ideas I came up with just from exploring the efforts and applying them to a character.

Overall, I really enjoy looking at Laban as it really helps me focus on the simple details in a character's physicality that could completely change the way the audience perceive that character. A singular effort carries multiple of different offers that could be the starting point for development of a completely different range of characters. It's definitely an exercise and method that I like to use and will definitely be using it when looking at physicality in future roles.  Exploring basic physicality is something I don't usually think about when developing a character or I don't find it the easiest task, but with the Laban efforts I am able to develop and colour my character's physicality in such a way that's so simple yet so complex and able to carry so much meaning right from the very beginning of the development. I am able to get on with the physical development as soon as possible to leave as much time as possible to see how that may influence the further development of the character and how the character may end up being shaped.

Exploring the text

Starting simple with taking only one line each and going around the circle to say it really allowed us as a group get our tongues around Shakespeare's words and how certain lines may be pronounced. It's also extremely beneficial for myself as these are words that may be speaking as I am playing the part of the chorus and we're opening the play with this prologue.

Secondly, moving onto the one line push - in which we pushed the person to our right at the end of the line - placed particular emphasis on passing the line on and continuing the monologue effectively. This will help me when I'm working with the other two actors playing the chorus as we obviously have to share the lines and feed off one another. The endings of our lines have to be extremely strong to ensure that the other actor is able to follow and continue with the same energy and pace as if the ending of the line drops, it loses the entire effect. 

Thirdly, turning to the person on your right to really tell the line to them caused us to have to find the actual meaning behind what we are saying as you have to inform the other effectively so they can respond. This was really helpful as when I perform the lines, I will have to perform them in a way that informs and tells the story to the audience in a way that they understand and can keep up with the narrative. 

Lastly, having to walk quickly into the middle of the circle to say the line as soon as the person on the left had said theirs, ensured that we kept the monologue flowing. Having to make sure you said the line at the right time, it meant you had to pay attention to ensure that the monologue flowed properly and ended up sounding more natural than it previously did. This meant that I really had to focus on the pace of the piece as that will play a big part in the performance. 

Overall this exercise was extremely useful to prepare myself for taking on this role and also for the coming weeks of tackling Shakespeare's words. Shakespeare's use of language is possibly my favourite thing about his works so I am greatly looking forward to exploring his words further and delving into the meaning behind what he has written. 

17/03/2015's First Read Through

Reading through the play, especially on our feet, was not only extremely helpful with understanding the actual storyline of the play but also who's in what scene and who you're acting with. I was able to get my mind around moments that I was confused about or didn't really understand how they played out and develop my understanding further of the narrative. It was also really interesting to see instantly people's approaches to character's despite the fact it was just a read through. Many adopted physicality and experimented with their voice so it will be interesting to see how everyone develops their character further from the initial run through.

Going over every act after we had read through it, i felt, was imperative to aid our understanding of both Shakespeare's language within play but also the basic narrative he was telling. We were able to completely pick apart the scenes and go into deeper detail then what may initially be taken from the scene. I was able to go over different scenes I hadn't been previously clear on and take in my other cast mate's comments and perspectives about what they personally believe the scene was portraying and in what way Shakespeare was showing that.

I enjoyed our read through and I really helped me get an early idea of how it's going to end up shaping out and I think, with all the props, costumes and the right mindsets - it's all going to work out really effectively. I think our whole concept about a play within a play should work really well and it will be really interesting to see the stark contrasts between the world in admits World War One in comparison to Shakespeare's world of Henry V.