Category Archives: Acting

Character Evaluation- Chorus & Titorelli

1 Reply

Working as a member of the chorus throughout the past four months has taught me many things. Having never worked in a chorus before, I was happy to take the chance at experiencing it with STAMP Theatre but I did not imagine the extent of how much a chorus could be involved in a production before! In my opinion the chorus was the most important element in The Trail because not only did they have to carry out all the transitions between the scenes themselves, but we also had to stay incredibly focused and in tune with one another. If one person in the chorus should start to fall in posture, gesture or sound, the other members of the chorus would have to become aware of this and in order to combat it, make sure that they increase their own movement and volume in order to bring the other member back up to the required level. In this, we felt that we had an invisible network connecting us together as we were so aware of each other, that if necessary, if one member of the chorus forgot a line or movement, any one of us could step in. That is what I found so interesting about the chorus; the ability to link actor to actor without the realisation of it throughout rehearsal was a wonderful thing and something that I am extremely privileged to be a part of.

My characterisation of Titorelli had undergone much work throughout the rehearsal process, the most noticeable of which was the accent I chose to use for him. Starting rehearsal with an Italian accent was fine and everyone believed that it suited the character well, however as each session went on and the actors were becoming more grotesque in the way they played a character, I felt it was necessary to develop his voice as well as his physicality. Upon trying separately, French, German and a Cockney accent with the character I still believed that there was more that was required with Titorelli’s voice. I then began to think about Titorelli not as a grotesque character. He wasn’t naturalistic so therefore, why should he have a naturalistic accent? This is when it clicked and my thought was to combine a mixture of European accents to create a strange accent that the character believes to be real, but Joseph K does not. As every character K meets during the play tries to get something from him and deceives him in one form or another, I thought the same should be applied to Titorelli. Therefore, I wanted to play him as an imposter of a court painter; A painting of a mask within a masquerade ball. As K’s character starts to deteriorate toward the end of the play and he becomes a broken man, I feel that so should the characters and the world of the play around him reflect that. This is why I chose to play Titorelli in such a way. I played him as a character playing Joseph K’s image of what a court painter should be within the corrupt world that is crumbling around him.

 

Thanks, Joe.

Performance Day Reflection

1 Reply

On reflection of the performance day, I would say we had a smooth running and organised day. The technical team (Larissa, Alex HS and I) along with the director were in the performance space for 9am ready to start. Luckily we had been in the theatre with some of the LPAC technicians the night before to hang the frames ready for performance day. This meant that we were already ahead in terms of our performance day schedule.

Here are some of the photos from throughout the night before and the day of the performance:

DSC05252 Centre stage

 

Here we are marking centre stage to get an idea of where the frames will hang ^

Preparing the bungee   Alex (the technician) and I are preparing the bungee chord and rope for the frames here.

Rigging the lights Discussing the lights Discussing the lights in relation the the frames (We rigged the above head spotlights at the same time as rigging the frames).

 

The Performance Day DSC05305 These are taken of the first walk through with the frames – taken on the night before the performance.

 

After rigging and focusing the lights, Larissa Oates, Alex Watson (who was cueing the show) and myself went up to the lighting box to start the cueing process. In total we had 92 LX cues in the script that needed to be programmed in chronological order, ready for a cue to cue, a full dress run through  and the actual performance.

After finishing programming the lights we broke for lunch ready to come back for a cue to cue. The cue to cue lighting did not go as well as planned as the blue wash didn’t programme on all the cues as intended. In saying this it was sorted out through liaison with the technical team ready for the full dress run through.

As a performer I felt the dress rehearsal went great, a few stumbles happened with lighting cues but apart from that all was well. The actual performance also went amazingly well, and we’ve had a great response from the audience both in person, and on our social media sites.

If I could do it all again to change anything, it would be the strength of some of the frames. One did snap mid performance, but I think I handled it well enough for the audience to notice but not know if it was on purpose or not. Little glitches to happen in performances that sometimes can’t be helped but overall I think we put on an entertaining show that matched what our manifesto said it would, and hopefully you’ll hear from STAMP Theatre again some time.

Thank you for reading,

Emma Huggins

 

Post-Show Conclusion…

Leave a reply

I believe the final performance went extremely well, for both the group and individually. Each group member pushed characterisation through Grotesque Theatre throughout, which resulted in a comic yet eerie effect on the audience. I personally believe I achieved this particularly well during my scene as ‘Ms Burstner’.

The extra rehearsal time spent working on the chorus paid off, resulting in a tight choreographed performance. For example, the extra time dedicated to perfecting the ‘bed’ (made from the chorus during the opening scene), made the transition seamless and smooth on the night, this was an early indication to the audience that the performance was well rehearsed. The chorus work was something that many of the audiences members complimented the cast on after the performance.  The audience commented that the chorus added a lot of humour to the piece, and the choreographed unison of the ensemble work conveyed how much rehearsal time went into creating an invisible network between chorus members.

The use of the frames throughout the performance was very successful despite that fact that we were only able to rehearse using the frames on the day of the performance. Whilst the performance went well, more rehearsal sessions practicing with the frames may have tightened the performance further.

Overall our performance was successful and I was extremely pleased with the outcome. Additionally, our intensive work in creative arts marketing resulted in a boost in ticket sales, bringing the total number of ticket sales to 250.

Caitlin Clark

Performance Analysis

Leave a reply

On Friday the 17th of May at 7.30pm STAMP Theatre performed their production of ‘The Trial’ on the LPAC stage.

The day of the Performance we arrived at the theatre for 10.00 am  to prepare for our cue to cue which began at 2.00pm.  During this it was a great way to physically and vocally warm up and get into costume whilst preparing for the events ahead. A cue to cue was both helpful for the lighting tech team but also very significant for the actors as it was essential we were all in the exact positions for the spotlights and frames.

As much practice with the Frames as possible was also essential once they had been attached to the bungee cord, as we needed to feel as comfortable and controlled with them as possible. This was one thing I felt slightly nervous towards as in rehearsals we had been restricted with working with the frames because of how they had to be attached by a bungee cord.  For the ‘Telephone Scene’ in particular it was  difficult as we had to stretch the frames to the front of the stage whilst also being careful in the way we were holding them, as to not to snap the rope.

Once this had all been finalized we had a successful dress rehearsal then prepared for the upcoming show.

On reflection of the performance, I personally felt as though for me, the show was a great success and we all gave it our all and came in to characters to our full potential.  We dealt with slight mishaps such as a frame snapping both professionally and artistically, and this did not take our focus away from the performance.

I felt as a chorus we worked well together, and the months of dedication and practice finally came together and showed within the performance. Reflecting back on my character of Leni also, i feel as though i was happy with the performance i gave and confident i gave off the messages and persona i intended. The reaction from Joeseph K also assisted me to do this as the relationship between us was one of the vital sub plots behind my character.

To conclude i have thoroughly enjoyed the past 4 months working with STAMP theatre both working on the marketing/advertising as well as being in the show and has been a privilege to work along such a dedicated and talented team.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Becca xx

Post-Show Review

Leave a reply

The final performance of The Trial went extremely well! Firstly our marketing was a success, having sold nearly 190 tickets we reached and even went over our objective of 150. Having only performed using the real frames the night before during a tech rehearsal I myself was nervous about what could go wrong but after two runs of the play using them, we were all comfortable with them.

For some scenes I struggled using the frames as there was a lot of tension in the bungee rope however, Lucy stated that I didn’t need to use it for them which was far easier and made me more relaxed. One thing that I particularly enjoyed was hearing the audience’s reactions, particularly in parts where we had repeated the scene so many times that it lost its comedic value for us. When playing the bailiff, I received a positive reaction from the audience even before I had said any lines, people were laughing at the character, which spurred me on.

I did however nearly forget one line of Huld’s however; I used the pipe I had to cover it up until I remembered it, even receiving a laugh after delivering the line after. I felt that my concentration in Huld, The Bailiff and the chorus was at the best it’s ever been when the audience was there. The play also received very good feedback from the audience who commended the set, lighting, direction and performance.

I felt that because Alex Watson was in the tech box that it was far more comforting for me as a performer as I knew that if there was a technical error, then he would’ve known the play well enough to step in. I felt that the other members of the cast were also the best I have ever seen them perform, however grotesque peoples characters were in rehearsals were magnified by the presence of an audience. I found this myself, that I actually performed better with having an audience this was possibly because the more reactions you got from the audience, the more grotesque you needed to become to get a further response.