Line learning technique

In this lesson, Dilara has been helping me memorise and go through lines I have had trouble with. The technique she used with me was starting with one line, repeating that twice or thrice and then learning the next one. After that you add the line from before and continue like that. Once you've got through the entire verse you repeat the entire thing a few times to make sure you have learned it properly. I'm going to continue to use this technique as it helped a lot.

Pinterest board link

http://pin.it/Gt12t3t

I created this board on Pinterest with different ideas for set, costume and general inspiration for my character and the play. 

How I will achieve my objective

My action to get what I want

Unit 2: I will pretend to go along with their wishes but then leave the city to avoid it.

Unit 3: I will run away into the woods with Lysander to be with him without the risk of my mother or Demetrius.

Unit 4: I will forget about my wish to be with Helena and give that up to be with Lysander in the woods.

Unit 13: I will use sweet words to convince him of what I want. He wouldn't want to hurt me or do anything I don't want so he will leave me alone for the night.

Unit 21: I will try and be sweet to him so he will remember our friendship. If that doesn't work I will run away so he cannot catch me and take me home. 

What is my obstacle?

What is my obstacle from me getting to my objective?

Unit 2: My mother and Theseus wishing me to marry Demetrius rather than my true love Lysander. They also threatened to kill me or send me to a nunnery if I didn't obey their wishes.

Unit 3: My mother's wishes and her not letting me leave the house unless with Demetrius.

Unit 4: The fact that I cannot stay in the city or else my life is in danger as I will not marry who my mother intends. Helena cannot come with us.

Unit 13: Lysander's desires. He won't let me sleep unless it is at least next to him. However he gives in eventually.

Unit 21: Demetrius' determination to be with me, he is also faster and stronger than me so he could stop me if he wished.

What I want?

What do I want? (My objective)

Unit 2: I want to escape this place. I don't want to be here, being forced into a marriage I don't want. I just want to be with Lysander, he truly cares for me. He doesn't care about any money or my mother's love for him. He just wants me. I want to be at home planning my wedding with him, with my mother's support.

Unit 3: I want my mother to leave me and Lysander alone. The only way I can do that is to run away. I want to leave this city with Lysander.

Unit 4: I want to stay with Helena as that is the person I always turn to but I also want to leave or else I may be killed for refusing to marry Demetrius. 

Unit 13: I want to be able to rest, I am exhausted. I want to wait until later, perhaps after marriage to sleep with Lysander.

Unit 15: I want to find Lysander and figure out why he left me. I want to find out if he is hurt or worse, dead.

Unit 21: I want Demetrius to leave me alone and never bother me or Lysander again. I never want to see him again. 

What happened to me before the scene?

What has just happened to me before the scene?

Unit 2: My mother caught me talking to Lysander out of my window and begun to shout at him and I about the 'stupidity' of our relationship. She dragged me down the road, still lecturing me, to Demetrius' house and took him with us to Thesus' house. During my struggle not to go, my dress was ripped which of course she blamed on me. I ended up willingly walking there instead of being dragged yet she still kept my arm clamped in her hand.

Unit 3: I was told I would have to marry Demetrius. If I didn't I would have to either be sent to a nunnery or be killed. 

Unit 4: I let out my anger towards the adults and Demetrius trying to force my heart. I planned to run away with Lysander in the woods.

Unit 13: Lysander and I had been travelling for hours on foot, through humid conditions but it has turned a comfortable warm temperature for the night. I was so tired that I tripped over almost every vine or branch in my way. Lysander was practically holding me up. I was exhausted and needed to sleep. 

Unit 15: I had been asleep for a few hours, perfectly comfortable. Lysander had left where he had slept with Helena but I was unaware of this. In my sleep, when he leaves I feel a sense of emptiness and wake up looking for him but he is not there.

Unit 21: I had been searching the woods for Lysander but Demetrius found me instead. I was shocked to see him so far into the woods, he knew I'd be here and heard me shouting. He kept making snide comments about Lysander and I tried to avoid him, walking fast. But he continued to catch up to me, he wanted me to go home without Lysander and I wouldn't do that.

What is my relationship to the people around me?

What is my relationship to the people around me?

Unit 2: Thesus- My mother's aristocrat friend, he controls most of the people in town and grants permission for official marriages, even arranged ones. He throws elaborate parties and banquets, close to my mother.

Egeus- My mother who is looking to marry me off to Demetrius and gain power. She is close to Theseus and believes by dragging me here that she can force me to stop loving Lysander.

Lysander- My true love. We are separated by everybody else in the room as they all support my marriage to Demetrius.

Demetrius- My arranged fiancé. He only loves me for my money and power, he used to love my best friend.

Hippolyta- Egeus' fiancé. I do not know her well, she is not very involved in the situation. 

Unit 3: Lysander - The man I love.

Unit 4: Helena- my best friend. Since childhood we have been best friends however she is now angered by my engagement to the man she loves. 

Unit 13: Lysander- the man I love. He is making sexual advances during the scene but I convince him to sleep elsewhere 

Unit 15: I'm on my own when I wake up shouting for Lysander

Unit 21: Puck and Oberon watch over, I have no relationship to them that I am aware of however they know and watch me and my friends.

Demetrius- My arranged fiancé. He is insulting Lysander, threatening him. I lose my temper with him more than usual and run off 

What surrounds me?

What surrounds me?

Unit 2: The carpet is a deep red which compliments the gold detailing all over the room. There's a fireplace in the corner of the room which obviously hasn't been used for a while since the house is heated by the natural warmth of summer. On the coffee table there is a pile of wedding magazines, all different copies with pretty girls in white on the cover with various hearts and flowers. 

Unit 3&4: The armchair which Lysander sits down in is a large soft one, it is more like a throne. Very suited to Theseus. A large flat screen TV takes up the wall space on the other side of the room. Through the window, there are a few lights from the houses nearby lighting the street along with the moon. The windowsill has a thin layer of dust with a few fingerprints on it. 

Unit 13&15: There are vines and branches blanketing the forest floor making it hard to walk without tripping in the dark. On a log nearby there are a few cigarette buds and below at the base, a few crushed beer cans with an empty packet of crisps. There is a tree with a small patch of moss and flowers at the bottom, perfect to sleep on. A few metres away, another trunk similar.

Unit 21: There are a collection of different sized logs in the middle of a clearing with leaves covering the floor. 

Where am I?

Where am I?

Unit 2,3&4: I am at Theseus' large house, mostly used for his elaborate parties. It is a few streets away from my house, one of the largest and prettiest houses in the town. I am specifically in his living room.

Unit 13&14: I am in the middle of the woods outside the city. There are vines, twigs and urban garbage everywhere. The vines and branches are easy to get lost in or trip on. There are a few pretty flower beds and grassy spots at the bottom of trees that are perfect to sleep under. The moon peeks through the branches and lights it up perfectly.

Unit 21: I am further into the woods. There is still urban and natural debris scattered around. There are a few logs in the centre of a small clearing covered in grass and occasional patches of flowers and weeds.

What time is it?

What time is it?

Unit 2: Around 10 at night in the middle of summer. It is dark outside aside from the light of the moon. The night has a slight chill but once the characters get inside Thesus' home it is well heated. 

Unit 3 & 4: A little later than 10 at night. It has become slightly colder and the sky darker, a few stars have appeared. 

Unit 13: 8 at night, Hermia and Lysander have been walking since 6 am so they settle down. Dark sky with many stars and a bright moon. Since it is the middle of summer, the night is warm but not uncomfortable. 

Unit 15: Extremely early the next morning, around 1 am. It is pitch black and the stars have dimmed in light slightly, the woods are dark and slightly colder. 

Unit 21: 11 am, it is sunny through the branches that block most of the light to the wood. It is warm. 

Who am I? Hermia

My name is Hermia, my mother is Egeus - she is an incredibly rich aristocrat in London. Me, being her daughter, has to then ensure that I'm always abiding by her rules and looking proper for reputation. I'm petite, well I say that instead of saying a midget which is what all of my friends call me. I have long blonde hair that is always kept tidy and prettily styled as my mother likes it. My warm brown eyes are one of the things I'm most happy with, they differ me from my mother and her cold hard ones. I am currently being forced into a marriage with Demetrius, a rich and noble gentleman -which my mother has plucked from a bunch of money-grabbing twats -for me to be attached to for an alliance. I don't love him and never will. My heart belongs to Lysander. Ah lysander... He is just as worthy as Demetrius, except he has no string of rumours attached and his love for me is true. Our love is pure, not formed by my mother for her own needs. Of course mother is incredibly against the idea of my happiness if it has no financial or title gain. At least I have my best friend Helena who helps me through all this drama, we've known each other since we were children. She has always been there for me but recently even our friendship is being ruined. She's in love with Demetrius, my fiancé. They had a fling a month or two ago. He broke her heart once my mother approached him with her proposal of our marriage. It seems everything has just been ruined since this engagement. I have to get out.

Why Shakespeare chose to set it in the woods

I believe that Shakespeare chose to set the majority of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in the woods as, in the time that he was writing the forest would have been a place of the unknown and feared by many. They believed that the woods were placed where you could get attacked, murdered, or come face to face with creatures like fairies or witches. Hence why Titania, Oberon and their fairies live there. Setting it in the woods made Shakespeare able to make all the unusual things happen there as most people in that time were afraid of what went on in the woods and wouldn't enter - especially not noble women like Helena and Hermia. 

Animal exercise

I believe my character, Hermia, would be most alike to a lion cub. I think this because lions can be very dangerous and fiery however also care a lot for the things they love. If anybody were to threaten a lions family, they would be attacked. However, Hermia is described as being small so a lion cub would relate to her as they cannot attack in full force but they have the intention. They can also come across as cute and small but are vicious at times. This, in a way, reminds me of Hermia as she can be very feisty if anybody threatens her love for Lysander. For example, she became quite disobedient when Egeus wouldn't let them wed - "turned her obedience, which is due to me, to stubborn harshness" 

Hermia's given circumstances

She is betrothed to Demetrius "Stand forth, Demetrius, My noble Lord, this man hath my consent to marry her" - Egeus

She is in love with Lysander "Thou filched my daughters heart" - Egeus 

She grew up with Helena, they knew eachother in school "She was a vixen when she went to school" - Helena 

She is quite short or at least much shorter than Helena "she is something lower than myself" - Helena 

"And though she be but little, she is fierce" - Helena 

She is rebellious against Egeus and quite stubborn "Turned her obedience, which is due to me, to stubborn harshness"

04/02/16 character exercise

In this exercise we were told to think about all aspects of our characters. We thought about where we were, who we were with, what we were doing and the relationship and feelings towards the people we are with in the scene. Having this knowledge in our minds during our scenes will help add extra depth to our characters and make the scene much more interesting and believable as we have deeply thought about our characters intentions. Knowing if we want to be at the place in the scene and who we like and dislike in the scene will make it easier for us to decide where on the stage we will be and how our physicality/facial expressions will effect our performance. 

Globe theatre facts

IShakespeare's globe theatre is different to many other theatres as it is an open air theatre with a thrust stage type. It being open air means that: there is no lighting to accentuate the performances, the actors and audience must endure bad weather conditions, they must continue even though disruptions may be caused from sounds from the outside world such as planes or even boats as the theatre is situated beside the Thames river. On the bottom level of the theatre, surrounding the stage there is an area (the yard) where the audience must stand, these tickets are usually cheaper. Below is a photo of an audience in the globe

Globe Theatre exercise: 08/02:16

Today we looked at Puck's monologue in Unit 14. Amber was instructed, at first, to say it really vaguely with no emotion or gestures. The class then directed her on each line to do a gesture or where to walk on the stage. At the beginning, Amber delivered the monologue very boringly and because she had no gestures or expression in her voice us as an audience did not understand the lines she was saying which made the scene confusing and un enjoyable. By the end of the exercise she was confident with the meaning of every line and had gestures and clear emotions with everything she said. We were sitting in a thrust stage setting and had to think about how this monologue would be performed in the Globe Theatre. I learned from this exercise that we must always think about what the lines we are saying mean and how we should say it, so that the audience can understand everything we are saying in the scene. I also learned that our characters must always be showing an emotion and it must be clear to ourselves and the audience so that we can be understood and we have something to go on and we can develop our characters throughout the scene.

Character list

This family tree- like chart could help some people understand the relationships between all the characters.

Shakespearean Insult Generator

We were given a list of Shakespearian Adjectives and insults. We had to read through the list and choose 3 from each column and learn it off by heart. We then had to go around the room and say them to different people in the class. We tried out different volumes, stress words, gestures, body language and speeds of saying the words. This helped us understand and learn some of the language used in the play a bit more in a fun way and start to think about different voices and ways to say our lines. This exercise may also help a lot for the fight scene between Helena and Hermia as they say similar insults in the scene. This taught us different ways to accentuate those lines and make them more interesting/effective. Therefore, helping us to make that scene better.

Physical Archetypes Exercise

Thought about different physical archetypes, their physicality and their personality traits. Analysed positives and negatives about them. Thought about their voice, eyeline and if they would want to interact with others. I believe we were made to do this exercise to make us think about how our characters may have many different levels to them in different scenes and we could think about using some of the archetypes in our performance to give more depth to our characters so that we can fully understand them and enhance the performance. For example, all the lines we were given to decide what archetype would say them were from Puck. Puck is usually seen as a Trickster archetype but some of the lines we were given, such as "Pretty soul" relates to the carer archetype. 

Amoeba Starter Game

Amoeba game. Start at beginning as an amoeba (transform your physicality into a small bacteria like sort of creature), you find another amoeba and then play Rock Paper Scissors, whoever wins transforms their physicality into a fish. After that: a bird and then Diana Ross. If you turn into Diana Ross you sing the line "stop in the name of love" the first person to sing this is the winner. This got us up and moving at the beginning of the lesson and made us start to think about character physicality. 

Gesture exercise

We were given a scene from A midsummer nights dream between Helena and Demetrius from the beginning of the play. We were then shown 3 gestures that we could use during the scene and use along with the lines to make it easier to understand through gestures and body language. It also helped us understand the two characters, Helena and Demetrius as we could choose which gestures suited them most. The 3 gestures were: probe, hook and dismiss. We then had to go through the lines and pick certain words that we should stress during the lines to make it more effective, the gestures were usually used on the words we decided to stress and helped us to make the scene more interesting or understandable for the audience. This exercise could help us to think about these things in our own scenes.