Reading through the wolves of Willoughby chase I am noticing the differences between the real life 1832 and the 1832 that the wolves of Willoughby chase is set in. The script mentions that the events of the script happen during the reign of king James III when England has never had a 3rd king James and also during that time our country was run by king William IV. It also mentions that the channel tunnel was opened and that's how the wolves came into England but in reality the channel tunnel started construction in 1873 and was only finished in 1994. Moreover wolves don't even live in England so If this was based on a real 1832 England then the wolves wouldn't have been possible. Also back in 1832 there was a big difference in classes of people; there was either poor people or rich people so If you were a servant then you would be thankful that you would live in a big house and have food and clothes. Knowing this it helped my character development of James because If he was lucky enough to live in such a big house the he's not going to throw that away by not doing what he's told so that's why during the script when Miss Slighcarp tells him to do something horrible he doesn't want to then he hesitates to do so. When Sir Willoughby was around James enjoyed his time because the whole family treats him well when usually servants were not treated as human and are just there to do as there told. Because James is treated so well by the whole family then it would help explain his relationship with Bonnie and Sylvia and why he goes so much out of his way and risk getting thrown out onto the streets to help them.
The wolves were a huge part of the performance and were very symbolic of the bad guys of the show. There are two ways you can look at wolves and they are either wolves are noble and generous and seem by people as nice creatures or they are seen as cunning, sneaky and evil creatures that are filled hate and plan there attacks well. The evil side of the wolves mix very well with the bad guys of the performance because of the way they plan and plot for there own gain; this is also shown in the performance by most of the bad guys playing the wolves. Mr Grimshaw's actions at the beginning show how cunning and two faced he is when he saves Sylvia and helps her escape the wolves, all so he can get into the house and help Miss Slighcarp with her evil plan. The is a reoccurring food is the show and that's cheese and I think the cheese is a metaphor for greed as it clashes with the plan of the bad guys to gain the fortune of Sir Willoughby. Mrs Brisket is constantly eating cheese which also shows how much of a greedy character she is. I feel that the show has a particular theme, It's the evil that people commit in order to gain something and also the good that people do and how much they go out of there way to help others. This is shown by the things that the characters do during the performance such as James, he gives Sylvia her doll back and try's free Bonnie from the cupboard. Simon also helps the girls by breaking them out of Miss Brisket's school. The evil Is shown by Mr Grimshaw and Miss Slighcarp by paying the captain of the ship to set sail with the ship in bad condition to make sure it sinks and kills Mr and Mrs Willoughby; also Mr Grimshaw and Miss Slighcarp are also very evil in the way they treat Sylvia and Bonnie by making them do there own things and starving them. Evil and greed are the two definite big themes in the performance because there represented by a lot things whether it's the characters, cheese or the wolves these constantly stick out to me as the main themes.
Thursday 22 May 2014
Friday 9 May 2014
End of the wolves
With the show finally finished and the wolves finally over I can't help but think I've grown a lot as an actor because this was the longest show I've every done, before this my longest show was 40 minutes long. Also I know what it's like to create a character properly now because I made the character James come alive. One thing I learnt was that making a character is not easy, it takes time and research before you can truly portray a character. There was still a lot of room for improvement where my characterisation was at but I still thought it was good. I particularly liked what Beth did with 'Miss Slighcarp' she completely changed herself for the character; she changed her posture, her hair, her accent and the way she looked. She made Miss Slighcarp a believe villain and definitely made the performance a whole lot more to enjoy.
We performed two shows. The first was for parents and family or whoever you would like to invite to see the show and then the second was a matinee that was for other students to see. I think the second show went better for me because I was much less nervous than the first and it seem to flow more smoothly, I felt like James more on the second show than I did the first. Still both shows went really well everyone stayed in character and was focused the entire way through and really told a good story. One thing that went well and made me smile was that the stage gun actually went of multiple times because in rehearsals in took a lot to try and get it to shoot once and then on both shows it shot multiple times. Another good thing was the props that people used they were interacted with properly and used to as much as they can be for e.g. there was a blanket that stayed on stage and that was used 3 times in 3 different scenes; even things like bags were used when people was travelling and by doing this it help bring a scene to life.
There were still a few minor errors during the performance like at one point there was a moment of silence were someone forgot there lines, all you can do to avoid that is make sure you know all your lines and read the thoroughly. Some people also forgot to be in choruses and this could be avoided by staying focused on stage a knowing were you've got to be at all times. There was not really much technical issues apart from some lights being a bit slow to come on when people were speaking, the best way to avoid any technical issues would be to have a few technical rehearsals and go over were sound effects and lights should be at certain points in the show.
My final thought is that the wolves has definitely been a learning experience and was a very fun and successful show; it's good to have finally finished it because it's good to move on and get to new things and challenge yourself as an actor.
We performed two shows. The first was for parents and family or whoever you would like to invite to see the show and then the second was a matinee that was for other students to see. I think the second show went better for me because I was much less nervous than the first and it seem to flow more smoothly, I felt like James more on the second show than I did the first. Still both shows went really well everyone stayed in character and was focused the entire way through and really told a good story. One thing that went well and made me smile was that the stage gun actually went of multiple times because in rehearsals in took a lot to try and get it to shoot once and then on both shows it shot multiple times. Another good thing was the props that people used they were interacted with properly and used to as much as they can be for e.g. there was a blanket that stayed on stage and that was used 3 times in 3 different scenes; even things like bags were used when people was travelling and by doing this it help bring a scene to life.
There were still a few minor errors during the performance like at one point there was a moment of silence were someone forgot there lines, all you can do to avoid that is make sure you know all your lines and read the thoroughly. Some people also forgot to be in choruses and this could be avoided by staying focused on stage a knowing were you've got to be at all times. There was not really much technical issues apart from some lights being a bit slow to come on when people were speaking, the best way to avoid any technical issues would be to have a few technical rehearsals and go over were sound effects and lights should be at certain points in the show.
My final thought is that the wolves has definitely been a learning experience and was a very fun and successful show; it's good to have finally finished it because it's good to move on and get to new things and challenge yourself as an actor.
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