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Rehearsal Checklists

Refining

Todays session consisted of refining aspects of the performance that weren't as clean as we would like. We concentrated most on the masquerade scene and looking at the group choreography within this scene, consolidating timing to ensure unison, adding accompaniment and making sure all were confident in the movement.

Over the course of the next sessions coming up to the performance we conducted a full dress rehearsal and tech run using costume and set design, in the venue. 

We continued to make amendments where necessary using post show discussion methods, focussing particularly on scenes that were soley movement based. 

PMD3/4 Developing Material

The above video depicts material generated as a group, based on the previously generated ideas of creating a masquerade ball, yet replacing elegance with grotesque movement. The suitcase, placed in the centre of the room, whilst of course only standing in place of a better suited prop, was meant to represent the idea of social media, and the contagion we wanted to draw upon within it, using the idea of human and digital viruses. The performers are not to take their focus from the suitcase, and gradually distance themselves from it, getting increasingly close to the wall, however the suitcase acts as a force pulling the performers back towards it, causing the laughter to turn to distress.

I would develop the material further by aiming to almost choreograph how to move during the "dancing" section of the scene, and am also aware I need to become much more confident in facial expressions and creating the soundscapes. It would also perhaps be interesting to explore what would happen if the screams were made more obvious, perhaps within the gradual change, one person shrieking sharply above all others to startle the audience and more clearly indicate the change.

The next video shows the company working on an idea generated by myself, based around the idea of Contra Dance which often features in Masquerade Balls. Once the dance finishes, the formation creates a corridor of which Iyla walks down, and will recite a monologue. In the video we used an extract from the text, however we will later devise our own extract which will be more fitting. 

We then added the idea of infection we added soundscape and actions to present the idea that all ball attendees are ridden with sickness, however I feel it was not clear due to all of us doing this at once.A development could be to only react in this such way when Iyla passes one person,  so that the intention is more potent to the audience.

PMD3/4 Run Through and Structure

These videos show us running through scene 8 and discussing ideas for how to develop it further. 

Here we make suggestions as to different ways we could portray the death of our characters. 

PMD1/2 Monologues

In a session from which I was absent, the group set out to write a monologue for each character to give an insight to the attendees of the masquerade ball, written in the style of Beckett. My character was a pirate:

"Cannons perfectly aligned... do they know they're about to die? ... Ahh, I can... can taste the gold... urgh... smell it.. *deep inhale* wealth... money... power....victory is mine.... *vigorous coughing* Captain Morgan... richest pirate to ever *about to sneeze* ever *again* sail the Atlantic.. so much money.. wealth... power...beautiful ship... now mine...*painful cough*"

I was not entirely convinced as to whether this character was relevant to the performance, as other monologues were much more generalised and could be linked to both the Victorian period (during which our stimulus was set) and also modern day, whereas a pirate less so. I decided to create a new monologue which may be deemed more relevant, using the starting point of the author of the Mask of the Red Death (Edgar Allan Poe)'s life. I also developed the idea of disease in the monologue.

Poe's mother died and later his father disappeared leaving him to live with a family friend. He became addicted to gambling and withdrew from university to later join the army, where he became Sargent Major. He married his 13 year old cousin Virginia, who later became ill with a disease which eventually lead to her death. He died mysteriously, with multiple theories as to how, some claiming it was in a drunken accident, others by contracting rabies.

To create this monologue I used gambling terminology, alongside quotations from his poems "Raven" and "Tell Tale Heart"

"Ah, I remember it... November... what? No?December...All in... mother...*gasp* father... each separate dying... nobody left.. just me... *scream?* ghosts upon the floor.... Add on... 

True!-- nervous--very, very nervous.. that November.. what? No? December... Add on... Only this and nothing more... *coughing* Attention! Add on.... Her dress- white... Skin-white... weak and weary... *gasp* Chills, sweats *coughing*... blood... each separate dying... just me... then the bird said never more... a groan of pain.. grief -oh no! darkness there and nothing more... *yelp of pain* nobody left... each separate dying... ghosts upon the floor....nobody left..."

PMD2 Dance Development

The video above shows our development to the end of the choreography we created to portray infection. Whilst initially there were only some moments alluding to illness, we created this section using the structure created in a previous session to further emphasise this concept, whereby we used four movements (scratching, falling, sickness, coughing) strung together in random orders to create a sequence to be repeated. From this we then included contact work to show the idea of us all trying to help one another (for example, I scratch Charlotte) but in fact result in spreading more germs and only assist one another's deterioration.