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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.

Transitions and Full Run Through

Having now created all of the scenes we had planned, we then revised the performance in order to consolidate transitions between each scene. Once this was done, we were able to do a full run through of which we timed to ensure we were meeting the targeted 30 minutes. Doing so also allowed us to highlight areas of which needed the most work and we also discovered some naturally occuring moments of which we decided to include, for example; rather than cutting the music short following the dance scene, there is a change in the accompaniment, which when left to run behind the transition into the next scene actually added to the soundscape in making the grotesque laughter more discomforting.

Our teacher gave us a list of improvements following watching our run through, of which we worked on the following day:

Pre-show was rushed
       Each create motifs in order for the performance to last five minutes
       Slow down the spread of the plague to become more realistic
       Stay on stage for next scene, partly alive, twitching occasionally
Keep props on stage
Develop still images
Music for dance scene
Consider putting all tracks into one 30 minute track to ensure timing
Facial expression
Learn monologues
Consider movement to monologues/overlaying monologues
Learn the nine steps of washing hands
Find projections
Clearer ending
Pace needs to vary more
Performance skills
Happy with the structure
Refine everything
Give Courtney a monologue
Reduce amount of aimless walking

We were able to extend the preshow by adding a concept to the scene, of which we had not done before. We came up with the idea of the set being in the street, allowing cast members to play pedestrianised roles associated with this, and also provided more of a link between the idea that themes in the play were applicable to both Victorian society (when the stimulus was set) and modern day.

PMD2 Developing Scenes

The above image depicts a structure we are to use for a section of our dance section about Infection. Within the lesson we created movement to feature in a scene of its own, however feedback allowed us to realise the absence of meaning becoming clear to the audience. In response to this we came up with the aforementioned structure, using a technique much like Cunningham's chance method whereby 4 movements depicting the theme were selected and represented by a number 1-4, which when put into an order, dictated the order of the material we would each perform. These movements each depicted an element of illness and infection, and when repeated over and over in a seemingly random order, should build tension culminating in some to be choreographed contact work illustrating the victims attempting to help one another yet only further contributing to their own demise by spreading the germs,

We also discussed the final scene for the performance, and decided upon a rough plan as to how this would pan out and transitions to it. Discussion also focused on the logistics of dates for the performance.

PMD2 Developing scenes and generating transitions - CKR Lesson 7

The above video shows us revising the pre-show in which the cast set up the stage whilst becoming infected. We extended the scene to introduce the puppet concept we had devised for the tea party scene, which follows on from the pre-show, and therefore the extension serves as a transition between the two.

The still images in this scene seek to illustrate the setting for the production. The first depicts the gates to the Abbey, which other cast members interact with. Later in the scene movement becomes more grotesque, a theme that permeates throughout the remainder of the production. It also features our response to the clockwork stimulus created in the very early stages of the unit.

This next video shows part of a later scene featuring elements of contra dance as well as repeating the notions of puppetry mentioned in the end of the pre-show, again partially serving as a transition from the previous scene into the next; entering the masquerade ball.

We introduces monologues to the masquerade scene, which we are shown to be exploring in the above video. Initially they were to feature in the corridor scene, but discussion concluded that the scene seemed effective enough as it is and to add more would be too much, particularly when there were other scenes that had much more room for development. Furthermore, there is already dialogue in that scene, whereas this was merely movement and soundscape. The monologues had not yet been revised and so aren't quite at the standard we would like, nor do they quite resemble the Beckettian style we were drawing influence from.

PMD1/2 Generating Material- VDU Lesson 8

The above video shows the beginning of a section of choreography to feature as its own scene. Once developed further, we would strive to incorperate more movement based around the idea of courting and masquerade dance, and whilst we want most of the scene to create a contrast to the idea of debauchery, we still would like to feature moments whereby this could be questioned, for example; in the Mask of the Red Death, upon the chiming of a clock, the band stops playing and those in attendance go silent. In this scene we could create a similar effect through the use of a recurring motif as we already have above, but also through the idea of changing pace to become eerily slow for a moment before all is resumed. We would like to make this scene 5 minutes long and so could consider using Cunningham's idea of the chance method to speed up the generating process. 

I proposed the use of the following accompaniment, the theme music from 28 Days Later, as it covers all the types of things we would wish to include, such as pauses in the music and the repetition of a single melody with layers and variation, further illustrating the eerie mood, not only this but it is taken from a film based around the idea of contagion, as is our performance. 

Also, we considered recording a soundscape to perhaps overlay at points in the accompaniment such as screams or spluttering/sneezing/coughing ect or perhaps a clock to enforce the idea of time passing but it could argue the accompaniment already does this in the reccuring melody becoming somewhat monotonous.

This next video shows material generated by Matthew, in which he plays a doctor, explaining how to disembowel and embalm a body. To develop this scene we considered adding either a person to respond as though they were a dead body or to use the chest piece of a mannequin. This would enable the audience to fully understand what was being discussed as the sole mention of the name of an artery alone may not be something all would be familiar with. It also adds to the visual element of the scene and makes the audience more uncomfortable as it makes it abundantly clear what the instructions are synonymous with. 

PMD1 Masquerade: More Research

West African Masquerade

According to West African custom, masquerade can refer to a performance by masked characters, the performer himself, or the character portrayed by the performer. The African style of masquerade is an outdoor event, performed by men, and sometimes limited to the attendance of men. The Ekpe masquerade has its roots in the Nigerian Cross River State and is used in ceremonies accompanied by cultural drama. The Ofirima masquerade, also originating from the Cross River State, features a lead dancer wearing a headpiece resembling a shark. The Yoruba egungun festival, a distinct form of masquerade, honours a family's ancestral spirits.

This variation of Masquerade could be used to influence the style of dance and physical theatre movement we choreograph for our performance, however given our company is mainly comprised of females it would not necessarily be suitable as though to present an accurate depiction of such. We could also take the idea of this being an outdoor event, to present us with more opportunities for staging, however this would contradict the ideas presented in the Mask of the Red Death whereby the nobles are locked inside an abbey. 

Venetian Masquerade

There is evidence that Venetians were practising masquerade as far back as the 13th century, when documents mention masked men throwing scented eggs at ladies. Although the wearing of masks was long associated with the Venetian celebration of carnival, 18th century artists' paintings show masquerade also was by then regularly used to conceal questionable behaviour. Renderings of Venetians in gambling houses show both men and women in white, face-shaped masks known as the Bauta and women in black velvet oval masks known as the Moretta.

This suggests that the multiple variations of mask all have a different meaning or purpose, therefore it would be a good idea to look into these and what they all mean, before deciding which may be best suited to our own performance. It could also be considered that we design our own style of mask which relates to our own story. We could potentially look into Venetian carnivals and the traditions surrounding them to draw on ideas of setting and costume for our performance.

Masquerade in England

The masquerade balls of 18th century England were based on the Venetian carnivals and retained an atmosphere of the carnivalesque. Masquerade festivals sometimes honored a member of royalty or celebrated a special event. For all their gaiety, however, masquerades balls and festivals had strict rules. Costumes had to make the wearer unidentifiable and conversations between attendees began with set phrases such as "I know you" and "Do you know me?" Masquerade celebrations allowed participants to leave social mores and standing behind. Men dressed as women, women as men, and there was much intermingling of social classes as the lower classes often could afford tickets to the public masquerades.

The strict rules mentioned in English Masquerade festivals could act as guidelines for us to base our performance upon. The typical conversation starters should definitely be incorporated somewhere in our performance, if only once, or potentially to address the audience with a monologue or soliloquy. Social boundaries were abandoned at these events, and therefore we should research into what these were in order to think about what exactly would be deemed extravagant for that period rather than in that of our own.

Caribbean and American Carnivals

Carnival, an annual celebration in the Caribbean islands involving masquerade performance, originated on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. It is a mixture of folklore and religion. Jankunu is a carnival-style masquerade parade that takes place in many Caribbean islands on Boxing Day, New Years Day and, in Grand Bahamas, the summer. Jankunu parades are also held in Miami and Key West, Florida, and in Knoxville, Tennesee. Mardi Gras, originally a pagan celebration of Spring, also features masquerade. The celebration was later incorporated into Christian Lenten traditions in Italy, Spain and France.

Research folklore and religious customs of these countries.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MASQUERADE MASK

Upon further research I discovered the variety of different mask shapes each had different meanings, and that there was also just as many of them as there are rooms in Allen Poe's novel. This led me to consider these meanings and whether they could later be applied to the characters representing then rooms.

The Bauta

L-R: Bauta Barocco Gold, Bauta Barocco Silver, Bauta Cera

Looks like: It’s got a square-ish jaw, large chin, and no mouth. Covers the full face and is often either heavily gilded or stark white.

Historically: Standardized Venetian disguise required at political decision-making events, thereby ensuring anonymity.

The Colombina

L-R: Colombina Musica, Colombina Stella Silver White, Colombina Mezza Sky Blue

Looks like: It’s a half-mask that is often heavily decorated. Often colourful, this type of mask only covers the wearer’s eyes, cheeks, and sometimes nose.

Historically: Named after a maidservant in the Commedia dell’arte; originally the female counterpart of the Bauta.

The Medico della Peste

Naso Peste Cera

Looks like: It’s got a really long hollow beak, round eyes (and sometimes wire glasses). Usually simple in design, rarely ornate.

Historically: Worn by plague doctors to prevent the spread of disease.

This could be worn by Matthew's doctor character for his monologues regarding the washing of hands and body embalming. 

The Volto

L-R: Volto Macrame Maschile Gold, Volto Barocco Gold

Looks like: It’s a simple style that covers the entire face, and depicts basic facial features such as the lips and nose.

Historically: Guaranteed complete and utter anonymity as no part of the face shows.

The Pantalone

Pulcinella Bordeaux, Capitano Ibiz, Naso Pulcinella Silver 

Looks like: Features a sizeable hook nose that looks like a beak, and slanted eyes.

Historically: Derived from a classic character in Italian theater, Pantalone had a witty, intelligent personality.

The Arlecchino

L-R: Trepunte Uomo Stick, Tricorno Tarocchi Uomo

Looks like: Joker-like, colorful, with a short nose and arched brows. Sometimes the mask includes a large headpiece and/or collar, possibly with bells on.

Historically: Another character from the Commedia dell’arte; Arlecchino is devoid of reason and often the servant of the wittier, more intelligent Pantalone.

Perhaps could be assigned to the "Blue Room"'s character, as they almost act as servant towards Prince Prospero.

The Zanni

Zanni Gold 

Looks like: A long nose, not too dissimilar from the Medico della Peste. Also features bulging eyebrows and a low forehead.

Historically: But beware—the longer the nose, the stupider the character is deemed!

The Moretta

The freedom Venetian women enjoyed is well represented by a mask which was not aimed at hiding the wearer’s face, but rather at drawing someone’s attention: the Moretta, or Muta.

Muta means “mute”: women wearing this mask were, indeed, unspeaking, since it could only be held to the face by gripping one’s teeth on the button placed inside it. Only when she wanted to finally give an answer and some peace to the man who was addressing her, she put the mask down and revealed herself and her feelings

The Moretta is therefore a way for women – who were, indeed, the only ones wearing this mask – to create an aura of mystery and to become intriguing, in a city where they could not simply rely on their bodies to be attractive in the eyes of men. Meaningful features of this mask are its colour and its size, as well: as the name itself reveals, the Moretta was black, though it did not completely hide a woman’s face, being a small oval covering her face only up to the eyes and down to the mouth.

Together with this mask, women often wore a long taffeta cloth, the xendal, which was originally used by ladies to cover their head and shoulders. Interestingly, this garment, which was later developed into a closed cloth wholly made of lace, was also used as the lace trim for the Bauta cape.

The muta could be worn by Courtney's character, who is typically silent in scenes we have created thus far in order to create a sense of eerieness. The idea of removing the mask could then be tied into the idea of the plague removing its mask in the original story by Edgar Allan Poe. 

PMD1/2 Structuring a Performance and Responding to Masquerade Fan

[image of structure]

The above image shows the beginning of a structure for performance we formulated considering all of the material we had generated thus far. This will be helpful to refer back to when producing later scenes, and for integrating new scenes should we choose to do so at a later date. 

This video depicts our initial response to the idea of masquerade and using fans incorperating motifs made following watching the below clip from Phantom of the Opera. We created makeshift fans for the purpose of the generating process, and actual fans will be obtained at a later point. Whilst with one person it looks rather simplistic, I envisaged the whole cast performing it in single file, with the front person courtesying, and those behind falling to either side in canon, following discussion regarding the idea of  falling and courtesying being linked. The person at the back of the line would remain standing, they representing the plague. 

PMD2/3 Generating Material

In this session we split into groups to devise material based on an idea we selected from our annotations of the Mask of the Red Death. 

The following video shows Hannah and Meera's response to the idea of hidden identity.

... and our feedback following their presentation.....

This video shows Matthew and Iyla's responses to entering the Red Room....

...again followed by comments from us.

Finally, this video shows my response with Courtney, Bella and Charlotte, and the feedback we received post-show.....

Our next step was to spend ten minutes on Matthew and Iyla's response and how we could elaborate on the ideas they were developing. I think were we to refine this further it would perhaps look more aesthetic to take the style of contra dance, a genre typically adopted at such masquerade balls whereby dancers take a modified ballroom position; looking each other in the eyes and walking around each other in the designated direction, without touching each other but palms facing one another. This I feel would not only look better, but also be more accurate to the story, and also would be more clear from an audience perspective. Below is the result;

Next, we did the same with my group's work, adding the other members of the company into our existing motif, depicted in the following video. 

In our next lesson, the group presented improvements for how Hannah and Meera's duet, resulting in this new version of the motif;

[video]

Next we set out to hone in on what we were going to draw upon from the story of the Mask of the Red Death to take forward into our own performance.

 Above is a mind map of all of our considerations. We chose to select the ideas of masquerade balls and hidden identity.

Then we proceeded to discuss who our target audience would be and the potential meanings or morals we could incorporate. Our conclusion was our target audience would be aged 17+ as though not to cap the age limit. We elected to allow our performance to take a naturally developing moral pathway, leaving room for the audience to highlight their own morals and question the performance.

We then considered what material we had previously created and how this could be relevant to our performance, and also decided to have an underlying theme permeating throughout the performance about social media, alluding to the idea that it is the catalyst for facades and conflict between online and physical personas.

 This still image was to depict a contorted version of dances typically seen at a masquerade ball, linking to Matthew and Iyla's original idea, we wanted to evoke a sense of unsentimental practicality among the supposed decadency of such an event.

 This still was drawn from the aforementioned ideas regarding contra dance, but instead we tried to evoke the idea that partners wanted to be as far away from one another as possible, whilst maintaining the facade etiquette of the dance.

 Further building on the ideas of contortion and un- sentimentality, we created the above frame to show the clinking of glasses during a toast at a party.

 This still was our initial response to creating the image of a vast structure such as that of an abbey. It was difficult to get into position and we could not maintain it for long, so at a later date we will most likely adapt it to be more appropriate.

This image was developed from earlier ideas in the first photograph, bringing in ideas of deterioration of physical condition as a result of infection from the plague. Performers still maintain the facade of the masquerade (shown through the holding of arms in a warped rendition of a waltz position) despite how obviously damaging it is for them.

PMD3/4 Discussion

This mind map was created during the discussion in the video below, whereby we allocated roles and considered structure for the performance. The video shows our discussion and selection of ideas we wished to take further in our performance 

PMD1/2 Grand Stroke Of Twelve

Our warm up in this session aimed to help us become more aware of a sense of time. The first activity consisted playing the game "Elevens" whereby only one person can say a number at a time when counting to eleven. The next consisted of sitting alone and estimating when a minute had passed. After this we were asked to walk around the space and come to a gradual stop as a unit when a minute was over.

Main Activity

We watched a video relating to mechanics and time, and used the monkey talk technique to write out ideas regarding to how this could be translated into a performance.

After feeding back to the group, we had 2 minutes to discuss these ideas and a further 10 minutes to practically explore these.

Above is a video of our response, where we portray the different layers of machinery of a clock. If we were to develop this material further, I would choreograph more movement to mimic the movement of the cogs and mechanics within a clock face. Were we to translate this to stage this could be videoed from various angles and projected one on top of the other to show the layers of the mechanics.

It could be considered how an audience could interact with the performance, potentially becoming an instrument within the production, however this would rely on a great deal of confidence in improvisation, much like in Frantic Assembly.

PMD1/2 Responding to Stimuli: Death

In this session we focussed on creating material surrounding the idea of "death", using the funeral march as our stimulus, however instead of only listening to the short exert known by many, we listened to the full piece as to consider the different sections of the music. Following taking our own individual notes, we discussed them as a group and created this mind map.

 

 

The above video shows our response. We decided to hone in on the idea of the decaying state of a family following the passing of a loved one within, who in essence held the unit together. This is shown through starting as a strong structure in which everyone is balancing and relying on one another. As one member leaves the unit, the rest of the shape falls apart. The motif ends with the members of the family coughing and choking, not only to represent hysterical crying but also their incapacity to handle the loss of this person. Meanwhile Charlotte performs movement showing her to be moving into another life.

 

PMD1/2 A Quest for Atmosphere: Responding to Gothic Architecture

This session was about looking at setting in Gothic Literature, to aid our understanding for when we finally looked at deciphering the Mask of the Red Death. We were shown an image of an example of Gothic architecture and were asked to pick from a selection two adjectives to describe it, and then add two of our own choosing. 

Accommodating

Strong

Melancholy

Imperial

From these words, we got into groups and were tasked with creating a still image for each.
Overall these still images would have much more potential for exploration, were there more performers available to contribute to the scene.

Following this, we linked three of the still images, to create a space of which our teacher could walk through (as depicted in the video below). Overall I do not think this is a successful response, for the transitions are messy, and the scene lacks creativity. I would not use this method of interacting with the audience, as I feel there are more effective means of portraying mood and meaning

PMD1/2 Responding to Stimuli- "Contagion"

The above clip was generated from the word "contagion", taken from the Mask of the Red Death. Here we took on elements of Beckett's work to create dialogue similar to that of his soliloquys, whilst also attempting to mirror the idea of captioned photographs on social media.  Emotional recall was utilised to create still images relating to different stages in life, for Bella and Courtney had to consider their own experiences growing up. 

The photograph below depicts all of our initial ideas, however ultimately we elected to hone in on the concept of obsessive love, and how that can be channelled and influenced by social media. This was portrayed by the use of phones as props and the anaphora of hashtagging words in Iyla's dialogue.

PMD1/2 Exploring Stimuli: Masquerade

The definition of masquerade is a "false show or pretence" or "to pretend to be someone one is not". Using this idea we could explore the idea of façade and identity, potentially commenting on societal expectations and pressures present in even today's society. With regards to how we could shape such a concept into a performance, we considered using Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" and Mikhail Lermontov's 1835 play "Masquerade" to form the basis of our storyline. For an ensemble such as ourselves, this could prove to be a good starting point for it presents opportunities for both areas of speciality to be incorporated; dance and drama. Given conventional ideas assigned to the concept of a masquerade ball provide opportunities for choreography, whether it be as a stand alone piece or setting the scene for monologues and dialogues. The two stories we have selected to consider within this stimulus are abundantly loaded with metaphors and devices which could be used to create physical theatre movement that will appeal to both specialities.  Were we to go down the route of using the story of the Masque of the Red Death, it is likely our performance may take a rondo structure or one of theme and variation, given the idea of the colours in the rooms and a different story perhaps in each. 

Above: Information about both stories from our initial research into them.

Following gaining a general understanding of both stories, I then took a copy of The Mask of the Red Death and annotated it myself with performance possibilities relating to the story. These ideas are mostly based on the ideas presented in the text, however further exploration at a later date could involve looking at more divergent ideas for performances based on select words, phrases and themes.
We have decided to incorporate this story in our work.