Voice and character workshop

1. Voice and character workshop Feb half term booster

2. Relaxation:An important preparation for actors, in rehearsals and even before a show. • Lying on your back is a basic but effective relaxation exercise, and a great starting point for general relaxation in any situation. • Place a couple of paperback books underneath your head – experiment with the thickness, to make sure your head isn’t tilting forward or back uncomfortably. • Lay with your arms either side, palms facing the floor, and bring your knees up, with your feet flat on the floor. Knees and feet should be apart, but not so far that there is tension in your legs to keep them apart. • In this position, make sure your whole body, from head to toe, is relaxed – you do this by identifying any areas that feel stiff or tense, and willing them to relax (imagine warmth spreading through your body, like hot treacle!). • Keep checking regularly to make sure no tension has crept back in. And don’t fall asleep!

3. Breathing:using the relaxation technique, combine some simple breathing exercises with it. • Place your hands gently on the side of your ribs, as this will allow you to actually feel the breathing apparatus at work. • Breathe in through your nose, and out through the mouth. • Breathe in for a count of four. • Hold for a count of four. • Breathe out slowly for a count of four. • Hold for a count of four. • Breathe in, taking the air in more deeply, feeling the diaphragm stretch as the ribs swing up and out. • Repeat, building the number of counts, but avoiding any tension creeping back into the body. • Make sure that the movement is in the lower part of the chest – exercising the diaphragm and breathing in ‘deep’ to make the best use of your breath.

4. Pronunciation – use breathing technique What a to-do, to die today At a minute or two to two A thing distinctly hard to say but harder still to do For they’ll beat a tattoo at a quarter to two A rat-a-tat-at-a-tat-at-at-a-tattoo At a minute or two to two today At a minute or two to two!

5. Pronunciation – use breathing technique • Here are some good tongue twisters: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry Red Leather Yellow Leather A big black bug bit a big black bear and made the big black bear bleed blood.

6. Intonation • Use gibberish to communicate meaning. • Do the following using gibberish: a) Commentate on a football match. b) plead forgiveness c) teach a complicated subject to a class of dimwits, d) Convince the rest of the group to join their political party. e)Another scenario faced by your own character in your play • The aim of this exercise is to show how intonation to showwhat a person is feeling is a large part of how we communicate.

7. Sub-text/Inferred meaning • Shadow exercise: interpret what lies behind the words being spoken in a scene. • In all of your plays there will be an element of a character hiding something, either what they’re feeling or something they have done. Therefore it is important for you to understand the subtext in your play • In groups of 4, label yourselves A, A1, B, B1. • A and B are to improvise a conversation, whilst A1 and B1 interpret the meaning – this can be something directly taken from your play e.g. Two friends getting ready for a party: • A: what do you think of my dress? • A1: she wants approval, she is not feeling confident. • B: It looks great, Fits really nice. • B1: She looks awful. That style does nothing for her • As we watch these back, think how they deciphered the meaning? • What did A1 and B1 do to show the subtext? • How do tone and pace effect the meaning?

8. Given Circumstances • Given circumstances are the basis for any actor, and are created by the director, designer and playwright. • Actor MUST believe in the G.C. • Stan’s list for GC: 1. The story of the play 2. Its facts, time, etc 3. Conditions of life 4. The actor’s and director’s interpretations 5. The set, costumes, props 6. Light and sound

9. Your G.C. • Spend a few minutes jotting down some of the given circumstances for your character/s • If you are a chorus member, think about different parts of the story they are telling, in order to help you think about how these lines should be delivered (to build tension, to create interest, to tell the story)

10. Emotion Memory • Recall: through touch, taste, smell. • Activity - Eating chocolate - imagine, recall, do, describe • Actors have a large collection of memories to re-invent • Start off with sense memory: • Activity: In a circle, imagine picking up a chair, weight, texture, etc. • Mime it • Is it believable? If not why not? • Pick up a chair for real. • Pause, think about the differences, comment on the task, reproduce based on doing the activity for real. • This can be applied for memories too. • So, think of a time when you were happy - what made you happy? Just think, don’t speak. • Where were you, what is the feeling of happy? • Activity: Try to reproduce it in a mime. • Activity: Now apply that to something you have never done, such as completing the Inca Trail, feeling a sense of achievement and seeing Machu Picchu out of the mist.  • Rehearse-perform-evaluate

11. Performance Task • Using Given Circumstances, Emotion memory, imagination, tone of voice, good pronunciation you will be given a few minutes to prepare an individual short scene • 1st you will perform one of the scenes below with an internal monologue (thoughts spoken out loud) • Then you will perform it silently • Your father is dangerously ill upstairs but you have to be interviewed on the phone for a job • You find a letter on the table, it contains wonderful news, react to it • A hat on the table is actually a rat • You find a letter on the table, it contains terrible news, react to it • You need to be able to apply these to your individual plays

12. Application to Plays • All of the work we have done today is designed to help you develop what you do with your own plays and how you develop your own characters • Please spend some time now rehearsing some of your own lines applying the techniques we have explored today