Reflections

When first looking into ‘People, Places and Things’ we had to do a lot of theory work, looking into drug and alcohol abuse, we started my reading through the script day by day in lesson, then we would sit and analyse bits of our script to fully understand.

We were then given our cast list;

For our first proper week of rehearsals for ‘People, Places & Things’, we were thrown straight in, as in where all the set was going to be and where our intentions needed to be focussed etc. 

The first scene that I was in which we started rehearsing was the first therapy scene, which was when Emma was introduced to the group for the first time, we rehearsed the scene first time but it just didn’t feel right, we were told by our director, Leanne that we really need to connect with our characters, personally it just felt very forced and not very natural which its meant to be a naturalistic play.

Week 2 (08/04/2019 – 12/04/2019)

This week we payed our attention to the majority of the movement that is included in ‘People, Places & Things’, as the play involves quite a lot of physical theatre.

We had a previous teacher come in to help us, who now works with ‘Frantic Assembly’

We could use this in the scene with the Emma’s, when Emma starts hallucinating and seeing herself all around the room doing different actions. We also tried out a lift ‘the rock’. People also had the option of turning as well. I would imagine Emma in this lift, as she’s the main protagonist in the show and this lift could be a great idea for scene 2 where she’s in the nightclub. We were then split in half of  the girls and the boys, we were given the task of creating movement that involved manipulating Emma. we then performed the movement with cups of water, lipstick and a bag. I didn’t find it too difficult because I was never really in the situation of manipulating Emma on my own so I never really struggled that much.

‘Connect, affect, disconnect’ is the technique that was used for this scene, meaning she will connect with someone, will then realise they are trying to help and then disconnect, giving the example that she is a lone wolf, which was already addressed in the script already in the therapy group too.

As you can see I’m quite involved in this piece, since I was casted as the stage manager meaning I get to take Emma on stage first after she had fallen while performing ‘The Seagull’ in the very first scene.

Week 4 (06/05/2019 – 10/05/2019)

 For this scene as well, we were told to create the vibe of a chaotic backstage area, people moving around to make it look like we needed Emma back on stage and she was ready to go, as I took her on she looked very faint and out of it, but we just had to carry on.

Also, we needed to focus on transitions, as this play requires a lot of them. We started with scene 2, as that is a whole transition in itself, into scene 3.

I was in the transition of taking the desk on with Monique for the first doctors scene then I took it off and then at the very end I brought a bed on with Enrico for the very last scene of Emma returning home to her Parents house.

Week 5 (13/05/2019 – 17/05/2019)

Another scene that we worked on in Barcelona was scene 33 (where the Emma’s come in for the second time in the play, which causes Emma to hallucinate). For the scene though, us involved in this scene are sticking with the characters that we play in the show, which could show that this is a dream sequence.
Finally, the last movement scene that was focussed on was scene 9 (where we first see the Emma’s for the first time, and all the girls are dressed up like Emma). For this scene, we mainly wanted to the hallucination of Emma, and the fact that she sees all these Emma’s doing diverse actions that she might do whilst in rehab. 
we came up with the movement of entering all on different lines so I entered on the line ‘No,no,no, I cant’ we then stand around the bed as Emma is talking to Mark, she then starts to hallucinate as she watches us all come out, then when we are all out from the flats surrounding her she faints and Mark runs out to get someone to help her, she then  wakes up panting so we turn out copying her, we then walk to the back flats as we look over our shoulder at her, one by one we turn over and snake our way down to the front of the audience in pace 5 which is just a normal walk, as Emma walks horizontally through in pace 1 which is basically in slow motion, then we all have different emotions so I was given the emotion of being scared/anxious.