In this lesson we had started to block certain scenes and numbers within the show. Luckily for me it happened to be some of my characters scenes and songs so had a bit to do for the first half of the lesson.
However before we got into it we all sat and discussed the seating and staging of the show. Kim said it was going to be traverse so that each side would represent a side e.g.: Killer Queen/Gaga and then the other side would be the bohemians. I think this is really clever and effective it will be challenge to block to the two sides but we will work through so that it is impressive and efficacious.
We did the scenes just before Emily and Mine in which we are hiding, we then come out looking for different objects we can make instruments out of. As our Brits are going to be girls we had to change a few lines as they no longer made sense, throughout the scene we discovered that Brit and Meat were a very affectionate couple and quite humorous pair, and could see the history and chemistry through this introductory scene to the characters. Some people would struggle with showing that much chemistry that quickly but Em and I are close anyway so made it a lot easier for us to play around with it and try out different ways of executing things.
We then did light blocking of the number I Want It All which is also Meat and Brits number, anyone off cast were sitting in traverse so were able to perform and test things out to the correct seating. Some of the people who weren't on at the time came on and represented the other bohemians, this was helpful as it allowed us to get a more dynamic atmosphere and characterisation as a result. We blocked it so that as we were singing at the beginning there is only two of us, so we circle the stage so that there is one of us at a side at a time, so the audience have something to look at and not just a back, which is one of the hardest obstacles to face when using traverse staging and will be constant challenge throughout the process of blocking the show. I feel that I applied a lot of characterisation within this so that we could give an effective group performance as well as focus.
After this we swapped casts for the other scenes, throughout this i wrote down the blocking we did as well as what they were doing in the moment, I also wrote down any ideas I had about my character or what she was doing and what it meant and why she would do something or say something and maybe how i would say it. Also considering costume in this particular scenes, they're are in way like scavengers mixing this with the bohemian side they would have different items of clothing put together that in normal everyday look people wouldn't consider putting together also very rough and edgy as they've been on the run and in hiding as well as with a hint of rebellious teenager in there. I feel that the bohemians costumes really illustrate the characters personality and story because none of them remember who they are so they have built their new selves with these items and looks.
In the second part we just read through the last scenes within the script so we could all get an idea of how it ends and where the story goes, this was a good idea as allows everyone to plot their characters story within their minds so they know the journey in which their character needs to travel physically and emotionally. Subsequently we then went through the number We Are The Champions. This song starts with just the characters from the scene within it, and then the rest of us slowly feed into it. We decided that the extra bohemians who come on later will come forth upon the tops of each sides across like an army with the characters in the centre This worked effectively as made sure we weren't all squashed in the middle and more interesting to look at for the audience to look at as gives them more to view as well as giving more energy to the number. Throughout the number we performed to the audience as well as each other with a sense of achievement and honour as we had finally won the fight, we were the champions! Its a celebration dance/song. The blocking for this was really effective and we all got very into the number as well as working as a team which allowed the performance to be even better creating a successful ensemble.
In this lesson i think i had good focus, communication with my cast members and characterisation, I need to develop my monitoring of process making sure i write everything down and consideration of the audience when blocking numbers. I think if as a group we develop on the last one our numbers will be a lot more effective, dynamic and successful.
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