Introduction:

Over the span of the past 9 weeks, I have worked weekly with Claire Eden over 2-hour periods, exploring a wide range of acting techniques, while further discussing the different theatre practitioners that used these specific techniques and implementing them onto different texts. Over the course of these sessions, I have been reflecting on my personal opinions towards these techniques, focusing on whether I believe they would be beneficial for me to continue using when working with text in the future, and documenting my use of them within other disciplines across my course through photographs and videos. Throughout this E-Portfolio, I will go into detail about 3 of the actor and text techniques learnt over this time span, focusing on which practitioner included this technique within their methodologies, how I implemented them onto a text of my own, and how it benefited both my knowledge of the text and my performance of the character I was portraying. I will include additional research completed on each specific methodology mentioned, which helped further my knowledge of these individual practitioners. Furthermore, I will also include images of these techniques used on both different extracts of texts and other disciplines, such as song lyrics for Acting Through Song classes.

World Building Research.

One of the first techniques that we studied during our Actor and Text unit was world-building research. World-building research consists of carrying out extensive research specifically based on the time period that the text is set in, focusing on aspects such as the politics, the financial situation, the historical events, the fashion trends and the music genres that were popular during this era. We carried out this research in order to gain a greater insight into the events that would’ve affected all of the characters within the texts, therefore allowing us to develop further knowledge of how the characters would act during certain situations. Furthermore, it also allowed us to create certain relationships between the characters based on their status, for example, if the text was set in a time period where sexism or racism was prominent.

With Claire, we studied “Serious Money” by Caryl Churchill, which is set in the late 1980s and is based on the financial chaos occurring in London’s stock markets after the Big Bang. The Guardian says, “It reminds us of Churchill’s prescience in pinpointing the sickness of an age in which people made paper fortunes like there was no tomorrow.” (The Guardian, 2009). With the time period that this piece is set in, I would be required to do some basic research as a minimum in order to gain some knowledge of the world at that time. However, by carrying out world-building research, I am allowing a wider range of information into my knowledge and will be able to fully envision the specific time period, resulting in a more accurate interpretation of the script and characters.

While learning about world-building research, we were introduced to 4 primary categories that would be beneficial to research: politics, finance, fashion and money. We split into small groups and were given a specific topic to research within that time period, with mine being fashion. In the span of 20 minutes, we collaborated within our groups to do some basic research on our given topic. This was a solid introduction to this technique, as it prepared us for the amount of detail required for research, therefore allowing more detail to be incorporated into the acting and blocking choices.

Overall, I believe that this technique has been very beneficial for me across all disciplines of my training. I have been able to apply this technique to other aspects of my course, in order to widen my knowledge and boost my confidence while presenting. For example, applying this to the pieces that we workshop and develop during our R&D weeks. When we are working on a project for a short period of time its important to ensure you have a strong knowledge of the time period context without taking up too much of the rehearsal process time. Therefore, having these basic structured questions will allow me to gain the basic knowledge required to develop the material given to me over the course of the week to an effective standard, overall enhancing my connection to a text within a short period of time.

Character Application.

Another technique that I found interesting to study was character application, which primarily consisted of analysing the text provided and creating acting choices that suitably fit that character. Although the technique previously discussed above is an effective technique to use for developing a greater knowledge of the mood and atmosphere of the play, this particular technique is critical for expanding my knowledge of the text in particular, focusing on ensuring I know the language being used throughout, the grammar and punctuation being used and the range of different thoughts that are explored throughout the entirety of the extract. All of these factors allow the actor to have all of the information required for understanding the context of the texts, how the playwright intended for the piece to be delivered structure-wise and the emotional journey that is wanting to be delivered within the duration of the extract, contributing to the emotional development and plot of the piece’s plot as a whole.

In order to support the analysis of the text from the character’s perspective, I thought that it would be beneficial for me to incorporate the work of Stanislavski’s Given Circumstances. Although analysing the grammar and punctuation within the text is a basic task to complete, analysis of the given circumstances helps provide character context and “allows you to connect deeply with your character and deliver a more emotionally resonant performance.” (Jennifer Lane, 2023). Furthermore, I have also explored an area of the Stanislavski method in my acting lessons with Tyrrel, where we briefly spoke about the actor being truthful to the character and channelling their personal emotions in order to further develop the connection to the emotions and allow them to feel more natural to convey. Personally, I find this really helpful for embodying characters with a range of emotions throughout a piece, as I feel more comfortable reliving my own emotions and adapting them to fit the character’s, rather than attempting to create reactions to different events within the piece, resulting in a less authentic performance.

During our exploration of this technique, we were given a range of monologues from different Shakespeare plays and were asked to pick one to apply analysis of the text to. For this, I chose Juliet’s monologue from Act 3 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, as it was the play that I was the most familiar with and would be confident with presenting my information on. Furthermore, Juliet is a character within my casting type, so it would be beneficial to develop my knowledge of the play overall, as well as have clear acting choices for a monologue of hers for future auditions. I decided to carry out some extensive research across the play as a whole, using the previously covered technique of world-building research to broaden my knowledge further of the era this time is set in, before focusing on analysing the text itself and creating acting choices based on the text. I found it the most helpful to unit the extract into 3 brief sections of emotions to convey throughout the journey of the text, whcih then enabled me to go through each line and pick where it felt the most comfortable to make distinct acting choices. Furthermore, I thought it was beneficial for me to include my reasoning behind these choices, solidifying the emotions I believe the character is feeling in that moment and why she is feeling them. By the end of this exercise, I felt as though I had a clear and concise insight to the structure of the text, the emotional journey thoughout and how I wanted to convey the character’s perspective to the audience.

Upon reflection of this technique, I seem to find it very useful. I feel as though this is a very effective way of exploring both the logistical and emotional aspects of an extract, encouraging me to develop acting choices and connect them together, creating an overall emotional journey throughout the piece. I believe that this is a technique that would be effective to bring into other aspects of my training, such as when preparing for Acting Through Song. By uniting the lyrics throughout a song, I would be able to visually break down the emotions throughout the song, ensuring that I create an authentic emotional journey and make distinct choices in order to present a shift in emotion. This would overall improve my confidence then when performing within ATS classes, and will allow me to feel more comfortable with exploring other choices that may be more suited towards the character.

Scene into Song:

The final technique that I found interesting to work on during our Performance Project classes this term was the concept of moving from a scene of dialogue straight into a song. When this concept was brought up in class it wasn’t something I was expecting to be touching upon, since I assumed that this was a very simple technique that came naturally to performers. However, it is vital for the flow from the dialogue into the song is as smooth as humanly possible and provides a reason for the dialogue to require a merge into song. Furthermore, as this concept is so common in current musical theatre, it is crucial to be able to effectively maintain the flow of the event currently happening within the show, therefore maintaining the emotions wanting to be portrayed during the moment.

During this session with Claire, we focused on a scene from the 2015 musical Waitress, written by Sara Bareilles. We specifically looked at the scene leading into the song “Bad Idea,” which is a very frantic and upbeat duet between the characters Jenna and Dr Pomatter. While analysing the video of this moment within the production, I primarily focused on the conjoined mood and atmosphere being created throughout the scene, and how it smoothly flows into the written tempo of the song. As well as watching a version of the scene in class, I also decided to watch a video with a different cast performing the scene, in order to have multiple views of this transition. While analysing the scene, it was made abundantly clear to me that the scene is presented as very frantic in order to represent the awkwardness that both characters feel towards one another based on their underlying feelings for each other. Furthermore, as the scene develops leading closer up to the song, the emotions feel feel more heightened, especially from Jenna with her becoming quite frustrated and shouting at Pomatter. For me, these acting choices were effective at bringing the scene to the level and tempo equivalent to the song, creating a smooth transition from scene to song.

Reflecting upon the analysis of a scene into song, I personally find it very helpful to listen to the upcoming song, so that I can have the knowledge of the tempo of the song and therefore, have an understanding of the level in emotion where the scene prior needs to end in order for it to smoothly transition between the two. This analysis will come in future rehearsal processes and productions, such as our First Year Project in May/June. If it is required of me to transition from a scene into a song during this process, I know that it will benefit me to think about the tempo of the song coming up, and therefore, ensuring that the emotion portrayed at the end of the scene is equivalent to the emotion that is required for the style and tempo of the song, smoothly flowing the mood and atmosphere from one aspect of the production into the next.

Conclusion:

To summarise everything that has been stated, I believe that there are many aspects of the sessions presented to me over the course of the last 9 weeks that has significantly benefited my knowledge of different acting techniques, as well as my personal view on certain techniques that I used to believe wouldn’t work for me as a performer. I have been able to expand my knowledge of different practitioners and the aspect in which their methods benefit the analysis and development of characters. In addition, I have been given the opportunity to workshop these techniques within different classes, which has strengthened my confidence in using them and has improved my performance within those classes. Overall, I believe that I have effectively improved my education of different acting practitioners and techniques of this past term, as well as my practical performance across my acting and singing training, which is the beginning of becoming an all-round confident triple threat performer.

Bibliography.

• Caryl Churchill, 1987, Serious Money, play text, Methuen Drama
• Folger Shakespeare Library (2026), https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/read/3/2 [Accessed 6 Jan]
• Jennifer Lane, Backstage (2023), https://backstage.com/magazine/article/given-circumstances-acting-explained-76219/#section2 [Accessed 11 Jan]
• Verify (2024), SLIME TUTORIAL OF BAKING A PIE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okIzUXDX5wk [Accessed 20 Jan]