Introduction 

I feel properly lucky to be in Leeds at the Conservatoire. The opportunities we’ve been afforded, from the Festival of Dionysius to the Royal Armouries, have been so valuable to my artistic as well as personal growth. 

I think having a year out and not really being able to access the ‘arts’ made me even more grateful and excited to start training. I am aware of how my ‘life experience’ serves me but at the beginning of skills I became conscious that I had not completed any higher training, such as a foundation year and felt relatively inexperienced, especially in lessons like voice and screen. Although this felt like a drawback it did mean that I really had to open myself up to training and soak up every bit of knowledge that I could. I remember going into an early ensemble rehearsal and being genuinely amazed at the level of focus and passion in the room. It was cool to be surrounded by so many people with a shared interest, but with such unique experiences. Everyone’s commitment and creativity inspires me everyday and I’m constantly in awe of their talent. 

Acting Technique: Uta Hagen

In accordance with Hagen’s views on authenticity and specificity we were encouraged to interact with objects that would actually occur in reality, rooting us in truthfulness. I found this particularly helpful as opposed to miming which can often make me feel clownish and exaggerated when trying to perform naturalistically. 

For a lot of this year we focused on Uta Hagen techniques with Alex Palmer, to “live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”

In the lessons we prepared 2 minutes of action to perform to the whole class, based on Hagen techniques, our own life experiences and observations of human behavior. To begin we used the ‘Fourth Side’, finding points just above the audience whilst envisioning a specific element of the scene’s location, such as a picture on the wall. This opens the actor up to the audience, highlighting the inner intimate feelings of the character and providing the actor with a sense of privacy and immersion into the scene. To showcase this we created three different phone calls to people we knew. Doing this in short succession demonstrates how different we are when talking to different people. When performing I realised I often cast my eyes down to think, therefore cutting the audience off. In the beginning I found it quite challenging to lift my gaze to the fourth side and was left feeling quite vulnerable and aware of the viewers, but after properly visualising the setting and observing others doing the exercise it was clear how effective this theory was when creating connection, even without dialogue.

As we stacked Hagens techniques, I enjoyed utilising her 6 Steps and 3 Entrances.

As someone who tends to overthink, I sometimes find it difficult to focus on my character’s clear aims while also remembering their specific intentions. Breaking it down like this helps me to remain clear headed when trying to play a character/action as truthfully as possible. This was particularly impactful when practicing endowment, where you apply a reality to an object that it doesn’t have, for example making a drink very hot or a knife sharp- things that would not usually be practical on stage. I think I’m still working on performing this realistically. It is difficult to not over emphasise or embellish the reaction. It has made me observe myself and others a lot more closely in everyday events that usually go unnoticed. I will definitely try to carry this awareness forward and continue to take interest in myself in different states.

Immediacy was much easier – because I am always losing things and always in a rush. The key to this was to actively engage with the thought process: Where could it be? When did I last have it? 

Taking a pause and genuinely trying to assess these things in the moment connects the character’s immediate objectives with the mental and the physical of the actor, rooting it in authenticity. Hagen stated, ‘Immediacy keeps actors anchored in the present, allowing memory to inform but not dominate their performance.’

What really stuck with me was when Alex told us to always keep the hope in the scene and never preempt what’s going to happen, which is true for all performances- how could the character ever know what will happen next? He gave the example of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. If the actors consistently play the ending of the family having to leave the estate it all becomes one tone and boring for an audience. Not anticipating the ending keeps the story alive and proved useful in almost every other scene I was in this year. 

Layering these techniques in a final 2 minute performance highlighted how effective they all are in tandem. I acted getting ready to go out- complete with a strong ‘alcoholic’ drink, applying imaginary lipgloss, taking a phone call and apologising for being late, looking for my keys and ‘Womanizer’ by Britney Spears. I could picture my bedroom so clearly and felt actually rushed in a space with only a few props and my whole class watching. It was crazy to me that I could create this world and share it with an audience so much faster than I ever had before. I was really inspired by this block of work and felt very motivated to continue.

Ruffian On the Stair by Joe Orton 

Our assessment was a 5 minute active improvisation, followed by 2 minutes of questions based on Stanislavskian techniques. We were instructed to embody the situation and pursue our objective through purposeful physical and emotional actions. I chose to portray the character of Joyce and began constructing my scene with the Unbroken Line of Action. 

Given Circumstances: I really enjoy going through text and digging things out to inform my character. Orton’s style is cryptic due to censorship at the time, each line seeming to have some double meaning, so it was fun to decide for myself what I wanted to interpret. This is a list I made every time Joyce is mentioned in the play. Doing this made me feel so much more confident and comfortable in my choices and meant I could access the character quickly for the 5 minute scene. 

Overall, I felt okay about the end result. I think as it was one of our first assessments I was actually quite nervous, especially because it was a solo piece and because of this I may have rushed slightly. But I was really happy with my feedback and will definitely carry it through to future projects. I will also continue to use this base of preparation as I think it was a good balance between written and practical which led to a committed performance that left room for organic, spontaneous reactions in the moment. 

Sight Reading 

I really loved this subject this year. I think most actors like just getting up and bashing about with a bit of text, but I now understand the nuance and detail required for this skill. The industry knowledge that Matt has passed on to us has really opened my eyes to a professional audition room. I feel like I have much more competency and could identify the nature of a specific text and project quickly to tailor to a director’s thoughts while also being playful myself. The biggest lesson for me was to make bold choices straight away. Playing ‘safe’ because you don’t have all the context of a character is boring! It’s boring to act, it’s boring to play against and it’s sooo boring to watch. And probably most importantly it won’t get you picked in an audition. 

Once we got up with a script and had read a little chunk, Matt would specifically ask us what our character choice was, listen, and then probably tell us to go bigger. We would also be reminded of pacing, proxemics and keeping our eyes above the page. These were all essential to creating a connection with your scene partners, the audience and making it feel like an early performance rather than just a line read through. We also got the opportunity to experiment with different types of staging, like traverse and in the round which was really helpful to get more experience with. 

I think with these styles of scripts before, I would get obsessed with finding naturalism to the point it became bland. It was so fun to trial how far you could push these choices and really gave me confidence to play around more in other lessons. As well as in Alex and Tom’s lessons, I often thought I was going too big, but was actually just producing a stage version of a human reaction. We all have moments of exuberance and exaggeration and I think it was just cool to be able to present that. The moment that things really clicked was when I got to play ‘W’ in Lungs by Duncan Macmillan, I picked up on their intensity and anxiety and really committed these characteristics to the lines and physicality. I liked and connected to the script and was then really able to push the other techniques: using the whole space, dramatically changing levels and finding different tensions. In other words I was throwing myself about on stage but it actually felt good and helped the scene? And I got some really nice feedback, even if sometimes it went too bold (it did) that that could still be useful in a rehearsal/audition process. Sounds a bit silly but I think this year I’ve begun to embrace my neurodiversity way more and I’ve realised having that awareness of myself and my personality has really helped me to offer more in character work. Being ‘weird’ on stage is realer than my perception of stiff upper lip naturalism!!

Till the Stars Come Down by Beth Steel 

In the last few weeks we began some script work. I felt grateful to be able to build on my Uta Hagen technique in a different format and it really developed my ability to merge the methods cleanly. 

For each scene we immediately discussed what the setting looked like and made specific entrances and exits. It was really helpful to set this with my scene partners so we all had a clear view of the space that matched each other. It really grounded the piece in a firm reality and meant we moved around with an actual reason for our destinations. I really liked utilising the fourth side to connect meaning to specific points in the room, for example: a photo of the family from a good time or the new garden furniture outside the window. It just created another level of immersion and generated truthful thoughts that initiated dialogue. It was cool to work with improv in this block too. We were in character for an hour at a time, taking time to sit in their headspace and then interacting with others. Our conversations could be from before, after or during the world of the play and it was great to share these experiences with the other actors as well as deepening my personal connection with the character. I’d never included this kind of process for script work before and enjoyed just trialing out different backstories and creating more given circumstances. I did find it a bit tricky at some points staying in character for that amount of time and did find my mind wandering at some points, so to combat this I tried writing some diary entries/stream of consciousness. I think being in a different head space as well as having allotted time to really sit in character did change the way I wrote and therefore how I performed when working off these notes, so I would definitely utilise this exercise again. 

We did end up performing one specific duologue a number of times and it was really interesting to work in such depth. We would present the work to Alex and the class and then immediately be redirected. It was crazy how such small adjustments could make such a big difference. We would add different endowments such as being cold or being drunk or infer different meanings to certain lines. Receiving offers as well as feedback live in the moment was really useful and productive. It supported me to then create my own offers and perform/communicate them confidently. Within this block I feel like I have come to understand more of what I like in a scene as an actor and an audience member and how to convey that more effectively. I did really like the play and look forward to working more with text throughout 2nd year.

Movement

Exploring movement has brought me a lot of joy this year. When we first started I felt really grateful to be able to reconnect with my love of physical theatre in an open and inclusive studio space. Being pushed to stretch and activate my body in different ways has been so valuable and I think I have a much higher understanding and awareness of myself in a room. 

Movement creates such a unique and intimate connection with people and I feel I have become much better at devoting myself to an ensemble. I do need to work on being present in my own body whilst accommodating others in the space. I sometimes find myself reverting to overanalysis and getting stuck in my thoughts but throughout these lessons we’ve been taught methods to pull back focus, such as: breath work, activating eye contact and peripheral vision. Really opening yourself and being reactive to people and the space is such a good anchor for concentration. Now, at the end of the year, I’ve noticed I have much better control of my headspace in class and hope to bring this to all lessons and rehearsals from now on. 

In Devised Movement we focused on Viewpoints, which are basically a language for what’s going on on stage.

1. Duration-  The length of time we do a movement, ‘so that something occurs, … so that you exploit the moment of actual event, but not so long that it starts to fall asleep or die’.
2. Tempo- The speed we do a movement, slowest to fastest and everything in between.
3. Space- Distances between things on stage. 
4. Topography- Topo (Place) Graphy (Drawing). I thought of it as making a picture with your feet. We used the imagery of grids, zigzags and curves. 
5. Kinaesthetic Response- A spontaneous reaction to someone else’s movement.
6. Impulse- When you react to the other person’s movement. I found this really combatted my overthinking because you just had to give in to moving and relying on your ensemble.
7. Gesture- When a movement has feeling and intention behind it, with a beginning, middle and end. 
8. Shape- A movement constructed by any manner of body parts or people. 
9. Repetition- Amplifying a movement by repeating it. 
10. Architecture- A response to the space you are within. 

Learning this terminology as a collective was integral to our growth as an ensemble and I found us referring back to it even in non-movement lessons. Just having an awareness of all these components elevated my creativity- it’s like having a little checklist to go over. 

We also continued to utilise viewpoints throughout the next block of learning, where we worked off different stimuli like Images, Music, Text and Objects. I have done some of this before, on a much more basic level, so I really enjoyed the way Eilon encouraged us to approach these things with a different lense. This was especially prevalent in text work as it’s so easy to just create simple actions from full sentences, whereas we pulled the verbs from a block and then formed dramatic gestures (7). From this you would workshop a sequence and then layer the viewpoints on top. We would experiment with how slow or fast, how big or small you could perform it. Domestication was also an amazing tool- how would this movement appear in the everyday? Splicing each of these patterns and then mixing them together articulated the text in such a fresh way and I loved how many different combinations could be made from just one exercise. Devised movement has really elevated my work as a whole and I definitely intend to bring these techniques forward.

Dance & Choreography was also really valuable to me this year. One of my goals was to develop and strengthen my dance technique and my body and it’s been really fulfilling to see my stamina and flexibility grow. It was tricky at times to be motivated and push through to get into class- especially when you’re in a mid week slump, but I loved that you could tell as soon as the happy exercise hormones hit and everyone just became energised and lively. 

After a few weeks we began to develop solos from the stimulus ‘Open Hand or Closed Fist’, which immediately made me think of the Hozier song ‘Cherry Wine’ when he sings “open hand or closed fist would be fine,” which I interpreted as accepting any type of ‘love’ even if it is hurtful.
These were my notes to Donald:

I have decided to base my piece around girlhood and the female experience. How precious and beautiful it is but also how painful. I think women are pressured to accept love in any form, even if it causes harm. And how as people we all crave love and connection.

‘Open’ and ‘Closed’ made me think of the push and pull of manipulation in relationships. 

Hot to Icy.

Powerful to Powerless. 

Fight to Surrender. 

I think weirdly enough it also mirrors a first year experience, building confidence and placing more value on yourself to be able to accept connection from an ensemble. (Bit deep, my bad.)

Initially I was a bit worried about doing a solo because I haven’t danced in quite a while, let alone by myself in front of new-ish people, but I think I was really able to connect to my breath and the meaning behind the physicality and therefore was quite happy with my final performance. 

This is a video showcasing how the piece developed from initial ideas, to the sharing with the year, to Donald actually adapting my phrase for me and a group outside of class to perform on the Northern School’s stage. This block really inspired me to get back in touch with dance, after having a bit of a weird relationship with it and has grown my confidence to begin choreographing again, which makes me excited to include it in following projects. 

Voice

I’ve never been specifically taught voice before, so this was a steep learning curve. What really surprised me was actually how connected the whole body is to the way you speak. The first thing we did was to identify where we felt tension and I think the biggest ones for me were my jaw, shoulders and stomach- all pretty vital for good technique apparently. Slowly building up different exercises to improve these was really helpful, beginning with breath. We thought of a beach ball as we breathed in, inflating with air and then let our stomachs go, which is called ‘splatting’. As we breathe out the beach ball deflates. It actually took me ages to ingrain this, I was told I bring my breath up to my chest and shoulders, maybe down to having a history with dance. I practiced managing this in other lessons and even just when a bit stressed, but it still takes me a little while to drop into, relax and release. 

I already loved my poem but my sonnets were a slightly different story- more of a slow burner for sure. Exploring the structure and iambic pentameter was pretty new and I found it a bit difficult to visualise. With Chris we found transitive verbs to describe each passage, for example: to scare you, to insult you. This broke up the text a bit more in my head and was much easier to see than A’s and B’s. To bring them alive we practiced gesturing or stamping at the end of each line which also kept the pace and emphasised the line endings. For my Shakespeare there had to be a research element so I completely understood what I was saying, a lesson in caution, in power and responsibility. Jo redirected me to perform it as though I was a teacher telling off a class, mainly because when I’m performing with an audience that close to me I get a bit awkward and can’t make eye contact, which leads me to focus on a spot on the wall and completely cut people off. This forced me to directly address everyone in the room which is something I had to take with me into the assessment. 

I thought the assessment went quite well and it was great to have a personal warm up beforehand. I like using elements of yoga combined with intoning, tongue stretches and jaw releasing that I’ve built over the year to really combat my tension. It’s so good to have this in the locker and I know it will get used next year. My feedback was positive and mentioned my resonance which I worked really hard on, especially in my narrative piece. It was useful to think of the different resonators as characters: for the belly, a giant who has a deep, low register, for nasal, a wicked witch, piercing and nagging. In my piece, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, I had a Princess, Prince, Dragon and Narrator so I really wanted them to be as differentiated as possible, the Princess quite bright and young, the Prince moody and lower, the Dragon nasal and elongated and the Narrator clear and enunciated. It was really fun to perform and I enjoyed slotting in some physicality to exaggerate the words. 

Voice has really surprised me this year. I know at the beginning it was my weakest subject and I still feel like I have lots to learn technically, but seeing my improvement from the beginning is really encouraging. For next year I will be trying to better my breath management as I have a tendency to take in an extra breath with my shoulders and ruin the ‘splat’ technique that requires the breath to go to the lower body. I look forward to trying to deliver better, more connected and embodied performances and taking my interest in text to second year. 

Another goal is to put myself forward for more things in class. I don’t really think it’s a nervous thing but I sometimes have a tendency to hold back- maybe to see if what I’m thinking is ‘right’? I know that’s silly and actually allows for more overthinking, which is something I am trying to actively avoid so I just need to continue pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I also want to pursue this through the continuation of devising and improvisation, even as we proceed with text work, to challenge myself to deepen my connection to character. Furthermore, I would like to start expanding my own work, looking into writing and perhaps some directing. I am so grateful for this opportunity to centre art in my life and there’s no way I could have reached this point without my insane classmates and teachers. I am so excited for year 2 and I can’t wait to see how things progress! 

References:

Hagen, U. (1973). Respect for Acting. New York: Wiley.

Hagen, U. (1991). A Challenge for the Actor. New York: Scribner.

Chekhov, A. (2002). The Cherry Orchard. Translated by T. Stoppard. London: Faber and Faber.

Spears, B. (2008). Womanizer [Recorded by Britney Spears]. On Circus [CD]. Jive Record

Orton, J. (2001). Ruffian on the Stair. In: J. Lahr, ed. Joe Orton: The Complete Plays. London: Methuen, pp. 1–30.

Stanislavski, K. (2008). An Actor Prepares. Translated by E.R. Hapgood. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.

Macmillan, D. (2012). Lungs. London: Oberon Books.

Steel, B. (2024). Till the Stars Come Down. London: Faber & Faber.

Bogart, A. and Landau, T. (2005). The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition. New York: Theatre Communications Group.

Hozier. (2014). Cherry Wine [streaming audio]. Available at: https://www.spotify.com/

Coppola, F.F. (Director). (1984). Cotton Club [Film]. United States: Warner Bros

Stone, H. (Director). (1941). Hellzapoppin’ [Film]. United States: Universal Pictures

Shakespeare, W. (2008). Sonnet 94. In: G. Blakemore Evans, ed. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 1095–1096.

King, M. (2022). On learning that woodpeckers don’t have shock absorbing skulls. Rattle.

Munsch, R. (1980). The Paper Bag Princess. Toronto: Annick Press.