***

ACTING

***

In Acting Technique, we looked at many practitioners including Uta Hagen. When looking at her techniques, the use of the fourth side really stuck out to me. The fourth side is when actors use agreed specific points in the audience which represent certain objects. These are intended to spark certain memories in the character, creating a world that extends beyond the scene on stage. The technique was used in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ when Benjamin looked out into the audience as if he was looking at the graves of his family. This provided the actor with a strong moment of storytelling. The technique has been effective for helping me find more depth to my character and give myself a more cohesive sense of place. Thus, I would like to exploit this technique to help the audience connect to my character.

Another technique we looked at was Laban. Laban was developed by Rudolph Laban which originally uses 8 efforts as a form of movement analysis. We used these ‘efforts’ and applied them to acting, providing an inner sensation that translates to how the character may be feeling. For example, embodying a feeling of flicking within the body might then produce an agitated or nervous seeming character. When researching Laban, I discovered that it can be used to notate movement. ‘Space’ can be used to describe the qualities of movement in the space – using terminology such as ‘expansion’ or ‘contraction’. I found this interesting as it demonstrated to me how I can apply Laban to other parts of my training. I would like to also explore how Laban can be applied to music, potentially looking at how I can use it to inform musical qualities like articulations or dynamics.

Part of my acting training that has impacted me this year is our work on Stanislavski – particularly given circumstances and objectives. Objectives are the aim or want the character has in a scene. Throughout the scene, the character is attempting to achieve this goal. Given circumstances are what that the actor knows about the character from what the play has told them. For example, when studying ‘Ruffian on the Stair’, the script told us that Mike and Joyce were in a relationship and that Joyce had previously been a prostitute. These were useful as they informed me of what kind of person Joyce could be and aided in my interpretation of her character – thus how she may react to Wilson coming to her house unannounced. Whilst researching Stanislavski, I researched other practitioners influenced by him such as Lee Strasberg. Stanislavski’s work is said to have focused on the internal experience of the actor, this lay the groundwork for Strasberg to suggest the actor should use their own experiences to create a character. This became known as method acting. I found it particularly interesting how there were so many different interpretations of the method of acting and I would like to keep researching these so that I can find a process that is most suited to me.

In our political theatre project we looked at plays by political playwrights – ‘Pravda’ and ‘Serious Money’ – and staged them using Brechtian techniques. This led us to consider the question ‘can you be powerful and ethical?’ through the lens of the media. In this project I took ownership of my process, ensuring I understood everything we intended to present. I took a leading role within the research of Pravda – reading the play and editing the script to create a performance that best delivered our message. Following this project, I have begun to research other political playwrights and their work. Directly inspired by Brecht, Tony Kushner’s work includes techniques such as direct address and multi-rolling. One of his most famous works ‘Angels in America’ examines the AIDS crisis and homosexuality in 1980s New York. Inspired by ‘Angels in America’ I’d like to create a piece exploring the lives of women in the LGBT community through history in a similar style to Kushner, using metaphors and symbolism to emphasise the message of the play. In Acting Technique we are looking at scenes from ‘Till the Stars Come Down’ by Beth Steel. As well as reading the play, I have also researched Uta Hagen, who’s techniques we are studying. I’d like to keep up this practice in future projects as it gives me a better understanding of context thus producing a more informed and connected performance.

What has stuck with me most from Screen is starting a scene light, avoiding a sense of inevitability. My biggest improvements were when given this direction between takes, for example when filming Frances Ha. We did three takes of this scene, the first feeling fairly flat as if we all knew how the scene ended and the last had somewhere to go as the characters weren’t aware of an upcoming argument. This technique gives the characters more emotional depth, lifting the whole scene. After filming, I watched the original scene at home to see what how it was interpreted differently. My character – Lev – was more playful whereas I had interpreted him as more controlling. It was interesting how despite the scene being lighter, there was still underlying tension. This is a technique I want to consider in my future acting, particularly on screen, as it makes the scene feel more natural, bringing it to life.

***

MOVEMENT

***

We’ve looked at many styles of dance that have been new to me, including Speakeasy and Salsa. As a confident dancer, it’s been an exciting challenge to push myself beyond the boundaries of previous technique I’ve learnt. This has helped me make bolder choices across my other movement classes. A key learning moment of this year was introducing characters into our dance. We created characters to be part of the club scene of our Speakeasy piece. The character I developed was an ex-showgirl who’d come to visit her friends and old co-workers. This gave me the opportunity to interpret the dance to suit my character – adding gestures or different postures that I think my character would have, like being precise in her movements despite the fast tempo of the piece. In doing this, I had a more holistic sense of the story behind the dance, enabling for a more engaging performance for the audience to connect to. Further on in my training, I’d like to keep incorporating character into all my projects and begin exploring this in music as well as movement. In preparation for the assessment, I researched videos of the Nicholas Brothers – who pioneered the Speakeasy dance style – and observed the off-balance feeling and the lightness in their feet that they had. Additionally, I noticed how they both had a cheerful and flashy quality about them. I then tried to encapsulate some of these characteristics into my character and the way I danced the routine by making my movements big yet maintaining control.

In our Movement Technique lessons with Carly, we looked at how the alignment of the body affects how our body functions and how we breathe. I found this moment of learning to be really significant for me as it made me realise how everything is connected. We learnt about the different parts of the spine and what parts of the body provided stability and which aided mobility. For example, the scapula (shoulder blades) has a muscle inside it called the serratus anterior which helps to stabilise the shoulders. Breathing from the belly, making sure to release and not suck in breath, supports the function of the shoulder as the serratus anterior is connected to the ribs. We also learnt about how to find a neutral alignment and how this helps our breathing. When my head was pulled back and I was aligned I was able to breathe more efficiently as the rib cage naturally draws in and the transverse abdominal muscles naturally engage – these are the muscles that help the spine with stability. Thus, having good alignment helps me to breathe and sets the body up for movement. Watching third year shows with intense movement such as ‘Let the Right One In’ or ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’ demonstrated to me the importance of having a good alignment. The actors in both shows took part in movement sequences and then would have to speak afterwards, and managed to do this without sounding breathy or quiet. I’d like to maintain being aware of my alignment during my training, setting my body up for movement and voice effectively.

In Animal Studies we have focussed heavily on taking the leap and being present in the moment, looking at how animals are guided by their motivations such as ‘I am hungry’. I accessed this through exercises involving peripheral vision, smells and reflexes – one of these being to try and high five my partner as quickly as possible, with them putting their hand out sporadically. Staying present throughout our improvisations made it easier to connect to my animal as I didn’t allow myself to become self conscious. This has helped me to make bolder choices and overcome obstacles, such as figuring out how to climb as my animal, and I will take this forward into the future – particularly when portraying animalistic characters. When going to see ‘Let the Right One In’ performed by the third years, I found Edie’s portrayal of a vampire very believable. You could see the moments where their character was overtaken by their vampiric instincts which were clearly inspired by animalistic qualities such as the overwhelming need for food or blood.

***

VOICE

***

Developing warm-ups has been beneficial for me as previously I have found warming up to be an intimidating process which I didn’t know how to approach. However, breaking it down into different sections and learning the reason behind doing certain exercises has helped me to create a warm-up that is best suited to me. Learning about connecting to breath resonated with me a lot. By ensuring that I speak on the out breath, I have found it easier to project and be resonant without straining or hurting my voice like I may have done before. I’ve also found this gives me more control over my breath meaning I don’t get out of breath as fast when delivering long lines. This has been transferable to other classes such as acting technique and ensemble singing in which I feel the way I am using my voice is more sustainable over a long period of time. I am also able to project in a healthier way allowing me to be heard by larger audiences and use my voice more appropriately for stage. Inspired by this work, I listened to some podcasts of interviews with Barbra Houseman – a famous Vocal Coach. In this podcast, Houseman talks about the importance on connecting a warm-up to text as ordinarily it is common to do the warm-up then perform having carried forward none of the practised technique. By using exercises with text, it connects the two and therefore is easier to impart technique on the text in practice. This notion stuck with me and is something I have taken forward when doing vocal warm-ups. In my assessment I used lines from my sonnet as part of my warm-up, making sure I was connected to my voice when it then came to performing.

In our Voice into Text lessons we’ve looked a poems, modern sonnets and narrative texts. Throughout the lessons I have had lots of individual feedback however one of the things I’ve heard most is that I drop off at the ends of words. This means that I have a tendency to go quieter at the ends of words or phrases making it harder for the audience to understand what I am saying. I was given the exercise of physically placing the last word of a line in front of me – an exercise used by Cicely Berry, a vocal practitioner. Another Cicley Berry exercise which has helped me is walking on punctuation. This is where you walk and say a line then when you reach a punctuation mark you stop and change direction before speaking again. This exercise helps in taking notice of where the author has put in breaths and avoids me adding in any extra ones. Taking notice of where there are breaths in the text shows me how the author intended the story to be told and lets me find moments in the text to draw out – providing a framework to play with pace and volume. These exercises have helped me to remain on voice as well as helping me with textural analysis and finding new ways to perform the text. Watching ‘John Proctor is the Villain’ and ‘Let the Right One In’ demonstrated to me the importance of being on voice as despite the fact they didn’t have mics, I was able to hear everything they said even in a large space.

Before learning about how to approach accents, I found them extremely intimidating. However, using the KIT list to explain new accents broke down the accent in a way that made sense to me, identifying features of the accent which I could refer to rather than just attempting to mimic what I hear. The KIT list is a lexical set created by JC Wells which shows you the vowel shapes an accent may use, for example, the ‘BATH’ vowel has one IPA symbol and correlating sound in RP whereas it has a different one in a Yorkshire accent. This, therefore, gave me a reference for how to change what I do to replicate another accents vowel shape. I then applied this to other accents for further research, such as an Essex accent. In my research, I found that the ‘FACE’, ‘GOAT’ and ‘PRICE’ vowel had the most difference to my normal accent, often elongating and exaggerating the diphthong. In future, I now feel confident in approaching accents and what to look for that makes the accent distinguishable from my own.

***

MUSIC

***

I’ve found in musicianship that I have understood theory in a new light despite having previous knowledge on the topic. Learning theory practically has allowed me to have a more holistic understanding of what theory means – connecting the dots between theory and playing. For example, we practiced listening for the tonic of a key by cycling through songs on a playlist and singing the tonic when we heard it. I have then been able to apply this skill to other contexts – in music lab lessons or band rehearsals to figure out what key we need to play in. I have also found that arriving with different musical backgrounds could make it hard to articulate what I meant in our lessons. This presented us with the opportunity to learn new ways of creating music from each other. I feel I’ve been able to help people with reading sheet music whilst I have become better at playing by ear. Finding new ways to communicate has also pushed me to learn new forms of musical notation, like tab, which I hadn’t been exposed to before. Learning tab now means that I can sightread basslines from the internet a lot easier and this is something I have done for band rehearsals. Contrastingly, completing tasks with sheet music has helped me practice sight reading on my new instruments, helping me to gain confidence playing them. In our first music lab project, we had to genre flip a song of our choosing. My group turned ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ by Marvin Gaye from a 60s soul song to a modern folk pop song (similar to Billie Eilish and Lizzy McAlpine songs). We found that playing to each other and using improvisation grounded in the use of theory to figure out the key and chords helped us to create a song in which everyone was doing something they were comfortable with and proud of. When researching artists of the genre we were aiming to replicate, we listened to ‘Doomsday’ by Lizzy McAlpine and were inspired by her use of harmony in the song. Therefore, we decided to use her chords from this song as the basis of ours rather than the chords used in ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ thus creating a more heart-wrenching and darker tone to the song.

Learning Bass and Clarinet this year has been an interesting and exciting experience as I have been taught both instruments in a very different way to what I am used to. Growing up, I learnt instruments by always working towards an exam or performance. In comparison, this year I have barely used sheet music whilst learning my instruments – learning more about technique and how to play by ear as these are things that will apply to being an actor musician. Learning in this way has made it easier for me to learn things off by heart such as in my music assessment where learning the music made it easier to act through the songs. In my assessment, I found it harder than expected to play whilst trying to convey character as despite knowing the music, adding movement and acting to my performance provided another level of multitasking and unpredictability. This is something I would like to work on more next year through considering character in as much of my playing as I can. Watching the Machinal performed by the second years at the beginning of this year inspired me to think outside the box wherever possible, finding creative ways to use my instruments, similar to how the trombone was used to emulate the background mumble of a TV by murmuring into the it. Furthermore, how the ensemble played their instruments loudly and brashly to create the atmosphere of a busy street. I was also inspired by the woodland animals in ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ at Leeds Playhouse who used their instruments as weapons when they thought they were being attacked by the White Witch. Next year I want to continue to find innovative ways to use my instruments to tell a story.

***

ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT

***

From the beginning of the year, we’ve explored different ways to create work. In ensemble weeks, we looked at creating work from various stimuli. This included creating tableaus embodying specific words (such as ‘freedom’ or ‘transformation’) in addition to making new stories using phrases from a piece of existing text. This is a technique we have used many times since, for instance during our workshop with Steph (an MA Dramaturgy student). Aislinn and I used text from ‘The Goose of Hermogenes’ to write a song. We then performed this piece with a group in our artistic development sharing at the end of the year. When writing this song, I looked at other ancient stories to inspire our writing. For example, I researched the story of Philinnion and Machates. This ghost story is about a girl who died and then returned to her parents as a ghost, however other characters aren’t aware that she is a ghost. Whilst not using text directly from this story, we were inspired by it’s plot. Our song is about a girl between life and death and talks about how things aren’t always as they seem – for example in the line “red earth disguised as green” we suggest that the girl goes to a place that looks like heaven but may be hell. This is like how no one knows the girl in the story is a ghost, thus following the theme things aren’t what they seem. I find this technique particularly effective for generating material and is something I would like to use more often in the future.

Taking part in workshops with industry professionals has allowed me to explore new styles of theatre, apply skills I’ve learnt in class to new methods and push myself to make bold choices and be engaged in workshop environments. I particularly connected with the Playback theatre workshop ran by Next Door But One. I found it really inspiring to find out how playback theatre can be used to tell people’s stories, to give them closure and spread awareness – rather than just a form of comedy. I was interested in it as a method to spark new material and I’d like to try using this for future projects, creating more imaginative ways to present or play with content. I found a study looking at the impact of psychotherapeutic playback theatre (PPT) which suggests that using PPT regularly in a closed group setting ‘is frequently associated with experiences of relief, creative reframing, feeling understood, hopefulness, empathy, and well-being, among many other significant experiences’. PPT consists of telling personal and true stories for the rest of the group to create improv in both short form improv exercises, with a more abstract embodiment of the story, and long form improvs. I think that playback theatre can be a useful tool to see what other people take away from your stories therefore potentially creating a healing and reflective experience. The study also states that watching other people’s stories be told through PPT can spark internal reflection in an observing individual – relating the story they’re watching to their own.

***

***

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Darren Clark. (2025). The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The Ambassador’s Theatre, London.

pattielemon (2023). Ultimate Guide To Using Laban Technique For Actors. [online] Actorstoolkit.co.uk. Available at: https://actorstoolkit.co.uk/ultimate-guide-to-using-laban-technique-for-actors/#2ed3b5c9-6efa-429b-9218-2eedabaa899b [Accessed 26 May 2025].

‌Joe Orton. (1966). Ruffian on the Stair. Available at: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9781408163184&tocid=do-9781408163184-div-00000003&st=ruffian+on+the+stair.

Jay (2023). The Truth Behind Lee Strasberg’s Method: Separating Fact from Fiction. [online] Available at: https://actorstoolkit.co.uk/the-truth-behind-lee-strasbergs-method-separating-fact-from-fiction/.

David Hare and Howard Brenton. (1985). Available at: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9781408162927&tocid=do-9781408162927-div-00000004&st=pravda.

Caryl Churchill. (1987). Serious Money. Available at: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9781408169520&tocid=do-9781408169520-div-00000121&st=serious+money.

Rosenfeld, J. (2024). Angels in America | Play, Description, Summary, Reception, Legacy, AIDS, & Facts | Britannica. [online] www.britannica.com. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Angels-in-America-play-by-Kushner.

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

UnkownMovies (2023). Frances Ha | Movie in English |. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNFSfTZy3os [Accessed 26 May 2025].

‌Nicholas Brothers .. The greatest dance sequence. (2009). YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKRm6H-qOU.

‌Leeds Conservatoire. (2025) Let the Right One In. City Varieties, Leeds.

Leeds Conservatoire. (2025). Midsummer Night’s Dream. Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds.

The Voice Coach Podcast. (2022). 058 Talking Voice Training with Barbara Houseman – Part 1.

Berry, C. (1992). The actor and the text. New York, Ny: Applause Books.

‌Leeds Conservatoire. (2024). John Proctor is the Villain. The Playhouse, Leeds.

John Corson Wells (1982). Accents of English. 1, An introduction. Cambridge ; London Etc.: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell. (1967). Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.

L‌izzy McAlpine. (2022). Doomsday.

Leeds Conservatoire. (2024). The Machinal. Leeds Conservatoire, Leeds.

Sally Cookson, Michael Fentiman. (2024) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Leeds Playhouse, Leeds.

Colquhoun, I., Owen, P. and Ratcliffe, E. (2014). Goose of Hermogenes. Peter Owen Publishers.

‌Calvert, S. (2024). Philinnion and Machates by Phlegon of Tralless (Online Text)- A Passion for Horror. [online] A Passion for Horror. Available at: https://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/philinnion-and-machates-an-ancient-ghost-story-by-phlegon-of-tralless/ [Accessed 26 May 2025].

‌Nextdoorbutone.co.uk. (2016). Next Door But One. [online] Available at: https://www.nextdoorbutone.co.uk/ABOUT.php.

‌Gonzalez, A.-J., Pedroso, M., Preto, L. and Martins, P. (2024). Psychotherapeutic Playback Theatre, Well-Being, and Psychological Distress: An Impact Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(10), pp.1288–1288. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21101288.

‌