Introduction

Before beginning my training at Leeds conservatoire, I was mostly concerned about my ability to remain present, focused and involved during skills training. Prior to September, it had been a while since working in a creative setting that wasn’t predominantly focused on making or writing a piece of work, myself being involved in all aspects of the devising process. Whilst I would love to continue working on projects like this throughout my working life, I am fully aware that in order to sustain a career in the industry I need to be as well rounded as possible. I knew it would be a big adjustment stepping back into a more classical way of learning, and working in a way that didn’t necessarily involve a final piece of theatre but instead focused on my own understanding of my ability and individual skillset as an actor. 

The main things I wanted to achieve in first year was taking ownership of my own process, learning from my lecturers and also my ensemble, and understanding how I can work in the best way for myself; along with gaining a larger respect and understanding of myself as an actor. I wanted to come away from first year taking myself seriously, more confident in my choices and abilities, and able to communicate my thoughts in a more clear, professional manner. I also wanted to find my place within an ensemble, understanding where I could fit within this specific cohort and develop my skills in group settings. Before coming to Leeds, I had often found myself taking a leadership role (specifically in devising or creating, as I spoke about previously) and I wanted to use this year as an opportunity to take a step back when needed. I knew that sometimes taking the lead can feel overwhelming or exhausting for me, and I was excited to finally be surrounded by an ensemble that are capable of leading work.

Movement

Choreographed Movement

A lot of my previous movement training had been quite basic, so when I started at drama school I was really excited at the idea of developing my skills in this area. This excitement, however, definitely did not stop or ease the nerves that came with working in these classes from time to time. 

A lot of my current understanding of my body in terms of movement comes from yoga or tai chi, which tends to involve controlled, sustained movements that focus on breath and alignment. This certainly helped me in developing connection between myself and my body, especially when creating our solos for our first project in choreographed movement (see attached.) This project really helped my understanding of what our movement lessons would entail, as well as giving our entire class the opportunity to move as an ensemble; whilst also having our own creative input on our solo pieces.

I believe this initial project really gave me a solid basis of knowledge on choreographed movement, especially considering beforehand I had little to no ‘dance’ experience, apart from very minimal choreography to songs in amateur musicals. Although I was still nervous going into our speakeasy assessment, I knew now that not only could I, alone, work well enough to develop my own small piece of movement, our group worked together so effectively  that each member of the company could show their own individual strengths, whilst still creating a true ensemble style piece.

Devised Movement

The only other real experience I had with movement before starting training was through my college course, where we had a single movement lesson weekly and explored on a very minimal level Rudolf Laban’s teachings of the kinesphere and efforts. Whilst we did not explicitly explore these in any of our movement classes, this previous knowledge did definitely help me when we started exploring topography and shape in our devised movement classes. We looked at how different floor patterns can influence the way you move, and the atmosphere these patterns convey to an audience. Looking at the difference between very rigid, straight, grid-like movement through a space in comparison to free, circular movement, for example. The former tended to create a more ‘serious’, business-like feel to the motions, the latter having a more freeing, loose and open quality; therefore creating a more calm undertone to a piece. 

Eventually, we began thinking about how we could apply these different styles of movement to character. We looked at some improvised movement with the stimulus of a children’s book. This piece particularly stands out to me, it felt like a really notable moment of change in my outlook on my own skill set. I really trusted my own instincts, as well as being open to how the rest of my group may react/ act on their own accord. We used repeated gestures, varied pace throughout, thought about individual character whilst also serving the entirety of the group and storyline. We naturally thought about proxemics and how topography influenced the message of the piece.  It was really interesting to see so many small elements that I had learnt across all of my lessons come together in a very small improvised piece. It was really nice to be given a stimulus and work pretty freely from there, because making and devising is one of my favourite things to do.

We also looked a lot at kinesthetic responses, thinking about how one can act on impulse with an awareness of not just yourself but the entire ensemble, and how we can rely on instinct to move rather than pre plan each of our moves through a space. This is something I think I have particularly improved on throughout my classes. Mostly because of nerves, a lot of my time spent in movement sessions at the beginning of this thinking very deeply about what I would or wouldn’t do next. I was worried about how I might come across or show to the rest of my class the reservations I had with my own ability. Now, I have trust in my body and my understanding of movement. I am able to rely on impulse, and truly believe that my instincts are just as worthy and correct as anybody else’s. Part of this improvement is, of course, practice and continual use of this skill, but also my movement training at Leeds Conservatoire has given me enough confidence in myself to know when I am working in the right way. And, even when I find myself not making the right decisions or if I feel stuck in one rhythm, I have been given the skills to get myself out of this. 

Acting Technique

Sight Reading

Sight reading for me served as a really fun outlet to explore things we had been learning in our other acting technique lessons, whilst simultaneously learning some really important skills for the industry. It was really useful at the beginning of the year before properly starting our sight reading classes to have a refresh on stage craft, specifically the elements of stagecraft we as actors have control over; looking at how proxemics, for example, can communicate so much to an audience without the need for dialogue. Thinking about how at the centre of all theatre there is conflict and power struggle and proxemics are a really powerful tool in showing these themes. 

Exploring monologues specifically was a really exciting acting challenge. It was really interesting to see how my choices affected the scene, often creating dynamics you had to stick to because you were essentially performing live. It took a good few classes before the skills of making interesting choices, being truly naturalistic and believable and also reading a piece of text aloud for the first time really began working simultaneously. I quickly learnt how much more engaging it was as both an audience member and actor to make bolder choices, when working in a scene with multiple actors, it only takes one person making a big bold choice to elevate the performance of everybody on stage. 

One lesson, we worked on the play Bull by Mike Bartlett. (I was playing the role of Isobel.) This piece was one of the first times we had worked with a smaller cast, and a large monologue. Although I have always been a confident reader, I was still really nervous at the sight of the final monologue. There is only so much context and given circumstances you can get from a first read through when also performing live at the same time. I had to really trust in my character choices and instincts as an actor as I performed this speech; I made bold, clear choices and connected with my scene partner as much as possible and was really proud of how my work came across. (See below an extract from said monologue)

 I think I learnt a lot about my own process in sight reading classes. I found ways to be more bold, make choices that I wouldn’t have in the past and trust myself and my abilities. I feel much more prepared for audition situations, readings and general rehearsal now I have explored these skills in lesson.

Screen 

Although I had some previous experience with screen acting lessons on my college course, my training when starting at Leeds Conservatoire had been predominantly stage acting based. At the beginning of the year, I had concerns about my screen acting technique because, disregarding very brief sessions at drama school auditions, I hadn’t done any acting for camera for over a year. Even then, the training I had done so far was very minimal and involved mostly recreating previously made Film and TV programmes. I have always been really interested in how Stanislavski techniques in particular can be applied to screen acting to really elevate the nuance needed to perform believably at that level of being seen. I was really excited to develop these skills alongside standard training for stage. 

I have definitely seen myself improve greatly in terms of these skills as the module has gone on. I have been able to apply the Stanislavski exercises we had been working on in our acting technique lessons to screen. Approaching a scene with a whole set of tools to help prepare me for a shoot; given circumstances, the magic if, the life of the human spirit, the unbroken line of action. I have the ability to create an entire character profile for myself using just a small extract of text because I have found the confidence to make bolder choices. I think it is incredibly evident how much more comfortable I am on camera now in comparison to the beginning of term two. (See examples of scenes attached.) I feel my ability to connect with my on screen partner has improved so much during these sessions. Not only is this evident to people watching these scenes, I am able to be so much more engaged and connected throughout the performance because these skills come much more naturally now.

Studying screen at this level has really given me a greater understanding of who I am as an actor, and also where I want to stand in the industry in the future. I have always been really interested in the literature side of drama and theatre, as well as making and creating my own work. First year screen acting has given me some really great unique opportunities to delve into a small piece of text and use my imagination in places to develop an entire world/ scenario when there may be some information missing.

Mike Alfreds and Stanislavski

In our first year acting technique classes we predominantly looked at the practitioners Mike Alfreds and Stanislavski. My performing arts course at college had focused almost entirely on the teachings of Stanislavski so, although I already had a pretty good basis of information regarding his practices, I was really eager to see how I could apply his techniques at a higher level. 

Our first year acting technique assessment tasked us with creating a five minute solo scene, with little to no dialogue, either just after or just before a scene we had looked at in class from The Ruffian On The Stair by Joe Orton. This task focused heavily on the unbroken line of action, but also asked us as actors to call on other techniques like the magic if, given circumstances and circles of attention to ensure our five minute scene matched the complexity and detail of the actual text. 

This assessment was a real challenge for me. Unless creating my own work, and even then in some cases, I have always relied heavily on text to help guide me through a scene. The exploration of text had sometimes been my favourite part of a rehearsal process, and although we still  had the rest of the play to work from given circumstances – wise, it was a really interesting exercise to take this text away and see how my process differs in a situation like this. When acting, I am often most comfortable in extremes. The lack of dialogue allowed me to deepen my character profile using my own imagination as well as information gathered from the text; I was able to tap into nuances and idiosyncrasies I hadn’t really explored before. 

Voice

One to One Singing Lessons

Despite some difficulty with timetabling and absences, I have learnt so much in my one to one singing lessons. I have developed a real understanding of my own voice and how to approach a song, be that for an audition or performance or just personal enjoyment. I know now that I am an alto, and although I am more comfortable in lower notes, I am just as capable in higher notes too. I am so much more confident and consequently resonant when singing.

We also touched on some acting through song techniques, thinking about how you shouldn’t ‘end game’ a song in the same way you wouldn’t with a scene. A solo presents as a unique opportunity to showcase your acting range as well as vocal ability, as songs often follow the classic linear storytelling structure. I am really excited to develop the skills needed for this in our second year module on this. 

Sonnets

I was really excited at the thought of working with Shakespeare sonnets. I have always really enjoyed Shakespeare and leant toward working with classical pieces as often as I could. I think this comes from being interested in both the literature itself and the history/ context of the pieces, both of these being topics I am greatly fascinated by. I knew that approaching a classical text would come with its own challenges like deciphering the language and consequently finding connection with the dialogue tends to be harder when my understanding is not as clear. I wanted to focus on finding emotion within the text without adding strain to my voice, being able to convey the sonnet’s true meaning whilst remaining resonant and clear. This was a particular goal of mine as we hadn’t had many opportunities to display our vocal technique alongside emotion prior to our assessment. 

I love the way Shakespeare can roll off the tongue, and really enjoyed learning some more about incorporating iambic pentameter into a performance as this is something I have often left out of a performance or tended to be the technique I would prioritise least. This work gave me a real insight into how to approach a piece of text that is out of context of a play and how emotion and connection can still be so present despite this. It was honestly a big challenge and incredibly interesting to see how I could try and display vocal range in a very small amount of time.

Narrative Piece

I was especially apprehensive when it came to how I was going to approach performing a narrative piece. I knew that I would be especially nervous the day of the performance, and worried that this would heavily affect my ability to perform in a playful, excited manner which I had planned to do. Because I chose a children’s book, I needed to think about the target audience but also who I was actually going to be performing to on the day. I wanted to choose character voices that were both easily distinguishable from each other, but also engaging enough for an audience of first year drama school students. The lack of actual character dialogue and nature of my text (Where The Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak) meant that the  majority of characterisation had to come from the narrator. This posed a few big questions for me in the beginning of the process. I wanted to make sure I was able to show some range during my performance, and I didn’t know if I was limiting myself by having the majority of said range come from one character. In the end, I chose to stick with this piece because I knew I could make some bold choices within the body of the text to ensure I was giving a developed, varied performance despite the lack of dialogue. 

I know that on the day of the performance I was much more nervous than I had even prepared myself for. It was one of if not the first time performing properly in front of the other acting class, and the fact that it was an assessment only added to the vulnerability. Because of this anxiety, I lost some connection with breath throughout my narrative performance, which I was given some feedback on. This has been something I have been working on since the assessment, using techniques we have learnt in class such as running and saying a piece of text, speaking some text to a partner on the other side of the room and making sure to release my abdominal muscles in between, and other general vocal warm ups that focus on breath like Rena Cook’s One by Two warm up. I am already seeing a huge improvement. I am able to remain more resonant and supported because of this, despite any nerves. 

I have learnt so much in first year voice lessons. Although resonance and projection hasn’t necessarily been a struggle for me in the past, I have been able to learn some really valuable techniques to ensure I can sustain my vocals for long periods of time. I have a real insight into how I can warm up, support and protect my voice that I definitely didn’t have before.

Research For Performance

Research for performance was one of my favourite lessons of first year. It served as an opportunity to develop my understanding of different styles of theatre, differing practitioners and pieces of text I wouldn’t necessarily have explored in other scenarios. I always left these lessons feeling stimulated and excited to work, despite some confusing conversations and debates. I really enjoyed feeling challenged and often even left with more questions than I had when I started, but this only allowed for more personal growth outside of class. I have always really enjoyed feeling a little out of my depth as long as I felt safe to make mistakes or get some things wrong, and this definitely felt like the case in these lessons.

In Yer Face Theatre

The largest piece of work I did in this class involved ‘In-yer-face’ theatre, exploring the purpose of shocking theatre and its effect on an audience. This is definitely not typically a type of work I would lean toward. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of shocking theatre until this project. Our group decided to explore Sarah Kane’s cleansed, adapting the story and characters slightly to fit our cast and the objective’s we had decided on for each character. Approaching this style of text came with lots of unforeseen challenges; because of the incredibly naturalistic style that comes hand in hand with in-yer-face plays, there were certain parts of the text that proved impossible to include in our final performance.

We had extensive conversations about what we could and could not put on for various reasons, including scenes that would have needed either an intimacy or stage combat coordinator, or scenes with large, key props that would not have been possible for us  to obtain. We spent a long time discussing whether incorporating a scene but adapting it to be safe for us to produce would take away from the stylistic choices that in-yer-face theatre calls for. We felt that since the exercise was made mostly to educate us on a form of creative expression we would not necessarily have come across otherwise, it was important that we tried to remain as true to said form as possible. Eventually, we decided to perform only scenes that we could perform to the extent of the writer’s intention, or scenes that even when adapted would still create the same effect on the audience as the original text.

When it came to our actual assessment, which involved pitching a piece of theatre in our given style, along with creating a theatre company that had detailed and precise understanding of what and why we were doing what we were doing; we were unsure on how to adapt our initial performance of cleansed to fit a clear ideological standpoint. We wanted to start with a ‘why’. Why do we believe In-yer-face theatre is important? What can it be used for? We established a setting and specific audience we wanted to perform for; rehabilitation centres for people who had committed violent crime. We knew that our biggest argument for shocking theatre was its ability to evoke empathy from a viewer, and felt this could be a really important, almost theatre-in-education style practice.

After some time discussing options, we decided to adapt the piece using text taken verbatim from police reports, documentaries and news articles containing information on violent crime, typically against women. We used dialogue from: Stacey Dooley: Rape on Trial; Marilyn Manson: inside the abuse allegations; An Invisible Victim: The Eliza Samudio Case and Elliot Roger Manifesto: My Twisted World. We were influenced by Augusto Boal’s Forum theatre, as well as the Theatre of the Oppressed, which he founded in the 1970s. We felt that political theatre styles could really help us in ensuring the work we created was accurate and not at all gimmicky, we were at risk of creating an almost stylised, melodramatic performance that was not at all a real depiction of the topics we wanted to discuss. Because of the serious nature of the themes of our work, and because we had chosen to take words verbatim from real life cases, we needed to make sure we were being sensitive and true. 

It was a really interesting creative challenge to combine two theatrical styles that on a surface level seem to really differ. When you first see or look into In-yer-face theatre, it can seem to a certain extent as if there is not much point or drive behind the style other than to shock an audience. Then, in comparison, you can’t get a much more clear message than when watching a political theatre piece. Seeing how the two of these styles could work together and having to rationalise every one of our choices for our presentation was seriously difficult, but so rewarding in many other ways. I feel I have a real understanding of how to pitch, how to gather research for a presentation and a greater sense of understanding in terms of formatting ideas.

I never thought that I would come out of first year at drama school as a strong advocate for shocking theatre (in the right context) but research for performance has given me the opportunity to educate myself of styles of theatre I would never have known about before.

(View below PowerPoint used for our presentation)

Till the Stars Come Down

Although we didn’t have an official end of year performance, our in class showings of Till the Stars Come Down felt like a real culmination of our first year skills classes. We worked in an almost hybrid style, mostly self directed, working in groups to develop the text, block the scenes and make our initial character choices; alongside notes and direction from our lecturer, Tom once a session. This project gave a real opportunity to test my improvement in my goals for year one. We were able to put into practice our vocal technique, understanding of embodiment of character we have been learning in movement, and Stanislavski/ Mike Alfreds techniques we had been taught throughout the year. 

It was really interesting to be able to work independently at times, allowing us to make our own choices and trust in our own abilities as actors, in a safe and welcoming environment. We were able to have our own rehearsal process, both within our groups but also individually. I feel I have developed a real understanding of how best to approach a piece of work. I know that when working with a piece of text, I like to approach it in a relatively analytical sense first, deep diving into a text, using given circumstances and uniting to find an initial grasp of character and throughline. Knowing this now, I understand that I work best once I have thoroughly examined a text. This allows me to be present and alert during rehearsals.

Having a director to work alongside also helped me feel much more comfortable in creating work and making decisions. I felt really comfortable in myself and my choices. Being given a project like this at the end of year one creates a level of professionalism that we hadn’t seen much of in previous classes. It made me take myself and my peers seriously. I have been able to develop a greater appreciation for scripted work, and am now just as inspired by text work as I am devising and creating performances. 

 I was able to develop my ensemble skills when working independently with my group, taking different approaches to each rehearsal depending on what myself and my cohort needed on the day. I have been able to develop over this year an ability to evaluate my emotional and physical needs for the day, in order to make sure I am working in a way that is sustainable. This has taken some time, and came out of a lot of personal struggle throughout the year. I realised I was wearing myself too thin at times, putting too much pressure on myself which, in turn, actually had a detrimental effect on my presence in class. 

Over the summer and into next year, I am going to continue consuming lots of forms of media and art to develop my personal working style. I wish to carry on inspiring myself, finding female actresses, writers, directors and artists that excite me, and keeping my understanding of the industry current. I want to go into my future training at Leeds Conservatoire taking myself seriously as an actor, with a deeper grasp on how I fit within the industry, and how I can use my personal process to my advantage during a group task. My first year of training has given me the confidence and ability to trust in myself, I am so much more equipped to work than I was just a year ago.

Bibliography. 

Bartlett, Mike., Bull. (Play script)

Boal, Augusto. (1979) Theatre of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press.

Cook, Rena. (2013) Voice and the Young Actor: A Workbook and DVD. New York: Methuen Drama.

Dooley, Stacey. (2018) Stacey Dooley: Rape on Trial (TV documentary) BBC Three. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06tqszn

Kane, Sarah. (1998) Cleansed. London: Methuen Drama.

Manson, Marilyn. (n.d.) Inside the abuse allegations (Documentary/Article).

Orton, Joe. (1967) The Ruffian on the Stair. London: Methuen.

Roger, Eliot. (2014) My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger (Manifesto). Available at: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1173808/may-23-2014-elliot-rodger-manifesto.pdf

Sendak, M. (1963) Where the Wild Things Are. New York: Harper & Row.

TEDb (n.d.) Lesson 6: Topography and Shape. https://tedb.byu.edu/lesson/lesson-6-topography-and-shape/