performance log *

Performance Log#1: 

This is like a rehearsal diary of my acting project. 

Summary of the plot: I act Juliet in the Act3 scene 5. In this scene, Juliet has just said goodbye to her banished husband and experienced the feeling of lost, and then her parents come to tell her that she is going to marry Paris on Thursday, otherwise she does not belong to this family anymore. 

 Goal: I need to express that I am going to fall apart when I hear this news. In order to tell the audiences how badly I (Juliet) refuse to marry Paris.

 On Monday (10.24), I learnt many acting method from some famous actors and directors. And I started to think of how I am going to apply those methods in my acting. As a beginner, it is true that I afraid to show myself on the stage, moreover, I am acting an important character whose emotions change dramatically in this scene. It is a challenge for me, but I really would like to challenge it. So I read the script several times after school and practiced it in my head. I marked which place I should start to change my emotions, and which place I need to stand out the character’s personalities. By doing this, I can fully understand the character I play and also clear about the moving processes of the plots. 

 On Thursday (10. 27), my partners and I went to the black box to set up the staging things, and finally we got agreement on the stage layout: we had a bed on the upper right stage; a door on the left and another door on the right because we want the Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet enter from different door to show that their different identity, and how close their relationships are with Juliet (Juliet’s mother enters from the door which is close to Juliet’s bed). And we put a dresser next to the bed as a decoration. Last, we imagine that the window with balcony is located at the down stage where the audiences are, so that when we want Juliet to face the balcony to indicate that she is thinking of Romeo, we can let her face the audiences directly. 
After we have done with the staging arrangement, we practice our lines together and figured out the pronunciation of many tricky words. We also assigned the rough version of our body actions: For my part, I begin with sitting on the bed facing to the balcony. Then when Lady Capulet comes in, I stand up to talk to her. Lady Capulet and I talk about revenging for Tybalt’s death (we sit on the bed). The part of Lord Capulet, Lady Capulet and I arguing about marriage happens in the middle of the stage facing the audiences.

 On Friday (10.28), we went to the black box again for class. For the first half period, I tried to memorize my script because remembering the lines is a really important step which could push the whole team to go a lot more forward. Then we went to the back stairs to do some rehearsal. 

 During this week, I think the biggest change of myself is that I am more like an actor day by day. I did not have a lot experience, but this kind of identity improve gives me very amazing feelings. And I think the second step is try to get into my character and make it alive.