Workshop Lessons (Rent)

Rent Musical Research

Rent is a rock opera with music and lyrics written by Jonathan Larson. The premise of Rent is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème. The musical tells the story of poor artists living in New York in a newly sprung up tent city as they struggle with poverty, their art and the epidemic of HIV & AIDS. The first production was performed in 1993 in Broadway and since then has been performed in the West End, Tokyo and all across the world. The production became a huge success and won a number of awards and prizes and even won a Tony award for best musical. The Broadway production closed in 2008 after a 12-year run of 5,123 performances. It being the tenth longest-running Broadway show grossing over $280 million. Rents success led to several national tours and foreign productions and in 2005 it was adapted into a film that featured many of the original cast members.  


10/09/15- Audition Techniques & Rent Workshop

We spent the first lesson looking at audition techniques and etiquette, some of which that would be applicable to our auditions on the 17th.

Before the Audition:

• The audition starts as soon as you enter the building not just the waiting room or audition room. Be presentable, courteous and confident (not arrogant). Focus on your own audition and 'get into the zone' avoid too much contact with the other people auditioning (it may put you off).
• Always be an hour early to an audition, this allows time for any problems that may a cure (Traffic, delayed train etc.) and gives you time to get prepared and ready for the audition.
• If there is a script table then pick up and read some of the script, scan it for your character and get a feel for the script.
• Be prepared to possibly have to do improve or workshop exercises (Normally drama school auditions.) 
• Never say 'I'm nervous' as it can make your feel more nervous and 'put you off'

When entering the room/ audition space be:

• Confident (not arrogant) and calm.
• Have good posture and look presentable.
• Wear appropriate clothing (Normally plain clothing that is easy and comfortable to move in. No Statement clothing, the casting director need to be able to see you as the character not as yourself.)
• Have an appropriate hair style (Nothing to crazy, again nothing that's trying to make a statement.)
• Positive and show an attitude that is hardworking and/or keen to learn.

Preparation and research:

• Read and research the script (if possible) and familiarize yourself with the character you are auditioning for as you may be asked questions on the play or the character.
• If possible research the casting director to see what other plays/shows etc. they have cast for, this may help you to know what kind of actors they like/favor and may make you seem interested and keen.
• Research the production company, looking at other shows/plays they have done, again making you seem interested and keen.
• Be sure you are available to perform and act if you get the job. Make sure it fits with your prier engagements or jobs or else you may seem unprofessional and may waist a good acting job.

Casting: Is a different form of casting where their is no need to audition, the actor is given the job on the spot. This is normally used in the case of models who as cast based on looks or for well- known actors who casting directors have already seen act in their past works.

We also then began to watch a video of a production of Rent, skipping to some important scenes and moments. We then spoke together about themes to keep for our own production like bohemian, uniqueness and fun.

11/09/15- Rent

First of all we took part in an exercise called 'Shoal of fish' in which small groups would walk together in close proximity and move as if one entity, much like a shoal of fish. We played of this exercise and we watched the opening to the Rent Movie in which the song 'Rent' plays.

We began by devising a movement piece inspired by the opening song in the Rent movie. The feel of the song and what was on screen felt rebellious and angry, something that as a class we felt should be kept in our own opening song. We separated into small groups and began individually devising a movement piece inspired by the opening we watched as well as the idea of a New York street. As a group, we acted as a gang, prowling the streets. I suggested we use quick and angry movement used to seem intimidating. We developed a short set of movements that started slow and got faster to represent a mugging, starting slow then quick movements to express the attack. The class was then brought back together and we began to mix the individual movement pieces of each group into one class sized performance that we could use for the opening song of our performance of Rent.
Each group went into the performance space in a certain order but this left some of the stage feeling empty when groups moved in a pack so we decided to have multiple groups go on at a time, over lapping each other. This gave the whole thing a much busier fell, like that of the busy streets of New York. The piece also fitted the story and narrative of the song as one character (Collins) gets mugged in the opening scene. We felt the violent, gang like performances that many groups had chosen fitted very well. Yet the full class piece felt hectic and had a lack of cohesiveness. So we rehearsed a few more times, improving the timing of when groups should go on to the stage and when they should come off for best effect. We also made sure that groups interacted with each other to make the whole thing feel more like one piece of dance. For example, some groups would act standoffish and intimidating toward each other, like rival gangs, this helped improve the cohesiveness of the piece. I felt that we portrayed the rough, urban attitude that we planned to show in the opening scene we devised, though to improve for next lesson I would say that more practice is needed to get timing with the music and to get some movements in unison. I would also suggest that we add more dance like elements to the piece, such as working with levels and dynamics to make the piece more interesting but still keep its urban, street feel.


17/9/15- Audition

18/9/15- Rent
In the lesson we were then put into pairs and told to devise a movement pieces that followed on from our La Vie Boheme dance from the previous lesson. Me and Josh where put into a pair and we started by looking at different moves relying on each other like pushes and pulls. We incorporate these into are movements as are first movement was holding each others wrists and leaning back. We improvised and experimented with different movements and came up with a number of elements we liked, like a lift that we incorporated into our final piece. I suggested we added a lift to change up the levels and later on we even added a set of movements using only our arms while sat on chairs. 

Overall, we created a fun and lively set of movements that fitted well with the rebellious feel of La Vie Boheme (our stimulus) and that fitted with the dance the whole class devised in the previous lesson. It was fast and energetic and we even managed to make it fit perfectly with the timing of the music. To improve next lesson though we need to work on refining and polishing our movements, perhaps making them more dynamic. Also, we need to work on use of space as we used a lot of movement around the performance space which may be a problem when we come to perform it with all the other groups movement pieces going on at the same time. 

18/9/15- Character Profiling 
I am playing the character of Roger. In the lesson we watched Rent and where asked to make a character profile for our characters then speak about decisions we have made about them and important factors in how we will portray them.      
                 

* Mine is at the end :)

Evaluation of Rent Audition- 18/9/15

I feel my audition for Rent was successful as I got casted as the character I hoped to play. I feel my singing was successful because I had prepared and practiced before the audition and worked hard to work on the song to make sure I could sing it at the best of my ability. I worked on my range and lowered the key of the song so I could best perform it. I also tried to express the emotion of the character (Roger) though my singing audition as the song (One Song Glory). The song he is singing about how he wants to write one amazing song before he dies of Aids and reminisces about his dead love. I tried to show this sadness and express the feeling of loss. My knowledge of the character I felt was also a success as I answered questions that were asked easily as I have watched the play and thought extensively about the character.

I feel the part of my audition that was less successful was my nerves. It being my first audition I defiantly felt some pressure which may have detracted slightly from my audition. I did keep my nerves under control but it may have meant I didn't give it 'my all'.

My preparation and research defiantly aided me. My singing and song learning preparation defiantly helped my performance in the audition and my preparation of watching Rent and researching the play helped with answering of questions which I think helped me get the role I wanted.

This experience will help me in future auditions and interviews as it has given me a confidence boost as well as experience of auditions and what to expect. I feel I would have less nerves in a future interview or audition because of this experience.

24/9/15- Principle of Acting: Characterisation 
In this lesson we worked on Characterisation after getting are roles in Rent. Using Stanislavsky style techniques to make decisions about our characters. We started by thinking up a number of events that may have happened in the characters past. The events I chose for my character, Roger, were as flows:

• A teenage argument with his parents (He is a rebellious character and perhaps this started in his teenage years causing him to have a bad relationship with his parents.)
• Relaxing and joking around with April (Showing he was once happy and content with life.)
• Crying and alone after his girlfriend April kills herself and Roger learns he has AIDS (Showing how he become a 'broken' man.)
• Roger and Mark at high school, messing around and enjoying each others company (showing Mark as his oldest and best friend.)

We then joined into small groups and improvised the events that I came up with and then others. This really helped me to understand Roger and helped me better become the character.
This creating of are characters past helped me to understand the pain he went through loosing April and learning he has aids, so I decided he should be quite a depressed and broken character at the start of the Musical. It also helped me decide that he cares about friendships more than anything else, especially that of his friendship with Mark, as Mark and a few of his other friends where their for him after April died and helped him though dealing with his drug problem and his virus. I decided that he is a selfless character and would put others before himself because of this and that him and Mark have always been their for each other.

Then in character we were put in pairs and told to discus various topics given to us on postet notes. For example one of the topics to discus was related to drugs. This helped me to think about and decide on things that Roger believes, using the example before I learned that my character is highly against the use of hard drugs thanks to his past and going through withdrawal and coming out the other side. This exercises also helped me work on an American accent as it gave me time in character to talk to other people in character.    


25/9/15- Built on Rent Opening

We looked at the song and movements piece 'Rent' that we had been working on in our workshop lessons because it needed more dance like elements. We added extra movements and adapted our movements from before to make some of them more dance-like. We used different levels and added more dynamic movement, traveling from slow to fast. I changed a part of my small groups movements as before we turned around and punched the air as if hitting someone, we now turn slowly then run before I jump and land on my knees and punch the ground (as if attacking someone) as the other two members of my group do the same but standing. I thought this was a creative use of dynamics and levels that the piece needed more of. Other groups also added new movements or changed old ones and once again we all came back together as a class and put them together. We got the whole thing looking and flowing well but the whole thing was still not long enough for the entire song so it was decided we should add some dance duets.

We where put in pairs and we created short duets. Me and Josh were in a group again and took a very conflict heavy approach. We with the idea of someone running from someone, a mugger perhaps. We created two very short movement sequences. The first was us running at each other then Josh turning away quickly as i grab the back of his shirt and pull him back and then run to the opposite side of the performance space. The second was again us running towards each other and as I try to grab him he slides under my legs and we again run to opposite sides of the stage. I proposed we needed a third sequence to act as a climax as so we again devised a last movement piece. So for our third one we again ran at each other and as we got close we pretended to punch each other and then fall to the ground and backwards rolled back out of the performance space. We felt this duet worked well as it fitted with the gang/street/urban theme we had already molded the whole song and movement around and it was fast, dynamic and used different levels. 

Finally we put the duets together, having one on stage at a time but overlapping them a bit to make it seem a bit more hectic and chaotic (which is what we want). We then adding an ending in which everyone is on stage and they face the audience and back into a circle and shout the line 'Rent, Rent, Rent, Rent, Rent Rent!' at the audience and then form a tighter circle and sing the line 'Cus' everything is Rent!' after which everyone drops down lower and crouches apart from me and Luke who play Roger and Mark who stand in the middle and throw our fists in the air. 

The whole thing fits our original, urban, rebellious theme and looks hectic and chaotic just like a busy street in New York.  

                                                   

25/9/15- Speed Run 
We did a very quick speed run of the whole play saying only a few lines of songs and only acting out small portions of scenes to get a feel for the story and also how we would stage the performance. Doing this gave me a better understanding of where I would need to be as Roger through out and when I am needed on stage. It also made me see that Roger is a character who features heavily in the musical, as he is in a large number of the songs and scenes (Far more than in the movie adaptation.) From this I also understood that the musical is very fast paced and has a strong narrative, the show hardly ever slows down and there is very little down time which I think is good as it hold the audiences attention and is never boring.

We also looked at the staging for Rent:

The raised areas represent buildings in the large built up area of New York but also allow actors to perform on and under them, creating very interesting levels as oppose to a flat stage. The audience is also positioned in blocks around the outside allowing them to see everything going on on the scaffolding or stage. This is an unusual staging style and is similar to in the round and traverse but of course the audience are not all around the space but are in blocks inside the space. As the audience are very close to the action and are actually in the stage space the atmosphere will be very immersive.
The middle of the performance space will represent a number of different areas in the Performance. The whole area will act as the street for much of the performance with the area marked with the letter 'C' being the 'rough side of town' where the character of Collins gets mugged at the start of the musical. The area marked 'A' that being the area in front of Mark and Rogers couch will become the lower floor of their flat when specific lights are shone in that area. When performing, all of us acting must be sure to adhere to the theatrical conventions of our performance space for example some one inside Mark and Rogers flat cannot walk from the flat area (Marked 'A') straight out side to the street; They must first climb up the scaffolding and exit off stage then walk out onto the street.

1/10/15- Blocking act 1
We spent this lesson blocking act 1. I feature heavily in act one and so had many songs and lines in this run through. I struggled with remembering lines and also struggled at hit the high notes in 'One Song Glory' so will work on that song in my free time and ask Kim to assist me if I need it. Considering this was our first proper run through it went quite well. Most of the rest of the class and I remembered the majority of lines and there wasn't too many problems.


2/10/15- Reviewing 'Rent' & 'La Vie Boheme'
During the Blocking of act 1 we realised that 'Rent' might work better if we were not as heavily involved in the dancing as we (Me and Luke) have to sing most of the song and it would also make more scene thematically if we where up in the flat while the movements on the 'street' go on below us. So we changed 'Rent' so that mine and Luke's parts in the dance will be preformed by others in the year 12 class or the other year 13 class. Only toward the end do we come down from the scaffolding for the climactic ending of the song.

We also changed La Vie Boheme too as some things did not makes sense with the story. Josh and I had created our movement piece together but the characters we are playing hate each other and would not be dancing together plus Josh (playing Benny) is meant to be sitting on another table during this scene and isn't suppose to even join in with the dancing. So we changed it so that Josh has been replaced though the movements will stay the same.


We then watched the past videos of 'Rent' and 'La Vie Boheme' and reviewed and evaluated them:

'Rent' has good movements and dynamics, with a great use of different levels and other dance like elements while still keeping its urban/street feel. It's angry and rebellious... perfect for the song. The relationship between Luke's and my own character is important in the musical and now works very well after we changed it so we are singing and are less involved in the dance. I also personally love the ending of the song as well when the whole cast are gathered in one space and then drop to different levels leaving me and Luke in the centre almost like a tableau, it looks very effective.

I think 'Rent' could be improved if Mark and Roger (Me and Luke) had a movement duet together to show our characters friendship when the rest of the cast have duets and I also think that it could be more polished as some movements still don't look dynamic.

Targets:

• I will ask Luke's opinion on a movement duet between our characters and work to possibly devise one.
• I will also work on making some of my movements more dramatic and dynamic.

'La Vie Boheme' is beginning to look much more polished and I think we are all getting more confident with it. I feel I am beginning to embody my character and act as Roger would during this song and the changes also now make sense with my character as me and Josh are no long dancing together.

I think 'La Vie Boheme' could be improved by making sure everyone is in just the right place as at some points when dancing in our pairs people bump into each other or get in each others way, which needs to be addressed, I also feel that I could push my embodiment of Roger even more during this song.

Targets: 

• Try to act even more like Roger would.
• Remember exactly where I need to be at all times to prevent getting in the way of anyone else.

2/10/15- Today for you, tomorrow for me
Myself and the other members of the cast in the Today for you, tomorrow for me song extensively blocked the scene. We looked at how Max (Who is playing Angel) could act during the sequence, including working on voice and creating movements. I though of the idea that my character Roger and Luke's character Mark should at first look bewildered at the sight of a singing and dancing drag queen bursting into their home but soon warm up to the song and to Angel and get involved by getting up and dancing.


8/10/15- Santa Fe- Chair Duets

Me and Holly were put into a group and told to create chair duet of 6 movements (3 each). I had never done chair duets before so this was a learning experience but I managed to keep up. We began to devise these first few moments and we began to see a story developing even this early on of a couple perhaps arguing. We were asked to add more movements and the story that we had already in our heads influenced our other movements. We interacted a lot with each other and many of my moves involved me getting up from my chair and interacting with Holly sitting down, I thought that this would look interesting as it used different levels and it seemed to work well. The music being played in the back ground was Santa Fe and our movements were in time with it. We then pared up with another pair and became a small group and devised additional moves with two sets of chairs facing each other. I suggested we use diagonals to switch chairs with the other pair as i felt it would look more interesting than merely switching chairs with the person in front of us.

After we had finished polishing our whole chair duet/ performance the whole class were brought back together and we used the chairs to make two lines of chairs opposite each other, to represent a train carriage and we used our chair duets during the song. We played around with different ideas like acting normally (as if on a train) and then when the second chorus came in we would all do our movements but this looked a little messy and cramped. It also was very sudden as we all began our duets after acting naturalistic. I suggested we start quite naturalistic and slowly throughout the song our 'normal train movements' would become more dance and physical theatre centric until we finally performed our duets. We tried my idea and while it did fix the problem of suddenness it still felt cramped when everyone was doing their movements at the end. In the end we settled on the idea of different groups doing their movements one at a time throughout the second half of the song, which seemed to work best of all the ideas we had.


9/10/15- La Vie Boheme improvements
We rehearsed La Vie Boheme and continued to devise the rest of the dance and add improvements. We also added the first part of the song, before the main song starts when Mark and the rest of the cast enter the restaurant and Benny/Betty sing at the start about the 'death of Bohemia'. This didn't require much dance but did require good timing as we have to be in specific places at specific times, so it took us a little while to get it right. 


9/10/15- Act One Run Through
After blocking all of act one we spent the whole lesson running through the first act. We ran it without stopping and looked out for things that needed work or segments we needed to further focus on. My line learning was much improved compered to last time as I barely forgot a line and my songs where also very improved after working with Kim on the notes of One Song Glory. One thing that was lacking in my performance though was my use of movement, which I will work on. I was unsure how Roger would move at times and One Song Glory needs to have more movement in it. I will work on this in my own time.  

15/10/15- Rent/ Will I
In this lesson we focused on two of the important main ensemble songs of Act 1, Will I and Rent. Rent we had been working on the movement for in our dance lesson but now we focused on the singing. I sing quite a lot of this song solo but I had already learned it through listening to it in many dance lessons so it was easy to work on. We added in the other singers that are the rest of the cast and then ran it with both the singing and movement elements. Will I was a slightly harder song to learn as it is quite a technical song that uses in around singing. With different groups singing different parts of the song at different times it for some, including myself found it difficult to learn but after help from Kim and hearing it with the piano it became easier. We decided that during learning and practicing the song that we should sing in 4 different groups. I was in the forth group and we also as a group decided that as we reach toward the end of the song only one person from each group sings, leaving me singing at the end for the final note.

16/10/15- Act One First Half Focus
Ran all the way to out tonight in theatre and where given feedback. After our first run through we decided to focus on the first half of act one up to Out Tonight with piano for the first time and in the theatre with as much of the staging as we currently have. This gave us an idea of how it will look at the final event and allowed us to here all the songs along with the backing music. I struggled once again with use of movement with One Song Glory though Would You Light My Candle is now pretty perfect.      



23/10/15- Another day With Kim/ Today for you with Props
For the first half of this lesson Emily and I worked on Another Day which is sung between our characters (Roger and Mimi). I was struggling with hitting some notes and so we asked Kim to help us and we rehearsed it along to the piano. I worked on singing from my 'chest voice' using diaphragmatic exercises to give me more confidence singing higher notes and 'belting' them out instead of stopping or singing quietly because I didn't think I could hit the notes. This really helped me as a singer as I am now less afraid of singing difficult notes. By the half way through the lesson we had a good idea of how to work on Another Day further in our own time.
We also looked at Today For You with props as we had already blocked and worked on it but in this lesson we finalised everything and found props to use like a basket to use as a container for all the things Collins brings Mark and Roger and all the items inside it. Max who plays Angel also performed it in heels for the first time so we could see what the actual scene would run like.

6/11/15- Singing Through Act One
We spent the lesson singing through the whole of act one along with the piano for all the songs for the first time. This went very well as by this point the whole class has learned their songs. My vocals on One Song Glory were the best yet which I was please about but I hit a few wrong notes in Another Day so will listen to it a few times and get it right in my own time. Song that were troublesome were those that flitted between speaking normally and singing as changing between the two seems to cause timing issues but its something that people will work on themselves for now.   


12/11/15- Happy New Year
We spent the first half of the lesson learning Happy New Year (A) along to the piano. This song involves all of the main cast and is like the intro into act two. We then worked on blocking movement for the song. The song is all about a new and better year beginning and so the energy of the song needed to be happy and excited. The song is also all about friendship and love. My character Roger and the character of Mimi are very much in love at this point in the musical so we made sure they seemed like a couple in the 'honeymoon' phase of a relationship. We constantly held each others hand and would look at each other while singing. I felt this was important to show the audience that Roger is really happy compered to him at the start of the musical and make them feel happy for Roger and Mimi which would make it sadder as they drift apart later on. Emily, Charley and I all discussed this and decided how Roger and Mimi would interact for maximum cuteness. We came up with a number of different 'moves' like Roger spinning Mimi around as they sing and Roger kissing Mimi's forehead, we felt movements like these would help get across our intentions to the audience.
 


13/11/15- Happy New Year B
In this lesson we looked at the next group part of act two. The continuation of Happy New Year but in this half of the song Benny/Betty arrives and ruins the good mood that was there before. The relationship between Roger and Mimi is also compromised as Benny/Betty informs Roger that he and Mimi also have something going on. I decided I would make Roger upset and angry at this and that he should shout a few of the lines e.g. 'I am not her boyfriend, I don't care what she does!!'. I think that showing Roger getting angry shows the fact he actually does care and is both jealous and protective of Mimi as despite the fact he tries not to show emotion deep down he loves her. I decided I would get up in Benny/Betty's face and shout on this line, to show Rogers building anger.  

We learned the song and did some very simple blocking but didn't have time to block the whole thing so will have to focus on Happy New Year B again in another lesson.
        

19/11/15- Goodbye Love & Costume

Goodbye love is another song that involves a large amount of the cast and so we practiced it with piano accompaniment. The song follows Angels death and shows all the characters reunited for the funeral and the song has a mix of anger, sadness and tension between characters. I decided Roger should get angry in this song as he has conflict with Mimi especially on the lyric 'All your words are nice Mimi, but loves not a three way street!' I found it hard to add an angry tone and still sing and hits the notes, so this is something I shall work on in my own time. The song also features an argument between Mark and Roger, again I decided to add moments of anger into this part of the song.

We also looked at costume in this lesson. We found items of clothing that could be used for many of the characters including some clothing and accessories that suited Roger. A camo jacket that I thought that Roger would wear and a leather waist coat. I want to give Roger a punk rock look as so will look for other clothes from my own wardrobe and charity shops that might fit that aesthetic.  
     
20/11/15- Filming
We used this lesson to film 'Marks' film that will play at the end of the musical and will be projected onto the back screen. Luke created a list of scenes to shoot that follow the events of the story, showing Mark and the others characters over the whole year of the musical. We dressed as our characters and appeared in character interacting which each other as if Mark was filming it for his documentary.

I also brought in additional clothing items for the filming that I will use for Roger in our performance. I found another leather waist coat that fits me better as well as a vest top and braces that I thing would fit Rogers character.



26/11/15- Current Self Review & Act Two
I believe I have been working well having come into this class. I am enjoying Rent and loving playing my character. I have had some trouble with singing some of the songs over the whole rehearsal period but have always given my best effort and made changes or to seek help when and if I needed it. It has been the first musical I have ever been involved in and so at first many of the tunes were hard to learn and the notes hard to hit, but at this stage I believe I have already come along way and improved my performance and am continuing to improve it. I have struggled to an extent with the dancing in Rent though. I am not a natural dancer and this being my first musical prediction I was originally apprehensive about the dance elements of the show. Luckily I have been able to learn dance sequences for La Vie Boheme and Rent well at this point, though I feel it has taken me a little longer to learn that others due to my lack of dance experience. I have at points struggled with the dance elements but I now feel far more confident with movement and dance in general. I still struggle when it comes to some movement elements on stage, like for example in One Song Glory I tend to wander around the space which doesn't work for the song nor the staging so will need to choreograph my movements during the song to make the whole thing more effective. My other main concerns are the songs Another Day and Without You. I am struggling with hitting many of the notes in Another Day and we have yet to look at Without You in lesson but its a song that is sung very high and I have been trying to learn it. I will continue to work on these songs and choreography in my own time and ask Kim and Kat for help if I need it. Overall i think I have done well so far in Rent and the whole course and I have been enjoying it. 

We starting working on more scenes in Act Two, like finishing off Happy New Year (A&B) and moving on to love at Angels death and Take Me or Leave me. I wasn't much involved in scenes that weren't Happy New Year so Charley, Emily and I began to learn Without You and will finish learning it at a later date.         

3/12/15- Durrington Prep and Performance
We organised to visit Durrington High School and perform a few songs for the students there to both publicise the college and to help us with confidence as it was the first time we performed Rent to an audience. We had to adjust a a few songs to have them fit into our time constraints and also to work in Durrington's drama space. We cut down Would You Light My Candle to save time and all the other songs were set differently to accommodate the smaller room. We performed Seasons of Love, Would You Light My Candle, Take Me or Leave Me and Will I and I performed my solo song, One Song Glory.
When Charley and I performed Would You Light My Candle I wanted the audience to see the romantic and sexual tension between Roger and Mimi and clearly show the awkward, nervous side of Roger as he had not been approached by a girl in this way for a while. The audience laughed during some of it which I think showed that we successfully expressed the funny, awkward side of the song, as well as the romantic.       
One Song Glory is a very different song, its far sadder and more moving so I wanted to express this to the audience... i did this through trying to make eye contact with the audience and singing with emotion in my voice. I think this was successful and the audience were quite and still, seeming to all be focused on me. 

4/12/15- Mark & Rogers Flat
We as a class looked at all the scenes that take place in Mark and Rogers flat. We talked through in pairs about how we would stage/act/set a few of the scenes. I picked One Song Glory and Another Day to look at with Sophie. 
We decided that One Song Glory needed to be choreographed perhaps with the help of Kat to make it look good and worthy of the song. We decided their needed to be a moment were my character, Roger rips off a poster from the wall when he sings the line 'one last refrain from the pretty boy front man, who wasted opportunity'. This show not only Rogers anger that is becoming a more predominant in recent rehearsals but also his self loathing as he rips his own poster off the wall, self loathing being an important part of his character. We also decided on the high note during the chorus       

8/12/15- Performance at Worthing High
We performed the same songs at Worthing High School that we performed at Durrington. Again we seemed to be successful in promoting the college, the show and in our performances. I again sung Would You Light My Candle and One Song Glory. Would You Light My Candle was just as effective as when I performed it at Durrington and it gave me the opportunity to show an audience the scene with the Emily playing Mimi this time. There were quite a few laughs and it felt as if it went very well. While One Song Glory did go well, it was not quite as successful as at Durrington as I didn't hit my high note which was a shame but I still feel I portrayed the emotion and story of the song to my audience. They were still and seemed captivated which I think is important in a very emotional song like One Song Glory as it allows they to see and feel the emotion better and allows me as the actor to have a better performance. I will continue to practice singing One Song Glory to get more comfortable singing that high note perfectly.   
   
10/12/15- Over the Moon


11/12/15- Plotting Mark & Rogers Flat
We began to put into action the ideas we had in a previous lesson about scenes in Mark and Rogers flat. We went in chronological order through all the scenes that take place in the flat, of which I am in many. We put into practice many of the ideas we had for the scenes and discussed them, even adding new ideas. The scenes that take place are normally key points in the story and so are very important that they are clear and interesting to make sure the audience follow along. We changed some of the movement in Today For You Tomorrow For Me and You'll See Boys as they had yet to have much movement in them, and we wanted it to be more interesting than one person singing and the others sitting watching. All the changes made the scenes better or more interesting and we even blocked scenes we hadn't even looked at yet.    


17/12/15- WWS & Rent Act 2

7/1/16- Act 2 Complete Run- Feedback and Opinion
We did our first complete run through of Act 2 and got feedback on our performance as a group and individuals. Overall the run went well, with the majority of lines and songs remembered correctly. Seasons of Love, the first song in act 2 needs some work to move in unison, all actors needing to turn in unison after the solos and clicking and swaying that starts on the second verse needs to be in time. This feedback is important as it makes the opening of act 2 look sloppy, so it needs to be addressed.
My own solo part in Seasons of love also needs a small amount of work to hit the right key, that shouldn't be too hard and I will work on over the coming rehearsals.
Happy New Year B also needs a bit of work on blocking which I agree with as we look clumped and should in my opinion be spread out more and have different 'roles' to fit at the party e.g. Mimi and Maureen could be pouring drinks, Joann offering snacks etc. because currently it looks plain and the space is not being used effectively.
After Angles funeral we were suggested to, one at a time, go up to Collins and hug him/her to show our condolences, showing heartfelt connection between key characters. Also at the funeral it Rachel suggested that Roger and Mimi should notice each other and react awkwardly, we eventually decided that Mimi should walk past Roger, make eye contact and then she walks over to Benny/Betty and they put their arm around her and Roger will subtly react to this, showing he still cares about Mimi and he is jealous and angry at Benny/Betty.
We also played with the idea after feedback of moving into the space before and dispersing after the funeral slowly, this worked as it gave the scene a somber feeling, which is needed for Angles funeral.
Another aspect that needs work is the argument during Good Bye Love as it is lacking energy at the moment and doesn't feel like an argument at the moment, we will again work on this in up coming rehearsals as we need to work on the vibe. It need to be faster paced and characters really have to get mad at each other.
Me and Rachel also discussed the idea that Roger needs a shift in emotion during Angles funeral and during Good Bye Love as he is leaving everything behind and traveling to Santa Fe to find himself and we decided he should be holding a rucksack and look reticent, apprehensive and perhaps reluctant to leave. This would show a change in Roger from his normal attitude to one of sadness that he is leaving his love ones behind.
Another song that needs some work on movement is What You Own, the singing is almost perfect but at the moment me and Luke (playing Mark) just stand in place and sing. The song is quite a lively one so this doesn't really fit, we decided that each of us should sing to the audience on either side of the stage. We will now move around, singing to our side of the audience which also works as our characters are meant to be on other sides of the country to each other and the divide between the two sides of the stage shows the divide in both distance and emotion until they reunite at the end of the song.
We also made a slight change to Your Eyes, the song I sing at the end of the play. I decided I should stand for this song looking down on Mimi as she dies to allow the audience to see my face better as before I was crouched beside her. This also works as it shows Roger trying to detach from the situation (which he is referenced to do throughout the musical) but he moves closer and closer to her as the song goes on, being drawn to her. I think this will give this scene loads of emotion, which it needs as it is an emotional song and scene.


8/1/16- La Vie Boheme B
In this lesson we first looked at finishing La Vie Boheme A and how it transitions into part B. We added in the speeches that are said at the end of part A and choreographed how they would fit into the whole piece, we made it so that the rest of the 'congregation' were just gathered around the table and not dancing or doing anything too crazy that would detract from what was being said. Then we worked on the transition from Part A into I Should Tell You which involves Roger (me) going off to one side of the stage and singing with Mimi while the rest of the characters freeze, we originally had them miming actions of partying but I thought it detracted from what was going on and we eventually changed it.
We did not work on I Should Tell You in this lesson as we have already worked extensively on it but the class then looked at the next section after Roger and Mimi leave the stage and La Vie Boheme B begins. Though I am not in this scene I watched and tried to help give ideas to Kat and help the creative process. I suggested that during a part when they sing about all being different and singing "To you and you and you..." that they face the audience singing at them and pointing at random people in the audience, including them in the 'party' and upping the mood of the scene and idea that we tried out and liked. Over all we choreographed a new scene, working out how all the transitions would work and added new creative ideas to Rent and the La Vie Boheme sequence.


8/1/16- Production Roles
In this lesson we worked on our production roles. I, being part of the costume team worked on organising the costume rail so that every hanger had a label indicating which character the clothes or accessories are to be worn by to make it easy to find them on the rack during the show. We also created a list of what clothes are worn for each scene for every character, I did Roger's sheet and a sheet of what 'Thugs' would wear. Here is a picture of the sheet I did for Roger:

After this I helped the publicity team create the programs by finding out the names of all the people involved in the show (e.g. the band members, the company who put up the scaffolding etc.) and after that I helped the props team with their props list. This lesson allowed us to get everything ready for our shows and get prepped.  


8/1/16- After College Run
We tried to do a whole run through for Rent but only got to the end of the first act. There where more problems than we first anticipated but it was the first time we had performed with the band and the first time doing a whole show run so its was not so bad. For me I felt it went well overall. I remembered all my lines and sung all my songs reasonably well and so I am somewhat confident when it comes to Act one at least. Though I do need some help with my movements and choreography, so I will ask Kat for help with that, especially One Song Glory as I just walk around the space at the moment and need some actual choreography.
It was also the first time we hand rehearsed with the full set and scaffolding which added some complications as things we had initially planned now didn't work as we had intended. For some scene the scaffolding was in the way or it forced a character to stand in a different place. We over came these problems by simply trying out different options and ideas for example we decided that I should sing the final lines of One Song Glory at the top of Mark and Rogers flat... it made it more atmospheric and dramatic doing so.
Overall though despite the difficulty of working with the band for the first time and working with the scaffolding it went okay and with more rehearsals and polish it should be perfect. The songs are sounding great so far and the feel and vibe of the musical seems spot on, especially now due to the scaffolding that makes the whole thing feel more urban and edgy.
After this rehearsal I shall work on my movements and choreography and become 100% positive on my lines ready for when we rehearse act 2.


14/1/16- Act 2 Run
We did another run of act 2, adding and improving upon it from our comments from our last act 2 run on the 7th. Overall the run was much more successful, almost at a finished point now. Seasons of Love was better and in unison, making the start of the whole act flow better and feel less sloppy. The whole act was improved massively using last weeks feedback. Though some work is still needed. We as characters need to react more to each other and when people are talking, at the moment it seems a little unnatural and so work on character relationships is needed. The relationships between Luke (Mark), Charley and Emily (Mimi) and I (Roger) are at a good level and work well but relationships with other main characters needs to be improved a little, this is something we will polish in the coming rehearsals.
Another point that needs work is the final scene, Finale part A and part B that most of us are not as strong on. We need to rehearse this more with the band and get slightly stronger on lines.
Overall the whole Act though is greatly improved and even emotional and tense at times. It has the correct feel at all point and as I said is almost perfect and will only require minimal work to improve it. What needs work now is the First Act which is far less polished and will require far more work at this point. That will be our main focus of tomorrows lesson, as we need to address issues from last weeks after college run, like the cutting down of songs and the general feel and emotion.

I also helped dress the set and find props during break to be used in Rent... I helped to make the hospital bed that Angel dies in and I made some of the set and help to dress it. Overall the set looks amazing, lots of fairy lights and Chinese style lanterns make the whole thing look so Bohemian, fitting perfectly with the style of the musical and it looks so visually pleasing.  

15/1/16- Act 1 Run
We ran as much of act one as we could into a lesson, trying our best not to stop though act one is more rusty that act two so it took a bit more time to polish certain sequences. On the Street, I'll Cover You and Christmas Bells all needed work and to be polished. Yet most of my own songs and sequences were quite good, after blocking One Song Glory that was much improved and with props and full set, Would You Light My Candle also looked and sounded great. Another Day though needs so work lyrically and timing wise as some of my own notes were a little pitchy on the high notes and there was timing issues with the music when it came to singing the final part of the song. I will work on these problems in my own time and ask for help is I need it.
There were also some problems with timing when it came to getting set off or on to the stage, like for the Support Group scene and Santa Fe. We tried to tackle this by having specific people bring on a certain number of chairs as some people (like me) cannot bring a chair on stage as we will already be on stage. This was still not 100% smooth by the end of the lesson but it was improved from before and we will likely work on it later on.
Overall the run through was an improvement on last time we ran act one, though there is still somethings to be worked on.  

15/1/16- Changing 'Rent' & Blocking One Song Glory
In this lesson we decided to change the opening song 'Rent'. We felt as a group it felt to busy, with too many people on stage at once, but we still needed to keep the chaotic vibe of the song and to set the tone of the whole musical. We decided to simplify it a little and take away some of the original 'gang' movements and sequences we put in there, keeping the best ones so that not to much was going on at once. We kept the duets and most of the rest of the piece but we basically just simplified it to make it easier to follow and enjoy. Luke and I's role in 'Rent' has not changed and we still sing from the loft of our flat. I helped with the choreographing of Collins getting mugged that Kat, Luke, Izzy and I worked on to make it clearer to the audience that Collins is getting mugged. He now gets grabbed and then runs off as the 'thugs' run after him to steal his coat and any possessions her has.
With Kat's help we also blocked One Song Glory that I had been struggling to block and think up movements for. We decided that I should walk around the space, singing to the audience, we decided on the order in which I should move around the stage:

After blocking it, One Song Glory looks better and sounds better also as I am feeling more confident with it now it is blocked. The song is very emotional and this pensive walking round the space and the siting, looking down in the dumps is perfect for the song. We see Rogers emotional side in this song for the first time and it sets the tone for the rest of his scenes and his character. Despite its difficulties One Song Glory is now polished and great, just in time for the shows.   


15/1/16- After College Full Run
We did another run of as much of the musical as we could fit into the time, as well as finishing the end of act 1 that we didn't finish with the other cast earlier in the day. The second time we did act one we all seemed to take on board the lessons we learned from earlier in the day. While still on perfect, On the Street, All Cover You and Christmas Bells were all greatly improved. Overall we seem to be getting more of a feel for act one and an emotional tone like we have had for act two. Act one is more fun, rebellious and at times a little silly and act one is now capturing that a lot more which is important I feel as it will make act two all the more poignant.
While it did go well and is almost perfect, Another Day was still not perfect as again I had some timing trouble but will make sure I have it perfect for rehearsals next week. The movement of set and chairs was also improved, still not perfect but much improved.
Overall it seems that the whole performance is on track and is close to being ready, just a few things now need to be polished.          

20/1/16 & 21/1/16- Rent Performances
All four shows of Rent went amazingly well and we had fantastic audience responses with people laughing and crying throughout the show, clearly highlighting the investments they had in the characters and the story which I think shows we did a great job! I personally put a lot into the roll and over the course of the four shows put in all the effort and emotion I possible could.
Playing Roger, I did many things to portray the character effectively. I not only put on and held my American accent throughout, but also sung in a tone different from my normal singing voice, trying to make it more 'Rocky' and rough as the voice of a rock singer would be. I wanted him to appear to the audience as a lonely recluse who was still emotionally recovering from his past. To do this I made him a character who had quite closed body language and who appeared uncomfortable in front of and around new people (at least until he had warmed up to them a little.) I also wanted him to be nervous around Mimi during the first half of the musical, avoiding eye contact and 'squirming' away from her when he felt nervous. This not only added humour but also showed Rogers lonely, reclusive nature and his nerves about meeting new people, especially a pretty girl like Mimi.
I think my performance was one of my most successful so far and was my most enjoyable time at college to date. I believe I achieved my best and fitted into the group and the performance very well.
My interaction with the other characters during all four shows was strong as I focused on portraying friendships and rivalry. Roger and Marks friendship I believe was very clear throughout, through all their interactions as was Roger and Mimi's as I believe I had a convincing chemistry with both Emily and Charley throughout all the shows. I also feel like I succeeded in portraying Rogers rivalry and at times anger towards the character of Benny/Betty, especially in the final two shows where Josh was playing Benny. I feel the anger and competitiveness was really there between Josh's character and mine and this made the final performances more believable. Saxona brought her own twist to the character of Betty/Benny which worked equally as well in the first two shows but I feel Josh and I's ability to bounce off each other and show a very realistic, almost brotherly rivalry worked very well. My ability to have physical confrontation with the character of Benny (when played by Josh) further enhanced this, making both mine and Josh's performance better as a result. I felt that when the character was played by Saxona I couldn't have this more aggressive relationship as I didn't believe that my character would act in this way.
I feel my strengths throughout the rehearsal process have been my focus as well as the ability to help generate ideas and work as a member of a team. In terms of performance I think my characterisation has been my greatest strength and while I came into the rehearsal process with the ability to sing confidently, I feel my singing in a performance context has been improved tenfold and I believe my singing during the shows was again a strength.
While all four performances were successes, the energy levels did differ depending on the show.
Those performed in front of student audiences during the 4pm shows on Wednesday and Thursday tended to be more relaxed causing us to exert less energy into our performances as perhaps we were saving our energy for the evening shows. There was little difference in terms of chemistry between characters throughout all four shows despite different actors playing different characters on different nights. I feel this was due to working extensively in the rehearsal process to develop relationships between characters and cast. The only relationships that really changed were Roger and Benny's which I discussed earlier.
During the rehearsal process I struggled most with the movement elements of Rent. While I feel I have improved greatly, I feel my biggest weakness during the shows was my movement and dance elements in sequences like La Vie Boheme and Rent and even during some non dance sequences my movement ability was lacking more than other elements of my performance. This roll has been my first in a musical and I am not used to dance or performances that require large amounts of movement. I have learned a lot and come to enjoy all these performance elements, yet I still feel I am lacking a little as a performer in this area. Luckily the roll of Roger was not a character that required a huge amount of dance or movement, however, if I was to be in Rent again as Roger I would want to work more on the movement based qualities of the character in order to improve my over all performance.