Rent- 25/9/15- Speed Run

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.