Unit 310: Approaches to Acting - Emily Sliwka (cd no. 4545)

26th January 2024  What I worked on today:  Today my partner and I ran through our scene repeatedly, trying again to look at our scripts as little as possible. We tried to focus on relying on our memory alone, whilst still being able to effectively use techniques from Stanislavski's system. I believe this was somewhat successful as I found I had improved in my memorisation of my lines, only making a couple of mistakes throughout the rehearsal, which could be easily rectified through a few more rehearsals or improvising, however due to other rehearsals happening close by it was more difficult to focus, leading to me not being able to incorporate as many techniques as I could have.  We also finalised the lighting we would need for the final performance to make sure we were better prepared, and went over the blocking of the scene again.  Any problems/concerns:  There were not many problems in this rehearsal, and luckily everything generally ran smoothly. I will con...

23rd January 2024 What I worked on today: Today my partner and I ran through our scene several times, trying to look at our script as little as possible to make sure we had our lines memorised. I believe this went well during the rehearsal, however we were less successful in remembering them during our tech rehearsal later.  We also had our first tech rehearsal, where we received feedback on what went well and what we need to improve in our performance, so we had time to alter things before our final performance. In addition to this, we finalised the blocking the movement and set placement in our scene.  Any problems/concerns:   We found that during the performance we kept forgetting lines from our script, and whether this was from lack of preparation or anxiety this showed we needed to practice more without our scripts.  I was also told that I need to project more, so I plan to practice raising my voice so the audience can hear me better.  I also was unsure abo...

16th January 2024  What I worked on today:  My partner and I ran through our scene several times, trying to use our scripts as little as possible. We did some more blocking of the scene as well, finalising some of our movements around the set to create a more certain, familiar feel to the performance. We also decided to add some physical touch to make our performances as husband and wife more believable and naturalistic, and create a more emotional performance by more clearly displaying our relationship.   We tried to incorporate more pauses in this rehearsal, as we had struggled with it in the previous one which made our performance feel rushed and insincere. I think this decision definitely improved the flow of the scene as the dialogue seemed a lot more naturalistic after the change.  Any concerns/problems:  During this rehearsal I struggled with knowing what to do with my hands when performing which creates an awkward feel to the performance, so next re...

9th January 2024 What I worked on today:  My partner and I prepared by doing a warm up with the class, then followed a YouTube video for breathing exercises (https://youtu.be/VUjiXcfKBn8?si=yNtIjA5E3WdC-e5E) and did some stretches to relax our muscles and aid focus.   We then ran through our scene - first with movement, trying not to look at our scripts. We did this a couple of times, then decided to do a read through without any movement to focus more on our characters' reactions and facial expressions.   I tried to incorporate Stanislavski's Magic "If" into my performance, imagining how I would feel if put in these circumstances and how I might feel or react. I believe I was successful in taking into account the given circumstances of the scene as well, as I had previously read through the whole play and therefore had a good understanding of how the previous events may have affected my character in the scene.  Moments of discovery or concerns/problems:...