Final Notes

I wrote this piece for my blog for Caroline, but thought that it was relevant to this and that you might be interested in seeing it:

Jack was very fond of using Mike Alfreds in his directing technique and so we regularly did improvisation exercises from him, that helped to build the characters and establish their relationships.

At one point me and Hayden did 2 hours of just Meisner to try and build that tension that immediately exists between the two characters as soon as the arrive on stage, that was very difficult to do but gave way to the style in which I did "I'll damn well make you!" followed by the pacing and eventually the fight. This really helped to cement our relationship in our minds and to create that kind of anger and disappointment I needed to feel against him, which results in the fight. Me and Ffion also did about a half-hours Meisner in order to build the peculiar relationship they have, it worked because on stage it felt like we cared deeply for each other, but that there was something wrong just under the surface, it gave a third-dimension to their relationship.

I also worked a lot using Declan Donnellan, as I mentioned in my other blog, one of things i was commended for was moving with intention. I felt in that play, that I would either be still or going somewhere, i think this was effective and made a bold impression of the audience. If one were to watch carefully to my performance, they would see that in which ever direction I walked, I had always, with my eyes, first identified a target and after doing this a few times, it became natural allowing to do it without thinking, I think it became one of the fathers habits that made him have such a bold presence.

Evaluate your own performance in Commonground.

my own performance I think was particularly good, in fact I think it was the best performance I have done at BRIT to date. I think I did well in three specific areas, by way of what I've been told. One thing I think I acheived formidably was stage presence. I think I really did hold the stage when it was necessary and I tried to make eye contact with the whole audience at some point to draw them into the story that I was telling. I think I brought a dark and forceful energy to the stage and in sends I think I was quite different from most other characters in the play. This energy was built by talking to the audience, holding that anger in and being clear and loud.

This is my second point, I think that my accent, diction and projection were well realised on stage and that this helped to up the energy and interest the audience, as well as having that clear draconian presence on the stage, I think that I kept the audiences attention throughout and held the stage when it was necessary for the character.

My third success is the one I feel I worked hardest on and rewarded me the most, and that was getting and staying, in character. I think I did this well and only noticed myself dropping out of character (twice) momentarily in the performances. The build this character me and Khai started by reading the script and starting with a physicality on which to build from. I then looked at how I could make the character real instead of just a cold robot. The first time I really felt the character was in rehearsals when the son dies. I tried to keep this three-dimensionality on stage and felt the emotion all the way, the first time I really felt the emotion on 'That's it! That's exactly how it was' was in the first performance, I had never realised how much emotion came after and during that line that I could and not just act. This experience was also replicated with the fight scene, a lot of it was improvised, but worked very well, because Hayden had the great idea of squeezing my throat for real each night (but I kicked him in the head one night, so revenge was mine!) which really gave the reality of that moment that we were after. And the last example of my character was my famous chair kick on the last show. I had been told to make sure it wasn't broken for the other performances, so I had to withhold myself and keep from kicking it too hard, except for the last night where I truely let my character take over and scared a lot of people (including myself)!

All in all I think it was a wonderful show to be a part of, it was a stunning professional-level cast, with some of the most stela acting, I've ever seen and of course the direction was absolutely perfect, Jack would have made Hitchcock jealous!

Rehearsal Pictures

Improvisations

During the rehearsal process me and Ffion had a improvisation in which I told her to leave me for Andrew. We had a situation of her coming in from playing tennis with Andrew whilst I was sitting by the fire and then once she came in for a drink, I was to tell her. Looking back I thought we did it well, but perhaps I was little to cold in that improvisation and lacked emotion, to such and extent that it became unrealistic. Although I certainly should have been demanding and stern whilst (effectively) leaving my wife, I think that decision making I spoke of earlier in my blog didn't play a big enough part. 

We also did an improvisation in which my and Khai basically stalked the daughter on her way home from school, for me this was very important, because it was moment I referenced constantly as the time he first sees this person that will have such an impact in my life. Every time on stage when I saw I thought back to that moment, because I thought that's exactly what he would do and so I am very thankful for that improvisation. 

The Group Warm-Up We Lead

Our warm-up that we did as group was mainly focused on finding characters, this was our outline:

. Vocal warm-up: Sirening, Jack's laughing exercise, humming, humming into sound.

. Physical warm-up: walking around the space, running around the space- carefully, basic stretches focusing on the spine (help find posture of character)

. Character: close eyes, visualise character, breathe character in, find physicality, maintaining physicality walk around room, make eye contact with everyone and react as your character would, shake it off

. Game: splat!

How did I respond to direction?

How did I respond to direction. 

This is an interesting question because, as I'm sure Jack will agree, I readily responded to direction and was willing to try new things, but I was adamant about certain things that I felt my character would/wouldn't do, one example of this is with the lines. For example I felt very attached to lines about 'the solid earth' disappearing beneath (her) feet, and so felt very resistant to Jacks idea to cut said lines and I hope that Jack will agree that this was the right time for him to let me have my own way!

One thing I felt I really took onboard from Jack was the idea of my character holding something in all the time, the anger simmering beneath the surface. I tried to show that gradual build of aggression inside The Father and I felt it very important to let this occasionally bubble over. For example I worked a lot on the line 'No madam, not ours!' And what I eventually (hopefully) achieved on that line was a momentary release of the hidden anger, but then on the next line try to regain that control. I think this helped build to the fight scene, because the anger shown in that is not coming from out of nowhere, but it is also a surprise, to the audience, that he looses control quite that much. 

Another piece of direction I really appreciate is Jack's 'move with purpose' line. I really took that on board and tried to implement it and, I think I achieved it, because after the performance both the film actors and agent that came commented on the fact they noticed that about me, that I moved with purpose, of course it's all thanks to Jacks visionary directing!

Me in Costume

The costume is slightly Victorianin it's look, which is fitting considering time in which The Father was born. It is clearly a mourning suit as he is showing solidarity for the families loss to try and ingratiate himself with them. The long black coat helps set up the given circumstances (cold) and also gives an old fashioned (it was always cold and misty and everyone wore long black coats) and slightly sinister look to the character. The makeup mixed with with the out of date (by 1964 standards) costume, behaviour and language all adds to the mystery of the characters and the question of what they are.