William Shakespeare Biography :
William shakespeare was born to John and Mary shakespeare in 1564. He was the only of their 3 children that survived, his two sisters died before they could mature. Shakespeare's father, John, made gloves for a living. He married Shakespeare's mother, Mary, who was of a higher social standing meaning he raised in status and worked his way through the local offices, becoming Bailiff when shakespeare was 5. John and Mary had 5 more children after shakespeare, Gilbert, Richard, Edmond, Joan and Anne who died aged 7.
Shakespeare's family status meant he had the money to be put through grammar school. He would have attended 6 days a week with his lessons running from 8-5. His studying focused on learning latin and exploring it in great depth, he also would have been involved in the production of latin plays.
In 1584 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, when she was expecting their first child Susanna, he went on to have twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet, his only son, died aged 11.
The years after his children birth are very obscure as to what went on in shakespeare's life and little is known as to how he got into theatre. Between the years of 1592-94 shakespeare plays were performed in theatres in london, theatres were then shut in 1593 due to the plague, putting a halt to Shakespeare's performances. His plays began to be performed once again in 1594 and shakespeare worked as an actor, director and playwright.
Shakespeare died on 23rd April 1616, the cause of his death was unknown.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Tuesday 24th March Lesson
--- BLOCKING
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This week we looked at roughly blocking the 1st half of the play. As we were all in the room when each scene was being blocked it allowed us to see the play taking shape more, as well as see how others were starting to characterise and make choices on how they were going to be on stage. For me the blocking was useful in performing with the people for the scene for the first time, and understanding the dynamics within that group of people. For example that my character is probably of the lowest status within that group, knowing this will now effect my presence on stage, choosing to enter last or to stand the furthest away. Blocking our scenes also helped with understanding the lines further and understanding the tone and way in which they are said.
As a group the people in my scene also worked separately to understand our scenes further, we 'translated' the lines in our scene to see what each character is contributing and how the dynamics in the group change throughout the scene. We also thought about working with each other to characterise and experimented with different ways of playing our character so we could see what did and didn't work. This was really useful in getting more familiar with our scenes and gaining a greater understanding of it all.
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Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Historical context week 1
What sense do you get of what life was like in Elizabethan England?
For poor people in the cities life in Elizabethan England was one of uncertainty, often people wouldn't know where their next meal was coming from and they relied heavily on a good harvest, something that could never be certain. This then led to Malnutrition in many people, illness wasn't uncommon in the towns and cities for the poorer people. The sanitation in elizabethan times was dire, there were no sewage systems which meant disease and illness spread rapidly, it was one of the main reasons the plague spread so rapidly. As well as this water was also not easily accessible, unless you had money, and people took water from rivers, including the thames, which, due to the lack of sanitation was unclean and unsafe. Crime was also a large issue for poor people in cities/towns in elizabethan times as '1/2 elizabethan population was under the age of 22' this meant an immaturity and 'lack of life experience' led to high crime rates. Most men carried a dagger or a sword and harsh measures had to be imposed in law to protect the people in the towns and cities. Like the cities the countryside was also a somewhat unsafe for poor people in elizabethan times, it's lack of light and unclear pathways led to it being a vulnerable place to be.
For the poor people in the countryside it appears to have been a very simple and basic life they led. Living off minimal food and tools their lack of money appears to be clear. It also appears to have been very family orientated as large families would share one house spending almost all of their time with one another.
For the people of wealth in Elizabethan England it was very much a materialistic life in my impression, they spent a great deal of time and money on their appearance and possessions. What they would dress themselves in was considered highly important and set your status in society. As well as this having their portraits painted to show their wealth was also commonly done.
Elizabethan England was a time of great change for the people living in it. New inventions and mass production brought a change to infrastructure across the country. Houses could now be built on two levels, due to the chimney, and the mass production of the brick makes this even more possible. People flocked to the towns, demolishing old houses and building new ones, showing off their wealth through using glass in their materials. Literacy also improved during elizabethan England as books were published in english for the first time, it gave people the ability to move up in social class and was part of the ongoing social revolution. School also became more widely available for boys, teaching boys to read and write in Latin, improving literacy further and allowing new scientific discoveries to made as well as new exploration of the globe.
For poor people in the cities life in Elizabethan England was one of uncertainty, often people wouldn't know where their next meal was coming from and they relied heavily on a good harvest, something that could never be certain. This then led to Malnutrition in many people, illness wasn't uncommon in the towns and cities for the poorer people. The sanitation in elizabethan times was dire, there were no sewage systems which meant disease and illness spread rapidly, it was one of the main reasons the plague spread so rapidly. As well as this water was also not easily accessible, unless you had money, and people took water from rivers, including the thames, which, due to the lack of sanitation was unclean and unsafe. Crime was also a large issue for poor people in cities/towns in elizabethan times as '1/2 elizabethan population was under the age of 22' this meant an immaturity and 'lack of life experience' led to high crime rates. Most men carried a dagger or a sword and harsh measures had to be imposed in law to protect the people in the towns and cities. Like the cities the countryside was also a somewhat unsafe for poor people in elizabethan times, it's lack of light and unclear pathways led to it being a vulnerable place to be.
For the poor people in the countryside it appears to have been a very simple and basic life they led. Living off minimal food and tools their lack of money appears to be clear. It also appears to have been very family orientated as large families would share one house spending almost all of their time with one another.
For the people of wealth in Elizabethan England it was very much a materialistic life in my impression, they spent a great deal of time and money on their appearance and possessions. What they would dress themselves in was considered highly important and set your status in society. As well as this having their portraits painted to show their wealth was also commonly done.
Elizabethan England was a time of great change for the people living in it. New inventions and mass production brought a change to infrastructure across the country. Houses could now be built on two levels, due to the chimney, and the mass production of the brick makes this even more possible. People flocked to the towns, demolishing old houses and building new ones, showing off their wealth through using glass in their materials. Literacy also improved during elizabethan England as books were published in english for the first time, it gave people the ability to move up in social class and was part of the ongoing social revolution. School also became more widely available for boys, teaching boys to read and write in Latin, improving literacy further and allowing new scientific discoveries to made as well as new exploration of the globe.
Sunday, 22 March 2015
WEEK 1
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Read through :
Reading through the play as our characters helped me to gain a further understanding of the events within the play, as well as how the play may be brought to life on stage. Standing allowed the read through to maintain energy, keeping us engaged and focused. It also allowed me to feel how i may move on stage when saying my lines.
Furthermore, i was able to see who i was speaking to in a scene and who else was in that scene, allowing me to visualise where i would be directing my speech. Discussing the events in the play and what happens when was useful in dissecting what characters were speaking about in each scene. Overall i think the read through allowed us all as a cast to come together over the script and all be on the same page in understanding the play, its events and its themes.
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Laban efforts :
We worked on laban efforts to help us in thinking about our characters movements and which efforts may apply to them. For my character of 'Boy' I felt Dab was the most fitting effort to give him overall as it has a sense of youth in the light weight as well as the sudden movement. Working on this is something i find really useful when coming to terms with a character and understanding their movements. By starting off overplaying the action it allowed me to tone it down enough to create movement that looked believable and everyday.
For my characters walk i felt he would have weak knees, therefore them being bent when he walked. I thought again this created a sense of youth and also a timid nature, which as he works for others and does what he is told, i felt he may have. This exercise has helped me massively in coming to terms with how i may go about tackling my character and using the individual efforts to find points where he is, for example, 'punch' or 'wring'.
In the class seeing others walking as their characters allowed me to have more of a visual on how the piece will look on stage as seeing, for example, the actress' playing Henry V walk in the space as him showed how dominating his presence could be on stage.
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Factory Workers :
We also looked at using laban efforts to create our factory workers characters. For my woman I wanted to use 'float' as i thought it had a child like nature to it that would allow her transition to the character of 'boy' to make sense. Taking the effort into account i imagined she would be very unfocused in her work and her mind would trail off to other things. I also thought she would have a bounce to her step and would be a happy character. I found these efforts again very useful increasing an instant initial character that i can now move forward with and develop.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read through :
Reading through the play as our characters helped me to gain a further understanding of the events within the play, as well as how the play may be brought to life on stage. Standing allowed the read through to maintain energy, keeping us engaged and focused. It also allowed me to feel how i may move on stage when saying my lines.
Furthermore, i was able to see who i was speaking to in a scene and who else was in that scene, allowing me to visualise where i would be directing my speech. Discussing the events in the play and what happens when was useful in dissecting what characters were speaking about in each scene. Overall i think the read through allowed us all as a cast to come together over the script and all be on the same page in understanding the play, its events and its themes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laban efforts :
We worked on laban efforts to help us in thinking about our characters movements and which efforts may apply to them. For my character of 'Boy' I felt Dab was the most fitting effort to give him overall as it has a sense of youth in the light weight as well as the sudden movement. Working on this is something i find really useful when coming to terms with a character and understanding their movements. By starting off overplaying the action it allowed me to tone it down enough to create movement that looked believable and everyday.
For my characters walk i felt he would have weak knees, therefore them being bent when he walked. I thought again this created a sense of youth and also a timid nature, which as he works for others and does what he is told, i felt he may have. This exercise has helped me massively in coming to terms with how i may go about tackling my character and using the individual efforts to find points where he is, for example, 'punch' or 'wring'.
In the class seeing others walking as their characters allowed me to have more of a visual on how the piece will look on stage as seeing, for example, the actress' playing Henry V walk in the space as him showed how dominating his presence could be on stage.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Factory Workers :
We also looked at using laban efforts to create our factory workers characters. For my woman I wanted to use 'float' as i thought it had a child like nature to it that would allow her transition to the character of 'boy' to make sense. Taking the effort into account i imagined she would be very unfocused in her work and her mind would trail off to other things. I also thought she would have a bounce to her step and would be a happy character. I found these efforts again very useful increasing an instant initial character that i can now move forward with and develop.
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