As always we began with a physical warm up, taken by various members of the group, which quickly led into an energetic game of “Zip, Zap, Boing!” featuring Desara’s beloved “funky chicken”.
We then gathered round the piano for the vocal warm up and tried to make Jane feel uncomfortable by singing “Papa’s got a head like a ping pong ball” with unnerving panache and energy. The group did a run of Kate Nash’s “Mouthwash” and indeed the movements are now sharp and in synch which makes it very powerful to watch – Vik’s running exercise last week clearly did the trick! The singing also has force and aggression which makes the piece highly engaging.
We were shown a model of the set for the first time which was very exciting; the stage is designed to look as though it is made up of stacks of newspapers and wedged amongst these are various objects which can be used for many different things; such as a ladder (which will become the tree), a window, a piano and a bed frame.
The soloists in “Hometown Glory” performed to the rest of the cast; this song will be an effective way of connecting the journeys of Ellie, Shanice-Loren and Stacey and indeed of all the cast selling or escaping from something. Vik then rehearsed a number of scenes, whilst the rest of the cast went through Dance Per Chance in the green room (thank-you in particular to Eliza and Louie for teaching it to me, you were both very patient!)
Grace Chilton
Friday 26 June 2009
Session 17 - 17 June 2009
Today we focussed on Naomi and Raz’ scene and linking it with the beginning of the show, which included three tableaux from each of the characters. I then had to master turning on Naomi’s alarm clock after my pose – which proved some goofy difficulty! It was great to see the scenes finally coming together and starting to look like a real show.
Jess
Jess
Session 16 - 14 June 2009
Today we spent a lot of time in the green room running through our lines or practicing our dance routine, while Vik called us down one by one to direct and perfect our scenes.
We then did some vocal exercises with Anne which helped me a lot with my projection and articulation. We then pieced the first scene together.
Layla
We then did some vocal exercises with Anne which helped me a lot with my projection and articulation. We then pieced the first scene together.
Layla
Session 15 - 10 June 2009
In this rehearsal, Vik wanted to start stitching the play together. He started working with Raz and Naomi and the rest of the cast went upstairs to learn their lines.
Shanice.
Shanice.
Sunday 14 June 2009
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Session 14 - 7 June 2009
After a brief physical warm-up, we played our much-loved ‘Zip Zap Boing’ which Jess and Yasemin tied.
Then we had a vocal warm-up with Harry singing “A ram sa sa, a ram sa sa, a riggy diggy diggy diggy, ram sa sa” (to the vague tune of the ‘Pizza Hut Song’). As we sang ‘sa sa’, we had to pat the knees of the person on our right and then on the ‘riggy diggy’ bit, we had to wave our arms in front of the person on our left which, needless to say, led to much confusion.
We then ran through ‘Mouthwash’ and rehearsed it with staging. We did have a distinct lack of energy which Vik tried to fix by making us sing while running on the spot. This also demonstrated to us the importance of being fit when we’re in a production!
After that, we sang ‘Chasing Cars’ which closes the show and staged it with the dialogue too. It’s starting to look brilliant and I think it will be a moving end to the play whilst also giving a sense of hope.
Towards the end of the rehearsal, we did one last run through of ‘Mouthwash’ which was significantly more energetic than earlier on. It’s looking good and thanks again to Vik, Harry, Jane and Tanya as well as the amazing projects team for giving us such a fantastic opportunity.
Bring on the Summer Festival!
Eliza Shea
Then we had a vocal warm-up with Harry singing “A ram sa sa, a ram sa sa, a riggy diggy diggy diggy, ram sa sa” (to the vague tune of the ‘Pizza Hut Song’). As we sang ‘sa sa’, we had to pat the knees of the person on our right and then on the ‘riggy diggy’ bit, we had to wave our arms in front of the person on our left which, needless to say, led to much confusion.
We then ran through ‘Mouthwash’ and rehearsed it with staging. We did have a distinct lack of energy which Vik tried to fix by making us sing while running on the spot. This also demonstrated to us the importance of being fit when we’re in a production!
After that, we sang ‘Chasing Cars’ which closes the show and staged it with the dialogue too. It’s starting to look brilliant and I think it will be a moving end to the play whilst also giving a sense of hope.
Towards the end of the rehearsal, we did one last run through of ‘Mouthwash’ which was significantly more energetic than earlier on. It’s looking good and thanks again to Vik, Harry, Jane and Tanya as well as the amazing projects team for giving us such a fantastic opportunity.
Bring on the Summer Festival!
Eliza Shea
Wednesday 10 June 2009
Session 13 - 3 June 2009
Hi y'all!
Ok, today was another jam packed rehersal! We had to come half an hour early to do some recording, which was really good! We started with a warm-up, led by Naomi, which was fun, but different.... Then, Vik told us to work on our Bollywood dancing. We all seemed enthusiastic about doing it. First, we worked in our groups, re-tracing the moves. After, we decided to dance as a whole group. As Louie and Layla worked along side one another, they came up with a small piece together, then the rest of us joined in. When I was standing aside, I could see that the group is becoming more focused and better. The whole thing flows nicely and you could really see it's turning into a really awesome play! After that, we did the train scene. It was more improved than the last time we did it, also. It felt intense.... Overall, the rehersal was really neat and I really can't wait to perform on stage!YAY!
Catch you later, guys!
Chloe Morgan :) x
Ok, today was another jam packed rehersal! We had to come half an hour early to do some recording, which was really good! We started with a warm-up, led by Naomi, which was fun, but different.... Then, Vik told us to work on our Bollywood dancing. We all seemed enthusiastic about doing it. First, we worked in our groups, re-tracing the moves. After, we decided to dance as a whole group. As Louie and Layla worked along side one another, they came up with a small piece together, then the rest of us joined in. When I was standing aside, I could see that the group is becoming more focused and better. The whole thing flows nicely and you could really see it's turning into a really awesome play! After that, we did the train scene. It was more improved than the last time we did it, also. It felt intense.... Overall, the rehersal was really neat and I really can't wait to perform on stage!YAY!
Catch you later, guys!
Chloe Morgan :) x
Friday 5 June 2009
Session 12 - 31 May 2009
It’s time to get serious!!! It seems people are really starting to as well with Raz for the first time arriving in jogging bottoms (which he took ages to change into) and having a whole cast here on time and ready for some pain. Sadly that wasn’t on the agenda for today and Vik has decided to make us jump through hoops in small manageable chunks (Yippee).
Eliza and I were chosen to go through Vik’s arsenal of actor building techniques. They were as tiring as they were effective. He certainly knows how to squeeze every shred of potential out of you whether that’s running round with purpose, carrying something over your head or speaking with your tongue hanging out (that was definitely the worst). But you can honestly see the effect it has on your performance and that’s one of the things that makes Vik a great director.
During this everyone was upstairs learning lines and talking with Anne on marketing. I heard they have come up with some great ideas for badges and postcards, possibly t-shirts/ hoodies. Excellent. There will not be a soul alive in Islington that won’t know about our show.
After this there was a great session with Harry where we got through a lot of our favourite warm ups like Arva Maria (sorry if it’s spelt wrong). We went through Chasing cars which is sounding great. Then we went to work on learning Yaz’s song which could possibly be sung as a group. I’m sure everyone will agree with me that the lyrics are excellently written and the singing is beautiful.
Aisha McKenzie
Eliza and I were chosen to go through Vik’s arsenal of actor building techniques. They were as tiring as they were effective. He certainly knows how to squeeze every shred of potential out of you whether that’s running round with purpose, carrying something over your head or speaking with your tongue hanging out (that was definitely the worst). But you can honestly see the effect it has on your performance and that’s one of the things that makes Vik a great director.
During this everyone was upstairs learning lines and talking with Anne on marketing. I heard they have come up with some great ideas for badges and postcards, possibly t-shirts/ hoodies. Excellent. There will not be a soul alive in Islington that won’t know about our show.
After this there was a great session with Harry where we got through a lot of our favourite warm ups like Arva Maria (sorry if it’s spelt wrong). We went through Chasing cars which is sounding great. Then we went to work on learning Yaz’s song which could possibly be sung as a group. I’m sure everyone will agree with me that the lyrics are excellently written and the singing is beautiful.
Aisha McKenzie
Monday 1 June 2009
Session 11 - 27 May 2009
After warming up as a company vocally and physically we proceeded to run through the third song in 'Or Nearest Offer' 'Mouthwash'. This song needs particular attention as like most of the songs it involves the whole company and is split into many parts. After this Vik (Director) chose a couple of characters scenes that he personally was going to concentrate on this rehearsal. leaving us the rest of the cast to go through pieces and scenes together or by ourselves, looking at what the scene itself means and what each line is saying about your character and what it is trying to achieve. As well of course as learning the lines themselves. It is important as a company that when the director chooses to focus on something in particular that the rest of the show is not forgotten, there is never a time in ‘Or Nearest Offer’ where there is nothing to be done.
Session 10 - 24 May 2009
We did warming up by stretching with Vik. It took 15 minutes to complete the warm-up. Then we had our very effective lesson with Harry, which was singing. We were singing Chasing Cars and Mouthwash. After we completed our time with Harry, Naomi an I worked on pages 3 to 5 with Vik. We re-edited the lines by cutting and changing some around. We were able to create a new structure. I learnt a lot more about my character - I have realised new points about Raz - about his body languages, vocal awareness and non-verbal communication. It is now clearer to me what Raz's dream is and what he really wants.
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