Lesson One

What is a Fascist?

A Fascist person is someone who believes they are in charge of everybody else. They think all of their ideas are the best and they are in control. They are normally racist to other people because they think they are perfect so everyone should be like them and they often treat people harshly. (Source one)

Themes of the text

• Family
• Bullying
• Childhood
• Rebelling
• Mental Illness
• Loss
• Death
• Anger
• Crime
• Lack Of Identity
• Safety and Protection
• Blackout - can either mean he doesn't remember what he did or it can have a more racial meaning suggesting he is fascist.

My First Impression

I really enjoyed reading through the play 'Blackout' because it was written differently to what normal plays are like. Normally you have lots of characters interacting with each other, however with this play there is one character, a young boy who has committed a crime and he is giving us a monologue saying what has happened to him. It is a stream of consciousness. The way it is written makes the play interesting to listen to because it makes the audience feel like they are being let into someones mind and are seeing his thoughts.

I also liked that the boy is sharing all his personal thoughts and feelings. You listen to every word that he says because there are no throw away lines. Everything he says is important and a cliffhanger, this makes you want to read on and discover more about what has happened.

Lots of the language in this play is very meaty and exciting to listen to, this creates suspense and makes the audience feel different emotions. The word imagine is also repeated alot this suggests the boy is asking the audience to share the moment with him and really think about what he is saying.

One of the things I particularly found interesting is how there is a beginning and an end and in the middle he is just talking about his memories. At the beginning you know he has done something wrong because he is in prison and the memories explain to the audience why he is like he is today. For example the fact he was bullied, his mother was abused by his father and also his grandad dying of cancer. So when it comes to the end and you find out what he has done you realise he has committed the crime because the things that have happened in the past affected who he decide to be. Also because you don't know exactly what he has done it makes you want to read on to discover the truth.

Finally because there is one character and no stage directions the cast can vary and there is no specific way to perform the piece. This means that we are now able to decide how to perform it, adding physical theatre so that we can portray what he is feeling. It also means we can all be the same character and have lines to say.

Warm ups

In today's lesson we did some different warm ups however some were the same as last term so there is a link below of the other warm ups.

We began standing in neural, looking around room living in the moment. When in neutral you should not be thinking about anything that's happened or is going to happen. You need to be in the room and in the moment.

Then we started swaying side to side, warming up our legs which is extremely important because we are going to be doing some physical theatre this term. When we moved from high to low so we could really stretch and relax our body. Then we went into a crouch on the floor and repeated standing up and then going back into a crouch to warm up our muscles.

We then went on our hands and knees facing toward the ceiling lifting ourselves up so we were like a table. we span around a few times and then lifted our arm and opposite off the floor to improve our balance. We repeated this on the other side.

We also did some flat back work stretching all the way through to our neck then dropping down and relaxing

We then massaged our jaw to release the tension within our face  and then we did the big pumpkin face. This when you expand your body and face a far as possible and say big pumpkin space and then you make your body and face as small as possible and say tiny little raisin face. This again make your face relax.

We then did some vocal warm ups for example tongue twisters and sirening, as well as breathing in then breathing different sounds.

http://hollygarciaactingskills.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/skills-bank.html

Theatrical Configuration

• Promenade - when you perform scenes in different places around the school.
• In The Round - when you perform so the audience is round you in a circle.
• Traverse - when the audience is either side of the stage so it is like a catwalk.
• Immersive - when there is no stage so the characters are in the audience.
• 3 Sided Stage - when the audience sits on three sides of the stage so there is still a back where nobody sits.
• End on - a normal stage where the audience sits straight in front of you (good for physical theatre.)
• Thrust - when there is a stage but there is an extra piece at the front making a T shape.