Christopher: Roger's Perspective
As I am playing Roger I think it is important to understand how Roger views Christopher.
Now, personally, I believe Roger finds talking to Christopher very awkward. Primarily because he had an affair and left his wife for Christopher's mum (Judy). He knows that Christopher's dad (Ed) has brought him up therefore feels a little guilty and perhaps unable to make a proper connection. I always feel as if Roger doesn't actually feel involved or know how to handle Christopher properly, or perhaps doesn't actually care. I get this impression when he greets Christopher with "What the hell is going on !?" indicating his shock at the situation. I also believe he finds talking to Christopher difficult because he knows he has done wrong by having an affair and knows Christopher was directly affected by his actions. In addition, I believe that Roger only tries to make an effort with Christopher because he is with Judy, Christopher's mother.
Monday, 29 September 2014
Curious Incident Day Four
Today we worked on trust. Our fist task was to pair up. Then, in our pairs, we walked around the room. One of us with our eyes closed whilst the other held their partners elbow. Once we were comfortable we let go of the elbow and walked around, but this time staying close to our partner so they could sense us. We then swapped and carried out the same sequence.
After, we were split into two groups. In our groups we had to select on person to stand in the middle of a circle we would form. Then we had to push the person round in a circle without dropping them. This task ended in us doing a lift. We elected a member to go first. We all got a grip of our partner, from the legs, and on the count of 3, we lifted him up. We carried on doing this so many times that we were eventually running in, lifting and dropping.
We, then began acting out where we left off on the last day. In one particular scene we created a maze, to represent Christopher's mind. We created this by linking arms in certain ways and moving as one to make the maze look effective.
Today we worked on trust. Our fist task was to pair up. Then, in our pairs, we walked around the room. One of us with our eyes closed whilst the other held their partners elbow. Once we were comfortable we let go of the elbow and walked around, but this time staying close to our partner so they could sense us. We then swapped and carried out the same sequence.
After, we were split into two groups. In our groups we had to select on person to stand in the middle of a circle we would form. Then we had to push the person round in a circle without dropping them. This task ended in us doing a lift. We elected a member to go first. We all got a grip of our partner, from the legs, and on the count of 3, we lifted him up. We carried on doing this so many times that we were eventually running in, lifting and dropping.
We, then began acting out where we left off on the last day. In one particular scene we created a maze, to represent Christopher's mind. We created this by linking arms in certain ways and moving as one to make the maze look effective.
Thursday, 25 September 2014
Curious Incident: Day Three
Our third day of rehearsals began with us, again, walking around the room, increasing our pace every so often. We then reverted to our pushing away technique with each other before re running our dial pad scene with a different partner. Once this was completed we started our beginning sequence that we had worked on over the last two rehearsals. After we had done this we went straight onto acting out the first few pages of act 1. We were then split into our pairs from the last rehearsal and began working out how to stage our scenes. We all intermingled in different scenes allowing us all to contribute our ideas into the scene.
We then performed our scenes and talked through what we would like to happen in terms of lighting, effects and staging. Our class was further split into 2 groups where we had to devise a specific scene, however, had to make use of everybody in a quirky way. So we had people embodying doors and draws, whereas the other group used everybody to make the structure of a house, I feel that both groups ideas were very interesting and that we can implement both groups ideas.
Our third day of rehearsals began with us, again, walking around the room, increasing our pace every so often. We then reverted to our pushing away technique with each other before re running our dial pad scene with a different partner. Once this was completed we started our beginning sequence that we had worked on over the last two rehearsals. After we had done this we went straight onto acting out the first few pages of act 1. We were then split into our pairs from the last rehearsal and began working out how to stage our scenes. We all intermingled in different scenes allowing us all to contribute our ideas into the scene.
We then performed our scenes and talked through what we would like to happen in terms of lighting, effects and staging. Our class was further split into 2 groups where we had to devise a specific scene, however, had to make use of everybody in a quirky way. So we had people embodying doors and draws, whereas the other group used everybody to make the structure of a house, I feel that both groups ideas were very interesting and that we can implement both groups ideas.
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Curious Incident: Day 2
Our second day of rehearsals began with a similar to the first. We walked around the room trying not to come into contact with anyone, we then progressed to running and not bumping into anyone, which is very difficult.
After a few minutes we stopped and were made to find a partner. With our partner we had to walk up to one another, with one of us grabbing the others head and throwing them away. Then, we moved onto pushing into each other and turning out, before holding each others arms, leaning back and catapulting ourselves forward. Whilst doing this we had to make our actions as big and violent as possible to portray our hatred towards each other. We then went for a run through, alternating our action each time.
Afterwards, we stood face to face with our partner and one of us had to type in our phone number on a dial pad, but had to make it as big as possible whilst our partner had to mirror the typer.
Finally, we were given our scripts and paired up again. We found all of the scenes we were in and began acting them out, with our partner reading in for different characters. We done this so we, as a class, could work out how to stage things and contribute our own ideas to show that we made the play our own and were not directed the whole time. This helped us show off more than just acting skills, but communication, directing and team work.
Our second day of rehearsals began with a similar to the first. We walked around the room trying not to come into contact with anyone, we then progressed to running and not bumping into anyone, which is very difficult.
After a few minutes we stopped and were made to find a partner. With our partner we had to walk up to one another, with one of us grabbing the others head and throwing them away. Then, we moved onto pushing into each other and turning out, before holding each others arms, leaning back and catapulting ourselves forward. Whilst doing this we had to make our actions as big and violent as possible to portray our hatred towards each other. We then went for a run through, alternating our action each time.
Afterwards, we stood face to face with our partner and one of us had to type in our phone number on a dial pad, but had to make it as big as possible whilst our partner had to mirror the typer.
Finally, we were given our scripts and paired up again. We found all of the scenes we were in and began acting them out, with our partner reading in for different characters. We done this so we, as a class, could work out how to stage things and contribute our own ideas to show that we made the play our own and were not directed the whole time. This helped us show off more than just acting skills, but communication, directing and team work.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Curious Incident: Day 1
Our first day of rehearsals focused strongly upon our opening to the play. Our first task was to wander around the room, saying something related to maths regularly (I chose to say "Pi =3.14") and every time we came face to face with someone me had to raise our arms and turn away very slowly without touching anybody, in a way that someone autistic would behave when coming into contact with people, which I decided to be an "Oh my God, don't touch me" way. After we got to grips with the pace and style of movement we changed our action to burying our heads in our hands and turning away, slowly still, but in a way that indicates our head is overloading and we are in a state of social shut-down. The pace change we used, I believe worked well as we all paced around the room and suddenly froze, before slowly turning, which looked really effective.
We then went for a run through of what we had done. Once we had done our "raised arm" turn 5 times, we moved onto our "head turn" and once we had completed that 5 times each, we curled up into a ball on the floor. Representing the fact the main character in the play, Christopher, is autistic and shuts down in social situations, however, is incredibly talented with maths and numbers, hence the utterance of maths related sentences.
After we had curled up into a ball, we waited for our lead, Christopher, to stand up and type in his phone number in on an imaginary dial pad that was the same size as the user. In a sequence, standing up in fours, we carried out this action, with four people of our group of 13, or so, standing up each time. This took a while or so to perfect without anyone stopping to think of the phone number we were dialling, so once we were clear on what we had to do, we went for a run through, which worked out nicely.
In terms of staging, we decided it would be best to seat the audience in a 3 sided square, almost in the round, but keep the sides very rigid to represent Christopher and his way of thinking, that he likes structure. Also, it will provide a challenge for us as we will be surrounded many times and have to think about staging scenes and really embodying our character(s). We were given act 1 and our roles by our teacher/director and began to act out the play without any prep at all so we could contribute our own ideas to how the play should run and look.
Our first day of rehearsals focused strongly upon our opening to the play. Our first task was to wander around the room, saying something related to maths regularly (I chose to say "Pi =3.14") and every time we came face to face with someone me had to raise our arms and turn away very slowly without touching anybody, in a way that someone autistic would behave when coming into contact with people, which I decided to be an "Oh my God, don't touch me" way. After we got to grips with the pace and style of movement we changed our action to burying our heads in our hands and turning away, slowly still, but in a way that indicates our head is overloading and we are in a state of social shut-down. The pace change we used, I believe worked well as we all paced around the room and suddenly froze, before slowly turning, which looked really effective.
We then went for a run through of what we had done. Once we had done our "raised arm" turn 5 times, we moved onto our "head turn" and once we had completed that 5 times each, we curled up into a ball on the floor. Representing the fact the main character in the play, Christopher, is autistic and shuts down in social situations, however, is incredibly talented with maths and numbers, hence the utterance of maths related sentences.
After we had curled up into a ball, we waited for our lead, Christopher, to stand up and type in his phone number in on an imaginary dial pad that was the same size as the user. In a sequence, standing up in fours, we carried out this action, with four people of our group of 13, or so, standing up each time. This took a while or so to perfect without anyone stopping to think of the phone number we were dialling, so once we were clear on what we had to do, we went for a run through, which worked out nicely.
In terms of staging, we decided it would be best to seat the audience in a 3 sided square, almost in the round, but keep the sides very rigid to represent Christopher and his way of thinking, that he likes structure. Also, it will provide a challenge for us as we will be surrounded many times and have to think about staging scenes and really embodying our character(s). We were given act 1 and our roles by our teacher/director and began to act out the play without any prep at all so we could contribute our own ideas to how the play should run and look.
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