Week 3 - Road

We've focused on our characters a lot this week and what we think of them so I've been doing a lot of thinking on my character Mrs Bald and Bald. I see their relationship as they've been together for quite a few years and are now getting sick and tired of each other. They don't really want to be in each other's company, well I feel like Bald doesn't want to be in Mrs Bald's company. I think Bald is the boring type and Mrs Bald wouldn't mind going to the pub and getting drunk where as he would and would probably stay at home. I feel like Bald wants to seem like the man of the house by really Mrs Bald is in charge which he doesn't like so when she asks him something or tells him something he doesn't listen and does the opposite. I feel like she really enjoys annoying him. They have a daughter called Chantel who Bald is very protective over but Mrs Bald does mind her going out, having fun and enjoying herself. I'm not really sure yet why their houses is such a mess that Scullery thought know one lived there. I had the idea that maybe their just messy people or have moved in and didn't unpack which would suggest why throughout the play their in their house because they probably didn't plan on staying on the Road that long. It could just be the fact their really lazy and have loads of junk they haven't got rid of yet.

 

 

 

 

I am finding it hard to find out more about Doreen then I did Mrs Bald as hers was all in the script but Doreen is a bit more of a mystery. I have come up with a few things for Doreen though, for example I think she might have a small job as she's not trying to get money off anyone and she's able to go out buy some drinks and later on some chips. I do feel as she is very loose and up for anything but not as much as Lane. For example page 16 with Scullery him and Lane just start kissing and as Doreen goes off she says "Snog anything she will. Captain fucking Pugwash" which suggests she has a bit of class in the way she wouldn't kiss any guy who walked past. I think after going through the scrip a bit more I'll hopefully find a bit more out. I have been looking a people who have previously played Doreen to see what they wore and everything so I can get an idea of what to wear as this play is set in the 1980's. In the picture below Doreen is the one on the left and this is the scene I was talking about. I knew that Lane was on the right from the way she's look at Scullery so I'm guessing their about to kiss. This picture also supports my idea about Doreen not being as loose as Lane because Doreen is wearing leggings and Lane is wearing a short skirt. Which shows Lane is more of a 'slut' then her because she covers up where as Lane likes to show skin.

 

 

From the clothing they're wearing I can tell that bright neon colours, hoop earing, ponytail to the side or big hair and scrunches' in their hair was the style which gives me a lot of great ideas for my costume. My ideas at the moment would be to wear bright colourful leggings with a white or pink crop top underneath and a denim jacket with colour badges on it and maybe wear some neon heels or maybe even trainers or converses.

 

We did do a bit more on our accents this week and Kirsty gave us a sheet which will hopefully help me and I know I'm going to have to constantly practise to get it right. I also learnt my lines to my first scene I just need to know when to say them and try and add the accent to them which I have done a little but I don't know how I would pronounce certain things still like "Trough" because I'm not sure if I drop any letters or if I have to say it differently so I'll find out next week. I think it's coming along nicely, I just need to go through my scenes with Lane with Kennedy and discuss our characters, how we should act during certain scenes and learn the rest of the lines.

Week 2 - Road

We starting blocking this week and discussing our characters and how they act. My character Doreen is a flirty character and I think she would show that throughout the play so everything little action she does would be flirty in someway. After going through all of the scenes and blocking them it has helped me get a sense of my characters and their relationships with the other characters in the play. For example Lane and Doreen are best friends in my eyes, the both like to have fun, be flirty and have a good old laugh. I would say out of all the women in the play they are the most loose, they're not really bothered if boys want something from them because they will give it to them. I made some notes on Wednesday when we blocked pages 14-40. I felt like the scenes switched from funny to serious to funny to serious again. There was real comical bit with Bisto and his scene which I thought is a great scene and Luke plays Bisto really well. It's important for us all the remember energy! With everything we say and do we need to put a lot of energy into our voices and gestures.

 

This play is sent in Lancashire which means we have to learn a northern accent. We started this week and I am finding it really difficult as I'm not good at accents. Laura was helping us by putting up words on the board and saying how some sounds or letters change with others. She said them first and then we repeated, I did find this very helpful but at this stage I still need someone to say it first.

 

 

 

After this we went and tried it with our lines I picked the line "Oooh eh look here!" which is a northern accents comes out like "ooo a look ere". The good thing about doing this is now I've said it with the accent I can't actually say it without the accent which means I am getting their slowly, just need to practise. Laura also put up the alphabet and a, e, I, o, u and we had to go through the alphabet. For example saying ba, be, bi, bo, bu but in the accent. I did find it quite hard and needed Laura to say it first but I have been going through it and I think I'm getting it.

 

 

 

Week 1 - Road

Our new assessment is Road which is about life on a road in Lancashire in the 1980's. My first response to the play Road after reading the book was that all the character's are very open to each other about their lives and are very flirty. I see most of the women using sex as a tool in the play in able to get what they want from the men. They live in a bad environment in the way that none of them have a lot of money and most of them don't have jobs or have lost them. I feel like the only way they can enjoy their lives is to go out pub crawling and meet most of the people that live on the Road as that's what they all like to do. Even though they live in this poverty area they don't care, they still love the Road they live in and are happy with it.

The major themes throughout the play are sex, politics, alcohol, poverty, family and swearing. Sex is a major one because the women do use it as a tool to get what they want from the men and the men don't mind because they want some. During the play there are many references to sex. Politics is a major theme because this play was set in the 1980's which was when Margret thatcher was in charge and got rid of the union that put a lot of people unemployed.  I feel alcohol in the play is used to solve their problems in the way that it makes them forget what's really around them and they can have fun.  During the play everyone wants alcohol, for example Brenda who tries to get money of Scullery so she can buy some alcohol. The Road is a place full of poverty but they don't see it as that, they see it as their home. Family is a big theme as they see each other as their family since most of them don't have any family and everyone on Road are really close and they all know each other so it's like they are family. There is a lot of swearing in Road which is showing how uncivilized and how much it's so common in their social community.

 

My vision of road is that I see it as a very dirty area as in black bags full of rubbish would be on the side walk along with tin bins. The smell of smoke and alcohol would fill the air and you would maybe see the odd splatter of sick on the pavement. If I was going to set the play out I would have it so the audience were standing and all the characters would always be onstage. There would be scenes in chronological order and the audience would follow the scenes as they go on as if they're going down a Road.

 

I have been casted as Doreen and Mrs Bald which I am very happy about. I'm excited about the character Mrs Bald as she is very comical in every scene she's in. Her and her husband Bald have this kind of relationship where I see it as he's very boring and she loves to joke around with him. For example when Bald says "What do you think this is eh! Keeping decent ones awake likes this. My wife's awake here." and Mrs Bald replies with "I'm not". I think playing Doreen will be fun as she is a very loose character and flirty. She's great friends with Lane and I think it's very important that the bond between them shows. The bug problem for me would be the accent and I'm really bad at them but I'm excited to try and hopefully be okay at it but if not it's something I definitely need to work on.