27/02/23 - 2/03/23

 Week 21 of Milly's acting journey

On Monday 27th February, we dived straight into Connections rehearsals after a relaxing week off. Kelly had set for us to learn the majority of our lines off my heart, which I made sure to set for myself to do anyway if she didn't set it as homework. I remembered using voice notes and saying cue lines, and then listening to it back and speaking my line when it should be said. This was very helpful as it meant I was remembering both my lines and my cue lines at the same time. I learnt it from one of Kane's lesson proving how vital learning about the background of acting is. However, when we were rehearsing in the dance studio, I had my script with me like a safety blanket in case I forgot my lines. I wish I didn't as I know deep down I know them really well, and using the script was a distraction and made me loose part of that progress I had done. We reached scene 11 which was the last scene, meaning we were near to the end of our piece. I've thoroughly enjoyed over this process getting to understand the character of Stefi, and I now have time to think of how I want to leave her in the mind of the audience when the play finishes. I'm the only one left after everyone leaves me upon realising everything is my fault, since I keep bringing it up and am weirdly desperate to get Tom Joy in more trouble despite him being a sentenced man. Since I am the one left, I feel that it's a metaphor for Stefi's entire journey in the play. She's the only one not capable of change and moving on, hence why she's the only one left sat in her 'dad's old cafe'. I think my personal aim over the next week is to figure out how to leave Stefi in that last scene to make it impactful to the audience. However, the entire rehearsal was really great and for the first time really I got to act with Callum as Zafer. Upon meeting, Kelly said how I should be the one telling him what to do silently. For example, he politely declines everyone's kind gestures, like offering a drink of water, offering their coat, offering to sit down whereas I give him a glass of water and give him a nod to sit down. This straight away tells the audience that I direct Zafer in life, and wrongly I have a hold on him. Kelly said how for the olders, this is our hardest scene with it's pace and control which I totally understood.  Afterwards, me and Callum said that we would go over our scene 1 together the following day since it's a bitty day. 

On Tuesday 28th, I spent the day a little all over the place. Firstly, myself and few others from the course were asked to do photos for the new prospectus that would advertise anyone to the college and our course in particular. I had lots of fun doing this, as during it we had an improv game going to keep the photos natural and something funny was said and I just couldn't stop laughing for the life of me. Me and a few others were then asked later on in the day during Connections rehearsals to do a few shots in the LRC and the cafe. I walked through the LRC with Delroy, and we had to pretend point at things so my acting was really coming in to play during this. The same thing when we were in the cafe having a discussion, I could feel the camera on me so I just smiled and nodded😂 However, I spent the morning down in the LRC catching up on my blog work as I was a week behind and wanted to get that caught up as soon as possible. My afternoon was spent doing Connections rehearsals which I was looking forward to as it's been a while and I know that we only have a scene left till we reach the end. Unfortunately we didn't reach the end, but we spent so much time on our scene 10 which I was so grateful for as there was moment where it all clicked and we were flowing. I had understanding how to keep my stubborn Stefi side with others, yet how to show my caring for the wrong reasons side to Zafer. Overall, the entire rehearsal was great and Morgan watched a few times and we got some great feedback from him. 

On Wednesday 1st March, we were in the theatre which allowed us to move around more and use the space as we will performing in the theatre in a few weeks. I found this rehearsal so productive and we all had ideas about how to take the last scene to making it powerful and rememberable which was great. We used the idea of our younger selves pushing past us, almost like a slap in our faces for what we did to them and Tom Joy which is such an moving moment that we could have done things so much different and prevented this all. Callum has a moment as well where him and Geoffrey, who plays younger Zafer, look each other in the eyes breaking that sense of a fourth wall. I love that we have included this so much as it tells you so much about Zafer, and how young Zafer just wants love and guidance, almost like he's looking at his older version wondering what will happen to his future. We finally reached the end and we all gave each other a round of applause for how invested and creative we have been with it all. I've loved the entire process of going into a new scene so now that we have gone through them all it only means we make them more defined and emotive to how they are now. Going through the same scenes for me, helps me remember lines which I find so helpful so I can't wait for us to do full run-throughs on a normal basis. Adam did not stop saying how good I was, and that the last few lines where I'm silent he felt himself getting emotional, which then made me so happy that he really felt what I was trying to express. He is one of my best friends so he could just be saying that, but I always trust his word and it's always huge when a fellow actor praises me on my acting.

On Thursday 2nd March, due to Kelly, Kane and Morgan being away in Middlesbrough filming, it meant we had to focus on things that we felt took priority. Fortunately, Kelly had sent us a list of things related to Connections she would really like us to work on. One of those was matching our mannerisms and movement to our younger selves to showcase to the audience who are the same people. Me and Pheebs had agreed on folding our arms, and one arm either fiddling with our necklace, bracelet or scratching our necks and heads. We didn't make it too complex as we didn't want to forget to change our mannerisms and mess up obviously, so this way if we do forget to look at our younger/older selves, we have one arm folded which stays the same all the way through whilst the youngers are on stage. Another thing Kelly wanted us to focus on is Zafer's monologue and try and come up with a scene that would match his words with the younger's and the events that followed after the murder. Gracie took lead and I loved seeing her creative side as she had loads of ideas, like matching it to a previous youngers scene where we don't see Zafer or Tom Joy, and this way we see what happened whilst the others are in a huddle like their previous scene. I was able to say my lines before the monologue which made them stick in my head which I always appreciate when learning lines.  There were times where we felt confident on what we needed to work on, so a few of us would meet in the LRC to work on our new assignment on Connections or do more of our blog work. Overall, it felt like a productive day and I was so pleased I got work on both Connections and my blog. I'm excited for what next week will hold!