Character blog: the 9 questions

1.  WHO AM I? 
age, address, relatives, likes, dislikes, hobbies, career, description of physical traits, opinions, beliefs, religion, education, origins, enemies, loved one

 

 

Who now?:I play the Guard, he protects and ensures the safety of the judge and other people in the court room or court house.

How old?: he is in his late 30's- early 40's His birthday is the 15th of August

Relatives?: he is related to the other guard because they are cousins, they get along very well, they have been working together for the judge for 3 years.

Address: 42 Vialo Belfioniaa, Asola, Lombardy, Italy.


Loved ones: He has a wife called Teresa she is 37, they have been married for 7 years. He also has a daughter called Caterina and she is 4 years old.

Hobbies: he likes to play fencing when he is not busy working as the guard in the court.

Education: He is not that educated because he stopped education at the age of 17, However he managed to get a job as the guard for the judge

Opinions: He doesn't really have any strong views on anything, He doesn't have much friends either since he spends most of his time working for the judge or at home.

Enemies: He is not too fond on jacoba as he thinks that she is just a sexual attention seeking woman, who hasn't got any respect for her self or others.

Name: The judge addresses him as guard, However his real name is Antonio De Folla , he is named after his grandfather who was called Antonio de Balanio. 

Description: He is about 5,11 however he is smaller than his cousin (the other guard), He is not fat just very hench. He has dark green eyes and short wavy dark brown shiny hair.   


 

 

 

 

2.  WHAT TIME IS IT? 

It is the Italian renaissance period which is about the late 14th-- Early 15th century. It is the summer season, so the mood of the play is quite festive and carnival like, so the play has an energetic feeling throughout. Right now its is Wednesday which is the day when the judge likes to get all his cases together before the court hearing.

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3.  WHERE AM I? 

 Right now I am in Italy inside the well known Italian court which is called Corte costituzionale della Repubblica. I am I n the court house which is the home of the judge and the place where I stay/work sometimes If I am not managing the actual court. But right this minute I am in my assigned room which is where us guards have to stay.

 

 

 

4.  WHAT SURROUNDS ME? 

(Animate and inanimate objects-complete details of environment) 

In my environment I am surrounded by vast solid furniture and fine cutlery, mostly the objects are fine and expensive because we are in a court house and the judge is a very wealthy respected man. Outside the court the judge owns land about the size of an average playground. The land has been decorated with flowers and pebble stones. The atmosphere of the court house is loud because the judge is always calling after pizoccca and she is always rushing about everywhere. My room is pretty simple I have a bed, a wardrobe a cabinet, a chess board and next door is the bathroom which we share with the three other guards. Objects that I always use is a bat/ thick pole to brush people away and handcuffs to make any arrests.  

 

 

 

 

.5.WHAT ARE THE GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES? 

(Past, present, future and all of the events) 

 Past: Before I was working for the judge I worked in a shop that would create glass stained windows for churches. I would start work at 8 o clock in the morning and would finish at 4,I got paid a good amount. After I finished I would go home to my wife and daughter. The dinner would already be made and after we put our daughter to bed me and Teresa would sit out in the garden and relax, then Teresa would water her plants and crops then we would both go to bed. But right now I am working for the judge, however I no longer go home now as i stay at the court house on weekdays and go home at 8:o clock on Fridays and start again at 7:30 on Mondays and the money i earn i send back home to my family. In the future I would like to get a promotion one step lower down from the judge, like someone who helps organize the cases for the judge.

 

 

 

6.  WHAT IS MY RELATIONSHIP? 

(Relation to total events, other characters, and to things 

in the first scene my character is getting annoyed with geron de la noci as he believes that he is fake limping. Relation to other characters isn't strong as he doesn't really talk to other characters, however the second guard is his cousin and the judge is basically his boss so he is very respectful to him, even though the judge is not respectful back as he calls the guards "brutes" My character is used to weapons as it is what he uses to protect him self and the guards. He is familiar to his uniform and hand cuffs.
 

 

 

 

7.  WHAT DO I WANT? 

(Character's need.  The immediate and main objective) 

My characters main need and objective is to serve and protect and look after him in times of need for example in the scene when the judge is drunk. He seems as if he wants to be noticed more and wants more power over the criminals/bad people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.  WHAT IS IN MY WAY? 

(The obstacles which prevent character from getting his/her need) 

Some of the criminals are in his way as they say that the guards treat them badly which then makes the judge gets angry which my character does not want as he wants the judge to notice him more however not for the wrong reasons. Other things which could prevent my character from getting what he wants is if he lets a prisoner get away or lets the judge get hurt because that then means he wasn't doing his job properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.  WHAT DO I DO TO GET WHAT I WANT? 

(The action: physical and verbal, also-action verbs)
I defend my self and try not to handle the prisoners to roughly to make them complain so then the judge wont get angry at me.






 

commedia workshop

what was ur experience with the five characters the character types how nu felt. and what charter did u chose and why strengths and weaknesses of your improve


On Thursday we experimented with six different characters. they were called pantolne, ill dottore, capitano , pedrolino, arlecchino and columbina.
Pantalone: pantalone is basically an old pervy man, he is described as greedy fool. To create this character I hunched my back over to create a posture that an old man would have. and I had to thrust my pelvis forward. I would rub my hands together to symbolize his greed for money and sex. My facial expression; it wasn't a confused expression more like an expression that you would give if you were drunk. When we had to interact with other characters I walked around with a drunken smile on my face and I checked the other characters out by checking their body out. When we had to speak to the other characters I was flirting with them because this is the sort of thing that this character would do when he would speak to someone . I found this character really funny to play and I think this character is like jacoba in the devil in drag because they are both sexual characters.

Il dottore: il dottore is basically like an unqualified doctor. he is described as a bumbling quack who does not know a thing about medicine. To create this character I lead from the knees and belly. When I lead from the knees it made my character look like his weight was weighing him down. When we had to walk around the room I was leading from the knees and placed on hand on my belly and I started mumbling to my self. When we had to interact with other characters I would walk around and nod my head at them, this meant  my character thought of him self as a high status. When  we had to speak with other characters I would go on  about medicine and how much I thought I knew about it.

Pedrolino:
Pedrolino is a servant seeking for love, He is an emotional character with a low status as his job role is a servant. To create this character I bent my knees to make is easier to move and plus I think this character  would be a short character that looks up to everyone, this character seems like someone who adores  a lot of people and when he's in love, he is extremely in love and would even die for them. When we had to walk around the room I would walk slowly and sighing as if the character is day dreaming about his loved one. When we had to interact with other characters I would touch and stroke their hair and say you are so beautiful. And whilst we was doing so we did an activity with this character we had to find another person in the room and fall in love with them, We had to pout out hearts out to them and every time we did our status would get lower and lower until we would kiss the floor and cry. I found this character fun and easy to play, however im not sure what character is similar to pedrolino in the devil in drag.

Arlecchino:
Arlecchino is a cunning servant, very quick on his feet and troublesome, he has the animal characteristics of a monkey he is very sneaky. He also likes to mix up his masters orders. You have such a contrast between the two servants which is what makes the play unique and interesting from the Varity of personalities. To create this character bent my knees into a crouching position like a monkey. I would gallop around the room to show that the character is quick on his feet. When we had to interact with other characters i would be sneaky and try and steal something of theirs. Some others stole each others badges. When we had to speak i whispered as if i was  not suppose to be heard by anyone else. Or i would talk about what mischief i caused that day. Arlecchino would be the devil in the play devil in drag as they have the same personality and characteristics.

Capitano: This is the character that i chose to play, Capitano is described as a coward and a fake captain. To create this character i straightened my  posture as he is of a high status. He struts around the place, and turns his nose down on other characters. He likes to keep things in shape and I chose this character because he has the physicality of my character in the play devil in drag, I play the guard. The guard is not high status neither low. He is a chest character like capitano, however he doesn't intimidate other characters. When we had to interact with other charcters i would give them i sly smile as if to say i was the boss and i am in charge.  iwould wlak with my head held high in the air. When we had to speak with other characters  i would boast about things i owned.

Columbina:  
Columbina is the damsel in distress, she is also  a servant and the subject of love interest. She's the one that always needs saving or be saved first. To create this character I walked around the room holding my arms and acting quite shy. I battered my eye lids a lot to make this character more feminine. I don't think she would walk fast nor would be quick on her feet I  think she would be quite slow on her feet. maybe even drag her feet on the ground when she walks. When we had to interact with other characters I woudl go around and either say im lost or i need help. This character is a mix between the 2 girl servants and jacoba but less sexual.  

I think the improvisation was okay, i think we made our characters clear however our story line wasn't that clear and didn't really know what we was doing. Also next time i need to be more vocal as the audience could not hear what in was saying.

Being the devil

Being the devil

Today in the lesson we had to improvise a character, the character i improvised was the devil. At first I didn't know what to do, how a devil walks, or facial expressions and body gestures that they do, until we did a lesson on characters from the play.
At first we started off by  pretending that we were walking on hot coal, however we had to pretend that we was enjoying it, then we had to look at the floor, after we had to think thatg we were the best in the world and that everyone was looking at us. After that we has to give a cheeky/sly smile. Before I knew it, i realized that i was playing the devil.

However there was two types of devils that we acted out,  the first  devil was the boss devil, he was very maipulating and mishcevious, and he controls the other devil. The other devil is immature, dopey, over energetic but is still capable of doing evil things.

Different research methods

The different research methods:
You could visit the setting, where the play was set, you can also collect history and information.
Next you could try reading library books, however the problem with that is that it takes much longer.
You can research the type of music that fits the theme of the play or the setting e.g. if its set in Italy you could listen to some Italian music. However it may be hard to find.
Also you could try and interview people who know a lot about the play or who specializes in theatre.
You could watch videos or programs on TV that has something to do with the play. Even watching a show about Italian food could help, this could give you more ideas for your character.

http://youtu.be/neybmRtn5co  This is a video I found on YouTube about Italy, from their food and drink to what they wear and their famous buildings/places. The video is by BBC and its called "Italy unpacked."


http://youtu.be/vK7ckqNwX8Q  This is some traditional Italian music that I found Italian Music Collection ▶ Traditional, Sicilian, Mafia, 30 min (HD)

Lesson 1: improvisation and character centres

Today, first of all we had to warm up these involved: Physical warm ups, Vocal warm ups and then finished off with some drama activities. The physical warm ups consisted of warming up the whole of your  body. rolling of the spine, rotating our arms. It's good because in enables you to be more flexible and enable you to do more physical activities in your lesson, for example if you are a very physical body character, doing sports or moving around a lot. Another good example is if you were  playing a character with animal features. Also we did tiny raisin face and massive pumpkin face, which enjoy because its funny, this warms up our facial muscles which is key in drama and for your character when you need to do facial expressions.

Next we started to do vocal warm ups which is my favourite type of warm up. we had to make "z", "m" and "shh" sounds which warms ups your lips. After that we got into a circle and played body tennis, However its a mix of physical and vocal warm ups, because as well  as creating and  receiving the sound you also have to copy and create big body gestures and actions. Then after we gave our throat a heat massage where we had to rub our hands together until they got very hot and place it on our necks and start to massage it. It feels very nice, also its good because it gets ride of any knots in your neck which could stop you from doing anything physical in your drama lessons

 

After we did a drama activity and it was called the fisherman and the fish. We divided the class into two, then we had to face someone on the opposite side of the class (who was now your partner) . One of the sides where labelled A and the other side B. One side of the class was the fish and the other side was the fisherman. If you played the fish sir would call out a body part that the fisherman would drag you by. For example The fish was being dragged from your right foot. So the fisherman had to wheel you in from the right foot and the fish had to act like they where actually being dragged by your right foot. The activity may sound a bit random but it's not because it lets you focus on a certain part of your body which from there you could develop a character from. And I think that technique was called character centres.

 

 

Then after we finished that activity we moved on to another one. Only this time you had to be more independent and it was up to you how you portrayed your character centre. We started off as usual by walking around the space in neutral. Then sir called out a part of our body where we had to walk from, and the first part he called out was the knee. We had to act out as if our knee was the leader and was the thing which was making you walk (instead of the brain). Whilst doing this Sir was saying what character could we develop from walking like this. Or what person in real life would actually walk like this. For example maybe someone who is a youth and is in a gang. Another part of the body where we had to walk from was from  our nose. so because of this I kept of sniffing and twitching my nose. The character I developed from this was someone who was a cocaine addict. 

 

We kept on repeating this activity with the centres of our, nose, bum, knee and chest. For the bum I developed an old person with a massive bottom who  was insecure because she was worrying about people staring at her bum. And for the chest I developed a character who was wealthy and posh, who was quite in your face. Whilst playing the different characters we had to think of a phrase or something that our character would say to someone while they where just walking on the street. One of my phrases for the character who  was a cocaine addict was "Any Cocaine please!?" 

 

 

Next we started to do some improvisation, which I really love to do. We got given a piece of text from the play that we will be studying which is the devil in drag. We had to create an improvised piece of drama which has the same sort of idea/feelings in the text we got given. The idea we got from the text was racism and standing up/confronting people. So the scenario we did was that we was in a classroom and a new teacher came in who couldn't control us. We was making racist jokes and remarks  about other people which our characters thought was funny and acceptable and we was being racist and discriminating our teacher, until another student in the class stood up to our characters and how our behaviour is not acceptable. In the end our characters said sorry to the teacher.

 

What I really like about that activity was that we got to improvise and portray our character how we wanted to. How we had to convey the text we was given was good because we had to work together and gather ideas in our groups about what we thought the text could be about and then after create an improvised piece of what we gathered from the text.