Props Development

Yesterday I ordered two new air horns and two police hats from Amazon.

In the past few rehearsals the original horn has been slightly broken so the two new ones will be saved for the final performances.

                              The new horn. --->

The two policeman hats are for the transformation of Piggy and Simon at the end of the play when they will turn into the officers. The hats will be placed in bin bags near to where

the two deaths take place.

<--- The police officer hat.

These will hopefully be delivered as soon as possible so that they can be used in rehearsals before the performances.

- Ebony.

Script Work

At the start of the Easter holidays I decided that I would attempt to learn 4-5 pages of lines per day. This started off well but after about the third or fourth day I started to forget the other lines that I had learnt. Because of this I decided to try a different tactic. I started learning my lines in bulk by trying to learn about a third of an act in one day. Then I would spend the rest of the day and the next two days just going over the lines I had learnt. This was working quite well, especially when I was assisted by my sister. My biggest problem is remembering my cues.

I am still learning my lines but at a much steadier pace than I had hoped. At this moment in time I am unsure as to whether I will be 100% confident with my lines by the time I return to college.

- Ebony.

Props Development

Over the past week I have visited a variety of different stores to compare different prices and sizes for chains and/or ropes.

These are the best I have found so far:

Homebase

White Plastic Chain 6mm           £3.49 (p/m)

Steel Chain 6mm                         £12.49 (2m)

Sisal Rope 10mm                        £1.49 (p/m)

Sisal Rope 8mm                          £10.29 (15m)

B&Q

Long Link Steel Chain 5mm       £4.37 (p/m)

Sisal Rope 10mm                        £1.08 (p/m)

Sisal Rope 8mm                          £0.88 (p/m)

I also found a couple of different hooks that could be used to attach the pig's head onto:

Homebase

Quick Release Hook                   £6.99

Spring Hook                                 £10.19

In my opinion, if we were to use a chain, the 6mm sizes would be preferable in order to show up on stage.

However, although I think a chain would have a better affect in the production we shall probably have to use a rope as they are much cheaper.

I shall continue looking for cheaper offers while I wait to find out from the Set production team how high the rostra is going to be.

- Ebony x

Character Development - 17/04/2011

One of the main things I have learnt throughout the rehearsal and research process for Lord of the Flies is that there is so much more to Piggy than meets the eye.

When I first read through the script I wasn't completely taken by Piggy. He seemed like quite a one dimensional character. I thought he seemed: co-dependant, spineless, unintelligent, yet opinionated. You could tell that he was civilised and wanted to do things diplomatically but was not confident or perhaps smart enough to get his point across.

After we were shown the movie interpretation in class it opened my eyes slightly to his character. You learn in the movie that he was bullied in school - this being the reason for the name 'Piggy' - which is probably the reason for his self loathing and shyness around others. Also, they clearly show his strong relationship with his Auntie. She was the person he turned to in times of trouble or hurt, but she isn't with him on the island. This fully explains why he would be so co-dependant on Ralph. He is filling the role that Piggy's aunt left behind. I think through the watching of this interpretation I gained a bit more respect for this character. There obviously are completely valid reasons for his insecurities, he's had a hard life.

In class we did an exercise similar to hot seating but for the whole group to do at once. (Answering the questions to empty air) This helped me hugely in developing my character even more.


Questions:

• What is your family life like? What's your relationship like with your parents?

"I.. Uh.. My mum and dad actually passed away when I was six. (long pause)  But I live with my auntie now and she's really amazing. She takes real good care of me. She's really smart too! She was always there for me when I used to get bullied in school. She even rang in to speak to the principal about it once. She's never had any kids of her own so I guess she treats me as though I'm hers. I wouldn't be me without her."

• What is your first memory?

"I don't really want to talk about it. (fidgets) I don't know what to say.. My first memory was.. Mum and Dad's funeral. I don't remember much. I remember feeling lost. I remember being annoyed because I didn't know what I'd lost. My auntie was leading me around my old house introducing me to people I didn't know. Or at least, I didn't know I knew. I had strangers trying to comfort me because of two people I never knew. How can you mourn for people you don't know? But I did.. I cried. I cried because I was surrounded by distant relatives, family friends and my parent's co-workers that knew my mum and dad better than I did. They would sit around a box of tissues talking about memories of my parents.. Memories that I would never, ever have. Ever. (cries)"

• Who is the person you trust the most in life?

"Oh that's easy.. Well.. Actually.. I'm not sure any more. If you'd have asked me before the.. Before everything, I would have said my auntie. She was my best friend, I could tell her anything, I knew that she was always there for me. That was, until now. Where is she now? When I need her the most. I don't know who I trust now, probably Ralph. He supports my ideas and doesn't pick on me like the others. But, he's not always there for me. He follows Jack when he thinks he's losing support from the others. I think he's just trying to fit in.. But I'm not sure. I don't know who to trust any more. (thinks)"


This exercise helped me so dramatically. Even though some of the details were made up or filled in and may or may not have been intended to come across in the story, it helped me understand Piggy. I hadn't even decided that his parents had died until this exercise. It just made sense. It made me feel so much more connected to Piggy on a more emotional level, so much so that I actually cried during the second answer. I think that this has helped me the most during this process. His character has developed so much more in my eyes and I now feel that I could portray him in a more realistic and relatable way.


I am very excited about this prospect and look forward to more character development.


- Ebony.

14 - Apr - 2011

Today we did Act One run-throughs with both casts without scripts.

Cast Order (Piggy)
It went moderately well. The majority of the actors knew their lines and it was quite smooth cosidering it was the first time off script. Josh did rather well with his lines as I know he was unsure when it came to learning lines. I thoroughly enjoyed acting alongside him. I noticed that Danae and Fraser also did very well with remembering cues and keeping the pace up.
I don't think I did too badly. My biggest issue was remembering cues for small lines such as: "Woss up." and "Can't see nothing now." I will have to revise my cues more closely over the Easter holidays.

Cast Chaos
On the other hand I do not believe that Chaos' run-through was to a suitable standard. It was slow, disjointed and had little to no energy. I think that a large part of this was due to Poppy not fully knowing her lines. This meant a lack of cues for others and endless pauses. I hope that this will be improved for after the holidays.

- Ebony.

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Smoke Powder

Steph's idea was that during the confrontation between Ralph and Jack they can throw "smoke powder" at eachother. This is powder that when thrown turns into smoke/fog.

After searching for this product I was unable to find one that did not need to be lit on fire to produce the smoke.

However, I did find things called "smoke pens". These are traditionally used to test the air flow in a room by spraying smoke out of a pen-like object. This may not work too well because the pen would be visible to the audience.

I plan on continuing my research into this product but have considered replacing it with flour that will appear to be smoke when thrown.

- Ebony.

Rubbish/Bin Bags

This is to be used as part of the set. In Steph's interpretation she imagined the stage to be littered with endless rubbish as well as earth and wood chippings. These will slowly get ripped apart and scattered around the stage as the acts progress. This is similar to the decomposition of the Pig's head in the original story, showng the boys' urgent and growing need for food and survival. Similar to the actions of a scavenger animal such as a fox.

I have began collecting dry, clean rubbish and shall ask for the help of everyone else when it gets a bit closer to the time. At the moment I have about two carrier bags full. The bin bags I will get for free from home for the production.

- Ebony.