The Harold Pinter project was my first project since "attempts on her life" by martin crimp and There was a massive difference between the two . Harold Pinter project really outclassed attempts on her life . in a professional sense. i found new techniques , learnt new skills and improved on the skills i was struggling with in the last project.
Rehearsal process :
After missing the first 2 weeks i knew i would be behind and knew i would be thrown in at the deep end . My Harold Pinter piece was "dumb-Waiter" and i was working with Laurence . that day we ran over the script just to get used to the lines, staging and experimenting with the lines. Laurence then wasn't in for a few days and so nick cut him from my piece and i was put with Aj who was already with Georgina doing another piece. i was disappointed that Laurence was cut because we work well together however i knew that me and Aj would struggle as we haven't really worked together and so i was anxious but i was still determined to get a good grade and perform Pinter to the best of my ability.
it was very hard for Aj being in two groups and although i did rehearse with him, he most of the time was focused on his other piece as he had been working on it for longer . we ran through a couple of times and the concentration and passion wasn't there throughout the weeks. we performed in front of nick and Micheal and the comments were "below par" and so i told Aj " that we had to up are game otherwise are grades are in jeopardy" . we were also told to go back to the script as we were missing the timing of the pauses, the timing of movements and so it was back to the chalkboard. after the weekend me and Aj then began to realise what we missed out ....we missed out a hell of a lot. things such as certain looks and movements that were key to making the piece stylish and funny however Aj's concentration still wasn't 100% and i still found it very hard to work with him so i confronted nick about it and we spoke to him and i said you need to prove this to nick which triggered off Aj into 100% concentration and willingness to work whenever to get this piece into good shape . we got gerogina involved in directing are piece which helped me out a lot as we both drummed it into Aj that with 2 days left we have to up the game. we started by setting it out with the use of the bed , the table and chairs and used props such as the newspaper for Aj . once we had all the props neccesery we then need to keep on running it over and over , making the piece slick and stylish . As you can tell style was very important as after studying harold pinter and his works , the completion of his works ( ideas and thoughts of style within my piece ) were very important as in my eyes it wouldn't of been able to be known as "work of harold pinter" so ..it was Performance time.
Performance
Me and Aj arranged to be in college a few hours early to rehearse are piece as much as we could before the performance ,just the wrinkle out all the creases are performance had. in the dress run me and Aj slipped up a few times , which made me more anxiouse about getting the grades and putting on a good show. luckily me and Aj were both given more confidence than defeat after are dress run which made gave us the belief in ourselves that we could pull this off.
the performance went really well. me and Aj were ecstatic as we dealt with the piece proffesionaly and pulled a very hard piece of pinter off. we got alot of laughs from the audience and as a class we were the first group in 4 year to pull of Harold Pinters pieces according to teachers, and me and Aj new we had something to do with that! as for Aj i shook his hand and said fair play ...you proved me and nick wrong .
Friday, 19 November 2010
Friday, 8 October 2010
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter was born in hackney in 1930 and died in December 2008. Pinter was a English playwright, scriptwriter, actor, and theatre director. Pinter's work is well know for being "absured" Pinter's dramas involved conflicts between hesitant characters who struggle with the vocal and body language in their character. He uses techniques such as pauses and silences, comedic timing, irony, and menace to create the absurdness in his plays .He directed 50 stage and television and film productions and acted in radio, film TV, and theatre. Pinters main absurd playwrights are .....
The Caretaker (1959)
betrayal (1978)
The Homecoming (1964)
Birthday Party (1957)
The Go Between (1970)
The Trial (1993)
The French Lieutenants Women ( 1981 )
Because of pinters outstanding because of Pinters outstanding but as mentioned before "absurd" works he won variouse awards such as the David Cohen prize(1995) , Laurence Olivier award( 1996), companion of honour (2002) Noble prize in literature.
One of Harold Pinters well known play “dumb waiter” is the one I will be studying and performing over the next 4 weeks My charachter Gus is a submissive young hit man who is constantly bossed around by Ben. Gus and Ben are the ,main characters of the play, but the audience, also limited in knowledge, sees the play from Gus's point-of-view, and empathizes more with him. Gus is more sensitive and has a conscience about his job, and is bored by the stale routine of his lower-class life.
The dumb waitor
Play synopsis
Two hit men , Ben and Gus are waiting in a basement room for their assignment. Ben is the senior leader of the team and is reading a newspaper when the action begins. Gus is the a new member and is tying his shoes as the play opens. Gus asks many questions of Ben as he gets ready for their job and tries to make tea, including questions about their job Gus seems to be questioning the concept of being a hit-man. They argue over the semantics of "light the kettle" and "put on the kettle". Ben continues reading his paper most of the time, and reads excerpts of it to Gus sometimes, it seems, to change the topic of conversation. Ben gets increasingly more animated in his newspaper story-telling, and Gus's questions become more and more pointed, and at points nearly nonsensical. As the tension rises the physicality of the two players increases accordingly.
In the back of the room is a
dumbwaiter, which delivers occasional food orders. This is mysterious and both characters seem to be puzzled as to why these orders keep coming. At one point they send up some snack food that Gus had brought along. As these orders come in, the tension builds to the point where they even come to blows. Ben has to explain to the people above via the dumbwaiter's "speaking tube" that there is no food. This whole sequence is rather odd because the basement is clearly not outfitted for fulfillment of the orders.
Gus leaves the room to get a drink of water in the bathroom, and the dumbwaiter's speaking tube whistles a sign that there is a person on the other end who wishes to communicate. Ben listens carefully - we gather from his replies that their victim has arrived and is on his way to the room. Ben shouts for Gus, who is still out of the room. The door that the target is supposed to enter from flies open, Ben rounds on it with his gun, and Gus enters, stripped of his jacket, waistcoat, tie and gun. There is a long silence as the two stare at each other before the curtain comes down the implication is that Gus is the person that Ben has been employed to kill.
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