20/05/2014
Vocal warm ups.
These are really important because they help to loosen any tension in your jaw and mouth and then when rehearsing, your mouth is more flexible to pronounce words properly and correctly. For example with singing "
When you are singing, you use the vocal cords (soft tissue) and the inner muscles of the larynx (the muscles that control the closing of your chords). We need to stretch and relax the muscles before we sing, just as we would warm up before going for a run or lifting weights. Warming up loosens those muscles, helps to remove excess mucous and reduces the risk of injury.In an effective vocal warm up, you should begin with gentle exercises that put as little pressure on the muscles as possible, release any tension in the throat and neck and allow only a small amount of air to pass through the vocal cords. Humming and using lip trills are two great ways to do this. As you progress through your warm up you can introduce more air flow and produce sounds that are closer to the normal singing of words and phrases that you are used to.
Regular vocal warm ups also keep your voice in shape. Just as with other muscles in your body, you need to develop your inner larynx muscles to work efficiently and as they become stronger, your voice will too. There are thousands of vocal exercises devised by singing teachers all around the world, all with different purposes. Some vocal exercises will focus on vocal agility, others on extending your range, but all of them centre around relaxing your muscles, letting go of vocal tension and preparing your voice for a safe and healthy singing performance." (
http://inspiredtosing.com/why-are-vocal-warm-ups-important/)
This shows how important vocal warm ups are for performers. They increase your ability to speak properly and also use your speech in the best way possible. By warming up your voice it also really helps in areas of avoiding damage such as straining it, but also helping to improve it too. To avoid straining the voice, simple actions can take place such as warming it up everyday properly and on a regular basis. To improve the voice again, daily vocal warm ups and exercises can easily improve the voice more and more. There are also other ways of improving the voice for any specific reason, such as to make your voice achieve a 'rich tone'. The steps to do this are: "
Open your mouth wide, but keep the muscles around your mouth and jaw loose. This allows a richer, fuller tone.
- Lift up your soft palate (gently drop the bottom part of your jaw). To do this, breathe in as you would before yawning but don't go so far as to actually yawn. Use your tongue to determine what makes you do it; this increase in space also provides more tone. It acts like a resonating chamber.
- Remember to take in all saliva so your mouth is empty and the voice comes out clearer.
Or other simple mouth exercises include:
"
Articulate, using all the muscles in your tongue, and all the muscles controlling your lips to shape the sounds. You don't want words to be slurred together." (http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-the-Quality-of-Your-Voice) This particular exercise would really help in our monologue because the words that are used (using a posh accent) do make me slur my words so I now know that I can do to improve this dilemma.
1957
In 1957, a lot of things were going on in the UK with things such as politics (9th Jan. the prime minister resigned due to health and the day after there was a new prime minister, 11th Feb. an earthquake, and most importantly 10th April John Osborne's play 'The Entertainer' was performed in the Royal Court Theatre). The amount of politics stories there were in 1957 show why some of the characters in the play were so influenced by that; Jimmy. John Osborne portrayed what was going on at the time through his play, showing that Jimmy thought he knew all about things like this and i am sure that character was influenced by many people at the time. If all of this was going on at the time, I would of thought that there will of been many people around like Jimmy, very pompous and that they knew better. I believe that Jimmy especially was based on real life people around John, he is a very naturalistic and relevant character from around the time.
The understanding of John Osborne's play: Look back in anger
A quick summary from my understanding of the play so far would be that there are three main characters; Jimmy, Alison, Cliff (and others such as Hugh, Hugh's mum, Alison's father, Helena, Miss Drury, etc.) Firstly, Alison starts off as a rich girl in her life, pampered and well looked after by her mother and father until she decides to abandon this life of luxury to peruse in a new love life with a working class man; Jimmy. Jimmy seems like he hates Alison most of the time, like he can not stand her existence however there are a few slip ups throughout the play where he shows his affection toward her (possibly forgetting his status, but soon going back to his usual self.) However when Alison doesn't leave flowers for Hugh's mum at her funeral, Jimmy is truly disgusted in her which in my opinion boils down to nobody caring except for him when his father dies. He is in the same situation all over again.
On the other hand, Cliff is a funny character, he just always seems to be there for the both of these characters even though he has no purpose to do so. He is uneducated but does try so hard to be, although Jimmy knows this weakness and tries to put him down about it whenever he can. Cliff is a good hearted man, however this does form a crazy love triangle. Jimmy 'loves' Alison, they are married. Cliff loves Alison, Alison has a good bond with Cliff but I doubt she would ever end up with Cliff even though they still do love each other to pieces. I think that Alison knows that he is more like a little brother, not a protector for her and in her eyes that protector for her is Jimmy. She knows that it is all messed up however, like the fact that her mother hates Jimmy to the extent that she planned spies to watch his every move in the early days of their relationship. He is not really a man to be trusted and everybody knows that, even himself. This all results down to his attitude of negativity and also his savageness that comes out from time to time. Helena is Alison's childhood best friend too, she is rich but a touring actress (usually frowned upon in them times, but not as much frowned upon as Alison's life). She has a huge hate for Jimmy and looks like she also has an annoyance for Cliff. She comes over to the house at one point in the play and instantly argues with Jimmy, and tells Alison to leave him and that it would be for the better. Helena calls Alison's father to come and pick her up, Alison leaves but for some reason Helena actually stays in the house saying that she'll leave a day later as she is still touring and it would just be a lot easier for her.
Cliff comes home to see what has happened, he is a smart man and has realized what has happened and goes to leave spotting Jimmy on his way out but choosing to ignore his existence. Jimmy heads up to the room to find only Helena there, they brawl and eventually kiss. This in my opinion was all planned by Helena and she knows that hers and Jimmy's hateful but heated passion are 'perfectly' matched. They are both male and female versions of each other I think, but that could easily clash soon.
Then life goes back to normal for the group, however Helena has replaced Alison. This breaks the love triangle automatically. Cliff has no intentions with her and Jimmy doesn't really care about who it is, as long as there is someone for him to inform with all of his comments and statements.
The whole play ends with Alison loosing her baby and showing so much regret and anger for the first time, she shows her true colors and everything really ends on a bang. I like this because it is naturalism, "
the harshness of realismin the theatre in contrast to the more escapist theatre that characterized the previous generation." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Back_in_Anger)
This differs from 'Wolves' because wolves was not naturalistic. It was over the top and not very real at all, even for the time genre it was in. Wolves and Look back in anger are both very different, they each are old fashioned but are still very different in the way that 'look back' has a lot more realism and is more natural to watch too. They both have a different audience too, Wolves is more for children and Look back is for a wider ranged audience but mainly older people. This shows that Look back and Wolves are both very different from each other, even though they still do have some similarities like the time genre and the drama involved. The drama in look back and the drama in wolves are still quite different however, the drama in wolves is that a new governess has come over to be evil to the children and in look back the drama is more kitchen sink, like Alison getting pregnant and Helena telling her to leave for her to then be with her ex husband. I like both plays but I do prefer look back because of the naturalism and realism.
'Angry Young Men'
"
The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis." This shows that John Osborne had a lot of influence towards creating the play; Look back in anger. He was a main part in the society and he was included in the group because he believed that England's society was messed up in a way. It was deluded and really wanted to portray this through his theatre. "The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John Osborne's 1956 play Look Back in Anger. It is thought to be derived from the autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the Woodcraft Folk, whose Angry Young Man was published in 1951. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label was later applied by British media to describe young British writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional English society." The fact that it was a success tells me that John knew that he was not the only one who saw the change in Britain. He thought that change was to be made and through his plays, he shown this that brought in a big audience each time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_young_men)
"In
1956, John Osborne's play Look
Back in Anger (filmed 1959) introduced
a bold new voice into not just the theatre but English culture in general.
Critics labelled this and similar works by Osborne's contemporaries as being part of the 'angry young
man' generation, taking its name from the title of Leslie Allen Paul's
autobiography (1951)." (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/594201/)
The angry young men was a fresh new face to theatre from what I can see. It was
what people wanted to say but didn't, it was really the voice of Britain that
no one had the courage to say but the angry young men did. This is why the
plays are such a success. They were relevant to people's every day lives, they
shown everyone what was happening around them in today's society. This
obviously did cause a lot of different reviews from the audiences, good and
bad. My opinion is that it was good that somebody actually spoke out from
everybody else.
'Look back in anger' really does show all of the problems John Osborne
wanted to portray. For example, Jimmy is a particular character who is a main
problem in the society. The type of people like him are the main problem in
John's eyes. Jimmy is loud, outspoken and pompous. I think that John hated
these types of people because when reading the play Jimmy's character is very
in your fact most of the time. Another society problem in John's eyes is
Alison's character, the problem with her is she is not reaching her full
potential. She had the life of luxury and she threw it all away for a life of
misery. She did what she did in anger and that to me shows that John was trying
to portray how some people at the time wasted great opportunities in their lives
and that angered him because there were hardly any opportunities for people
anyway so the wasters didn't even deserve happiness. They deserved exactly what
they got. Cliff on the other hand shown the only happy side in the society
altogether, even though he does start to slowly break close to the end. Maybe
John thought that he was like Cliff, the only right minded person in the whole
world! Cliff's character would always be there, watching and waiting for any
opportunity that came to him for him to either fix or make better in some way.
Cliff was possibly the savior of the time and John may of
thought that he was the only sane person there.
The themes of the play that
relate with the ‘angry young men’ are usually Jimmy talking constantly about
all the problems in the world and other people (usually shown through Cliff)
solving it for him, or at least changing the subject to stop the worry. The
angry young men thought that there were so many problems in the world that it
had to be shown through their theatre plays. Another example of a theme from ‘Look
back in anger’ that relates to the angry young men would be with Alison, when
she discusses to Cliff how she ignores Jimmy’s talk maliciously to hurt him but
at the back of her mind she knows that he doesn’t really care if she is
listening to his words or not, it is just an excuse to get savage with her when
he notices her motives. “I pretended not to be listening – because I knew that
would hurt him, I suppose. And – of course – he got savage, like tonight.” This
is a theme because it shows how Alison is still afraid of her own husband, the
angry young men might of put this in to show how things haven’t changed within
the balance of men and women at the time. Men were still the height of
authority and women had to be below them at all times. I think the angry young
men portrayed this to show their audience that things needed to change in today’s
society. Things were not right, and through showing this in the play must of
caused controversy and opinions from everyone.
'Kitchen sink drama'
"Kitchen sink
realism (or kitchen sink
drama) is a term coined to
describe a British cultural movement that developed in
the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose 'heroes' usually could be
described as angry young men." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_sink_realism)
“English
social realist movies, kitchen sink dramas (a term derived from a painting by
John Bratby), the angry young men - whatever you want to call them, you can't
deny the power that a brace of plays, books and films produced in the 50s and
60s continues to exert to this very day.” (http://www.moviemail.com/film-shop/collection/511-Top-5-Kitchen-Sink-Dramas/)
A kitchen sink drama example of current TV
would be something like Coronation Street, it is a true drama and constantly
has new dramatic story lines each time. “that dealt realistically with the domestic
lives of working or lower middle class characters.” (http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/kitchen-sink-drama-iid-21415)
I really like
this way of drama because it is always exciting but also very realistic most of
the time, sometimes it can be done over the top but they capture audiences and
emotions easier than most plays. Angry young men used this theme because it
would have captured their audience which would have a bigger and better impact
on their views of change. It would have made people realise what was actually going
on more than if they didn’t use this technique.
In the play, an example of a character using
this theme would be when Cliff makes Jimmy dance with him and it all ends with
Jimmy throwing Cliff into Alison and the iron falls on her which then burns
her. Cliff goes to help her and Jimmy is sent away from her in anger. This is most
defiantly a ‘kitchen sink drama’ theme. It is realistic and would capture an audience’s
attention easily. It has so much going on with a lot of action and drama; it
would make the audience feel for these characters, if performed correctly. Another
example of this would be when Alice announces to Cliff that she is pregnant,
how it is laid out is very dramatic when she has just burnt herself on the iron
because of Jimmy and now she says that she is pregnant with Jimmy’s baby. This
is all kitchen sink drama, it captures the audience with its intensity and
makes them realize how cruel society can be.
Jimmy, Alison and Cliff are all examples of
kitchen sink drama. Jimmy is obviously very dramatic in how he walks talks and
acts. He is always pacing around and speaking in different but loud tones all of
the time, being very dramatic he is in most of the kitchen sink drama scenes,
an example being when Helena deceives Alison to leave and takes her place with
Jimmy. This is a true kitchen sink drama theme because it is unexpected and
extreme, throughout Helena hates Jimmy but then this mishap happens! It is a
real controversy.
Alison is kitchen sink drama when she is hit
by the iron and burnt, announces her pregnancy, leaves the house to go back
home breaking up her marriage almost instantly, returning eventually, losing
her baby, etc. She in my opinion has the most kitchen sink drama out of all of
the characters. The scenes that she is in show the audience how brutal her life
can be, there is always something going on and if there isn't then something
will soon. For example at the very start of a scene she is simply ironing and
watching Jimmy and Cliff dance which then suddenly results in her getting burnt
and showing anger at her husband for the first time so far. This is to show the
audience how hectic some people’s lives were at the time, they had so much
going on they never even stopped to think why they were still choosing to be a
part of this unsteady lifestyle. From this I think that John wanted to show his
audience that if you don’t like your life or something isn't working out for
you, you shouldn't just accept it and should change whatever you want. The
kitchen sink drama way of this would be how crazy her life is and with all of
the sometimes over the top stories of Alison’s life, it just shows the dramatic
side of people’s lives to open the audiences eyes of what can really go on
behind closed doors. Alison is a great example of this technique.
Dialogue, theme and characters
I would say that the dialogue is sort of relevant in the play, it does have some moments of relevance but does still have quite old style speech written in it, for example "I spend nine pence on that damned paper everyday." However it is still relevant in how it is said, people do say things like that just with different currency. To make it more relevant I would simply change the currency to how much it would be now. Another example would be "why don't you listen to that concert of yours?" This is when Cliff is talking to Jimmy about his music, to change this to be more relevant to the current times would be to say "why don't you listen to your music?" Or "why don't you listen to your iPod?" Just by simply changing a few words you can make it more current and make it sound more like it is happening now.
The theme is very relevant in my opinion, it does happen now a days a lot and it is not uncommon.
Alison: I'm sorry.
*Jimmy sits on the bed.*
Cliff: How bad is it?
Jimmy: They didn't say much. But I think she's dying.
Cliff: Oh dear...
Jimmy: (rubbing his fist over his face). It doesn't make any sense at all. Do you think it does?
Alison: I'm sorry - I really am.
Cliff: Anything I can do?
Jimmy: The London train goes in half an hour. You'd better order me a taxi.
This to me is a very common theme here. It does happen in real life, it is about somebody's friends mum who has passed away and the anger and sadness that comes with it too. It is very realistic, natural and current. The only thing that I could do to make this theme any more relevant would be if I changed the theme to a more family orientated sadness. If every character in the scene was a lot more genuinely sad it could come across a lot more current to the audience, but from that scene I would say that the theme was already quite relevant to today's times.
The characters are not as relevant however. Jimmy is quite old fashioned as a person but then again, there are people who are like that now a days. He is old minded and thinks a lot about the worlds problems, he actually sounds a lot older than he probably is. Alison is not very relevant. She is from a time where men over rule women, period. They are the top dogs and women are the ones to just stay out of trouble and cook and clean. That doesn't really happen now a days, but to make Alison more relevant I would let her be more outspoken and maybe sit with both of the men more to show the even balance of the sexes. Cliff is in my opinion the most relevant of the main people in the play. He is very down to earth and quite normal really. Cliff keeps the pace up in the play and he is very naturalistic. To make him any more relevant I would just change his speech maybe, for example he calls Alison "dullin" (darling) and nobody really says that anymore, so I would just change small things such as that to make Cliff more common now.
The style
The style of the play is very old fashioned and reminds me a lot of the play; 'An Inspector Calls' with the suspicious behaviors all of the time and the dominance of males over females. The style is very naturalistic, simple and has realism, Stanislavsky created this style of performance with his three part system which includes:
1.) Relaxation - you will come across more natural if your nerves are gone and you are chilled.
2.) Concentration - if you loose the focus on your character, it can ruin your whole performance.
3.) Imagination - thinking of what it would be like if you were in that situation.
This is all part of his 'system'. His theories on naturalism are that if his system is used it will create a great naturalistic performance. To create a naturalistic performance you would have to complete the three part system (that would really help) and also be the character, not just act like it. To be the character you have to really change your identity to theirs. It then makes it a lot more natural and comes across more real to the audience. I like this method because it puts you in the right mindset to act, you can't just act like someone in a performance, you have to be them.
Actors use the system because it works and it makes the performance more naturalistic and better to watch overall. It makes characters more believable and it puts the actor in the characters shoes which makes for a better performance too. Watching a hard hitting play that is naturalistic and the actors have used the system, it does make the audience a lot more emotional when it is rather than if the system wasn't used. With the system, in my opinion the most important of the three part system is part three, 'imagination' because if the actor thinks about a similar situation that they have been in with their character, it does come across a lot more real to the audience.
The play's pace in history and it's relevance to a modern day audience is very much relevant. It is common now and was 50 years ago because it is such a common story. The play will always be relevant to audiences because of how natural and how it is written also. There are not too many words that are old fashioned either and even the ones that are still make sense to our society now. If the play wasn't so natural, it probably would not be as relevant to today's audiences.
