Ashleigh’s IB Theatre Journal

For the two doubles period, I began writing my RI. I feel now that I have enough sources to accurately decide how the characters in Ghosts should be costumed. I got a really informative email from a Norwegian museum in America. The lady who helped me told me exactly how the pastor should be dressed, and she included photos. So I’m definitely going to be using that as a resource. From doing last year’s mini RI, I have learnt to keep a very detailed record of what sources I use, so that when I critique them, I won’t leave any out. I feel that my RI is coming along well, and I am happy with it.

On Thursday, as a break from researching, I directed Kate and Ronelle in a scene from “The Homecoming”. In the scene there is a man and a woman, and the man is taking the woman home to meet the family for the first time. When directing, I had to think about the location of the props, the actions of the actors and their positions (so they didn’t block each other out) and I also considered the use of pauses in order to emphasise certain points. I experimented with both the characters; for instance, I tried Teddy as being dominant and Ruth being quiet and timid. However, I didn’t really like that, so I tried Ruth being dominant and Teddy being really keen to impress. I liked this much more as there was a lot to work with, especially with Ruth’s actions. An example of this is when Teddy points out his father’s chair; he seems quite proud of it. Then to be disrespectful, Ruth sits in it. Also, Ruth goes to the door while Teddy is upstairs. I liked this as it showed Ruth’s character and showed she didn’t really want to be there.

The directing session was filmed and it will be good to watch to see how well I did. I learnt a lot from the directing as it made me more aware of all the aspects that have to be considered when directing. Next week, I will be an actor who is directed. I’m also looking forward to this as it will give either Kate or Ronelle a chance to experience directing.

During the week I continued with my research for my RI. I found a lot of information about colour, symbolism and the clothing in the 19^th century. I’m now going to email some museums in Norway, about Henrik Ibsen and to find out more about the history of clothing in Norway, as this will give me an understanding of how the characters should be costumed. I’m feeling good about my RI so far, and I’m hoping to start writing it soon, as it is due in 4 weeks. I’m hoping by emailing the places in Norway, they will be able to help me a lot with the areas I’m lacking information. Ms Flood also found me a video on Henrik Ibsen which I am watching. It is helping me get ideas about the costumes in Ghosts as in the video there are small performances from it.

We are continuing with our research for our two doubles next week, then we are having a break from that and I’m going to be directing Kate and Ronelle in a scene from “The Homecoming”. It should be good as it will hopefully clear my mind of the research investigation for a bit and will give us all a break! I’m also hoping to find some more primary sources to use in my RI.

On Wednesday, Ms Flood and I had a small chat about my RI, and she gave me some great ideas to what I can research to help me with my RI. She told me that a very vital question is “But why?” to everything. We also identified some of the major factors which will influence the costuming, such as religion, season, occupation, and disease. It was discovered that incest and syphilis are two of the major problems in this play. So, I now have to research these, to help me decide how the characters should be costumed. I also have to investigate Religion in Norway in the 19^th century, and I have to find out why Pastor Manders turned Mrs Alving down. Researching into different factors surrounding the characters will help me gain better knowledge on how to costume the characters, as the RI is based on factual knowledge, not creative. By researching Henrik Ibsen, it is helping me understand his reasons for writing “Ghosts” which will help me decide what is significant when it comes to costuming i.e. I have to show the syphilis and the incest through costumes.

I’m currently using libraries and websites to find my sources, and I feel I have lots to research, which is making everything less daunting! If Word Limit is an issue, I will consider investigating the costumes for only one act, instead of three.

In today’s lesson, we celebrated Miss Flood’s birthday with a yummy chocolate cake! This gave us a break from researching, but we will continue on with it next week.

Today in the double period of Theatre, I began researching more into Problem Plays and Colour Symbolism so I can start my research investigation. I was depending on the State Library of Victoria for lots of info, but unfortunately, not a lot was found from them. Instead, I found some websites, and I’m tracking down a book about problem plays which will hopefully help.

I have also began to write personality traits of each of the characters, as that will help me decide what costumes they should be wearing. I will also have to research costumes worn in the time the book was written so it will give me a further idea on how the characters should be costumed.

Ghosts is studied by a lot of secondary students, luckily, as I found SparkNotes about the play, which will help me further understand the characters and the plot.

I’m feeling good about this Research Investigation, however I’m hoping I will have enough information.

Yesterday was the day of our performance. For our double, we finalised sound, multimedia, costume, props and set design. We practiced blowing up balloons with the helium and sourced some last minute props like the smoke machine, speakers and some garbage bags. Kate and I decorated the foyer with some posters for extra promotion and to give the foyer a small amount of atmosphere. With the help of some fellow year 12s, we folded the programs. We continued to get ready after school, with hair, makeup and costumes. We had a small tech run to inform Nick, Ricky and Josie what was going on with the show. Special Thanks to Nick, Ricky and Josie for all their help after school, especially with the lighting, setting up, the costumes and the photos. Oh, and special thanks to Ms Flood as well, for being the sound and lighting operator!

After a quick dinner (we had pizza, it was pretty good), we finalised our costumes, our hair and our props, and got ready to perform. Overall, I felt the performance went really well. It went to so quick! It was good to see what we had accomplished, especially with the set design, costumes, props, lighting and multimedia! Our acting skills have improved so much since the beginning of the year, and it feels so great! I wasn’t even nervous before the show, which is a big accomplishment for me. My voice projection has improved a lot, and I’m now a lot louder when I have to be, and I’m not afraid of doing it! The show went really quick, and it was good to see Ms Anketell in the crowd, as we have all missed her quite a bit! It was also good to see many of the other teachers. It means a lot to have their support. Same with our parents.

I now feel a lot better about improvisation also, and I feel a lot better at thinking on the spot, for example, with Marianne and Kerianne, each time we rehearsed their scenes, it was always slightly different. I felt comfortable with performing Marianne and Kerianne because I knew my improvisation skills had improved so much, that I knew I could come up with something to say.

The Kangaroo scene I was also comfortable with, as I was comfortable with whom my character was. A loud, Australian kangaroo.

The pass the parcel scene was a bit of a worry for me, as I felt quite underprepared, as I only got the role on Monday. However, last night, the words just flowed, and it felt right. I was happy with the outcome of that scene considering the circumstances.

A funny moment for me was when I was putting my clown wig and red nose on. I forgot to take my pink bimbo top off from the previous scene, so I had to rip the wig off quickly, then my hair came out, and the clip holding my hair up got tangled in the wig. So I was walking around near the audience with a clip hanging out the side of my head.

I’m really proud of what we, and what I have accomplished with our IPP performance. We have all come such a long way, and the performance went really well!

Yesterday was our second last double before our IPP performance tomorrow! We finalised props and the music. We hung pictures up in the gallery and ripped up streamers for the two buckets. Surprisingly, I’m not really nervous about our performance tomorrow. We had a rehearsal in the last period yesterday, and I got given a new role of doing pass the parcel for one of the scenes. I found it really difficult because I had no idea what to say! And unfortunately it has to go for quite a while because it has to give Ronelle enough time to put her wig on. I’m a little bit worried about that. But hopefully it’ll come together. Another problem I am experiencing is the lighting for the kangaroo scene. I keep stepping out of the light, but that problem will be solved as long as I remember to look at the tape on the floor!

I am going to print the programs tomorrow so that they are ready to go. I’m really excited about our performance and I’m looking forward to it being over and done with, because I feel there isn’t a lot more that can be done with it. We are ready and well prepared.

Today for our double, we had two more run throughs! I finalised the Powerpoints and added a plain black slide onto Kate’s beach backdrop so that when her scene finishes, it will automatically go to a black slide. By doing this, it will not distract the audience from the other scenes.

With our rehearsals today, things ran a bit more smoothly and we had some more props, such as the blender. By using the blender, we could adjust our voices to speak over the noise of the blender when it is switched on, so this was particularly useful. We still need to finalise a couple of sounds and props for our performance, and we are going to put together the t-shirts soon.

I feel that our scenes are coming together really well, and now with Marianne and Keri-Anne, we just have to remember to help each other out if one of us gets stuck. I’m really looking forward to our performance. I feel comfortable with all of my characters now, especially the clown, as I feel it has come a long way since the beginning.

We also started organising posters for “The good morning show”. Everything is coming together well and we will be ready for Wednesday!

Today, Ronelle and I were all on our own (with Ms Flood) of course. So we decided to have a bit of a production meeting. Ronelle designed the set and the lighting plans, while I thought about t-shirt prints and looked up places where we could buy/hire a smoke machine and a helium cylinder for our Blackout Scene. Dick Smith electronics were able to provide a fog machine, while a party supplier place was able to provide us with the helium. So that is now sorted for our performance next week!

It was good getting that sorted and out of the way! For the second half of the double, we re-focused the lighting to suit our scenes and put certain gels/barn doors on specific lights. Now lighting is nearly sorted, we just have to unscrew the clamp on some of the lights and move them around completely. Our props/costumes are almost complete, if not complete, with Ms Flood providing us with a blender. All I need now is the thank you list from Kate and Ronelle so I can finish the program.

Today we had a dress rehearsal with the costumes and props we had. (We still need a couple of more things). However, we all got our costumes on, which are black pants, skirt or leggings and a black shirt. We had our run through and things went pretty smoothly! Just a few sound slip ups were the main issues. I have to work on my bimbo character a bit more, but I’m now happy with my other characters, especially Marianne and the Kangaroo.

Today I printed out the posters and put them up around the school. I later realised that some don’t have dates on them, however the majority do, and people will hopefully understand when it is on. To further confirm this, there will probably be a notice in the briefing notes. I’m happy with the posters and I think they look really good! Now I just have to work out some posters to put in the hallway on the night of the performance, and maybe we will take some “animalistic” photos to turn into posters.

I’m really excited about our performance as it is something that we have put together as a group, using only our ideas. All that is left to do is finish the program off.

Today during our double period, we had two run throughs. Not with costumes, but we had sound and multimedia, and props. To begin with, we set up our props, the sound and multimedia. The first run through, we had a couple of technical difficulties with sound, the PowerPoint presentations and the art work falling off the wall, but things ran smoothly overall, and we had many laughs. I feel comfortable playing Marianne now, and I feel she is growing as a character more and more each time. By using props and sounds, it gave me more of an idea of how it’s going to feel actually performing. Overall, I feel quite comfortable. There are only small things I need to work on such as the Bimbo. However, I now feel comfortable with the clown and I’m looking forward to further developing this as a character. With the second run through, I fixed some of the technical difficulties such as adding Kate’s backdrop into a PowerPoint presentation, and by timing the cute animals PowerPoint with Ronelle’s “walking on sunshine” music.

My kangaroo character is also progressing; however I have to remember to leave the Kangaroo character behind when I enter the studio as Marianne, as I have to try to not mix their languages together. My current task is to print the posters out and put them up around the school, and to complete the program. I am looking forward to the performance. Tomorrow we are having a dress rehearsal which I am also looking forward to.