The 39 Steps - Characterisation (OTT)

As there is a lot of multi-rolling in this play characterisation was extremely important. Being over the top in movements and vocally over the top helps the audience to differentiate between characters and also adds to the vaudeville style and comedy of the piece. All of my characters were different, making them easy to create with voice and body language. 

Anabella - I used a European accent as she was a German spy, but had 'no country' so wanted to keep her accent unspecific. She is quite a sassy yet serious character, in what she is talking about that is, her body language would be slightly provocative. 

Pamela- I only play her briefly so I modeled this character mostly on how Freya played her as we had to be similar. Using a posh British accent and acting like a normal upper class woman. 

Margaret - she is quite a quiet character, from Glasgow, married to Crofter who is a harsh man. She obviously had a Scottish accent which I tried to do but is very difficult, her body language is reserved and much more closed than the other two. 

The 39 Steps - Pace & Energy

The 39 Steps is in the style of vaudeville theatre. A main feature of this is the fast pace which we have been working on. Many elements of the play will only be comical if delivered quickly, for example the scene on the train with Hannay and the Clowns which needs to be quick and snappy to really bring out the humour, which will come with practice. Currently the only thing slowing us down are the transitions between scenes, as we do not have a crew so we need to move everything ourselves, but we are going to use plain blocks and a couple of chairs for most of our set to make it slicker. Once we have completely set our act we need to rehearse the transitions to make sure they run smoothly and do not take away from the performance.

Another important part of vaudeville is the energy. If we let the performance fall flat it will not be entertaining as it is not straight drama, the energy needs to be kept up throughout to bring the characters to life and make it more comical. Energy is very important for the multi-rolling as it needs to be obvious what we are doing, so everything needs to be massive. Although high energy is required, it should be used in different ways for the different characters. For example Anabella is more sarcastic and serious, where as Margaret is more excitable and innocent.

The Pillowman

This lesson we finished the run from where we left off last lesson, just after Michal admits to the murders. I think the murder of Michal went well as it was gentle and caring, even though the actual action is not, and shows the love Kat had for Michal deep down as if he is saving Michal from the even crueler fate he would face. Act 3 still needs some work as it is a bit slow at the minute and needs to be delivered more naturally and conversationally between Tapulski and Ariel if it is going to work. I think an important thing that will help this is learning lines which my group is struggling with at the minute. This is the biggest thing that we need to work on before the real performance but other than that the play is looking good and the scenes are becoming more dynamic and intense to watch. With a couple more run throughs I think we will be ready to perform.

The 39 Steps - Vaudeville

Vaudeville grew out of the culture of incorporation that defined American life after the Civil War. Before Vaudeville came along entertainment existed, but on a different scale. The term "vaudeville" refers specifically to the American variety entertainment and was selected "for its vagueness, its faint, but harmless exoticism, and perhaps its connotation of gentility", as Albert Mclean suggests. It came into common usage after the formation of " Sargent's Great Vaudeville Company" in 1871. Leavitt and Sargent's shows differed a little from the earlier entertainment, although their use of the term was an early effort to provide variety amusements to the growing middle class. 

Vaudeville was variety entertainment consisting of a highly diverse series of very short acts, or "turns." The acts ranged from singing groups to animal acts, from comedians to contortionists, from magic tricks to short musical plays. A typical vaudeville bill consisted of approximately 13 acts, most of which were typically 6-15 minutes long. Many of the modes of performance developed in vaudeville had a profound effect on popular culture that continues into the present day. For example, many of the ethnic stereotypes prevalent in television and film -- Jewish, Irish, Italian, African American -- derive from the ethnic caricatures that were a mainstay of Vaudeville comedy. Vaudeville had something for everyone, and particular acts in the vaudeville lineup appealed differently to different groups in the audience. Irish comics and tenors, for instance, found a ready audience among the "lace curtain" Irish in the audience while WASP mothers out shopping with a child might prefer the circus-like entertainment of an animal act or juggling.

In the early 1880's, Tony Pastor ( a ring master turned theatre manager) began to feature "polite" variety programs in several of his New York theatres, hoping to draw a potential audience from female and family groups. He also barred the sale of liquor in his theatres, got rid of questionable material and offered gifts of coal and hams to his attendees. Pastor's experiment proved successful and other managers soon did the same. B.F. Keith and E.F. Albee were also producers who helped to turn the earlier variety performances into respectable family shows by domesticating rowdy spectators and cleaning up the acts themselves. Keith and Albee introduced "continuous vaudeville," which became standard practice at the turn of the century. The performances ran non-stop all day and into the evening, allowing spectators to enter the theatre at any time and stay as long as they liked — much like turning on a television set.

Grand Theatre in Buffalo, NY around 1900

Prior to the Civil War, American audiences boisterously voiced their approval or disapproval at theatrical performances by screaming, hollering, stomping, throwing vegetables and other missiles, or in certain instances even rushing the stage to attack performers or plead for encores. As the century drew to a close, and the process of incorporation discussed by Alan Trachtenberg accelerated along with its related processes of industrialization and the formation of stricter cultural hierarchies, entertainment and audiences were forced to change. In creating and maintaining the air of refinement associated with his theatres, Keith successfully developed a form of variety amusements well-suited for the new middle class and their urban lifestyles. The sheer abundance, variety, and spectacle offered at Keith's theatres helped to educate and transform American audiences in their new roles as passive spectators and consumers of experience and sensation.

Kieth's New Theatre, Boston 1894



Sources: http://www.virtualvaudeville.com
                http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/easton/vaudeville/vaudevillemain.html

The Pillowman

Today we ran the play from the top, trying to run it as well as we could with scripts. We really need to learn lines so that we can concentrate on our body language and movement which is very important because it is a naturalistic play. I think the relationships between characters are starting to develop and we are getting to be more natural in our roles, making everything more believable. The dynamics in the first act are beginning to come through and it is becoming more interesting to watch, with more interaction between Tapluski and Ariel making their relationship more developed and clearer leading up to act 3.

We got half way through act 2 which is going well so far. I am getting more in to the character of Michal, and his simple minded speach. I am finding it easier to get the switch in his personaltity when he admits to the murders, trying to be subtly sadistic and not too obvious at first. Also developing his relationship with Katurian and the changes in dynamic between them as the scene changes and they start to clash. 

The Pillowman

Today we set act three, finishing the play, and worked on the death scene. We decided that keeping it simplistic would be the best way for the death scene to keep it as naturalistic as possible, so it matched the rest of the play. I think Dom and Dan really need to work on their characterisation and on their relationship as it comes to blows in act 3 and brings more understanding to why there is so much tension between them.

We have also been talking about the stories that Katurian tells throughout the play and how we could tell them to make them more interesting. I had the idea of creating the stories using puppets to create a silhouette story which we could film and record Carl's voice over, meaning he wouldn't have to remember the stories which would be a big help to his line learning. This would add another technique to the performances and give the audience a break from all the straight dialogue and give them something interesting to watch, it also works better than us just reading the story which may be slightly boring especially as Carl struggles a little with story telling. The only problem with this is that it would be time consuming to create and none of us are particularly skilled in puppeteering. 

The Pillowman

This lesson we worked more on our characters and look at their development throughout the play, by their dialogue and behaviour.

Michal is quite a complicated character. From his opening description of "Katurian's simple minded brother" you would think him to be an easy character to understand but he has tricked even his own brother into thinking him innocent and unable to cause harm to anyone. I think Michal is actually very clever and manipulative. Although he probably doesn't realise the extent of what he's done, he still knows that it is a very bad thing to do, but justifies it to himself by blaming it on Katurian. At the start of the play MIchal seems quite sweet and almost confused abou the situation. He really shows his simple side during the first half of the scene, being very childlike in how he speaks and acts, for example talking about his "itchy arse" and being very silly and quite comical. His mood completely switches as he starts to confess to the killing of the children. He speaks of it in a sadistic, matter of fact way, pretending he has done nothing wrong and acting as if nothing has changed. This just shows that there is another side of Michal that is pshyopathic and messed up, which isn't really surprising considering his up bringing and all of the torture he endured. When Katurian starts to get angry with him Michal breaks and becomes more irate, because his brother has never spoken to him like that, and he has always expected unconditional love from him. Michal never apologises for killing the children, which is another sign of lack of empathy, he only admits to knowing it was wrong but does not seem to regret and merely describes it as "very interesting". Towards the end of the scene Michal goes back to trying to be normal with his brother, showing again his small mental capacity and inability to handle difficult situations, before eventually going to sleep and being murdered by his brother. 

I think the audience will feel some form of empathy towards Michal, even considering the hideous acts he has committed, because of his past and his many childlike features which are hard to ignore.