Samantha Foster

The Final Blog:

The Magpie and the Yorkshireman! Its DONE! :O

That’s it! The Magpie and the Yorkshireman done! Still does not seem right hearing that or saying that it’s finished! We had a blast and through all the rehearsal and work we had put in to this show. The late nights, the painting, the writing, preparing costume, CRAZY eyes and the laughs that this production has brought. I have enjoyed working with amazing cast and crew and I hope we pulled off an amazing show.

Throughout this blog, it is going to explore our rehearsal process and the character work that we all went through to be able to put on that show. We worked so hard behind the scenes whether it be the warm up games or answering the John Abbotts character questions to make the characters have lives of the own. So here it goes the final blog:

Research. What was happening in 1980’s? 

                When we first looked at doing The Magpie and the Yorkshireman we had to research in to that era, to see what was happening and how this can effect other characters in the play. I looked at two articles about what happened in 1985 and what motives and historical events that were happening.

In the history explained by Dave Lyddon, he explains why the miner strikes affected the north and how the violence of the mines closing down had such effect on people (Lyddon, 2004). This history outline let us discover Brian’s motivation of planning killing Margaret Thatcher and it can be seen by the North and south divide and can explain why they is a different in motivation for Brian and Jack and Jones.

They is still a hatred towards Margaret Thatcher this day. Our parents and grandparents remember this happening and can relate to it. The time in England was rough, they were changed to the education system and that means that these had to effect each character (Wilby, 2013). For Annie it was not so much as a big change having Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. As her coming from money and her parents being able to provide a private education she does not get the current events happening around her. Explaining why she seems so optimistic in the world and does not understand when Brian talks about them mines. Annie very much lives in her own world.

SCRIPT! We did some writing and now I think I’m a script writer!

           When we first began thinking of ideas for the script we went through doing Shakespeare, World War One or doing a play. One thing did stick and that was we wanted to do a comedy. Then the idea came about of blowing up Margaret Thatcher based on the historical event of the Brighton bombings that the IRA did. This then was tossed around even though they was still doubts whether we could write a good comedy. We then had deadlines of scenes being sent to us to write and on a certain day they would be sent and then edited to make the story and style and tone. Through out the process we then started meeting up in groups, this started making it easier due to us being able to bounce ideas off each other meaning less edits had to be made. They was many different version of the plot and script but in the end the best bits from each script made it in the final cut making our show as successful as possible. (also we all know the best line was Annie are you okay? Are you okay,  Annie, I am so glad we brought that back due to us originally cutting it in an earlier draft).

Warm Ups! #justiceforsam #ididwinDanny #itwasnotyou #neverforget

                For our performance and rehearsal we had to bring up our energy and our focus. For us to do this we played warm up games that made us focus. These games would include Zip, Zap, and Bong. This game helps bring up our energy and focus as it make you concentrate where the energy is and makes you believe you can pass it at any time. As we got more in the rehearsal process we changed the “zip, zap and bong” to just being a clap as this made us focus more on what was happening due to their being no words. As we went through we even started playing as our characters. Each word was replaced by a word that our characters said. For example for my character Annie so Zip was “Hiii”, Zap “my present” and bong was “a wet competition”.  This made me get in to character before the rehearsal start and by us being our character it made us fall us in to character easier and made rehearsal easier.

Another warm up we did as a group, was little improvised scene that would of happened to the characters before the play started. For example Will, Lee and myself improvised a scene in the car before we arrived to the hotel. Which lead to me sitting in the middle of them singing to the radio, Jones getting annoyed and Jack just trying to please everyone. We could then remember this exercise which meant that before the scene we could remember what had happened and can explain why we all come in to these places and what mood the characters would be, unless you’re Annie who always seem to be in a good mood despising any awkward situations.

 

Character Profile! Annie is being Okay….

                Due to our play being a farce, our characters had to 100% believe that they were a part of this world and believe in everything they was doing. This meant that we needed to know our characters and be able to come them and then we could believe 100% that we were in the world of the Magpie and the Yorkshireman. Here is a character biography of my character; Annie.

Annie is 18 years old. Her full name is Anastasia Hunting-Smyth, but in the play we understand she is married meaning her name in Annie Jones during the play. Annie has both of her parents and they are well off, due to her dad buying her a tiara meaning that we know she comes from money unlike most of the other characters.

Annie has just got married to Jack, roughly about two weeks before the play is set, who works as a plaster/ painter, and she believes that going to Brighton is their honeymoon. She is very naive in her thinking. Annie does not fully understand what people say to her and she will just talk about whatever comes in to her mind, very much like a robot at some parts of the play. Explaining why she seems to talk in quick paragraphs due to her not really ever thinking about what she is saying. During the play we see that she is very much just skips places and goes and talks to random people telling her little rambles. It is seen that she does very much love Jack and it is a happy relationship which can seem dysfunctional from outside perspective, but for her she is very happy and is in love with Jack and he is too.

For Annie it is much harder to have actions and objectives with her lines as she just says stuff before she even thinks. She says stuff that is random but her actions are to make people to like her, or persuade Jack to let her have the present. They are just a few actions that I can create for Annie. For her objective, the whole life is to be happy with everything she does, the play objective is to have the best honeymoon even if she does get distracted with the present and that she just wants to be able to open it. They were Annie’s motivation to be there in that play.

 History of the character! Is Annie Okay?

                For our characters to work and have depth, we met up in our couples with our director Jess and we also went through the questions so she could fully understand what we are wanting from our characters! (AND THIS HELPED! SO MUCH!) We talked about how Jack and Annie would have met. This lead to Jess giving us three situations of how these two characters would have met, then we would improvise how these two characters met. The three were meeting at pub, in a park where Jack had a break from work and Annie was feeding the ducks and the last scenario was Jack coming to Annie’s house to do some plastering. We found the last situation worked best and then this became the characters history. So they met by Jack having a cup of tea and Annie walking in, then Jones pushed him to talking to her and that is how they both met.  This worked the best as it is more believable that these two would meet this way as Annie and Jack come from different backgrounds. After this improvised scene, we then did another scene where Jack came back to do some work on Annie’s room and that it was very much love at first sight for both of them due them both being nervous and it was Jones that gave them the push and that is how both characters met and explains that they are very early in the relationship as they only just got married.

Given Circumstances. What life has Annie got?

                For a character to become as believable as possible on stage, an actor needs to know what circumstance that character has. The given circumstances are what the character has and that can be found from the play text. Then any questions that cannot be answered can be made up with the information from the play. Here is the list for Annie’s given circumstances:

• She is married to Jack.
• She has a mum and dad.
• She has gone on a honeymoon in Brighton.
• She is 18.
• She is easily excited.
• She loves presents.
• She likes to ramble.
• She likes Ice cream.
• She has not really drank much alcohol.
• Easily convinced to do things, like drinking Jean’s drink.
• She has met Margaret Thatcher, or the Iron Lady.
• Her dad brought her a tiara.
• Her mum and dad are together but in a loveless marriage as her had has a special friend.
• She is a virgin for the first half of the play, but later find out that she does some ‘adult wrestling’.
• She comes from a wealthy background.
• They are staying in a hotel.
• She has been around Jack and Jones equipment before.

John Abbott’s Character Questions 

To get the most realistic characters, John Abbott’s acting handbook (Abbott, 2012, 87) helps make the character become more realistic to the actor. And as an actor you can understand where your character has come from and where they are going through out the play. To get these answers an actor has to look at the given circumstance and then we can work out your characters past and future. Below is what I did for my character Annie.

Full name- Anastasia Hunting-Smyth (Maiden name) Anastasia Jones (Married name).

Nick name and how you got it- Annie Jones. Given the nick name by friends, parents call her by her proper name, but feels she fits in better with Annie.

Age- 18

How does you age make you feel- Stuck in between childhood and adulthood. Never really had any independence, always looked after by her Nanny.

Who are your closest relatives- Mum, Dad and her Nanny. Her mum and dad not really around for her.

How do they affect/influence you? Never really had emotional support from her parents, they gave her money to keep her quiet.

What type of education did you have? A good one, at an all-girls school. But she did not appreciate the education she had.

What type of childhood did you have? She enjoyed it, she had anything she ever wanted, due to her parents throwing money at her.

What is the worst thing you have ever done? Snook out to go and meet Jack without Nanny’s permission.

Have you travelled a lot? No, her parents went places without her.

Your present circumstances

Marital Status- Newly married, by two weeks.

How does it make you feel? Excited, starting to feel like she is becoming more of an adult.

Where do you live? At her parents with her Nanny. Doesn’t really know how to move out/ understanding how it all works.

Do you have any children? No children, not really thought about them and she doesn’t fully understand how the birds and the bees works.

Where do you live and what is it like? In a nice house in the Country outside of London. It is more of an estate, they are horse. Very luxury lifestyle.

What’s the best thing you have ever done? Met Margaret Thatcher.

How do you feel about where you live? Likes it, it’s always been her home, take it for granted so doesn’t believe it much of a big deal.

Who is your best friend? Jack Jones.

What’s your social life like? Doesn’t have much of one. Has a group of girls from school, but uncomfortable with most people but finding it easier to make friends since she has met Jack.

What people are you most comfortable with? Girls from being from an all-girls school but most comfortable with Jack.

What annoys you? Hard to get annoyed but gets annoyed when she doesn’t get what she wants.

What work do you do? Never worked a day in her life. Upper class. Lived a life off her parents and doesn’t think she really has to work.

Lazy or workaholic? People believe she is lazy but she is use to that life style where she just has everything, and gets given everything and doesn’t need to work.

What frustrates you? Being sheltered her whole life and not really seeing much out of her village life.

What’s your greatest responsibility? Wife duty (Which in her idea means not doing much and getting treated with lots of presents).

What quality do you admire in others? When they care for her and listen to her.

Are you independent? Nope! Very dependent on other people to get her through life. Doesn’t know how to look after herself.

Are you an honest person? Yes, but doesn’t realise she is being honest she just thinks and says whatever.

What are your most and least attractive qualities? Most- Her simple view on things people enjoy at first. Least- Being too simple and a bit stupid and can be seen as annoying.

Costume. Well we are called full frontal can’t we do it naked?

                No we are not doing it naked. most of had three costumes or in my case four…. I will never live down that wet t-shirt competition.

It has been decided that Phyllis is going to a representation of Margaret Thatcher herself, by her wearing the famous blue suit. This just brings in some hidden meaning that the world around Brian is pointing to Margaret Thatcher. Talking about Brian we decided to go for the colour scheme red as that represents Labour and opposite to what Margaret Thatcher stood for, this way we can see a clear contrast in colours and can show Brian’s intentions. And Danny is pretty certain he wants to wear his Dad’s 80’s Sheffield United top, which I think will suit is character since he is from Sheffield.

Then for Harold we are going to take inspiration off Fawlty Towers’s Basil Fawlty as this is what took inspiration when writing that character. So it took some time to look for the lovely brown suit that will be to big for Sean (Sorry Sean)! We have just ordered two overalls for Jack and Jones too. New painter overalls to give them that decorator and builder look. We are going to paint in these as well so they don’t look too new.

For the girls Jean and Annie. Jean needs to look more experienced and older than Annie. So we used some clothing that could be seen from the 70’s/80’s style to show that she is older. Then for Annie it needed to be the American idea of the 80’s. It shows that her Dad would of travelled as an MP and brought clothes, also bright colours because she is a happy unique individual.

Set Design

       As well as being costume designer I was in charge of designing the set. In one production meeting it was told to me by our director Jess, that we need to have three places in our set. One the hotel lobby, a bed room with a door, and an outside area that can be changed to be whatever we need to be, like a pool or patio. This let me think of how we could split the stage, and I drew the first design. The original colour scheme was red, but in later meetings we decided that it should be blue, which matches our poster and our overall theme for our company. In later production meetings it was decided that the outside area would be an indoor bar instead, this then lead to this being able to be part of the lobby, meaning the would be a regularly through out the set. The set was laid out in a way so they was five entrances and exits down stage right was the way to the rest of the hotel,  up stage right would be the workers area, upstage left would be the arch way which leads out of the hotel and too the other hotel rooms. Then they is downstage left was the door where they can enter the bedroom and next to the bedroom door they is a gap where the bathroom would be so Annie could change her top. This then lead to us getting down to the painting which was very fun and enjoyable to see the set come to life.

The Final Say

      So that it, we wrote a script, we did a performance, we put on a show, we learned our lines, we did our character work… eventually. We painted the set, we wore some costumes and now on the 19th May… 2016 we performed The Magpie and the Yorkshireman and now on the 24th May I finished my blog. Thank you Full Frontal. One for sorrow, two for joy…. Until next time. 😀

Work Cited

• Abbott, J. (2012) The Acting Book. London: Nick Hern Books.
• Lyddon, D. (2004) The 1984-85 Miners’ Strike. [online] Keele: Keele University. Available from: http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/1960_2000_Narr_Display_2.php?Where=NarTitle+contains+%27The+1984-85+Miners+Strike%27+ [accessed 16^th March 2016].
• Wilby, P. (2013) Margaret Thatcher’s education legacy is still with us. [online] The Guardian. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/apr/15/margaret-thatcher-education-legacy-gove [Accessed 16th March 2016].

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 Set Design (15.04.16)

         As well as being costume designer I was in charge of designing the set. In one production meeting it was told to me by our director Jess, that we need to have three places in our set. One the hotel lobby, a bed room with a door, and an outside area that can be changed to be whatever we need to be, like a pool or patio. This let me think of how we could split the stage, and I drew the first design. The original colour scheme was red, but in later meetings we decided that it should be blue, which matches our poster and our overall theme for our company. In later production meetings it was decided that the outside area would be an indoor bar instead, this then lead to this being able to be part of the lobby, meaning the would be a regularly through out the set. The set was laid out in a way so they was five entrances and exits down stage right was the way to the rest of the hotel,  up stage right would be the workers area, upstage left would be the arch way which leads out of the hotel and too the other hotel rooms.

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Costume (13.04.16)

                As our show is nearly only a month away, it’s time we knew all the characters well enough, so we can get the costumes! (YAY). It has been decided that Phyllis is going to a representation of Margaret Thatcher herself, by her wearing the famous blue suit. This just brings in some hidden meaning that the world around Brian is pointing to Margaret Thatcher. Talking about Brian we decided to go for the colour scheme red as that represents Labour and opposite to what Margaret Thatcher stood for, this way we can see a clear contrast in colours and can show Brian’s intentions. And Danny is pretty certain he wants to wear his Dad’s 80’s Sheffield United top, which I think will suit is character since he is from Sheffield.

 

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History of the character (10.03.16)

                For our characters to work and have depth, we met up in our couples with our director Jess. We talked about how Jack and Annie would have met. This lead to Jess (Our director) giving us three situations of how these two characters would have met, then we would improvise how these two characters met. The three were meeting at pub, in a park where Jack had a break from work and Annie was feeding the ducks and the last scenario was Jack coming to Annie’s house by doing work on it. We found the last situation worked best and then this became the characters history. So they met by Jack having a cup of tea and Annie walking in, then Jones pushed him to talking to her and that is how they both met. After this improvised scene, we then did another scene where Jack came back to do some work on Annie’s room and that it was very much love at first sight for both of them due them both being nervous and it was Jones that gave them the push and that is how both characters met and explains that they are very early in the relationship as they only just got married.

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Given Circumstances (07.03.16)

 

           For a character to become as believable as possible on stage, an actor needs to know what circumstance that character has. The given circumstances are what the character has and that can be found from the play text. Then any questions that cannot be answered can be made up with the information from the play. Here is the list for Annie’s given circumstances:

• She is married to Jack.
• She has a mum and dad.
• She has gone on a honeymoon in Brighton.
• She is 18.
• She is easily excited.
• Loves presents.
• She likes to ramble.
• She likes Ice cream.
• She has not really drank much alcohol.
• Easily convinced to do things, like drinking Jean’s drink.
• She has met Margaret Thatcher, or the Iron Lady.
• Her dad brought her a tiara.
• Her mum and dad are together but in a loveless marriage as her had has a special friend.
• She is a virgin for the first half of the play, but later find out that she does some adult wrestling.
• She comes from a wealthy background.
• They are staying in a hotel.
• She has been around Jack and Jones Equipment before.

 

 

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John Albert’s Character Questions (05.03.2016)

To get the most realistic characters, John Abbortt’s acting handbook (Abbott, 2012, 87) helps make the character become more realistic to the actor. And as an actor you can understand where your character has come from and where they are going through out the play. To get these answers an actor has to look at the given circumstance and then we can work out your characters past and future. Below is what I did for my character Annie.

Full name- Anastasia Hunting-Smyth (Maiden name) Anastasia Jones (Married name).

Nick name and how you got it- Annie Jones. Given the nick name by friends, parents call her by her proper name, but feels she fits in better with Annie.

Age- 18

How does you age make you feel- Stuck in between childhood and adulthood. Never really had any independence, always looked after by her Nanny.

Who are your closest relatives- Mum, Dad and her Nanny.

How do they affect/influence you? Never really had emotional support from her parents, they gave her money to keep her quite.

What type of education did you have? A good one, an all-girls school. But she did not appreciate the education she had.

What type of childhood did you have? She enjoyed it, she had anything she ever wanted, due to her parents throwing money at her.

What is the worst thing you have ever done? Snook out to go and meet Jack without Nanny’s permission.

Have you travelled a lot? No, her parents went places without her.

Your present circumstances

Marital Status- Newly married, by two weeks.

How does it make you feel? Excited, starting to feel like she is becoming more of an adult.

Where do you live? At her parents with her Nanny. Doesn’t really know how to move out/ understanding how it all works.

Do you have any children? No children, not really thought about them and she doesn’t fully understand how the birds and the bees works.

Where do you live and what is it like? In a nice house in the Country outside of London. It is more of an estate, they are horse. Very luxury lifestyle.

What’s the best thing you have ever done? Met Margaret Thatcher.

How do you feel about where you live? Likes it, it’s always been her home, take it for granted so doesn’t believe it much of a big deal.

Who is your best friend? Jack Jones.

What’s your social life like? Not much. Has a group of girls from school, but uncomfortable with most people but finding it easier to make friends since she has met Jack.

What people are you most comfortable with? Girls from being from an all-girls school but most comfortable with Jack.

What annoys you? Doesn’t get annoyed but gets annoyed when she doesn’t get what she wants.

What work do you do? Never worked a day in her life. Upper class. Lived a life off her parents and doesn’t think she really has to work.

Lazy or workaholic? People believe she is lazy but she is use to that life style where she just has everything, and gets given everything and doesn’t need to work.

What frustrates you? Being shelter her whole life and not really seeing much out of her village life.

What’s your greatest responsibility? Wife duty (Which in her idea means not doing much and getting treated with lots of presents).

What quality do you admire in others? When they care for her and listen to her.

Are you independent? Nope! Very dependent on other people to get her through life. Doesn’t know how to look after herself.

Are you an honest person? Yes, but doesn’t realize she is being honest she just think and says whatever.

What are your most and least attractive qualities? Most- Her simple view on things people enjoy at first. Least- Being too simple and a bit stupid and can be seen as annoying.

 The Future.

Ambitions:

Short- To have the best honey moon ever.

Medium- To have a happy marriage with Jack.

Long- To have a loving family.

Are you confident about the future? Yes. She has always had what she wanted and been happy, she certain that’s how her whole life will be.

Confident about future happiness? Yes, lived a very happy life so believes she will live a happy life.

Would a big sum of money affect you? Not really, always had money and doesn’t understand not having money.

What would happen if you find yourself in debt? It would break her. Never not had money, and wouldn’t know how to survive if she didn’t have money.

What would you change about your life? To be treated like an adult and have a bit more independence so she can understand things a bit more.

What would you change about the world? For everyone to have the life she had lead, because she can’t believe that people do not have the things she take for granted.

How would you like to be remembered after your death? To be a positive and happy person who loved life.

Your likes and dislikes

Favourite food and drink? – Lobster and chips and cloudy lemonade.

What’s you favourite time of day? The afternoon, when they sun is out and the sky is blue.

What’s your favourite season? Spring time because the flowers look pretty.

What’s your favourite topic of conversation? – Anything that is about herself so she can tell her stories.

What’s your lease favourite topic of conversation? – When people talk about themselves and don’t include anything about herself.

What bores you most? – People talking about normal things which can be taken care of by their nanny.

What stimulates you most? – Getting gifts of people.

What do you worry about? That she will be always treated like a child.

What’s your sexual orientation? – Straight.

How do you feel about sex? – Doesn’t fully know how it all happens, but when she finds out probably feel fine with it.

Which member of sex are you most comfortable with?- Female due to her being around girls in her school but is now getting more comfortable around Jack.

Do you like adventure? – She has never really been on adventure, but would like too but nothing to big because it would probably overwhelm her.

 

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Research (18.02.16)

                Due to us now having a solid plan and idea with an assignation attempt on Margaret Thatcher, it is time to do the research on what was happening in Brighton in 1985. This helps us see what motivations for our characters and how the events that were happening at the time would of effected each characters.

In the history explained by Dave Lyddon, he explains why the miner strikes affected the north and how the violence of the mines closing down had such effect on people (Lyddon, 2004). This history outline let us discover Brians motivation of planning killing Margaret Thatcher and it can be seen by the North and south divide and can explain why they is a different in motivation for Brian and Jack and Jones.

They is still a hatred towards Margaret Thatcher this day. Our parents and grandparents remember this happening and can relate to it. The time in England was rough, they were changed to the education system and that means that these had to effect each character (Wilby, 2013). For Annie it was not so much as a big change having Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. As her coming from money and her parents being able to provide a private education she does not get the current events happening around her. Explaining why she seems so optimistic in the world and does not understand when Brian talks about them mines. Annie very much lives in her own world.

 

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The First Blog! (06.02.2016)

               Today we all got around together and looked at what our strengths are and what we could bring to the company. So we looked at the roles and found who suited what. My roles are going to be performing and Design (costume and set design). Then all of the theatre company members did there too. It the time to decide what we want to be marked and what we want to do for our last performance at university. I wanted to be marked on acting. It seemed fitting as I feel more confident with my acting abilities and wanted to be on the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre stage for the final time and perform an amazing show. Alongside with performing I also wanted to look at the design aspects of putting on a performance. So I wanted to do the costume for our performance. It is always fun getting in to the style of the piece and being able to explore the costumes that can bring the characters and era to life when performing the play.

It was thrown about we may look at doing the Brighton bombing that was a plan the IRA planned to kill Margaret Thatcher. Meaning the costumes would be following the 80’s style which will be interesting trying to get the different characters personalities out in their costumes.

So let’s see where the character and these ideas take us and how we may be able to pull of this final performance.