acting techniques

The lessons we had with Jack in my eyes really helped a lot. I can't fully remember the names but I loved the fact that Marcus could relate to almost all of the tasks we got. I remember one scenario where my friend had slept with my girlfriend and I knew but he didn't know I knew and I realised this could be the exact same with Marcus and Violet... The fact that Violet is an ex stripper, you never know she just might go to another man whereas Marcus being a big softy would know but not say anything about it. 

We didn't get to do that much improve but when we did I really enjoyed it. I like improvisation all over but doing ones that would involve us being our characters would help the situation even more. An example would be the scene where Marcus is confronted by Violet's daughter but he doesn't know this as he believes it's just this random 16 year old girl wanted to work in the strip club. Luckily I had a chance to work on that in Jack's lesson and found out many ways to react when she approached and how my tone of voice would effect the scene and almost change it entirely. 

rehearsal tasks - happy or unhappy?

All the tasks that were given I understood to a certain extent. There were a few that I didn't really follow, like the actioning. To me I felt that doing that would create a huge barrier between me and my character and I didn't want that to happen. What I did find really useful though was the 'Approaching the Script' method which I learnt back in 2012. For me this was the best way to understand who you were on stage and what purpose you have/had. Having that in my locker definitely helped me then and will do in the future.

Tasks that I felt would've been credential to a successful performance would've been the ones where you'd have to put all your trust in another person. There was a sense of trust in the cast but only with some people. That's why in my opinion 'Our Country's Good' was by far the best performance because you can tell that everyone believed in what they were doing and there was a sense of trust all around the stage. To me, that's one of the most important things while rehearsing for a play. Being able to trust one another.

Developing skills

Personally I feel that I didn't get a character I could work so hard I would distance myself from some of the things I did in real life and that's what I really wanted. I wanted a part that would allow me to be completely different from myself. I can say though that I developed quite a few skills over the last 3 months. The fact that I still struggle with my articulation does hurt me but I'm getting better slowly but surely; I felt like having two sides to Marcus, one where he would be so articulate then another where he was not-so articulate allowed me to see my side along with someone else's.

My concentration skills I believe have definitely improved and that's something I'm really proud of. This meaning being more mature in rehearsal and taking things much more seriously. I was told last summer that I'm a brilliant actor but with brilliant acting comes huge responsibility and to be big you want to lead an example. In order for me to achieve this I would have to stop the all the time joking around but still getting the work done to getting the work done first then joking around. That was the most important skill I felt I developed on.

rehearsal as a whole

From time to time I was positing updates about the rehearsals and how some were going good and others going bad but overall I felt that we made it happen. Hearing how the other casts got along and although we did argue a fair bit I believed it helped us; got all the negativity off everyone's chest and just allowed things to flow. In order to have a successful show you need to have strong belief in what you're doing and for that to come across you need to put the hours in behind the scenes and also in the rehearsal process.

There were times I felt like I was giving my character enough life and thought I was playing myself and then this led me to doubt my skills as an actor and the person I am. There would be days I came in and felt so low I wanted to leave school but there was something in air; the belief my director gave me and the reassurance from a few fellow actors that things would be positive and that drove me to have a successful rehearsal process and I know now that there's always a light at the end of a dark tunnel, you're just gonna have to fight through the things that are stopping you.

undercover work

I spent a lot of time working on the characterisation of Marcus and as I previously stated before I would be concentrating on the show 'Bouncers' on E4. This helped me immensely with the way I pronounced words, the emotion behind the words and the tone of it all.

For example, some words that began with 'TH' would be said at the tip of my tongue in an almost relaxed fashion whereas other words such as 'thank' would be pronounced with the bottom of my lip, making it a 'F' sound. I used this because watching Eastender's a lot I realised that the articulation East end of the River isn't immaculate either so I used this to my advantage.

Another factor that helped me find the truth in bouncers was going around the Clapham area and speaking to bouncers that worked at bars and pubs. One of the bouncers said to me the most important thing for a bouncer is to 'always stand firm. If you look weak people will definitely take the micky, take you for a cunt'. This was interesting because Marcus was the complete opposite, he's the type to let anyone push over him and the type to tell someone sorry for punching him in the face. With this advice I had to balance out that attribute with the subtle one that he had and then use it to greater effect in performances.

rehearsal discussions