"From wonder into wonder existence opens." Lao Tzu

During one year studying drama at Lewisham College, I have improved my acting skills, have learnt new techniques and have built more confidence. It has brought me a greater understanding of text analysing and research and gave me a fresh look into my work towards becoming a professional actor.

I admired schedule and timings of the program. By the time of beginning of audition dates for drama schools, every student of the group was fully prepared. I certainly recommend the drama course to every aspiring student as a preparing step for drama school. I have so many things to take away with me and feel so privileged to have had this opportunity.

Reflection

What I have learned while being at Lewisham College is a lot about acting and things that I didn't relize you had to think about while your performing. e.g. knowing the context of your character, to continue acting even when you are not speaking, react and listen to others so if a line may be dropped you have the ability to pick it up and continue with the show smoothly. I have also learned about many techniques and different practicioners styles of acting for example Myisner and Stanislavsky. Another thing i have learned whilst rehersing 'POSH', is how to work as an ensemble on a mass scale.

More is goimg to be typed........to be continued.....

Over the period of the 2yrs, I have studied at Lewisham College, I have leant a lot about drama as a whole and acting in great detail. The fact that I have been thought the importance of research and detailed character development as well as commitment to character has played a big part in this for me. I have learnt about different theatre practioners and how to work with different texts (classical& contep) among other things. I feel better and more comfortable now when I’m performing either on stage or on screen. It has been a fantastic learning experience which has made a great impact on me as a person and has also opened up my eyes to the wide world. It has also exposed me to other parts of theatre practice that I wouldn’t have thought I would be looking to venture into. I now have directing skill (which I’m still developing), Workshop leading skills, I know what is expected from me when being auditioned and when auditioning. I feel I have a wealth of knowledge that I carry around with me and can be pulled out whenever it is needed.

Ibrahim Shote

George Balfour's Journey

OK, so it's our first dinner back at Oxford Uni, and the boys have decided we do it at the Bulls Head in Kingsbury. Very far but we are band from a lot of other places. The theme of this dinner is to dress like entrepreneurs. I turn up there and no one is there yet, so I decided to go have a drink in the bar. I met couple of nice people there. I bought them couple drinks and we all sat down and had a chat. I found out that one of them use to work for my father, so I was just catching up on things with him. After a few rounds of drinking, Guy Bellingfield came to get me from the bar. I was tipsy at this stage. When I entered the dining room everyone was standing behind their seats, I felt a little out of place because I didn't want to feel like I was the late one but I was in a jolly good mood so it didn't matter to me. As I was about to walk to my seat I heard the landlord say PIN number. I'm sorry but I found that funny, how can you say PIN number? We just say PIN. Any ways that was the joke of my day. So after listening to a whole of rubbish from this landlord, I wasn't listening to half the stuff he was saying, we did the president's toast and a few other toasts and I also found out that Harry hired a 'prozer'. I was even more tipsy near to drunk and I was feeling hungry. We had a nice Pate, and the main course was delicious! 10 birds roast. I have never heard of it but it was delicious! OK, now things are starting to go wrong. First of all apparently there wasn't 10 birds in our roast, there was 9 birds! It didn't matter to me but it did to most of the other members. Hugo did a great speech which was a highlight for my evening, but then we found something out about James. It wasn't good, but Allistaire read out a document about James applying for a middle class bank. This was shocking for the president to be doing that behind our backs. So things are carrying on to go bad for us. The prozer that Harry hired came but didn't do what she was meant to do! I had to carry on drinking to make me feel better, now the landlord came in and starting complaining at us! How dare he after we didn't do anything wrong. Some of Riot Club members were really ticked off at this stage, but what can we do? I guess to just try and enjoy the rest of our night. We played a game of Chelsea trots, but the landlord's daughter (a pretty college girl) didn't want to play with us so we involved her in the forfeits. She refuse to kiss Guy. I was shocked of the outcome of this. Now Toby came out his Lord Riots mood and threw up, and that is when we started to do what we do for fun! Which is to destroy! So we started destroying the pub and the landlord walks in and interrupted us. He started shouting and I felt like I was going to vomit at this point, I went to the side and put my head down for a bit. I jumped up after hearing loud noises, I turned around and saw Toby beating the shit out of someone, I looked down and it was the landlord! Everyone else was just watching, I had to stop it quickly. I was so shocked, and it had to be the moment when I wasn't feeling so good.Since I was the only one who knew about first aid, I went to help the landlord on the floor while the others decide on what we going to do. The end result of this was not good! They decided to frame Allistaire! I do not know why because I didn't know how it started but I was the last person to make my decision, and I had no choice but to agree with the others.

Knock, knock, loud knocking on the door, and over the knocking was the voice saying, ''Have you got my dad in there? Let me in, if you don't let me in I will call the police''.

It was the voice of the Landlord's daughter Rachel. I was still a bit tipsy but I knew what was going on at this point, and I was scared, I was scared to see what will happen next.

Rehearsal Reflection

After reading the play for the first time, I was happy about doing Posh for our final play. The characters were funny and interest, and the play itself was funny. I was happy for the character I got chosen to be (George Balfour), which made me more interested in doing the play and trying my best effort in succeeding in this performance.

The whole rehearsal process was a really good experience for me. It was hard at times because of the space we was rehearsing in, but we didn't have a choice. I am just happy it turned out really well after we only had three days to rehearse in our final space with lights and music.

The MPA (Method of Physical Action) technique helped me to learn my lines quicker for the play. I didn't struggle when learning my lines. Although I didn't have chunks of text to learn, but it wasn't as easy when I also have to know what is going on in the scene, and knowing my q's. So I had to read the play couple of times for me to understand it.

During the ten weeks of rehearsing, we have had ups and downs. Like 5/6 weeks through, not everyone learned their lines which was a problem, because by that time we should of been focussing on the acting and directions, not on the lines, but we had a talk as a class and from then things seems to be better. I had fun watching other people rehearsing and receiving notes and directions from the director, because in that way I found ways of improving myself and taking on other feedbacks such as connecting with my lines and reacting. Those are the main things in acting as well as clarity which is what I had my most problems with. Also using my posh accent with clarity. I gave myself enough time to work on my accent, but I don't think I focussed on it as well as I could of done, and I am talking about at home, not just in class.

A week before the play and the play was looking really good, and I am talking from watching the majority of the first scene and feeling the energy from when I get on stage. The energy was also another problem not just for me but for the class as well. This play takes on a lot of energy all the way through, and levels of drunkenness. We did improvs in class to help us with that which was the best thing about rehearsing and making things look realistic. My favourite improv is the once when we were doing different stage of being drunk from 1-7, from being kinetic to high alert.

We did four performance with different audiences, and my favourite performance was the final one on Thursday evening.

If I could do this play again, One thing I would improve on is my accent, and take more time in practising my accent.

A group of young Eton men meet up at a Gastropub to celebrate our so-called 'Riot Club'. The evening starts off well but as the drink starts to flow, tensions start to rise. There is talk of money, politics, control and lack of leadership. As the night progressed and promises of entertainment decline, the men and I trash the room in a drunken rage, sexually abuse the landlord's daughter, I was chosen to place a kiss upon her despite her refusal, and in the end grievously attacking the landlord himself to unconsciousness. Panic arises and the main ringleader of the night, Alistair, takes the fall through an unanimous vote. Not my proudest moment in life, and one I will forever regret.

Reflection of Posh

When we first found out that we were going to be performing "Posh" for our FMP and when we found out what it was about, I was excited because I thought that it would stretch all of us and would be an exciting challenge and I was right.

I have to admit even though I'm not the girliest, well....girl I did find it hard to play the opposite sex, but with great observation (luckily most of the class is men) I think I did a pretty good interpretation of a man.

During the rehearsal process, I have learnt the importance of backstage acting when you aren't speaking because if everyone checked out when they aren't saying anything the play would be very boring and in real life we react to things that are being said when we don't speak.

I am grateful for the vocal training that we had to help us speak posh because although I know that most of us thought it was torture, it did pay off.

I think that we had quite a difficult job working with water and food because we had to be aware of spacial awareness at all times and not just of each other but with bottles and glasses.

Overall, I have thouroughly enjoyed this exerience and I would happily do it again and I know I'm not the only one!

Rehearsal Process

As an student actor I would say Posh is a very challenging play. It made me have an experience of a lot of firsts. But the main one is from beginning of the play to the end except short breaks most of the actors are on the stage and acting becomes non stop.
Of course if even there’s no line to say or any action to do actor has to use body language, has to have natural respond to happenings and by listening to keep her/himself on.But to do this during whole play is challenging.
I discovered from rehearsal process that one actor’s energy effects the whole group and realized how it is difficult and disappointing for director to see somebody apathetic and insensible. I’ve learnt how to keep my energy up and to be able to take directions. I had chance to speak up my views about the directions and also listened other actors views in different scenes. I certified again that actors views most of the time could go opposite to each other and sometimes even with the director. I’ve learnt how to limit this views in respect. I’ve learnt that I can keep my character alive and fresh with my effort as well as others. Other actors behaviours, body languages and and tones show my characters place in the play as well as speeches and any mistake can drop it or make it higher so easily. So it means an actors performance doesn’t mean something. Others reaction makes the magic. Playing other sex is hard but I think I’ve managed to put it on my body ( walk like man and movements) but have struggled with hand gestures and voice.

Reflections

Rehearsal Reflections
The first chunk of the process was using method of physical action. I really feel the benefit of MPA because firstly it creates blocking that looks natural as it comes from the actor in character, it isn’t contrived, and it’s a work of natural impulse rather than a work of the director. Stanislavski was a practitioner that thought actors should take more control over character choices and not be merely pawns of the director. Another aspect of MPA that really interests me is the physical and psychological parts of a person working together at all times. Stanislavski discovered that the psychological and physical of a human being is connected by thousands of nerves. Every outer action is spurred on by an inner motive, a want. When Toby paces at the start of the play it looks realistic because that was a choice spurred on by his inner motive, pacing on stage can look forced but this looked natural because it was a intuitive choice by an actor giving himself up to the character. By using MPA at the start of the process we take text loosely memorised, we grasp the basic gist of one unit, and then we use our impulses and physical initiative working with our inner choices and create something that seems natural and real. The Stanislavski system works on creating natural emotion over and over again in a controlled environment which I think we managed to do because we connected physical life with inner life. MPA is enhanced by good imagination, Katie had laid down the basics for her character, the movements the blocking in the first few weeks, and then for the rest of the process she used her imagination to add layers of hilarious and believable actions and variations to her text.
I feel like I have learnt a lot about what big truth is through this process. Big truth is something that is necessary in the theatre more than TV/film because you don’t have the luxuries of close ups, camera angles, sound etc to give you the subtleties that occur in everyday life. In theatre we need characters big even when low status or shy so that they read to the audience, but we still need them truthful. Nico is someone who does this very well. The conversation when he talks about the history of England with Dimitri is a conversation between two people that is quiet in the setting of a dinner party of ten, and this reads. Nico comes off like he is talking at a conversational level and being realistic but at the same time he’s got a very big presence and is being big with his facial expressions and animated in his voice. It’s his ability to stay true to the character and commit to the character that it comes across hyper real, and there is the big truth.
Another thing I learnt a lot from was Nathan’s use of the Miesner technique when he is doing the science experiments. This came late in the process and he had already a solid grounding of Alistair, being comfortable in your character and then putting an action like the fiddling with the glasses looks so natural, because you allow your subconscious to take over with the lines that you know inside out and focus on the activity, this creates something that is a replica of real life, concentrating on the physical action firstly and letting the psychological work slide over the top is so believable. I have so many conversations at work while I’m constantly focusing on physical activity and this is the kind of real life moment that Nathan created on stage.
For me in this process I found it a struggle, but I think I always find things hard and rewarding. I don’t think acting for me is as natural a process as it is for maybe people like Tommy and Nico, I feel like I have to work quite hard to create an imaginary world around me and stick in it, to commit to a character and take it to the next level. It was a bit of a slow process at first but I think in the end it started developing. Again with Miles I see how beneficial an accent far away from your own can be. Miles doesn’t have a lot of lines and I had no idea what I was going to do with him, had no idea how I would connect and make that character believable. The same as with Phebe, an accent put a handle on a character that I struggled with and gave me a way in and something to build on. Rachel was a nice character to play because she was so innocent, I only found this really hard when I was having a hard time in the process, she would turn into some sort of south east London rude girl all of a sudden! I realised how hard it is to be someone else when you’re so wrapped up in yourself in this process.
Because I played three small characters who’s psychologies weren’t wrote into the play as much as some of the others I did different kinds of research and imaginative work to develop them. Charlie was the one I researched most because I found her quite interesting, what does make a well educated middle class girl turn to prostitution? I looked up some of the many articles on prostitutes about girls that went to private schools and where raised in privileged families. Money is the biggest deciding factor that pushes most girls into it, and the things that come with money, glamour, success, nice possessions. These very middle class girls are doing it because they believe it’s easy money and it’s their choice, they are not forced into it or brutalised, this isn’t the sort of prostitution where a girl receives £20 max and spends it on heroin this is prostitution where the girls are living in £300,000 homes and earning £500 to £2000 pound an hour. A ‘respectable’ tier of societies daughters are now joining the sex industry, and I think this has a lot to do with sex and porn being readily available and less shocking to us, it’s everywhere, its normalised. Because everything has such emphasis on sex, media advertising etc, it’s become a ‘profession’ that is seen as somewhat acceptable, at least to the privately educated girls that work in the business. However, the dark side is that some, in rare moments of vulnerability, do admit the grubbier side to the job where they sleep with undesirable men and have to block it out. For some there backgrounds of wealth have helped, with girls admitting that they used their knowledge in areas like art and horse riding to meet well off punters. I enjoy understanding the previous circumstances of a character and using research to create a back story and an empathetic approach to building a character.

A very queer night indeed (scene 1)

I endeavoured to sustain an optimistic demeanour, but from the word go i had a ravishing pessimistic sod dribbling in my ear (he was obviously exasperated by our conventions, but what do you expect.) Miles is somewhat voluptuously pretty, a youthful complexion that makes me slobber. I just had to take him on, though i did regret my cock-minded decision.

Miles and myself arrived fashionably late, only to realise the patriarch hadn't yet arrived. The atmosphere was somewhat flaccid (just like my apprentice's penis before i gave it a torrent of sucking and swallowing,) I contributed in deflating the tense bubble to little avail. James eventually made his entrance, though i was preoccupied with miles and his complete disregard to honour! what an ungrateful tulip. Miles and his repugnant attitude really ticked me off. During our traditional score of the national Anthem, he even decided to FUCK OFF! I WAS STUNNED, FLABBERGASTED AND MORTIFIED! Though i had to compose myself, being a dignified man of stature.

This is a version from the unedited script where Miles sticks it out till the end.

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The Riot Club

21st September

This all started in the cab on the way to the Bull’s Head in Kidsbury. My sponsor Toby was extremely pissed off with me and I had no idea why, it wasn’t until we arrived that he confronted me and said that it was because I had moved some of my things from my room because he had told me that I was about to have my room trashed by the Riot Club and I didn’t want my computer, my stereo and my family heirloom, Kingsley Bear broken and/or destroyed.
It wasn’t long before more people started arriving, but no one knew where James, the president of the Riot Club was because he didn’t contact anyone so we were all left in the dark of where the president was.

We all tried to get the party started and were all trying to get into the Riot Club spirit, and as we all found out people were making their own contributions to the club. For example, Guy had “customised” the menu by making it more “Riot Club”, Harry had booked a prostitute, Hugo had written a poem because he heard that is what they did at every dinner and Dimitri had arranged for us to get out of the country for the night via his own private jet.

I have to say that I was extremely overwhelmed by all of this because my brother had been in the Riot Club and has then been known as a legend and he told me stories about what they did and I felt honoured to be apart of this.

Unfortunately, not everything went to plan because with Guy’s main course, he had arranged for us to have a ten bird roast, one bird for each of us, but as it turns out, there was only nine birds. This didn’t really bother me but the others wanted to complain but I didn’t see the point because there was enough food to go around, its not like we were left starving.

Harry’s prostitute wasn’t what we expected because apparently it wasn’t in here job description to give blow jobs to 9 men under the table so she left and there we sat blow jobless.
The landlord wasn’t too thrilled with the prostitute being there so she had to quickly leave out of the window before he called the police.

After the prostitute and Chris had left, Alistair decided to have a rant about Chris and the prostitute, which I have to say that I agreed with what he said because we shouldn’t be treated like this, its like they don’t know who we are!

During desert, I shared how much I hated my home being treated like an amusement park and I found out that others felt the same way that I did.

Soon after, Dimitri told us to look under our place mats where he had left Icelandic money for us and he told us that we were going to Iceland tonight.

Dimitri’s plan to get us out of the country didn’t go down too well because none of us was too excited and what was the point in only going for the night then we would have to come back.

Toby had been passed out for quite a while and had decided to wake up, but not as himself, as Lord Riot and he did the most amazing speech that made us realise that what we were doing wasn’t Riot Club behaviour. I have to say, I couldn’t take him seriously and I couldn’t stop laughing for the most of it.

Not long after, Rachel, Chris’s daughter came in to clear the table and Harry got the brilliant idea to play a quick game of Chelsea trots.

Hugo lost the first round, but counter forfeited James and he had to drink a bottle down in one.

Guy lost the next round and he had to kiss Rachel which she wasn’t very happy about but Guy layed one on her anyway whether she liked it or not. I don’t think that she liked the kiss very much and stormed out.

We decided that it was room trashing time because it is traditional for the Riot Club to trash the room, pay for the damage and leave. This is what I had been waiting for all night, this is the moment for me to live what my brother had previously lived in the Riot Club, this is what we had been known for, but during the awesome room trash, Chris came in and saw what we were doing.

He wasn’t too pleased by what he saw but Alistair explained to him what was happening and that we were going to pay for the damage so he might as well leave us to it, but Chris wouldn’t back down and he changed the subject to his daughter and how we could have a sexual assault conviction.

It was at that moment that something changed in Alistair and he decided to hit him once, some others did the same, but Toby took it too far and was beating the living shit out of him – literally.
I have to say that I am not proud to admit this but in sheer panic I started to cry.
None of us knew what to do, the land lord could die, but who will go down for it?

We came down to the conclusion that Alistair would go down and the rest of us would go free.

A night to forget

On September 21st it was the first riot event of the academic year, it was an opportunity to show the new boys what we are about and have a bit of rough fun and bants with the chaps. It didn’t turn out that way but I shall get to that later. I fluffed up a bit because Clare Thompson the scruffy dyke had her heart set on giving me an interminable rant on well academically I was doing. The chaps were a bit exasperated with me because I was a tad late but there big boys they can suck it up. I gallantly got them riled up to so that the dinner had an element of pizzazz and was lacklustre like previous years. Guy pulled one out the bag by organising the ten bird roast which was smashing, unfortunately it was one bird short which didn’t bother me but the chaps were incessant on me getting to get it knocked off the bill which I thought was rather pedantic but oh well. One part of the evening that I was literally disgusted at was the animalistic behaviour of Alistair and the other guys ridiculing me because I worked in the cooperative bank, well excuse me for having some ambition and wanting to go places outside of the club. The lot of them acted like total shits and that’s just not on, especially towards your president. The amount of time I spent trying to hown them into to decent young chaps and they do something like that its despicable. To be honest that really cut through the heart of me and somewhat subdued me for the large majority of the evening. Shortly after that Harry’s tremendously crass idea of ordering a prostitute had arrived, but that one fell through probably because she saw as I did that these chaps were being a complete bunch rawkus burks. After that I could tell the landlord was getting bit shirty with us, but it was rather amusing like watching a rowing instructor being flustered because he’s forgotten his paddle. After that we quietened down slightly and proceeded with our mass consumption of Bordeaux. Tubes had a bit of a rough time with it and passed out and during this time it was time for Chelsea trots which was a good opportunity for me to get back in the saddle and actually enjoy myself. It was a bit of fun until the chaps were way out of order and guy the squirmy creep forced the landlord’s daughter to kiss him which me and Hugo concurred that really wasn’t banta anymore. After that we did what any good Riotsman do and decimate the contents of a restaurant. Even I have to say it was pretty bloody spectacular and it even more tasty due to the fact that I was completely forest gateaud. The land lord burst in the middle of it and was majorly hacked off, this is where the night got ugly. He was shouting at Alistair for a few minutes and Ryle’s inner yob came out and decked him and some of the other boys like a pack of wolves. It was absolutely disgusting behaviour and very typically of Ryle to exert his power in front of us and on this time it was with his fists. It left us in a total panic with what to do and was just a huge sense of franticness among us. Hugo was adamant that we needed an ambulance and this eventually became the consensus. One by one every one realised that ultimately it was Alistair’s fault and he knew, it was a night to be forgotten.

Posh Blog

During the rehearsal process I have learnt how difficult it actually is not to spill water or juice on a table cloth during scene changes.

I have learnt not to act like your listening but to actually listen to what people are saying on stage no matter how many times you hear it, if you listen, the reactions would be more authentic and realistic.

I think that working with real food on stage was a big step for us because most of us are used to miming food and I think that during the scene changes when we have to put the food on the plates quickly without re-arranging any of the food, I found this quite challenging because everyone is trying to move it onto the plates quickly, it is very easy to knock the food out of someone’s hand so we all have to be careful.

I think that the rehearsal process is going really well because we have stopped the improvisation process and have now moved onto straight rehearsals.

I sometimes find it hard concentrating where we have to sit down for long periods of time and I do admit my mind does drift off and I often find myself panicking because I can’t remember what line comes next.

I think that I remember my cues well, although I do miss a few sometimes and my lines aren’t that bad, I know that I have improved and I know that by the show there won’t be any mistakes.

Blog Log

What I have learned during the rehearsal process is; to have patience while others our involved in their scene, to either concentrate, listen to my fellow co-actors and, I might learn something about my own performance while observing them. Or to run my lines in my head so they our fresh and clear in my mind.

When I get a direction e.g. be nervous, then told for the same bit of that scene, be firm and go on the offensive. Is not to get rid of my last note but to create a layer and build on each one. This is really hard to find the balance but hopefully for the audience will benefit.

I’ve learned to remember my cue to begin my line and my cue for others.
For if I fail or someone else fails to come in with their cue it holds the play and it becomes awkward on stage.

Something that is very hard is to maintain energy while sitting down for long periods. It’s not just for the play it’s the constant going over things that draw it out longer and make it more arduous, but I do understand why we go over them.

The posh process has been a great experience for me, and has laid the foundation for me to work and see what it’s like to on an ensemble with many actors. I have had many mixed emotions and feelings throughout the duration of the process. To make the production work from and acting point of view I needed to be resilient and huge part of the process is being able to take criticism and direction and move on swiftly and act professional. At times I did not always do this but this is just part of the vital learning that goes on. Most importantly it has been very enjoyable experience and has further enticed me into acting. One of the biggest aspect of posh that has struck and something that I admire is the layering and the time the director has taken to slowly build the four scenes and not rush them. The work prior to the actual rehearsal process I found extremely useful for the characters background, for example the previous circumstances exercise was great thing to do for characters to be built.

Preparing for the big push

Our last few renditions of our scenes have definitely highlighted the aspects of the production about its strengths and weaknesses, i have certainly observed that just over the last few days that certain choices by the actors and tweeking by karla have thoroughly improved the fluidity and entertainment in terms of the watching it. Because my character does not apper until half way through scene one i have had a good oppurtuniy to watch the other characters, i have particularly enjoyed much more recently the relationships between ed and toby aswell as guy and dims in the beggining parts of the play. I feel that the anger in toby coneyed by mr warner now has much more purpose and is more understanderble to the audience, this is also due to the frivolous attitude of ed which is being played convincely by katie. The tension between guy and dims is becoming more prominant which is very relevant to the realationships between the charaters in the latter stages of the play. Ibrahim is making slightly more subtle choices which paying off for harry charater which adding a better level of humour between these beggining parts of the show. I can see that nathan is in his element with alistair and displaying very good sinister streak especially in scene three which is crucial that the play shows how dog eat dog this world actually is. Chris's physicalities and mannerisms are very convincing as a landlord, this allows to show great contrast between the greatly competative nature of the riot members. Hugo of recent has made a small transcition that has developed into a character that is as cool as a fan and very is easy on the eye, this is because of the subtleties of nico that are oozing out of his demeanour. george is showing a good level of consistancy of displaying being intoxicated and enthuiastic at the same time. Aisling has had one of the toughest tasks to take playing three characters and is pulling of three very different personalities extremely well while remaining to keep the flair and compelling us at the same time. It has had its ups and downs but i can honestly say its been a brilliant experience so far and we all need to keep at it in and out of rehearsal to ensure that we produce something that we are proud of.

Cenatuari - to be eaten

Some very good dramaturgical research Nathan, regarding the meanings of the Latin that occurs in Scene 1. But I think that rather than 'Those who are hungry salute you' - which of course makes good and proper sense - the latin dedication they use for their toast could more closely resemble the famous Roman dedication that it mimics i.e. "..those who are about to die salute you..".

It's quite funny if they say "...those who are about to be eaten, salute you..." Or "...those who are about to eat salute you!

I can't see the Riot Club members describing themselves as 'hungry'.

About to eat...rather than .... about to die. Its such a tame version of the original, isn't it? All they can do is offer up their palates rather than their lives. It underscores the dilution of the Roman allusion to a group of men who were patriotic fighting machins - Centurions/Gladiators/ Heroes. They are now just petty consumers.

Latin in the play.

Latin plays a minor part in this play, and a major one in our character's lives, so I think that it's probably about right if we know what is said, don't you?

About a third of the way through the first scene we get our first snippet of Latin. Miles goes to Hugo "Assentio mentium" and that basically means ""Meeting of the minds". I personally think that when Miles says this, it is seeped in sarcasm. Miles' interaction with the club until this point hasn't been entirely intellectual. His pre-initiation was comprised of him downing a bottle of wine on threat his of forced public nudity; the room trash that has got Miles up in all agitated; constant crude homo-sexual references; unending ridicule; and right before quoting Latin, Harry talks about doing a huge poo.
Not really the intellectual meeting of the minds that Miles would have had in mind.

The second dosage of Latin is near the end of the first scene where everyone chants the presidents toast "Cenaturi Te Salutant". This one was harder for me to decipher, as it was as if the phrase (or at least one word) didn't exist. However, one phrase did keep appearing in the google search bar, and that was "Morituri Te Salutant" or "Those who are about to die, salute you". This phrase was used to greet the Roman Emperor by the fighters in the Roman games, and although it's a greeting fit for any president, the other members are hardly going to die for the Riot. So, in the wonderful way of the Oxford wit, (or at least only as far as I can tell) they took the word "Cenaturio" which basically means "To be hungry" and adjusted it, so that "Cenaturi Te Salutant" actually means "Those who are hungry, salute you".

March the 26th

And now for a break from our regularly scheduled programme.

As you are all aware, I am the resident political activist in our group, and if you remember, I have once before failed to get you all riled up.
What you may not all realise is that this Saturday our fair city is hosting the TUC march on the cuts and the Con-Dem coalition. By the way, TUC stands for the Trade Union Conference which is the body that organises ALL of the workers unions.
Some unions that will be attending, and that might also interest you, are the UCU, the University and College Union, which is the union for people like Karla, Lisa, John and what Tilly and Tom will hopefully be joining; Equity, which is the actors union, which most of you will join in your acting careers that will ensure you get treated the right way at work and will hold your stage name whilst at drama school; the WGGB, which is the Writers Guild of Great Britain for all the blossoming novelists, playwright and screenwriters; and also BECTU, which is the union for all those working in technical theatre, working in media (cameramen, editors) and even lowly ushers like myself.
I know many of you doubt the impact of public protest, but have you not seen the wonderful images of places like Egypt? and besides, it's all about showing what you think, about freedom of expression.

And if none of that convinces you, please watch this video about the cuts in the arts sector.

So if this convinces you please join me and thousand others in the biggest march since the anti-war protest of 2003.

Saturday 26th March

Meet at 11am-12pm on the Victoria Embankment

Will be ending at Hyde Park

Find out more here

When is 'Posh' set ? In the Autumn term.

Time of year is not that important in this play, other than the fact that the events between the prologue and the epilogue take place on one saturday night i.e begin and end in one evening - probably over a 3-4 hour period. The most important detail about time is that it is absolutely this present moment in time.

I reckon the prologue between uncle Jez & occurs in the late summer, August, before Guy returns to Oxford for his 2nd year i.e. Uncle Jez says " Besides, you'll only be a 2nd year' (note the 'you'll' as in you will...)

Guy says he's had ".. 3 dinners so far". We could take this to mean that he was recruited by a sponsor at the start of his first year at Oxford and had a dinner during each of the three terms of his first year.

The only thing that goes against this is: a) Guy says he's going on holiday to Spain with Lauren and her family - the assumption is that would be in the summer months, and if this conversation with Uncle Jez is in August, then when exactly is Guy going on holiday with Lauren and her family?? Maybe he's meeting JEz in July....This is a small point.

Throughout the play all references to 'a year' seem to refer to an academic year ie. sept through late May. Guy tells Jez that James - who we know is a 'finalist' i.e. final year student -'...wants to give it another year (as president) and then he'll stand down'. The assumption is that James served as president in his 3rd year and will be also serving as president in his 4th year when he takes his Msc.
Uncles Jez also says that Guy should wait a year to put himself 'forward..for president'. The suggestion is that the Riot Club President serves for one academic year...'...unless they are contested.'

But the main peice of evidence for the time of year comes from Toby in Scene One:
"..I'm a 3rd year...2 more dinners after tonight....Gone." This suggests that THIS Riot Club dinner is taking place in autumn term (October), and that Toby has another two dinners - one in winter/spring (February?) and then another in spring/summer (May?)- and then he graduates and is out in the real world.

So as far as facts goes, it looks to me like this Riot Club dinner takes place in the autumn term in a dining club in Oxford, 2010.

However this information will have little or no impact on the audience. What do they see? A group of young men in a private dining room. There is no indication of time of year and their clothes (tailcoats) would be the same if they met in Winter or summer. There is no indication from the menu of anything 'seasonal' i.e asparagus in May etc, although Gazpacho tends to be eaten in warm weather. There is also absolutely no reference to any current events which might date the play. Even the reference to Iceland does not mention anything about the banking crisis (Iceland was bankrupted by this in 2008).

Laura Wade went to great effort to make this play relatively timeless.

TIME: 2011
MONTH
Prologue is August.
Scene 1-4 takes place in October.
Epilogue is December.

Just to clarify

When is our edited version of Posh actually set? I have heard different things, it is essential for me to know the EXACT setting of the piece. As far as i know, the Riot Club go for an extravagant dinner once every term. I also know that their dinner outing in the play is the third from last of the year because of what Toby says to Eddy in the first scene, so according to these indications, I presume that the play is actually set earlier than May.

Posh

Posh
Published Friday 16 April 2010 at 11:15 by Aleks Sierz

Laura Wade’s new drama, with its vivid images of toffs at play, is certainly timely. In the run-up to the general election, it comes across as a show with a megaphone message - don’t vote Tory. But is her account of rich young men behaving badly, which is broadly based on the antics of the exclusive all-male Bullingdon Club, any good?


Leo Bill (Alistair Ryle), David Dawson (Hugo Fraser-Tyrwhitt) in Posh at the Royal Court Theatre
Yes, it is. As they gather for one of their blowouts, the ten Oxford undergraduate members of Wade’s Riot Club aim to get plastered and smash up the rural pub where the event takes place. From the start, however, things begin to go wrong and, by the end of the evening, a terrible crime has taken place.

Wade expertly pins down the attitudes of the privileged, and their mix of venomous contempt for modern life with a nostalgia for the past glories of the aristocracy. Their rage at social change is palpable, and so is the fact that these young bloods have never left the playground. Yet they aspire to be Britain’s ruling class.

Lyndsey Turner’s excellent production, on Anthony Ward’s colourful and claustrophobic set, fields a cast of 14, with Leo Bill particularly impressive as the impassioned Alistair and Joshua McGuire equally strong as the usurping Guy. David Dawson is enjoyable as the poetic Hugo and so is Daniel Ryan as the level-headed landlord.

Equally memorable are Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Dimitri and Simon Shepherd as a Tory MP whose presence underlines the politics of the play. And there is good work from Richard Goulding, Jolyon Coy, Kit Harington, Harry Hadden-Paton, James Norton and Tom Mison. With its excellent music, thanks to James Fortune, and sharply-drawn climaxes, this is a satirical, humorous and finally chilling view of the upper classes - and a really fine metaphor for our times.

Day Trip to Oxford

Well, after some mild excitement about visiting Oxford I did a little bit of research; to visit Oxford by Megabus on a weekday in April will cost each of us about £13 and that's a full day, leave for Oxford in morning and for London in evening.  It departs from London Victoria and takes just under 2 hours.
I'm sure everyone everyone can chip in £13 and bring their own packed lunch. Don't you?

Shock! Horror! David Dimblebly was Member of the Bullingdon Club

Dimbleby - a British TV institution, is 'outed' by Boris Johnson during very interesting panel discussion. Just who else was part of the Bullingdon club??? We also learn in this youtube clip- thanks to the brilliant and caustic Will Self, that George Osborne's nickname was (is) 'Oik'. That's our Treasurer of the National Exchequer - 'Oik'.

Studying at Oxford University - watch this youtube guide...

Gastropubs in and around Oxford

The Royal Oak looks like a good pub. Might be just the thing that The Riot Club might book. They'd sneer at its description, particularly the Quiz Night:

The Royal Oak: One of the cosiest pubs in Oxford

When it comes to Oxford pubs The Royal Oak is the genuine article. Much like our well-kept real ales and impressive range of world beers, wines and spirits, our interiors are drenched in class, character and a dash of urban cool, with lots of rooms and cosy little corners to kick back in. It's just the place to enjoy a plate of seriously good pub food.

* Wide range of cask beers & continental lagers
* Good selection of malt whiskies
* Wine Club - top wines for less
* Three beer gardens
* Quiz night

A Bit of Fry and Laurie - The Duel

What Actor's Do At Start of Rehearsal Process

1. Carefully read through script, scene by scene, making brief notes on everything you say about yourself e.g. Harry says 'I always win'

2. Carefully read thrugh script, scene by scene, making brief notes on everything people say about you e.g. everyone thinks its 'shabby' that James is late.

3. Finally, finish your accunt of how YOU SEE the situation in each scene e.g. in Scene 1, everytime Harry comes into the room there is an air of tension because members have been arguing etc...

YOU MUST DO THIS WORK NOW, AT THIS STAGE IN THE REHEARSAL, AND YOU'LL SEE HOW REHEARSALS WITH FLY BECAUSE YOU'LL ACTUALLY KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER AND THE PLAY.

Audition & Casting Process by Tommy

Today began by finishing reading the play. After reading the whole play as a group, I have managed to pick up a better understanding of it, and really enjoy the context and characters in the play. I think that to cast the play it will be very difficult because I can see a lot of people being able to play many different roles. However, there were a few people I could just see perfect casting for such as Nathan playing Alistair. I know this was not his first choice but he was one to shock me in the audition and die the speech really well. Also knew Aisling could of played this part really well but I just knew that a male part being that big had to be played by a male which does make sense. After Jack reading James i think that everyone apart from jack would agree that this is good casting i know he was not to pleased with this but i believe as rehearsals go on i believe he will enjoy playing James. Toby was a role i wanted from the beginning even when i read it at home, I really love his arrogance and i know this can be a stretch for me. To be honest all of the charters in this play are charters that would not only be a stretch but very enjoyable. Today was encouraging to see people in the class that you have known for a while and you think that you know there ablity but i was shocked to see pepole change my views on casting. The whole process of posh is going to have its ups and downs but as a group im sure we are going to produce some good work and im truley looking foward to it as the weeks go on.

Interesting blog, interesting parody.

viva-freemania.blogspot.com/ 2010/10/let-clegg...

'The photograph that defined the class divide'

In 1937 this picture was taken outside Lord's at the Eton vs Harrow annual cricket match. Many misconceptions about this picture have been published over the years... and its subjects haven't always been happy about representing a class war. This picture may not turn out to be a representation of the super rich and super poor, as both groups of boys turn out pretty normal, but it does identify the huge barrier between public and comprehensive education... and it's amazing to find out what happened to these boys... http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/mar/23/ian-jack-photograph

Brideshead Revisited

When hearing about this play, or the upper classes in general, I always here some sort of reference to Brideshead Revisited. Luckily, it was on recently on BBC, so that means you can watch it in the comfort of your own home.
I've caught a few minutes, and although it's about a bygone era, (the 20's (edit: and 40's)) it's still a way of living that is hard to shake loose, and also the accents are pretty amazing.
So catch it here to see it in all it's glory over the next 7 days

A 'Grand Tour' Reflection

Guess Who?

He is the heir to the baronet, Sir Peter.....
He dropped his first name, Gideon, to take his grandfather's first name when he was 13
He became shadown chancellor at 33
Lives in Nottinghill
Ex-member of the Bullingdon Club
Who is he???

Find out here:

Interview with the playwright, Laura Wade

Edited - read the whole interview on Guardian website.

Laura Wade: the girl in the Tories' soup
"I was the family alien. I was always putting on little shows."
Laura Wade likes research. She finds it helpful, up to a point. When she wrote her first play, Colder Than Here, which is about a dying woman who is planning her own funeral, she learned all about coffins, from paper to wicker to good old-fashioned oak. But on this score, her new play, Posh, was a trickier proposition: its subject is an all-male Oxbridge dining society of the kind to which David Cameron and George Osborne once so infamously belonged. "It wasn't as if I could gatecrash a dinner," she says. She had to fall back on interviews. "We talked to people who'd been in a club themselves or who'd had friends in one; we talked to older people who were still very much involved in the life of their old club and, I suspect, funding it. It was interesting.
"There is this cliched idea of poshness that crops up in television: you know, someone's posh cousin in a sitcom, Tim Nice But Dim. It's all a bit 'rah'. But as we went on, I realised it was important that the play's voices be modern, too. There are so many influences on the way people talk now." Her eyes widen. "Writing a tribe is fun. They have their own language, their own slang, they repeat it and it becomes part of the texture of the play. For a writer, that's thrilling. That's when my pen flies."
The award-winning Wade is known for the precision of her writing and you feel her deadly accuracy in every sentence, every phrase, of Posh….. as if … Brideshead Revisited meets Lord of the Flies: horrifying, compelling and yet blackly funny."They are quite entertaining," says Wade, in the manner of a fond zookeeper. "They're witty. They're clever. They have the verbal facility to follow an argument through to its end. This isn't a rugby-club dinner. The charge in the room is intellectual as well as physical."
Nor did she hold that photo – of Cameron and Osborne in their ridiculous Bullingdon Club suits – in her head as she wrote Posh. "I don't like writing with real people in mind. This is about a whole group of people. For me, it's a hypothesis: do these connections help you in later life? There's a sense [for the super privileged] of having to stick together in a world that doesn't want you or understand you any more."
Wade is not posh. She grew up in Sheffield, where her father worked for a computer company. "... I was rather a shy child, not a natural performer, but there was a performative edge to everything I did." Her school was discouraging when she suggested that drama might be her thing, so she arranged her own work experience at the Crucible theatre and it was there, at the age of 18, that her first play was staged, in its studio. After a drama degree at Bristol University, she began writing seriously, earning her keep with temp jobs during the day. "Temping was good. At the beginning of the week, I'd hate everyone. By the end of the week, there'd be all these characters; everyone had some sort of quirk." But she regards her move to London and her joining of the Royal Court's young writers programme as the real start of her career.. In 2005, when she was still only 27, her first and second plays ran simultaneously in London: her debut, Colder Than Here, at the Soho theatre, and her second, Breathing Corpses, at the Royal Court. They won her a Critics' Circle award for most promising playwright and an Olivier award nomination.

The Etiquette of Blogging

When you write something onto a computer screen without seeing the audience who its designed for i.e. the people who will read this material - you have no real understanding or appreciation of how your words may effect them.
You have no moderating influences - like people's facial expressions or body languages which inhibit what you say. Comment and opinion pieces Do upset people.
Professional journalism, by contrast, aims (or should aim) to capture a detached manner, to be entirely free from value judgements and personal opinion. Writing about the audition process for POSH was a good idea i.e. what works or doesn't work in an audition situation.

We're aiming for online group version of an Actor's logbook with this blog . An actor's logbook should be a reflection on your creative process i.e about YOU - your process, what you learn, how you learn, how you create a role, what you discover etc etc. So should you exercise restraint and judgement before you post your thoughts to this blog? Absolutely!

So.. what do you write on this blog? In the first instance: research that is useful to everyone is a good thing to write about. What else should go onto this blog? Well how about we do a group brainstorm and we discuss and decide what other material goes onto this blog. Thank you Nico, you have inadvertently raised a very interesting area for discussion in the realm of student blogging.

Observations and thoughts (Audition process) 01/03/2011

It was interesting to see different actor's strengths and weaknesses and how they differ from the cold reading to the audition readings.

Kemar encouraged me with his first robust endeavour of a characterisation when he read for Toby Maitland, unfortunately his efforts are inconsistent. Aisling is a very strong reader- alert, sharp and diligent, she could potentially play any of the male roles competently. Jack has a great ear for accents and dialects, but needs to be more gallant with his choices. Nathan and Daniel are a joy to watch due to their endearing dispositions, they are currently in their elements. Tommy has real potential, but he needs to release all his inhibitions otherwise he will always find it extremely difficult to embody any character he portrays. Dilect, Katie and Louisa all have truthful and interesting qualities, but also should be bolder; Dilect does take risks, but it is not persistent. Ibreehim has difficulties in cold readings, but when he gets up and plays with his ideas, regardless of how coherent or constructive his concepts may be, he demonstrates flair and ebullience.

Remember this is just what I think and I am just Nico, if you take offense or do not agree with any of my comments then challenge me. I am also learning!

This is the last production! Lets take ownership of the piece and become three dimensional egomaniacs

Half Term Research on UK Government Cabinet

Everyone was assigned at least 2 cabinet members. Research involved finding out their background, education, financial situation, relationship to David Cameron and/Nick Clegg.

Posh - the song!

As an example of how to embed video from youtube I found this famous song from the classic family movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Enjoy!

Bullingdon Club Member Gets in Punch-Up with Ex-Girlfriend's New Admirer

Or at least that is the headline the Daily Mail ran on Feb 21st, 2011. All the papers carried some version of it, deeming it noteworthy because of the slim association with the Prime Minister and Mayor of London via the Bullingdon Club.

This is a bit of unashamed tabloid journalism, that I edited from several sources, adding italics and images. What are we to make of this?
________________________________________________________________________:

Mr Nick Green, member of the Bullingdon Club 2011

"A leading light of the notorious Bullingdon Club at Oxford University has been detained by police after an alleged assault on a fellow student in a row over a girl. Witnesses said Old Etonian Nick Green, wearing the dining club’s trademark £1,200 tailcoat, was led away in handcuffs following the fracas outside a nightclub. The alleged victim, Mr Etiene Ekpo Utip, was so seriously injured that an ambulance took him to the city’s John Radcliffe hospital.Police ordered medics to stand back until it was safe for them to enter the street to treat the 22-year-old. Mr Green, a friend of Princess Beatrice, was not arrested or charged with any offence. Police said the alleged victim did not want to take the matter further. Mr Green and Mr Ekpo Utip were said to have fallen out last Friday over the affections of student Miranda Gilbert. A friend of 22-year-old Miss Gilbert said: ‘Nick is Miranda’s ex-boyfriend. They dated in the first year, but she broke it off. ‘Since then, he has kept on at her, and he was not happy when she started a friendship with Etiene.’

Mr Etiene Ekpo Utip, Oxford student 2011

South African student, Mr Ekpo Utip featured in Tatler magazine's 200 Sexiest Singles and was a former prefect at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hertfordshire.

He is studying at Pembroke College, Oxford, and has starred in several university drama productions, including a well-reviewed 'Romeo & Juliet'












Bullingdon Club member, Mr Nick Green – declares himself a Facebook fan of his Bullingdon Club predecessors David Cameron and Boris Johnson –

A university source claimed: ‘On Thursday night, there was a big club night in Oxford. Nick Green was with his Bullingdon friends and went up to his ex-girlfriend and they had a big disagreement. Inside the club, threats were made to the victim.’Tensions continued outside, with Mr Ekpo Utip allegedly being subjected to a verbal and physical assault.At some point during the evening, the front window of Mr Green’s student house was smashed.

A neighbour reported: ‘The police came and I saw a man being handcuffed and put into the back of the police car and then driven away. He was a posh boy, wearing a long elegant-looking jacket.’

The Bullingdon Club achieved notoriety over its privileged members trashing restaurants and leaving large sums of cash to pay for the damage.

Other former members include Chancellor George Osborne and Earl Spencer.

GEORGE OSBORNE, Chancellor of the Exchequer 2011

The Queen's Speech

Nobody seems to speak posh quite as extraordinarily as the Royals. Here is Queen Elizabeth II's first televised Christmas Day speech in 1957. I think there is something strangely touching about her. Listen to her voice: how does she prounouce 'often'?; What is the main point of her speech? To commence work on your new stage accent for Laura Wade's plat, practice one line from the Queen's Speech from 1957 below:

What is 'POSH'

If you ask someone where the word 'Posh' comes from they will say it means:   'port out, starboard home'. That refers to the printed tickets of the passengers on P&O (Peninsula and Orient) passenger vessels (ships) that travelled between UK and India. Some people say that  PO and SH were scrawled on the steamer (shipping) trunks (luggage)  used on these long distance sea- voyages by seamen when allocating cabins.
Not clear? Read on:

Britain and India are both in the northern hemisphere so the port (left-hand side) berths (cabins) were mostly in the shade (therefore cooler)  when travelling out (easterly) and the starboard ones where cooler when coming back. So the best and most expensive berths (cabins) were POSH.  It meant that the people in these cabins got the coolest and therefore best accommodation on the ships going to and from India to the UK.  This in turn refers to money: who could afford these berths? And privilege: who would be travellling in first class berths?

 BUT..(and I hate to say this because its a great story which gets repeated all the time)  there's no actual evidence to confirm this story though it gets repeated endlessly.P&O say they have never issued such tickets

The true origin of 'posh' is uncertain.

Adding a comment

Look in right hand column and click on post title - this opens post in separate window with empty comments window beneath. Here you can write your comment to the specific post and publish. It will then appear under original post as: 1 comment etc. To read the comment, you just click on it.

I found this image which seems to capture the economic and social divide in the late 19th/early 20th century:

David Cameron and the Bullingdon Club

Daily Mail account of the Bullingdon Club

The Independent's list of David Cameron's 'cronies'

Real progression is only possible with anarchy.

This weekend has been historical for Egypt, the nation is rejoicing after 18 days of mass protests, the despot Mubarak has surrendered power to the army and has fled to Sharm el-sheikh. The coming weeks are going to be crucial in creating an open and democratic state. It is just the start of the next chapter in egypt.

The overthrow of the tunisian president and now the egyptian president has sparked tensions in the neighbouring nations; what country is next? The Arab world has been shaken to the core. These are inspirational times. I have always believed that without anarchy, real progression is not possible. We will see how these events unfold, and if anarchy will prove to be progressive or regressive.

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Info on blogs

Before you post anything, open a word document and edit the material on your computer. Blogs work best when they are to the point - don't woffle. Once you have decided what you want to say - copy it (control C), and open a New Post on the blog, then paste it (Control V). Then hit Preview. If you are happy with what it says and how it looks,  hit Publish post and go to View Blog to see how it will look when others view it.

Remember - you can edit your own published posts at anytime. 

Take some time to look over this blog - there are several live links to other websites and online articlesalready uploaded, and some people have started leaving comments - this is something else you can do, comment on people's posts.

• Never delete posts by other people on this blog.
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