We looked at the prologue in pairs, where a taxi driver is talking to a customer and we had to add in the lines that the passenger may have asked and answers to some questions. I was working with Alabama, and we came to the conclusion that the passenger was new in town therefore more quiet and felt the conversation to be more of an interrogation.
We staged it so the driver was walking around the passenger, while they sit in a chair rather awkwardly, not speaking much, and only answering shortly and cautiously. The section we were given was the one from the dots.
We thought a bit more about how it was being staged and how the shy passenger would react to the taxi drivers big personality and harsh words. I really enjoyed Roseby and Matilda's interpretation of their given part as they gave the impression that the passenger was being abused at home but the driver was completely oblivious to that fact and just continued talking as if it was a normal conversation. It just showed a serious topic while others did not do as such.
We also did a whole class hot seat in the taxi drivers character. I think hot seating is a very good technique as it enables an actor to get even more into the character, helping them discover things that the probably would not have if they were thinking about it for ages as they need to make things up on the spot, enlarging their character, trying out different things and seeing what they think is best for the role.
In this exercise, we see that what may seem a boring job of a taxi driver can be much more animated then what is first perceived. He/she likes to play golf on the weekend, favours Star Wars over Star Trek (good choice) and has been training to be a taxi driver since the age of 10! I did not get to ask any questions as my mind seemed to go blank for the short time that we focused on the exercise. However this helped me see the character of the taxi driver more clearly in my head as a posed to words on a page.
We then did some ensemble work and all said the taxi drivers lines simultaneously. We each added our own little personality traits. I made it so that I was a new taxi driver and got a bit too carried away with talking with the passenger to remember to drive all the time. I'd always be honked at for almost swerving into another lane or forgetting to go when the green light came on. I incorporated my hands a lot, always having only one on the wheel so I could use my other for gestures. I tried to rush the lines a bit to show the enthusiasm of my character, leaning forward in my chair in excitement.
Others did very different things, some were the stereotypical 'lad', legs open, loud mouth, so on. We were asked to follow the lead of a different driver, imitating them. The one that stuck out for me the most was Benji's as he made his very camp, exaggerating his hand gestures, crossing his legs and being very enthusiastic with what he was saying. It was quite difficult to pick up on the pace and speed he was going at, but once the whole group got the hang of it, it sounded very effective and probably looked rather amusing. I could imagine being the passenger and being engrossed in what we were all saying just because we all picked up the enthusiasm and energy Benji had.
We read Tale 8 as a group, and highlighted words or sentences that created an atmosphere, gave location or told of weather. Kennedy definitely focused on the darker side, showcasing the 'eerie' 'burrow between buildings'.
We ended the session by attempting to crate Tale 8. I think we could have made it a lot more abstract than literal to crate the atmosphere of a creepy ally-way, and I think that if we had more time, we most likely would have played around with more physical theatre. Unfortunately, we did not even have enough time to even show the others what we had created, however I enjoyed the exercise and it helped me visualise the East End even more.
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