WEEK 1- 3
Week 1-3
So far in rehearsals, Esther and I have been doing constant line through's so its an improvement from the first week, in-order for us to get the words into our heads. We have done some of our staging but that is as far as we have gotten.
I have set myself a target to be off script but for now when I'm rehearsing I have the script in hand because of comfort issues. I love Shakespearean language
I need to be less laid back and more assertive; alert. I watched Bradley Irish & Mahin Kassoire, Esther Honey, Tracy Lomanga & Sean Lennon, Charles Addae & Ahmed and last but not least Maurica Lewis & Brendan. We all had similar areas in which we lacked in but overall I thought as a group we fairly done okay.
To be honest, I feel every group done well but can play around with their scenes more. Nonetheless there were scenes I thought were really intriguing which was the scene between Tracy & Sean and Charles Addae & Ahmed.I personally think it is research, you can clearly see they have done their homework and it showed me that I have to do more research and that I am not doing enough. To make my piece more I will need to rehearse with Esther and together play with the language and our roles more.
Week 3-4
My performance with Esther is getting there. All I need to do is be more bubbly and excited before the Duke enters so its the play much more depth and it allows the audience to understand the play more. At the moment, all my lines are on the same level and it only gets interesting when my father comes in basically I've rehearsed much more with Bicton than with Esther Asabi. Right now my main focus is on the introduction of the scene with Esther's character as Rosalind. I am going to go over the interpretations of the scene and see what I can add in to make the scene come alive much more rather than how it is now since it lacks in energy. Some of the feedback I had was:
From Penny, Maurica and Mahin it was Be bigger with facial expressions and with everything else. Claudia Dos Santos one was Yves. Be more bubbly, try take direction much more, try to continue the sane and get more excited, it is like you drop it for a while and then pick it back up again later on.
EVIDENCE
Celia - In the Shakespeare unit that we are doing, as part of the curriculum; I am playing the role of the daughter of Duke Frederick and Rosalind’s dearest cousin but dearest friend. Celia’s devotion to Rosalind is unmatched, as evidenced by her decision to follow her cousin into exile. To make the trip, Celia assumes the disguise of a simple shepherdess and calls herself Aliena. As elucidated by her extreme love of Rosalind and her immediate devotion to Oliver, whom she marries at the end of the play, Celia in the play possesses a loving heart, but is prone to deep, almost excessive emotions.
Celia's objective in the scene is to find out why Rosalind is not her usual self, but she comforts her first to lure her in-order for her to speak.
Celia talks about two things her dads change of heart towards her cousin Rosalind because she finds her as a theatre to his current dukedom and also Rosalind's love interest Orlando. She shows this through, mainly, her words and a few of her actions and facial expressions.
As the duke Ferdinand daughter, Celia is quite- movement wise is graceful. graceful as a swan. When her emotions change you can see it within her eyes and body language.
I need to be much lighter in my speech, I'm being too serious with it I need to relax more and just like the words flow out of me. Gradually my performance has gotten better and better due to constant rehearsals on my character as an individual. I do a lot of independent research which helps me to play the role of my character really well and enhances my knowledge of my scene, the play and that of Shakespeare himself.
Modern Translation of the script
As You Like It
ACT 1 SCENE 3
CELIA
What’s going on, Rosalind? Cupid have mercy! You won’t utter a single word?
ROSALIND
I don’t even have one to throw at a dog.
CELIA
No, your words are too precious to be wasted on dogs. Throw some of your words at me. Come on, throw your words at me like you would throw stones at a dog.
ROSALIND
Then there would be two cousins lying sick in bed: one hurt by reasons and the other gone crazy without any.
CELIA
Is all of this about your father?
ROSALIND
No, some of it is about my child’s father. Oh, this working-day world is full of thorns!
CELIA
They’re only burrs, cousin, thrown at you because you took a holiday from conventional behaviour. If we walk on the well-worn paths, they won’t get caught in our petticoats.
ROSALIND
Those burrs I could shake off my clothing, but these are in my heart.
CELIA
Cough them up.
ROSALIND
I’d try it, if I could cry “hem” and have him.
CELIA
Come on, take control of your feelings.
ROSALIND
But they’re siding with a better wrestler than myself.
CELIA
Oh, that’s a good wish! You’ll fight with him eventually, and
fall(Celia means both that Rosalind will be “defeated” by her affections for Orlando and that she will “fall” to him sexually.) But let’s put these jokes aside for a moment, and speak earnestly. Is it possible that you could have fallen in love with Orlando, Sir Rowland’s youngest son, this suddenly?
ROSALIND
The duke, my father, loved his father very much.
CELIA
Does that necessarily mean you should love his son? By that kind of logic, I should hate Orlando, since my father hates his father. But I don’t hate Orlando.
ROSALIND
No, please don’t hate him—for my sake.
CELIA
Why shouldn't I? Doesn't he deserve it?
ROSALIND
Let me love him because he deserves it, and you can love him because I do. Look, here comes the duke.
DUKE FREDERICK enters, with lords
CELIA
He looks angry.
DUKE FREDERICK
Madam, hurry as fast as you can get out of my court.
ROSALIND
Me, uncle?
DUKE FREDERICK
You, niece. In ten days time, if you’re found within twenty miles of the court, you’ll die for it.
ROSALIND
Please, your Grace, tell me what crime I have committed. If I know my own thoughts and desires, and I'm not dreaming or crazy—which I'm sure I'm not—then, dear uncle, I’ve never had so much as a half-formed thought that would have offended you.
DUKE FREDERICK
All traitors protest like this. If they could purge their guilt simply by saying that they were innocent, they’d all be as innocent as God Himself. I don’t trust you. Enough said.
ROSALIND
But your mistrust alone can’t make me a traitor—on what basis do you suspect me?
DUKE FREDERICK
You are your father’s daughter. That’s enough.
ROSALIND
I was his daughter when your Highness took my father’s dukedom. I was his daughter when you banished him. Treason is not inherited, my lord. But even if we did inherit it from our family, what does that have to do with me? My father wasn’t a traitor. So, please, my lord, don’t assume that I’m treacherous just because I'm poor, with no titles to my name.
CELIA
Dear master, listen to me.
DUKE FREDERICK
Yes, Celia, we kept her here for your sake. Otherwise, she would have been banished with her father.
CELIA
At that time, I didn't beg you to keep her here; you wanted her here, and you felt guilty. I was too young at the time to appreciate her value, but now I know her. If she’s a traitor, why then, so am I. We have always slept together, woken up together, learned, played, and eaten together. Wherever we went, we went together and inseparable.
DUKE FREDERICK
She’s too devious for you. Her smoothness, her silence, and her patient suffering appeal to the people, and they pity her. You’re a fool. She’s robbing you of the attention you deserve. You will seem even brighter and more virtuous when she’s out of the picture. So be quiet. The sentence I’ve passed down on her is firm and unshakeable. She is banished.
CELIA
Then lay that sentence on me too, my lord. I cannot live without her.
DUKE FREDERICK
You are a fool.—You, niece, prepare to leave. On my honour and by my word, if you outstay the ten days, you will die.
Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK and lords
CELIA
Oh, my poor Rosalind, where will you go? Do you want to exchange fathers? I’ll give you mine. I insist, don’t be more distressed than I am.
ROSALIND
I have more reason to be distressed.
CELIA
No you haven’t, cousin. Please, be cheerful. Don’t you realize the duke has also banished me, his daughter?
ROSALIND
No, he hasn’t.
CELIA
Oh, he hasn’t? Well, then, you don’t have the affection that would teach you that you and I are one. Will we be separated? Should we part, sweet girl? No. Let my father find another heir. So, help me plan how we’ll escape, where we’ll go, and what we’ll take with us. Don’t even try to take this all upon yourself, bearing your grief alone and leaving me out. I swear by the heavens, which have grown pale in sympathy with us, I'm going with you, whatever you say.
ROSALIND
But where will we go?
CELIA
To the Forest of Arden, to find your father.
ROSALIND
But what danger we’ll put ourselves in, two young, innocent women travelling so far! Fresh beauty attracts thugs and thieves even more than money.
CELIA
I’ll put on some poor and ragged clothes and smudge my face with dirt. You do the same, and we’ll be able to travel without attracting any attackers' attention.
ROSALIND
Wouldn't it be better—since I'm unusually tall for a woman—to dress myself like a man?
I’ll wear a big sword in my belt, carry a boar-spear in my hand, and hide all my womanish fear in my heart. We’ll maintain a swaggering, warrior look, like so many cowardly men, whose manner has nothing to do with what they’re feeling.
CELIA
What should I call you when you’re a man?
ROSALIND
I’ll take no lesser name than that of Jove’s (In Classical mythology, Jove, king of the Gods, fell in love with the mortal boy Ganymede and carried him to Mt. Olympus to be his cup bearer.)Jove’s own servant. So call me Ganymede. And what will you be called?
CELIA
Something that refers to my current state. Instead of Celia, call me Aliena.
ROSALIND
Cousin, what if we brought that clownish fool of your father’s court, Touchstone? Wouldn't he be a comfort to us in our travels?
CELIA
He’d walk the whole wide world with me. Leave me alone to go convince him. Let’s go gather our jewels and money. We’ll figure out the best time and safest route to avoid being found out by my father’s guards, whom he’ll send out as soon as he discovers I’ve gone. Now, we go contentedly to freedom-not banishment.
They exit.
General Thoughts
I love Shakespeare but I do not particularly love to do it. I feel it is not for me, so at the beginning, when I got this script I was not enthusiastic about it. But when I started to research about the play I was more intrigued to do it. I'm not saying I'm in love with it but I like it much more than I did before. For, the language makes much more sense to me now then how it did when I done my first milestone.
I then asked my fellow classmate( Pierce Tomlinson) for help on my character, as I always love to get a second opinion so I have an idea of what to improve before I have my next class. Although I know what my play is about and what the scene is about, it's not really coming across. Since, Shakespeare's language is different from how people speak today, it will be harder for people to understand if I do not make them understand.
Rehearsal NOTES
WEEK 1- 3
It has often been said that rehearsals the only place a performer can mess up. I am not in a rush to things right the first time then I will have nothing to improve on.
PEER FEEDBACK-
Some people in my class suggested for me to be louder and lighter; as I was approaching the text in the opposite way. It was my first go at the Shakespeare text as you like it so, personally, I felt I done reasonably well. It could of gone way much better than it done but rehearsal is where I can make mistakes.
Peer Feedback
Bradley Irish said I should make the conversation lighter and more girly then said "Go away and get it right". Also Alex said I need to be much more clearer, so I need to work on my Diction and Projection.
Project more and relax even more.
Since I have to start the scene off it is vital that I engage the audience, as of now I am not engaging as much as I should do.
FORWARD PLANNING/ GROUP MEETINGS
Week 1 -3
We have not had any group meetings outside our time-tabled classes as when I'm free she is either busy or when she's free I am either busy. But I have been able to make time for our rehearsals this week and next week in-order for us to connect with our characters and the piece itself to the best of our abilities. Analysing the script again to see what I missed for the fourth week then going back to rehearsals but dressed as my character. I also want to make the scene more truthful although it is quite over the top at times.
Life
Hate
Pride
Murder
War
Love
Sex
Poverty
Greed
Death
Humility
Here is a list of Universal Themes in the play that I am in As You Like It
Love
Hatred
Greed
Wealth
Good
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