Characterisation

I'm playing Hannay in Act 1 of our production of 39 steps. Dan S is also playing Hannay but in Act 2 instead so we had worked together to create our character of Hannay by deciding certain characteristics that we can share in our acts. We talked about how are Hannay should stand in every scene, we thought it was obvious that Hannay would have strong posture because he is use to a higher living and would of had a strong upbringing which also would mean Hannay has a very clear and well pronounced English accent. After me and Dan had sorted this first part of details we were then stuck deciding what to do with our hands in the posture, whether to hold then at our side, fold them or hand over hand in front. We didn't like the idea of having folded arms and having our hands by our side didn't seem right either so what we do is hold our hands togeather in front of us as Dan and I agreed that Hannay would use alot of hand gestures and this hand position we have agreed on will help this.

Another part of Hannay we worked on together was how Hannay should sit. We had already said Hannah was of upper living so I suggested we sit up right with legs together but Dan then said he thinks we should have our legs crossed which would show Hanny's comfort and control in scenes wgere he gets to sit. We cross left over right. I then suggested that we should do something else begore we sit. I said we could like brush our legs before we sit and kicck our leeft leg forward before we cross. We would place our hands on our stomach when were not moving them.

The last bit of characteristics we decided was when Hannay enters a scene. We agreed that no matter how tired or beat up Hannay is from the previous scene he will always take a second to sort out his clothes/smarten himself up before moving on with the scene.

The 39 Steps

Today we started to work on our next unit which is "Appling acting styles" and for this unit we are going to do our own production of "The 39 Steps". For our own performance of this we have split our class into 2 groups and each will be given an act to perform for a production. The 2 groups are Freya, Dan S, Toby and Tom in one group with Dan S playing Hannay, Freya playing Pamela and Tom and Toby as the 2 "Clowns", they were given Act 2 to do. My group is Meg, Dan M, Carl, Dom and I, our casting is me as Hannay, Meg as Annabella, Margret and Pamela, and then Dan M, Carl and Dom as the "Clowns", we were given Act 1.




Vaudeville research:
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. A typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a "vaudevillian".
Vaudeville was variety entertainment, consisting of a highly diverse series of very short acts, or "turns." The acts ranged from singing groups to animal acts, from comedians to contortionists, from magic tricks to short musical plays. A typical vaudeville bill consisted of approximately 13 acts, most of which were typically 6-15 minutes long. Many of the modes of performance developed in vaudeville had a profound effect on popular culture that continues into the present day. For example, many of the ethnic stereotypes prevalent in television and film -- Jewish, Irish, Italian, African American -- derive from the ethnic caricatures that were a mainstay of Vaudeville comedy. The comedian Frank Bush, whose act is recreated for Virtual Vaudeville, exemplifies this brand of ethnic humor.


Appling:
Vaudeville is a very useful acting style to apply for "The 39 Step" as Vaudeville is very fast pace and full of energy that we need to show in our performance. The way Vaudeville is performed with sketch after sketch is similar to "The 39 Steps" as each scene in "The 39 Steps" gives an impression that it being performed as a sketch by it's uniqueness and quirkiness that needs to build more and more each scene.