Next scene

During this lesson, we decided to 'block' out the next scene. Although the first scene was not fully polished, we were running out of time and decided to have a simple basis for the next section. To do this, we took the script and finished editing it. Then we decided to do a run through of the lines, focusing on character and intention. Then we took this and started playing with how it will look in our set (we have four rostras). 
To show a hierarchy, we decided that Eliza and Mr Doolittle would be standing on the floor, but Mrs Pearce and Higgins would start standing on  the rostra. This shows a clear divide in status and class, as the upper class are physically higher up. After a few lines, Mrs Pearce steps down from her high position, and starts conversing on the same level as the others. This shows that although she truly 'belongs' with the upper class, she has the ability to relate and empathize with the lower class. In terms of character, this may symbolism that she is kinder than she first appears. She most likely grew up in a lower class, so relates to Eliza and Doolittle. Moreover, she seems to feel protective of Eliza already. This is shown in her dialogue, and how she interacts with Eliza. 

Script Pt 2

Throughout this lesson, we took the section we had chosen and further edited it. To make the section flow better, and make more sense, we cut many lines and edited the majority of lines that were left over. Moreover, we cut out the role of Pickering in the second scene, and merged his character with Higgins. This was done to improve logistics, as there was too many characters on stage. Although we are multi-roling, we believe it would be too Brechtian to have constant multi-roling. This would perhaps make our performance a little confusing, and our intentions would be unclear. 

Furthermore, we edited small lines and words that will most likely go unnoticed. For example, rather than saying 'she' Doolittle will say 'it', and will refer to Eliza as his 'creation'. This further creates the sense that Eliza is a robot, and that she is treated like an object. 

Next scene

After rehearsing our opening scene, we decided that we needed to put some of the edited script into our performance. To do this, we decided that our next scene would be the bathtub scene, where Mrs Pearce forces Eliza to take a bath. We decided to choreograph this section next. 
However, we felt that it would be confusing if Eliza was suddenly at Higgins's residence. To rectify this, we decided to add a small transitioning scene that depicts Eliza being bought by Mrs Pearce. She will look Eliza up and down, and will murmur something like- "Yes, I believe this is what he wanted." Finally, after observing me and Beth (we are other robots for sale), she decides upon Eliza and wheels her offstage. 

Moreover, throughout this transition, we decided to focus on how he were going to portray Mrs Pearce. Firstly, we collectively decided that Sophie would be good for the part of Mrs Pearce. However, we were unsure how she was going to change the character for our interpretation. We played with a few different techniques and representations of Mrs Pearce- confident and 'proper' with her movements, but her accent will be a strong cockney accent, or an extremely exaggerated interpretation of a cockney person- she will be hunched over and almost shriveled, and her face will be contorted. 

Overall, we havn't yet decided on how to play Mrs Pearce, but we will continue to play with her character in this scene.

Transition

At the beginning of this lesson, we took our opening section and polished it. We finished off the malfunction section and finished the first scene. Then, we decided to create the transition between this opening and the second scene. We have looked into using sound-scapes in our interpretation, and decided that we could look into using a small section of sound-scaping for our transitions.

To do this, we decided to imitate the small humming noise that a computer makes when it is on standby. This is a rather dissociating noise and we feel this is an effective transition. We have not yet polished the noise, but we have decided that we will create harmonies whilst humming- Beth will be the lowest, Sophie will take the middle note and I will hum the highest note. We will introduce this noise whilst Milly is being lifter and we will hum in short bursts of four seconds with small gaps in between. 

We may use this as a motif, and have this noise in all of our transitions. 

Introduction scene

During the lesson, we took our previous introduction scene and built upon it. We started standing on four blocks, and in canon, we stepped off the blocks and performed a small sequence in the middle, facing forward. This shows the robots and how they can act as if they feel, but they actually have no emotion. 
After this small introduction, the robots begin to malfunction, and we randomly fall to the floor and finish contorted and broken. To show that Eliza can actually feel, Milly gets up and, still in a jerky manner, she tries to help us. She becomes more fluid, and 'alive'. This section ends with us raising Milly up in a 'calippo' lift to symbolise her reaching for humanity.