Oggy Moxon Whole Play Context

Teechers waas written in 1985 by John Gudber and is set around the same time frame. The play is set out to be a "play within a play" where three young school girls, Gail, Salty and Hobby, decide to write a play about their school life. This is where Oggy Moxon is introduced, through this he is shown to be the school bully and tends to consider himself quite the ladies man, overall he is the general king of the school. This is shown through his response to teachers orders and interactions with other people.

New Boy Whole Play Context

New Boy was a play written by William Sutcliffe and was originally published in 1996 however the play is set 10 years earlier in 1986. Before Barry joins the school, Mark considered himself quite the lad of the school however was unsuccesful when it came to girls and relationships. This is when Barry joins the school and due to him being handsome, Mark see's this as an opportunity to get closer to women. However going through the story, Barry sleeps with lots of girls and even a teacher whilst Mark is still left for himself. The reason for this is due to Mark being attracted to Barry however he doesnt want to admit it.

Research Into Drama Schools

During this assesment, I am going through the process of being an actor looking to audition for Drama schools, this is why I took it upon myself to research and look into outstanding drama schools and see what their requirements are, what they offer and the audition process.

 

The first school I looked into was Mountview Academy, this is an drama academy based in London and is one of the UK's leading drama schools with a "long standing internation reputation for providing the highest quality training for actors.

To audition for mountview, first you have to download  and complete an application form that is sent off to Mountview, the actor must also pay an audition fee of £35. This is what is included in the audition process:

The audition day lasts from 10am – 5pm and comprises:

• An introduction to life and study at Mountview.
• Two one-hour workshops with Mountview’s creative staff on different areas of an actor’s craft such as improvisation / movement / voice.
• A Q&A session with staff and alumni.
• An audition in front of a panel.

For the monologue however, there are also requirements that need to be withheld:

• Last no longer than two minutes each.
• Be from published plays and should not be extracts from poems, novels, films or television scripts.
• Involve a character chosen from your own gender and close to your own age.
• Be performed in your own native accent.

The second school I looked into was was the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art (RADA). RADA was first established in 1904 and offer vocational training for actors, stage managers and directors. It has been quoted as a "world-renowned centre of excellence which offers the best possible facilities through teaching and practises.

When you are applying for RADA, you have to submit an application form with a £52 registration fee. In the audition process, the actors must do the following things:

• A list of audition guidance notes will be sent to applicants who are invited to audition.
• The auditions workshops will be held in London in May 2013.
• It is a rigorous audition process and may last more than one day.
• Candidates may be called for an audition at short notice.
• The Academy does not provide feedback to audition candidates.
• The decision of the audition panel is final.
• Each candidate can only apply once per academic year.

There are also different stages that the audition process is set out:

• Audition workshop (three hours)
• Interview (following the audition on the same day)
• Candidates should be prepared to attend a subsequent recall if required.

Breathing Exercises

Throughout our rehearsal process, at the start of every lesson we would all come together and perform a variety of exercises that helped us expand our bodies and also to help us warm up our vocals. We followed a video from The National Theatre that went through the exercises which we followed.

The purpose of doing these exercises is to mainly help us be able to control our breathing whilst performing which allows longer sentences. The way this works is by allowing air to flow deeper into the body especially in the lungs which will allow me to be able to dig deeper for longer sentences
Controlling the breath is one of the most crucial parts in an actors day to day life. This is because performing on stage or going for an audition, the audience want to be able to see that you are able to maintain any nerves that you have. Nerves play a big part within an actors life, just before going on stage, the actor will most likely run through exercises like ours just so they can compose themselves and be ready for the piece.

 I found this a crucial exercise in my rehearsal process because both monologues that I am performing have very long sentences with rare pauses in between.

17/04/2013 Drama Lesson: Physical Performance Technique

This lesson we focused on how we were going to physically portray our character e.g. posture and by the way we walk. The purpose of this was to dig deeper into our characters and understand what their true personality is.
We focused on one of our monologues throughout this lesson and the character I chose to work on was Oggy Moxon from Teechers.

The first exercise that we did was "Tension States", this involved us walking around the room in a neutral way but then slowly change into our characters and also change the mood that we were feeling to get a range of stance. Whilst doing this task we had to pay a lot of awareness to our body and what we were doing. in these stances. I felt this task was effective because it helped me understand how my character would react to different moods which I could also use in my monologue if tension were to rise within it.

The second exercise that we did was "Leading with a body part", in this task we imagined that we would have to walk with strings attached to our body that controlled different parts. Then different parts of our body were called out e.g. "Chin", I then placed my chin forward and walked in neutral with my chin forward, but I soon progressed into walking as Oggy would which made me turn into an arrogant person who looks down on his peers. The next body part was my shoulders, so I done the same routine first in neutral but then into my character, This time I felt that I had more of an aggressive personality and was walking around with purpose. The last body part was my knee's, using this stance it turned my character into a slob, I was very relaxed and laid back, this shows that I would just be throwing my weight around. I found this task also effective because it helped me see what I could be leading with for example my chin for that arrogant persona that Oggy has.

The third and final exercise that we went through was "Animal Characteristics", in this exercise we first acted out how we would walk with the idea of being an animal. For example we used a snake and a monkey. This both contrasted in styles because the snake would be very sneaky and gliding about where as the monkey is very excited and frantic all the time. After we did this we then thought about our character and which animal would best suit him. The animal I felt most related to Oggy was a Gorilla, this is because he is very dominant of others and tends to be with himself but is however cautious of the people around him in case of a challenge. I felt this exercise was the best out of all of the three we have done because it made me see clearly what type of person that Oggy is and how is a very powerful figure.

Overall I feel that these tasks were very beneficial for me to help me understand Oggy clearer and how I am going to physically present him. The way I have chose to present him is by having my chin up in an arrogant way and my body leaned back which pushed out the belly and knees for a relaxed, not caring look about him.

Character Profile- Mark

The play that my character is from is called "New Boy".

New Boy is play by William Sutcliffe and was first published in 1996 and first performed in 2000 at Edinburgh pleasance theatre. The play is set in 1986 and is about a boy called Barry has recently joined sixth form at the north London school and my character Mark takes him under his wing to tell him about his school.

Mark is 16 years old is the typical lad of school, this means that he is quite relaxed and considers himself 'quite a man'. He is intelligent and works hard at school with good outcomes. Instead of being in the middle of gossip and arguments, he tends to sit back and observe what is going on and find out all the gossip on his own. Amongst his peers he is seen as a nice guy who is friendly and interacts with everyone who he comes across.

Following this information, it has helped me make decisions on what I am going to portray him as, Instead of putting on an exaggerated persona like Oggy, I am going to play my role as casual and realistic as he would be. This means that I will walk normally and speak the way a normal teenage boy would speak.

Following a rehearsal looking at animal characteristics and how they could link to our character, a animal which I thought related best  was a snake, this is because they both tend to keep to themselves but are also very smart at what they are doing and where they are.

Character Profile- Oggy Moxon

The play that this character is from is "Teechers"

Teechers was originally written in 1984 and was then published in 1985. The story of the play follows three main character, Salty, Hobby and Gail. However Oggy is a character within the book who is represented as "the cock of Whitehall" and is the school bully.

Oggy Moxon is a teenager around 16-17 years old however is quoted to "look older than he actually is". This is one of his traits that he used to boss people about, the way he does this is by threatening whoever he is picking on not only by himself by also by his older brother Nobby (who has a reputation of being 'harder' than Oggy). Oggy is also a threatening figure to the teachers, not many teachers dare challenge Oggy or try to tell him off due to the fear he can bring on people. This is just the male teachers, with female teachers, he feels that he is a 'Ladies Man' and they all flutter when they see him and they all fancy him, this is the same for all females at the school and he tends to walk around with this arrogance about him even though he doesn't hang around with many people.

With this information in mind I have to adapt this to my own representation of Oggy, when I am walking around I am going to walk with a purpose. That means I am going to have heavy feet and walk at a fast pace to show that I am a dominant figure. With my vocal representation, I am going to add the stereotypical hard man tone where I put emphasis in my words normally on the last word of my sentence.

 Whilst doing a rehearsal we look at animal characteristics and how they could relate to my character, the animal I felt related to Oggy was a Silverback Gorilla, this is because they both feel they are top dog in their environment and are not scared to face a challenge from anyone else.

Iambic Pentameter

We used this exercise in one of our rehearsals. In the rehearsal we would all walk around the room reading the monologues aloud, whilst we were reading we would look out for punctuation such as full stops and commas  Whenever one would appear, we would instantly stop turn a sharp angle and walk in another direction. The purpose of this is to understand the pace of our monologues which also helps us discover the moods in which they are presented in. For example with Oggy Moxon, his sentences are very long showing off that hard man persona of not having to pause for anything, where in contrast to Mark who has very short and witty sentences representing that ladish personality.

My Two Monologues

Oggy Moxon: I'm Oggy Moxon and I'm hard as nails. As marble in church, as concrete on your head, I'm hard. As hard as calculus, as hard as it is learning Hebrew  then I'm hard too. Even Basford knows I'm rock, his cane wilts like a sock, and if any teachers in this shit pot school with their degrees and bad breath lay a finger on me, god be my judge, I'll have their hides, and if not me, our Nobby will be up in this knowledge college in a flash. All the female flesh fancy me in my five-o-ones, no uniform for me, from big Mrs Grimes to pert Miss Prime, I see their eyes flick to my button holed flies. Cause they know like me, that no male teacher on this staff could satisfy them like I could, cause I'm hard all the time. Last Christmas dance me and Miss Prime pranced around to some bullshit track, and my hand slipped down her back, I felt that arse, that school boy wank, that tight buttocked reebok footed leggy arse, i felt that and heard her sigh, for me. In cookery once, my hands were covered in sticky paste, so I asked Mrs Bell the substitute if she could help me get a hanky from my pocket, of course she would, a substitute wanting to help a pupil, not knowing of course my boxers were in the wash and my pockets had holes in. "Oh No" she yelped. but really got herself a thrill. And as I walk my last two terms in this shit pot school full of boredom, I see grown men flinch in fear. So be warned when Oggy Moxon is around, Get out your cigs, and lock up your daughters.

Mark: Parents evening, an Orgy of social embarresment, i love em. It's also a good opportunity to see who has the fittest mum, Jeremy Dorlin's is quite nice, so is Robert Konisbergs, which for an ugly boy comes as quite a pleasant surprise. Best post forty arse in the whole of Edgware. All Christians have ugly mothers, oh except yours I'm sure, and Peter Pillow's, the vicars son, who's mum has the subtle allure of a shaggable nun.  All the asian mums are occasionally horny with the odd fit daughter in tow. The jewish mothers go for the drab but over dressed combo, high heels, stone washed jeans, low cut top, hair curled and dyed red. Leaving only the goldern greeners to dress with any style. The fathers fall into two groups, brown and white, other than that their quite indistinguishable. The Christian fathers  divide into groups, Volvo drivers- Classy, BMW drivers- Yobs made good. My dad never listens to the interview, he spends all night flicking through my form list seeing who he is going to pump into next, besides my school work is always good. My dad's only said one thing to me after parents evening, never become a teacher.