Unit 4

Hamilton Q&A 
Recently we had a visit from the cast of Hamilton.

Q1)What did you find out about the background of the production background,context,characters and themes etc.

I found out that the show is based on a life about  Alexander Hamilton one of the united states' coloured founding father from the Caribbean created and originally played by Lin Manuel Miranda.

We learnt that Lin Manuel had read a biography about Mr Hamilton whilst on holiday and was asked to perform something from 'in the heights' but instead did something from Hamilton and performed it in the White House.

I learnt that Hamilton is meant to be the only coloured person but in the production,the cast is diverse. This is a huge positive and negative effect because it shows the diversity on the stage which makes everybody ( audience and cast) feel comfortable and happy with their well being however the issue is that casting then becomes difficult to cast people because there's so many considering that in the production is there are 36 who production and only 32 perform.

Q2)What did you learn about skills required to be part of the production? You could refer to your own skills and reflect to you work from last week.

I found that the skills required to be in the production is to to be able to stand out from the rest in the audition room.To do this we were advised to block out everyone else and focus on our performance and your thing that makes you different.

Other skills required being able to sing,act ,dance (obviously)but the most important of the whole is organisation. this is because you need to be able to manage preparing for performances such as remembering line, steps and songs through rehearsal and free time and your daily chores and routine and your health and well being.

Q3)What did you find about the challenges of working as a performer in the industry?

In my opinion i think fighting nerves is the biggest challenge for most people because even the cast get nervous performing. Another challenge in my opinion is to keeping consistent every day,for years because you can forget words, dance moves or even lines and mostly you can get tired so be resilient is key.

Q4)How can this inform your own approach to your training?

Lastly I realise if I wanted to do this every performance I have to do I have to do this get the same out of energy to do this I will have to improve my health and well-being.

1. What techniques were used to tell the story of 'Hamilton'? How clearly did the production and its narrative, structures and characters communicate the historical context of the story and how did they update it for a modern audience?

Hamilton uses rap and modern music like songs to tell the story making it more easier for the modern day audience to stay entertained. This also works well because rap comes from the streets of poverty and Hamilton's life starts from a place of struggle and survival like the streets. 

All of the narrative parts in Hamilton were mainly done through a character named Aaron Burr. This works incredibly well because Hamilton and Burr start their journey together and finish it together. This means that Burr knows all about Hamilton and his journey to the top.

The musical was interesting as it also provided us with American history that we didn't know here in the UK.   

2. How successful were the performance  in the production - were there any 'stand out' characters? What made their performances special.

Jamael Westman who played 'Hamilton' stood out to me because his performance was played so strongly, that surprised us all when he was answering his questions at the end. Finding out that his career was almost like 'Hamilton's as it started with struggle and survival. 

Philip Hamilton performed by Cleve September who also performed John Laurens because he channelled so much emotion into his characters. Both of his characters die within the muscial however, Phillips death is the only one you see on stage. He acts it so well that you really believe he's dying.

Jason Pennycooke had a presence when playing  'marquis de lafayette'/ ' Thomas Jefferson' that the auidence to love very much. I also thought this with Rachel John who plays ' Angelica'  and 'Eliza Hamilton' performed by Rachelle Ann Go, because of thier beautiful singing voice and how well they adapted to different emotions and moments of the musical.

3. How did the audience respond to the work at different points? How successful was communication between the audience and the performers?

During many of the solos you can tell the audience felt a connection with the characters because of the reaction. One of my favourite solos was 'satisfied' sang Angelica Schuyler.

King George's songs he makes direct eye contact with members of the audience and involves them by looking out to everyone and even pointing making the audience feel as though they were a part of the musical but also made the audience laugh.

In many parts of the musical the audience would be shocked by a characters behaviour for example when Hamilton cheats on his wife.

'I OBJECT' WORK EXPERIENCE'

Project Workshop

During project workshop I tutor had us write down the definitions for the words.

1)Authority - The Power or right to give orders to make orders and two and falls obedience.

2)Dissent - alternative opinions from mainstream.

3)Dissenting - expressing alternative on common opinions.

4)Subversion - undermining and established  systems.

5)Subversive - disruptive of the system.

6)Orthodox - following that generally expected rules of religion politics etc.

7)Establishment - E.g. government politics does two maintain the status quo.

8)Satire mockery plus ridicule of those usually in politics or other passions of power authority influence.

9)Protest Statement action demonstrate in disapproval or objection.

10)Objection a action of disapproved disagreement.

11)Ridicule = to make mockery of someone for something.

In this lesson our tutor told us that we are going be dancing at the British museum based on protest objection authority and societies issues.

But to do this we would have to find inspiration through art pieces displayed at the British Museum. These pieces were found by Ian Hislop who had the opportunity to explore these pieces in the storage cupboard and display them.

Our tutor had us look at pictures or these object before we was going to see them live in the museum and information and context that was attached to these pictures.

We were then told to brainstorm similar and popular cases of these onto big pieces of A3 paper these cases were to help us find an idea we wanted to base our dance on.

A ‘pussyhat’ worn by marchers for women’s rights in 2017.

On 21 January 2017 protests were held worldwide in support of women’s rights. Many of the marchers wore hand-knitted hats with pointed ends which looked like cat ears. These ‘pussyhats’ unified the marching millions and reclaimed a misogynistic term for female genitalia. The newly elected US President, Donald Trump, had used this word in a leaked recording when boasting about assaulting women. The exhibition will see the hat, newly acquired by the Museum, go on display for the first time. 

Day of the Dead figure of a factory owner by Pablo Morales, Mexico, 1980s

This papiermâché figure of a ‘fat cat’ factory owner was made for Mexican Day of the Dead parades in the mid-1980s. In its modern incarnation, as well as commemorating departed loved ones, the Day of the Dead portrays a ‘world turned upside down’, particularly the subversion of traditional hierarchies, the mockery of authority figures and class-based commentaries. The subjects made into papiermâché figures are chosen to reflect both contemporary politics and local concerns – this skeleton caricature of a corrupt factory owner enjoys immense wealth while his poorly paid workers toil away in appalling conditions.

The Stonyhurst Salt. Salt cellar made in 1577 in London for Catholic patrons

During the 16th-century English Reformation acts of Roman Catholic worship were banned. As such, shrines and reliquaries had to give the outward appearance that they were something else if they were to stand any chance of survival. Although it looks elaborate, this object – known as the Stonyhurst Salt – is at first glance a piece of secular tableware, a salt-cellar. However, it was made in the 1570s from silver-gilt decorated with rubies and rock crystal, taken from the recycled fragments of old reliquaries or church plate. As well as being made from religious objects, it contains further hidden Catholic messages. Rock crystal symbolised Christ’s purity, and the garnets and rubies were probably intended to evoke drops of blood (perhaps of Christ or of Catholic martyrs). The Stonyhurst Salt is proof that people did manage to retrieve and save sacred items in defiance of the law.

Ian says:

“I can imagine the rich (and obviously Catholic) owners of this object saying to their guests, ‘of course, Catholicism has been banned, we wouldn’t dream of having such items of Catholic worship here. By the way, this is a salt-cellar – would you like some?’"

Richard Newton (1777-1798), Treason!!! Etching, 1798.

There are some items in this exhibition that you can appreciate almost immediately. This British satirical print from the eighteenth century showing John Bull, the embodiment of Britain, farting at a portrait of George III is not too difficult to decipher. The English do love a witticism about breaking wind, and Newton’s unsubtle joke is a perfect example of ‘in your face’ comedy – the country is depicted, literally, farting in the King’s face.

For this lesson we went visit the British museum to have at the 'I object' exhibition to have a look for some ideas and inspiration for our movement piece. whilst we was there we also had a look at the space we will be dancing in and how much space we can use and play around with.

 Here are some pictures i took of the paintings that mostly caught my attention.  

When i saw this many ideas came to my head. I had the idea that in our piece we could also have a yellow umbrella in our piece and we could have one person hold it so its noticeable to everyone watching, just like in these pictures. 

In this lesson we had written on huge poster papers our personal arguments and feelings about society and then stuck it on the wall.

My personal argument was to that young people should be able to vote however after mind mapping all my arguments I decided to argue for animal rights. I feel that animal right aren't argued a lot because people are mainly in that "animals don't have feelings" mind set and are confused between things we "need" from animals vs things we "want" from them. I also that the "animals don't aren't for entertainment" argument needs to be more noticed. A documentary was released recently on netflix called 'Black Fish' i honest;y think if more people watch this they'd feel more aware about animal rights. 

Ideas I had for our performance was to wear animal printed clothes to make my argument noticeable to the audience. I also thought of having a collar to me look more restraint but I couldn't access that. 

On my placard I had a dark background with bold white writing to keeping eye catching and lastly  I had a red blood like lines on the black so it made it less pleasant to look at.

Link for my presentation 

Unit 4 'I object' Context Presentation