Pomona Week Seven

Pomona Week Seven

Creative Ideas

We also worked on blocking the final ensemble as a group. In the scene, Ollie is further through the tunnels and Charlie appears giving instructions for her to follow like in his RPG, before the rest of the cast begins rolling dice and speaking ensemble lines.

However, I thought this would look too busy and take attention away from Ollie. Instead I thought we could create a sort of layer or pattern of standing or sitting in a formation and rolling the dice/Rubik’s Cubes to each other. We decided to sit with Gale and Moe opposite each other, leaning against the blocks, Zeppo and Keaton opposite against blocks, and Fay and Charlie opposite each other down the centre of the ‘game board’ because they roll in those pairs.

One problem we did have was that when it says Ollie goes down the tunnels and does actions like fiddling with a locked door and hiding from people it looked a bit messy for her to just mime it walking around.

As a solution I suggested Ollie could stand on the block behind Charlie like Keaton did at one point while they were playing, and almost mime the things he says, but in a more dark and serious way. For instance, when he says there’s room for her to stand up she stands from crouching, and when she ‘hides in the shadows’ and tries the lock, she can do all of it from the block (therefore having attention from the audience) as if she’s really in the tunnel.

Even though this won’t work for all of the scene, I think it looks visually interesting even if we just use it for a small section where she goes through the hatch.

We brainstormed ideas for the final part of the scene where there’s another series of ensemble lines in the nursery under Pomona. As the last stage direction is ‘they roll again and again and again and again’ I thought we could create a layered pattern of who we roll to and roll with a more frantic, chaotic energy.

I also think as the last ensemble line is ‘dead’ we should all say it together and drop our Rubik’s cubes. Charlie could also glitch on this line because he is actually dead at this point.

Costume

This week I also decided on my costume as Fay.

It will consist of the original skirt I thought of for her, which is black and tight but comes just above my knees so it’s not too provocative or suggestive like Alistair McDowall says in the script. I will also wear a red hoodie, which looks a bit scruffy and worn. It’s the only coloured item in this outfit which I think works because it’s one of the colours on the Rubik’s Cube.

For shoes, I have chosen a pair of flat black ankle boots which are really old and not in the best condition, but still ordinary and something Fay could run in if she had to.

I think this outfit works for Fay because it’s all a bit haphazard and worn – clothing would be fairly low down on Fay’s priority list. It’s also very nondescript and dull so it wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, perfect for Fay who wants to attract as little attention to herself as possible.

I tried my hair two different ways for Fay. The first was in a messy half-ponytail, however, I was worried this still might block my face a little bit, so I tried it in a messy bun and I think this really worked because it looked very haphazard and just seemed to suit the character and the outfit. I think my natural hair works for Fay because it’s naturally quite messy.

Goals

My main goal for next week is to learn and become confident with my ensemble role as Cthulhu, as there are a lot of little things I have to do such as taking the phone off of Fay in the other cast, carrying in the TV, and threatening Gale, and I’m still a bit uncertain about the blocking of some of these moments.