BTEC Performing Arts Blog

SAM FIELD's

BTEC PERFORMING ARTS BLOG

Who Is Warner Huntington III?

12/09/2024

Legally Blonde Musical

I will be playing Warner Huntington III in my school's musical production of Legally Blonde, so as I like to do with all of my characters, here is my character analysis of Warner...



Warner's Relationships

At the very beginning of the musical, Warner is dating Elle Woods, a sorority girl from Malibu, California. His decision to break up with her early on demonstrates his superficiality and ambition, as he does so under the pretext that Elle is not "serious" enough for his future plans. Warner’s break-up is not because he doesn't care about Elle, but because he feels that being with her does not align with his aspirations of becoming a successful lawyer. He is more focused on impressing others—particularly his family—than on fostering a meaningful connection with Elle. This sets the stage for much of his character's arc, which is driven by his desire to fit into the mould of a high-achieving, successful individual.

Warner references his brother, who is studying at Yale Law, and his sister-in-law, who attended Vanderbilt University—both top-tier academic institutions. This gives insight into the high standards his family holds him to and the intense pressure he feels to live up to these expectations. Warner is likely driven more by external validation than internal motivation, shaping his behavior and decisions. His parents expect him to be successful, and Warner seems desperate to prove himself worthy of their praise, suggesting a need for approval that he chases through status and outward achievements, rather than personal growth or happiness.

As the musical progresses, Warner becomes engaged to Vivienne Kensington, a stern and serious law student who seems to better fit his image of a "serious" partner, especially in the context of his career-driven life. Vivienne, with her cold demeanor and sharp focus, represents the type of person Warner believes he should be with to succeed in the competitive world of law. Their engagement, however, lacks passion, showing how Warner’s relationships are shaped more by practicality and ambition than by genuine connection. This reflects his tendency to prioritise status and external approval over personal fulfillment.


Warner’s Behaviour

Warner is, at his core, self-obsessed and unaware of the harm he causes others. He sees people, including Elle, primarily as stepping stones toward his own goals. His break-up with Elle illustrates his shallowness - he views her as unworthy because he thinks she lacks the seriousness required for his future successes. Warner’s perspective is limited by his narrow definition of success — good looks, a prestigious education, and an impressive career. His inability to see Elle’s potential beyond her appearance and lifestyle is one of his greatest flaws.

Despite getting into Harvard Law, Warner shows little drive or passion for his studies. His acceptance into Harvard seems to be more a result of his privileged background and ability to "play the part" of a successful future lawyer, rather than any real skill or dedication. When working on the Brooke Windham court case, Warner doesn't contribute anything meaningful and lets others—like Vivienne and Elle—take the lead. This passivity speaks to his overconfidence and reliance on his charm and connections to get by, rather than on hard work or intellect. He believes that simply being Warner Huntington III will carry him through life.

Warner's naivety is evident in his interactions with Professor Callahan. Rather than recognising Callahan’s manipulative behavior, Warner is easily swayed by flattery and the prospect of success. He lets Callahan exploit his ambition during the celebratory scenes and is too arrogant to see that he is being used.

Warner’s arrogance is shown once again through his disbelief when Elle is accepted into Harvard, when he exclaims: "You got into Harvard Law?!" His incredulity reflects his narrow, elitist mindset — he cannot fathom that someone like Elle, who doesn’t fit his conventional idea of "serious" or "successful," could achieve something he views as being reserved for people like him.

Though arrogant, Warner is undeniably charismatic. His cocky attitude and confidence in his own abilities make him appealing on the surface. This charm, however, masks his deeper insecurities and need for validation. He uses his good looks and social skills to navigate through life, but his lack of substance eventually becomes clear, especially as characters like Elle and Vivienne outgrow him.


How I Want to Play Warner

I want to emphasise Warner’s self-obsession and arrogance by showing how he constantly centres himself in every situation, regardless of how his actions affect others. In scenes with Elle, I plan to portray Warner as condescending but not outright cruel. His break-up with Elle should feel more like a transaction than a heartfelt moment — he’s breaking up with her not because he hates her, but because he sees her as an obstacle to his success. There’s a sense of detachment, as though Elle is just another item on his list of things to discard in pursuit of his ambitions.

When interacting with Vivienne, I want to show Warner as performative, trying too hard to fit into the mould of the perfect "serious" law student. His engagement to her feels more like a strategic move than a romantic decision, which I’ll convey through slightly stiff and formal body language, contrasting with his more relaxed demeanor around Elle.

Warner's arrogance should be evident in his physicality — his posture will be tall and confident, and his movements will be sharp and deliberate. In moments like his line, "You got into Harvard Law?!", I’ll make sure to emphasise his incredulity and disbelief, portraying him as someone who can’t conceive of anyone else being on his level.

At the same time, I want to subtly hint at Warner’s insecurities. Underneath his bravado is a character who is deeply insecure about meeting the expectations of his family and society. I’ll show this vulnerability in quieter moments, such as when he references his parents or his brother. In these scenes, Warner’s bravado will slightly waver, revealing his internal conflict between who he is and who he thinks he needs to be.

Ultimately, my portrayal of Warner will attempt to balance his cocky, charismatic exterior with the underlying truth that he is lost, directionless, and reliant on the validation of others in order to feel successful.



By adding depth to Warner’s motivations, relationships, and insecurities, my analysis can help shape a more nuanced portrayal of the character. Warner may seem like a stereotypical antagonist, but he is more complex, driven by his flawed understanding of success and fear of failure, which ultimately leads to his downfall.


My First Ever Dance Lesson!
Lesson

11/09/2024

Dance

I've never danced before in my life... this is going to be interesting!...


Dance class started with us gathering around our dance teacher in a semicircle. We discussed the role of the use of dance within musical theatre. We concluded that dance is important to express a character's emotions and feelings. A dance between two characters can show intemacy.

We were then asked to rank each of the performing arts "parts" (Acting, Singing, Dance) into a personal order of ability / confidence. I had dance as the solid last of my three. I've never really danced before apart from in last years school musical for which I really struggled to learn and execute. Whilst other people were able to be taught the dance once and then have it instantly nailed, I had to break it down into more managable sections and go over each bit several times.

It was now time to let the music take control of our body and get moving. We began with a warmup, before which we established the importance of warming up thoroughly - to get blood flowing and providing oxygen to our muscles. We also touched on how you are more likely to become injured if you do not warm up or if your warm up is inadiquette. Another point of warming up is to get into the right, focused mindset which is required for dance. Our dance teacher, Mrs Mockford, then introduced us to the three parts that make up a good warm-up: cardio, rotations, and stretching. Cardio exercises are those that get the heart pumping. These are important so that the heart rate can increase, therefore increasing the bloodflow to our muscles to provide them with more oxygen needed for energy release. Rotations are the twisting of certain joints helping to loosen them, and engage them for the exercises involving them to come. Stretching is the deliberate expanding and flexing of a muscle to improve the muscle's felt elasticity. Stretching can help with increased muscle control, flexibility, and range of motion. There are two types of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretched do not involve repeated movement, whereas dynamic ones do.

With the discussion out of the way, Mrs Mockford hit the music, and lead our warmup. For the first part of our warmup, the cardio section, we did various exercises including: running on the spot, jumping in the air, and sidesteps. After this, I could definately feel that my heartrate had increased. We then took a very brief break before jumping into our rotations. This consisted of rotating our ankles, shoulders, neck, and wrists. We even tried to rotate our arms in opposite directions (which I certainly could not do)! Last but not least, it was stretching time. We streched several muscles before putting our warm-up into good use - a HIIT workout. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. A HIIT workout is one where an exercise is performed vigorously before a short break and then another vigorous exercise. Our workout was a made up of 2x 5 exercises. We would perform exercises for 40 seconds, and then have a 20 second break. So in total, our workout would be 10 minutes. We picked our exercises as a group, making sure that we included ones which cover different parts of the body. To exercise our heart, we did some running on the spot; to exercise our legs, we did some squats, to exercsie our core, we held the plank position and did some crunches; and as an all-rounder we did some burpees. The workout was tough but highly invigorating.

It was now time to do some "Corner work". As a total dancing noob, I was not familiar with "Corner Work" so Mrs Mockford walked me through the structure of it all. Although the term "Corner Work" sounds very complex and sophisticated, its actually quite simple - all you have to do is travel from one corner of the room to the opposite corner! We did this exercise in pairs. In our pairs, we eased into the exercise by first just walking from corner to corner in time with the beat of the music. I think I can safely say that I nailed that, but the next exercise was a bit more challenging - we had to walk for four counts, then jump for four, walk for four and jump for four. I managed the walking fine, but panicked on the jumps, causing me to end up out of time.

play_circle Watch: My (embarrasing) attempt at "Corner Work":



The next, and final piece of "Corner Work" we did required us to walk for four beats, jump for four, walk for four, then do a three step spin, finishing with a gesture. We did this a couple of times, and by the end, I had somewhat gotten the hang of it. Moving on from the "Corner Work", we split into two groups of four and were tasked to create piece of choreography that incorporated a travel, jump, balance, spin, and gesture. Our group came up with the routine: A four step turn into an arabesque, then a two step walk into a jump, followed by a walk with a gesture.

play_circle Watch: Our self-choreograohed routine:




My Self-Assessed Targets:

1. Improve my Stamina
2. Increase my Strength
3. Keep calm so that I don't panic and mess up again
4. Become more flexible
5. Work on my timing



How I Will Achieve This:

Strength & Stamina - I will do a HIIT workout every evening
Flexibility - I will stretch before bed every day
Musical Timing - I will practise bopping to a beat
Calmness - I will try not to overthink what I am doing and just let the music guide my movement

Rehearsal Number 2!
Rehearsal

10/09/2024

Legally Blonde Musical

The second rehearsal of many for our school musical "Legally Blonde"...



Our second reheasal got off to a similar start to the first one: A register, breifing, and vocal warmup. We then split up into four breakout groups again to work on different parts of the musical. The dancers went to the dance studio to learn the dance for the number "Whipped into shape". The Paulette's went to the Drama block to learn their scene. Everyone in the opening number "Omigod U Guys" went to the music block to learn the singing. This left the rest of us to block "The Harvard Variations" which we sang through at our last rehearsal.

My character, Warner, doesn't come into this song until nearer the end, so I wasn't needed for quite a while. During the time of my not-neededness I went into a "practise room" in the music block where I sang through my main solo song, "Serious". This song is quite high in my range (I literally have one of the deepest voices known to man!) so it has been a bit of a struggle to sing. I am having to sing it right at the top of my head register. I have definately noticed an improvement in my singing of this song since I first learned it and am feeling more comfortable than I was initially, however I still have a lot of work to do on this song and my voice to make it as good as possible.

After a while of singing alone, I was collected by a fellow cast member who informed me that I was now needed in the school hall to block "The Harvard Variations". I was guided through the blocking by one of our assistant directors. My blocking was quite straight forward, I just had to wait for Elle to exit the stage, then I enter from upper stage left, and remain near the back of the stage until the very end of the song where all of the harvard students line up as if to hand in their assignments before I get tapped on the shoulder and get the surprise of my life as my ex-girlfriend, Elle, appears to have made it into the same school as me.

Once we all had the blocking nailed, we went over it acapella, then with the backing music a few times.

play_circle Watch: The end-product of our blocking:




My Self-Assessed Targets:

1. Memorise the blocking
2. Improve my characterisation



How I Will Achieve This:

Blocking - I will rewatch the video to learn my timings and positioning
Characterisation - I will create a character analysis of Warner and then figure out how his character would present himself in this scene


Meeting An Expert
Lesson

09/09/2024

Other

Past student Des, stepped back in time, revisiting his old school to enlighten us with his experiences in the world of work...


Des, a former student at my school, who had just played the main role in the National Youth Music Theatre production of "Our House" came to talk to us about his experiences with the musical theatre industry.

Rehearsals Begin!!!
Rehearsal

06/09/2024

Legally Blonde Musical

It's that time of year again! Going back to school can only mean one thing - the start of the school musical!!!


Our first rehearsal was exclusivley for those of us in principle roles and the dancers. Before we split up into our own breakout sessions, we grouped together in the school hall. Over 70 of us were present, so we created a giant circle for us to all sit in. Our director, Mrs. Morgan gave us an introduction to the musical and how everything would work, including timings, rules, and other adminy things. We then opened with a "name game" where we went round the circle and one-by-one, we would state our name, year group and character as a sort of get-to-know everybody.

It was then time for a vocal warmup. Our vocal director, Mrs Read had us making all sorts of funky noises in the name of warming up! We did some humming,

Main Rehearsal
After everyone was warmed up, it was time to split up into three separate groups depending on our role in the show. The dancers went to the dance studio to work on their dance moves, everybody involved in the opening number "Omigod U Guys" stayed in the hall to block that song, and the rest of us went to the music department to learn the song "Harvard Variations". As we were already warmed up, we dived straight into the singing. Interestingly, we started learning the song backwards - starting at the end and learning line by line until we ended up back at the beginning. We did this because the end of the song is more complex than the rest and involves everyone whereas the beginning is sang as solos. Mrs. Read divided us into parts based on our vocal range capabilities. I was in the bass section. Mrs Read sang us our parts and then we sang them back. We did this for each line of the song. Once we knew each section, we mashed them all together and sang the whole song.

play_circle Watch: Singing "The Harvard Variations":




My Self-Assessed Targets:

1.
2.



How I Will Achieve This:

- I will
- I will


A Lesson On Acting
Lesson

05/09/2024

Acting

For my first lesson in Performance Studies, we looked at acting...



After 6 weeks of summer, my acting was a bit rusty, so to ease us back into the swing of things, our first ever acting lesson began with some games. The first game we played was called "Look Up, Look Down".

How "Look Up, Look Down" Works:

• Students stand in a circle and begin by looking down. When the teacher says ‘Look up!' all students need to look up and look straight at another student (they might look straight ahead or sideways or at the person next to them).
• There must be no looking at the ground, above heads etc. They have to look straight at another student.
• If two students make eye contact, both students then move to the side and are 'out' of the game until the game finishes.
• When the teacher says, 'Look down!' all students must look down again until they are told to 'Look up!' at which point they have to look at another student.
• The teacher can make the circle tighter as more students go ‘out’.
• The winner is the last person left standing.

Unfortunately, I was out by the third round. Clearly I need to work on my skill of luck!

So, what is the actual point of this game and how does it fit into acting? Believe it or not, this game has many useful benefits when it comes to acting. This game is focused on eye contant. Eye contact is a very powerful tool in acting in terms of storytrelling and character development, as it can be used to reveal the relationships between characters. For example, when two characters are in love, they might gaze adoringly into each other's eyes. In contrast, if a character is pulling away or avoiding eye contact, it could suggest that their relationship is strained. The way characters use eye contact can also illustrate power dynamics and social hierarchies. For example, a character who avoids eye contact might be perceived as submissive, while one who maintains steady eye contact might come across as dominant or confident.
This game also builds up other skills that are useful for actors such as quick thinking, and team building.

The next, and final game that we played was called "On The Bus".

How "On The Bus" Works:

• Set up chairs to resemble a bus, allowing a seat for each student in the group.
• One student is chosen to be the bus driver. Other students think of a character with a clearly defined attitude, emotion or character trait e.g., angry the bus is late; just been dumped by their girlfriend; finds everything hilarious etc. They must make it clear through actions and dialogue what their character trait is.
• The bus drives though the town and stops to pick up passengers. At each stop a student, in role as their chosen character, gets on the bus.
• The driver and the other passengers all adopt this character’s attitude, emotion or trait, and their dialogue and physicality should reflect this.
• The game ends when all the students/passengers are on the bus and the bus driver shouts, 'End of the line; all change here!'


We played this game twice, the first time we went with any trait we wanted, and then on the second time we went with the trait of our characters that we would be playing in the upcoming school musical: Legally Blonde.

For the first round, I chose to get on the bus as someone who is very tired. I hung my head as I walked, moving slowly as I did. I took yawns and slurred my speech.

For the second round, where we had to enter as our Legally Blonde character, I got on the bus as Warner Huntington III. Warner is a charming, confident, full-of-himself law student. To reflect this, I walked confidently onto the bus with my head held high and shoulders back, as I moved, I ran my hands through my hair and along my jawline. I then stopped at the front of the aisle, turned my head to look at the other passengers and said smoothly, "Hey" before winking and making my way over to the bus driver. To the driver I said, "Put it on my card", and turned my back before strutting confidently down the aisle and taking my seat. In my seat, I sat layed back and stretched out, with my right foot resting up on my left knee-cap.


Character Building

In order to successfully embody a character, you must first understand this character. To aid in this, we did a character building exercise. The class split into two groups of 4. In our groups we had to pick 1 character from the musical "Legally Blonde" and then we had to determine the five key events of our chosen character's life. We then had to order these five events in chronological order. With our events in mind, we were tasked to create a tableau of each event, then our tableaux would be performed to the other group who would have to guess which character we were portraying. Our group chose to portray the life of Warner. We decided that our events would be: Warner's birth; Warner's first birthday; Warner's first day at school; Warner's first suit, and Warner's Graduation.


Accents

The use of accents can help to provide context and setting to a show. In our production of Legally Blonde, most of the characters have what we're dubbing the 'Generic American' accent. I pride myself on being an accent enthusiast - so much so that I actually got kicked out of Chinese class for speaking with a Chinese accent! As well as Chinese, I can do a convincing accent in Cockney, Brummie, Geordi, Scottish, Welsh, French, German, Italien, Australian, African, Jamaican, and a few more!

Listen to my accents here:


I am going to have to learn a Californian Accent for my character of Warner, which is incredibly similar to the 'General American' accent which we looked at in class. We looked at how certain fundamental sounds such as 'Ah', 'Oh', 'Or', 'R', 'L', 'T' are pronounced in the 'General American' accent.


Character Physicality

Characters can express themselves physically through various mediums such as: Body Language, Facial Expressions, Posture, and Movement. To start with, our exercise was to consider and then demonstrate how our characters would stand. Again, we used our Legally Blonde characters for this. We first thought about our character's stance. As Warner, I chose a fairly wide stance to show how he is comfortable, relaxed and confident. We then thought about how our character would position their feet. I had my left foot facing forward, and my right foot angled slightly outward on a bearing of about 45°. We then focused on the knees. I had my left leg fully extened, but my right leg slightly bent and leaning slightly out to the right. We then looked at hands - I put my thumbs in my pockets but left the rest of my hands free outside of my pockets. We then moved onto our chest. I had my chest raised slightly, but not stupidly high to show Warner's confidence and arrogance. We then focused on our characters shoulders and head position. I put my shoulders back and held my head high, looking off into the distance slightly.

Me in my character pose:
REMINDER for Sam: Place image here

With our character's stance perfected, we then thought about how our characters would move. I decided to have Warner take larger-than-average strides and almost walk shoulders first. We then walked around the room, switching directions constantly while remaining in our characters. This exercise was very useful to help us to understand how our characters can use a combination of body language, facial expressions, posture, and movement to match their personalities.

With our character's physicality perfected, we needed a way to show off our newly created characterisation, so to end our lesson, we did character walk-outs. Each of us took it in turns to walk from the upper-left corner of the room to centre stage and pose. After each walkout, we would discuss as a group our perceptions of these characters based on their body language, facial expressions, posture, and movement displayed in the walk-out. For my walk-out as Warner, I walked straight forward to the top-center of the stage, paused, turned my head to the left, facing down the center, looked through my eyebrows, nodded, and then turned and stided down to centre stage. At centre stage, I stood tall with the stance I created in the previous exercise, looking up and off into the distance. I was told that I exuded an overly confident and arrogant look, someone who is self-obsessed and also niave. I was very pleased at this feedback, as this was the intention of my portrayal.

A crucial element of an actor's performance is their entrance onto the stage, especially the initial one. Often, as you enter a scene, especially if alone, the audience's focus will be on you, and they'll quickly begin to form impressions based solely on your silent introduction. How you present yourself in those first moments sets the tone for their entire perception, therefore making this an ever-so relevant character exercise.


My Self-Assessed Targets:

1. Understand how my character behaves
2. Learn a Californian accent



How I Will Achieve This:

Character behaviour - I will write a character analysis after analysing my script
Californian Accent - I will research an actor who has a Californian accent, then watch and listen to them in interviews and try to replicate the way they sound

I Went to the Circus

07/07/2024

Other

Circus Funtasia came to town, so of course I had to go and see them!...



What a show! The circus never fails to dissapoint! The vibrant colours, daring feats, and a sense of wonder that feels almost magical. Today I revisited my favourite circus: Circus Funtasia. Before today, I had only ever been to the circus three times: Cirque Berserk in Birmingham; Circus Montini in Bristol; and Circus Funstasia in Clevedon. Today, I had the chance to relive the thrill of Circus Funtasia once more as the big-top showstopper found itself back in Clevedon.



The towering striped tent stood proud, inviting us inside to the sounds of cheerful chatter, the sweet scent of popcorn, and the distant call of a ringmaster amplified my anticipation. It was like stepping into another world. I was also pleased to see just how popular the circus was. Every seat pretty much gone, and the crowd was so loud and enthusiastic - a direct constrast to just one year ago where the circus was pretty much empty, which was very unfortunate considering the sheer talent and thrill of the show.


As the lights dimmed and the crowd settled, every performer entered the ring to welcome us to the show with a grand opening number. The spotlight swung across the tent, illuminating the first act: the acrobats. These performers defied gravity with their intricate flips and twists, drawing gasps and applause from the audience. Their skill and athleticism was breathtaking, each movement a blend of grace and power. The transitions between acts were slick, which was very impressive considering some of the clunky equipment needed to set up for the stunts. No circus experience would be complete without a clown. His antics had the audience roaring with laughter, from the classic slapstick humor to clever, interactive skits that engaged both the children and adults too. His playful chaos was a delightful contrast to the precision of the other acts, reminding the audience that sometimes, the best entertainment is simply pure, unadulterated fun. Some highlights of the show for me included: the "Globe of Death" which invloved 5 motorcycles enclosed in a fairly small ball all racing around each other while hurling upside down and round and round as they narrowly escaped death; a very clever and very cool light show involving high tech lazers that make you feel as if you are no longer on Earth, but in some futuristic sci-fi world; the aerial silks showcased incredible feats of strength, flexibility, and artistry. Performers climbed and twisted around long, flowing fabrics suspended from the ceiling, executing breathtaking drops, spins, and poses high above the ground, their movements both graceful and powerful; the juggler was a masterclass in precision and dexterity, with a variety of props—such as balls, clubs, and rings—demonstrating her impressive abilities; the acro duo demonstarting their lifts, flips, spins and balance moves, requiring impeccable trust and coordination between the partners; and the wheel of death which was an exhilarating performance involving a large, rotating wheel apparatus suspended in mid-air - performers ran, leaped, and spun within the rotating wheels as the wheels themselves rotated over and over, creating a dizzying display of speed and agility, throughout his performance, a heightened sense of danger and excitement ran rife.

The performers began to pile up on stage, signifying the coming to the end of the show, but not without going out with a bang - the finale. A grand splendor of talent as the acts grouped to one great culmination. It was a magnificent showcase of the circus's most extraordinary talents, all converging in a final, unforgettable performance. Acrobats twirled gracefully through the air, the juggler kept multiple flaming torches aloft with seemingly effortless precision, the clown, with his infectious energy, added a touch of humor and whimsy, ensuring that laughter and joy filled the space. Eventually, every performer enterred the ring each bringing their unique flair to the stage, creating a vibrant mosaic of human skill and creativity.

At the end, a roar of applause erupted as a testament to the thrill that the circus had provided. Circus Funtasia once again proved why it holds a special place in my heart. Its blend of thrilling acts, vibrant performances, and infectious enthusiasm makes it an experience like no other. Until next time, I’ll be dreaming of the magic under the big top, eagerly waiting for my next chance to be dazzled by the circus.


Reflections on Footloose

06/07/2024

Footloose Musical

In December 2023 I had the privilege of playing Chuck Cranston in my school's production of Footloose the musical...



Each year, my school puts on the most amazing musical performances. In 2023 I decided that I wanted to be a part of these stage spectacles. And so, I did an audition and got the part of Chuck Cranston. I was over the moon with this part. I knew that Chuck Cranston was going to be such a fun part to play. Chuck is Arial's (the main character's) boyfriend. Chuck is very controlling of her and treats her as a sex object which is made clear in his song "The Girl Gets Around". Chuck is an all round bad-boy, he disobeys the rules, gets into fights, and he is very disrespectful. Chuck has his brain-dead disciples also who view him as some sort of rightious leader. So, how could such a rough character be so fun to play? Well, becuase that's what acting is all about: embracing a character who you can't actually be in real life.

Upon recieving my script, I immediately set to work reading the entire script. As I read, my mind flooded with ideas of how to play this character. I whipped out my trusty old pencil and marked my ideas down. Once I had read the script a good three times, I wrote a "character report" for Chuck Cranston, analysing him as a character and setting out how I wanted to play him. I wanted him to appear mean and tough but also a bit stupid to show the foolishness that people like him posses. I wanted him to come across as sort of cool, calm and collected and have him be in charge of the scene in a kind of arrogant way but also as a hot-headed delinquant when he doesn't get his way, like a baby, again showing his foolishness. The director also wanted Chuck to have a Southern American accent. I knew that this would be a challenge, but after all, nothing is impossible. To get the accent down, I began by listening to songs that are sang in Southern American accents, such as "Our Song" by Taylor Swift; "The Git Up" by Blanco Brown; and "Honey I'm Good" by Andy Grammer; and a heck of a lot of Elvis! I would first listen to them, and then sing the songs while attempting to replicate their accents. I noticed that in the Southern accent, vowels are often elongated and slid. The "i"s are more like "ah"s. Once I had the basics down, I watched some videos on YouTube on how to do a Southern Accent. I watched the videos after learning the basics myself because I believe that self-exploration and discovery are ultimately going to be more memorable and beneficial for learning the accent as opposed to just being told how to do the accent by a YouTuber.

Rehearsals

We rehearsed frequently - every Tuesday and Friday after school from 3:10 to 5:30. We would also rehearse some lunchtimes and weekends. I was in the unique position of being apart of both casts. For our production of Footloose, there were two casts. That means each character had two people playing it. One cast would perform twice on the first day, and the other cast would perform twice on the second day, and then the first cast would perform again twice on the third day, and finally the second cast would perform again twice on the fourth day. Luckily for me, I was asked to perform in every show with both casts.

Singing

Before footloose, I had never sang a solo infront of anybody before, let alone an entire audience. Chuck had three songs in total. Two of which were fairly small. The first song was "The Girl Gets Around" which also happened to be the first solo song in the entire show, so the pressure was definately on as the perception of my performance would set the standard for the show. The song lyrics describe a woman who outwardly presents herself as innocent and naïve, but in reality, she is experienced and knows what she wants. Despite her appearance of innocence, she's skilled and confident in her actions and interactions, especially romantically. Chuck admires her boldness and is captivated by her, acknowledging that she has a powerful and irresistible allure. The repeated phrase "The Girl Gets Around" emphasises her active and adventurous nature. The song is sang quite high, which is not great for me as I have one of the world's deepest voices, so we transposed it down by a fifth. I practised this song with my singing teacher at least once a week for twenty minutes. Chuck's other two songs, "After Girl" & "Somebodies Eyes Reprise" were fairly small and simple, so we left learning these until the week before the show.

Dancing

Luckily for me, Chuck isn't really the dancing type, however he did have to dance in his solo songs: "The Girl Gets Around" and "After Girl". We covered the choreography for "The Girl Gets Around" in one rehearsal session after school. I have never danced before, so this was a completely foreign skill to me. I was really struggling to both execute and remember the moves. During that initial session, I messed up about a million times! I kept practising on my own after the first session, and I was able to get better at it, but now arose a new challenge - singing and dancing at the same time. Now, this really was a challenge, so much so that both I and my backup dancers completely messed up during our first full run through of the show. While the mess-up was catastrophic at the time, with the whole cast and directors looking thoroughly unimpressed, it acted as a volta for me and the other dancers to work 10 times harder on the dance. So, that is what we did. My sister was actually the dance captain, who had choreographed the dance for "The Girl Gets Around" so she and I got to work, for several hours on multiple evenings to help me nail the moves. Once I had all the moves down, I arranged group reheasals, first with just myself and the guys playing Chuck's mates. We bashed out the moves together after school for three hours straight on three consecutive evenings.

Watch our runthrough of the dance from one of our rehearsal evenings:

We sent this video to the cast and director who were thoroughly pleased with our progress, so as the cherry on the cake, I called a dance rehearsal for all of the dancers featured in "The Girl Gets Around". The lead director was so pleased with our progress, that she let us come up with our own choreography to the song: "After Girl". The next day, we had a reheasal of the "Girl Gets Around" with all twenty dancers involved and it went wonderfully. The hard work really did pay off and morale was high.

The Show

Show week had come. The week where all of our hard work gets displayed. I was quite nervous, but this was drowned out by my sheer excitement. I got into school early for my hair and makeup. Makeup is not my forte nor is hair, so my sister did my hair and one of the dancers did my makeup. I looked fabulous (if I may say so myself!). With my hair and makeup done, I took to the stage to do some last minute rehearsing with my fellow cast members but before we knew it, it was showtime. I put on my costume and admired myself in the mirror before we were called for a sound check.

📷 Me with my hair and makeup done and in my Footloose costume

As we lined up on stage undergoing our sound check, I began to get quite nervous. I wasn't nervous about the acting or the dancing, but the singing. I had never sang infront of an audience before on my own, and I was singing extremely high in my range. My song was also the first solo of the show, which is good because it meant that I would get it out of the way and put an end to my nervousness quite quickly, but also gave me the pressure of being the person to set the standard for the show. But time doesn't wait for anyone. We all gathered backstage, some people shaking with excitement, others shaking with fear. Behind the thin stage walls, an echo chamber of audience members' chatter could be heard. It certainly sounded like there were a lot of people in the auditorium. Then the chatter stops and all falls silent. The silence only broken by the welcoming of the headteacher. This was it. The show was about to begin. I was so nervous yet so excited. As the headteacher wraps up and the audience put their hands together, we all huddled in the wings waiting for the music to start. And there it was, the conductor had waved her wand and the musicians began to play. There was no going back now. People slowly trickled out onto the stage in the opening number, "On Any Sunday". Every member of the show, including myself was present in this number. I was one of the last to go on, and when I did go on, my nerves were not calmed. The audience was large but lively. Before I knew it, the opening was done, and it was my time to shine. I paced around in the wings trying to calm myself, taking deep breaths as I did, until the stage lights flickered on and I had to perform. I walked out like a semi-drunken stud with my cigarette in hand and the audience couldn't stop laughing at me. Their laughter actually helped to calm my nerves somewhat as I had wanted to play Chuck as a fool. I did my acting scene, and then it was straight into my song. Once I got going, my nerves dissapeared, and I sang and danced my heart out. It all went brilliantly and the audience absolutely loved it, laughing at my character profusely. We really did set the standard for the whole show, as once we had finished and gone backstage to reunite with the rest of the cast, we were bombareded with congratulations from our overjoyed cast members. Our performance had induced high morale amongst the whole cast and we were all so proud of ourselves. As the show continued, nothing really could have gone better, I acted, sang and danced my heart out. The audience hosently just could not stop laughing at this character I had developed. The show was a complete success and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. However, that was just one show out of my eight. My family would be at my next show - inflicting another factor of nervousness in me. I am pleased to say that all of the shows went really well. I did however lose my voice on the weekend and week after, but it was totally worth it!

Aftermath

After the show, my teachers' all had lovely things to say about my performance, telling me I was the best (although they probably said that to everyone). I also got recognised out in the street four times by random people who had watched the show, all of whom had great things to say about me. The show was featured in three newspapers:

One of my other interests is photography. My photography was used in the newspaper reports and in the Footloose programmes. I also made a cute little memory video with my photos:


We also had reviews from top critics at the Somerset Fellowship of Drama who said about me:

"At this performance you demonstrated just the right amount of swagger in the role of gang leader. Your distain for the young upstart Ren, who almost inadvertently steals your girlfriend was well expressed both in body language and facial expression. Chuck is a character who treats women without respect and expects them to love him for it..... not an acceptable attitude in the current era, but not unusual 40 years ago. Great bass singing too" - Jadi Carlyon SFD Adjudicator

"What a unique character Chuck is within the show. Probably the only character who does not endear himself to the audience. Sam had the swagger, appropriate level of aggression and the rich vocal tones to make Chuck rather sinister and threatening without having to exert physical aggression to any large degree. A bit of a James Dean lookalike that was perfect. I hope Sam isn't like this in real life!" - Andy Marchant SFD Adjudicator


Watch the full show:


I Won a Competition

23/05/2024

Singing

Sports day is designed to celebrate the most sporty of students. But what is there to celebrate us creatives?



The solution to this problem was put forth by a former art teacher at my school. His solution: a "Creative Showdown" competition. A competition that challenges students to show off their creativity through a series of sub-competitions for each subject on offer at the school. For example, for English there was a poetry competition, for maths there was a rangoli pattern competition, for drama there was a performance of a monologue competition, and for music there was a recorded composition competition. Students have several months to work on their entries, before they are submitted, judged by subject staff, and then displayed in a grand exhibition at the school. There is also an awards ceremony to celebrate the winners and runners up of each year group.

This year, I enterred into many of the categories, one being the music category. I enterred a recording of myself signing Harry Styles' "Falling". To my surprise, I was announced as the winner of the competition for year 11!


Listen to my entry:



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