1- Return home from school, switch on the computer, put on some Pain of Salvation so you have a 'trigger' in the exam.
2- Feel glad that you've gotten this far. Open up Facebook. Complain about revision.
3- Reluctantly dig out your AQA Anthology, which holds all the poems required for the exam. Do private, dramatic readings of the required poems to yourself until you get to 'My Last Duchess'
4- Go get dinner, you've earned it.
5- Continue reading through the poetry until you come to the end of your studied poems.
6- Check Facebook again.
7- Check the AQA mark scheme.
8- Make witty Facebook status concerning said mark scheme.
9- Sit back for a while. You've earned another break.
10- Start thinking about prom, allow these thoughts to distract you from revising and check Youtube for make up tutorials.
11- Perform said make up tutorial.
12- Curse your lack of concentration.
13- Write a blog post concerning revision as a product of your procrastination.
14- Finish blog post and eventually decide to go and do some more revision.
15- Theexam'stomorrowohshit
Monday, 23 May 2011
Monday, 21 March 2011
The Creation of a Play
Yes, I know it's been a long time since I've updated, and no, I'm not going to apologise for it. Down in the real world, shit's getting pretty damn serious, what with exam season and all. Anyway, even though I'm not going to apologise for it, I am going to make this an extra long, hopefully less than rambly post that will be both informative and entertaining. And you know why it will be informative and entertaining? Because these past few months have been very busy for me. A few weeks ago, I got my History results back from my exam in January, A, 3 marks off of an A*, but that's not the most important thing that's happened to me.
Oh no, something magnificent has happened to me over the past few months, and I can't remember whether I've mentioned it to you at all. I wrote a 30 minute play, the first play I've ever written, and entered it into the Chesterfield's Young Playwrights Competition. I got through to the Semi-Finals, and it was performed this weekend.
I should really describe to you the shock I had when I first found out that I had gotten through to the final, however, I think it would be better to describe the shock of the person who rang up to tell me that I was a Semi Finalist. She called up whilst I was in school, and my dad answered the phone. My dad knows that anyone who knows me should realise that I'm in school at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon, and so said down the phone, cautiously, that I was in school.
An awkward silence.
I think my dad told me that the next thing she said down the phone was 'How old is she?', to which her replied '15'.
Another awkward silence.
'Seriously?'
Anyway, I called her up when I got home after screaming a few times in excitement, and things progressed from there. No, it was the past few months where things really got hectic. As some of you may or may not have seen, the Derbyshire Times posted an article about the competition a week before the plays were performed, and it was only then that I realised the sheer enormity of my achievement. I was against Drama Teachers, Playwrights of 30 years, people with years of experience far beyond my own.
And what about the actors hmm? I met them all the man who played Seth, Darren Johnson (not the Darren Johnson on James LaBrie's Facebook friend list), has had a massive role in the English Soap Coronation Street, where he played PC Henshaw, and also had roles in 'Where the Heart is', 'Emmerdale', and 'The Royal'; A real actor, playing one of my characters! Corinne Handforth, with equally impressive credits, Norman Mills, and amateur actress Jayne Dent all starred in my play!
But it's all well and good telling you about who was in the play and their credits...But what about the subject matter of the play? Schizophrenia. Inspired by Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with it's message of tolerance and the interpretation of the subject matter. If they can approach such a subject artistically, why can't I? I was lacking inspiration when I found out about the competition, and as I always do when I lack inspiration, I whacked on some Dream Theater. SDOIT came on, and suddenly, I knew what I wanted to write about. Mental Illness. Which one? After some research, I decided that Schizophrenia would be the greatest to represent; After all, how many people confuse Schizophrenia with Multiple Personality Disorder?
The play was minimalist, no set, no props, just hand gestures and mime. The illness, the voices inside the protagonist's head were personified in the character of Seth. The story was told through her eyes, through which she saw her parents as monsters who cared more for their image than their daughter.
I was told I had potential, when the play was through I heard people whispering about the play all around, 'I can't believe she's only 16', 'That's such a mature topic', 'She'll go far.' Overall, I came second, one vote behind the person who came in first.
It was the first play that I wrote. I came second in a playwriting competition by one vote. I'm entering next year, and I already have my concept down. So let me leave you with the opening Monologue from my first piece of work, Monsters.
'Can you remember those stories your parents told you? The boogey-man and the bed bugs? Can you remember that they’d check under your bed, just so you could sleep with the light off? Those monsters were never real, Leah. The ones who slept in the room next to you, the ones with the eager eyes and bright lights…Maybe they were…'
Oh no, something magnificent has happened to me over the past few months, and I can't remember whether I've mentioned it to you at all. I wrote a 30 minute play, the first play I've ever written, and entered it into the Chesterfield's Young Playwrights Competition. I got through to the Semi-Finals, and it was performed this weekend.
I should really describe to you the shock I had when I first found out that I had gotten through to the final, however, I think it would be better to describe the shock of the person who rang up to tell me that I was a Semi Finalist. She called up whilst I was in school, and my dad answered the phone. My dad knows that anyone who knows me should realise that I'm in school at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon, and so said down the phone, cautiously, that I was in school.
An awkward silence.
I think my dad told me that the next thing she said down the phone was 'How old is she?', to which her replied '15'.
Another awkward silence.
'Seriously?'
Anyway, I called her up when I got home after screaming a few times in excitement, and things progressed from there. No, it was the past few months where things really got hectic. As some of you may or may not have seen, the Derbyshire Times posted an article about the competition a week before the plays were performed, and it was only then that I realised the sheer enormity of my achievement. I was against Drama Teachers, Playwrights of 30 years, people with years of experience far beyond my own.
And what about the actors hmm? I met them all the man who played Seth, Darren Johnson (not the Darren Johnson on James LaBrie's Facebook friend list), has had a massive role in the English Soap Coronation Street, where he played PC Henshaw, and also had roles in 'Where the Heart is', 'Emmerdale', and 'The Royal'; A real actor, playing one of my characters! Corinne Handforth, with equally impressive credits, Norman Mills, and amateur actress Jayne Dent all starred in my play!
But it's all well and good telling you about who was in the play and their credits...But what about the subject matter of the play? Schizophrenia. Inspired by Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with it's message of tolerance and the interpretation of the subject matter. If they can approach such a subject artistically, why can't I? I was lacking inspiration when I found out about the competition, and as I always do when I lack inspiration, I whacked on some Dream Theater. SDOIT came on, and suddenly, I knew what I wanted to write about. Mental Illness. Which one? After some research, I decided that Schizophrenia would be the greatest to represent; After all, how many people confuse Schizophrenia with Multiple Personality Disorder?
The play was minimalist, no set, no props, just hand gestures and mime. The illness, the voices inside the protagonist's head were personified in the character of Seth. The story was told through her eyes, through which she saw her parents as monsters who cared more for their image than their daughter.
I was told I had potential, when the play was through I heard people whispering about the play all around, 'I can't believe she's only 16', 'That's such a mature topic', 'She'll go far.' Overall, I came second, one vote behind the person who came in first.
It was the first play that I wrote. I came second in a playwriting competition by one vote. I'm entering next year, and I already have my concept down. So let me leave you with the opening Monologue from my first piece of work, Monsters.
'Can you remember those stories your parents told you? The boogey-man and the bed bugs? Can you remember that they’d check under your bed, just so you could sleep with the light off? Those monsters were never real, Leah. The ones who slept in the room next to you, the ones with the eager eyes and bright lights…Maybe they were…'
Me with Darren Johnson and Corinne Handforth, aka Seth and Mary
Friday, 14 January 2011
There comes a time in every young woman's life...
Where she must sit exams to determine how well she will do in life. For me, that comes in the form of GCSEs, some of which I'm taking these next few weeks. So, what did I think was a good idea to do a few nights before my real examinations? Write a blog of course! Today, I'm going to be writing about the oh so interesting topic of revision. Because everyone wants to know how a random stranger revises, don't they?
Put simply, I can't revise. I don't do mind-maps, flip cards, notes, audio books, anything. Once I've learnt something I point blank refuse to go over it again unless I have the book that I learnt it from right in front of me. Take my History for example. Over the past few years I have made literally hundreds of notes on different topics, dates and names, events and time lines. But for the revision part of it all, I have to steal a textbook from school, pick it up, and read it. That is the only way that I will remember any facts, or orders of events.
Yes, I know, I know, I'm incredibly awkward, but then I have to write out all of the separate dates, because that is the one thing that I can't remember from solid revision, dates and time periods. I wonder why I even bother updating my History notebook, once it's been written in I never look at it again. Ever. God, this is such a rambling, nonsensical post. I wrote the first part a few days ago.
Since then, I got my English results back, I got an A! Out of the 300 students in my school who re-took their English, I was the only one who got an A. Though I should be proud of that, it was so depressing because everyone else was disappointed. I also only have two more exams to go; History and a 2 and a half hour German exam...I hate German, what a horrible, confusing language.
Put simply, I can't revise. I don't do mind-maps, flip cards, notes, audio books, anything. Once I've learnt something I point blank refuse to go over it again unless I have the book that I learnt it from right in front of me. Take my History for example. Over the past few years I have made literally hundreds of notes on different topics, dates and names, events and time lines. But for the revision part of it all, I have to steal a textbook from school, pick it up, and read it. That is the only way that I will remember any facts, or orders of events.
Yes, I know, I know, I'm incredibly awkward, but then I have to write out all of the separate dates, because that is the one thing that I can't remember from solid revision, dates and time periods. I wonder why I even bother updating my History notebook, once it's been written in I never look at it again. Ever. God, this is such a rambling, nonsensical post. I wrote the first part a few days ago.
Since then, I got my English results back, I got an A! Out of the 300 students in my school who re-took their English, I was the only one who got an A. Though I should be proud of that, it was so depressing because everyone else was disappointed. I also only have two more exams to go; History and a 2 and a half hour German exam...I hate German, what a horrible, confusing language.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
A Quick Overview
In the last post, you learnt about my ambitions when I was meant to be introducing myself as a whole. Now, I'm going to give you an overview of me as a person.
As mentioned before, I'm a fifteen year old. But what I didn't mention before is that I'm relatively short for my age. I stand at about 5'4" which, by itself means that people tend to think I'm younger than I really am. My hair is waist length and relatively unstyled, and I have to wear glasses...Glasses! I hate having to wear glasses, but apparently they make me look cute, yet another reason why people think I'm younger than I really am. Asides from the obvious height and hair issues, the rest of me suits my age. I'm a teenager, not a child from primary school, I have some kind of figure.
My favourite colour is black, or if we're getting technical then my favourite colour is red. No, that doesn't automatically make me a Goth or Emo as many people seem to assume, although I am a massive fan of the Gothic culture. The fashion and the literature are incredible, Dracula has made it's way onto my favourite books list, but I'm not a massive fan of the music. I like rock, metal and progressive metal, but if the lyrics hold meaning and carry a great message, then more often or not then I'll listen to it. I adore concept albums, which is probably why all of the Ayreon project and Scenes From a Memory are some of my most played albums. I also love Opeth, A Perfect Circle, and Pain of Salvation, though Dream Theater are undoubtedly my favourite band.
I think that's enough for this post. Bye guys!
As mentioned before, I'm a fifteen year old. But what I didn't mention before is that I'm relatively short for my age. I stand at about 5'4" which, by itself means that people tend to think I'm younger than I really am. My hair is waist length and relatively unstyled, and I have to wear glasses...Glasses! I hate having to wear glasses, but apparently they make me look cute, yet another reason why people think I'm younger than I really am. Asides from the obvious height and hair issues, the rest of me suits my age. I'm a teenager, not a child from primary school, I have some kind of figure.
My favourite colour is black, or if we're getting technical then my favourite colour is red. No, that doesn't automatically make me a Goth or Emo as many people seem to assume, although I am a massive fan of the Gothic culture. The fashion and the literature are incredible, Dracula has made it's way onto my favourite books list, but I'm not a massive fan of the music. I like rock, metal and progressive metal, but if the lyrics hold meaning and carry a great message, then more often or not then I'll listen to it. I adore concept albums, which is probably why all of the Ayreon project and Scenes From a Memory are some of my most played albums. I also love Opeth, A Perfect Circle, and Pain of Salvation, though Dream Theater are undoubtedly my favourite band.
I think that's enough for this post. Bye guys!
Friday, 7 January 2011
A Brief Introduction
Hi there everyone! My name is Alice, and I'm a fifteen year old aspiring writer and actress from merry old England. I suppose I should be used to introducing myself by now, with the sheer amount of online accounts that I have scattered about the internet, but every introduction I write seems to be as mundane as the last. I used to think that I was simply bad at introducing myself to others, it's not something that I tend to get much practise at after all, however, over the past few months, I've realised something. I'm simply a mundane, average person. Some people may not want to know about the high flying achievements of the rich kids and celebrities, sometimes people want to know about real people. If that's the case, then you've come to the right place.
So, on with the introductions. As aforementioned, I'm an aspiring writer and actress. Of course, I would choose some of the most difficult career paths to get into, wouldn't I? I mean, writing fair enough, this is writing what I'm doing right now, but if I'm completely honest with you, this isn't my favourite kind of writing. What I do enjoy is creative writing, devising story lines and characters, twisting popular culture and forcing it to look at it's own reflection to show what it really is. The thing is, with my creative writing, it has to have a message that can be carried on into real life. Considering how much I enjoy the supernatural (vampires in particular), it could be seen as quite a challenge, but I enjoy challenging myself. How would an experience shape a person? How would they act because of that? Every character should be complex, and I say that every character should relate back to real life somehow. For example, one of my characters is adopted into a family after watching her mother die in front of her eyes in a brutal murder. Not exactly relatable, is it? But take the psychological aspects, the loss of a loved one, the mistrust of a new family, the feeling of not quite fitting in. Now, doesn't that seem a little more relatable?
Acting on the other hand has been a passion of mine for a number of years. If there's one thing I love more than writing, it's acting. I see it as a channel just as much as writing is. You can pour emotions into a character, anger, fear, hate, love, you can show the world your interpretation of them. But more importantly for me is the simple thrill of being up on the stage, being watched with eager eyes, telling a story through not only your language, your words alone. The performance that really got me hooked was David Tennant's interpretation of Hamlet. Probably one of the most powerfully displayed characters by one of the greatest actors of our time. I admit that I get emotional over a lot of performances, but considering that Hamlet was performed using Shakespearian English, and I still understood everything perfectly and shed tears over a lot of the performance, it really speaks volumes about the man. Because of that, I wanted to be a stage actress. There's a connection that's harder to convey between you and your audience when there's a panel of glass between you.
I said that this was going to be a 'Brief' introduction, and I haven't even gotten onto who I am as a person, what I look like, who my family are, or anything. Ah well, I suppose that will have to wait until another entry.
So, on with the introductions. As aforementioned, I'm an aspiring writer and actress. Of course, I would choose some of the most difficult career paths to get into, wouldn't I? I mean, writing fair enough, this is writing what I'm doing right now, but if I'm completely honest with you, this isn't my favourite kind of writing. What I do enjoy is creative writing, devising story lines and characters, twisting popular culture and forcing it to look at it's own reflection to show what it really is. The thing is, with my creative writing, it has to have a message that can be carried on into real life. Considering how much I enjoy the supernatural (vampires in particular), it could be seen as quite a challenge, but I enjoy challenging myself. How would an experience shape a person? How would they act because of that? Every character should be complex, and I say that every character should relate back to real life somehow. For example, one of my characters is adopted into a family after watching her mother die in front of her eyes in a brutal murder. Not exactly relatable, is it? But take the psychological aspects, the loss of a loved one, the mistrust of a new family, the feeling of not quite fitting in. Now, doesn't that seem a little more relatable?
Acting on the other hand has been a passion of mine for a number of years. If there's one thing I love more than writing, it's acting. I see it as a channel just as much as writing is. You can pour emotions into a character, anger, fear, hate, love, you can show the world your interpretation of them. But more importantly for me is the simple thrill of being up on the stage, being watched with eager eyes, telling a story through not only your language, your words alone. The performance that really got me hooked was David Tennant's interpretation of Hamlet. Probably one of the most powerfully displayed characters by one of the greatest actors of our time. I admit that I get emotional over a lot of performances, but considering that Hamlet was performed using Shakespearian English, and I still understood everything perfectly and shed tears over a lot of the performance, it really speaks volumes about the man. Because of that, I wanted to be a stage actress. There's a connection that's harder to convey between you and your audience when there's a panel of glass between you.
I said that this was going to be a 'Brief' introduction, and I haven't even gotten onto who I am as a person, what I look like, who my family are, or anything. Ah well, I suppose that will have to wait until another entry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)