STATUS

Describe the status exercises....
The status exercises we learned in acting class today were all a & b and X & Y, between two people.
The first exercise was to do with Eye Contact. Whoever was X would hold the eye contact and whoever was Y would look down at the floor whenever someone made eye contact with them. This was a great status exercise as it showed who had the higher status and who was in control. When doing this exercise I felt very intimidated and belittled whenever I had to dismiss the eye contact and look down, and in contrast when I was X I felt strong, powerful and intimidating to the other person. It was showing how the concept of "Status" can be shown through numerous ways, not just the way you talk to someone. Body language and eye contact play a massive part in Status exercises.
The second exercise was performed in pairs. One person was A and the other B, whoever was playing A had to be the shop keeper and before they spoke had to say a very long "Uuuummmm" and B was the customer and before they spoke they had to say "Um" but very quickly and not exaggerated like A. 
When playing with this exercise I felt I was more in control when I was playing B, as I felt shorter "Um's" were much more assertive and almost seemed quite condescending. When playing A I felt I was was slightly nervous and the exaggerated "Ummmm" was used as a conversation mechanism, whenever I didn't know what to say I would say "Ummmm" and it sounded very un natural and awkward, it seemed as though A was a very nervous and gormless character and B was a very assertive and rather annoying character.

What is Status for Actors? 

Status for actors is the type of character they are playing. Like in the exercises we learned today, we noticed that one actor always has the higher status. For example, in the exercise I did with Heta, we had a few lines to say;
"Hello"
"Hello"
"Been waiting long?"
"AGES"
These simple yet effective lines allowed the audience to establish who had the higher status, not by the lines but by the way we delivered them, the tones in our voices, our body language and movement on the stage. Heta and myself both decided to play characters of a high status and were generally trying to out do each other! I entered the stage and initiated the conversation, and kept using movement around Heta, holding eye contact and a very condescending tone in my voice. It appeared that I maintained the higher status all through the performance, but just as Heta was about to say " AGES" she took off her glasses, wiped them, stared at me and put them back on. This was a great use of Business, as she used her own prop to portray her higher status and it really worked! 
This has taught me that for actors, someone will always have the higher status as it is natural and an audience like to see the different statuses. 
In theater a character could be a lord or an emperor, which is generally seen as a high status, but will be played by a character who is silly, clumsy or humerous, which brings the status down- this would be seen as a high status figure being played by a low status character. It creates contrast and humour for the audience and allows actors to play around with the concept of "Status" 

Using this in my devised piece....

Status is always something that works in performances, and I always like to use it. In my last devised piece I portrayed status very well. I was seen in the first scene as someone with a high status, then as the scenes went on I allowed the audience to realise that I did not hold such a high status at all I was just doing what I was being told to do by my manager who held the higher status.
I will definitely use status in my next devised piece as it creates contrast between characters and I feel if every character had the same status it would be un natural to watch as every group of friends or family always have a status hierarchy. Humans naturally always identify who holds which status. 
I feel my character I have chosen will be given a higher status as they are quite respectful people, and achievements and problems they have made and overcome in their lives will earn them respect and a sense of a higher status. Although I believe my character is someone who would not deal with having a high status as they are quite individual and like to do their own thing, I do not think they would like to be in charge or act in such a serious manner as it would be un natural to them.

What I have discovered about my character?

After today's acting class and being in the hot seat, I have discovered that my character is well liked and very respectful.  The audience wanted to know more about my character and felt they were interesting, strong and mysterious   This is exactly what I had hoped for, as this is how I felt about the character when I first met them. I am happy that I have portrayed an accurate and well thought out performance of my characters natural traits.


Who could my character know?.....
My character comes from an Irish gypsy traveler background, so I feel they could link with a character that is from an interesting and not so common background, or someone with a "hippy" vibe to their persona's.
My character is very emotional and driven about what they want to do in their lives and have high expectations of themselves, so they could work well with someone who is the complete contrast of them, someone who does not know who they are or someone who does not care, as this could irritate my character and make good theater.
My character is also very prone to stress and worries too much about little things, this could work with another character who is very happy go lucky and never worries about anything. As my character is quite complex and has a lot of depth I feel my character would work best with someone of a similar nature, someone who is mysterious and interesting to watch.