This lockdown we were challenged by Kelly to complete a series of episodes for a sketch show produced by the film and tv students. There are 4 episodes of 'Laugh or you'll Cry' with 7 sketches in each. In this blog post I'll be telling you all about the process.
The Initial Discussion
When we first got told about this sketch show I didn't really understand the idea. I thought it was very similar to the Coronavirus Time Capsule. We were then told by Kelly that each week someone from film and tv would approach us with an idea and script and ask if we would be in their episode. On the first week of discussion it was also decided that us acting for stage and screen students would perform our own sketch. The general theme of 'Laugh or you'll Cry' seemed to be existing tv shows, so we immediately got to work on an idea.
Episode 1
This week I was approached by Tom Swales with a script inspired by Gogglebox. This was the only script I received this week and I'm very grateful as I had a lot to do this week associated with drama schools and what not. The script had two characters in it - Margaret and Barry - who are watching Boris Johnson announcing that lockdown will be extended until the foreseeable future. I liked this short script as it kicked off Episode1 and it was entertaining and fun to perform. Tom was a fabulous director as always and it was an enjoyable piece to perform. There was a line in the script from a character off screen named 'Barry'. I assumed that Tom would do a voice over for this character but instead thought I'd get my dad with his aggressive Geordie accent to shout the line. Personally, I would even say that he stole the Sketch!
I can be found at the very start of episode 1:
Episode 2
This week I was approached by Amiliyah with a script named "Lockdown Fortunes". In this script i was playing an uninterested and sarky contestant who buts in when other contestants are speaking. I must admit that I was not a fan of this character or script as I felt Amiliyah's vision was not cleared. I asked her how I should play the character and her reply was emotionless. I found this quite difficult and didn't feel I captured the character well when looking back on it. This week we also filmed our script that Kelly had written us named "Educating Stockton". Our piece was a lot more complicated than a lot of others in my opinion. Kelly wrote us a script after a lot of persuading as none of us felt capable and we were worried about other sketch shows, as well as drama school work (which seems to be the bane of everyone's lives at the moment!). I adored the script that Kelly and her husband Richard had written as I feel she really captured the essence of what we were trying to portray. In this script I played a character named Grace who was a 'typical prefect'. I loved this character as I feel I had a lot of space to play around with her. I tried to make my performance as over the top and pompous as possible. My aim was to capture the audience's attention every now and then, even when I had no lines. Filming this piece was also very fun as everyone was very focused and excited to perform as their character. 'Educating Stockton' will in fact be in episode three but I shall attach episode two below for you to see me in Amiliyah's sketch. My part of the sketch can be found 3 minutes 44 in :)
Episode 3
This week 'Educating Stockton' was published! Episode 3 was a one off kind of episode as Sam wanted to show little bits that people had done as well as our big piece, meaning it was published earlier than the other sketches and off schedule. I will explain the other scripts that I got sent this week when talking about episode 4. For now, enjoy episode 3! Our educating Stockton piece starts at 2 minutes on the dot! (For some reason I can't upload the video so I will leave a link for you to follow)
Here we are, the last episode! This week I was approached with scripts by both Tom and Amiliyah. The theme of the scripts were both the same. I was in the final of Amiliyah's game show and Boris was announcing the end of lockdown for Margaret and Barry. I still was not too keen on Amiliyah's character, but I did like the script more this week. As for Tom's script, I found it funny and got my dad involved once again! I'd attach the episode but it is not out yet unfortunately!
Overall, I thought 'Laugh or you'll Cry' was a good little task overall and I thoroughly enjoyed filming our 'Educating Stockton' script and would love to do something like that with my class again before we leave.
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