“Tears Don’t Fall” - Bullet for My Valentine

With blood shot eyes, I watch you sleeping
The warmth I feel beside me is slowly fading
Would she hear me, if I called her name?
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on
The path I walk is in the wrong direction
There's always someone fucking hanging on
Can anybody help me makes it better?

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home
Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home

The moments died, I hear no screaming
The visions left inside me are slowly fading
Would she hear me, if I called her name?
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on
The path I walk is in the wrong direction
There's always someone fucking hanging on
Can anybody help me makes it better?

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home
Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home

Would she hear me, if I called her name?
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on
The path I walk is in the wrong direction
There's always someone fucking hanging on
Can anybody help me makes it better?

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home
Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home

Your tears dont fall...

This song is really difficult to explain, but I will do my best. The thing with Lofgren is that he’s always been on his own. His dad left before he was born, he doesn’t know anything about him, even his name. His mother has never really been able to provide. He couldn’t go to school, and he spent the majority of his time taking care of his little brother. He’s always wanted more from his life, specifically his father and a mother that listened. This song shows that.

EJ Lofgren!

If my character was to have a 'theme song' his would be the song "Tears Don't Fall" by Bullet for my Valentine. The lyrics are below.

With blood shot eyes, I watch you sleeping
The warmth I feel beside me is slowly fading
Would she hear me, if I called her name?
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on
The path I walk is in the wrong direction
There's always someone fucking hanging on
Can anybody help me makes it better?

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home
Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home

The moments died, I hear no screaming
The visions left inside me are slowly fading
Would she hear me, if I called her name?
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on
The path I walk is in the wrong direction
There's always someone fucking hanging on
Can anybody help me makes it better?

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home
Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home

Would she hear me, if I called her name?
Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on
The path I walk is in the wrong direction
There's always someone fucking hanging on
Can anybody help me makes it better?

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home
Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me
Her conscious calls, the guilty to come home

Your tears dont fall...

"Harvey" Biography - EJ Lofgren

Hey, my name is Eugene Jonathan Lofgren, pleased to meet you. most of my friends call me EJ. I was born on December 17 and I’m 33 years old, that makes me born in…well, you can do the arithmetic. I have brown hair and blue eyes, but everyone only seems too notice my unshaven look. I don’t date, I spend all my time doing my passion, cab driving.


Some of my favourite things are: driving my cab, drinking, smoking, watching sunsets with my passengers, lookin’ at the birds, did I mention driving my cab?. but i tend to hate: backseat drivers, the doctors, not getting my money, Tuesdays, it’s the day I don‘t work.. i think I’m pretty cool, seeing as: most of my passengers tend to talk to me about things. some people say i'm annoying and a bad driver. You know i have this terrible habit of drinking too much and I’m impatient. i don't like to tell people that dogs scare the living crap out of me. but you know i have plans, one day I’ll own my own cab driving business!

So here’s my deal:
I’m a nice guy, when I want to be. I like my job, it’s not the greatest, but I find some enjoyment in all the people I’m driving around. Some of them never say anything, they just sit and look out the tinted windows. Sometimes they talk to me about their problems, or their day, or their dreams, or their lives, and you know what I do? I listen. Cause when it comes down to it, they probably aint got no one to talk to about these sorts of things. You know how I know this? Easy. ‘Cause they’re telling a complete stranger. Sometimes when talkin’ to them and listenin’, I get a pretty darn good tip for me to spend how I please.

Once in a while, I get these people who as me to bring them to some mental house, I forget it’s name. I just know that on the way their, they’re just so friendly. It’s like I was explainin to some rich lady not to long ago. On the way to the mental house, we talk, we watch sunsets, look at birds, we exchange numbers, and they tip me big. But sometimes, when they ask me to wait and take them someplace else when they’re done gettin’ that shot them doctors give, it’s awful. They tell me how to do my job, and then they don’t tip me, and they sometimes don’t even pay.

When I’m not working, which is only on Tuesday nights, I like to hit the pubs and meet up with my old friends. They all got some low life jobs, too. We drink till we aint got anymore money, then we go home, drink some more, and fall asleep.


I was born to Eleanor and Joshua Lofgren in this wonderful city I call home. it was okay, because my mother was a nurse at one point and my dad, well I have no clue. as for siblings, I’ve got one of them, and here's a little bit about them:
Joe Lofgren, he’s twenty nine and he’s a driver for Brown Cabs, has been for twelve years.
If my life were an autobiography on the New York best seller's list, then my book would probably go something like this:

My mother and father split up before I was born. I don’t know much about the old man, ‘cept that he was a real bastard. I don’t even know his name. But I don’t care, I grew up just fine. Well, I didn’t go to school. I spent all my time helping me ma’ around the house. And when she go pregnant from some guy she met one night while drinking, I had to help her even more. Don’t get me started on when Joe was born. That was such a shit time, he was such a loud baby.

When I turned 18 I got myself a job with Apex Cabs, and I’ve been drivin for them ever since, that’s 15 years incase you didn’t know.

The Storyteller!

The story teller we watched in class the other day was, for lack of a more descriptive term, interesting. I found many things about her storytelling strange, but in between the strange aspects, were some very well thought out and performed actions.


The first story she told was that of a well known local story teller, who’s name I cannot remember for the life of me. I missed the title of the story, but it was something about “Tulips.” The storyteller’s first impression on me wasn’t very great. While she tried very hard to get down a voice for each character, I had trouble deciphering what she was saying through the thick accent she used for the voices. When she was saying “tulips” I thought she was saying “two loves.” Though her voice was confusing, her body movements were perfect. When she was an older character, she stood up tall and straight, and looked downwards to convey that she was talking to someone shorter than her, and what I thought to be true, someone less important than her in age. I really liked her facial expressions for the older woman in the story. She held her head out further than the rest of her body and really led herself with her nose. This reminded me of the exercises we worked on in class on letting certain body parts lead to represent character. It didn’t seem as important as I thought it was supposed to be, but watching the storyteller use her body differently for each character showed me that it does so much.


In her next story, I found myself at the verge of tears by the end. It was such a cute story, that I ended up saying “awe” at the conclusion. The storyteller had a specific voice for each of the many characters that were included (and there were a lot!). Her voice for the main character, the little boy, was perfect. It sounded so childish, so little boy like, that I completely forgot that there was a woman storytelling. I, once again, found her body movements the most striking part of the performance. She would look up at something when she was portraying the boy, and slouch just enough to make it noticeable. I didn’t need to hear her voice to know that she was someone little. When she was a man, she crossed her hands and positioned her legs in a manly way, and when she was a woman she sometimes but her hands gently on her hips and move with a slower, feminine walk. As she was holding the football, medal, and other items the boy gathers, she used her hands so well to convey them. She cupped her hand around the medal to show it was something smaller. She held the football with both hands, she held the shell to her ear, and shaped them to fit a shape of a shell. I could see the items, even though they weren’t there.


I personally didn’t like the telling of the “the tell-tale heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. I hadn’t read the story in a long while, but what I remembered from the story was not what I saw in the storyteller’s telling. It almost went to slow; her pauses were incorrectly placed and it made the story’s flow choppy. Like stated before, her hand movements were good, and for the same reasons as the other stories.


Overall, the storyteller was impressive. I’ve never seen / watched a storyteller before, so it was interesting. I liked the storyteller’s actions, but I was thrown off by her pauses, voice, and accents.

Trust!!

Trust is…

• Being able to tell someone something, knowing that they aren’t going to go around school blabbing it to someone else.
• Knowing that the person or persons you trust won’t laugh at you for making a stupid or silly mistake, they will laugh with you.
• Knowing that whoever it is that you trust will always, when they can of course, help you when you need it, or have your back when your in a bad circumstance
• Your best friend
• Confidence in someone or even yourself.

On stage trust is…

• Knowing that your partner or partners know their lines, their blocking, and if they don’t knowing that they won’t completely through the whole thing off.
• Being able to act on embarrassing or awkward scenes with someone, knowing that the audience, mainly in theatre class, will not laugh at you, but with you if it is a comedic skit, scene, etc.
• When doing improvisation skits, that your partner won’t do something completely random or off topic to mess the thing up. And even, knowing that they’ll be able to go with what you throw out there, and vise versa. Being able to work with others.
• Being able to work with someone you don’t usually, and not fear awkwardness, tension, anger, or anything but confidence, and happy things.

To gain trust back…

• Is an extremely difficult thing, for myself especially. If someone betrays me and tells the school or someone else a secret I trusted with them personally, they need to do a lot to show me that they deserve my trust back.
• It takes a sincere effort to gain it back. More than just an apology, or “I’ll never do it again.”
• Show me that you really are sorry. If I need help with something, or I’m stressing out, do something to get me through it.
• If you get the chance, have my back on something.
• Hell, even trust me with something of your own. If you can trust me with a secret, knowing full well that I can get back at you and tell the school your secret, than you must really be a good friend.

Macbeth at HJT

On October 8, 2008 the Harwich Winter Theatre put on a ‘modern’ version of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Director, and actor, James Byrne, took creative license while putting on the play for his fourth time. This time around, Byrne chose to make the play more modern. To do this, he changed the costumes and props from the expected robes, gowns, swords, etc, to modern day army uniforms, hand guns, military knives, and cell phones. His idea was solid, but the outcome was not. Byrne chose to keep the Shakespearean poetry throughout the performance, while only changing a line here and a line there. While the costumes were an effective use of modernizing the play, it was confusing to listen to the actors speak in Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, while wearing and wielding modern day accessories. In defense of the director, it is highly difficult to change the entire text from the original play to a more understandable language. That would have taken a significant amount of time and unneeded stress, but the least he could have done was change the more confusing lines into less confusing ones. The idea of using new aged military wear, according to the director during the question and answer session, came from the idea that Shakespeare’s plays were not specifically written for any one time period. The costumes were the clothing that people would have around their homes or ones that were easily attainable at the local clothier. While the costume idea was true to Shakespeare’s ideas, the use of the original text took away from the overall modernization of the play.


It wasn’t just the text that took away from the modernization, not in the slightest. It was the set, the props, the movements, the gowns, the candles, the throne, the witches, and the fact that the soldiers were wearing American flags on their uniforms and running around through the mansion of a Scottish king. The set was pure black, and while this conveyed the dark and gloomy mood of the play, took away from the modern ideas. There was no signifying set pieces that stood out as “This is a modern day version of Macbeth, not the original ten hundred’s version.” The set took away completely from not only the modernization, but from the play as a whole. As a first timer to the play, I struggled severely trying to figure out where the scene was taking place each time the scene changed. The only time I truly knew where the characters were, due to the set and only the set, was when the king, whether it was Duncan or Macbeth, was sitting upon the throne. The throne was the only signifying set piece that was on stage. Whenever a character was sitting upon the throne it was clear that the scene was taking place in the throne room, castle, mansion, whatever the director had chosen it to be. The only negative thing about the throne chair, was that it made it seem like the play was back over four hundred years ago. As far as props go, the characters still carried candles, and drank from jeweled goblets. In this day and age, people do not carry around candles when they awake from sleep, nor do they drink from golden cups daily. To make the play really modern, James Byrne could have chosen to have Lady Macbeth grab a flashlight, turn on a small lamp, or even use her cell phone as a means of seeing where she was going. Byrne also could have had the actors drink from wine glasses, beer glasses, anything more modern than a jeweled goblet. Actors could have chosen to walk and act more like they would if they were walking through a supermarket. Instead, they walked around on stage very old style sophisticated. This was done by their steps, long steps and elegant. While they may be in a position of royalty, it seemed a bit off. I would have pictured a modern interpretation of a Shakespearean play, less sophisticated, less over dramatic, and more casual.


The witches are a different story. While the interpretation of the three witches was a personal favorite part to the play, it completely threw everything off. The three witches, in this case the two, one being a schizophrenic, came on stage wearing long black robes. At first I was saying, “wow this is going to be so cool, the withes are in such a perfect costume.” But once the witches finished their opening scene and the other characters came in wearing the army uniforms, I was completely thrown off. It seemed as if the time period jumped from period to period. A real modern version of the play would have changed not just some of the characters costumes, but all of them as well. During the question and answer session, Byrne commented by saying that he wanted the three witches to be portrayed by two actors, one being a witch with two personalities. He wanted to convey the witches like the majority of homeless people with mental issues in this day and age. But the witches did not appear to be homeless, whether they even had a home wasn’t an element included. The problem with the witches, however, was not that they didn’t accurately represent homeless people, but that they didn’t represent anything in our time period. They only represented the original witch portrayal back when Shakespeare first put the play on.


But like I have said, the idea of the witches was one of my favorite elements to the overall production. I have to admit that until I asked the person sitting next to me if one of the actors was playing two witches, I was truly confused. Once I was confirmed, I was able to appreciate and fully understand the idea behind it. The particular reason why this idea was so amazing in my mind wasn’t so much the idea itself but the way that Kristen Stewart performed on stage as the schizophrenic witch. While she was onstage as the witch I couldn’t help but watch in complete awe. The way she was able to go from a senile, crazy, hunched over witch, to a tall standing, sophisticated, and proud witch within a matter of seconds was extraordinary. Getting into character for one role is difficult, but to get into the characters for two roles at the same time is even harder. Kristin Stewart was truly spectacular while play the witch she played. Her presence on stage added so much to the overall brilliance of the Harwich Winter Theater’s production. If all the other characters showed the emotion and skill while on stage as she did the play would have been even better.


Kristin Stewart did more than just be two of the witches. She also played a porter after Macbeth kills Duncan. She was portraying a drunk man that was complaining about the knocking. She had great interaction with the audience, not only with her acting on stage, but by actually going into the audience and calling members names and talking to them. I myself was one of the people she interacted with. She called me an ‘equivocator’ and it was very enjoyable to be interacted with by one of the actors. While interacting with the audience, Kristin Stewart kept character. This added to my enjoyment of the play because, like another member of my theatre class stated, she added comic relief to the play. It was a good break from all the dramatics.


The dramatics resumed as soon as Stewart left stage. When she left, the play continued with its gloomy plot into the further creation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s character. On topic of Lady Macbeth, the actor who played her, Lisa Canto, also stood out among the others in terms of her acting skills. When she first entered, she was in a fancy gown, wearing high heels, and reading from a piece of paper that was the note Macbeth had left it. If Canto had only appeared in that one scene, her acting skills most definitely would not have been shown. In my opinion, her opening scene was lacking something. It lacked the emotion I felt her character should have had. It wasn’t until her later scenes that I saw the emotion that made her performance spectacular. The way I envisioned Lady Macbeth was another power hungry character that only cared about just that, power. Having not read the play I do not know if Lisa Canto further developed Lady Macbeth’s character. Based on my assumption of Lady Macbeth, Lisa Canto did do a great job at changing the character into more of a human being. She had so much emotion, in contrast to before, after she started dealing with the guilt and regret of being involved in the murder of a good man. When she starts to go insane, I could feel everything her character was supposed to be feeling. I felt it through her voice, her movements, her speeches. As she is on her death bed, Canto is the only person I can watch. She has no speaking parts, she has no action except laying on a bed covered completely by her sheets. While there was a whole scene going on, all I could do was watch the barely living Lady Macbeth. When Macbeth starts sleeping, he has a dream in which the apparitions appear. It is in this scene that Lisa Canto shows that she is an amazing actor. Byrne has her character become the missing third witch, and as Canto does this, I literally had shivers go up my spine. Her performance was extraordinary, full of emotion and talent.
Besides Stewart and Canto there are many other actors that do a really well job with their character and in some cases characters. The list of who did their part well would require me to list the entire cast. Not one person stood out in a negative way. Not even Karen Stewart, the little girl who plays the son of Macduff and one of the witches. She may have been young, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t take away whatsoever from the performance.


What did take away from the overall performance was the lighting. The lighting was really important to the whole play. When a character broke scene to think within their minds, but really talking aloud, a spot light was put on their face and the lights on the other characters on set were dimmed down or completely turned off. There were some cases where it was very confusing to comprehend that the character was talking in their minds, and not with the other characters. One scene in particular that was really a failure was when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth stop their conversation because Duncan and Malcolm have arrived. When they arrive, Macbeth goes into his thought monologue about his plot to kill the king. I was very confused because Lady Macbeth gets up from her seat and leads the visitors into the home. They appear to be standing right behind Macbeth as he is plotting to kill the king that is in the room. The lighting was not clearly focused on Macbeth, so it was hard to distinguish between the two things going on.


Distinguishing between what was going on wasn’t the only thing that was difficult. It was difficult to understand what the actors were saying. It was not that the actors were mumbling, speaking to fast, speaking to slow, or speaking to quietly, it was that I didn’t always know what the meaning behind the Shakespearean text. While I could understand simple things, I could barely understand any long speech given. Because I have had no previous study of Macbeth, I had a disadvantage when it came to comprehending what the actors were saying. The lack of prior knowledge to the play was a difficult thing to deal with. I had to struggle to follow what was going on, and even with the help of the person sitting next to me, I had no clue at some points. I lost a lot of enjoyment during these times. It would have been a lot better if James Byrne had done more modernization of the text then just a couple lines.


Overall, the play was a great success and experience. It may seem that there were many things wrong with the production, but its not that. The criticism I have written is simply that. There was nothing truly wrong with the play, not in the slightest. There were just certain thing s that required more depth, or more analysis. Like I said, the play was a truly wonderful experience. Not only was it my first time seeing and learning about Macbeth, but it was my first time at the Harwich Junior Theater. I highly anticipate the next time I go to see a performance there.

Stock Character Description

Commedia del’arte: Flavio

Physical Appearance:

• Young
• Attractive
• Never in a mask, always has lots of dramatic makeup on
• No props carried like other characters, their ‘huge ego’ is the “prop.”

Costume:
they are overdramatic complete with a crap load of makeup.
costume should represent Flavio's wealth.

Motivations:

• In most commedia skits or scenarios or plays the inamorati’s main purpose is to be in love, try to fall in love, or lose love.
• It says that scenarios can’t really be complete without the lovers.

Nemesis:

• Himself because of his self obsession. He sometimes is more interested in himself than he is all the potential girls.
• Also the older men, ie Pantalone and Docotore.

Animal Associations:

• Flavio is often related to have the likeness of a lion cub.
• Lions are supposed to be the fiercest animal of the jungle
• They’re highly respected
• The fact that Flavio is a lion cub shows that he’s young and foolish.
• In class with Miss Heick, we had to choose an animal we thought fit with our characters. I just happened to choose a lion.

Mannerisms:

• Flavio loves himself, if he sees a mirror he will usually stop and look into it to admire himself.
• He is mainly in scenes to fall in love.
• When he meets the other female lovers, he get tongue tied and cannot speak.
• Flavio come off better than the other characters. He is a better person to be with because he treats people right, usually.
• He has a great reaction and interaction with the audience. The male lovers love to be watched and reacts to please the audience.
• They are hot tempered.
• Love to defend the honour of someone.
• He likes to bully anyone he can.
• Throws tempers.

Physical Actions:

• The male lovers have more of a dance like walk. They lack firm contact with the ground.
• They flitter around stage.
• The make over exaggerated gestures.
• They sometimes randomly break into song, dance, or poetry.
• Their lazzis revolve around them doing something more fun than what he’s assigned to do.

So I’m really excited for this character, like honestly I am. I’m so ready to be him. I know the walk, I know the talk, I’ve got it downnnn. I cannot wait until I can perform as this type of character when we do The Love of Three Oranges in class. This character is going to be a real experience for me. Even though I’m not great at comedy, this part is a perfect way to get me good at it. I’m so excited. :]

"Hat Skit" Reflection

• The setting: a street in London. Time period, not specified.
• Characters: A confused older woman who has lost her sister. (Chelsea) and Police Officer who has to help her. (Dylan.) Oh, and the shopkeeper who informs Police Officer of some confusing news. (also Chelsea.)
• Plot: Chelsea walks onto stage breaking the fourth wall and asking the audience if she has seen her sister. Then, Dylan the Police Officer asks her some questions about her missing sister. Chelsea explains how Bertha (her sister) chased off a butterfly and never returned. They were at a shop on one of the streets. Dylan tells Cheslea he will call her when he learns news. She runs off stage dramatically and Dylan goes to the shop. Chelsea, now as the shopkeeper, tells Dylan that Martha (the confused lady) never had a sister and she is mentally ill because of a fall she took when she was younger. Dylan phones Chelsea and has her meet him at the café. She thinks Bertha is dead, but Dylan explains how she never had a sister. Chelsea remembers and leaves stage. Dylan is very confused. End scene.
• This was SO FUN! It was originally the first hat conversation we had in class. It was serious and I felt Chelsea and I could totally make it more. When we were planning it, we decided we wanted funny. It was so great working with Chelsea because I never had before. Her and I worked great together, and I felt we did a great job on the skit.
• The only thing I did wrong was I forgot to bring my skit home for the weekend and I didn’t get all my lines down fast enough for the performance. I could have done a lot better with that, but we did it all right.
• I hope I get to work again with Chelsea, it was great. I felt very positive about this skit, and after learning that it was so much like Theatre of the Absurd, I cannot wait to study that. It’s a blast.

Hats

Hats are a great way to get into character. Also, they are way to make the audience understand who you are portraying easily. If someone is wearing a police hat, obviously they are a police officer or someone of the law.
As for getting into character…
If you have on a nurses cap, you might, and probably should, feel more in character because you are in part costume. They help you take on that identity because of the fact that you’re wearing what they wear. Now, sometimes people may not be able to get into character just by wearing a hat.
I know that if I wear a beanie, I feel punk. If I wear a safari hat, I feel like a safari person. It works for me, so yeah.

Strengths v Weaknesses

Strengths:

• Memorizing lines is easy for me.
• I love improv.
• I can play almost any part without hesitation.
• I love to be dramatic.
• I dance and sing; so for skits, scenarios, plays, etc. I can do that pretty darn well.
• I’m extremely creative.
• I can take a character and transform it into my own easily.
• I love acting, hey that’s a strength!
• I’m really not afraid to embarrass myself.
• I can do romance, dramatic, and serious scenes well, at least I feel like I can do them without feeling awkward or nervous.

Weaknesses:

• Sometimes I don’t work great with others, especially when my ideas are ignored or something.
• I sometimes get quiet when I’m nervous, so projection I have to work on.
• I need to cheat out more! I always want to stand normal, and walk normal, but it doesn’t work on stage.
• I get stage fright sometimes. It depends on what I’m doing.
• I don’t trust easily.
• I’m not really great at the whole comedy thing.
• I’m very critical on myself, and it sometimes gets in the way of what I’m working on. :[
• I’m easily distracted.
• It’s hard for me to stay in character for long periods of time.
• I tend to talk very fast.