Character Profile for Jimmy

Jimmy

Name: Jimmy
Age: 16-17
Gender: Male
Occupation: Unemployed youth
Traits: Foul-mouthed, Aggressive, impolite
Likes: Anti-social behavior
Dislikes: People getting in his way

Detail: Our first impression of Jimmy is a foul-mouthed delinquent with no bright future. He is the older brother of Jonny and a former student of Mr Avila. Jimmy is prone to anti-social behavior shown by the way he deliberately headbutts and hits Mr Avila without worrying for the consequences of his actions. Jimmy is shown to abuse his brother when he hits him in the damaged ear, giving us the impression that he regularly bullies Jonny at home. Jimmy hints that he is has a step-father which means that his parents are divorced. Like most of the other characters such as Micke, Jonny and Oskar, Jimmy posses a pocket knife.

 

Jimmy

Character Profile for Janne

Janne

Name: Janne
Age: late 40s
Gender: Male
Occupation: Unknown
Traits: friendly, Up-beat
Likes: Oskar's Dad, Drinking
Dislikes: Oskar

Detail: Janne is knwon to be a close friend of Oskar's dad and likes to casually hang around with him. The initial impression of their relationship is either close friends or possible lovers. We know that Janne dislikes Oskar however the reason behind it is unclear, a possible reason is due to the fact that Oskar stands as a barrier between Janne and Oskar's dad becoming more than just friends. Janne interacts with Oskar in a different manner compared to his interaction with Oskar's dad. Janne becomes more cold towards Oskar when they are left alone. However, within the dad's pressences becomes more up-beat and kinder to Oskar.


Janne

Character Profile for Torkel

Torkel

Name: Torkel
Age: between 38 - 43
Gender: Male
Occupation: Unknown
Traits: Heavy drinker, Married, Casual appearance
Likes: Drinking
Dislikes: Unknown

Detail: Not much is known about Torkel other than the fact that he is married and is a heavy drinker. The fact that he is a heavy drinker possibly suggests that he may have trouble in his marriage or trouble with his job. we know that he has a watch meaning his is another casual possible business man who is earning a moderate wage. We know that he has a baby with his wife which gives us the impression that he is in his late 30s or early 40s. All in all, he is made out to be an average Swedish working man who drinks.


Torkel

The 2 films and play of Let the right one in

The whole play is based on a novel and partly of the Swedish movie also titled Let the right one in. Below are three synopsis on the two film adaption, play adaption:

Let the right one in - film synopsis

In the suburb of Blackeberg in Stockholm, the twelve year-old Oskar is a lonely and outcast boy bullied in school by Conny and two other classroom mates; at home, Oskar dreams on revenging the trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve year-old next door neighbour Eli that only appears during the night in the playground of their building. Meanwhile, Eli's father is a serial-killer who drains the blood of his victims to supply Eli, so she doesn't have to kill. Eli advises Oskar to react to Conny fighting back; however, he soon discovers that she is a vampire and he feels fear and love for the girl.

Let me in - film synopsis

In Los Alamos, New Mexico, the twelve year-old Owen is a lonely and outcast boy bullied in school by Kenny and two other classmates; at home, Owen dreams of avenging himself against the trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old next door neighbour, Abby, who only appears during the night in the playground of their building. Meanwhile, Abby's father is a wanted serial-killer who drains the blood of his victims to supply Abby, who is actually an ancient vampire. Abby advises Owen to fight Kenny; however, soon he discovers that she is a vampire, and he feels fear and love for the girl. Meanwhile a police officer is investigating the murder cases, believing that it is a satanic cult.

Let the right one in novel – Plot synopsis

The story centers on the relationship between a 12-year-old boy, Oskar, and a centuries-old vampire child, Eli. It takes place in Blackeberg, a working class suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. The book focuses on the darker side of humanity, dealing with issues such as existential anxiety, fatherlessness, alcoholism, school bullying, pedophilia, child transgenderism, and murder.

Day 5 + 6

Day 5 & 6

Summary: We continued on with rehearsals as scheduled and practised the movement pieces such as the now fight, the tree movement with Oskar and many more. On day 6 we created a mind map of individual characters and tried to distinguish the links between the characters. We also looked into the character mind-set and came up with possible reasons for each characters motive and behaviour e.g. Eli’s relationship with Oskar is questionable due to the fact that she seems to like him but at the same time it seems as though she is manipulating him. This leaves further questioning into the behaviour and motive of Eli.

What went well: We fully completed the snow fight scene and the tree movement piece everyone is more in time than before and more in synch, I was also in time and in synch with the whole movement piece. The mind map has allowed us to further develop our characters and character relation with one another.

Improvements: We need to rehearse more on the script and complete some scenes such as the mum and Oskar scenes.

Short Day 4

Day 4

Summary: We continued with rehearsals and got up to the part at which Oskar and Eli lie in bed together and Eli becomes Oskar’s girlfriend, we also got to the scene in which Hakan dies by Eli’s hand, we also had time to create a movement piece to suit the snowball scene in which Oskar’s injures Jonny by hitting him with a stick. The movement is duck, scoop, stand, pull back and throw, at this point other people join in and then on the third sequence everyone joins in.

What wen well: We created a movement piece for the snowball scene however it is far from perfect and only needs minimal work, rehearsals went fluently and uninterrupted.

Improvements: The snowball movement scene needs minimal work with everyone’s timing needing improvement and possibly changing a few things, accent still needs some improvement.

Day 3 - Video included

Day 3

Summary: On this day we continued rehearsals and worked on the scene between Oskar and Eli in which they finally have their first proper conversation, we continued this on for the whole lesson. During this time I busied myself by looking at videos of Scottish accents and how to acquire Scottish accents.

 What Went Well: We continued on with our rehearsals fluently and constructively and I have improved on my accent from before.

Improvement: The accent is never complete and therefore I need to strive harder in order to accomplish the accent.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mALkCGVA2BU

The link presented shows a professional voice coach who teaches people how to acquire a Scottish accent.

Detail to pay attention for in this video is the way the 'r' sounds are tapped and not rolled as well as a few keywords that helps to develop Scottish accents even better.

Day 2

Day 2

Summary: On the second day we continued with rehearsals as planned and have so far completed the scene with Oskar and the tree, the sequence is: Thrust, duck, Right hook stab, pull out, slice across, pull back and repeat. During the first sequence only a few are on stage, during the second sequence more people join on stage and on the third sequence everyone joins on stage, the ending move is the right hook stab where everyone disappears off stage. We further continued with the rehearsals and practised the whole sequence numerous times. We have now come to the part which focuses on Oskar and Eli relationship.

What went well: We have completed the whole part with Oskar and the tree and rehearsals went well except for a few high tensions at the beginning between some actors but other than that the rehearsals are progressing nicely. I have improved on my Scottish accent a little bit from before and plan to continue improving.

Improvement: I believe that my Scottish accent is far from complete and a lot of work is need to be done, as a result I am looking into video which try to help acquire the Scottish accent.



A artists rendition of Oskar and Eli

Day 1

Performing arts diary for Let the right one in

Day 1

Summary: On the first day, we acquired our roles for let the right one in; the character I have been giving the liberty of portraying are Torkel, Janne and Jimmy, Torkel is the first victim of death in the pay and suffers a brutal death by Hakan as he is hung by his legs and his throat is sliced and the blood is collected, Janne is a long-time friend to Oskar’s dad, the relationship between the two characters is unknown, some portray them to be just friends while other’s perceive the two as having a more deeper connection than that, Jimmy is Jonny’s older brother. During the lesson while practising the roles, we came upon a problem, in which we had to deliberate the best method of hanging me upside down by the feet, at first we suggested using pole to hang me upside down in the performance but we soon retracted the idea due to the fact that it won’t be able to support human weight, we decided on trying a tower which we haven’t put this method into practice yet but are looking into the idea. We continued on with practice and ended on the Oskar scene in which Oskar is slicing at a tree with a knife with the rest of the group joining the movement piece, we came across some complications in the timing of the actions and looking into better methods.

What went well: I believe so far that I have grasped the lines a bit better and have some little understanding of what the character Torkel experiences, this is going to help further develop my accent and my character of Janne as well, we as a group have also completed the first scene and have an understanding of what the other scenes have in store for us.

Improvement: I have reviewed my performance so far and I believe I need to improve my Scottish accent more fluently in order to portray the role of both Torkel and Janne better as well as practising the whole movement piece with Oskar and improving timing.