Variety Tech Run

My tech run was pretty simple, I wanted general cover lighting so that i would be seen clearly. However I didn't want too much light directly on me because I need to be able to see the balls I would be juggling. There was also only one music track that I bring in and out by signalling to Katie. 

This was all that was really needed for my tech run and it was pretty simple!

Variety Rehearsals

Because I knew what my act was going to be pretty soon in. It meant i could get to work on practising the skills I needed pretty quickly. The mains skills that I needed to work on was my juggling.

I could juggle balls to a pretty decent standard but I wanted to do something a little bit more exciting than just juggling three balls, so I decided that I would learn how to do a couple of tricks with three balls. Once I got these down I started to see if I could learn how to juggle rings.

This is a video of me practicing some of my juggling with rings and balls.

After I worked on these I thought that I could try to learn how to juggle clubs as these look really good on stage when done correctly. I had really struggled with these because there is a whole different technique. This is a video of me juggling some clubs.

I decided that I was not comfortable enough with rings and clubs to juggle them on stage, so I decided that it would be better to do do just balls really well rather than clubs badly. From this point on, all of my rehearsals consisted on working on my ball juggling and the fancy bits of my card trick, such as the card flick.

Nothing really changed in my rehearsals from this point on.

Cats Evaluation

We were part of the year 13 performance of Cats. We were in the song 'Peaks and the Pollicles'. In this song I played the part of paparazzi. This involved us taking pictures of the models before the song, and then during the song performing the dance routine we had we been rehearsing in lessons. I was really happy with how the dance went. 

I think that I showed good strength in this performance. There was one lift that we did and it went really well, we did take another lift out because we did not feel comfortable doing it with the space we had on the side of the stage. I also think that another performance skill I was happy with was my extension. It was something that in all of my previous performances I had not been very happy with, so using the mirrors and watching videos of he performance back, I worked on improving this for this performance I was really happy that this performance had my best extension yet. 

Something that I felt that I could work on in the future after this dance is my flexibility. I have felt that the warm up routines we worked on in lessons helped with this, but as it probably my weakest skill, it could still be improved a lot more. I can work on this by doing some stretches and high kicks to work on the flexibility in my legs. 

Overall I was really happy with this performance. My main target after this is to improve my flexibility. I want to be able to do a decent high kick by a couple of months time. I can do this by practicing my high kicks and working on stretches.

Evaluation of Variety

On the 19th May I performed in the Variety Show. My act consisted of juggling and magic. I was over the moon with how my performance went. I was worried in rehearsals that I would be too nervous and stumble over my words or not have the stage presence I desired, but having watched back a video of my performance I was really happy that I was clear and understandable as well as a little funny (if I do say so myself). I was also really happy that both the magic and juggling couldn't have gone better! There was a risk that I could drop the balls or other things at the wrong time, but everything went exactly to plan. I thought that my stage presence was good because I was on my own and so I had to command the space. I also had to make sure that every part of the card trick was clear to the audience, not just the audience member on stage. This meant projecting my voice well and showing the trick to the front. I think I did this really well and used comic timing well to get the effect of the trick across well. I think this suited the variety bracket well because juggling and magic are both very old forms of entertainment that has been used in variety entertainment for many many years and so my doing it is very much similar to acts that would have originally been used in variety performance.

Practice Routine

Contemporary Theatre Comparison of Texts

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was based on a series of poems by T.S Elliot. It premiered in 1981 in the New London Theatre in London. Because the musical is based on a series of poems there isn't an especially obvious theme or story running through it. There is however a slight storyline regarding Grizabella as she tells the story of how she was once a glamorous cat but now she is not, before going to the heavyside layer and regaining her glamour again. The version of Cats that we were a part of had the overall theme of Fashion. Instead of being Cats, the characters were all part of the fashion business as models, designers and other parts. This was quite a radical exploration of the text as there isn't any reference to fashion in the script. It was also a good premise for having the year 12s involved as we played paparazzi and Journalists trying to get pictures of the models at the 'Jellicle Ball'. We also played party guests at the end of the performance, which involved coming on and mingling before singing and dancing at the end. We were there to add more of a hustle and bustle to the stage and make it look as if there is more people, although we not have any direct impact on the story or any of the songs.

The original staging was set in a junkyard which did not change throughout the performance. Because this version was set about fashion, the staging included a catwalk, an office area, clothing rails and other stage blocks. Like the original performance, none of this changed throughout the performance. The different areas were good for showing the different type of character. For example the models spent the majority of their time on the catwalk and the designers would have spent time in the office. This performance also had the use of projection. This was used to give a bit of background to the characters when their song was happening, this was useful because it was not always clear what connection the different characters had to the 'story' or each other. It was also used for the Email to Mrs. Mistoffelees, and news articles. Because of the lack of storyline, these projections were really helpful to the audience to give them a bit of added information and understanding.

The build up for the performance was quite stressful because lots of it was quite last minute. We were aware of being part of the main dance to 'Peaks and Pollicles' for longer but the Finale and other songs were very much last minute, this meant as a cast we had to all come together to be able to produce something of a really high quality to match the year 13s. We also had to be emotionally invested in our role. Because we were all playing supporting roles, it was really important for us not to steal the limelight. We had to make sure we were positioned right on the stage so that the focus wasn't on us but we added a bit of depth to the stage.

My first impressions of the song we were in was that it was going to be quite manic and busy, so I made sure that in rehearsals I made this obvious in my movements and the way that I carried myself onstage. I have seen videos of paparazzi so I knew the kind of way they act when they are doing their job, they are very up in every bodies business. It was quite odd to try and recreate this because we still had to make it so that we weren't too much in the way, we had to make sure we got the right balance. It was also hard to compare our role in the first act with our role in the second act, this is because it was very hectic and busy in the first act and in the second act it is a lot more relaxed in the way that we move because we are party guests so more sophisticated. Having the interval in between gives us a good bit of time in between the two very contrasting roles to get into the zone.

I felt that I did really well in my dancing because I had been struggling in the past with this throughout the year and I felt very comfortable and in control through this. I was really happy with my extension as this was a target I have been setting myself throughout the year. Something I feel that I didn't do so well with was my facial expressions, because we were so rushed with the dances and most of our participation in the show, I had to really concentrate on making sure I got all my movements correct and in time so I feel this took priority over my facial expression. I definitely think that my physical skills took more priority over my interpretive skills. If we had more time then I think I would have been able to focus on the interpretive skills as well as the physical ones. I think overall I was happy with the performance and it was good how we all came together as a cast to be able to perform well at short notice.  

Evaluation of Perfomance

My performance took place on the 16th April.

The first scene I am in is the Lift scene. I felt that this went really well as a whole because all of our movements were correct, and the audience laughed so we managed to get the comedy side of it across. I was really happy with my lines in this scene. I had struggled with getting them to be both loud and clear. Normally one seemed to be more prominent than the other in rehearsals and I knew that it was really important that the audience heard the lines as they are funny but can also be seen as linking to Vince, as well being the first really obscure stuff she hears after seeing Victoria. If I were to change something in this scene if we were to do it again it would be that there would be some music and all the passengers would move to that, as I feel it would add another layer of comedy to this short scene. 

The next scene I am involved in is the Goat scene. This was the scene I was most concerned about because I was struggling with the line learning especially in the parts where the subject changes, because if I miss a subject change it could mean a vital part of the text isn't said making the story unclear. In the performance I remembered all of my lines so I was really happy with this. Another thing I was worried about in this scene was the movement. It was the one scene I rehearsed the least with Rachel, so a lot of the movements and proxemics were ones that me and Luke both had a lot of input with ourselves and ran it by Rachel rather than her tell us the blocking. Because of this however I felt that I had a bit more free reign over where I moved around the stage, I had to make sure the vital parts were there, for example the tying up and the pushing down had to be down in the right place on stage and I had to be there in enough time to do it. I was really happy that my movement including my posture suited the character of the Goat, being sly and suspicious at first and then changing to mean and really hunched over after the big change in tempo in the scene, when I put the rope around Lisa. I had done a lot of work on the my voice for the Goat as I wanted to show he is sly but almost friendly at first, I don't feel that in the performance I did the best I could at this, I think this was partly due to nerves, which is a shame because I feel that this could have added to my character a lot more and made him more convincing. Overall I don't think my characterisation in this scene was to bad because I showed a dramatic change between the first and second part of the scene before Jane enters. I don't think I would change anything drastic within the scene, however I feel that I could have improved the characterisation in my voice so it was different to all the other characters and my own voice.

I feel that the Brittany scene went really well. I had a lot of fun in it and I think that my movements onstage fitted with the 'confusion' of Lisa. The thing I would say about this scene is that at times I felt that I was overacting and a few of us were drawing attention away from the dialogue. It was hard not to at times, especially with the hot dogs. Because we have to act as if we are confusing Lisa, it was tricky to try to be nonchalant. I feel that we could work on non-verbal communication better in this scene so it is still funny but does not detract from the dialogue too much. 

In Act 2 I play Vince. There is such a dramatic change between my characters in the first and seconds acts that it was quite hard to make the switch from stylistic acting to naturalistic. I had to take a minute to compose myself before going onstage because Holly and I had a tendency to giggle during parts of this scene and we didn't want this. I think that I showed good naturalistic movement in this act, but still showed emotions such as anger so a link between the characters in the first and second act can be made. 

Overall I feel that the show went really well, everybody in both casts did really well and we all had such a laugh putting it together and performing it. I felt that I learnt a lot from this show in terms of stylised movement as well as naturalistic acting and voice.