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.

Thursday 16th April

We had the whole day for rehearsals before our show. We started off with making sure that everybody had the right costumes. I had the same costume for Passenger 2 and I did for Passenger 3 the day before. I used the same thing for the goat that Luke did the night before, I didn't wear the horns because I couldn't easily get them to stay on. We decided that we didn't need to obviously look like a goat because it says it in the text. The main focus for my in this rehearsal was running the show fully without stopping and with the full and correct tech. Because I was absent for the tech run, there were a couple of positioning things I had to work on. These were simple as most of them were just making sure I was in the right light and to make sure I was downstage enough. It was also the best chance to work on all my entrances and exits coming on from the wings all at once. Before this we had only done it for particular scenes. It also meant that I had to do costume changes for the first time. Thankfully I had quite a bit of time between my scenes so they weren't rushed apart form changing from Inhibitions to Vince. 

It was also the first time we had run Act 2 in the correct setting. It was very different being in the round because you had people all around you and had to act it more naturalistically and not act towards the audience. It was easier in the lighting sense because we used house lights so we were always in the light.

After our first run, we felt that the Brittany scene needed the most work so after a short break we worked on this again. We were all a bit sloppy on our lines and group movements but the second run of these scene gave us all some time to talk through what we were going to do so it didn't look bad during the performance. There are a few parts in this scene where we all have the same movement, for example the 'we beg you to reconsider' line. We all get down on our knees and shuffle towards Lisa but some of us didn't do it at the right time so this needed sorting out.

Easter Rehearsal

In this rehearsal we did worked on act 1. Because I was not there for the tech run I had to watch Luke's performance, and get movements and stage positioning from that, the only thing I had to change was how early in the Goat scene I had to get down from the top block. Up to now I had been up on the block until the part when Lisa talk about her hour, but now I am down from the block after my first line, meaning I have to very the way I move around the stage and work on my proxemics. This run was a good opportunity to work on this, I wanted to make sure that I moved around enough to keep the audience interested but not so much that it detracted from what I was saying or looked forced. Me and Holly both had to make sure we were both further downstage as well so we are in the right lights.

I also got a chance to work on my non verbal communication once Jane enters. I don't have many lines so I have to show my emotion and frustration through my body language and facial expression. One of the things I want to get into my performance is a distinct change in Laben's System of Efforts. I feel that there is a dramatic change when I tie the rope round her. It goes from a low number to a high number, perhaps from a 3 to a 5 or 6. This is something that has helped my in rehearsals to show a dramatic change.

13th March

In this lesson we ran Act 2 in Lena's room. Because we are double cast it meant that we had to take turns in doing this. My cast started off and it went really well. I have one part in this act that I have to focus on. Because we weren't in our usual setting and we didn't have the staging we normally do, it was really just useful for our positioning and lines. I was happy with my lines in each of the subject changes but I am struggling to remember certain lines that change the subject, such as the line about the message on the phone. I also got the giggles during this run through which didn't really help with lines.

Singing 13th March

Our main focus this lesson was to learn 'Everything you Didn't Do' By Jamie Cullum. 

Before learning this, we started my looking at vocal warm ups. In the lesson before we had done more research on them and came up with a couple individually. My ones were about developing range. We then showed our techniques to the class and teach it to them. This was useful as it meant that we all got to learn and try a load of different rehearsal techniques that we hadn't necessarily come across before. 

We then started to learn 'Everything You Didn't Do'. We listened to the song first to get a general feel for it, before doing it ourselves. This was helpful because it meant we got a feel for the tempo and the different sections of the song. 

We split the songs up into the sections when we learnt them, the verses are very similar so once you've learnt one, you have pretty much got them all, the same goes with the chorus.

For next time we look at this song, I want to be able to improve my projection, and I think as I learn the song more this will come more naturally. I can also use some of the rehearsal techniques I learnt at the start of the lesson to help with this.

Friday 13th March Dance

In this lesson we carried on from doing 'The Peaks and the Pollicles' from Cats. We had already been working on the dance and we started with going over the movements from last week. Then we added in some new movements. One of the bits that we added in was a slower section of the song in which we dance in pairs. My partner is Holly Hopkins. This adds a new dynamic to the dance because of the change of pace. We added a bit at the end where there is a face off scene between the paps and the journalists. The movements we do here link with the lyrics and it works really well.

My targets for next week is to work on my extension as I feel that this is something that is lacking in my rehearsals and will therefore effect my performance.

Tuesday 17th March

In this lesson we ran through the first 30 minutes of the play for both casts. The first half an hour contains the Victoria scene, lift scene and pretty much the whole guard and oathtaker scene. For me this means that it just the lift scene. I am in this scene in both performances although it is not a long scene nor is there much dialogue when I am in the other casts performance. My cast went first. It was the first time we got to practice our entrances. We come on early when Lisa is on the phone, we did this because it meant we could rush into the 'lift' without it looking too messy from the wings. We have a square of light at the front of the stage which is our 'lift'. I decided that I would deliver my lines overly loud because it is such a cramped space it makes it more comical the louder I speak. We also got a chance to get used to our entrances and exits, these are important in the lift scene because they have to be pretty sharp to keep up the levels on confusion.

19th March

We were in the exhibition hall for this lesson. It meant that we didn't have the space we were used to but it wasn't a problem.

We started off with a warm up which got everybody a bit more into the mindset of getting some work done. Most of the class went to work on their scenes, however me, Taylor, Amber and Olivia were talking to Rachel about our production roles, becuase I am marketing with Luke we talked about getting in local schools to come and see some rehearsals and run throughs. I then looked up the head of drama for the local schools and made a list for contacting later. 

We then watched the other classes performance of their scene. I enjoyed the physical theatre element of the chosen section and the interesting traverse staging.

Then we performed our chosen scene, we decided that we would do from the start into part of the guard scene, my only part in this is the lift scene, and because Luke wasn't here that day it meant that I got to do it and was was a great opportunity for me to perform it to an audience. I went really over the top with the voice in the scene and I was happy with how it went. I also thought the movement had the humour in it that we wanted as it is meant to be a funny section.

10th March

In this lesson our main focus was to work on the Brittany scene. We had worked on it previously but it was a good chance for everybody to work on it again with everybody knowing their lines and with there being more chance to work on the movement as this is a very important part of this scene. Because the idea of the scene is the characters confusing Lisa, it means that if it has a fast pace and lots of confusing movement, then it is easier for Lisa to be confused.

We worked on some movement in this scene in times where there is lots of confusing, one of the main points is when I am on the floor and Biffer trips over me and then we proceed to run about in lots of confusion, but it has to be with the intention of confusing Lisa, not just random running about. Also at the end of scene, when everybody goes off to battle, because I have to come back as Vince very shortly after, I leave on my line "We don't stand a chance" where I run up through the audience and can then come back down dressed as Vince.

In this scene the thing I need to focus on is non-verbal communication because I don't have that many lines but I still need to show how my character is feeling. Using the states of tension is good in this scene because there are times when the mood of the scene changes very quickly and so to be able to show the change in mood through my movement is vital.

March 24th

In this lesson we looked at act 2. It was only the second time we had looked at this act since the first lesson we blocked. Becuase we had mainly been focusing on the first act up until this point I was really struggling with my lines. Because of this I didn't feel that I could as much into my acting as I would have liked. Because we went first in this rehearsal, it didn't give me an opportunity to observe my opposite. Although I felt that my acting took a backseat for lines, I did get the opportunity to look at different ways of moving around the space. In the section where I get quite angry we had it so that I would stand up and walk away from the bed with a tone in my voice that showed I was angry but was subdued in volume because I would still be in a hospital so wouldn't be able to shout. This worked really well, and I felt that it was easier to deliver the frustration that Vince is showing when adopting this tone. What I will be working on for the next time is making sure I am line perfect so I can focus on voice. In this act and part of this act especially, I think that movement isn't as important as voice, because this is a naturalistic scene and people tend not to move so much and it shows good contrast between acts.

Thursday 26th March

In this lesson we focused on the oath taker scene. Because me and Luke aren't in this scene it gave us a good opportunity to run some lines for the goat scene. It was really helpful to have this time to ourselves as it gave us the chance to try out different ways of portraying our character and having the other person there to get feedback from and to work on ideas that they may have had. In this time I decided that I wanted to play the Goat as a sly character being very shady. This means that I will have to think about my posture as a sly character will tend to be hunched over for example. I would also focus on voice. I think that my choice of voice will be smooth and slow paced.