13/2/15

Today was our performance of 'East-End Tales', and after 17 weeks of rehearsal, I was pleased with the overall outcome. The project was for our page to stage unit, in which we were being assessed on our storytelling, physical and technical skills. we brought Fin Kennedy's piece to life. The play was very physical, and Miss.Goodall aimed to keep it an ensemble piece as it could be by making sure that at least three quarters of us were present on stage at one time, and even fitting us all in, in the beginning and the ending performance with  all 25 of us , in which we used torches, music and a minimal prop list, which  consisted of red stools and two umbrellas.

In the development of the play,  we did multiple improvisations, using a section of a tale as a stimulus, urging us to make bold character decisions and scenarios. In the rehearsal process, discussing the text was useful in creating character objectives. I also think that being given a scene to be creative to work on allowed us as the cast to impose our own opinions of the piece, making us really form ideas and responses to the text.

Our relationship as a cast was very strong. We were able to cover each other if lines were forgotten and we were so comfortable with our work. I think the moments that worked particularly well were  the opening driving scene because of the complete darkness we were in - the lights emphasized drama and directed the audience's attention to different parts of the stage. In full light it wouldn't have been nearly so effective. Secondly where the driver's area is,is only lit by the lights of the headlights and the passenger.

I thought the rhythm of Tale 3, the Bar scene, worked well as the atmosphere was energetic and fun. Again, as we went into darkness it was a very dramatic scene change and a mood change from the light atmosphere of the bar to the retelling of Jack's story.

My favourite moment was Tale 1 when all the girls worked together the atmosphere was harmonious and we bounced energy off each other which made us personify the text .

The scene that featured another actor that I think was most effective was when Nina connected with Jamie's character and showed sympathy towards her, she also used her voice carefully and used full body language to express her feelings towards the opposite character and used the space wisely. My favourite moment in their tale was when we used physical theatre to become a counter at a shop.

For weaknesses, I think the play could have been improved if people used more characterization to make their characters more believable and project a lot more especially over the music. I think there could have been more moments where we just used used physical theatre to tell the story and would have made it more abstract. Also some of the transitions were a bit messy because i found myself bumping into people and having to be discrete not to show there was a problem.

This term, I have really improved my development of character objective, and physicality. I payed a lot of attention to characterization, as i'm slow at finding out my character and making them become realistic. Having to share lines with other people made me think of the decisions i should make for the character as not everyone else would have that perspective of the character i'm thinking of, and how I can respond to that. I don't think I was as focused with line learning as I could have been, and next term I would like to be really on top with my blocking and speech, so that I know my performance is the best it can be. I've realized that I need to improve my self-confidence, and not think/ compare myself to others, because I would find myself constantly saying that I wasn't good enough and that the audience would think I was terrible, but as a performer i need to be brave to take risks, overall i'm proud of the outcome/ideas contributed to the play.

To conclude, I've really enjoyed doing the play, and think that my characterization, imagination and creativity have expanded, whilst  I want to improve my vocalization and projection for next term, I know for a fact that my characterization and projection are my weakness.