Today was the day of the UCAN performance. The doors for
the show opened at 7pm at which time the audience started waiting to see the
performance.
Before the show, each of the cast members were performing
a duologue downstairs in the foyer of the Chapel arts centre. Over the past few
months, Angel and I have been learning and developing our duologue and tonight
we were performing it. Everyone else in the group was performing a monologue.
The duologue that we were performing is called ‘Split
down the middle’ and is about 2 friends who are on a works outing. They are on
a boat out at sea when suddenly things start to go wrong when one of the
characters realises that the boat is leaking. The duologue involves 2
characters who are both very contrasting. Josie is overdramatic and believes
that both of the characters are going to die however Fran is the opposite. She
is not worried about the boat leaking and is a bit dumb whilst trying to cheer
up Josie.
The day before the performance, I spoke to my lecturer
and she said that there was going to be a slight change of plan. The original
plan was to perform the piece on the stair landing, however the lighting and
sound quality wasn’t very good in this position so we have decided to set up the
boat in an area in the foyer. Because we now have more space, the art teacher
Jo is making us a screen to go behind the boat. This will give more of a sense
that we are in a boat, out at sea.
During the day before the show, we had a full dress and
tech rehearsal of the show. This meant that we got to practice our duologue
downstairs and planned how we were going to enter and exit. We came up with the
idea to come round the back of the audience instead of walking through them
because this means that we will be able to stay in character better. The
rehearsal didn’t go as well as planned as we kept messing up our lines.
Out of all of the monologues and duologues, mine and
Angel’s was first. I felt really nervous to start this off because I had to
start the duologue. By having the opening line it meant that I had to get
everyone’s attention with my first line which was “HOOT, HOOT, HOOT!!” I was
also nervous because this is a comedy piece and I have never performed a comedy
piece before. We haven’t performed this in front of anyone apart from my peers
within my performing arts sessions. Here
is a video of Angel and I performing the duologue:
Evaluation:
A strength of the performance was that I managed to get
everyone’s attention at the start of the piece. I was very nervous about doing
this because I wasn’t able to practice shouting over a large group of people.
Therefore I just had to go for it on the night and hope that I got everyone’s
attention. When I did my first “HOOT” I didn’t quite manage to get all
attention but by the second and last “HOOT” everyone was looking and listening
to me. I was very pleased that I got all attention as I didn’t think that I
could do this. By getting attention from all the audience members meant that they
could all engage in the piece.
Another strength of the performance is that I managed to
remember all of my lines. I was worried in rehearsals as I did mess up some of
my lines within the dress rehearsal so I thought that I might mess them again
in the final performance.
Another strength is that we managed to make the audience
laugh. Only recently have I started to realise the comedy within the piece.
This may be because I have mostly been focusing on learning the lines and not
focusing on the expression and context of the lines.
I also feel like I managed to portray my character quite
well. I have done some research outside of lecture time but I unfortunately
couldn’t find much information on the piece. This meant that I had to make my
own interpretation of the character alongside help from my lecturer Cara.
A weakness of the performance is that there were a few
lines that Angel forgot. This meant that it stopped the flow of the piece
slightly. However I did manage to cover up this issue because I whispered the
line to her. I had learnt mostly all of the script and this came in very useful
when something went slightly wrong.
Working on this duologue has made me realise that working
with only one other person can be quite difficult. It makes it very difficult
to learn and rehearse line if the other person does not work at the same pace
as you. I encountered this situation quite a few times. There were several
different occasions where I had learnt most of my lines but because I didn’t
have the correct cue line present, it meant that I wasn’t able to remember my
line and then go on to deliver it.
In contrast, working with only one other person on a
piece of drama did mean that it was easier to meet up outside of lecture time
and practice over the lines. It didn’t mean that we had to get a whole group of
people together to rehearse the lines. This meant that we were able to rehearse
quite a lot outside of lecture time when we were both free.
Tonight we were performing our show ‘Broken’ which we, as
a cast, have devised. The show was about 5 separate characters who all live
within an institute. We didn’t tell the audience what the institute was because
it left it for them to decide where the characters were. The characters meet on
a daily basis in the lift of the institute but there is no communication
between them. Each of the characters has a mental illness. As a cast, we wanted
to explore the topic of mental disorders and include these within the
performance. My character Estelle had a form of DID (dissociative identity
disorder), Callum’s character James had autism, Emily’s character Katy had kleptomania
Angel’s character Lily had anxiety and depression and Danielle’s character
Felicity had Munchausen. The reason why we thought that mental illnesses would
be a good thing to explore in this performance was because the brief for our
piece was ‘confinement’ and sometimes people with mental disorders can feel
confined. Our theatre company mission was also to educate an audience and
including mental illnesses would educate the audience.
My character, Estelle had Dissociate Identity Disorder
(DID) which is otherwise known as Split Personality Disorder. This idea for my
character to have this disorder arose during one of the sessions. I came away
from the session and did a lot of research on the condition. I created a mind
map of the characteristics symptoms and treatments for the disorder. I also
spoke to my psychology teacher and he gave me some information on the disorder.
The main thing that I picked up on was that for the person to change
personalities, they had to have a trigger. The trigger could be anything and
therefore I decided that my trigger was going to be getting told off. I built a
character profile and started to develop my character a lot more. After a few
sessions I talked to my lecturer Alys about my character. We came to the
conclusion that the character was becoming over complicated and that I probably
wouldn’t have enough time to develop my character due to spending a lot of time
studying for my upcoming exams. Therefore we decided that my character wasn’t
going to have DID completely, but elements of it. This gave me more time to
focus on learning the lines and at the same time working on characterisation.
The 2 personalities that my character had were a girlie/intelligent side which
then contrasted with the childish side. This is shown throughout the
performance.
We performed the show in our performance studio at
college. At the back of the stage there is a wall which we hung a clock on as
most of the show focuses and includes the passing of time. Underneath the clock
on the floor were 5 boxes – one for each character. Each box had coloured tape
on it which then coordinated to the tape which was also on the floor. There
were five different pathways marked out on the floor. Each pathway led from
each of the boxes to the entrance of the lift. The lift was marked out in the
middle of stage as a box. We did not make it obvious what the box was until
near the end of the show. Each character had a different coloured tape – Callum
had orange, Emily had green, I had pink, Angel had yellow and Danielle had
blue. Also, underneath Danielle’s tape was a piece of string. This is because
Danielle has very little sight and could therefore follow the tape with her
foot.
Here is a video of our performance which was
filmed by one of my performing arts lecturers Cara:
We started the show with the whole cast on stage. As the
audience were coming in, we were sat on our blocks. We picked 3 movements which
we thought represented our character. We thought that this would be a good way
to start the show because it gave the audience a small insight into the 5
characters and how they were all completely different from each other. We moved
throughout these 3 movements really slowly and almost in canon. The third
position that we finished in was the one where we would start the performance.
The show then started by going into the grid. We were
introduced to this idea when Dinos came into one of our sessions a few months
ago. As I took on the role of the choreographer for this performance, I helped
to choreograph this movement piece. We realised that we needed to choreograph
this as it had to fit with the piece of music that we were using. The piece of
music that we used for the grid was called ‘Intro’ by Alt-J. A link to this
song can be found here:
We used this piece of music because we used it in one of
our sessions when we were looking at stimuli. I choreographed the movement
piece when all of the characters were in the lift. Looking back, I think that
this looks really affective and it makes the audience wonder about what the
show is going to be about. The opening that we used didn’t give too many clues
away as to what the rest of the performance was going to be about but this was
our aim. We didn’t want to make anything obvious and wanted to leave the
audience questioning what they just watched. This movement piece then led into
‘Our day part 1’.
‘Our day part 1’ was a scene which involved all of the
characters telling the audience about their daily routines. At parts in the
daily routine, all of the characters say the same line which symbolises that
they carry out the same task at the same time. This also makes the audience
question why these characters are doing the same tasks if they don’t know each
other.
This then leads into the phone calls. Each character had an
individual phone call. After the ‘Our day part 1’, we had a ringtone which can
be found here:
Each character then walked back to their box. Each
character then delivered their phone call which revealed more about the
character to the audience.
We then moved onto the individual scenes. These scenes
focused on one character who was then joined by a secondary character. This
then meant that we included multi-rolling within the show. For each character
of which the scene was based around, they were not allowed to come out of the
lift. This is because it gives a sense of confinement which the whole performance
was based around. I was involved in the first individual scene as I played the
role of the doctor where the main character in the scene was Felicity who was
played by Danielle. To show that we were playing a different character, we put
on a different item of clothing over our original costume. The scene that was
focused on my character was the ‘Butterfly enclosure’. The audience had already
previously seen me talking about this date during my phone call and this has
now skipped time to the date. The other individual scenes included ‘Lily in the
library’, ‘Shoplifting’ and ‘At the pet shop’.
After these scenes, we then repeated the grid sequence
again. However this time it led into ‘Our day part 2’ where the characters talk
about their daily routines but this time talking about the afternoon.
From ‘Our day part 2’, we then went into the monologues.
We used the music ‘Clubbed to death’ during this scene as we walked around the
grid. Here is a link to this piece of music:
All of the characters walked around the grid to start
with and then when one character entered the lift to deliver their monologue,
all the other characters on the grid froze. The music then died down, the
lighting changed and the character delivered their monologue. When they were
finished, the music would start again and the rest of the characters would
carry on moving around the grid until the next character moved into the lift. When
the character had delivered their monologue, they headed back to their box. Within
each of our monologues we decided to use the word ‘broken’. This is because we
wanted to include the title of the performance in the monologues. Callum was
the only person who didn’t have a monologue. Instead, he solved a Rubiks cube
because this fitted his character more than delivering a monologue. This scene
carried on until I was the last person left on the grid. When I came out of the
lift from delivering my monologue, I was joined by the rest of the characters
and we headed into the lift.
The lift scenes were all performed in the dark however
this did mean that some members of the audience could still see us. After every
lift scene, we would have a clock sound effect which symbolised the time
passing and the lights would come up so the audience could get a glimpse of the
lift. As the lift scenes went on, they got more and more disturbing.
At the end of the lift scenes, all of the characters apart
from Danielle come out of the lift. Me, Emily and Angel all leave the stage
which leaves Danielle and Callum still on stage. At this point, Callum then
delivers the epilogue which is an overarching piece about the feeling of
confinement.
To draw the performance to a close, the whole cast came
front and centre stage and took 3 bows.
Evaluation
A strength of the performance is that we all worked
really well together as a team. Working as a team is very important when
devising and delivering a show otherwise the show may have not worked out as
well as it did. We met outside of lesson time to practice through the lines.
This meant that we could rehearse the lines with everyone there and made sure
that we knew the lines in time for the show. However, some people were not
committed to the show and did not come to the rehearsal. This meant that when
we went into the next rehearsal they didn’t know their lines as well as
everyone else. Also, it made it hard for the rest of the group because we
didn’t have the right cue lines to prompt us to say our line. Also during the
rehearsal process there were occasions where members of the cast were on their
phones. This shows that they weren’t committed to the performance and didn’t
follow the rules of only looking at phones during the designated breaks. It
meant that they weren’t focused which led to them missing their lines when
practicing through the script which then had a knock on effect to the rest of
the cast.
Another strength of the performance was that we all
managed to remember our lines. This was something that I was worried about
before the show because I was unsure if I was going to be able to remember all
of my lines. I had a lot to remember on the night because I had a duologue to
perform before the UCAN show downstairs in the foyer and then went on to
perform a show which had the duration of around an hour. We originally didn’t
plan for the performance to be that long but we came up with so much material
and didn’t want to discard anything because it had a lot of creative potential.
There were a lot of lines to learn and I had to learn everyone else’s lines
briefly so that if everyone else forgot their lines, I could prompt them. However,
I remembered all of my lines. During the performance, I helped other people to
remember their lines if they forget theirs. I did this by giving them a slight
nudge just to remind them that they had the next line.
Another strength of the performance was that we used
improvisation effectively within the performance when something went wrong.
During the scene where the monologues were being delivered, Danielle was the
first to deliver her monologue. Before delivering her monologue, she went
slightly off track. Although a small mistake was made, it was quickly fixed as
Callum got her back on track. The performance then carried on as normal and the
mistake was hardly noticeable.
A weakness of the rehearsal process was that I got easily
distracted by another member of the cast. This meant that I kept losing focus within
rehearsal which then had an effect on the rest of the group. To improve this I
could have stayed more focused on rehearsing the content for the show and we may
have got more done in the rehearsals and therefore not had as much to do in the
week leading up to the show.
Another weakness during rehearsal is that I didn’t always
project enough. This meant that I wasn’t always heard and the ends of my lines
were lost. I was given this note with the dress rehearsal from one of my
lecturers. However, I took on this feedback and managed to keep up my
projection throughout the performance. I know this because when I watched the
performance back, you can hear me clearly.
If we were to do the show again we would probably
practice with the stage set earlier on in the process. We only managed to set
up the stage on the Tuesday before the show. We were performing the show on the
Thursday so this only gave us Tuesday and Thursday to rehearse in the studio. Unfortunately
we weren’t able to put the tape on the floor sooner because we were performing
the dance show the week before and this would not have fitted in with the theme
of that show. When we did put the tape down we had to let everyone know that it
had to stay and it couldn’t get damaged before the show. I think Danielle found
following the tape quite difficult as she had to remember all of the movements
as she has very little sight. Whereas the rest of the cast have a lot more
sight and are able to see the tape and where the rest of the cast are at all
times.
After the show I spoke to many of the audience members
and they gave me lots of positive feedback about the performance. From the
feedback that I received I picked up that different people picked up on
different aspects of the show. Some people picked up on the thing that the tape
on the floor represented corridors. Others realised that the main character
within the multi-rolling scenes could not leave the lift. I am very pleased
with this feedback as this is what we wanted to achieve as a cast. I was also
told that throughout the performance, the square in the middle of the stage
remained a mystery as we had not told the audience what it was. However towards
the end of the performance, it then became clear that the square was a lift
where all the characters met everyday.
Overall, I think that the performance went really well.
Everyone managed to remember all of their lines and if they did forget a line,
they covered it up really well. We received very positive feedback from the
audience after the show. I think that all of the cast performed really well and
that although we had a lot of material to remember, we managed to pull it all
off.
Flexibility – people working in the freelance industry must be flexible because they may need to maintain a few different projects/jobs at one time. Also, it is very hard to continuously look for the same job role. This means that you need to be flexible with the job roles that you look for and apply for. They may also be asked to work different hours for each day of the week which could range from a few hours to a full day’s work.
How am I gong to achieve this?
As someone who is working freelance within the dance industry, it would be incredibly difficult to focus on and only work with one style of dance throughout the whole of the career as a freelance dancer. Therefore, I need to be able to adapt and work with styles that I don't necessarily feel confident with and are less experienced in. This will then hopefully broaden up the opportunities and jobs that I get as a freelance dancer. The dance world is also quite competitive so I may not be successful in getting jobs all the time. This therefore might mean that I will have to look for similar jobs such as a choreographer or an assistant choreographer. Budgeting – this is very important because there will be periods of time at which the freelancer is not working and is therefore not earning any income. You need to be able to save money during the time at which you have incoming salary so that you will then have money when you are in lean periods. How am I going to achieve this? During the periods of time which I am working, I will try to save as much money as possible for the times of which I will not be earning money. I will create a budgeting sheet where I will separate my money into different categories. I will also keep a record of how much I have spent within each month and mark down if I have over spent or under spent during each calendar month. I may spend more in some months than others because I may need to pay for new rehearsal clothing and costumes if I am taking part in a performance or may need to pay for other items that are needed for my current project/job. To help during lean periods, I will apply for a part-time job which would most likely be in a bar or a restaurant. That way I can earn a bit of money all of time even if I am in a lean period with my dance career. Ideally the job would be on a zero hours contract which means that the hours that I will work will be flexible and will not be a fixed time for every time that I work. This enables me to have enough time to look for jobs and work within the dance industry as this is my main career. Prepared to work without getting paid – everyone has to start somewhere and for most freelancers within theatre, they have to carry out unpaid work to get their name heard within the industry. Once they have their name out there they can start applying for jobs. How am I going to achieve this? As a freelance dancer I volunteer to take part in several different performances in different theatres. Volunteering to take part in public and larger events is also a good idea because therefore more people will see you perform and may offer you a job. That way I can get my name out into the industry and employers will then hire me for the job if they think that I am suitable. Volunteering for jobs will also make the process of applying for jobs easier because people will already know my name and I will then have more of a chance of getting the job. By volunteering I am not getting paid but this could then lead to me getting a better job which I could then earn a lot of money from. Presenting yourself well – as a freelancer you must be able to stand out from the crowd either in the world of work or in auditions. It may be quite difficult for you to find a job because you are not able to present yourself well and stand out from the crowd. How am I going to achieve this? As a freelance dancer, I attend lots of auditions for different roles within jobs, projects and performances. I realise that there is a very high chance that I will not be selected for the role at every audition that I attend but I need to be able to show my skills to the people running the auditions. Therefore I will try my hardest throughout all of the auditions that I attend. I put all of my energy and effort into each audition to make sure that I stand out from the crowd which means that there is a higher chance of me getting picked for the job. Must always be looking ahead – although it is great when a freelance worker finds a job, they don’t know how long it will last for and if they do, it is not going to last forever. This means that the worker always needs to be looking for new jobs in which they can apply for to take on after they have finished their current job. How will I achieve this? The dance industry is a very tough industry to be a part of and it can become increasingly difficult to find jobs within this sector. Therefore, planning ahead of time is crucial to ensure that lean periods are kept to minimum. I will attend as many auditions as possible applying for roles which I may not necessarily be in my comfort zone. This is absolute key to a successful sustainable freelance career especially in the dance sector. Motivation – there needs to be high levels of motivation to become a successful and to remain as a successful freelancer. There may be quite a few occasions where you will go for an audition and not get the part or even shortlisted. However, you then need to put this aside and attend more auditions. How will I achieve this? As a dancer, it may not be very often at all that I will get picked for the job or even shortlisted however there are so many auditions in the dance industry that I will be able to attend and which I may get the job. The more auditions that I attend, the higher the chance of me being shortlisted and then getting the job! Resilience and self-belief – freelancers have to be thick skinned because they may attend many auditions before they get offered anything. How will I achieve this? As a dancer you are tough skinned physically due to the training that you have been through but also tough skinned mentally because although you may not get shortlisted at many of the auditions, this causes you to come back fighting stronger and gives you more determination to do well in the upcoming auditions. Practicalities and finance – a freelancer must make a regular class 2 national insurance payment. This will provide security for them in the future. You also need to keep your receipts for things like transport, hotels. postage and any other purchases that are business related. If you are a performer, you can claim for cosmetics, toiletries and clothing. Once a year, you need to submit a record of your income and outgoings to the HMRC (tax department). This is called a tax return. How will I achieve this? As a freelance dancer I am quite often performing as part of my job. Therefore I am able to claim money back on all of things that I have bought which have gone towards the show for example costumes, makeup, etc. It can be quite costly in the dance industry as it requires a lot of things which need to be replaced regularly and if you can claim the money back on some of these items then this will help with your personal budgeting. This is also known as a tax return and is very important especially to dancers. CPD – this is continuous professional development. This is about maintaining a professional skill level. You may attend classes, carry out regular voice/movement warmups, research new audition materials and look at relevant sites on the internet. Also, you need to maintain a current CV. How Will I achieve this? It is very important as a dancer to always be developing and maintaining your level of skill. Therefore classes need to be taken in order to do this. I could also run my own classes to keep up the skill of teaching and working with other people which is essential when working in the freelance industry. Taking part in auditions is also maintaining my skill because I will be dancing during these times and most likely learning new material. Dancers also require a high level of fitness so it is also important that I go to the gym regularly and eat healthily to keep my body in shape. Research – keep on top of new employment opportunities by looking at The Stage online and any other online journals where jobs are advertised. How will I achieve this? Even when I am in work, I will keep up to date via all medians in accessing jobs within the industry. This will make it easier to find a job during a lean period. It is now also becoming increasingly easy to find jobs using different social media platforms. There are many different websites out on the internet that can help freelances working in different industries to improve on all of the actions listed above. A great website that freelances can use is 'The Federation of Entertainment Unions'. Although you have to be a member of a union to register for the website, there are still free resources on the website that could be very useful to a freelance worker such as the blogs and webinars featured on their website. Here is a link to the website: http://www.feutraining.org/2016/overcoming-freelance-challenges/
What contracts have you worked with? - Tiffany and Vey
When Reaction Theatre came into college to perform their show ‘The Magnetic Diaries’, we had a Q&A session with them before the show. Within the session, we were informed about the contracts that they have and are using.
The contract which Tiffany (the director) offered to Vey (the actor) was a Heads of Agreement contract. The contract includes many different elements such as a period of employment and company expectations. It also includes the ownership of devised work which means that if the play becomes famous, then the individual is not allowed to claim it as the material belongs to the theatre company and not to you specifically. The contract also includes subsistence which covers food and travel for the days of which you are working with the company.
Tiffany went on to tell us that when she works with an actor, she normally offers them a contract because it is easier and the actor is aware of what they are entitled to.
What contracts have you worked with? - Cara Tivey
Cara has worked with 3 types of contracts. These are:
Retaining contract – a contract where you are employed with the band/company all the time even if you’re not with the band all of the time. In this case, you are paid half of what you are paid when working with the band. You are also paid per diem (per day) which is £15 per day which paid for extra expenses. The only band that gave Cara a contract (Everything but the girl) paid her £500 per day when recording in a studio but then was paid nothing when the records were released, Whilst on this contract she got paid £500 a week when on tour.
Licensing contract – issued when working with the BBC or ITV. When you work on a programme such as Top of the Pops or TGIF you are given a contract in which you give your permission for your performance to be played around the world. If there is a link to another record company you would also get paid by them. Cara was paid £150 per day from TV companies.
Publishing contract – signed for 3 years. For this contract the publisher acts on your behalf to exploit your work. 60% of the money earnt goes to the musician and the other 40% goes to the publisher. However, this can change to a 70% to 30% split or even to a 75% to 25% split. When on this contract, Cara was paid a non-returnable advance of £2000 and with that she bought a recording system so she could record her own pieces. A publisher publishes individual pieces by the artist. The publisher will help the artist to promote their material in a number of ways. They may liaise with a record company, they will carry out research to find out if anybody is looking for the type of material that they are publishing - this could be film companies, advertising agencies, TV production companies. In other words they exploit their published material in order to support the artists.
What types of contracts do you work with? - Dinos Aristieou
Variety of contracts- one day positions, annual positions, project based positions. The majority I would say are project based.
In the morning, we focused on going through the script
and having a word rehearsal. Alys was unable to get to the rehearsal for 9am so
as a group we decided to go through the script and go over our lines to make
sure that we were secure with our lines. Most of the group have met up outside
of lecture time to rehearse over our lines.
When Alys arrived, we kept on going through the script.
Once we had finished the run-through, we decided to work on the scene that
needed the most development – the monologues. We had worked on this scene in a
previous session but hadn’t worked on it so much so that it is ready to be performed.
The scene consisted of the 5 characters walking around the stage and when a
character walks into the lift, the rest of the characters froze on the grid. We
wanted to have a piece of music that was played whilst the characters were
walking around the grid but we couldn’t find one which fitted the scene. However,
when Alys came into the rehearsal, she said that she had heard a piece of music
that she thought would be good for this place in the show. We listened to it and
we all agreed that this would be a great piece of music. The piece of music is
called ‘Clubbed to death’ and a link to the song can be found here:
We then practiced the transition from ‘Our day part 2’ (which
is the scene before) into this scene. We all turned one by one with the beat of
the music and then we walked around the grid. When a character entered the lift
to deliver their monologue, the music would stop. However Callum does not deliver
a monologue and instead solves a Rubiks cube. Therefore we decided to play the
music over this. When we practiced this through the first time with the music,
it fitted really well so we decided to use this music.
After a lunch break, we sat down and had a discussion
about what we were going to be doing this afternoon. At 1:30pm we were starting
a tech and dress rehearsal. Then at 3:30pm we will be having a full tech and
dress rehearsal. We will also be practicing our monologues and duologues that
we will be performing downstairs prior to the show. Here are some notes that
one of my performing arts lecturers, Cara made whilst she was watching the tech
and dress rehearsal:
Black curtains needed to be put at the side to cover the
mirror
Emily – missed line at the end of ‘our day part 1’ as not
loud enough
Timings at start were a bit off (grid and phone calls)
Angel – don’t shuffle and stay focused
Clock is wobbling on the wall above Charlotte when
leaning against the back wall
Angel – ‘Lily in the library’ keep up projection
Charlotte – ‘Shall we go?’ Couldn’t hear last bit of line
Emily – love the power of the monologue
Rubiks cube colours fitted in really nicely with the grid
colours and the coloured lighting
The colours and white tired it together
Charlotte - The line ‘pull the wings off’ don’t let it
drop and as it is a very important line as starting to give insight into character
Charlotte – ‘1 2 3 4 5’ louder and slower
The baby Guinea pig scene great
Daneille – great breathing
Quiet backstage!
I think both of the tech and dress rehearsals went fairly
well. In the first rehearsal, Alys was giving the sound and lighting crew cues
but was not prompting us at all. We were given notes from both of the rehearsals
from both Alys and Cara. I received a lot of comments and feedback which I took
on board and applied to the second dress rehearsal and the final performance.
In between the first dress rehearsal and the second dress
rehearsal, I spent some time practicing my monologue and getting the right
expression in the right places. I took on board the feedback that I had received
during the first dress rehearsal from my lecturers. After the second dress
rehearsal, I was told that my monologue was a lot better. I now just have to
remember these comments for the performance tonight.
I am quite nervous to perform the show because I haven’t
had much experience in performing drama before. I was nervous that I was going
to forget my lines and not perform to my best ability.
Today we were working alongside the tech team to sort out
the lighting for the performance on Thursday. We were also going over and
rehearsing all of the script.
When I walked into the session today, Alys was already sticking
the tape to the floor. The tape looks really affective on the floor. We were
worried that the yellow tape was going to blend in with the floor but when it
was on the floor, it stood out quite well. On Saturday, Alys brought in the
coloured tape and asked us which colour we wanted to have and which one suited
our character the best. I thought the pink tape would suit my character the
best because she is very girly and intelligent. Also, the other side of my
character is childish. The lines on the floor will represent corridors within
the institute where the characters are. This gives the performance a sense of
confinement. The lift in the middle of the stage is where all the characters
meet. This is also another place of confinement. Here is a picture of the
stage:
Alys also put coloured tape on each box which coordinated
with the coloured tape on the floor. This meant that it was easier for the
audience to identify which character had which coloured tape. For the blue
tape, there was string underneath. This is because Danielle’s character had the
blue tape to follow. Danielle has very little sight so can therefore follow the
tape with her foot as she can feel the string. We also had string under the
tape which marked out the lift so that when we were performing the lift scenes,
Danielle wouldn’t move out of the lift. We had a discussion about what we were
going to do for the rest of the staging. The original idea was to have
different things on the back wall which represented our character. However, we
came to the conclusion that because the tape is quite a big feature of the
performance, the items on the back wall would take the focus away from the
tape. Therefore, we decided to not have the items on the back wall and the only
item that we had hanging from the wall was a clock. This is because during the
performance, there is a clock sound effect in between each scene to symbolise
time passing by. Also Callum’s character has autism so relates to the time a
lot throughout the show.
For part of the session we did a quick run-through where
we marked out the scenes. We did this so the lighting and sound crew could move
the lights around to make sure that we were lit up at all times where we needed
to be. Alys could also tell them which lights she wanted for each scene. For
most scenes we were just having the lift light on because most of the scenes
took part in the lift. However, for the grid we had coloured lights which
matched the coloured tape on the floor.
On Thursday (the day of the show) we will be having
rehearsals all day. We will be focusing on running through the whole of the
show without any stops. We will have a full tech and dress rehearsal on
Thursday afternoon before the show. This will give us an approximate running
time of the show. As a group, we have decided to meet up outside of lessons to
run through the script as some of us are not as confident with the script as
others. Here are some rehearsal pictures from today:
The whole cast stood in the lift whilst Graham and the tech team are sorting out and moving the lights around in preparation for the show.
The whole cast stood in the lift whilst Graham and the tech team are sorting out and moving the lights around in preparation for the show.
The different coloured tape on the floor.
All of the different coloured tape on the floor leading into the lift.
Today we had planned to have an extra rehearsal outside of
our normal sessions because we still have a lot to do before the performance. Also,
all of the group had to focus on the dance performance which we performed on Thursday.
Now that we have finished that, we can focus on this performance.
In our normal session on Tuesday, Alys said that we all
need to know our lines by this rehearsal otherwise there will not be enough time
to develop the material and work on characterisation. I have been really busy
this week with exams and rehearsals for the dance show but still had to make time
to look at my script for the UCAN show otherwise I would not know my lines. I
walked into the rehearsal knowing my lines but I didn’t feel very confident
with them. The aim of the rehearsal today was to become more confident with the
script.
To start the rehearsal we marked out the lift with some
masking tape. In the rehearsal on Tuesday, we will be marking out the whole of
the grid and the lift. Each character is going to have a different coloured tape
which will have a pathway. At the end of each pathway, it will lead into the
lift.
We then had a full run-through of the show. There were some
scenes which hadn’t been as developed as others so we stopped at these points
to work on them a bit more. There were also other scenes which we had worked on
a lot and we didn’t need to work on. It also made it a lot easier to practice
the scenes if the characters involved in the scene knew all of their lines. For
example, ‘At the doctors’ was easy to rehearse because we had worked on this
scene in the previous session and both me and Danielle knew all of our lines.
This meant that more time could be spent on other areas which haven’t been
developed as much. Areas that we worked on were the lift scenes and the ‘At the
pet shop’ scene. We needed to work on the lift scenes because now that we are
all quite familiar with the lines, we can work on making the scene as realistic
as possible.
After the full run-through of the show, we went for a mark
through of the show. This meant that we marked out where each scene was going
to take place. We said the first line and the last line of the scene and then
carried on to the next scene. The main aim of this was to see if we could remember
the order of the scenes. This has been proving difficult because not all of the
scenes link together so it doesn’t give us an obvious cue as to which scene
will come next. This also allowed us to see who was going to be able to move
each prop in each scene change.
To end the rehearsal, we had a line rehearsal. This consisted
of us all just sitting on our boxes at the back of the stage and reciting our
lines. This gave us a chance to rehearse our lines with the group. I find this
method of rehearsal very useful as I find it very difficult to rehearse my lines
on my own as I do not have the other people to say their lines which then cues
me to say my line. There is one line in the script which I am struggling with
at the moment but hopefully as I practice it more I will be able to remember for
the performance.
I left the rehearsal today feeling more confident about lines
and I have now had a chance to work on characterisation. However, there are some
people in the group who are not confident with their lines yet. We will meet up
as a group over the next few days to practice the lines in our own time to make
sure that we are all confident with the script in time for the performance on
Thursday the 15th of June at 7:30pm.
Having now prepared for and carried out some performances
and conducted warmup workshops, I am now in a position to review my progress in
skills with my lecturer. We have looked at my original skills audit and my
lecturer has fed back on each element of the list.
Voice
production techniques
I have learnt that voice production is very important
within all aspects of performing arts. It is not so important within dance, but
more important within acting and singing techniques. I improved my voice
production skills as I attended regular lectures which helped to improve my
skills. I also got to put these skills to use when we went to Theatr
Brycheiniog for the day to perform our poems in front of theatre practitioner
and during the singing performance within college. During lectures, I have been
learning and practicing several voice techniques and exercises such as ‘pah,
tah, kah’, ‘man, nah, lah’ and ‘thah, vah, zah’. Over time I have progressed
with these exercises, although I do still struggle slightly with ‘thah, vah,
zah’ and don’t have this up the speed of the others.
Expression
in performing arts
During and outside of lectures, I have been learning my
lines for the duologue which will be performed in June. Because I know my lines
now, I am able to start to work on characterisation. I am making good progress
with this and I am starting to realise the comedy within the piece between the
2 characters.
My confidence has also grown, especially in singing. At
the start of the course, I was a very shy singer and was cautious about singing
in front of anyone. Now, after taking part in the singing performance, I am a
much more confident singer. I was then able to use these skills within the
studio at college when recording songs. I was also given feedback from a sound
engineer that I had very good diction and brought some clarity to the piece.
In terms of dance, I have been aiming to build in more
emotion to my dances as this was my main target for this year. I started to do
this once I was very familiar with the choreography. I also found that knowing
the story line before and after the dance helped me to build emotion into the
dance. I will be able to show my emotion through dance in the dance show in
June.
Clarity
of delivery in performing arts
Throughout the course of the year, my confidence for
singing has grown significantly. When I first started college, I refused to
sing in front of anyone. Now, I have performed in a singing performance in
front of a live audience. My further target would be to maintain and gain a bit
more confidence as when I was singing in the performance, I became very
nervous. I will continue to build up my confidence within singing.
My confidence has also grown within dance and acting. I
have come to the conclusion that I become more confident with the material once
I am very familiar with it. This means that I can then start working on
characterisation and/or relating to the storyline.
I also now have a better understanding of putting skills
together with emotion and then connecting with an audience. I showed this
within the dance performance and I know this because I was given feedback from
many of the audience members.
Applying
dynamics
Throughout the year I have explored projection whilst
delivering my poem and other pieces of material during performing arts
sessions. I worked alongside my lecturer to improve on this in my lectures. My
development of projection is evidenced in my duologue which I performed before
the UCAN show. I used projection to grab the attention of the audience as they
were waiting in the foyer. I started the duologue with the line “HOOT, HOOT,
HOOT”. I had to grab everyone’s attention and this was really difficult however
I managed to use my projection techniques to do this successfully.
A further target that I should work on is to be less
inhibited because sometimes I do not perform to my best ability especially in
new situations. I need to start taking more risks within performing arts
lessons and workshops.
Communicating
performance work
Taking part in the performances meant that I needed to
pick some outfits to wear. I had to think carefully about my different outfits
as they needed to fit in with the show. For the singing performance I wore all
black because that was the theme that we were running with. For the dance
performance I wore a checked shirt as the theme of the show was western. I also
wore a different costume for my ballet routine because the checked shirt
wouldn’t have been appropriate. Also, for the UCAN performance, I had to pick
out an outfit that symbolised my character. I also wore makeup for all of these
shows and I had to make sure that this was suitable.
Teamwork
I am continuing to make a positive contribution to
performing arts in terms of working as part of a team.
Dance
techniques
In my dance lectures, I have been working on building
emotion within the routines. This is something that I really struggled with at
the start of the year but I have been working on it and managed to convey
emotions well within the dance performance. One of my lecturers fed back to me
after the show and she said that I looked really sad during my solo. This was
great to hear!
Life
skills
I am continuing to maintain full engagement with all
aspects of performing arts. I attend regular sessions and I am on time to all
sessions or even a bit early.
Responsibility
for own learning
I have worked independently towards all aspects of my
performing arts course. In my own time, I have completed blog posts which I did
not complete in the lesson and also blogged about every performing arts session
that I have attended. I have also blogged about any external workshops that I
have attended as these have helped towards my development throughout the
course. I have also worked independently to learn my lines in the duologue and
other material in preparation for performances.
Communication
During the year, I have communicated with many different
members of staff to arrange a rehearsal space. This has involved people in the
Chapel arts centre and the local leisure centre. There have been many different
occasions where I have worked independently on material and also as a group. I
also had to negotiate with staff in terms of arranging extra group dance
rehearsals within the college day. I had to be realistic with when I could
participate in rehearsals and when I had to set time aside for revision for my
other subjects.
Today we were performing our dance showcase. The dance show
was called ‘Trouble in Tennessee’ and had a western theme. The performance was
set in Madame Brewster’s bar one night where she was joined by her 3
daughters. During the night, a stranger walks in and grabs the attention of one
of daughters. However, he is then seen dancing with one of the other daughters
which causes the girl to leave the town in jealousy. He runs after her with the
aim to catch up to her and when he does, she forgives him.
The running order of the show was:
Boot Scootin’ Boogie (group)
Footloose (group)
America (group)
Tennessee Waltz (duet – Callum and Danielle)
Shape of you (duet – Charlotte and Angel)
The Sound of Swing (duet – Callum and Emily)
Another suitcase in another hall (solo – Charlotte)
Turn around (duet – Charlotte and Callum)
House on fire (duet – Charlotte and Callum)
I really enjoyed performing the show to a live audience.
Because I have done dance before moving to college, I have performed in many
shows before and I haven’t taken part in a show for a long time. The show gave
me a chance to show an audience something that I am passionate about. Here is a link to a full video of the dance performance:
Here is another video of the show from a different angle. it is split into two parts:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Evaluation
At the start of the performance, we used improvised movement. When the audience were coming in to the performance studio, the whole cast were on stage improvising like we were in a bar. Angel and I were sat stage right at a table, however we did move about the stage as well. Emily was at the bar, Danielle welcoming the audience and Callum was sat quietly in the corner so that nobody noticed him. We used improvised movement to set the scene and make it seem as realistic as possible. We did this by making sure that we stayed in character and had music running in the background which sounded like we were in a bar. We purposely didn't choreograph any movement because we knew that this wouldn't give a naturalistic feel. I carried out improvised movement individually and also interacted with other members of the cast including Angel and Emily. I think this was a successful part of the show because when I spoke to one of the audience members after the show, she said that she felt like she was walking into a bar because there was a realistic scene set. Also, we all managed to stay in character. I was quite worried about starting on stage as I did not know if I was going to be able to stay in character but I think I did this successfully. In one specific dance lecture earlier on in the year, we focused a lot on using the environment as a stimulus. We looked at what is involved within each environment. We were therefore able to apply this knowledge to the dance show as we had already looked at environments as a stimulus which enables us to make the environment as natural as possible for the audience. During the first dance, 'Boot scootin' boogie', there was timing issue within the first part of the dance. This meant that all of the cast who were on stage weren't dancing in time with each other. This meant that I had to improvise and think what would be best to do in this situation. I decided that i needed to carry on with the correct timing and not join in with the timing of everyone else. This meant that when we got to the chorus, everyone became in time again.
Another strength of the performance was that the group
dance ‘Footloose’ was performed very well. We all stayed in time with each
other and I feel like I put a lot of effort into this routine. Callum had a
small tap solo during this routine which he performed excellently as he hit all
of the beats.
I managed to show lots of emotions during the performance.
For example, during my duet with Angel ‘Shape of you’, I showed a lot of anger
during this dance. There was a lot of anger and tension in the air because I
had seen Angel with Callum and I was jealous. Therefore, the purpose of the
dance was to fight and at the end of the dance, I win. I know that I portrayed
this emotion well because after the performance, I spoke to my lecturer and a
few of the audience members and they said that there was a lot of tension in
the room during this dance. Also, in my solo I managed to look really sad due
to the fact that I had left the town because I had seen Callum dancing with one
of my sisters. Another dance where I showed a lot of emotion was the duet with
Callum ‘House on fire’. Throughout the dance I had to show different emotions because
at the start of the dance I was frightened of Callum but then as the routine
went on, I became happier. I was really happy with all of the comments that I
received in regards to emotion because this was my main target for the academic
year – showing emotion during performance. This is because I have had lots of
experience with dance but not much experience in showing emotion during these
dances. I felt very overwhelmed with all of the comments. The last dance which
I was focusing on showing emotion was my solo ‘Another suitcase in another hall’.
For this routine I had to show sadness as I was leaving the town. I know that I
did this successfully as when I spoke to one of my performing arts lecturers
after the show and she said that I looked really sad during the routine. This
was really good to hear because my aim was to look sad and she said that I defiantly
did. I drew on this emotion and managed to develop this throughout my dance lectures. There was one lesson in particular where we talked about what makes us happy and angry. I was able to think about these during the performance which enabled me to convey my emotion to my best ability.
Another strength is that I remembered all of the
choreography to all of the dances. I was worried in the lead up to the show
that I was going to forget the choreography especially in my solo and the duets
as there weren’t many people on stage at these times. This meant that everyone
in the audience would be watching me which is a lot of pressure.
My solo ‘Another suitcase in another hall’ went very well.
I was very nervous for the routine because in the final dress rehearsal, this
routine didn’t go very well. This made me think that it was going to go bad in
the final performance. However, I managed to stay up on pointe at all times
which were choreographed. I also think that I used the suitcase well as a prop.
I didn’t drop it at any time and danced well whilst holding it. It did not
disrupt any of my movements. I was able to use improvisation when there was a slight problem during the show. When I came off stage from performing my solo, I had a quick change out of my pointe shoes and into ballet shoes. In rehearsals, I realised that i wouldn't have enough time to do the change and therefore Danielle offered to come onto stage and do some improvisation which would then give me a little more time to change. However, during the show i could not get my pointe show off in time so I missed my cue to enter stage for 'Turn around'. I didn't know what to do at this stage so I thought of a way around the situation. All of a sudden I heard the track start from the beginning and at this point I had my shoe off. This meant that I was able to go onto stage and perform the routine as normal.
The duet performed by Callum and I was the last dance of
the show. I think this routine went the best out of all the routines. The
routine included lifts which we executed all perfectly and carried out the rest
of the routine really well. Feedback from the audience after show was that this
was their favourite routine because you could tell that there was story to the
dance. The audience also said that they could feel the connection between the 2
characters which fitted in with the story really well.
Weaknesses
and improvements
Although I think that the performance went really well
overall, I believe there were some things that I or other people could have
done better.
Although I thought it was very good, during Callum’s tap
solo he was looking down throughout most of it. This meant that he couldn’t
really connect with the audience whilst he was performing. An improvement that
he could make if he was to do the show again is to keep his head up when he is
performing to connect with the audience.
Another weakness is that during ‘Shape of you’, there were
parts in the dance where we were a bit early and we were waiting for the music.
In rehearsals, we have performed this where we have been right on the timing. To
improve this routine, we could have listened to the music a bit more carefully
and performed the moves a bit slower. Also, I noticed that in some parts of the
routine we weren’t in time with each other. This may have been because Angel
wasn’t as secure with the choreography. An improvement that could be made here
is for me to run through the choreography with Angel more so that we could be
in time as this is really important in a duet.
At points during my solo, my arms were not controlled. Because
my solo was a ballet solo, it is really important that every part of the body
is controlled. If I was to do the show again, I would concentrate on focusing
on the control of my arms throughout the whole routine. I would also try and do
some more foot strengthening exercises on the lead up to the show just to make
sure that my feet where really strong for the routine. Another improvement that
I would make is to practice with the suitcase quite early on in the rehearsal
process. This couldn’t be helped in this circumstance because we were waiting
for the suitcase to have been made by the art department but I did start practicing
with it as soon as possible.
After my solo, I had a very quick change out of one outfit and
into another. I also had to change from my pointe shoes to soft ballet shoes in
just under a minute. When I came off from my solo, I could not get my pointe
shoe off in time ready to go on for the next routine. The music had to be started
again and I was ready for the cue the second time round. It is quite difficult to
improve this as this doesn’t happen very often and you can’t really help it because
it was a piece of clothing. To improve I could possibly not panic as much when I
couldn’t get my shoe off because I don’t think this helped the situation.
Something else that I could have improved on was my timing
in ‘Turn around’. I did do the sequence slightly too fast the first time but
when it came to the second time through, I realised that I was going too fast
for the music and slowed down when I did the sequence again with Callum.
Here are some more photos of me and Callum in our duet:
Overall, I think the performance went very well. I put a
lot of effort into every dance lecture rehearsal leading up to the show and
also during the final performance.
After the performance I spoke to many of the audience members
about what they thought of the show. Everyone that I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed
the show and was giving the whole cast amazing feedback. I found the feedback
from the audience very overwhelming as dance is something that I am very passionate
about and I want to carry on doing. Many of my friends and family came to watch
the show and they all really enjoyed it. Some of the comments were “The show
had been very well thought out and the amount of effort that the whole cast has
put in is amazing” and “We saw that the whole cast had different challenges
throughout the show but everyone performed amazingly”. Speaking to the audience
after the show informed me that during my solo, I made a few people cry in the
audience. This shows that I managed to show emotion and connect with the
audience within my dancing. This made me feel proud and overwhelmed by all of
the amazing comments that I received. My target for the future would be to become more confidence with improvisation. I have worked throughout the year in several different dance lectures towards improving my dance improvisation techniques. At the start of the year I didn't feel confident with dance improvisation as I have been used to set/taught choreography. Therefore, I found it quite difficult to improvise small sequences. Now I am more confident with improvising sequences and phrases but I need to maintain this confidence with dance improvisation.
