Evaluation of Performance

Prior to when the show started I felt the main theme of each character managed to feel at ease with themselves. When we were sitting at our tables I felt the the guests weren't sure entirely why we were sitting there. It felt that although the guests were having a meal etc there was an element of excitement between us at one table, stags and hens and the other table, my mother said I never should. It was having an awareness of them (the guests) and respecting their space. This might have had something about the fact that we were all sitting in a line behind our tables . Despite the fact that we were not eating I felt the guests who were sitting closest to our tables felt slightly uncomfortable as to where we were sitting regardless of the fact that we were in our characters.

If the restaurant had been bigger we could have intergrated more with the guests more and they would have felt more at ease as to why we were there. Our intention was to communicate to each other in character which we maintained.

The first performance, 'Bouncers' came across in a very realistic way and were really energised in their role. Luke really projected his voice well and let himself go in the role. There was a real sense of unity and clear communication between the four of them. At times I couldn't always hear Jack but I felt he made a really good attempt. I thought they did so well and the humour really came across and the dynamics between them. The play envoked wit and humour and at first when the four actors Matt, Luke, Ben and Jack came on to stage there was a comedy light hearted feel to their performance. They were playing the role of four bouncers in a nightclub and revealing cross gender roles. It reflected an example of a group of men from working class backgrounds in a nightclub setting portraying an insight in to an example of society which can be seen as a disposable one highlighting broken up relationships and how easy it is to replace the person with someone else very quickly. I didn't feel the roles of the actors showed any real depth of character as I didn't feel this was the aim of the play or the roles, but I did feel Luke's vulnerability shone through his outwardly appearance. The aim of the play was to reveal different stages of drunkeness and considering they were not in a real club or bar setting the target was their voice and how they manoevered and how they communicated their body language to the audience.

Shakers, took their role seriously as waitresses and waiters in the shakers bar setting. It was humorous, informative, quirky and each character was very individual. There was a bond between them and the dialogue was kept interesting as they had no props so they had the challenge of having to keep up the expectation of their character in role throughout. I felt each female character was intricately portrayed giving a real insight in to each one revealing their differences. Initially, I felt Sapphire's role showed a very distinctive character but then equally Lola and the quirkiness of Sophie's character really shone through and the fact that they all managed to maintain their character throughout was quite an achievement. Each actress very much showed their own individual style and appeared confident in their outward appearances. I felt the play was cleverly written showing a variety of gender roles and how they complemented one another. The play was an insight in to a working class background in which they highlighted men who had taken them for granted or worse, loneliness and isolation, alienation and social prejudices as well as economic that have had some degree of effects on all of them. I felt the actresses came to life even more as the play moved on and particularly when they were getting ready for a night out on the town.

We didn't see stags and hens performance as we were waiting to come on stage afterwards.

I feel the characters in the performances that I was able to see really kept in character throughout including my fellow performers in 'My mother said I never should' and I really enjoyed participating in the performance and look forward to our next challenge. Furthermore, although I felt the complexity of the play of 'My mother said I never should' I was concerned that the play may not be tangible to us as the performers but also to the audience as well. The scenes were fairly short so it was our challenge to intergrate a multitude of cross meaning and depth. Out of all the plays I felt ours was the most challenging as it highlighted changing roles of women and how they view themselves and also if we had performed the entire play I believe it may have made more tangible sense to the audience. I felt pleased with my performance and could have improved on my role to further expand my character by having more self belief.

All four generations on stage as children, talking across the time periods but quite naturally. Innocently as a child of five.
Bend down when I say will she die?
Exciteable and innocent. Rosie is more dominant who has all the answers. I run in after Rosie has sat down and fiddled with her sweet wrappers.
I bend down when I say ' Will she die?'. My character is light spirited and inquisitive.

Doris in Scene three
'That's my husband's fault, you can't trust him'
'Oh he's upped and gone'
My manner is jovial as if I have heard a person saying it .

Using Brechtian techniques-
In context to the play - speaking to the audience, label on me 'Doris' age 5.
Location on screen, year and noise effects if needed.
Reminding audience we are doing a play always on stage.
Sidelines, preparing to put on a wig, use of props in a little pile next to us of what we need.

In our lesson with Shanaz we worked on little gestures.
I wrote down through the script when I lie down and when I get up and my gestures.
Conclusion - It has helped working with Shanaz as she has helped to explain appropriate gestures and mannerisms.
The play will become more 'real' and the audience will be able to identify with the characters as it will be interactive.

Targets

Self awareness, letting go. Self conciousness. Merge notes with my workbook. Lose my inhibitions.

Constraints-
Where have the limitations been in the rehearsal process?
List the hooks and why?

The hooks in our play in which I was performing were when Rosie says in her line in Scene three, 'She might turn into something.' This was a hook for me to draw nearer to her and say, 'Will she die?'. I was anticipating the shock that what I was hearing might end in her dying.
Rosie says to me, 'I'll have to feel it', and I jump up and push her arm away as I reply, 'Dont touch'.
Together we both say, 'Doctors and nurses!' and then I say, 'Bags be nurse!' and I lay down in the centre of the stage as if on a hospital bed and my reply is, 'All right. I'll be patient and you be doctor and then it's my turn.'
In scene five, my line is' 'The rug will do quite nicely for me, and I sit down on the rug and say to Margaret, 'Sit down and have some tea.'

Lastly in the end of scene five, feeling irritated towards Margaret i snatch the painting from her and say, 'That's for Jack. He wanted something form his grandchild.'

The limitations were the technical hiccups, and not enough time to rehearse with the props.

Further Targets -

To remain in character
Conscious of others in our play
If lines are forgotten to still be able to keep the momentum up and carry on dialogue
Timing
Projecting the voice
Knowing the lines precisely
Make the character believable and real
Respect fellow performers
For student participation, enthusiasm and attendance to improve.

Feedback from Shanaz during lesson rehearsal

In an irritated and angry manner almost malicious, 'That's for Jack, he wanted something from his grandchild'

Doris aged 61 as I come in to the scene I call out 'Jack', pause, awaiting for a response, then impatiently ranting around the chair whilst calling out 'Jack' again, 'Are you coming to have some tea with Ken and Margaret'. Accentuate the 'My' in the lily of the valley sentence. Well you'd better do round the front, target to where I think Jack is, ' I don't want grass clippings in my tea'

-Aims and Targets-

How can you feel or tell the difference between my ages?
Don't let my voice get too quiet.
Push! - Accentuate the Push, not too quiet.
Know where my positioning is otherwise I am at a loss as to where I should be.
My voice gets stuck in the higher realms.
Work out the meaning behind the words if you can.

A night in the 80's performance evening

The evening began with us in the restaurant in which we had to be in character. I noticed once we sat down at our tables; my mother said I never should sitting at one table and stags and hens at the other table. We began to interact with one another and it worked well. My character was Doris aged 61 and I was implying that stags and hens were being too loud in a humorous manner as we had our young Rosie with us and that they needed to be aware of that. Also I noticed a few of the guests who were in couples looked slightly uncomfortable where they were sitting as I dont know if they knew our reason or purpose for sitting where we were.

I think if it had been a larger restaurant it would have been better to have interacted although I dont think it needed any more character's walking around than there were that evening.
I feel if the guests had been given a programme describing what they were attending and the character's and the evening's line up this may have made more sense.

I felt the evening went really well. Our play was at the end of the evening. In Scene three with Kat and I, it felt as if we really in character and the dynamic between us flowed really well. I was focusing my attention to the details of being Doris age 5 and aware of the physicality, I played with my hair and i felt more fidgety and restless. In my speaking line, 'Truly? Let's go and look', I jumped up on to my feet and was exciteable.
In Scene five I felt I managed to project my voice well over the sound of the lawnmower and hopefully my sense of irritation and impatience towards Jack came across too.
Doris in this scene felt serious in my character,concientious and caring. At the end of the scene Doris displayed her feelings of anger towards Margaret as she had been hasty to get a temping job and consequently had lost the baby. Doris snatched the painting from Margaret implying the importance and relevance of the fact that the painting was for Jack and that he wanted something from his grandchild.
In scene six i was sitting in my chair on the side whilst Bobbie, Michelle and Kat were in the scene.
Despite my concern about my nerves in performance I managed to recite my lines and was pleased that I did it which gave me confidence.

The intention of performing our plays were to introduce an insight in to the period of the 1980's, showing examples of social behaviour, class distinction, social conditioning, social poverty and trends of the time, together with gender and social issues, behaviour and psycholigical patterns of behaviour. Firstly we introduced 'Bouncer's and 'Shaker's in the restaurant environment followed by 'stags and hen's' and 'my mother said i never should' in the theatre.

Dress rehearsal

We rehearsed on the day using props, sound and lighting. We had to place our chairs in position in which we would be lit. I realised we had to communicate well between the four of us as we had to work out who where the props would be laid on the floor and delegate who was going to take the props away in between scenes.
Considering this was the actual rehearsal using sound and lighting we did well. We managed to rehearse scene three, four and five. The challenge was after the garden scene in scene 5 to take away the props quietly and promptly so that the next scene could begin.
It felt good to be in our costumes as the character's came to life, our hair and make up also contributed to feeling more complete and in keeping with the character.
Obviously if the technical side of things had be possible earlier in rehearsals this would have made everyone feel more confident in their ability to perform.

States of Tension using your body and physicality. The meaning behind the words that lie under the surface, i.e. 'I did tell Jackie', and the tension in Scene 5, 'Mother'
If it isn't right in the actual speech it isn't going to be convincing.
Learning the dialogue - intricately linked you have got to listen to what is being said.

Hold on to Jackie with my arm to her arm 'Jackie'. At the point she says, 'I didn't break her', i go to hold her and comfort her then I say 'ssh', and Jackie breaks free.
I then get up to say to Margared angrily, 'If you hadn't been so hasty. . ' 'That's for Jack....'
My tone and meaning is motherley and comforting towards Jackie when I state 'Jackie'