Performance Evaluation

Performance Evaluation

On Thursday Evening and Friday afternoon, we did our performance, 'Letters'. We were showing how different types of letters can make us feel through physical theatre so there wasn't as much talking in this show. In my opinion, both performances went well.

I felt as though all of the scenes went smoothly, but I particularly felt like 'Snakeblood', 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Everything Is Awesome!' were perhaps the best. This is because, at first, we weren't sure what the audience would think of them because 'Snakeblood' was a serious piece and 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which came straight after, was a silly piece. The same for 'Everything Is Awesome!'. We were worried about the two sillier scenes incase the audience wouldn't find them funny and not laugh at them because they are the silliest scene throughout the performance. But once we did both of them, the audience enjoyed both of them and we were pleased that they did. I felt like I did well in the 'Snakeblood' scene because although it is dance based, it was an easier piece of physical theatre for me.

Although a lot of the show went well, there were little things I felt needed improving. For example, on the first night, which was the Thursday, when the audience were sat in their seats and we moved to get into our starting positions, once I had got into our positions and stare at our letters, at one point, I lost focus and took a glimpse over to the audience. I wasn't sure whether anyone noticed me doing this, but I felt annoyed at myself for doing so.

Another thing we pointed out was when we were doing the 'Everything Is Awesome!' scene, just before we did the show, Ami requested if we could leave the front part of the stage so she could do her flips. When it came to doing this, we forgot to leave the front part of the stage for Ami. We later discussed this when it came to doing the matinee.

Another thing I did, which was during the matinee, when we did 'Bohemian Rhapsody', because I start that scene off, when I started, I flicked my hair back. I was annoyed with myself because everybody would probably have seen this and with me being first in that scene, it was really noticeable, so I was annoyed with myself at this.

I was also disappointed because during the 'F.E.AR', when I have to go on the floor, I managed to somehow bruise myself. This was difficult for me when performing because it was painful. Because of this, I have been put off doing most physical theatre movements which includes going on the floor, incase it happens again.

In conclusion, I felt like 'Letters' went really well and that apart from the comments above, there wasn't that much that needed changing. I felt like we all had done well and with it being our first show since starting in September, it went really well.

Katie Foley Friday's lesson

We decided to go over our latest dance that we have learnt. The dance is a fast - moving dance to the song 'Braveheart' by Neon Jungle. The dance involves types of grotesque movements, hand gestures, twerking and floor movement.

We went over it today so we could improve it. Although I can do most of the moves, I sometimes feel as though I look lazy performing it because I can't keep up with the rest of the class. Three of them are good dancers because they have had past experience in dance, so I sometimes feel like I am not as good as them because they can do it perfectly. Sometimes, it can give me a type of anxiety because I don't feel confident enough and I will end up looking like I am not putting any effort into it.

We have also started to begin a rough run - through of the performance from start to finish. It has all been going rather smoothly up to now. However, we do need to remember which scene goes where. So apart from that, everything is still okay.

We have had to change some elements in the show. So for example, Chloe will not be singing in the show because the backing track for the song she was originally going to be singing will be taken out because the backing track is not as intense as the original song. So Chloe will possibly be singing another song but for a new scene, and for this one she will be doing ghostly movements, because her character is meant to have died.

We have also added a new element in the grotesque dance. This element is when we get closer together, we start to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. I enjoy doing this element because it is something different to add in the performance and it is a funny element. The audience will not be expecting this in the show and they will enjoy watching it. This is another reason I enjoy doing this part of the show.

Yesterday's lesson (20th November 2014)

20th November 2014

Yesterday's lesson we had to do a run through of our upcoming show. We did a run through throughout the lesson and did not stop at any point. The run through roughly about 25 minutes.

After we had our run through, we decided to look over at what needed fixing, what we needed to work on more, and what needed changing. We decided to go over the cheer leading scene because we have changed the jumps in the scene because some of us couldn't keep up with everyone else and we were finding it difficult. Apart from this, everything else seemed to work fine.

We also decided that we needed to extend some scenes.

Tmesis Theater Company Workshop

Tmesis Theater Company Workshop

We started off with our usual warm - up and training, however 2 people, a man and a woman, came into our lesson and told us they were from 'Tmesis Theater Company'. They were here to teach us a bit more about physical theater techniques.

We began by walking around in a circle and stomping our feet on every fourth count. This was to get us prepared for the upcoming techniques that we had to do for the rest of the workshop. I found this warm up fun and laughable. It was also very easy for us to do.

Secondly, we had to get into 2 lines and do 2 different emotions. One line had to do a happy emotion, and the other line (the line I was in) had to do a sad emotion. When we finished this, we all had to get into one big line and do both emotions. This was a good experience because I now know how dramatic the emotions should be sometimes if I'm performing them.

Next, we got into pairs and had to come up with some ideas of different movements. Most of the movements we needed to interpret were movements that were animal - like and inhuman. Most of the animal - like movements were shown to be birds or wild animals. I worked with Eleni for the exercise. When we performed, I felt dissapointed because I felt like I hadn't done as well as I thought because the woman who was working with us kept pointing out little things that I came up with and saying they weren't good enough, so I didn't enjoy this part as much as the others.

Afterwards, we had to get into new pairs. This time I worked with Megan, from Year 2. We had to come up with an idea of love and connection through movement. We began the sequence to show that we were very close and for some reason something was breaking us apart. 

8th October 2014

8th October 2014

We started to look at ideas for our devised piece which will be called 'Letters'. We decided to look at how different types of letters can make us feel and show the emotion through physical theatre.

However, before we did this, we began to learn about Pina Bausch's techniques. We improvised one of her ideas called 'Café Muller', which is about revisiting a childhood place. So I decided to act like I was in the park. I found this idea interesting.

18th September 2014

18th September 2014
Today we learnt about Steven Berkoff's work and what his techniques are. We also discussed about what films he has starred in, which includes 'Octopussy' and 'A Clockwork Orange'.

We also learnt about Frank Kafka's 'Metamorphosis'. This involves a lot of things about physical theatre. Also, a lot of Steven Berkoff's techniques are involved too, so that's why we learnt about these two methods.

A good example that involves a lot of Physical Theatre is DV8's 'Enter Achilles'. The physical theatre that is shown involves people lifting others on to their shoulders and throwing themselves around the room. The performance is set in a Men's Pub, and includes scenes in the pub with men's music playing and football showing on the T.V set. 'Enter Achilles' only has men in the roles and no females.

17th September 2014

17th September 2014
We did grotesque movements and learned about 7 of Steven Berkoff's techniques. We also learnt about Stacatto's techniques. We did weird movements that were show to be rather scary. We also did a newspaper article and the was the stimulus.

Proxemics:

Narration:

• 3rd Person
• 1st Person
• Out of character

These are all marking the moment.