final evaluation!

Overall opinion of the final performance
I thought that the overall performance went quite well, every one acted really well, there were no awkward silent moments where people forgot their lines and people didn't know when to speak like in the dress rehearsal.
  I was very proud of myself in the dress rehearsal and the final performance, because honestly in the other rehearsals leading up to the big show, I don't think I had done them as well as I could have, my lines weren't completely up to scratch, I didn't really know what to do with my character.  However on the week of the show I really knuckled down and worked hard on my character I got people to help me with my lines, people to watch me and for them to evaluate me and what I could improve on.  I really didn't want to let everyone down on the night of the show, I was really happy when people said they liked what I had done with my character and my dad was proud so that made me feel really good.  So for next time we do scripted work I know what to do, what I did at the end of DNA I'll do from the start, and get it right from the start because I know where I went wrong now.
An actor I was really impressed with was Chem, he didn't know all of the lined and the queues but on the final show he got it all right until one part he forgot his line and skipped a part, but I was impressed because of pausing and showing that he had messed up he carried on from where he remembered and so did everyone else, no one noticed even the people that were in the play didn't notice, because I asked them at the end.  Although I liked the part he missed out I was proud of him for carrying on like a real actor would.
The piece was very effective because you could see that the audience were really paying attention to the play, even the parts that were supposed to be funny the audience didn't laugh at I think because they were to into the play, which is good in a way I think.  The set was good and the way the actors reacted to the set was good, because although the swing wad there through out the play the actors ignored it when they didn't need it so it sort of became invisible to the audience.  The costumes brought out the meaning of the play as well it as everyone was wearing school uniform it was really simple and it was a constant reminder to the audience that these are just children they have killed a child what would they be going through at no more than 16 years old.  Once again the acting was great it showed that they are children everyone brought their character to life and made it their own, especially Claudia, because she really made me believe that she was an arrogant, teenager with attitude problems like she was supposed to.  I think the music was good, it was all quite up beat and fast tempo, encouraging the actors to speed up with the change overs and the opening section.  The main props were the swing and the bench and I think those went well with the sort of location they were in, because the they were really simple, like the swing was made of rope and a plank of wood and the bench was made out of just wood and was basically just wood, so it looked like the teenagers would have just made that for their little hideout in the woods to chill out.  So it went well with the scenes.
I've explained all the strengths of the performance through out this and I have nothing more to add otherwise I'd just be very repetitive.  I honestly didn't really see any weaknesses in the play I thought it all went perfectly, unless you would count when Chem forgot his line, however I would personally have added that as a strength because he continued it would have been nice to have got it all completely perfect but that's the kind of thing you get in the world of acting apparently.
 Altogether the show according to me and the audiences reaction went great, everyone acted well, there were no awkward pauses everyone seemed really happy with it and I was proud of myself and the choreography was amazing which made the so thanks again miss Goodall!! Another great show.

Targets

I wasn't a part of the scene changing, also I didn't have to be on stage in between scenes except for scene 3 and that went well, but from watching other people swapping scenes I thought it looked quite good, and was quite obvious to the audience what was going on, however of course it was slightly staggered and slow and could have gone a bit smoother but that is expected as they didn't have much practice on it, and it looked good.

3 targets
. Learn lines!
. Think more about my characters posture and how he speaks, don't worry about making a fool of myself
What Brian could be doing when standing at the side waiting for the next scene

Opening sequence 2

Opening sequence
In my opening sequence there weren't really many changes to make to mine, I thought that mine was pretty good, however I just touched it up a little bit just to make it look better and more realistic like I actually made Brian run faster like he was in a rush, and instead of him actually being seen sleeping he walks onto stage yawning as though he has just woken up reading a newspaper about earth.

In the opening sequence Brian is just wearing sort of the same thing he's wearing through out the play, a shirt tie and jeans which shows the audience that he is just sleeping in his shirt tie and jeans which makes him seem stupid to the audience.

I think I had everything alright in the rehearsal its just learning my lines that I needed to do.

Run through

Thinking about your character
Brian moves sits and stands quite slouched over, which I think shows the audience that he is depressed and could also make him come across as stupid because that's how stupidity is portrayed in things like cartoons.  I exaggerated his movements quite a lot, and he walks with a swing in his arms which is quite a childish and immature thing to do, which suits Brian very well I believe.  Brian speaks with a lot of excitement in his voice, like he's excited about everything, everything is new and interesting to him and everything amuses him, once again like a child.

I thought the run through that we did went quite well, and it showed more or less what the play was going to look like, obviously not everyone knew all of their lines, honestly neither did I, but from the run through we could see the play was looking good already.  I think Beau impressed me because although he didn't know all of his lines he still brought the character to life and made it his own.

Staging

Give an advantage of using the thrust stage .                                                                          The thrust stage allows for a much closer audience-performer relationship physically

Give a disadvantage of using the thrust stage

It is harder to face all the audience when  performing, so showing your facial expressions to all the audience at the same time throughout the performance is quite difficult

What are the challenges you think you will have personally being directed on the thrust stage?

Performing to all of the audience at the same time

Opening sequence

Reflect on why we are performing the opening sequence.  What will it tell the audience and what will it communicate to the audience?

I think we performed the opening sequence to show the audience that we are still normal people, we all get up in the morning.  It also shows a little bit about our characters, like mine is quite fast and I'm running around a lot which shows that I am very energetic and hyper, or Cathy's opening section, she spends most of her time looking in the mirror doing her make-up and then sort of kisses at herself in the mirror, which conveys Cathy's attitude and arrogance to the audience.

Describe the selection that you created in your opening section.

In the section that I created Brian walks out of his room wearing one shoe reading a newspaper, a section about Earth, I thought that might go well because he starts talking about the Earth later on I  the play.  He then looks at his watch noticing his late for something he throws his newspaper behind him and begins running looking for his clothes, he first goes over to this jacket upstage and swings it on, he then runs over to his hat downstage left puts that on, he then runs over to his other shoe downstage right as he puts it on he hops over to centre stage, when he finally gets it on he goes to run back to exit downstage right but then sees John who is scared of and slowly walks back to centre stage and finally exits upstage right.

Casting workshop

Q1.  What was your experience of participating in the workshop?  What characters did you read in for?  Why do you want to play these roles?
-I found participating in the workshop fun, although it was quite scary performing in front of everyone staring at you, and quite a bit of pressure as I knew I was competing for the part against TJ.  I read in for Mark and Adam.  I read in for Mark, not because I wanted to play as him, but just to try him out.  I wanted to play Adam because he seemed like quite a challenging character to play and I like to challenge myself.

Q2.  What was your experience of observing the workshop?  Who were you most impressed by and why?
  - I found observing the workshop quite interesting to see everyone performing as the characters they want to be, and it was interesting the way they interpreted the character and how they all acted individually, and for those who acted the same characters, most of them were different.  I was most impressed by Romy and Eloise, as they brought the character Leah to life, and the way they performed seemed very realistic.

JJ Steadford