Evaluation On Final Performance

Personally I thought it was our best run through. We nailed it. We were all motivated and focused throughout the whole performance. Even when we weren't on stage we were still in role as our characters. You could clearly see it was well rehearsed show. I felt everyone was with it and knew what they had to say and do next which is why the play flowed so well. 

What went well for me?

My two scenes went extremely well. The pace of the scenes, kept the audience drawn in. I felt both the scenes were effective because of there simplicity. 

What also went well was the repetition of the word "Oh" which I did find quite challenging. 

I thought about what I would be thinking when saying each individual "Oh" in response to Marks "Yeah". 

I felt I stayed in role throughout the performance, even when not on stage. I made interaction with other characters near to me.

One actor that impressed me was Alex. I loved the way she played Danny, when she spoke I always wanted to hear more from her. The way she approached her character drew me in. I noticed she was constantly reacting to the situation and instantly made the scene become more alive and up-beat. The way she said her lines were humorous but extremely effective. Overall I was really impressed and she most defiantly stuck out to me.   

Our whole performance was effective. I think the music in our opening scene- "Pumped up kicks" made it effective from the start. The music is up beat and quite ideal for a teenager to listen to, which makes sense as all the characters are teenagers. The set was quite bare- a swing hanging downstage left and a bench sitting upstage right. Interesting the set never changed.  

The green ties we all wore over are white shirts made it clear that we where all school kids. Each prop was simple but symbolic which meant the audience could have a lot more focus on the actors themselves. Key pieces of clothing like "Jans" bright orange jacket or "Marks" grey hoddie helped the audience into understand that each key piece represented the same character.

Characterization was one of our main strengths. We were pretty much always in character, on stage or offstage. The timings were on point and everyone knew when to say their lines. Lines were remembered and were effective as we all emphasized our words clearly and loudly in the style of our characters.
Everyone was focused which was why the whole performance flowed so nicely. As a group we had a lot of energy which helped us stay in role. Our pace was good and most scenes withheld it nicely.
Overall we all did brilliantly and created a very moving and effective piece.

Even though we all did withhold a nice pace during the performance I still felt some scenes lacked it. We could of developed the change-overs between scenes. We all could of done the change overs with more energy. Everyone did interact with each-other but not constantly, this could of been developed further.

Final run through

This week everyone knew their lines and we were all in costume. We tweaked the opening scene's and changeovers, which made the performance look sleeker.
The whole performance is coming together. Everyone puts focus and energy into their characters, which have an impact on the performance as a whole.

As I am playing "Jan" I have to think who I'm talking to and why. In my scene's I'm talking to Mark. I feel confused as I can't seem to realize that Leah is gone and Adam is dead. I keep persisting Mark, until I do eventually understand. All my character wants from the scene is justification from Mark. Jan thinks and questions to much and that makes Mark feel frustrated. She's thinking about all the details of the situation.

Text message

  
In class we came up with a text message for our character to be played as a slide show behind the opening introduction. As a group me and the other Jan's came up with a text message that would portray the relationship of Jan and Mark, for example- "Meet me in the usual place" but also the importance of the situation and how serious it is. (Jan in blue).

3 targets for next week

• Complete the subtext for my lines

• Develop the tone of repeating the same word over again. 

        For example-

         Jan- "Oh"

         Mark- "Yeah"

         Jan- "Oh"

         Mark- "Yeah"

         Jan- "Oh"

• Know lines, without having to think about saying them. 

Another run through focusing on change overs

We had another staggered run-thorough, including our opening sequences. 

Within this we thought about the movements of a change over. With each Jan, we use the same jacket but just did a slick changeover in-front of the audience, so they will understand it's Jan but another actor playing her.

This will be even more clear to the audience as the jacket is so bright meaning it's instantly recognisable. The change over with the Jacket is shown in our opening sequence, so the audience will become familiar with the jacket representing Jan. 

All day run through.

We rehearsed the opening sequence of the performance. Me, Ursula, Marley and Sonia all play the character of "Jan". Together we agreed that we should each do a different set of moments to portray the different sides of Jan. This was really effective, as Jan is constantly changing depending on who she's with, being her most comfortable with Mark, but most nervous around John Tate.

Our aim is to bring in a bright orange Adidas jacket, that will be thrown over Jan's plain black clothing. In the opening sequence each "Jan" has a few seconds to do their movements while the others freeze. This leads the first Jan to come in wearing the Jacket and do their little scene, showing the side of Jan they portray. They then come into the middle to do a slick change over with the next Jan, that will repeat this. When it get's to me, I do everything else but instead of leaving the stage, I go to the back of it and wait to start my scene after the "Marks" have finished.

The Jacket will be worn by every Jan, in all of their scene's. Making it even clearer to the audience that it's Jan. 

When rehearsing me scene, my understanding of my character had improved. I learnt that I was comfortable with "Mark" and not afraid to ask things. To improve my character further, I need to know my lines more than well. Up to the point when I don't even have to think about saying them. I need to know the cues of my lines before they're even said. Stage direction in my scene's, when do I have to move, stand etc.  I want to work out the subtext of my lines so I can understand them on a deeper level, why am I saying them? etc.

SELF Observation Sheet