Transformers-
I really enjoyed this unit of work. I chose to be a part of
the shadow play/Diary of a Madman group. I think our performances went really
well and better than I originally anticipated. I feel like we portrayed all
that we wanted to get across to the audience and we took on any feedback given
to us after each run to successfully better our performances. Throughout the
process I think we worked really successfully with ideas and decided quite
early on our storyline and final ideas to work with because we decided early on
we made sure we had enough time to work out the shadows and this allowed us
time to make them look effective. We had many ideas for this piece such as using
shadowed hand puppets to just objects to physical theatre and we were quick to
make decisions of what would work and what we would and wouldn’t have time for.
I feel with each performance we were quick to identify what would make the next
one better. It was also good that we always had feedback from our production
team which was greatly appreciated by us.
I thought that our rehearsal process for this show was one
of the best that we have done. We got on quickly and efficiently with what was
needed to be done and also worked well with the production team who gave us
clear instruction with what they wanted from us. We always made sure to ask
what they thought of the performance and if they had any more elements that
would improve the show which we could try to incorporate.
For our piece we only got to use our set up space for the final performance a
little before the performance day. In all honesty I think it was the perfect
amount of time as even if we didn’t have the shadow screen to work with we were
always thinking about the shadows and how we would show them successfully to
the audience or even getting on with other things such as recording voice over’s
making sure to make use of our time. We made sure we had a clear visual image
of what we wanted before going into the space to finally piece it all together.
We also had frequent updates from the production team keeping us informed with
what was needed from us and when we could rehearse both with them and in the
space. The production team were also constantly supportive and open to our
ideas and this cooperation made everything run smoothly. I really enjoyed
collaborating with them. I don’t think that personally I would have changed anything about our piece because the simplicity of it made it work really well. I think that we achieved something that we should be proud of. If we had longer on the project we could have incorporated more of our ideas as we had a lot of different and ambitious ideas to make something even better such as incorporating physical theatre elements which I thought would look great but with the time limit and also keeping to the simplicity of the storyline we didn’t think it was needed. I think as an overall this was a really good experience to collaborate with the production teams and bring a piece they pitched to us to life. I really enjoyed performing Diary of a Madman. It was completely different from what I have done before and I enjoyed working and playing with the idea of shadows and voice over’s to bring our story to life.
Endgame-
This unit and show went so well and honestly so much better
than I ever thought it would go. When we first got the play and unit of work I
was really happy as I have previously studied this show, Absurdism and Surrealism
before and enjoyed it, even if it is a little confusing. There was still a
great deal that I had to learn and understand about the subject which I looked forward
to and tried my best to get my head around it as soon as possible. Although the
play was confusing I loved our interpretation of it. We used the themes of routine,
defeat, hope and isolation in an absurdist, surrealist and avant-garde type of
performance. I think the play encourages such an interpretation. We tried
different and unusual ways of acting the piece, such as repetition of lines
from different characters, to successfully deliver a complex yet innovative
performance. This also made the play more confusing to the audience which I
think was brilliant as this means they have to find their own interpretation of
it rather than taking a given one.The rehearsal process for this show started really well. I loved working with Leonie and Claire because they brought a lot of new ideas, perspectives and way of thinking to us as a class and our piece and also a different way of doing things which I found really interesting. As the rehearsal process went on it did get more stressful because of the time limitations and because of different thoughts among the cast. Overall I feel that we worked well together taking into consideration the last minute drop out of a cast member. We all pulled together and created a show that we should all be really proud of.
I liked the fact that we could choose what aspect of performance we would like to focus on, such as acting, physical theatre or scenography. I chose to be in the physical theatre group. I loved working in this category of performance. I really enjoy physical theatre and loved showing characters and themes through movement. I thought it brought a really interesting element to the piece. I also liked the fact we incorporated dance into the show as I really enjoy working with dance. It can show so many different meanings to an audience in different ways. This complemented our themes for the show. We used both the physical theatre and dance aspect within this piece to convey the emotions of the characters and the themes of the play. An example of this is that we made absurd shapes and tableaux and were more of a presence to the show rather than a character. When in these shapes we would say and repeat lines to give the show another aspect of confusion which is what we wanted from the piece. I feel the physical movements symbolised a lot in Endgame so we had to make our movements precise and meaningful which I think we done successfully.
For this show we were aiming to make something that was
interesting to watch but would also make the audience think about it. I think
we achieved this by sticking to our themes and acting and moving in our own
absurd ways. The only thing I would have changed about the process is editing
the script down a little earlier and starting developing and cutting down ideas
earlier and also being more efficient with this. We were reasonably successful
at this but I think if we speeded up the process and cut the script down a
little earlier it may have made the process easier and would have freed up more
time to change and come up with different ideas for the play. Overall I have
really enjoyed this process. I love Samuel Becket’s work even though it is
complex. I love this aspect of it of always having something new to learn
every time you come to it. I liked the excitement of this piece of work and
getting to show an audience something a bit different to a ‘normal’ show.
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