By this point I feel that we're now starting to settle in to the show quite well. It has flow and pace, and I personally am very happy with how it is running. That's not to say that the show is perfect, but one of the most rewarding things about it is that we, the cast, are constantly questioning our own decisions within the performance and aren't afraid to change anything that isn't working.
In terms of the actual performances they were quite interesting in terms of audience. In the morning it was, as has been the norm, mainly school groups. It's really nerve wracking facing a room full of 14 and 15 year olds, moreso than any other age demographic. As the audience enter you can't gauge how they feel about being there, and they are often standoffish or very shy. Also if they don't want to be there and decide that it's boring from before they arrive it's very difficult to engage them, bearing in mind that many of them won't have actively chosen to be there in the first place. That said, the disruption from the boys in the balcony wasn't unmanageable, and many of them were very appreciative towards us.
The evening was a very different experience. The majority of the audience were a class of adults who had chosen to go back into education and take their GCSEs. Whilst they were not quite as noticeably audibly responsive as the school groups, the talkout at the end showed us that they really had been paying attention and had taken a lot of useful information from the show, so overall I would say that it was a successful day!
Friday, 12 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Wednesday
Today was our first day of two performances, with a matinee and an evening show. We started the morning with some notes of the previous days performance, in order to see what could be improved, taking the audience reactions we gained into consideration. For example, we became aware that some jokes fell flat, whilst things that we didn't think would work worked really well. I have found that interacting with the audience adds something to the performance, because our 'urge' or motivation is to share knowledge in a captivating way.
The audience reacted well today, and no major mistakes took place. We warmed up individually, and i focussed on each different character that i become, making myself find the traits and characterization of each. I found that this helped me to warm up for the performance, because i was more aware of how much energy i needed in order to portray all these characters realisticly, in a way that the audience could follow the narrative.
The post show discussions are always interesting, because students will throw answers or questions that we would not have expected. Our director Mark was slightly horrified when one young man referred to Macbeth as a book; in his defense, it's no surprise he thinks it is a novel if the first time he has been introduced to it is in an English classroom environment. It is also nice to hear what the audience think of the different ways of staging Shakespeare, because we do throw a lot of different ideas to them in order for them to formulate their own arguments and opinions.
The audience reacted well today, and no major mistakes took place. We warmed up individually, and i focussed on each different character that i become, making myself find the traits and characterization of each. I found that this helped me to warm up for the performance, because i was more aware of how much energy i needed in order to portray all these characters realisticly, in a way that the audience could follow the narrative.
The post show discussions are always interesting, because students will throw answers or questions that we would not have expected. Our director Mark was slightly horrified when one young man referred to Macbeth as a book; in his defense, it's no surprise he thinks it is a novel if the first time he has been introduced to it is in an English classroom environment. It is also nice to hear what the audience think of the different ways of staging Shakespeare, because we do throw a lot of different ideas to them in order for them to formulate their own arguments and opinions.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Monday & Tuesday
Monday 8th November
Today was a three session day, meaning that we started at 10am and worked through until 10pm. Thankfully, Drew and I are used to this sort of day, having both participated in extra curricular work at university. We started by running the last section, as we did not have time to do it on Friday, and then started dress rehearsals before lunch. It was a difficult run, as we had never done the whole thing before, and being off script was slightly scary! We muddled through, waiting for lighting changes and cue lines, but all in all the first dress rehearsal went better than we anticipated.
For the rest of the day we worked on blocking that we thought hadn't worked properly, and on scenes that needed more attention (such as a banquet scene, in which we have to lay the table- this took quite some time to get right, with the vast amount of props!). We did three dress rehearsals before leaving at 10pm, each one better than the last, with notes between each one. Notes were usually regarding the way in which we say the lines, and questions about blocking, but none were too severe. Today was a success, and we are ready for our first (ever) professional show audience in the morning!
Tuesday 9th November
This morning our call was 9am, as we had a dress rehearsal at 10am with an invited audience of school children (aged about 13). This dress rehearsal was eye opening, as it was the first time we had ever been able to interact with the audience, and see if the information we are giving them stays, and if the jokes and references work. The show went well, and appart from a few minor mistakes, went smoothly. The audience stayed afterwards for a question and answer session, which was more for our benefit- so that we could ensure that our points were coming across well. They responded positively, which I was happy about because i think we were all worried that we were being patronizing, and that we weren't explaining our points properly.
We then had a break before our second performance at 2pm. This was the first official performance to the public, and had two school groups (one boys school and one girls school). The performance got off to quite a muddled start, as clearance wasn't given to the tech box, meaning that us actors were on stage for quite a considerable amount of time before we could start to do anything. I found speaking with the audience a little but intimidating at first, as i have not spoken to people this age for quite a while- but i found that i could speak tothem about Shakespeare and gage their opinions on what they were about to see, which then aided the way in which i presented information to them. The show mainly went well, although energy dipped slightly in the middle sections. I think now that we are becoming more comfortable with the format of the show, we can now play with the audience reactions more, and with the way in which we say our lines. The question and answer session was not as lively as the morning, and it is quite apparent that a lot of the young adults watching have preconceived ideas about Shakespeare and the theatre, although a proud moment for us was when most admitted that they had changed their views about Macbeth, and found it more appealing to study.
We are looking forward to the rest of the week, with two shows ever day it will be tiring, but rewarding too.
Suzanne
Today was a three session day, meaning that we started at 10am and worked through until 10pm. Thankfully, Drew and I are used to this sort of day, having both participated in extra curricular work at university. We started by running the last section, as we did not have time to do it on Friday, and then started dress rehearsals before lunch. It was a difficult run, as we had never done the whole thing before, and being off script was slightly scary! We muddled through, waiting for lighting changes and cue lines, but all in all the first dress rehearsal went better than we anticipated.
For the rest of the day we worked on blocking that we thought hadn't worked properly, and on scenes that needed more attention (such as a banquet scene, in which we have to lay the table- this took quite some time to get right, with the vast amount of props!). We did three dress rehearsals before leaving at 10pm, each one better than the last, with notes between each one. Notes were usually regarding the way in which we say the lines, and questions about blocking, but none were too severe. Today was a success, and we are ready for our first (ever) professional show audience in the morning!
Tuesday 9th November
This morning our call was 9am, as we had a dress rehearsal at 10am with an invited audience of school children (aged about 13). This dress rehearsal was eye opening, as it was the first time we had ever been able to interact with the audience, and see if the information we are giving them stays, and if the jokes and references work. The show went well, and appart from a few minor mistakes, went smoothly. The audience stayed afterwards for a question and answer session, which was more for our benefit- so that we could ensure that our points were coming across well. They responded positively, which I was happy about because i think we were all worried that we were being patronizing, and that we weren't explaining our points properly.
We then had a break before our second performance at 2pm. This was the first official performance to the public, and had two school groups (one boys school and one girls school). The performance got off to quite a muddled start, as clearance wasn't given to the tech box, meaning that us actors were on stage for quite a considerable amount of time before we could start to do anything. I found speaking with the audience a little but intimidating at first, as i have not spoken to people this age for quite a while- but i found that i could speak tothem about Shakespeare and gage their opinions on what they were about to see, which then aided the way in which i presented information to them. The show mainly went well, although energy dipped slightly in the middle sections. I think now that we are becoming more comfortable with the format of the show, we can now play with the audience reactions more, and with the way in which we say our lines. The question and answer session was not as lively as the morning, and it is quite apparent that a lot of the young adults watching have preconceived ideas about Shakespeare and the theatre, although a proud moment for us was when most admitted that they had changed their views about Macbeth, and found it more appealing to study.
We are looking forward to the rest of the week, with two shows ever day it will be tiring, but rewarding too.
Suzanne
Friday and Saturday
Sorry for the delay in posting, Suzanne and I have moved digs, and whilst we are now in a great place, we no longer have internet at home, so we're frantically posting all of the blogs for the last few days while we have a spare moment (thankyou cafe nero...)
Friday
Teching and running sections - Today has been essentially more of the same, running what we have already done, cementing the blocking and sequences that we have already done. However, we have also finally properly blocked the final section of the show. Obviously it's very good for us to have an idea of how the piece as a whole goes, however the constraints of preparing a show in a week are beginning to show. Whilst we are on track with our lines and blocking, and have enough time to put together a show, considering the nature of the piece we are performing, it is slightly frustrating that we haven't had more time. We have been teching the show as we rehearse it from essentially the second day, which is efficient in terms of time management, but I feel like there needs to be more time spent on the actual cognitive aspects of the performance. We need to try to make the show engaging for school children who have been dragged to see a performance about a subject that, chances are, they aren't too fond of, and I feel that to achieve that it would take more time than we have had. BUT, that is not to say we shouldn't be proud of what we've made.
Saturday
Today we have started running the show in sections. It devides neatly into four sections, each between 10 and 12 pages long, so today has been very useful. We can now see how the show flows, and how it works with lighting and sound. We have run each section twice. First just to acclimatise to the tech and blocking on the stage and with props, then we are given notes for that section and proceed to run it again, doing our best to action the notes that we have been given. It is good to see that we can run the individual sections (or at least sections one, two and three as we have not had time to run section four) and to have an opportunity to play with moments of the show. It will be tight, but I do feel like we will be ready to perform on Tuesday.
Friday
Teching and running sections - Today has been essentially more of the same, running what we have already done, cementing the blocking and sequences that we have already done. However, we have also finally properly blocked the final section of the show. Obviously it's very good for us to have an idea of how the piece as a whole goes, however the constraints of preparing a show in a week are beginning to show. Whilst we are on track with our lines and blocking, and have enough time to put together a show, considering the nature of the piece we are performing, it is slightly frustrating that we haven't had more time. We have been teching the show as we rehearse it from essentially the second day, which is efficient in terms of time management, but I feel like there needs to be more time spent on the actual cognitive aspects of the performance. We need to try to make the show engaging for school children who have been dragged to see a performance about a subject that, chances are, they aren't too fond of, and I feel that to achieve that it would take more time than we have had. BUT, that is not to say we shouldn't be proud of what we've made.
Saturday
Today we have started running the show in sections. It devides neatly into four sections, each between 10 and 12 pages long, so today has been very useful. We can now see how the show flows, and how it works with lighting and sound. We have run each section twice. First just to acclimatise to the tech and blocking on the stage and with props, then we are given notes for that section and proceed to run it again, doing our best to action the notes that we have been given. It is good to see that we can run the individual sections (or at least sections one, two and three as we have not had time to run section four) and to have an opportunity to play with moments of the show. It will be tight, but I do feel like we will be ready to perform on Tuesday.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Day 4
We started the day by blocking most of the rest of the script, with only three pages left to do tomorrow. As each scene is quite short, the most difficult part of blocking is working out where you need to be, how you get there, and how you can get any props/costume you need. Everything has to be certain, otherwise it will fall appart.
The other difficult thing is mastering each different characterization and motivation in time for the scene. I play about five different characters during the course of the play, as well as speaking as myself with facts and questions for the audience; in one instance, i go straight from explaining one of Shakespeare's writing techniques to playing Lady Macduff as her son is killed- quite a leap to make in an instant, and something i am working hard to get my head round. There is not much time in which to build a character, but the real excitement lies in the range of characters we are able to play with.
I am learning a lot about different actors' approaches to scripts, and the process in which they go about building characters. We are working with actors who have trained at drama schools such as RADA, and have years more experience in the industry than we have; yet the way in which we build characters, find character motivations and our approach our rehearsals are very similar to the way we are trained at Bath Spa - which proves to me that our course really sets us up for the real world of acting. I am finding working with professional actors really valuable, and I am discovering what it is like to work in the professional theatre world.
Long days of technical runs and dress rehearsals await us!
Suzanne
The other difficult thing is mastering each different characterization and motivation in time for the scene. I play about five different characters during the course of the play, as well as speaking as myself with facts and questions for the audience; in one instance, i go straight from explaining one of Shakespeare's writing techniques to playing Lady Macduff as her son is killed- quite a leap to make in an instant, and something i am working hard to get my head round. There is not much time in which to build a character, but the real excitement lies in the range of characters we are able to play with.
I am learning a lot about different actors' approaches to scripts, and the process in which they go about building characters. We are working with actors who have trained at drama schools such as RADA, and have years more experience in the industry than we have; yet the way in which we build characters, find character motivations and our approach our rehearsals are very similar to the way we are trained at Bath Spa - which proves to me that our course really sets us up for the real world of acting. I am finding working with professional actors really valuable, and I am discovering what it is like to work in the professional theatre world.
Long days of technical runs and dress rehearsals await us!
Suzanne
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Day 3 - Teching Begins
The main feature of today has been starting tech! We're now installed in the studio from this point onwards, all the set is built and the lights are up and running. So after lunch, as one cast member had prior commitments and couldn't stay for the afternoon, the rest of us have started blocking and running parts of the show with lights and sound.
What's remarkable (other than the fact that we aren't teching in the traditional theatrical order of things as we haven't blocked the whole show yet) is how working 'professionally' is pretty similar to how we work at uni! We try ideas, discuss what works and what doesn't, and generally work as a group. Obviously there are going to be other ways of working in the industry, but it's good to know that we're preparing in a way that works
What's remarkable (other than the fact that we aren't teching in the traditional theatrical order of things as we haven't blocked the whole show yet) is how working 'professionally' is pretty similar to how we work at uni! We try ideas, discuss what works and what doesn't, and generally work as a group. Obviously there are going to be other ways of working in the industry, but it's good to know that we're preparing in a way that works
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
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