16/10/14 - Performance Evaluation

The overal performance of Noughts and Crosses went very well. Everyone was really focused and no one came out of character at any moment during the play. Also, when we weren't performing, everyone was silent and respectful of the actors who were perfuming which helped everyone be even more focused. During Jamie's scene, someone missed a line but Jamie quickly intervened and carried on the scene. I thought that was very professional and effective of her, because if I hadn't seen the play before I wouldn't have realised. Roseby's performance was also amazing. It was very believable and naturalistic, in the way her voice cracked as if she was going to start crying. 

Although nothing major went wrong during my performance, I am quite disappointed. I feel as if I didn't show off my acting skills as much as I could have and let the fact we had an audience get the better of me. However, I think my projection was good and what I was saying was clear. I responded to   what Anya was saying and reacted to what she said as if it was the first time I heard it, which I think helped make my performance look more naturalistic. The vocal variety of the performance defiantly lacked on my part. I felt as if I just shouted through out the whole performance and let the anger of the scene dominate the parts where I should be sad and asking my mum for protection. This links back to the subtext, which I wished I had looked over before the performance.

As a group our acting skills have defiantly improved and we work well together as a team. Ultimately, I think this is what helped out performance go as well as it did.

13/10/14 - Lesson Review

In this lesson, we started with a warm up where we walked around the room being someone who was late for work. We were given instructions whilst we were moving, meaning we had to change our physicality or alter our mood quickly. This helped because we had a to act first to get into character, these skills can then be applied for when we are getting into character before the performance.

We also had a debate where we discussed racial divide. One half of the room was for and the other against. As I was on the against side, it made coming up with arguments easier as they were my actual opinion. During the debate, it was interesting to hear the points for racial divide because it was something they didn't actually believe in. The debate made me realise how much freedom of speech we have, whereas in noughts and crosses, people feared to say how they actually felt. It shows the unfairness of the situation which really helped my focus.

The run throughout of the play went very well. Although some people forgot their lines and my partner lost her voice, the progress we have made has shown through the performance. I feel as if I am completely comfortable with the staging, my lines and my characters physicality. However I can still progress my development of facial expression.

In reflection to the targets set last week, I really worked on my projection and made sure none of my words were mumbles. I responded to what Anya was saying by responding physically whilst she was saying her line, rather then waiting for my line to alter my facial expression. Something I failed to do was learn my subtext, which I will be learning in the days leading up to the final performance.

9/10/14 - Character Work

The first time I saw my mother drink…to be perfectly honest it has been so lone I can't remember her not having a wine glass in her hand. It's become part of her, an accessory almost. But she's my mother, she's a grown women, of course she knows what she's doing. When you become a parent, everything you do is for a reason right? There must be a reason for her drinking, there has to be; because that is why I took my first sip. I wanted to feel what she felt, I wanted to understand why. I was hoping for relief, I was hoping for content, but I got neither. It made the whorl softer but that didn't mean there wasn't any pain. It made my mind calmer but that didn't mean my thoughts had changed. Callum. Callum was on my mind. All day, everyday, all the time. I missed him so much, and that was made worse by the fact I couldn't reach him. I've lost him forever. So that's why I drank, why I drink. In the hope that it will take-over the Callum in my mind and replace it with something else. That's why mother does it, to stop thinking about dad and to some extent it's working for her. She still gets up, she still worlds, she gets on with her life and that's exactly what I want to do. What I need to do.

9/10/14 - Lesson Review

Today we ran through the play, to make sure it was fluid and the transactions between scenes were smooth. Anya and I's performance went much better then our previous ones. Our scene had a journey in which we varied our tone and volume of voice, knew our staging and stayed in character. We also got feedback today, which helped me know how to improve from a directors point of view.

I worked hard to accomplish the targets I set for myself last week and I felt I did achieve them. The staging for my scene words well not that Anya and I are fully confident with it and I was able to portray different emotions through the tone of my voice. However, there are still a few things I need to work on, such as my facial expressions which links to the listening and responding aspect of acting. A more specific target is remembering when I am taking the wine bottle from my mum, because I often walk away at that point, then realise I need to take it from her.

My targets for this week:

2/10/14 - Lesson Review

Today I peer assessed Roseby, which helped develop my skills in analysing a performance. When assessing, I had to look at her voice and physicality, staging and how she worked with her partner. This helped me understand how someone may view my performance, and as an audience, what I like to see in a performance. By knowing this, I can improve my scene.

During the warm up, we did an exercise where we had to imagine our characters favourite place. I felt this really helped me understand the character and how she felt to be in her own home. However, whilst I was being peer assessed, I found it hard to stay in character. This was due to Anya and I messing up our lines and therefor thinking more about what we were going to say next rather than reacting to each other lines.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have fully reached last weeks targets. On Mondays lesson I felt I knew my lines more confidently and really worked heard on ranging the volume and tone of voice. But on Thursdays lesson I was very distracted and found it hard to stay in character, This is something I will work on for next week.

My targets for this week:

25/9/14 - Character Work

25/9/14 - Lesson Review

Today we worked on the meaning of subtext and how it can improve our performance. This helped me greatly with the dynamics of my voice because I knew when Sephy was putting up a front but she was actually quite vulnerable. Although my scene is an argument, there is much more to it then anger, making it quite complex to portray; but I felt I did that today. Knowing what my character was thinking and feeling whilst saying something improved my performance and how I respond to the other character.

One of my target for last was to only move when necessary, I think I achieved this by relaxing more on stage so I didn't feel awkward just standing still. Again, knowing the subtext helped me achieve my other two targets: not to overact and to portray a variety of emotion.

My targets for this week: