Our Country's Good Evaluation
Dress Run - We did our first dress run through in front of another class, this is so we could have a practise performing to an audience in this type of staging. This is important because most of us had never performing in a proscenium staging before, In previous rehearsals some of us were performing as if it was proscenium staging, therefore because we had an audience it was easier to perform to them as they were there.
The opening scene - In this scene where we are forming the ship and being the convicts, I thought this went well in the first show. I thought that I had a good posture, I was slouched and bent over, this shows the audience that we had been on that ship for a long time and many of us were sick and weak. I also thought that I had appropriate facial expressions to show that I was exhausted, when we moved on the floor I just fell down, this suggested to the audience that we didn't have enough energy to stand anymore. When I was laying down my head was facing down, did the occasional cough or cry, this fitted with the context of the play, because we are all so cramped together so that it is likely that diseases and illnesses are going to be spread around. I also thought that this scene in the second show was as good as the first show. Our proxemics with each other contrasted with any other scene in the show as we were so cramped together, this shows the audience that we are prisoners and do not have the freedom to move around. When we changed to laying down we were all still pushed together, this shows that the ships would have been over crowed. As well as this our proxemics with the audience were good as the formation was in the middle of the stage so all of the audience members got a good view of it.
Scene 3 - The transition between the ship scene and the shooting scene was good in the first show because i was prepared and put my jacket on the chairs, however in the second show i forgot to pre-set my jacket and therefore i had to run backstage to get it. Because of this the transition wasn't as quick as it was before. This scene on the first night did not go so well as there was a long pause were we had missed our cue lines, this meant that not all of our lines were said, however even though not all of the text was said, with the pause the "kangaroo" section was timed okay, as when i pointed over at them they were all standing in place. In the second show this went better as in-between the two shows we had gone through the lines together as a group, as well as the this kangaroo timing was also good. I thought that my voice wasn't great in this scene, i needed to be louder and use a lower register, i thought that i sounded too much like my own voice when i needed to sound like i had a lot of power and was very upper class. On the other hand i thought that my posture and body language was good, i thought that i stood up strait with my shoulders back, this shows the audience that i have more authority than the other officers. My body language was similar to this in the second show, i think i could have developed this further to make my status more obvious. Our proxemics with each other were a lot spaced out in this scene, this shows the audience the difference between the amount of space on the convict ship and now they are on land.
Scene 6 - This scene was a lot better than in previous rehearsals, the majority of the lines were correct. However in the first show there was a long pause, this was due to someone missing their cue, therefore the wrong line was said and this cut the scene shorter. My cue line for the last line was said earlier than it was meant to so I had to say the line the finish the scene. I thought that my voice was better in this scene, I sounded more upper class than in scene 3 however I do think that I could have developed it further to sound more like a man. In previous rehearsals when I said my longer paragraph I found it hard to add characterisation into it, however when I stared to walk around when saying it I found it easier to stay in character. This is because my character was saying this to tell everyone his opinion on the play, he is unlike the other characters who just say their view on the subject, he explains it by seeing how it could effect the convicts in a positive way. I wanted this to be an important part of the scene as it could have changed some of the other officers minds. On the second show I thought this went better as I felt more confident with it, I sounded more like I was important and knew what I was doing, like how my character is written. I also thought that my body language was good in this scene, when I was at down I had a straight back but my legs were more apart like how a typical man would sit. During rehearsals I found this hard as I had never played a male character so I wasn't sure how to use my body language to help with my characterisation. However as we got closer to the show I found it easier to do this as I had noticed how some of the other officers were sitting. On the show our proxemics with the audience were not good. This is because the way that we placed the stalls and the bench meant that some of the audience had a blocked view and couldn't see what was going on. In the second show the bench was placed too far upstage so when I walked over I spoke as my character to tell them to move the bench back as some of the audience were being blocked. This blended in with the scene as at the beginning of it we all having smaller conversations with each other anyway. We also used kinaesthetic response especially when Collins is asking everyone about their opinions on the play, this is how we all have different responses as all of our characters are different. For example my response was different to Major Ross he is a very angry character and doesn't want the play to be put on, my character contrasts with this because my character likes the idea of the play. Therefore when she asked I slightly shook my head, whereas he would make more of a scene about it.
Liz Morden's Monologue - This scene went better in the second show for me as in the first show I slightly tripped over one of the bamboo sticks which made an unnecessary noise. Other than this I thought that most of my transitions were smooth, this was good as we were moving around Liz as she is telling her life story. One reason that or transitions were smooth was because of the proxemics between all of the actors in this scene, we all kept an adequate amount of space between us. We were able to do this because we had worked on this many times in rehearsals, as there were so many people involved in it. Initially I found this scene hard to characterise because, I didn't have a particular character to portray like the governor. Throughout most of this scene I was neutral, I found that this was the best way to be all of the different characters one after the other. Because this scene uses a lot of space, the audience got a good view of everything as it stretched across the whole stage. We also used kinaesthetic responses when she says "it wasn't me it was Lizzie, look she did it", we all turned and came out of what we were doing and we all turned to look at her.
Scene 2 - I think that my voice was the best that my voice characterisation in this scene was the best out of all of my other scenes. This is because I found my characterisation easier in this scene because it is just a conversation between me and Ralph Clark, he is talking to me about the play and I am telling him my opinion and I eventually give him permission to put it on. The way that the script is written meant that I found it easier to feel as though I was of a higher status than him, Ralph doesn't say much whereas my lines were more in-depth. Another thing that helped me develop my characterisation was my proxemics with George, for example I never stood too close to him suggesting that we are not close enough to be friends. This contrasts with his relationship and proxemics with Mary Brenham, however I do not go out of my way to get away from him, this suggests that we have a professional relationship where we both respect each other for our different statuses. This contrasts with his relationship with Shitty Meg, where he cant stand to be around her and makes an effort to try to get away from her. When moving around I tried to make sure that each time I stopped I was facing a different angle, this was to make sure that everyone in the audience got a good view of the scene. However I think that in the first show my movement wasn't good, this is because I felt as though I was walking too fast or standing still for too long, if I had slowed down my waking pace I would have been able to make the movements more equal. My posture and body language could have been better as when I was standing still, I kept my back upright and straight, but I didn't walk as though I was an old man, like how my character is written. I thought that my movement and posture was better in the second show, I think that this maybe die to the fact that I was more confident around the space, as before the show we didn't get many rehearsals in the space that we were using.
Scene 10 - This scene was better in the second show, as in the first show some of our lines and cues were still getting mixed up. In the first show there were still a few longer pauses that were not scripted, as a group we found this scene hard as we didn't have many chances to rehearse it and on the dress run we still didn't know many of our lines. Inbetween the two shows we ran the lines as a group to make sure that we knew exactly where the speech was supposed to be faster and where the pauses were. I thought that my voice was good in this scene because I used different tones of voice when talking to and about Liz. For example before she is brought in I speak louder and more like I wanted to get my point across, this contrasts with when she is talking to Liz and she has confessed that she didn't do it, I have a much softer voice as I am trying to make her talk more. My posture and body language was also good I thought as I continued to stand up straight with my chin slightly up, this represents my characters background. All of the officers stood spaced out from each other, this shows the audience that we are in a professional environment, this is the start of a court in their small colony. I keep a fair distance from Liz apart from when I am untieing her at the end of the scene, this shows that I am of a higher status than her but also I do not think that we shouldn't have anything to do with the convicts as they are humans too. As a group we worked well together when George messed up his line in the first show, we just carried on as if nothing happened. This made it look like he was still in character and it was meant to look like that, for example out of anger, he just forgot what he was saying. As we just carried on, this didn't make it obvious to the audience as we just carried on with the subject.
Targets for Next Show
- Voice Differentiation - I think that I need to work on changing my voice to suit different parts of topics, this Is because I feel as though sometimes my voice is too similar and doesn't change, this therefore sounds monotone at times.
- Line Learning - If I put more time and effort into learning my lines for the next show, I will be able to have more time to develop my characterisation further.
- Movement - In earlier rehearsals work on changing my movement to suit different characters, this then makes the character more believable to the audience.
