I think that the prologue went better in the second evening show, this is because there were more adlibs and other background noise and movements that contributed to the overall aesthetics of the scene. This means that the audience were more engaged into what was happening, this is because no matter where they were looking on the stage there was something going on, rather than just looking at what was happening at the centre of the stage. In the first evening show this was not as strong, because of this, as a class we decided to all add more into the first scene. In my opinion I think there was a big improvement fro the first show to the second, we looked at different insults that would have been used by the Puerto Riccans in the 1950s, these were things such as "micks" and "dirty American". This is because we wanted to it be the right context for the era that the show was set in. In my opinion I think that when we moved down the scaffolding to trap Baby John, this had improved a lot from the dress run as we had added in more background noise. This allowed us to add in more of our characters into this scene, all of the sharks that had trapped him, showed their alliance to Bernardo, this was by running to help him.This shows them that the boys are brave, as they are not afraid to get involved in conflict. I think that the worse part of this scene for me was when Abi runs in and we get into a physical fight This is because by the end of the four shows both of us had hurt ourselves as we had pused each other on the floor multiple times. If I was to do this again I would choreograph the fight in a different way so that the first part of it was more threats and petty physical contact, rather than just going strait into a full energy stage fight. As well as this I think this would look better to the audience as it would have gradually built up to a climax. However even though we were placed very close to some audience member, I thought that we had good proxemics in relation to the audience as neither of us came into contact with anyone, as well as this we were very close to the scaffolding and neither of us came into contact with that either. When Officer Krupke and Shrank walk in, I think that this went really well in both shows, this is because in the rehearsals of this scene we had worked on the reactions in depth. For the line "Top of the day Officer Krupke" I think that i used the correct voice technique, this line is supposed to be said in a mocking way towards Krupke. When i said this is both shows i rolled my eyes and took a few steps back, this was also so the audience was not blocked by cast members. For the rest of the prologue in both shows-but more developed in the second show i showed my characters anger towards the Jets by constant looks and gestures towards them, especially when the Sharks are told to leave.
Similar to the prologue, i found that when watching this back the characterisation for this scene was better on the second evening show, some of this could have been a result of the whole cast feeling more confident with the performance as we had already performed well twice. Our reactions towards Glad Hand were a lot more developed in both performances compared to our last dress run. When personally researching my character i found that i should have different reactions towards krupke and Glad Hand compared to Shrank, this is because Shrank is a more serious intimidating character that the PRs fear, on the other hand Glad Hand and Krupke are more comical characters that both gangs can mess around with and make fun of. I think that i showed this well in my final performance, especially in this scene where i laughed at Luke and kept quiet and still when James walked on, i believe this showed the audience the relationship these characters and my character. In my opinion i think the weakest part of this scene was the reaction when we end up opposite to someone of the opposite gang. We spent time in lessons working on this, however everytime we rehearsed this scene we wended up with a different partner in a different space and therefore we were unsure of where we were reaching for our partners. As a result of this i think this section looked messy as we were bumping into each other. In addition to this on the last show when the music stopped i did not time my walks accuratley enough, because of this i didnt end up opposite a partner, this made my reaction seem a little out of place.
I am happy with the relationship that i had with Phoebe on stage, we had worked on this in rehearsals for a long time to make sure that we portrayed the right idea to the audience. However i think that this could have been developed more, there were times in the show that i think we showed this well for example on the line "you came with your mouth open" when i went up to Phoebe and she slaps me, we showed the audience that we have a flirty relationship, where we feel comfortable to wind each other up. In the scene before America i noticed that we did not have very good proxemics with the audience or each other, i saw that the boys were standing in a line for the majority of the scene. This meant that we were blocking some of the audiences view, i tried to move out of the scene a little when saying my lines, however i did not do this enough to show the personality of my character well enough.
In Docs Drugstore scene on the first show i was trying to focus on my characterisation i the background too much that i lost focus and missed the que to one of my lines, this was one of my targets last year and therefore i should have worked on keeping my focus up during a performance. However after the first show i improved on this a lot as i kept up the level of characterisation and kept my focus do that i didnt miss a que. For the next peformance i need to work on my character development sooner so that i can keep the level of focus needed to perform a seen accuratly.
When watching back I thought the quintet went very well in all of the shows, this Is the result of many rehearsals with Kim making sure everyone's timing and pitching was right. Personally I thought that my contribution to the singing in this scene was good, in early rehearsal I struggles with the pitching as well as the timing so I spent time listening and singing through in my own time to improve this. I thought the movement in this scene worked really well, we had developed in later rehearsals so that we could use more of the set, therefore I think the audience would have been fully engaged in the scene. I think part of this is because similar to the prologue wherever they looked there was always something happening on stage. I am happy with my overall characterisation in this scene as i kept my main focus to the gang, meaning that all of my movements showed how i was part of the sharks, i did this by making gestures to other sharks, eye contact etc. This scene developed well in rehearsals allowing us to have the same level of energy in both shows.
For me the rumble went better in the second show, this is because i had better special awareness and focus, in the first show me and Abi ran into each other causing both of us to fall over. Even though i think we both covered this up well enough and just carried on with the scene and eventually ran off. However in the second show i was more aware of the space and other people around us that were looking around us properly to make sure that i didn't bump into anyone else. On the other hand i was happy with my characterisation in the scene especially when Riff and Bernardo die, on reflection i thought that i have a good level of change in reaction when the atmosphere of the scene changed. I started the scene feeling confident that the Sharks were going to beat the Jets and be the greatest gand. However i ended the scene feeling extreamly scared, this is because my gang leader had been killed as well as the police were on their way and i was worried they were going to catch me.
Like some of the other scenes i think the singing was better in the second show for the song "Somewhere", however i don't think that this song could have been developed any more, as we had worked on it in many rehearsals. It had improved a lot early on but then stayed at the same energy level for later rehearsals, in my opinion the reason was better in the second show was that the cast felt more confident and therefore this was portrayed to the audience. In the finale, the life went well in both shows, i don't think this could have been improved any more. During the dress run we had to condense the number of people carrying Alex because it was too crowded, however this meant that he was heavier to lift as there was less people to support. This meant that we make sure that we were all lifting at the same time, so that everyboy had an equal amount of weight on their shoulders, i think we did this well.
Overall i think that my characterisation in the play was good, however i think there could have been some areas hat i could have developed more. For example in the rumble when we are cheering on Bernardo to get Diesel and Tony, i think i could have got more involved in the scene. For the next show my main targets are to remain focus and special awareness during a performance and to improve the level of energy that i bring to my character. When working towards my next performance these are going to be my top priorities to make sure that i can give an overall better performance.
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