Monday:
In the first lesson, we had done some dress rehearsals and brushed up on certain scenes which had been lacking extra details or which had not been practiced enough. This was also the day that the replacement for the nurse could learn the lines they still did not know and actually perform scenes that they never got around to. I personally did not feel much pressure as I knew exactly when to come in, what to say, and how to exit all my scenes so there was no feeling of anxiety. The only real critisism we got was that we were 9 minutes over how long the play was meant to go on for so that was a little worrying. Later we managed to change 9 minutes to 3 minutes and that was a lot of weight off our shoulders.
In the second lesson we had repeated the events of the first lesson, in that we went around 3 minutes over and there were still certain people who were getting distracted back stage and were not entering when they were meant to which was making some people question if the play would go well. Apart from people talking backstage and others forgetting to come on stage, everything had gone quite well and tomorrow's performance was looking to be quite the impressive one.
Tuesday:
On Tuesday we were intructed to be at the Shaw theatre at 8:30 ready for when the day starts at 9 so that students who are usually late can get in within that 30 minute gap, and it turned out that most students actually had appeared with the exception of one who came later that day. We began the day by sitting inside the empty Shaw Theatre with students from another school and were told about how we were each going to take turns to do both a technical performance and a dress rehearsal for the other school. When we did the technical rehearsal we went to the beginning of most the scenes and the teachers/directors instructed the lighting people on when the party music should be on and when other sound effects should occur for our play. Watching the other schools dress rehearsal first I was quite impressed with some of their actors. Apart from the odd corpsing of a few students they had performed quite the performance and I found it very entertaining. One thing that could have been improved upon in their play was use of space and using the center of the stage, because some scenes for example the death of one of the importance characters was performed on one corner of the stage and so not everyone could visually see what was going on, apart from this it was quite extra-ordinary for a school. The feed back we had recieved after we did our dress rehearsal from the other school was that it was 'Amazing' and 'Spectacular' which really boosted my confidence to be on stage as I have never really performed on one before. We had then left the Shaw theatre and went back to college together to assess what was going to happen and what to remember. One example is that Rob and Sharron had told us to be loud, exaggerate certain words or lines if you aren't putting enough effort in, remember cues to come in and off stage, don't exit where you dont enter, and to enjoy ourselves.
Later today we went back to the Shaw theatre and collectively with the three other schools performing today we had to exercise our vocals and do some physical movement as well. We did an exercise we had done a couple months back with the Samuel Roads school which was the Pineapple, apple, banana game which we had to do a physical action and shout one of the fruits after the teacher. We were then told the order at which we were going to do our plays and Romeo and Juliet was last! This was very good as the last play seems to be the most memorable. We then went down to our dressing rooms to get ready and meet up with out teachers in the main room. I all of a sudden started to get a little nervous and that nervousness started to develope bit by bit. After this we were allocated our positions to sit which was at the back of the stage and we prepared to watch each others plays. I must have been feeling this nervousness due to not performing a role like this on a stage every before, ,and like all experiences that you are yet to experience which you know you are about to, I suppose the nervousness was natural. The two plays which were Samuel Roads and the American international school were quite amazing and were really influential as the kids performing were 3-4 years younger than me and I could really see the passion shining through some of them. After watching them we were to go down stairs in the area where the dressing rooms were allocated and to remain mute as the other school perform their play. My nervousness was starting to get bad and so I began to meditate in a hidden room which no one could enter since I locked it, and to my avail it worked as I became calm. Now I knew instinctively that I was in a good mindset and that I was ready I went back into the area everyone hung out and waited. Finally our teachers come down and retreive us and take up back stage where we waited for the other schools play to end. It was interesting to see the facial expressions and reactions from my peers as they waited for it to end. I could see some students trying to look as calm as possible but their hands were shaking and others who seemed to remain completely calm. This helped me to learn more about what they are like as young actors and as people. The time had come for us to perform and we got into positions and went ahead and performed. Throughout that whole performance I felt inside that I was so alive, and all that inner nervous energy that I accumliated was transformed into confidence. The crowd went quiet when I went on stage and I took that as a compliment as I was meant to be evil and fearful. When Romeo lay on the floor on the balcony scene and looked at Juliet the whole crowd started laughing. When Romeo and Juliet had kissed the crowd even went wild which made some people who were pessimistic become optimistic about us entertaining the crowd. The energy was amazing and those who really put energy and effort into their characters had done a domino effect on the rest of the actors and made them do the same and it was all quite surreal. What some thought would be a failure was a success and it made us all happy. The crowd cheered when the play had ended and all the schools came together on stage and recieved feedback. Our feedback was that we were loud, articulate, and managed to convey a great response from the audience depending on whatever had happend on the scenes. In the end of the day, most of us had gone home, but I went out for dinner with my Dad and Gran who both watched the play. They told me of how they thought our play was quite professional, better than that of the productions my secondary school did, and that the majority of people in my class were amazing and those that weren't needed to put a little more effort into become the character in the world of Romeo and Juliet.
Wednesday:
Today we started working on Papa Tango. We got into groups of fours and sat together going through a character creator sheet
In the first lesson, we had done some dress rehearsals and brushed up on certain scenes which had been lacking extra details or which had not been practiced enough. This was also the day that the replacement for the nurse could learn the lines they still did not know and actually perform scenes that they never got around to. I personally did not feel much pressure as I knew exactly when to come in, what to say, and how to exit all my scenes so there was no feeling of anxiety. The only real critisism we got was that we were 9 minutes over how long the play was meant to go on for so that was a little worrying. Later we managed to change 9 minutes to 3 minutes and that was a lot of weight off our shoulders.
In the second lesson we had repeated the events of the first lesson, in that we went around 3 minutes over and there were still certain people who were getting distracted back stage and were not entering when they were meant to which was making some people question if the play would go well. Apart from people talking backstage and others forgetting to come on stage, everything had gone quite well and tomorrow's performance was looking to be quite the impressive one.
Tuesday:
On Tuesday we were intructed to be at the Shaw theatre at 8:30 ready for when the day starts at 9 so that students who are usually late can get in within that 30 minute gap, and it turned out that most students actually had appeared with the exception of one who came later that day. We began the day by sitting inside the empty Shaw Theatre with students from another school and were told about how we were each going to take turns to do both a technical performance and a dress rehearsal for the other school. When we did the technical rehearsal we went to the beginning of most the scenes and the teachers/directors instructed the lighting people on when the party music should be on and when other sound effects should occur for our play. Watching the other schools dress rehearsal first I was quite impressed with some of their actors. Apart from the odd corpsing of a few students they had performed quite the performance and I found it very entertaining. One thing that could have been improved upon in their play was use of space and using the center of the stage, because some scenes for example the death of one of the importance characters was performed on one corner of the stage and so not everyone could visually see what was going on, apart from this it was quite extra-ordinary for a school. The feed back we had recieved after we did our dress rehearsal from the other school was that it was 'Amazing' and 'Spectacular' which really boosted my confidence to be on stage as I have never really performed on one before. We had then left the Shaw theatre and went back to college together to assess what was going to happen and what to remember. One example is that Rob and Sharron had told us to be loud, exaggerate certain words or lines if you aren't putting enough effort in, remember cues to come in and off stage, don't exit where you dont enter, and to enjoy ourselves.
Later today we went back to the Shaw theatre and collectively with the three other schools performing today we had to exercise our vocals and do some physical movement as well. We did an exercise we had done a couple months back with the Samuel Roads school which was the Pineapple, apple, banana game which we had to do a physical action and shout one of the fruits after the teacher. We were then told the order at which we were going to do our plays and Romeo and Juliet was last! This was very good as the last play seems to be the most memorable. We then went down to our dressing rooms to get ready and meet up with out teachers in the main room. I all of a sudden started to get a little nervous and that nervousness started to develope bit by bit. After this we were allocated our positions to sit which was at the back of the stage and we prepared to watch each others plays. I must have been feeling this nervousness due to not performing a role like this on a stage every before, ,and like all experiences that you are yet to experience which you know you are about to, I suppose the nervousness was natural. The two plays which were Samuel Roads and the American international school were quite amazing and were really influential as the kids performing were 3-4 years younger than me and I could really see the passion shining through some of them. After watching them we were to go down stairs in the area where the dressing rooms were allocated and to remain mute as the other school perform their play. My nervousness was starting to get bad and so I began to meditate in a hidden room which no one could enter since I locked it, and to my avail it worked as I became calm. Now I knew instinctively that I was in a good mindset and that I was ready I went back into the area everyone hung out and waited. Finally our teachers come down and retreive us and take up back stage where we waited for the other schools play to end. It was interesting to see the facial expressions and reactions from my peers as they waited for it to end. I could see some students trying to look as calm as possible but their hands were shaking and others who seemed to remain completely calm. This helped me to learn more about what they are like as young actors and as people. The time had come for us to perform and we got into positions and went ahead and performed. Throughout that whole performance I felt inside that I was so alive, and all that inner nervous energy that I accumliated was transformed into confidence. The crowd went quiet when I went on stage and I took that as a compliment as I was meant to be evil and fearful. When Romeo lay on the floor on the balcony scene and looked at Juliet the whole crowd started laughing. When Romeo and Juliet had kissed the crowd even went wild which made some people who were pessimistic become optimistic about us entertaining the crowd. The energy was amazing and those who really put energy and effort into their characters had done a domino effect on the rest of the actors and made them do the same and it was all quite surreal. What some thought would be a failure was a success and it made us all happy. The crowd cheered when the play had ended and all the schools came together on stage and recieved feedback. Our feedback was that we were loud, articulate, and managed to convey a great response from the audience depending on whatever had happend on the scenes. In the end of the day, most of us had gone home, but I went out for dinner with my Dad and Gran who both watched the play. They told me of how they thought our play was quite professional, better than that of the productions my secondary school did, and that the majority of people in my class were amazing and those that weren't needed to put a little more effort into become the character in the world of Romeo and Juliet.
Wednesday:
Today we started working on Papa Tango. We got into groups of fours and sat together going through a character creator sheet
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