In this is I will be evaluating not only the end result of
our rehearsal process of the performance and my own performance but also the
rehearsal process as a whole and the work that I did in the process of creating
our final performance.
I think that the rehearsal process as a whole was not only a
really focused and well driven one but only was conducted in a very professional
manner reflecting, as closely as it could, the industry. As a result of our
play; “Our Country’s Good” being set in such a vastly different context and
society than the one that we live in now I think that the way we initially
approached connecting and understanding the piece was really effective and
important for us to be able to get into the world of the play. We started with
exercises such as exploring being on the convict ship and exploring the class
difference and the type of characters that were prominent in that society. I
found that this was really helpful as it allowed us to engage and create the
world for ourselves and then put the text in a world that we had created rather
than feeling separate from that world. I think that it was important that we
did this rather than going straight into the text and into blocking the play as
it allowed us time to understand the language that was used and the world that
we were having to create. We also did a lot of background research into the
piece so that we could understand the politics and the norms of the society
that we were creating as they are very different to how we think morally and politically.
For me personally I found that this was useful as I was playing a character
that was mentally very different from me in how he politically thought and approached
life so being able to understand how he would fit into his society allowed me
to be able to justify and understand his opinions.
I found that all this character development and research
into the background and culture of the play meant that when we came to blocking
our scenes and putting detail into them we were able to connect to them and
bring the scenes alive. This came through understanding the piece and the
context and consequently having the confidence to make our own choices with our
characters that are appropriate to the situation that they are in. For example through
understanding the class system of the time it allowed us to explore physically
as well as vocally how the Officers and convicts would interact with each other.
I feel that this level of understanding of the play allowed us to explore and
develop the characters and situations more as we could know what would be appropriate
to do and what would be out of context.
Overall I feel that we had a really productive rehearsal
process, although there were moments of focus lost that would have allowed us
to push the scenes further, I feel that we made the most of the time limit that
we had. I feel that we were able to explore and develop the scenes and characters
to put on a really effective and engaging performance with strong acting,
bringing the audience into the world of the play and the story that we were
telling.
I feel that my contribution and work throughout the rehearsal
and creating process was dedicated and hard working allowing me to be able to explore
and push myself. In the start of the rehearsal process I was a bit taken back
by my character as it was unlike anything that I had played before and was
completely the opposite to me. However I found that this actually challenged me
a lot as an actor and allowed me to develop my own skills of characterisation
and acting as a whole. I found that during the rehearsal process I worked hard
on my characterisation and being able to connect to my character and that this
actually helped me to develop my characterisation skills as I found new ways
that helped me to get into my character and to drive my choices. For example I
found that exaggerating the masculine physicality really allowed me to locate
where the energy was coming from and where my character was leading form. It
also allowed me to highlight the differences between my physicality and my characters
so that I could easily get into my character and out of my body. I found that
physically my characterisation skills were developed and explored as I learnt
about the importance of embodying a character and making it different from myself.
Overall I feel that the performances were really effective
and that each actor was really dedicated and emotionally invested in the
performance and their characters and really understood the world of the play
that allowed us to pull the audiences in and for them to engage emotionally with
the story that we were telling. My performance as a whole I think was quite
good as I really felt that I connected with my character and after a lot of
work was able to physically and mentally engage with my character. I think that
this allowed me to give a strong confident performance as I engaged my
performance and drove through scenes with my vocal work and my character
choices. However I think in some scenes, especially the first scenes, my energy
could have been stronger as the scenes on stage sometimes felt under energised
and that the scenes and lines didn’t have some of the power and drive in them
that would have allowed the scene to be more engaging. The language in these
scenes were really important and listening to each other was crucial to keep
the scene rolling but furthermore to keep the audience engaged and actively listening
to what we were saying. I think that in these scenes I could have actively engaged
with the other actors more to create a stronger bounce vocally between us. I
think this would have also furthered the characters relationships making them
come alive more on stage; this would have supported the energy.
