EVALUATION

EVALUATION


       Even though we did all our work and rehearsals as a group, as a company, each one of us had to focus on his personal work. The only way the whole show could go the way we wanted, raise at the level we expected it to be was to give our best on our individual parts. I can't speak in the name of the others, but I personally feel like I managed to improve my performance since the last one. I feel like the themes present in this play were more attracting to me, so I could involve myself emotionally more than ever. The writer, Caryl Churchill, gave to the actor the opportunity to use its own imagination, because there were no indications, no punctuation signs and I find it great how all of us took advantage of this and really left a part of themselves in their scenarios.

       When they told us about a new play we were going to work on, I was excited. I didn’t what to expect, but I knew it was a beginning, which means a new chance to do a better work than the previous ones. Then we were divided in two groups and even though I would’ve enjoyed working with any person in this course, I was glad to see some of the people from the Blue group were in my team again. I suppose when you spend a large amount of time with someone you develop a connection with them in a different way, you get used to them and their work manner. We started rehearsing on our own, without needing a teacher; we had our own ideas, which seemed pretty good to me and our setting suffered many changes till the final decision was made. Sometimes we were rehearsing in 034, with our partners and sometimes we were in 222, rehearsing the play as a whole. Every now and then, we were performing our work till at that point in front of the others, so we could get some feedback. I was surprised to see how the same scenarios were interpreted in two completely different ways and how the same show could be represented almost like two different plays, because of the tiny details that may not seem so important at a first glance. The time was passing by and we could see our play getting in shape, but we still had a few days left and our technical rehearsals weren’t done. Our performance was going to be on Thursday, the 30th of May and we managed to do the tech run only on Tuesday; it seems like this play really needed more time to get through it with every technical aspect.

       As a conclusion to the whole process me and my team have been through since we had the scripts in our hands and till our last performance, I believe we did an amazing job regarding our collaboration. We shared visions, ideas, thoughts and opinions. We had feedback during rehearsals from Monique and Shenagh and we tried our best to respect the advice they gave us, as they were our third eye and they could see things from the perspective of an audience. For example, the idea of adding drama and more action to the "Savant" scene came after they told us our relation as partners was not very accentuated. So, we decided to create an emotional connection.
      The two performances were different in quality, as Shenagh said it as well through a text message she sent us after the last show. The first was better and I suppose that happened because of the energy we started with. I remember everyone was focused and had emotions, being unsure of how it is going to be on stage. As 2 p.m. was getting closer, I could feel the tension moving through my body, starting from my mind, going all the way down to my feet and stopping right in my chest. The adrenaline was flooding through my veins, but unlike the Macbeth performance, when I almost had a panic attack, this time I could control it and keep my head clear. I could use those feelings and energy  for my characters. The highest levels of emotion were before my monologue, “Message” and before my last scene, “Fate”. In fact, towards the ending I was so restless that I withdrew myself in the left empty side of the stage and started getting into my character. The reason for our lack of energy in the evening could be the long break we had in between the shows or the fact that we were sure the performance is going to be good enough anyway and we don't have to try so hard again.
      However, I am sure of the fact that we did manage to complete our task as a group and individually. Maybe the biggest confirmation we were waiting for was the reaction of the audience and that of our tutors. It made me even happier when Rob and Shenagh congratulated us, seeing on their faces that they were truly content and enjoyed our performance.
      From this process I have learned that I can be a better version of myself if I am motivated enough to go through the work that I and only I am supposed to do. I like to “steal” from my acting development and add to my personal one and that’s what I did this time, as well; the mindset of a hard worker, the belief in my own powers and the perseverance are only a few key elements that I am going to use in the future.
   

Here is a photo of us. We were clapping for the audience, the technical theatre students, the tutors, but mostly, we were clapping for moments like this.