Unit 12: Performance Workshop

Explain how you explored the script and the character in a more detailed and insightful manner?

The character's that I played in 'Beth' were: Sergeant and First Murderer. The parts were only small but I felt that I brought a lot of energy into those roles which therefore helped the production. I explored the script by going through with a highlighter and analysing stage directions and lines for my characters. When I was first given these roles I decided to go through and analyse each stage direction and the words that they spoke. For example, one of my lines as 'Sergeant' said "... I am faint, my gashes cry for help" and that corresponded with the stage direction "Enter bloody Sergeant". Therefore it shows that I am injured and that I needed to put into my acting that I was injured and I jazzed it up a bit by pouring fake blood down my neck which also showed that I was injured. Furthermore as a 'First Murderer' I knew that in my scene with 'Lady Duffy' and her child 'Finola' that I was to be murdering Lady Duffy so therefore I made my character creepy and again covered in blood to show that I had 'blood from my other victims' on my skin. To show that I 'meant business'. With 'Sergeant' I wanted to make my voice out of breath and showing physical pain so this is what I did, and I also wanted to show the same characteristics in my movement therefore I had two other actors holding me up to stabilize me and my hunched my body over, bent my knees to make me lower to the ground and leant on an actor who was holding me up,  Furthermore as 'First Murderer' I wanted my voice to be creepy but clear and I wanted my movements to be slow and fast. So when I entered the stage I was slow and creepy whereas whenever 'Lady Duffy (Lily Mansfield) moved I would use sharp movements to show that I could pounce at any time.

Show that you considered a number of possibilities and were not afraid of rejecting ideas? Give Examples

I considered a number of possibilities during my production roles such as: Music. I went through the script scene by scene and act by act and annotated where music can go such as drum beats. I took ideas from Dominic Lelean who was our drummer for the performance which helped with the music cue list and having the help of a musician really helped because we both had a different outlook on what would be best for the performance. Furthermore I took in ideas from everyone for their costume relating to one character or multiple characters that they played. The reason that I chose to listen to everyone's ideas for their costumes was because I wanted a variety of different clothing but all still based around the same colour scheme and I wanted to feel as if we worked as a team.

Show how you controlled and developed your performance skills? With Examples?

I controlled my performance skills by making sure I was calm and concentrated on what I was doing and tried not to constantly look at a script backstage for my lines but instead to just ask someone where we were in the script to correspond it with when my next entrance would be. Furthermore I developed my performance skills by practising and reciting lines backstage during the performance when I wasn't scheduled to be onstage and during the rehearsal process earlier that day at the Brighton Open Air Theatre (B.O.A.T). For example, I controlled my performance skills before the play started I went to a quiet corner by myself and prepared myself by just taking 5 minutes and breathing quietly and getting rid of all my nerves. I also developed my performance skills throughout the performance by emphasizing my voice, movement, characterisation and character interaction more than I did during the rehearsal process. This shows that I developed and controlled my performance skills thoroughly.

How did you show a higher degree of commitment to the performance?

 



I showed a higher degree of commitment to the performance by being focused during my production roles and well organized and confident during the rehearsals and performance with my acting roles.
I showed that I was well organized through my production  roles by going through the script word by word, scene by scene and act by act to indicate where was best to place music in the play. I also went and spoke to each and every actor to ask them what colour scheme they would like for their characters and what they would want to wear as their characters. Then I organized it into a chart where I linked the actor's name and their character(s) to their colour scheme and costume
which then helped and showed that I had a higher degree of commitment to the performance. I was also committed through the rehearsals by giving it my all with the characters that I had to work with.