Brighton Performance Evaluation:

At Brighton I feel the other cast members and I made better use of the levels on the climbing frame.  This impacted on everyone’s focus and commitment in their performance.  It was also more engaging for the audience as it helped make the play look more like an ensemble piece.  Because cast members on different levels were focusing their attention on the cast performing at the time, it also served to focus the audience’s attention on the main action taking place. I feel we did this in the New Theatre performance as well but not to the same strong extent.

I was conscious we were performing in an outdoor space.  I appreciate we were lucky to have sun (rather than rain) and no wind, but I was still aware of the need to project my voice in an open outdoor space as there were seagulls, talking, drumming, building sounds and a drunk person attempting to speak to the cast!  Before performing the cast took it in turns to stand in the audience space and give one another feedback on whether or not they were audible saying their lines. I was told i was and feel I kept up a high level of projection throught the performance. However, I feel that, in order to achieve this, I sometimes compromised characterisation for projection. I wanted to be heard clearly but in doing so, I think I was slightly too over the top in my characterisation of Celia. 

I felt that individually and as a cast we made Khai being introduced to our cast work very well and we responded to this accordingly as school girls and as our “As You Like It” characters. Celia and Rosalind were initially slightly awkward about him performing with us at the climbing frame but soon as characters adjusted to this.

I had found it hard initially to portray the scene of Rosalind being banished from the ladder of the frame as it was a bit of an awkward position but had the opportunity to practice this beforehand when we got down to Brighton so did not become an issue. Also, before beginning the performance we were able to test how loud we needed to be in the outdoor space which was very useful as we took it in turns to stand back and reflect on if we could hear our fellow class mates clearly enough. I feel that the ensemble exercises and the group warm up beforehand was a great way to prepare for the show.

As the play ended, our cue of 50’s music to begin bowing started but then stopped. This made our final bows fell a bit messy but feel by remaining focused as a cast we did not make this too much of a bigger deal.

I feel overall very pleased with our whole cast performance in Brighton as we really worked together with the help of pervious trust group exercises and I enjoyed the performance very much and feel we delivered and received a good reaction from our audience. I have found that despite its challenges performing in outdoor spaces is very exciting and I am very glad that we had the opportunity to partake in Brighton Fringe Festival!

Rehearsal before Brighton:

Since doing our show on Tuesday in the New Theatre we have personally reflected upon this and received feedback today as tomorrow we have the opportunity to perform in the outdoor space of Brighton Fringe Festival.

Group cast notes:

-          Tomorrow we will have to be exceptionally louder with our projection as it is a distracting, unpredictable an noisy space we shall be performing in,

-          Even if we are speaking next to someone relatively nearby onstage we will have to “drive” our voice over a greater distance to be heard so that the audience can hear,

-          We will also need even closer focus for tomorrow as alongside the sounds of the public area certain movement may distract us so we need to remain on task and aware of the play to not disrupt the ensemble effect,

-          Most importantly to further use the levels of sitting lying standing as not everyone remembered the variation in levels throughout when in the new theatre,

-          Gather around Jacques on the frame during “all the worlds a stage” speech to draw clear focus to him (also do this in sitting/lying/standing).

Khai as Touchstone and the new direction:

As we had to develop our piece to involve Khai as Touchstone we adapted a small aspect of our current concept to adjust to this as he is the only boy in our all-female cast. As school girls, especially in the pre-set, we had to decide what our Arden character thought of Jane (Rebecca’s school character) bringing along her boyfriend to the sacred setting of our climbing frame without warning. Initially my character Donna was a mixture of confused and intrigued during the pre-set but unwilling to talk to him but later on becomes very comfortable with this new change. Initially when as Celia I first meet touchstone I slowed down on the lines “and hath sent in this natural for our whet-stone. For always the dullness of the fool is the whet-stone of the wits. How now wit, wither wander you?” and showed confusion, reminding the audience that “As you like It” is a play within a play and we are Arden School girls performing it.

After running through a few scenes with Khai as Touchstone to help him adjust to the concept, we completed trust and ensemble exercises to increase our overall strength and commitment as a cohesive cast.  This involved the falling exercise, sitting/lying/standing and passing our lines on to one another with both our voices and a ball.  These exercises involve commitment, focus, being in an alert state ready to help others and feeling able to rely on others.  I found these exercises useful and I volunteered many times, particularly in the falling exercises which involve amongst the cast.  I feel it was very important to volunteer to create a stronger sense of trust in the room as I feel the weak points of our production are when we do not fully excel in working as a team.  An example of this is when some of the cast did not react as school girls watching the play.

Additionally, Duke Fredrick is always on top of the frame platform now to show his hierarchy status and power. When being banished I am climbing the ladder to talk to him. I initially found this hard as if I fully directed my voice and attention to him as he is behind me my projection and communication would be lost at the back to the theatre unable for the audience to see. I have now learnt to project my words outwards to Rosalind who is in front of me more to not lose the emotion in my voice. Before performing in Brighton tomorrow, we as a cast will have the opportunity to practice saying lines and using the frame in its new environment to adjust to any changes.

Evaluation (of the New Theatre performance):

I instantly felt very nervous in the wings, particularly as I knew once we had set out onto the stage for the pre-set as the audience came in we would not come off until the very end of the show. I managed this effectively by revisiting relaxation exercises, some of which are Stanislavski’s which I learnt from term 1, and found this very useful to aid my relaxation. I also did some stretches backstage as we could not talk and remained focused as Donna, my Arden schoolgirl character, and centred my focus on the play ahead rather than who was coming to watch. I felt that once onstage I relaxed a lot and feel this was due to the fun and playful pre-set which helped me to settle into my character and the atmosphere we were in and interact with others.

Central to the play is the relationship between the two cousins.  Throughout the play their close supported bond is evident by all they do and say to each other.  This is best illustrated when Rosalind is banned from the court and Celia leaves her family and comfortable position to accompany her.  Despite their close warm friendship, they are very different personalities and it is important that I conveyed this.  I feel I conveyed the warmth, affection and loyalty Celia has for Rosalind which remains unshaken throughout the play.  It is a playful relationship in which they frequently tease each other despite the gravity of their situation which felt very present when performing.

I feel I was most dynamic and light-hearted when I was on the top of the climbing frame and discussing my sighting of Orlando.  I was able to be short and reprimand her to be quiet and “cry holla to thy tongue” but also playfully balance this by saying “There he lay, stretched along, like a wounded knight”.  By using large hand movements and slowing the words down, I feel it was an effective counterpoint to Rosalind’s anxious anticipation.  

I was always conscious of maintaining the character of a school girl and trying to intently engage with both the action and the school girls watching the play. However , I feel when transforming from the schoolgirl Donna to Celia in a scene I think I could have made this more physically obvious. Initially at the start of the rehearsal process Donna was portrayed as quiet purposefully to contrast the more playful nature of Celia but as the process continued I felt if Donna appeared too quiet and vacant she may suck the energy from the rest of the cast and the actors and not bring much to the ensemble side of our production by appearing to stand out as not as involved with the piece. Therefore, I feel my character of Donna and Celia were not so physically contrasting and seemed more similar so there could have been a more dynamic difference from the two. I conveyed the strength of the relationship between Donna and Linda (mine and Ffion’s character) by us choosing to stage this with her lying on my lap at the beginning as we watch and engage with the play.

As a cast we started off with a balanced and dynamic mixture of levels of sitting, lying and standing around the frame but the majority of the cast started to sit towards the end. I realised this so stood out to balance the levels but found that me and Ruby were the only two standing at that current time which may have drawn extra unwanted attention to us from the scene. Although this was not the intention I chose to keep leaning in a standing position on the back of the frame to balance out the levels across the ensemble. In hindsight I could have encouraged someone else to stand up with my as school girls but instead I communicated with them still but from another level.

I conveyed Celia’s hurt when Rosalind felt Celia had no reason to be downcast.  I know Celia was distressed by this. I think that I could have conveyed Celia’s reaction to herself and Rosalind being banished by her own father more dramatically, even been in tears, but I think I managed to convey the playfulness and expectation as we turned a life-threatening situation into a shared adventure as we plan our departure to the forest of Arden.  

There were times in hindsight throughout the play where Celia is portraying her excitement and I think I could have spoken this more slowly despite her upbeat attitude. As a group in a small theatre I was heard by my parents at the rear of the theatre but I was conscious that a bigger venue would have required more projection. I will take all of this on board for our performance at Brighton Fringe Festival which will be an exciting challenge.

A performance which I really admire from our casts is of Sophia’s portrayal of “Silvius”. I think as a more-heavily comedic role it would be easy to go over-board into melodrama, but I feel she balanced the light-hearted humour and silliness of the character with strong truthfulness. This meant that her character was both funny to the audience and us but could still be taken seriously as she portrayed Silvius’s deep-rooted love for Phoebe. Rather than playing solely to the light superficial comedy of the role, she proved her character had a strong purpose and objective without trying to be funny or playing up to the audience’s attention so I admired this well-balance and entertaining performance. I also reacted with her at several moments across the play as a school girl as she too was very involved with the scenes we were watching.

Watching the other casts of “As You Like It”:

As well as evaluating my own performance I noticed factors from watching the other casts perform different adaptations afterwards which were useful to reflect upon. (Some of these are notes that do not apply to my role or our production due to the different concepts but are still good points to remember and refer to for future performances and for Common Ground which will also be in the new theatre).

-         -  Watching other casts perform reinforced the importance of projection,

-        -   Some cast members dropped their character as they were nearly off stage and out of audience sight. This does not apply to ours as we do not leave the stage but is useful to note for commonground as it momentarily takes you out of the moment to reality,

-        -   Make entrances sharp and clear, not leaving dead space in between,

-          - As long as you stay committed the audience shall believe in what you are saying despite mishaps. A good example of this is when Michael as Oliver forgot to bring on his “bloody napkin”. He wove this into the performance by telling Celia and Rosalind in character that he forgot it. This worked well as he remained calm, focused and in the moment meaning it added to the comical effect of this play rather than stumbling and making this appear a mistake. In fact, as he handled this so well, I thought that Jack had directed it in this way on purpose for comedy value which shows with commitment an actor can continue to make an audience member believe in/engage in his/her performance,

-     -     Playing comical roles as purely comical makes them appear as if they are only there for the audience’s satisfaction and can be hard to remember that they too have feelings, objectives of a scene/act/play/life and that there character’s life would continue offstage even if the actor is not performing to an audience.

Dress and Tec Run Rehearsal Notes: How to improve 

   I found the dress run particularly useful as it gave me an opportunity to focus on moving around in the space, work on my vocal projection and play to all sieds of the audience.

 How to improve
When I am climbing the front ladder of the frame I started too late as I wasn’t talking on the frame as my back is turned away from the audience blocking my communication, projection and facial expression. Therefore, whilst I climbed and once Rosalind had spoken this left a “dead space” which wasn’t long but sucks some energy from the quicker pace and excitement that is present in the scene and is not needed. Therefore, as Rosalind asks all of her many questions I am going to adjust my timing by playfully rolling my eyes and excitedly climbing the frame to tell her she asks them. This way I feel it will enhance the energy of the scene and in this way we shall “bounce” off of each other more as it is important that our connection onstage is strong to communicate our relationship.

-          As an ensemble we need to remember to always have a mixture of cast sitting, lying and standing. We can come further forwards right to the very edge of the floor mat and lean on pieces of frame to bring a stronger cohesive sense of ensemble. 

New staging of the marriage at end:

The staging of the ending wedding scene has been altered for the performance which we ran through a couple of times. As Hymen starts to sing Oliver takes my hand and leads me to coupled Phoebe and Silvuis who in turn go around the frame from couple to couple as we adjust our staging until all of the couples are arrange with more space. This looks more pleasing to the eye and shows that whilst the wedding is a happy and cohesive event the audience is able to focus on the individual couples in love as well. This is helpful as there are four couples getting married at this point, making the scene less confusing and muddled for the audience. We take it in turns to bow towards one another during the music and then put our arms around each other as we are married.

At the very end we come out of our “As You Like It” role and as school girls hug one another to celebrate the end of the play that the school girls have just performed. We wait for Rihannon and Lucy’s cue to bow to the audience.

12

Touchstone relationship:

Today we focused on the relationship between Celia, Rosalind and Touchstone in detail. I felt originally that my character was annoyed by Touchstone's riddles and harsh speaking of my father Duke Fredrick but now see that Celia plays with Touchstone enjoying him rhymes yet being confised by them also.
Character development:
Celia and Rosaling are quit bored of their rich and wealthy surroundings of the "courts" around them I imagine and see Touchstone as their friend and someone entertaining within the situation they are caught up in. I feel alot of this causes them to poke fun at one another and drive their relationship closer as we do not get to explore very much. This makes breaking free from this environment to the Forset Of Arden all the more exciting.

Staging and meaning: Act 3 Scene 2

I have now developed my understanding of the lines where I describe sighting Orlando in the woods to Rosalind. There is a teasing element to this as my character knows the information which Rosalind is desperately yearning to know and enjoys this playful teasing and watching her swoon. Before this it was staged on the stage floor beside Rosalind. To utilise the climbing frame and much as possible and to heighten the girl’s excitement the staging now consists of me climbing the frame to tell her dramatically of how I saw him. I feel the act of being on the frame and this point aids the tone of my character and playfulness between the two cousins.

In response to a long list of Rosalind’s questions I say “You must borrow Gargantua’s mouth first: tis a word too great for any mouth of this age’s size”. I researched Gargantua meaning: Gargantua is a giant with an enormous appetite for food and drink from “Gargantua and Pantagruel” written  by a medieval write Rabelais. I have altered this line now as I know it’s meaning as she is further teasing Rosalind and this adds to the effect of the light-hearted nature of the scene.

Tim’s direction:

I was originally saying “Cry holla to thy tongue I prithee it curvets unseasonably. He was furnished like a hunter” all at one pace with no thought change. I now understand the meaning of these lines as she is telling Rosalind to stop interrupting her story and then goes on to say it. As Celia’s mind switches from Rosalind at present to the scene of Orlando which took place earlier, I have shown this now by slowing down the pace and changing the tone to be lighter as she goes from one to the other. This has developed my understanding of the section and my physical changes as I guide my hand across when describing Orlando in an attempt to “paint a picture” but no not when talking to Rosalind. This will illustrate to the audience the meaning of the scene much more clearly.

Act 4 Scene 1

Equally I have now understood the thought change and meaning of the words “Go to.” as this is directed towards Rosalind who is urging me to quickly pretend to marry Orlando as she pretends to “woo” him as Rosalind. “Go to. Will you Orlando have to wife this Rosalind” has a thought change in the middle as she goes from saying “will you stop” to Rosalind to actually doing as she asks.

Staging meeting Oliver:

To portray Celia’s engagement and intrigue for Oliver, I come down from the frame as I see him playing with my hair and clothes to communicate a sudden unexpected sense of self-consciousness that has come over her as she meets Oliver for the first time.

He beckons for Rosalind and Celia to sit down as he tells his story of the bloody handkerchief. This staging is more spaced out than before as we are not all crowded around together in a clustered manner. As Rosalind receives the bloody napkin and swoons this is a comical change intone compared to the seriousness of Oliver’s story and our staging reflects this, breaking he earnest moment to rush together, me trying to revive her for her sake and not to blow our cover of disguise, with Oliver confused as to why a “man” would behave in such a way. This is comical for the audience but I do not feel as characters we see this moment as funny as I am swooning for Oliver whilst focusing on helping Rosalind/Ganymede and it is an awkward moment of confusion amongst us which we try to hide.