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.