final evaluation essay

Theatre final essay

Evaluation Essay Question

Discuss your exploration and development of TTWCTT taking into consideration key factors and relevant ideas and your input to the process.

Evaluate the skills and techniques used in rehearsal and discuss how you responded to direction and feedback to develop work.

Children's theatre is theatre adapted to be performed to very young people, making sure it's easy to understand, but also engaging and appropriate. It needs to be vibrant but simple and well-staged. The themes can't be hard hitting, but instead uplifting and fun for the children, sometimes with a moral message or an aspect of learning. Children’s theatre can often come across as simple and basic, but sophisticated children's theatre is able to engage both the children and their parents with comedic value and deeper meanings.

We began the topic by starting to develop the technique of using the voice and body as one. We did this because this is a key factor of children's theatre and it is a vital skill that a children's performer needs to possess. The exercise we used to practice this technique was called 'slimy frog', where we repeated those two words, modulating our voice and experimenting with how we could change the words. Whilst we did this, we practiced joining our voice with our bodies, so that when we said the words, we were saying them with our bodies as well. I found this exercise very effective because it helped me realise that whilst performing, it is vital that I forget about how I might look or how silly people may think I am, because if I am constantly thinking about that, then I won't be able to give a good performance. The exercise was helpful because it allowed me to practice living in the moment in front of people who I can laugh about how I may look with, and start to feel freer about what I am doing.

As J Clifford Turner writes in Voice and Speech in The Theatre “..it is necessary to cultivate the ability to relax. Nothing is so destructive of one’s ease of tone as the tensing of those muscles which are not essential for a specific movement……Speech is movement.”

We continued to develop the piece with another exercise called ‘becoming explorers’. I decided on the movements my characters would do as we travel through the space at the beginning of the piece. I listened to the jungle sounds that I would be moving to and worked out the pace and rhythm at which I wanted to move. Then I started to experiment with what I would say, to go with my character.  I had to think about what was suitable for the audience and how we could make the things we were saying exciting. Creating our character was an important exercise because if you don't believe 100% in the character you’re playing, then the audience won’t be able to believe in them either. Creating the character is one of the first and most important things to do when devising a piece of theatre. If you know your role and who you’re playing, the piece will able to fit around your character.

Devising the human pyramid was the next stage in the rehearsal process. This involved a lot of team work and communication. In order for the exercise to be safe and work well, it was important that we worked as an ensemble and everyone needed to be clear about what everyone else was doing. I felt that our communication skills needed to be improved, in order for the human pyramid to be successful and work within our piece. This was fixed by practicing the pyramid at every opportunity we got and making sure we discussed everything as a group, before we started.  The devising of the human pyramid built strength in the group, because the more we had to work and negotiate with each other, the easier the devising process became. For us to be working as an ensemble at a professional level, we would need to be able to handle any task we were given and work together to do it.

A key factor of the piece is the use of song. The development of our song, ‘Tiger, Tiger’, took place over several rehearsals and was developed every week. ‘Tiger, Tiger’ was originally written as a poem by William Blake and we watched it being performed by an artist called Patti Smith. William Blake was a very talented artist who inspired Patti Smith make her art and I used Patti Smith as inspiration to create my art. When the ensemble first performed it in rehearsal, I didn’t think it was suitable for a young age group. It is a very serious poem and talked about the presence of god, which is quite a complex subject for children. The tone is very haunting and dark and the pace is very slow, so would have quickly lost the attention of the children. After responding to the direction of our teacher and the other actors, we improved the piece, so that it was more age appropriate.  The poem worked contextually, as long as it had movement to go with it, so we added a movement sequence, where the butterfly nets become the tiger, which happened during the poem. The tone, when the ensemble sung the poem, was very slow and dull, so by changing the tune to be more upbeat, it made it much more suitable for the audience and improved it hugely.

Another key factor of the piece was that we were performing to three sides. This meant that when I was performing, I had to constantly be aware that I was including the whole audience, instead of just one part of it. To practice working on three sides, we went into the space where we would be performing and familiarised ourselves with it.  We began with an exercise which helped us work on performing to all three sides of the theatre; it involved trying to keep our head facing one side of the audience and our body facing the other. It was very difficult, but helped me come to the realisation that it is a vital skill that a stage performer needs to possess. It was helpful because it made me practice something that doesn't come naturally to me on stage and for me to become a brilliant actor,  I need to practice it so much that I don't even have to think about it. The reason for balancing the space is because if our body is only facing one side the other sides of the audience will immediately become disinterested and bored, especially if they are young children. The actors on stage need to fill every part of the space with energy using their bodies.

We did our dress rehearsal without the lighting and props. It contributed to the development of the piece because it helped me to see what needed to be improved and altered before the real performance. It helped the ensemble come to the decision of what would happen at the end of our piece, because we were able to watch the next groups performance and try and make the transition smooth between our ending and their beginning. On the other hand, not doing a technical run through meant that I was less confident with the lighting when it came to the real performance. One of my props was a butterfly net, which I planned to carry with me, throughout the whole performance. If I had done the dress rehearsal with my butterfly net, I could have had feedback on how I looked and then responded to that, to improve my performance.

On the day of our real performance we didn’t have enough time to run through the piece before. I feel that it would have improved the performance if we had done a run through, because it would have made it cleaner and it would have warmed us up and given us energy. In our first performance, in the morning, I felt like I lacked energy and I could have fixed this by doing a physical warmup and taking a moment before I went on stage to centre myself. Whilst I was waiting to go on stage, I did some vocal warm ups and woke up the muscles in my face; I think this improved my execution of the song. I only got my butterfly net about twenty minutes before I went on stage, which meant that I had no time to practice with it. The net was hard to control and I found it difficult to move around with it. We practiced different ways to hold the net, in order for it to look most effective and after responding to direction we decided to hold them above our heads, although it was difficult. In order to fix this it would have been useful to practice with them during our rehearsals, so I could have got used to handling it. Half way through the piece there was supposed to be a blackout on stage, so we could turn our torches on, but it didn’t happen, so our torch scene became less dramatic and exciting, and it became disengaging for the children watching.

In our second performance, the energy level was much higher and the transitions were smoother. I was more used to using my prop and could work with it more easily, which improved my performance. When I sang the song I engaged with the audience and made sure I used my voice and body together. The lighting worked for our second performance, but the blackout happened too early, so it pulled my focus away from performing.

I feel that in our final performance I put into practice the techniques I had learned from the three sided workshop, but I need to work on projecting my voice out to all three sides. The detailed work we did on the song helped to engage the audience, because if we had sung it in the way that we had sung it at the beginning of the rehearsal process, which was like a lament or hymn, the young audience wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it. 

If I could do the performance again, I would have made sure there had been a technical rehearsal and a rehearsal with all the props. I would also have made sure that the ensemble did a group warm up, to prepare before going on stage. However not being able to do these things was good practice, because often in professional theatre, there are tight time constraints and technical difficulties which actors have to be able to overcome and adapt to. 

lesson 4

Do you think the material you have created today will be suitable for ‘little people’?  Why is it/is it not suitable?

Today we polished our pyramid. We have refined it, made it look more theatrical, improved the transitions and bought it to life to make it more interesting for the younger audience. The pyramid is suitable for the 'little people' because it is  very exciting and visually pleasing, which will engage the audience and bring the piece to life. it is a contrast to everything else that happens on stage before, so it will give the performance more life and energy. There is a lot to look at when the pyramid is happening, so the children will be drawn in and it will be hard for them to loose concentration.  

We worked on our torch scene. This scene is suitable for the children, as long as we make sure that we keep the torches on our face and when the tiger appears, make sure our expressions are large and bold, so that it is clear to the children that we are scared. If, when the torches are on our face, our expressions are small and not expressive enough, the children will find it hard to engage and it will be less entertaining for both the younger and older audience members. The lighting in this scene will be very dramatic and will be exciting for the children. 

Then we worked on our song,'Tiger Tiger', and the movement that goes with it. At the moment I feel like this part of the performance is not suitable for the children. It lacks energy and isn't engaging enough for the audience. We need to commit to singing the song, because once we commit the energy level will rise and it will instantly become more entertaining. The movement should be bigger and we should put more enthusiasm its our actions. If we work on these things, our performance will be suitable, engaging and fun for the 'little people'. 

Lesson 3

Are the ideas effective?  Are they theatrical and, if not, can they be made theatrical?  Will they appeal to ‘little people’?  Why/why not?

At the beginning of the lesson we worked on improving our human pyramid. I think that using the human pyramid in our performance is very effective because it is very visually pleasing and will entertain the young children, which makes it appealing for 'little people'. The pyramid brings the energy level up and is a very exciting part of the performance. When we come down from the pyramid the energy is lost. We need to work on keeping the energy level high, even when we are coming down from the pyramid. 

When everyone says their lines, it is very theatrical and works really well. The lines are simple, but creative and interesting. They are said with a lot of expression and energy, which is effective because it means that the audience are always having to look from one actor to another with anticipation and excitement , without losing concentration. 

There is a part where Fenton calls 'tiger!' and we repeat 'Tiger!' getting quieter and more scared every time we say it. In my opinion this part is not effective or theatrical. We don't say the words in unison and we should get more quiet, to make it more dramatic and exciting. There is a lul in the performance when this happens. 

The poem, tiger tiger' needs to be worked on. It has a lot of potential and could be a very theatrical part of the peice. We need to work on the performance that goes along side the poem, which will make the poem more interesting for the younger audience. 

How to work the angles in a three sided space.

We went into the new theatre and got used to the space, because that is where we are going to be performing the tiger came to tea. We began with an excersise which helped us work on performing to all three sides of the theatre. It was helpful because it made us practice something that doesn't come naturally, but is important when performing to more than one side of an audience. We had to make sure our head and our chest were constantly facing in different direction, which was very difficult, but helped me come to the realisation that it is a vital skill that a stage performer needs to have. If our body is only facing one side the other sides of the audience will immediately become disinterested and bored. It is important to balance the space, but we need to practice  because as we walked round the space, we bumped into one another, so we need to work at it becoming more natural at it. We need to fill the space with energy using our bodies. For us to become brilliant actors we need to practice  it so much that we don't have to think about it.

Then we worked on using our voices in the space. We practiced filling our whole bodies with air, then releasing it at different speeds, using different sounds. This was helpful, because it is important to use your breathe on stage to show what type of character you are and so you can project when speaking. Then we tried a call and response in a whisper. Even though we were whispering, it was important to still project and make sure that you are doing a stage whisper.

lesson 2

What tasks did you do in the lesson today towards creating TTWCTT? 

We started off by listening to a poem performed by Patti smith, but written by William Blake. William Blake is a very talented artist who inspired Patti smith. we are now using Patti smith as inspiration to create our piece. the poem is called 'the tiger' and William Blake wrote it after his brother, who he was very close to, died. 

after listening and familiarizing our self with Patti smith's performance of the poem, we performed it as a whole class. We performed it in a the same way that Patti Smith performed it.The poem is like a lament or hymn.  it was effective, but i don't think it was suitable for the age group we are performing to. It is a very serious poem and talks about the presence of god, which is quite a dark subject for such a young audience. The tone is very haunting and dark and the pace is very slow,  so would quickly loose the attention of the children. we could fix this by adding a performance alongside the poem, because contextually we can make it fit, as long as there is something else happening on the stage. 

The next exercise we did was ' becoming explorers', which was where we started to think about the opening of our piece. we decided on the movements our characters would do as we travel through the space at the beginning. we listened to the music that we will be moving to and worked out the pace and rhythm at which we wanted to move to. Then we started to experiment with what we will say, to go with our characters. We had to think about what was suitable for the audience and how we could make the things we were saying exciting. We did this by practicing our projection, adding words like ' golly gosh' or 'hazarr' and thinking about how interesting the context of our dialog was. 

Then we began to devise the human pyramid. This involved a lot of team work and communication. In order for the exercise to be safe and work well, it was important that we worked as an ensemble and everyone needed to be clear about what everyone else was doing. I feel that our communication skills need to be improved, in order for the human pyramid to be successful and work within our piece. This can be fixed by practicing the pyramid at every opportunity we get and making sure we discuss everything as a group, before we start. 

How do you think it contributes/will contribute towards making TTWCTT?

The poem was useful because it started to get us thinking about how we need to adapt the piece for a younger audience. It gave us something to work round and started to give a structure to the performance. Listening to Patti smith gave us inspiration for how we can use our voice and sound to add to the piece and make it better. When we performed the poem we began to think about how we project and modulate our voice. an important thing to remember, if you dint feel confident singing, is that singing is just talking with extended vowels. 

Creating our character was an important exercise because if you don't believe 100%   in the character your playing, then the audience wont be able to believe in them. creating the character is one of the first and most important things to do when devising a piece of theatre. If you know your role and who your playing, the piece will able to fit around your character. 

The devising of the human pyramid builds strength in the group, because the more we have to work and negotiate with each other, the easier the devising process will become. For us to be working as an ensemble at a professional level, we need to be able to handle any task we are given and work together to do it. 

Lesson 1

What is children's theatre ? 

Children's theatre is theatre adapted to be performed to very young people, making sure it's easy to understand, but also engaging and appropriate. It needs to be vibrant, but simple and well staged. The themes can't be hard hitting, but instead uplifting and fun for the children, sometimes with a moral or an aspect of learning.

Children's theatre can often come across as simple and basic, but good children's theatre is able to engage both the children and their parents with comedic value and deeper meanings. 

What skills does an excellent children’s theatre performer need to possess?

They need to be able to live in the moment. It is vital that they forget about how they might look or how silly people may think  they are, because if they are constantly thinking about that then they won't be able to give a good performance. If they find it difficult to live in the moment, then they should practice infront of people who they can laugh about it with and start to feel more free with what they're doing. Don't overthink , just feel because if you start to overthink you can easily become negative about what your doing. It is important  to have a non critical awareness of your self, which means that you need to be aware of what your doing, but not to a degree where you become self conscious. The actor needs to commit to discovery, if they do that then they will find the best ways to perform. Alway giving 100% energy means that the performance will be the most engaging and exciting it can be. Even if your performing in the lowest tension sate, you need to put 100% into doing that.  The actor should allow the sound and body to become one, which allows the performance to be more expressive, energetic and engaging for the younger audience. When performing to a young audience, the performer should never speak to fast. If they do this they will quickly loose the attention of the children. In order to fix this the actor needs to work on their consonants and speaking in the front of their mouth. Modulating and changeing the voice and experimenting with vocal placement, will help to improve your stage voice and widen the range of your vocal ability. Being able to modulate the voice is important in children's theatre because using different voices keeps the children interested and excited. Just because your performing to children, don't make the performance really basic and bad, as long as you make it really clear, older audiences should be able to enjoy it to.

Evaluation- Beautiful Thing

 

The play 'Beautiful Thing' told the story of two young teenagers, Jamie and Ste, who fall in love. They are next door neighbours, and when Ste’s alcoholic father starts to get too much for Ste, Jamie’s mum lets him sleep over. When the two boys find themselves sleeping in one single bed together, a beautiful friendship and loves develops between the two boys. With both boys struggling with their sexuality, we see the journey they go on throughout the play, to find acceptance with themselves, each other and everyone else around them.

 There are five characters in the play: Sandra who is Jamie’s  mum, Leah who is Jamie’s friend and next door neighbour, tony who is Sandra's boyfriend, Ste and Jamie. Sandra is a working class, single mum, trying to support her and Jamie, whilst juggling her new boyfriend and looking out for Ste. Leah has been kicked out of school and is trying to work out who she is. She is full of confidence and attitude, and although she comes across as a tough young woman, underneath she is sensitive and protective of Jamie and Ste. Tony is often a nuisance to Sandra, however he brings her an escape from her hectic and stressful life. He is kind and well-meaning and  try's to help all characters at some point throughout the play.

  The play is set in a rundown estate in Thamesmead. The stage had a door on the left, which was Leah's flat, a door in the middle, which was Jamie and Sandra's flat and a door on the right, which was Ste's flat. The stage was bought to life with small details, such as flower boxes, patio chairs and washing lines. When a character needed a prop, they would bring it into the large performing space in the middle of the stage; the actors did this in a naturalistic and subtle way, so that when they had to move a prop there wasn't a lul in the play. I think that the stage and props where very effective, because they were natural and didn't deflect from the actors, but at the same time added to the drama and excitement of the play.

 The lighting wasn't dramatic or theatrical, but very plain and simple. The main, front part of the stage was lit up in a bright, but natural light and the edges of the stage were dim. When a scene changed the lighting would briefly turn blue. I think the lighting was so simple so that the story didn't become too glorified and dramatic. The lighting kept the play raw and realistic. Having the sides of the stage dim, suggested to the audience that the estate may be hiding unpleasant things behind its walls and that there was always lurking danger.

 The costume added depth to the characters. Both Jamie and Ste wore their school uniform at different points in the play, which reminded the audience that they were still young boys, with vulnerabilities and insecurities. Leah didn't wear school uniform because she had been kicked out of school, so when the boys wore their uniform and she didn't, it exaggerated the fact that she didn't belong to anything and was on her own.

 At the beginning of the play Lean sung a song she liked to another Jamie. The song was happy and hopeful, which uplifted the atmosphere. It immediately changed the atmosphere in the play to one of hope and not one of sadness, but the atmosphere was bought back done again when Sandra came out so the house to insult Leah about her singing.

 The scene that really stood out for me was the one where Ste first stayed over and Jamie's house. The two boys are in the bedroom and Jamie is rubbing foot lotion into the Ste's wounds on his back. They then agree that neither of them are wimps, more to convince themselves than anyone else! At this point you can really see and feel them connecting. Jamie asks the Ste if he's ever kissed anyone and he says that he's too ugly to have been kissed. The Jamie replies and says that he doesn't think Ste's ugly and rests his head on the Ste's back. They then get into bed and the Ste reluctantly comes up the bed instead of sleeping 'top to tail'. They begin to hug and kiss. I think the reason I felt this scene was so heart-warming and beautiful, is because the actors create this really effective and believable relationship, which is so realistic and relatable. The actors and director found a way to make this scene develop at the right rate, so that the audience didn't feel like their love and friendship started to quickly or that it was dragged out for too long. The way that the characters relate to each other and their body language, creates this atmosphere that everyone watching can feel.

 All the actors were believable. They all had a similar accent, which was very natural and was never dropped. The actors had totally immersed themselves in their characters, even when you looked in their eyes, you could only see the character not the actor.

 The director has done a very good job of making the play what it is. The play moved at the right pace, in that the play sometimes moved at a steady pace, like when Leah and Jamie were talking at the beginning, but also sometimes moved at a faster pace, like when Jamie and Sandra had a fight. The play never got boring and very scene was a chase scene, because the actors ALWAYS used the whole stage.

 I think that beautiful thing was a fantastic piece of theatre, which was both devastating and beautiful. You came away from watching it with hope because it was so influential. I think that the story was really interesting and very moving. The actors bought the story to life in the best way possible.