Week One:
Monday the 6th of november- Today we ran through the script as a cast. I think this was a really good way to get everybody comfortable in their roles and more comfortable in acting together as a company and a understanding of how this performance may turn out. I enjoyed playing around with my character and putting myself into my characters shoes.
Tuesday the 7th of November- Today we worked in three different groups to choreograph 3 different dances that we may be using at the start/end of our pantomime. We discussed different famous dancers/ choreographers and their different strategies and methods for creating and memorising dance peices. We discussed how the different symbols that could be interpreted by different people and how we could translate that into a dance. How we could use these methods too put a string of Choreography down on paper to be a reminder of the steps/counts.
Week 2:
Tuesday the 14th of November- Today we started blocking, this is when we decide what physical actions happen in which scene. For example walking fro the back of the stage to the front of the stage whilst speaking lines from my script. We focused on how the first couple of scenes blend into eachother, what other characters and the chorus will be doing whilst these scenes are being performed by whomever is in that particular scene, essentially so that people are not just stood around looking awkward or distracting the audience from what they should actually be watching and paying attention too. This helps to give us a better understanding of how the scenes will flow so there isn’t any awkward moments. Whilst in rehearsals today I really tried to focus on creating my character and developing it as the evil queen. I tried to focus of my stage presence and taking on stage direction positively. I tried to develop my facial expressions and body language also. I feel that I projected my voice well I don’t need to work on that very much as other areas. I am working on remembering all of my lines and being off script.
Wednesday the 15th of november- Today we worked on our BTS dynamite peice and learnt the last part of the dance routines and it now only needs rehearsing and tightening to get it ready for the show. We also worked on accidently in love ti’s peice is not finished as of yet but i think that it is coming along well and fits into pantomime perfectly. We also worked on the time warp dance routine and developed it more, I like how this peice is going however I think that it needs more work and attention, I also think that it needs to be decided how long this peice should run for asin the length of the track as running the whole track could get boring but we will see how it goes. I also h3lped some of the set design team in painting on of the set peices that was a door. I really feel that I am developing my dance skills and improving them.
Week 3:
Monday the 20th of November- Today we ran through a recap of Act 1. I used this session to progress my character further through scenes 2-4. I annotated my script with comments around my own lines and movements, body language and facial expressions. These will help me to emphasize my lines and improve my acting. In the afternoon we had scrapbook support and I used this time to do further research into pantomime. We also had a production meeting, myself and another cast member took the meeting notes. We ran through production tasks and what needs to be done. We spoke to each production team and ran through each individual task such as seating, refreshments and food, music, cues, lighting, choreography, costumes, props, set ect. The production notes from this meeting were uploaded on to teams resources to be used by anyone who needs them.
Tuesday the 21st of November- Today we ran through the end of Act 1 and did the blocking for that. We then started to run through production tasks. I spoke to each individual team and asked if they knew what they were doing and gave support if it was needed. I worked with front of house to come up with a rough estimate of how many seats we could fit inside the studio and would have avaialable for each of our shows. Today we also continued to work on our dance routines and practice the ones that are completed and progress the ones that need more work. I feel that our dances are progressing well I am continuing to improve my own personal skills.
Week 4.
Monday 27th November- Today we blocked Act 2 from scene 1 to scene 4 with the evening and afternoon cast. I established that I will enter from the crowd in these scenes when I am on stage as other wise I would walk right into the dwarfs coming on stage to do their scene and this could cause confusion or distraction to the audience watching. In scene 2 of Act 2 when I will be wearing disguise and poisoning snow white with the apples I started to progress my character more and add more facial expressions to portray the fact that my character appears to be an old ‘sweet’ lady but I fact is a creepy old women. We also ran another production meeting today to establish what has been done and what still needs to be done.
Tuesday 28th November- Today we ran through Act 2 Scene 4 till the end of Act 2 and finished blocking for those scenes with the evening and afternoon cast. We finally finished blocking for the entire show and I feel that this has been incredibly stressful for the whole cast however I think we have come along way in the short space of time that we have created this production, we have been able to put personal problems to the side for the sake of our prefromance. I really understand the importance of focus in our rehearsals as people not listening leeds to us being delayed and not being able to rehearse properly.
Wednesday 29th November- Today we rehearsed the songs and dances within Act 1. We finished the dance for Bad. I progressed my character further for my solo number this was quite daunting as I don’t usually sing infront of people but I enjoyed pushing my self to limits to see how far I can push myself and it also helped me to gain more confidence whilst we are coming up to the date of our show. I controled the music for the rehearsal of the celebration dance number doing this gave me a good insight into how to control a sound Dec and also that you still need to have focus and pay attention even if it’s just a rehearsal as the people rehearsing rely on you to ensure the music is stopped and started promptly when needed just as if they were doing an actual preformance. We also rehearsed Act 2 with songs and dances all the way through to the end of Act 2. This had helped me to see how our preformance is coming together through our hard work and determination. However it has also showed me how important it is for the whole cast and crew to work together and ensure everyone is pulling their weight.
Week 5-
Monday the 4th of December-Today we did a full rehearsal of the entire show from start to finish with the afternoon and evening cast. By doing full runs I feel that it is really helping me to develop my on stage presence and character as the evil Queen. I am playing the evil Queen in both show now due to personal circumstances of the other queen instead of the original plan of double casting. Finding this out has stressed me and I am more anxious than I was previously however It allows me to focus here on my own acting and making the character my own. Today I feel that I was able to remember the majority of the blocking and cues witheat refering to my script however I need to go over my script and ensure that all blocking and cues are in there that involve my character and that they are correct. I feel that I am doing well in supporting my peers and also taking advice and support from my peers. I also stepped in for another student to be a model for one of the media and makeup students. This experience allowed me to experience show it might feel if I was having my make up done for a future professional performance. I also wore a dress and heels and posed for a proffesional photo shoot although the dress and shoes and in my opinion extravagent make-up made me step out of my confort zone I tried to be as proffesional as I could as in the performing Arts it is very important to be willing to take direction and to also step at of your comfort zone.
Tuesday 5th December – Today we continued to do full run rehearsals these runs are really helping me to get rid of my stage fright as I know exactly what I am doing and when in regards to my cues ect. I am fairly confident with my lines now and being off script, we also ran through lights for the shows along with overlaying music for example music that will be played during scene changes and also the music for cues such as we will rock you for the dwarfs entrances and exit’s and bad guy for the Queens. We also ran sound effects for moments such as the kiss, apple bite and the mirror smashing. This really helped me to visualise the show more and act accordingly when certain sound effects play for example when I fall through the smashing mirror. It also helped me to know exactly when my cues are in regards to entering and exiting the stage as I appear from different sides of the studio multiple times as the queen.
Week 6 (Final week)
Monday the 11th and Tuesday the 12th of DecemberFor this week we did alot of final touches to the show and running the last of rehearsals. We ran into a few technical issues in these two days such as the programing for the lights for the show were lost and they had to be re-done so we had to run through lights rehersals again I feel that this caused alot of the cast to become stressed as we couldn’t run through rehearsals properly although this was no ones fault it did have a impact on everyone in the cast. This performance was double casted and if it took one cast to long to run through the show or certain scenes the other cast would loose out on a important rehearsal oppertunity. I feel that double casting although helping to keep things fair for all of the cast it impacted our show in reaching its full potential. In these two days running up to our performances because we will be doing our dress runs on wednesday in front of the level 3 extended Performing Arts students we have tightened any scenes, songs and dances asto have them ready for us to perform them infront of a audience. We have also been preparing anything needed for front of house such as food and refreshments. Where the posters should be put up in regards to marketing ect. Printing out posters themselves, menue sheets and programs for the performance. I have also been baking and deccreating cakes at home to be sold at the performance by members of our cast who are part of the front of house team in order to raise more funds for our next performance.
Wednesday 13th Of December – Today was hard but I feel that I am ready for our performance tomorrow but I am apprehensive about it because although we should have done dress rehearsals for both the evening and afternoon casts today (each show should only last for about a hour and a half) We actually only did the dress rehearsal with the afternoon cast due to having to keep stopping for various reasons such as cues not being known and people not being on stage or where they should be when they should be, lines being forgotten or when the line is supposed to be said also technical issues this has made it incredibly stressfull but I feel that this is a learning curve and somthing to learn from. I have really learnt the importance of paying attention right from the begining of rehearsals to everything you cannot take it in chunks it needs to be viewed as a whole your lines, cues and mannerisms are all as equally as important as eachother aswell as dance routines and songs as one of these on their own does not make a good performance they all go hand in hand into making a performance. Today I tried to concentrate to push my acting skills and to make my character the best it can be it was decided today that in the end scene I will sit in the mirror after I get trapped in it during the dames ‘ baking scene’ it was really hard to keep character in this scene and not laugh but I managed it I feel that this really pushed my limits but It was a good test of character essentially and it taught me that although I was just sitting there staying in character was important for the other character on stage and the audience to still believe to story and performance it also taught me about taking direction and just going with it and seeing how it goes and if it works.
Thursday 14th December (Show Day) – Today was show day and I played the part of Evil Queen, before we did the 2pm show we did a dress run with the afternoon cast. I used this last doess rehearsal to try and work through my initial nerves as we performed it in front of level 3 extended students and a few other’s from the school of Arts part of our college. This heaped me to be confident in my role and my performance it also helped me to improve my facial expressions and body language whilst on stage and in character. I feel that my performance was betterin the evening show due to having a more interactive experience with the audience than with the audience in the afternoon performance however I believe this is only because pantomime is generally aimed at a younger audience and there was a lack of that in the afternoon show. I feel that both the afternoon and evening casts performed to the best of their abilitys and we really pulled together as a team to make It the best it could be. This experience has taught me that I can turn my nervousness and anxiety around performing more commonly known as stage fright and turn that adrenalin into power for my performing, acting to the best of my ability and using it to my advantage. I also used time inbetween shows to clean up behind stage andin the prop room as to make it less of a hazard during performances for all of the cast.