´What did I learn?
During the making of project 2, I learned a lot about the production side of performances, as this was the first time I had taken part in a show that consisted of multiple handmade props as opposed to things premade and bought. I saw how people come together to work on a large item, painting and designing whilst they plan out the idea for the current prop we were working on and the next one. Being apart of this helped me gain strengthened teamwork and artistic skills, as well as patience.
´What went well?
I believe that myself and my company all did extremely well on putting a show together in so little time, memorizing lines and helping each other out with improv when we couldn’t remember a certain line or miss some dialogue by mistake. This performance brought us together and strengthened us as a company, as well as developing our professional skills that will aid us in the future.
´What could I have done better?
Something I think I could have done better at is memorizing lines. I struggle greatly with memorizing lines, both because I have a bad memory and I also am unsure which method works best for me to do so. I hope to do better on this in the future and figure out what helps me with this personally.
´How will you use this? How is this going to help you in the future?
My improved cooperation skills and patience will assist my performances to come and in the industry, as working as a company is a large part of performing that you cannot avoid. If you do not trust your peers, how can you trust your audience or yourself? I learned that I don’t have to be worried about people in my company as they are not going to judge me, which will be helpful for future companies I take part in and will aid me in building trust faster as to perfect all future performances.
Week 1
During this week, our company was handed our scripts for the first time, along with the information as to who had which role. I was given the role of Gentleman Visitor, the jovial charity collector who comes to Scrooge at the beginning of the show and hopes to gain a donation for the poor, to which Ebenezer is disgusted and offended that the man would even ask him for such a thing. The following day we got started on researching relevant topics to our play, such as Charles Dickens’ life growing up, Scrooge’s childhood and the era in which the script takes place, the Victorian era. We were also supposed to research our own characters, however I couldn’t find much on my own character as it is a rather small role, so instead most of my research toward my character was mostly toward the background of Charles Dickens himself and how that effects the development and motivations of my character. The next day, we got to rehearsing our scenes individually before proper rehearsals began in order to aid our progress in line memorization when the real rehearsals started.
Week 2
At the beginning of this week, we started with a focus exercise in which we were all told to take a walk around the room in our characters; this would allow us to get into their mindsets much easier and aid in the physicalization aspect of portraying our roles. This involved determining at what pace they walk at, their posture and any specific quirks or mannerisms. This was a simple yet effective way to portray little details about your character, such as their social status, their wealth (or lack of it), their attitude and other things unique to them, such as Tiny Tim’s limp. My character stood proud with good, upright posture, however moved slightly slow as someone who isn’t particularly in a rush and likes to/is able to take his time to enjoy the little things around him instead of constantly working to put food on the table, whereas a poorer character may not have that luxury and may be more hurried. I also gave the Gentleman Visitor the mannerism of clasping his hands behind his back, especially whilst talking to people, as this is a mannerism I have often seen in media usually used by wealthy and/or fancy characters. This was my intention, hoping to make him come across as polite yet proper, someone with plenty of money but not someone who hoards it selfishly like Ebenezer Scrooge. As we began to put together a rehearsal as a class, we decided on having a group of carolers at the back of the stage, which consisted of me, Tia and Nika, surrounded by the busy townspeople going about their day and rushing to prepare for the festive celebrations and small children playing in the snow. Just to the side of the joyous people were some homeless people begging for money, which were assisted by a few generous individuals, however also hurt and chased off by some people who carried disdain for the poor. This was to properly represent that during these times, and even today, that there will always be people willing to help out in any way they can, and people who thrive on needless suffering. This also foreshadows Scrooge’s turn around from being someone who couldn’t care less what happened to the poor, needy folks who simply required a little extra help so long as they weren’t pestering him to someone who used his power and wealth to assist those who truly needed it without expecting anything in return.
Week 3
We continued to block out scenes during rehearsal this week, going over the opening scene again with the carolers and beginning to expand on the scene in which Jacob Marley reveals himself to Ebenezer. We added a dance to this scene, using people circling Scrooge and pushing him back and fourth as a representation of the spirits invading his room and as symbolism for the whirlwind of emotions Scrooge had been overwhelmed with as he was faced with the truth that being selfish and ruthless will cost him dearly in the afterlife. In this dance we used a soundscape in order to achieve natural, familiar sounds such as a rain-stick and a bell, but played them repetitively, quickly and loudly in order to appear as though paranormal forces were at play. I began to decide on my costume for the performance this week, which I already knew exactly what I was going to wear; a white dress shirt and black trousers with a long, black Victorian style coat, topped off with a magenta scarf.
Week 4
As we neared the end of the time we have left for rehearsals before we have to put on the show, we blocked out the ending and tried out different things such as different placement for people and set pieces until we were all satisfied with how it turned out. We ended up shortening my scene at the end with Scrooge in order to make sure we don’t go over time. We got back to working on props and set, digging out a chalkboard to make the sign for Scrooge’s business. I wrote “Scrooge & Marley’s” on it in cursive with the chalk and it was later strung up above where Scrooge’s desk sits. We were also permitted to look through the clothes racks from media makeup and fashion in order to aid people in finding their final pieces for their costumes whilst a few people were sent out to town to retrieve some of the final essentials such as a waistcoat and some top hats from the costume shop in Kirkgate. The majority of our time was spent doing full runs in order to prepare for the real performance, as well as doing trials for the makeup we’ll be wearing the day of the show.