Performance Evaluation

Whether it be during the rehearsals or on the night of the show, an aspect that was every important through out process of creating this peace was my ability to show an effective use and control of performance based techniques. Certain points at which these techniques where clearly demonstrated include my role within the show physically and vocally. Being that are only experience of the space that we where to be performing in was that of  the actual night, it meat that I would be expected to very quickly adapt from the significantly smaller surroundings of our rehearsal spaces to a much larger scale. Vocally this meant that in order to fully engage the audience my lines would need to be delivered with the right amount of volume and clarity, making it possible for myself to be heard amongst the wrest of the background noise.

In order to communicate the intentions and purpose of my character within the piece, things such as my characters costume, accent and body language where adapted and played upon to accentuate and individuate the role of my character amongst the ensemble. From reading the play and doing further background research into the world and times of our characters, I was able to gain a greater understanding of how my character (Foxlip a sailor) being someone such as himself may have sounded and dressed, meaning I was able to introduce aspects to the piece that would work and fit within the entire context of the play and our adaptation.

Although in the piece I had quite a significant named character, the majority of my work was amongst and ensemble. So in contributing to the piece, it meant that i needed to be largely focused and conscious of the people around me during rehearsals and the night of the show. Although there where points during the rehearsal period in which I can admit I lacked in concentration, I new that if is wasn't listening and missed my cues this could effect the entire flow of the show and work rate, but would also mean letting down the rest of the cast. Because of this it meant that on the night of the show i met all my cues on time and  why I believe that without the cooperation of the whole ensemble this piece would not have been as successful.

From the time spent working on this piece I have learnt the importance of working together as a team and how everyone, no matter the size of their role within the performance, each has a large part to play in determining the success of the piece. I have also learnt personally that to improve I must greater my concentration during the rehearsals, as I have learnt how important every second spent practising and preparing really is and that every ones contributions to show, including my own are needed.

Overall I am greatly pleased with how the final performance went. Although at times I was sceptical of how we where going to pull this of, in the end everyone came together putting in all there effort to achieve in the end, what I believe to be a very successful night and a wonderful ending to our last two years studding theatre.

Lesson and Rehearsal Notes

Throughout my time in lessons and rehearsals during this unit, I have received a great amount of constructive criticism and guidance allowing me to advance and develop the skills I have been acquiring over my time spent studding theatre. 

Learning to research and further build upon my character of stage means I have learnt to create more depth in the characteristics and personality of my roles. In turn meaning when I am able to come to rehearsals with my outlook and they play, giving myself the chance to interpret the script in my own light and make instinctive and experimental chooses in response to the words on the paper. This has also led to me becoming more confident and committed in my actions and decisions.  

Being constantly reminded to take notes has taught me the importance of breaking down the text and taking an analytical view on the script. Doing so means I am able to completely understand every word, this not only makes the words I am saying more believable and real for me, but also to the audience hearing them. Also with only a hand full of scheduled rehearsal sessions held every week, being able to manage and make the most of limited time has been an important factor. There where often times ware individually and collectively we lacked in focus and concentration, so had to be reminded how much we had to do in so little time. This has really taught me how much of a collective responsibility we have to the success of this show, especially as we are working as an ensemble.

Costume Research and Ideas

Show Costume

The begging of the show sees a group of young people breaking into a building, therefore we must be dressed in clothing very similar to the kind of thing we would normally wear but that when the story begins will resonate with the Polynesian tribal fashion we are attempting to portray.

In order to do this our costume must be easily adaptable, consisting of bright colours that are obvious to the audience. Any makeup worn by members of the cast should resemble the personality of their character.

Traditional Polynesian Fashion






















Decorated bark cloth known as Tapa was a prime garment seen in traditional Tahiti clothing. A verity of ornaments were worn for ceremonial occasions. Elaborate feather headdresses were signs of honour and virtue. Both men and women wore ear ornaments.



Polynesian Tattooing

Tattooing in Polynesian culture was a way in which information of its owner could be delivered. Also tattoos where seen as a method of fetching spiritual power, protection and strength. The Polynesians used tattoos to signify the characteristics of a person and their rank amongst the hierarchy's of society. During ancient times it was common that almost every Polynesian would get a tattoo at some point in their life time.

                                        

Context Research

Context:
In terms of the location, entirely all the action that takes place within this play occurs in what is depicted as being the Pacific Ocean and Polynesia Islands, or "The Nation" as known and referred to in the play by its indigenous inhabitants. 

Polynesia: 
Polynesia is made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language family, culture, and beliefs. Historically, they were experienced sailors and used stars to navigate during the night. 

Map of Polynesia

1860 Britain:
Britain was under a the imperialist power of a Victorian monarchy, with the British Empire having colonies in India, Canada, Australia and various parts of Africa. Britain was the most powerful nation on earth, and with the people holding such nationalistic views this came with quite a lot of arrogance.
Science was a large forefront and new discovery's would change the lives of many.

Russian Influenza:
The flu pandemic (October 1889 – December 1890) was a deadly influenza pandemic that killed about 1 million people worldwide. It was know as "Asiatic flu" or "Russian flu".The pandemic was first recorded in Saint Petersburg, Russia in December 1889. In four months it had spread throughout the northern hemisphere.

Character Breakdown

Who am I ?
I am Foxlip, a young English sailor and member of the navy. Coming from a quite poor family, I have had very little education and I have spent the majority of my life on ships working in service to the crown. My friend Polgrave is also a sailor and I have worked along side him for many years. He is my only close friend and I trust him to watch out for me if anything goes wrong.

Current situation
Whilst travelling to Port Mercier in escort of Daphne, we found ourselves immersed within the wrath of a life threatening storm. In order to survive me and my friend Polgrave decided to take the last life boat and escape the storm and find safety on land. We have now found ourselves on a island, where we have been captured and imprisoned as slaves. We must now escape and find any other survivors.

Costume 
As Foxlip works on ship his clothing will be very dirty and rugged, so I have decided to costume myself in some old tracksuit bottoms and an old stained t shirt. Initially I shall also be wearing a hoodie but as I change in role, from a teenager to Foxlip, I will remove this and it will be tied around my waist or solders. 

My First Impressions

After taking to reading the entire play with the whole class, I was given the chance to individually and with rest of the cast, form some initial ideas and feelings surrounding the play.

Throughout the play there are very prominent themes of science, religion and the contrasting beliefs and ideas shown by the two society's presented in the play. Both the shipwrecked English characters and the members of the nation are presented clearly to come from two completely different cultures and walks of life, with one holding the believes that development and progress will bring them a better way of life and the other seen to be very stuck in their ways, only to follow rituals and beliefs left by their ancestors. Many similarity's where mentioned and drawn upon in comparison, such as the story's of Pocahontas and Eldorado. This creating a clearer image of what exactly we where about to embark on.It was also at this point we realised how much work we had to do in so little time. 

The script included a large amount of physicality and scenes full of action, knowing that we where going to be working as an ensemble, it would mean that unless we where all able to bring our own creativity and personal input we would find this project very difficult. However, although presented with some barriers we would have to overcome, this fast pace, high energy play we had been given, if done well looked as if would be a lot of fun.