Overall evaluation of final performance (strengths and weaknesses)
Effectiveness of Group ensemble: I feel that the overall effectiveness of our piece varied greatly from our initial performance to our peers from the theatre department to our evening performance which was witnessed by invited guests, mostly consisting of parents. I feel the weaknesses of our first performance were most apparent in our finishing group ensemble piece of Amanda from Theatre Uncut itself. Our entire company took part in it and it was significantly weaker than our individual devised group performances beforehand which were spoken clearly, with an effective use of Gestus to communicate an unseen side of politicians and prompt the question “Do we become more right wing in hard times?”. In contrast, I feel our final group piece of Amanda lacked a sense of a strong ensemble and Brechtian technique as we were speaking our lines to one another but needed to create more contact between group members and the audience to further break down the fourth wall. Our lack of group ensemble was mainly due to uncertainty about cues and lines within the group which lead to uncomfortably long silences that felt quite dead and lacking in substance. Although, pauses were necessary in the performance as Amanda attempts to relax in the comfort of her own home with her thoughts milling around her, they did not create the dynamic moments intended. To try and improve our sense of group ensemble and pace, many performers, including me, found it appropriate to re-sequence the lines to try and adjust this mishap. This started the action and voice again but led to issues of sequence in the story. As a consequence some lines were unnecessarily repeated.
After practicing individually, we rehearsed with a clear focus on supporting and reacting to one another as an ensemble. This enabled us to heighten our use of Brechtian technique in our final performance to parents as our Gestus became clearer. Because everyone in the group was more secure with lines, we were enabled to relax and confidently carry out bold and interesting choices affecting the audience and one another. This enabled others to have something more significant to react to. The overall effect of this was we became more of a unit and this showed that we were all the contrasting thoughts of one person – Amanda.
Personal what went well: I am particularly pleased with how I performed the line as I implied clear actions and emphasised certain words to get my point across and used Gestus. I directed this harshly to Sophia who spoke the line before me, causing my outburst, other performers and members of the audience, bearing in mind a Brechtian style acting technique. I feel this was effective in reaching the audience which Brecht saw as desirable, building a sense of Amanda’s conflicting intense emotions and gave other performers something to react to.
Personal and even better if: I feel that I could have heightened my sense of Gestus throughout and perhaps travelled more. I felt I wanted to move more but this became problematic as too many people were positioned around the bath tub at once, making it hard to leave this area due to lack of space for movement. I moved around in response to other actors in a confined space which made interactions with one another more of a challenge. I found a good opportunity to move from the crowded area on the line “You’re not even supposed to be thinking of work Amanda so shut up” which was spoken with frustration as I moved. However, in hindsight, I feel I should have moved beforehand and was stationary by the bathtub for too long and was less liberated due to this.
“clean”
Performances that I particularly liked: Performances within our group that I particularly admire include Demi and Elliott. Demi approached the bathtub early on in the group ensemble piece of Amanda and remained there but did not become lazy or start to lose her clear sense of dynamic Gestus and she continued to react to others as she was always focused on the Gestus and physicality of the lines being spoken at the time. As a result of this, when one of my lines was spoken, she made clear precise eye contact with me, registering and reacting to what I had said and in turn spoke her individual lines in a confident, bold and stylised way which engaged the rest of us and the audience. Elliot equally offered his lines in a dynamic and interesting way to fellow performers and the audience with a strong sense of Gestus, showing the archetype of character he was trying to portray effectively. I particularly liked it when he stood up on a chair to say “A bloody Tory MP” whilst waving his hand about. I feel this choice in Gestus created a mocking tone and invited everyone to join in with his point of view and added energy to the performance which transferred onto other performers.
Performances that I particularly liked: Performances within our group that I particularly admire include Demi and Elliott. Demi approached the bathtub early on in the group ensemble piece of Amanda and remained there but did not become lazy or start to lose her clear sense of dynamic Gestus and she continued to react to others as she was always focused on the Gestus and physicality of the lines being spoken at the time. As a result of this, when one of my lines was spoken, she made clear precise eye contact with me, registering and reacting to what I had said and in turn spoke her individual lines in a confident, bold and stylised way which engaged the rest of us and the audience. Elliot equally offered his lines in a dynamic and interesting way to fellow performers and the audience with a strong sense of Gestus, showing the archetype of character he was trying to portray effectively. I particularly liked it when he stood up on a chair to say “A bloody Tory MP” whilst waving his hand about. I feel this choice in Gestus created a mocking tone and invited everyone to join in with his point of view and added energy to the performance which transferred onto other performers.
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