Monday, 23 March 2015

Drama: Week Twenty Three

Monday 23rd March 2015 

Today we just ran through the tech for the production, it was a long day but worth it. I can't believe the performances start tomorrow!

Thursday 26th March 2015: The performances

The day had finally come, and everything that we've spent a quarter of 2015 working on had to be made worth while in these two shows.
Everyone was nervous and excited, the emotions on this day were altogether overwhelming.
The dress rehearsal did not go very well, at least we, the group, didn't feel it was successful. But at least it gave us one last opportunity to run through and make sure we all knew what we were doing.

Just as our matinee performance was about to begin, the audience already filling up the auditorium and chattering expectantly, a fire drill went off! We were all whisked out of the college onto the streets, in our costumes no less! After a bit of shivering outside we came back in and things had to continue as planned. So, we braced ourselves... and the show went up.

I felt really rather conflicted about the matinee performance. I was extremely proud of our group, we all pulled together beautifully, the energy was fantastic, the audience were engaged and responsive throughout, and the comic parts in the play got huge laughs. It went so, so well, and everybody felt very pleased with it. I left the performance feeling personally that I hadn't given quite as much as I could have, my whole time performing I felt a little self concious and not quite right, but I was assured by my peers that it didn't show and I remained pleased with how the performance went despite my concerns about myself.

The evening performance went very well, too. The audience weren't quite as responsive and lively, but we still all made the best of it and had a good time. It was the general consensus backstage that we had to go out with a bang and just have the most fun with it possible.
In this performance I felt I did better than earlier on in the day, I felt more free and confident somehow.
We did have one mishap during this second show, where the "thou liest" scene got all jumbled up. We said the lines all in the wrong order and got in quite a pickle but I was completely impressed with how well my fellow actors handled it; calmly and professionally. It just went to show that we all knew the play so well now and were working together in such a natural flow that we were able to work together and make it through the difficulty of the scene.
All together, though, I enjoyed it. Every time I exited the stage I felt pleased with how things were going, and the more I reflect on it the more gleeful I feel at our finished product.
It was exhilarating as well as strange for everything to come to an end, and as we took our bow and Rob made a small speech, relief, joy, sadness and a certain fondness washed over me. It's all finished now, and what a journey it has been working on The Tempest.

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