Publicising the Play

Task 4- Reflection

What were the successes of this unit?

With this unit and performance in particular, there were quite a few successes and the first one being the script as a whole. The good thing was that from the beginning, our group knew what we wanted to do and we knew exactly what scenes we wanted to show the audience. From the start, we always wanted to do the classroom, the club, the fun fair and the hospital scenes and this helped us out a lot as we didn’t spend so much time deciding what we were going to show. It was also good because we saw those exact scenes in the book and we started practicing them immediately. Another good thing was that we also knew the order it was going to be done in. Once we had the scenes, we were then able to choose which lines we were going to say and which one’s we were going to leave out because it wasn’t valid. With a lot of practice and rehearsals we were also able to memorise all our lines from the script and this meant that on stage we didn’t forget anything. This also helped us because we were all really confident and we were projecting our voices and showing all expressions at the correct time which made the performance as a whole very good. Another good thing was our Narration that we had with Aisha where she would go on and talk about what was happening and what was about to happen to inform the audience if they didn’t know and also build some suspense as they would want to know what happens next. I do believe that we could have done many things differently but for our first performance, we were able to clearly show the story and also keep the audience engaged at all times.

What would you do differently?

There are so many things that we would do differently for our performance. We would change almost everything from sounds to how the stage looked and also our costumes. We would also change some of the lines in our scenes and maybe also the characters. The first biggest thing we would try and improve would be the lighting changes between the scenes which could have been timed better as we would be in the freeze frame for around 10 seconds before it was actually a blackout. Then we would also improve our costumes as between the scenes we couldn’t see where our clothes were so we couldn’t find what we were supposed to wear and this meant we wore the same clothes throughout the entire performance which looked like everything happened in the same day. Then we would also have more sounds in the background like night sounds, also a rollercoaster sound that we didn’t have to make ourselves, better club music as well. We would have worked on our lines for our performance as well because at some points we didn’t say everything that we were supposed to and it was quite important. Maybe to improve the performance, during the scenes we could have had Street Voices moving around the city and talking about what Martin’s life was like and what would happen. Also at the club scene, we could have had the other characters that were doing nothing become waiters and a DJ and then also be street voices talking about Martin and how everything would change. For my part at the end where I run out of the Youth Club, there could have been a Narrative Martin that would go around me and then we would say the lines one by one. That last bit needed a lot of work and it could have been improved massively but since we were short on time, it wasn’t the best. We could have also had a spotlight shine on me when I said that to have all the focus directed towards me. The use of space on the stage could have also been better like when we went to Natalie’s house, The Youth Club and the Fair. In Natalie’s house scene, we just walked straight and it didn’t look like we were going to somebody’s house. Even at the Youth Club where we had to get the candle we barely had any space and we could have changed that around to have the correct amount for each area. At the fair where the Popcorn stand was, it was too close to the Picture booth and it didn’t look like a normal theme park because everything was right next to each other. Otherwise, we did pretty well, but there is always room for improvement. 

Top 3 tips for next year’s performance?

• The first and biggest tip that I would give for next year’s performance would be to have more rehearsal time. I would say that the more rehearsal’s you get after school and in school the better so you would be able to perfect your scenes. For our group we spent all the lessons only perfecting our first two scenes and we had the last week to do our other 3 scenes which were not as good as the first two so if we managed our time better then we would be able to have a really good performance.
• The next tip would be to make sure that all the lines that you have are learnt well so that it isn’t a problem later on and it also comes into the rehearsal. Along with the lines would be maybe like making notes about the thinks and scenes that you thought about and write them down so that you don’t forget it and it will help your final performance. 
• Make sure that the character that you are playing is good for you and isn’t overambitious so you can play it properly. Make sure that it is a character that has a similar personality to you and try to get into his shoes by maybe acting like him throughout the day. After you are confident with your character, also make sure that you’re confident to act in front of the audience and don’t be afraid about messing up or getting embarrassed because it would ruin the whole performance. Breath, Don’t panic and it will turn out perfect!

How did your performance vision change?

From the start our performance vision was one thing and it didn’t really change until the end. From the start we knew that we wanted to show what Martin was like before he had the accident and then how his life completely changed after that night. We wanted to show that along with his friends to show what kind of a person he was and how his friends saw him until the accident took place and everyone saw him differently. We always wanted to show the classroom scene as we wanted to display that even with teachers Martin was the same person and was a really confident and cocky person. We also wanted to show the club scene as we wanted the audience to see that Martin was the one who wanted to always have fun and didn’t mind things like dancing. The hospital scene was necessary as we wanted to show what exactly happened to Martin and how he was a victim of burns. The scene of the fair, Natalie’s house, Youth club was after we knew what we wanted to do. We wanted to do the fair scene as we wanted to show the audience how much fun the friends had together when they went outside. Also where they go to Natalie’s house as Martin was the only one who had a girlfriend and this showed that he was a good person overall. The Unity club was important as we wanted to show that after the accident people saw him differently and this was good because the audience could see what it was like for people like Martin and how he was recovering from such a horrible accident that took place and changed his life.

What skills did you develop through this process that you can apply in other subject areas?

There were many skills that I developed through this process that I can apply in other subject areas and the first one being my communication skills. As I had to communicate to people in the audience with my voice, my facial expressions and also different voices that matched my character. I also developed my cooperation skills as throughout this unit we had to work in a group to create our final performance and this made me better at working with my peers. It helped me get better as we had to create and build the entire performance together and also coming up with what characters suited which person. Another skill would be problem solving and decision making which is very important in other subjects. We had to solve the issues that we had with our performance like the costume and what character would say what. We also had to think more about what we wanted to show the audience and what scenes we would pick that could tell the story well. As we had to rehearse our performances, it also develops the skill of determination and effort to always make sure to do what we had to do and make it the best possible in the end. It is also important for my own well-being as with the different characters that we portray, we can act like them without any feeling of fear or even being judged and we can perform without being shy in front of the audience with showing all our emotions.