FINAL REFLECTION!

Research and Development phase

The first thing we did to work on this project was to start thinking about the meaning of the play,
researching into all the different aspects to gain a better understanding of the play and feel more
connected to it. We played around with a lot of ideas in several workshops, (such as workshopping the
concept of a glitch, relating well to a play being about parallel universes, and how we could portray this
physically and verbally). All the workshops that we carried out resulted in exciting new ideas for the
play, and as a company we were able to piece them together and present these ideas to Soph our
director. I particularly enjoyed researching into the differences between the 80s and 2018 (and how we
could visually show this with our set) and also making a Spotify playlist with 80s hits to really help us get
in the mood. Throughout the research phase for the play “Variations”, I learnt the ability to build on a
simple layout of a script and to make it more exciting (as we did with the transitions). As we worked with
our movement director for the play, Deeps, I played around with my physicality, learning new ways and
parts of my body I could lead with in my movement, and this became particularly useful when working
on the transitions. I enjoyed researching into all the different characters in the play, and after several
readthroughs was able to clearly see the different relationships between them all. The read throughs
were particularly useful, and I was able to have the play and the layout ingrained into my brain before
the intensive rehearsals. On reflection, this phase was not only useful for everything mentioned above,
but also helped the group really gel as a company and learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses
preparing for the intensives.

Rehearsal Phase

Moving on to the rehearsal phase of the process, this being one of my personal favorite phases aside
from our final performances. During the rehearsal phase, we broke down the script into chunks and
worked on a different aspect of the script every week. In our movement sessions with Deeps, I learnt
that in some instances your physicality and movement can tell a better story than your words can and to
think outside the box to create new shapes to music. This was something the whole company enjoyed
and was a highlight for me of this process. Moving into the intensive rehearsals, I loved working in my
scene group and discovering something new from the scene each time we did a read through and be
able to see our surroundings in the scene with the set-in place. I learnt that one of me and my scene
partner Lily have great comedic energy and timing with each other on stage, meaning we were able to
bounce off each other quite well. When it came to staging the fight in our scene, I learnt how important
it is to stage a fight and how careful you must be with how far you push it. We had professional stage
combat directors come in and help with this, so we were able to perform these fights safely. The stage
combat directors raised a point on how it's crucial that both actors in the fight stick to the same routine
every time the fight is played out to ensure everyone's safety. Another moment from the rehearsal
phase I learnt a lot from was being efficient in my role as a liminal space in the transitions (when I wasn’t
playing my character) I practiced in rehearsals and stagger throughs of the show in being intent in my
actions and moving blocks/props around the space with purpose. Near the end of the intensive
rehearsals, Soph reminded us that it's always important to listen in your scenes to one another and not
end up in a stuck rhythm every time you do it, instead to keep it interesting. This required a lot of
stopping and restarting each of the different scenes in rehearsals but was overall effective for our
performances. I enjoyed working on the safety dance in rehearsals and using it as a warmup before
every session, however, it was sometimes hard work to give the dance the full energy and enthusiasm
every time we did as due to it being near the end of the show, we were often tired. To overcome this,
we rehearsed the dance giving our own unique take to it every time, bouncing off each other's energy
when dancing around the circle. The rehearsal process really helped me as an actor to learn from each
other in space and how I can best help the company be successful in the outcome. I believe I pushed
myself every time we did a stagger through the show to try something different with my character, and
tried to always think ahead on what my next duty was in the show.

MOVING INTO THE EGG/TECH

When the company and I moved from the roper room into the egg, it was particularly exciting as
everything began to feel a lot more real. We were able to properly see our set-in action, and this
resulted in a certain buzz around the cast. It also made it a lot clearer where to set props and what
wings I needed to be in at certain times. When starting tech, however boring and at times frustrating it
was, it of course was crucial for the show. It was a reminder to me of how hard the tech and sound
designers work behind the scenes to bring the show to life and awaken the senses of the audience. The
tech rehearsal was also a good time to ingrain the show more into our heads and know where
set/props/actors would be in view and where they wouldn’t. With all the elements of sound/lighting and
costume I believe this affected my acting in a positive way, I felt more in character and the change of
surrounding motivated me, performing out to the stalls that would be soon packed with a crowd. The
tech rehearsal tested my patience and focus as an actor, but I believe I was eventually able to find ways
to cope and where to focus my attention on.

SECOND DRESS REHEARSHAL

Regarding the second dress rehearsal, this was the first time we had performed to a big audience, and
we were all excited to show the other group, buckets, what we had been working on. It was also a
chance to learn from our mistakes before our evening show. For example, there was a line in scene two
that I forgot in the dress run, it was a key line when Lily was leaving but thankfully Lily thought ahead,
and we skipped to the next part. Forgetting a line on stage wasn’t ideal but it made me go back and look
over it for the performance in the evening, which proved useful as I didn’t forget the line again.
Backstage, with all the correct props in place, we were able to realistically see how much space we had
to move around in. During the dress run, a few props got knocked over which made some noise but
again, this was an eye opener on where things should be placed to prevent props from getting knocked
over again. At the end of show, confetti began to fall on the cast (this was the first time we got to
experience this) which added a touching and emotional ending to the play.

PERFORMANCE 1
When it was finally time for our first performance, I was certain that we were all set, prepared and
ready, physically and mentally. I had looked over my lines for a final check earlier that day and was
excited about the evening show. We all did a cast vocal warm up led by Sophie, our dance captain, and
then started to prep everything for the show, making sure that certain props were in the right wings and
so on. I was pleased with my level of concentration throughout the show, and since with had the dress
rehearsal beforehand I felt more confident. One thing, however, I learnt from show one was to focus
more on my liminal spacing beforehand and make sure that the boxes are in the correct position for all
the scenes, as I had not placed the box facing the right way. It was lovely, however, to see everyone so
enthusiastic about working and helping one another succeed on stage. The stage managers backstage
was amazing, making sure we were all kept on track, and everyone brought bundles of energy into the
transitions and the safety dance. Overall, I was pleased with my first performance and managed to
remember certain queues that I had previously forgotten in the dress run.

PERFORMANCE 2

The second performance of our show Variations was by far my favorite. We all knew this was going to
be the last time we were ever going to perform the show and we all wanted to put our all into it. By
this point, I had nailed my liminal spacing and all the queues for my scenes and I was proud of myself
for that. After our dinner break, we all gathered in the roper room for a final pep talk with the cast
and gave out the thank you gifts to Soph and the rest of the team, the presents and cards being a
token of our appreciation. Regarding the final performance, I felt that I was able to have the most fun
with the show and my character than I ever had before due to my confidence with what I had to do. I
found that the audience were laughing at certain points in my scene that I didn’t expect them to laugh
at which was a pleasant surprise, so I played around with this during the performance (for example
Jazmine and Pearls squabbling)