The Evaluation - Two Gentlemen of Verona
Good evening dear readers,
If you've been able to follow up on my unit six records of my play you'll know that I recently performed in: The Two Gentlemen of Verona alongside my amazing cast and as such was tasked with evaluating our end performance. So lo and behold here it is, this will hopefully quench your thirst for my point of view. So kick back with a snack (see what I did there) and delve into the mind of Dijarn.
As I previously stated in my 'Verona Rehearsals 15/01-16/03' we had the dress rehearsals before the real thing to get us pumped and ready; bearing in mind at this point I was going through the butterflies stage, it didn't go as well as it could have for a few minor reasons that being i.e lines going over the head/cues being forgotten but this was due to us not having rehearsed for a couple days, that aside you can read upon that more in that topic I posted. After the hectic session we were called to the front row for Rob to give us all some feedback on the pros and cons of our performance. When it came to me he told me that I needed to work on projecting my voice as it came out "televisual" as opposed to theatrical. I believe the reason for this is because I'm used to doing camera work when acting, the relevance of this being that having a conversation just be between me and the other person/people ignoring the surroundings. Of course this isn't helpful in regards to theater work due to the need to reach the audience so they are able to understand and hear you. My goal for this was to hit the back row with my voice of course by sounding louder and clearer. But not so much so that it sounds like I'm shouting. To employ this I had gone back to what Rob had taught me earlier on about how to strengthen the voice and allow it to carry to the audience, this tactic involved support from the diaphragm as opposed to having the voice in the throat all the time.
Another piece of feedback given to me was to utilize Stanislavski's 'Magic If?" in order for me to give a more naturalistic performance, this was coupled with the Uta Hagen technique on what has happened to your character thirty seconds before. I thought deeply about both pieces of criticism thinking on how I would be able to mesh them together to create an outstanding performance, this was easier said that done but again nothing is impossible so I immediately began line running with others to see where and what could fit in.
After our rehearsals and feedback session we were given an hour and a half break to then be back for our change in costume and props. I thought that it would be highly beneficial for us to get some food and drinks to keep us healthy and charged for our performance, and that we did. I had fruits and flavored water to keep me going, having conversations with the group took my mind off of the intensity of the play for a while but when it all boiled down to it I felt that tinge of nervousness come creeping back. However, I was able to combat this by going into the shoes of the Duke and asking myself "Why should I be nervous? I'm the Duke of Milan!" A few self-centered phrases began to wear away at the nervousness and wake me up with more energy pumped to shut down the play. The only thing that worried me actually was hoping my cigar didn't crumble when I grabbed Valentine.
My costume changes for the night weren't too crazy as it was either me wearing the jacket, having it on my shoulders or either not wearing it at all so I had complete freedom over it to dress the Duke as I please. We as a group went backstage to go through certain scenes quickly to get our brains back in order, and then we heard Rob over the speaker saying that it was showtime. The group went behind curtains and watched Valentine (Pele) & Proteus (Will) head center stage as they were the starting force for the performance. There was a sense of anxiousness in the air as we silently prayed the two would be on time with the starting lines and not allow it to get too awkward on stage, and lo and behold they timed everything perfectly right down to the tee. That kickstarter was seemingly enough to throw out everyone's nerves and power through.
If you've been able to follow up on my unit six records of my play you'll know that I recently performed in: The Two Gentlemen of Verona alongside my amazing cast and as such was tasked with evaluating our end performance. So lo and behold here it is, this will hopefully quench your thirst for my point of view. So kick back with a snack (see what I did there) and delve into the mind of Dijarn.
The Big Day:
Okay, ego and bravery aside on this fateful day I was pretty anxious to perform, so much so that I had a slight tinge of the butterflies . But after a powerful motivating talk backstage with my fellow actors that feeling quickly subsided and I eagerly awaited the open curtains.As I previously stated in my 'Verona Rehearsals 15/01-16/03' we had the dress rehearsals before the real thing to get us pumped and ready; bearing in mind at this point I was going through the butterflies stage, it didn't go as well as it could have for a few minor reasons that being i.e lines going over the head/cues being forgotten but this was due to us not having rehearsed for a couple days, that aside you can read upon that more in that topic I posted. After the hectic session we were called to the front row for Rob to give us all some feedback on the pros and cons of our performance. When it came to me he told me that I needed to work on projecting my voice as it came out "televisual" as opposed to theatrical. I believe the reason for this is because I'm used to doing camera work when acting, the relevance of this being that having a conversation just be between me and the other person/people ignoring the surroundings. Of course this isn't helpful in regards to theater work due to the need to reach the audience so they are able to understand and hear you. My goal for this was to hit the back row with my voice of course by sounding louder and clearer. But not so much so that it sounds like I'm shouting. To employ this I had gone back to what Rob had taught me earlier on about how to strengthen the voice and allow it to carry to the audience, this tactic involved support from the diaphragm as opposed to having the voice in the throat all the time.
Another piece of feedback given to me was to utilize Stanislavski's 'Magic If?" in order for me to give a more naturalistic performance, this was coupled with the Uta Hagen technique on what has happened to your character thirty seconds before. I thought deeply about both pieces of criticism thinking on how I would be able to mesh them together to create an outstanding performance, this was easier said that done but again nothing is impossible so I immediately began line running with others to see where and what could fit in.
After our rehearsals and feedback session we were given an hour and a half break to then be back for our change in costume and props. I thought that it would be highly beneficial for us to get some food and drinks to keep us healthy and charged for our performance, and that we did. I had fruits and flavored water to keep me going, having conversations with the group took my mind off of the intensity of the play for a while but when it all boiled down to it I felt that tinge of nervousness come creeping back. However, I was able to combat this by going into the shoes of the Duke and asking myself "Why should I be nervous? I'm the Duke of Milan!" A few self-centered phrases began to wear away at the nervousness and wake me up with more energy pumped to shut down the play. The only thing that worried me actually was hoping my cigar didn't crumble when I grabbed Valentine.
My costume changes for the night weren't too crazy as it was either me wearing the jacket, having it on my shoulders or either not wearing it at all so I had complete freedom over it to dress the Duke as I please. We as a group went backstage to go through certain scenes quickly to get our brains back in order, and then we heard Rob over the speaker saying that it was showtime. The group went behind curtains and watched Valentine (Pele) & Proteus (Will) head center stage as they were the starting force for the performance. There was a sense of anxiousness in the air as we silently prayed the two would be on time with the starting lines and not allow it to get too awkward on stage, and lo and behold they timed everything perfectly right down to the tee. That kickstarter was seemingly enough to throw out everyone's nerves and power through.
As the play moved forward it came to the party scene, my entrance was signaled on by Silvia as when I entered the ball everything went quiet showing the level of power that the Duke held. Cigar in hand and a glass of wine in the other I sauntered over to Silvia and Valentine and started speaking to them, during this scene I felt the eyes of the audience lock onto me but I didn't crumble and start to speak low. In fact once I speak about Valentine's father: "Sir Valentine, your father is good health. what say you to a letter from your friends of much good news" I raised my voice and spoke out to the audience with open arms and a smile signifying that everything was going perfectly well, I was in a happy calm mood for the remainder of the party and when it was time for me to depart, after the scene it moved swiftly on and each scene I was in went down so smoothly and I could feel that everyone was really immersed with their characters which in turn gave the audience a heightened sense of realism from our performance. I felt like I could do it again and again. Then I realized I handed my cigar to Silvia when I left. This happened in both the daytime and nighttime showings, I know...bad parenting 101 right!
In addition both performances turned out to be a complete success and even though our second performance was much later we had yet to lose our buzz and flow from the first one. Our team as a whole throughout the many weeks of practice and down to crunch time showed commitment, focus, cooperation and above all we had superb synergy with one another. I do believe that as a group we can do much better if we all come together as opposed to having one missing link of our chain or having someone's voice not being heard. Furthermore this showed in our final plays as when faced with an actual audience we didn't fold under pressure and even turned to our friends for support and this allowed us to strive to our set goals. At points within the play the audience broke down in laughter and gasps multiple times and that felt great to know that they were connected with the characters.
Thinking back to our rehearsals I do wish that we were just that liiiittle bit focused in our spacing and line learning but now that I think about it, I can say that it was just us coming to terms with our first actual group script and learning how we all were as a ensemble formed fantastic bonds together,
To finalize this evaluation on our rendition of Two Gentlemen of Verona I feel that though we were met with troubles in the group i.e lateness, forgetting of lines, leaving things to the last minute I still feel that we gave our all and changed from being "Robs Students" to "Shakespeares Masterpieces". I know that in the future our flaws will be flattened out and will practice and perform to the best of our abilities, even now I await hungrily for another play to shut down with my peers and know this time it'll be different. I mean that in a good way of course.
#TEAM VERONA
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