Theater Log Book Term 3

Evaluation

In our performance, we all worked as an ensemble in order to make the show run smoothly. Throughout the performance we kept the energy high which is important in an Artaud themed performance because the audience have to be included at all times, therefore, if the actors believe in themselves and believe in the performance, it makes the work much more effective. Throughout the performance, we wanted the audience to get a sense of catharsis at all times, and from observing their reactions during the performance, I gathered that some of the audience were at times shocked, confused, and nervous. The reactions proved that the audience did leave the performance with the relief of certain or several emotions, which is why I believe that as a group we worked hard in order to get these reactions from the audience.
In addition, another thing that went well was the different transitions in between each scene. I believe this worked well in the performance because, it kept the audience involved at all times, whilst introducing them to the next part of our performance. Me and Saffia's 'British Market' scene went really well because we spoke selling gruesome things which were shown in the corridor with pictures that we gathered together. We included Antonin Artaud's 'theater of cruelty' ideology throughout our whole scene by having blood splattered all over the pictures which made the atmosphere slightly scary. Also, there was a part where we began throwing the tomatoes across the corridor and in order to ensure that it didn't go anywhere near the audience, me and Saffia had to thoroughly think out how we would stage the scene, in order to make sure there is a boundary, but still being able to make the audience feel part of the performance which may mean them feeling uncomfortable. We rehearsed this scene several times with trial and error in order to make it work for the real thing. 
Overall, our whole performance went really well because it ran smoothly just as we'd all wanted and as a company we all maintained the energy throughout the whole thing. Additionally, we were able to find different ways in each scene to include the audience and break the fourth wall. For example, in the 'tea party' scene, the audience were included because there was a part where members of the audience were questioned and asked to make a threatening phone call. This audience interaction contrasted with the 'Eastenders' scene because their way of including the audience was to get them dancing right at the beginning with loud music, which was also similar to the 'court room' scene where they all danced at the end to include the audience.
I think that as a group we did a lot of individual research in order to include the 'theater of cruelty' and themes of 'Englishness' as we shared our ideas and combined them together.

However, in my opinion the things that didn't go so well in our performance was at one point in our 'courtroom' scene the music didn't play on cue. This slowed down the performance and caused there to be a long break which sort of took away the energy, however we all remained in character and also another actor who was watching out performance stayed in his role and said 'what is all of this', I believe that this helped us because it made it seem as if it was supposed to actually happen. Also, a few of the lines were missed out in our scene, although this happened, this didn't affect the rest of the scene because we all carried on in character and didn't show that anything was wrong. In addition, another thing that didn't go well was the organisation of the costume because part of the chef's outfits were missing therefore me and Saffia weren't able to show that we were African chefs through our choice of clothing, however we showed our African side through the projection of our voice using a different accent, which was a result of our previous voice warm up, so we were still just as engaging as we would've been with the full outfit. Also, another thing that didn't go so well within the actors was at the very beginning of the 'sibling rivalry' scene because only few of us actors were reacting to each rivalry scene, and it took others some time to engage in it, therefore it may have seemed quite unsure to the audience as to whether we were supposed to do it or not. Despite the fact, my 'sibling rivalry' partner and I did react to each rivalry, and what we were told when getting feedback from our rehearsal was if you're going to do something just go straight for it and be sure, therefore I ensured that I did react with confidence and certainty which I hope allowed the audience to see that we were still engaged and part of the scene even when we were just watching.

The things that could've been improved in our performance was the ending because at the end of the courtroom scene after the lights went on, the audience seemed kind of confused as to whether it was meant to happen, although Antonin Artaud wanted the audience to leave thinking 'what just happened', I believe that there could've been a part where all of the characters came together at the end in order to signify that we are coming as a collective for the finale. However, we didn't end the show suddenly with the lights on but we had two people from the class explain to the audience what our play was about and what we had been studying, and I think that this helped them to get an understanding as to what we were aiming to get across to them. Also, another thing that could've been improved in our performance was the music cues, because at last minute I was asked by another group if I could quickly learn the cues for the music in their scene. Although it was so last minute, I did take my time to help the other group's performance, but it would've been good if there was an extra person to be able to cue music as we were all busy rehearsing. The same thing happened in the courtroom scene as there was a time where the music took a long time to play which delayed the performance slightly, therefore if it was more planned or organised then it could help certain parts of the performance run smoothly without any pauses. Despite this, as actors we all carried on and kept the performance going.

Overall, the performance went very well considering many things were planned on the day. We kept the energy high at all times which kept the audience engaged. The different scenes, colours, lighting and everything else made our performance interesting in a creative way which drew the audience's attention. Also, I believe the different transitions kept the audience thinking 'what's going to happen next', and I believe that as a group we merged the theme of Englishness well with Antonin Artaud's 'theater of cruelty' in a creative and contrasting way opposed to traditional performances.