Final evaluation

We have performed our final piece on the 19th of may 2021.

Today we have done 2 performances, 1 for cast A (my cast) and cast B. during cast B I was up in the lighting box working the lights.

Cast A

During the first performance everyone did great and remembered all their lines and actions, however there were times when I slipped up my line in the sense that my nerves got to me and I said it but the words came out a bit jumbled. this was not a major issue because I still made it work and made the audience understand what I’m saying, my intention, and motive. However I stayed in character from the start to finish of the play, and so did everyone else when a minor slip up happened. The audience loved the play and said that it was funny but still had that element of seriousness all the way to the end, which is exactly what we were aiming for because the play is quite boring until the serious stuff starts happening. so we managed to keep the audience engaged.

The audience thought the beginning (monkey scene, paper ball throw) was slightly confusing and thought it could use with a narrator although it would break the 4th wall which is not what we want, and the same can be said about scene 4. The audience were confused if William was supposed to be in a hospital, police station, mental asylum, etc..

The transitions were smooth in between the scenes, whilst using relevant music to the scene to keep the audience entertained and excited to see what’s next. The transition from scene 6 to scene 7 was smooth fast, calm and reserved. meaning that there weren’t loads of chairs being dragged, people running, tables banging or people making a fuss. All it was, was a matter of people calmly walking up to chairs/tables picking them up and moving them to positions or out of the way, and it had music over it with a added on blackout so the audience doesn’t see the tables and chairs moving and does not hear them banging or dragging along the floor if that was to ever happen.

A note that was given to everyone that performed today was to look up at the audience more, to project louder and fill the entire theater with our voices, to say lines a bit slower and clearer, and lastly to have more energy. The energy suddenly drops during duologues, for example, scene 2 and scene 5. Everyone was confident with their characters and just went with it and their instincts. Cast A seemed more confident than cast B due to tiredness, and loss of excitement since for most actors it was their second time performing within a 30 minute break.

The whole play was really well rehearsed and set every last scene to the last detail. However for cast A the tech wasn’t quite there, up to standard. some of the sound/music queues were a bit delayed and at one point during scene 5 when William turns the lights off in the classroom, the blackout kept flashing on and off which was not believable, and not true to the scene, and later on during scene 6 I was waiting for the gunshot sound effect to fire for me to jump out of the way but there was a last minute decision that I was not aware of that the gunshots were not going to be fired because it has a delay, so with that my reaction to William having a gun was delayed and not truthful to the moment.

(Some personal evaluation) I was told that my character was very believable, and I managed to clearly deliver the insecurity of Bennett secretly being bi curious to the audience since some of them came and asked me if I was playing as my character being secretly gay or bi. I was also told by the second year actors that I am the “best Bennett” and that they could not see anyone else playing Bennett as well as I did. My reactions were good and believable to the audience, I was truthful when using my anger in certain scenes. and I did not miss a single line, however I did blurt some lines out by accident because my nerves got to me.

Cast B

For cast B, I was not performing. Instead I was managing the lights and activating them whenever my queues were said by the actors on the stage. This was quite a thrilling experience in itself as you know that you are responsible for making the stage, scene, and actors look good whilst they are performing. I also did not miss a single queue, nor did I mess up any of the lights, so I did a great job up in the lighting box supporting cast B’s performance.

The people that performed both in cast B and A, were quite exhausted after doing a full 1 hour 30 minute play, with only 30 minutes before they go again. This made the start to the performance have less energy, slower and more boring, the actors still managed to bring the energy back up and the audiences attention back up with their funny comments and actions.

People that were not onstage were messing about behind the curtains and accidentally turned the lights on in the room. certain scenes like; the start of scene 1, scene 2, and start of scene 3 were lacking in energy, however after that the actors started being more energetic in the duologues. The audience laughed a lot. The biggest issue i witnessed in cast B apart from energy was the transition from scene 6 to scene 7, it was loud, and not nearly as calm as cast A’s transition.

3 words the audience used to describe the play

Intense -> because of the story line outcome, and certain scenes.

exaggerated -> fight scene when it scales up a lot and quite quickly in scene 4.

empathetic -> because the audience could connect with the characters and they could get a peek into their life through our voices, actions, and facial expressions.