Evaluation

Last night our performance that we had been working so hard on all term came to stage. The piece was an exciting piece of theatre that was not only very fun to be in but I think was a memorable experience for the audience.

I felt the staging and lighting really came together in the end.As we had not had our space to rehearse in for most of the day it had been a stressful last hour and ,making sure there was enough lighting on each piece was hard especially as we wanted to keep the lighting dark and shadowy. However in the performance we set our pieces in a way that there were beautiful pools of light and cast of shadows surrounding the work which I feel really helped bring the piece together as a whole.

One of my worries about the piece had been keeping a sense of unity through it. Due to having different groups all having pieces and sections I had feared that the audience would feel like they were just watching little pieces which didn't have a bigger connection. However by adding in bits of physical movement in which the whole class worked together and used each other the piece became a big performance rather than a series of small ones.

In our dress rehearsal some of the people helping us had commented that they felt we were still creating a fourth wall which was stopping from our pieces being completely effective. They told us to completely let go and fully interact with the audience. In the performance I think we all pushed these boundaries much further. This made the piece come alive and opened the opportunity for an audience members unique experience. Also as our mini pieces were repeated by pushing ourselves and really interacting with the audience the pieces were no longer repetitive and a bit boring to watch. Also from a performers point of view I felt much more connected to the work and in the moment when I pushed myself to be experimental with my boundaries. Having said that I feel I could have pushed myself even further. As the piece was so different from anything I had done before there was almost a personal wall that I found hard to break down. Letting go of all my normal barriers was a challenge and if I were to preform it again I would have told myself to go even further as the moments were I did push were the most successful for the audience and for my own improvement in acting.

One of my favourite parts of the performance was when we formed tree roots. All of our small groups formed moving roots which joined at a trunk. This was a very powerful moment and the tree roots fitted perfectly with our piece as they became the essence of the struggle against industrialisation. Therefor linking in with Tolkien's themes. Also Artuad's as the roots of the tree showed building and destruction through theatre using catharthis.

Overall I was surprised at how successful the piece was , purely because it was so different and ambitious. From the dress rehearsal to the performance we all improved massively. Yet there were elements that could have been worked on. I think sometimes the sounds of the piece didn't quite work together as there would be screams alongside whispers. This meant that often some groups suffered. Timing could have been worked on if there was more time available to therefor sort out this issue.

Despite the pieces small flaws as a group we were all happy with our performance and talking to audience members they were too 'excited by the work'. I have personally learnt so much from working on this performance. From breaking down froth walls to creating really tormented physicality. It will be sad not to work on the pieces again yet I am proud of the performance we accomplished and felt it really addressed many current issues in England.