We weren't in till the afternoon so, at 11am Kane I got a taxi back round to Adelphi. Jack and Sarah had got the shadow screen all up and sorted. I was a bit mortified as we did have to spent time quickly cutting out more of the letters as I just hadn't managed to get them finished. This was extremely annoying but they were crucial to the performance. After this, we quickly ran through each scene individually. Again, the 'flocking' scene was an absolute mess so we had to run that about 20 times! Sarah was getting agitated, understandably, as she wanted to run through the whole piece and we were quickly running out of time. We then had to skip straight to the bird scene as this was a scene we all felt uncomfortable with. After going through this, we then had to book another taxi and nip round to the Allterton building. I quickly managed to grab some food before we headed in for our tech.
Jack had the tech notes and so went to the top desk to run through the things he needed to know about the music, healthy and safety form and the lightning we wanted to use. Our piece is heavily dependant on the light so it is really important we get it spot on. You can find the notes here. Our queues were not narratives but from description of what we were doing on stage which, obviously, leaves a lot of room for error! The technician was absolutely fantastic and went through the piece with us section by section. He even offered us different coloured lights and strengths for each part of the piece. One of the bits I couldn't understand was why we had spotlights on Sarah during the flocking scene; this wasn't something discussed in rehearsal but I left it for now to discuss when the run was finished. I personally didn't like that; I felt the scene was about her not keeping up and so it would be more effective for everyone to be seen. One hiccup we also encountered was that at the 'Charlie Chaplin' scene we were going to incorporate 'I am going to tell you a story' with cut out paper on sticks; unfortunately due to the metal stands holding up the shadow screen, it was not physically possible for us to do this so we had to cut it.
Niki then arrived and so we did a run for her and Mark Creamer. As we hadn't performed a lot of scenes in front of her; I found it very nerve racking. She said she felt we could have done with another week and I agreed. In hindsight, this could have also been resolved by, us, using our time more effectively and preciously. However, it was the day before the first show, and we were all pumped and ready to do everything we could to perfect it! Collectively as a group, we were advised to scrap and change up two scenes. These were parts we all knew, deep down, needed more work. The first was the bird scene with the music. In the space of the auditorium, my singing did not carry and Niki found the music to be unrelated and unnecessary, it does make sense, as the music was really there for an aid in the rehearsals. She also thought the narrative that was written was cheesy. I burst out laughing at this because I genuinely had not realised how, almost, cringey the writing was for the bird extract!! It was not relatable to a modern day audience and seemed more suited to spectators from the 1920's! Instead of this, we worked on the just having the circuit scene but really focussing on us, as performers, preparing ourselves to map the space in preparation for us being blind. We also completely cut out the bird segment.
Another part we were asked to change was the 'Have you ever heard.''. Now, from day one no one really liked the cue card idea so I think we were relieved to change it to something else. Instead of having Sarah on stage looking at the bird, we had her thinking about the questions Jack was asking over the mic. It seemed more playful and made the segment look more stylish on stage. As Sarah looks quite wistful, it also added a truthfulness to the scene. We were also told as a group that the conversation, during the flocking scene, needed to be done more assertively with purpose and clarity. This comes from confidence within our own ability mainly. Sarah was also told she needed to have her eyes closed to make the scene more realistic.
Things I needed to work on personally throughout the performance was to match everybody else's energy on stage. When it was the 'exposure' scene and we had to point out part's of people's clothes, I was pointing at the audience with little arm extensions but keeping my hands more to the middle of me. Jack and Kane on the other hand were doing full arm extensions and, rightly so, assertively pointing at the audience. My voice was also inconsistent to the volume of Jack and Kane and so this was something I needed to really boost for the performance! I needed to make sure I matched the others. I knew that my fear of relying on my brain (which often doesn't let me think properly) was holding me back slightly but this is absolutely something I need to overcome. As Niki was saying, our material is in front of us, it is there, there is no need to worry. We have got this.
During the circuit scene, I also needed to make sure I did this naturally. For some bizarre reason, unbeknown to even me, I kept going into a dance like robotic movement! As this scene was meant to be about naturally mapping a space it looked completely out of place and rather comical. This is something I need to be aware of in the live performance! I need to try and relax as much as possible that it doesn't happen again. I was also told I needed all the letters cutting out which I knew; I do not think anyone had any idea how time consuming this was so I could have done with maybe asking for a hand if not well!
After Niki left, we just tried to run it as much as possible. Kane also had the brilliant idea, to give the piece more of a structure, that we should circuit around and onto the stage whenever entering or leaving. I really liked this idea and we all seemed to pick it up quickly. I felt okay about the rehearsal today but was absolutely shattered and knew we still had bits that needed a lot of polishing. I was absolutely shattered by the time I got in at 6pm. I had a little rest and by the time I had finished my tea and had a shower in preparation for next day it was after 8:30pm. Kane and I then sat in the hallway and wrote out all the letters and started to cut them out. By 11pm we had finished writing out all the letters and cut some of them out but I felt so ill and with an early start in the morning, we thought it would be best if we went to bed and sorted out it the next day. It was a hard decision to make but we were getting no where. We should have deligated jobs better! All in all, I did actually really enjoy the buzz of today but was also incredibly nervous about the show the next day!
Niki then arrived and so we did a run for her and Mark Creamer. As we hadn't performed a lot of scenes in front of her; I found it very nerve racking. She said she felt we could have done with another week and I agreed. In hindsight, this could have also been resolved by, us, using our time more effectively and preciously. However, it was the day before the first show, and we were all pumped and ready to do everything we could to perfect it! Collectively as a group, we were advised to scrap and change up two scenes. These were parts we all knew, deep down, needed more work. The first was the bird scene with the music. In the space of the auditorium, my singing did not carry and Niki found the music to be unrelated and unnecessary, it does make sense, as the music was really there for an aid in the rehearsals. She also thought the narrative that was written was cheesy. I burst out laughing at this because I genuinely had not realised how, almost, cringey the writing was for the bird extract!! It was not relatable to a modern day audience and seemed more suited to spectators from the 1920's! Instead of this, we worked on the just having the circuit scene but really focussing on us, as performers, preparing ourselves to map the space in preparation for us being blind. We also completely cut out the bird segment.
Another part we were asked to change was the 'Have you ever heard.''. Now, from day one no one really liked the cue card idea so I think we were relieved to change it to something else. Instead of having Sarah on stage looking at the bird, we had her thinking about the questions Jack was asking over the mic. It seemed more playful and made the segment look more stylish on stage. As Sarah looks quite wistful, it also added a truthfulness to the scene. We were also told as a group that the conversation, during the flocking scene, needed to be done more assertively with purpose and clarity. This comes from confidence within our own ability mainly. Sarah was also told she needed to have her eyes closed to make the scene more realistic.
Things I needed to work on personally throughout the performance was to match everybody else's energy on stage. When it was the 'exposure' scene and we had to point out part's of people's clothes, I was pointing at the audience with little arm extensions but keeping my hands more to the middle of me. Jack and Kane on the other hand were doing full arm extensions and, rightly so, assertively pointing at the audience. My voice was also inconsistent to the volume of Jack and Kane and so this was something I needed to really boost for the performance! I needed to make sure I matched the others. I knew that my fear of relying on my brain (which often doesn't let me think properly) was holding me back slightly but this is absolutely something I need to overcome. As Niki was saying, our material is in front of us, it is there, there is no need to worry. We have got this.
During the circuit scene, I also needed to make sure I did this naturally. For some bizarre reason, unbeknown to even me, I kept going into a dance like robotic movement! As this scene was meant to be about naturally mapping a space it looked completely out of place and rather comical. This is something I need to be aware of in the live performance! I need to try and relax as much as possible that it doesn't happen again. I was also told I needed all the letters cutting out which I knew; I do not think anyone had any idea how time consuming this was so I could have done with maybe asking for a hand if not well!
After Niki left, we just tried to run it as much as possible. Kane also had the brilliant idea, to give the piece more of a structure, that we should circuit around and onto the stage whenever entering or leaving. I really liked this idea and we all seemed to pick it up quickly. I felt okay about the rehearsal today but was absolutely shattered and knew we still had bits that needed a lot of polishing. I was absolutely shattered by the time I got in at 6pm. I had a little rest and by the time I had finished my tea and had a shower in preparation for next day it was after 8:30pm. Kane and I then sat in the hallway and wrote out all the letters and started to cut them out. By 11pm we had finished writing out all the letters and cut some of them out but I felt so ill and with an early start in the morning, we thought it would be best if we went to bed and sorted out it the next day. It was a hard decision to make but we were getting no where. We should have deligated jobs better! All in all, I did actually really enjoy the buzz of today but was also incredibly nervous about the show the next day!
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