Unit 33-Physical Theatre Evaluation

1. How have you used physical theatre skills in ANY performance that you have done this year(use of voice/movement/facial expression gestures//interaction with other characters) to explore text for performance?


THE TEMPEST: I have used voice in the opening scene of the Tempest, we were creating a shipwreck, we worked our lines into a movement section. For this we had simple actions, gestures and positions that are associated with fear, reaching for help and trying to survive. In between each characters like there was a single drum beat where we changed our position, one example of a position I chose was to kneel on my knees with my arms covering my head on the floor, this was to shield myself from the storm. The lines that were performed during this scene were the ship crew talking about the storm, for example one line was "Take in the top sail". Our movement and speech compliment each other as it provides an aural and physical setting of the scene.


WE WILL ROCK YOU: I have also used physical theatre during the song "Headlong" in WWRY, during this scene we made the shape of a car without physical set/props, this was done by having two people in the front and two directly behind them. I had a steering wheel as I was the "leader" of the group and was on the drivers side of the car. Because this scene is a song, we picked out particular lyrics that would fit with actions tat would be most appropriate to the scene. One example of this is when "hold on tight", I extended my arms out holding onto the wheel, to suggest a break while the other passengers shielded their faces.


2. What were your ideas from reading the text or script or lines?


THE TEMPEST: After reading the script and realising that It was a shipwreck I thought that it would be most appropriate to set it in a shipwreck environment, I first thought that we should create a physical theatre ship while speaking our lines. This is so the audience would be fully immersed into the scene.


WE WILL ROCK YOU: Initially when hearing the song we considered creating props that would look like a car, for example having cardboard cut-outs of a car held by handles at the side. This is so it would be obvious that they are travelling in a car.


3. How did you explore the text/script/lines- did you discuss and try ideas/improvise


THE TEMPEST: Originally we tries fitting our lines into a movement sequence which we created using a piece of rope, this involved fast dynamics and quick movements. Because of this to make sure that we were able to put full effort into the speech and movement, we decided to have them separate so that it wasn't too much at once. To have both things separate it allowed us to drag out the scene more and prolong the shipwreck.


WE WILL ROCK YOU: We went into the dance studio and tried out different movements in front of the mirror so that we could see what we liked and what we didnt from an audience perspective. In addition to this because we were double casted, both casts worked together so that there was eight people contributing ideas that would fit with the lyrics of the song well. Because my character was driving i experimented with different ways i could use the wheel, i didnt want it to be a stationary part of the performance, i wanted it to be a part of the overall performance. Furthermore i used flexion and extension in my arms, as well as twisting and turning it to add variation.

4. what worked well and what didn’t work? WWW/EBI analysis of any devising lessons and rehearsals.

THE TEMPEST: Choosing to have a single drum beat and stationary positions worked really well as it gave the audience the impression of the shipwreck and then building up to the movement sequence, in my opinion i thought this was a better idea as the audience are not automatically thrown into a chaotic scene. The mood and atmosphere is slowly build up, also this allowed us to have a longer shipwreck which was better as it gave us more chance to show how the characters were affected by it. When we initially tried the movement with the text through it, we found it difficult to keep our focus. Because we were focusing on the movement and our spacial awareness it was difficult to know when our lines were, it was also tiring to say complicated lines while performing fast and quick dynamics. As as result of this we added in extra background sounds such as screaming and shouting for help during the bigger movement section with the rope. This worked well because otherwise there would have been an a long burst of silence throughout the sequence and the scene would not have been a convincing shipwreck scene.

WE WILL ROCK YOU: Although it was helpful to have such a large amount of people contributing to the devising of this song, at times this was difficult because everyone has things they want to include, however sometimes they overlap and there isnt space for everything to be included. However once we had chosen the ideas we liked best we created movement throughout the whole song, one example of this was during the instrumental of headlong we decided to all slide down on to our knees, this looks like driving down a hill and therefore fitted in well with the rest of the movement. The first few times we rehearsed this number I felt as though it was little boring and didn't have much characterisation within in. Therefore we added in some adlibs and subtle improvised movements this brought up the energy in the scene and therefore we could show our characterisation more through the song.

5. How have you developed your role/character? What were your ideas?

THE TEMPEST: I have spent time in and outside rehearsals reading the script and understand the personality of my character and the type of relationships that she has with other characters in the play. I worked through the script to understand what her aims are throughout the play, from the line "lets take leave of him" I understood that she is very ruthless and only wants to save herself. From this I thought about what movements I would use, I chose to do no duets and travel across the stage solo. Although my character is very close with Emily's character, I still only really care about myself and my wellbeing, so I think this suits my character.

WE WILL ROCK YOU: The song headlong is very suited to my character, it is very high energy and has a good speed throughout, therefore I found it very easy to develop my character through this. For example Britt is very sassy and confident and therefore being the diver in the car, shows that she is in control, I added in improvised movement and adlibs to show my character through the performance. She is also the leader of the bohemians so her being the leader of the car, and introducing Galileo and Scaramouche to the bohemians helps show this more. This helped me develop my character and understand her personality and relationship with other characters more.

6. How did your ideas help show the meaning of the scene or show?

THE TEMPEST: Performing movements such as fast travelling sequences, rolls and jumps helps create chaos, which then relates to a storm which we were trying to create. I was happy with the movement choices that I made and think that I helped shape the overall storm. Additionally I helped choreograph movements for the banquet scene, our characters had to be very over the top and grotesque, this is because we are greedy characters and we are lost on this island with no food or water. The aim was to look as though we were diving into the food and taking as much as we can, therefore I incorporated extended arms and hand movements around my face to suggest eating lots of this food. I am happy with the choreographic decisions that I have made and think that the movements fitted in with the overall theme and mood of the play as well as contributing to my character development.

WE WILL ROCK YOU: I took on a large chunk of the choreography for headlong, this meant that I needed to select movements that would look effective in a car environment, for example there would have been no point choosing movements such as leaps and turns as they wouldn't have looked realistic in a car. Therefore i choose movements like bouncing up and down as well as extending arms up back down again to show people dancing in the back of the car. I think my ideas worked well with this scene, show and character.

7. Evaluate the final performance/s – WWW/EBI.

THE TEMPEST: In the tempest I think that my movement performance was good, i was able to perform movements that were suitable to the theme with ease, i used movements that i had previously used in other dance and physical theatre performances. I think i had good characterisation and was able to effectively show that my character was lost and scared and trying to find a way out. I fully thew myself into the performance, one example of this was when i got knocked over by accident someone else in the cast, i acted as though it was meant to be there and just rolled back to up to show someone getting back on their feet.

However i think i could have used my core strength more to have more control over the movements i was performing. Effectively using core strength allows you to quickly move form one movement to another without having to take pauses in between movements, this would make the movements fit more in to the scene and create a better storm.

WE WILL ROCK YOU: I was happy with my headlong performance, i think that i used effective characterisation to show how my character is sassy and is very confident within herself. I used strong facial expressions and good posture to emphasis this further. I think i performed each movement well by using a lifted eyeline and good focus.

On the other hand i think i could have rehearsed this scene more with the rest of the cast members and the bad to make sure that i had effective timing and perfect movement memory. I would have like my performance to be a bit more clean and polished, however i think that overall my performance in this scene was good.