Final Reflection

Research and Development

In the very beginning, we were given several assignments to complete. The first assignment
was reading the script as a group to get a taste of what the play we would be doing was
about. We were then each given a question to expand on, concluding with a detailed
sideshow. The question given to me was “how has bullying been shown on stage over the
past twenty years”. The way I approached this question was by researching three theatre
productions, all which had different approaches to bullying. With this newfound insight, I
was able to formulate an idea of how bullying was presented on stage via physicality.
What followed was some movement exercises, including an eight-count morning sequence.
The problem I encountered here was not understanding its relevance to the play, but as we
progressed, I was surprised to see it being put to a great use in the play- it was the opening
and closing scene of our production. We were also repeatedly asked to recollect childhood
memories of snow. We were then placed in groups and had to abstractly visualise and
perform it, without the use of any props to aid us. Initially, I found it problematic to
accurately show my thought process, but as a group, we merged our different encounters
into a clear representation of our memory of snow.
One learning process which shaped my understanding of abstract physicality was learning
how to disengage from obvious movements into more artistic ways of using our bodies, to
transpire the same emotions but in a more theatrical way. I succeeded in doing this by
working with one of my peers going from physically performing putting snow gear on one
another to then artistically showing the same concept but in a complete abstract format.
One thing I couldn’t come to grasps with particularly right in the early stages was the
concept of the play as a whole; this was as a consequence of it being very heavily movement
based so when reading the script, I was often left puzzled at what we were attempting to
create and I couldn’t anticipate the bigger picture.
Rehearsal Phase
Some of the rehearsal room techniques our practitioner brought to the room was attachment to our
character. Once given our characters we explored them to their full potential. I found this to be very
beneficial as my character was recently implemented, which allowed me to have a lot of creative
freedom with it. Consequently, I became attached to my character in a way that allowed me to express it
in my unique way, adding a different perspective to the play. In addition to playing the role of Dee, who
was a popular feminine girl, I was also entrusted with playing a contrasting character named Steve. Steve
was your stereotypical white British man. This was a fun variation as it challenged me to quickly switch
between the two characters. Whist in character, we all interacted with each other, fully emulsifying
ourselves, essentially becoming our characters to their full potential. In order to maximise my potential to
act as my character Steve, we attended an improv activity consisting of a scenario where I had too act as
Steve would, further helping me understand the type of person he was.
My rehearsal room work ethic by in large consisted of my undivided focus being on analysing the play to
fully understand it. On the other hand, there had been times where I would be caught up and distracted
by my peers, causing me to lose focus.

In terms of moments I found challenging within the play, I did not have any challenges regarding the play
itself, I instead encountered a personal challenge which was my knee dislocating several days before the
production week. This forced me to understand my limits in terms of my advanced physical movement,
such as doing the lift. I had to patiently wait until I was as recovered as possible before resuming the
practice. This also included not being able to do certain dance movements as it would have put a strain
on my weakened knee.

One surprise I encountered was the speed at which we were progressing with the rehearsals. Within the
first couple days of intensive rehearsals, we had already completed the following: two dance routines,
the opening and closing scenes, the dream sequence, and the lads and girls entrances. This was
extremely reassuring as it allowed us to devote much of our time left on tidying and perfecting the
scenes.

A key moment in the rehearsal process which developed me was during the creation of the background
story for each of my two characters. This was because I was able to be fully committed and confident in
myself when playing those characters as I was in full control of them, thus permitting me to envision
them based my previous experiences of encountering similar characters.

My own development throughout the process was as follows; In the beginning, I was quite
apprehensive, struggling to perform in front of my peers, let alone in a room full of
strangers as it was a new experience for me. The support and encouragement of my
teachers and especially my peers and close friends resulted in my inner confidence to reach
a new potential, making me proud and in control of my performing skills.
Production Week

Moving into the egg/tech -

On the first day of the production week, we resided in the dance studio on Bath College Campus before
moving into the Egg. Being accustomed to that room, I had no experiences. Upon moving to the Egg, I
was filled with a rush of excitement as I realised how far we had all gone, we were going to present our
play in just two days, which made it all very real very quickly, which filled me up with confidence and
control over my characters. I had to get used to the layout of the studio and familiarise myself with the
backstage for the play as it was different to my previous visits. When we moved to the Egg on Tuesday,
we perfected the technicalities of lighting and sound up until ten in the evening. This left me quite
drained as it was a greater challenge than I had expected when I got there in the morning. This was due
to the dull receptiveness and the continuous start- stop of the performance. I overcame this challenge by
exhibiting a great amount of patience. Nonetheless, I do not regret it as it was the first time we had
performed the play as intended with all its sound and light, which added a whole new layer to our play,
enhancing my focus.

2 Dress Rehearsal -
The First dress rehearsal was on Wednesday. It was not shown to anybody, which I am glad for due to my
minor slip-ups with the props as I dropped the phone mid performance. This resulted in my colleagues
agile thinking of making it look part of the play by picking it up whilst still in character. I was not happy
with my performance as I did not put my gloves on as quick as I should have, causing me to then miss my
cue for my skip, further demoralising me as we had our real performance the following day.
Before we began our second rehearsal in front of the ‘The Wardrobe’ cast the following day, our teacher
provided us with notes from our first dress rehearsal. One of mine was not to mime the phone during the
penguin scene, I had to make a different action on the spot, which I executed perfectly. I also had a
wardrobe malfunction consisting of my missing green headband which was found the next day. I
personally believe the second dress rehearsal was a greater success than the first one as it went
smoother due to our confidence in our performing skills, both independently and collectively.
Performance 1 -
On Thursday, we met at the egg café at midday. Whilst there, we went through improvement notes
regarding our second dress rehearsal. One of my areas of improvement was how before the party scene I
had to run to the front of the stage and say, ‘meanwhile at Marley and Holme Spalding’s party’, as well as
moving the box to make the bus stop. During the opening night, our nerves were high, but we managed
to successfully support each other and calm ourselves into believing we would be doing our best
performance possible. In the backstage, we had several chaotic moments where we were unsure of the
order of the play and where we needed to be as we did not want to walk in the wrong scene, as I had
already walked off on the wrong side of the stage- it did not make a difference, but it left me worried that
I could make other mistakes. Thankfully I did not, and the performance was a huge success, making the
audience very happy.

Performance 2 -
Before our second and last performance on Friday, we did not meet until five in the evening. This was
probably for the best as we all were drained and needed to rest, especially considering we finished late
the previous night. Before entering the performance, both the cast of ‘it snows’ and ‘the wardrobe’ had a
whole year chat. This consisted of congratulating each other on our accomplishments on doing so well for
getting this far without any major problems. Being the very last time we would act this play, we all gave
our full potential. This was also helped by the fact that we had grown familiar to acting in front of an
audience, allowing us to be more comfortable and natural, making it our best acting performance to
date. I had made a list of the order of the production to ensure that there would be no incidents like the
previous night and to keep everybody at ease backstage. Another reason as to why this last performance
was my favourite was that during the party scene, we exhibited real enjoyment, which undoubtably was
felt by the audience.