B00825799 DRA332: Placement

Journal:
16th February 2022
Costume Fitting and Rehearsal.
- Today we spent an hour going through the various props we had
access to and how set ourselves up in costume on the days of
performance. We also spent time improvising and agreeing on the
actions that fit the mood and atmosphere that was being aimed for
at the experience.
- An aspect I learned into today’s rehearsal is just how much of
creating an atmosphere is down to improvisation within a
character. Because of the script-less nature, especially of this
experience, we have been given a lot of freedom to move about
and act.
- The costumes we have are relatively simple to put on. I’m curious
as what the typical process could look like for more complex
costumes requiring more than one person to equip someone with.
- Getting in and out of costumes have also made me want to figure
out the best method of executing a quick-change, though I’d
imagine that would depend on the costume being changed out of
and changed into.
17th February 2022
First day of Illuminate Festival Street Performance.
- Today was our first day of performing. After arriving earlier to when
we would in the days to come we were brought out our performing
space to get an idea of what he had to work with. After that we got
dressed, set up, and made our way to our space.
- I learnt just how rewarding it felt receiving reactions from
spectators ‘out in the wild’. Seeing people react as if they really
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encountering ‘monks’, nervously laughing when being bowed to,

even a few bowing back, felt really special.
- Something I’d like to ask: is how does street performances like
these measure ‘success’? Especially considering the event is
public and has no entry fee.
- Despite being successful in interacting with the public through
character, I’d love to get better. One aspect I’m aware that some of
the best ‘street performers’ do is know when make joke through
body langue and when to play it serious. I’d be fascinate to identify
that line.
25th February 2022
My final day at the Illuminate Festival Street Performance.
- Yesterday’s event was cancelled due to the extreme weather
condition that were present.
- Despite the aggressive weather, a surprising number of people still
attended the events. Whether this is an aspect of Derry audience
members or Northern Ireland audience member I’m not entirely
sure.
- After yesterday’s cancellation. I’m curious as to what the what the
process is to go through with a cancellation. When is the final
decision made and what requirements are needed to be met
before it is made?
- After the incredibly aggressive weather present during the event, I
definitely want to figure out more tricks on how stay warmer
without betraying the costume being worn.
Report:
For the first part of my placement during the month of February, I
participated in performing in the Island of Derry show which was a part of
the Illuminate the Walled City festival, all of which was hosted by the In
Your Space Circus. The Island of Derry intended to show public
audiences the history in how the Derry was first settled, all the way back
when Derry was still an island, hence the title. I, along with other
students from the Ulster University Drama course, performed the roles of
‘silent monks’. During each event, when we were ‘on sage’, we moved
through the space, praying, working on fires, repairing huts, and blessing
the audience members that came to the show.
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Each night would involve an hour prep getting dressed and setting up,
before we move out to the show space and act actions attempting to
make sure that they linked and relative to the projections on the walls in
the 3 minute shows. Between each projection show was when we fully
improvised, this was the period of time in which all the attention of the
spectators were on us. I found it particularly rewarding to go though each
audience member group, be it a family, couple, group of friends, bow or
bless each as I went down the line. Here especially, I was able to gain
first hand experience on learning how to work with the audience’s mood
and response. I developed my ability to lean into the excitement of
audience members who having fun to discovering how to soften my body
language and actions when interacting with younger children who may
be initial scared by the costume. I also got incredible practice in
maintaining a persona, not breaking a character for great lengths of time
in order to maintain the immersion being provided to the audience.
Throughout each night it was ensured that we were given moments for
two, 15 minute long breaks. In executing this, I discovered an aspect of
live performance that had never occurred to me before. That being,
learning how to coordinate with event stewards in order to maintain the
timing of the event, whilst also still maintaining character and the
immersion for the audience. Learning how to also rely on the event
personal who were keeping track us informed about the both the current
time so we were on scheduled (unable to see watches both due to the
costume and darkness) and about the status of the event as a whole. It
also an interesting challenge learning how to communicate with said
personal, quickly it was grasped that improvisation and going with trust
in quick information and instruction were provided by the event stewards
as entering into a conversation or debate about details runs the risk of
breaking character and the immersion.
Another challenge we faced was the weather itself. The events
happened to occur over the same time as 3 separate storms did, this
made the environment that we were performing in incredible cold and
harsh. This forced us to quickly learn how to adapt our actions and tasks
that created the immersion but also allowed us to keep our costumes
intact. It heavily encouraged us to explore various simple techniques in
how to stay warm without betraying the costumes we wore. As well as
learning how and when to call it off in favour of safety and health and
how to accept such a scenario. On the first Friday night, the event
coordinators were already discussing whether or not to close the festival
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early only an hour into the night. When the decision came halfway
through the schedule, improvising and adapting to the shorter timeline
safely was something we had to accept very quickly.
After wrapping up in the Illuminate the Walled City festival, Rachel who
had been point of contact and guide in working with In Your Space
Circus, arranged for a Clowning Workshop on May the 4 th. In this
seminar we got to presented, taught, and the opportunity to attempt
various skills and tricks. This included but far from limited to: a host of
juggling techniques involving weights, balls, and hoops; staff work, both
safety and hand coordination with a staff; and various kind of
coordination tricks with another individual. We also did a range of
exercises centered entirely around following your instinct as a performer,
highlighting the importance of this skill when acting in a script-less, street
performance.
We were also introduced to an exercises that focused on paying
attention to the audience and tuning into what is working in a
performance and what is not. These two skills are incredibly valuable in
the street performing scenario, due to the fact that what you are
performing is in a public space, you have little control over who happen
to make up the audience. Knowing how to identify the energy that best
matches the audience you are performing and how to follow your
instincts in to how best create that energy.
We were finally introduced into the concepts of ‘accents’ and how the
play into creating a character for street performance. An interesting
aspect in street performance which was exposed to us, was the idea of
giving your an indication that the trick, action, performance, or skill that
you are displaying has concluded and providing your audience the
opportunity and time to applaud. That is part of the purpose of an
‘accent’, the other part is that I plays a massive part in creating the
persona that you’re a performing as. By simply creating a small
expressive action, and executing the exact the same way each time you:
enter stage, complete your trick, and when exit stage, you communicate
to audience both what the basic impression of your character is and
when is an appropriate time to applaud in order to release tension of a
performance. The entire workshop provided us with an incredible wealth
of insight into various tricks and techniques used in the art of street
performance.
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To round out my placement with In Your Space Circus, Rachel arrange

for 2 days (Tuesday the 17th and Thursday the 19th) of shadowing a
propmaker with the North West Carnival Initiative as they worked on
props for the coming Halloween parade later in the year. Over these 2
days, I was able to be shown the detailed process of design props to fit
both an ascetic and purpose. The creativity and imagination required in
creating props that needed to survive outdoor and continuous use. As
well as strategies in deciding on what is feasible and what aspects or
functions need to be sacrificed in the design. The two days were
insightful in too the complex processes of creating props for outdoor
performance.