Unit Two- Engaging the audience

Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself. 

Task One:

See rest of blog.

Task Two:

Auditions:

See week commencing 6th of November.

Peter Pan Characters:

In Peter Pan I was a Lost Boy in all three casts.  This was quite a difficult role to play as even though I had hardly any lines or none at all, I had to use my physical skills to portray them rather than having to rely on words. Since I was a lost boy, I made my reactions a lot more over exaggerated as they are only children, such as when we had to hide Wendy, I went backwards on all fours to cover her legs.  As well as this, when The Lost Boys first came on the stage, I interacted with all the other Lost Boys and played games with them, such as rock, paper, scissors, until we all heard the pirates chanting, which led me to jump into another Lost Boys arms.  I did this to show how since I was still a child, I would obviously be petrified of the pirates.  After this during the building of Wendy's house, I also portrayed myself as quite incompetent, by hitting myself in the thumb with a hammer, whilst trying to hit a nail.  Once the house was built, I used my facial expressions to show annoyance at Peter when he said he was the one to build the house all by himself, by glaring at him then shaking my head.  In the scene after, we are listening to Wendy tell a story, and once she tells us to all go to bed, I used my facial expressions by pouting and shaking my head, and using a whiny voice when telling her we aren't tired.   After this when Wendy tells us she is leaving we all protest and grab onto her, all while we beg her to stay, however once she says that we immediately start rushing around the stage, grabbing odds and bobs from the tree and side of the stage.  Before we are about to leave though, we hear a fight break out and I grab onto the closest Lost Boy, showing I am still quite fearful of the Pirates, before we rush off stage and wait for the fight to be over.  Once the fighting has stopped, I along with the rest of the Lost Boys tiptoe back on stage, when Peter tells us to listen out for the Tom Tom.  Whilst waiting I cup my hand around my ear and shush the other Lost Boys, showing even though I'm young I'm still quite bossy.  When we hear the Tom Tom, I breath a sigh of relief and hug another Lost Boy before I stand near the campfire and am silently knocked out by a pirate behind me and dragged off stage.  In the final scene between Peter and Hook, me and the rest of The Lost Boys hide in the wings and rush on once Peter says, "Down boys, and at them!" This is quite a big moment for my character as he is facing his fear and fighting a pirate only using an umbrella.  During this I had a smug grin on my face as I was actually beating the Pirate and laughed when I threw him overboard, blowing a raspberry at him, before running into a semi-circle surrounding Hook and Peter.  Whilst Peter and Hook were fighting I used facial and vocal expressions by wincing and looking away when Peter was being attacked, and cheering and smiling whenever Peter had the upper hand.  Once Peter kicked Hook overboard, we all collectively cheered and rushed over, seeing the crocodile eat Hook, before letting out a massive belch.  While the crocodile was burping, I began to slowly pull a face and cover my nose while trying to wave away the smell to show how bad the crocodiles breath smelt.  During the final song, We're going home, while still acting childish, I toned it down as I wanted to show that I was ready to act more grown-up and highlight my change of character in the show.  Finally, we entered The Darlings house, where Wendy introduced us all to her mother and she agreed to adopt us.  During this I was looking around the bedroom, feeling the pillows and blankets, stroking Nana and looking at the toys before Mr Darling led us off stage.  Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed playing a Lost Boy and developing him over the course of the play whilst not saying much.

Task three - Audience and expectations:

Relaxed:

This audience was very unique to perform in front of as we had to change a few things about the performance to appeal to them.  Firstly, we had a few of the main cast such as, Peter, Hook, Smee and Wendy introduce themselves to the audience before the show began.  We did this so the villain's like Smee and Hook can break character and show that they are not actually evil, just acting out a story and just performers and real people.  After this before the show began, George and Will, who organised the relaxed performance, made an announcement to the audience explaining how it was all a show, no one will actually be injured during the performance, and that the crocodile is just fake.  As well as this, no one wore any make up as it may have been overwhelming for the audience if The Pirates had large scars and The Lost Boys were covered in dirt.  Another change we made was make the pirates a lot less threatening so the audience wouldn't be as scared of them if they we're all yelling and getting in their faces.  So instead The Pirates kept their distance from the audience when walking down the aisles and were told to act more jolly, similarly to Smee.  Lastly, at the end of the show, the cast once again into the foyer to wish the audience goodbye and take photos with them, also handing out rocks painted purple, orange and red.

Primary school:

This audience was quite similar to the relaxed audience as we had to tone down some aspects of the performance.  Like we did for the relaxed performance, we had the main cast go into the audience but remained in character as we didn't need to explain that we were just actors. Another one of these changes was to also make the pirates a bit calmer when they went through the audience as we also didn't want to overwhelm them however when they were on stage they could be more scary as they weren't as close to the audience.  For this show we all had makeup on as we wanted to make it as "realistic" as possible.  Lastly, we also had some of the cast go into the foyer so the teachers could take photos of the students with the actors.

Public:

For this audience we kept the performance as close as we could to the original script and changed everything back to normal.  We made the pirates as aggressive as they wanted to be and were able to get into the audiences faces while coming down the aisles.  As well as this, the makeup department made the makeup as realistic as possible, such as giving the pirates large cuts down their faces and making Captain Hook wear a bald cap.  We also didn't have anyone go out before the show and just had everyone stay back stage.  Lastly, during songs we could be as loud as possible since everyone in this audience was alright with loud noises.

Overall:

In my opinion, my favourite audience to perform for was the public audience as we didn't have to change anything about the performance and kept it as close to the script as we could.  

Task Four - Evaluation:

1)  One of my objectives for Peter Pan was to give a convincing performance of my character during the performance.  I believe I achieved this objective as I remained in character throughout the show, even when sometimes some things happened that weren't meant to.  As well as this, I used my facial and physical skills to portray my character as childish yet also fearful, since I am a Lost Boy. 

2)  I believe I conveyed my characters emotions quite well throughout the performance by reacting to the things I was seeing on stage.  Because I used my facial expressions, I was able to portray fear and panic whenever I heard or saw a pirate, which I believe helped the audience get invested in my character as they wanted to find out if I would ever get over my fear of pirates.

3)  When I was Nibs in cast two, my vocal performance went quite well as I since I didn't have too many lines, I could spend more time deciding how to deliver them.  I made sure the audience could hear all my lines when I spoke however I altered my volume when delivering certain lines, for example, when I asked Peter if we could go with Wendy I spoke in a meek voice so I was quite quiet.  Furthermore, during the songs, I made sure to sing as loud as possible so the whole audience heard and made sure I had good diction so they understood what I was saying.

4)  Since in two of the three casts I didn't speak, I had to use physicality to convey my characters thoughts.  I used the space on the stage effectively as I didn't move without purpose, such as how at the start when all The Lost Boys were on stage, I ran around to play games with the others, only stopping when I heard The Pirates.  During Wendy's song I also grouped up with three other Lost Boys to build a small section of the house while the others were dragging the rest on stage.

5)    I believe I worked well with the rest of the ensemble of Lost Boys as during scenes where other characters were talking, I was bouncing off the other Lost Boys in the corner. However, I made sure not to go over the top as to not take away the audiences attention from the main scene.  An example of this is when The Lost Boys first came on stage, where I played games with the ensemble and then jumped into the arms of another Lost Boy when we heard pirates.

6)  For my costume I wore a used green short sleeve shirt and some dark green shorts.  To go along with these I also wore long brown fuzzy leg warmers and furry gloves.  These enhanced my character as the long leg warmers made me look slightly animalistic, and could make the audience consider how I got them, as since they were brown and fuzzy, they looked similar to a bear hide.  As well as this, I had a bow slung over my shoulder for hunting, and it contributed to the scene where we shoot Wendy, as I pass the bow to Tootles.  During the end fight scene, I also used a umbrella when fighting The Pirates to show I just grabbed the first thing I could find to attack them with.

7)  Since I was a Lost Boy, I had nearly no information about him, so I was able to make some choices for his character.  Once of these decisions I made was to make him quite envious of Peter as the leader of the group, and thinks he makes everything about himself, such as how he said it was only him who built the house.  As well as this, I also made my Lost Boy quite cowardly to begin with however over the course of the play he begins to get less scared and even fights a Pirate at the end.

8)  I believe what I did best in this performance was my use of physicality and how I interacted with the rest of the cast.  This is because The Lost Boys were meant to be like one big community and I believe I executed it quite well.  I also think I used my physicality quite well for comedic effect, such as how I used my body to cover Wendy's Body.

9)  As for some of my weaknesses, I think I could have improved on how I choreographed the fight scene between me and The Pirates, and also when I was captured just before that.  For the fight scene, I should have made the fight last longer as it was quite short so I didn't have much to do while the rest of the music played.  As well as this, when I got captured I should have organised which pirate would take me off, as sometimes I would just be standing waiting to be taken off.  

10)  Personal Goals:

-Speak louder during certain scenes, even when trying to be quiet.

-Make my character change even more over the course of a play 

-Learn cues and lines quicker