Pinocchio Evaluation

One of my objectives for this performance was to portray a range of different characters while making them distinctive despite most of my roles being children.  This was achieved as my two children roles were roustabout and a perfect child, so I could play them completely different.  As a perfect child, I made sure all my movements were always necessary and were the same as everyone else in ensemble, whereas with my roustabout, I was completely erratic, running around the stage and starting fights with the other children.  Therefore, even if some of the audience recognised me from the earlier scene, it would be clear I was a new character due to my actions on stage.  

I found out of all of my characters, I believe me and the audience were able to emotionally connect to the parent I played in the song "Toys".  As the parent, I conveyed how exhausted I was with my children, having to chase after them and take Toys out of their hands that they've ripped off the shelves, despite still loving them.  This performance will have resonated with some of the parents in the audience as I am sure they will have related to my character in the situation they were in.  

For my vocal performance, I was wearing a microphone for all of my speaking roles, so I didn't need to focus on volume which meant I could deliver my lines at different volumes, such as grand when I introduce Bungrazzo's machine as Junior, or small and polite as the perfect child.  Aswell as this, I made sure each of my deliveries were true to the character and how I thought they would react to situations, like my town father having slight surprise and confusion in his voice after Geppetto tells the Town Fathers the meaning of Pinnochio's name.  Finally, during the songs I made sure I had good diction when I was singing, while still conveying my characters feelings during the song.  

During the scenes where I worked with ensemble, I made sure to always be busy, mainly by interacting with my fellow cast members in character, while also keeping an eye on what was going on during the scene.  This was evident when I was a roustabout as I had to be running around the stage causing chaos, but I had to be aware of what was going on with Geppetto and The Delinquents as they gave us a cue that led us back into a song.  Aswell as this, during "Toys" I made sure to make my movements large during the slow mo, however I made sure not to overshadow Geppetto during his solo.

Since I had a range of characters in this show, this meant I also had a number of props and 2 main costumes.  As for my props, every one I used enhanced the scene I was in as each prop I used helped build my character.  An example of this was as a Town Father, me and the other two had an old timey pipe, which helped show the audience we are obviously more upper class, helping the audience understand why Geppetto so desperately wanted to impress us.  Another prop I used was a worn leather wallet which I used by having my daughter steal it from me.  This added to the scene as it showed how desperate the children were for the toys that they were willing to steal off their parents for them.  Finally, for my costume, as Junior, I wore the exact same outfit and hat as Bungrazzo, further conveying how connected I am to him.  For this, I wore a blue steampunk jacket and dark blue trousers with a black top hat to perfect mirror him.

For the performances that I wasn't Junior, the characters I played were all blank canvases really so I could create a character for them in my head, while still sticking to the general character.  Due to this, I chose to make my parent quite short with my child's behaviour, shutting them down before they really got a chance to be naughty.

In our performance of Pinocchio I had many strengths and weaknesses during the show, much like every other actor I shared the stage with.  One of my best strengths I believe was my vocal performance as every song I performed in went incredibly well, due to me making sure my voice was always warmed up before a show, as well as remaining in character throughout the entire show, even if things didn't go to plan, such as moving pieces of set in character that hadn't been put in the right place.  On the other hand, one of my weaknesses was sometimes being the exact same as Bungrazzo, as I struggled keeping up with his movements which I was meant to copy perfectly as obviously I was his clone.

A personal goal of mine is to audition for a more prominent role that sticks out to me in our next performance if I believe I fit the character itself.