Final Blog!!!

Within the final transitional phases of the process into the performance, there were many different trials and excitements that were both internally challenging and externally challenging. For example during what was meant to be our first technical run the set was not completed in time for the company to rehearse in due to circumstances beyond the companies control. So during this session we worked more on our own individual characterisation and giving them a voice through words, but on the other hand we were not going through the physical side of things that we all knew needed to be done so that we could be ready for the week ahead.
During the companies “first” technical rehearsal we were in awe of the set and inspired that our characters felt perfectly in place within this world that had been created by the scenographers. When the company first entered into our aesthetic space, the excitement took over the company as a whole and members found it hard to keep focus, thus leading to a very chaotic rehearsal, which took the company a good length of time to gain focus. Once the focus had been regained however, there was a real sense of expectation for the up and coming run.
The final official rehearsal took place after the first disastrous technical rehearsal. After the focus had been enforced to first run went smoothly and at the end I believe that every company member was very proud and excited of what they had created had been inserted into this world. Although the rehearsal started and stopped a lot of the time and there were some things that could be improved upon in this initial rehearsal.
Throughout the week, normally an hour before we had to warm up we went over things with our respective partners and tried to sharpen up our own individual solo, duets, trio’s or group pieces, so we were continually within the process of editing our work, for example throughout the whole process of creating this piece I was working with a notebook and observing various females within the piece, but the day of the first rehearsal at the Arena, I had a discussion with the company director and decided to scrap the idea even though it had been an integral part of my character in the initial period, through my characters growth I found that the notebook had become a hindrance, and this is a perfect example of changing things last minute for the purpose of the character, and the piece.

The performances over each show changed a great deal as I think that the emotional intensity of each performance changed and grew stronger after each subsequent show. Thus making it our job to keep in character and to make sure that the standard of the physical doesn’t drop or lose its true meaning.
During the first performance we were nervous as a company because it was the first time that we had let an audience into the world that we had created, and we were not sure of their reaction to it and our own characters that we had brought to life. Although we felt a bit unnerved by the end of the first performance as there was no audience reaction due to vast amounts of students making notes, we had to learn to just get more involved within our character and carry our stories out through without having to feel any accolade from the audience, but we let the audience watch the piece and take what they want from it. During the first performance I felt that my character wasn’t as imposing or intimidating as he has been throughout the rehearsal process. Physicality wise I think that with the added factor of an audience it was increased tenfold, but in this case it was not so good as I hurt myself during a particularly physical section of my piece, this is one of the hazards of having adrenaline rushes during a performance, as it makes you think you can do things that otherwise you would not be able to do.
As we move onto the second performance as a company we had felt that we could only do better within the world of Fractal and to help refine our characters and to make our physical work neater and cleaner than the previous performance. Throughout the second performance I felt that I needed to calm down a lot more before the performance as I didn’t want another injury like within the first performance and I felt that through relaxation techniques I felt that my characterisation was also improved. The audience’s reaction towards this performance was also better than the last and this helped our own performances as a company as we felt like we were giving them something that they both enjoyed visually and challenged them mentally. With this in mind we all stepped up our performance. I felt more emotional within this performance and due to my characters nature I felt really worn out afterwards emotionally and physically, I believe that this is due to the amount of effort I put into getting into character and also the amount of physical work that I have to do in performance.
The final performance was very emotional as it would be the last time that we would perform our piece towards a paying public and also it would be the last time that would be visiting this world as a company. Now with this in mind as a company we were tight knit and all together in the final journey and all we wanted was to do our world its final justice through the physical work, and also the emotional intensity that we had put into the world that we had created. The last night audience was very attentive to the work, which helped us perform to the best of our ability, and I firmly believe that this was the best performance we did of our work over the three days of performing, as with previous performances the process of the character that I was working with tired me out by the end but I felt that It was what I needed to make the performance better for me and the character itself.
So overall I found that the performances only got better over the three that we did and I learnt that that was part of the process that we were trying to recreate.

The use of the blog has been an unusual one for two reasons, one is that as opposed to having a hard copy of an essay to hand in we can be tracked through our submissions to the blog and our own thoughts and feelings towards it. The second unusual aspect to the blog is reading other peoples thoughts and theories towards the piece as with a formal piece of work this cannot be done due to cheating elements involved, but you can see a clear progression throughout the blog, and this is no more evident in the early stages of the blog at the start of the second year.
Although the blog can be seen as a fad use of modern computer equipment I felt that it was effective because not only could I submit my own ideas towards the blog but also read the ideas of other peoples blog and I could discuss these with the bloggers in the lesson the following week making the whole theoretical side of the work a more interactive experience for the whole company and as company members.