Feedback on Shakespeare performance

Before we got to sit on the side and be an audience for everyone’s play, we sat with our partner(s) and did a self-assessment on what our objective is within the rehearsal. My objectives were:
·         To slow down when delivering my lines
·         Not pacing/moving around too much

I think that I achieved my first objective because the audience were able to understand what I was saying very clearly as I was loud, not mumbling words and my pace was slow enough so the audience can hear each and every word. However for my second objective, when I received my feedback from Jireh and Isaiah, I was told that I was shuffling quite a bit and when I was on stage because I was concentrating on giving a good performance and remembering my lines. I didn’t tend to focus on my movement so I didn’t realise what I was doing with my feet.

The feedback I received was that I need to shuffle less, listen and react to my partner’s words and establish my authority in the play because I was told that I made my character seem like the master when I am the servant. Moreover, I was told that I needed to make the line ‘Ever since you loved her’ into a witty joke to portray Speed’s inner comedic jokes that he says to Valentine.

As each group had a different group to assess and give peer feedback to, the pair that I observed were Joseph and Grace who performed the play ‘Taming of the Shrew’ they played the characters of Petruchio and Katherine. Firstly, they each told the class their objectives and Joseph’s objectives were:
·         To learn lines
·         Confidently complete the scene
·         Make the scene in more of a conversation rather than a list

Grace’s objectives were:
·         Make the scene in more of a conversation rather than a list
·         A various amount of facial expressions
·         To learn lines

As they performed their scene, Josiah and I observed their performance. I observed that Joseph had good facial expressions and gestures throughout his performance. I thought that he had a very realistic and believable reaction when Grace kicked him. Lastly, coming up with the idea of using his ukulele whilst saying his monologue(s) was a fantastic idea because it made it very original and that really stood out. However, mixing music and his speech made it less clearer to hear him because he was speaking over the music so I think that if he rehearsed more on figuring out when to play a chord and when to talk that will help with understanding what he is saying.

Moreover, I observed that Grace also had great reactions to Joseph’s words and she stayed in character throughout the scene as did Joseph. There was a moment where she was quite slow on reacting to Joseph touching her on the arm and I think that there needs to be quite a rapid reaction from her. In addition, Grace didn’t have a big reaction when Joseph said ‘Then my remedy is to pluck it out’. I thought that she needed to show a much bigger reaction to when Joseph plucks her arm as he’s saying ‘pluck’. Lastly, I observed that some of the words Grace was saying were not clear because she was laughing as she was speaking which was good however; it wasn’t clear what she was saying. Overall, I thought the performance flowed really well and their objectives were achieved.