After being told we were going to be performing Peter Pan,
we were all on edge about the idea because there weren’t many characters for
all of us as we were partnered up with the musical theatre class. We got a copy
of the script and read through it to get an understanding of the play and what
character would be suitable for each of us to play. After auditioning for the
role we want to play, we were then told if we got the part and immediately
started rehearsing because we only had less than three months until the
performance. However, it wasn’t easy to rehearse because we were such a big
group and people would be absent or late to rehearsals. I felt as if no one
took the first few months seriously until it got to a week before our first
performance, that’s when we were a full cast and we could really do a lot
during rehearsals. It was really hard for those people who were always in
everyday and on time because we kept having to work our way around those people
who weren’t in which seemed like a waste of time to those who were constantly
committed to making this performance work. We had a very good strategy for
blocking and improving each scene by separating ourselves to groups in
different rooms such as Darling family/Peter/Tinkerbell, lost boys and pirates.
Later, we would come together and show each other what we worked on and ask for
any feedback to improve the scenes.
On one of the days during the half term, the people playing
the roles of the Darling family, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell had to come in to record
the flying scene with a green screen which was edited by the media students. We
were asked to bring in a few costumes and props that we thought were essential
for our characters such as myself playing the character of Michael who is the
youngest child of the family, I had to find a way to present myself as a little
boy and I did that by tying my hair back, carrying a teddy bear (like in the
movie) and wearing Victorian pyjamas which was picked out by Shelly. This was
the first time I ever got to do a scene with a green screen and it was the
highlight of the whole rehearsals which I thought was pretty cool.
Musical theatre and dance students choreographed all the
dance moves and we had a lesson on being taught the choreography which was
quite a challenge for students in my class because we didn’t pick to do dance
only acting. However, for me, I got on with it because I use to do dance in
primary and secondary school so I managed to learn the choreography quite fast
and not have trouble with it. I thought this was really useful to get us acting
students involved with dance because it was an experience for us that we will
most likely be needing in drama school or university. In addition, it is
essential for us to have movement in our training as actors. Moreover, we also
had singing with Philip which we thought only musical theatre students would do
but we were told the actors have to sing too. It was quite unfair because most
of us were embarrassed because we can’t sing however, we had a few sessions
with Philip to work on our keys which made it easier for us. We were given a few
songs to listen to and learn such as Our House – Crosby Stils and Nash, When
You Believe from Prince of Egypt, Consider Yourself – Oliver Twist and I’ll Be
There - Jackson 5. I’d listen to the songs everyday at home and try the dance
along with the music to get the pace and timing right. A week before our
performance we had regular session with Philip to work through the chorus of
the songs on the piano which helped me memorise the lyrics better.
I thought the whole three performances went really well however,
on one of the performance days we had a full house then after the interval
there were about five people in the audience which confused the cast and it
made us feel like we were performing to empty seats. The last performance stood
out for me the most because in the audience were friends and family which
created a fun and live atmosphere and it strived us to perform at our best
ability to make them proud and enjoy the show.
During all the dress rehearsals we had a few problems such
as the fights between the lost boys and the pirates, looking at the ground when
singing, not making use of the space on stage and cues. Many things can go
wrong in live performances that usually the audience never seem to notice
however on one of the performance days, the pirates missed their cue which lead
to us improvising on stage until they noticed it’s their cue to come on stage. This
was something we managed to work on after each dress rehearsal we had. Moreover,
every time we improvised the fight scene it never really worked out properly,
it was quite hazardous considering I ended up hurting my toe which was already severely
injured. As a class, we got together and choreographed our fights with Panashe
who guided us through it. I thought that lesson was really helpful because I didn’t
need to worry about hurting myself on a prop on stage and it flowed really
well. These were the two most important things we needed to work on and I believe
we took on board all the feedback we were given from Rob and Sharron and
improved on it. If we were to do the performance again, my feedback would be
for the scenes to speed up a bit more because it sometimes dragged and we were
way over time. Also, I feel like we perfected some scenes and other scenes we
didn’t improve on them as much which I think was noticeable to the audience.
Another feedback I’d give is for the Consider Yourself dance to be perfected
because on all three performances it was really messy and very noticeable. We
practised it a week before the performance and our partners kept changing so it
was hard to remember who our partners were for the dance. One of the
difficulties I found was performing to a three-sided audience because I constantly
had to position myself a certain way for all three sides to see me and hear me.
At first, as a class we didn’t agree with the three-sided audience because we
never performed like that before and it was a challenge for us. We were told
that the performance was ours and we could have a say in it but I didn’t feel
as if we did, the teachers just took over everything. I really enjoyed playing
my character, Michael because I got to play a role I never got to play before
which was a five-year-old boy and the fact that my character is male, I had to
change my appearance to look younger and a boy. Another character I enjoyed
seeing was Tinkerbell’s character played by Tashan, although she didn’t have
any lines in the play, I felt as if she did a really good job using facial expressions
and bodily gestures to speak instead of words.
If I was the director of the play, the first thing I’d do is
get rid of the live band because it was a distraction as they were talking on
stage, moving about which caused noise and it took up most of the space on
stage. We could’ve used that space for many other things such as the pirate’s
boat wheel or big rocks to set the scene. I’d prefer if we had the actual sound
track to all the songs and sound effects because it just sounded quite weird
and not in time when Philip made the flying noises. If we used the original
Street Fighters music for Joseph’s and Jamie’s scene, then it would’ve been
much easier for the audience to understand what they’re doing whereas on the
piano it just didn’t sound the same. Lastly, the bow was so unorganised, it was
a struggle for us actors to bow to each side because we kept hitting our heads
on the person in front of us’ bottom which wasn’t nice and not properly thought
through.
In conclusion, I’ve always loved watching Peter Pan when I was
younger but I’ve never looked in depth at the story of Peter Pan and being able
to do it as a final performance really opened my eyes and see the true meaning
behind the story and every character. I think we all worked very hard at making
all three of the performances the best we could ever make them. We were all so
tired in the end but it was all worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment