Tuesday Night
Performing Malice at
the Brewhouse really helped me focus and concentrate on wanting to perform to
the best of my ability because the scenery and lighting made it all seem real. I was nervous on the first night because I
had family that was coming to watch, and because it was the first night. I
enjoyed being back stage watching the production as well and I felt that every
person made the characters come to life.
I was really proud to be a part of the production. When delivering my
lines, on the first night I think I was a little delayed with one line, because
the pace of the scene was a little slow.
At one point we had a long pause at the end of scene 11 because someone
had forgotten their line, so it totally changed the atmosphere and the running
of that scene. Because of this I slightly
lost my focus and laughed when one character said an unexpected line. It was
really hard to keep focused at that point, but I tried my best to get back into
the zone.
The following day we practised this scene to ensure that everyone
knew what lines they were speaking and when they were to say them. This helped
because everyone was co-operating well and we didn’t want the same thing
happening on the Wednesday. Despite this, I did feel that I performed my role
of Absolem confidently and I projected myself, aiming to obtain authority.
Wednesday Afternoon-The Matinee
We had a great turn out in terms of our audience on
Wednesday afternoon. This audience was the best out of all three nights. Every
time we performed the production it just got better and better. We never
expected it to be as good as it was but it was truly magical. Everyone was even
more focused from the night before, and after Tuesday’s performance I went home
and reflected on the positive and critical things of the production and ensured
that I was performing my role to the best of my ability by looking back at my
research and the video. Even though I didn’t have a hookah to use as part of my
prop, I still made sure that I accentuated on the utterances that Absolem did,
to create a real character. Even when I wasn’t talking but just standing on
stage, I ensured that I was still in character. For example, in the final Scene
of act 2 when I was standing amongst other characters I interacted with the
cats when they were moving around me, by looking at them with curiosity etc. I
think it was important that I was creating animation rather than a picture.
As well as the production getting better, my makeup got
better. I was really lucky to have a good makeup artist who knew exactly what she
was doing and what kind of look I was going for. As you can see from the
picture she made a lighter blue that blended into the darker blue, which really
brought out the aged look that I was aiming to portray.
Wednesday Night
This was our final night of performing. The best night of
all. After having our make-up touched up we were ready to get going again. I
looked at my research and video for the final time and ensured that I was
delivering my lines correctly and with performance. I think despite the fact
that I didn’t have many lines, it was important that I delivered them well
because of how highly and frequently I was spoken of in the musical by other
characters. I think that I played a very good character of Absolem because I was confident and I obtained an important persona, which is what Absolem is all about. I feel that I delivered my lines clearly and with volume. However in the final scene because there was so many people on stage and we were all standing amongst each other, it was harder to step forward and deliver my line as clearly as I had done previously. Maybe if we had set positins for this scene we could have planned people's cue's out so that we could have projected our lines better. Looking
back at all the characters, I think we reflect a little of ourselves in them. I
think the tutors picked the right people for the right roles and it has been a
great success. I also think that choosing Alice in Wonderland to do as a
musical is very creative and inspirational because I would have never have
thought twice to do a musical of this story. The song choices and the script have
been planned very carefully and this showed throughout all three nights. It has been great working with the performing
arts, because we have made friends and learnt from each other, I just think it’s
a shame that this was the first and last time we got the opportunity to work together.
The production of Malice from start to finish has had its ups and downs but as
a team-tutors and students we have worked well to produce a wonderful and
magical musical.-Malice.
