Blackout Scenes 1 - 2 evaluation

So far we have tackled two scenes of this play and because this is my blog I'm going to be 100% honest about the work we have produced so far. In my opinion it has been an adequate effort devising this play even though it does have some shining moments of theatrical brilliance it has many many many more of dropped energy, throw away lines and pointless objective following (objectives need to be followed to the max or else they become arbitrary and the scene lacks direction). This is me being harsh and in no way is it directed at a particular group of performers BUT I feel as if our rehearsal skills are going from strength to strength as we become an ensemble working as one feeding off each-others energy and ideas. We have created an excellent environment to work in which has made the work ethic 10x better.

Some of the good things I have picked up on is we are constantly improving and refining as we go and as we start to tweak and improve and polish our work the better it becomes. Although one of the most important part of a play is the text if not the important and it feels as if the lines just aren't coming out as good as they should be. Whether that be the lack of strength in the objectives or the weakness that is vocal energy or even the misinterpretation of text I don't know, It could be a combination of both. I feel the first seen is too long and most of the movement is repetitive and is void of purpose. We still get the essence of the play if we cut out probably a minute of this section.

As an ensemble as we say lines in unison we are really not in unison. This gives me the fear that audience won't be able to understand moments of the scenes which would be a real shame. I feel as we have chosen to use thrust staging we should use this to our advantage more as for maybe about 10% of the scene 2 is probably going to be unseeable by some members of the audience. Some movements are confusing as to what there symbolic purpose is and it may baffle some audience members. That being said I like the elements of physical theatre we bring to the table. When Mr. Rennsion tell us a particular onomatopoeic like "zhooom" or " annnnnd bap!" we take on board without even thinking about what he could mean as we already know what's happening which shows we are becoming a company of actors!