In order to get props and costumes on and off stage, we have to complete transitions to music in a fast but controlled way. The following image shows how I am presenting the transitions on a piece of paper so that myself and Bella (who is playing Anna in Cast B) can easily find what we are bringing onstage and taking offstage. During the transitions, we are expected to walk at right angles as though the stage is a square piece of paper which allows the transitions to look more effective and a lot smoother. I have made two copies so that we can put a copy on each side of the stage so that the transitions on our part are much better and quicker. These can be seen on the following images:
There are severe issues that keep occurring for both casts in some of the transitions. For example, large objects such as chairs remain onstage or clothing isn't removed/put on during them. This could severely impact upon the performance and lower other people's grades if we don't put the objects in the correct place. It also means that the flow of the performance could be lost resulting in people forgetting their lines, of which their cues are important for other people's lines.
Thus far, I have made some mistakes regarding transitions. This is because Cast B is the cast that doesn't get to rehearse their scenes as much, something which has happened throughout the rehearsal process in my opinion. This means that I don't get to practise the transitions as much as I'd like to, to get them accurate. This has happened in the transition into Scene 11 where I forgot to put a cup and saucer inside the Orange Pod which meant that Marlon had to go off stage in the middle of a scene to find a coffee cup that shouldn't have been used in the scene.
We created the transitions in stages. To begin with, we moved the big props on stage such as the hospital bed and worked out what side of the stage we would need to be on to move the big props. After that, on Saturday, we added the small props into the transitions which were dubbed 'Saturday Problems' throughout the week. Surprisingly, these weren't as hard as I had expected and the transitions were completed within two hours.
The main thing during the transitions that were found to be complex for me was the removal and the putting on of clothing, particularly the dungarees that Anna wears in Scenes 5, 6, 7, and 9. It is important that the dungarees are folded in a way in which they can be unfolded on stage and put on Anna easily.
The above transitions shown on the piece of paper are transitions that myself and Bella do when we aren't performing as Anna. When we are Anna, we do have some transitions that we complete ourselves on stage. These are the following:
Scene 5 into Scene 6: Put on Cardigan that was taken off during Scene 5.
Scene 6 into Scene 7: Pick up cigarettes from the ground and put them back in the packet.
Scene 8: Remove dungarees and put on the wedding dress.
Scene 11 into Scene 12 (offstage): Change from nightshirt into a hospital gown.
It should also be noted that in other costume changes, I will unhook some parts of the dungarees and take some clothes off so that it is easier for other people who are dressing me to put on clothes and take them off of me.
The transition from Scene 12 into Scene 13 is a lot longer than the other transitions that happen. This is because a hospital bed and the hospital pod have to be brought on stage. To distract the audience from this transition, Jamie (Bruce), Anna (myself), and Carol (Izzy) stand at the front of the stage staring out (something which happens in all transitions for the three main women). In this transition, however, Jamie turns slowly to face Anna. When he has done this, Anna turns slowly to face Carol. When Anna has done this, Carol turns slowly to face the door of her stage. we then proceed with the scene. This allows the audience to be distracted by anything that is happening behind us.
On Thursday of last week, we attempted a line run, mostly for the benefit of Cast B. This allowed for any scenes that we were struggling with to be sorted out. The line run didn't go as well as planned. This is because we were all tired from previous nights rehearsing. Additionally, people who weren't in scenes get bored quite quickly which meant that it got harder for those running lines to concentrate as those who weren't working kept getting quite loud. Moreover, on Thursday it was sunny and hot which meant that people got uncomfortable rather quickly and so got angry because they wanted to go home and cool down. If we were to do a line run unattended again, we would have to make sure that people who aren't involved with the main line run are involved in running over their lines separately or are quieter. The lack of concentration meant that we didn't get through the line run for Cast B as quickly as we had hoped which also meant that Cast A only got to run through Scene 11, although, this scene is one in which as a whole we struggle with.
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