Director's Challenge - Part 29 - Final Performance

On Monday and Tuesday after school, as specified in my previous blog, we did multiple line runs which enhanced the performance.

On Tuesday afternoon, the DNA directors prepped the set as seen in the image below:

The changes that we made from the original set design include:

• the removal of trees from around the risers, replacing them with twigs and leaves on the ground
• the removal of a campfire and log which would have just clogged the space up
• the swapping of crates for white blocks - the crates were dangerous to use; the blocks were created for another director's play and we thought they could be useful 

In a professional performance, I would have wanted a tree or two for characters to climb or indeed a place high above the others for Leah and Phil to sit in a field. 

The final costume can be seen below. Each of the cast members took into consideration the costume specified by us in messages sent as can be seen in previous blogs.

Cast from left to right - Back row: Evie (Leah), Grace (Rachel), Kate (Phil), Ollie (Mark), Tom (John-Tate); Front row: Megan (Jan), Hannah (Cathy/Director), Imogen (Director). 

The video below shows the final performance on Tuesday 26th March 2019:

The following bullet points is the analysis of the above video in order of the performance, split into relevant scenes: 

Scene 1

• Having Leah and Phil on from the beginning was potentially a mistake - especially at the blackout. Instead, we should have had Jan and Mark walk offstage and have a snappy split-stage which I think is what we wanted from the beginning. 

Scene 2

• The tub of ice cream was for a more pragmatic reason. Instead of having a cone, the tub provided an easy way to put it back in the bag after the scene had ended. 
• Evie stays at the front of the stage for too long at the "Like I talk too much" section - there is a distinct lack of movement here. Perhaps this was due to nerves. Whilst looking back on the video, it may have made sense to use the white block on stage left. 
• There was an issue with the lighting desk throughout this scene, hence the flickering lights which we didn't want in this scene. 
• Evie had a great change in tone at the  "You're not scared" section although there could have been better clarity in her sentences i.e. where one ended and the other began - this was a constant theme with Leah's monologues I found. 
• As I've said previously to Evie the "I'm not ashamed!"  line needed to be much stronger and more self-assured than what was being portrayed. 
• Evie needed to wait for a little before saying "Oh shit" in order for it to seem more naturalistic. This was probably because we didn't practise this part as much as we did the other parts. 
• The slow packing away of food done by Kate at the end of the scene was done for humorous effect - I stole this idea from Hannah Lovell from last year's Director's Challenge. 
• The lighting desk light shouldn't have been turned off until the end of the scene. 

Transition 

• There was a great tunnel of light for Tom to walk down which accentuated the transition a lot more. 
• Personally, I don't think the blue light (16 from the lighting desk) was needed; had to compromise with Imogen on this one.
• The transition was supposed to represent the changing power dynamics. 
• It could have done with some form of noise as I've suggested in previous blogs. 

Scene 3, Part 1

• Tom needed to be a lot more stressed and anxious - this needed to play into his vocal tone a lot more than he had been doing. 
• Ollie had a great tone of voice from the start however, I felt this wasn't matched by his facial expressions or by his movement/gestures. 
• Although the anxiousness from Megan was amazing to see, it didn't really match her overall characterisation. In some ways, it felt like she had two different characters and this was something I feel we could have worked on much more than we did. 
• The awkward lighting of Tom and Ollie was negative; the use of the side light on stage right should have been utilised. 
• Tom's variation in his tone at the "You can walk down any corridor in this school - Rachel, you're scared of are you?" section was amazing; considering the work I put into this section, I'm glad that it happened somewhat the way I wanted it to. 
• Ollie forgot the line "He's dead John. He's dead, dead is what he is so we have to use that word in order to-"; this is noticeable as it meant that we missed a vital part of the scene where John-Tate bans the word dead which leads onto the fight with Rachel a couple of lines later. This meant that the scene for a moment was awkward and was only just saved by Grace. 

Scene 3, Part 2

• I missed the line "Better than ordinary life" because Grace got there first; this led to her awkwardly looking around at me but this quickly passed. 
• Tom had good gestures in this section; this was something I had worked on with him during rehearsals so I'm glad to see that this worked out in the final performance. 
• Grace needed to wait a little longer before saying the line "You shouldn't threaten me John" in order to build tension. 
• There were great interruptions between myself, Megan, and Tom which helped in the overall confusion of the scene, however, I do think there could have been a little more movement at some points, especially by Tom. 
• Tom needed to slow down in certain parts as it meant that he lost his threatening character. 
• Grace was clearly expecting to be shoved away by Tom - there needed to be more surprise here to make it seem spontaneous. 

Scene 3, Part 3

• The stare off between Kate and Tom needed to be much longer - this was something I'd tried to get them to understand in rehearsals but every time they made the stare off really short. Perhaps to make it more punctuated Kate should have walked onto the top riser during the silence to show the assertation of Phil as leader - this would show status in a much more focused way. 
• Tom had a great condescending tone - something which we had worked on in rehearsal. 
• The use of the camp chair as a symbol of power worked quite well. 
• The interaction of yeah's and stuff like that by myself and Grace could have done with a little more work - perhaps with a couple more rehearsal, it would have been okay. 
• Ollie's change of tone when he starts his monologue is far too quickly as is his words - Ollie didn't appear to go on a journey rather it seemed he was merely saying his lines; he needed to slow down. 
• I think it was a mistake for Grace to sit down on the camp chair if we're using it as a symbol of power - Tom should have stayed sat in it or come more into the middle which I wanted to happen but Tom didn't do even though I'd directed him thus. 

Scene 3, Part 4

• The prolonged opening of the coke can added to the tension of the scene. 
• Everyone needed to react a lot more to what Kate was saying. 
• I think it was a mistake for Kate to speak to Evie - Phil should have instead used other character's names as points of reference for later in the play or to use Rachel again. 
• Kate's tone of voice didn't match what I thought Phil should sound like making the character feel unfulfilled from my point of view. 
• The lack of blackout took away from the scene - instead we could have used another transition which would have been better than a mere blackout. 

Scene 4

• Evie needed to slow down - lost the clarity of her sentences. 
• Issue with turning and looking completely at Phil - loss of facial expressions. 
• Massive improvement in the choking part - much funnier than Leah actually 'choking' herself. 
• The crisp movement got laughs - immensely proud of that bit of my direction.