Our performance Evaluation

Our performance Evaluation

I thought our performance as a whole went very well and breaking the forth wall was very funny for the audience and allowed them not to get emotionally invested to the characters so they focus on  the meaning of the play and what we are trying to say about society instead. We really understood every scene and learnt the play and performed so the audience understood, even though we didn't say and perform every line we interpreted the scenes in our own way which made sense with the story line of the physical play. 

The exercises we did really helped us with the understanding of Brecht and creating a performance based on his work. The things that helped us a lot were the big gestus exercises for example, when we had partners and we had to mime a nursery song using big gestures so our partners can guess the song this helped because in our performance we had to get our message across without actually saying it, when it came to our scenes we didn't even realise we were using big gestures we just automatically done them. Gestus was performed throughout our play and we didn't even notice we were doing them.

we thought it was very hard to understand Brechtian techniques like the big over the top characters we all figured it was going to be hard to do but overall we managed very well, the moments when we were addressing the audience directly were difficult to do as we were talking to them directly about political issues sort of as yourself sort of not, this was a challenge because we couldn't hide behind a character. 

Theatre should be a place to experiment, the popular, mainstream Theatres like the west-end are capitalist Theatres they are not at all experimental they are safe because taking risks equals money and that's why the west-end Theatres were made; to make money. 

When we were leaning about the Verfremdungseffekt known as the V effect it really helped us develop and question the lives of our audience. 

The audience were not connected to any of the characters, the things that broke the 4th wall like when Katie answered her phone it really showed that things like this are happening in life and nothing is being done to prevent it. 
As Londoners we know people of both sides house owners, people who own multiple houses and we also know people who can’t afford to buy a house or don’t understand that side of the system, our show really brought light to that. 

Some of the audience didn’t understand a lot but that is the effect we wanted,the confusion,but we didn’t really understand the space we used and the echo it had which meant that the audience didn’t understand the beginning of our scenes because they couldn't hear.Some audiences members felt a bit uncomfortable with the scene and being part of the scene. 

What is the future of the piece? 

There was moments when we got to comfortable with breaking the forth wall that we done it to often, and would laugh in between the scenes, in professional works we needed to really clarify when we are actually the character and when we were ourselves, 

I thought the moments when were laughing in between scenes it really energised the room and when we laugh because somethings actually funny it made the play very warm to the dark issues we were dealing with it added a good contrast, next time we should have more costumes so something to take off and put on when we are in character as it would add more Brecht techniques.

In terms of future potential it’ll work well as a touring piece because when they were making humour like Luke’s jokes our audience didn’t really know the humour that was going into the scene. 

Involving the audience;we dealt with that very well, commenting on what they were doing and saying

Bailey's level of acting was very real and good because it was Baileys actually Mum which gave a good level of reality.

One of the audience members said that everything we did really set in place nothing we did meant nothing, it was very informing while also being fun and energetic

This play felt very unfinished and gritty which was very effective in the performance so overall i do really believe we put on a really good show which left the audience with questions about the society they are living in.

Rehearsal feedback on our piece Cathy

Feedback

• The material we have got is good but the story we're telling is very important, its something we need to really understand we need to have respect for the work as its current.  
•  It's funny but it can only be funny when its meant to be, when it's serious we need to have bolder choices 
• We need to set up our big characters and fast paced scenes
• The most important thing is the ensemble scenes we need to bounce of each other and work with a sense of performance together 
• We all need to enjoy it more with big over the top characters, lots of energy and fast paces
• Spooky carol singing of Away In A Manger needs to draw the audience in to the performance we must have audience manipulation skills 
• We need to keep track of our performance its about verbal and non-verbal performances to tell our story
• we need more commitment however, we did have a good flow of energy, my realism was very good and i should keep going with it 
• For mine and my groups scene we need better crowd control  

My rant

My Rant 

Why are some human beings like this, are they heartless, does the government not know that we cant afford luxurious things. I can just about put bread on the table for my family and they the disgusting creatures are not allowing me benefits. I literally hate those rich assholes thinking they can do whatever they please, buying and keeping empty houses when they know that there are people starving and living on streets. I work 6 days a week nine to seven and i still can't afford half of what these rich bastards do, They're so selfish with their noses up in the air thinking they're better than everyone when in reality they are the scum of the earth, not helping anyone but themselves.

Cathy By Ali Taylor

Cathy By Ali Taylor 

This play is all about the housing crisis and how it effects Cathy and her daughter, it was originally published on the 13 of october 2016. 

We begin with Cathy being handed a Section 21 notice by her landlord, giving her less than a week to pay her due rent or find somewhere else to live. So begins the turmoil that leads Cathy and her dependant fifteen-year-old daughter Danielle from home to home to sofa to the unknown. They are taken from their home, to a ‘temporary’ room in Luton that ends up being their home for five months, then offered to leave their lives in London for a two bed apartment in Newcastle. Watching Cathy’s situation is hard-hitting and shocking; we know there are so many others in similar positions but we rarely consider how difficult it really is. 

We chose to do this play in a Brechtian style because it still relates to issues we face in today's society, and by breaking the forth wall the audience can really understand the messages we are trying to put through while also questioning our society and why it is what it is.

My scene

My scene and what we are doing 

My scene with my group is that when Anja and Cathy are working in the club and my character Anja is talking about how she is going to leave because they do not get payed enough and don't have enough breaks for the amount of hours they work.

For the scene we are going to start with India narrating the beginning while me and Laurence are in the back, then i'll go to the audience say some of my key lines from the scene for example, "We should get payed twice this, this is bullshit money" and "we deserve a break, fuck boss if he don't like it"  We involve gestus as while i'm saying my lines the other 2 group members Laurence and India will be making big Gestures behind. Then i pick an audience member to play Cathy i give her a towel and tell her to start cleaning the floor. While my audience interaction is going on India and Laurence get the cast and some audience members to start dancing around us to Cheep Thrills by Sia. After that Laurence being the boss stops the partying and tells me to take my wages and go back to Poland then tells Cathy to keep leading or follow me and leave, that is the end of our scene.