Evaluation.

12/06/2014
  I would say that in our performance, the things that went well were certain things such as the iron section. I liked this because it took a lot of working out and in the final performance it did go well. It worked well because I made a hurt noise (in the end!), I think it was because of the adrenaline and nerves when showing our audience what we had done. I sounded hurt in my opinion and this then looked a lot more realistic. I also liked the way that 'Jimmy' portrayed arrogance towards both the other characters, it shown more subtle emotion from the other characters but still looked real because in reality if someone was really that horrible about the most simple things, the reactions that we used were quite real. Finally, I liked the way that in the performance we did show real emotion between characters, especially between Cliff and Alison. We tried to express what was going on in their characters heads through emotion. The two characters worked with each other to help one another out, and in my opinion this was shown through their movements and speech.

  The performance went well for us, my favourite part was probably showing the relationship between my character and Cliff. This is because it was different, it worked well and was a very powerful and moving section of our piece. I have never performed anything like it, it was natural and I think it worked so well because me and Ryan are close friends in real life. This gave us the ability to take more risks with this and be more close to show the real relationship between the two characters. If we were not as close in real life, I doubt that it would have been such a good scene as we would have been more awkward and it wouldn't have looked natural either. For more details into the performance, I would say that it was good that we didn't make it into a soap opera, which could have been easily done for the piece that we selected. The piece that we selected was great because it shown different sides of different characters and I really enjoyed it.

  The things what didn't go too well in the performance was probably that it was quite rushed as a whole. It could have been slowed down slightly, I would say that some sections were quite rushed with lines being spoke fast, possibly with nerves. This wasn't too much of a big deal however because everything to me was still clear and natural, it just could have slowed down slightly to make it longer and give more time for the audience to react to what is going on at each moment. There were not many things that went very negative in my eyes, I think it was the best performance that we had performed over our rehearsals (which is obvious).

  If I were to approach our performance differently, I would simply change small things like when 'Jimmy' goes on with his big speech at me, I could have looked more annoyed at him, showing my anger towards him. For example, I could have got annoyed with the clothes that I was folding and sort of screwed them up so that they weren't neat as they were his clothes. However, I am glad that we didn't actually decide to do this because it could have came across over acted and not natural to the audience. I am glad that we kept it as subtle as we did, still showing emotion towards each other but being natural too.

  When performing, things that happened that I didn't expect or that surprised me was probably my 'scream' towards the burn from the iron. I did actually scream loud enough and at the right moment too (which I did struggle on, confidence wise). It came across to me like I was really in pain and probably to the audience looked like it too. I took on board what Daniel had said to me about it, to fall to the side so that the audience couldn't see that I didn't really get burnt and just make the painful noise really loudly. I tried to make it as natural as possible by using magic if to think about what it would be like if I really did just get burnt. This helped and I produced a loud painful noise at the right time. It also gave me adrenaline throughout the rest of the performance to perform with a lot of energy and show how hurt I was, especially at the break down phase when Cliff leaves the room and I say "Oh god." and just start to break down. If the real reaction from the hit and burn hadn't of happened, it probably would have looked fake and not real so this is why I am glad that it worked as well as it did in my opinion.
  Another thing that worked well that didn't usually work in rehearsals would be when in rehearsals I would throw a piece of Jimmy's clothing that I had just ironed to show how angry I was at him, I sometimes forgot to do that but in the performance I remembered. This made it look more dramatic but still natural, it also gave the audience a reason to feel sorry for Alison and not like her husband.
  Overall, it went really well and the general piece surprised me over rehearsals. We brought a lot more energy to it and applied everything that were told needed work on. It was very fiery and there was always something going on for the audience to intensely watch, whether it was the burn scene, the romantic scenes with Cliff, or the news of pregnancy, there was always something going on!

  Specific things that went well on my behalf would be mainly when Jimmy was going on, I know that I didn't over act it. I gave the subtle start at Cliff of annoyance, but carried on ironing like what would happen in this real life situation. I didn't really have to work too hard on this as it came natural to me, I know that I am not a theatre type person. I loved doing the natural piece because it felt so comfortable to me. It is my favourite things to do for me, this is why I think it worked so well and has probably been my best performance so far. Everything went too plan, and more. It carried the high energy that it needed without over doing it, the relationships with other characters worked well. Even if there were any small mistakes they were not noticed and blended quite well! I would say that specific things that I did well was remember small things that I forgot to do in rehearsals but did in the performance such as:
  - Remember to keep the iron with me when carrying the ironing before I get pushed and burnt.
  - Scream loud enough and realistically when burnt.
  - Didn't over react to Jimmy.
  - Kept a bond going with Cliff, but still kept a sort of distance to show that we couldn't have each other still.
  - When announcing pregnancy, I didn't make it like a soap opera.
  - I didn't do things dramatically, I toned it right down through most of it and only leapt out when it was needed (e.g. the burn and fall).

  Things that I would say specifically that didn't go too well for me would be when we first started the performance, my nerves kicked in and I got a dry mouth, so when I spoke for the first time it to me sounded really quiet and not how I wanted it too sound. This wasn't too big of a problem however because my confidence did return shortly after. Another thing that didn't go too well for me was I could of slowed down the scene with Cliff and dragged it out a bit longer. I felt that I did slightly rush it but it still worked and got the point across of their relationship. If I had of slowed it down a bit, I think that the audience would have been able to see more of our feelings. For example, when he grabs me and holds me when I try to walk away just before telling him that I am pregnant, if that section hadn't have been so rushed it could have flown a lot better. However it did still work and the audience understood their feelings towards each other and see the bond that they have together. Apart from little things like this, I would say that everything else went very well for us and we worked well together as a team for our performance.