Strengths
Collaboration - when working on the performance in rehearsals, working with 3 other people as part of a company really opened up a variety of ideas and different ways in which we can produce this play to the best we can. The discussions that were included in the rehearsals were very effective and fully focused on the creation of the performance, and in terms of performance workshop, lots of these different ideas were all tried out and either dumped or used - after effective discussions with my company. Disagreements were easily overcome as with the performance workshop unit - of which was one of the units working on and performing this production went towards - all ideas and opinions were taken thoroughly into account, in regards to working on and going towards the performance.
Characterisation/element of multi-rolling - As a company, working on multi-rolling techniques and working towards playing so many different character groups where each are completely contrasting to eachother. During the rehearsal process we did lots of different activities and exercises that enhanced our ability on playing different types of characters within John Godber's play bouncers. We especially focused a lot on playing characters of the opposite sex, that are included in the play, which myself and we, as a company, found rather difficult to do in terms of physicality, voice and body language - under the category of characterisation.
These activities and exercises included focusing on physicality and adaptions of our walks and stances to different characters in scenarios to ensure that physicality is strongly versatile in order to play lots of different types of characters, and gradually our female walks and stances and actions got more and more believable. We also focused on voice of the actor, ensuring that our tone of voices changed depending on the character (emphasising our female characters). These exercises and techniques dilated our creativity on characterisation, physicality and voice to intensify our abilities on playing a stereotypical group of girls on a night out, and to play it well.
Independently, we created spider-diagrams on our ideas of how our different characters within the play should be played - my general ideas for the girls was ditzy, over the top and bitchy. This really helped me get into my female character very much so to make sure my performance is believable to an audience.
We also found playing different types of characters of the same gender rather challenging, as we had to initiate a difference - bouncers being big, bold and broad, where as loud, goony, wannabe party lads would be quite hoppy and jumpy and not so built up.
In terms of the performance, I feel that the multi-rolling aspect of the play was portrayed very effectively and gave across a sort of comical feeling to it - that play being a comedy as it - and we feel our audience appreciated the creativity of a simple turning movement to symbolise a change in character, in regards to a change in physicality, voice and body language between the different groups of characters - purely because it was interesting but comical for our audience throughout.
Use of music - soundtrack - For the performance of this play, we came to mutual agreement of creating a soundtrack for the play. I felt that music would be a very important element in a play that evolves strongly around a nightclub. For this side of it, we chose music that were current club songs at the moment - as we decided to make the play set in current say times anyway - as I felt that it would fully portray the stereotypical atmospheres of being at a nightclub for a night out. Creating this atmosphere created quite a nostalgic feel to the performance, especially for audience members who have, before, been out clubbing and have experiences what it's like. This came as an advantage to the performance, as the relation caused engagement from our audience, improving the effect of the performance as a whole. Other choices of music were included for certain scenes in the play, like the Hairdressers and barbers, where we'd have typical radio songs playing to create a chilled out mood for these scenes - as is the stereotypical mood of them sort if places. (Further detail about creating a soundtrack is talked about on another blog post).
Staging - Staging this play was a very difficult subject when in rehearsals, as it caused lots of debates and disussions about how we we're going to perform this play, in terms of staging and lay out.
As a company, we really wanted to strongly get across, to our audience, this atmosphere and feeling of a nightclub and being in a nightclub, to strongly improve the effectiveness of the play and the essence and context of the purpose of play.
At the time of the performance, an audience layout had been decided. We had the idea that for the bouncers scenes, the audience area was to symbolise and to be the inside of the club, while the stage (performance area) was to be the outside of the club, where a bouncer would be. This created this atmosphere we were going for very nicely, as for us as actors playing the parts of bouncers, feeling like we are located in the rightful place of a bouncer, when on duty, - outside the club - helped us really get into these characters in a way that researched into the role of a bouncer, finding out where they'd be and the sort of things they do. Also, having the bouncers accurately located strongly portrayed the main essence of the story of the play to the audience - it being about a night out for various different character groups, all from the perspective of 4 bouncers, and stereotypically, bouncers are usually located manning the doors outside the club, so this created accuracy and research of our performance.
In terms of the audience, having them located 'inside' the club created a symbolism and an accurate illusion of people inside a club, having the perspective of the bouncers outside - if people were to go to a club and observe the bouncers - which in the case of this play, is what the audience are doing.
This sort of layout helped us draw out this sort of sketch of the context and purpose of the play, being a typical night's work, for the bouncers, at a nightclub. But a night out at the club for the lads and for the girls.
One of the weeknesses with the staging, and something that I would definitely enforce upon in the future, if we were to do it again in an ideal world, is that we sort of lost the cleverness of the staging and this essence of the stage being 'outside' and the audience being 'inside' the club when it came to other scenes, particularly with the different characters. For example, one of the girls scenes (when they were in the club, not hairdressers), we performed the on stage, like the stage was now the 'inside' of the club which not only might of been confusing for the audience... But also, was confusing for us as a company in rehearsals. Other scenes where the location was different aswell, it seemed like we had forgotten the layout in terms of what the stage represents and what the audience area represents. Especially for the pub, barbers and hairdressers scenes, where It had kind of become a traditional theatre thing where audience sit quietly and watch the performance in which the actors portray - then having the risk of losing this feeling of locations within the layout to create this constant atmosphere of the essence and context of the play.
Potential
Using more/whole script - as this performance went towards my performance workshop unit (and also my principles of acting unit), we wanted to adapt the play and script to make it workshoppable an for us to really focus on the performance workshop side of it to get us the best grade possible. We sat down went through the script and picked out the most relevant bits in the play that are most important in creating this atmosphere of comedy, down-to-earthness, and the experience of a nought out in a nightclub. We came to a decision in regards to what to get rid of and what to keep, making sure that the bits we kept included bits with all the different types of groups of characters, either as a scene on their own or as scene where they encounter others. This enabled to workshop the play in more depth as it was shorter but still as powerful and effective as the original, and keeping bits that included the different characters was effective in a way that we were still able to workshop the multi-rolling aspect of the play - one of the main elements of this script by John Godber.
If we were to ever have the task of putting on this play again, in an ideal world, I would love to use the whole script and tackle the whole play, having already workshopped most of the play as part of a company - to strongly portray the purpose of this play comedy by John Godber, even further, and to open even more spontaneous ideas on how to produce it.
Venue/audience/atmosphere - if we were to ever put on this production again (in an ideal world), there are a few things that I would go about a different way, all for the extra effect of the performance as whole. One of these being the venue, adding to the effect on the audience and overall, the atmosphere. I had the idea of hiring out a club for a night or two (depending on how many performances we put on) and putting on the performance in an actual nightclub to really add to the effect and atmosphere that the purpose of this play gets across. Locating the play in actual club, will certainly create a nostalgic feeling for the audience as putting them in a club should bring memories for those audience members who have before, been out clubbing. The advantage of the nostalgic feel is that our audience would feel much more involved and a part of the performance, drawing them in to the play, on an even bigger scale as this atmosphere of a night in a nightclub that the play creates will be at it's best ability over the audience. Not only does it do this for the audience, but for us actors, hosting the play in a nightclub would help us get firmly into all our different characters even more as at the end of the day, this play written by John Godber is about the experience of a nightclub and typical night for all the different character groups within the play. This being the case, the atmosphere and essence of the play will evolve much more strongly, giving us the ability to really experience this feeling, within our different characters.
All of this leads to our production of the play having an even greater effect on our audience.
Putting it in an actual nightclub also opens a lot of other boundaries, such as having an active bar running throughout the performance, where the audience can informally get up and purchase a drink - just like what it would be like at night out in a nightclub. This also adds to the overall atmosphere, rising the audience's engaging into the play up even higher.
Preparation/method acting - If given the chance to put on this play again, I wold certainly like to try a different approach in preparing for all the different kinds of roles. I would like to take the role of a method actor and actually go and study the character of a bouncer at a nightclub; how they act, react, encounter and their general being. I feel doing this will enhance my characterisation and therefore my performance very much so - it being a more believable approach across to the audience, and meeting this essence and feeling of the play.
Also, studying at a nightclub, can also prepare me for my roles as a group of giggly, party girls, and some loud, party lads, to really see what them sort of characters are really like on a night out in a club.
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