Road evaluation

                                      Road performance evaluation

 

Interpreting the text - After reading Road for the first time I wasn’t really a big fan of it. I couldn’t really see how it was going to work and how we could make it funny and interesting. My interpretation has definitely changed now that we have performed it, it has been one of the best plays I’ve ever done and it ended up being so comical. From the first time I read it I could tell they live in a bad environment in the way that none of them have a lot of money and most of them don't have jobs or have lost them. When I first got given my character Doreen, I saw her as a fun, loose character but she isn’t as loose as her friend Lane. Once we performed I realised that Doreen is tired of going out clubbing and just wants to tone it all down. I feel this way because in the scene with her and Lane they’re talking about staying out a little later and Doreen really isn’t up for it.

Rehearsal Techniques – I feel like I definitely could have done more to help improve my character during the first few weeks of rehearsal, luckily I used the last couple of weeks to my advantage and it honestly helped so much. I always arrived to rehearsals on time and I had a good working relationship with all my peers. I helped them with their characters by giving them my own view on them and by giving them helpful feedback on their scenes. I used helpful feedback in my performance by doing vocal exercises before going on stage as being clear and projecting was something I needed to work on. I worked on my accent with Hannah during our free time just before the final performance as throughout the rehearsal process I was finding the northern accent hard. The other main one was mine and Lane’s scene as it needed more energy so we worked on it before the performance and then back stage we gave each other some words of encouragement in order for the both of us to put all our energy into it.

Process – When first taking on the role of Doreen, due to my interpretations of her being loose but not as loose as Lane I thought for her costumes some colourful leggings would be good. After going through the script the she thinks Scullery looks up her skirts so I wore a mini skirt instead. I also realised she is still a slut because when Scullery says “Tuck in ladies” She doesn’t exactly say no, she basically just says not right now. I took many risks with the northern accent as it was something I didn’t want to do and was finding really hard. I also had to pretend to be drunk during quite a few scenes which was hard because you have to make it obvious and believable.

Performance – I am honestly so happy with our finally performance, it went incredibly well. I felt so confident after taking in all my previous feedback and working on all of it before the show then focusing on putting it in the show. I was fully committed and made sure I put myself out there physically and vocally. There was a clear friendship between Doreen and Lane and even Doreen and the professor. I made sure this was clear through my interaction with the characters. During most of my scenes I was drunk so I had to continue being drunk and getting more and more drunk throughout the play.

Strengths – My strengths during rehearsal would be giving my fellow peers relevant feedback to their scenes and helping them develop their scenes and my own scenes. During rehearsal time I made sure to work on my accent as I found it hard doing it on my own at home so I asked Hannah who kindly worked on all my scenes with me, I luckily improved massively. I also feel that my physicality was really good as I used it to show that I was drunk and to show how ditzy Doreen is. I felt like I was fully committed to showing the audience Doreen so much that I was Doreen, I don’t feel like I showed myself at all.

Weaknesses – My main weakness would be that I wasn’t focused during the first week of rehearsal and if I was I would have improved so much throughout the rehearsal instead of just before the performance. I also did everything too late, developing my character more and the accent, I feel that I didn’t work as hard on it as I should of and that’s something I will definitely keep on top with when it comes to the next show. I definitely need to improve vocally with being clearer and projecting so I need to do regular vocal exercises so that I can improve for future performances.

Target Setting – To grow as an actor I definitely need to stop getting distracted during rehearsal time and focus on what I can do to make my scenes better and develop my character. I need to spend my time working on my scenes and meet up outside of rehearsal time with the people I’m in the scenes with so it can improve quicker. I need to focus on what I need to do to improve within my character to make the audience remember me. I also need to work on things like accents, costumes and things like that ahead of time so if I do need to change anything it will still all be ready in time. I will also do more individual research on the play we’re performing in order to get a better understanding of it all.

Character Profile

Doreen

 

My character Doreen is a flirty character and I think she would show that throughout the play so everything little action she does would be flirty in some way. After going through all of the scenes and blocking them it has helped me get a sense of my characters and their relationships with the other characters in the play. For example Lane and Doreen are best friends in my eyes, the both like to have fun, be flirty and have a good old laugh. I would say out of all the women in the play they are the most loose, they're not really bothered if boys want something from them because they will give it to them. Although I think Doreen isn't as loose as Lane as she is willing to kiss scullery after talking to him for just a few minutes. I feel like even though they're both best friends, Doreen is more of the tag along.

I find this scene with the professor and Doreen a bit hard as it kind of changes my interpretation of Doreen because the scene is supposed to be with Lane. I think this scene could show how Doreen is up for as much as Lane is and she doesn't just follow Lane around everywhere. It will allow the audience to see Doreen without Lane and maybe understand her a bit better. It also allows them to know that it isn’t just about drinking for her, it’s just about living her life to the fullest. In this scene she is trying to make The Professor happy by talking about the stuff he enjoys like “The memories of Wood Street”. The he starts talking about depressing stuff so she tells him that he should enjoy life more “You morbid bastard. Life’s a spree, Prof. Me and Lane, we get our mouths around life and have a chew. Sometimes there’s nowt, sometimes it’s sloppy but we keep on snoggin’ through. (She slaps his cheeks.) See you later, Prof.” This just shows that she is having fun doing it and that she thinks you shouldn’t go through life being sad or not taking risks, you need to loosen up and have fun.

I have come up with a few things for Doreen though, for example I think she might have a small job as she's not trying to get money off anyone and she's able to go out buy some drinks and later on some chips. I do feel as she is very loose and up for anything but not as much as Lane. For example page 16 with Scullery him and Lane just start kissing and as Doreen goes off she says "Snog anything she will. Captain fucking Pugwash" which suggests she has a bit of class in the way she wouldn't kiss any guy walked past. I reckon she's in her mid-twenties so maybe about 24years old because of how loose she is and the fact she can drink. I feel like Doreen may be looking for a relationship and to calm her life down in some kind of way. I think this because the line that Lane says "What about Barry? I thought you were in?" suggests that she is committing herself to one guys. Also a couple of lines later they talk about staying back at the pub and Doreen says "I don't fancy it" which shows that she's getting a bit tired of going out all the time.

I would say that Doreen's closet friends are definitely Lane, The Professor, Scullery, Bald and Barry. Lane is obviously her closet friend because most of the time she is on stage Lane is with her. I would say The Professor is too because when she meets him he says "Dor love" which suggests they know each other quite well. I thought Scullery would be a friend of hers because she speaks to him the first time she comes on stage and the things they talk about suggests they know each other and can have a laugh with each other. Doreen is also very close with Bald because as soon as they see each other he wants to have a drink and a laugh with her and she's more then up for it. I thought Barry would be a close friend because they obviously have something going on and I think she wants to get with him. Her family live close by but not on the Road. She has a mum, dad and a younger sister who is 20years old. I think she would go visit her family every so often but not that often. She is an Atheist, British, she has light brown hair, hazel eyes, heart shaped face, and shoe size is 6, 5ft 6 and size 6-8 in clothes. She is fashionable and try’s to stay in fashion with the clothes that she has. I would think she didn’t have a proper education because I don’t think her family would have been able to afford it. I reckon she is a bit brainy, not really brainy but she is definitely good at the simple stuff and a bit more. She can definitely look after herself because she has her own place and I know this because she said “I’ve lost my bastard keys, I’m locked out. Help me find em” which if she had a roommate or something she wouldn’t be locked out. I reckon should would of wanted to go to college and get a better education because like I said she is starting to get bored of going out and drinking all the time. If she got a better education and a better job she would be able to do much more and live her life even better then she thinks she is already. She's kind, pretty and always up for a laugh. She will say things just to make people happy for example in the scene with the professor she says "I'll give you one on 'Wood Street' because he loves recording everything that's happening or that has happened so when she says that he gets all excite because it's something he enjoys talking about. She is someone who puts other people before herself.

I can relate to Doreen in so many ways which is why I felt like she was the perfect character for me to play. I can relate to her in the way that she is quite loose and just enjoying life whilst taking some risks. I’m quite loose myself and I do stuff like go to concerts, parties, meeting new people and just enjoying myself. She also makes people happy and puts them first which is what I do on a regular basis and she is also really nice and I would consider myself nice too. I’m also really excited to play her on stage and bring out all these great characteristics that she has. I want to be able to show her giggly side, her friendship with Lane and for the audience to remember her.

I have been looking a people who have previously played Doreen to see what they wore and everything so I can get an idea of what to wear as this play is set in the 1980's. In the picture below the one on the left is the one playing Doreen in is scene. I knew that Lane was on the right from the way she's look at Scullery so I'm guessing they’re about to kiss. This picture also supports my idea about Doreen not being as loose as Lane because Doreen is wearing leggings and Lane is wearing a short skirt. Which shows Lane is more of a 'slut' then her because she covers up where as Lane likes to show skin. It also looks like the one playing Doreen looks a bit disgusted with what's going on and what's about to happen. The fact that Doreen doesn't kiss anyone or try’s to kiss anyone throughout the play also supports my idea.

 

 

From the clothing they're wearing I can tell that bright neon colours, hoop earring, ponytail to the side or big hair and scrunches' in their hair was the style which gives me a lot of great ideas for my costume. They also wore tartan shirts, denim jackets and dull colours as well as bright colours. The costume for Doreen would be to wear bright pink tights with a pink top underneath a leather jacket and to wear black high heel boots.

Week 7 - Road

Due to only being in college Wednesday and Thursday this week all our lessons were dedicated to Road. After this week I do feel very disappointed in myself because I don't feel like I've put enough effort and time into this play like I should have. I'm annoyed that I've only just realised on the last week of rehearsal but it just means that this week and this weekend I will be working on Road none stop until I have improved. On Wednesday we started from page 17 of the script and wrote down feedback for each other. I got some feedback from Issie and Jack which I have been looking back to just like my previous feedback from Kirsty and Deborah.

 

 

My feedback from Deborah on Wednesday was:

 

• Improve on Manfred, Doreen and Lanes scene
• Search for the key longer in Bald and Doreen's scene and be flirty
• Remember your drunk
• Energy! and keep it high
• Say the line 'Don't Look' to the audience

After this feedback me and Jake who is Bald worked out that he would start searching for the keys on the left side and work to the middle of the audience and I would do the same but starting from the right side. We then would both meet in the middle where we would find the keys. I also have to act drunk and flirty for this scene so I thought I'd swap to each side and keep moving my feet to try and stand still because when your drunk you feel dizzy and as if everything around you is moving. To act flirty I will do embaressing flicks of the hair because when your drunk you think you look good doing it but in reality it's so embarressing so I think it would fit well. I also have to remember energy! because I want the audience to go home remembering me.

 

On Thursday we did a full run through of the play without interuptions and then at the end Kirsty and Laura gave us all some feedback. My feedback was:

 

• For everyone to remember to walk on stage in character no matter what!
• I need to be clearer vocally
• Slow down the pace when speaking
• Make Lane pull me from the bottom of stage to scullery
• Make 'Don't look' more giggerly, girly and put more action
• During Proffessor scene face front
• React to the proffessor during his last monolgue of our scene
• Remember to be northern when off stage for Mrs Bald
• If suppose to be watching Manfred be giggerly and react to him

Once I got this feedback it became obvious to me I really need to work on my vocal work which I've always had trouble with as I always speak quite fast. In order to resolve this I have been looking through my vocal exercies I have done and wrote about for voice on articulation to help me speak clearer so since then I've been using these exercies to help improve. I've came up with an idea of how I'm going to act when I say the line 'Don't look'. I'm going to point at everyone in the audience whilst saying the line and then turn around to put my leg up on the wall and look back to the audience and give them an over exaggerated wink. For the proffessors scene Laura suggested taking the recorder off the proffessor as Dor would see it as a spot light moment and look towards the auidence so they can see all the expression. We want to show the audience that Dor and the proffessor are close to each other and mayeb even good friends so that's the sort of relationship we want to put forward. I've been working on my northern acceent for Mrs Bald and have tried my best to bring the tone away from the one I use for Dor to show the different characters. Due to only doing the scene with Manfred a couple of times me and Kennedy thought about just being a bit giggerly as it's after we have been drinking and have her maybe rest on my shoulder because alcohol makes some people tired.

 

I'm going to be 100% committed to this play this upcoming week like I should of been all the way from the beginning. My priority is working on all my feedback this weekend and to go back Monday and to have improved. I look forward to performing and giving it everything I have in order to make sure the auidence goes home remembering me.