Our House - SHOW WEEK - Day 1 - Tech and first dress run (x1)

In the morning we decided that we would start by gathering a list of props and set that are included throughout the performance and start creating them if necessary.

Myself, Harry and Raven took charge of painting the tires black. As they were previously orange and green. As well as also painting pieces of ply wood white ready to be written on for signs in Our House. Such as Pressman Developers and KEEP OUT!. I took the task to find appropriate fonts for the signs so we had a guide of how to design them rather than doing it free hand and messing it up.

We then also continued to look for props that we could use in wings of a dove and the beginning and end of Our House in order to make more of the opening and ending.

After this we then went over some dance routines that we felt looked a little under rehearsed or had moments where we were unsure of what to do. These included:

• Wings of a Dove
• Our House
• Sun and the Rain
• Baggy Trousers

Wings of a Dove
We sorted the ending as we cut a little of the instrumental out as it was very repetitive and would lose momentum from ourselves as performances as well as the concentration of the audience. Therefore it consists of two verses and 3/4 choruses. We also get into our final positions of the dance and sing the final line here whilst raising one of our arms up. We felt that this way the ending would look smoother and not feel as rushed. It meant it would have that warm tone that we wanted to create as the song itself slows down at the end. Almost emphasising the exaggeration and over dramatic atmosphere of the 'Las Vegas' wedding.

Our House
We mainly focused on our formations and structure rather than the dance itself. We were figuring out who needed to be downstage and who would be upstage. Trying to figure out the best way to have everyone on stage but to not block anyone drastically. We decided as a class that the main cast should be downstage as we get to know these characters more throughout the show as well as the fact that they have dialogue that needs to be heard over the band.

Baggy Trousers
We refined movements and sorted out spacing again as we found when we were onstage we had less space to move around in. For example, in our little fight duet phrase we were all clumped together and out of time. To sort this we individually got marked into an area and to keep timing we follow the pair of dancers who are the furthest downstage in order to make sure that we are all completing the phrase at the same pace. We also discussed that when we put our chairs away that when we come back into lines we need to all start with the same arm in order for it to look sleek. In order for us to be able to do this as we come into the phrase the line already there needs to set the motif and all be in unison. So when we join we just have to work out the arm of the person to our left then join. Also a reoccurring thing we all need to work on is energy - at the beginning we seem to not have any and by the time we get to the end we have loads. We need to spread this through the entirety of the dance and make big elaborate gestures. For example, jumping and large/leg movements. This will create a visually engaging piece and show dynamics such as jerky, sharp movements that may have gone unnoticed.     

FIRST DRESS RUN

• BACKSTAGE CHAOS -In our first we came across problems instantly. The space backstage. During the performance we have a lot of set that needs to be rough onstage at various moments. However, it wasn't organised and was clumped in front of the curtains making it hard for people to exit and enter the stage. In order to prevent this I suggested that we put all of the set and props needed for Act 2 in the workshop and switch over Act 1 and Act 2 set and props during the interval.
• QUICK CHANGES - Another problem myself and Megan encountered was our quick changes. At one point I was dressed but Megan wasn't so we had to adlib a little onstage in order to give her some time to get ready. We decided after the show to wear the same costume for two scenes in a row as we wouldn't of had time to change into something new without missing our cue.
• CUES! -  Backstage we found it difficult to hear our cues which resulted in us standing right next to the curtain which resulted a lot in collisions with set and cast.This also linked with the fact that we need to be a lot louder onstage, especially if we have the bands underscore to contend with. This means that everyone needs to be silent when backstage so we have the most access to hearing what's going on onstage. For us as actors means we need to project more and direct it above the audience.
• COSTUME - Another issue we had was costumes. Some people when they came offstage just threw there costume where ever they wanted in order to be ready for their next cue. This meant that props and costumes were getting lost resulting in later cues later on in the show. To prevent this we need to have our own little areas where we always go to, to pick up costume, props and put them back.
• DOWNSTAGE - As actors when myself and other cast members are onstage we need to move downstage more as we are staying upstage too much meaning its hard to hear us as well as the audience possibly feeling unconnected and distant from us. In order to help prevent this I suggested with my fellow duo partner Megan that we should enter diagonally downstage towards the audience as we often just walk in a straight line preventing us from moving downstage. As she often starts off our dialogue and is first on stage I said to her to walk downstage in order for our little moments to be closer to the audience making it more interesting and varied in terms of structure/formations.
• DRIVING IN MY CAR SCENE - During this scene we need to adlib more and be more relaxed in terms of movement and how we interact with each other. As we all appear to be very tense and being silent when this should be quite a rowdy scene in terms of mine and Megan's characters as we are disgusted by the car and don't want to be here. Therefore, in order to make it more interesting I add a few extra lines in here and there such as "Why are we here", "No it isn't!" and "I can't believe we're doing this!" This is to show the negative and repulsed emotion my character is feeling. I also show this through facial expressions. Such as raised eyebrows and disgusted movements.