Evaluation

All three performances posed different challenges for me personally and the company as a whole. The first performance felt like there was a lot of pressure, the nerves were the greatest. I had no idea how the audience would react to the piece and this was extremely difficult. The second performance was not sold out and it was at four-thirty which meant there was a much younger audience. This posed the challenge of making a period drama appeal to fifteen year olds. The final performance also had pressure, the final show had to be good, but as we had already performed it multiple times I had to work extra hard to keep the lines feeling fresh and new.

One aspect of performing which is both difficult and vital is keeping the energy up. When off stage it is very easy to relax, however, when you go back on stage you are likely not to have the same level of focus of energy. I think I was able to keep this level of readiness fairly well, there were points in the first act when I found it extremely challenging as there were long gaps between when I needed to be on. Despite this I do not feel it effected my performance. The matinée did pose issues, the nature of the audience and the fact that a few things went wrong technically made the energy level of the whole cast drop. This was difficult to combat and I feel that I could have tried harder to remove the issues from my mind rather then let them effect my performance.

The style of the piece is interesting as it is a period drama yet the second act has large amounts of action. This juxtaposition resulted in the need for multiple disciplines to be executed. Posture and voice was key to setting the time period of the 1750s. Vast differences are seen between modern dress, movement and speech in comparison to those of the 18th Century. However, I then had to fight onstage whilst still having to maintain the sense of the time period. I found this element extremely difficult and believe there are elements I could have improved upon. One example of this is not losing the aristocratic nature of Alexander in the confrontation scene with Otis. It was a fine line and I believe that I managed to strike that line relatively successfully, however, could have improved by being more aware of the character rather then the raw emotions.

Reacting to things that happen on stage is one of the most difficult aspects of acting for me, when things don't go to plan it is crucial to be able to work around the issues. The key aspects of this are knowing the text inside-out but also being able to communicate with fellow actors and help each other out on stage. For example, in the final performance mine and Lucy's (Melissa) scene did not happen exactly as it was written, a line was missed. To us it was obvious but we tried to work through it together so that it was unnoticeable to the audience, I believe we did this very successfully. By supporting each other through things like that which undoubtedly will happen at times is very difficult but very important.

All of these issues that I faced personally or we faced as a group we dealt with relatively well and in the end performed Coram Boy three times, all at a high standard. The one thing that we had to keep in mind throughout the whole process was the audience and their reaction. The play would be pointless without an audience and they are the most important aspect. Making sure the story was told truthfully and excitingly was something we had to ensure was the case. This included opening up the acting so that it was not insular but allowed the audience in to the world of the characters. It also included making sure that we new exactly what was happening throughout the play and what was being conveyed. This was something that I think we, as a whole company did very well. We new the story and the script inside-out and loved it which allowed us to convey our engagement with the action in to the audience. This love for the play and full knowledge of the script, I think, was the major reason for our production of Coram Boy being so successful.