Halley's Blog

This week in theater started off with general feedback on our TPPP presentations. There were several things that I could improve on, some dealing with the actual presentation and some dealing with the content of my presentation. As far as the physical presentation is concerned I need to title and number each image and make sure to reference the image throughout the presentation. For example during my mock I forgot to mention the image showing me in character as Mickey from “Love Wins All”; in the future I will make sure that the image adds something significant to what I’m saying instead of just being a background. Additionally I can/should annotate around the images, in ways that I can then explain during the presentation. In my mock I could have labeled the different high school stereotypes to better prove my point to the examiner/audience.

               In terms of the way I presented my TPPP, I tried to get my audience to laugh by using a funny entry from my blog entry, however I’ve been advised not to use humor in that way (seeing as the TPPP is a formal assessment). Although my mock was pretty strong in terms of synthesizing different aspects of the course, I could have spiced up my narrative by using quotes from theatre practitioners. Also it is crucial to mention the conventions of the specific form , such as the conventions of commedia dell’arte and the difference between that and modern commedia. Lastly one of the most important elements is explaining and connecting the performance concept with all the other aspects of a production.

               The ensemble stayed after school on Wednesday for a one hour rehearsal of “Love Wind All” for the performance the next day. Thursday morning we got individual feedback as well as began work on the in class set design project for “Mother Courage”. I began working on the map of the stage to show all the different sets that move on and off the stage.  Throughout the morning I fretted about the school, very nervous the lunchtime performance of our commedia piece. Once we had our audience in the “safe” theater room we began…surprisingly I had great fun! The audience was laughing at our jokes and seemed to be really enjoying the performance! Lydia and Bekki even took on the spirit of commedia by improvising and had planted an actual map in the audience (with audiene member Isabelle). When I said my planned joke “Does anyone here have a map?”, she said yeah I do!! I was taken by surprise but I took it from her and continued with the scene, happily have overcome the challenge of audience interaction/improvisation!