The Globe Halloween tour

 Our first show all together as a whole class with First and second years went incredible well. It has exposed me to what to expect in the future, who am I working with and how we work well as a team, our resources, how to develop characters and most importantly how to engage different types of audience. This was an interactive audience who were placed right inside the scene. As my character, john walker, I had to engage the audience by surprise as I appear out of nowhere for different scenes but is also a vehicle for relatability and someone who the audience can see as safe. I worked with the tour guides for most of my scenes meaning when I was there my poupous was to share information to the audience. To keep them engaged I was loud, confident and felt what was going on in the room by observing the audience and there positions. Over all I believe I did a good job with john walker as a character, I went with the more light hearted comedic relief persona as the tour guides who I performed with had taken a much more creepier and vicious tone than the last two. Although I felt like I did do a good job, I felt like I did get carried away with a few scenes and lost some focus.

The venue was brilliant and was an absolute pleasure to perform in. The spaces we had to work in were outstanding and cleverly put together to be the creepiest it could of been. Different lighting was provided from the technicians and sound effects in each scene which made it all the more immersive and  thrilling for the audience, We tweaked different lighting and sounds to make the tour more interactive, for example the ending the audience can choose which jack the ripper to execute, either one or all three, if they chose all three then the lighting and sound effects would have to accompany three executions. 

A photo of me as John walker staring at people:

What have I improved on?

I feel I have improved as an actor because of this new experience, I have never had to engage with an audience in that way before and I see why it can be more difficult but more rewarding. My improv skills have definitely improved a lot as most of my appearances and interactions with the audiences and the tour guides require a lot of quick thinking and spontaneous actions. I also feel that I can develop a character better by experimenting with performing and seeing what works and what doesn’t. As I explained earlier I did lose focus in some scenes and strayed away from my character, I now know how to characterise myself better.

The experience,

My characters first appearance is at the very beginning, where he surprises the tour guides with a lantern that he explains will help them through the tour. He comes off like everyone already knows him and is surprised to find that they don’t know who he is. I went for a laughable approach to this by engaging the audience asking them if they knew who I was and laughing it off. I then perform my monologue which explains who I am to which the tour guides brush it off and leaving me behind calling me “mr match man”. My next appearance is that of another surprise to the audience and tour guides where I explain I am here to keep an eye on the lantern and make sure everything is going alright. I then ask if they are heading into the next scene which allows me to explain to the audience where we are and what they are heading into.I then improvise a small scene where I was staring at them (the second picture) which pulled of really well and was quite eerie. Another surprise to the audience again where I then explained my distrusted for the tour guides and how the to keep the lantern safe as it is a ghost light protecting everyone from the danger of the tour. My final scene is one that ends the tour after a dramatic finish where I am obviously angry and heard the audience away before I blow out the ghost light. 

The show was an all around success and I really enjoyed my time there. I appreciate the venue for letting us perform there and to my course for such an experience.