Unit 9 - Developing Performance and Production skills

 Task A - my journey through year one 

I had an incredible journey through year one, I had never been as busy in my life. There was so much I learnt and so much that’s been added to my craft not only just on stage but on screen as well. I have took on a range of different characters and have gained so much experience throughout my first year. from  interactive that pieces to musicals, straight plays, student lead performances and some very emotional heavy plays on stage and even on screen. 

Ghost light tours:

this was my very first performance in year one, it was very difficult to start of with to. I had not done alto of interactive theatre in my time so being thrown in the deep end expected to handle any curve balls and maintain a believable performance was going to be a good fist stretch. I play the character of jonnie walker, the inventor of the match. there was a great change from usual, that I had a lot of freedom to develop this character for the show, although he is a real person, I still had a lot of room to make him a great character that fit the show. Jonnie walker would pop in and out of the tour to warn the audience, inform them on what they are stepping into, and providing a little comic relief (in my opinion).  A big fist step in the right direction. 

Peter Pan:

Now this was a big one! after going though round an round of audition I proved to myself that in this next chapter I was ready to take on the lead role. I knew I had a big challenge ahead of me. I had done many musicals before but I wouldn't say at this level in a professional theatre before, having more of a responsibility this time round I really showed me what mores at stake, I knew this was a lot a leadership task. I captured a great deal of the original peter pan as well has putting my own cheeky twist on it, he's an 11 year old boy with no parents left to fly about on an island of course he was going to be cheeky. I have to say this also tested my vocal range a lot more than any other musical, there was so many high notes to hold at a good quality and the last song really proved difficult but I managed well. Working with everyone and supporting castmates was such an unreal experience. I was also stage manager for this show and having never taken on a production role before I really learned a lot more about what goes on back stage. I am overall very pleased with my lead role debut at the Stockton arc. 

Tides:

Now i have necver acted for screen my entire life and it is my ultimate goal, so I really did try for the role of jack in the college feature film. A character struggling to come to terms with his diagnosis of cancer an then who inadvertently destroys the relationships around him. Until this I had never played a serious role before and this was very heavy, and after carefully consideration with a lot of competition I manged to get the role of jack. This was such a big step in the right direction, I loved working Infront of the camera and I loved taking direction. the film turned out amazing and I have to give props to film and tv for doing such an amazing job. I learned a lot about the difference between acting on screen compared to on stage especially when it comes to portraying emotions. When it came to the premiere it was time to evaluate myself. I reckon I could of squeezed more range of emotion in there but the film looks beautiful and the cast did such an amazing job.

Connections:

since I had played such a big part in the feature film I wasn't allowed to get a main role or any other in the connections play. I then became part of the ensemble which was also another lesson in theatre, I had never been part of the ensemble before and it was great to build the world around the main cast. We took "Shout" the connections script to York and it was great to work in another outside professional theatre. I made my character from the ground up and named him Darwin, I gave him a backstory and everything so this also helped with how I would develop a character. Eventually we actually too this play to the National theatre after being chosen, this was incredible news, taking it to the national theatre was like a dream come true and such an amazing opportunity for everyone. this leg of the journey showed me how you don't even need a main role to add to the story. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest:

This was our final year performance so it had to be a stretch. This was a very heavy piece, it had so many layers with so many different characters that each had there own dark and twisted troubles. I instantly took interest in the character Billy Bibbit, not only did I fit the Description but I also knew that he was the most layered character in the whole of the play. After going through a new and different audition process I managed to get the role of Billy. This took so much research and development to perfect but when i got out on stage as Billy I was the most confident I ever was. I loved taking on such a heavy emotional role and what a way to finish off the year.