Dress Rehearsal Evaluation

With our performance in Ashcroft being in a week, we did a tech and dress run in the Obie at school, with TTA setting up the space to resemble the Ashcroft as much as possible. This run through was crucial, for both the cast and crew. It was our first time wearing the microphones and having all the lighting and sound effects, so this would be a stop start rehearsal to begin with. As I have never worn a microphone before, I had to adjust my movement slightly to not disrupt the signal. Adam (who made my brilliant costume) had to slightly adjust my hat to accommodate the mic and my coat slightly so that the tail wouldn't rip off during the stream bit. 

As it was our first time performing in the space with all the props and with the correct spacing, we found we had to change the blocking of some scenes to be able to fit everyone in and prevent any accidents. I found working in the space useful because the atmosphere was created through having our set laid out. When doing my Eeyore scene it helped having the blocks there because Emily and I could properly practice our mirroring scene. We struggled with the stream slightly because the hatch was closer to us than we thought and there wasn't much space to roll, so we spent some time fixing that. I was really impressed with how well Harvey was moving with the puppet, considering he ad only worked with it a couple of times. He managed to make the puppet's movements continuous and they almost became one. We started to look at the bear instead of Harvey to show the children where to look. The pirate number needed re-blocking to accommodate everyone but it defiantly helped having all the props and the correct lighting to set us in the mood.  

Having said this, having the new spacing and new lighting/sound meant we had to change a few things and stop quite frequently to resolve issues. This is the expectations for a tech run, but it was slightly hard during the dress run. Having said this doing the run highlighted the issues that needed work, for example the court room scene was still lacking in energy so we had to work on that afterwards. The second run looked much better though. Due to having a full run through, it highlighted the scenes which needed some more sound effects such as the pirate number. We still needed to practice the splash sounds for when Peter, Khai and I all fall into the river or sea. The costume team also needed to make some adjustments due to microphones or physical movements. As I mentioned before my own costume had to be altered slightly, as did Dylan's to hide his microphone and ensure it was fixed securely on. 

Overall I think the runs were very successful considering it was the first time we had ever performed with our full set. There are obvious scenes which need improving but I am very proud of the crew and cast for pulling together and producing this show in a limited amount of weeks. At the moment I think our biggest common issue is the lack of energy and characterisation in some scenes. As we have been focusing on the routines and lyrics so much, I don't think some people have given enough time to think about their characters or they haven't translated over to the routines. This will improve with time for next week because the energy and adrenaline will be extremely high. Energy is so important for any performance, but especially for a children's piece of theatre because otherwise they will lose interest. The shows potential is immense and we all just need to raise the stakes a little more. The end to the piece is moving and strong and embodies our message beautifully. The more runs we do (three so far) the better it gets and the more energetic we become. I think next week will be very busy and tiring but incredibly energetic and exciting which will help make our piece stand out and memorable.

Image of what the Obie looked like during our tech run.