Performance Day

Today, we did our performance twice; once to a class and the other to our real audience. Both were very different and contrasted because of the audiences' ages and qualities. Also, we ran through all the different sections and transitions of the show so that we were all clear on what we were doing.

Practice Audience
The first audience had passed my window group on their way to the foyer for the show to begin, and we didn't realise it was them at the time until they had gone past and the initial surprise we wanted them to feel wasn't going to be there anymore. So when the piece began, they knew that we were there, but they still watched our part as a respectable audience would and moved on. When we ran through to get to our promenade line part, we didn't know how to get past the audience because we didn't want to go through the front and break the concentration they had on the locker people, so we squeezed behind them and had to use an alternative route to get to our places due to the fact that the audience were moving so much quicker than we thought they would have. So if we had gone up to our places via the stairs we planned to take, we would have had to squeeze past the audience and they would have seen us run to our places and start.
The transition from the promenade to the speed dating was smooth and went according to plan, but the speed dating didn't. The boys who sat down at my table didn't understand why we weren't replying to them and some of them got frustrated and left before the time was up. There were different approaches to trying to coax an answer out of us from gentle talking and guessing what we wanted to say to aggressive ways of asking where they were direct, quite rude about it and intimidating. The range of reactions I got were interesting because this is a situation which threw the actor/audience relationship for them and they didn't know what to do or how to react, so they left out of confusion and perhaps copying what all their peers were doing in an attempt to look 'cool'. This was one thing that I wasn't expecting so if it were to happen again, I was prepared.
Everything else went according to plan and the audience were very cooperative and helpful with feedback.

Proper Audience
The proper audience were a lot more cooperative and mature than the first audience because on the speed dating part, there wasn't anybody walking out or making comments. The men I had at my table for speed dating were actually quite sweet and they reacted how I had expected them to. I could see that they were confused and it might have kicked their self-esteem down a little bit but they understood that I wasn't talking because I couldn't not because I didn't like them.
The transitions were smooth, quick and lasted about 2 minutes. The audience didn't get in the way and some of them actually helped move the chairs. The gameshow went very well and the positioning was better than the first run-through because at first, the scientists and the panel were too close together and it looked like they were one whole panel. This time, they were separated and both in good lighting.
The chair transition from the gameshow to the dance and physical part was slightly more different because I wasn't expecting to have as big of an audience as we did. Some of us danced the chairs to their place and others danced the audience to the seats and those who were dancing the audience to their seats were only really meant to take one member at a time, but they had to take two people at a time by the hand. Some of the audience members went along with it and let themselves be pulled and danced to wherever, but some others weren't so sure of the actors and may not have trusted them so they were a bit more difficult to move. Otherwise it could have been because they're uncomfortable with physical contact from people who they don't know. People can be quite reserved with the hand holding but it worked and we got them to their seats quickly and it was fun for them.

I think on the whole, the performance went really well because nobody forgot lines, dropped the energy and the audience were always intrigued. If I were to perform it again, I would change where my window group come back inside the building to one of the two fire exits to avoid the audience: one behind the space, somewhere the audience wouldn't be accessing whatsoever or another fire exit which is in another corridor that is further away, but only by a little bit and it's right by the stairs.
Personally I think I did well because I didn't drop the energy, lose my physicality or character, my Australian accent was sturdy and it didn't falter into my normal accent. The only thing I would have improved about my performance is contact with the audience. Even though I was speed dating at a table, I didn't lead any of them to the chairs after She Loves Me She Loves Me Not and my eye contact went above their heads. I only looked a few of them in the eye.

The Gameshow "She Loves Me She Loves Me Not"

This a gameshow that explores how complex a text can be. What does this mean? What does that mean? Are they into you or not? You find out in this show.

I assume many people have experienced the confusion of what a text from someone means, mainly from someone they fancy. This part of the performance explores that. We have Gavin as our presenter, Zach as Alfred Prufrock, Phoebe, Alex and Jordan as a panel, Alice and Amaya as the pretty ladies who reveal the text on the board, Nina, Catherine, Milly, Tiffany, Jesse and Katie and the singers who sing the jingles, intro and outros and Nina plays the guitar for them. Finally, we have The Scientists.

The Scientists consist of Gus (Dr Heinrich), Emily (Dr Higginsbottom), Holly (Dr schmaul) and me (Dr Boron). Our role in this is to analyse the text and give a final, concrete answer as to what this mind-boggling text actually means  because we are the scientists of love. We each have our characters for this sorted and we're all wearing geek glasses in this to look more intellectual.
Gus is an old German scientist with a hunchback and he walks with his legs slightly bent. His voice is slightly high pitched with a squeaky tone to it.
Emily is a posh and articulates her words with yet again a squeaky but nasal voice. She has a bolt-upright posture at all times.
Holly has a casual posture and a casual voice but speaks very as-a-matter-of-factly. Everything she says is said in a way that says no questions asked. I'm right end of.
I am an Australian scientist with elegance and I glide in. I'm last in thee line but my scientist self will still attract attention. I decided on an Australian accent because I can't really be boring and alter my voice, I need to do something interesting and an Australian accent is one I am particularly good at.

The order of the show goes thusly:

1. Voice introduces "Dr Luuuurve" (Gavin) and he walks onstage
2. Singers sing intro
3. Dr Luuuurve introduces the show and Alfred
4. Bring on Alfred (his theme tune)
5. Alfred introduces himself and his problem
6. Bring on panel (their theme tune)
7. Bring on scientists (their theme tune)
8. Pretty ladies reveal text
9. Dr Luuuurve gets opinions of the panel
10. Dr Luuuurve gets actual meaning off scientists
11. Back to Alfred for verdict
12. Tense wait
13. Alfred still doesn't know
14. Gavin ends show

The Ball/Waltzing

After the gameshow, we do the waltz as part of an exploration about dance cards and dances. At the beginning of this, Alice is talking to the audience about dance cards and how they worked. When she's finished, the girls choose a boy to dance with and start waltzing around the space. Everyone apart from Amaya, Jesse, Milly and Catherine who are particularly gifted at the waltz and chose one lucky audience member each to dance with. This pushes the audience/actor relationship because we are involving them in the piece and they are being danced with by actors. I'm hoping that they don't refuse and stay in their seat because not many people there have taken part in immersive theatre and will get worried about what we might do to them, they may not want to trust the actor. If this does happen, I'd be interested to see how it is handled by the actors.

Individual Lines In The Promenade

We were all given a line each from the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock to say on repeat and come up with actions or something we could do whilst we're saying the lines. My line is "Let us go then, you and I" and the first thought that came to my head was a holiday that me and this person could run away to and I wanted to do something simple but effective. So I decided to make a paper airplane whilst saying my lines.
I decided on a paper airplane  because airplanes are what I tend to associate with a holiday and once I finish my line, I could fly it then make another one and start again. I suggested this to sarah but then she said if I were to speak out my line I would have to stand up otherwise my voice would be projected to the floor  and not to the audience. So she suggested a recording or just making sure the writing is big and bold so the audience can read it from a distance. I decided on making the writing bigger and more bold because everyone was using voice in theirs and I didn't want to make a recording then noone hear it.
The place I chose to perform my little piece is by the radiator because it's at a bit where the wall goes inwards so I would have space to write on the paper and the audience wouldn't have to go out of their way to make sure they didn't step on me.

Use of Sign Language

We've decided to use sign language in our piece because it is another way of communicating but for those who have hearing impairments. It's a language you have to learn though, and if sign language is the only language you know, it can be frustrating to talk to someone who doesn't know how to sign because they don't understand you.

We use it after the physical part. We are split into two sides and are still, facing the walls. Just Rachel and Katie are in the middle talking to each other in sign language at first: Katie is saying "tell me how you feel" and Rachel is saying " I don't know anyone" then they start signing to the audience. Then one by one, we come in and start signing the same thing as Rachel or Katie, depending on which side you came from. We keep repeating ourselves and become more frustrated because nobody can understand us, and the audience would surely become unsure of what to do here.

The Physically Unable To Speak Bit

At the beginning of the term, we were split off in 4/5 different groups and given a sequence of movements. These movements showed how it felt not to be able to talk or trying to tell someone something but you can't say it. It's the build up of anger and frustration from not being able to say how you feel. The movements can be punching your hands, nervously kneading (like what cats do or what you do to dough) or going to collect your heart from a previous lover and giving it to someone else only to get pushed away. We're dotted around the space in a ball at the start and we've all been given numbers so number by number, you get up and do your mmovements. Like a cannon. After that, we all start doing the same sequence of movements then gradually, one by one start leaving the stage. But as we do this, we have to have contact with Tiffany who is the last one remaining in the space. We can have physical contact and Sarah brought in eye contact too because us all making a swarm andd stroking her looked a bit weird.

For this bit, we have to use our facial expressions a lot too because we have to show emotion fully, both physical and facial to make it as real and relatable to the audience as possible.

"I Love You" in different languages

At one point in our piece, we say "I love you" in diifferent languages. We have it in: Italian, Welsh, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, German, French, Sign Language, Finnish, and other various languages. I'm saying it in French and it is "Je t'aime" (pronounced "juh tem". The "j" is gentle, like the 'j' in nicki minaj)

I like this bit because I get to speak french and because we say I love you in different languages including sign language because unfortunately some people don't register it as a proper language because it's not verbal. I think this part is at the end of the show because the words "I love you" are finally said to this person/audience and there is something beautiful about using all the languages because they all sound very different, but they mean the same thing.