Term 2 unit 7 Skill Audit

Where am I?...

I think instead of where am I, I would like to know where I want to be. Not a place that I want to be in, but an improvement and target I want to hit. Throughout the whole two terms, I've learned a lot.

In term 1... Romeo and Juliet
I've learned to stay in character even though I got nothing to say. I'm able to understand that everyone on stage is important, it won't be a perfect show if one of us left, no matter how small your part is. I always look out at my position, I will never allow my back facing the audience zone during a performance, and for others as well, I will cheat on my feet and move a little distance away when I see myself blocking others. I'm always aware of the 'Kiss or Kill' position, I will only go near to one character when there's a necessary scene that says I need to, besides, I will stay more than a foot away from the character, this can prevent from stopping the character to move or do actions. We also did a lot of work about understanding on our character, the play focuses on two families and the detest between them. We were told to think of our character's background that doesn't show in the story, in order to give ourselves a rough outline of our character. 

In my first term, I also learned about freeze frame, we did a very cool freeze frame at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet play, both groups of people stood opposite each other, showing their hatred and ferocious face towards each other. I am able to freeze in a pose and not losing any of the energy even though the time is long. 

Overall, In this term, we've worked a lot on the basic acting skills and improved them to a higher level. Now, I'm still remembering the 5-top-tips that I learned from the workshop in Shaw Theatre. I will never forget what I learned from there and will take those abilities to work better for my upcoming performances this year. 

In term 2... The Three Sisters & The York Realist
We focused more on ensemble work, with the instructor from Donmar Warehouse, Toby. He has taught us many fun warm-ups like passing invisible energy ball, WA, etc.(more details here Sessions with Toby ) During the sessions with him, I found it really fun to start the class with games and end it with games as well, apparently we did a lot of gaming stuff. But surprisingly, they're all exercises that will build up our ability in acting unwittingly, that's the reason why I enjoyed a lot in Toby's lesson. I've learned how to improvise a short scene and also a short script, I might run out of ideas but if I continue to practice more or do more improvising exercises, I will be just as good as others. Memorizing script is really not my kind of thing as I got a short-term-memory brain, I will need to work harder than others all the time to catch up their speed. But since I've got contact with drama course before in my high school, I have skills that can make me more prevailing, at least not the worst. 

I learnt how to stay engaged with the others to present a very good teamwork, During the York Realist that we're performing, most of the scenes are to fill up the space and leave no big gaps, especially when we're playing with the energy ball. Also to stay with other characters on stage even if I have nothing to say in the scene for example, at the beginning of the scene of The Three Sisters, I interacted with Jaychelle (Olga) to show a closer relationship for the sisters. As both of us were sitting on a table, audience could see our legs under the table, so we sometimes kick each other to show how playful we were when we are with each other. 

a feedback sheet we need to fill in ourselves

This is a feedback sheet for us to fill in ourselves, to know how we did in the past few months.
My understanding of text - I understand text very well, I am able to tell the important points in a single sentence of what the character wanted to show.
My vocal projection - My projection of voice is not always a problem, I always had a louder voice during performance and I am able to let my voice be heard by the last row of the audience.
Timing - I often spend too much time memorizing my lines and I will lose my ques to say it because I did not spend time knowing what others say first.
Character - Same as my lines, I need more time than others to did it well, so I often drop out of character during rehearsals.
Movement - I usually do not show my nervousness on stage, so this is not a problem for me. I know exactly where I need to be the minute I stand on stage. I am aware of my blocking so that I do not show my back to the audience.
Focus - I put a lot of concentration during rehearsals, I actually need to work harder than others because I'm a very forgetful person, so during each rehearsal, I will put my best effort to remember everything and get all the instructions from tutor or others and also will note them down after.

My overall target and achievement: I need to work hard at picking up cues to prevent long pausing. In order to do well with my characterization, I can do some research about my character to know about their background, also search about what others think of this character because each person will have a different idea. This is the way to learn about my character well. I get to see which is the best way to play my character. 

How have I developed the skills I possess?...
My understanding of text actually aids me to memorize my lines faster, I get to understand the subtext in each sentence and also their objectives. I remember someone said that to me but I can't remember the person, he told me that 'the audience will never know if I said my lines wrongly'. These few years, I've always remembered this and so when I get my role for a play, I will look deeply into my character first and understand why would my character say each line. Because I can change the sentence myself but I can't change the personality of a character in a play.
I love to sing, vocal warm-ups has been my everyday routine, even though I can't sing really well, but lucky that I could still project my voice nicely. The reason I did vocal warm-up every day it's to avoid voice cracking every morning. It's a really embarrassing thing if you want to say a good morning to your neighbour in the morning but your voice crack. Most people think that vocal warm-up is just doing some weird sound that's it, yes if I want to project my voice nicely. But for an actor, that's definitely not enough, sometimes I do tongue twister as well, it leads me to pronounce every word clearly.
I also developed my movements on a stage, This is a hard one actually because some people will move more when they're nervous or some will be opposite but what if they're not supposed to that with their character? It's gonna be not natural enough to watch at. I am able to stay calm on stage and move to the blocking I'm supposed to be.