30th & 31st May (Wednesday & Thursday)
We were asked to perform both days Wednesday and Thursday for two times each, so we're actually performing the same thing for four times.
What I think I did well
- In the urban street scene, I kept my freezing position in much energy and did not change my facial expression even though I think no one will look at me during that time when Kojo is speaking in the center of the stage.
- In scene 5, when I'm taking Kojo around the refuge, I imagined the bathroom and bedrooms at where they supposed to be, and I pointed them out in a believable way that the audience might also get to see my imagination
- In scene 9, when Kojo met the social worker, I moved my chair to face the front more so the audience could see the expressions I made when I think the social worker is talking nonsense.
- During my short monologue in the same scene, the other characters will stay freezing and I stood up while I was talking, to be in a funny way, I spelled out the "Mustash" that the social worker wrote wrongly. I also took his clipboard to show that I'm actually reading his note when I say "the young adult has a light mustache and a deep voice. That's what he'll put in Kojo's note."
- In the second last scene when I am on stage as Girl Two, I did a lot of "bitchy" movements like playing with my hair or look around the audience seats to show that I'm eyeing for boys. And when Girl One says "this is what we always do" I took my phone out to take selfies. To show it more realistic, I turn my volume to the loudest so when I really take pictures, the sound of a picture is taken will be heard by the audience.
What I think we did well
- Again, the freezing scene was so good when everyone walks into their position and stop moving until Kojo says "it starts...now". Everyone continues with what they were doing before freezing, Girls talking to each other, Cleaner starts sweeping the leaves on the ground, Woman with buggy walking leisurely with her baby. The whole stage becomes so lively that everyone was doing different things but all were so nice to watch at the same time because we worked as an ensemble.
- In all the scenes when the man died, everyone shouted over each other, the chaos was so real to watch at as everyone on stage started to focus on the man and there're fear, panic, fright going on.
- We used the area on the stage wisely as we leave enough space for others to go through but not too far away, we did not leave the awkward gap between one another. And when there're scenes with less than five people, they are aware of their blocking, they make sure everything happens in the center of the stage.
- Everyone did a fantastic job picking their cues, there are no long pauses during the performances. In scene 21, Hassan and I did very well shouting over each other's line, it has risen the intensity to the highest, then all broke down when Kojo stops us by saying "ok, it's ok". I love this scene because it was full of different emotions by the characters that can be clearly seen by the audience.
- I like Kojo's acting the most, he breaks the 4th wall very often throughout the play so means he needs to be in and out of this character in a single scene. When he tells the audience about the story, his voice is loud and clear, he will add the sad expressions when he started to talk about his family. But when he's in the character of Kojo, even though his voice is still able to be heard it has actually gone much softer than when he talks to the audience. He was really scared about most of the thing, when he first meets Ara, he doesn't even dare to go nearer but only stays a distant away. His eyes were very unsure, whenever someone is talking to him, he wouldn't look into the eyes of that person, he often looks around to show the insecurity of him.
Overall: We all did an amazing job for all four performances, our confidence and energy were stronger after each show, we did not lay back thinking doing the same show is boring. We used all the skills we earned throughout the year and pour it in to this final performance, I can't say this is a very perfect show, but we did our very best to perform it. Running a show is not easy, and we did four amazing shows in two days, I'm really proud of the results after putting so much effort in during rehearsals. Thinking back to the first performance this year, Romeo and Juliet, my improvements from there had gained so much and I definitely learned more than I can imagine. I'm looking forward to next year, performing a brand new style of play.
