I feel my performance went as well as it could have possibly gone for that time. However, if I were to perform again, would I change things?.. Yes!
Don’t misunderstand me when I say that I want to change things and take bits out or add bits in. I am simply saying that if I had to perform the piece again [For a second time] I would focus on more details and elaborate aspects further. For instance, I would have wanted more than one run through with both light and sound effects. This would [I feel] make the piece tighter and seem more professional and too the point; it would also send messages to the audience, as to why I chose to do certain things.
An example of this is my lighting cues; I would say “So I joined a gym!” {and then look over to a dark space} The darkened space would then illuminate, revealing another section in the piece. I would then walk over to that section and as soon as I stepped into it, the previous section that was lit; would snap to black. Telling the story that I thought of somewhere, it appeared and both myself and the audience were transported there and thus left the previously lit centre space behind. I did try for this effect within my piece however, I didn’t feel it was quite up to the level i would have liked; although this is something I would work on, I am not blaming or accusing my technician in any way.
This image is of my Space just before hand; near the top of the image in the centre hang two pieces of shattered mirror. Whilst performing, these mirror shards had dim light angled on them; this would give the effect of moving reflections from time to time. However, the mirrors were only coated glass on one side and therefore didn’t have any reflective qualities when showing their backsides. This is something I should have considered more and should have then stuck two mirrors together; to give both sides access to the light and thus creating a continuous reflection.
As for other resources that I would have changed or altered; the only other major aspect would have been the additional use of image to help the audience visualise my weight gain. I carried out this method for my loss of hair; using images to show the transition from before university to the current day, but I didn’t do it for the other. This I feel, would have been a better example than my previous method of sucking my stomach in then gradually pushing it out. Although, this added comedic affect at the time; due to the rapid movement of my belly. I do feel that the performance would have been more visually appealing if i had used images then; like I did later on in the show aforementioned.
Apart from these slight issues and changes, I do think that I would have kept the rest of my performance pretty much similar to the one I performed. As, I am both happy and proud with the piece I performed and would be undermining myself too much if I were to change and edit most of the contents within it.
I will finish this post with some very thought provoking words,
“For when Shakespeare wrote “enter the ghost of Banquo,” he did not have in his mind merely a player clothed in a piece of gauze. Nor had he done so, had he been preoccupied with gauze and limelight, would he ever have created the Ghost in Hamlet; for the ghost of Hamlet’s father, who moves aside the vails at the beginning of the great play, is not a joke; he is not a theatrical gentleman in armour, is not a farce of a figure. He is a momentary visualization of the unseen forces which dominate the action and is a clear command from Shakespeare that the men of the theatre shall rouse their imagination and let their reasonable logic slumber”
(Chamberlain and Craig, 2008, 129)
This is to say that, what we imagine in our minds; is merely a creation of all mighty power and presence. We cannot dream to make such visions a reality, but if we try our hardest to conjure up this image in our mind then it gives us a sense of purpose to try and succeed in creating our vision.
Work Cited:
Chamberlain, F and Craig, E.G. (2008) On the art of the theatre, Vol. 1. Edited by Franc Chamberlain. London: Taylor & Francis.