Evaluation for final major project

To prepare for my final major project I use all the research I have gather over the year. Most of my research was consisted of secondary research that I done with my group and also by myself. I also done some primary research to help me get into character and to help me understand the play.   
Some examples of this were getting information from the playwright by getting her to come in and speak to us and having a guess speaker come in to talk to us about F.G.M.

Mistakes and accidents can happens anytime when performing,it's up to an good actor to overcome these mistakes and move pass them and keep on striving to become better.

When an actor is performing and they are in the moment, a lot of things could happen such as forgetting lines or missing cues. They could also be good things such as the reacting to a particular line in a different way which may caused a certain reaction from the audience. 

When I was in the acting and Was in the moment, sometimes I would completely react to certain line differently than I did in rehearsal because in that moment I reacted instinctively instead of what the stage directions said. For example in the scene with me ,Brunilda and Sally I was meant to react to Sally scaring us by running away ,but when we were performing to the other half of my class before the final show. I changed what I had done instead of running away pretended to trip and fall down. 

The audience reaction was much more positive so we decided to keep it for the  final play.

I believe that when you are in the moment, that can cause many things for the actors whether good or bad. This is because you live every scene step by step which caused the actors reactions to be authentic and in that moment you completely embodied your character.

I think my final performance went well because everything went to plan. Everyone remembered their lines and put 100% energy into their performance and as a group we all collaborated well together, all our hard work paid off. We used all the techniques we have learnt over the years from tutors and personal knowledge and put it all into our performance. Despite having problems with our lighting and sound we all managed to do the play successfully.

One thing that could be improved in my performance was that we during one of our changeover of a scenes there was a slight problem with someone forgetting to take off a prop but we worked around it. When performing a live piece of theatre you can expect something to go wrong either with the lights and sounds or props, but it's up to actors on how they recover from that and don't let it get to them and affect their performance.
Another thing that I thought we could have improved for our final performance was to slow down our the scenes. I think because everyone was so excited to perform that our performance felt like it was over in a blast.


As for my individual performance I thought it was pretty good overall such as I spoke with a loud and clear tone throughout the performance, making it easy for the audience to understand what my character was saying. One thing I would change is that in during some scenes I could have reacted faster to my lines because in the moment I was acting and reacting and was pretty good on picking up my cues but for some of my lines I felt that it could have been much faster which would have made the scenes better. From the audience's perspective the play was "quite interesting", "awesome", "very informative"  etc. We felt that the audience reacted the way we wanted them to meaning that they laughed at the comedic scenes and were very attentive to more serious scenes. Over it can be concluded that this play was enjoyed by both the audience and the actors.


In conclusion I felt that as a group our final performance was incredible because over the course of 4/5 weeks from when we got into groups and started this play, we all bonded together even more and got close with each other and that enhanced the relationship between everyone in the group. Having that bond between us made the play  more enjoyable for us when rehearsing and performing it, also it made our performance more entertaining for the audience to watched. One improvement for us as a group would be to make our scene transitions more effective and efficient because for some scene the changeover was slow and for other scenes the transition was smooth and done with ease.

What drama schools want

Drama schools are looking for people who are committed and determined to acting. They want actors and actresses that are able to work perfectly with anyone and any team and they also want them to be able to work great on their own. 

Drama schools want actors that are easily adaptable so this makes it easier for them to work with the actors. They also look for actors who are very well rounded background; for example, the actors not only has an interest in acting but they enjoy sports, science, history, etc. This shows that the actor is always keen on learning new skills as well as being devoted to their acting career. 

Three important things all drama school will look for in actors:

(1) Self motivation/self belief. The reason why drama schools will look for this is because acting requires a lot of hard work and consistency which some people may not able to cope with. Drama schools want actors who will stay motivated and believe in themselves no matter how many times they have failed which would be a valuable asset to themself and the drama school.

(2) In addition to self belief drama schools also want actors who are always looking to better themselves and improve. No one likes a self obsessed actor who thinks they have nothing to improve on. Actors that show that they are always willing to improve themself to become better is something drama schools want because this shows you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and you are able to improve on them because you know yourself and your acting capability. This is important because by always trying to improve yourself and making yourself a better actor it will motivate the people around you which in turn will make them better too.

(3) Self-reliance. As much as drama schools will help and support you they also want actors who are capable of supporting themselves from time to time. They want actors that they are responsible. They want them to be able to know what to do by themselves; for example, they need to learn lines, research about a play or make time to rehearse with their group.

This is the type of actor drama school want because it shows how passionate and dedicated their are to acting. Overall, I think drama schools want an actor or actress who has some talent and has the will and potential to learn and improve. 

Feedback for final play

For our final project we are doing a play called "Last Summer". The play follows the life of 3 teenagers and the challenges they faced and have to overcome.

The first character is called Massie and she's a polite and well mannered girl who's always looking to help everyone in which ever way she can. However she suffers from cancer which makes it hard for her to help people and get on with a normal life.

The second character is Sareeya and she's a fun and loveable girl who try's to live a simple but enjoyable life, she likes to hang out with her friends and and she is also a great big sister. Sareeya has been a victim of F.G.M (Female genital mutilation) which has caused her to have trust issues because she is not comfortable with herself anymore and has lost her self esteem.

The third character is called Jas. Jas is Muslims but he is not devoted to his religion, he can be funny and has a very inquisitive personality.

The character is gay and he is in denial of his sexuality this makes it hard for him because he is always questioning himself trying to find answers to why he is that way.

All three characters have one thing In common and that is the fact they all have their own individual problem that affect their life both mentally and physically, this makes life horrible and unpleasant for them, they all wish to have a normal life one day.

Some feedback I have gotten while performimg during rehearsals are;

Slow down while speaking in some scenes because by speaking too fast it makes it harder for the audience to understand what I was saying.

Also to work on my projection because there is a scene where I am laying on the floor and while speaking im facing upwards so the audience can't hear what I am saying 

I need do improve my projection for that scene.