In this post I'm going to talk about a production of “A Comedy of Errors” by Shakespeare. The production we watched was produced in Britain and played on a small stage for children. The most challenging parts I think the actors must have encountered was their lack of a back stage. The stage was what looked like 12 by 12 feet or so and two feet off the ground. The rest of the area surrounding the stage had some thematic elements, a refrigerator for instance, but no backstage. The actors stored all of their props under and around the stage, accessing them quickly and efficiently, never having to look for something or distract the audience. It was seamless. There wasn't a small number of props or actors either, the play involved 10 or 12 people and 20 plus active props. The open-ness of the stage also didn't lend itself to the play, requiring the absence of one set of twins. Yet the actors pulled this off as well, making sure the twins never saw each other, even rotating doors on stage to hold the effect. Generally the hurdles the actors jumped to create the performance on such an interesting stage were large. Though their triumph in perfectly executing their performances in the unique space only added to the magical effect of the play.
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In this journal entry I am reflecting on the differences between the performances recorded of our rehearsal and our final performance of the rivals scene our group chose. I think our group improved a lot from the first recording to that of the final. The interactions between Ms Malaprop and Lydia Languish improved greatly. The physicality definitely added to their performances. The interaction between me and my father Captain Absolute definitely improved. It was difficult to show captains traits while also appearing submissive to my father, especially because he was a head shorter than I was. I feel the physicality between us could have definitely been refined further, especially with the aspect of eye contact. These aspects could have been improved by us being of script and having more time in a larger stage. Though it could have used improvement, the difference in quality from our first rehearsals and our final is large. Over all, I think the performance from an improvement aspect was a success for all the characters in our scene. |
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