The 100 Years Photos

Follow this link and you will be able to see all of the photos taken from the 100 Years show:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ad6s6qejvg5ozth/2xv5R67j2p/100%20years/100%20years#/

Our Final Two Shows

On Thursday, we did our final two physical theatre shows of, "100 Years", they both had bigger audience's than the first night, which was great. The 4.30 show went really well, the audience all seemed to really enjoy it and I took on board all of the notes that I have been given.

I made sure Cameron and I used the space and extended our movements in the Recruitment scene. I was also very aware of timings and made sure I took my time in everything. I used the space in the trance-like scene and walked right to the edge of the stage where there was a gap and I also made sure to use the space in the Fat Cats scene, even though, for some of it, that meant standing on my own, but I could play with my money and develop my character further.

It went really well and I was really excited to perform it again later in the evening.

The 7pm performance went really well too, it was the last time we were all going to be together and perform, so I was determined to make it the best performance I could. It all went really well and I kept up my character, the back stories behind all of my characters, my emotions and I stayed focused and ready back stage.

There was a technical fault where the music didn't come on for the last scene, but I spoke to my parents and friends who came to see it and they said, they didn't notice, because the silence was really effective.

In the section where we have to look at the women, as they go through the boxes, and we stand at the back watching, there was a minor setback when Gus collapsed next to me on stage. At first I thought it was part of the physical theatre piece and he was improvising, but I looked at him and could tell he was over-heating. I picked him up of the floor and he told me he was fine, but I told him to go and get a glass of water, so he quickly went off stage, where Sean in TTA looked after him. It was a little scary, as I wasn't sure what to do, but again, my parents said that they thought it was part of the piece, so I guess it looked effective.

Apart from this minor setback, we were able to continue and go on with the rest of the piece and make it effective and moving for the audience. Who all seemed to love it.

I have really enjoyed being a part of 100 Years and it has been so nice to work as a year group again after not seeing people for ages. It was our final performance in the New Theatre as a group and I feel like we all did it to the best of our ability. I feel like I have worked really hard this term, both in rehearsals and in shows and that I have had a positive and appropriate attitude throughout this process and I have worked hard to make sure I performed to the best of my ability, whilst having respect and staying aware of the subject that we're performing about.

First Show Notes

The show on Thursday night was really good. I think we all put physical theatre to the back of our minds, while all of our individual plays were going on, but I think it went a lot better than we all expected. We had quite a small audience, but we expected that because none of us were going to be in the audience. It would have been nice to have a few more people there, because the whole show went so well.

Nothing went wrong and it was really great to see and hear people's reactions to it afterwards. They all seemed to really like it and the teachers came out teary eyed. They said that most people in the audience were crying and that it was so good and moving. It was so nice to hear positive feedback for all of the hard work we put into making this piece and I can't wait to perform the others.

These are the notes that Simon gave to improve even more:

- Slow the exits from the first moment. After Tuwaine talks, listen to the recording, don't just run off stage.
- There were some lovely moments, expand them- make these moments last longer.
- Explore more details of the piece.
- Fat cats, make sure they're noises and not words and have no more than 3 people in a meeting, or it looks crowded, use the space.
- We need to just work the ending a little more.

These notes will really help to make our final two shows, as good as they can possibly be.

Thursday: Run 1: Notes

These were Simon's notes for our first run through of the show in the New Theatre on Thursday:

- Good, moving, thought-provoking.
- It's going really quickly, feeling a bit rushed, slow down - you have a lot of time.
- Everything needs to go slower to allow people to watch it all.
- When you're all on stage at once, it becomes cluttered - use the whole stage space - go right to the edges.

- Opening: our talking should be low level noise, focus on the house lights going out. Tuwaine judges when to come forwards. It took too long, as soon as he steps forward we need to be silent and attuned to what is happening on stage.
- As he moves the silence drifts down the rostra, like a ripple effect. Do not shush anyone. Wait for the silence, all attention on T.
- Make sure you fill the space, there were big gaps with no-one in them and a lot of us clumped together upstage.
- When we speak at the beginning - deliver those lines, speak loudly and clearly and let yourself be heard, "When I think about the First World War, I think of..."
- Listen to the recording like you've never heard it before. Take a longer time to leave the space. Actively listen to the recording.

- The Recruitment: Space your chairs out and use the whole space. Stay until the change in the music happens. Wait until it stops - until you leave. At that point Cameron and I were the only two left on stage, when we should have all still been there.
- Enjoy the moment, don't panic and rush off stage. You know what comes next and you can take as long as you like to get there. Slow everything down. Remember to keep telling the story as you leave.

- Bar Call: look left, look right, then move - take your time. You know the distance you need to travel, so move to the appropriate speed to get there.
- Keep your back or profile to the audience, do not turn around and look at the audience.

- Marching: It's too fast, slow it down or it goes way too quickly.
- Harrison shouts the orders too, or it's too quiet.
- We'll have a whistle for the real performance.
- Hold your gun left to right and drop it for the women's section.

- Boxes Section: Leave slowly, come up very slowly and watch the box.
- When you take the box do it slowly, place the box back and go off stage.

- Fat Cats: No words - snorts/laughs/giggles/noises, but no spoken words.
- Animalise it - snorts, belches, burps- make it horrendous/grotesque/animal like- the line between human and animal is blurred.

-Line at the end: Shuffle yourself, move and line yourselves up into a line and make sure who is in your next line.
-Go when the people next to you go, it goes down a line at a time.

These notes were really helpful and they're really going to allow me to improve my performance for our first show.