BTEC LEVEL 3 DIPLOMA IN
PERFORMING ARTS (MT) PERSONAL EVALUATION SHEET
Student Name: RUTH
KETY MARTINO
Assignment Title:
Date
Set:
Completion Date:
Module
Tutor: DOMINIQUE NEVILLE Lead
IV: DOMINIQUE NEVILLE
UNIT NO(S):
UNIT TITLE (S):
Dress
Rehearsal Date 1: 21ST MAY
Performance
Date 2: 25TH JUNE
My approach
to class has be exceptional on my behalf because I truly enjoyed every second
of Complicite as the games which were a warm up; were fun and it allowed me to
concentrate more quicker than normal.
Learning a lot in a short space of time has been beneficial for me, due
to me not knowing anything about Physical Theatre at all. This topic has helped
me to engage and be up for learning something new even though it might sound
strange to me. The teaching by Dominique herself and our visitor from the
Complicite (Joyce) has enabled me to have strong discipline upon myself as I
didn’t want to distract others, or have the mindset of ‘this being boring’,
because I might miss out on important information’s. I found it interesting
every time I had a lesson or workshop with them as I always knew in the lesson
my mind would be filled with new facts that I didn't know about for example to
do with the ‘Women Rights’.
In every
lesson I come half hearted with not knowing what I can expect from the lesson,
however I do become focused enough to keep me going through the lesson as that
is the only way forward from learning and being able to follow instructions.
Although once we get into the warm ups, of the number game I do become a lot
relaxed and more excited towards the lesson, as I know I will be happy
throughout the lesson/workshop.
My best
lesson would have to be the first ever time when Joyce came to do the Workshop
with my fellow classmates. The reason I would feel it was the best lesson is
because I felt like I am experiencing an expert in front of my eyes teaching
us. I’d always have a thought at the
back of my mind that she knew exactly what she was talking about at all times,
which did make me feel at ease and less afraid of acting without speaking which
eventually made me understand you can tell a story to the audience without
their being any speech involved . I absolutely believe that the performance
became more effective like that, as it fixes up the audience's eyes upon every
movement you make on stage. ‘Simon Say’s’ is one of the examples of doing
movement without speech as a voice over commands our movements. The voice over
is by a voice of a man and it dictates what we do on stage, it mainly only
favours men and leaves women to suffer also forcing women’s to honour/please
the men as one commandments was for a women to carry the man to another place
on stage which connotes that the man is a King figure in the world, also
referring to a God.
I should do better on not bringing the stress of life from the outside into a lesson environment, as this distracted me a little a bit, as my friend Cagal cared about me very much so, we would sometimes talk about situations that is affecting me during rehearsals. Which could be a downfall as well as Dominique herself would waste her time to ask us to stop talking. I should definitely improve on learning my lines right away when I get it given to me, as I tend to leave it to the last minute. That is no-one’s fault but mine, although I definitely know I struggle with learning lines or remembering lines, I should just not give up and try and block it out of my head because that just makes it worse for me. A technique I use is learning my lines as if I am singing a song, this way I tend to make the song stick in my head. Going over each line and trying to figure why they've used such words does make me understand the paragraph or line much more.
I do
rehearse the phrases with Cagal and Courtney in our breaks or at lunch times
now and then, I do strongly believe it helps. However on the other hand I don’t
think us as a class we rehearse enough, until now that we've got our timetables
set. In my opinion I think we as a class we should rehearse more by ourselves
without a teacher being present, we should be able to run it through without
breaks or confusion by now, as Dominique wont be performing with us would she?
Yes my
movement memory is outstanding, as I take on the role most of times in my
class, telling people what is next and how they should perform the piece. In
between lessons, I can slightly remember phrases but I would need to recap
everything or sit down by myself and go through the whole piece in my head, so
I can remember everything in exact order and timing. An example could be when
we haven’t had a rehearsal for a long time and we tend to forget each section
of the piece. This result’s to us wasting time and having me left to remind
myself of the whole order of the piece, as no one could be bothered to think
for their own.
The skills
that I use to remember vocals and movement is being able to combine the two at
the same time, because when I know the movement I would know straight away the
phrases or words I need to say as it just comes naturally to me. So yes I learn
through movement to understand and remember my vocals. There’s no special way
or skill that I use to learn it in, just what I stated above is what I do to be
honest. Mainly when we do our freeze frames, we normally do the movement first
and then the facts of the timeline gets said out loud as it comes as follows.
So therefore this allows me time to commemorate the movements after it.
I do apply
all the feedbacks Dominique gives to me; I also love to listen to others
feedbacks that Dominique gives to them so this allows me to be aware of myself
and others and know what I avoid doing. Feedbacks are as important to a life of
a performer as it helps you gain knowledge; understanding, faults and how you
could fix your mistakes. I believe in the phrase that ‘you live and your
learn’. As a performer, performing in front of your classmates or teacher, is
the only way you can improve your performances skills. In the view of
performing to yourself alone in a room doesn’t allow you to grow and become a
lot confident. You wouldn't be aware of your mistakes and what you could do
well on, that is why it is really important to take on feedback from others.
In a group I
do get to see our individual skills, I would know someone’s strengths and
weaknesses so this helps me to pick out the right groups I would like to
associate myself in as this would allow us to have a balanced and equal group,
as everyone would be able to bring something to the table. As a group we should
mainly improve on telling the story full on, showing strong facial expressions which
is mostly needed because the character we are trying to act out. This will
capture the character and enable the audience to understand what role you are
trying to portray. The rest just concludes on being confident in your actions
and in your own skin, because we are the only ones who can make the show
happen.
Furthermore
you will need to be fit as this piece requires a lot of movement in different
places, and you’ll need to get to a certain area faster than others. There is
only rest time when another group is performing their piece for example the
Original Physical Theatre technique of using the chairs to tell a story is what
Rafa’s group done, which is the only time that we all get to rest as we just
stand still throughout. I am aware of what everyone does on stage as I studied
everyone’s parts, on what goes next and how many counts you need to count until
you switch position.
Eventually
by now in my opinion I do believe that the piece is very clear now as each
section has a purpose in the piece adding onto also every section fitting quite
well with each other as it naturally flows. A way of enhancing our performance
and making it effective is by adding on seasons in each section of the piece as
the feedback that we got from teachers were that it lacked that. As well as
strongly portraying your characters role at all times is very effective as an audience
watching it draws in the people upon your facial expressions and movement. The
mood that we mainly tried to convey is the frustration; passion, anger and
disappointment women had while being mistreated by men. We wanted the audience
to feel sympathy towards us women’s as on how women were treated at those times
and of the fact that it isn't right or faire on what use to happen to us back
then.
The piece
could next go to touring around primary schools to raise awareness on how
women’s were treated back then, because I believe most children’s don’t know
about this. The improvements that could be made before performing at the Barbican
is adjusting the seasons and make it a lot clearer in this piece. The dance
pieces should be up to scratch and allow it to fit in with the piece as a whole.
Everyone will need to concentrate on themselves and be able to know the whole
piece of by heart without someone helping them or even Dominique getting involved;
an independent learner is the way forward in this industry.
The artistic
merit’s of the piece is about ‘Women Rights’ which played a massive part upon
our piece as this allowed us to come up with a structure and story behind it,
in which it was interpreted in each section of the piece. The timeline worked
for me and the tweets which Anne brought in, it brought humour within the piece
in which I believe it balances everything out. In my opinion I don't think the overlapping of phrases works when we all stand diagonally, shouting phrases in groups but each person says it at different times in a canon form. On that part
I think we should practise it more and mostly focus on projecting our voices
and allowing the audience to understand everything we are trying to say as some
pronunciations are not up to standards yet. I would love to perform this piece
at the Soho theatre but I am truly blessed of the fact we are performing the
piece at the Barbican Theatre which is such a privileged as a performer at my
age to be perform there, I am truly thankful once again.
Performer Signature: Ruth
Kety Martino
Date: 15/06/2015
