hanartmakingpeformance2

[hanartmakingpeformance2]

Video/Social Links

I have put the links to all videos and social accounts on the left hand side of the blog, I have put them here as well just in case you could not find them.

Flipgrids: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1A22xyOgL7wgDLlbsGsdlqnVF_Xejbwgv

Rehearsals:

 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14V5MraDP9gkazJQ9iAaitnTF6I1fk_AQ

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/thesocialexperiment00/

Final Trailer: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1anVWYP35em0RpZpSvDe0AKGqL34kHhk8

[hanartmakingpeformance2]

Performance Overview

For our piece, we wanted to choose a topic that we could all relate to and also that was a current subject in the world around us. We decided to look into social media as it is a big topic that we could explore lots of different avenues within it and draw from our own experiences. Social media is also a big part of all of our lives and all of us within the group have all been impacted by social media in some way.  The key themes we wanted to explore in the piece is looking at thing such as gender and sexuality and how people present that online and following on from this we wanted to look at how social media affects mental health and the harsh impact social media can have on people. We wanted to look into how social media makes people vulnerable and how we need validation from others on social platforms as it helps boosts confidence within people when it happens. The vision for the piece was to create a piece that showed a group of friends experiencing different things online and how it is affecting them and we wanted to create characters who were very different from each other but still are being affected by social media the mostly the same way. Furthermore, we wanted to portray the negativity on social media as it is a side of the internet that is seen but not spoken about in wider society. We wanted to create a piece for this projects with ideas we had in the first semester but were not used and looking into ideas and topic none of us has done before in a piece.

Throughout the development of the piece, many key moments led to a lot of creative breakthroughs, which helped us with the further development of the piece. One of these breakthroughs happened in a rehearsal,  we were figuring the blocking of my monologue and we were having a difficult time not repeat the blocking had in the piece, so I came with the idea that everyone is watching the scene from their phones like a live stream. This added something different to the piece and help us play with framing and to take risks within the project. Following this, another key breakthrough for us was when we made our character Instagram accounts which helped us have breakthroughs on a personal level within the project. This helped me with character breakthroughs throughout the process as it made me think about what my character would do in a certain situation online and offline. The dramaturgical decisions we made concerning the piece was using social media as a performance and how we perform every day not just online but in real life but also looking at how we portray a different side of ourselves online and we are never true to who we are. Social media is like a performance as you only show people what you want them to see.

[hanartmakingpeformance2]

Research Into

The research was a very important part of our project as we interviewed people and looked into what real people had said for a piece. This helped us with the genres we wanted to look at for our project which was verbatim and autobiographical as this would be the best genres to look at to have more of an emotional effect on us as performers but on the audience as well and wanted to make sure of all this by making our all script out of true stories. ‘The words of real people are recorded or transcribed by a dramatist during an interview or research process, or are appropriated from existing records such as the transcripts of an official enquiry.’ (Steward., Hammond., 2012). This demonstrates what verbatim is and how it is useful to dramatist when they are wanting to create a true piece of theatre like us. Following on from this it also displays that verbatim does not just come from interviews it can come from other sources as well. 

Furthermore, the context of the piece is important and I looked deeply into social media and how it impacts the lives of people with mental and physical health as this was an integral part of the how project looking into how social media impacts people. The context within our piece is how social media has become a much bigger part of society and how it has become relevant to every aspect of our lives. Also being able to relate to not only the context but the research has helped me with my character development and research, this has made the project truthful to me and has helped connect with it. ‘The extensive use of social media and social networking websites is a central part of many people’s daily social interactions.’ (Serafinelli., 2018). This portrays that social media is a central part of our world and society and this relates to the context of our project and how we want to show how much people rely on social media.

To me personally, these were the most important theatre companies that influenced our development of the performance as we worked in their work online and offline and they used to understand how to adapt and understand our genre further. The Egg Assembly they have adapted their whole company to the online setting and have been doing some of their workshops and classes online to adapt to the current global situation. This helped us without work as it depicted to us that we had to use the online setting to our advantage and create a piece of theatre specifically for online. The other company that influenced our development with this project is Snippet Theatre Company, which look into verbatim style work and makes works based on real and unheard voices. Connecting this to our project we have used real voices in ours so this has helped us see how another company approached the genre we are using. ‘Gaps in your knowledge will only result in you having to go back and check your sources again or, worse yet, your final piece appearing ill-informed to the audience.’ (Belfield, 2018). This depicts that doing your research earlier on in the process helps out with the development of the piece and this connect to us as well did most of our research early on in the process which helped with getting our ideas together quite quickly. Also looking at other companies helps with our research as it gives us an idea of how they do their research which helped us with our initial research to start.

[hanartmakingpeformance2]

Reflective Analysis - Three Performances

The first digital performance I will be analysing is Tom Marshman’s Shakesqueer, this performance used a lot of techniques and skills that made it into a digital performance. Firstly it was performed on Zoom which in this current situation we are in its become a platform that performers use to perform their work to an audience. Using Zoom is an effective way of getting an audience engaged and helps give the performer a sense of being on stage with an audience watching even though it is digitally performed through a computer and I think Marshman did this successfully. Furthermore with space and framing Marshman was using was very effective for the performance, especially the part when he was using the wardrobe and the clothing as Marshman was using all the space available to him and was working with space he had. However, there were a few parts of the show that I felt were less successful than the rest of the piece such as I noticed throughout the piece that Marshman was reading off a script and I did not know whether this was a choice or he had generally forgotten his lines which in my own opinion could be seen as unprofessional and as an actor even if there are last-minute changes you should be prepared.

The second digital performance I will be analysing is Sharp Teeth’s Sherlock in Holmes this performance worked well in the online setting as it just was not a performance that the audience sits and watches it was an interactive performance that the audience could get involved in. When performing online having the audience involved helps them stay engaged with the story being and gives them something to do that they are not just sitting there watching a screen and for the performers, they can use the audience to their all advantage. This performance was done very professional as they had costumes and set just like you would for an in-person live performance and they had put in the same amount of work into this performance as normal performance and that was portrayed in their performance. This performance is a good example of digital performance as it had all the elements of the digital aspect an online performance should have.

The last digital performance I will be analysing is La Jolla Playhouse’s performance called You Are Here. this performance takes the audience on a journey from their homes and as everyone is stuck at home during the current situation this performance is a great way to see the world and travel from the safety and comfort of our own homes. The thing that stood out to me in the piece was when they were using google maps to tell the story as it felt like you were being taken on a road trip through the screen. I feel this performance was different from some of the other online performances I have seen as the audience could all be seen and were all connected by the journey they were being taken on. The digital performance was successful as it connected performers and the audience as they virtually went on a journey together.

[hanartmakingpeformance2]

Evaluation

Reflecting upon my creative development within this project, I have developed skills that I did not have initially, enhanced my skills, and developed them further. Within the group, I took on a role that I would not typically take as I wanted to develop new skills within this project. I took on one of the roles that looked at all the media side of things, such as editing videos for the piece and the weekly flipgrids. From doing this I wanted to gain new skills that I could develop over time and use in the future. Furthermore, this project has also helped me further my development as a performer as it has given me more experience working in an online setting. My strengths throughout this project were trying out something new as I had never done anything to do with video editing before and adding all the music to the weekly flipgrids, editing those videos I think was a strength on my behalf as I was learning a new skill which I can draw on in future projects and it was also contributing to the process of the project as well. Following this, a weakness of mine within the group was getting my ideas across and be able to speak up, as most of the rehearsals were done online it was very difficult to get what I was thinking across especially when you are on Zoom with six other people who are trying to get their ideas across as well. However, this could be seen as a whole group weakness as there was a lack of communication within the group throughout the project and in my personal opinion, I do not think the online aspect helped with this weakness with the group. If I was to do this piece again, I would have spoken up about my concerns and worries sooner rather than later and have a bit more professionalism amongst the group. If possible, I would probably not do the whole process online as this increases a lack of communication and understanding of each other within the group. The most important things I have learned during this project are that strong communication is a must when working in a group and that I have a lot more skills than I thought I had.

[hanartmakingpeformance2]

Bibliography

Belfield, R., (2018)., Telling the truth: how to make verbatim theatre., London: Nick Hern Books., Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bathspauni/reader.action?docID=5286795 [E-Book]

Blake, B., (2014)., Theatre & the digital., Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan., Available at: https://r2.vlereader.com/Reader?ean=9781137355782 [E-Book] 

Fuchs, C., (2013)., Social media: a critical introduction., Los Angeles: Sage Publication., Available at: https://r1.vlereader.com/Reader?ean=9781446296868 [E-Book]

Marshman, T., (2021) ., Shakesqueer., [Online Performance] 

Serafinelli, E., (2018)., Digital life on Instagram: new social communication of photography., United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing., Available at: https://r2.vlereader.com/Reader?ean=9781787564954# [E-Book]

Sharp Teeth Theatre Company., (2021)., Sherlock in holmes., [Online Performance]

Snippet Theatre Company., (2014)., Snippet Theatre Company., Available at: http://www.snippettheatrecompany.com/ [Website]

Splint, M., La Jolla Playhouse., (2021)., You Are Here., Available at: https://lajollaplayhouse.org/wow-goes-digital/you-are-here-edu/ [Online Performance]

Steward, D., Hammond, W., (2012)., Verbatim verbatim: Contemporary documentary theatre., London, England: Oberon Books.,Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bathspauni/reader.action?docID=5511634 [E-Book]

The Egg Assembly., The Egg Assembly., Available at: https://www.theeggassembly.com/ [Website] 

*All the 13 interviews that were done are confidential, if transcripts are needed please get in contact